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Cai Cai really likes the little boy with green eyes. Oh no, now we should call him Xiwen's little friend. Mom says we should call people by their names to show respect, and not just call him this kid or that kid.

He enjoys being friends with Xiwen, playing games together, and sharing snacks. The feeling he gets from being with older and younger sisters is different; it might be a sense of camaraderie that comes from being with someone of the same gender.

During dinner, little Cai Cai pushed an adult chair to Xi Wen's side, wanting to sit with him.

The table was originally set up so that each family could sit in half, with the children sitting with their parents. Now, Cai Cai was sitting between the parents, looking like a good brother to Xi Wen. Zhong Wan squinted and exclaimed, "Oh!" before jokingly saying, "Baby, why don't you go home with your uncle and aunt later and sleep with Xi Wen tonight?"

This child is usually so outgoing; he'd be hesitant to greet someone normally. Now he's quite poised and confident.

She was at a loss for words, both amused and exasperated.

Xiwen's mother, Xining, took Zhong Wan's words seriously and put her hands together: "That would be wonderful. I really like Cai Cai. It would be great if she could come home with us. Xiwen is afraid to sleep alone at night, and he needs Cai Cai's company."

Before Zhong Wan could speak, Cai Cai answered herself: "No, Auntie, I want to go home. I also want to take Xiwen home with me."

He doesn't want to go to other people's houses, but he would be very willing to bring his good friends to his own home.

"You wish! If you want to go home, Xiwen should go home too."

Cai Cai's wish could not be fulfilled in the end.

The door to the private room opened, and the waiter came to serve the dishes. Zhong Wan waved to Cai Cai: "Dinner's ready. Come sit next to your mother."

Xining: "It's okay, Xiaowan, let him sit here, I'll get him some food."

"How could I possibly accept that? They don't eat properly, so sitting together makes it easier for me to clean up afterwards."

Seeing that Cai Cai was unwilling to come over, Zhong Wan went over and picked him up, whispering in Cai Cai's ear, "Be a good boy."

He really did stop talking.

Although he sat next to his mother this time, his position was still very close to Xiwen, which did not prevent the two little ones from communicating across the distance.

The two boys were having a great time, while Chu Qinghuai's two daughters next to him were also whispering their own secrets, chattering away, and in an instant the room was filled with the sounds of children.

Zhong Wan rested her chin on her hand, drooling all over Cai Cai, who seemed to be talking about something funny. She expertly wiped the drool from Cai Cai's face and said, "Cut your drool."

Cai Cai looked at her with bright, sparkling eyes. "Mom, Xiwen said he has a super big dinosaur toy at home."

"Really? That must be a lot of fun."

"Xiwen said I can play with it." He looked so eager.

"That's really nice of him. If you have the chance, you can share your toys with each other."

"Um!"

The little boy held his face in his two chubby hands, like a bright sunflower. It was rare for him to have such a happy day. Zhong Wan reached out and stroked his hair, thinking: Raising a child is about making him happy every day.

Turning her gaze to the quiet Xiwen, Zhong Wan looked into his eyes and couldn't help but exclaim, "Xiwen is really handsome."

Unlike Cai Cai's chubby cheeks and cuteness, Xi Wen is already quite handsome at such a young age. He has a high nose bridge and deep eyes, and he will definitely grow up to be a great handsome guy.

Hearing Zhong Wan's praise, Xining laughed twice and knew how to return the favor. She said, "Cai Cai is very pretty too, and so are Mu Mu and Xiao He. I really envy you for having two beautiful daughters. All three of your children look just like you."

"Hahaha, really? A lot of people say that." Her eyes crinkled when she laughed, giving off a warm and welcoming feeling.

This wasn't the first time Zhong Wan had heard this. She thought it might be because children imitate the adults who raised them, such as their habits and actions, which caused the two of them to look more and more alike. Although the children weren't her biological children, spending so much time together with them would give them some of her similar temperament, which was proof that she loved them.

Zhong Wan loves hearing people say that the children are like her.

...

With more children, eating won't be a big problem. Everyone is competitive, and each one tries to eat better than the last.

According to Xining, Xiwen is a complete picky eater, and his grandparents usually feed him at home, which is why he is so thin and doesn't have much flesh on him. Today, he was able to eat a small bowl of rice on his own while eating with so many other children, which is unbelievable to Xining, his mother.

She asked Zhong Wan for advice: "How did you raise He Bao? Even such a young baby eats so well. I'm so envious."

Zhong Wan waved her hand, having just peeled a shrimp and put it in Mu Mu's bowl, and told her truthfully, "At first, I also fed them, but we have too many children. By the time I finished feeding three of them, the food was already cold when Chu Qinghuai and I ate. So I had to train them to eat independently. If you just refrain from feeding them, they will naturally eat."

She still remembers the first few days when the children arrived. They were like they had never eaten before. They didn't know how to use a spoon, and eating a meal was like a battle. Fortunately, she and Chu Qinghuai were patient and taught them how to hold a spoon. Hard work pays off.

But the biggest contributors should be the babies themselves; they are smart and quick to learn.

She added, "But she's not always well-behaved. Mumu and Caicai are a little rebellious. When they're in a bad mood, they throw their bowls around or don't eat properly, which gives me a headache."

“They’ve done a great job.” Xining put a piece of food on her son’s plate and was pleased to see him eat it all. “Xiwen eats less than a cat. Asking him to eat a few more bites is like asking him to die.”

Zhong Wan wanted to say that it would be fine if they skipped a few meals, but since it was someone else's child, she didn't want to interfere too much. She only said, "Try changing the dishes a bit, maybe they'll eat more."

The other person looked worried: "But I can't cook."

"It's okay, let your husband do it."

-

After enjoying a wonderful dinner together, the two families, who had only just met, went to watch fireworks together, and their relationship progressed rapidly, becoming incredibly close.

Soon it will be time for everyone to go home.

The moon was bright and the stars were few. The night was chilly, and the cool breeze immediately gave me goosebumps.

The atmosphere of parting is always sad. Compared to Cai Cai's loud crying, Xi Wen's silent tears were more heartbreaking. She didn't say a word and just hung her head and cried.

Zhong Wan couldn't help but hug him and gently wiped away his tears with her fingertips. "How can such beautiful eyes shed tears? Don't cry. How about coming to Auntie's house next time? Auntie will bake you some little cakes."

He didn't say yes, just nodded, not daring to look at Zhong Wan directly. "Goodbye, Auntie," he said, his tone full of reluctance.

The child's thoughts are simple: he just wants Cai Cai to go home with him.

"Goodbye, baby." It was the first time Zhong Wan had met such a well-mannered child, and she subconsciously spoke to him in an even gentler and softer voice, growing more and more fond of him the more she looked at him.

The crescent moon hung above the castle, like a delicate, pale yellow ornament. It was getting late; the moon sang a lullaby, and Xiao He, not quite awake, yawned.

"Going home to sleep~"

She leaned on her father's shoulder.

When they got home, all three children were asleep, as expected. Zhong Wan and Chu Qinghuai didn't have the heart to wake them up, so they just took off their clothes and wiped their bodies.

The couple divided the work: one was responsible for wringing out a towel to wipe the child, and the other was responsible for applying baby powder and dressing the child. With the parents working together, the work wasn't tiring.

This was the time when they were least likely to be woken up, so Chu Qinghuai spoke to Zhong Wan with confidence: "How come I never realized you used to like children so much?"

Based on the issues he summarized after dinner tonight.

Before meeting Guoshuhua, she said that having children was mostly based on the fact that she was of a certain age and had enough money to reproduce. As for how much she liked offspring, that was at most 20%. The two of them even agreed to have only one child. Later, three children suddenly appeared in their family. They were both afraid that they would be biased or that they would not be able to treat them equally.

No one would expect that a young couple could be such good parents, going from unfamiliarity to familiarity, from not being used to being called "Mom and Dad" by their children to calling themselves "Mom and Dad." This is truly remarkable and a testament to their growth.

When Qinghuai noticed that Zhong Wan could easily coax other people's children, he felt that she was different from the girls he knew before. She had an extra layer of maternal affection, softer than the spring breeze and gentler than the summer breeze, and he was even more fascinated by her.

"You mean Xiwen? I really like him. Most importantly, he's Caicai's good friend, so I definitely have to treat him like my own child."

Zhong Wan couldn't understand why he asked this. "Stop thinking about things that don't exist. Remember to call Sister Lin tomorrow and ask if she knows that Ah Yue, and if she's been here recently. I don't want the babies to live under her camera every day."

"I just asked Chen Yu, but he has a bad memory and doesn't remember this person. He promised to check the surveillance footage tomorrow."

"It's really too much trouble for him. Let's talk about it tomorrow."

Zhong Wan finished dressing Xiao He, then laid the three children in a row and covered them with a large blanket.

Suddenly remembering something, she said to Chu Qinghuai, "Have you heard Xining say that she's letting Xiwen sleep in a separate room now? It seems like they've been separating rooms since he was eight months old. Shouldn't our baby also sleep alone?"

Chu Qinghuai didn't object to her suggestion, but said, "No matter what, our house can't be divided into four bedrooms. Right now, only the study is empty. Who are you planning to let sleep there? Are you trying to make an exception for us?"

However, he does approve of parents sleeping separately from their children.

Ultimately, the house was too small, and many of his ideas could not be realized. Chu Qinghuai frowned, his face serious, when suddenly a bold idea popped into his mind.

For the sake of the babies, he wants to earn more money to buy a bigger house, and also for himself, so that he can sleep alone in the same bed with Zhong Wan.

But when he voiced this idea, Zhong Wan patted him on the shoulder: "Go wash up and go to sleep. By the time we buy a house with four bedrooms, the kids might have found their biological parents."

Who can afford to wait any longer?

Chu Qinghuai was slightly disappointed, but he still felt at ease sleeping in the same bed with his wife and children that night.