"Mom, I know that, don't worry."

It was several days later when Gu An'an found out about this. Xiao Liu came to her door with a thank-you gift prepared by his family. "Sister-in-law, I'm so grateful for your reminder that day. I never expected them to be so ruthless. Luckily, I was prepared and pretended to be asleep, which allowed me to catch them in the act. If it had been someone else, they might have actually succeeded."

"It's good that the child is alright. We must be extra careful when we're out and about. It's too late to panic if something happens."

In later generations, with the advancement of information technology, Gu An'an has seen far too many things like this.

"Yes, now that my mom is back, she and my mother-in-law are taking care of Xiaoqing and the child together, so that situation will definitely not happen again. This is a small thank-you gift prepared by the family, sister-in-law, you must accept it."

The Liu family prepared mostly items for the children, so Gu An'an didn't refuse any further.

During Liu Xiaoqing's postpartum period, Gu An'an visited her several times. Seeing that the baby was growing bigger every day, the mother's worries finally subsided.

"She's finally grown up to look better. I was so worried about her these past few days."

"You're worrying unnecessarily. You and Xiao Liu are both good-looking, how could you possibly have an extremely ugly child? Besides, a child's appearance is secondary, as long as they are healthy."

This sentiment was echoed by Liu Xiaoqing, a new mother. "It's been cold lately, and many children got fevers and colds while I was in the hospital. I was so scared that I left immediately, afraid that he would catch it."

After visiting the child, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law decided to go shopping first, since Xiao's father was coming to the military base for the Spring Festival this year, and they needed to make sure everything was ready.

Neither of them were short of money, and they wanted to buy whatever looked good. The older woman at the supply and marketing cooperative wasn't surprised to see them and quickly helped them with their purchases.

"Sister Fang, I'll leave these things with you for a bit. We'll take the kids to have some food first, and we'll come back for them later."

"Okay, you can rest assured leaving it with me."

Everyone knows about the relationship between Gu An'an and Liu Xiaoqing, so of course she wouldn't do anything underhanded behind the scenes.

Xiao Dabao and Xiao Erbao weren't very interested in the things from the supply and marketing cooperative, since many things at home were specially prepared and not necessarily available at the cooperative. But they were really into the food at the state-run restaurant.

"The noodles are delicious."

"Meat, Erbao wants to eat meat."

Before Gu An'an even started ordering, the two little ones began babbling and making their own choices. Their bright eyes lit up especially when they saw the meat on other customers' tables.

"Da Bao and Er Bao are here again? Do they want meat and noodles again today?"

Although the two little ones had only been here once, their adorable appearance and cheerful demeanor won over the lady at the state-run restaurant in one visit.

"Auntie, I want to eat meat and noodles."

The two continued shouting, it was so cute it was almost unbearable.

"Young comrade, your two children are really well-behaved. Not only are they adorable, but they also have such sweet tongues. They know how to greet people at such a young age."

Before Gu An'an could reply after praising her, the older sister started talking to the two children, "Alright, just because you called me 'Auntie,' I'll give you two extra pieces of meat."

After Gu An'an ordered, the eldest sister went back to the kitchen. When the food was served, Gu An'an could clearly feel that there was more meat than before.

"You two little brats, I won't have to worry about you going hungry when you go out anymore."

Xiao Dabao and Xiao Erbao knew their mother was praising them, and they smiled innocently, "Mom, Dabao wants to eat meat."

"Milk, the second baby wants to eat too."

Da Bao and Er Bao shouted eagerly, afraid that if they were too slow, all the meat would be eaten.

"Even though you two have teeth now, you have to eat your meat slowly, chew it thoroughly before swallowing, okay? Otherwise, Mom won't bring you next time."

Upon hearing this, sweet words kept pouring out of their mouths: "Mom, we will definitely chew it thoroughly."

Xiao Dabao put the meat his mother handed him into his mouth, and then said slowly, "Mom, you're so beautiful, how can you say such heartless things?"

Gu An'an had no idea who her daughter inherited her sharp tongue from.

"If you don't behave, Mommy will be very cruel."

Xiao Dabao tugged at Gu An'an's arm and said coquettishly, "No, Mom is the best to us."

Hearing this, Xiao's mother joked, "Mom is the best to you all, so it seems Grandma, Dad, and Grandpa aren't so good to you."

Xiao Dabao: "...Grandma, how could that be! My grandma is the only one in the whole compound who's lucky. Everyone else is envious of us."

"Yes, Brother Dunzi said yesterday that he wanted to be one of our children, and his aunt beat him up."

Xiao Erbao quickly snatched the meat from Xiao Ma's hand and put it in his mouth, chewing as he praised it.

They're practically three years old but actually two. The two kids are quite young, but their sweet talk is top-notch. Not to mention others, even the straight men in the family compound are completely charmed by them.

The food at the state-run restaurant was quite good, especially the dishes Gu An'an ordered, which were all favorites of the group. Just as Xiao Dabao was engrossed in his meal and looked up, he suddenly asked, "Isn't that Aunt Zhao?"

Gu An'an looked in the direction Xiao Dabao was looking and saw Zhao Man walking into the store with a young man beside her. She didn't know what the young man said, but Zhao Man covered her mouth and laughed.

Gu An'an raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Aunt Zhang's worries were justified; Zhao Man did have a boyfriend.

Zhao Man will graduate from high school in half a year. In future generations, she may still be considered a child by adults, but at this time, many people of this age are already married and have children. So it is not a problem for Zhao Man to find a partner. The problem is that the boy next to Zhao Man is not a well-behaved person.

Zhao Man was so engrossed in love that she didn't notice, but Gu An'an did notice that the man's eyes were darting around.

After ordering two bowls of noodles, Zhao Man and her companion chose a seat. Coincidentally, the seat was right next to Gu An'an and her companion, but there was a wooden door separating them, so Zhao Man didn't notice them.

The two children were about to call for help when Gu An'an stopped them. The Zhao family had taken good care of their family in the past two years, and she needed to see what kind of man he was. If he was indeed unreliable, she would tell Zhao's wife in private, which would be considered doing her best.

If the two children greet each other first, the boy will definitely be on guard.

The two children listened to Gu An'an very well. They immediately stopped eating and didn't say anything, their ears perked up as they listened to the conversation next door with Gu An'an.

"Xiaoman, we're graduating soon. Has your family said anything about how they'll arrange things for you?"

Zhao Man shook her head, "There's still a semester left, no rush to talk about this."

Actually, her family had discussed this matter. Her parents and brother were all worried about her going to the countryside. They were recently trying to find her a job, but it hadn't come to fruition yet. Her family told her not to talk about it outside, so she didn't say anything.