The two chatted about Lu Xi for a while, but Yuan Doudou was so sleepy that she fell asleep.

An Rong got up and covered her with the blanket, then went out to check on Lu Xi. He was sleeping soundly, and the blanket hadn't moved at all. It seemed that after being away from home for a month, Lu Xi had already learned to take care of himself.

When he returned to bed, Yuan Doudou was lying flat on her back, with half of the blanket pulled off. He smiled helplessly and covered her up again; pregnant women are always afraid of getting hot, even in the dead of winter. Before, she had slept in the middle, sandwiched between him and Anji, making her even warmer.

To make her sleep more peacefully, Anrong let her share a blanket with Anji, while she had her own blanket. If she got hot, she could easily stretch her legs out to get some fresh air.

The next day, when An Rong got up, Lu Xi was already sweeping the yard.

"You finally get a day off, why don't you sleep in a little longer?" An Rong asked in surprise. He had gone to bed very late last night, and it was only just getting light.

Lu Xi smiled and said, "I'm used to it. I usually get up even earlier."

The working hours at Zuixianlou were from 9 am to 1 am. In order to practice more and to leave a good impression, he would get up at 7 am every day and clean the first and second floors first.

An Rong's eyes were dark and unreadable. Indeed, as Dou Dou said, Lu Xi had suffered a lot after going out.

But he seemed fine, without a single complaint, and even seemed to enjoy it. An Rong could tell that Lu Xi was destined for greatness.

After the two of them finished making breakfast, Yuan Doudou slowly woke up. It wasn't that she woke up on her own, but that the baby in her belly kicked her awake, perhaps because it was hungry and wanted to wake her up for breakfast.

Pregnant women get hungry easily, so she eats at least four meals a day, including three regular meals, plus a late-night snack before closing time, and snacks like pastries and candied fruits between meals.

I'm hungriest in the morning, and I need to hold onto something to stand up, otherwise my vision goes black and I might fall over.

An Rong didn't understand, but Yuan Doudou knew it was probably due to low blood sugar caused by not eating breakfast.

After she finished dressing and putting on her shoes, she heard a knock on the door.

"DouDou, breakfast is ready," Lu Xi called softly from outside the door.

"Okay, coming right away." Yuan Doudou put on her shoes, patted Anji's little bottom, and said, "Anji, get up and eat."

"Mommy, I want to sleep more." Anji hadn't had enough sleep because he went to bed too late last night.

Yuan Doudou advocates a relaxed approach to her child's education, letting him sleep as much as he wants, as it's normal for young children to need a lot of sleep.

"Okay, you can sleep a little longer. Mommy's going to eat now."

Angie hummed in agreement and went back to sleep.

Yuan Doudou opened the door. The snow in the yard had been swept clean. Presumably, An Rong had laid a thick layer of straw on the ground to prevent slipping, like a carpet extending to the front hall.

"Lu Xi swept the yard and laid out straw," An Rong said casually as she came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of stew and saw Yuan Doudou coming in.

Yuan Doudou felt a warmth in her heart. Lu Xi was a good child. She only had one day off, but she didn't sleep in. She got up so early to shovel snow. She was really thoughtful.

"Lu Xi, well done." Huang Rong also came out carrying a bowl of corn porridge and praised Lu Xi.

Lu Xi was getting stools for everyone and setting out bowls and chopsticks.

"Where's Anji?" Anrong asked.

Yuan Doudou had just settled down, holding a sesame seed cake in her hand, ready to devour it. "He's still sleeping, we'll eat when he wakes up."

"Little lazybones," An Rong laughed.

Anrong bought the sesame seed cake from Li Ji's shop. Li Ji's sesame seed cakes and beef and mutton soup are famous in the town. If you want to buy freshly baked sesame seed cakes, you have to get up early and queue up. However, Anrong is always the first one to arrive and doesn't have to queue up.

The baked flatbread comes in sweet and savory varieties. The sweet ones are filled with white sugar and sesame seeds, while the savory ones are filled with preserved mustard greens and meat.

Yuan Doudou used to like sweet food, but since she got pregnant, her taste has changed, and she now eats at least two pieces of meat per meal.

"With corn porridge, a bite of sesame flatbread, and your stew, life is enough." In the past, she believed in the food outside and always thought that no matter how good the food at home was, it couldn't be as good as what was cooked outside.

But when I came here and met An Rong, I realized that no matter how delicious the food outside is, it still needs to be paired with An Rong's cooking, and with family around, it tastes even better.

Because of An Rong and the others, she felt less longing for her family there.

If you can't change it, then accept it.

"If you like it, I'll buy it again tomorrow," An Rong said indulgently.

It wasn't that he was lazy; he had tried making sesame seed cakes at home by copying their recipes. Perhaps he didn't have a special oven, or perhaps he couldn't replicate their flavor, but the sesame seed cakes he made were just not quite right.

Indeed, everyone has their own expertise; delicious sesame cakes need to be made by professionals.

Lu Xi drank a bowl of porridge, ate a sesame seed cake, put down her chopsticks, and went to the kitchen to find something to do.

Seeing that he was eating too little and that he had lost a lot of weight, Yuan Doudou guessed that he might not be getting enough to eat at Zuixianlou. Her nose tingled with sadness. She was well-fed and cared for at home, while Lu Xi was suffering outside.

"Lu Xi, put the dishes down. You don't need to help. Go eat some more rice." An Rong noticed Yuan Doudou's change in mood and hurriedly went into the kitchen to shoo him out.

Lu Xi remained unmoved, picked up a cabbage, and began tearing off the leaves.

"Brother Anrong, I'm full, I can't eat anymore," Lu Xi said, looking down.

An Rong, still uneasy, continued to ask, "Were you not getting enough to eat at Zuixianlou?"

Before going to Zuixianlou, I could eat two pancakes in one meal. How could my appetite have decreased so much in just one month?

Lu Xi remained silent.

"Did they bully you?" An Rong realized there was something wrong.

Lu Xi thought of his senior brothers at Zuixianlou. From the moment he entered as an apprentice, his senior brothers harbored ill will towards him. When it came to work, they would leave the tedious and laborious tasks to him. When it came to meals, they would all wolf down their food, eating quickly and decisively. Just as he was about to pick up some food, someone else would get there first. After a meal, he could only eat in vain.

He was never full at any of his three meals a day. If it weren't for Brother Anrong bringing him food, he probably would have starved to death long ago.

But Anrong didn't know that the food he brought was all snatched up by his fellow disciples. He could only sneak a bite in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep.

Over time, Lu Xi's stomach shrank smaller and smaller, and she could eat very little.

This morning, I had a big bowl of corn porridge and a whole pancake for breakfast, which is the most I've eaten lately. My stomach is completely full.

He needs to do some work to digest his emotions.

He didn't plan to tell DouDou and the others any of this. When you're away from home, enduring a little hardship is nothing, as long as you can learn some skills.

"No, they've all been very good to me, especially my master." Lu Xi smiled, tears welling up in her eyes.

An Rong saw that he had his head down and didn't know what to do.

It looks like I'll have to go see Huang Daxian again.

“Lu Xi, remember this: we can endure hardship outside, but we cannot be bullied,” An Rong said firmly.