Chapter 3: Seeing
After Yu Hui glanced at Gu Dong and Gu Nan, she gently shifted her gaze away and walked straight into the Yu family courtyard.
In the living room, Captain Yu's wife Qian Lan was holding the one-year-old Beibei and looking at the gate, worried about Yu Hui in the hospital.
"Mommy..." Beibei sucked his fingers, drooling and holding them in his pouty mouth, his fair and tender face full of grievance.
Qian Lan sighed and looked down at the healthy, fair-skinned child in her arms. "I don't know how your mother is doing in the hospital."
She was really worried. Although everyone else in the compound believed that Yu Hui was the vicious stepmother who abused the child, she didn't think so.
She and Yu Hui are neighbors, and their homes are separated by a wall. They are closer than others and can see more things.
Although Yu Hui doesn't talk much, she is very hardworking and honest. She has seen how Captain Gu treats their children in the two months since she got married to him.
The children changed their clothes more frequently and wore cleaner clothes than when Xiaolin was around, and they looked a little fatter than when Xiaolin was around.
Especially Beibei, he is much whiter and fatter than when Xiaolin was here.
When Xiaolin's biological mother was around, she didn't pay much attention to her children. In the past few years, Captain Gu gave money to his mother-in-law to take care of the children.
Xiao Lin hardly paid any attention to the children. He just read a book, wearing a white shirt, and walked along the line of sycamore trees in the yard, feeling sad about the passing of spring and autumn.
Later, Xiaolin's younger brother got married and his wife became pregnant, so Xiaolin's mother went home to take care of her daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
From then on, no one took care of these children. They dressed shabbily, and Xiaolin was the one who ate, while Gu Dong and Gu Nan had to go to the cafeteria to get food.
Battalion Commander Gu would take the children to the bathhouse to take a bath when he returned from the company.
When Beibei was born, Captain Gu's mother, Aunt Zhao, came from her hometown to take care of Xiaolin during the confinement period.
Because Xiaolin was going to take the college entrance examination, she only read books and didn't breastfeed the baby, and didn't care about the newborn baby. She had many arguments with Xiaolin. As soon as Xiaolin was out of confinement, Aunt Zhao was so angry that she went back to her hometown.
After Aunt Zhao left, Captain Gu gave Beibei ten yuan every month and sent it to her during the day, asking her to help look after the baby.
When he comes back in the evening, I take him home.
Later, Xiaolin took the college entrance examination and was admitted to university. Before going to Chengdu to attend university, he divorced Captain Gu.
Although Captain Gu told others that the two of them were not getting along, they could all see that Xiao Lin looked down on Captain Gu, disliked him because he was from the countryside, had only graduated from junior high school and had no education, and didn't want to live with him.
After I got into university, I thought I would have a better life, so I dumped him.
Although Captain Gu is not considered to be a well-educated person in their compound, his appearance, character, and abilities are all top-notch, and he is also particularly family-oriented.
Many people in this hospital envy Lin Siyu for finding a husband like Captain Gu, but she doesn't know how to cherish him.
Xiaolin never came back after going to college, so she almost never took care of Beibei's children.
But since Yu Hui came into this family, Beibei has either been on her back or in her arms, and she takes good care of him.
As a stepmother, she cares about these children more than their biological mother and does more than their biological mother.
So she believed that Xiao Yu would definitely not be a vicious stepmother who abused her child, and there must be a misunderstanding here.
Just as she was thinking about this, Qian Lan saw Yu Hui walk in.
She subconsciously stood up holding the child, "Xiao Yu, you're back?"
Yu Hui nodded, "Sister-in-law, please take care of Beibei."
This neighbor Qian Lan is one of the few people in this compound who will take the initiative to talk to the original owner.
Because the original owner was young, from the countryside, illiterate, and a bit honest and dull, and looked unsophisticated, many people looked down on her.
But Qian Lan was different. She was very friendly to the original owner. She would greet him with a smile when she saw him, chat with him, and take the initiative to help him when he needed help.
"What are you talking about? Are you okay? Are you feeling well?" Qian Lan asked with concern.
Yu Hui shook her head, "It's okay."
"Mommy..." Beibei struggled in Qian Lan's arms, crying and stretching out her two little hands to Yu Hui.
Looking at the child crying for her, Yu Hui subconsciously reached out and hugged the child.
When the child was in her arms, his chubby little hands tightly grasped her clothes, and he cried with a pouty mouth, sounding so aggrieved that Yu Hui's heart softened.
In this family, the person who loves her the most is probably this one-year-old child.
Yu Hui grew up in an orphanage and had many experiences raising children, so she always loved children and wanted to have a complete family. Her biggest regret before her death was that she was unable to marry, have children, and have a complete family because of her illness.
Now holding this child who is full of attachment and dependence on her in her arms, she felt a sense of love and a little satisfaction in her heart.
Seeing how much Beibei was attached to Yu Hui, Qian Lan became even more certain that she was not a child abuser.
"Beibei came looking for you crying several times today."
"Beibei, be good and don't cry." Yu Hui gently patted Beibei's little butt to comfort her.
"What did you do to your sister again?" Gu Dong heard his sister crying, ran into the yard, and questioned his vicious stepmother angrily.
Yu Hui just glanced at him indifferently and ignored him.
Gu Nan and Gu Xi walked into the yard one after the other, and Gu Nan also frowned and looked at his stepmother with hostility.
Qian Lan was about to speak when she heard Yu Hui say, "Sister-in-law, Beibei must be hungry. I'll take her home first."
"Oh." Qian Lan slapped her forehead. "I don't know where you keep your milk powder. I just stewed an egg for the child at noon and fed him half a bowl of rice. It's already mid-afternoon, I'm afraid he must be really hungry."
It is not enough for Beibei to just eat complementary food. In addition to feeding her some vegetable porridge, she is also fed milk powder once.
"Then I'll carry Beibei back first."
"Let's go back." Qian Lan nodded, then looked at Gu Dong and Gu Nan and said, "Beibei is crying because she's hungry and misses her mother. Don't let your imagination run wild all day long, kid."
Gu Dong snorted, "She is not Beibei's mother."
Qian Lan: "But Beibei only recognizes her."
If this naughty kid was her child, she would have beaten him up this morning to let him know what abuse is.
Gu Dong: “…”
Beibei pouted and looked at her sister in her stepmother's arms. She was so spineless that she accepted a thief as her mother.
Yu Hui ignored Gu Dong and the others and went home with Bei Bei in her arms.
The courtyard where the Gu family lives is a very regular three-sided courtyard.
In the middle is the main hall with two bedrooms on the left and right. The one on the left is used as a study by Lin Siyu. There are two bedrooms in the east wing. Gu Dong and his three brothers live in one, and the other is empty.
The west wing is the kitchen. Next to the kitchen is a toilet where you can take a shower. In front of it is a squat toilet with flushing, and behind it is a bathroom, separated by a wall and a door curtain.
This is what Lin Siyu asked Gu Huai to set up later.
The yard was paved with stone slabs, and there were two triangular bamboo racks with long bamboo poles for drying clothes on top. The poles were filled with clothes of the four children.
There is a circle of flower beds in the corner of the wall, one side is planted with flowers, and the other side is planted with green onions, garlic sprouts and cabbage.
The flowers were planted by Lin Siyu who came before, and the green onions were planted by the original owner after she got married. Because they pulled out the flowers planted by their own mother, Gu Dong and Gu Nan had a big fight with the original owner.
After looking around the yard, Yu Hui held Beibei in her arms, opened the door, walked into the main room, and put her in the cradle.
Turning around and seeing Gu Xi climbing over the threshold and entering the house, he said, "Xixi, look after your sister and play with her. I'll go boil some water and make some milk powder for her."
"Yeah." Gu Xi nodded obediently.
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