Grandma Li looked at the milk powder crumbs in her hand with surprise: "When did you grind the flour?"
I knew her mother would become suspicious.
Zhen Wanwan held the swaddled baby and soothed him, calmly explaining, "I was worried that the baby would be born soon and I wouldn't have enough milk, so I bought some flour from Siqin and the others to keep on hand."
Thinking of her daughter's secret stash of money, she nodded knowingly, but still looked reproachful and said, "Why do you keep wasting money? You have to be more careful with it. The older the child gets, the more money she spends!"
"Okay, Mom."
Seeing that Zhen Wanwan obediently agreed, Grandma Li didn't say anything more and turned to make milk powder.
Seeing that everything was almost done, Aunt Zhou and the others got up to take their leave. Old Lady Li wiped away her tears and pulled them aside, saying gratefully, "We really owe you all a lot today. We'll treat you properly once we've calmed down."
"Hey, why are you being so polite with us? There are plenty of things to do on the road, and everyone needs your help sometimes."
"Yes, yes, take good care of Wan'er. We need to hurry back; Dongzi and the others..."
Dongzi's mother didn't finish her sentence, but everyone present fell silent. Each family had someone go to distribute the grain, and more or less, some of them had been injured.
Moreover, the whereabouts of Zhen's family members are still unknown; saying too much about it would only be like rubbing salt into their wounds.
With the departure of the group, the Zhen family finally found some peace and quiet, leaving only Wang Cuihua's busy figure.
Little Tiger and Da Ni had already fallen asleep around the campfire. The eldest sister-in-law had to watch over the five of them to prevent anyone from accidentally rolling into the fire pit.
Holding her soft, cuddly little daughter, Zhen Wanwan felt both anxious and content, as she had been feeling lost on the road to escape the famine.
Arriving in this era all alone, it would be a lie to say she wasn't afraid. Although she had long considered the Zhen family as her own, she always felt an emptiness in her heart.
The emptiness was filled with the birth of the child, but a sense of fear was added.
She was still thinking about the dream she had while she was unconscious. The scene in the dream still haunted her; it felt so real!
Although she didn't know if the dream was real, the thought of her daughter, whom she had finally given birth to, being abused like that filled her with rage.
She gently patted the baby in her arms. The dim firelight illuminated the tiny figure in pink swaddling clothes, making him look fragile and adorable. She seemed to have found a new purpose.
She would protect her no matter what! She would love her, cherish her, and never let the tragedy in her dream repeat itself.
"My dear baby, I will love you dearly and never let you suffer any injustice," she murmured to her newborn daughter.
"uh-huh..."
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted. Zhen Wanwan looked at the red swaddled baby lying next to her, the little one inside was fair and tender.
With her lips pouting high, she kept humming, seemingly expressing her dissatisfaction at being ignored by her own mother.
"If I didn't know you were too young to understand, I would probably think you were jealous of your little sister!"
Zhen Wanwan had no sense of favoritism whatsoever; she grinned and reached out to poke her son's cheek.
The little one struggled angrily, trying to break free of the blanket binding his hands and feet, but ultimately failed because his limbs were too weak and out of control.
Zhen Wanwan just thought her son was really cute!
Indeed, as long as you are weak enough, all your resistance will seem adorable to others.
Just like Zhen Wanwan, this unreliable mother, and her newborn son still in swaddling clothes.
When Grandma Li arrived, she saw Zhen Wanwan bullying her son. She twitched her lips but said nothing.
"It's ready, the flour is still warm!" Grandma Li placed a bowl of milk powder on the stone table, picked up her youngest daughter first, blew on it to cool it down spoonful by spoonful, and then slowly fed her.
The milk flavor is quite strong; you can smell its sweet aroma from a distance.
Zhen Wanwan teased her son in her arms, quietly waiting for Grandma Li to finish feeding her daughter.
Seeing that Old Mrs. Li was taciturn and didn't seem happy at all, I guessed that she might be worried about Grandpa Zhen and her two older brothers.
She quickly comforted her, "Mother, don't worry. I didn't see Father and my brothers when I went there. Niu Niu also said that she didn't see them come out of the cave. They're probably lost inside."
"I'll ask Brother Qu to help me look for it tomorrow morning."
Grandma Li frowned, pursed her lips, and said, "Why should I worry about them? Your father is quick-witted; he probably saw that things were not going well and took your brothers to hide."
Although Zhen Wanwan did not agree with this, she did not want to spoil her mother's mood, as long as her mother could relax.
"Yeah, then don't look so glum, cheer up~" Zhen Wanwan said coquettishly, "Look at you, you suddenly have two grandchildren, people are envious!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished speaking, Old Lady Li became even more silent, and her face turned even more unpleasant.
Does her mother not like her twins?
"That can't be!" Zhen Wanwan asked tentatively, her voice trembling with anxiety. "Mom, what's wrong? What did I do to upset you?"
Grandma Li paused for a second while breastfeeding, then continued feeding the baby, sip by sip. She laughed in exasperation, "Which eye of yours saw me angry with you?"
"Look how green your face is, and you still say you're not angry," Zhen Wanwan retorted silently.
Grandma Li sighed deeply, looking at the little one obediently drinking milk in her arms, her heart filled with conflict, and she felt even more heartache for her own daughter.
Then she made a startling statement: "You're really going to raise these two children yourself?"
Zhen Wanwan was almost scared out of her wits by what Old Lady Li said. She looked at Old Lady Li in disbelief: "Mother, what do you mean? Do you want me to abandon the two children?"
"That's absolutely impossible!"
"Tsk, what's the rush? I haven't finished speaking yet!"
Old Mrs. Li was also taken aback by her strong reaction. She said dryly, "They lack food and clothing on the road, and it would be difficult for them to be fed in our home. It's better to send them away..."
The cave was quiet, with only the howling wind outside. Seeing that Zhen Wanwan's face was very pale, Old Lady Li swallowed back the words that were about to come out.
The campfire flickered, and Wang Cuihua became even more careful as she covered the child with a blanket.
It's clear how damaging Old Lady Li's words were!
When the two children heard that they were to be given away, they refused to drink milk or sleep, and quietly awaited their verdict.
Seeing that she had hurt her daughter's feelings, Old Mrs. Li quickly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "I didn't mean to abandon them, it's just..."
Seeing that whole row of grain and fodder, I wanted to advise her that she couldn't raise her child, but I couldn't utter a single word.
She retorted dismissively, "Wanwan, you know how they got here..."
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