Chapter 5 Treat Me Like Your Own Family
Looking at the thin layer of sweat on the woman's forehead, Xie Suzhou's eyes flashed with uncertainty, "You..."
"What?" Su Cheng raised his head, supported himself on his knees and stood up straight, and asked jokingly, "Did you think I ran away secretly?"
Xie Suzhou choked, turned his head away, did not respond to her, silently picked up the dishes on the ground and walked towards the kitchen.
After eating the fried bacon, Xie Cuicui was obviously less afraid of women. She carefully approached her and hesitated for a long time before asking, "Stepmother, where have you been?"
"Go find your brother. I know he was taken home by your second uncle. I just happened to dig up some wild vegetables in the mountains." Su Cheng half bent over and pinched her little nose. "Are you hungry? I'll make you some scrambled eggs with wild vegetables."
Seeing his sister approaching to talk to the evil stepmother, Xie Chen lowered his head, tapping the dirt with his toes, feeling a little depressed.
"Hey, kid, are you hungry?"
Xie Chen suddenly raised his little face and met his stepmother's smiling eyes.
Su Cheng raised an eyebrow at him, his eyes teasing, "Scrambled eggs, do you want to eat?"
Xie Chen pinched the corner of his clothes, his eyes a little evasive, his ears reddened but he pretended to be reluctant, "There are no eggs at home."
"How is that possible?" Su Cheng was dumbfounded. "Isn't Xie Suzhou a scholar? He even collected bacon, so how could he not have eggs?"
Just after she finished saying this, she noticed that the little boy's face changed slightly and he looked at her intently.
Su Cheng paused, smelling something bad.
Xie Cuicui raised her head with an innocent look in her eyes. "You, my stepmother, sent all the eggs in the house back to your own home. You even took away the only chicken."
It was really the original body’s fault.
Su Cheng pursed his lips, not daring to meet the two children's gaze for a moment. After hesitating for a long time, he said angrily, "I'll go get some wild vegetables and exchange them for two eggs from the next yard."
There are two households next door. The one to the east is Aunt Liu's family, and the one to the west has moved to the town a long time ago, so the yard is empty.
Su Cheng had no other choice but to go to the Liu family with wild onions.
After knocking a few times, the wooden door creaked open from the inside. Aunt Liu poked her head out and asked, "Who is it at this late hour?"
Seeing Su Cheng's pretty little face, Aunt Liu curled her lips and raised her hand to close the door.
"Auntie!" Su Cheng stretched out one foot and pushed against the door to prevent her from closing it.
Seeing this, Aunt Liu's face changed instantly, "Why, what are you going to do?"
Su Cheng was not blind, and could naturally see Aunt Liu's malice towards the original body, but she had just arrived and only knew Aunt Liu.
"Auntie, this is some wild onion I just picked. I brought some to you for you to try." Su Cheng had a smile on his face and coaxed the woman in a soft voice.
Seeing that Su Cheng was not as cunning as usual, Aunt Liu rolled her eyes, still on guard, "Can you be so kind? I'm afraid you are not asking me to do something!"
Su Cheng chuckled and spoke tentatively, "Xie Chen was able to return home safely, thanks to you, Aunt. As his stepmother, it's only right for me to come over and give you some food as a token of my gratitude."
Aunt Liu's expression brightened a little, and she reached out to take the food. "Don't be polite, we all live in the same village..."
"only……"
Hearing this, Aunt Liu quickly retracted her hand and hid most of her body behind the door, ready to close the door and send people away at any time.
She knew that this evil woman had no good intentions!
Su Cheng passed the vegetables in his hand to her arms, with a more flattering look on his face, and used his adopted son as an excuse, "Xie Chen accidentally fell into a hunter's trap and was hung on a tree for a long time. He was quite frightened. I was thinking of using these vegetables to exchange for an egg from Auntie to feed the child."
Su Cheng flipped through the vegetables in his hand as he spoke. "Besides a bunch of wild onions, there are also a lot of wild vegetables I picked recently. I picked them all out for Auntie. I guarantee they'll be delicious!"
Aunt Liu's expression changed slightly. She looked her up and down, somewhat surprised. "Can you, Su Cheng, be so kind?"
Su Cheng's smile was sincere and her tone was gentle, making people feel comfortable. "I know that Aunt is at a loss by exchanging vegetables for eggs, but I don't have any other options right now. How about this? Consider the eggs as something I borrowed from Aunt. I'll go back to my parents' home tomorrow and I'll definitely be able to return the eggs to Aunt."
Aunt Liu pursed her lips and was hesitating when she heard a man's voice coming from the yard behind her.
"Yuyun, give it to her."
Aunt Liu sighed softly, turned around as if resigned to her fate, walked to the chicken coop, grabbed a handful, returned to the door, and stuffed it into Su Cheng's arms, "Take it, you don't have to return it."
Su Cheng lowered her eyes and looked at the three eggs in her palm, which were still covered with soft chicken feathers. "Auntie, this..."
"My family isn't wealthy, but we can afford three eggs. Go and give them to Chen'er and Cui'er. Sanlang is still sick." Aunt Liu glanced at her with an unhappy tone, "As long as you can live a peaceful life and stop beating and scolding others, these three eggs of mine will not be given in vain!"
After saying that, she snatched the wild vegetables and onions from Su Cheng's hand, and the wooden door closed in an instant.
Su Cheng held the three eggs in his hand, pursed his lips and smiled secretly.
After all, he is a farmer, simple and kind-hearted.
"Three eggs and some wild onions are enough to make a stir-fry." Su Cheng turned around and went back to the Xie family yard, but found Xie Suzhou standing not far away.
Su Cheng didn't know how long he had been looking at her, and was too lazy to guess his purpose. He just passed him and went back to the yard.
The most urgent task is to please the two younger ones of the Xie family and try to increase their favorability.
A plate of scrambled eggs with wild onions was served on the table. There were many mouths waiting to eat at home, so Su Cheng divided the eggs into four portions and served them to everyone.
Xie Cuicui looked around, then turned her head to look at her, "Stepmother, don't you want to eat?"
"My stepmother doesn't like wild onions, so you guys eat them." Su Cheng stroked her dry hair, a smile on his face, and said softly, "Eat quickly before they get cold."
Xie Suzhou looked at the small bowl of eggs in front of him, his eyes lowered in silence, his back to the moonlight, making it impossible to see his expression.
[Xie Suzhou's favorability +2]
Su Cheng, who was washing the pot, paused and turned his head to look at the yard in confusion.
A small bowl of eggs can add two points of favorability. Isn't this future powerful official too worthless?
Su Cheng shrugged, cleared his mind of all the messy thoughts, and concentrated on washing the pot.
"Let me do it."
Hearing the noise, Su Cheng looked up suspiciously, just in time to see Xie Suzhou step over the kitchen threshold and stand beside the stove.
"You're coming?" Su Cheng looked at him with surprise, half believing and half doubting, "Don't you scholars have a saying that goes... a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen?"
"That doesn't work on me."
He was the one who usually made the fire and cooked at home, and the two little ones helped him.
Sanlang is weak, and Silang is often not at home when he goes out on escort missions. If he doesn't do it, won't the whole family starve to death?
Xie Suzhou rolled up his sleeves, revealing his strong and muscular forearms. He took the item from Su Cheng's hand and said in a low voice, "It's my fault for misunderstanding you today without knowing the truth. I... apologize to you."
Su Cheng raised an eyebrow, a sly look flashed in his eyes, his eyes reddened, and he pretended to be aggrieved. His nasal tone was heavier when he spoke, "Speaking of this, I feel quite empty inside. My uncle and I are obviously family, but you easily believed what Miss Zhou said..."
Xie Suzhou froze, hearing her sob, and subconsciously turned his head to look back, just in time to see a tear falling from the corner of Su Cheng's eye. He suddenly became flustered, "I didn't believe her easily, but before noon, you and that guy... I was wrong... Sister-in-law."
Su Cheng sobbed and wiped the tears from his face, pretending to be magnanimous. "Forget it, we are all family. There is no need to say outside words. I just hope that my uncle can give me some trust in the future and treat me as one of his own."
Xie Suzhou lowered his eyelids, not daring to look at her tearful appearance, and replied vaguely, "Yeah."
"Meow--"
Suddenly, a sound like a cat's cry was heard outside the yard. Xie Suzhou's face changed slightly, and his deep eyes fell on the woman next to him.
Unexpectedly, Su Cheng didn't even raise his head, but wiped the table seriously, and hummed a few lines of a little tune he had never heard of from time to time.
"Meow--"
Xie Suzhou's fingertips were white as he pinched the rag, and there was a hint of inquiry in his gaze as he looked at her. "Aren't you...going out?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
