That night, the quintuplets took turns going out for fresh air, persisting until 3:45 AM. As dawn broke, the five brothers finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed onto their beds, falling fast asleep.
As dawn broke, their worries subsided. They figured the refugees wouldn't dare come during the day, so they could finally catch up on their sleep.
Zhao Guihua hadn't slept all night. She dozed off for a few moments in the middle of the night, but her mind was preoccupied with other things, and she soon woke up again. She endured her headache and got up, with obvious dark circles under her eyes.
I couldn't sleep anyway, so I got up to make breakfast. I hadn't slept all night and was feeling very unwell, which also affected my appetite, but I still decided to make meat porridge.
She took out some dried meat and put it in a clay pot with rice to cook. Then Zhao Guihua went to the backyard to pick a handful of green vegetables, washed them, and put the chopped green vegetables in when the meat porridge was ready.
Smelling the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, Xingxing quickly got out of bed, went to the water tank to fetch water to rinse her mouth and wash her face. After washing up, she ran to the stove to watch.
"Mom, the meat porridge smells so good! Even Xingxing is drooling from the aroma." The little girl looked up at her, her round eyes incredibly cute.
"It'll be ready soon, you go wait in the main room first." Zhao Guihua chuckled. This little girl is always craving food; she's such a little foodie.
"I'm going to call my brothers to get up for dinner." Xingxing skipped out quickly with her short legs.
"Knock knock knock." Xingxing knocked on the door with her little pink fist.
"Big brother, second brother, third brother, fourth brother, fifth brother, get up quickly! The sun is shining on your bottoms! It's time to eat breakfast! No sleeping in! Get up now!"
The five brothers groaned and whimpered on the kang (a heated brick bed) for a long time. Zhou Wufu and Zhou Sifu huddled together in a corner, Zhou Erfu lay motionless on the kang, and Zhou Sanfu and Zhou Dafu lay on the very edge, sleeping the most upright.
The brothers have always had excellent sleep quality. Even though Xingxing had been knocking on their door for quite a while, they remained lying there as still as mountains, and it didn't affect their nap at all.
Dafu opened his eyes, staring blankly at the roof beam, not wanting to say a word. He had gone to bed the earliest last night, but hadn't slept in the latter half of the night, staying up until dawn. He had just fallen asleep when he was woken up, feeling utterly hopeless.
The others seemed not to hear their sister's voice at all, showing no reaction whatsoever. Zhou Sanfu, however, replied weakly, "Xingxing, I'm too sleepy to get up for breakfast. You and Mom eat, don't worry about us."
"If you don't eat properly, you won't grow tall. When you grow up, you won't have any strength, and you won't be able to win a fight. You need to eat on time to grow taller," Xingxing earnestly advised her older brothers.
Unfortunately, there was no sound from inside the house. It seemed that no one had listened to her at all. Xingxing felt a little annoyed and went back to the kitchen with a pout.
"Mom, my brothers won't get up to eat. Xingxing called them for a long time, but they ignored me."
Zhao Guihua picked up the straw, placed it on the stove, and then carried it to the main room. Xingxing followed behind her, running back and forth.
"Be careful, don't rush, I'll go call them." After placing the earthenware pot containing the meat porridge on the table, Zhao Guihua went to knock on her son's door.
"Dafu and Erfu, why are you still sleeping? What time is it? You need to be called to eat. If you don't want to eat, you might as well not eat today and save a day's food."
These five boys usually run faster than rabbits when they hear it's time to eat, and they eat like they're in a battle, afraid of missing out if they're a step too slow. But today, it's like the sun has risen in the west; they're not even in a hurry when it's time to eat.
It's okay to skip a meal, but not eating for a day is unacceptable. The quintuplets immediately jumped up from the kang (a heated brick bed), quickly dressed, and ran out of the house.
"Why do you all have such dark circles under your eyes? Did you go thieves last night and not sleep at all?" Zhao Guihua was shocked. She herself hadn't slept all night, so her eyes were covered in dark circles and her complexion was bad, but how come her five sons looked like this too?
"Dafu, you tell me, what exactly were you guys up to last night?"
Zhou Dafu rubbed his temples and said weakly, "Mother, last night my brothers and I discussed it and were worried that the refugees would come and steal our food in the middle of the night, so we didn't sleep much and took turns keeping watch. But the whole night was quiet and nothing happened. This morning we couldn't take it anymore and wanted to catch up on some sleep."
Hearing this, Zhao Guihua felt both amused and annoyed, and also heartbroken. The children had grown up and become sensible; look at how capable they were, causing such a commotion all night.
She grumbled a few words in her mind, but said nothing on the surface. She simply told the children to go wash up, eat, and then go to sleep.
"Nothing happened last night, but we can't let our guard down. It could happen any night in the next few days. It looks like we won't be able to sleep soundly for a while." Zhao Guihua's face was full of worry. "Does God not want ordinary people to live in peace? Disasters keep coming one after another. When will it ever end?"
Xingxing sat on the bench, scooped up a mouthful of porridge and ate it. Her big, clear eyes blinked, and she seemed a little guilty. She had slept very well last night. Well, she seemed to sleep very soundly every day.
But she was also worried that the refugees would break in, so she felt that she couldn't sleep too soundly at night and had to listen to the noise outside. But as she worried, she fell asleep without realizing it.
Sigh, how melancholy. Does Xingxing not have as many worries as her mother and brothers?
As soon as Zhao Guihua entered, she saw her daughter's eyes darting around. Somehow, the little girl noticed her coming in and suddenly lowered her head, refusing to look at her.
What's wrong?
Zhao Guihua realized after a moment's thought that the little girl was angry with herself. She had promised not to fall asleep and to be on guard, but she had fallen asleep again. In the morning, everyone else had dark circles under their eyes, but she looked refreshed. Zhao Guihua was so annoyed.
"Xingxing, don't be upset anymore. Mom was asleep last night too. Your brothers slept like pigs this morning and couldn't even get up. They're not as good as you, Xingxing." Zhao Guihua ladled porridge into her five sons' bowls while coaxing her little girl.
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