20
Lin Jiang and Chen Yu were both dumbfounded. What was going on? They didn't quite understand. Just a minute ago, the children were obediently telling their parents, "I will be good," but now they were starting to whine and make demands.
But the two of them still thought they were very cute.
As if realizing something, Chen Yucai picked Xiaohe up and put her on his lap. His long beard accidentally brushed against her hair. He laughed twice and asked, "Want to watch cartoons?"
"Yes!"
Xiao He held her face in her hands, thinking that she was so cute that her uncle would definitely agree. Her mother had said that her uncle and aunt were the best people ever.
Chen asked the other two children, "Mumu and Caicai, do you want to watch cartoons?"
Cai nodded vigorously, saying it would be even better if he could watch cartoons without eating vegetables.
Mumu hesitated for a moment, then sat alone on a small chair, facing them, nodding very infrequently, her expression cautious.
Chen Yu said, "Uncle would like to let you watch cartoons too, but I don't know if your parents will allow it..."
Mumu honestly said, "No way, Dad said one episode in the morning and one in the afternoon, and it's not time yet."
Chen thought this must be an established rule, and he naturally couldn't break the parents' educational standards. Just as he was about to say something else to distract them, Xiao He said, "Just don't let Dad know."
She's small in stature but incredibly clever.
Lin Jiang smiled, realizing the personalities of the three children. The youngest was the most clever and outgoing, readily expressing his desires with great politeness, making it impossible to refuse him.
However, they still had to refuse slightly this time. They didn't want to raise Zhong Wan's child with bad habits on their own. Since they were going to help take care of someone else's child, they had to follow their methods.
Lin Jiang: "How about I ask your parents later? We'll go watch cartoons as soon as it's time. Now let's play with our toys!"
The three children gathered together and started playing seriously. Since they couldn't see the cartoons, they didn't watch them. They didn't dwell on why they couldn't watch them.
Cai Cai was holding a toy car block and was so focused on building it that he didn't even notice the drool dripping down his face. Lin Jiang wiped it off for him, and Cai Cai leaned against her, looking up and calling out, "Auntie."
"Um?"
"Cai Cai doesn't want to eat vegetables."
I still remember that.
There was still a long time before lunch, but Cai Cai was already worried about the vegetables.
"Didn't you enjoy your meal yesterday? Uncle's cooking is delicious."
No matter how much Lin Jiang praised Chen Yu's cooking skills, Cai Cai just kept shaking his head. He was so tired of eating vegetable porridge last night that he felt uncomfortable whenever he saw green vegetables, and he couldn't stand just mentioning them.
Lin Jiang didn't know what to do. She would just have to improvise. It was perfectly normal for kids not to like vegetables. She still thought it was related to how well the adults cooked them.
Then, she called out to Chen Yu, "Hey!"
"What's wrong?"
"I'm ordering you to make the lunch a little better. Whether or not we can have vegetables depends on you."
Chen, faced with a daunting task, reluctantly agreed, "I guarantee I will complete the mission."
He only played with the children for a short while before leaving to prepare food in the kitchen. Around nine o'clock, guests would start arriving one after another. Lin Jiang led the three children to the innermost table to play, where their water cups were placed.
Mumu is naturally a fruit spirit with lots of water, so she needs to drink plenty of water every day without being reminded by adults. When Caicai and Xiaohe see this, they think there is sugar in the water today, so they also drink from it.
"It has no taste and doesn't taste good."
Cai Cai said he didn't want to drink anymore as soon as his tongue touched the water. He likes everything sweet, and making him drink bland, tasteless water is simply unbearable.
Three children were competing to see who could drink the most water when, a second later, customers arrived at the shop – two pretty girls.
They randomly found an empty seat and sat down. One of the girls took out her phone to scan the QR code on the table to order food, while the other glanced around the layout of the shop. "Xiaoying said this noodle shop is delicious. I wonder if it's true."
As she was looking around, she suddenly noticed three small children standing by the cashier. They were about the same height and all dressed in cute cartoon outfits. She could only see their backs, but she called out to her friend across the counter, "Look! There are little babies!"
Cute children always attract kind glances. The two girls stared at the three little ones for a long time until Mumu turned around and showed her face. They exclaimed in unison, "Her eyes are so beautiful!"
Are these triplets?
"I don't know, I'll ask later." The girl who placed the order immediately ordered two bowls of noodles and a snack, planning to ask the owner if they were triplets when she came over.
...
"Have fun here, but be careful. We have some guests, and Auntie needs to go and greet them."
After understanding, the three children agreed and continued playing with their toys without disturbing each other.
Lin Jiang skillfully brought tea to the table where they ordered food and distributed cutlery to them.
The girl then asked, "Boss lady, do you have three children?"
Lin Jiang was taken aback for a moment, then generously said, "It belongs to a friend, and I'm just letting it stay here for a bit."
"They look so alike, are they triplets?"
"Haha, no, we have twins, a boy and a girl."
"Oh, that's so cute."
Hearing the compliment, Lin Jiang felt pleased: "You are all beautiful too."
After saying that, she turned around and went to the kitchen to get the dishes. She didn't notice that the girl who had just spoken to her had taken a picture of the three children's backs, and even Xiao He's profile was in the picture.
While the food was being served, she cropped the edge of the photo, added a carefully selected background music, and uploaded it to social media.
The video gained likes and favorites at an alarming rate almost immediately after it was posted, without the two girls being aware of it.
-
Zhong Wan deliberately shortened her lunch break to come to the lounge to video chat with Lin Jiang and check on the three children's eating habits.
The noodle shop was very busy in the morning, so they ate late, but there was no need to worry about the children going hungry, as their mouths never stopped moving.
In the video, Zhong Wan reminded the three people: "You should eat vegetables, and it's best not to spill any vegetables or rice on the ground, understand?"
"Understood."
What should we do after eating?
"Sleep." Mumu had a good memory and gave the correct answer.
"Yes, after you finish eating, rest a bit and then go to sleep. Don't make a fuss, Auntie, do you hear me? Mom will come to see you this afternoon."
Xiaohe snatched the phone from Mumu's hand, pointed the camera at herself, and held it very close. A chubby face appeared on the screen, and she said in a spoiled tone, "Mom, I miss you so much."
She wanted to, but she didn't want to let go of the toy with her other hand.
Zhong Wan took her words seriously, her heart softening completely. "I miss you too."
...
With this sentence as motivation, Zhong Wan finished her work well ahead of schedule in the afternoon. The boss told her to leave early. Zhong Wan texted Chu Qinghuai to say that she was going to pick up the child from the noodle shop and asked him to go home and cook.
On the way, she bought a candied hawthorn and put it in her bag so that the three children could share it together.
When Zhong arrived late, the sun hadn't set yet, the temperature was pleasant, and the air was filled with a comforting scent.
She noticed an old woman standing suspiciously at the door, not going in but glancing inside. Judging from her clothes, she didn't look like a beggar. She didn't dare to interfere and walked past her.
"Sister Lin, I've come to pick up the children."
Lin Jiang was the only one at the cashier. Zhong Wan smiled and asked where the little brats had gone.
"Xiao Wan is here so early. Chen Yu took them to the supermarket and they'll be back soon. You can have dinner here tonight."
Zhong Wan refused, saying that Chu Qinghuai had already prepared dinner at home and would leave as soon as the children returned. "Oh dear, you and Yu-ge spoil them too much. Why did they go to the supermarket again? All they know is to buy toys."
Zhong Wan knows her own children well. The three kids' favorite place is the supermarket. They can't resist the delicious food and fun toys. However, Zhong Wan doesn't allow them to eat too many snacks. The food she buys for them is carefully selected. So, the three clever kids focus all their attention on toys.
They wouldn't want the big toys; they all preferred the cheap little ones, and Zhong Wan and Chu Qinghuai felt bad not buying them.
Lin Jiang didn't think it was a big deal. "Kids are better off playing with toys than playing on their phones."
She couldn't wait to give the three babies the most fun toys in the world.
Zhong Wan found an empty seat and the two chatted. She asked Lin Jiang if the children had behaved well today. Lin Jiang said, "All three of them were extremely well-behaved. They didn't fuss at all during their afternoon nap. They slept as soon as they wanted and didn't get up until three o'clock. Only Cai Cai was a little sad because he didn't see his parents and cried for a few minutes. Anyway, they are so much better behaved than my son back then."
Zhong Wan raised an eyebrow. It seemed that everything she had been told had been done and the babies hadn't caused any trouble. They deserved praise.
"You can leave the children here without worry. They've brought me a lot of customers today. The customers all say they're very likable."
Zhong Wan smiled and said, "It's good that I didn't cause any trouble for everyone."
About ten minutes later, the children finally returned. Zhong Wan stood up and opened her arms: "Did you miss me?"
The three of them were holding toys, but they were so happy to see their mother that they put them on the ground.
"Mother!"
Zhong Wan was holding three children when they almost tackled her. "Uncle took you to buy toys? Did you say thank you?"
Chen laughed and said, "It's nothing, no need to say anything."
"You can't buy toys next time. What do kids need so many toys for? Okay, say goodbye to your uncle and aunt, we're going home."
Zhong Wan carried three water cups and told the children to say goodbye.
Lin Jiang waved goodbye reluctantly: "See you tomorrow."
Cai Cai ran up to Lin Jiang and, like a little penguin, said with a grin, "Auntie, I want to come again."
"Auntie knows, Auntie welcomes you."
Time had been wasted too long, and Chu Qinghuai was getting impatient if they didn't leave soon. So, under Zhong Wan's direction, Mu Mu led her younger siblings out of the noodle shop. Each of them had a whistle that Chen Yu had bought for them hanging around their necks. As it swayed, a gentle breeze seemed to make a soft sound.
The sunset glowed the clouds, and golden light danced across the earth like graceful butterflies.
"Don't push, take it slow." Zhong Wan walked behind to protect the three children and took a picture of this beautiful scene with her phone.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
