By the time Zhao Qinglan heard the commotion and came out, Da Wa had already run far away.
She could only carry the rest of the bag into the house.
Erwa finally couldn't resist his curiosity about what was inside the big bags and temporarily abandoned his brother to come along.
However, Erwa still remembered his brother's instructions and ignored Zhao Qinglan, his stepmother.
"Why are you here too?" Li Huai had just put down his bag when he saw Zhao Qinglan come in.
"Dad, what's in the bag?" Erwa asked, extremely curious.
Zhao Qinglan smiled, opened a bag, took out a cookie box and some candy, took out two cookies and a few pieces of candy, and handed them to Erwa.
"I bought these for you, eat them."
Erwa swallowed hard, his mouth watering, but remembering he couldn't betray his brother, he could only try to turn his head away.
"I won't eat your food."
Zhao Qinglan smiled, took Erwa's hand, and placed the food in his hand. "Your dad paid for it."
Erwa grabbed the treats and ran off.
Dad bought it, so of course he can eat it. Go share it with your brother!
Seeing Erwa leave happily, Li Huai also smiled.
"Thank you, Qinglan."
"No need to thank me, I'm just telling the truth. It was bought with your money anyway." Zhao Qinglan said and then left.
Li Huai was speechless for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
When Zhao Qinglan arrived at Wu Mei's side, she also got busy.
Wu Mei was initially polite, but seeing Zhao Qinglan's sincerity, she let her do it.
In fact, Wu Mei also wanted to see if Zhao Qinglan was capable of doing the work.
Her own husband had told her to observe the situation more closely.
Everyone says stepmothers are bad, but since they acted as matchmakers for Li Huai, he'll have to worry about them a lot.
Seeing how efficiently Zhao Qinglan worked, Wu Mei nodded in approval.
When Sun Shengli returned home, he found the house bustling with activity and all the food prepared.
Wu Mei has already sent her children out to find Yan Sen and Erwa.
While Zhao Qinglan was going back to her room to get a stool, she took some things out of her bag and brought them to the next room along with the stool.
"Commander, sister-in-law, Li Huai has been away these past few days. Please take care of Yan Sen and the others. This is just a small token of our appreciation."
She placed a bag of white sugar, a bag of sugar cubes, and two jars of fruit on the table.
"Look at you, what are you doing? Put it away quickly." Sun Shengli frowned.
“That’s right, Qinglan. We were just lending a hand and feeding the two kids for a few days. There’s no need to be so polite,” Wu Mei added, also declining the offer.
Li Huai hadn't expected Zhao Qinglan to suddenly pull this stunt, but he didn't think it was bad. He just felt that this woman was indeed more meticulous than a man; he hadn't thought of these things.
Seeing that Li Huai didn't speak, Zhao Qinglan continued, "This is for the children, sister-in-law, please don't be shy, otherwise we'll be too embarrassed to trouble you again, don't you think, Li Huai?" Zhao Qinglan tugged at Li Huai.
"Yes, yes, sister-in-law, please accept it."
Sun Shengli's hometown is also in the countryside. He has several brothers in his hometown, and his parents are still alive but stay there.
Because he couldn't support his parents, Sun Shengli always felt guilty, so every month when he received his allowance, he would send half of it back home.
They have three other children, a daughter and two sons, all of school age.
It is said that a half-grown boy can eat his father out of house and home, so their family was not well-off.
Sugar and canned goods were rare items, so Wu Mei naturally liked them.
Seeing that Li Huai and Zhao Qinglan both asked her to accept it, she was tempted.
After hearing that they wouldn't accept his help, Sun Shengli didn't dare ask them for any more assistance, and he didn't say the words of refusal.
When the Sun family children returned with Yan Sen and Erwa, Wu Mei gave each child a piece of candy and also opened a jar of food and poured it into their bowls to add a dish.
As expected, the children were overjoyed, and even Yan Sen, who disliked Zhao Qinglan as his stepmother, joined in the fun, grabbing the canned food to eat.
The adults were happy to see the children so happy.
Because of this, Wu Mei found Zhao Qinglan more and more agreeable, thinking that she was good at handling things.
After dinner, Zhao Qinglan helped clean up before she and Li Huai took the children home.
Yan Sen was still reluctant, but if he didn't go back, where would he stay that night? He could only continue to ignore his stepmother, Zhao Qinglan.
Although Yan Sen and Erwa have been eating at Sun Shengli's house these days, they still sleep at their own home at night.
The two children don't know how to tidy up, so the house is a bit messy.
As soon as she returned, Zhao Qinglan started cleaning, and Li Huai helped her by pumping water in the yard.
Inside the house, Yan Sen took Erwa to their room to play, while Xiaoduo sat alone watching her mother work.
The house that Li Huai was allocated had three rooms in a row. The middle room served as the living room, kitchen, and dining room. The left room was where Yan Sen and his two brothers lived, and the right room was where Li Huai and his ex-wife Zhu Kexin lived.
Li Huai brought water into the house and washed up with Zhao Qinglan.
While busy with her work, Zhao Qinglan discussed things with Li Huai.
"Look at the number of us, how are we going to sleep tonight?" She wanted to hear Li Huai's opinion.
"How do you want to sleep?" Li Huai asked back, wanting to hear Zhao Qinglan's opinion as well.
"How about this, the two of us will take Xiaoduo to sleep in one room, and Yansen and the others can continue to stay over there for now."
Zhao Qinglan said this with a purpose: firstly, she was worried about her daughter being out of her sight for the time being, and secondly, she did not want to be alone with Li Huai.
Although the two had been husband and wife in their previous life, they were both quite old then, and she was diagnosed with an illness not long afterward, so they didn't have many intimate moments together.
But now, she fears that Li Huai, young and impetuous, can't bear being alone.
Although she trusts Li Huai, she is not yet psychologically prepared for the fact that she has been reborn and has encountered Li Huai in his younger days.
Li Huai hesitated for a moment before agreeing. "Let's leave it at that for now."
Zhao Qinglan did not rashly attempt to move her two sons' rooms, which relieved him.
His sons are still very resistant to Qinglan, their stepmother, and he's not afraid of doing something that will make them even more rebellious.
In the room on the left, Yan Sen was playing absentmindedly, constantly worrying about what was happening outside.
"Brother, it's your turn."
"Shh, don't talk."
He walked to the door and pressed his ear against it.
When Yan Sen heard his stepmother say that she was going to bring her biological daughter and sleep in the same room with his father, he felt both envious and heartbroken.
He and his brother don't even sleep in the same room as their father, but their stepmother brings her child to sleep in the same room with their father. Why is that?!
Sure enough, with a stepmother comes a stepfather. The aunt who told me wasn't lying; my dad stopped loving them so quickly.
The thought of his father being taken away from him made him lose all interest in playing.
Thinking that things might get worse for him and his brother, he became more and more dejected.
Meanwhile, Erwa was secretly pleased with himself.
This stepmother gave them good food, always had a smile on her face, was pretty, and had a nice voice. He suddenly thought that having a stepmother wasn't so bad.
The brothers' emotions went in completely opposite directions.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring Sun family, Sun Shengli and his wife were also whispering about Zhao Qinglan.
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