Lu Yanzheng took the two children to the shower room to wash their hands and faces, and then had Jiang Qinyu take them back to the master bedroom. He left the three of them, aunt and niece, alone in the yard to chop wood.
"Shufan, Pan'er, do you know who that woman who just came to our house is?" Jiang Qinyu asked seriously.
The two nodded and said crisply, "We know!"
"Then why don't you come out to see her?" Jiang Qinyu's expression softened a bit, and she patiently continued to ask.
Shu Fan pursed his lips and said, "We don't have a mother. She killed our father and is our enemy."
Jiang Qinyu showed no surprise, after all, she had already guessed it, and the villagers all knew about Liu Yuqing's situation. They hadn't kept it from the two children all these years, so it was normal for them to have such thoughts.
"Will you ever suddenly want to see her and live with her in the future?" Jiang Qinyu asked after thinking for a moment.
This time, it was Pan'er who spoke up, "No! We don't want Mother, we only want Auntie!"
“But she is your biological mother…” Jiang Qinyu frowned slightly.
Shufan interrupted her, "Just like Aunt said, our biological mother died when she gave birth to us. She killed Father. We don't owe her anything, and we don't want to see her."
“Yes!” Pan’er nodded vigorously.
Although Liu Yuqing gave birth to them, her kindness in giving birth to them has been offset by their father's death, and she has no obligation to raise them either. Now they are even, and it's best if neither of them bothers the other.
Jiang Qinyu didn't ask them why they thought that way, but only asked, "Don't you regret it?"
"No regrets!" The two shook their heads in unison.
Jiang Qinyu nodded, her eyes lowered in thought.
Shufan, however, asked somewhat nervously after her confirmation, "Does Auntie think we shouldn't do this? If we make the wrong decision, will it affect Auntie?"
He wasn't worried about affecting them, but he was worried that his aunt would be implicated.
Jiang Qinyu smiled upon hearing this, and patted his head, saying, "Silly child, it's normal for you to make the decision you've made after she did what she did. Besides, even if it's a wrong decision, you don't need to blame yourselves."
The two children looked at her with puzzlement, their eyes asking, "Why?"
Jiang Qinyu pulled the two of them into her arms, patted their backs gently, and said softly, "Think about it, if you make a mistake, won't you be criticized or even beaten by many people very quickly?"
The two nodded, bewildered.
Jiang Qinyu continued, "So, what we need to do in this situation is, of course, to protect ourselves first! When you make a mistake, the first thing you should do is protect yourself, because others will come to hurt you, understand?"
Simply put, never engage in internal strife.
Even if it is truly your fault, internal strife will not help. As long as you have a bottom line, the mistakes you make will not be too difficult to correct. In that case, why blame and punish yourself?
In Jiang Qinyu's mind, she would make up for her mistakes and find ways to give away even the extra money, but no one could expect her to cause internal strife. No matter how big the problem was, she could sleep soundly with a clear conscience.
Jiang Qinyu's words sparked a completely new perspective in the young minds of the two children, which played a decisive role in their future development.
However, no one knew that Jiang Qinyu, seeing that it was almost time, got up and took one child in each hand, walking out, saying, "Come on, let's go to Grandma's house to eat dumplings!"
When Lu Yanzheng saw them come out in the yard, he first checked on the two children and found that their eyes were bright again and they were walking with a bit of a bouncy gait, so he felt relieved.
He put down the axe, brushed the wood chips off his hands and clothes, and smiled at the two children, saying, "Do you still want your uncle to carry you?"
"No need, no need," the two waved their hands repeatedly and said in unison, "Thank you, Uncle!"
Although it felt nice to be held by my uncle, his flesh was hard, so it was better to hold my aunt's hand.
Lu Yanzheng patted their heads and said, "Don't think too much about anything. We are family now and we always will be."
The two children paused for a moment, then said loudly, "Thank you, Uncle!"
This "thank you" was much more heartfelt than the previous one.
"Good boy." Lu Yanzheng patted their heads again, his smile widening.
A faint smile played on Jiang Qinyu's lips; it was a genuine smile.
She was very fortunate that the original owner of this body had married into the Lu family, with in-laws like Old Man Lu and Madam Chen, and a husband like Lu Yanzheng. If it were someone else, Shufan and Pan'er might not have survived those years of drought.
Thinking about it this way, perhaps she no longer needs to be so wary of Lu Yanzheng? After all, he doesn't seem to have any intention of changing wives.
"What are you thinking about?" Lu Yanzheng walked to Jiang Qinyu's side and suddenly asked, "Do you need me to help you deal with the Liu family?"
Jiang Qinyu snapped out of her reverie, remembering what she had just been thinking, and a faint blush rose to her cheeks. Upon hearing this, she quickly said, "No need. Since we let her go today, as long as she doesn't cause trouble again in the future, for the sake of Shufan and Pan'er, I don't need to kill her."
Lu Yanzheng's lips moved, and he said, "Okay, let's do it your way."
However, based on his observation of that woman Liu today, he knew she wouldn't give up so easily.
It's alright. His Qinqin will let her off the hook for the sake of the child, but he's not that magnanimous. There are some things he still needs to do.
When the two arrived at Lao Lu's house, Chen and Yunzhu Amber had already served all the dumplings.
"Come, come, our Pan'er said she wanted to eat dumplings, and we spent quite a while making them today," Chen said with a smile.
It was as if Liu Yuqing had never appeared at all.
Jiang Qinyu knew she was deliberately changing the subject, so she smiled and cooperated, saying, "Really? Then I'll have to carefully taste the dumplings they made."
She glanced around the room and noticed someone was missing, so she asked, "Mother, where is Cousin Chen?"
“That girl? She said she was going out to pick wild vegetables, she should be back by now…” Chen Shi only realized Chen Xiu’er wasn’t there after being reminded by her, and stood up again after sitting down.
Lu Yanzheng said, "She's not a child anymore; she'll come back on her own."
Mrs. Chen thought about it and agreed, so she sat down again, but still frowned and said, "That girl is really something, she ran out when it was almost dinner time..."
Before she could finish speaking, Chen Xiuer's voice came from the courtyard, "Auntie, Uncle, I'm back!"
Mrs. Chen quickly replied, "Hurry up and wash your hands and come eat."
This girl arrived at just the right time.
Chen Xiuer's voice was cheerful, "Okay, Auntie, I'll be right there."
These past few years have been tough for everyone, but during her time at the Lu family home, she ate meat for the first time in two years.
Not only could the Lu family eat meat, but they also had all sorts of vegetables she had never seen before served on their table.
In addition, she also learned about Lu Yanzheng's identity.
The renowned General Who Protects the Nation is actually her cousin!
This made her want to stay in the Lu family even more and never leave.
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