"What are you standing there for? Help your mother sweep the snow off the roof."
"Otherwise she'll be cold down there."
Chen Yunyun conjured brooms and dustpans out of thin air and, together with the children, cleaned up the messy graves.
After the snow was removed, slightly damp soil was exposed.
After clearing away all the weed roots, Chen Yunyun took out incense, candles, paper money, and a brazier.
“Come here and talk to your mother.”
Chen Yunyun put the third child down as well, pinched his cheek, and said, "Don't sleep. You're the most disobedient one. Kneel down properly."
Chen Yunyun helped light the fire and burned some paper money in the brazier. She left the rest of the paper money for the children to burn themselves.
After making the preparations, she stepped back five meters away to an open area, allowing the children to talk to their own mother.
Niu Niu was the first to cry. She didn't want to cry, but tears just kept falling.
Mom, I'm sorry, but I feel that you are treating me better now than you were before.
She never only values my brother and ignores me.
She respected my thoughts and feelings, and never skimped on our food and drink.
She would make me new clothes and new shoes.
Look at this one I'm wearing around my neck, she made it for me too, it's so warm.
Her cooking is much better than yours; she always manages to conjure up a ton of delicious food out of thin air.
My brother and I both thought she was a monster, but I believed she must be a good one.
...
Mother... I'm sorry, I think I've fallen in love with the mother I know now.
I'm a bad kid, aren't I?
Niu Niu silently shed tears.
The older child, who was more mature than Niu Niu, was much quieter.
Watching the flames dance in the brazier, he simply burned paper again and again without uttering a word.
Sanwa was a bit naive; Chen Yunyun forced him to kneel on the ground, but within two seconds, he collapsed to the ground.
They use their little hands to play with the snow around them, or tug at their older siblings' clothes, playing by themselves.
Half an hour later, Da Wa and Niu Niu finally got up.
Niu Niu's eyes were already swollen from crying, and Da Wa wasn't much better off; his little face was white from the cold wind.
Chen Yunyun quickly led them home. Before leaving, Chen Yunyun looked back at the grave mound.
I will take good care of them for you, don't worry.
The ashes left from the burning paper money were blown high by the wind, as if in response to Chen Yunyun's words.
A system notification pops up: [Congratulations, host, on unlocking the Cub Affection Value. You can click to view your Cub Affection Value. Note: When the Cub Affection Value reaches 100%, you will receive one free lottery draw.]
Chen Yunyun opened the panel and selected to view.
[Xu Jingrun's affection level: 75%]
[Xu Jingtian's affection level: 80%]
[Xu Jingsheng's Affection Value: Too young to be calculated]
This affection value is actually quite accurate.
Chen Yunyun's mental estimate was about the same.
She loves these three children very much and wants to live with them.
But the children have the right to choose, so as soon as Chen Yunyun returned home, she held her first family meeting.
She made it very clear, "I know you two are very smart. You've known all along that I'm not your stepmother, haven't you?"
Da Wa and Niu Niu looked at each other, then slowly nodded to Chen Yunyun.
Chen Yunyun stated clearly at the outset, "Now there's a problem: I don't know your father, and I don't want to live with him."
"Do you agree that I should divorce him?"
Both children looked confused. Divorce?
This word was completely foreign to them.
Chen Yunyun explained, "That's right, I will always be your mother, I will never abandon you."
"I just won't live with your father. After I divorce him, I will fight for custody of you."
Would you like to live with me?
In fact, all Chen Yunyun needs to do is divorce that man.
According to what I heard in my dream that day, the man couldn't wait to get rid of these burdens, and child custody was not an issue at all.
However, Chen Yunyun has never raised children, and she worries that without a father's presence, her children might feel inferior or develop some psychological problems.
She had no choice but to prepare the children early on, letting them make their own choices.
Niu Niu was the first to nod. In her eyes, her father only came back once a year, was stern and unsmiling, and was very scary.
Even when he came back, he would only talk to his brother and rarely showed concern for her alone.
In fact, Da Wa's thoughts are similar to Niu Niu's. His father is a hands-off manager. He says he's a military officer who's busy in the army, but in reality, he's left the mountains and doesn't want to go home.
When his father came back last year, he complained many times that the house was not as nice as the city, and there wasn't even an electric light...
His longing for his father, in the end, was nothing more than a self-deceiving fantasy.
"We choose you," the two children answered in unison.
Seeing this, Chen Yunyun almost burst into tears. *Sobbing*, the child she raised is finally her own!
After the Chinese New Year, she would take the children to Xu Zhijun's military unit to find someone to divorce him.
Once she gets the divorce certificate, she will honestly and wholeheartedly raise the children.
If she met the right person, and he didn't mind the dolls, she might be interested in trying being with him.
Ah, it seems I'm thinking a bit too far ahead.
Cough cough, Chen Yunyun stopped her wild thoughts and went to make dinner.
Just as Chen Yunyun was peacefully planning for the future, she never expected that a crisis was already imminent, and she almost lost her children because of it...
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