Under the gazes of five pairs of eyes, Mu Jingzhe finished preparing lunch.

  The lunch was sumptuous. Feeling guilty, Mu Jingzhe had prepared all their favorite dishes.

  “Hurry up and eat.”

  “Okay.”

  Xiao Wu, who had been eating happily, suddenly burst into tears when he saw the familiar delicious food again.

  “What’s wrong? Did you get scalded? Or are you feeling unwell?” Mu Jingzhe asked anxiously.

  Xiao Wu shook his head. “No, I was just wondering if I was dreaming. Mom, it wasn’t a dream when you came back, right? If it is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”

  Mu Jingzhe’s nose instantly felt a stinging sensation. “Of course not. Silly child, I won’t leave again.”

  In spite of her words, the children still followed her around in the afternoon.

  Mu Jingzhe knew that they felt insecure, so she tried her best to keep them company.

  At night, Shao Qiyang, who had not returned for two days, returned.

  He returned dejectedly, with heavy footsteps and dark circles under his eyes, a result of not sleeping well for several days in a row.

  When he reached the door, he tried his best to force a smile before entering.

  As soon as he entered, he saw the light on and could faintly hear the cheerful voices of the children.

  It was as if he had returned to the time when Mu Jingzhe had still been living with them.

  Shao Qiyang paused for a moment, thinking that he might be imagining things. Then, he sped up and rushed to the kitchen with a bang.

  The moment he entered, he saw the children waiting obediently for their food and Mu Jingzhe, who was busy.

  “You’re back. Wash your hands first. It’ll be ready soon.”

  Mu Jingzhe greeted Shao Qiyang.

  Shao Qiyang stood at the door, dumbfounded. He pinched himself to wake up and stop daydreaming.

  However, the pinch hurt. Everything was real. Mu Jingzhe was back!

  “You… You’re back.” Shao Qiyang stared at her without blinking.

  “Mm.” Mu Jingzhe nodded in embarrassment.

  \r \r \r

  A silly grin spread across Shao Qiyang’s face. Without even washing his hands, he went to sit at the dining table and watched Mu Jingzhe cook.

  Mu Jingzhe: “…”

  She was actually about to finish, but she really couldn’t ignore the six pairs of burning eyes staring at her.

  Mu Jingzhe turned around uncomfortably. “Can you guys stop looking?”

  The children had been watching her since this morning, and now that Shao Qiyang had returned, he was doing the same thing.

  “Never mind those children. Shao Qiyang, why are you also staring at me?”

  Shao Qiyang awkwardly shifted his gaze away. “I just wanted to thank you for coming back.”

  The warmth he had dreamed of was back. At that moment, he wished so much that time could stop and this blissfulness could go on forever.

  After this incident, he could no longer lie to himself. He had sunk in too deeply and could not get up anymore, neither did he intend to.

  He was both thrilled and guilty about Mu Jingzhe’s return, so he couldn’t help but apologize to her.

  “It’s not your fault. Why are you apologizing?”

  Shao Qiyang smiled bitterly. It was his fault. He had been incapable of controlling Zhao Lan and the others. If he had, she wouldn’t have suffered such grievances.

  The only thing he could do was work hard and treat Mu Jingzhe well in the future so that she wouldn’t be bullied like this again.

  At that moment, Shao Qiyang and the children had the same thought.

  However, the ways in which they wanted to treat her well were vastly different.

  He still didn’t know about the children’s promises, nor did he know about their bold ideas. Otherwise, he might have had to round up the children’s butts and spank them one by one.

  During the meal, after learning that Shao Dong had been sick, Shao Qiyang was too ashamed to face Mu Jingzhe. “I didn’t take good care of him. I didn’t even know he had a fever.”

  “It’s alright. He’s much better now.” Shao Qiyang was too busy with work and didn’t have the energy to look after everything, so he wasn’t fully to blame.

  At night, Shao Qiyang even volunteered to watch over Shao Dong, but his offer was rejected.

  “Uncle, you still have to work tomorrow. Go rest. You don’t have to watch over me. I’m alright already.”

  Previously, Shao Dong hadn’t recovered from his illness mainly because he had been suppressing his emotions and feeling overwhelmed with worry. Now that Mu Jingzhe had returned, the relief that had washed over him had actually cured most of that illness.

  In any case, he was feeling much better.

  Shao Dong didn’t let Shao Qiyang watch over him, nor did he let Mu Jingzhe continue to do so.

  “Mommy, put Sister to sleep. I’m much better now. If I feel unwell, I’ll look for you.”

  Shao Xi also nodded. “That’s right. I’ll watch over him.”

  Mu Jingzhe had been busy since she had returned. All of them had seen that, so they definitely wouldn’t let her watch over Shao Dong for the night.

  They had agreed to help take care of Mu Jingzhe, so they had to keep their word.

  Mu Jingzhe checked out Shao Dong’s condition and only agreed after seeing that he was indeed much better.

  “Then remember to call me if you feel unwell.”

  Shao Dong, Shao Xi, Shao Nan, and Shao Zhong lay down together and summarized the situation over the past two days.

  “Little Nan, you did a pretty good job starting the fire today. You can help Mommy with that in the future.”

  After Shao Dong praised him, he started thinking about his mission.

  “Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, Little Xi will come with me to pick up some firewood and pine nuts. There’s less and less firewood in the house now. We can’t let Mommy chop firewood by herself.”

  Shao Xi nodded. “Mm.”

  They had done this a lot in the past and were used to it.

  Xiao Wu waited for a while but didn’t hear Big Brother assign him a mission. He anxiously asked, “Brother, what about me?”

  “You? You’re still young. You don’t have to do those chores. Just stay with Mommy and watch over her. If she’s in a bad mood, you can play the flute for her. She gets in a good mood whenever you play it, but you can’t play the kind of music you played a few days ago. It makes people want to burst into tears.”

  Xiao Wu nodded. “Alright, I’ll follow Mommy around.”

  He explained in embarrassment, “A few days ago, I felt upset because Mommy left and I kept wanting to cry. That’s why the flute also wanted to cry.”

  The room was silent for a moment before Shao Dong suddenly spoke.

  “And Little Xi, what you said to Mommy previously wasn’t wrong either, but that’s only part of it. There are also many people who are very blissful after they marry and have kids. So, if Mommy really gets married in the future and has her own children, that will be good too. We’ll dote on our younger siblings together then, understand?”

  The room was plunged into a deadly silence when Shao Dong said this.

  They were still young, but they had heard and seen too much. In an instant, countless thoughts emerged in their minds. Their first reaction was that they couldn’t quite accept this.

  They were afraid. They feared that Mommy would stop doting on them once she had children of her own. She might even not want them anymore.

  Their little hearts sank at the very thought of it.

  Weren’t they enough?

  They really wanted to object at first, but Shao Dong seemed to know what they were going to say and said directly, “We can’t be too selfish, okay?”

  It was not wrong for her to want to have her own children. A wonderful person like her should be happy and live a beautiful and full life.

  When Shao Xi heard Shao Dong’s words, he restrained all his dissatisfaction and responded with a soft ‘Mm’.

  Mommy’s children… If they are as wonderful as Mommy, then… that’s alright too, I guess?

  But thinking about it made him feel uneasy and awful. Shao Xi held it in for a while and finally couldn’t help but complain to Shao Dong for the first time. “Brother, it wasn’t easy for us to get a mother. Can’t you let us experience having a mother for a little longer… You could have told us a few days later.”

  Why did they have to accept such news on the first day they’d started calling her ‘Mommy’?