Shao Qihai was speechless. Mu Jingzhe was also stunned by their words. She’d also realized something important.

  “Wait, Little Dong. What do you mean by ‘if he abandoned you once, he could abandon you a second time’? What do you mean?”

  Shao Dong blinked and suddenly shut up, but it was too late. Mu Jingzhe edged closer to him. “Are you hiding something from me? What did you mean by that?”

  “Nothing special.” Shao Dong didn’t look at her.

  Mu Jingzhe paused for a moment. “Let me think. When Shao Qihai came back today, you didn’t seem to be startled, but your attitude was very cold. In addition to what you just said… Did you know that your father wasn’t dead?”

  Shao Dong knew that Mu Jingzhe could guess this, so he nodded indiscernibly. Shao Xi chuckled. “Mommy is so smart.”

  “That’s right. Mommy is the smartest in the world. How could you guess that?” Shao Nan flattered her.

  “Now is not the time to praise me for being smart.” Mu Jingzhe was helpless. If the children had known that Shao Qihai wasn’t dead, what kind of shocking news was this?

  “Why didn’t you tell me before? Why are you so good at holding back?” She thought that she knew the children well and knew everything about them, but they had been hiding such a big secret.

  If she had known earlier, perhaps she could have made some preparations in advance.

  When the children heard Mu Jingzhe’s words, they said, “We’re sorry, Mommy… We lied to you, but we were afraid to tell you.”

  At the time, they had been too devastated and bitter. Apart from hatred, they couldn’t help but feel inferiority. They were afraid that Mu Jingzhe wouldn’t like them either and would leave them as well.

  “Even our biological father didn’t want us. We were afraid you might think we’re bad too…”

  “How could that be!” They had only said a few words, but Mu Jingzhe completely understood what they meant. Her heart ached instantly. “You’re so wonderful. Who could bear to abandon you? This is a misunderstanding.

  “Besides, it would not be your fault even if you really were abandoned. It would be the adults’ fault. Stop thinking like that.”

  When she was very young in her previous life, Mu Jingzhe had wondered if there was something wrong with her, which was why her parents had abandoned her. Later on, she had learned that there was nothing wrong with a child who had just been born. The abandonment had nothing to do with the child. It was entirely the parents’ fault for being irresponsible.

  Little Bei’s eyes were still filled with tears when she was hugged by Mu Jingzhe, but she couldn’t help but laugh. She hugged Mu Jingzhe affectionately. “If I had known, I would have told you, Mommy. I was afraid and upset at the time. I didn’t know your heart would ache so much.”

  Mu Jingzhe stroked Little Bei’s head. “Little fool.”

  \r \r \r

  The room was filled with warmth, but Shao Qihai, who was outside, was so shocked that he took a step back.

  Previously, he had only cared about explaining and had felt wronged. He was also very helpless against the stubbornness of the children. However, he hadn’t expected that they had suffered such a blow back then.

  He was a sinner. He had really failed as a father.

  Shao Qihai entered a daze again, not hearing the conversation between the five children and Mu Jingzhe as a result.

  Because she wasn’t sure of Shao Qihai’s attitude and whether he would stop her from seeing the children after the divorce, she wanted to find out if there was a need for a divorce first. In addition, the children were very nervous. Mu Jingzhe promised them to wait and observe first.

  Previously, Mu Jingzhe had realized that the five children lacked a sense of security. If someone treated them nicely, they would repay that person tenfold. However, she hadn’t expected that this was also because they thought that Shao Qihai had abandoned them.

  Although she now knew that it was a misunderstanding, the pain that had been caused was already there. Seeing them so afraid that she would leave, Mu Jingzhe felt quite upset.

  “Don’t be so nervous. Let’s take it one step at a time and calm down. Who knows, things might just work out perfectly.”

  Mu Jingzhe could only try her best to see if Shao Qihai and Mu Xue could really reconcile. She would instigate Old Lady Mu. Perhaps she might be able to achieve her goal.

  After all, Old Lady Mu had also objected to Shao Qihai and Mu Xue’s relationship back then. The reason was that he had five children and she didn’t want Mu Xue to be a stepmother.

  It was too difficult to be a stepmother. Previously, the children had had some unpleasant encounters with Old Lady Mu, so she might not like the children even more now. Hence, there was still hope.

  “Alright, it’s late. You kids should go to sleep. You still have class tomorrow.”

  Shao Dong nodded. “Alright, Mommy. You should sleep early too. Don’t be too worried. We’ll think of a way to slowly resolve this together.”

  “Mm.”

  That said, it was impossible for them to fall asleep.

  When the four little ones returned and saw that Shao Qihai seemed to have fallen asleep, they squeezed themselves under the blanket and whispered to each other.

  “Based on what Mommy was saying, she really wants to take us away. We only want to go with Mommy, so the biggest problem is him.”

  “Right, we can’t let him fake his death again either.” Shao Xi was very annoyed.

  “We have to think of a way.” Shao Dong looked at them. “Think of ways we can leave with Mommy.”

  “Under what circumstances would a parent not want their children? It’s unfilial to commit murder and arson.” Shao Nan shook his head. “Since we can’t do these things, there’s only one way.”

  “What is it?” Shao Xi asked.

  “To be so naughty that he can’t stand us.”

  “We will become ordinary and worthless.” Shao Dong and Shao Nan spoke in unison. After saying that, the two of them looked at each other and smiled.

  Shao Nan looked at Shao Dong. “I knew that Big Brother had thought of an idea long ago.”

  Shao Dong shook his head. “It’s not that simple, but this is indeed a solution. If we’re outstanding, he won’t let us go. But if we become a burden, perhaps he might.”

  The problem was how they’d become a burden and become ordinary.

  Shao Xi was carefree. “It’s difficult for a person to become outstanding. Isn’t it easy to be ordinary?”

  Shao Dong shook his head. “You make it sound simple.”

  Shao Xi didn’t think much about it. “It’s simple to begin with.”

  Xiao Wu tilted his head. “Then can I still play the flute in the future?”

  Shao Xi paused. “You should stop playing it for the time being. What if he hears it and can’t bear to let go?”

  At the mention of this, Shao Xi felt vexed. “Since Xiao Wu can’t play the flute anymore, does that mean that I can’t write anymore? That’s quite troublesome. Why aren’t we Nezha? If we were Nezha, we could dismember our bones and carve up our own flesh to return to our father. Then, we wouldn’t be facing this trouble.”

  As annoying as it was, the tone was set.

  “Alright, starting tomorrow, we’ll be ordinary children.”

  After agreeing on it, the children pulled away the blanket and went to sleep.

  Shao Qihai, who was pretending to sleep with his back facing them, only turned around and sighed over the children after they fell asleep.

  He had seen them talking secretly earlier and pricked up his ears to listen. Unfortunately… he hadn’t understood a word of it.

  Yes, he hadn’t understood.

  The children hadn’t been speaking Mandarin!

  Who would have thought that the children would actually speak a foreign language? Furthermore, it wasn’t English, which he had been in contact with before and could understand occasionally. Instead, it had sounded like Russian, and he hadn’t even made out a single word.

  Shao Qihai was truly stunned. He was in a daze and he even started to doubt his life.

  It hadn’t been that long. It had only been a year. How had these children become so impressive? They were openly conspiring in front of him, but he couldn’t understand a word of it.

  Wasn’t this akin to bullying him for being uneducated? Shao Qihai had never felt inferior because of this in the past, but on the first day of his return, he had been made to feel inferior by the children.