A trace of a smile flashed past Shao Nan’s eyes. “Little Bei, you don’t have to worry about that. Have you forgotten that Teacher Mu was born to be rich? She’s going to marry a rich person in the future. After she marries him, there will be plenty of people helping her wash clothes. There’ll be no need for her to wash clothes.”

  Mu Xue hadn’t expected them to mention that she had been ‘born to be rich’. Her face turned even redder, and she was a little angry. This was because her engagement had been broken off and also because her mother was indeed the one washing her clothes.

  “Shao Nan, Shao Bei, you don’t have to mock me. I just heard some gossip and think that it’s bad for your father and you kids. That’s why I warned you. I didn’t mean anything else by it.”

  Mu Xue wasn’t a fool and could sense the change in the children’s attitude toward her. It wasn’t like this in the past. Ever since Mu Jingzhe had become their mother, everything had changed.

  Mu Jingzhe found her an eyesore after all and had even taught the children to act like this.

  When she thought of this, Mu Xue wanted to say something, but she saw Shao Dong suddenly look at her and ask, “Teacher Mu Xue, are you planning to marry my dad in the future? Are you going to have the wedding that was canceled?”

  Mu Xue, who was shocked, took a step back to look around. “Shao Dong, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? I’m not…”

  “Then why are you so concerned about our family and my dad?” Shao Dong only asked one question.

  “Because we know each other…” Mu Xue found an excuse.

  “Teacher Mu, you know a lot of people. Like, everyone in Great Eastern Village. Do you plan to take an interest in everyone’s affairs?” Shao Dong was just short of saying that she was being too meddlesome, but he was phrasing this in a tactful manner.

  Mu Xue hadn’t expected her good intentions to be misunderstood like this. She was speechless and angry. She was about to retort when a worried-looking Little Bei spoke first. It seemed as though she hadn’t heard that and was continuing the same topic.

  “Teacher Mu wants to marry Dad? If she doesn’t know how to wash clothes and doesn’t allow Dad to wash them either, not only will we have to wash our own clothes in the future, but we’ll also have to help Teacher Mu and our father wash their clothes, right?”

  Little Bei looked at her hands sadly. “What will I do if I don’t have that much strength? Teacher Mu, do you really know how to wash clothes?”

  Mu Xue felt a little uncomfortable and quickly said, “I know how to do it. I know how to wash clothes!” Who was asking the children to wash her clothes?

  \r \r \r

  “That’s good.” Little Bei heaved a sigh of relief and then paused. “So, Teacher Mu, are you really going to marry Dad? Don’t our parents have yet to divorce? Is that okay?”

  “Of course not. It’d be unethical to do so. People will gossip about them behind their backs,” Shao Nan added before he seriously suggested something to Mu Xue. “Although we can’t interfere too much in the relationships between adults, Teacher Mu, I suggest that you persuade my dad and mom to get a divorce first.”

  “Don’t worry, our mother won’t stop the two of you or disagree. We’ll be obedient and won’t torture my father to make him suffer.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I don’t want to interfere in their relationship.” Mu Xue’s face turned purple. “I just saw that the villagers were gossiping about him behind his back and was afraid that you didn’t know, so I thought I should let you know.”

  Shao Dong and the rest were indifferent, as if they didn’t believe her at all. Mu Xue panted as she looked at the five kids and stomped her feet. “I’m telling the truth.”

  Shao Dong said, “I’ll pass on your intentions and heartache, Teacher Mu. We all heard what you lectured us about.”

  When Mu Xue heard this, she felt that something was amiss. Just as she was about to ask, the five children lowered their heads and left.

  Shao Qihai, who had been waiting for the five kids to return home, took their school bags and asked them to wash their hands before checking their clothes. “Take off your dirty clothes. I’ll go wash them before it gets dark.”

  Shao Dong shook his head. “No need. We can wash our clothes ourselves in the future.”

  Shao Qihai was stunned. “Why? Have I not done a good job washing them?”

  Although doing all this was really tiring, he now knew that raising these children required washing and doing a lot of other things.

  It was hard, yet he didn’t complain because he’d done too little in the past. He hadn’t expected that just as he’d made up his mind to work hard in the future, the kids would tell him not to wash their clothes anymore.

  Shao Dong shook his head as if he didn’t want to know the reason and just walked away with his head lowered. Only Shao Xi was indignant. “Teacher Mu Xue is already unhappy and specifically stopped us to speak to us about it. How would we dare let you wash them?”

  Shao Dong turned around and hollered, “Little Xi!”

  Shao Xi pursed his lips and followed Shao Dong in.

  Shao Qihai was stunned for a moment before he grabbed Xiao Wu. “Xiao Wu, what’s wrong? Did Mu Xue come looking for you kids? What did she say?”

  Xiao Wu lowered his head and looked at his fingers. “She said that we shouldn’t let you wash clothes.”

  Shao Qihai frowned. “Why would she suddenly say that?”

  “Because she wants to marry you.” Xiao Wu’s words were shocking, but he didn’t seem to know what he’d said. Under Shao Qihai’s shocked gaze, Xiao Wu looked conflicted. “Are you going to marry Teacher Mu in the future? I don’t know how to wash clothes yet. In the future, when Teacher Mu sees that I don’t know how to wash clothes, will she scold and hit me? Is it too late for me to learn now?”

  Shao Qihai felt a massive headache coming on. He held Xiao Wu’s shoulders and said, “Who’s getting married? What laundry? Xiao Wu, what are you talking about?”

  Xiao Wu looked up and pursed his lips. “I miss Mommy. Boohoo…”

  When Little Bei heard Xiao Wu crying, she immediately approached and pulled him over. She looked at Shao Qihai vigilantly.

  Shao Qihai quickly raised his hands. “Little Bei, don’t get the wrong idea. I only asked Xiao Wu a question. I didn’t hit or scold him.”

  Seeing that Little Bei’s expression had eased up, Shao Qihai asked, “Little Bei, did Mu Xue look for you kids? What did she say?”

  “Nothing. Just that she doesn’t know how to wash clothes and that you shouldn’t be washing clothes all the time either. She said it’s not right for us to let you do that.”

  As if she didn’t want to say anything else, Little Bei pulled Xiao Wu away and left. Then, they didn’t let Shao Qihai wash their clothes and washed them themselves.

  They wouldn’t let Shao Qihai do other chores either, as they said that they were afraid that Teacher Mu would get angry again.

  When they said these words, they were all smiling as if they weren’t angry. However, when he turned around, he heard Little Bei singing ‘Little Cabbage’.

  “Little Cabbage, turning yellow in the fields… Fearing that Daddy will get them a stepmother…”

  Little Bei was the youngest Movie Queen. Had she obtained the Best Actress Award for no reason? A truly good actor could use all sorts of expressions and voices. Little Bei was now very good at using her voice.

  Even though she was just singing a song, it sounded so sad and miserable that it seemed as if she was crying silently. It was so pitiful that Shao Qihai almost shed tears while hearing her sing.

  He held back his tears and ran away from home. After thinking about it, he went to look for Mu Xue. He really didn’t want to hear Little Bei sing a song about them becoming little cabbages before their stepmother entered the house.

  Even as Mu Xue returned home, she had a nagging feeling that something was amiss. When she heard that Shao Qihai had come, she quickly went out to meet him without giving it much thought. “Brother Qihai…”

  “Mu Xue, what did you say to the kids? No matter what you said, I hope you won’t interfere in our family matters anymore. You’ll scare my children if you do this.”