"That would be great. You don't have to guard against me. Let's set some ground rules and get along peacefully, okay?" Fu Xiaoxiao's gaze met Lu Lin's, and he remained silent for a while.
"Are you really not planning to kick us out?" Lu Chen couldn't help but ask.
"I'll say it once, so listen carefully." Fu Xiaoxiao put away her smile and said seriously, "I, Fu Xiaoxiao, have never thought about driving you away."
Lu Chen looked into Fu Xiaoxiao's earnest eyes. Could they really trust her?
"Alright." Lu Lin chose to trust Fu Xiaoxiao.
As long as she didn't want to drive them away, they were willing to get along with her peacefully.
"So now, can you two wash up and have breakfast?" Fu Xiaoxiao smiled and asked. "If you don't eat soon, the egg vegetable pancakes in the pot will get cold."
"Let's go!" Seeing his brother agree, Lu Chen's wariness of Fu Xiaoxiao diminished. Hearing Fu Xiaoxiao made the egg vegetable pancakes from yesterday, he pulled Lu Lin to wash up.
"By the way, I want to buy some things. Do you know where I can buy them?" Fu Xiaoxiao asked, looking at the two of them.
She noticed that there were still many things missing at home, and even the two children shared a towel. Lu Feng was a rugged man, and the two children never asked for anything.
"We'll take you." Lu Lin thought for a moment. Fu Xiaoxiao didn't seem to want to drive them away, so he figured Fu Xiaoxiao was on their side.
She wasn't a bad person, and for Mr. Lu's sake, he and his brother would look after her.
"That's great!" Fu Xiaoxiao clasped her hands together and smiled.
"Brother, she doesn't seem like a bad person." Lu Chen said quietly to Lu Lin while eating the egg vegetable pancake.
"Let's observe first!" Lu Lin nodded. She wasn't like Aunt Li, who always seemed nice in front of people but refused to cook behind their backs and even secretly took things from the house.
"If she's not a bad person, then I'm willing to like her a little bit." Lu Chen happily ate the egg vegetable pancake, deciding to like Fu Xiaoxiao a bit because of it. "She cooks really well, even better than Grandma Liu next door."
"...Hmm." Lu Lin looked at the golden egg vegetable pancake in his hand, which was crisp, fragrant, and tender, and found it hard to say it wasn't delicious.
After they finished breakfast, Fu Xiaoxiao was about to wash dishes when she entered the kitchen and saw Lu Lin skillfully washing dishes while standing on a stool.
Seeing Fu Xiaoxiao come in, Lu Lin glanced at her. "We help with housework. You cook, I wash dishes, Xiao Chen sweeps the floor. We don't just eat for free."
Listening to his words, it seemed Aunt Li often spoke 'kind words', and Lu Lin diligently upheld his responsibility as an older brother, ensuring people didn't think they ate for free.
Sensitive and cautious.
Even though they were like young wolves, to protect his brother, he wouldn't easily show weakness even when facing animals larger than him, and would bravely defend his territory or food.
"Very good." Fu Xiaoxiao nodded with satisfaction. "Then it's up to you. I'll wait for you outside."
Fu Xiaoxiao didn't realize that her unhesitating departure from the kitchen lessened the coldness in Lu Lin's eyes.
When Fu Xiaoxiao, Lu Lin, and Lu Chen stepped out of their home, they immediately attracted a lot of attention. Fu Xiaoxiao confidently waved at them.
"Hello, sisters-in-law."
Seeing Fu Xiaoxiao greet them, one of the sisters-in-law mustered the courage to ask curiously.
"Hey, from Camp Commander Lu's house, where are you going?"
"Oh, sister-in-law, I'm thinking of buying some things, but I don't know where to buy them, so Xiao Lin and Xiao Chen, who know, are accompanying me!" Fu Xiaoxiao replied with a smile.
Hearing Fu Xiaoxiao call them little gentlemen in front of others gave Lu Chen a sense of being depended upon, and he couldn't help but puff out his chest.
Lu Lin and Lu Chen looked at the aunts, nodding at them like Fu Xiaoxiao had done.
"Uh...oh! Be careful on the road." Seeing Fu Xiaoxiao and her stepsons getting along, the sisters-in-law exchanged looks, a bit surprised.
They had heard from Aunt Li, who used to care for the two children, that the kids didn't let anyone approach them, had bad tempers, and were difficult to manage.
They also didn't communicate with them or greet them, often going to the back hills every day.
But now hearing Fu Xiaoxiao speak, the kids were just a bit reclusive, not as bad as Aunt Li said?
"Aren't these kids doing well? Getting along with the new wife just fine?"
"Exactly, and they're quite polite. They didn't speak, but they did nod at us."
"That's right. If you hadn't said, I really wouldn't have recognized them."
"Could the new wife be putting on a good act?"
"I think she's pretty nice, straightforward, and it doesn't look like the kids have been beaten..."
A group of people began a lively discussion about Fu Xiaoxiao and the Lu brothers.
-
Fu Xiaoxiao watched as Lu Chen, who had been slightly praised earlier, walked with a spring in his step. Although Lu Lin still had his stern little face, his steps were also lighter than before.
A smile played on Fu Xiaoxiao's lips.
If emotions could be visualized, their little tails were definitely wagging nonstop now, complementing Lu Lin's cool face. Honestly, it was quite a match.
Unknowingly they reached the army camp's exit, and leaving required information to be registered. As Fu Xiaoxiao filled in her info, a soldier kept a serious watch on her.
Lu Lin and Lu Chen waited by the entrance for Fu Xiaoxiao. As soon as she came out, the soldier continued to watch her.
Once Fu Xiaoxiao was accompanied by Lu Lin and Lu Chen away from the camp, the soldier immediately called Liu Hongjun's office to report on Fu Xiaoxiao's situation.
"She took Lu Lin and Lu Chen out of the camp? Where did they go?" Liu Hongjun listened to the soldier's report, frowning.
Leaving camp with the kids at this time? Was she planning to abandon them outside?
Liu Hongjun shook his head, instinctively choosing to trust Fu Xiaoxiao. Just yesterday, she promised him not to betray Lu Feng's trust and to take good care of the two kids.
"According to the information she provided, they're going shopping." The soldier reported.
"It's a two-hour trip to the town's supply and marketing cooperative from here. Why didn't she come to me?" Liu Hongjun hung up the call, contemplating for some time.
There were no nearby shopping places. Families usually wrote down their needs on paper and asked soldiers, who went to procure supplies daily, to bring them back. Hadn't Lu Feng informed her?
Liu Hongjun thought for a bit and chose to trust her.
He ordered the soldiers to stay alert and tell Fu Xiaoxiao how to procure supplies once she returned with the kids.
Fu Xiaoxiao followed Lu Lin and Lu Chen for over twenty minutes, with no sign of human habitation nearby. In the distance, they could see a village, but the path they took seemed not to lead there.
"How much further do we have to walk?" Fu Xiaoxiao watched Lu Lin and Lu Chen's easy gait, feeling her legs starting to ache, doubting her fitness level, and wondering why she was struggling more than the children.