Back in the hospital ward, even when I couldn’t sleep at night, Shen Feng would be there to chat with me, and sometimes Yangyang too—the three of us could even play cards together.
But now that I was back, lying alone in the bedroom, everything around me carried traces of Suo Tian—his presence lingering everywhere.
There was even the steel blade he had casually left on the table.
I tossed and turned for a long time, but sleep simply wouldn’t come.
Suo Tian probably wouldn’t be back for another half a month.
Feeling a bit down, I buried my head under the pillow.
People really can’t stay idle—once alone, it’s easy to become overly emotional.
……
The next morning, I got up early.
Since I couldn’t sleep well anyway, I decided to go downstairs and prepare breakfast.
When I entered the kitchen, I found Xu Shu already there.
I greeted her and was about to help when Chen Pu came in from behind, offering to assist.
With three people in the kitchen, it felt cramped, so I let the siblings handle it while I went upstairs with Uncle Gazi to get the two kids up.
Xuanxuan had caught a cold and seemed to have been fussy late into the night, so Lili hadn’t rested well either.
When I knocked on the door, she said she wouldn’t come down for breakfast—Xuanxuan had already had milk, and we shouldn’t wake her; she needed more sleep.
After breakfast, Uncle Gazi took Xiao Hu and Tingyun out for a walk.
Recent events made me feel like this base wasn’t as safe as it seemed.
After thinking about it, I told Yangyang and Jundi to go along as well.
He and Jundi had been training at the camp recently, so protecting the two kids shouldn’t be a problem.
After watching Yangyang leave, I yawned deeply.
Sleepiness swept over me all at once.
I squinted, said a quick word to the others, and went back to my room to sleep.
This time, I slept very soundly.
It felt like I had just closed my eyes when, in the next moment, Han Xue was already calling me to eat.
Sleeping too long left me feeling weak all over.
I got out of bed and followed Han Xue downstairs.
The food was already on the table.
Looking around, I noticed Lili still hadn’t come down.
When I asked, I learned that she might have caught Xuanxuan’s cold, so she wasn’t even coming down for lunch.
I was a bit worried and planned to go check on her, but Uncle Gazi stopped me, saying that if I got infected, it wouldn’t be as easy to take medicine in my current condition.
As everyone ate lunch together, I noticed Chen Pu was there too—he hadn’t eaten with us in quite a while.
Xu Shu sat beside him, absentmindedly picking at her food.
I tapped the table and asked, “Xu Shu, what’s wrong? What are you thinking about?”
Startled, she quickly came back to her senses.
When she realized it was me, she relaxed.
“Nothing… just a bit sleepy at noon, feeling a little out of it.”
“Then go rest upstairs after eating. Spring makes people drowsy—it’s normal to feel weak.”
Hearing that, Xu Shu immediately asked, “Do you feel weak all over? Are you sick?”
Seeing how nervous she looked, I was momentarily stunned, then waved it off with a smile.
“No, I just said it casually—it’s just a saying, right?”
She visibly relaxed, but as she lowered her head to eat, she glanced at the silent Chen Pu beside her, as if she wanted to say something, yet ultimately said nothing.
Watching her furrowed brow, I wondered if the siblings had argued again.
……
Just as everyone had finally settled into eating quietly, a voice called from outside the door.
Since there were many of us, we usually kept the villa door open during the day—for easy access and to prevent accidentally catching the kids’ hands when opening and closing it.
The visitor stood politely at the doorway and called out, “Excuse me, is anyone here?”
From the entrance, he could clearly see us—it was someone very mindful of manners.
Hearing this, Uncle Gazi stood up and asked, “Who are you looking for?”
The man paused briefly, then said, “May I come in and speak?”
“Oh, of course, of course.” Uncle Gazi quickly stepped aside and gestured for him to come in and sit on the sofa.
The sudden visitor caused everyone at the table to stop eating.
After entering, the man looked around at us, his gaze briefly lingering on Xiao Hu and Tingyun before he spoke:
“I’m the director of the kindergarten here. My name is Lu Jinchuan.”
“Kindergarten?” Han Xue asked in surprise. “We’ve been living here for half a year and never heard about one.”
Lu Jinchuan smiled. “Most of the children sent there are from the residential area over there. There aren’t many kids here to begin with, and it’s quite far, so it’s normal you wouldn’t know.”
“Haha, that’s great!” Uncle Gazi said excitedly. “Take a look at these two little ones of ours—can they enroll?”
He had always been concerned about their education, often saying he was afraid that when Xiao Hu and Tingyun grew up, they might not even recognize basic words or road signs.
We had tried teaching them ourselves, but since we were family, they would only learn for a while before getting stubborn and refusing.
If they could go to kindergarten—be guided by unfamiliar teachers and interact with other children—it would be good for their growth.
Thinking about it this way, I found myself quite interested too.
Lu Jinchuan gave Uncle Gazi a polite smile. “Of course they can. The kindergarten is open—since it was established, it’s meant to make things easier for parents who don’t have time to look after their children.”
Uncle Gazi waved his hand. “It’s not that we don’t have time. With so many people in the house, we’ve got plenty of it. We just want the kids to learn a few basic words so we can teach them more when they grow up.”
Lu Jinchuan nodded. “That’s fine. You can send them over anytime.”
Shen Feng patted Tingyun’s head and said to him, “Director Lu is really responsible—going door to door to recruit kids for school.”
At that, Lu Jinchuan’s expression changed slightly.
After a pause, he took a deep breath and waved his hand. “Actually… I came today because there’s something else I wanted to ask you all about.”
Uncle Gazi handed him a cup of water. “Just say what it is. Everyone here speaks plainly.”
After thanking him and taking the cup, Lu Jinchuan hesitated before asking, “Excuse me… did you happen to bring back a child here more than half a year ago? The baby would’ve been about two or three months old at the time.”
The moment he said that, everyone froze.
We exchanged glances for quite a while before Uncle Gazi cautiously probed, “What is it? Did someone lose a child?”
Lu Jinchuan quickly shook his head. “Not exactly. It’s that the child’s parents heard some news, but they can’t get in here, so they asked me to come and check.”
“Mm.” Uncle Gazi nodded, then asked, “Did they say whether the child is a boy or a girl?”
“A girl.”
……
After his words fell, no one responded for a long time.
Lu Jinchuan was a perceptive man—he could already sense something from our reactions.
After a brief pause, he continued, “Of course, I’m just a messenger. You might not fully trust me. Is there any way to let the child’s parents meet her first? Parents can always recognize their own child.”
He spoke carefully, but clearly—he had already confirmed that the child was with us, and was subtly reminding us that the child ultimately belonged to her parents, and returning her would be only natural.
Uncle Gazi glanced around at all of us, cleared his throat, and said, “How about this… come back in a couple of days. We’ll discuss it first.”
Lu Jinchuan, being just the intermediary, nodded readily. “Alright, I’ll go inform the parents.”
With that, he didn’t stay any longer and took his leave.
After he left, the entire room fell silent.
Everyone’s brows were tightly furrowed.
After all this time, none of us had expected that Xuanxuan’s biological parents would suddenly come looking for her at a moment like this.
Uncle Gazi returned to the table, stayed silent for a while, then said, “The child… after all, isn’t ours. Returning her is only right—we have nothing to argue about there. The problem is…”
“The problem is Lili,” Han Xue finished for him.
“Xuanxuan is practically half her life. If the child is taken away now, she’ll go crazy.”
“I actually thought about this before,” Shen Feng said, frowning.
“So much time passed and no one came looking—we thought the parents might not even be alive anymore. Who would’ve thought they’d show up now?”
“But talking about that doesn’t help,” Jundi added.
“The key issue is—how are we supposed to tell Lili?”
“Should we… make up a lie and stall her for now?” Han Xue had barely finished speaking when footsteps came from the second floor.
Lili’s voice followed, carrying Xuanxuan in her arms as she smiled at Han Xue, “Who are you planning to mess with this time? Who are you trying to fool?”
Her sudden appearance startled Han Xue so much that her hand jerked, knocking the bowl in front of her straight onto the floor.
Xu Shu, who was sitting beside her, quickly crouched down to help clean up and scolded softly, “What’s wrong with you?”
Han Xue looked at her apologetically. “You scared me.”
Lili carried Xuanxuan over to the sofa and sat down.
She glanced at the still-steaming cup on the coffee table, then looked at all of us—who were only halfway through our meal—with confusion. “Did someone come by just now?”
Uncle Gazi had been frowning the whole time.
Hearing Lili’s question, it was as if he had finally made up his mind about something important.
He stood up again and walked over to the sofa.
“Girl, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Lili placed Xuanxuan on the sofa and let her crawl around on her own.
Then she turned to look at him. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
After that, she glanced at the rest of us and asked with a smile, “What’s going on today? Why is everyone acting so strange?”
— The end of the Chapter–
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