A charming widow in her 70s married a factory manager and raised his children.

After making a big, baggy white cotton shirt for Xiao Donghua, Zhuang Qingxiang went to wash her hands and cook.

During this time, she kept her ears perked up, listening to the sounds outside.

She only breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her daughter giggle.

As I walked out of the kitchen, I saw Xiao Qianyue being carried in by Lu Congyue. She was smiling, revealing her tiny, glutinous teeth, her smile radiant.

"Mother!" Little Qian Yue saw her and kicked her little legs to indicate that she wanted to get down.

Lu Congyue bent down and put her down. Little Qian Yue ran up to Zhuang Qingxiang and stretched out her hand: "Mom, give Mom some to eat."

She was clutching an orange candy in her hand, sticky and stuck to it.

"Someone else gave it to her, she licked it, and insisted on bringing it back to you," Lu Congyue explained.

His tone was neither impatient nor as gentle as usual.

Zhuang Qingxiang was both amused and exasperated. She quickly rinsed the orange candy with water and stuffed it directly into Xiao Qianyue's mouth. Then she pulled her to wash her hands and taught her that the candy should be eaten directly and not held in her hand to make it dirty.

The little girl agreed in her childish voice, and Zhuang Qingxiang let her go inside to look after her two younger brothers.

Seeing her enter the house, Zhuang Qingxiang said apologetically to Lu Congyue, "I'm sorry, Yueyue was a little willful just now."

"What child isn't willful?" Lu Congyue said dismissively.

Although he doesn't have children, his friends who do have children often show off in front of him, and he's heard a lot of that.

Compared to those naughty kids, the little girl is very well-behaved.

Seeing that he didn't blame his daughter, Zhuang Qingxiang didn't say anything more and quickly went back to the kitchen to cook.

Footsteps sounded behind him; it was Lu Congyue who followed him in.

"Do you need my help?"

"No need," Zhuang Qingxiang said, wiping the sweat from her cheeks with her arm around her shoulder.

She prepared the dough today and plans to steam a big pot of buns so she won't have to cook for two or three days, just stir-fry a vegetable dish.

Lu Congyue watched her knead the dough. Even though she was kneading the dough seriously, her plump body had a unique charm, and her skin was even whiter than her face.

Lu Congyue turned and left.

Regardless of whether Zhuang Qingxiang was lying or not, she was right about one thing: they couldn't let her stay any longer.

After dinner, Lu Congyue took the initiative to clean up and wash the dishes.

Zhuang Qingxiang felt this was wrong; she was the nanny, and these chores should be done by her.

"Director Lu, let me do these tasks. You go ahead with your work." She tried to take the bowl and chopsticks from Lu Congyue's hands, not noticing that their hands had touched.

Lu Congyue dodged to the side, utterly annoyed: "Go take care of the child!"

Zhuang Qingxiang sensed that she had displeased him, so she didn't dare to say anything and immediately hid back in her room.

I took the blue fabric and started cutting again to make open-crotch pants for the child, making them a bit too big so that they could wear alone in the fall and add cotton padding in the winter.

Little Qian Yue watched her make clothes with longing eyes, then looked at the small floral fabric on the kang (heated brick bed).

She'll soon have new clothes to wear too.

"Mom, can we not move away?" she suddenly said. "We won't move away, we'll stay here. Uncle Lu is good to Yueyue, and Yueyue doesn't want to leave."

Zhuang Qingxiang smiled and patted her head: "This is Uncle Lu and Brother Donghua's home, not our home."

"But we don't have a home either," Xiao Qianyue said earnestly. "Yueyue feels that this is home."

Zhuang Qingxiang smiled, gently shook her head, and put down her needlework: "Alright, let's not talk about this. I'll go fetch water for my two younger brothers to bathe. Yueyue, how about you come help?"

Children have their own worries, but she can't let children have their own worries.

If she can find a suitable place to live and move out, she will soon forget what she said tonight and adapt to her new life quickly.

The premise is that I can keep this job.

Zhuang Qingxiang went out to boil water and saw Lu Congyue standing in the yard, seemingly lost in thought. She didn't dare disturb him, so she went to the kitchen to boil a pot of water and carried it to the inner room in a bucket.

Two bathtubs, one large and one small, are just right for bathing two children.

The two children were well-behaved; they didn't cry during bath time, just babbled curiously.

After washing the two little ones, Xiao Qianyue soaked in the big bathtub, laughing happily.

This was the first time she had a large bathtub to take a bath in, and she was so happy that she couldn't help but splash around.

Zhuang Qingxiang was splashed with water, but she wasn't angry. Seeing the child happy made her happy too.

It was just a hassle to clean up at the end, as there was a lot of water on the floor inside the house.

Little Qian Yue lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) with her bare bottom exposed, her face full of guilt: "Mom, Yueyue was wrong, I will never play in the water again."

"You can play," Zhuang Qingxiang said gently. "From now on, we'll play during the day in the yard so we don't get the house dirty, okay?"

"Okay!" Xiao Qianyue replied crisply.

Zhuang Qingxiang came out carrying a small wooden basin to splash water, and Lu Congyue asked, "Do you need any help?"

"Ah, no need, I..."

Lu Congyue ignored her and went straight into the house to pick up the large wooden basin.

Zhuang Qingxiang exclaimed in amazement: "What incredible strength!"

When Lu Congyue turned around and saw her while carrying the wooden basin, he tightened his grip, the veins on his forearm bulging, and then left without looking at her.

Is this woman genuinely unaware or doing it on purpose?

Didn't you notice that your clothes are completely soaked?

At night, the wire bed creaked and groaned.

Zhuang Qingxiang woke up in the middle of the night to breastfeed, and then the noise kept her from falling back asleep.

Tian Pandi's words kept popping into her head, and she started to have all sorts of wild thoughts. Why couldn't Director Lu sleep at night? What if he really did sneak into the room in the middle of the night?

In reality, Zhuang Qingxiang was overthinking things. Lu Congyue couldn't sleep because he kept thinking about what Zhuang Qingxiang and the little girl had said.

He heard everything they said clearly. It sounded like a homeless mother and daughter who had been forced to stay with him to take care of their child.

It doesn't sound fake.

But actually?

Lu Congyue turned over again.

Lu Congyue was completely unaware that, given his past behavior, if he didn't trust Zhuang Qingxiang, he wouldn't be tossing and turning at this moment, unable to sleep.

The next day after dawn, Zhuang Qingxiang didn't even dare to look at Lu Congyue.

She felt her thoughts were impure; seeing him reminded her of the creaking steel bed in the middle of the night, and made her wonder what he was thinking…

Lu Congyue took a bite of the steamed bun, chewing mechanically, his gaze involuntarily falling on Zhuang Qingxiang across from him.

She had just been right in front of him, her skin gradually turning from fair to red, inexplicably, yet inexplicably beautiful.

"Comrade Zhuang, are you feeling unwell?" Lu Congyue asked worriedly, remembering her fever.

"Cough...cough cough cough..." Zhuang Qingxiang almost choked to death on a mouthful of porridge.

Lu Congyue frowned: "Your face is very red, are you running a fever again? Should we ask Aunt Tian to come over again?"

Zhuang Qingxiang finally recovered and waved her hands repeatedly, "No! No need! I'm fine."

"If there are any problems, don't delay," Lu Congyue reminded him in a deep voice.

Zhuang Qingxiang readily agreed, not daring to sit opposite him any longer. She quickly took the bowl to the kitchen and waited until Lu Congyue went to work before coming out.

She really couldn't stay here any longer; it was too awkward. She couldn't even look Director Lu in the eye.

Zhuang Qingxiang covered her burning cheeks and thought.

Fortunately, this awkward situation only lasted for half a day. At noon, Lu Congyue returned to pack his luggage.