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

Zhuang Qingxiang was startled and looked up at him blankly.

Lu Congyue clenched his fist tightly behind his back, his voice deep and serious: "You work in the cafeteria, and he took you there? When did you two meet?"

Zhuang Qingxiang then realized that he already knew she was working in the cafeteria, and she felt embarrassed and guilty.

"Director Lu, I haven't neglected taking care of the children." She tried to explain anxiously, "The two children are very well-behaved. I just feel that staying at home all the time isn't good. Going out and meeting more people will help them become more outgoing..."

"You still have people helping you, don't you?" Lu Congyue sneered.

"Yes, Chef Jiang and the others in the cafeteria are very helpful..."

Lu Congyue felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

"Very well," he replied, a half-smile playing on his lips. "Then should I wish you happiness?!"

Zhuang Qingxiang: ? ? ?

Lu Congyue turned and left.

This inexplicable turn of events kept Zhuang Qingxiang awake all night.

Lu Congyue also didn't sleep well, his dreams were full of Zhuang Qingxiang.

A moment later she told him she didn't plan to remarry, and in the blink of an eye, she was wearing a red dress and getting married to the fat man from the cafeteria.

Lu Congyue was so angry that he woke up two or three times that night.

Later, I simply stopped sleeping and went for a run to cool off.

Early in the morning, Lu Congyue returned from his run and saw a figure at his front gate in the distance.

Lu Congyue stopped in his tracks, took two quick steps, and then slowly walked over.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Zhuang Qingxiang hurriedly turned around: "Director Lu, you went out so early?"

Lu Congyue nodded slightly, looking at her red eyes, as if she hadn't slept well the night before.

"What's up?" He opened the door and let her in to talk.

"No need." Zhuang Qingxiang stood at the door, showing no intention of going in.

She had been holding her breath all night.

She wasn't a very smart person, so she was slow to understand what Lu Congyue was saying until the evening.

He actually thought she was lying to him, that she was talking about marriage with Jiang Weihai.

Really...

This is infuriating!

So she rushed over as soon as it was light to make things clear and to show that she was not to be wronged.

"Director Lu, I won't go in. I've come to make something clear to you."

"You said those inexplicable things yesterday... I think you might have misunderstood my relationship with Jiang Weihai. We're just colleagues, friends, and comrades, nothing more! He comes to help me every day because Master Jiang let him learn from me..."

"That's all I wanted to say."

Zhuang Qingxiang blurted out everything she wanted to say and turned to run away, but her wrist was grabbed and she was pulled into the room in a flash.

With a bang, Lu Congyue slammed the courtyard gate shut with one hand, pinning her against it.

Zhuang Qingxiang looked up in a panic, her eyes, which were already slightly red, turning even redder.

"What are you doing?"

"Why did you come here to tell me all this?" Lu Congyue's voice was low and hoarse, his eyes lowered, his gaze fixed on Zhuang Qingxiang, his sharp eyes seeming to try to see what she was thinking.

Zhuang Qingxiang's heart nearly leaped out of her throat, and she opened her mouth.

"Think it through before you tell me!" Lu Congyue suddenly interrupted, "Zhuang Qingxiang, you didn't sleep well last night because you were thinking about saying these things to me. Why?"

Zhuang Qingxiang's eyes became even redder, with a layer of misty moisture rising around them.

"I...I don't think you should misunderstand me," she said, mustering her courage. "I don't like being misunderstood or wronged."

"Is that so?" Lu Congyue's deep voice carried a certain seductive quality. "Your mother-in-law's family wronged you so much, yet you didn't seem to want to defend yourself to them, nor did you seem as heartbroken as you are now."

Zhuang Qingxiang was stunned for a moment, then felt even more aggrieved.

She tried to explain herself! She had tried countless times in her past life, but no one paid any attention to her.

Having been reborn, she will no longer be saddened by her former mother-in-law's family; her heart and soul are only focused on her two children and surviving.

But she couldn't talk about it, and no one would believe her anyway; they'd probably just think she was crazy.

Easily angered by aggrieved feelings, Zhuang Qingxiang struggled to free her wrist, but couldn't break free. She looked up at him accusingly, "This has nothing to do with you, let go of me!"

Lu Congyue remained completely still.

Zhuang Qingxiang's strength seemed weak and powerless to him; in fact, the more she struggled, the more he wanted to grip her and hold her down.

She tormented him in his dreams all night, making him so angry his liver hurt. Is it enough for her to just offer these two sentences of explanation?

"Jiang Weihai..." Lu Congyue paused, "You seemed quite happy when you were with him."

Zhuang Qingxiang's eyelashes trembled slightly: "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I saw it," Lu Congyue said in a deep voice. "At home, in the cafeteria... I saw it all."

"So what?" Zhuang Qingxiang retorted, unconvinced. "He's a good person."

"I'm a good person too, you said that!" Lu Congyue's voice grew increasingly oppressive. "Then why didn't you ever act like that when you were with me?"

Zhuang Qingxiang was speechless once again.

"Zhuang Qingxiang, you care about me, don't you?" Lu Congyue asked directly.

He still wants to marry her, and if she's willing, they can get their marriage certificate tomorrow.

"You are Director Lu, Donghua's father, and my employer, so of course I care," Zhuang Qingxiang replied. "But not in that sense, Director Lu, please don't overthink it."

Lu Congyue frowned, a dark look swirling in his eyes.

Zhuang Qingxiang quickly added, "Director Lu, I've said everything I need to say. I don't want to repeat myself. Please let me go. The children are waiting for me to come back. If they start crying, Yueyue won't be able to take care of them."

When she arrived, the child was still asleep. She thought she could just run back after speaking and it wouldn't delay anything, but Lu Congyue's actions were taking up a lot of her time.

This time, she finally broke free from his grasp.

Looking at the red mark on her wrist, she rubbed it and stepped aside to avoid him: "Could you please open the door?"

Thinking of the children, Lu Congyue could only open the door and watch her run away from his home once again.

The sun rose higher and higher, and the sky grew brighter and brighter. If it weren't for the lingering sensation on his fingertips that confirmed her presence, he would have thought it was all a dream.

Zhuang Qingxiang ran home in one breath, panting heavily.

The two children were indeed crying, and Xiao Qianyue was anxiously trying to comfort them.

Zhuang Qingxiang patted herself off and stepped into the house.

"Mother," Xiao Qianyue said, on the verge of tears, "My two younger brothers are always crying, and I can't soothe them."

"It's alright, the little brothers are just hungry." Zhuang Qingxiang kissed the little girl. "Yueyue did a great job, it's just that Mother came back late."

Xiao Qianyue was curious about where she had gone so early in the morning. Zhuang Qingxiang mumbled that she had something to do, but that she was fine now. Then she held the baby and breastfed.

After getting dressed, Xiao Qianyue got out of bed and went to the kitchen to light a fire and cook porridge and boil eggs.

Her two younger brothers can eat a little bit now, but she can't leave until their mother comes back. She almost cried just now because she was so worried.

After Zhuang Qingxiang finished feeding the two children, Xiao Qianyue also finished her work. As the mother and daughter ate breakfast together, Xiao Qianyue sighed, "Why is Uncle Lu always so busy? He never comes to eat..."

Zhuang Qingxiang paused, then said, "Yes, Uncle Lu is very busy and is going on another business trip. Yueyue, please don't trouble Uncle Lu so much in the future, okay?"