After a long moment,
Qin Huai looked into Li Qiuyue’s eyes and spoke sincerely, “I’m sorry.”
After a pause, he added, “I didn’t mean to cause you trouble. I just… I worry that me showing up now and leaving again might bring more trouble to you and Zhaozhao.”
His voice was calm and steady, which somehow helped Li Qiuyue regain her composure.
Li Qiuyue opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn’t say anything harsher.
He was right leaving back then had already left her to endure five years of scorn and ridicule.
Now, if he came back and left again the same day, people would surely blame Zhaozhao.
“Don’t worry. If I stay, I’ll cover all my expenses myself. I’ll pay for lodging and do my best not to cause you any trouble. Could you allow me to stay?” He asked for Li Qiuyue’s opinion.
“Mom, let’s let Uncle stay.” Zhaozhao wriggled out of Qin Huai’s arms and ran to Li Qiuyue’s legs.
He was too young to fully understand her attitude or Qin Huai’s words.
He only knew that if Uncle stayed, no one would call Mommy a widow behind her back anymore.
But afraid of upsetting Li Qiuyue, he couldn’t speak honestly. He could only tilt his head and plead, “Mommy, I’ll eat less and share my food with him, okay?”
Li Qiuyue froze for a moment, feeling conflicted those kids dared to lay hands on him precisely because he had no father.
She could understand a three-and-a-half-year-old wanting a dad, but Qin Huai…
“Uncle, please beg Mommy!” Zhaozhao stomped his tiny feet in urgency.
Li Qiuyue rolled her eyes inwardly. She thought, You think everyone’s as spineless as you little guy?
Unexpectedly, next moment, Qin Huai’s voice turned low and serious. “Comrade Li Qiuyue, I beg you. I came here and my unit didn’t provide me a place to stay. If you don’t let me stay, I’ll have to sleep on the street, freeze to death right outside your door.”
Li Qiuyue: “……”
He deliberately mimicked Zhaozhao’s tone, adding a pleasant voice that made her shiver involuntarily.
She hadn’t expected that, with one bad eye, she could still fall for the “handsome-man trick.”
“Mommy, Uncle will freeze! Don’t let Uncle freeze.” Zhaozhao blinked his big eyes and pouted softly.
The little guy still had a fever, his cheeks flushed, his sparkling eyes full of plea.
Biting her lip, Li Qiuyue finally gave in.
“Fine. Since you say so, you can share your meals with him, let him use your blanket, and stop complaining about not eating properly.” She pinched his tiny nose, utterly doting.
Facing the adult, though, she was still firm. “You can stay, but I have two conditions.”
“Speak.” Qin Huai looked up, listening attentively.
“First, don’t bring danger to my home.” She wasn’t a child; she didn’t believe that simply living together made you a family.
Unlike five years ago, when he had been seriously injured and accidentally ended up here, Qin Huai now clearly held a significant position, and if he came in uniform, he likely had a mission.
She trusted soldiers but didn’t want to ask too much she just didn’t want Zhaozhao to be caught in any trouble.
“Understood.” Qin Huai nodded. Protecting the people was his duty there was no way he would bring danger home.
Li Qiuyue raised a second finger. “Second, the next time you leave, you must tell me and Zhaozhao in advance.”
She didn’t expect Qin Huai to linger for long, but she didn’t want Zhaozhao to get attached only to be abandoned again.
Qin Huai paused. He had expected her to ask for money, work, or even to leave with her and the child.
He hadn’t expected this condition at all.
Meeting Li Qiuyue’s resolute gaze, he nodded seriously.
He thought, Li Qiuyue was impulsive, but genuinely kind.
Five years ago, she was.
Even after enduring five years of criticism and ridicule, she still was.
That day, the whole village full of busybodies had been waiting to see the spectacle at Li Qiuyue’s home.
Some even bet on whether the fierce Li Qiuyue would beat her husband, or he would beat her.
Would the man reject Li Qiuyue, or would Li Qiuyue kick the bastard out?
They waited and waited, but after waiting, they heard nothing.
Li Qiuyue’s home was poor, with only one room.
On the left was the kang (heated bed), on the right a small storeroom, and in the middle a worn eight-immortal table with two chairs.
So the three of them had to sleep on the same kang.
Three people, three quilts, wearing long underwear in winter Li Qiuyue had nothing to be shy about.
Li Qiuyue slept by the small window, Zhaozhao in the middle, Qin Huai on the right.
Fortunately, the kang was large enough to accommodate two more.
By moonlight, Li Qiuyue glanced at Qin Huai lying straight while Zhaozhao, as if afraid Qin Huai would disappear, held his big hand tightly under the covers even though his face was turned toward her.
Qin Huai indulged Zhaozhao, worried he might catch a chill, and had deliberately stretched out his arm to keep the little boy’s hands snugly hidden under the blanket.
Remembering how vividly Zhaozhao had explained how to keep Qin Huai from leaving, Li Qiuyue sighed.
She couldn’t remember faces well, struggled to read subtle expressions, and didn’t know whether Qin Huai stayed out of pity for Zhaozhao or for another reason.
But she had her own motive if Qin Huai could dominate Li Erni in just a few words, she hoped that during his stay, he could also silence other gossipers and stop rumors that Zhaozhao was a bastard.
She would eventually leave this rumor-filled village with Zhaozhao, but before that, she wanted to spare him some embarrassment.
Her mind busy, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep for a long while.
Finally, drowsiness came but she suddenly opened her eyes again.
Damn it!
This “busybody” staying over wouldn’t interfere with her plan to take revenge at Li Erni’s tomorrow, would it?
Li Qiuyue lay awake all night and opened her eyes again at dawn.
Zhaozhao slept soundly, covered by a small quilt.
She instinctively touched his little face to make sure his fever had gone down, then finally relaxed.
Zhaozhao had endured countless hardships from birth abandoned by his parents when sick, catching colds whenever it got cold, and yesterday nearly drowning in a freezing river. Heaven had finally spared him once.
She glanced inside the room only had a neatly folded quilt left.
Peering out at the courtyard, only the cold wind howled, making the broken window frames rattle.
Summoning courage, she climbed out of bed, dressed, and went to the yard to fetch coal.
Outside the street gate, she saw a man in a gray sweater, hands behind his back, squatting and hopping.
After a long moment, she recognized him as Qin Huai. She couldn’t help a smirk. “Huh, Commander Qin, why not be a proper man and do your job, instead pretending to be a frog here?”
“I’m doing my morning training,” Qin Huai twitched at the corner of his eye.
When others called him “Commander Qin,” it was either respect or flattery. But every time Li Qiuyue called him that, it carried a teasing edge.