Su Mian lost no time in washing the new bedsheet and the children’s new clothes.
With the blazing sun overhead, everything was sure to dry by late afternoon. However, the narrow alleyway lacked a good spot to hang laundry, so she had to carry the wet sheet and clothes out to a broader open space nearby. Stringing up a makeshift clothesline, she hung everything out to dry.
The two kids bounced along beside her, practically radiating pure joy.
Before long, a few other local children ran into the open area to play.
As Su Mian smoothed out the bedsheet, her eyes drifted over to her little ones. She noticed both Dabao and Xiaobao watching the kids running wild with eyes full of longing, yet neither had the courage to step forward and join in.
Xiaobao in particular—unable to speak and struggling even with basic communication—found it nearly impossible to blend in with a group of normal kids.
Seeing this, Su Mian crouched down to eye level with them and gently encouraged, “Dabao, Xiaobao, do you want to go play with the other children?”
Dabao shook his head, his small face falling into a look of deep disappointment. “They said we look like beggars because we’re so dirty. They won’t play with us.”
It seemed they already knew these kids and had tried to join in before, only to be rejected and cast aside.
Su Mian pressed a palm to her forehead, a wave of guilt washing over her. It was all her fault.
“Tomorrow, once we put on our new clothes, we can play with them!” Dabao added, his eyes lighting up with sudden excitement.
Su Mian glanced at the clothes fluttering on the line, nodding with a firm promise. “That’s right. From now on, Mommy will always wash your clothes clean so no other children will ever laugh at you again.”
Xiaobao’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at Su Mian, before turning her gaze toward her new little dress. She wanted to wear it so, so badly.
Su Mian didn’t dare leave the clothesline unattended. Everything was brand new, and if she walked away, who knew if someone might snatch it all?
So she settled down under the shade of a large tree to keep watch while the laundry dried, taking the time to ponder how she was going to track down the children’s father.
With fifteen hundred yuan tucked safely in her pocket—a hefty sum by any standard—she had more than enough to cover travel expenses and miscellaneous costs for her and the two kids.
Still, she had to prepare herself for the distinct possibility that the man might refuse to acknowledge the children.
As for whether he was already married with a family of his own, Su Mian wasn’t too worried. If she remembered correctly, the novel had briefly mentioned that he suffered from severe erectile dysfunction. Terrified that a wife would discover his condition and ruin his reputation, he had stayed single all his life.
Thinking of this, Su Mian couldn’t help but marvel at how unfair the world was. Out of all the people to be the father of her children, why did he have to be impotent? Who had she pissed off in a past life to get stuck with a plotline like this?
More importantly… if he couldn’t get it up, how on earth had these children been conceived in the first place?
Oh well. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Once she tracked the man down, she would play it by ear.
Su Mian felt confident that with her culinary skills, she could earn a living and raise two kids on her own. It would just be a little tough. After all, a single woman—and a heavy one at that—raising two children on her own in this era was bound to draw a mountain of gossip and judgment.
Su Mian didn’t care about herself, but she refused to let her two children, who had already suffered for over four years, rely solely on her limited strength for the rest of their lives.
And then there was Xiaobao—the most important reason of all.
Xiaobao couldn’t speak, but Su Mian was convinced her daughter hadn’t been born mute. She held onto the hope that the little girl could be cured. Yet given her current situation—no money, no connections—where could she possibly find a top doctor to treat Xiaobao?
Her best bet was to see if the children’s father had the resources to help.
While she was lost in thought, a melodic shout echoed from not far away: “Malt sugar candy! Get your fresh malt sugar candy!”
As the voice drew nearer, the two kids standing beside Su Mian instantly perked up, their eyes lighting up like stars.
Yet they were remarkably well-behaved. Swallowing their saliva, they simply stared at the tricycle laden with malt sugar as it was swarmed by local children, never once uttering a word to ask Su Mian for a treat.
In truth, Su Mian wished they would make demands. Seeing them constantly act so sensible and never fight for what they wanted pained her—growing up with that kind of overly submissive personality was a recipe for getting walked all over in life.
Watching the crowd of kids clamoring for candy, Su Mian turned to her little ones and asked of her own accord, “Dabao, Xiaobao, do you want some candy?”
At her words, both children spun to look at her at the same time, their eyes gleaming with sheer delight.
This time, they didn’t offer a sensible refusal. Children were children, after all—how could any kid resist the temptation of sweet candy?
“But… but if we buy candy, will we run out of money to buy food?” Dabao asked hesitantly.
Su Mian let out a quiet sigh in her heart before looking Dabao square in the eye. “Dabao, Xiaobao, you will never go hungry again. If you want candy, we buy candy!”
With his mother’s reassurance, Dabao’s face lit up with relief.
Xiaobao was far more direct, grabbing Su Mian’s hand and tugging her eagerly toward the malt sugar cart.
When the three of them reached the cart, the vendor took one look at their worn, tattered clothes and promptly turned a blind eye. Twirling sticks of soft candy for the kids behind them, he completely ignored Su Mian and her little ones.
Su Mian was speechless. Ever since waking up in this body, she had truly experienced the cold indifference of the world. No matter where she went, people looked down on her.
She couldn’t help but feel that her heavy frame had a lot to do with it.
“Sir, twirl two sticks of malt sugar for me,” Su Mian called out firmly once the vendor finished serving another customer.
She was coming here as a paying customer, yet he treated them like dirt. Under normal circumstances, Su Mian would have turned on her heel and walked away. But seeing how desperately her children wanted the sweet treat, she refused to let them down.
The vendor gave her a skeptical glance. “Do you even have the money for it?”
“Would I be standing here buying if I didn’t? Are you running a business or not? If you don’t want to make a sale, why bother setting up shop?” Su Mian snapped back without hesitation.
“Hey! You fat girl, who says I don’t want to sell? Look at how the three of you are dressed—I’m just making sure you can pay! Fine, hold your horses. Two sticks, right?”
Muttering under his breath, the vendor began twirling the golden malt sugar onto two wooden sticks.
Just then, a familiar voice cut in from behind.”Give me a stick of malt sugar as well.”
Hearing that voice, Su Mian’s heart involuntarily tightened.
She looked up, and sure enough, there stood Lu Zheng with that hauntingly familiar face.
Is this a joke? This was a impoverished shantytown—what on earth was Lu Zheng doing here?
Dressed head-to-toe like a wealthy young master, it was no wonder the Lu family had been branded as capitalists in the past.
Having bumped into him just this morning, meeting him again now felt far too convenient to be a mere coincidence.
Still, since he didn’t initiate a conversation with her, Su Mian pretended not to notice him at all. Taking the two wooden sticks of twirled malt sugar from the vendor, she handed one to each of her children and pulled them away to leave.
This was beyond bizarre!
Ever since she was kicked out of the Lu family, she hadn’t run into Lu Zheng even once. Yet on only her second day after awakening, she had already crossed paths with him twice in a single day.
Wait…
Could that miserable bastard Lu Zheng actually be regretting spending fifteen hundred yuan to buy back that pocket watch?
If that was the case, there was no way in hell Su Mian was giving the money back.
That cash was the life-saving fund for her and the kids to go find their real father!