The twins stood still, and Lin Zhi frowned. “Don’t want to brush your teeth?”
“That won’t do! If you get cavities, you’ll have to spend money to fix them. You know I don’t have any money.”
With so little money, she still wanted to save some for herself. If she spent it all on them, wouldn’t she be losing out?
Sure, people say “suffering is a blessing,” but Lin Zhi thought: This kind of blessing, do you even want it?
Seeing her expression turn sour, little He Ze hid his brother behind him and whispered in a low voice under Lin Zhi’s displeased gaze, “We don’t have toothbrushes or toothpaste.”
They’d used up all the toothpaste first, and then the toothbrushes eventually fell apart from wear. With the original owner acting the way she did, the twins didn’t dare speak up—they just stopped brushing.
Lin Zhi’s eyes narrowed. Taking care of children for the first time, she really hadn’t thought of such things.
She set down the bowl, turned to the cabinet, and stealthily grabbed two children’s toothbrushes from the store. As for the toothpaste, she held it in her hand, using a knife to scrape off all the writing before handing it over.
“Here, some new… never mind, they can wait a moment.”
Lin Zhi withdrew her hand and went to the kitchen to fetch an enamel basin and two enamel cups, adding two towels before carrying them back.
The enamel cups were for drinking, while the children had their own small bamboo cups for brushing.
Seeing the twins’ eyes widen and their little hands reaching out, Lin Zhi turned her head to chuckle quietly.
Their expressions were just too cute. If it weren’t for maintaining appearances, she would have scooped them up, given them a few hugs, and pinched their cheeks.
“Re—really for us?” Little He Ze was practically floating with excitement. She just gave out all these good things without a second thought?
Toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, the basin, and cups—all brand new. Buying all this must have cost over ten yuan, at least!
“Don’t like it? Then give it back,” Lin Zhi pretended to reach for them, but He Ze quickly pulled his brother away.
“Once it’s ours, it’s ours. How could we give it back?” He Ze whispered to his brother: “Before she changes her mind, let’s use them first. If she doesn’t like it, we’ll just keep them.”
Even if she later regretted it, it didn’t matter—they’d already gotten a turn’s worth of benefit.
Little He Run obediently followed; the older brother gave the orders, and he obeyed without resistance. Hearing this, he glanced at Lin Zhi.
Even though He Ze intentionally lowered his voice, the room was small, and the sound carried clearly.
Lin Zhi’s mouth twitched. After everything she’d done these past two days, wasn’t it enough to show she could be generous?
It was just one enamel basin—she had a dozen or twenty more in the shop. And the shop would be restocked anyway. Why care about just this one?
She grabbed the laundry and went to the kitchen. Before giving the twins a bath, she washed the dishes and tidied up, finally finishing her day’s work.
It had been exhausting. The twins fell asleep the moment they hit the bed.
Since their hair had been washed in the morning, Lin Zhi didn’t bother again. She took out her Baique Ling cream, rubbed some on her face, and lay down as well.
Baique Ling, founded in 1931, was appropriate for the era. But it wasn’t something available everywhere, so she had to be careful and scrubbed off all branding and logos to make it untraceable.
Lying in bed with her hands behind her head, she stared at the dark ceiling and sighed. If she had known she’d be transported into a book, she would have stocked a few sets of skincare in the shop.
Now she only had this one cream. If her face got sunburned or chapped, what would she do?
With such a beautiful face and a satisfying body, if her skin became rough, she’d nearly faint in despair.
Worrying about her delicate skin, Lin Zhi got up and applied the cream over her whole body, following the principle that something is better than nothing.
Afterward, lying back in bed, she felt better than she had in her entire life.
As she drifted off, a small body snuggled into her arms. Groggy, she didn’t even realize it was the twins, and instinctively wrapped her arms around them before falling asleep again.
In the morning, she woke to find one child pressed against her chest, the other resting on her legs. Lin Zhi froze—so that explained the dreams of being burned or cut; it was caused by these two little troublemakers.
Yawning, she rubbed her legs and went to the kitchen to cook noodles. Once ready, she went to wake the twins.
It was still dark, but the army’s supply truck left at 5:30. If the children didn’t get up now, they’d miss it.
“Get up! If we’re late, we won’t get any meat.”
Sure enough, meat was irresistible. The kids, who hadn’t moved after several calls, suddenly sat up with eyes half-closed.
The morning air was chilly, so Lin Zhi put an extra light jacket on each twin before heading to wash up herself.
“Today we’re having noodles with a fried egg. First come, first served. Latecomers get nothing.”
With that, she left the twins to get ready. The lure of food was irresistible—they would hurry themselves along.
As expected, by the time Lin Zhi picked up her bamboo basket to leave, the twins were finished eating.
There were plenty of other people heading to the county, but among the ten or so army wives on the truck, Lin Zhi only knew the female lead.
It wasn’t the weekend. Her own children were at school, so she came on her own.
When she got on the truck, the chatting stopped. Everyone stared at her curiously.
Lin Zhi was thick-skinned; as long as no one spoke, she pretended not to notice.
Though the other army wives ignored her, they were considerate toward the twins. Seeing them neat and clean, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Wen Xiuxiu pulled out two candies, smiling as she handed them to the twins. Though she spoke to them, her gaze was clearly on Lin Zhi.
“You got up so early and haven’t had breakfast? Here, have some candy to tide you over.”
Lin Zhi raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, this was a contrast group scenario. Clearly, they weren’t on the same wavelength. The words were laced with subtle mockery, implying she was incompetent.
Lin Zhi twitched her lips slightly, nudged little He Ze, and signaled him to take the candy.
When candy is presented, it’s impolite not to take it.
“Thank you, auntie!”