When Xiao Li pushed open the door, Qin Yu’e was holding the children and coaxing them softly.
Earlier, Zhuyue’s words—“Dad doesn’t like us”—had instantly reduced both children to tears. They cried so hard they could barely breathe.
Back home, they had often heard their grandmother scold them as children their father didn’t love. And after seeing Huo Guangji’s frightening expression earlier in the room, they became even more terrified.
Children didn’t understand the consequences of a father not loving them.
They only knew that maybe it meant they would keep starving.
“Mom, I don’t want to be hungry anymore! When I’m hungry, my stomach hurts so much, and I don’t have any strength!”
The little girl’s face was soaked with tears.
But Qin Yu’e had neither grain coupons nor money right now. She opened her mouth, wanting to tell the children their father did care about them, but after recalling Huo Guangji’s expression earlier, she simply couldn’t say the words.
The sound of the children crying ground against Qin Yu’e’s heart like a millstone, making her disgust toward Huo Guangji grow even stronger.
She had thought he’d come to see the son and daughter he had never met before.
But instead, after entering the room, he ignored the children completely and immediately began questioning her.
“Bah! Scumbag!”
Qin Yu’e spat angrily and quickly hugged the children tighter.
“Zhuyue, Qingfeng, don’t cry. Mommy promises you—we’ll never go hungry again!”
Just then, the door was pushed open.
Xiao Li entered with a bright smile, but froze when he saw Qin Yu’e holding the sobbing children.
“Sister-in-law! What happened?”
“N-Nothing…” Qin Yu’e quickly wiped away the tears in her own eyes and lifted the children higher. “The kids just arrived here. They’re probably still not used to things…”
“Our dad doesn’t want us! Mom and us are gonna starve again!”
Before she could finish, little Zhuyue cried out pitifully from Qin Yu’e’s arms.
Only then did Xiao Li understand.
With Captain Huo’s sour face earlier, the children had obviously misunderstood things.
“How could that be, little one? Look—this is the food your dad bought for you! See these eggs? Didn’t you just say you wanted to eat some?”
He hurriedly pulled a lunchbox from the bundle in his hands and showed it to Zhuyue.
Zhuyue immediately quieted down.
Her eyes widened as she stared at the eggs inside the lunchbox and swallowed hard, but instead of reaching for them, she turned to look at Qin Yu’e for permission.
Qin Yu’e found it rather strange.
Wasn’t he acting like she was here mooching off him just moments ago? Why had he suddenly bought food for them after stepping out?
Without changing expression, she glanced at the lunchbox.
It was an ordinary aluminum lunchbox, with three characters lightly carved into the lid:
Liu Shutong.
Instantly, she understood.
She couldn’t help secretly curling her lips in disdain.
She knew that scumbag couldn’t possibly be this considerate.
Still, she could tell the company commander was deliberately trying to mediate things, so she had to give him some face.
After all, she was living on someone else’s territory.
Without revealing anything, she accepted the lunchbox with a smile.
“Thank you, Comrade Xiao Li. And please thank Company Commander Liu for me too. Fortunately, he took in us mother and children.”
She thanked everyone involved—
Except Huo Guangji.
Xiao Li didn’t dare ask any further questions. He quickly handed over another bundle.
“These are clothes and fabric prepared by the logistics department and Section Chief Wei for the children. Sister-in-law, keep whatever you can use. If there’s anything you don’t want, you can just throw it away!”
“Thank you for your hard work, Xiao Li.”
Qin Yu’e accepted the items. A quick glance told her they were all good-quality secondhand things. Given her current circumstances, there was no way she would throw any of it away.
After sending Xiao Li off, she divided the eggs and food between the two children and began sorting through the supplies herself.
The fabric pieces weren’t small.
One floral-patterned cloth was enough to make a set of clothes for both her and Zhuyue. There was also a piece of blue fabric, around three feet long, enough to make an outfit for Qingfeng.
Fortunately, it was summer right now, so they didn’t need padded cotton clothes. Otherwise, with her current lack of possessions, she would have caused even more trouble for others.
After thinking things over, she realized that based on Huo Guangji’s attitude today, she shouldn’t expect him to properly care for the three of them in the future.
But since she was already here, she would make the best of it.
There was no way Qin Yu’e would sit around waiting for a man to support her.
She couldn’t return to the village anymore, but she still had healthy hands and feet. Borrowing a roof from the company for temporary shelter was enough for now. Given time, she would eventually find a way to survive.
She kept only the fabric pieces and began considering how to alter the remaining clothes before returning them to the soldiers. If she could show off her sewing skills, perhaps she could pick up mending work.
There were far more men than women in the company. If she could take over some of the soldiers’ sewing and repair work, earning enough for a few meals shouldn’t be difficult.
By the time the children finished eating, she had already completed the rough shape of two little outfits.
“Zhuyue, Qingfeng, come here! Mommy made you new clothes. Come try them on!”
Qin Yu’e called them over happily.
Little Zhuyue stumbled into the small dress and immediately gave a thumbs-up.
“Mom made it so pretty! It’s even prettier than Second Auntie’s!”
Huo family’s second son’s wife had come from a tailor’s family. Whenever she helped villagers make wedding quilts or new clothes, she acted unbearably arrogant.
To little Zhuyue, she was basically the highest standard of tailoring she knew.
Qin Yu’e burst out laughing and pinched the girl’s tiny nose.
“You little thing, your mouth sure knows how to flatter people!”
“I’m not flattering you!” Zhuyue widened her eyes and spoke seriously, word by word. “Mom really did a good job! This dress looks just like the ones I saw in picture magazines! So pretty! Qingfeng, don’t you think so too?”
“Aba aba—”
The little boy didn’t understand anything about appreciating dresses. He only knew the new clothes didn’t itch anymore, so he grinned foolishly along with his sister.
“As long as they fit. Now let’s go bathe, and when we come back you can wear them properly!”
Smiling, Qin Yu’e led the two children toward the side room.
An empty room had been set aside for the three of them to use as a bathing room, which conveniently solved Qin Yu’e’s embarrassment over not knowing where the public bathhouse was.
She heated water and thoroughly scrubbed both children and herself.
By the end, they had washed away two whole basins of muddy water before Qin Yu’e finally set down the loofah sponge and stopped scrubbing her own back raw.
She had never been this dirty in her entire life.
Now that the smell had finally been washed away, she could at last face people properly again.
Once the children were clean and dressed in their new clothes, their features became even more striking. Though still painfully thin, they finally looked like the adorable children they were supposed to be.
The children had new clothes, but Qin Yu’e herself didn’t. She picked out a military uniform to wear instead. She wasn’t sure whose it had originally belonged to. The shirt and pants were both too large, so she simply cinched them tightly with a belt.
From a distance, the oversized uniform unexpectedly gave her a slender, graceful appearance.
After looking the three of them over again, Qin Yu’e smiled in satisfaction.
“Let’s go! Zhuyue, Qingfeng—come with me to the company commander’s house. We’re going to look for work!”