After school in the afternoon, Liu Ming went directly to Uncle Sun’s small restaurant to pay for Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan’s als.
The next day, the food for Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan improved significantly.
They no longer had to eat the tasteless cafeteria food; at noon, Liu Ming brought their als using four lunch boxes.
Each of the four children either had rice, stead buns, or pancakes, and when Liu Ming opened the containers, the dishes were indeed plentiful.
There was a dish of mushrooms stewed with chicken, spareribs, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and three-flavor cucumber, complented by a seaweed soup, offering both at and vegetables, with quite comprehensive nutrition.
Li Jingyan, satisfied by the aroma spreading from the lunch boxes, exclaid, "Now this is a real al, unlike the swill we used to eat."
Li Jingyu gave her a piece of at and said, "Eat up quickly, it won’t shut you up anyway."
In the following days, Li Jingyan and Li Jingyu had additional als every day, and the dishes were different each day. After a few days, their complexions improved noticeably.
By Saturday, the two kids packed up and returned ho.
Originally, Li Jingyan planned to go to the Provincial City with Liu Qi this week to visit Anning, but Li Zhifang called her on Friday, instructing her and Li Jingyu to definitely co ho this weekend.
Thinking there was sothing urgent at ho, Li Jingyan told Liu Qi, suggesting they visit the Provincial City next week.
On Saturday after school, the four children went their separate ways; Liu Qi and Liu Ming went to the Provincial City, Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan went ho.
On their way ho, Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan were quite happy.
Chatting and laughing together, they arrived ho to see Wang Baozhu greeting them with a smile.
Li Jingyu glanced inside the house, and Li Jingyan imdiately made a face, "What are you doing here?"
Wang Baozhu smiled and said, "You’re back, hurry inside, drop off your school bags and wash your faces, Mom has made sothing delicious."
Li Jingyan snorted coldly and went inside to drop off her bag.
When she ca back out, she saw that a table with dishes had been set up in the courtyard.
Li Jingyan pouted at the sight.
What Wang Baozhu said sounded nice, claiming she had cooked it herself, but how many of the dishes on the table were actually made by her?
She had only mixed so cucumber salad, pickled so tomatoes with sugar, and the rest were bought.
True, there was sothing Wang Baozhu made; she cooked a pot of rice soup, and even the stead buns were bought from outside.
"Food bought from outside isn’t clean, who would want to eat it,"
Li Jingyan said with a frown.
Li Jingyu ca out to inspect the dishes on the table, also feeling discontent.
If Anning had been ho, they would have been welcod back to hot als, deliciously prepared and tailored to each of their preferences.
Moreover, Anning, concerned they wouldn’t get enough nutrients, had studied books about nutrition carefully, making sure to include seafood in their diet weekly, keeping fish at ho, and preparing various fish dishes for them: sweet and sour fish, lionhead fish, braised fish...
Now, Li Jingyu couldn’t help but salivate thinking about it, yet Wang Baozhu just used these bought dishes to bluff them, claiming she had made them herself. Did she think they were fools?
At this mont, Li Zhifang ca back ho pulling Li Jinghan along.
Seeing Li Jingyu and Li Jingyan, he smiled, "You’re back! Today, our family is reunited."
Li Jingyan did not respond, thinking to herself how it could be considered a reunion when their mother and siblings weren’t here.
Li Jinghan, young and outspoken, shouted with a flushed face, "It’s not a reunion! My mom hasn’t co back, my brother hasn’t co back, my sister hasn’t co back..."
Li Zhifang’s expression turned slightly unpleasant.
He suddenly pulled a stern face: "Nonsense, Anning is not your biological mother, this is your real mother."
Li Zhifang pointed at Wang Baozhu, forcing Li Jinghan to call her mom.
Li Jinghan was unwilling and glared at Wang Baozhu. Li Zhifang, enraged, raised his hand to strike: "You little brat, getting cocky, eh? Not even recognizing your own mother!"
Li Jingyu saw this and quickly shielded Li Jinghan.
The slap landed on Li Jingyu instead, the pain nearly bringing tears to her eyes.
It wasn’t the physical pain that hurt her, it was the heartache that was far more severe.
She felt motherless and that her father had changed.
When Anning was around, how joyful their family was, returning ho to laughter and smiles. Father had never laid a hand on them before, but now? It had only been a few days since Wang Baozhu’s return, and father was already raising his hand to strike.
"Sit down and eat, if anyone speaks out of line again, I’ll break their legs with a stick."
Li Zhifang, with a stern face, assud a fatherly authority, only to alienate the children even more.
Li Jinghan was frightened by Li Zhifang, bursting into tears: "I want my mom, I don’t want you all anymore, you are all bad people."
Seeing this could not continue, Li Jingyu quickly took Li Jinghan’s hand and said to Li Zhifang: "Dad, I’ll take my brother to Grandma’s first."
Thinking he still needed to discuss matters with the two daughters later, Li Zhifang waved them off: "Go ahead."
Li Jingyan also quickly stood up: "I’m going too."
The two took Li Jinghan to see Zhang Fengfeng.
Upon seeing Li Jinghan cry, Zhang Fengfeng imdiately felt heartache: "What happened? Why are you crying?"
Li Jinghan cried intermittently: "Grandma, dad said he would break my legs, he’s bad."
"Oh dear."
Zhang Fengfeng, heart aching, consoled Li Jinghan: "My dear, let’s not cry, Grandma is here. If he dares to break your legs, I’ll have your grandpa break his."
When Li Jinghan stopped crying, Li Jingyan said: "Grandma, we’re starving. Do you have anything to eat?"
Zhang Fengfeng had just finished cooking and, seeing the children hungry, quickly prepared so food for them.
Li Jinghan ate and refused to go ho, choosing to stay with Zhang Fengfeng.
Li Jingyan and Li Jingyu, however, went back.
By the ti they returned, Li Zhifang and Wang Baozhu had finished their al.
Li Jingyu said nothing, tidied up the dishes, and cleaned everything before leaving the kitchen.
After she ca out, Wang Baozhu smiled and beckoned to her: "Jingyu, co and sit here."
Li Jingyu sat down next to Wang Baozhu with an indifferent expression.
Wang Baozhu looked at Li Jingyu, then at Li Jingyan. Both daughters resembled Wang Baozhu, both exceptionally beautiful. Even at a young age, one could tell they were beauties, bound to be even more attractive as they grew up.
With such looks, even if they weren’t very capable, they could still marry well in the future, not to ntion that both daughters were promising.
Thinking of what Li Jingyan and Li Jingyu could achieve in the future, her smile grew even more amiable and affectionate.
"These years your mother has always been thinking about you from afar, and now, finally, we are all together again."
Li Jingyu remained silent, and Li Jingyan also kept quiet.
Li Zhifang coughed and spoke bluntly to Li Jingyu: "You both know that our family got into debt buying your houses. Now, your Fifth Uncle and Sixth Uncle are out of working capital and want us to repay our debts. I don’t have a penny on right now, we truly cannot pay it back, but we also can’t keep owing money. I thought I’d discuss with you, how about we sell those two houses, pay off the debts, and with the remaining, your mother wants to start a business. What do you think?"
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