Chapter 36

I Can’t Say It

Since the four little ones had both porridge and red bean cake, Lu Jiao didn’t want them to eat more so she told them, “You cannot eat any more food today. If you eat more, your stomach will hurt. You can have more tomorrow. Go and play with brother Xiaobao.”

Xie Xiaobao then brought the four little ones to play in the living room.

Lu Jiao divided up the cooked pork intestines and started to boil the pork head with the seasoning. It usually took more time to get the flavors into the pork head.

Once the pot began to simmer, Lu Jiao went to chat with Xie Erzhu.

“Second brother, can you help me out?”

Xie Erzhu stood up right away and asked, “Third sister-in-law, what do you need from me?”

“The weather is far too hot and it’s bad to leave the cooked pig intestines around. So I want to ask you to deliver some to the families who helped us today. Once you’re done, bring some back home so sister-in-law can have some too.”

Xie Erzhu heard that and started to brandish his hand, “There’s no need to give that to me. Leave it to my third brother and your kids.”

Lu Jiao smiled, “We have a pig head as well. You don’t need to worry about us.”

Xie Erzhu wanted to decline again but Xie Yunjin chimed in, “Second brother, you’ve helped us out tremendously so just take it. But be careful and don’t get sister-in-law and the kids in trouble.”

He was cautioning Xie Erzhu to hide it from the Xie family. If they found out that they sneaked around food, the rest of the family would skin them alive.

Xie Erzhu’s pale and old face immediately turned bitter. The thought of his wife and kids pained him. Sometimes, he really wanted to just leave that family behind. However, he knew very well that that was impossible. His parents counted on his entire family to do all the laboring work and there was no way they would let them go that easily.

If he forcefully moved out, he was sure that his mom would stink up his reputation until it was unsalvageable.

If that happened, nobody in the village would accept him. The Xie Village never housed anyone with an awful reputation.

The only reason why his Third Brother was able to move out was that he was heavily wounded, and the family didn’t want to spend a single cent on him.

Xie Erzhu was in deep thought when Lu Jiao’s voice interrupted him.

“Second brother, then please help me deliver these. I have divided them up.”

“Okay.”

Xie Erzhu walked out then. Behind them, Xie Yunjin watched them leave with his eyes narrowed. The existence of this woman benefited his entire family. Like a ray of sunshine, she shone on them.

Lu Jiao packed up the intestines into four portions. One for the Second Grandma, one for the Village Leader, one for the Xu family, and the last one for Xie Erzhu’s family.

Once Xie Xiaobao saw there was food being delivered to his family, he ran back home.

It was late so Lu Jiao brought the four quadruplets to the east bedroom. As she walked, she lectured, “It’s late and you should sleep right away.”

She washed up these four little ones and applied some more medicine. When she brought the four little ones to sleep on Xie Yunjin’s bed, the Fourth Born suddenly reached out and wrapped his arms around her neck, “Mommy, I want to sleep with you tonight.”

The other three angrily glared at the Fourth Born. Why was he everything?

Lu Jiao didn’t agree. She had slept on the ground in the east bedroom. The floor was humid and wasn’t good for the children.

“I still have to cook the pig head. You guys go to sleep first.”

The Fourth Born’s eyelids started to get glued together but he still mumbled, “Then I will wait for you.”

Lu Jiao patted his head, “Okay, go to sleep then.”

The Second and Third Born stared at Lu Jiao wide eyed. They suddenly asked, “Mommy, can we eat the braised thing you’re cooking tomorrow?”

Lu Jiao knew that they wanted to eat meat so she nodded, “Okay, you can have it once you wake up.”

The Second and Third Born cheered, “Then we are going to sleep right away.”

After she settled down the quadruplets, Lu Jiao glanced at Xie Yunjin, “I’m going to cook the pork head. If you need anything, just call.”

“Okay.”

Lu Jiao studied Xie Yunjin’s cold gaze and glanced at the First Born. They were speechlessly identical.

She then left the room. After she left, the Second, Third, and Fourth Born fell asleep very quickly while the First Born lay by his father with his eyes open. He couldn’t sleep.

Xie Yunjin was in a weakened state but he wasn’t that exhausted. How strange. To have gone through the chaos he did today, he should be tired and require some time to recover.

At the very least, he thought it would take two to three days until he could wake up. Who knew he woke up so quickly. Was his body this strong?

Xie Yunjin pondered but had no answer. When he saw that his son hasn’t slept, he asked gently, “First Born, why aren’t you sleeping?”

The First Born placed his hands behind his head and said bitterly, “They all called her ‘mom’. But I can’t say it.”

Xie Yunjin raised an eyebrow. He was not against the quadruplets calling Lu Jiao “mom”, but if they didn’t want to, he wasn’t going to force them either.

He wanted everything to happen naturally and he wasn’t going to force the children to do anything.

“If you can’t, then don’t. Let it be. If there comes a day when you want to, then you can call her ‘mom’.”

The First Born’s face relaxed and he stared at Xie Yunjin, “Daddy, do you think she’ll be this nice always?”

Xie Yunjin wanted his children to be bright and optimistic so his eyes turned kind, “Since she’s changed for the better, she’ll remain this way.”

“Mhmm, that’s great.”

Lu Jiao had no idea that these two had a deep conversation. When the pork head was half cooked, she remembered an important matter. Xie Yunjin hasn’t had his medicine. She quickly took out the medicine she bought this morning.

When she brought the medicine to the east bedroom, Xie Yunjin was just about to go to sleep. When his peripheral vision caught the chubby woman bringing in his medicine, he suddenly felt warmth flood over him.

But when his vision focused on her face, Xie Yunjin’s face turned cold. Though he knew this woman wasn’t the same woman from before, her face still disgusted him.

Even if that woman no longer existed, he still felt so much hatred toward her. If it weren’t for her, he never would’ve gotten paralyzed. He was angry, and that anger was difficult to control.

A few years ago, he had fallen for someone’s scheme. This woman snuck into his room in the middle of the night and being drugged and woozy, he had no idea what he did that night.

In the end, he woke up in the morning with a fat woman beside him. Back then, she stared at him with much affection but he on the other hand, almost fainted from the sight.

After that night, the woman became pregnant. Without an alternative, he had to marry her. Originally, he figured that he was okay with giving her a title and just having her live in his house. Who knew that the night of the wedding, the woman saw his lack of action and reached out to strip off his clothes.

The history he had with this woman created so much hatred and disgust in him.

When Lu Jiao entered with the medicine, she saw how the originally kind-looking man turned stone cold in an instant. The eerily unpleasant ways he looked made her shudder.

Lu Jiao couldn’t help but silently complain. What a greedy man. She’d fed him food and water yet he constantly gave her the cold shoulder. He better heal soon so they could separate.

She then decided to add two more ingredients to tomorrow’s medicine, Ganoderma and ginseng.

“Drink up.”