After crossing over: kidnapping a female hunter to be the stepfather of the three cubs

Zhao Huanxi and Xiao Pan cooked stewed potatoes with meat and fried pork slices. They were tired of eating them these past two days, but there were no other vegetables at home, so they mixed the wild vegetables they picked with pickles and ate them these past two days.

The vegetable seeds in the backyard were planted not long ago. I went to check on them yesterday and they've only just sprouted a few small sprouts. Fortunately, I had the ground eggs sent by Mrs. Tian, ​​otherwise there wouldn't be any vegetable sprouts at all.

Steam the brown rice, beat a few eggs, add water and mix well, then steam it into egg custard, which is just right for the children.

Zhao Huanxi lifted the lid of the pot, poked the meat with chopsticks, and when he felt it was cooked, he called the children to eat.

Zhao Huanxi looked around while eating. He really felt that he had had enough of living in these dilapidated houses. If he could get the money from selling the ginseng, should he build a new house?

"Mom, what are you thinking about?"

Xiao Yin's voice pulled Zhao Huanxi out of his imagination, and he picked up his chopsticks and started eating.

Xiao Pan took a spoon and scooped a spoonful of egg custard into his mother's bowl, and said softly:

"Mom, are you still thinking about what happened this afternoon?"

Zhao Huanxi shook his head and said with a smile:

"No, I'm just thinking about what delicious food to buy for you guys when we go to town tomorrow." He said this with some embarrassment.

"Mom, we don't want delicious food, I just want you."

"Yes, Mom, let's eat quickly, or it will get cold." Xiao Nian and Xiao Yin also spoke up.

Of all things, eating is the most important. The children were right. Let's eat first and think about this later. Zhao Huanxi picked up a piece of meat for each of his daughters, and then he settled down to eat.

While the girls were still leisurely eating their meals, Zhao Huanxi was already full. She asked the children to wash the dishes at home and ran to Uncle Lu Gen's house in the village.

It is getting dark now. Fortunately, the sun is strong during the day and the moon absorbs enough sunlight. Now the road surface can be seen clearly under the moonlight.

I walked to Uncle Lu Gen's house and knocked on the door. It was his daughter-in-law, Aunt Li Guixiang, who opened the door.

"Aunt, is Uncle Gen home?"

Uncle Lu Gen’s full name is Lu Yougen, and some younger generations just call him Uncle Lu Gen for convenience.

"Whose girl are you from? What do you want from him?"

Aunt Li was notoriously reluctant to go out. Zhao Huanxi had only seen Aunt Li once in the six months since she got married. She must have forgotten who she was.

"I'm Zhao Yatou, who lives in the mountains behind the village. Auntie, just be happy to call me that. I'm here to talk to Uncle Yougen about taking a bullock cart to town tomorrow."

Hearing what the visitor said, Aunt Li also knew who Zhao Huanxi was, so she went to the inner room and called Lu Yougen out.

After a while, Zhao Huanxi saw an old man carrying a pipe coming out. He walked up to Huanxi and asked how many people would take the bus tomorrow.

"Uncle Lu Gen, I'm going to take my daughters to town to do some shopping tomorrow. We might be back late this afternoon, so I'm wondering if you can charter a car."

Lu Yougen took a puff of his cigarette, smacked his lips, and said:

"No one's going to town tomorrow. You can hire a car, but you'll have to pay me twenty copper coins for the round trip."

Zhao Huanxi did the math and found that renting a car was eight copper coins more expensive. He thought to himself that this old man was quite good at business.

Zhao Huanxi didn't bargain with him. He took out five copper coins from his pocket as a deposit and told Uncle Lu Gen to pick him up at his house tomorrow morning. Since it was a chartered car, it naturally had to be treated as such.

Uncle Lu Gen agreed, and Zhao Huanxi slowly walked back to his home.

When he got home, the kitchen had been cleaned. Zhao Huanxi saw that the children were dirty, so he planned to boil two pots of water to wash them.

The first one to go was the youngest, Xiao Nian. Oh my god, when I rubbed it, it was all covered with scabs. It took a basin of water to wash it until it turned black.

Xiao Nian looked at the dirt rubbed off her body and felt a little embarrassed. Now she had finished washing and was warming herself by the fire. Seeing that her second sister's body was also covered with dirt scabs, she laughed quietly.

Zhao Huanxi rubbed it and joked:

"I really want to get a scale to weigh you two and see how much weight you two have lost after washing. I guess the mud you rubbed off can be pinched into a small piece again."

This made the little girls feel shy and amused. "Mother is so kind. It doesn't hurt at all when you rub it gently." After drying Xiao Yin and sending her to warm herself by the fire, only the eldest daughter, Xiao Pan, was left.

But for some reason, Xiao Pan felt a little shy and didn't want to take off her clothes.

Zhao Huanxi felt a little strange, but did not ask in front of her two sisters. After drying the two little ones, she carried them one by one to the bed and let them sleep.

Back in the kitchen, Xiao Pan was so sleepy that he started to yawn. Zhao Huanxi stuffed some firewood into the stove to keep the fire burning.

Then she asked Xiao Pan, "Dani'er, take off your clothes too. Let me rub your back."

Xiao Pan felt a little embarrassed, and looked at Zhao Huanxi with pleading eyes.

"Mom...can I...wash myself..."

Zhao Huanxi thought it was just a little girl's shyness, so she laughed and said:

"Dani'er has grown up and knows how to be shy. Mom knows. I'll go out first and come in to dry your hair after you finish washing." After saying that, she was about to get up and leave.

But at this time Xiao Pan grabbed Zhao Huanxi who was about to go out, as if she had made a great decision.

"mother……"

"What's wrong, Dani? Tell me what's wrong. It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, but don't make yourself sick." Zhao Huanxi respects the children's thoughts. If the children don't want to talk about something, she won't ask about it.

Xiao Pan didn't say anything, but threw herself into Zhao Huanxi's arms and kept crying. Zhao Huanxi knew that this child had suffered the most grievances in the past, so he had to hold Xiao Pan tightly in his arms and gently comfort the crying Xiao Pan.

Xiao Pan cried for a while, his two big eyes were red from crying. He looked up and saw his mother's worried expression, so he forced a bitter smile.

"Girl, if you don't want to laugh, just don't laugh. Look, such a pretty face has been wrinkled like an old lady's." He pinched Xiao Pan's little cheek.

He stood up and filled a large basin of water for Xiao Pan. This basin was found by Zhao Huanxi from the woodshed, otherwise he would have to take a shower.

I helped Xiao Pan test the water temperature. Xiao Pan took off his coat by himself. When he noticed Zhao Huanxi looking at him, he became a little cautious.

Zhao Huanxi was confused. What happened to this girl?

At this time, Xiao Pan said: "Mom, I have..."

Zhao Huanxi followed her gaze and saw several shocking scars on Xiao Pan's fair back. These scars looked like they had been cut by a sharp weapon, and now they were clearly visible on Xiao Pan's back.

Zhao Huanxi choked up when she saw this. She was such a young child, not even eleven years old, but the scar showed that she had been there for a long time. She couldn't imagine what this girl had been through in the past.

"Xiao Pan, how did you get this injury? Did it hurt at that time?" Zhao Huanxi caressed Xiao Pan's back with heartache. The moment he touched the scar, Zhao Huanxi felt even more distressed for this big girl.

"Mom, this was when I was eight years old and went out to pick wild vegetables by myself. I fell from Erping Cliff."

Erping Cliff is a large wasteland near the mountains and forests. The wild vegetables grown there every year are the best, but the terrain is steep and no one is willing to go there to farm and open up wasteland.

After Zhao Pan finished speaking, he sat in the basin and picked up the small gourd ladle to scoop water to wash.

Before Zhao Huanxi could recover from the heartache, Xiao Pan's voice came again:

"After I fell, I lay in the wasteland for two whole days. My two younger sisters came out to look for me, but they didn't even remember I existed."

Zhao Huanxi didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to comfort others. Besides heartache, there were also some emotions in her eyes that Zhao Huanxi herself didn't even know what to say.

She took the gourd ladle from Xiao Pan's hand, used some fragrant soap and gently scrubbed Zhao Pan's body. She didn't even realize that her tears had already dripped onto Zhao Pan's back.

Zhao Pan turned around and found his mother in tears.

"Mom, don't cry. I'm fine now. It doesn't hurt anymore, really."

Xiao Pan hurriedly tried to help his mother wipe her hands, but when he found his hands were wet, he patted his back.

"Look, Mom, it doesn't hurt at all when I pat you like this, really. Don't be sad, it's all over."

Xiao Pan was filled with self-blame. If she had known that she would make her mother so sad, she would never have told her even if she was beaten to death.

"Mom is fine. I just feel sorry for you. No one knows that you have suffered so much. No one feels sorry for you." Zhao Huanxi did not stop moving her hands.