A domineering country girl flirts with her son, and Commander Huo can't resist.

The agreed-upon start date with the town's police station is next Monday, which is two days away.

As soon as it was light, Qiao An woke up. She sat up and saw two children sleeping soundly on their backs.

After tucking them in, Joanne tiptoed out of the house.

She took the wild boar out of the space.

It rained in the middle of the night, and now the ground is all muddy. She just casually threw the black wild boar on the ground.

She didn't hesitate to reveal the secret of the space in front of her two children, all in order to bring the wild boar back and send it to the brigade.

When Qiao An saw Huo Shoutian yesterday, she knew that the old man would never let her and her two children live a life of luxury outside.

They might come up with some terrible idea to force her to go back.

This wild boar was a gift she gave to the village committee.

As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to him; he who takes another's money is bound to him."

She didn't believe it, and when she made a scene at the brigade headquarters, they would side with Huo Shoutian.

Qiao An went to the kitchen and put the rice, flour, oil, and seasonings she had brought home yesterday into a different container and arranged them neatly.

Take out a rope and tie it to both ends of the roof beam, then hang up cured meat, pork, and sausage.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I started setting up the living room.

Thermos flask, chair cushion, calendar, clock, washbasin, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, Yu Meijing (a Chinese skincare brand)...

After finishing her work, Qiao An glanced at it.

Great! It feels like home now.

There are two side rooms in the courtyard. One is the kitchen, and the other currently houses two chickens.

It's not appropriate to keep these chickens indoors.

There is a fence in the yard, but it has many holes because it has been in disrepair for many years.

Joanne gathered some branches and patched up the holes before throwing the chicken in.

As for the empty room, she hadn't decided what to do with it yet, so she simply cleaned it up and left everything inside untouched.

It was already nine o'clock in the morning, so Qiao An went to the bedroom and shook the two children awake. "You two go wash your faces and brush your teeth. I'll prepare breakfast for you."

Qiao An took the three eggs she had just taken to the kitchen, cooked three bowls of noodles.

Huo Ning yawned, then lifted Huo Ning off the kang (a heated brick bed), and the two walked into the living room.

Two small figures stood motionless at the doorway, like two wooden sculptures.

Huo Ning rubbed his eyes. "Brother, am I seeing things?"

"Is...is this our home?"

Huo Chen licked his lips, looking at the newly renovated living room in disbelief.

"I think... I guess so."

"Brother, look! That's an embroidered cushion! It won't hurt your bottom when you sit on a stool in winter."

"Wow! There's soap too! Brother, smell it! This soap smells so much better than the one Auntie uses!"

"Brother! Mom bought us some perfume. Auntie always puts it on Huo Jie and Huo Dong, and their faces stop turning red after she puts it on."

Huo Ning hopped and skipped around, looking at this and touching that.

Huo Chen finally managed to get her to wash her face.

The original owner was too lazy to take care of the children, so she never brushed their teeth. Most people in the village used tooth powder, and had only heard of toothpaste but never seen it.

Only Wang Shuyun in the family used toothpaste, and Huo Chen had seen her use it a few times.

He followed suit, squeezing toothpaste onto his and Huo Ning's toothbrushes, and the two little figures poked and prodded the toothbrushes in their mouths.

After they finished washing up, they stood obediently in the living room, waiting for Qiao An.

When Qiao An brought the noodles into the house, she saw the two of them standing side by side.

"Why are you standing? There are nails on that stool!"

"Hurry up and sit down, get ready to eat."

Huo Ning kept swallowing as he looked at the noodles in the bowl.

These days, wheat flour is only available during the Lunar New Year.

In Huo Ning's memory, she had eaten this kind of thing before.

Three bowls of noodles were served. Huo Chen and Huo Ning looked at Qiao An but didn't touch their chopsticks.

"What are you standing there for? Eat up." Qiao An gently tapped the two children's heads with her chopsticks.

Huo Chen and Huo Ning exchanged a glance, picked up their chopsticks, and started eating noodles without even having a chance to say a word.

Joanne was startled by how ravenously they were eating. "Eat slowly, don't choke."

After saying that, she felt sad again.

These two children have suffered so much.

His hair was dry and yellow, and he was half a head shorter than a normal four-year-old child.

When she bathed them yesterday, she noticed that the two children were so thin that their ribs were clearly visible.

She needs to take good care of her child during this time.

After finishing breakfast, Qiao An prepared to wash the dishes.

Huo Chen and Huo Ning followed her out of the house.

"what!"

Huo Ning was so frightened by the dark, wild boar in the yard that he clung to Qiao An's leg.

"It's okay, don't be afraid. The wild boar is dead. Mom will take it away in a bit," Joan comforted her softly.

Huo Chen remained calm. "We can keep the wild boar to eat, and we can sell any we can't finish."

Qiao An looked down in surprise, not expecting this kid to have thought so much.

"The wild boar mother is useful, but don't worry, our family will have meat to eat every meal from now on."

Huo Chen pursed his lips, not taking it seriously.

Meat at every meal?

No one in the entire Lianchi Village would dare to say that.

After washing the dishes, Joanne dragged the two children back to the bedroom and made them change their clothes.

"Mom, we can wear these clothes." Huo Ning tugged at the pajamas.

"These are pajamas, for wearing to bed at night," she said, pointing to the brand-new clothes on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Huo Chen and Huo Ning never dreamed that they would have two new outfits!

These clothes were bought by Qiao Anran and Mo Yuxuan, and were intended to be as suitable for this era as possible.

The top was a military green khaki jacket, and the pants were corduroy.

The shoes I bought were the most retro rubber shoes.

After they got dressed, Qiao An noticed that their faces were still flushed, with a large bruise on their cheekbones.

She turned around, grabbed Yu Meijing (a Chinese skincare product), and applied a thick layer to everyone's face and hands.

"From now on, you should put on some fragrance after washing your face, okay?"

Huo Ning wanted to wipe it, but Huo Chen wouldn't let him; he still didn't fully trust Qiao An.

Even now, he has never called Joan "Mom".

"You two can go out and play if you want, but don't go too far. Mom might be back late for lunch. If you're hungry, go to the kitchen and get some steamed egg custard, okay?"

There are no kindergartens now, so the children are basically raised in a free-range manner.

"good!"

"Mom is so good!"

Huo Ning pouted and pecked Qiao An on the cheek, then ran out of the yard with Huo Chen.

While the children are out playing, she needs to get down to business.

Joanne put a rope around the wild boar's neck, then found a broken wooden board to place under the boar's body, laid a layer of corn stalks on top of it, and finally covered it with a faded bed sheet she had brought from her in-laws' house.

No one could tell that the thing on the wooden board was a wild boar.

Joan led the wild boar to the brigade.

There weren't many people in the brigade at this spot, but Tian Yongfu was there.

Every Friday morning, Tian Yongfu and the brigade accountant would check the accounts.

Qiao An arrived right on time, just as the workday was about to end. The main team was located in the middle of the lotus pond, where the busiest people came and went at noon.

The more people who know about sending wild boar to the brigade for a treat, the better.

"Secretary Tian!" Qiao An called out as soon as she entered the brigade's courtyard.

Upon hearing this voice, Tian Yongfu and Zhao Dongsheng both looked up.

"Is she the second son's wife from the Huo family?"

"It sounds like her. What's she doing here?"

Tian Yongfu recalled what his wife had said the night before, "Could it be that it's been a whole night and they still haven't found the child?"

"Hmph! Uncle Huo was saying at work today that yesterday they were going to help Qiao An find her child, but she not only refused but also called Uncle Huo a cunning old fox. I bet she's gone to the brigade today to ask for help."