Chapter 23: Chen Xiu’s Change of Heart

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Chen Xiu’s Change of Heart

Fu Xiaoxiao first washed various mushrooms, made cross-shaped cuts on the caps of the shiitake mushrooms, and tore the other small mushrooms into little pieces. She added water to a pot, followed by scallion slices and ginger slices, and brought it to a boil over high heat.

Once the water was boiling, she added all the mushrooms and let them simmer over medium heat.

The aroma of the mushrooms gradually emanated from the pot, and the soup became thicker.

Smelling the fragrance, Fu Xiaoxiao nodded in satisfaction, opened the lid, added salt and pepper for seasoning, drizzled a few drops of sesame oil before taking it off the heat, and sprinkled some scallions on top. A fresh mushroom soup was completed.

"So fresh." Sipping a small bowl to taste, Fu Xiaoxiao squinted her eyes in happiness.

"What’s that smell, let me try it too." Lu Chen clung to the kitchen door, unable to resist the aroma any longer, and tugged gently at Fu Xiaoxiao’s clothes.

"Here you go." Smiling, Fu Xiaoxiao handed her bowl to Lu Chen. The slightly cooled soup made Lu Chen gulp, resisting the urge to finish it all in one go, and he took it out to share with Lu Lin.

Fu Xiaoxiao found a large bowl, poured most of the soup into it, and as she came out, she saw Lu Chen squatting in front of Lu Lin, holding the bowl with his small hands. After carefully feeding Lu Lin a sip, he took one himself.

The two little boys finished a small bowl of soup like this.

Fu Xiaoxiao had a smile in her eyes, the bond between the two brothers was really good.

"The soup is ready. Once you finish up, let’s head over." Fu Xiaoxiao placed the soup on the table. Lu Lin and Lu Chen glanced at Fu Xiaoxiao, finished the last gulp of soup, and Lu Chen went to wash the dishes while Lu Lin sped up his actions.

When Fu Xiaoxiao brought Lu Lin and Lu Chen to Chen Xiu’s home, Chen Xiu’s two children had already returned from school and were helping to make dumplings.

Seeing Lu Lin and Lu Chen arriving, they immediately looked worriedly at their mother, afraid that Chen Xiu would be angry and drive them away.

They gestured to Lu Lin and Lu Chen to leave quickly, saying they’ll secretly send them some dumplings after they’ve eaten.

Before they could finish their signals, Chen Xiu already reached out and beckoned.

"Come on in! Xiao Lin, Xiao Chen, come sit!" Seeing Fu Xiaoxiao holding the large bowl, Chen Xiu’s smile deepened.

She had just caught a whiff of the aroma, and the kids had been asking her about it, making her crave it.

"Still making dumplings? Let’s help out then, let’s wrap them together!" Fu Xiaoxiao smiled, put the soup inside, and joined them in making dumplings.

Li Lei and Li Sen widened their eyes, looking in disbelief at Chen Xiu. Li Lei whispered, "Mom, do you not dislike Xiao Lin and Xiao Chen anymore?"

"Oh dear, what nonsense are you two spouting? When did I ever dislike them! Xiao Lin, Xiao Chen, earlier Aunt Li misunderstood you because of what Aunt Li said. Aunt is here to apologize." Chen Xiu glared at her own son, then turned to Lu Lin and Lu Chen with an embarrassed look, sincerely apologizing to them.

"No... no problem." Lu Lin and Lu Chen were a bit taken aback. They hadn’t expected Fu Xiaoxiao to be right; Chen Xiu really apologized to them.

"Huh?" By the side, the two brothers Li Lei and Li Sen were dumbfounded.

What exactly was going on?

A few days ago, she was still telling them not to play with Lu Lin and Lu Chen.

And now... their mom apologized to Lu Lin and Lu Chen??

"What are you huh-ing about! Get wrapping!" Chen Xiu smacked each on the head, her two dumb sons lacking any perceptiveness.

One’s a rock, the other’s a log, she wasn’t wrong at all.

Fu Xiaoxiao sat down with Lu Lin and Lu Chen, Chen Xiu rolled the dough, and Fu Xiaoxiao and Lu Lin helped wrap the dumplings.

After playing with the dough pieces for a bit, Lu Chen was sent to the corner to count ants.

"Mom, can we play with them in the future?" Li Lei looked at Chen Xiu and asked loudly.

"Why are you yelling? Of course, you can! But you two better not bully them. If I find out you’re bullying them, you’d better watch out!" Chen Xiu squinted her eyes dangerously.

"How could we bully them, combined we can’t even beat him." Li Lei coughed, rubbing his nose.

"Is Xiao Lin that impressive?" Fu Xiaoxiao blinked in surprise.

Looking at Fu Xiaoxiao, Li Lei and Li Sen’s eyes widened. They wanted to ask but didn’t dare.

"This is Xiao Lin and Xiao Chen’s mom. Call her Aunt Fu." Seeing her sons like that, Chen Xiu said helplessly.

"Aunt Fu." Li Lei and Li Sen looked at Lu Lin and Lu Chen, and upon seeing no reaction from them, they called out.

"Good." Fu Xiaoxiao, busy wrapping dumplings, couldn’t take the candy from her pocket, so she smiled at them. "I’ll give you some candy later, my hands are all covered in flour right now."

Once the dumplings were wrapped, Fu Xiaoxiao helped Chen Xiu bring them into the kitchen.

As soon as the adults left, the four children immediately huddled together.

"What’s going on, didn’t you say you were going to get rid of this stepmom?" Li Sen looked at Lu Lin. Weren’t they planning on how to get rid of the new mom earlier, how come they’re now so well-behaved?

"But she’s really nice to us, cooks for us, and doesn’t scold us..." Lu Chen pouted, feeling a bit reluctant to send Fu Xiaoxiao away.

"Not sending her away." Lu Lin’s eyes swept over to Fu Xiaoxiao in the kitchen. He had to admit this new mom felt very different.

Spending time with her didn’t seem bothersome at all.

"Does she have some sort of magic? My mom used to dislike you guys so much, and today she actually invited you over for dumplings, even letting us play together. Just the other day she was scolding us and pulling my ear to promise not to play with you..." Li Lei thought Fu Xiaoxiao must be some sort of fairy, no matter how much they begged before, their mom wouldn’t let them play with the Lu Lin brothers.

"Yeah, yeah." Li Sen nodded in agreement with his brother. "My ear was really pulled hard by mom."

"She even taught me and my brother to climb trees today! We took her walking around town for two hours, and she didn’t scold us." Lu Chen whispered.

Just as Fu Xiaoxiao and Chen Xiu came in with the cooked vegetarian dumplings, they saw the four little guys huddled together, not sure what they were whispering about.

"What are you talking about? So sneaky!" Chen Xiu’s words frightened the four little ones, making them quickly disperse.

"Mom, how come you walk without making any noise? It’s scary!" Li Lei said loudly.

"You rascal, quickly take your three little brothers and wash your hands!" Chen Xiu scolded with a laugh.

Fu Xiaoxiao looked at Chen Xiu. "You and your children have such a good relationship."

"What good relationship! Those two little rascals, just talking about them makes me mad!" Chen Xiu laughed, complaining about how she had no idea how vexed those two brats made her, she wanted to swat them every day.

Once the four little ones returned from washing their hands, the table was filled with vegetarian dumplings, with a large pot of mushroom soup in the middle, each having a full bowl.

"Wow, this tastes so good!" Li Lei cautiously took a sip, instantly won over by its umami flavor.

"Oh dear, little sis, your soup is truly something else, smells good and tastes even better!" Chen Xiu said, craving it as she took a sip and almost couldn’t stop.

"Glad you like it, Sister Chen Xiu." Fu Xiaoxiao said with a smile.

Everyone took turns sipping soup and eating dumplings, thoroughly enjoying themselves. The kids especially, eating without lifting their heads.

They made four trays of dumplings and the four older kids managed to eat two and a half trays, no wonder they say half-grown boys can bankrupt their parents.

Li Lei was just about ten years old and could already eat a tray by himself. If he got any bigger, even two trays might not be enough.