***

On the second day, at dawn, Gu Chunzhu woke up and opened her eyes to see An An and Xiaocheng sleeping beside her.

She rubbed her dim sleepy eyes, watching the two children's peaceful sleeping faces. They're particularly beautiful. Blushing like an apple, the siblings slept sideways and pressed their arms under their heads.

Gu Chunzhu slept on the side of the wall last night while Su Wangqin slept on the outside, the two children slept in the middle of them which made Gu Chunzhu relieved.

Where is he? Gu Chunzhu looked around, but did not see Su Wangqin. There was no one on the outside of the bed, only a pillow was carefully placed to prevent the child from falling out of bed.

Gu Chunzhu got up and put on her clothes.

She opened the door and heard movements coming from the stove room. She walked over to look and saw Su Wangqin sitting in front of the stove, piling firewoods.

"You're awake, I cooked porridge, you can eat with the children later when they wake up, take care of them, I will go to the town to sell these prey."

Su Wangqin stood up from the stove, his wheat colored face was red and gorgeous against the fire in the stove. Whilst standing up, he shook the firewood debris off his body.

"Okay." Gu Chunzhu looked at Su Wangqin.

Seeing his thick good looking eyebrows and comparing it to the two delicate children An An and Xiaocheng, it is still a lot worse. maybe the children's biological mother looks really beautiful.

While Gu Chunzhu was pondering, Su Wangqin came over, lifting the prey at her feet.

It was a blood-stained dead pheasant and three rabbits that were tied by a twine.

Su Wangqin carried it and was about to leave but Gu Chunzhu suddenly stopped him, "wait a minute."

He turned his head to look at Gu Chunzhu. She took the cloth bag containing the brown rice out of the basket and handed the worn basket to Su Wangqin. "This basket is from the rice shop owner. I asked for it when I bought brown rice. Put the prey here and cover it with a cloth, so as not to be seen and talked about."

" OK." Su Wangqin responded .

He carried the basket and walked outside.

Gu Chunzhu looked at Su Wangqin's back. She didn't know how much these things could sell for. Looking at the energy of the two children eating meat buns yesterday, she really hoped that their life would get better.

When Su Wangqin left, the two children woke up one after another. Gu Chunzhu prepared brown rice porridge for both of them. Then the two went outside to play.

Gu Chunzhu moved a wooden stool and sat in front of the house, looking at the rising sun, wondering what she could do to make money.

She hadn't thought of anything when her stomach screamed again.

Earlier, she drank half a bowl of porridge, and now, in the blink of an eye, she's hungry again. Gu Chunzhu couldn't help but get annoyed. She hammered her protruding belly. She was poor and fat. This body was only twenty years old, it's still young, it's supposed to be thin. Calm down fat!

"Mother-" An An with her milky voice ran over.

"Ayy, why don't you play more?" Gu Chunzhu hugged An An who rushed over.

An An's little eyes sheepishly looked at Gu Chunzu. She nestled in Gu Chunzu's thigh and said "Sister Xiaohua said that my head is full of bugs, they do not want to play with me."

Gu Chunzu looked at An An's messy hair, It was indeed very dirty. She also smelled bad when she went to sleep last night. If the child was always rejected by her playmates, it'll be bad for her physical and mental development.

Gu Chunzhu pondered for a while and said, "I'll do your hair first, Let's wait until the sun is good so we can wash your hair. Then we'll braid it and put on a flower?"

"Alright!" An An happily accepted.

Gu Chunzhu took a wooden comb with three broken teeth from her mahogany box. She let An An sit on her thigh and combed her hair slowly.

It was painstaking work to comb her messy hair. Gu Chunzhu used the greatest patience in her life. It took an hour to finish.

Su Wangqin came back to see such a scene.

His daughter was being held on his wife's thighs while Gu Chunzhu brushed An An's hair softly. She was extremely gentle, ten times better than before. His heart was moved a little.

"I'm back." Su Wangqin came over carrying his basket.

Gu Chunzu set down An An, watching Su Wangqin take off his back basket. Her eyes flashed. "How much money did they sell for?"

"It's winter, there's not much prey, they sold for 140 coppers."

Su Wangqin was also disappointed, his eyes were on An An's thin clothes.

"Only one hundred and forty coppers?" Gu Chunzhu couldn't help but exclaim.

Su Wangqin was a little angry, this woman thought he could not earn much.

But Gu Chunzhu stood up and said to him, "raw chicken costs 15 coppers, pheasant 18 coppers, and pork costs 10 coppers. Your pheasant last night weighed one pound, the rabbit was also six to seven pounds each. It should be a little more expensive, and the rabbit hair is also worth some money. You could have gotten 200 coppers?"

"I sent it directly to a restaurant in town.” Su Wangqin shook his head, and felt that the woman was much smarter than him.

"Take me with you next time." Gu Chunzu couldn't help but say more.

"Ok." Su Wangqin responded.

Gu Chunzhu thought that the word he said the most was "ok". He's such a quiet person. No wonder he would be cheated. She sighed in her heart.

Su Wangqin picked up An An and asked, "What did you eat in the morning?"

"An’an ate a white bun and shared half with Older brother, Mother didn't eat any. There was also sweet porridge, Mother put some sugar in it." An An nestled in Su Wangqin's arms, her mouth full of "mother".

The corner of Gu Chunzhu’s lip raised unconsciously, this Su Wangqin was afraid that she would mistreat his children. She's not the same as the original owner!

At this moment, a familiar voice came not far away.

"Eldest ..." Mrs. Su waved her arms, her feet moved faster.

"Mother, why are you here?"

Su Wangqin frowned.

Mrs. Su came to Su Wangqin, poked at his chest, and said dissatisfied: "My son is holding a little girl like a baby, is he still her mother's son? What kind of things did you get on the mountains? You're mother's mouth is empty.."

Gu Chunzhu knew that Mrs. Su was pointing at something. She knew the old lady was here to take advantage, so she walked over and stared at Su Wanqin. "The other day your mother came to ask for food and almost snatched a few cold sweet potatoes from our family. Our family's life is already difficult. I only hope she could wait, if not how could the children survive the winter."