In the dining room, the four children ate the fragrant mutton pancakes with their porridge.
Lin Jinxiao walked out of the room slowly with his walking stick. When he saw Li Ce leading Chu Nanzhi into the house, he lowered his dark eyes and pretended not to see anything as he sat beside the four children.
Chu Nanzhi saw that he looked much better.
It seemed that the medicine she had concocted for him was quite effective, so she did not instruct him to continue lying in the room.
Li Ce took the document bag and sat down next to him. He carefully filled a bowl with porridge and tore a pancake for him.
Lin Jinxiao glanced at the document bag in Li Ce's hand. He did not say anything. He just ate his porridge and pancakes quietly.
Actually, he was not worried that this evil woman would leave. It was just that she had been with the county magistrate for so long that he had a bad feeling.
The room remained abnormally quiet. The four children were also very discreet that day. They ate their food obediently. From time to time, they would secretly glance at the bad woman. Then, they hurriedly retracted their gazes, afraid that she would notice.
After the meal, Little Ruijia's eyes were fixed on the bundle on Chu Nanzhi's lap. She finally mustered her courage and said tentatively, "I want to wear the new clothes."
When the bad woman showed her the new clothes just now, she could not wait to wear them, but she restrained herself and did not dare to say it out loud.
Chu Nanzhi was caught between laughter and tears when she saw the little child's pitifully fearful expression. She quickly took out the clothes and arranged them one by one. Then, she said to the children,
"Everyone has new clothes. In fact, everyone has two sets. Come over one by one, and I'll help you put them on, okay?"
Lin Ruijia were the first to run to her side, followed by the Lin Ruixi.
The two sisters looked at the beautiful new clothes, their eyes shining with joy.
When Li Ce saw that, he quickly came over to help. He helped Lin Ruiwen and Lin Ruichong to put on their new clothes.
Lin Ruixi put on her new clothes and immediately threw her dirty old clothes outside.
However, Lin Ruijia ran over unhappily and picked them up. She hugged the two sets old clothes, reluctant to part with them.
"Granny made these. Sister, don't throw them away. You can still wear them after they're washed."
Chu Nanzhi glanced at the old clothes that the children had taken off. She remembered that Liu Yun had made these clothes for the four children a year ago.
Liu Yun busied herself all year round, trying to help this family. However, she was unfamiliar with needlework. In fact, she was not very good at making clothes.
Unfortunately, the Host had never thought of making clothes for the children. When Lin Jinxiao was earning a salary, he would buy one or two sets of clothes for the children every year. In the past two years, they had no income, so the children had no choice but to make do with their old clothes.
Liu Yun felt sorry for the children and squeezed out some time to make these clothes last year.
Chu Nanzhi took the old clothes and warned the children,
"Ruijia is right. Your grandmother works so hard, but she still made clothes for you. She put in a lot of effort. You can't throw away the old ones just because you have new ones."
"But the clothes that Granny made are ugly."
Lin Ruixi pouted unhappily.
It was not that she did not like her grandmother, but with such beautiful new clothes, she did not want to see those wrinkled and ugly old clothes again.
Lin Jinxiao, who had been silent for a long time, finally could not take it anymore and began to speak.
"You had no problem wearing them in the past. They don't even need mending. Why can't you wear them now? You have to change your clothes if they're dirty."
"I just don't want to wear such ugly clothes anymore."
Lin Ruixi began crying pitifully.
Lin Ruijia was so frightened that she quickly handed her other set of new clothes to her sister and said softly, "Sister, this is for you. Don't cry. I'll wear the clothes Granny made myself."
Although she also liked the new clothes, she did not want to see her father and the bad woman unhappy.
She was the youngest among them and also the most inconspicuous. Usually, she would not get her share of any treats, but she would receive her share of punishment.
It was good enough for her that the bad woman was treating them well. She only wanted to try her best to maintain this wonderful period.
Chu Nanzhi's heart suddenly ached as she watched the sensible Lin Ruijia cheer Lin Ruixi up by giving the latter her clothes.
However, it was not appropriate for her to scold Lin Ruixi now. The children's poor behavior was the result of poor upbringing over the years.
Ever since her arrival, she had gradually realized that the four children were all sneaky. However, other than Little Ruijia, the other three were not only difficult to get along with, they also had many bad habits.
There were two extremes to avoid in bringing up children. One was the way in which Madam Chen had excessively indulged Lin Jinhong and his sister. The other was the way these four children had been brought up.
They had been abused too much when they were young, and they were suffering from the trauma.
She only hoped that she could change their mindsets as much as possible while she was here.
The four children were satisfied after putting on their new clothes. They had cried bitterly all day. Now, they were so tired that they were yawning non-stop. They lay on the table and fell asleep.
Chu Nanzhi took advantage of this to wash the dishes in the kitchen. Li Ce carried the children one by one and put them in bed in the inner room. Then, he returned to the dining room and took the document bag to Lin Jinxiao.
"The county magistrate asked Sister-in-law to help investigate the disappearance of Elder Zhao's young son. Brother Jinxiao, look. Sister-in-law brought the dossier home. It's obvious how highly the county magistrate thinks of Sister-in-law."
"How can she interfere with the matters of the county office? She goes out in public all day long and even goes to court. Isn't she afraid of being criticized? She really can't change her old habits. She really likes to be in the limelight."
From the kitchen, Chu Nanzhi listened to Lin Jinxiao's complaints and gradually realized that it was time to reveal her true intentions.
Sooner or later, she would have to leave this house and do what she wanted to do.
In her previous life, she had a career. Now that she was here, it was even more impossible for her to compromise over a relationship that neither of them wanted. She would not obediently stay at home to take care of her husband and children.
Besides.
She looked up at this simple and crude house. Their financial situation would not permit it either.
She placed the bowls and chopsticks back into the cabinet and walked into her room with heavy footsteps. She took the long black robe and placed it in front of Lin Jinxiao.
Lin Jinxiao was surprised at first. Then, his expression gradually grew calm. At last, he looked gloomy.
"How much money do we have to throw away? I'm half-paralyzed now. Why would I need this?"
He was actually a little excited.
He had been married for more than five years, but this was the first time she had given him clothes.
He had felt a little disappointed just now, when he saw that this woman had bought so many clothes for the children but not for him.
However, he could tell from the fabric that it was expensive.
His heart ached.
Chu Nanzhi felt that this guy was really unreasonable, so she said angrily, "It's my business how I spend the money I earn. If you don't like it, just throw it away."
Seeing that Lin Jinxiao was about to throw the robe on the ground, Li Ce quickly stopped him and said persuasively,
"Brother Jinxiao, this is Sister-in-law's goodwill. How can you ruin it like this?"
Seeing that the time had come, Chu Nanzhi suppressed the anger in her heart and said to him coldly,
"Brother Lin, we've spent more than five years together. Until now, you've only hated me, and I'm extremely disappointed in you. Instead of torturing each other in the future, why don't we divorce?"