After dinner, Lu Jiaxin spoke about the matter that had been weighing on her mind, "Fifth Brother, Fifth Sister-in-law, I want to go and pay respects to my mother. Do you know where I can buy incense, candles, and paper money?"
In past years, when feudal superstitions had been denounced, such items were banned from sale. Although the policy has loosened up now, people are still uncertain, so worshipping is done in secret. She had never dealt with these products before and hadn't seen any shops selling incense and candles, so she asked Lu Jiajie and Ma Lili.
Lu Jiajie was puzzled, "Why do you suddenly want to pay respects to Third Aunt?"
Ma Lili was frustrated with her husband's dense response and took on the task, "My mother bought some of these items a few days ago. I'll ask her when I get home, and once we've purchased them, I'll get your Fifth Brother to bring them over."
"Thank you, Fifth Sister-in-law."
After the meal, Lu Jiaxin took out ten yuan for Lu Jiajie to buy the incense and such. But before she could hand over the money, she got a scolding instead.
Lu Jiaxin didn't insist anymore; she figured she would buy more stuff for Qiangqiang and Xiao Feng in the future, "Fifth Brother, it's chaotic outside, don't come over tonight."
Lu Jiajie smiled and said, "Alright, I'll come over tomorrow night."
One reason was the presence of Xue Mao, and the other was that the public safety had improved a lot. If it were still as it had been a few months ago, he would definitely have come over, because he wouldn't have felt at ease otherwise.
By the time he got home, it was past eight o'clock. After bathing both children, Mother Ma came out and gave the couple an earful for returning too late, claiming it impacted the children's rest. Naturally, the child she was referring to was Little Fatty, Yan Jixiang.
Lu Jiajie remained silent, but he clearly didn't look pleased. After the two children had finished their baths and were lying in bed, he deliberately asked, "Qiangqiang, Xiao Feng, would you like it if we moved out?"
Xiao Feng joyfully said, "Daddy, are we moving to Auntie's house? Auntie tells me nice stories, and she gives us so many treats, I'm willing."
Lu Jiajie paused his breathing, "Who told you we were moving to Auntie's house?"
The little girl blurted out without hesitation, "Grandma said so. She said there were so many rooms at Auntie's house, that it would be more than enough for our whole family to move in."
Lu Jiajie was so angry that he was at a loss for words.
Xiao Feng then tugged at Ma Lili's arm, acting coquettishly, "Mommy, can we move to Auntie's house quickly? If we live at Auntie's, my cousin won't be able to steal my and brother's milk candies anymore."
Lu Jiajie was so furious he stood up but Ma Lili held him back. Ma Lili stroked Xiao Feng's head and asked softly, "Why didn't you tell your dad and me when your cousin stole your milk candies?"
With his head hanging down, Qiangqiang said, "Mommy, I told my sister not to tell. If you knew, you'd argue with Grandma again, and Mommy, I don't want you to argue with Grandma."
This kind of incident had happened before, and the fierce quarrelling had made Xiao Feng so scared that she cried loudly.
Ma Lili's nose tingled as tears involuntarily fell. Not wanting her children to see, she turned away to wipe her tears, then, with a choked voice, she held her son and sobbed, "My Qiangqiang is such a good boy."
Suppressing his anger, Lu Jiajie said, "Qiangqiang, Xiao Feng, it's late, and you have school tomorrow. Go to sleep quickly."
After shushing the two children to sleep, he said, "I'll go out and find a place to live tomorrow. Once we have a house, we'll move out."
Ma Lili didn't want to rent a house. She felt that renting was too unstable, with too many uncertainties, such as the landlord raising the rent or suddenly selling the house.
Lu Jiajie gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's buy a house, even if it's in a remote location. Lili, it's okay for us to suffer a bit, but we can't let our children be wronged."
Seeing her child like this, Ma Lili stopped hesitating this time, "We can't buy something too remote, it won't be convenient for the kids to go to school. I now have two thousand three hundred yuan on hand, which isn't enough to buy even a small courtyard, so we'll have to ask Third Uncle and older brother for a loan."
She wasn't willing to buy a house in a messy, noisy compound where there was too much bickering, so she'd rather endure some hardship to buy a separate small courtyard.
Lu Jiajie was stunned, "Do we really have that much money?"
Ma Lili gave him a sidelong glance and whispered, "You always say I control you too strictly, but if I didn't, how could we have saved this money? Jiajie, although a bungalow doesn't have central heating like an apartment does, a detached house still offers peace and privacy."
Their living expenses were bound to double once they moved out, but after buying the house, the couple would only have to support their two children. They both had jobs and weren't afraid, it would just be more tiring without anyone to help. But no matter how exhausting it was, it was better than letting the children suffer.
Lu Jiajie didn't think it was a big deal, "If you're afraid of the cold, we can just build a kang in the house. Before we go to sleep, we'll heat the kang, and we won't even need to cover ourselves with quilts at night."
The next noon, Lu Jiajie went to find Lu Hongjun and told him about Lu Jiaxin going to buy incense and candles to offer sacrifices to Mrs. Lu.
Lu Jiajie said, "Third Uncle, Xue Mao told me that the night he saved Xinxin, she came down with a high fever, and all night Xinxin was calling for her mother."
"The fever lasted for two days and nights before it subsided. Xue Mao was worried that it might turn her into an idiot. The next day, when Xinxin woke up, she was so weak from blood loss that she needed support just to walk."
Lu Hongjun had guessed that Lu Jiaxin had suffered in Ancient Capital, but he hadn't imagined it to be so hard.
Seeing him silent, Lu Jiajie continued, "Xue Mao himself didn't even have stable meals, and after saving Xinxin, they both went hungry. For the sake of survival, Xinxin began to set up a stall with Xue Mao. At that time, her body was still very weak, almost suffering from heatstroke on the first day of vending. But to earn money for food, Xinxin didn't go back, and instead lay down under the big tree beside the stall."
Lu Hongjun asked hoarsely, "And after that?"
Lu Jiajie said, "Xinxin's food was delicious, and her business was bustling, but it wasn't long before she caught the attention of some thugs. The stall was smashed by them, and both Xue Mao and Xinxin were injured, taking several days to recover."
The tale of the stall being overturned and people being injured by street thugs was true, but Lu Jiaxin hadn't gone to the stall; Xue Mao was the one injured. After hearing Xue Mao's story, he understood why his sister had changed so much. Having gone through so much, it would have been strange if she hadn't changed.
"She never mentioned it to me."
Lu Jiajie really wanted to retort but didn't have the nerve, "Third Uncle, Xinxin said yesterday that in this world you can't rely on anyone but yourself. Third Uncle, Xinxin isn't just trying to scare you, she really wants to cut ties with you."
Lu Hongjun fell silent for a moment, then took out an envelope from the drawer, "Here's three hundred yuan. Whatever Xinxin is lacking, you help her get it."
Lu Jiajie didn't hesitate for a second to take the envelope and then talked about his own plans to buy a house, "Our child's food was stolen, and Mother Ma didn't discipline Yan Jixiang strictly, instead saying Qiangqiang and Xiao Feng are stingy. Third Uncle, I really can't stay at the Ma family anymore, Lili and I have discussed it and we want to buy a small detached courtyard."
He specifically mentioned this to Lu Hongjun in the hope he would help in inquiring about it, since Lu Hongjun had connections he couldn't compare to. Of course, the most important thing was hoping to get it at a discounted price.
Lu Hongjun nodded, "I will keep an eye out. If there's something suitable, I'll let you know."
Since Jiajie only had the one son, Qiangqiang, it was clear that he couldn't be adopted out to the Ma family. And since the Ma family's eldest daughter was willing to have her youngest son adopted back to her own family, all the Ma family's assets and jobs would belong to that child in the future. Since they had to move anyway, buying a house sooner and moving out would allow them to start their peaceful lives earlier.