As they left, Lu Jiajie said, "Brother, Xinxin has changed a lot."
Lu Jiaguang hummed in response, "Not only has Xinxin become more decisive now, but she also knows how to speak up when she's wronged. Those two, mother and daughter, will never be able to bully her again."
He felt the change was for the better; the hardships hadn't been suffered in vain.
As Lu Jiaxin and Xue Mao were cleaning the house, someone knocked on the door. When she opened it, she saw a middle-aged woman, who had come over after hearing some noises.
The woman said, "My last name is Li; I'm from the neighborhood committee. Young lady, is this house yours?"
After examining the woman's ID, Lu Jiaxin replied, "This house was left to me by my mother. I was too young before and afraid to come here in case my stepmother found out and took it from me. Now I can no longer live under my stepmother's roof, so I had no choice but to move here."
She had no intention of hiding the family's dirty laundry. Besides, these aunties were always well-informed; even if she kept silent, they would have uncovered her background in no time.
The woman from the neighborhood committee had seen many situations like this and reminded her, "Young lady, you should transfer your household registration here as soon as possible, so your stepmother won't be able to manipulate you with marriage issues."
Lu Jiaxin thought the woman was very kind-hearted, thanked her, and said, "Once I'm settled, I'll transfer my registration."
Aunt Li looked at Xue Mao and asked, "Will the two of you siblings be living here from now on?"
Lu Jiaxin explained Xue Mao's status, "Auntie, I've taken him as my honorary younger brother, so he'll live here with me from now on."
After registering their information, Aunt Li smiled and said, "I live just two doors down from you. If you ever need anything, you can come to me anytime."
Lu Jiaxin expressed her gratitude and resumed cleaning with Xue Mao after seeing the visitor out.
After more than an hour of cleaning, both of them were hungry. Without any pots and pans in the kitchen, they had to go out to eat. The Forty-nine City had many small diners, and they quickly found one.
Lu Jiaxin ordered braised fish, garlic-blanketed water spinach, and tomato egg drop soup. She didn't eat much, but Xue Mao had a big appetite, devouring three bowls of rice and cleaning up all the dishes before he was full.
Stepping out of the diner, Xue Mao remarked, "The food at this restaurant is too expensive and not worth it, sister. Let's cook our own dinner tonight!"
"We'll start cooking as soon as we buy some pots and pans tomorrow."
Cleaning was exhausting. After they finished with the side room, Lu Jiaxin collapsed into a chair, "Let's just clean the kitchen now, and we can deal with the three rooms in the rear building when we have time."
Xue Mao didn't feel tired at all; this was his sister's own house, where he could live until she got married, "Sis, you go rest. I'll take care of the rest."
The master bedroom was fully furnished with a bed, wardrobe, dressing table, and chairs. Later, she would move the furniture in her room to Xue Mao's room, so no additional furniture would be needed.
Lu Jiaxin knew he would be uncomfortable if she didn't allow him to work and nodded, "I'll go to sleep first. If you get tired, you should rest too. This is our own house, so there's no rush."
Her body had not fully recovered yet, and she felt tired after even a little work. It seemed that she had not recovered properly from her past illness and needed to see a doctor for a good treatment.
There was no bedding in the room, but fortunately, she had brought over several sets of old clothes that she had intended to change. She had considered throwing them away, but Xue Mao suggested keeping them for rags. Now, these old clothes came in handy.
After three days on the train, which were noisy and uncomfortable green-skin types, unable to get proper rest due to the hard seats they bought, she made a beeline for the family compound. Fearing being discovered as not the original person, Lu Jiaxin had been tense all along. Now, utterly relaxed, she lay down and fell asleep.
When she awoke, it was already over three hours later. Lu Jiaxin walked out and found the courtyard eerily quiet, "Xue Mao, has my Fifth Brother not come over yet?"
Xue Mao paused his work, wiping sweat as he spoke, "No. The oldest brother went to borrow a vehicle. He probably didn't manage to get one!"
Lu Jiaxin was worried about not moving stuff over today, she would only have a plank bed to sleep on, and Xue Mao didn't even have that much. Just a nap had her feeling sore all over, and she feared she wouldn't be able to get up after a whole night's rest.
Xue Mao pointed out an issue he discovered, "Sister, there's no toilet here. Just now I was in a hurry and couldn't find a spot; I had to relieve myself outside."
Fearing Lu Jiaxin might misunderstand, he quickly added, "There's a public restroom outside, but it's so dirty, you're definitely not used to it."
Lu Jiaxin had indeed not thought of this, and she suggested, "Then we need to buy a couple of chamber pots; otherwise, it's too much hassle to go out to the external toilets at night."
Having lived with her for over a month, Xue Mao knew how much she valued cleanliness, "Sister, we can't always live like this. Let's set up our stall early, and once we make some money, we can hire someone to build a toilet."
After deducting travel expenses, they still had a little over two hundred yuan left, which was enough to set up a small stall. As for Lu Jiaxin's money, he had not thought about it.
While they were talking, the robust voice of Lu Jiajie came from outside, "Xinxin, Xue Mao, open the door. I've got stuff to move in."
Xue Mao once collapsed on the bed from exhaustion and fell asleep without locking the door, resulting in their newly acquired pots and half a bag of grain vanishing. Since then, he had developed the habit of locking the door even when at home.
Lu Jiajie entered, carrying bed planks, and upon seeing Lu Jiaxin about to go out, he stopped her, "Xinxin, you haven't recovered yet; rest well. There are not many things; two or three trips with the brothers will be enough."
Lu Jiaxin did feel weak and did not insist on being tough.
Xue Mao soon arrived with two wooden buckets, which carried pots, bowls, ladles, knives, and other kitchen utensils. He joyfully said, "Sister, tomorrow after we buy rice and flour, we can cook for ourselves."
Lu Jiaxin was somewhat surprised and questioned when Lu Jiajie came in with bedding, "Fifth Brother, did you provide these things?"
Lu Jiajie spoke with a smile, "No, Third Uncle got them from the department store. These are factory seconds, quite the bargain."
Lu Jiaxin had glanced at the bucket's contents, and though she had not looked closely, she was certain they were new. She wasn't naive; having navigated the workplace for years, she knew what she needed to know.
What surprised her, however, was that in addition to the kitchenware, there were also two sets of summer quilts, a thermos, kettle, cups, toothbrushes, towels, and other daily necessaries.
Lu Jiajie said with a chuckle, "Xinxin, all these items were arranged by Third Uncle for you."
"He's that kind?"
Lu Jiajie replied with a smile, "Even if Big Brother and I wanted to buy them for you, we don't have that much money. Xinxin, that woman is good at playing roles, and it's inevitable for Third Uncle to be fooled by her. But you are his only daughter; surely, all his money and property will be left to you in the future."
The pay he and Big Brother earned was handed over almost as soon as they got it, leaving at most a couple of yuan on them. All those items together cost several hundred yuan—no amount he and Big Brother could raise even if they sold their blood.