Chapter 118: She Will Avoid It

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: She Will Avoid It

When Wang Lu delivered the things Lu Feng had bought to the house, he saw Lu Chen and Lu Lin talking to Lu Feng, each taking turns nagging him. The scene looked a bit comical, like Lu Feng was being lectured by two little brats.

But seeing that Lu Chen and Lu Lin weren’t frightened at all, already back to being their usual lively selves, Wang Lu felt again that these really were children raised by Lu Feng—their ability to withstand things was truly solid.

"Lu Tuan, I’ve brought your stuff over," Wang Lu said to Lu Feng.

"Just put it all in the kitchen." Lu Feng nodded, told Wang Lu to put the sorted items in the kitchen, then carried the cloth and other things into Fu Xiaoxiao’s room himself.

"Xiao Xiao, Wang Lu brought the things over. Do you want these bolts of cloth in your room?" Lu Feng stood at the door and asked softly.

"Mm." Fu Xiaoxiao opened the door and let Lu Feng carry everything into the room.

"Lu Feng, can you go to bed a bit later tonight?" Fu Xiaoxiao looked at Lu Feng and asked in a low voice.

"Of course I can—but why?" Lu Feng naturally had no problem with it; he just didn’t understand why he needed to stay up later. Was there something going on?

"Listen in on the noise next door for a while. I’m scared Li Si might lay his hands on Sister Chen Xiu." Fu Xiaoxiao said quietly.

Someone as proud as Li Si, once he’s rejected multiple times by Chen Xiu, is very likely to go off the rails.

In her previous life, Fu Xiaoxiao had seen too many men like that—thinking that once they lower themselves and apologize, they’re bound to be forgiven. If Chen Xiu turns him down, he could fly into a rage out of humiliation, and if he gets mad enough to hit her...

"I hope he’s not that kind of man too, but it’s not the ten thousand you fear, it’s the one in ten thousand." Fu Xiaoxiao hoped she was overthinking it, but she’d seen too many cases like this; she really couldn’t stop her mind from going there.

She hoped she was just imagining things.

No incident would be best.

"Alright." Lu Feng nodded. As long as it was something she said, he would back her up.

If Li Si really dared lay a hand on a female comrade...

Then his time as company commander would be over.

"Thank you." Fu Xiaoxiao hadn’t expected Lu Feng to agree so easily. Lu Feng gave her a gentle smile. "As long as it’s something you want to do, I’ll support you."

"...Don’t be this good to me." Fu Xiaoxiao took a step back, biting her lip.

"Why are you this scared?" Lu Feng didn’t understand what Fu Xiaoxiao was afraid of, or why she was resisting so hard.

"Probably because... I feel like only money will never betray me?" Fu Xiaoxiao glanced up at Lu Feng, and after speaking softly, she closed the door, refusing to keep facing him.

"Only money will never betray you?" Lu Feng slowly rolled the words around in his mouth. So this was also why Fu Xiaoxiao had agreed to his proposal?

Thinking back to the conditions he had offered, they were indeed perfectly tailored to Fu Xiaoxiao.

Feelings not involved—just as she’d said, she’d been trying to carve out an escape route for herself back then.

Thinking of Fu Xiaoxiao’s family situation, Lu Feng could understand why she would think that way.

When she had nothing, only money could give her a decent life. Her closest kin schemed over her job, forced her to go to the countryside, sent her empty-handed to a place where there was nothing at all. Even the people she’d lived with for twenty years turned out not to be her family. No wonder she...

After grasping Fu Xiaoxiao’s misgivings, Lu Feng decided to change his strategy. He couldn’t sit around waiting for her to come to her senses.

Her instinct would be to choose escape.

He had to take the initiative!

He went out into the courtyard and sat down, smiling as he watched Lu Lin and Lu Chen playing there. The little wolf cub at his feet had recovered quite a bit; it’d been eating well these days and was out of danger, clearly having grown a size. It nudged up against Lu Feng’s foot, mischievously chewing on his shoe.

The days were very ordinary, yet it was a sense of stability he’d never had before.

Suddenly, it felt like everything had something to look forward to.

From nothing to something, Lu Feng took it all in with his eyes. It was like a beam of light, illuminating the desolate darkness in the depths of his heart.

When Fu Xiaoxiao came out and saw Lu Feng sitting there with a faint smile, she didn’t know why—clearly it was a beautiful scene, yet she could feel a desolate air radiating from him.

As if he was just a cold, detached onlooker, so cold no one could get close.

But when he sensed her presence, turned his head, and lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile, only then did Fu Xiaoxiao feel warmth, as if what she’d just felt had all been her imagination.

"We’ve got big bones today, we’re having noodles!" Fu Xiaoxiao pressed down the questions in her heart and walked toward the kitchen, smiling.

"Need my help?" Lu Feng got up and followed behind Fu Xiaoxiao into the kitchen.

"Of course I do. Can you chop them up for me?" Fu Xiaoxiao laughed softly; she’d been waiting for Lu Feng to come help!

She pointed to the pile of big bones in the corner. These were good stuff—but to split them open, you needed strength.

"Yes, ma’am." Lu Feng didn’t say another word. He picked up the big cleaver beside him and walked over to that pile of bones.

"Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!"

The steady chopping sound had a surprising rhythm.

Fu Xiaoxiao marinated the lean meat she’d bought with soy sauce and cooking wine, then waited for Lu Feng to cut the bones into sections so she could wash them one by one.

After washing them clean, she put them into a pot with fresh water, and Lu Feng sat in front of the stove to tend the fire, starting to simmer the bone broth.

While the broth was cooking, Fu Xiaoxiao opened the sack of flour and scooped out a few spoonfuls.

"Do you take on missions during New Year’s?" Fu Xiaoxiao started kneading the dough and glanced at Lu Feng.

"In previous years I took missions every time. This year, I want to stay with the unit and keep you company," Lu Feng said directly to her.

"Oh?" Fu Xiaoxiao looked at him, curious.

"In past years it was always just me alone, so I never turned down missions. I let those who had families reunite with them. I was a solitary man anyway, so I might as well give my days off to others." Lu Feng answered casually, but his words made Fu Xiaoxiao pause.

"Then... what about Uncle Liu?" Fu Xiaoxiao had never asked Lu Feng this before, because she remembered him saying he’d been raised by Uncle Liu.

Didn’t that mean there was still Liu Hongjun?

Lu Feng shook his head. "He has his own family. Even though he picked me up and brought me home, in the end I’m still an outsider. It’s not right to stay too long in someone else’s house."

Lu Feng was leaving a lot unsaid. Fu Xiaoxiao could tell that something must have happened back then for him to be able to say something like this, sticking only to calling himself their adopted child.

"Do you want to find your family?" Fu Xiaoxiao asked softly.

At this question, Lu Feng fell silent for a moment.

"It’s okay if you don’t want to answer," Fu Xiaoxiao hastily added.

"It’s not that it’s hard for me, I just don’t know how to answer." Lu Feng shook his head and looked at Fu Xiaoxiao.

"I used to imagine that someone would come looking for me, come to claim me as family. But I’ve also seen too many people who deliberately abandon their children. Even if you’re found and taken back, you only become their burden or their trouble." In the past, Lu Feng had entertained the thought, but the more missions he undertook, the lighter the concept of "family" became for him.

In the end, he simply stopped expecting anything at all.