Chapter 40: The Pitch-Black Bedsheet

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Pitch-Black Bedsheet

"Did your stepmother make you lunch?" Li Lei curiously watched as Lu Lin came out holding a lunchbox.

"Yes! She made lunch for me," Lu Lin nodded.

"Can I have a taste? I’ll trade you for what my mom made," Li Sen eyed Lu Lin’s lunchbox, swallowing his saliva.

Thinking of Fu Xiaoxiao’s cooking skills, the food she made must be delicious.

Lu Lin glanced at him and hugged the lunchbox tightly.

He was obviously unwilling to swap.

"Tch, stingy, you used to say you wanted to get rid of her!" Li Sen pouted, feeling that Lu Lin had become stingy.

Previously, he would have generously traded with him.

Ever since the stepmother arrived, he had changed.

"No, I won’t," Lu Lin’s eyelids twitched as he quickly shook his head to deny.

After speaking, he sped up and ran away quickly, Li Sen and Li Lei exchanged glances and quickly chased after him.

"Why are you running? Wait for us!"

Leaning against the door, Fu Xiaoxiao watched his hurriedly escaping figure and hummed lightly before turning back home.

After Lu Lin left, Fu Xiaoxiao tidied up the house and entered Lu Lin and Lu Chen’s room for the first time. Looking at the sheets full of black paw prints on the bed, Fu Xiaoxiao suddenly felt she shouldn’t have entered the room.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have seen such a maddening scene.

"Aunt Fu, we’ll wash them," Lu Chen saw Fu Xiaoxiao enter his room and embarrassedly tugged at the quilt, trying to cover it, but Fu Xiaoxiao had already seen everything clearly.

Fu Xiaoxiao rubbed her brow; how could two kids not even eight years old wash such heavy sheets?

"Come, help me remove them, I’ll wash them for you," Fu Xiaoxiao looked at the sky, seeing today’s clear and sunny weather, she thought they should dry if washed early.

Lu Chen obediently walked over and helped Fu Xiaoxiao remove the bedsheets from his and Lu Lin’s beds. Comparing the bright pillowcases, it made their slept-on areas look dirtier.

"...I’m sorry," Lu Chen feared Fu Xiaoxiao would get angry again and apologized with his head down.

"No need to apologize," Fu Xiaoxiao, seeing his self-blaming look, couldn’t bear it and patted his head.

Because they hadn’t been washed for a long time, Fu Xiaoxiao looked at all the stains and decisively went to the kitchen to fetch a warm water bottle, using it to create soapy water and soak them all.

"Xiao Chen, take your shoes off."

Fu Xiaoxiao signaled to Lu Chen, who took off his shoes and walked over barefoot. "Aunt Fu."

"Come, step in and play!" Fu Xiaoxiao chuckled, lifted him up and placed him in a big basin.

"So fun!" With the warm water, Lu Chen stepped on the soaked sheets as if stepping on cotton; the mingling of fabric and water trapped air, creating a bubble, and Lu Chen delightedly popped them with each step.

Fu Xiaoxiao chuckled, letting Lu Chen play as she went to pick vegetables from the backyard.

Except for not doing strenuous exercise or rising sharply, Lu Feng could still move as long as he did it slowly.

Watching the hour hand on his watch slowly move to nine, Lu Feng glanced at the door without any signs.

Fu Xiaoxiao mentioned that after Lu Lin went to school, she would bring Lu Chen to see him. It’s been an hour and a half, why haven’t they come yet?

Lu Feng frowned, worrying about something happening on the way.

The more he thought, the more worried he felt, so Lu Feng attempted to get out of bed.

"Camp Commander Lu, where are you going? The doctor said you can only get out of bed to use the bathroom," a nurse saw Lu Feng getting up as she was doing rounds and exclaimed.

"I’m fine," Lu Feng slowly stood straight, feeling the dizziness was better than yesterday and believing he could walk.

"Quickly lie down, Camp Commander Lu!" The nurse hurried to stop him from going outside. "Camp Commander Lu, please stop joking, you really can’t leave the bed."

Panicking, the nurse wanted to call for help, but when Fu Xiaoxiao arrived with lunch, holding Lu Chen’s hand, she saw the nurse blocking Lu Feng.

Seeing Lu Feng stand up, Fu Xiaoxiao frowned.

"Camp Commander Lu, where are you going?" Fu Xiaoxiao’s voice was somewhat stern as Lu Feng looked up and saw her face turned somber.

"You’re okay?" Lu Feng relaxed, seeing they were alright.

"Sister-in-law, please come and persuade him, Camp Commander Lu insists on standing up. The doctor said he couldn’t leave the bed except to go to the bathroom," the nurse hurriedly appealed upon seeing Fu Xiaoxiao.

Fu Xiaoxiao glanced at Lu Feng, who slowly turned his head, avoiding her gaze and returning to lie on the bed.

"I thought you hadn’t come for so long, so..." Lu Feng felt her gaze on him, waiting for an explanation, so he cleared his throat to explain.

"Mr. Lu, Aunt Fu helped my brother and me wash the bedsheets, so we’re late," Lu Chen disapprovingly said to Lu Feng.

"Uh, don’t be mad, look at this!" Lu Feng, seeing Fu Xiaoxiao silent, handed her the document from Liu Hongjun, hoping it would lighten her mood.

"What’s this?" Fu Xiaoxiao was thinking of something unpleasant when she saw the red document Lu Feng handed over and quickly took it.

She saw that it stated Lu Feng was promoted to deputy battalion commander due to exceptional command skills and completing multiple difficult missions outstandingly.

Oh? The boss got promoted.

"Congratulations! When you’re discharged, I’ll cook a feast to celebrate," Fu Xiaoxiao smiled at Lu Feng with a hint of respect in her eyes.

Regarding Lu Feng’s rapid promotion, Fu Xiaoxiao could only say that outsiders might view it gloriously, but she was both shocked and complexed when she changed his dressing and saw various scars all over him yesterday.

These were achievements earned through flesh and blood.

"Okay." Lu Feng relaxed seeing Fu Xiaoxiao genuinely smile, trusting Liu Hongjun’s words a bit more.

This was nothing to him, but it did make Fu Xiaoxiao happy, so it was somewhat useful.

"Then for these days, please obediently lie in bed!" Fu Xiaoxiao implied, causing Lu Feng to scratch his nose awkwardly.

"Lu Chen, accompany your dad, while I go to the nurses to get medicine to help change his dressing," Fu Xiaoxiao told Lu Chen as she walked to the nurse station.

The nurse station was filled with some nurses chatting about gossip.

"Have you heard?"

"What? Hurry up and tell us! Don’t keep us hanging, the head nurse will be here soon," a few nurses curiously asked.

"Li Lu! She really got fired," the nurse said mysteriously.

"Really? Who would’ve thought the head nurse wouldn’t fear Minister Li and actually fired her."

People aware of Li Lu’s background were surprised. Since starting her job, Li Lu had always declared her connections, ensuring no one dared provoke her.

"I heard Li Lu raised a fuss at Minister Li’s office, thinking he would stand up for her, but instead, he severely scolded her, leaving her crying and running out."

"How do you know?" the nurses curiously asked back.

"I happened to be fetching medicine from the storeroom that day and heard it all clearly," the nurse laughed. Who would have thought fetching medicine could lead to overhearing such a scandal. "Li Lu fancied Camp Commander Lu, saying Minister Li introduced them. Obsessed with marrying him, but Camp Commander Lu wasn’t interested at all and instead went home and married someone else..."

As the subject of the gossip, Fu Xiaoxiao stood awkwardly outside the nurse station, her head lowered.