I Became the Mother of His Child

Xu Xiuxiu opened the door and entered; only Aunt Luo and the twins were home. Aunt Luo was preparing dinner while chatting with the boy and girl twins, and even though they responded with baby babble, she seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.

"Xiuxiu, Cheng Guang is back!" Aunt Luo smiled at Xu Xiuxiu and Song Chengguang as they entered. "Xiuxiu, let me tell you, our boy and girl twins have grown little 'rice grains'! Come and see." Aunt Luo was very excited to show Xu Xiuxiu.

"Grown little 'rice grains'? What are those?" Xu Xiuxiu asked, puzzled, furrowing her brows.

"Oh! Look at me, I didn't explain it well!" Aunt Luo realized Xu Xiuxiu didn't understand what she meant by 'rice grains' and laughed, "The twins have grown teeth, both siblings have a tiny milk tooth, so adorable!"

"Really?" Xu Xiuxiu immediately smiled in surprise.

When she came to this world, Song Chen was already close to one year old. He had grown teeth early, so Xu Xiuxiu missed seeing Song Chen without teeth, which was a pity, but now hearing that the toothless twins had grown their first teeth, as a mother, she was truly delighted.

"Mhm." Aunt Luo nodded and saw another lady and a child coming in behind Xu Xiuxiu. The child's face was covered in scars, causing a moment's surprise, but being an elder, she managed to remain composed and quickly diverted her gaze, maintaining the decorum befitting a housekeeper in front of guests.

Although the Song family were always polite to her and she didn't usually stand on ceremony with them, Aunt Luo knew she had standards to uphold in front of strangers.

Xu Xiuxiu noticed Aunt Luo giving a glance behind her and quickly realized Li Yun Qiong and Cui Shuo were there. "I'm sorry, Yun Qiong, I was so caught up with the twins that I forgot you and Cui Shuo were here, please, come in!" Xu Xiuxiu apologized and led the way in, placing the expensive gifts brought by Li Yun Qiong on the table. "Aunt Luo, I have friends over, could you please make two cups of tea and cut some fruit for us?"

"Sure! I'll go make the tea right now." Aunt Luo nodded cheerfully, put down the green beans she was handling, and then turned and walked into the kitchen.

"Go ahead and have a seat on the sofa," Xu Xiuxiu gestured casually to Li Yun Qiong.

"Okay." Li Yun Qiong nodded and confidently sat down on the sofa.

Aunt Luo quickly brought out two cups of tea. "I'll have the fruit cut up in a moment, please wait a little while," she said, placing down the cups before diving back into the kitchen.

"This tea is basic but has a refreshing fragrance; it's quite nice with the weather. Give it a try," Xu Xiuxiu said, indicating for Li Yun Qiong to drink.

Li Yun Qiong nodded, took a sip of tea, but her gaze was fixed on Cui Shuo who was watching the twins by the stroller, her eyes gradually filling with tears. Seeing her like this, Xu Xiuxiu didn't say much, simply following her gaze to the children around the stroller.

"Cheng Guang, are these your little brother and sister? They're so cute." Cui Shuo spoke with an extremely envious tone, "Look, they're even smiling at me! They like me." Cui Shuo jumped excitedly.

"Cui Shuo, keep it down, you might scare my little brother and sister," Song Chengguang knew his siblings were afraid of loud noises. Cui Shuo was rarely this relaxed. Ever since the incident, Li Yunqiong had been very protective of him, and the kids also played with him. Slowly, he began to realize that he was not like other kids.

Relaxed moments like these were rare, and moreover, Song Chengguang wasn't at all bothered by the scar on his face. He suddenly let his volume slip.

"Oh!" Cui Shuo nodded, immediately covering his mouth with his tiny hands, "I'll keep quiet," he promised.

Li Yunqiong watched Cui Shuo and chuckled softly.

"Yun Qiong, why is the scar on Cui Shuo's face so severe? Isn't the ointment working?" Xu Xiuxiu, though conflicted, couldn't help but ask Li Yunqiong upon seeing the large scar covering Cui Shuo's face.

Li Yunqiong's smile vanished immediately, her face darkened, and she remained silent for a long while, "It does work," she thought bitterly, only managing to speak after a long pause.

"Then why does it still look like that?" Xu Xiuxiu asked, puzzled.

"The dosage wasn't enough. Cui Shuo's aunt had severe wounds and was in the middle of marriage discussions. After discussing it, the family decided to give the ointment to his aunt, Cui Lin. They thought since the ointment was bought from a peddler in your hometown, they could send someone to find more for Cui Shuo. They figured they could always get more." Now, Li Yunqiong regretted her decision to agree to this. The thought that Cui Shuo couldn't get the proper ointment to heal his scars pained her as though she were stabbed.

How could she have been so foolish? The hard-found ointment was easily handed over to her sister-in-law, leaving Cui Shuo with only two days' worth of application. Now, the aunt's scars were nearly invisible, while Cui Shuo's face bore deep, pitted marks that might follow him for life—for a lifetime!

Though she got along well with her sister-in-law, who was also kind to Cui Shuo, she was indeed willing for her to use the ointment. But that was under the assumption that it wouldn't force her to make a choice between them. Had she known she wouldn't be able to find another ointment of such quality, she would selfishly have kept it for Cui Shuo. But now, it was too late for regrets.

When Xu Xiuxiu had given her the ointment, she had mentioned that there was no more left. Li Yunqiong knew asking Xu Xiuxiu for more was asking too much, but... she had no choice. Coming to Xu Xiuxiu was her only hope, hoping that seeing Cui Shuo's condition would soften her heart enough to spare a little of the ointment, knowing how effective it was. Xu Xiuxiu would surely keep some for emergencies. As she would have done, she came to Xu Xiuxiu today.

"Xiuxiu, a while back, my husband had someone inquire at your hometown and even bought a few boxes of ointment. The boxes looked exactly like the one you gave me, but the ointment inside was a different color and the effects were drastically different. Although it did reduce the scarring, the effects were nowhere near as pronounced as with the ointment you gave me. Did the maker of the ointment change?" Li Yunqiong said, tears falling, grabbing Xu Xiuxiu's hands.

"I'm not sure. My mother-in-law bought it when she encountered the peddler, just as a precaution to treat small wounds and bruises for the kids," Xu Xiuxiu replied deftly, frowning.

Despite her sympathy for Cui Shuo's plight, she could not jeopardize her own stable life out of sympathy. She was the mother of three children; there were just too many considerations. She had already extended compassion once. Thus, even though she knew Li Yunqiong had come to her as a petitioner, she could only feign ignorance. She truly could do nothing to help, and could not help!