204 Long Term Pain is Worse than Short Term Pain

Lu Jiao’s lips twitched, “It’s okay. I was impatient and said something mean. I angered the children.”

The Second Grandma lectured Lu Jiao, “Your children are really good kids. They’re obedient and respectful. Don’t be too hard on them.”

Lady Zhao nodded in agreement. The children’s weeping hurt her too.

The other villagers also chimed in a little. They told Lu Jiao to not be too hard on them. They were good kids for their age. If they rounded up, they were four. Their actual age was only three.

Lu Jiao nodded and mentioned she will be more cautious. Only then did everyone leave.

Lu Jiao headed back to the west bedroom and offered to take the children into town.

The four little ones loved to go into town. There were lots of people and things to do there.

This time, Lu Jiao was unsuccessful. The children all sprawled out on the bed and buried their faces into the pillows as they continued to sob.

Lu Jiao’s head hurt. She went to the east bedroom to talk to Xie Yunjin and convince him to give her custody of the children. She didn’t want money and she could promise him that she would raise the children to be good men.

“Xie Yunjin, let’s talk.”

The man on the bed slowly turned his head towards her. His handsome face drowned in coldness and his dark eyes were foggy. The way he looked at her was like she was a heartbreaker.

Lu Jiao wanted to curse. What was this?

“The four little ones obviously do not want to accept our separation. I’m thinking, how about you give me the children to raise? Once they realize there was no chance that we’d reconcile, they will accept reality. Then, you can take them back.”

Xie Yunjin answered emotionlessly, “Since you decided to leave, then leave cleanly. Don’t give them hope. If you give them hope and leave anyway, you’ll hurt them more!”

Lu Jiao thought it over and found him to be right. Xie Yunjin obviously wasn’t going to give up custody forever. If she only raised them for a while and then sent them back, they would get hurt even more.

“You’re right. I didn’t think it through.”

Lu Jiao then abruptly got up and left. Behind her, Xie Yunjin watched her leave.

This woman was far more ruthless than he thought. Though she always smiled on the outside, her heart was made out of steel.

She obviously liked the four little ones and cared for them like a real mother would. However, when she arrived at a crossroad, she unhesitantly chose to leave them.

Xie Yunjin closed his eyes and pondered. Were they really going to separate?

The thought of that depressed him and drained him of strength.

Lu Jiao left the east bedroom and didn’t bother to go into the west bedroom. She went to the kitchen to get her basket and left home.

Her mind was a mess so she decided to harvest some herbs to calm herself down. She’ll think about the future while she’s out there.

She’s always wanted to raise the four little ones for Xie Yunjin. It was obvious now that the children couldn’t accept that they would separate.

Long term pain was worse than short term pain. She better keep her distance from them and they may heal faster.

Lu Jiao ran into several families while she harvested herbs. Many people heard about the children crying and asked Lu Jiao about it.

Lu Jiao used the same excuse as she did earlier and most people told her that she should go easier on the children. They were good boys.

Lu Jiao nodded.

Since so many people asked, Lu Jiao got annoyed. She ended up going deep into the mountains and by the time she was done, it was late afternoon. She remembered that the children didn’t eat breakfast and she didn’t know if they ate lunch.

Lu Jiao was worried and headed home. She hoped that after these long hours, the children would be calm by now.

If she talked to them now, she should be able to get through to them.

Lu Jiao returned home with the basket. The yard was quiet without much noise. Soot and Marble appeared hungry and were running around. When they saw her, they greeted her with licks.

Lu Jiao knew right away then that the children didn’t have anything to eat. If they did, they would’ve given some to Soot and Marble.

Lu Jiao was helpless. She put down her basket and went to the west bedroom.

There, the children were missing.

Lu Jiao raised an eyebrow and went to the east bedroom.

Xie Yunjin was reading in bed. He still appeared aloof and distant. When he saw Lu Jiao, he only glared at her before we went back to his book. He didn’t seem to want to talk.

Lu Jiao asked, “Did the four little ones come to you?”

Xie Yunjin shook his head. He wanted to ask her, if she cared about them so much, why would she leave them?

However, he quickly remembered her real identity. She wasn’t who she used to be so she didn’t owe him anything. On the contrary, he and his sons were indebted to her.

Xie Yunjin suppressed the exasperation he felt and said calmly, “They didn’t come. They must’ve gone out.”

Lu Jiao thought the children must’ve gone to play with the others given their poor mood and didn’t pursue it.

Since the children haven’t eaten, Lu Jiao cleaned up what was there before and went to cook fresh noodles for the children.

She’s made noodles in hot and sour soup for the children twice before and they really liked it. Lu Jiao decided to make more of their favorite dishes.

However, by the time she was done cooking, the children still didn’t return.

Lu Jiao was now worried. Where did the children go? Did they go out there and told everyone about her separation from Xie Yunjin? She really wanted to resolve this quietly and leave quietly. She didn’t want the whole village to find out.

Lu Jiao decided to go search for the children.

After an entire round around the village, she still couldn’t find them. She also asked many people and nobody saw them.

Lu Jiao was now really worried and ran into the east bedroom all heated.

“Xie Yunjin, something bad has happened. I don’t know where the four little ones went. I went around the village and didn’t find them. Nobody in the village saw them either. Where could they have gone?”

Xie Yunjin’s expression changed and he quickly got out of bed.

Since he was going so fast, Lu Jiao couldn’t help but to ask, “Be careful when you walk. Your legs aren’t back to normal yet.”

Xie Yunjin simply said, “I’m fine.”

The two of them wanted to do another round around the village. However, when they got out of their own yard, they saw Lin Chunyan walk over with a full basket.

Lu Jiao subconsciously asked, “Chunyan, did you see my four little ones?”

Lin Chunyan answered right away, “I saw them. They went into the mountains with Xiaobao.”

Then she gave Lu Jiao a strange look, “They didn’t tell you?”

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