The food was a little cold due to Liu Feifei's fuss, so Xiao Hui put some hot dishes back into the pot and stir-fried them again.
"Nier, why don't you eat? Are you feeling unwell?"
Xiao Hui noticed that Minnie was just absent-mindedly picking at the food in the bowl with her chopsticks, but had no intention of putting it into her mouth, so she couldn't help but feel a little worried.
"No...it's just that it's hot and I don't have much appetite." Minnie forced a smile, put down the bowl and chopsticks and stood up and said: "Mom, you can eat, I'm going back to the house."
Xiao Hui knew that her eldest daughter loved beauty and paid great attention to controlling her diet and keeping in shape, so she didn't care. She just warned: "That's good. You can pack your things by the way and let Xiao Nan sleep in your room at night. You first
Sleep with Baoer for one night."
Minnie subconsciously planned to refuse. She didn't want a strange man to sleep in her boudoir, even for just one night, but after thinking about it, she still held back. She could see that her mother was very happy today because of Li Mengnan's arrival.
I don't want to be the one who spoils the fun.
Xiao Baoer seemed to notice Minnie's reluctance and took the initiative to come to the rescue: "Mom, let my brother sleep in my room. I'll sleep with my sister. I have few things and it's easy to pack up."
"Stop cleaning up. School starts tomorrow. I'll go back to school and sleep tonight."
Although Li Mengnan really likes the warm and warm atmosphere here, to the Xiao family, mother and daughter, he is still just a stranger with blood ties. Even if Xiao Hui and others don't mind, he always has to consider his neighbors.
Will you spread gossip?
There are many disputes in the house of a widow. Although Xiao Hui is not a widow in the true sense, after all, the three members of the family are women, and they are the ones most likely to provoke gossips and gossips wherever they go.
No matter where you are, there is always a group of bitches who like to gain a sense of superiority and satisfaction by slandering and slandering others, regardless of their level of education. This is a bad nature of human beings.
Although Xiao Hui's external personality is a little weak, she is surprisingly tough on this matter, insisting: "No, since we are all home, how can we let you go back to school to live? Don't argue about this, mom said
Forget it, you sleep in Bao'er's room today, and go to school with Nier tomorrow, so you can be a companion... When you leave tomorrow, mom will clear out the storage room next to the kitchen, and you can go to school after the holidays.
Come and live here.”
"Mom, you mean...he will live in our house from now on?"
Xiao Hui's decision shocked Minnie. The shadow of the KTV incident was still lingering in her heart. It was too late for her to hide from Li Mengnan. Now she actually still lives under the same roof.
Her scar?
"Nier, you seem to be very concerned about Xiaonan? Did you two have any unpleasantness at school?"
Known as Mo Ruomu, Minnie's various resistance to Li Mengnan finally made Xiao Hui start to become suspicious.
However, she didn't think about it too complicated. She just thought that the two of them might have some small differences without knowing their respective identities. They were both in the same class, and their tongues would always touch their teeth. This was not surprising.
Minnie also realized that her behavior was a bit abnormal, and quickly added: "Mom, this is too sudden. There are only three of us at home. Will it be inconvenient for him to move in? And the neighbors may also gossip.
…”
This concern is quite reasonable.
There are three people in the family, Xiao Hui is her biological mother, and Li Mengnan is the flesh she shed during her ten-month pregnancy. Even though they have been separated for nearly twenty years, the same bloodline is there, and the broken bones are connected to the tendons. Naturally, she doesn't have to mind anything.
.
Xiao Baoer is only twelve years old, a child, and is not very sensitive to the difference between men and women. In addition, his life was saved by Li Mengnan. It is the time when his good feelings are overwhelming. It is not too late to welcome Li Mengnan with both hands. Of course, he will not
be opposed to.
But Minnie is different. She is just Xiao Hui's remarried stepdaughter, and she has no blood relationship with Xiao Hui. No matter how much Xiao Hui and Xiao Baoer agree, from her perspective, Li Mengnan is always a person who has neither blood nor familiarity.
stranger.
Forget it if it's a girl, but Li Mengnan is an adult male after all. Living under the same roof, no matter how cautious he is, he will inevitably encounter some embarrassments of privacy breaches. Xiao Hui and Xiao Baoer may not care, but for Minnie, I'm afraid
It's hard to accept.
Xiao Hui understood Minnie's concerns, but she didn't intend to change her mind just because of one person's objections.
She asked Xiao Baoer to accompany Li Mengnan first, then called Minnie to the back room alone, and said a little apologetically: "Nier, my mother never told you about Xiaonan before. This is my fault, mainly because you were
You are still young, so I tell you that you cannot understand this matter, and I am afraid that you will think too much..."
"Mom, I understand, I don't blame you."
Minnie also knew that it was not Xiao Hui's fault. Let alone a few years ago, even if she was told now that she had such a unrelated brother, she would definitely find it difficult to accept it.
From a certain point of view, when she knew that her mother's long-lost biological son was actually Li Mengnan, she even felt relieved deep down. Although Li Mengnan seemed to be a patient with "snake syndrome" all day long, he spoke and did things poorly.
He often deviates from the behavioral patterns of earthlings, but is essentially a good person.
She didn't doubt her judgment. If KTV blocked her from Boss Liu and Director Xu's covetous efforts, there was a bit of a hero saving the beauty in it, but the two things of rescuing Xiao Baoer and donating money to her mother could not be faked.
Such pure good people with no utilitarian intentions are rare nowadays.
If there hadn't been that accident, Minnie probably wouldn't have been so entangled. After all, instead of living under the same roof with a completely unfamiliar man for a long time, it was easier for her to accept someone like Li Mengnan who knew something about it.
Naturally, Xiao Hui didn't know what Minnie was really struggling with, so she continued to comfort her: "Nier, Mom knows you are in trouble...but the old man Li who raised Xiaonan has passed away, and he doesn't even have a home now, because of my negligence back then.
, he has been suffering for more than ten years, now we can’t see him going back to that remote mountain village to face an empty house alone, right?”
Minnie's heart trembled slightly. The Li Mengnan she saw always looked as happy as if he had gone out to pick up money, which always made people subconsciously ignore the tragic life experience behind him.
Compared with Li Mengnan, she is really much luckier. Although her biological parents can be described as scum, she has a stepmother who treats her better than her biological mother, and a well-behaved and sensible little sister.
From a purely blood perspective, Li Mengnan is the one who truly deserves this happiness. His mother is his, his sister is also his, and she is the outsider who has taken over all of this.
Now I am not asking her to give up, I am just asking her to give part of this happiness back to the real owner. If she is not satisfied yet, even she will feel that she is a little too selfish.
"Mom, I know, I will try to get along well with him... Also, don't clean up the storage room. The roof needs major repairs and the walls need to be repainted. Our family doesn't have that much money, so let him
Stay in my house, I'll move in with Bao'er, Bao'er's room is big anyway."
Minnie gritted her teeth. The two were in the same school and in the same class. It was impossible to avoid them completely. They had to face what they had to face.
And thinking about it carefully, it seems that she has always been brooding about this matter. Li Mengnan really has no intention of holding on to it or using it as a threat. The deal is already done and what is lost will never be recovered. If he still can't let go
This knot in her heart is of no benefit to herself.
Minnie has long passed the age full of fantasy. The hard life and cruel society have taught her to face reality at all times.
Xiao Hui touched Minnie's long hair happily. What she was most satisfied with in her life was having such a pair of filial and sensible daughters.
Without Minnie as the only opponent, Li Mengnan naturally couldn't defeat Xiao Hui, and finally had no choice but to agree to stay here.
Not only this night, but also every holiday in the future, he had to come back to stay. This was Xiao Hui's strict order. Minnie was also specially asked to supervise and remind him, and even forcefully escorted him back if necessary.
Li Mengnan is a person who yearns for freedom, but he doesn't hate this seemingly tough control. It is completely different from the polite indifference of the Ding family mansion. This place makes him really feel the taste of home.
Even though they only got to know each other briefly for one afternoon, Li Mengnan had already completely identified this place in his heart.
This was the home he wanted, a nagging but kind mother, a cute and charming sister...except for Minnie, whose relationship was difficult to pin down, everything else was more perfect than he expected.
Li Mengnan could feel that Xiao Hui and Xiao Baoer truly regarded him as one of their own. He was not a hypocritical person, and he quickly assumed the role he should play in this family.
For a whole afternoon, Li Mengnan tried his best to repair the broken faucets, loose furniture, and faulty electrical appliances in the Xiao family one by one. If not for the lack of time, he even wanted to repair the damaged courtyard with several holes.
The wall was torn down and built new.
"Brother, stop doing it now, take a break and drink some water."
Xiao Baoer diligently served a glass of cold water, and while Li Mengnan was drinking water, he placed a wet towel to wipe the sweat from his face.
"Brother, you are so awesome. These things at home have been broken for a long time. Those who came to repair them were not willing to repair them at all, so they asked us to replace them with new ones."
"Well, there is nothing wrong with what they said... Many of these things have reached the end of their service life. Repairing is not impossible, but it is more time-consuming. Nowadays, repairs are charged on a per-use basis. Of course, it is convenient for them.
coming."
Different from Xiao Baoer's view, Li Mengnan did not think that the maintenance personnel were so evil. If it were other people, he would definitely do the same thing.