Era: After foreseeing the future, I changed my fate using spatial abilities.

Chapter 58 Taking care of a baby
Despite not having slept all night, Su Ning didn't feel particularly sleepy, though her eyes and brows inevitably showed signs of fatigue.

When Xiao Qiu returned home, she saw the little girl staring at Zhang Qin's urn on the table, her eyes bloodshot and tears streaming down her face.

She sighed deeply, took her hand, and gently comforted her, "Xiao Qiu, do you still remember your mother's wish?"

"I remember, I remember..."

Her tender little voice was thick with nasal tones as Xiao Qiu answered, nodding as she sobbed, which only made her tears fall even more freely. "Mommy... wants to go home."

"So we have to take good care of ourselves and stop crying like this. If she gets sick, we won't be able to take her home, right?"

"Yes, I won't cry, I can't get sick. I want to... I want to take Mommy home..."

"Xiao Qiu is such a good girl."

Patting her head, Su Ning pulled her up and led her to the kitchen. "Let's eat something first, and then I'll help you take a bath and change your clothes."

Considering that Xiaoqiu often skips meals and has a weak stomach, she decided to cook some easy-to-digest noodles to soothe her stomach.

Light the fire in the earthen stove, clean the pot, and boil water in it.

Xiao Qiu, who had finally stopped crying, didn't stay idle. She took the initiative to sit by the stove and help watch the fire and add firewood.

Two bowls of plain noodles were cooked in no time, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and each of them was given a poached egg.

I brought the noodle soup to the table and took out two pairs of chopsticks from the bamboo tube. "Xiao Qiu, take these and eat your noodles quickly, or they'll get soggy and won't taste good."

"Thank you, Sister Ningning."

White, thin noodles and plump, fried eggs were things they never dared to dream of before today.

There is only Ningning in the family. She receives a monthly ration of food and oil. Although she is young, her mother and brother Gu have taught her these common sense things.

Now that I'm a burden to you, without food and oil rations and a city household registration, I can't receive subsidies. What if Ningning goes hungry too?
So much so that her little hand holding the chopsticks hesitated to move. Xiao Qiu raised her eyes and timidly said, "Sister Ningning, you don't actually need to cook me any refined grains. I can eat anything, really!"

Brother Gu said that fine grains are precious, and one pound can be exchanged for many pounds of coarse grains, enough for the group to eat for a long time.

She finds whole grains, broken rice, buckwheat hulls, sweet potatoes, and potatoes delicious; she doesn't crave refined rice and white flour.

suck~

Yeah, not at all.

"Hehe, don't worry about eating. You're so young, how could you possibly overeat me? I know what I'm doing. Hurry up and eat your noodles."

The squeaky wheel gets the grease, but the sensible child makes you feel sorry for them.

Perhaps because of her firm attitude, or perhaps because she was young and couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food, Xiao Qiu eventually obeyed and began to enjoy the meal.

I gulped down a bowl of noodles, not even leaving a drop of soup, until my tummy was as hard as a ripe watermelon.

The two strolled around the yard to digest their food and watered the vegetable garden and flowers.

Once the water in the pot boiled, Su Ning thoroughly washed her from head to toe until no more dirt could be rubbed off before lifting her out of the wooden bathtub and putting her in her smallest short-sleeved shirt.

"Pfft~"

"Hehe~"

What looks like a short-sleeved shirt on me becomes a short dress on the little one, which shows how petite she is.

With one hand ruffling Xiao Qiu's hair as she giggled foolishly, Su Ning suppressed the smile in her eyes, feeling a surge of heartache that felt like being stung by ants.

Thinking of the body he had just seen, which was nothing but skin and bones, with ribs protruding prominently on its chest and bruises all over its body.

She's only five years old! The person who laid the hand on her is an animal!
"Ningning? What's wrong? Is Qiuqiu's outfit not nice?"

"No, I was thinking of buying two pretty dresses for Xiaoqiu when another older sister comes later."

Upon hearing the words "pretty" and "little skirt," Xiao Qiu couldn't help but show a joyful expression, but the corners of her mouth, which had been turned up high, quickly fell back down.

If Mom knew that Qiuqiu not only ate noodles and eggs, but also wore new clothes without patches, she would be extremely happy.

Wouldn't it be more reassuring to watch over her from heaven?
"Xiao Qiu..."

"Ning Baogai, I'm here~ Little Circle, don't bite my skirt, or I'll beat you up!"

As soon as Luo Shuangshuang's loud voice rang out in the yard, her red and white polka-dot ankle-length dress was grabbed by Xiaoquan and wouldn't let go, prompting her to raise her little fist and threaten fiercely, "Heh, kid, if you don't let go, I'll really beat you up!"

"Ning Baogai, your little circle is small but has quite a temper. It's too much of a bully!"

I just muttered something about how ugly it was yesterday, but I quickly changed it to how cute it is.
"Little Circle, let go! You're not allowed to bite the women's skirts!"

"Hahaha, that's right, that's right. Dogs that act like hooligans are no good either, you know?"

When Luo Shuangshuang saw it let go, she glanced at the wet, drool-covered hem of her skirt and was so angry she almost laughed. Before she could say anything more, she noticed the little girl hiding behind her friend.

Hey, does Ning Baogai have some kind of preference for dark-skinned, thin, and small people?
"What's with that expression?" "Hehehe, nothing, nothing. Is this the girl next door? What's she doing here?"

Patting Xiao Qiu's hand that was tightly gripping hers, Su Ning introduced them, "Xi You, this is Xiao Qiu, and Xiao Qiu, this is Shuangshuang, whom I just told you about."

"Hello, Sister Shuangshuang~"

"Hey, little Qiuqiu, here's some candy for you!"

Looking at the candy offered by her, Xiao Qiu didn't take it. Instead, she looked up at Ning Ning beside her, and only after seeing her nod did she take the candy and whisper a thank you.

"Xiao Qiu, why don't you play with Xiao Quan in the yard for a while?"

"it is good."

He gave Luo Shuangshuang a look, patted down the stray hair on Xiao Qiu's head, smiled and told the two little ones to play for a while, then led the person with the strange expression into the main room.

He quietly told her about Zhang Qin and the arrangements for Xiao Qiu afterwards.

Looking at the small box on the table with a mixture of sympathy and lingering fear, Luo Shuangshuang felt even more disgusted with human traffickers after her near-abduction.

If it weren't for Ning Baogai, her fate probably wouldn't have been much better.

If she had really been sold to a remote, uninhabited mountain village, she would have run away even without Zhang Qin's intelligence and patience!

"Ning Baogai, we are so lucky to have met you."

Whether it's her, Zhang Qin, or Xiao Qiu.

Luo Shuangshuang held her hand, and as she spoke, her eyes welled up with tears.

"What are you saying? Don't cry, or I won't be able to comfort you."

"Pfft~ Who's crying!"

"Okay, okay, you're done now, alright?"

With a proud tilt of her chin, Luo Shuang nodded with a smile in her eyes.

After exchanging a few jokes, Su Ning got up, grabbed her bag, and said, "Let's go, let's buy the little guy some clothes. It's not right for him to be wearing what I have."

"Okay, count me in. You pay and I'll pay for the ticket, how about that?"

"I should be happy that someone is willing to save me cloth ration coupons."

……

Ancient City Department Store.

I bought Xiaoqiu a pink puff-sleeved dress with a butterfly pattern, a white short-sleeved top with dark blue overalls, and a pair of plastic sandals at Suning in the children's section.

Excluding the cloth ration coupons, all of this would cost around thirty yuan.

Wearing new clothes and shoes, Xiao Qiu nervously picked at her nails after overhearing the price.

"Ningning, maybe we shouldn't buy it?"

"What? Don't you like it?"

"Too expensive. Ningning's clothes are so nice and new..."

"You're still so young, it's worrying. Be careful you don't stunt your growth!"

Luo Shuangshuang, who had just paid and was walking over with the receipt, overheard everything. She raised her hand and tapped her forehead, saying half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"This is a gift from us older sisters because we like Xiao Qiuqiu. If she doesn't like it, we'll be so sad!"

"No, no, I like it very much!"

"That's great! The little one should be happy to wear new clothes and shoes."

"Yes, thank you, Sister Ningning, thank you, Sister Shuangshuang!"

Xiao Qiu smiled sweetly at her, her lips pursed: Qiu Qiu is happy, not only because she has new clothes and shoes to wear, but also because she has two very good older sisters after losing her mother.

Su Ning and Luo Shuangshuang were naturally unaware of the little one's thoughts. The two of them each held one of her hands and continued to stroll around before slowly walking out of the building.

"Ning Baogai, I'm waiting for you to come back. I should be here to report for duty and start working soon."

"Is everything done?"

"Yes, when I got home last night, my dad told me that I'll be starting work the day after tomorrow and the day after that."

Luo Shuangshuang pouted. As expected, her parents disagreed with her going with Ning Baogai to do procurement, insisting that she couldn't endure the hardship and didn't have the ability to handle things.

Okay, if I really asked her to go on a business trip to an unfamiliar place by herself, she... might not be able to handle it?
(End of this chapter)