Chapter 41: She Will Definitely Come Back

In the past, Chen Liyang rarely mentioned their mother in front of them. Whenever he did, it was through gritted teeth and full of hatred, which he would ultimately vent by beating them.

This was the first time he had ever brought up their mother so calmly. Zhou Chengbei’s eyes glinted like starlight, filled with bright, brilliant hope. “Is Mom really coming back?”

“Yes, Mom will definitely come back. Before she does, we need to live well so she doesn’t have to worry about us!” Chen Liyang spoke with certainty.

To children, the words of adults were always trustworthy. Hearing Chen Liyang so confident that their mother would return gave them immense comfort.

It reignited a spark of hope in the children, who had long given up expecting her return.

“Then when will Mom come back? I really miss her!” As Zhou Chengbei spoke, the light in his eyes dimmed again.

Although the book mentioned that his wife in name only would return in a year, it didn’t specify the exact day.

Besides, because he had transmigrated into the story, he wasn’t sure if he had triggered a butterfly effect that might alter Zhou Yuru’s ultimate fate.

Still, he had a gut feeling she would definitely come back.

With that thought, he smiled and said, “She’ll appear in your lives when you least expect it, and then our family of six can finally be together.

“When that time comes, we have to love her dearly, okay?”

Seeing Chen Liyang smile so warmly, Zhou Chengdong couldn’t help looking forward to the days after their mother returned.

“Do you kids want any toys? Grandma has lots of fun toys here! Hurry and ask your dad to buy some for you!”

An old woman running a stall noticed Chen Liyang leading so many children and immediately targeted them. If each kid bought just one item, she would make a decent profit.

Zhou Chengbei then remembered the task his father had assigned him. Instantly putting on a naive, clueless expression, he asked, “Grandma, how much is this Ultraman? What about the toy car? And the Barbie doll…”

Without thinking much of it at first, the old woman enthusiastically listed the price of every item for Zhou Chengbei.

It wasn’t until she had blurted out the price of nearly every toy that she finally caught on. Her expression turned impatient. “Listen here, kid, are you teasing an old woman? If you’re not buying, don’t mess around here.”

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Zhou Chengbei immediately switched to a pitiful, aggrieved expression. “I’m sorry, Grandma. My family is really poor. Dad raises the five of us all on his own, so we really don’t have extra money to buy toys.”

In truth, the old woman had noticed early on that Chen Liyang was taking care of five children all by himself. After all, these days it was usually women out with kids, or couples taking them out together.

A grown man like Chen Liyang looking after children on his own, especially with so many of them, was a rare sight indeed.

Hearing the boy say they had no mother and only their father to care for them, she couldn’t help feeling pity for them.

Raising a single child was tough enough for an ordinary family, let alone one person raising five on his own.

At once, her scowl dissolved into a warm, kindly smile. “Good child, Grandma will give you a toy. Come pick one.”

To her surprise, Zhou Chengbei shook his head. “Grandma, you paid money to buy these too. I can’t take your toy for nothing.”

Hearing Zhou Chengbei say such sensible words when he clearly wanted one so badly made the old woman’s heart ache for him even more.

She immediately picked up a toy set containing several big trucks and stuffed it into Zhou Chengbei’s hands. “What a good child. Take this toy to play with your brothers, and here’s a plush doll for your little sister.”

Zhou Chengbei didn’t accept them right away. Instead, he instinctively looked over at Chen Liyang.

Chen Liyang disliked taking advantage of people. Someone else’s kindness couldn’t be taken for granted as an opportunity to demand things.

He first signaled Zhou Chengbei to accept the toys, then pulled out his phone to scan the QR code on the stall. “Thank you, ma’am,” he said with a smile, “but we can’t take advantage of an elder. Doing business out here isn’t easy.

“How much is it altogether? I’ll pay you!”

As the saying goes, a man may be poor, but his pride must remain intact. He wasn’t going to get rich by keeping this bit of money anyway.

With his kids watching, he needed to set the right example and instill proper values in them.

If they used a pity play today to win this woman’s sympathy and take toys for free, they might do it again tomorrow, growing accustomed to taking advantage of others.

Seeing that Chen Liyang insisted on paying, the old woman stopped pushing back and only asked for twenty-five Yuan total, saying it was the cost price.

Chen Liyang didn’t stand on ceremony either and scanned twenty-five Yuan right away.

“Thank you, Grandma!” Zhou Chengbei didn’t forget to express his gratitude.

Seeing how polite the child was, the old woman couldn’t help praising Chen Liyang for raising him so well.

This made Chen Liyang feel undeserving of the praise. He had transmigrated only a short time ago; the children being polite simply meant their character hadn’t turned bad yet.

After the five of them left the old woman’s stall, Zhou Chengbei hurriedly handed the plush doll to Wanning. “Little Sister, this is for you!”

The plush doll was shaped like a rabbit wearing a pink princess dress, about the size of a small puppy, looking thoroughly adorable.

Girls were naturally unable to resist plush dolls. Wanning took the bunny with both hands and hugged it tightly against her chest.

“Wanning, do you like the bunny doll?” Chen Liyang asked with a smile.

Though he still received no response, Chen Liyang wasn’t discouraged.

Getting Wanning to open her mouth and speak was bound to be a long process.

Afterward, Zhou Chengbei asked several more stalls about the prices of various dolls, giving Chen Liyang a good general idea of the market.

Before they knew it, they arrived at a ring-toss stall. Various plush dolls were neatly lined up on the ground; the further back they were, the larger the dolls got, and the harder they were to win.

Chen Liyang noticed that when Wanning looked at the plush dolls, a light lit up in her eyes.

To make her happy and help her open her heart sooner, he spent twenty Yuan to buy ten rings.

He tossed two rings himself first, but he had overestimated his skill and didn’t land a single one.

Seeing Zhou Chengbei and Zhou Chengxi eager to try, Chen Liyang gave them two rings each.

Unfortunately, they missed as well. With only four rings left, Zhou Chengdong spoke up. “Let me try!”

It was just a casual remark, yet Chen Liyang could hear the confidence behind his words.

So he handed the last four remaining rings to his eldest son.

Now, everyone’s attention shifted to the rings in his eldest son’s hand.

Chen Liyang only knew that Zhou Chengdong was a major villain with formidable combat power, but he had no idea if the boy’s skills had reached perfection in ring-tossing as well.

Zhou Chengdong didn’t rush to toss the rings. Instead, he looked at his younger sister, bent down, and asked, “Wanning, which doll do you like? Big Brother will win it for you.”

From the sound of it, he seemed to be saying he could win whichever doll she wanted.

Where such confidence came from was anyone’s guess.

To the onlookers, it sounded like pure boasting, and even Zhou Chengxi and Zhou Chengbei were skeptical.

After all, they had just tried it themselves and knew all too well how difficult it was.