"She wasn't married, but she is Xiao Lan's mother after all. According to the Federal Interstellar Child Protection Law, she has to take care of Xiao Lan and fulfill her obligations as a mother. Even my brother can't refuse her caring for Xiao Lan," Mu Si Rui quickly said.
"Yesterday, my parents also took leave and came home early because she was coming to my house," Mu Si Rui explained.
Lu Yuan Yuan murmured, "Is that so?"
"Then who did she marry?" Lu Yuan Yuan asked curiously in the next breath.
"No one," Mu Si Rui said.
"What?" Lu Yuan Yuan was shocked again.
Lu Yuan Yuan couldn't believe it. "How is that possible? Those four... they are the most outstanding men in our Federation. That woman looked down on all of them?"
Mu Si Rui shook her head. "I don't know. Anyway, none of them got married. It seems they just gave her financial compensation."
Lu Yuan Yuan nodded.
But soon, Lu Yuan Yuan became worried again. She said anxiously, "Then she's not married, and she's living at your house now. Could she be trying to seduce your brother?"
"Ah?" Mu Si Rui was startled.
Lu Yuan Yuan anxiously asked again, "Rui Rui, how is your brother towards that woman? Is he nice to her? Or does he hate her?"
"My brother's attitude?" Mu Si Rui was stunned. She thought for a moment, remembering last night and this morning. Her brother seemed to have been by Lu Wan Qing's side, very gentle and caring towards her.
"My brother seems to be very good to her," Mu Si Rui said, thinking about it.
Lu Yuan Yuan's expression immediately changed. She quickly said, "That won't do! Rui Rui, you must help me. You know, I like your brother. I want to marry your brother, and I absolutely cannot let that woman marry your brother!"
"Rui Rui, why don't I go home with you after school today and see your house? I want to see what that woman looks like too," Lu Yuan Yuan said after a moment of silence, pulling Mu Si Rui and speaking anxiously.
Mu Si Rui looked worried and hesitated.
Lu Yuan Yuan shook Mu Si Rui's arm and pleaded, "Rui Rui, please help me, okay? We are best friends!"
Mu Si Rui knew that Lu Yuan Yuan had liked her brother for a long time, and that Lu Wan Qing had suddenly appeared. It was normal for Yuan Yuan to be worried now.
"Alright then," Mu Si Rui finally agreed after much hesitation.
"But once you get to my house, you must not say anything out of line. I don't know what my brother's attitude is towards her yet," Mu Si Rui added.
Lu Yuan Yuan quickly agreed, "Okay."
*
Mu Residence.
Lu Wan Qing discussed with the three big shots for a long time. Finally, Zhong Li Fei Yu directly created a group video call, pulling Mu Si Jie, Yu Nong, Lu Wan Qing, and Wei Xing Zhou into it. The five of them held a meeting and finally decided that Lu Wan Qing would take turns caring for the children at everyone's homes. Each home would have her for one year, and they would discuss further matters in four years.
Since Lu Wan Qing was already at the Mu residence, she would take care of young Mu Lan there for the first year. Mu Si Jie had no objections. The remaining three men drew lots to determine the order of care.
After taking care of young Mu Lan for one year, Lu Wan Qing would first go to the Marshal's Mansion, Zhong Li Fei Yu's home, to care for young Zhong Li Yi. Then she would go to the Yu residence to care for young Yu Shu, and finally to Wei Xing Zhou's home to care for young Cui Cui.
Knowing that his home was last, Wei Xing Zhou immediately became excited, overjoyed, his smugness almost written on his face. Unfortunately, Zhong Li Fei Yu and Yu Nong were expressionless, and no one was watching his performance.
Lu Wan Qing, however, sensed that she wasn't very popular among them. However, the discomfort only lasted for a moment. She quickly came to terms with it. She was going to their homes not to marry them, but only to take care of the children. Whether the men liked her or not was not important; she just needed to take good care of the children.
After hanging up the communication, Lu Wan Qing's light brain received another notification. It turned out that the financial compensation from the four of them had been transferred. She now had a lot of money in her account. She counted her balance, and... she couldn't count it all. She seemed to have accidentally become a rich woman.
Lu Wan Qing looked at the money in her account and quickly became happy again. With money, what was she afraid of? If she met a handsome young man in the future, she could date him anytime. What was the rush?
With the worries in her heart put aside, Lu Wan Qing went to find Butler Mu to discuss the arrangement of the kitchen.
Lu Wan Qing first chatted with Butler Mu, asking him to help her understand the various kitchen appliances of the interstellar era. However, after looking, she was speechless. In this era, there were basically no manual woks. All kitchen appliances were automated machines.
Fortunately, a lot of information and documents from ancient Earth over three thousand years ago were preserved online. Butler Mu said that although those items were not available on the market, they could find someone to customize them. Moreover, because the functions were simple, it wouldn't take too long.
Lu Wan Qing was immediately delighted. Using the ancient Earth literature from over three thousand years ago, she found everything she wanted and then instructed Butler Mu to handle it.
With the kitchen arrangements confirmed, the morning passed. There was nothing to do in the afternoon, so Lu Wan Qing wanted to go out and wander around.
Fearing that she would not understand things in the interstellar era alone, Mu Si Jie's grandmother called two maids to accompany her shopping. Lu Wan Qing was very grateful, thanked the old lady repeatedly, and then left with the two maids.
The interstellar era had many strange and peculiar things. When Lu Wan Qing arrived at the mall, she was almost dazzled. Many things seemed so amazing.
In the afternoon, she bought herself a lot of clothes and also bought a lot for young Mu Lan, including casual clothes and pajamas, as well as cute, furry animal-shaped home clothes. After all, young Mu Lan was her son, and it was normal for a mother to buy clothes for her son.
Young Mu Lan was only four years old, and Lu Wan Qing couldn't bear to leave the children's toy store when she browsed. She bought whatever interesting toys she saw. This was her love as a mother for her son!
After shopping at the mall for the afternoon, and calculating that it was almost time for young Mu Lan to be dismissed from kindergarten, Lu Wan Qing left the mall with the two maids and returned to the Mu family's hover car. She then asked the driver to drive directly to the kindergarten.
When young Mu Lan was dismissed from school and walked out with his teacher, he saw his mother waiting for him outside. He was stunned, then his heart thumped, and he felt an uncontrollable joy.
"Mu Lan, who is that woman? She's standing by your family's hover car!" a child also saw Lu Wan Qing and tugged at young Mu Lan's hand, asking confusedly.
"She is my mother," Mu Lan replied immediately, his tone filled with a pride and self-esteem he had never had before.
In the past, other children had mothers, but he didn't. But now, he had a mother too.