Zhang Dandan got the keys and hurriedly found someone to do a simple renovation. During this time, it was Liang Jian Country who went over to help her keep an eye on things. Some tasks, like painting the walls, they managed themselves without hiring anyone. These days, Liang Jian Country and Cha Zhenfang, as a couple, were busy renovating Zhang Dandan’s house.

Originally, they came with their child just to have fun, but seeing Zhang Dandan handling things alone wasn’t easy, they helped her finish the renovation before heading back.

Before leaving, Zhang Dandan gave Liang Jian Country a thousand yuan to pass on to the son in the family.

"Uncle, just say the money is from you, don’t mention it was from me. If they know where I am, given the child’s father’s temperament, they’ll definitely come looking for me. I really don’t want to continue living with him. As for the child, I haven’t raised him since young, he’s not close to me, even if I give him money, it won’t mean much to him. To avoid any trouble, just don’t say it’s from me."

Although Zhang Dandan didn’t have much emotional attachment to her son, she was still his mom and couldn’t just ignore him.

Liang Jian Country didn’t say much, since she didn’t want the people back home to know, it was better not to tell them. As long as she lived well, that was enough. When the child grows up, what happens then will be for the future to decide.

While Liang Jian Country and Cha Zhenfang were here, they talked to Liang Hongmei and others about the situation at home. They knew about Liang Weixiang’s divorce issues, but in their family, none of the sons were very capable. They had limited foresight and were petty. Having too many sons wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Previously, when Liang Weixiang had three sons, she often boasted in front of them, saying with so many sons, they’d have plenty of help with farming, and in old age, they’d have someone bringing meals over without having to lift a finger.

Now it seems, raising sons is also a risk; if not raised well, they become burdens. This was exactly Liang Weixiang’s current predicament. So children cannot be overly indulged.

After Little Star and Dingding went to S City, their grandma taught him to ride a bicycle and even bought him a children’s bike. In less than a week, he was riding smoothly. Surprisingly, Dingding somehow knew Su Ling’s family and rode to their place every day to play with Tiger. Tiger is older than Little Star and has more toys, so he leads him around the city daily. They even went to the outskirts with a group of kids and dug up someone’s grave, claiming a friend from medical school wanted to study a human skull.

Of course, they went at night, but didn’t manage to dig up a skull. Halfway through, someone had "diarrhea" while another needed to "pee," and they all ran away.

This was discovered by Su Ling’s grandma because Tiger talks in his sleep, and she overheard. Upon waking him and questioning, they found out what the kids had been up to, and calls were made to their households. All were scolded by the adults.

The kids were just curious, while Dingding simply joined for the fun. Without fear, he brought along a shovel taller than him.

His grandma was grateful to know and sternly educated Dingding, prohibiting him from playing with Tiger. Uncle Hu enrolled him in a swimming class where he could spend afternoons at the pool.

Compared to Dingding’s mischief, Little Star was far more manageable. She expressed a desire to learn cake-making with Shuhua and promptly made her way there.

Every day around nine or ten o’clock she took the bus to Shuhua’s place. Her grandma didn’t allow her to return too late, so by four or five o’clock, she was back on the bus home. Her grandma even got her a bus pass.

Upon arriving at Shuhua’s, she helped arrange bread and cakes, occasionally managing the money. Once, she undercharged someone by one yuan and felt guilty for a long time.

Since then, she refrained from handling money, instead helping Shuhua and Uncle Jin with cleaning, making bread, and learning quite a bit in half a month. She knew what ingredients to use for different types of bread. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Once, Shuhua’s three kids and grandma brought Dingding to pick up Little Star. Having eaten plenty of bread, they craved something else. Little Star watched Shuhua make some bread dough and recalled the delicious pizza from Pizza Hut. Conveniently, there were a few vegetables and soy milk available, sparking an idea—she baked several self-made pizzas for them.