Zhou Huai'an took the lunchbox and looked at Li Yunlan. "Thank you," he said.

Li Yunlan was deeply moved, her eyes reddening. "Please, don't thank me. This is the least I could do. The conditions are rough, and we didn't have much time... I hope it's alright for now. When we have better circumstances, I'll make you more proper meals."

Back then, people didn't pay much attention to balancing meat and vegetables—most daily meals were primarily plant-based anyway.

Lin Xiaoxiao didn't stand on ceremony either. She brought over a small table and placed it beside the hospital bed, then invited Zhou Zhennan and Li Yunlan to join the meal.

"There's plenty here—let's eat together."

They were using the largest-sized aluminum lunchboxes, which easily held enough food for four.

Li Yunlan hesitated, worried that Zhou Huai'an might not be comfortable with it. More than anything, she wanted to share a meal with her son—even if it was just putting one dish into his bowl.

Zhou Huai'an nodded. "Let's eat together."

At that, Li Yunlan happily pulled Zhou Zhennan to sit down. Lin Xiaoxiao divided the rice from the lunchbox onto its lid.

Fortunately, Li Yunlan had brought enough chopsticks. They gathered around the bed and shared what felt like a reunion meal.

Li Yunlan picked up a dumpling and placed it in Zhou Huai'an's box. "I wasn't sure what you like... Chaoyang always loved my dumplings. These are filled with pork and spring onion—please try one."

Zhou Huai'an thanked her again and ate the dumpling. Li Yunlan's eyes welled up. She quickly added a piece of braised pork to his rice. "This red-braised pork—I stewed it with fermented tofu. It's very flavorful. You should try it. When we have time, I'll ask your father to buy a chicken..."

She trailed off, suddenly afraid she might have overstepped, and glanced cautiously at Zhou Huai'an.

Lin Xiaoxiao sighed inwardly. Being a mother really isn't easy.

Zhou Huai'an looked up at Li Yunlan. "Anything simple is fine. There's no need to go to extra expense."

Li Yunlan was overjoyed. He hadn't refused her. "It's no trouble, no trouble at all. Chicken soup helps you recover faster."

Zhou Zhennan remained quiet throughout. Lin Xiaoxiao noticed him gazing tenderly at Li Yunlan and occasionally at Zhou Huai'an.

She thought to herself, if Zhou Huai'an had grown up in a family like this, he probably wouldn't be so quiet and reserved.

After the meal, Zhou Zhennan insisted on cleaning the lunchboxes himself and took them back to the guesthouse. Once he and Li Yunlan had left, Lin Xiaoxiao sat by the bed frowning at Zhou Huai'an.

Then she stood up and began pacing restlessly around the room. Zhou Huai'an was puzzled. "Is something wrong?"

Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly stopped by the bed, staring intently at him. "If we ever have a child, I want you to stand guard outside the delivery room. If anyone dares to try and steal our baby, you make them regret it!"

The more she put herself in that situation, the angrier she became. She was seething, wishing she could drag Wang Fenglan out and give her another beating.

What that woman did was no different from child trafficking—people like her deserve the worst punishment.

Zhou Huai'an's heartbeat quickened. He looked at Lin Xiaoxiao, confused. Wasn't it just recently that she said she didn't want children?

Lin Xiaoxiao began murmuring to herself again, "But we can't have a child now. Not with your family situation being so complicated. After we've dealt with Zhou Xiaoming and I can support myself properly, then we can start a family."

She was thinking out loud, unaware of how much her words affected Zhou Huai'an—making his heart flutter and his mood lift almost despite himself.

When Zhong Zhiguo learned that Zhou Huai'an needed to go to the city, he arranged for a Jeep to take them to a municipal hospital for further examinations.

Early the next morning, as the vehicle arrived, Zhou Zhennan and Li Yunlan also showed up with breakfast.

Lin Xiaoxiao smiled warmly at them. "Perfect timing—the unit sent a car to take us to the city hospital. I was just about to come find you at the guesthouse."

She really had been planning to go, but helping Zhou Huai'an to the bathroom had taken longer than expected—and involved a somewhat stubborn disagreement.

Zhou Huai'an still looked slightly embarrassed. Although he'd only injured his lower leg and could manage with crutches, Lin Xiaoxiao insisted on assisting him, worried he might slip or worsen his injury.

She even helped him into the men's room—and took the opportunity to playfully tease him along the way.

This girl, really...What a little rogue.

But without realizing it, he'd already developed a soft spot for her—a tendency to indulge and yield to her whims.

Zhou Zhennan thought going to the city was a good idea. "The municipal hospital will be better equipped."

Li Yunlan, however, was concerned. "Where will you stay in the city? Another guesthouse? And what will you eat?"

Lin Xiaoxiao replied cheerfully, "We've already thought it through. We'll rent a place. I still have over two months of training at the hospital, and by the time that's done, Huai'an's leg should be mostly healed. We can return together then."

Li Yunlan's face fell. "So... you won't come to Beijing with us? Your grandfather still doesn't know about any of this."

Lin Xiaoxiao expected Zhou Huai'an to refuse. To her surprise, he nodded slightly. "We'll see. If time allows, we'll visit."

Li Yunlan's eyes immediately lit up. She reached for Zhou Huai'an's hand. "Really? You'd come to Beijing? Oh, that would be wonderful!"

During the drive to the city, Li Yunlan talked almost nonstop, introducing Zhou Huai'an to the various family members—uncles, aunts, cousins—and a long list of siblings and relatives.

She went into detail about what each person did, how old they were, and what they were like.

Lin Xiaoxiao had no idea if Zhou Huai'an remembered any of it; she certainly didn't.

Then Li Yunlan's tone turned sorrowful. "It's just a shame... Xiao Cheng is no longer with us. You two would have gotten along well. He was a good boy—and poor Xiao Ran, too."

Zhou Zhennan turned from the front seat and added softly, "Xiao Ran was Xiao Cheng's fiancée.

They were supposed to marry when he returned from the front lines... But things didn't work out that way."

Lin Xiaoxiao listened as though hearing a tragic story—one she couldn't help but feel deeply moved by.

Sitting beside her, Zhou Huai'an quietly listened to Li Yunlan hold Lin Xiaoxiao's hand and chatter away. Whether it was because he'd been hearing Zhou Xiaocheng's name a lot lately or because he'd heard it somewhere before, he couldn't shake a strange sense of familiarity with that name.

When they arrived in the city, they went straight to the military hospital. Lu Yuanda was shocked to see Zhou Huai'an entering on crutches. "What happened to you this time? Trying to repair every part of your body one by one?" he exclaimed even as he arranged for a hospital room.

Then he noticed Zhou Zhennan and Li Yunlan.He was stunned. The resemblance was striking—but their demeanor was nothing like Zhou Huai'an's exploitative adoptive parents.

Lin Xiaoxiao quickly introduced them. "These are Zhou Huai'an's biological parents."

Lu Yuanda swallowed his surprise and greeted them warmly. "That's good—really good. For a moment I thought something else had happened. It's about time this kid caught a break after all these years of hardship."

Hearing that Lu Yuanda knew Zhou Huai'an well, Li Yunlan couldn't resist asking him about her son's past—anything, even the smallest details she had missed.

On the way to the inpatient ward, Lin Xiaoxiao supporting Zhou Huai'an, they ran into An Xiuyu returning with a child on her back.

An Xiuyu initially smiled and was about to greet Lin Xiaoxiao—but when she saw Zhou Huai'an's face, she paled, almost crying out in shock...