Stepmother

Showering

"Are you kids hungry?" Sun Baohai asked, though knowing the answer to that.

"Yes Mommy," The kids responded as they nodded their heads. Sun Baohai was surprised by the sudden title as this was their first interaction, but remembering the Zhang family, he remembered that they were the ones who told the kids to call him like this or else they would get abandoned. He wanted to tell them that they didn't have to force themselves, but remembering that the kids just got abandoned and were insecure, he just went along with them.

"Okay, then go sit down, Mommy will go cook," Sun Baohai said as he cringed inwardly. Calling himself mommy was a first, and especially since he barely knew the kids he felt a little uncomfortable. 

"Okay!" The oldest twin, Qiqi responded nervously as she dragged the rest of her siblings to sit on the Kang. 

Sun Baohai knew how to cook since he's been basically living alone since he was twelve. He planned to make porridge and eggs with stir-fried tomatoes. He first took the bucket in the kitchen and went to take water from the well in the village. The well wasn't too far from his house, so he returned fairly quickly.

He washed his hands and then took one of the two broken pots and put some water to boil. He took about one jin of rice and briefly rinsed it. He then put it in the boiling water. As the rice began to build and took the only big wooden spoon he could find and continued to stir so as to not let the rice stick to the bottom of the pot.  When the congee was finally finished, he went to make the side dish.

He beat the egg and put a pinch of salt. He then took a broken pan and put it on the earthen stove. After the pan was heated he put in some lard and then put in his diced tomatoes. He stir-fried them until the skin looked a little crispy and then added the egg. When the egg was cooked he called the kids to set the table. There were about seven wooden bowls and four wooden plates in the house along with twelve spoons, and they were pretty decent too so there was no need to buy new ones. 

He served each kid a bowl and made them let it cool for a while before they could eat. In the meantime, he went to boil some milk for the baby. After both the milk and the congee were cool enough, he allowed the kids to start eating. The kids could eat by themselves and the twins would help Xiao Wan from time to time, but he had to feed the baby.

There were no feeding bottles in this era so he could only spoon-feed the milk to Xian Yu. The baby had been hungry for a long time so he down the milk in no time. Immediately after drinking the milk, the baby started sleeping. He went to put the baby down and then came back to eat. The kids were still eating and it looked like they were savoring each spoon of the congee and each bit of the egg. According to his memories, the kids only ate watery gruel or dry cornmeal bread so it was only now that they got some real food to eat.

"Do you guys like it?" Sun Baohai asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

"Yes! Thank you, Mommy!" The kids thanked me in unison.

"That's good, now it's time to go shower so go wait for me in the backyard," According to his memories it was the hour of the horse right now (12 pm) so showering the kids at this time was just right. The kids swiftly nodded their heads and headed toward the back of the house. Sun Baohai also didn't make the kids wait and soon brought the water for the kids to shower.

The kids haven't showered in quite a long time so their faces and clothes were quite muddy. The kids had in total two hanfus, but they only wore one because the Zhang family didn't want to go to Jinhai's house to get other clothes, and the reason they did this was that Jinhai's wife running away was considered bad luck and since it happened in this very house so no one was willing to get any necessities for the kids. So the kids had to put on the same clothes over and over again and no one was willing to wash them for them.

Sun Baohai looked at the skinny and muddy kids and couldn't help but resent the Zhang family a little more. Seeing that the kids were getting sleepy, Sun Baohai quickly started showering them. While showering the kids he couldn't help but notice that the kid's heads were infested with lice. Just how much were these kids neglected?

'System!' Sun Baohai called in his mind.

{My name is Nuo Mi host! Do you need something?}

'Nuo Mi, do you have anything for lice?' 

{Yes! I can sell you thirty-two ounces of Healing Shampoo for five points. Healing Shampoo helps repair damaged hair, adds volume, gets rid of stuff like dandruff and lice, helps with hair growth, and can even add shine to your hair.}

'Ok, give it to me.'

Even though the shampoo was really expensive, especially when he only had fifteen points, he had to buy it. The kids' hair was not only infested with lice but was also very dry and brittle. Plus, their hair was turning yellow from neglect. 

He went inside to collect his purchase. It was in a bamboo jar and looked like one of the products sold in town. When he opened the jar, a pleasant smell of vanilla and peaches made its way into his nostrils, it smelled good. 

He went back outside to finish showering the kids. He first took Qiqi and washed her hair. She looked like she found relief, and she really did. For the past weeks, she had been scratching her hair nonstop, and this strange gooey mixture finally gave her relief.