Road to Recovery 1

"Thank you again. I'm Elaine Wu by the way." The foreign woman introduced herself to the Tang cousins. She rubbed her arms as the chilling night breeze hit her.

"I'm Lu Tianxin." Lu Tianxin gave her a warm smile before gesturing to the empress who was busy checking her phone. "And that's my cousin, Tang Moyu. Do you need a ride or something? We can give you a lift if you want."

Elaine Wu shook her head. It was already enough that these two women had saved her ass earlier. She didn't want to cause more inconvenience than she already had.

Lu Tianxin removed her business coat and wrapped it around Elaine Wu's shoulder. Since she, Tang Moyu, and Gu Yuyao had directly met Li Meili and Lin Qianrou after office hours, they were still in their work clothes.

"Thank you for your generous offer, but I can get a cab from here, I think. I wish I could repay the two of you for saving me today." She replied before hailing a cab.

Lu Tianxin let out an awkward laugh while Tang Moyu only gave Elaine Wu a blank stare. The empress wasn't even planning to help her earlier. She just stepped in because of Li Meili's dress that Xia An was bragging about. She cannot allow anyone to tarnish her best friend's name whether it was directly or not.

The Black Nightingale had a great reputation in the fashion industry and for Xia An to make false claims, it would affect Li Meili's business.

"Then be careful on your back home and don't go anywhere else." Lu Tianxin said and patted Elaine's shoulder.

Once Elaine Wu slipped inside the cab and it drove away, Lu Tianxin turned to face her cousin.

"I guess it's time for us to go home too," she said. The empress nodded in response, agreeing easily. They had wasted some time on Xing Yiyue and Xia An anyway.

The drive back to Peach Blossom Garden was filled with silence as the empress focused her attention on the road while Lu Tianxin took a few minutes to rest her eyes. They had a long day today and she couldn't wait to retire for the night. She wondered how Luo Luo's day with his cousins was.

When they arrived at Peach Blossom Garden, they found Luo Luo all packed and ready to leave with his backpack. The Tang twins on the other hand, were already dressed in their cute pajamas.

"Mr. Qin, thank you for looking after my Luo Luo." Lu Tianxin thanked Feng Tianyi, which the latter easily dismissed.

Tang Moyu agreed with him. Since she still couldn't convince her little buns to attend kindergarten, perhaps being used to other kids' presence would be able to help them socialise a little. Still, Xiao Bao vehemently denied her request to consider attending school with Little Star.

It wasn't that she wasn't aware of why her children refused to attend kindergarten. The last time her twins attended school, Xiao Bao was involved in a fight with some older kids, which shocked Tang Moyu.

Her ever lovable and calm little prince snapped and hurt another kid out of anger. It was beyond Tang Moyu to think that her young son was capable of doing such a thing. It only broke her heart when she found out the reason he did what he'd done.

Born out of wedlock, abandoned by their own father... These were some of the taunts her children had faced for being fatherless. Her heart ached when she heard about this. It pains her whenever she thought that she alone would never be enough. That Xiao Bao and Little Star, even if they didn't say it out loud, were craving to have a father figure in their lives.

"Still… looking after three kids…" Lu Tianxin pursed her lips, "It must be tiring."

Feng Tianyi laughed at that. Of course, it was hard. Especially for someone like him whose movement was limited by a wheelchair. Fortunately, Auntie Lu and the twins' other nannies were there to extend a hand whenever he needed them. They would usually help him look after the children when he had to busy himself in the kitchen or as he worked on his manuscript.

With spring finally reaching its end, the three children had been a great help to him in harvesting the crops and vegetables they'd planted months ago. They had enough supply of nutritious ingredients to make their meals now.

After Lu Tianxin left with her son, Tang Moyu went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. The scent and taste of the alcohol she'd drank earlier made her throat dry and itchy. She heard the pattering of feet towards her and didn't need to turn to see who it was.

"Mommy, can we eat more honeydew melons?" She heard Little Star ask. The girl was in her pink bunny onesie, holding a white bunny doll in one arm. Her bright round eyes looked at Tang Moyu with anticipation.

"Can we, Mommy?" Xiao Bao asked. "Uncle Ji said we should ask you if we want to eat more."

"That's because you've already eaten a few slices after dinner." Tang Moyu heard Feng Tianyi laugh from the living area, which was right next to the kitchen, allowing him to overhear their conversation.

Tang Moyu raised a brow at her little buns in surprise. Where in the world did these two put all those food they'd eaten? She wondered.