Lu Jiao turned her head and saw that none of the babies went to sleep. They all stared at her wide-eyed.

Lu Jiao realized that it was because they saw her giving Xie Erzhu candy and wanted some as well. But, it was late at night. If they eat candy now, their teeth would rot.

The boys, however, goggled at her like puppies, making it impossible for Lu Jiao to say no. So she ended up giving them a piece of candy each before she lectured them in a serious tone.

“From now on, I will give you two pieces of candy a day. But, you are not allowed to have it at night. If you eat candy at night, worms will eat out your teeth and your teeth will hurt. Got it?”

Her lecture scared the four little ones and they stared at the candy they had in hand.

They wanted to eat it but didn’t dare. What a difficult position to be in!

Lu Jiao chuckled, “Once is okay. But there won’t be the next time, okay?”

Lu Jiao thought that it was really bad that there was no toothbrush or toothpaste yet. She wondered if she could make some herself so the whole family could start brushing their teeth.

The Second, Third, and Fourth Born instantly shoved the candy into their mouths.

The First Born wasn’t in a hurry. He took the package off the candy and delivered it to Xie Yunjin’s lips, “Daddy, you eat.”

The other three babies felt bad then. They had already ate their candy. What to do?

The three babies wanted to spit out their candies.

Scared they might actually do it, Lu Jiao quickly jumped in, “It’s okay, your daddy doesn’t eat candy. You guys eat.”

Xie Yunjin agreed, “I don’t like candy. You eat.”

The four little ones obviously didn’t believe that. How could daddy not like something as yummy as candy? The four children turned to Lu Jiao in unison. Though they didn’t ask, their eyes told Lu Jiao that they wanted her to feed Xie Yunjin one.

Helpless, Lu Jiao pulled another out of her sleeve and fed it to Xie Yunjin.

Xie Yunjin truly didn’t really like candy – he found it too sweet. But since the four little ones were staring and not letting this go, he had no choice but to take it.

Lu Jiao then ordered, “It’s late. Finish eating your candy and go to sleep.”

The four little ones were tucked into the bed by their dad. As they happily sucked on their candy, they discussed.

“This candy is so sweet.”

“Mommy said we get two a day starting tomorrow.”

“I have decided that I will eat one tomorrow and save one for later.”

Lu Jiao didn’t mind them and lied down to sleep. She’s going to travel home tomorrow and it was going to be a long day.

However, as she lied down, Xie Yunjin spoke up.

“You can sleep in the west bedroom.”

He’s been feeling much better these past few days. Plus, his brother helped him go to the washroom so he won’t need Lu Jiao overnight. It wasn’t good for her to sleep on the floor every day.

His words excited Lu Jiao. She happily got up.

The floor was damp and heavy. Sleeping on it everyday would get her sick so she preferred not to.

Though the wooden bed in the west bedroom wasn’t the most comfortable, it was better than sleeping on the floor.

Lu Jiao got up and rolled up her blanket.

Up on the bed, the Fourth Born got up as well, “Mommy, I go sleep with you.”

The First, Second, and Third Born all turned to gape at him. What a mom stealer.

Lu Jiao didn’t mind that but she wasn’t sure if Xie Yunjin would. She turned to him.

He didn’t end up objecting and simply said, “Then, you take him and sleep in the west bedroom.”

The other three didn’t ask to go as well.

Lu Jiao picked up the Fourth Born with one arm, took the blanket with the other and went to the west bedroom.

The Fourth Born put his arms around Lu Jiao’s neck and smiled sweetly. The other three babies couldn’t help but bitterly glare at him. Hmmph, all he knew how to do was hog their mom for himself.

Inside the west bedroom, it was the Fourth Born’s first time sleeping with Lu Jiao. Ever since he started having memories, he’s never slept with his mother. The little guy was overly excited and couldn’t fall asleep.

They were sleeping on a wooden bed but somehow, he found this bed to be more comfortable than the bed in daddy’s room.

He curled up beside Lu Jiao and his heart-shaped eyes squished into crescents as he admired her happily, “Mommy.”

Like a puppy, he pulled himself closer to Lu Jiao.

Lu Jiao sighed. The original host didn’t treat the babies well but she was their mother after all. The moment she started to behave like a mother, the babies became defenseless toward her.

It was telling just how important the mother figure was to children.

Lu Jiao hugged onto the Fourth Born, “Okay, let’s go to sleep.”

But the Fourth Born couldn’t fall asleep! He excitedly called out again, “Mommy.”

Lu Jiao answered, so he called her again. He just wanted to call out to her.

When Lu Jiao saw how restless he was, she became a little troubled. She cuddled him and said, “What if I tell you a story.”

The little fella blinked, “Okay mommy, tell me a story.”

So Lu Jiao told him a short bedtime story, “Then I will tell you the story of who is stronger.

One day, a monkey ran into a deer. Both animals claimed to be stronger and argued non-stop. Just then, a chicken walked over and said, ‘You need to stop fighting. Tomorrow, we will hold a competition to see which one of you is stronger.’

The next day, they got an elephant to be the judge of the competition. The elephant said, ‘Do you see that river in front of us? Across the river is an apple tree. Whoever crosses the river first to pick an apple wins.’

The monkey and the deer ran to the river but the monkey didn’t know how to swim across the river. The deer made it through but the deer didn’t know how to climb the tree to get the apple. The monkey shouted at the deer, ‘Get me across the river and I will go up the tree to get the apple’.

So the deer helped the monkey across the river. Once there, the monkey climbed up the tree and picked a giant apple. The elephant announced, ‘You two tie in this competition.'”

The intention of Lu Jiao telling this story was to teach the baby a lesson on how everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.

Who knew that the little guy didn’t care about that. He had sneakily put his own little legs on top of Lu Jiao’s body and was now swaying them around. He thought Lu Jiao didn’t notice and was giggling in secret.

“Mommy, how come the monkey and deer can speak? I’ve never seen that. Our puppies don’t speak.”

Lu Jiao grew frustrated, “Enough now, go to sleep.”

The Fourth Born was overly excited and grew tired. After he heard Lu Jiao’s words, he cuddled against Lu Jiao’s chest and went to sleep.

Those in the east bedroom were ready to sleep but they heard talking from the west bedroom. The three babies quickly realized that Lu Jiao was telling the Fourth Born a story and became interested.

The Second Born grunted, “Who doesn’t know how to tell a story? Daddy knows.”

The Third Born pouted, “But it feels like the story is good. The Fourth Born is laughing.”

The First Born made an executive decision, “Tomorrow, we ask her to tell the story to us too.”

The Second and Third Born nodded, “Good idea.”