Chapter 110 Time Flies

Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.

For the past five years, Wu Peng, having recovered, has been focused on having a son. Especially after seeing how much his daughter listens to that brat Jiang Ming, Wu Peng is determined to have another child; he can't let his fortune fall into the hands of someone with the surname Jiang.

Sometimes, Yao Fanghua would cover her face, wondering how she could have given birth to such a simpleton. Or was it that Jiang Ming was too smart, making her daughter look foolish in comparison? Didn't they say boys mature later? Shouldn't her daughter have been the one dominating Jiang Ming in the early stages?

They were raised and educated in the same way, she thought to herself. Her brain wasn't much worse than Jiang Wei's, so why was her daughter like that? Yao Fanghua looked at Wu Peng, firmly refusing to admit that it was her own brain that was bad, and that Wu Peng must have been the one holding her back.

Wu Peng vehemently denied it, saying, "No one in your family is smart except you. Maybe your genes mutated, and your daughter has turned back to her old self."

The two have argued about this a lot behind closed doors over the years. However, they have reached a consensus on one thing: they really want to have another child.

Last year, Wu Peng, who finally had a son, finally found little Jiang Ming more agreeable and was finally willing to smile at him. Seeing him obediently coaxing his younger brother, Xin Xin, to sleep in bed, Wu Peng even brought him toys from Hong Kong for the first time ever.

Jiang Ming was flattered and tried calling him "Second Uncle," but Wu Peng's face turned ashen. So, Jiang Ming pursed his lips and decided to call him "Uncle" instead.

When Jiang Minggang was just able to speak, he called out "Dad".

Wu Peng threatened him, "Don't call me 'Dad,' or I'll beat you up." But little Jiang Ming didn't understand "beat you up," and happily clapped his hands, calling him "Dad" for a long time.

Later, when he understood the word "beat," he pouted and tilted his head, changing his address to "Second Uncle." As a result, he was caught and spanked again, so he was forced to change his address to "Uncle."

But he kept calling Yao Fanghua "Mom," and no matter how Wu Peng tried to scare him, he wouldn't change; he stubbornly refused to call her "Auntie."

Anyway, his uncle was just trying to scare him. If he cried any louder, his mother would come over to protect him. As long as his mother didn't tell him to change his address, it wouldn't matter who made him.

Yao Fanghua had truly developed feelings for him. At first, she wanted Jiang Ming to change how he addressed her, because whenever Jiang Ming called her "Mom," she always felt like she was a second-time bride with a child.

But when Jiang Ming looked at her with such teary eyes, she couldn't bring herself to say it. She always felt like she was bullying such a tiny little person.

Moreover, later on...

The two little ones started recognizing characters at the age of three. Jiang Ming learns everything quickly, mastering whatever he's taught. He can learn English and pinyin simultaneously without any confusion; he can recognize characters he's seen, hum along to English nursery rhymes he's heard on tape, and in arithmetic, he knows addition and subtraction within ten without being taught, reciting them off the cuff…

My goodness, this brilliance of intelligence, this undeniable brilliance of a little genius, so sparkling and adorable! Yao Fanghua couldn't help but scoop the little guy up and shower him with kisses on the forehead every time. "Little Mingming, my sweet baby." Yao Fanghua truly wished this were her own son, and that Jiang Ming would change his surname to Yao.

In contrast, her own daughter would only look at Jiang Ming and her mother with adorable eyes, blink, and clap. But when she was on her own, she looked completely lost, unable to read or listen, and would pout and look aggrieved. Yao Fanghua could only scoop her up and kiss her passionately to comfort her, calling her her sweet baby.

Jiang Ming's appearance was completely overshadowed by his brain. He was pleasing to the eye, and Yao Fanghua found the little guy increasingly adorable.

My daughter's good looks can't hide her brains at all. She's completely wasted on her studies.

After each lesson, Yao Fanghua would drink a glass of orange juice to relieve stress.

Wu Peng felt uneasy, but showed no sign of it. He leaned back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and shook the newspaper in his hand to reassure Yao Fanghua. After all, they could afford to raise their daughter; even if she couldn't do anything, so what? He'd cover for her. He was determined not to let Yao Fanghua know that he had struggled with his studies as a child, but it wasn't because he couldn't learn—cough, it was because he couldn't concentrate and didn't want to study. If he had tried, he definitely could have learned.

Seeing Wu Peng's relaxed demeanor, Yao Fanghua wanted to cover his mouth with a pillow, and she actually did. Not satisfied with downing a glass of orange juice, she grabbed a cushion, sat on Wu Peng's lap, and covered his face. "Relax, huh? It's definitely you! It's definitely you who dragged us down!" Waaah, she was so angry! Why couldn't he learn it? Why couldn't he remember it? Waaah, was it really that hard? It's all stuff you should know just by looking at it! Waaah, her daughter couldn't even do two plus three on her fingers! She was really breaking down. Being a teacher is so hard…

"Don't get angry, don't get angry, let's have another one," Wu Peng said, trying to persuade him while dodging the flames.

Yao Fanghua grabbed a cushion and smashed it on Wu Peng's head, saying, "You have to have a baby! If you have another one who's not bright enough, I'll just smother you to death."

Later, Yao Fanghua was exhausted and felt more powerless than ever before at work. She simply focused on teaching Jiang Ming, regardless of whether her daughter could understand or not. Finally, she said kindly, "Mingming, I'm leaving your little sister in your care. Go to bed early tonight, and you can play less tomorrow. Teach your little sister what I taught you tonight."

Jiang Ming nodded obediently, but his brow was slightly furrowed. "Mom, I will do my best to take good care of my little sister."

Waaah, Mingming is only half a month older than Xinxin, and he's not even as tall as Wenxin. Yao Fanghua suppressed the pain in her conscience and went to drink orange juice to ease her conscience.

Watching his mother's retreating figure, Jiang Ming sighed. His younger sister couldn't understand or remember anything, which worried him too. But his sister was beautiful, just like their mother. When her big, innocent eyes blinked blankly at him, he was mesmerized. He would patiently and endlessly explain things to her, until Wu Wenxin pouted and cried, wanting to go play. Then the two of them would happily hold hands, taking their youngest child to play on the slide and build houses…

Yao Fanghua exclaimed in amazement at how intelligent a person could be, while Xiao Jiangming exclaimed in amazement at how someone could be so beautiful.

Later, when Yao Fanghua became pregnant again, she hired a tutor for her two children. When she hired the tutor, Yao Fanghua still held a sliver of hope, thinking that perhaps her teaching methods were wrong, and maybe if she found a better tutor, her daughter would understand.

The result was predictable: the teachers who taught Chinese, math, and English were only smiling at Wu Wenxin because of the money.

Yao Fanghua has no other requirements for a second child. Whether it's a son or a daughter, the most important thing is that the child is healthy and has a sharp mind!

Yao Fanghua started eating walnuts when she began trying to conceive, and after becoming pregnant, she would chew on a walnut whenever she had a spare moment. She felt that perhaps the occasional dizziness she experienced during her first pregnancy had made the baby confused, so this time, she needed to stay alert and mentally sharp. She would chew two walnuts during the day while at work, and two more at night while reading to her pregnant belly…

Wu Peng would shell walnuts every night when he had nothing to do, and he would stir-fry walnuts, make spiced walnuts, and amber walnuts in rotation. Yao Fanghua would eat them, and he would eat them too. He ate them when he was trying to conceive, and he still ate them now that she was pregnant. He couldn't hold her back.

He desperately hoped for a son, or at least a daughter, someone clever. He wished he could pour all his cunning into Yao Fanghua's womb. She couldn't be too shrewd; he couldn't let her outsmart Jiang Ming in the future. He'd ask the cafeteria to buy some lotus root tomorrow; he and Hua Hua should eat more of it lately. It had to be said, Jiang Ming's cleverness put immense pressure on Wu Peng.