Chapter 70

Han Shuo had ridden such a crowded bus before; when he was in high school, he had to come twice a week when he returned to school after holidays.

But that was before she got pregnant. Before she got pregnant, he was like a tiger, he didn't care about men, women, or children, he would just charge forward with his head held high.

But that won't work now. Not to mention Meng Yuxiu's concern, even if the bus isn't that crowded, it's still a bit inconvenient for him to get on with his big belly.

He waited until the last person got on the bus before wedging himself inside.

He couldn't move an inch further, and there wasn't even a place to grab the handrails, so he had to hold onto someone else's seat.

Meng Yuxiu was still worried, so he stood below, dragging his bicycle, and kept an eye on things.

"Go back!" Han Shuo waved to him.

After the bus started moving again and had traveled some distance, Han Shuo saw Meng Yuxiu get on his bicycle through the bus window.

Han Shuo had passed his morning sickness period, but the bus kept stopping and starting with a rumble, which was quite unpleasant, especially the sudden braking, which made everyone in the carriage lean forward.

"Damn it, you stepped on my foot!" Han Shuo pushed away the person who was pressing down on him and had to reach out to cover his stomach. He had finally gotten six months pregnant, and he couldn't afford any mishaps.

After standing for half an hour, we finally arrived at our stop.

The car door opened, and Han Shuo squeezed off the car with the crowd. Before one of his feet even touched the ground, a hand came over, grabbed his arm, and helped him off the car.

It turned out that Meng Yuxiu was waiting for him at the bus stop.

"When did you arrive?" Han Shuo asked him.

"I just arrived a short while ago."

Where is the stuff?

Meng Yuxiu said that the things had been put in the rented house, and he would leave to tutor Han Shuo after picking him up.

Han Shuo saw that he had even ridden his bicycle out and parked it under the bus stop, so he said, "Then you go ahead, I'll walk back myself, it's only two hundred meters away anyway."

"Okay." Meng Yuxiu was worried about Han Shuo taking the bus while heavily pregnant, but since Han Shuo was safe and sound, he rode off on his bicycle.

Han Shuo shouted from behind, "Come back early for dinner today!"

"good!"

The sun was out in the morning, but by the afternoon it was hidden behind the clouds.

However, Han Shuo and Meng Yuxiu usually returned to their rented apartment in the evening. Today was a rare weekend, so even though the sun wasn't shining brightly, Han Shuo saw that his neighbors had put their bedding out to dry on their balconies, so he also took all the new mattresses and quilts he had bought that day to his balcony to air them out.

With nothing to do in the afternoon, he would go to the small workshop and do handicrafts with everyone.

Actually, he could do it in the room, but he's naturally afraid of being alone and prefers to get together with others, chatting and working together, which makes the time pass faster.

"Xiao Han, is Xiao Meng out tutoring again?" Grandpa He came to the workshop to join in the fun again. He stood at the door and asked Han Shuo, who was working.

“Yes,” Han Shuo said to Grandpa He, “He’ll probably be going to several places today.”

Grandpa He chuckled and said to the others, "Young Han and his wife are really hardworking. Other people who get into university don't go out to work; they just wait to graduate and get assigned jobs."

Sister Zhang said with a smile, "This is good too, it helps to ease the burden on the family."

When Han Shuo finished his handicraft work around four o'clock, he heard Grandpa He say that the sky was overcast and it was likely to rain that night. He told the people in the workshop to hurry up and buy the vegetables, and to bring in the quilts and clothes from the balcony.

"Really? Is it going to rain?" Upon hearing this, Han Shuo quickly put down his work, walked out of the workshop, and looked up. Sure enough, the sky was dark; it was only four o'clock, but it was already as dark as six.

He hurriedly went into the workshop to tidy up.

Sister Zhang asked, "Xiao Han, Xiao Meng hasn't come home yet. Why don't you sit a little longer?"

Han Shuo repeatedly said, "No, no, I need to bring the bedding from the balcony into the room, and I also need to buy some groceries, otherwise it will be a disaster if it rains later."

"Okay, then."

Han Shuo carried the cardboard box upstairs. After entering the house, he casually placed the box on the dining table and then went to the balcony to collect the bedding.

The cold air is expected to arrive tonight. The dark sky is accompanied by a cold wind, and the usually bustling alley is rather deserted at this time. The orange lights look particularly desolate in the vast expanse of the sky.

The tenants next door and upstairs and downstairs were all taking in their quilts and clothes. Han Shuo brought the bedding into the room, made the bed, and tidied it up.

After finishing his work, he took the keys and basket, put some money in his pocket, and went to the market.

Since he and Meng Yuxiu had to do other chores besides going to school, and cooking with the coal stove on the balcony was time-consuming and troublesome, Meng Yuxiu recently bought a small clay stove and a clay pot. This way, he could buy some charcoal at the market, throw it into the clay stove, and start cooking quickly and easily.

Han Shuo plans to use a clay stove to stew fish head and tofu soup today.

He asked the tofu stall owner to cut two pieces of tender white tofu, and then went to the seafood stall. People here like to eat bighead carp. Bighead carp are large and are usually sold in small pieces, and the fish heads are especially popular.

Fortunately, Han Shuo arrived early today and ordered a fish head.

After buying groceries and returning to my rented room, it was completely dark.

On the first floor of the rented house, there were people by almost every sink. Han Shuo threw the fish head into their sink, then went upstairs to put down the tofu, took a kitchen knife, and brought the faucet key downstairs.

"Xiao Han, are you cooking fish head at home today?" The neighbors saw Han Shuo using a kitchen knife to scrape off some scales from the fish head.

"Yeah, it's getting cold, so let's make some fish head and tofu soup." Han Shuo placed the fish head on the cutting board, grabbed the cleaver and chopped it in half. He then cleaned out the gills.

Back in the room, I put the cleaned fish head into a casserole dish, placed the tofu in my palm, cut it into small pieces with a knife, and poured them all in.

However, Han Shuo did not plan to cook immediately. This fish head tofu soup was best eaten while it was hot. He would wait for Meng Yuxiu to come home before making it. Anyway, it was already in the casserole, and the seasonings such as ginger, scallions, and garlic were all prepared. He could just light the charcoal with a torch later.

It's 5:30 now. Han Shuo emphasized to Meng Yuxiu today that he should come back for dinner early. He estimated that Meng Yuxiu should be back around 6 o'clock. After all, tutors also need to eat dinner, and Meng Yuxiu can't stay at someone else's house to eat.

Han Shuo grabbed a handful of biscuits from the bag to fill his stomach, then sat on the bed to continue his handicrafts.

He lost track of time while doing this, and when Han Shuo heard the pattering rain outside, he paused in bed for a moment, then quickly got up and rushed to the balcony.

"Damn! It's really raining!" Han Shuo looked out onto the balcony and saw the raindrops, illuminated by the lamplight, falling like fine, silvery needles from the dark sky.

When Meng Yuxiu rode his bike from the bus stop, the weather was quite nice, so he didn't bring an umbrella. Although the rain wasn't heavy at the moment, he would still get soaked riding his bike there.

Han Shuo stood on the balcony, extremely worried. The most crucial problem was that in this day and age, they didn't have cell phones or telephones, making communication inconvenient. Otherwise, he could have taken an umbrella and gone to pick up Meng Yuxiu.

Now, even if he wanted to pick someone up, he wouldn't know where to go, because Meng Yuxiu goes to tutor homes every day, sometimes in the east of the city and sometimes in the west.

At first, Han Shuo knew the address where he tutored, but later someone introduced him to a few other tutoring places, so he couldn't remember them.

So, since it was dark and raining, he could only go back to his room and continue waiting.

But the longer he waited, the more anxious he became, especially as the rain outside intensified. In this kind of weather, let alone getting wet, even standing on the balcony for a while would make you feel damp and cold to the bone.

Han Shuo grabbed a box of matches and quickly went to the balcony to light the stove. Then he filled the kettle with water and boiled it so that Meng Yuxiu, who would be soaked to the bone when he returned, could immediately take a hot shower.

After filling both thermos flasks with hot water, Han Shuo went upstairs to borrow a thermos flask from Sister Zhang.

Ms. Zhang and her husband were having dinner when they heard a knock on the door. When they opened the door, they saw Han Shuo standing there.

"Little Han," Aunt Zhang greeted Han Shuo warmly, "Have you eaten yet? Would you like to come in and have something to eat?"

Han Shuo smiled at his wife as a greeting.

"Excuse me, do you have an empty thermos flask? Could I borrow it for a moment?"

"Yes, yes," said Sister Zhang, and her husband had already gone to fetch two thermos flasks.

Her husband asked, "Are two enough? If not, I'll bring you another one."

Han Shuo quickly took it and said thank you, "That's enough, that's enough."

Sister Zhang asked, "Has Xiao Meng come back yet?"

Han Shuo's brow furrowed with worry again. "Not yet. It's raining now, isn't it? He didn't bring an umbrella, so I need to boil more hot water for him to bathe in."

After thanking Sister Zhang and her husband again, Han Shuo returned to his rented room. Just as he entered, he heard the kettle on the balcony making a "whooshing" sound.

He uncorked the thermos and filled two more bottles.

It was almost nine o'clock when Han Shuo glanced outside and noticed that the rain had lessened a bit. He couldn't sit still any longer, so he grabbed a flashlight and an umbrella and went downstairs to check the roadside at the alley entrance.

Actually, it wasn't the first time Meng Yuxiu had ridden at night, but Han Shuo was inexplicably anxious, even though he knew that if he sat in the room and waited, he might be able to wait for Meng Yuxiu soon.

But he still stood at the alley entrance, flashlight in hand and umbrella in hand, peering out. Before he got married, Han Shuo hadn't felt anything. But now that he was married, he found himself with an extra layer of attachment in his heart.

He lingered in the alley for a long time. Occasionally, a few passersby would hurry by with their umbrellas, their footsteps echoing through the muddy water, but he never saw Meng Yuxiu.

Han Shuo was now really nervous. Although Meng Yuxiu was a tall man of 1.9 meters, Han Shuo still regarded him as a child. As time passed by, he was worried that something might happen at night.

He simply walked out of the alley and strolled along the road, looking around as he went, hoping that Meng Yuxiu would ride up from the front at any moment.

But after walking several hundred meters, he didn't see a single person riding a bicycle, and at that time of day, he didn't even see a dog on the road.

Han Shuo had no choice; continuing forward would be aimless, so he turned around and walked back.

However, just a few dozen meters after he turned around, a bicycle suddenly sped past on the main road next to him, and rode very fast, turning into the alley in the blink of an eye.

"Holy crap!" Even through the thick rain and fog, Han Shuo could recognize the tall, slender figure on the bicycle—it was his brat.

He shouted at the top of his lungs from behind, "Meng Yuxiu! Meng Yuxiu!"

Han Shuo's body is not strong enough to walk fast now, and the rain makes the ground slippery, so he can only try to keep up as quickly and carefully as possible.

"Damn! How could someone my age not see me? You ran faster than a dog!"

Before Meng Yuxiu arrived, Han Shuo was so anxious he was jumping up and down. Now that he saw Meng Yuxiu return, he started cursing again.

"Meng Yuxiu!"

After Han Shuo shouted a few times, he saw the back of the bicycle slowly back out, and then Meng Yuxiu tilted his head and poked his head out of the alley.

When he saw that the person walking towards him with an umbrella was Han Shuo, he exclaimed in surprise, "Han Shuo?"

"Damn it! I was calling you like crazy from behind, didn't you hear me?" Han Shuo finally walked up to him.

However, when Han Shuo saw Meng Yuxiu's soaked clothes and pants, and his fair and beautiful face covered with rainwater, with even the strands of hair on his forehead sticking to his face in a terrible state, he felt extremely distressed.

In fact, Meng Yuxiu's hair and eyelashes were dripping wet at that moment, so it made no difference whether he used an umbrella or not. But Han Shuo still held the umbrella over his head to block the rain.

“I was in a hurry to get home and didn’t see you,” Meng Yuxiu said.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. Let's go back."

Meng Yuxiu only then realized that Han Shuo was by the roadside. He frowned and asked, "Why did you come out?"

"Oh dear." Han Shuo pulled the umbrella over him a little more. "It's already past nine o'clock and you still haven't come back. I'm worried about you. I'm afraid you'll get beaten up by thugs on the way."

"How could that be..." Meng Yuxiu saw that Han Shuo's shoulders were wet from the rain, so he told him to hold the umbrella himself.

As he spoke, he was about to get off the car, drag his bicycle, and walk with Han Shuo.

"You'd better not get off the bike," Han Shuo said. "You ride back quickly, and I'll walk over slowly with the umbrella."

"I'll walk with you."

"What are you talking about? Can't you see it's raining? Hurry up and go home."

“Let’s go together,” Meng Yuxiu said. “I’m already soaked, so a little more time won’t make a difference.”

"..."

Meng Yuxiu wouldn't listen no matter what. Han Shuo had just seen him rushing into the alley like a wild bull and knew that the kid was eager to get home and cling to him. Now that they had met on the roadside, even if it was raining or hailing, he would probably stop and cling to him all the way.

Han Shuo shook his head. "I'm really impressed with you! Then use the umbrella! Otherwise, you can ride your bike back."

In order to walk with Han Shuo, Meng Yuxiu reluctantly tilted his head inside the umbrella.

Han Shuo was both angry and amused. "I said, is it really necessary? You have to be all sticky even for such a short distance."

Meng Yuxiu's nose was red from the cold, and he looked quite disheveled, but even so, his eyes still held a smile. It was as if he had been traveling for a long time and had finally returned to his warmest and most reassuring harbor.