The two carried the child into the yard.

Jiang Shaozhen noticed that Shen Mingzhi wasn't walking very fast and asked with some concern, "Are you alright?"

Shen Mingzhi nodded, "It's alright, you're not so delicate anymore. I'll go with you to check the ingredients, so you don't make a wasted trip, in case they don't sell it to you..."

"You'll probably need to go to the hospital," Jiang Shaozhen told her.

Shen Mingzhi put Niannian down on the ground, squatted down, and said to her, "Niannian, Daddy and I are going to the hospital. You and your brother stay at home. We'll be back in half an hour, okay?"

I don't know if Niannian understood, but she nodded anyway, "Good girl! Good girl! Wait!"

Shen Mingzhi looked at Jiang Shaozhen, "You taught them?"

She doesn't seem as clingy as before.

“Tell them whenever you have time. You’re so busy outside. Even if you don’t understand anything, you should know something by now, right?” Jiang Shaozhen said with a smile.

Shen Mingzhi pinched Jiang Nian's cheek and kissed her face.

When they reached Zhouzhou's side, they treated him the same way.

He couldn't bear to part with her, so he climbed onto her.

Jiang Shaozhen turned around and draped a light jacket over Shen Mingzhi's shoulders.

April in Beijing was still chilly. He bent down and pulled her collar up for her. "Actually, you can stay home and rest. I can make the trip. The hospital knows me, they can't possibly refuse to sell it to you."

Shen Mingzhi shook her head, picked Niannian up again, and coaxed her, but said, "The people at the pharmacy love to question men. If you go alone, you might get lectured for half a day about 'family planning is a national policy'."

She squeezed her daughter's soft little hand, and the little one immediately giggled and snuggled into her arms, drooling all over her neck.

Jiang Qing's loud voice rang out from the kitchen: "Sister Wang, the crucian carp soup isn't cooked right!"

Wang, who was standing at the kitchen door watching the couple, quickly turned around.

Jiang Shaochen took the opportunity to glance into the room—Jiang Qing was scolding Wang Sao with her back to the door, and there were stacks of lettuce waiting to be cut on the stove.

"Let's go quickly while Mom isn't looking." He quietly pushed open the courtyard gate.

He knew that Jiang Qing wanted to have more children, even if Jiang Guofu lost his position... after all, more children bring more blessings.

Shen Mingzhi knew this in her heart, but she didn't say anything.

The spring breeze at the alley entrance carried the fragrance of locust blossoms. Shen Mingzhi pulled her coat tighter and noticed that Jiang Shaozhen's ears were turning red. She couldn't help but tease him: "You didn't know to prepare all this before you got sick. Now look what you've done. If you really get pregnant in the future, I won't have an abortion."

Before she could finish speaking, her wrist was grabbed. His palm still smelled of milk from when he was making formula for the children. "Zhizhi, I'm so sorry about yesterday. You suffered... I'll prepare in advance from now on. I don't know if the birth control pill will work."

“Comrade Jiang Shaozhen,” she said, standing on tiptoe and getting closer to his bluish chin, “what you should be worried about now is birth control pills, not a self-criticism.”

After they left, two little dumplings were fighting over their spoils by the window of the west wing of the courtyard house.

Jiang Zhou's chubby little hands gripped the cloth tiger's tail tightly, and his round body pressed down on half of his sister's arm.

Jiang Nian blushed and suddenly bit her brother's cufflink with a "woof," instantly soaking the cotton shirt embroidered with koi fish with saliva.

"Ah!" Jiang Zhou was so surprised that he let go of the cloth tiger, which Nian Nian snatched and hugged to her chest.

The little girl proudly raised her foot, her pink toes hooking the tiger-head hat and kicking it at her brother's face.

Jiang Zhou angrily sat up, grabbed the bamboo cart, and slammed it on his sister's head.

When the bamboo cart overturned, it knocked over the enamel mug on the low table, and half a cup of warm water splashed onto the top of Niannian's head.

The little girl froze for two seconds, then suddenly burst into a heart-wrenching wail.

Jiang Zhou was so frightened that he shrank back, and the back of his head hit the rattan chair leg with a "thud," causing him to open his mouth and howl.

Two wet little balls rolled together, Nian Nian tugging at her brother's overalls straps and pulling him toward her, while Jiang Zhou's tiger-head shoes got stuck in her sister's floral trousers.

The cloth tiger was kicked around on the blue brick ground by four little feet, and the bamboo cart rolled towards the eaves.

Neither of them would give in...

In reality, unbeknownst to Shen Mingzhi and Jiang Shaozhen, these two little ones had already fought countless times for their mother's embrace.

On the other side.

"Comrade, this 'compound norethindrone' requires a letter of introduction from your employer." The sales clerk, wearing arm sleeves, pushed the medicine box back, her gaze lingering on the two people's tightly clasped hands.

Shen Mingzhi took out her Baoli Factory work ID. "Our factory's women's director issued a certificate. Look at this official seal."

Her fingertip hovered over the annotation column for "Caring for the Physical and Mental Health of Female Employees," her earlobes burning brighter than the red silk in the counter.

She knew it would be difficult to get the medicine, so she went to the factory beforehand.

Birth control pills are different from other medications; they are rare and not widely used. They can only be purchased at hospitals, and a referral letter is required.

The sales clerk glanced at the letter of introduction and, knowing they already had two children, chuckled. She then stamped the letter with an ink pad, remarking, "Young parents these days are so enlightened."

The trip to buy medicine went very smoothly.

However, things didn't go very smoothly at the courtyard house.

Jiang Nian's pigtails got tangled in her brother's braided button.

The little girl was riding on Jiang Zhou's belly, trying to pick his nose with her saliva-covered fingers.

Jiang Zhou twisted like a live fish, when he suddenly caught sight of a reflective glass bottle on the windowsill—it was the jar Jiang Qing used to store malted milk powder.

He mustered all his strength, rolled over, and scrambled towards the windowsill with his sister.

"Smack!"

When Sister Wang rushed out with a soup ladle in hand, she saw two mud monkeys kicking a can of malted milk powder like a ball.

Jiang Nian's floral pants were covered in grass clippings, and Jiang Zhou's tiger-head hat was askew around his neck. The two little ones were tugging at each other's sugar-covered clothes.

"Little darling!" Wang's exclamation was interrupted by the smell of burning in the kitchen. She hurriedly went to retrieve the glass jars rolling all over the floor, and Jiang Nian took the opportunity to stuff her saliva-covered fingers into her brother's ear.

As soon as Shen Mingzhi entered the alley, she heard cries and wails rising and falling.

Jiang Shaozhen rushed into the yard, only to see his daughter riding on his son's back, stuffing half a peach shortbread into the back of his collar.

"Jiang Nian!"

The little girl turned her head at the sound, her face, covered in pastry crumbs, instantly brightened, and she stretched out her arms to jump onto her father, completely forgetting that she was still sitting on her brother's back.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang Zhou rolled over, grabbed his sister's ankle, and tried to bite it.

Shen Mingzhi swiftly scooped up her daughter, while Jiang Shaochen lifted his son with one hand.

The two little ones were still restless while suspended in mid-air, kicking wildly with their four short legs. Jiang Zhou's socks got caught on his sister's silver bracelet.

"What's going on?" Jiang Qing asked, looking bewildered, as she emerged from the kitchen holding fire tongs.

Aunt Wang held the broken can of malted milk powder, a helpless smile on her face.

Shen Mingzhi lowered her head and rubbed her daughter's nose, which was covered in frosting, and couldn't help but chuckle, "They're fighting."

Jiang Shaozhen, with a tacit understanding, carried his son towards the east wing, saying, "I should teach them a lesson!"

The two children are only one year old, but their destructive power is already evident.

The child, who was carried back to the room, was soaking wet, covered in dust and powdered sugar... looking utterly disheveled.

Jiang Shaozhen was both angry and didn't know how to teach these two little rascals a lesson.