Challenges and Growth

Vision blurred by tears, she trembled as she pulled the car to the side of the road, mechanically activating the hazard lights. Suddenly, she pounded her fist on the steering wheel, a blaring horn piercing the rain. The twins in the backseat burst into tears, startled. Amidst the relentless honking, Xiaofeng felt as if she had fallen into a parallel universe, everything around her unreal.

Eight thousand kilometers away in Canberra, Jiang Wenqing was hunched over his desk, sorting through the final documents for his Australian project. A sudden, inexplicable palpitation gripped his shirt, and he instinctively clutched his chest. "Xiaofeng!" the name slipped out of his mouth. He quickly dialed, "Keep an eye on... my ex-wife for me."

A respectful reply came from the receiver: "Okay, Mr. Jiang."

"Report every day." After hanging up the phone, he looked at the brilliant starry sky of Canberra and murmured to himself: "Wenfeng, if you really love Xiaofeng, just take good care of her." He picked up the wine glass and drank it all, and promised to the void: "Xiaofeng, it's okay, I'm here."

In the chaos, Xiaofeng seemed to really hear that familiar voice, which penetrated the fog gently and firmly: "It's okay, I'm here." She wiped away her tears, took out two plush toys from the back seat, and coaxed them softly: "Mommy will hold you, don't cry, don't cry, mommy is here..." When the children gradually calmed down, she took a deep breath and started the car, "Let's go have some porridge, okay?" Seeing the two little guys concentrating on fiddling with their toys through the rearview mirror, the corners of her mouth finally pulled up a tired but relieved smile.

As the car sped down the lane, Xiaofeng's eyes swept to the right—a delivery man on an electric scooter was speeding by. "He's riding really fast," she glanced at the dashboard. The car was going 30mph, and the man was moving like a gust of wind. Just as she was distracted, the scooter suddenly turned and rushed straight towards her!

"Squeak!" The sharp sound of brakes cut through the rainy sky. Xiaofeng slammed on the brakes, and inertia caused her to lean forward, nearly hitting her forehead on the steering wheel.

"Are the kids okay?" She turned around hastily. The twins in the back seat were clinging to their seatbelts in confusion. As the car came to a stop, a girl with ponytails suddenly emerged from under the car.

"Is it a scam?" Xiao Feng's heart skipped a beat, but he blurted out, "Are you okay?"

The girl's eyes were red as she explained incoherently, "The wind was too strong... My helmet flipped over, and my Bluetooth headset fell under your wheel..." She pointed to the ground and stamped her feet anxiously, "This order is going to be overdue..."

Xiaofeng quickly tied her loose hair into a ponytail and said, "I'll compensate you! Get in the car first, I'll take you to the delivery!" Seeing the girl hesitate, she opened the passenger door and said, "We can talk about other things on the way. If you're late, I'll deduct money."

When the navigation system chimed, Xiaofeng caught sight of the girl's tense profile through the rearview mirror. "All losses today are mine," she said, turning onto the side road. "I'll discuss overtime compensation. How far short of your revenue target today are you? I'll make up for it." She paused, then smiled. "But there's one condition—" She nodded toward the backseat. "I have to eat with these two little ones first."

"Sister is so handsome!" the twins suddenly said in unison.

The girl smiled, and her tense shoulders finally relaxed: "My name is Jiang Liang."

"What a coincidence, these two also have the surname Jiang!" Xiaofeng blinked, "I'm Rao Xiaofeng, you can call me--"

"Sister Xiaofeng!"

Steam from the porridge shop blurred the glass windows. Xiaofeng pushed the preserved egg and lean pork porridge toward Jiang Liang. "You're going to earn your own tuition in your freshman year?"

Jiang Liang nodded, holding the bowl, the hot steam making her nose sparkle: "My younger brother is also in school..." Before she finished speaking, Lucas suddenly raised the steamed sweet potato high: "Sister, eat it."

Xiaofeng looked at the smiling faces of the children and Jiang Liang under the lights, and suddenly felt that the earphones under the wheel were like a key deliberately dropped by fate.

Jiang Wenqing received a call in the terminal: "Ms. Rao didn't go out today and didn't have any visitors."

"Thank you. I'll be right back."

Jiang Wenqing, who was catching up on his sleep after landing, was awakened by the ringing of a phone: "Mr. Jiang, Miss Rao and the children have gone out."

"Share your location with me, I'll be there soon."

In the office at Manlin Hospital, Zhou Yong looked at the medical records on the computer: "This decision... have you really thought it through?"

Xiao Feng's voice was so soft it sounded like a sigh: "Leaving him here will only mean that there will be one more child like me in the world."

"Of course, a complete family is precious..." Zhou Yong's stethoscope dangled gently against his chest, "but some choices are more important than form."

Xiaofeng suddenly grabbed the edge of the desk: "I can't even heal myself..." When she looked up, her eyelashes were stained with tears, "Let's arrange the surgery."

The smell of disinfectant enveloped her throat like a transparent film. Xiaofeng counted the hexagonal lampshades on the ceiling and heard the snap of rubber gloves on the tray. After the nurse completed her third data check, the doctor's voice came through her mask: "The dilator will be a little cold."

When the shadowless light reflected by the metal instrument caught her eyes, her lower abdomen suddenly twitched and curled up - it was not cold at all, but some kind of living chill that crawled along the roots of her legs to her spine, reminding her of the frog specimen nailed to the foam board in her elementary school biology class.

"Wait!" She knocked over the instrument tray, and the stainless steel tray rolled across the tile floor, making a long echo. Xiaofeng squatted down and buried her face in her arms, tears suddenly streaming down her face.

The doctor tried to help her, but she reflexively pushed him away: "Don't touch my child!"

Xiaofeng was sent back to the office, her left hand still clutching her collar tightly. The chill still coursing through her veins, she cried out tearfully, "Dad, I can't do this..."

The second half of the sentence turned into a sob, because a hand with a platinum hammered ring held her in its arms.

Time suddenly became very light, but the strength of the palm became very heavy.

Jiang Wenqing counted twelve crescent moons before finally waiting for this heart-wrenching embrace. He never removed the wedding ring on his left ring finger, just for this moment to shout, "Wife," his voice trembling, but each word resonating deeply. "It's okay, I'm here."

Xiaofeng felt the trembling of his fingertips on the back of her neck. It was a cautious confirmation, as if he was measuring the curvature of her cervical spine - whether it was still the angle he massaged every night when she was pregnant.

The twins' cries broke the silence, and Xiaofeng suddenly discovered that this man, who had cried until he retched while accompanying her in childbirth, actually had a warm smile hidden in the fine lines at the corners of his eyes.

Holding the children, she raised her chin towards Zhou Yong and said, "Dad, we're going back first." Suddenly, the twins tugged at her clothes and shook her from side to side, repeating the words in their baby voices, "Dad... Dad..." Xiaofeng chuckled and ruffled their hair, "Grandpa has to work, we can't disturb him."

Jiang Wenqing had already taken out his car keys and squatted down to look his children in the eye. "Let Daddy be the driver, okay?" The two little kids immediately jumped into his arms, cheering and hanging on his arms like koalas. "Daddy, come home."

"Dad will be the driver, escorting my queen and two little princes back to the castle."

Wenqing's fingers gently brushed the seatbelt buckle on Xiaofeng's shoulder, his movements as gentle as if he were handling something fragile. "Protect the babies." He leaned over to look at the twins in their car seats. "Tell Daddy, do you want a brother or a sister?"

"Sister!" The two little kids called out in baby voices, even the rhythm of shaking their legs was surprisingly consistent.

A smile spread across Wen Qing's eyes. As he started the engine, he deliberately turned down the volume of Richie Jen's "And Me," letting the lyrics become a gentle tide in the background. "Hello, sister! As beautiful as mom."

When he sang "Who are you pining for," his voice was so soft amid the tea aroma of the car's diffuser, as if he didn't want to disturb the morning dew: "I'm sorry, those words last time... were all nonsense burned by jealousy. I always wanted to be the perfect 'guardian,' but forgot that my identity should have been 'husband.'"

As the music played until he couldn't sleep all night, he chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Fourth Uncle said I should have abandoned my Australian project and returned home when the kids started calling Zhou Yang 'Uncle.' But it doesn't matter..." As he turned the steering wheel, sunlight suddenly filled the entire car. "My future projects will be watching the third child learn to call me 'Dad,' and making breakfast for some lazy mom every day."

Xiaofeng, who was sitting in the passenger seat, bit her lips, not wanting to cry too loudly.

After listening to Zhou Yong's story, the tense lines between Rao Haiyi's brows relaxed: "We think alike, don't we?"

Zhou Yong gently shook the teacup, his Adam's apple rolling: "I never doubted Wenqing's sincerity towards her."

"So... you're worried about the child?"

"It's Zhou Yang's own flesh and blood." Zhou Yong suddenly reached out and wiped his face, his palms stained with moisture that shouldn't be there in the air-conditioned room. "But compared to this, I'm more worried that Xiaofeng will miss out on the happiness that should have been hers."

Rao Haiyi suddenly smiled: "Sometimes, you have to be willing to let the ones you love suffer."

"You mean, just leave her like this?" Zhou Yong straightened up suddenly, and the leather seat creaked under the heavy weight.

“This is her chance to grow.”

"Isn't this just a fancy excuse... that we're powerless?"

"So, what else can we do?"

…

Late at night, Xiaofeng's phone vibrated, and the screen lit up with two messages:

"Dad loves you. No matter what happens, we will face it together."

"You are not alone. Look back and you will see your father."