Chapter 77

Since ancient times, the question of "can I do it?" has always been a big taboo for men, and Li Chengxi is no exception.

Lin Tao thought of the fierce battle last night, blushed and huddled into the quilt, covering half of her face with the quilt, revealing only a pair of bright eyes, and said in a husky voice: "Then go quickly, didn't Dad bring rice noodles this time? Eat rice noodles in the morning, and we have shrimps and clams at home, you just need to cook a seafood soup base. I believe you, you can do it."

Li Chengqi raised the corner of his mouth, and seeing Lin Tao hiding in the quilt again, he chuckled and walked out, closing the door.

On the other side, Zheng Youde woke up early in the morning, and Chen Shuifen threw out the clothes that Zheng Hongxing had worn that were stained with cow feces last night and asked him to wash them.

Zheng Youde drank too much last night, and it was late at night so he didn't see clearly how dirty his clothes were. Now he looked at them and realized that they were not clothes at all. They were just cow feces!

He was so angry that he turned his head to look at Zheng Hongxing and wanted to hit him with a stick: "You little bastard, do you want to be beaten?"

Zheng Hongxing ran away: "Dad, you said you would wash it for me yesterday!"

"That's right. As the leader of the group, you don't keep your words? I wanted to beat you last night but you refused. How can you beat a child so early in the morning on the first day of the new year? Take it and wash it quickly." Chen Shuifen stuffed the clothes to Zheng Youde.

Compared to the noise over there, Lin Tao's home is much quieter.

It didn't take long to cook the rice noodles. Lin Tao got up on time and went to wash up.

Lin Changhai also woke up. He was very happy drinking last night and drank a little too much. He was still a little dizzy this morning. Lin Tao soaked a bowl of plum water for her father to drink to help him sober up.

"You must have drunk too much." Lin Tao said.

Lin Changhai smiled and said, "It's a bit more, but I'm happy."

At this time, Li Chengxi had also cooked the rice noodles. There were three big bowls of rice noodles. Except for Lin Tao's smaller bowl, Li Chengxi and Lin Changhai's bowls were both large bowls.

Yueyue was too excited last night and woke up again in the middle of the night. She is still sleeping now and everyone is walking very carefully.

The rice noodles are filled with shrimps, clams and other ingredients, and even the soup base is very fresh.

This is why Lin Tao asked Li Chengxi to cook seafood rice noodles for breakfast. Because seafood is fresh, all you need to do is boil the water and put the seafood in, then add some seasonings. Even if the seafood is made by someone with poor cooking skills, it will not taste bad.

However, while eating the seafood rice noodles, Lin Tao felt that she had underestimated Li Chengxi. His cooking skills had improved over the past year or so.

This year passed so quickly. In the blink of an eye, half of the first month of the year has passed.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, the family is busy making glutinous rice balls. The glutinous rice balls are filled with sesame fillings, and the whole family loves sesame fillings.

Take a bite of the plump white glutinous rice balls and the filling will overflow, very fragrant.

When they were eating glutinous rice balls, Yueyue was watching by the side. Her big, bright eyes were full of desire for the glutinous rice balls.

Lin Tao found it funny, but she would not feed Yueyue glutinous rice balls. Although Yueyue is almost five months old now, and other children have been fed other things for more than four months, glutinous rice balls are difficult to digest, so it is best not for children to eat them.

"Yueyue, you can't eat it now. When you can eat it later, mommy will give it to you, okay?" Lin Tao teased her.

Yueyue didn't understand, but when she saw her mother talking to her, she smiled at her mother. When the little girl smiled, her eyes narrowed into crescents, just like Lin Tao's, which was very cute.

After the Lantern Festival, Lin Changhai had to return to Xiangcheng.

The day before he left, he held Yueyue in his arms and refused to let go, saying that he couldn't bear to leave.

But when I think about the fact that I will be able to live on the island soon, I don’t feel that much anymore.

As usual, Lin Tao and Li Chengxi had Xiao Ning drive Lin Changhai to the pier to take the boat. But because she knew that her father would come to celebrate the New Year in two years, Lin Tao was not that sad.

I just told my dad to be careful on the road, finish the housework early, and come back early.

Lin Changhai boarded the boat, waved to them, and quickly disappeared from sight.

Li Chengxi glanced at Lin Tao and whispered, "You performed well this time. Your eyes didn't turn red. I'll give you a verbal reward."

Lin Tao said: "I don't cry that easily. The first few times it was because the wind was too strong and it hurt my eyes."

"The wind is not strong this time?" Li Chengxi teased.

Lin Tao snorted and ignored him, saying to Yueyue: "Yueyue, let's ignore Dad. Dad is a bad guy."

"Teacher Lin, you are ruining our daughter's education." Li Chengxi said.

Lin Tao smiled and said, "Okay, Yueyue, Daddy is not a bad guy, he is a good guy."

Li Chengxi: “…”

Seeing Li Chengxi was embarrassed, Lin Tao laughed and said, "Mom is wrong, Yueyue, Dad is a great hero. He is a warrior who protects our country."

They were chatting here, and Xiao Ning was waiting by the car. I don't know what good things he remembered, but he was grinning so hard that his teeth were bared. This kid was laughing while driving this morning, and I don't know what he was laughing at.

Li Chengxi asked, "What's the matter? You are so happy."

Lin Tao said, "Could it be that Xiaoning, your wife is pregnant?"

Lin Tao had guessed it right. Xiao Ning nodded his head with a smile on his face. He said, "Sister-in-law, you guessed it right. My wife just sent me a letter saying she is pregnant. I am going to be a father!"

"Congratulations." Lin Tao congratulated.

Xiao Ning said to Lin Tao: "Thank you, sister-in-law, thank you, captain!"

Li Chengxi glanced at Xiaoning and thought, he didn't say anything, why should I thank him. When they got home, Li Chengxi said, "Xiaoning is still too young and not very stable. You are going to be a father and make him so beautiful."

Lin Tao had just put Yueyue back to sleep on her crib. After hearing this, she turned around and looked at him, smiling, "You're still criticizing others. This is a typical case of the pot calling the kettle black. Have you forgotten when you first found out I was pregnant?"

"I haven't forgotten. I'm not as impatient as him, am I?" Li Chengxi said.

He would not be like Xiao Ning, showing his teeth and grinning foolishly outside.

"I don't know who kept asking me why the baby wasn't moving and why he needed to read to my belly every day," said Lin Tao.

Speaking of this, Li Chengxi remembered something.

Years ago, he went to the clinic and found a reliable doctor, and asked in secret whether there was anything that could be used to avoid pregnancy.

The doctor said that there were some, but too few people used them, so some of them were thrown away after they expired.

If Li Chengxi wanted it, he had to wait until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month after the Lantern Festival, and then go to the health center to get it.

Today is the 16th day of the first lunar month. Li Chengxi thought of this and said to Lin Tao, "I'm going to go out and get something. You and Yueyue wait for me at home."

As for what it was, Li Chengxi didn't say, and Lin Tao didn't ask.

Who knows what confidential document it is. Even if she asked, Li Chengxi couldn't tell her.

But when it was dark at night and Yueyue fell asleep, Lin Tao realized that what Li Chengxi had taken out during the day was not some confidential document, but something that looked like a balloon.

She watched Li Chengxi tear it apart, and then...

Then he put it on, and Li Chengxi told her that it was called a 'condom' and that using it could prevent her from getting pregnant.

Lin Tao didn't have any objections. She had just given birth to Yueyue and hadn't thought about having a second child. It was good to have this thing called a 'condom' to help her avoid pregnancy.

It was just that she was a little uncomfortable at first and always felt something was weird, until Li Chengxi used it three times in a row, she finally got used to it.

In fact, even if she is not used to it, she has to say that she is used to it. Otherwise, it would be scary to see the man trying to make her get used to it.

After being tormented hard for another whole night, Lin Tao really didn't know how to describe this man. It seemed like he had endless energy.

He is not tired, but she is.

Finally, Lin Tao begged for mercy, and Li Chengxi let her go.

It’s also thanks to Yueyue that she is a lazy little sleeper, otherwise the noise would have been so loud that she would have been woken up.

*************************************

After spring comes, the weather becomes a little warmer.

According to the date that Lin Tao told Lin Manman last year, it was about time for Lin Manman to come to the island, but today Li Chengxi received a telegram from Xiangcheng, which was sent by Lin Manman.

What was said above was that Old Mrs. Lin knew she was coming and came along too.

Li Chengxi didn't have a good impression of Mrs. Lin's family. After seeing the telegram, he could guess why she came.

But it was just a coincidence that Li Chengxi happened to be going to a meeting outside the island tomorrow.

When they returned home for dinner, Li Chengxi said to Lin Tao, "The organization will send me to attend a meeting outside the island tomorrow. You can bring Yueyue with me then."

Lin Tao drank some soup with the steamed bun, and just after swallowing the bun in her mouth, she asked, "Is this okay? Can you bring your family members to the meeting? Will this have a bad impact?"

Lin Tao has been on the island for nearly two years, and has never left the island during these two years. In fact, she still wants to go out and take a look.

I was in a hurry when I came back last time, and I didn’t have the chance to wander around the mountain city properly. It would be best if I could have the chance to go out.

Li Chengxi ate half of the steamed bread in one gulp and said, "It's okay, but I have to go to a meeting first. I can only take you out to play after I finish my work."

"It's nothing. You were going to a meeting anyway, and taking us out to play was just a side job. Work is more important." Lin Tao said.

"By the way, Manman sent us a telegram saying that she came here this time and her grandmother came with her." Li Chengxi said.

Lin Tao was stunned for a moment before she realized that the 'grandmother' Li Chengxi was talking about was Old Lady Lin.

I wondered why Mrs. Lin came with Lin Manman. After thinking about it carefully, I understood. Maybe Mrs. Lin saw that her father and Aunt Fang took a lot of things when they returned, so she became jealous.

I guess they had been following Lin Manman and Aunt Fang's every move for a long time. When they saw them buying train tickets, her uncle must have bought them tickets for the same train as well.

On the day Manman was leaving, she waited on the road early. Old Mrs. Lin couldn't find the island, but Lin Manman could find it, because she had been there before. As long as Old Mrs. Lin followed Lin Manman closely, she wouldn't get lost.

I guess Lin Manman is at her wit's end. Old Mrs. Lin is such a fierce person, and with Lin Manman's personality, she is really no match for her.

However, Lin Manman found a way to send them a telegram as a reminder.

After thinking this through, and considering that Li Chengxi proposed to take her and her daughter out to the island for fun, Lin Tao understood what Li Chengxi was planning.

Lin Tao glanced at Li Chengxi. The man was eating steamed buns with vegetables in big mouthfuls, and he was eating with relish.

What a good-looking person, even the way he eats looks good.

Li Chengxi saw Lin Tao looking at him and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

"Yes, there is something." Lin Tao said, "Intelligence and wisdom."

After saying this, Lin Tao smiled and said, "I didn't expect that, Captain Li, you use military tactics so skillfully. Are you planning to use the empty city plan?"

"What do you think?" Li Chengxi smiled.

"Of course I support it. My grandma came this time with the determination not to leave until she has ripped me off. She treated me like that before, and I just pretended that she didn't exist. I felt aggrieved when she asked me to prepare things for her like I did for Aunt Fang. But she is a very fierce person, and few people in the whole Taohua Village dare to mess with her. If she really comes, even if I don't want to pay attention to her, it will be ugly when she makes a fuss. It would be good if I could avoid the limelight during the few days she is here." Lin Tao said.

You can go out and play and avoid encountering those bad things.

Just leave Old Lady Lin alone for a few days, and when she can't hold it anymore, she will go back.

If it was in front of outsiders, she would still pretend to say a few words, but when it was Li Chengxi in front of her, she said whatever she wanted.

"Well, this time I go out and take some photos and send them to grandma and the others." Li Chengxi said.

Indeed, when the package was sent from Shanghai last time, the letter inside mentioned the photo again. It wasn't to urge Lin Tao, but to say that they were worried that they were too busy and forgot, so they just gave a little reminder.

But their desire to see Yueyue's photo was clearly evident.

When Lin Tao was eating, she also fed Yueyue some rice porridge. Yueyue is more than five months old now and can eat a little bit of other things.

The rice paste is made by Lin Tao by slowly grinding rice into powder and then brewing it. It has a strong rice aroma and Yueyue liked it very much when she ate it for the first time.

Yes, Yueyue has been drinking breast milk for five or six months since she was born. Now that she has finally changed to a different taste, she definitely likes it.

Lin Tao also ground a small jar of shrimp powder, saying it was a calcium supplement and good for children. Every time she cooked rice porridge for Yueyue, she would add some shrimp powder to it.

Yueyue was very well behaved when eating rice porridge. After taking a bite, she opened her little mouth again and waited for food.

Her big eyes were glued to the spoon all the time; she looked wherever the spoon was.

Lin Tao: "Ah, Yueyue, tomorrow mom and dad will take you out to the island to play, are you happy?"

Yueyue didn’t understand, but she knew she still wanted to eat delicious food.

Taking a child on a trip is actually quite troublesome. There are many things that need to be prepared, especially if you have to stay outside the island for a few days, then there are even more things to prepare.

The adults alone had to bring a few sets of close-fitting clothes, and Lin Tao packed a whole bag of Yueyue's things, just to be prepared.

In the evening, Lin Tao also went to Xu Yuting's house.

It's spring again, and the gardenias in Xu Yuting's yard are in bloom. Before Lin Tao even walked into the yard, she could smell the refreshing fragrance of gardenias.

When Lin Tao arrived, little Qingming had just finished taking a bath. He was taken out of the basin naked, still crying.

Lin Tao asked: "Why is Xiao Qingming crying?"

Xu Yuting sighed and said helplessly: "This child refuses to wash his hair every time he takes a bath. He cries when he does. He hasn't washed his hair for several days. If he doesn't wash it, it will stink. I forced him to wash his hair with his father today, and he started crying like this."

Yueyue is good in this regard. I don’t know if it’s because she is still young or something else, but Yueyue never cries except when she pees, poops, or is hungry.

When I was washing her hair and giving her a bath, she was very happy and kept laughing.

However, each child has a different personality. Yueyue is more extroverted, while Xiao Qingming is more introverted.

Lin Tao went to comfort Xiao Qingming for a while. Xiao Qingming was only a month away from turning one year old. Now he could understand a lot of words and could even say "Mom" in a not very clear voice.

When little Qingming just learned to call "Mom", Xu Yuting was so happy that she hugged little Qingming and kissed him several times on the spot and almost cried.

As parents themselves, Lin Tao could understand Xu Yuting's feelings. Xiao Qingming and Yueyue were both their first children and were very special.

Lin Tao thought that if Yueyue could call her "Mom" someday, she would be very touched. Watching the child being born and growing up day by day, her heart seemed to be filled with something.

"I almost forgot about coming to see you this time." Lin Tao coaxed little Qingming and went to talk to Xu Yuting, "Didn't you take Qingming to take pictures last time? We are also planning to go out of the island tomorrow to take some pictures of Yueyue. I wanted to ask you where you took the pictures."

Last time, Xu Yuting showed the photos she took to Lin Tao. Lin Tao thought they were very beautiful and wanted to go to that photo studio too.

"You guys are going out to the island to take pictures tomorrow? That's great, Yueyue has grown up a lot, so she can go." Xu Yuting said, "It's the photo studio next to the No. 1 Middle School in the city. The boss said that our Qingming is pretty, and asked me if I could print an extra photo to hang at the door of the store. I agreed, and he gave us a discount. Yueyue is pretty, so it should be okay."

"We'll see when the time comes." Lin Tao smiled.

It was getting late, so Lin Tao chatted with Xu Yuting for a while, helped her correct the stitches she had knitted incorrectly, and then went home.

When she got home, Yueyue was having so much fun playing with Li Chengxi that they didn't even notice she was back.

Lin Tao walked over and hugged Yueyue, gently touched Yueyue's cute round nose, and said in a sour tone: "I really don't know whether the first word you will learn in the future will be 'Dad' or 'Mom'."

"It must be 'Mom'. You worked so hard to give birth to Yueyue, and you always come first." Li Chengxi said.

They have to go out tomorrow, so the three of them went to bed early today.

Li Chengxi woke up early the next morning. He did not go to the army canteen to get breakfast. Instead, he steamed the buns that Lin Tao had made last night and ate them in the morning.

After breakfast, Xiao Ning came to pick them up and take them to the pier.

After Li Chengxi explained some matters to Xiao Ning, he took Lin Tao and Yueyue on board.