Chapter 2, Chapter 2: Dad Turns into the Big Bad Wolf
Si Yuming was both amused and exasperated when he saw his daughter's pet.
Lin Ke washed her hands and came over, asking first, "Have you eaten?"
"not yet."
She then squatted down and spoke to her daughter, "Xiao Tie, how about you walk Xiao Huang and Xiao Qing by yourself? Let Daddy eat first."
"Okay, Dad will eat first, then spend time with Xiaotie."
The woman went back to the kitchen, her voice gentle: "Aunt Chen has gone back. I'll heat up the food for you."
Si Yuming stared at her back for a while, then looked away and glanced around.
The house isn't big; it has a master bedroom, a children's room, a room for the housekeeper to rest, and a study. It's much smaller than the previous villa.
They had indeed moved in recently; there were still some unorganized boxes in the living room, which must have been Si Xiaotie's toys.
The sofa was covered with my daughter's favorite dinosaur plush toys, and there was a bunch of fresh-cut flowers on the coffee table, filling the air with a faint floral fragrance.
The small space is cramped but clean.
He followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the door. "Why don't you move to a better place?"
“It’s nice here. There’s a kindergarten across the street, and the house is nice too. Xiao Tie liked it as soon as he came in.” Lin Ke started the fire and looked back at him. “Although it’s not as spacious as before, it’s enough for Xiao Tie and me. I’ve moved some of your things over. You can sleep here if you want.”
Si Yuming's brow furrowed slightly, and his gaze darkened.
The vegetables in the pot sizzled and released oil, so Lin Ke quickly turned around and stirred them.
Looking back again, the person had already walked into the bedroom, while in the living room, the little girl was leading two crabs around, their legs unable to keep up with her short legs.
The man who entered the master bedroom pushed open the door, his brows furrowing slightly once again.
The small room, only a dozen square meters in size, contained just a bed, a dressing table, and a row of gray wardrobes, leaving no extra room to move around.
Strange yet familiar, the dressing table was still crammed with her various cosmetics, and the bed sheets and duvet covers were still her favorite light blue, adorned with lace patterns, simple and elegant.
A small rotating globe nightlight, which she had brought with her, sat on the bedside table, its warm yellow light gently illuminating a corner.
The room was filled with some kind of incense, it seemed to be mugwort, but it wasn't strong, and it smelled very pleasant.
Si Yuming opened the wardrobe and took out her own loungewear from among her several nightgowns to change into.
The bathroom also seemed to have been moved from the original home, with toiletries, towels, and skincare products all placed in the same location, and even the toothbrushes were facing inwards as before.
He touched his toothbrush, a slight smile playing on his lips, and then threw the washcloth she hadn't had time to throw away that morning into the trash can.
After changing her clothes, she put the suit she had worn into the laundry basket, covering the beige suit she was wearing today.
Si Xiaotie led the crab in and called out, "Dad, Mom says the vegetables are getting cold, hurry up!"
"They're here."
Lin Ke is a very good cook; most of the dishes tonight were probably made by her. The stir-fried prawns had sugar in them, which is to Si Xiaotie's taste.
The little girl who was catching crabs was caught and taken to take a bath. At first, she was unwilling and tried to negotiate with her mother. But once she was in the bathtub, she was like a different person and didn't want to get out.
The mother and daughter's conversation could be heard intermittently.
—Mom, do I have to go to school tomorrow?
—Of course you should go! Does Xiao Tie like going to school?
—I don't like it. The kids are noisy. I don't like naughty kids. Yuanyuan and Gu Yiyi are quiet, so I play with them.
—Is Yuanyuan a boy or a girl, and Gu Yiyi?
Yuanyuan is a girl, and Gu Yiyi is a boy.
—Mom, can you be the first one to pick me up tomorrow?
After a while, I heard the woman's gentle apologetic voice: "Mom has work tomorrow, Grandma Chen will pick up the baby."
——Okay.
People eating outside put down their chopsticks, picked up their phones to check tomorrow's work schedule, and said they had an online meeting with someone in Moscow at 3 pm, which probably wouldn't end until 4:30 pm.
About ten minutes later, the girl, who had just finished showering, came out wearing her dinosaur pajamas. Her soft, fluffy hair flew around with her movements. She first went to the box to say goodnight to the crab, then came to the table, looked up, and spoke in a soft, watery voice, "Daddy, Mommy said you'd coax me tonight."
Si Yuming glanced at the woman who was carrying clothes and deliberately avoiding his gaze as she went to the balcony, then smiled and said, "Okay, Daddy will coax you."
Putting Si Xiaotie to sleep is not an easy task. Rather than telling her stories to lull her to sleep, it's more like making up stories with her. She's never satisfied with the development of the stories and wants to create her own. In addition, with her inexhaustible energy since she was a child, it can take anywhere from one to two or three hours to put her to sleep.
The father and daughter went into the room, and Lin Ke silently breathed a sigh of relief on the balcony.
She set the washing machine to the desired mode and went back to her room to take a shower.
The man's clothes were scattered in the bathroom, and Lin Ke picked them up and tidied them up.
The three family members usually wash their clothes separately. Si Xiaotie has her own washing machine, and it doesn't matter to her, but her suits, trousers, and shirts can't be washed in the washing machine, so Aunt Chen will send them to the dry cleaners the next day.
Something seemed different today. She paused, then brought the suit close to her nose and smelled it.
A faint rose scent.
Si Yuming never uses perfume, and she never uses rose scent.
Lin Ke frowned, and after a few seconds calmly tidied up the clothes and put them into another dirty laundry basket.
After taking a shower, he worked for about an hour before the bedroom door was finally opened. The man's exhaustion was undisguised.
Si Yuming went to the bathroom, complaining helplessly, "Is Xiao Tie really our daughter? She doesn't seem like you at all."
Si Xiaotie, her great-grandfather gave her the formal name Si Lezhen, and her nickname was originally Zhenzhen. A few months after she was born, it was discovered that this little girl was very stubborn. She dared to grab and touch anything. When she could crawl, she crawled into the yard by herself, causing the whole family to search anxiously for an hour. They even called 110 (the police). In the end, they found her sleeping soundly in the flower bed.
From then on, Zhenzhen was called Xiaotie. Whenever her family called her Xiaotie, she would show her two baby teeth and laugh heartily, looking incredibly happy.
Now that she's three and a half, Si Xiaotie's mischievous power has fully erupted. If you're not careful, you never know what she might do. Her energy is also beyond that of an ordinary girl. She's like a little spinning top, spinning and running all day long, and she won't sleep until she's completely exhausted.
After the bathroom door closed, Lin Ke pouted and muttered, "I don't know if she's your daughter or not, but she's definitely my daughter."
Moreover, she looks exactly the same as her mother when she was little. Her grandmother said that Xiao Tie is exactly the same as her when she was little, and she is often so naughty that she gives her mother a headache.
She doesn't remember clearly what happened when she was two or three years old, but Si Yuming, who was already five or six at the time, also seemed to have long forgotten Lin Ke when she was a child.
As soon as the sound of water stopped, she closed her laptop and put it away, then turned off the main light and snuggled into bed to go to sleep.
The bathroom door opened and closed, and the last nightlight went out. The man, still damp from his shower, threw back the covers and got into bed.
He hugged her from behind, kissing her neck and behind her ears, his breathing becoming heavier.
They've been married for several years, with a three-and-a-half-year-old child. They've done everything they should and shouldn't have done. Although there's no affection between them, physical desire is enough for them to complete the act.
Tonight, however, she seemed reluctant, shifting her stance slightly and softening her voice, "Tired..."
The man stopped what he was doing and just held her quietly, but the hand on her waist was not so well-behaved.
Lin Ke opened her eyes, pursed her lips, and asked, "How many days are you staying this time?"
"The branch office is basically ready, so I don't need to stay there anymore."
"ah?"
Si Yuming laughed: "What kind of tone is that? Are you unhappy?"
Lin Ke remained silent for a long time before finally asking softly, "Where will you stay when you come back?"
Upon hearing this, Si Yuming gradually felt genuinely annoyed. "My wife and children are here, where can I go?"
"...Go back to live on Qingyun Road." The woman's voice was soft, barely audible.
"Um?"
His voice was low, as if tinged with anger.
Lin Ke dared not respond.
The villa on Qingyun Road was too big, and it was empty both day and night. Si Xiaotie was not afraid of anything, but she often couldn't sleep at night and would go to squeeze in with her daughter.
Taking advantage of Si Xiaotie starting kindergarten, she found an opportunity to move out. Although the house here is small, it finally feels like a place where she can live. She has felt at ease every day for the past week since moving in.
She really didn't consider him, and when she moved, she didn't even think about leaving him any space. Anyway, he only came back to see his daughter each time and then left, and it seemed unlikely that this noble man would stay with them for an extended period of time.
The Si family has enjoyed generations of prosperity, and Si Yuming has always lived a life of luxury since childhood. His clothing, food, housing, and transportation have all been top-notch. The value of just one of his shirts is equivalent to the annual income of an average family. For him, wealth and luxury are not something to pursue, but rather something as natural as breathing.
Therefore, even the extremely reluctant compromise of "Where can I go?" was enough to surprise her.
and......
"Si Yuming..."
The person behind him interrupted coldly, their tone displeased, "Xiao Tie didn't tell me he was starting school, and he didn't tell me he was moving. Are you particularly unhappy that I'm back?"
"No." He's still angry? Lin Ke thought of the rose scent and those messy rumors, and felt uncomfortable too. She pulled his hand away and moved forward, snorting as she retorted, "What's the use of telling you? Can you come back earlier or help us move? Aren't you doing just fine on your own out there? Or are you coming back to stop us from moving?"
The accusation was soft yet forceful, and then the man suddenly fell silent.
Lin Ke couldn't fall asleep any longer. She got out of bed, forcefully pulled her pillow out from under his head, and looked directly into his dim eyes through the darkness. "I'm going to sleep with our daughter." Then she warned coldly, "Don't talk to me at work tomorrow. I don't want anyone to know about our relationship."
Then, barefoot, she went around to his side, groped her way to find slippers in the dark, put them on, and stormed off, slamming the door shut.
Si Yuming was having a real headache.
He took back what he had said earlier. How was she any different from Si Xiaotie?
On the other side, the woman slipped into the little girl's soft, fragrant blanket and hugged her equally soft little body.
Si Xiaotie mumbled sleepily, "Mom..."
Lin Ke gave the little chubby face a big kiss, "Daddy has turned into a big bad wolf, Mommy will sleep with you now."
"Hmm...sleep with the baby..."
......
The next morning, the early autumn sun slanted into the balcony, and the girl's two green dinosaur socks swayed in the sunlight on the clothes rack.
"Dad! Have you turned into a big bad wolf?!"
The man, having finished washing up in his room, was greeted with the first unintelligible greeting of the morning.
He guessed what was going on, glanced at the slender back of the woman frying eggs, and chuckled softly: "Well, Xiao Tie, be careful. Be good at school today."
"I'm not afraid at all!" Si Xiaotie held up the child's chopsticks on his head and made a gesture, then chuckled, "I'm a giant horned dragon, and I'm going to eat the big bad wolf and protect Mommy!"
Si Yuming smiled and touched her face, cooperating with her, "Okay, protect Mom."
Lin Ke fried the last egg, poured a glass of warm milk, and brought them to the dining table.
She is busy with work, but in the past two years she has personally handled everything related to Si Xiaotie, such as cooking, putting him to sleep, and playing with him. These are not a source of pressure for her, but rather a way to relax.
She likes to get up in the morning to make a simple breakfast. Seeing her daughter eat with energy is her source of motivation for the day. Hugging her when she gets home from get off work is also something she looks forward to for the day.
Before, I would wait for Aunt Chen to come before going to work, but now it's different. She goes to school and I go to work, and the mother and daughter can go out together.
"Eat quickly, Mom will take you to kindergarten later."
"Where's Dad?"
Lin Ke didn't reply. She put down the milk and fried egg, turned around, and went back into the kitchen. Si Yuming looked at the perfectly shaped dinosaur fried egg in front of him, smiled helplessly, and replied to his daughter, "Daddy will take the baby there."
"Yay!"
At eight o'clock, the family of three parted ways at the door.
The little girl, sitting in her father's lap, leaned over and kissed her mother, sweetly saying, "Bye-bye, Mommy."
"Bye-bye baby."
After waiting for two seconds, Si Xiaotie looked around, his face dark with dissatisfaction: "Doesn't Daddy love Mommy?"
Si Yuming then bent down and kissed the woman's cheek, saying, "Goodbye, wife."
"Bye-bye." The tone was relatively cold and devoid of any emotion.
A note from the author:
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Here it is, everyday style~
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