36
"What ice cream, Chu Qinghuai? Did you give it to them?"
Zhong Wan glared at him coldly and questioned him.
Chu Qinghuai touched his nose guiltily, involuntarily blaming Cai Cai in his heart. This silly child had let it slip.
His appearance confirmed Zhong Wan's thoughts. The other party's murderous gaze could kill him. Chu Qinghuai was terrified, but at this moment he could only say, "Just a little bit, really."
Not even a little bit!
After tidying up Cai Cai's clothes, Zhong Wan put her hands on her hips and said angrily, "It's only been a few months, how can you eat ice cream!"
When she first started having children, she would let them try all sorts of snacks they had never eaten before, without any restrictions on meat or vegetables. But after a period of time when all three children had fevers, she dared not feed them anything indiscriminately anymore. She stayed up all night reading books to learn how to raise children. She believed that it was better for children to eat a light diet. She could indulge them occasionally, but eating ice cream in May was absolutely unacceptable.
"It's a bit hot today, look, everyone else is wearing short sleeves and shorts." Chu Qinghuai tried to argue, but Zhong Wan ignored him and led the children away.
Everyone remained silent on the way, except for Cai Cai, who accidentally put her finger in her mouth and was told by Zhong Wan, "Your hands are dirty, don't do that."
They realized that their mother seemed genuinely angry, even though they weren't the ones who had made a mistake.
Mumu shook Zhong Wan's arm, turned her head and glanced at her father walking at the very back, looking a little lonely. Feeling sorry for him, she said to her mother, "Mom, Dad didn't do it on purpose. It's just that Cai Cai, my sister, and I wanted to eat ice cream, and Dad didn't get any."
As she spoke, she was still savoring the cool taste.
Zhong Wan lowered her head and chuckled softly: "Did your father teach you to say that?"
"no."
Zhong Wan felt a pang of jealousy. Chu Qinghuai had managed to win over the child with just an ice cream; he really had the ability.
"Mom, don't be angry, anger makes you bitter." Anyway, when she's angry or sad, the flower petals emit a bitter smell.
Xiaohe said the same thing, even though she was too young to understand why her mother was angry.
"I'm not angry."
Zhong Wan spoke to the children in a very good-natured manner. When she turned her head, she met Chu Qinghuai's gaze. She didn't know how long he had been staring at her, but when their eyes met, Chu Qinghuai immediately smiled and mouthed, "Forgive me."
"snort."
She won't forgive so easily.
-
In the evening, to appease Zhong Wan, Chu Qinghuai specially made chicken soup and spicy chicken, as well as a dish of broccoli and carrot stir-fry. Of all the dishes, the chicken soup was the one the children wanted to eat.
The three children sat in a row, with bowls of chicken soup rice and plates of vegetables and some shredded chicken.
Perhaps the food was too bland tonight, because even Xiao He, who loves carrots, couldn't muster any interest and lingered with her spoon in her mouth, reluctant to eat.
When Zhong Wan came out to eat after taking a shower, she saw everyone waiting for her, so she said, "You can eat now, hurry up and eat."
Upon closer inspection, she saw the bright red spicy chicken in the center of the table, which was her favorite dish. She immediately realized that Chu Qinghuai was trying to cheer her up. In an instant, the anger in her heart dissipated. When she sat down, she casually tied her loose hair and deliberately said, "The babies can't eat spicy chicken, why did you still make it?"
"You can eat it, the babies have chicken soup."
Chu Qinghuai deliberately pushed the plate of spicy chicken towards Zhong Wan, his intention to curry favor was obvious.
To be fair, a man should have some special skills to rely on, so that his married life won't be miserable. For example, Chu Qinghuai completely wins over Zhong Wan's stomach; cooking a satisfying meal is enough to appease his wife.
Zhong Wan enjoyed her meal, but the three babies watched longingly, making the food in their small bowls seem even more tasteless to them.
The strong aroma of chili peppers filled the air.
Chu Qinghuai served the children the remaining chicken soup and divided the chicken meat evenly among them, saying, "Don't look, eat yours, don't even think about Mom's cooking."
But the words "want to eat" were clearly written on their faces. Xiao He had forgotten the pain and the spiciness she had suffered before, and even held up her small bowl to ask her mother if she could try a little bit, just a little bit.
"Mom, you're the best! I really want to eat this!"
"I'd better not eat it either, this is really spicy, your mouth will hurt if you eat it. How about we drink more soup instead?"
She pouted, with a rebellious streak, and the more she was forbidden to eat something, the more she wanted to eat it. So she started to fake cry, without a single tear, but her voice had a sob in it, "Mommy, do you love me?"
Zhong Wan and Chu Qinghuai exchanged glances, as if they both knew what their daughter was going to say.
"Of course I love you, who else would I love if not you?"
"I love you too, Mom, please give me a bite."
She didn't shed a single tear. Her eyes blinked, her little hands touched things, and the corners of her mouth were always turned down. Maybe she'll become a little drama queen someday.
Zhong Wan was certain that she absolutely couldn't handle spicy food. She wasn't crying now, but if she ate something spicy, she might cry from the spiciness, so she shook her head: "No, children can't eat that."
Alright then, seeing that the discussion had failed, Xiaohe climbed off the chair and went to play in the living room.
What a little drama queen!
...
After dinner, Zhong Wan doesn't let the children run and jump around. If she and Chu Qinghuai don't have work, they'll read books with the children, teach them to recognize characters and count, then give them twenty minutes to watch cartoons, and finally give them a bath and put them to bed.
After a full day of activities, the children are usually sleepy by seven or eight o'clock. After putting them to sleep, all the time is for the two of us.
Zhong Wan invited Chu Qinghuai to watch a movie with her, and the two of them drank lemonade and leaned against each other, which was quite pleasant.
Thinking about what happened on her way home from get off work, Zhong Wan couldn't help but nag, touching Chu Qinghuai's earlobe with one hand, making him ticklish, "Don't feed the babies any more random things in the future. Potato chips and chocolate are fine, but how dare you give them ice cream? That stuff is full of saccharin, it's not healthy at all."
"Okay, this time won't be a problem. I'll definitely let you know next time," he said helplessly.
“Okay, I believe you.” Zhong Wan continued to lean on his shoulder.
As the movie ended, the bright moon hung high in the sky, watching over the dreams of the people of this city.
Zhong Wan and Chu Qinghuai should also wash up and go to bed. The three children had rolled onto the makeshift bed at some point, leaving the two adults to occupy the large bed. Zhong Wan put her feet up on Chu Qinghuai's lap in the most comfortable position and fell asleep quietly.
They thought tonight would be no different from any other day, and the family of five was looking forward to welcoming the sunshine of the next day. But at around 1 a.m., the couple was woken up by a whimpering sound.
The sound wasn't loud. Chu Qinghuai was the first to wake up, followed by Zhong Wan. Perhaps it was the power of maternal love, but she realized something was wrong. Taking advantage of the moonlight filtering through the crack in the window, she picked up Xiao He and sat her in the middle of the bed, nudging Chu Qinghuai with her toes, "Turn on a small light."
The man's hair was disheveled. He turned on a bedside lamp, and his voice was hoarse, not fully awake: "What's wrong?"
"My stomach hurts."
Xiao He clutched Zhong Wan's clothes, rubbing her face against him. A few strands of her bangs were damp with sweat, and her skin was paler than usual.
Do you need to use the restroom?
"think."
Zhong Wan touched her forehead; it wasn't hot. She then carried her to the bathroom.
Chu Qinghuai took the opportunity to touch the foreheads of the other two children. Both of them were sleeping soundly, like little pigs, without any signs of discomfort.
Instantly, a sense of guilt filled his heart. Hearing the groans of discomfort coming from the bathroom, Chu Qinghuai felt terrible and went out to boil water.
If you have a stomachache and need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, it's either because you're cold or you ate something bad. It's obvious that Xiaohe must have eaten ice cream in the afternoon to cause this.
...
On the sofa in the living room, Chu Qinghuai was holding his daughter, while Zhong Wan was feeding her water spoonful by spoonful from a small bowl.
"Is your tummy feeling better now? Does it still hurt?"
Xiao He shook her head, but her complexion still hadn't regained its rosy hue.
"It's good that it doesn't hurt anymore. How about we go back to sleep after we finish our water?"
"Um."
The child was tired and sleepy, and didn't want to say a word. He leaned against his father with his eyes downcast and his soft little hands on his father's arm.
Chu Qinghuai didn't dare to move an inch. He shook his arm and easily coaxed her to sleep.
"I should have listened to you. We shouldn't be eating ice cream this time of year."
Zhong Wan didn't want to blame him. What's done is done, and saying more would only make people resentful.
"It's not your fault, it's the ice cream's fault that made our baby's tummy hurt."
She was always good at comforting people, Chu Qinghuai chuckled, then continued to worry, promising not to let the children eat any more random things.
Fortunately, Xiao He didn't have any other discomfort. After using the toilet, she slept until dawn without taking any medicine. The next day, after eating two meals of soft porridge and noodles specially made by Chu Qinghuai, she was immediately lively and energetic again.
From that day on, ice cream didn't appear in our home for almost a year.
-
Summer is approaching, and Zhong Wan and Chu Qinghuai have been very busy lately. Several times they haven't been able to pick up the children from school until it was almost dark. Their bedtime parent-child activity time has been reduced by half compared to usual, and their marital relationship has also become somewhat strained.
As work pressure increases, people's emotions will change involuntarily, and their attitudes will often worsen without them even realizing it.
In the afternoon, when Zhong Wan was teaching Cai Cai to play with a puzzle, Zhong Wan planned to complete the puzzle according to the instructions. However, Cai Cai said he wanted to do it his own way. He liked castles and kept asking his mother to build one. Zhong Wan was already tired from work and had been very patient in playing with him. However, she was made dizzy by the "castle, castle, castle" and couldn't help but raise her voice a little: "I can't do it. You do it yourself."
Cai Cai immediately fell silent.
Zhong Wan regretted it too. She rubbed her temples wearily, sat down on the sofa, picked up Cai Cai and put him next to her. She straightened the puzzle for him and said in a gentle tone, "Mom is watching you put it together."
Little Cai Cai, who has quite a temper, ignored her mother after being yelled at once. It wasn't until bedtime that her mother pitifully came over to hug her and said, "Goodnight, Cai Cai. Goodnight, Mommy."
"Okay, goodnight, baby."
"..."
Zhong Wan realized that the main reason she hadn't been paying much attention to Chu Qinghuai and the babies' emotions lately was that work had worn down her enthusiasm.
But there was nothing she could do; Ying Mo would be away from the shop for a long time. According to her colleagues, she seemed to be preparing to divorce her husband, and Zhong Wan fully supported her, so she didn't say anything despite working so much these days.
But when you get home exhausted, it's inevitable that you'll have a fight with your family.
The biggest victim among them was naturally Chu Qinghuai.
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