42
How could you say that about your brother!
The old woman showed no concern for her eldest son, only utter disbelief at her youngest son. She never imagined that Chu Qinghuai could be so ruthless, and that he was becoming increasingly difficult to control.
The midday sun was shining brightly, and golden light shimmered through his hair. The arrival of this unexpected person did not disturb Chu Qinghuai's mood. He stared at the other person with eyes that looked at him like trash and said, "Stay away from me."
Fortunately, the children didn't quite understand what the adults were saying. They blinked their eyes in confusion and followed their father wherever he went, staying by his side without crying or making a fuss, and listening intently to what he was saying.
When the old woman saw that she had not gotten her money, she spat out, "You heartless wretch, you're the one who owes us."
Chu Qinghuai was already immune to this and replied, "I have no money."
"You have three children when you don't have money?"
She hadn't seen Chu Qinghuai for several years, and he seemed to be doing quite well. If it weren't for that chance encounter at the supermarket, she wouldn't have known that she had such beautiful grandchildren. Taking them out would definitely make her proud. Suddenly, she felt like she had suffered a great loss.
"You know I have three children and you still ask me for money?"
Chu Qinghuai was not swayed by her unreasonable words at all, and said firmly that he would not give her any money. Even if he were a millionaire, he would not give her a single cent, let alone now when she needed money.
"What I owed you, I paid back a long time ago. But when are you going to pay back what you owe me? Do you really want me to repeat what happened back then?"
Chu Qinghuai spoke calmly, his eyelids lifted, his eyes dark and sinister, but his right hand gently touched Xiaohe's hair.
The old woman visibly panicked, waved her hand, took two steps back, and pointed at his nose, yelling, "Yes, your father and I were wrong, but your brother is innocent! Why are you ignoring him? Do you know how pitiful he is..."
Chu Qinghuai didn't want the children to hear her say things that were detrimental to their physical and mental development. Before turning away, she coldly said, "It wasn't me who caused his cerebral palsy, nor was it me who caused his fracture. Since you insisted on giving birth to him, you have to bear the consequences and responsibilities, instead of coming to me crying and making me the unlucky one."
"Don't come looking for me anymore. I'm not your son; I'm a disaster for your family."
"..."
On the way home, Mumu keenly realized that she seemed to have seen the old lady who had spoken to her father before, but her father didn't like her that time.
"Dad, don't you like grandma?"
Chu Qinghuai was taken aback. He hadn't expected his daughter to be so perceptive, able to see through this. He thought his daughter was very smart. "Yes."
"Why?"
Children love to ask why; every emotion needs a reason.
"Because she did something bad to me."
Did she hit you?
Chu Qinghuai mumbled, "More or less."
"She's really bad."
When Mumu gets angry, hitting someone hurts a lot. She even cries when she falls to the ground. Her father must be very sad that he was hit.
Little Orange, who has a strong sense of empathy, couldn't bear to think about it. Feeling sorry for her father, she held his hand even tighter.
If Chu Qinghuai could hear Mu Mu's thoughts right now, he would definitely be very moved.
"Dad, if someone hits you next time, you have to tell us, and I'll throw an orange at him."
Hearing the child's innocent words, Chu Qinghuai burst out laughing and said indulgently, "Okay, then you must remember to protect me."
Little did anyone know, young Mumu took this huge task seriously, secretly cheering herself on, determined to grow tall and strong to protect her parents and younger siblings.
-
When they got home, Chu Qinghuai put on cartoons for the children, telling them to stay away from the TV and that they could only watch for fifteen minutes.
Okay~
They were easy to control in this respect. The three of them strictly adhered to the agreement and rules. Fifteen minutes was fifteen minutes, usually the length of an episode. After watching, they would turn it off on their own and then gather together to play some games.
"I'm going to make lunch. Would you like rice or noodles?"
"Noodle!"
The children all loved his handmade noodles; they were chewy and fragrant, but they took a lot of time and effort, at least two hours. Chu Qinghuai pondered the process of making noodles, then, overcome by laziness, he suddenly didn't want to do it anymore. He turned and walked away, saying, "Forget it, let's eat. Making noodles is too much trouble."
Fruit and Vegetable Flower: "..."
Small bubbles were rising in the pot, and the rich broth had almost reduced. The braised pork belly, with its alternating layers of fat and lean meat, was cut into small pieces and stewed with quail eggs. The deep, dark sauce was incredibly appetizing.
The aroma of stewed meat wafted downstairs through the cracks in the window. It was lunchtime, and everyone, who were starving, found the smell almost unbearable.
At noon, Chu Qinghuai cooked a bowl of meat, steamed a dish of shrimp and egg, and boiled broccoli. He took out three plates and, according to the categories of the plates, put the vegetables and meat on them. Finally, he poured a small spoonful of braised pork broth and two spoonfuls of steamed egg on the rice, and a healthy meal was completed.
"Wash your hands and eat!" he shouted in the living room, putting the plates on the table while leading the children to wash their hands.
They don't wear coats while eating. After washing their hands, the children nimbly climb onto their high chairs. They are all very hungry, and they immediately start eating their own portions.
The braised pork belly is bouncy and melts in your mouth. It's savory, but with a sweet aftertaste. When mashed together with quail eggs and served over rice, it's sure to get kids eating an extra bowl of rice.
The shrimp are fresh and not fishy, and the steamed egg is delicate, making them perfect for cutting through the greasiness of the meat.
"We need to eat meat, but we also need to eat vegetables."
He would tell Zhong Wan this every day, and he would also tell everyone how important vegetables are.
This was mainly said to Cai Cai. Children who don't like vegetables never eat them on their own initiative. It takes at least three times to urge them to eat each meal. Chu Qinghuai once wondered if there was something wrong with how he made the food so that the child didn't like to eat. But that was obviously not the case. Once, even when he squeezed vegetable juice and put it into the dumpling filling, Cai Cai could still taste it and then ate it with a reluctant expression.
"Is it really that bad? Look, your little sister has already eaten two servings of broccoli. Eating more vegetables will help you grow taller, so you won't be the shortest in the family."
Chu Qinghuai didn't hold back in his criticism.
"It smells awful."
Her father's words failed to frighten her. Cai Cai covered her little nose and picked up the broccoli, placing it elsewhere on the dining table.
"Nonsense, how could such delicious food smell bad?"
"Cai Cai doesn't like it."
"Life is about doing things you don't like. Eat up, or you'll become stupid if you don't eat vegetables."
This isn't nonsense; scientific research really does make you dumber.
Chu Qinghuai used his chopsticks to put the broccoli from the table back into his bowl, feigning seriousness: "Eat."
Whether he's stupid or not doesn't threaten Cai Cai at all; only the promise of "I'll give you two pieces of meat after you eat the vegetables" can give him endless motivation.
For the sake of delicious meat, Cai Cai slowly stuffed the broccoli into her mouth.
He's quite interesting. He never dawdles over food he dislikes, finishing it in one bite. He'll put a broccoli in his mouth, chew it dozens of times, and then bravely swallow it. But he behaves quite differently with meat and shrimp, savoring them carefully before eating them.
Chu Qinghuai, of course, did not go back on his word. The baby who obediently ate the vegetables would receive two pieces of braised pork as a reward. "Eat up."
The children are good at providing emotional value. They praised him dozens of times during each meal he cooked. Chu Qinghuai not only didn't get impatient, but he was even more motivated to cook. Even if he was exhausted, he would do it for his family's praise.
This is simply the virtuous quality of a good husband and father.
...
After getting off work, Zhong brought home a small dessert, a blueberry cake, about the size of her palm. The store had only one left, so they let her take it home.
Because the cake was really small, she wasn't worried that the children would be too full to eat dinner, so she let them share it as soon as they came in.
"Is it delicious?"
Zhong Wan looked at them with a smile.
The three children nodded; they had absolutely no resistance to sweet things.
"I wish I could eat this every day," Xiaohe said.
"Be good, and Mommy will bring another one home tomorrow."
“I’ll definitely be good,” Mumu replied.
"Me too." I'd be willing to eat more vegetables if it meant Cai Cai could have a delicious little cake.
The cake was quickly divided up. Chu Qinghuai said that dinner would be a while later, and since they had nothing else to do, Zhong Wan thought of teaching them to recognize numbers and pinyin.
"We learned 3 correct answers a few days ago, right? Who can write them down?"
She placed the pen in the middle, giving them a chance to write. Mu Mu loved learning new things and raised her hand to write first. Zhong Wan didn't want to discourage her enthusiasm, so she said "Great job!" Even though she saw that Mu Mu's pen-holding posture was wrong, she didn't immediately point out the mistake and focused on encouragement throughout.
The child's hands were weak and limp, gripping the pen like chopsticks, as if it would fall if held for more than a few seconds. The number three he wrote was crooked and uneven, like a caterpillar.
"Would Cai Cai and Xiao He like to give it a try?"
Cai Cai rested his chin on his right hand and tried it out. It turned out to be a mess of scribbles. He thought it looked bad, so he immediately pouted and threw the pen to Xiao He, saying, "You write it."
It's strange that Xiaohe could write when she was just over two years old. She drew an earthworm on a piece of paper and said it was really fun.
Of the three, only Mu Mu wrote the answer in numerical format. Zhong Wan wasn't in a hurry to succeed. After all, every Chinese person should be able to write. They could practice slowly in the future.
"Hold the pen like this, Mom will teach you. Yes, when you write, use a little more force in your hand. Let's recall how to write the number 3."
The four of us sat around the coffee table, and all the children had the opportunity to write. Although there were many mishaps, at least they all experienced what it's like to write on paper.
Mumu exclaimed excitedly, "This is so much fun! I want to write more!"
Cai Cai and Xiao He shook their heads, "I don't want to write, writing is so boring."
Zhong Wan covered her head, as if she could see the grand scene at home when she was tutoring homework in the future, with students divided into two camps: a group of top students and a group of poor students.
"Mumu wrote very well, Cai Cai and Xiao He should also keep up the good work."
Cai Cai said again that she was bored, her face showing that she didn't want to write. Zhong Wan didn't force her, but negotiated with her, "Don't write for now, just bear with it. You know this is the number three, and there are four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten after it."
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten."
Cai Cai shook his head and recited fluently. He had long ago memorized numbers one through ten, but he just couldn't write them.
Zhong Wan looked at him in surprise: "You can recite it?"
“My dad taught me.”
She hadn't realized before that the three children had such good memories. Seizing the opportunity, she promptly recited her phone number and Chu Qinghuai's number, saying, "You must memorize these two phone numbers. I will check them every day. If you can't find your parents in the future, you can borrow a policeman's phone to call them, and your parents will come to pick you up."
"I don't want to get lost." Cai Cai took it seriously, thinking that he was really going to leave his parents. His pitiful look made Zhong Wan unable to help but coax him: "No, no, Mommy's eyes are very sharp. I will definitely not let you get lost."
"Alright, hurry up and write it down, 183..."
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