twenty two
Sure enough, at midnight, Xiaohe woke up hungry. Still half asleep, she sat up in bed, but the bedroom was dark and she couldn't see anything. She wanted to find her father because he would cook delicious food to fill her little tummy.
So Xiaohe climbed over Caicai, braced her hands on the soft blanket, carefully located Chu Qinghuai's position, and patted him: "Daddy."
Chu Qinghuai woke up almost instantly. He was so sleepy that he accidentally forced open his eyes. He didn't say a word, but made a "shh" gesture to Xiaohe, got out of bed, and carried her away.
He can now hold a child steadily with one hand, and the strong veins on his left arm are clearly visible.
"Have some milk to fill your stomach first, then I'll heat up your food."
After placing Xiaohe on the chair, he quickly prepared a bottle of milk powder, handed it to her, and then went into the kitchen to heat up her food.
Chu Qinghuai was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and loose pajama pants. He was leaning lazily against the stove, holding a cartoon spoon in one hand.
He was extremely tired, and kept yawning. He washed his face with cold water to wake himself up a little, and reflexively added salt and other seasonings to the pot.
Chu Qinghuai realized what he was doing in the middle of the night and laughed in exasperation. It really is true that one thing can subdue another.
The food needed to be heated up a bit more, so Chu Qinghuai simply sat opposite Xiaohe and stared at her. "Are you here to bring me bad luck? You keep asking me if I love you. If I didn't love you, I would have sent you out to starve long ago."
He thought to himself, there are probably very few fathers in the world as good as him.
Xiao He was drinking milk with a straw in her mouth, gulping it down. It was unclear whether she understood what her father was saying, but she didn't answer.
Chu Qinghuai propped his forehead with one hand, his eyelids drooping. When he wasn't smiling, his expression was sharper. Xiao He had just finished a bottle of milk, shook it and it was empty. She carefully placed it on the table and said to the sleepy Chu Qinghuai, "Daddy, go to sleep."
"Hmm? So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to sleep too." Actually, she wasn't very hungry anymore.
Chu Qinghuai pinched her little cheek, "It's okay, I'll have dinner with you."
"But you look so sleepy."
"I'm not sleepy." He stubbornly insisted, yawning several times as he said he wasn't sleepy.
Hearing the bubbling sound from the pot, Chu Qinghuai immediately got up to check and brought out the food.
He carefully stirred the rice and vegetables with a small spoon to cool them down, blowing on them as he said, "Wait a little longer, it's hot now."
"Okay~" Xiao He touched her messy hair, staring intently at Chu Qinghuai's movements, not even daring to blink. Chu Qinghuai noticed her gaze and smiled, "It'll be ready soon."
...
A dim light was on in the kitchen. The father and daughter sat facing each other. Chu Qinghuai was dozing off, while two-year-old Xiaohe was eating obediently by herself, holding her small bowl. When a grain of rice accidentally fell onto her clothes, she secretly picked it up and put it in her mouth, her little hands grabbing a tissue to try to wipe the stain away.
She knew that her mother didn't like them getting their clothes dirty.
"It's okay, it's fallen off. I'll change your clothes later."
Chu Qinghuai suddenly opened his eyes, propped his head up to look at her, and moved the bowl in front of his daughter further away to prevent her from falling.
Xiaohe exclaimed in surprise, "Dad, you're not asleep!"
"I'll stay with you. After we finish eating, we'll go to sleep together."
-
The next day, Chu Qinghuai woke up forty minutes late for the first time ever. By then, there was no time to make breakfast. Zhong Wan also woke up late and slept soundly. If Mu Mu hadn't noticed something was wrong and patted her parents on the shoulder to wake them up, the two of them might have slept forever.
When the couple opened their eyes, the three babies were sitting quietly on the floor waiting. Cai Cai was leaning against the bedside table, lost in thought, while Xiao He was sniffing and playing with toys. They were all disheveled and looked like three little homeless people.
"Baby."
Chu Qinghuai hadn't even fully opened his eyes yet when he called their names in a hoarse voice. Turning his head, he saw the three kids sitting on the ground and said, "The ground is cold, don't sit."
"Daddy, my tummy is growling," Mumu pouted.
"I'll go make breakfast." He wondered why the kids were up so early today. He picked up his phone to check and realized it was already seven o'clock. He sat up abruptly and nudged Zhong Wan next to him: "You overslept, oh no!"
"Um?"
The other person was still half asleep, their curled eyelashes fluttering at the sound, completely unaware of what Chu Qinghuai was saying. "What's wrong? I'm so sleepy."
"It's already seven o'clock, and I haven't made breakfast yet."
Chu Qinghuai hurriedly grabbed some clothes from the closet and went to the bathroom to put them on. He came out again as soon as he went in and said to Mumu, "Mumu, take your younger brother and sister to play in the living room. We'll be right out."
After the children left, he got clothes for Zhong Wan and told her to take off her clothes and change right there on the bed.
Having a child in the family is a different story. It's okay if the two of them skip a meal or eat something simple, but the children should try to eat well at every meal.
“I got up once in the middle of the night to make food for Xiaohe, and then slept until dawn. I don’t think I heard the alarm clock ring.”
This is unprecedented. He's a self-disciplined adult who can get up at the sound of an alarm clock, so how could he make such a big mistake today?
Chu Qinghuai leaned against the bathroom door frame, brushing his teeth while watching Zhong Wan change clothes, and mumbled, "I'll squeeze toothpaste for you. Hurry up and finish so you can comb their hair. I'll go get some water and see if we can make breakfast in time."
Zhong Wan hadn't had enough sleep yet, her eyes were half open, and she wasn't moving quickly. She felt very sleepy: "Don't make it. Just take them to the breakfast shop. Buy one white steamed bun for each of you. They're delicious and healthy."
She stretched out an arm, asking Chu Qinghuai to pull her up, which he did. "Are you sure? Then I really won't do it."
"It's okay to eat out once in a while."
Zhong Wan felt that she was becoming more and more suited to be a mother. Raising a child requires being meticulous when necessary, but it's also okay to be a little rough around the edges from time to time.
Everything was under her control.
When Zhong Wan was pulled up by Chu Qinghuai, she bumped into him. She sniffed and said, "You smell so good."
Chu Qinghuai chuckled and kept his distance from her: "That's enough. If you're going to try to seduce me again tonight, go brush your teeth. There are three little ones outside. Are you just going to ignore them?"
"Okay, okay, just wait two minutes."
Zhong Wan has delicate features, somewhat like a girl from the Jiangnan region. She has fair skin, big eyes, and looks like a young woman in her early twenties. She doesn't usually wear makeup, just a lipstick. She has naturally good skin, so she can save a lot of time on makeup.
Since we weren't having breakfast at home today, we actually had a lot more time. Zhong Wan carefully braided her two daughters' hair, making them look beautiful. Mu Mu wore a little rabbit hair clip, and Xiao He used a cherry rubber band. Zhong Wan treated them all equally, even pinning a big cabbage badge to Mu Mu's coat.
Chu Qinghuai poured water into the three water bottles, checked his bag for anything he had forgotten, and five minutes later the family left.
First, we went to a breakfast stall for breakfast, and then we took the three children to Lin Jiang's noodle shop.
It was the children's first time eating breakfast out, and they all looked on with curiosity, glancing around. Cai Cai pointed to the wisps of steam rising from the large steamer, which looked like a soft, stringy marshmallow, and asked, "What's that?"
Chu Qinghuai explained, "Freshly baked steamed buns, would you like some?"
He nodded vigorously.
"Sit still, I'll go buy it."
There were only four stools on the small wooden table, so Zhong Wan had to sit with Xiao He in her arms. She even bounced her up and down with a smile, saying, "Our little sister has gained a bit of weight recently. Looks like she's been eating well."
In Xiaohe's mind, being heavy meant she was growing up, so when she heard her mother's words, she was especially happy and promised, "I will eat well!"
Mumu sat opposite Zhong Wan, Cai Cai sat next to her, and in the middle was a small steamer of soup dumplings. The other three children each held a vegetable bun in their hands.
Apart from Zhong Wan drinking plum juice, everyone else at the table was having soy milk and steamed buns. Chu Qinghuai ate very quickly and, after finishing, leaned against the wall to urge them to hurry up.
Is there anything urgent that you need to do?
Zhong Wan told him to leave first, and that she would take the three children over later.
"One-third of the passion fruit transported from City X has rotted."
"Huh? How could this be? The weather hasn't been hot these past few days."
Chu Qinghuai's expression was grave. "It's still unclear, but we must have suffered a significant loss this time."
"It's okay, it's okay. Losing money is losing money. There are bound to be unexpected things in this kind of business."
Zhong Wan didn't understand his work situation very well, so she could only offer verbal comfort, but it was clear that things weren't that simple.
"I have to go see it. Are you sure you can manage alone?"
He looked at the three children.
"It's alright, you should go now and be careful."
Zhong Wan held Xiao He in her arms, gently touching her little braids with a hint of worry.
"Goodbye, Dad!" the children said in unison.
Chu Qinghuai hadn't even thought to greet them at first, so he forced a smile and said, "Bye-bye."
He disappeared from Mumu's sight.
...
The three babies were easy to take care of, and Zhong Wan didn't have to worry much even when Chu Qinghuai wasn't around. So after having breakfast with them, she prepared to go to the noodle shop.
Cai Cai skipped and hopped all the way, and Zhong Wan was worried that he would throw up his breakfast, so she said in a slightly serious tone: "Walk properly, don't jump."
"Okay, Mom."
But after a while, when Zhong Wan wasn't paying attention, he started walking in that strange way again.
The morning air is fresh, with a natural scent of sweet spring water mixed with damp earth.
The three children went their separate ways, unwilling to hold hands. Zhong Wan wished she had six pairs of eyes to stick to them so that everyone's safety could be guaranteed.
Zhong Wan was carrying her bag when the phone suddenly rang. She told the three children to stop and wait a moment while she answered the call.
"What's wrong, Xiao Jie? Is there a morning meeting today?"
Cai Cai and Xiao He, who were squatting on the ground beside her, were picking up leaves, but Mu Mu told them not to.
Zhong Wan kept her eyes glued to the three little ones and listened intently to her colleagues' conversations.
But as she listened, tension crept onto her brow, and she found herself unable to focus on anything other than what was happening on the phone.
"Did they call the police? Oh my god, does the boss know? Okay, I'm coming right away."
Zhong Wan didn't even have time to sigh. After hanging up the phone, she immediately texted Lin Jiang, saying that the children wouldn't be coming today because she had an emergency at the cake shop and didn't have time to send the little ones over.
“You go to work with Mom.”
The decisive Zhong Wan didn't give the children time to think and made the decision immediately.
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