Chapter 202 Domineering
Xiaoman suddenly grabbed Gu Xiao's trouser leg and pulled him outside, pointing out the window and making noises.
Gu Xiao reluctantly let go of his wife: "The sun has set, let's go outside for some fresh air."
He picked up his son and then pulled his wife up with his hands, saying, "Let's balance work and rest, and continue tonight."
Nan Zhiyi smiled and poked her son's cheek. "Let's go."
The family of three went downstairs into the courtyard.
Gu Xiao held up the newly formed bunches of grapes on the Xiaoman grape trellis, while Nan Zhiyi leaned against the swing, looking at the greenery to relieve the soreness in her eyes.
As dusk deepened, Sister Zhang's voice calling for dinner drifted from the kitchen.
Dinner was pork rib noodle soup. The hand-pulled noodles were smooth and chewy, served with sugar-coated tomatoes, garlic-flavored cucumber, and cold lotus root slices.
Nan Zhiyi pointed out the lotus vase in the center of the dining table to Gu Xiao: "I arranged it, isn't it pretty?"
Gu Xiao was feeding Xiaoman noodles when he looked up and gave her a thumbs up: "Everything Mrs. Gu does is beautiful."
Xiaoman imitated her father, raising her chubby thumb, which made Nan Zhiyi laugh out loud.
After dinner, there was still some light in the sky, and the summer night in Beijing at 7:30 pm was still warm with a gray-blue hue.
The family of three walked along the cement road toward the playground.
Xiaoman, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, walked ahead, her chubby little legs moving merrily. From behind, she looked just like a waddling little duck.
Nan Zhiyi linked arms with Gu Xiao, her gaze following her son's retreating figure: "Does our son really look like you when you were little?"
“Yes, it looks just like me.” A smile spread across Gu Xiao’s eyes. “My dad says we look exactly alike when we were kids.”
“That’s so nice,” Nan Zhiyi leaned softly on his shoulder, “I can see you as a child… It’s a pity you never saw me as a child.”
Gu Xiao pinched the tip of her nose: "Who said that? When you were one or two years old, Aunt Feng took you for a walk in the courtyard. I saw you then."
Nan Zhiyi looked up in surprise: "You were only seven or eight years old back then, right? You remember all that?"
She then remembered that Gu Xiao was six years older than her, and when he was seven or eight years old, Madam Su had just passed away.
Sure enough, Gu Xiao lowered his voice: "Yes, at that time, my mother had just passed away not long ago... and our father was busy with work. That day, I took Gu Yan to pick dates in the yard and we met Aunt Feng. She even took candy from your pocket and gave it to us."
He looked at Xiaoman's back in front of him and said, "You were a little older than Xiaoman back then. You ran like a little firecracker and were very fierce. You knocked Gu Yan down and then punched him."
"You're talking nonsense! How could I be so domineering?" Nan Zhiyi didn't believe it.
"Anyway, the few times I've met you, you were like a little tyrant. Anyone who got close to you would get punched a couple of times... You even hit Anping..."
Gu Xiao stretched out his hand and made a fist, mimicking how she did when she was little, "Look, just like this, you hit people with a bang, and Gu Yan cried so hard that snot bubbles came out of his nose."
Nan Zhiyi really punched his arm twice with her fist, "You!"
Gu Xiao pretended to be in pain and cried out, "Yes, yes, that's how you hit people!"
Nan Zhiyi hummed and turned her head away.
Seeing that she was about to get angry, Gu Xiao hugged her and whispered in her ear with a smile, "Okay, okay... Actually, you're very well-behaved. You even let me hug you. Aunt Feng said you like being hugged by good-looking people."
Nan Zhiyi wanted to laugh, but then suppressed the corners of her lips: "I don't believe it. I'll write to Aunt Feng when I get back and ask her for clarification."
"Don't you believe your brother?" Gu Xiao raised an eyebrow, moonlight falling on the corner of his smiling eyes.
Their eyes met, and they both suddenly burst into laughter.
A gentle evening breeze carries the strains of "The Waves of Honghu Lake" from someone's radio.
Xiaoman, who was in front of us, suddenly sat down on the ground and remained motionless like a deflated little ball.
Gu Xiao stepped forward, picked up his son, and let him ride on his shoulders.
The little guy immediately perked up, grabbed his father's hair with his little hands, and pointed at the moon in the sky while babbling.
The sounds of children laughing and playing could be heard from the playground in the distance, and a few teenagers were doing somersaults on the horizontal bar.
Under the streetlights, the three people's shadows stretched long on the cement road.
Nan Zhiyi and Gu Xiao accompanied Xiaoman for a walk around the playground before going home.
As night deepened, the cicadas chirped sparsely outside the window, and Xiaoman slept soundly in her small bed.
Nan Zhiyi came out of the bathroom, drying her wet hair, and saw that Gu Xiao had already taken a shower and was sitting at his desk looking through her math workbook, wearing a vest.
“Teacher Gu,” she leaned closer, water droplets from her hair falling onto the draft paper, “it’s time for class.”
Gu Xiao took the towel from her hand and carefully dried her hair. "No rush, let me dry it for you first."
After a while, he pulled over a chair for her to sit down, and the two of them squeezed side by side in the halo of light from the desk lamp.
Nan Zhiyi got stuck on a function problem, scratching her pen for a long time but still couldn't solve it.
"Where don't you feel it?"
"Why does sin2θ+cos2θ suddenly become 1..." she laughed sheepishly.
Gu Xiao snatched the pen from her hand, the nib gliding smoothly across the paper. "Look here, according to the definition sinθ=y/r, cosθ=x/r, therefore..."
She stared blankly at Gu Xiao's serious and dashing profile, completely oblivious to what he was saying.
"That's strange. You graduated so many years ago, how do you still remember these things? Am I just too stupid?"
"Do you forget the English words you've memorized?"
Gu Xiao turned his head to look at her, the light casting fine shadows under his eyelashes.
“That’s different,” Nan Zhiyi muttered, “Language is something we use frequently…”
“Everyone has different strengths.” He gently tapped her nose with his finger. “You remember all the famous literary allusions, and I remember mathematical formulas. It’s fair.”
Nan Zhiyi suddenly sighed: "What about physical chemistry? I've almost forgotten the periodic table."
"Not all of them will be on the exam." Gu Xiao chuckled when he saw her looking worried again. "Maybe they'll separate students into arts and sciences tracks then?"
"Really?" She straightened up. "But the college entrance exam has been suspended for ten years... what will the policies be like then..."
"Precisely because it has been suspended for ten years, it will not be a one-size-fits-all approach. National development needs engineering talents, but we cannot abandon literature, history, and philosophy. I estimate that candidates will be allowed to choose their own direction. If Mrs. Gu chooses the humanities, she might have an advantage over science students."
Nan Zhiyi's eyes lit up: "Then I should focus on reviewing humanities subjects? But math..."
“Math is a must-test subject, don’t worry, I’ll teach you.” He tucked a stray hair behind her ear and spoke gently. “You already have a good foundation in politics and history, and Chinese is your strongest subject.”
He twirled the ends of her half-dry hair with his fingers. "Actually, it's too early to think about these things now. Let's wait for the specific policies to come out..."
Suddenly, the bugle call for night training came from outside the window, and Xiaoman smacked her lips in her sleep.
Nan Zhiyi leaned into Gu Xiao's arms, "Thank you. It's so good to have you by my side. I don't have to be afraid of anything."
Gu Xiao pulled her onto his lap. "Come on, focus on your studies."
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