Chapter 78 No one can hold her back.
Jin Zhao is on maternity leave at the start of the spring semester, and will not return to work until the start of the fall semester in September, along with the summer vacation.
Wang Nan joked that she had timed it perfectly, with winter and summer vacations combined, plus a full semester of maternity leave in between, totaling nine months of leave. And what's more, she was lucky enough to be teaching freshman classes in the next fall semester, with freshman military training starting after the National Day holiday, meaning she'd have a full ten months of leave. Wang Nan was incredibly envious, saying she'd also have to carefully plan her own pregnancy in the future.
Jin Zhao hadn't specifically calculated it, but after Wang Nan said that, he actually felt that he was unusually lucky.
Luck seems to be contagious. Meng Yanxi has always been very lucky, and his little dumpling inherited this from him. Now, it seems that she is starting to inherit this luck as well.
But the department head didn't think she was lucky.
If she hadn't gotten pregnant and given birth at this time, Jin Zhao would be studying at Cambridge now.
The department head visited her during her postpartum period. Although he respected her choice, he couldn't help but feel regretful when he mentioned that the opportunity to study at Cambridge was rare.
"At the annual meeting, I met Dean Wang, who is over 60 years old. He told me, 'It's a pity you missed such a good opportunity. If you had gotten pregnant and had children two years later, everything would have been just right. You could have balanced family and career then.'"
Jin Zhao smiled and said, "Where in this world is there such a perfect and just-right thing?"
The department head, herself a woman, understands the difficulties women face in the workplace even better. She sighed, "Yes, the world has always been exceptionally harsh on women, demanding this and that from us. If we sacrifice our families, we're accused of being selfish and lacking gentleness, and people gossip behind our backs about our unhappy families; if we give up our careers, we're accused of being love-struck and entrusting our fate to men, and we're criticized for that too. But it's precisely women who sacrifice the most. Like you, you endured the hardships of pregnancy and childbirth, and the time you were supposed to be doing as a visiting scholar was instead spent giving birth and still in your postpartum period, forcing you to temporarily halt your burgeoning career."
Jin Zhao smiled and said, "I don't think I'm sacrificing for anyone. It's just a matter of making choices in life. Like when I was little, I initially studied dance, but later gave it up to focus on my academic studies. At that time, my dance school teacher told me that I had a lot of talent for dance and that I should develop in this field. He said I might have a bright future and hoped I would seriously consider whether sacrificing dance for academic studies was really worth it, or whether I could try to have both. I told him that as long as it was my own choice, I wouldn't talk about sacrifice, even if I didn't do well on my exams. I can't enjoy the sense of security that academic studies gave me when I chose them, and then blame it for making me sacrifice dance when things didn't go well. In the end, the choice itself is to bring us what we want. Regret and complaints afterward are like crossing the river and burning the bridge. If you no longer want it, then work hard and fight for another choice for yourself."
In the workplace, it's not uncommon for women like Jin Zhao to temporarily put their careers on hold for their families, especially among teachers. Society's stereotype of female teachers is that they have many holidays and that they are naturally capable of, or even obligated to, take care of their families. Not only Jin Zhao, but many teachers have put their work on hold to have pregnancies, give birth, and care for their children. Even the department head himself, when occasionally recalling missed opportunities, can't help but say, "If only I hadn't done this or that back then, who knows what I'd be like now."
This is the first time I've heard Jin Zhao have such insightful thoughts.
She openly acknowledged the happiness her current choice brought her, yet her eyes still held ambition for her career. She simply made a choice at a particular moment, following her heart and pursuing a certain desire, but that was far from enough to define her.
Before the department head arrived, she had worried that the man would trap Jin Zhao. But at this moment, she suddenly realized that perhaps this young girl had already gone through the stage of being trapped. She had broken free of her cocoon and become a butterfly; from now on, no one could trap her.
Neither sadness nor happiness.
When the little dumpling was three months old, he had completely grown into an adorable little glutinous rice ball, plump and white, looking delicious. Meng Yanxi couldn't resist biting him several times. Of course, it was just for show. At first, the little dumpling didn't know what he was doing and would giggle along. Later, he learned to pretend to cry. As soon as Meng Yanxi bit him, he would wail at the top of his lungs, without any tears, but he would always attract his mother's attention, who would then scold his father for him.
The little boy's eyes are most like Meng Yanxi's, bright and sparkling like black grapes. When he was born, his eyes were clear and innocent, but now they're gradually developing their own thoughts. When the little guy is thinking something, his eyes are just like Meng Yanxi's, practically identical. Actually, Meng Zhuxi's eyes are quite similar to Meng Yanxi's, but the expression is quite different. The little boy is only three months old, yet his eyes look more like his father's than Meng Zhuxi's, an adult.
Meng Huai and Meng Shixu came to see Tuanzi the most, almost every other day.
The little dumpling has a knack for remembering people at such a young age and is very good at providing emotional support to her grandfather and great-grandfather, often making Meng Huai and Meng Shixu laugh heartily. The little dumpling will even unintentionally turn her head and accidentally kiss her grandfather and great-grandfather on the cheek.
The baby smelled wonderfully of milk, so soft and sweet. Just a gentle touch was enough to make the two elderly people beam with delight.
Even Jin Zhao didn't know how he coaxed the baby. At an age when the baby couldn't even speak, he managed to make three generations of the Meng family firmly believe that the baby loved them the most, and even childishly argue about it.
Like his father, he was a troublemaker from a young age.
*
On the day Jin Zhao took Xiao Tuanzi for a routine check-up, he ran into Jin Wenhui at the hospital.
Meng Yanxi went on a business trip, and Jin Zhao took the little dumpling with her, along with two nannies.
It was late spring or early summer. The weather was warm and sunny that day. Many people were sunbathing in the hospital garden, and some children were playing in short sleeves.
The driver went to drive, and she and her aunt took the little one for a stroll in the garden.
A man sat on a garden chair. The weather was so warm; everyone else was wearing summer clothes, but he was still wearing a thick jacket. He seemed out of place amidst the lively atmosphere around him, hunched over, looking down at a report in his hands.
Jin Zhao didn't notice at first, but later the man got up and almost fell over. Jin Zhao subconsciously helped him up.
"careful."
When I looked up, my eyes met Jin Wenhui's.
Jin Wenhui looked much older than the last time we met. In fact, less than a year had passed, and he was still not even sixty years old, but most of his hair had fallen out, and the rest was all white. He looked haggard and frail, as if he were on his deathbed.
Jin Zhao had no idea what had happened to him.
Jin Wenhui noticed the baby in her arms, paused, and asked incredulously yet knowingly, "You, your child?"
The little dumpling was a chatterbox, babbling away and squirming in her arms with his tiny fists clenched.
Jin Zhao did not deny it: "Yes."
Jin Wenhui stared intently at the lively and adorable baby, the child's clear, bright eyes contrasting sharply with the bloodshot veins in his own. Jin Wenhui's expression was incredibly complex, then he suddenly laughed sarcastically: "Well, very well. You've already had a child, and not a single person in your family knows."
Jin Zhao said calmly, "It's not that I intentionally hid it, it's just that you didn't ask."
Just like all these years, they've ignored it completely.
Perhaps the only difference is that, in all those years of indifference, everyone had become accustomed to thinking of her as destitute, while they remained happy. This chance encounter, however, suddenly revealed that she was doing better than they had imagined.
She even got the son that Jin Wenhui had been longing for all these years.
My biological son.
Lively, beautiful, smart, and cute.
During their brief encounter, the little dumpling babbled incessantly in Imaizumi's arms, whether urging her mother to hurry up or proudly showing off her chubby, soft body, it was hard to tell.
Naturally, Jin Wenhui and Jin Zhao didn't exchange any extra words that day. Their chance encounter quickly led to their parting ways.
Jin Wenhui was inherently very proud, and he especially couldn't accept running into the daughter he had abandoned in his most embarrassing moment. He wanted to leave even faster than Jin Zhao.
Soon after, Jin Zhao received a message from Jin Wenyi.
Jin Zhao has always been grateful to Jin Wenyi.
Back then, thanks to Jin Wenyi, she was able to pave a bright future for herself. Later in England, Jin Wenyi was always there to help her in times of need.
It was clear that Meng Yanxi looked down on Jin Wenyi for playing both sides, but Jin Zhao felt that she had already done a good job. Even so, she deserved a sincere reward from her.
Because the favor she received was real.
During the Spring Festival, it was also Jin Wenyi's birthday. Jin Zhao sent her a gift. Actually, she hesitated about whether to tell her about her pregnancy, but when the words came out, she felt awkward, especially after their last meeting.
Jin Wenyi probably didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
Jin Wenyi made a voice call. On the phone, she sounded cheerful and happy, as if she had completely forgotten all the unpleasantness of last year. She asked Jin Zhao to take pictures of the baby for her to see and asked her how her postpartum period was going.
Jin Zhao answered them one by one.
The little dumpling was being naughty, blowing bubbles at the camera, and Jin Zhao pretended to scold him with a stern face. The little kid is petty and cunning, so he started pretending to cry again.
When Meng Yanxi returned, she heard the little dumpling crying as soon as she entered the door.
If it were Meng Shixu or Meng Huai, they might have been fooled, but Meng Yanxi and his son came from the same line of work. Meng Yanxi is a master at judging people, and she mocked from afar: "Is this kid crying again? Let me see if any tears are coming out. If not, I'll beat him up."
His dad was still arguing with the little baby, but the little dumpling was very magnanimous. As soon as he heard his dad's voice, even though it was a threat to beat him, he still stopped crying loudly and waved his little hands to greet his dad.
Jin Zhao placed the little dumpling in his arms, then got up to continue his call with Jin Wenyi.
Jin Wenyi talked about Jin Wenhui's recent situation.
Jin Wenhui and Lin Yao divorced. In order to win custody of their child, Jin Wenhui gave Lin Yao a large sum of money. Over the years, Lin Yao had already drained his savings, and Jin Wenhui ended up paying the money through high-interest loans.
However, when he finally managed to win custody after much effort, he discovered that the child was not his biological child.
In the end, Lin Yao also took the child away.
Jin Wenhui lost both his money and his life, but loan sharks relentlessly pursued him.
"Lingling, I know I shouldn't ask this, but he is, after all, your father. He raised you until you were seventeen. If you have the means, could you help him just this once?"
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Author's Note: Don't panic, this plot is about the female lead's growth, echoing her childhood stories.
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