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墨書 Inktalez
On the other side, Wen Qian and her family of three were walking towards the market.
"Let's buy some supplies that we can't get at home to take back. Otherwise, it will be too heavy to carry all the way," she suggested.
"Okay," came the reply.
Throughout their journey, it was Wen Qian who spoke and offered suggestions, while Lu was nodding along behind her.
Lu Chen walked closely beside them, tightly gripping Lu Zheng's hand.
They had bought some grains from the food bureau since their stock at home was running low. Just then, they happened to run into Tian selling fish. Wen Qian went over to pick out a fish for herself and also bought a few small crucian carp.
On their way back, they were quite satisfied with their haul. They took a military commuter bus for their return trip.
As they arrived, the bus was just about to leave.
Once on board, there weren't many people, but it was still quite crowded. Wen Qian found a seat while Lu Chen stood beside her, and Lu Zheng remained standing as well.
"Don't ask why," she thought. "There simply aren't any seats left."
When Wen Qian turned around, she spotted Guo Mei and Liu Heng in the crowd. The young man seemed quite thoughtful; despite having a seat available, he chose to stand next to them instead.
The bus swayed gently as they made their way to the military base. Since the commuter bus had only one destination— the base— it didn't make any stops along the way, making for a smooth ride.
When Guo Mei got off, she greeted Wen Qian with a flushed face, clearly too shy to look up. Liu Heng, on the other hand, appeared cheerful as he waved at both Wen Qian and Lu Zheng.
He hurried after Guo Mei to see her off.
Wen Qian stood aside watching them with a smile. She nudged Lu Zheng with her elbow and said, "Look at them! Do you think they’ll end up together?"
Lu Zheng shook his head with a smile. "I don't know; maybe they will! After all, Liu Heng has quite a thick skin and knows how to put on a show—his acting skills are no less than those in the troupe."
Lu Zheng's gaze held a deeper meaning as he looked at Wen Qian.
By the time they returned home, it was time to tidy up and prepare dinner.
Once inside, Wen Qian washed her face and headed toward the kitchen where she saw Lu Zheng organizing things. "Take the fish; let's go check on Lin Si and the kids. We can leave the fish for Aunt Tian to make soup for her."
Lu Zheng set down what he was holding and followed her outside with the fish in hand.
"Chen Chen, we're going to visit Aunt Lin; do you want to come?"
Lu Chen rushed out from inside with a book in his hands. He placed it on a stool before running over to Wen Qian.
Mom is leaving.
Let's go!
The two houses are not far apart; just a few steps will get us there.
As soon as we reached the door, we heard a chaotic noise from inside.
The sound of children crying, adults packing things, and Aunt Tian scolding Wang Baotian mixed together.
"Look at what you've washed! You don't even care about your son's diapers. What can you accomplish like this?"
"The child won't stop crying, and you can't even wash the diapers. What do you need me for? This child is mine!"
"Oh dear, if you could just teach me a bit more, I’d be grateful."
"With that donkey brain of yours, even if I taught you ten times, you still wouldn't learn."
Slap! Slap!
"Auntie, we came to see Sister Lin Si and the baby."
Upon hearing the commotion, Aunt Tian stopped scolding her son and handed the child over to him before happily running to open the door.
"Oh my, it's Xiao Qian! You’re here, come in quickly!"
Wen Qian gestured for Lu Zheng to hand the fish to Aunt Tian.
Seeing it, Aunt Tian was overjoyed and gratefully took Wen Qian's hand, exclaiming, "Oh Xiao Qian! I don’t even know how to thank you; I was just worried about not being able to buy fish!"
"We live so far from the city; every time I go to buy some, either they’re sold out or it’s not the right time. I haven’t been able to buy any at all."
"When your sister-in-law was pregnant, she hardly got to eat fish; I thought there wouldn’t be anything good for her to nourish herself after giving birth!"
"Look at these crucian carp; they’re really nice! I can clean them up and share them with your sister-in-law for several days."
Aunt Tian's excitement was beyond words; she was truly thrilled.
Even her gaze towards Wang Baotian softened considerably.
"Come in quickly; it’s cold outside."
As they walked into the house, Aunt Tian closed the door behind them, and the warmth enveloped them.
Wen Qian and Lu Zheng also saw Wang Baotian, who was being noisy, along with his obedient child in his arms, whose little face was still flushed from crying.
Lu Chen walked over to look at his little brother and reached out to touch his tiny hand before looking back at Wen Qian in surprise.
"Mom, his hand is so small! Smaller than Chen Chen's!"
Wen Qian walked over for a closer look. Once she felt warm and the chill had left her body, she reached out to take the baby into her arms.
Looking at the child in her embrace reminded her of Lu Chen when he was young.
She smiled at Lu Chen and said, "You were even smaller than him when you were little—just a tiny bit! I was so scared I wouldn’t be able to keep you alive."
"When Lu Chen was born, he was as small as a kitten; his cries were soft and weak."
Her health wasn’t good, and she had little milk; Lu Chen often went hungry after being fed. Whenever she got anxious, her milk would decrease even more, leaving little Lu Chen crying all day long.
"Really? But now Chen Chen is so big!"
Wen Qian gently rubbed her son's head and said softly, "That's because Chen Chen is growing up. Your little brother will grow up too."
When they returned home, Lu Zheng began to prepare the fish. The fish he bought were not very big, and they would be able to finish it for dinner that evening. It had been a long time since Lu Zheng had cooked; it was actually Lu Chen who insisted strongly that he make dinner.
Wen Qian didn’t know many dishes; she only had a few that she could cook, and Lu Chen had already eaten them quite a bit. They decided to prepare the fish in two ways: half would be made into soup, and the other half would be stir-fried.
This time, during dinner, they specifically instructed Lu Chen not to serve himself. "Chen Chen, you can't serve yourself, okay? Mommy and Daddy will help you pick out the bones first; otherwise, if you get one stuck in your throat, it won't be good."
"Okay." The little guy nodded obediently.
While they were eating, Wen Qian felt that Lu Zheng was subtly urging them to finish quickly. It was as if he couldn’t wait to be done with dinner, but she couldn’t remember anything else they needed to do afterward! Reluctantly, she found herself speeding up her eating pace.
Lu Zheng hardly ate; he kept helping both of them pick out the fish bones. When offered some food, he just smiled and shook his head. In the end, most of the fish ended up in Wen Qian and Lu Chen's stomachs.
After dinner, Lu Zheng went to wash the dishes while Wen Qian was sent off to take a shower. As she washed, she couldn't shake off her confusion about the man's unusual behavior, yet she couldn’t pinpoint what exactly felt off.
After her shower, she returned to her room to wash her face and dry her hair. Meanwhile, Lu Zheng took the little one for his bath, moving so quickly that Lu Chen felt as if he had just weathered a storm.
He was pressed into bed by Lu Zheng and listened to a monotonous story as he struggled to drift off to sleep. While wiping her face, Wen Qian felt that she had changed significantly over this time. It was as if she had been reborn; she felt like a completely different person.
The door creaked open, and the heavy footsteps of the man grew closer.
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