It wouldn’t be right to let just one person eat the two portions of food. But if they didn’t eat them, in this weather, they’d go bad before the next day. Su Xuezhen muttered to him, “Go buy four more of the same, and get some braised dishes and peanuts.”
Within five minutes of getting home, Cen Bai was back on his bike and off again. Lou Guilan heard the noise and came out to ask, “Why are you going out again?”
“We’re out of salt. I asked him to go buy some.”
Su Xuezhen made up a lie on the spot. She knew that if she said it in advance, Lou Guilan definitely wouldn’t agree, so she had to let Cen Bai go buy the food first. When the time came, he, as her son, would take the blame.
Cen Bai rushed to buy four portions of shredded pork fried noodles. He asked the chef to slice a pound of pig head meat and toss it with sauce, ordered a plate of fried fish and kelp salad, and grabbed a small bag of salted peanuts. After buying everything, he hurried back home.
He came back just in time. Lou Guilan was about to go into the kitchen to cook. As she turned around, she saw him carrying the food back. The aroma of the braised dishes could be smelled from far away. “Why are you so thoughtless? I said I’d cook.”
Cen Bai got a light punch from her. His skin was thick, so it didn’t hurt, and he didn’t mind. He gently persuaded her, “If you want to cook, do it in the evening. There are six people in this house. If you start now, it’ll be two or three in the afternoon before we eat. And it’s hot.”
Lou Guilan accepted the reasoning and followed behind him. “Will Xuezhen think I’m lazy?”
Lou Guilan still cared a lot about her image in front of her daughter-in-law. Ever since Cen Jianjun had been promoted to deputy factory director, their life had become much more comfortable. With a good husband and obedient children, she had become a bit lax about household chores. She had often heard people privately gossip about her being a “rich lady.”
“She won’t. Don’t worry about that.”
Cen Bai was straightforward. After speaking, he carried the food into the kitchen, transferred the dishes to plates, and carried two plates at a time into the living room. After putting them down, he called out to Cen Feng, “Xiaofeng, move the chairs, let’s eat.”
Cen Feng responded and quickly got up to help set the table. At that moment, Su Xuezhen was playing with Cen Mei. Having worked as a pediatrician for over a year, she was very familiar with child psychology and quickly bonded with her little sister-in-law. That’s when Cen Mei secretly told her that she didn’t like the pigtails her mom had done and asked her to redo her hair.
Su Xuezhen also had a love for beauty and was very good at braiding hair. Back in college, living in the dorms with no other extracurricular activities after class, she and her roommates often braided each other’s hair and experimented with hairstyles.
She had nimble hands, like performing magic tricks. Without using any complicated steps, she soon gave Cen Mei two braided pigtails.
Instead of simply splitting the hair into two sections and braiding from the bottom, she started the braids from the back of the head, giving them a naturally lifted look. The braids appeared more lively and cute.
After seeing herself in the mirror, Cen Mei was overjoyed. She couldn’t stop circling around Su Xuezhen, walking back and forth excitedly. Finally, she seriously said to Lou Guilan, “I’m not leaving anymore. I want to live with my sister-in-law.”
Such a little kid—she even needed help getting onto a dining chair—was already thinking about switching homes. Lou Guilan couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. “You little rascal, always coming up with crazy ideas.”
“Come eat.”
“No! I want to sit with sister-in-law.”
Cen Mei pouted and started fussing, trying to sit next to Su Xuezhen. Cen Bai tapped her bowl with his chopsticks. Clang—it made a loud, clear sound. “Eat.”
Cen Mei immediately quieted down, full of suppressed grievance.
The natural authority of an older brother over a much younger sister was especially strong, sometimes even more effective than parental discipline.
“Come on, eat.”
Lou Guilan smiled and called Su Xuezhen over.
The whole family quickly finished lunch and began preparing the dishes for the afternoon gathering. The kitchen was well-stocked, with ingredients both brought by Lou Guilan and freshly bought by Cen Bai from the market. After discussing it together, they decided that for eight people, ten dishes would be enough—four meat, four vegetable dishes, plus a meatball soup and a sweet soup.
Lou Guilan was good at stir-frying vegetables, but not as skilled with meat dishes, so she and Cen Jianjun divided the tasks. Cen Bai helped by stoking the fire and doing odd jobs, while Su Xuezhen helped wash vegetables in the kitchen.
Cen Mei squatted under the stove, watching Cen Bai start the fire.
As Lou Guilan cut potatoes, she asked, “Xuezhen, when are your parents coming?”
Su Xuezhen skillfully snapped off the ends of water spinach and replied while sorting the vegetables, “They have a seminar this afternoon, so they might not get here until after six.”
Cen Jianjun said softly, “That’s fine then. We’ve got time. We’ll take our time cooking so everything’s hot and fresh.”
Amid their chatting, Cen Mei, who usually napped around this time, began to feel sleepy. She yawned and slowly dozed off, eventually leaning against Cen Bai’s leg.
Cen Bai picked up his little sister, and Lou Guilan, who had been wanting to find an excuse to let Su Xuezhen rest, quickly said, “Xuezhen, you should go lie down for a while too. Once the oil starts sizzling in the kitchen, the smell gets bad—you won’t be comfortable staying around.”
Most of the vegetable washing was done anyway, and there wasn’t much left to help with, so Su Xuezhen didn’t refuse. “Okay, I’ll go lie down then.”
Lou Guilan nodded with a smile.
Cen Bai carried Cen Mei to the guest room to sleep. Su Xuezhen followed and made the bed. Seeing that Cen Mei was still asleep, she quietly closed the door with Cen Bai and said, “Help Dad and Mom out a bit more later.”
Looking at Cen Mei’s sleeping face, she too felt drowsy. She finished speaking and yawned reflexively.
“I know.”
Cen Bai saw her yawn and found it incredibly cute. He quickly said, “You go nap in the bedroom too. I’ll take care of everything with Dad and Mom.”
Su Xuezhen happened to feel sleepy as well, so she simply went to lie down in the room. She slept very soundly, and when she woke up, it was because she heard little Mei crying in the side room. She hurriedly got up to check, but before her feet even touched the ground, the crying had already stopped.
She vaguely heard Cen Bai’s voice, and not long after, the two of them went downstairs.
Su Xuezhen couldn’t fall back asleep and wasn’t sure what to do, so she pulled out a book and started taking notes. After 6:30 in the evening, Su Xianguo and Zhang Guangxiang finally arrived. When Zhang Guangxiang walked into the kitchen and saw that most of the dishes were nearly done, she exclaimed, “Oh wow, we came late but got lucky!”
Hearing the voice, Cen Bai quickly stood up and went over to greet his in-laws. Su Xianguo nodded at him and asked, “Where’s Xuezhen?”
“She’s resting in the bedroom.”
When Lou Guilan saw her in-laws had arrived, she quickly stepped away from the stove. “Not at all, you arrived right on time.”
Seeing Cen Jianjun still cooking with an apron on, Zhang Guangxiang offered some polite flattery. “You’ve worked hard making all this food.”
Now that someone had complimented him first, no matter how tiring it was, he couldn’t say otherwise. Cen Jianjun replied softly, “It’s all for the kids.”
This in-law of hers truly had a sharp and perceptive mind.
“Where’s Xuezhen? Off slacking again?”
Zhang Guangxiang glanced around and didn’t see Su Xuezhen, feeling secretly satisfied, but in front of her in-laws, she started scolding her own daughter. “That girl is spoiled rotten by me at home.”
As her biological mother, she could say whatever she wanted. Lou Guilan, however, dared not echo a single word of criticism. Instead, she defended Su Xuezhen, “Spoiled? Not at all! I was just wondering how you raised her so well — so obedient and sweet.”
“You’ve pampered her at home, and now that she’s married into our family, we won’t treat her any less.”
Masters of words sparring gracefully — every sentence hits the mark without going overboard. Zhang Guangxiang smiled and pulled Su Xianguo along. “I’m going to see what she’s up to.”
Lou Guilan watched the couple walk off and sighed inwardly at how complementary their personalities were.
Zhang Guangxiang had also brought gifts this time. Before heading to the kitchen, she left them in the living room. Now as she headed upstairs, she picked them up and carried them with her. At Su Xuezhen’s bedroom door, Su Xianguo knocked. “Xuezhen?”
Su Xuezhen answered, “Dad,” and hearing her voice, the two knew she was awake and entered the room. Having not seen her daughter in over a month, Zhang Guangxiang quickly walked over to her. “Did the baby give you trouble?”
“It’s still early, not even two months yet.”
Su Xuezhen smiled helplessly. “Everything’s been fine so far.”
Zhang Guangxiang opened the gifts and spread out a few pieces of fabric in front of her. “Take a look at the patterns. Do you like any of them? I’ll make some clothes for the baby ahead of time.”
Yellow, blue, white, and pink — all solid colors.
Su Xuezhen lowered her head to feel the material. It was soft and clearly pure cotton. White gets dirty easily, and yellow was too strong a color. After a thoughtful pause, she said gently, “The blue and pink ones.”
Su Xianguo also took out his gift — two long-eared bunny plush toys — and said with a smile, “Comfort toys. Keep them by your pillow when you sleep.”
“If they’re near you often, they’ll absorb your scent. When the baby is born, placing them beside the baby will help it feel secure and make things easier.”
Su Xuezhen was genuinely delighted and hugged the plushies. “Thank you, Dad.”
“I’ll head downstairs first. You two don’t stay up here too long — make sure to come down soon. Don’t wait until someone has to come call you.”
After chatting a bit, Zhang Guangxiang headed downstairs.
Su Xianguo noticed the book his daughter was reading and knew she had recently been selected to assist Ling Yurong. He was sincerely proud. “Ling Yurong is an authority in pediatrics. Learning under him will benefit you greatly.”
The more she studied, the more she realized how shallow her knowledge was. Su Xuezhen sighed. “I still have a long way to go.”
“You’re already one of the best among the younger generation. Don’t rush — take it step by step.”
This wasn’t something that could be learned just by reading. It required extensive surgical experience to slowly internalize the theory into practical knowledge. Right now, Su Xuezhen was still young, and the hospital wasn’t comfortable giving her major surgeries yet. She could only perform some minor operations or assist Ling Yurong. But in a couple of years, her future would be very promising.
Su Xuezhen understood this too. She raised her head again, now full of determination. “I will.”
Meanwhile, Zhang Guangxiang was back downstairs. In the kitchen, they were preparing the meatball soup. The once-crowded kitchen now only had the two couples. She was puzzled. “Where did the three kids go?”
Cen Jianjun was putting spinach leaves into the pot, and Lou Guilan was feeding the fire with more wood. She replied, “Xiao Mei wanted an ice pop, and the two boys figured we’ll be drinking beer later anyway, so they went together to buy some ice.”
“When did you find out about the pregnancy?”
Zhang Guangxiang sat down on a small stool beside Lou Guilan.
Lou Guilan shook her head, somewhat exasperated. “Don’t even mention it. They only told us a couple of days ago.”
Zhang Guangxiang sighed with some helplessness and self-deprecation. “We’re too far away to really keep tabs on them now.”
That hit a nerve for Lou Guilan. Her words poured out like a flood. “Exactly! What were they thinking? Such a big deal, and they kept it secret for more than a week. The worst part is, it only takes less than an hour by bike from their place to ours, and they didn’t even make a phone call.”
They went back and forth, sentence by sentence, until Cen Jianjun felt overwhelmed. “The soup’s done.”
“I’ll dish it up.”
After more than two hours of work, the food was finally ready. Just then, Cen Bai and Cen Feng returned. Cen Mei was in her second brother’s arms, happily licking an ice pop. It was so cold it stuck to her tongue, and she kept blowing warm air on it.
Hearing the commotion, Su Xianguo and Su Xuezhen also came downstairs. Cen Bai brought out the dishes one by one, and the whole family joyfully gathered around the dinner table. It was especially lively.
As the younger generation, Cen Bai deftly handled his role, pouring wine for both his father and father-in-law, and even adding ice.
Su Xianguo raised his glass first to toast Cen Jianjun. “Big brother, you’ve worked hard cooking today, especially in this hot weather.”
Cen Jianjun raised his glass and clinked it. “No need to be so polite — today is a happy day.”
Lou Guilan called out to everyone, “Eat and drink as you like. We’re all family here, no need to be formal.”
Su Xuezhen had gotten plenty of rest in the afternoon, so she was full of energy now. She served herself a bowl of meatball soup first.
Cen Jianjun and Su Xianguo worked in completely different industries, so they didn’t have much in common to talk about. As they drank, the conversation naturally shifted to raising children. Lou Guilan glanced at the young couple and said, “You two are both busy with work, and with twins on the way, the first couple of years are definitely going to be overwhelming. Your father and I have discussed it these past few days — we’ll definitely come over to help take care of the babies. We’ll work things out together, and you shouldn’t feel any pressure. Our shared goal is surely to raise the children safely and well.”
Zhang Guangxiang tapped the table anxiously, unsure whether she should chime in.
At first, she had assumed that since the Lou family still had two other children, they wouldn’t be so quick to volunteer to help with the babies. That way, she could step in and gain some goodwill by saying she’d be retiring next year and could come help take care of the kids. That would naturally lead to her moving in. But she wasn’t sure whether Cen Bai would even want her to move in. She was still hesitating when, barely two months in, the Cen family had already brought up helping with the childcare.
And the first two years of a child’s life were critical — whoever took care of them would be the one they got closest to.
