Behind them, Gu Minghua was dumbfounded, holding his bicycle, strongly suspecting that his third brother had been possessed!
How could Gu Mingyan, who always loved to “strike hard,” possibly be so gentle, how could he actively admit fault! Yes, this couldn’t be his third brother!
Just then, Gu Mingyan glanced sideways at Gu Minghua, seemingly seeing through all of Gu Minghua’s thoughts at that moment.
Gu Minghua’s face instantly shifted back to a smiling, honest and simple expression, then he yanked Gu Xiaoliu, who was reluctant to get off the bicycle, off it.
Heaving a deep sigh, Gu Minghua resigned himself to moving luggage and doing chores.
Gu Mingyan hadn’t changed; he was just different with his own woman and child. That was just a man’s nature; he had been making a fuss over nothing.
Gu Mingyan also went to move luggage. Jiang Lizhu, holding her son, strolled in the Gu family’s front yard. Gu Xiaoliu followed behind Jiang Lizhu, hands clasped behind his back, swaying his head.
“That’s a hen, right? Hey! It laid an egg!” Jiang Lizhu had seen chickens before, but never one that laid an egg right in front of her.
Full of surprise, Jiang Lizhu shared this with the little baby who couldn’t understand yet, “This kind of fresh, warm farm egg must taste really good!”
“It’s delicious! Baking them is the best! My second brother gave me some,” Gu Xiaoliu said, drooling, hopping in front of Jiang Lizhu and nodding vigorously.
“Ah!” Gu Xiaoliu belatedly covered his mouth, then glanced warily towards where Xu Xianglian was, whispering to Jiang Lizhu, “My second brother told me not to tell anyone… Can you… keep it a secret?”
If their grandma found out, both his second brother and his own butt would be in for it.
“If you take me and the baby next time you go, I won’t tell,” Jiang Lizhu found Gu Xiaoliu’s various expressions quite amusing and couldn’t resist teasing him.
“Ah, alright,” Gu Xiaoliu sighed deeply, choosing between getting none at all and getting a little less, opting for a little less.
“Ah wu,” the little baby chimed in unintelligibly, tilted his head, and nuzzled against Jiang Lizhu’s chest, sucking non-stop, begging for food from her.
“What’s wrong with him?” Gu Xiaoliu looked curiously at the little baby in Jiang Lizhu’s arms, looking eager to help.
“He’s hungry,” Jiang Lizhu said, looking around. She walked into the Gu family kitchen, which connected the front and back yards, silently surveyed it for a moment, then turned back out to call, “Mingyan.”
“What’s wrong?” Gu Mingyan heard the voice and immediately came to Jiang Lizhu and their son’s side.
“The baby’s hungry,” Jiang Lizhu lowered her voice and told Gu Mingyan directly what she needed. “Find a place for me to feed him, and also boil some hot water to prepare formula.”
Jiang Lizhu’s appetite had inevitably suffered during the past few days on the road. Eating less meant her milk supply had decreased. Seeing the little baby’s behavior, she was afraid she might not have enough to feed him.
“Come with me,” Gu Mingyan put one arm around Jiang Lizhu’s shoulder and led her to Xu Xianglian and Gu Dazhu’s master bedroom. “I’ll have Xiaoliu guard the door, no one will come in. I’ll prepare the formula and be right back.”
In the countryside, women feeding their babies in a hurry often couldn’t be too particular and were frequently watched by the whole family, adults and children alike. But Jiang Lizhu clearly couldn’t get used to that, and Gu Mingyan had no intention of making her change.
“Okay,” Jiang Lizhu nodded, looked around the room again, sat down on a stool holding her son, and grabbed Gu Mingyan’s hand. “Hurry up and get it done, then come back.”
“Alright,” Gu Mingyan squeezed Jiang Lizhu’s hand in return, rubbed it, nodded firmly at her, then went out and solemnly gave Gu Xiaoliu his “orders.”
Jiang Lizhu looked down at the little baby’s pitiful, about-to-cry expression and couldn’t worry about much else. She quickly unbuttoned the top of her self-made dress and started feeding him.
The dresses and undergarments Jiang Lizhu made for herself all had convenient little design features for breastfeeding.
“Be gentle, baby, mommy will hurt,” Jiang Lizhu frowned, but still spoke to the little baby in a relatively gentle tone.
She was very glad she had been foresighted enough to prepare a few cans of formula for the little baby. These days, her milk production clearly couldn’t keep up with the little baby’s increasing appetite.
On the other side, Gu Mingyan entered the familiar yet somewhat strange kitchen of his old home, washed the pot, and boiled water to sterilize the thermos, wooden bowls, and kettle they had brought with their luggage.
Then he mixed boiling water with the existing warm water from the kitchen’s thermos, prepared the formula, and also refilled several thermoses and the kettle.
“This is a reward for you. Keep guarding the door, can you do that?” Gu Mingyan paused before the master bedroom door, tray in hand, took two pieces of hard candy from his pocket, and handed them to Gu Xiaoliu.
“Yes!” Gu Xiaoliu immediately recognized the hard candy in the green wrapper and responded loudly. He promptly peeled one and stuffed it into his mouth before moving away from the doorway for Gu Mingyan.
Gu Mingyan gave Gu Xiaoliu an approving nod before pushing the door open and entering the master bedroom.
Jiang Lizhu was sitting with her back to the door, holding their son. Her clothes were still a bit disheveled, and she was patiently coaxing the baby, who was fussing and grumbling in her arms.
“I’m back,” Gu Mingyan closed the door behind him and strode over. Not only was the son fussing, but Jiang Lizhu’s eyes were also a bit red.
“What’s wrong?” Gu Mingyan asked as he promptly took their son, skillfully put on a bib, and began spoon-feeding him. Once he was drinking milk again, the son immediately stopped fussing and feeling wronged.
Jiang Lizhu raised her hand to rub the area just below her chest, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. “He bit me just now.”
Logically, Jiang Lizhu knew she shouldn’t be angry with such a tiny baby. But after the surge of emotion and then suppressing it back down, she inexplicably felt a bit overwhelmed.
“The baby might be teething. Forget it, I’m fine,” Jiang Lizhu also felt her emotions were a bit unreasonable.
Gu Mingyan adjusted the baby’s feeding position. With his other hand, the one supporting the baby in the crook of his arm, he reached over and held Jiang Lizhu’s hand in his own.
“We can’t just forget it. The baby was naughty. I’ll make a note of it for him, and when he’s old enough to understand, I’ll have him apologize to you,” Gu Mingyan said seriously, not just to comfort Jiang Lizhu but with the genuine intention to follow through.
“Mm,” Jiang Lizhu responded softly, her long, thick eyelashes lowered. She gently squeezed the hand Gu Mingyan was holding.
Having someone nearby to comfort and share the burden really did make a difference. Jiang Lizhu’s attention soon shifted to Gu Mingyan, who exuded a unique charm while diligently taking care of their son.
Hmm, quite handsome.
Soon, the little baby, full and content from Gu Mingyan’s feeding, had no more fussiness left. As soon as Gu Mingyan picked him up, he leaned towards Jiang Lizhu. “Da.”
“Hmph, bad baby,” Jiang Lizhu tilted her head proudly, indicating she wasn’t so easy to appease.
“Da da, ah,” the little baby called out twice more. With a little silent cooperation from Gu Mingyan, he rubbed his chubby cheek against Jiang Lizhu, whose feelings he had hurt.
“So drooly,” Jiang Lizhu said, even as she gave in, turned back, and took the little baby into her arms, patting his back to burp him and lull him to sleep.
A slight smile played on Gu Mingyan’s lips. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped Jiang Lizhu’s cheek, which was smeared with their son’s drool.
“Forget what just happened. I’m a grown woman, how could I possibly hold a grudge against a little baby?” Jiang Lizhu, her mood fully recovered, didn’t really want Gu Mingyan to remember her acting petty with her own son.
Hearing this, Gu Mingyan suppressed his smile, though amusement still gleamed in his eyes. Looking suitably docile, he nodded at Jiang Lizhu. “Alright, I’ve forgotten.”
Satisfied, Jiang Lizhu, holding their son, leaned closer to Gu Mingyan, resting against his shoulder, and made another request. “Rub my lower back for me. That bicycle ride jolted my whole body. It’s really not easy for you to go to the county town.”
It took them over an hour just to ride a bicycle there. Walking would take at least two or three hours. A round trip ate up half a day.
Before rubbing her back, Gu Mingyan first reached over and neatly fastened Jiang Lizhu’s undone dress buttons. Only then did he begin to gently massage her hair, the back of her neck, her back, and her overly slender waist.
Over in the eastern room, Gu Lanlan and Xu Xianglian kept glancing towards them from Gu Mingyan’s room, silently observing Jiang Lizhu and Gu Mingyan’s movements.
They could roughly guess what the young couple had been doing, but… Gu Mingyan had been in the room for a really long time.
“That brat wouldn’t be messing around in my room… no, no,” Xu Xianglian quickly dismissed her own speculation. The third son she knew wasn’t that kind of reckless person, and her city-bred daughter-in-law, who seemed even more delicate than the educated youths, was even less likely.
Sure enough, not long after, Gu Mingyan emerged from the room with Jiang Lizhu and their son.
Jiang Lizhu sat on a wooden chair in the front yard, holding the sleeping baby. Gu Mingyan came to the eastern room to help Xu Xianglian and the others.
Entering the room and meeting three pairs of eyes filled with gossipy curiosity, Gu Mingyan was silent for a long moment before finally explaining while he worked. “The baby’s appetite has grown. I prepared some formula to supplement his feeding.”
“That’s true, the baby does look much plumper than most three-month-olds,” Xu Xianglian agreed, nodding. Having raised so many children, she’d never seen one so chubby, cute, and alert at such a young age.
Xu Xianglian immediately asked, “Is formula expensive? How much per can?” She and the old man could consider buying some for their little grandson.
“Twenty yuan a can, and you need a milk coupon to buy it.” Gu Mingyan hadn’t shown it at the time, but he had been quite surprised by the price.
Jiang Lizhu had directly chosen the most expensive brand, but in reality, even the cheapest formula wasn’t something an ordinary family could afford. Coupled with the milk coupon restriction, often you couldn’t buy it even if you had the money.
The three listeners gasped almost simultaneously and silently abandoned the idea of buying formula. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to buy it for him; they simply had neither the money nor the coupons!
“Lizhu used to be a nurse at Suzhou Hospital. She could exchange for milk coupons from her colleagues; otherwise, it would be hard to buy,” Gu Mingyan explained. Then he briefly told Xu Xianglian and the others about Jiang Lizhu’s background, which they were even more curious about.
First, he told them about Jiang Lizhu’s job, education, and age. Then he mentioned her parents and brother, omitting the fact that Jiang Yuanbai had been dismissed from his post and sent down, only saying he was a university professor but no longer teaching.
But this was enough to shock Xu Xianglian and the others. A father who was a teacher, a mother who was a doctor, a brother who was a researcher.
They didn’t quite understand what a researcher did, but instinctively felt it was very impressive.
“Third Brother, you really stepped in it, didn’t you!” Gu Lanlan was more inclined to think Jiang Lizhu must have something wrong with her eyes… no, wait, her third brother was pretty intimidating in appearance.
Every time Gu Mingyan came home on leave, it was when she was most popular in the village. Girls from their village and the neighboring ones would flock to her for information.
Gu Lanlan was very skilled at the “business of selling her brother.” She treated everyone equally and was quite willing to give her girlfriends opportunities. But no matter how many times it happened, those girls would inexplicably back off before they even got a chance to saunter past Gu Mingyan.
To this day, Gu Lanlan still hadn’t figured out why. Of course, she’d also been disciplined by Gu Mingyan for this more than once, directly resulting in months of her allowance being cut – all bitter lessons learned through tears and blood!
Gu Mingyan shot Gu Lanlan a warning look, then turned to Xu Xianglian, his expression and voice turning serious. “Mom, Lizhu and I are a military marriage, guaranteed by my old superior and approved by the army. Undermining a military marriage means facing a military court.”
“You’ve already had a son together, how the hell would I undermine…” Xu Xianglian refused to accept such a serious accusation. Her temper flared, but she suppressed it and explained herself just as seriously. “I just wanted you to get married, I had no other demands. Look at your older and younger brothers, every one of them has two or three kids at home. How could I not worry about you?”
Gu Minghua was less than two years younger than Gu Mingyan and already had a five-year-old son, Xiao Wu, and a two-year-old daughter, Xiao Qi – considered to have one of each.