When Qi Ziyue rushed back, the little boy was sitting on the bed silently. He wasn’t crying either; the only thing in his eyes was indifference.
As if the person they had been talking about earlier wasn’t him at all.
However, when Qi Ziyue went back inside and brought out a can of eight-treasure porridge and two white steamed buns for him, the hostility in his gaze finally lessened a bit. At the very least, he didn’t immediately cover his head and go back to sleep.
Qi Ziyue sat by the bedside and wanted to pat his head, but the little boy tilted his head away and directly burrowed under the blanket.
Qi Ziyue: ?
Forget it. Slowly does it.
Qi Ziyue gently comforted him, “Mom’s going to sleep first. Remember to eat later. Mommy won’t watch you.”
After she spoke, the little figure under the blanket stopped moving.
Qi Ziyue knew he understood, so she simply returned to her room. After turning off the light, rustling noises soon came from the outer room. It seemed the little guy had finally gotten up.
Qi Ziyue secretly got up to peek for a while. When she saw the little boy eating in the dark, she finally felt relieved enough to wash her feet and go to sleep.
…
The next day, the Qi household was unexpectedly quiet.
Maybe it was because of the commotion she caused the previous night, or perhaps because her cowardly second brother had suddenly changed sides. In any case, after waking up, Qi Ziyue heard from her sister-in-law that the family had stopped forcing her to get married.
All the men in the family had gone out, and even Mother Qi was busy elsewhere.
So Qi Ziyue stayed in the courtyard with her sister-in-law washing clothes.
Sitting on a small stool, Sister-in-law Qi chatted with her about last night’s events while also talking about the Lin family.
According to her, the Lin family was truly impressive. The man who wanted to marry her, Deputy Director Lin, was only thirty-five years old. He was handsome and actually only a little over ten years older than her. He was currently one of the key cadres being groomed by the Revolutionary Committee. Several members of the Lin family also worked in the Revolutionary Committee, and there were even factory directors among them in state-owned factories. They were a genuine cadre family with quite a reputation.
The only downside was that he had been married before and had two children. But with a family background like the Lin family’s, even a second-marriage man with two kids had plenty of women eager to marry him.
Qi Ziyue casually helped wring out the laundry while asking where Haohao and Ruirui had gone.
Sister-in-law Qi sounded puzzled too. “Those two just love running around. They’ve been gone the whole day already. Oh right, this time they even went out with your An’an. Isn’t that strange?”
She still remembered how severely her husband had punished her two sons before. She never expected the boys would personally sneak out with An’an afterward.
Qi Ziyue secretly guessed that they might have gone next door.
Had that little boy met the female lead this time?
She casually replied, “Probably just went out to play?”
No sooner had she spoken than Ruirui’s voice rang out from the entrance of the courtyard house.
“Auntie! Auntie! Save me! Your An’an has gone crazy!”
Qi Ziyue: ?
She looked up and saw Ruirui running back covered in mud.
Sister-in-law Qi hurriedly asked, “What happened?”
Ruirui covered his butt with a wronged expression. “Auntie, if everyone dislikes him already, why did he kick me?”
Haohao, standing beside him, mocked him mercilessly. “Shut up. You’re already eight years old, and you got kicked into a puddle by a kid who isn’t even five. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
Ruirui glanced at his aunt and muttered, “Wasn’t I giving him face because of Auntie?”
Sister-in-law Qi still didn’t understand what had happened. At first she felt sorry for her younger son, but when she raised her head and saw that An’an’s clothes were completely soaked and covered in mud—his face and arms too—she stopped speaking.
Instead, she said to her sister-in-law, “Why is your An’an covered in mud too? Check if he’s hurt.”
After speaking, she turned to ask her sons what had happened.
The two little brats stubbornly guarded their secret and refused to say a word. They merely gave a thumbs-up toward their aunt’s direction, though the gesture earned them a smack from their mother almost immediately.
Seeing Ruirui’s little gesture, Qi Ziyue understood.
She quickly crouched down and carefully examined the muddy little boy. Suppressing her laughter, she asked softly, “An’an, what happened? Did someone bully you? Want Mommy to help you solve the problem and stand up for you?”
Qi Ning’an looked at the woman in front of him. After a pause, he suddenly spoke:
“Mom, I want to bathe.”
“Huh?”
“An’an can talk now?!”
“Oh, you want a bath? A bath is good, a bath is good! Mommy will boil water for you right away!”
The first sentence came from Sister-in-law Qi.
The latter came from Qi Ziyue herself. She was simply too excited and couldn’t hold it in, so her tone became uncontrollably emotional.
The courtyard filled with the shocked voices of the two women. Clearly, they were astonished that Qi Ning’an had suddenly spoken.
Even Qi Ningrui and Qi Ninghao stared at him in disbelief before curiously asking, “You really want a bath?”
Qi Ning’an ignored his two cousins.
But the brothers didn’t mind their little cousin’s coldness. The two exchanged a glance and immediately rushed toward the kitchen to ask their aunt for bananas as a reward.
Meanwhile, after sending the two little troublemakers away, Qi Ziyue heated water at lightning speed. She carried the little boy into the bathing room and thoroughly washed him clean inside and out—his body, his face—before dressing him in a down jacket and white sneakers from her space inventory, with a little military coat over the top.
She even carefully washed his hair several times with shampoo before bringing him back out.
The moment he was completely cleaned up, Qi Ziyue nearly couldn’t take her eyes off him.
He was simply stunningly beautiful.
She pressed her lips together, momentarily speechless. She couldn’t imagine what kind of unbelievably handsome man the child’s biological father must have been to produce such a face.
Especially after mother and son stepped back into the courtyard, everyone there stared in shock at the newly cleaned-up little boy.
Ruirui even cried out directly, “Damn, An’an, so you were actually this good-looking?!”