Chapter 30
They left home at six o'clock in the evening and arrived home at around ten o'clock. Halfway there, little Chengjia started rubbing his eyes, wanting to sleep. He usually went to bed around eight o'clock, and now it was just his bedtime.
Nanny Wang sat in the front row, prepared his milk with warm water, and said, "Drink the milk before going to sleep."
Luo Zhengzheng took the milk bottle and handed it to her son.
Little Chengjia nestled in his mom's arms, holding his milk bottle, and drank the milk with his eyes closed. After finishing the milk, he fell asleep.
Luo Zhengzheng held him in her arms, took away his milk bottle, and his little hands immediately and unconsciously hugged his mother's arm. He smacked his lips and dozed off again.
The weather had gotten cooler. She touched his rosy little face, then draped a small blanket over him so he could sleep peacefully.
Luo Zhengzheng had regular eating habits. Around 8 o'clock, she was starving and looked at Gu Shi: "I'm hungry."
Seeing her pitiful look, Gu Shi was about to speak when Nanny Wang said from the front, "The kitchen made matcha cake today. Considering the long journey, I brought a few pieces. Would you like a piece?"
Luo Zhengzheng: "I want to eat."
Gu Shi looked at the son in her arms: "Let me hold him?"
Luo Zhengzheng hummed in agreement: "Be gentle, so as not to wake him."
Gu Shi held little Jiajia. The homemade matcha cake they made had less sugar in it. After Luo Zhengzheng ate a piece and drank half a cup of warm water, her stomach felt much better.
She looked at Gu Shi: "Do you want some?"
Gu Shi looked at her and said, "Yes."
She blinked and asked, "How will you eat?"
Gu Shi looked at her hand, and Luo Zhengzheng looked at the son in his arms, gritted her teeth, picked up a piece of cake, and fed it to him with a fork.
Gu Shi smiled and opened his mouth to eat.
After finishing a piece of cake, he said, "It's a bit too sweet."
Luo Zhengzheng glanced at him, took out his thermos, opened it, and held it to his lips.
After serving him the cake and water, she couldn't help but say, "You really know how to enjoy yourself."
Gu Shi glanced at his son, implying that he was holding his son.
Luo Zhengzheng glanced at the driver and Nanny Wang in the front, and whispered, "I can hold my son too."
Gu Shi also asked her softly, "Do you want me to feed you?"
Luo Zhengzheng lowered her voice: "Forget it, I can't enjoy it with ease mind."
Gu Shi leaned slightly towards her and whispered in her ear, "You can totally enjoy it."
Luo Zhengzheng nudged him: "Sit properly, don't press down on our son."
Gu Shi sat up straight.
Seeing the couple whispering to each other, Nanny Wang smiled and shook her head.
Young couple, ah. Fine today, but mad tomorrow. The weather had been up and down, but right now it looked like a bright sunny day."
Luo Zhengzheng took a piece of chewing gum, ate it, and asked him, "Do you want some?"
Gu Shi shook his head: "I wouldn't dare trouble you, I'm afraid of getting disdained."
Luo Zhengzheng chuckled and nudged his arm: "Seriously?"
Gu Shi looked at her, letting her figure it out herself.
Luo Zhengzheng simply poured one out and fed it to him. He opened his mouth and ate it.
Chewing gum and leaning back in the chair, he gazed at the twinkling lights outside the window. His thoughts drifted.
Gu Shi was very perceptive. He may have already noticed the change in her mindset.
But he didn't show it. He continued to calmly and methodically arrange everything in her life. He still took good care of her, her parents and younger brother, and her career.
She thought that even without Su Zhilan's involvement, her mindset would still change after her rebirth. After all, more than ten years had passed, and her son had grown from a babbling toddler into a handsome young man taller than his mother. Even if she had feelings for Gu Shi back then, they had faded day by day and year by year.
She'd heard that in the end, the love between couples fades, and they become like family. She felt that was quite true for them now. They'd moved beyond their youth and entered the lifestyle of an old married couple. She didn't know what the future held, but she was adapting very well for now.
Of course, these were all her own assumptions, and she had no idea what Gu Shi thought.
Just as Luo Zhengzheng was dozing off, they arrived at the Luo family home.
Luo Yongsheng had already turned on the streetlights outside the courtyard, and Yuan Mei ran out and took her grandson from son-in-law's arms.
Luo Zhengzheng yawned, got out of the car, and asked as she walked into the house, "Mom, what did you make?"
Yuan Mei, holding Jiajia, said, "Your dad killed a chicken and stewed it. I also bought some beef and cooked half a pot of beef."
Seeing that his parents were only busy receiving Elder Brother-in-law and nephew, Luo Can had no choice but to open the trunk and carry things into the house with the driver and Nanny Wang.
Everyone was hungry, so they each drank a bowl of hot chicken soup. Yuan Mei and Luo Yongsheng cooked noodles that had already been rolled out, with beef as the topping, and each person ate a bowl of beef noodles.
Luo Zhengzheng patted her belly: "It's so delicious. Every time I go home and eat Mom's hand-pulled noodles, I always eat until I'm stuffed. It's past ten o'clock now and it's almost bed time. I'm sure I'll gain weight."
Yuan Mei glanced at her and said, "You young people are so afraid of gaining even a little weight. With your build, gaining ten pounds wouldn't be a problem. Gu Shi, don't you think so?"
Gu Shi glanced at Luo Zhengzheng: "Not fat at all and can eat more."
Luo Zhengzheng thought to herself, "Let me off the hook. It's easy to gain weight, but losing it is so painful."
Luo Can wasn't afraid of gaining weight. At eighteen-nineteen, he had a big appetite. He finished one bowl of beef noodles and was already getting a second one.
Gu Shi usually doesn't eat much in the evening. A bowl of chicken soup and a bowl of beef noodles were enough to satisfy him.
Yuan Mei looked at him: "Gu Shi, would you like some more?"
Gu Shi: "That's enough."
Luo Zhengzheng said from the side, "He doesn't eat much at night."
Yuan Mei stopped trying to persuade him.
After they finished eating, Luo Yongsheng looked at the large box and asked, "What's this?"
Luo Zhengzheng turned around: "Your son-in-law bought you a massage chair."
Luo Yongsheng looked at Gu Shi and asked politely, as usual, "Why are you buying this?"
Gu Shi said, "Zhengzheng said your lower back is uncomfortable. You can massage it when you have time. It should make you feel better."
Since Son-in-law had said so, he asked Luo Can to carry the massage chair into the house, install it, and plug it in. Luo Can then told him to lie down and try it out.
Luo Yongsheng found it very interesting. He lay down on it and said after a while, "This is very comfortable. This thing is good."
Luo Zhengzheng stood to the side with a smile and said, "It seems that Gu Shi's gift has really won you over."
Luo Yongsheng smiled broadly: "That's for sure."
Seeing how much he enjoyed it, Yuan Mei couldn't resist trying it herself and patted his arm: "Get up, I'll give it a try too."
Luo Yongsheng stood up, and Yuan Mei lay down. A few minutes later, she said, "This massage is really comfortable. If you are tired from work, you can lie down on it to relax your muscles and bones."
Luo Zhengzheng said, "You two relax here, we'll go upstairs to wash up."
Jiajia slept the whole way and didn't wake up. After a long evening on the road, she was exhausted and all she wanted to do was lie down and sleep.
Yuan Mei waved her hand: "Go to sleep, I'll arrange rooms for them."
Once upstairs, Gu Shi took the clothes from the suitcases and hung them in the closet.
Luo Zhengzheng took her pajamas to the bathroom. After showering, she ignored Gu Shi and went straight to bed.
Gu Shi glanced at her, unpacked his suitcase, took his toiletries, and went to the bathroom.
Luo Zhengzheng woke up groggily after a dreamless night. Not seeing Gu Shi, she yawned, changed into a dark tracksuit, and went downstairs.
Yuan Mei saw her and said, "It's already nine o'clock. Go and have breakfast. I've saved some steamed buns and soy milk for you."
Luo Zhengzheng yawned again, looking like she hadn't slept well: "Where are they?"
Yuan Mei smiled and said, "Gu Shi wants to eat stewed goose in an iron pot, so your dad led them outside to kill a goose."
Luo Zhengzheng went to the kitchen, quickly finished her soy milk, ate a steamed bun, and went outside to watch them kill the goose.
A large crowd had gathered around the hand pump well. The villagers had come to see Gu Shi after hearing that he was there. Some had even brought their own farm produce as a gift for him.
It was dark last night, so she didn't pay attention to the road conditions. Now, looking around, she saw that it was all concrete road. There were even streetlights installed. It was quite nice.
"Mom!"
As she was thinking about something, little Chengjia saw his mommy, broke free from maternal uncle's hand and ran over. His eyes were red.
Luo Zhengzheng squatted down, looked at his red and swollen eyes, and asked, "Did you cry?"
Little Chengjia sobbed as he complained to his mother, "Maternal Grandfather bad, killed the goose."
Luo Zhengzheng held his hand. With a quick sweep, she saw Gu Shi, dressed in a tracksuit and squatting on the ground helping his father-in-law kill a goose. She asked her son, "Who wants to eat the goose?"
It was your dad who wanted to eat it, how come your maternal grandfather is the bad one?
With tears welling up in his eyes, Chengjia asked his mother, "Who eat?"
Luo Zhengzheng told him, "Your dad wants to eat it."
Chengjia pouted and said, "Dad bad. Goose play with me."
He thought maternal grandfather had caught a goose to play with, but in the blink of an eye, he was going to kill it. He was so aggrieved.
Luo Zhengzheng grinned at him, "Yes, it's your dad who's bad. The big white goose is so cute, how could he eat it?"
Chengjia choked up, feeling very aggrieved: "No eat goose, Dad bad egg."
Luo Can walked over and said with a smile, "There are a few geese over there. How about Maternal Uncle takes you over to catch some geese?"
Chengjia thought he was going to kill the goose too and became panicked: "No catch, no kill the goose."
"Alright, alright, we'll just watch, we won't catch them."
Luo Can carried his nephew to the goose pen.
Luo Zhengzheng walked up to Gu Shi and asked him with amusement, "Your son is crying so hard, and you still want to kill the goose?"
Gu Shi said, "How can a boy cry so hard over a goose? That's too deliciate."
Luo Yongsheng said, "There are still several geese in the pen. We'll catch another one later."
Luo Zhengzheng teased him, "No wonder you care so much about the chickens, ducks and geese that Dad and Mom raise. So you were waiting for here."
Gu Shi: "......"
She was overthinking it.
Luo Yongsheng cleaned and chopped the goose. Then Yuan Mei began to stew the goose.
Gu Shi stayed in the kitchen, watching Mother-in-law stew goose in an iron pot while helping her.
Luo Meng knew that Luo Zhengzheng had returned, so she ran over.
Seeing Gu Shi handing plates to Eldest Aunt in the kitchen, she widened her eyes, looked at Luo Zhengzheng, and whispered, "Is he really that down-to-earth? He's here and still helping with the cooking?"
Luo Zhengzheng glanced at her. Her expression was also complicated: "He was helping my dad kill a goose earlier. He isn't helping with the cooking. More like, he is just craving an iron pot stewed goose and that is why he is so diligent."
Luo Meng thought to herself, "He's so rich, how could he lack geese to eat?" He laughed and said, "I think he gets along quite well with eldest uncle, eldest aunt, and the villagers. I had thought he would be difficult to get along with."
After all, he seemed aloof and unapproachable, yet he got along very well with eldest uncle, eldest aunt, and the villagers, which was quite unexpected.
Luo Zhengzheng didn't find Gu Shi difficult to get along with. Although he didn't talk much, he was always approachable. It was just that he looked aloof, which made people mistakenly think that he was hard to approach.
Luo Meng could tell what she was thinking from her expression, and said with disagreement, "That's only true for you guys. To outsiders, he's definitely not easy to approach. You can ask his partner companies if you don't believe me."
Luo Zhengzheng naturally wouldn't ask those pointless questions, and instead said to her, "Have goose for lunch here. Invite uncle and aunt over?"
Dad didn't invite anyone else for his birthday. He said it was enough for the family to have fun together.
Luo Meng, of course, didn't stand on ceremony. "Fine, then I won't cook lunch."