Li Huaiqing was a little moved, but Li Huairou didn’t really want to go.
“Jie, you should travel with Uncle and Auntie. I won’t go,” Li Huairou said.
“Then I won’t go too!” Li Huaiqing said after thinking about it. Full of regret, she looked at Papa Gao and Mama Gao.
Papa and Mama Gao were also a little disappointed.
“No. Jie, don’t be like this. Uncle and Auntie have worked hard for most of their lives, and it isn’t easy for them to think this way. Don’t disappoint them—you go play, and don’t worry about me. There’s always Auntie Zhang, so I’ll be ok! “Li Huairou assured.
“But if the three of you go, I won’t be at ease. It’s better to call Minglang-ge to see if he has time to go with you!” Li Huairou said after thinking about it; before Li Huaiqing was able to refuse, she dialed Zhou Minglang’s phone.
Of course Zhou Minglang was willing, and the two of them happily settled on a time.
“Huairou! Don’t do this next time—he might have work!” Li Huaiqing helplessly exclaimed.
“Don’t worry, Minglang-ge already knows. He didn’t refuse, which means that the time has been set. If you three old geezers go out, how could I rest easy? Isn’t it fine as long as I don’t do it next time? I promise I won’t!” Li Huairou replied.
Li Huaiqing shook her head helplessly, really unable to do anything about her younger sister.
Papa and Mama Gao watched from the side with grins on their faces.
Li Huaiqing suddenly thought of something. “Uncle, have you talked to Gao Lang about the withdrawal and transfer of the stocks yet?”
“My calls can’t get through. I told him through WeChat,” Papa Gao flatly answered.
“Has he not contacted you recently?” Li Huaiqing frowned. Why was Gao Lang doing this? He was complacent enough to leave his two old parents behind and not come back for more than a year?
Mama Gao shook her head. “Forget it, let’s not talk about him. I’ll regard it as if I had never given birth to that son.”
Finally, Papa Gao, Mama Gao, Li Huaiqing, and Zhou Minglang finalized their travel itinerary and took a plane to go traveling abroad.
Li Huairou watched the plane take off. When she was about to go home, she happened to see two familiar people.
Li Huairou dully laughed. “What a coincidence! If you’d come out half an hour earlier, you would have seen Uncle and Auntie. By now, their plane’s already taken off, and it’ll take more than ten hours before they land.”
Gao Lang half-hugged Bai Duoduo and looked at Li Huairou warily. “What do you mean by that?” he said.
“It’s nothing, I just want to congratulate you. You finally came back after leaving your parents for over a year. I really should set off some firecrackers to celebrate. Ah, I forgot, it’s now forbidden to set off fireworks! What a pity!” Li Huairou said with a smile.
Gao Lang glared at her and replied, “Don’t say weird things. You’re not qualified to judge what I do! Duoduo, let’s go home.”
After so many things, Bai Duoduo was much calmer. She tugged on Gao Lang’s sleeve. “Now, what did you promise me? Did you forget?”
Gao Lang suddenly became calm. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
Li Huairou sneered slightly. It seemed that in more than a year of disappearance, Bai Duoduo had completely subdued Gao Lang.
“Huairou, if you don’t mind, let’s go sit in a cafe. In fact, A-Lang has been struggling for more than a year,” Bai Duoduo gently said.
“Okay.” Li Huairou didn’t want to know what their difficulties were. She just wanted to watch the show. “Auntie Zhang, push me to the cafe over there.”
After sitting down at the cafe, Bai Duoduo explained, “Actually, the reason why A-Lang didn’t come back for more than a year and never contacted his family was all because of me. I had emotional problems at the time, and A-Lang was taking me to get treatment and mental health counseling abroad. As for the lack of contact with home, it was because our residence was robbed, and our cellphones were stolen. As you know, we’re all dependent on cellphones, and all our socials and contact methods were on them. I didn’t remember the number at all, so I didn’t contact my family. I planned to come back right away, but I was pregnant—the doctor said that it was best not to fly in the early stages of pregnancy, so we could only wait for four months into the pregnancy, until the baby looked stable. And now, I’ve come back. Who knew that, by such a coincidence, I would meet you as soon as I came back.”
Bai Duoduo gently lowered her head and stroked her slight belly bump.
Your belly is so big at four months pregnant? Li Huairou muttered in her heart.
“You don’t need to tell this to me. It’s better to talk to Uncle and Auntie directly when the time comes,” Li Huairou replied.
“By the way, you just said that mom and dad just left by plane. Where did they go? Aren’t they busy with company affairs?” Bai Duoduo asked after having some of her drink.
“Ah, I forgot. You lost your cellphone; it’s normal if you haven’t received any news. As you know, Uncle has been in poor health. Gao Lang left without saying a word, and my sister was afraid of your misunderstanding her. She didn’t dare to return to the company to help, so Uncle had to hand over the company’s affairs to a few vice presidents. But because of the economic downturn this year and the company’s major decision-making mistakes, the losses were serious. Uncle couldn’t contact you, so he had to withdraw and transfer his shares, “Li Huairou softly explained.
Gao Lang’s face changed drastically. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean, Uncle has already transferred the company to other. But don’t worry, Uncle and Auntie’s savings over the years are enough for them to live on. Besides, there’s always me and my sister. Uncle and Auntie won’t drag you down, so don’t worry!” Li Huairou answered with a smile. “Before you came back, Uncle and Auntie, as well as my sister and my future brother-in-law, boarded a plane to Europe. They’ve worked so hard for half their lives, and it’s not so easy to have time to go out and relax. You’ll be happy for them, right?”
Gao Lang’s face was pale as Bai Duoduo smiled reluctantly and said, “Yes! Happy.”
But the couple was not in a good mood after getting in the taxi.
They hadn’t planned on coming back so soon. Their original plan was for Bai Duoduo to give birth abroad so that the children could have US citizenship. But during their stay in the United States, they had no income, and so they spent all their savings. After their savings were spent, Gao Lang’s credit card was suddenly cancelled. There was really no way for the two of them to go on, aside from returning to China.
[Babies born within US territory automatically acquire US citizenship]
They originally thought to come back to stay for a while, bow their heads, and admit their mistakes—then they’d take some money, return to the United States, and give birth to the child. They’d wait until the child reached one year of age before returning home.
But as a result, the company was now gone?
Gao Lang didn’t believe Li Huairou’s words. He took out his cellphone and started to browse the news, only to see the announcement of the company’s reorganization. The more he looked at it, the colder Gao Lang felt. The company was gone—what would he do in the future?
Bai Duoduo touched her belly; her heart was slightly cold. How could this be? It was not so easy to reconcile with A-Lang, physically recover, and finally have children. Now the company was gone. But even a skinny camel was bigger than a horse; the Gao family should at least have some savings.
Gao Lang noticed Bai Duoduo’s depression and quickly asked with concern, “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I’m just thinking that we should have come back earlier. If we’d come back earlier, maybe these things wouldn’t have happened. We really are unfilial,” Bai Duoduo said.
“I don’t think so. No one wants to be like this.” Gao Lang didn’t think it was his fault—it was because his father wasn’t a good judge of character, and because Li Huaiqing had stood back and coldly watched that things had become like this.
“Don’t worry. At the very worst, we’ll start all over again. If you believe in me, I can do it.” Gao Lang smiled and held Bai Duoduo in his arms. As a man, how could he let his beloved worry about this? Wasn’t it just a company? As long as he was given a sum of venture capital, he could start all over again. He had the confidence.
Gao Lang and Bai Duoduo returned home and found that there was no one there. It turned out that after Papa and Mama Gao left for their trip, they’d also given the housekeeper a vacation.
The two had no choice but to briefly tidy up and stay there.
After that, Gao Lang went to the study to see how much money the family could come up with. He knew that, with his dad’s character, Papa Gao would never be totally unprepared. He must have left something behind.
However, he rummaged through the study and found nothing.
It seems he could only wait for his parents to come back.
After waiting for the plane to land, Gao Lang immediately called Papa and Mama Gao.
No matter how reluctant Papa and Mama Gao were, they could only regretfully come back. Li Huaiqing originally wanted to come back together, but Mama Gao insisted on having her stay behind, saying it was a rare opportunity for her to have fun with Zhou Minglang.
After Papa Gao and Mama Gao returned, Gao Lang and Bai Duoduo knelt in front of their parents, confessing their mistakes and explaining the situation.
Papa Gao and Mama Gao looked at Bai Duoduo’s belly bump. What else could they say? They could only have them quickly get up.
“Alright. Since you’re back, live a good life in the future and don’t mess around,” Papa Gao said with a sigh.
Gao Lang frowned. “Dad, I think that although it’s a pity that the company’s gone, the connections and relationships are still there, and I’m back now. How much do we have in savings at home? I want to take it all out and start over.”
Papa Gao hesitated. “How could starting again be so simple?”
Gao Lang stood up. “Dad, don’t you believe me?”
Bai Duoduo glanced at him. “A-Lang, tell dad properly. Don’t lose your temper all the time.”
Gao Lang had to patiently sit down. “Dad, I’m a man and the pillar of the family—now is the time for me to stand up. You have to believe me. I can do it.”
Papa and Mama Gao looked at each other. After thinking for a while, Papa Gao said, “Let me think about it!”
In their room, Mama Gao persuaded, “He’s already an adult. If he wants to give it a try, then you can let him try. He will bear the result for himself, whether it’s good or bad.”
Papa Gao also understood this truth. “Sigh! How about this: I’ll leave a sum of money for our pension, an education fund for our future grandson, and give the rest to him.”
Mama Gao nodded.
With this venture fund, Gao Lang—with great ambition—started his own business.
On the day that Gao Lang’s company opened for business, Li Huairou sent a flower basket to congratulate him, and then she didn’t care about it anymore. What she cared about more was that Li Huaiqing had finally agreed to Zhou Minglang’s proposal, and the two were preparing for the wedding.
“I’ve discussed it with Huaiqing—the wedding will be held in the ancient castle of Country D. We won’t invite too many people, just relatives and friends. What do you think?” Zhou Minglang asked with a smile.
Li Huairou smiled. “I’m fine with it! The most important thing is that both of you like it!”
“We’ve both thought about it. We bought two next-door houses in Huacheng—one is the wedding venue, and the other is yours. After the wedding, we’ll move in. In this case, we’ll be close; I also have my own space. What do you think?” Li Huaiqing said as she carefully observed Li Huairou’s expression, fearing that she wouldn’t want it. After all, Huairou liked it here so much.
Li Huairou smiled. “No wonder you always took me to look at the decorations in the past. So it turned out to be like this.”
“Would you like to move over to live with us? If you don’t like it, it won’t matter. The house just opposite was put up for sale, so we can buy it. In that case, we’ll still live together,” Li Huaiqing cautiously added.
“No need. This community is too old, and the property, infrastructure, and others are too troublesome. Huacheng is very good, and I have no problem with it,” Li Huairou cheerfully replied.
After hearing this, Li Huaiqing finally felt relieved. Zhou Minglang looked at her and smiled.
Papa and Mama Gao also flew to Country D to attend the wedding. Bai Duoduo didn’t go because of her pregnancy, so she could only watch the videos posted by Mama Gao’s circle of friends.
Although the wedding was not very grand, it was very romantic and warm—full of warmth.
Bai Duoduo touched her belly, a little envious, but more admiring. A-Lang said that after the child was born, he’d give her a grand wedding.
She didn’t know what her wedding would be like.
Bai Duoduo felt a little tired and wanted to go to her bed to rest. She leaned on her belly and got up from the sofa with difficulty. Who knew what she’d stepped on—she tilted to the side and was about to fall. Quickly, she hugged her belly.
“It hurts! Help! Help!” Bai Duoduo cried out in pain.
Gao Lang rushed to the hospital while full of alcohol; ignoring the baby, he went directly to the bed.
“Duoduo, are you okay?”
“Why are you here?” Bai Duoduo exclaimed when she saw Gao Lang. Then she frowned. “You drank again?”
“It can’t be helped. Nowadays it’s all like this in doing business. How are you doing? Isn’t it still two months before the due date? How could you give birth early? By the way, is it a boy or a girl?” Gao Lang asked.
Speaking of this, Bai Duoduo was wrong. When most women gave birth, their delivery rooms were surrounded by a group of people outside. Although Bai Duoduo was fine, there was only the nanny outside her delivery room. There was no one to inquire about her wellbeing; there was no one to take care of her.
“It’s a boy, but the child was born prematurely and doesn’t weigh very much. The doctor said that his heart and lungs aren’t well-developed, and he’s now in the incubator. A-Lang, I’m so worried,” Bai Duoduo sobbed. No one knew her suffering. But who did she have to blame?
“Don’t worry, it’s okay. I’ve already contacted my parents, and they’re on the way. They’re rushing back by plane. Have you eaten yet? Two months in advance! I can only contact a postpartum nanny,” Gao Lang said incoherently. His child had been born early, and all his plans had been disrupted. Business was not as smooth as he had imagined, and he was now in a mess, his head overwhelmed.
But in front of Duoduo, he still had to pretend as if nothing had happened.
Soothing Duoduo, Gao Lang walked out of the ward, called the postpartum care center, and contacted a postpartum nanny. It was so easy to arrange. He sat in a cold chair, feeling tired all over.
Not long after sitting down, his phone rang again with a call from his secretary, who told him that something had come up at the company and asked him to go back to deal with it.
He’d not yet inhaled a few puffs from his newly-lit cigarette when Gao Lang threw it away. He sighed, stood up, and dragged his tired body away.
The corridor was very long; it was dark at the end.
Just like his life right now.
Li Huairou came back with Papa and Mama Gao. She didn’t want to be a light bulb for the newlyweds on their honeymoon trip.
[A person who gets in the way of two lovers on a date; third wheel]
After returning, she also went with them to the hospital. She saw the weak Bai Duoduo lying on the hospital bed, with only the postpartum nanny by her side, but still pretending to be considerate and full of happiness. She also saw the thin newborn laying in the incubator.
There was also Gao Lang, who couldn’t hide his exhaustion.
Li Huairou felt very inwardly happy, but on the surface, she still comforted Mama Gao with empathy, saying that everything would be fine.
A month later, Zhou Minglang and Li Huaiqing returned from their honeymoon and also visited the Gao family.
Looking at the happy, sweet newlyweds, and thinking of her son, who was still in the incubator in the hospital, Bai Duoduo had mixed feelings.
But thinking about what the doctor said, the baby’s condition had been getting better and better, and he’d be discharged from the hospital in a few days. Bai Duoduo felt relieved; Li Huaiqing had a very good life, and Bai Duoduo’s life was not bad as well.
After another ten days, the baby was finally discharged from the hospital. Bai Duoduo was very happy; Papa Gao and Mama Gao were also very happy. Although the baby was a little thin and weak, the doctor said that as long as it was carefully taken care of, it would soon be like a normal baby.
In order to celebrate the baby’s discharge from the hospital, Bai Duoduo specially set up a table at home and invited Li Huaiqing and her sister for dinner.
During the dinner, she hugged the baby, Gao Lang half-hugged her, and the family of three smiled.
But Li Huaiqing—who knew whether it was because she’d eaten something bad—felt nauseous and ran to the bathroom several times.
Within a few days, it turned out that Li Huaiqing was pregnant. Counting the time, it had been conceived during her honeymoon. It deserved the name of “honeymoon baby”.
Bai Duoduo couldn’t tell what it felt like in her heart. But soon, she couldn’t take care of this. The baby fell ill, contracted pneumonia, and needed to be hospitalized.
Bai Duoduo was very concerned for her child. Gao Lang also ran between the hospital and his company. After half a month, the baby recovered, although the couple had lost a lot of weight.
Eight months later, Li Huaiqing gave birth to a daughter without a hitch.
After hearing that Li Huaiqing had given birth to a daughter, Bai Duoduo didn’t know why, but she was relieved, as if she had won against Li Huaiqing.
Gao Lang thought the same way.
But when the husband and wife saw the white-skinned, chubby baby girl who was held in Zhou Minglang’s arms like a treasure, they had nothing to say. That baby was healthy at first sight. Looking at them and thinking about the baby they’d raised carefully, who was still sick at every turn, and the baby who didn’t even dare to leave the house, was very uncomfortable in their hearts.
“This kid looks so good! White and chubby—oh, there’s a small dimple when she smiles!” Mama Gao excitedly exclaimed.
“Yes! Double eyelids, big eyes, and dark eyes, just like grapes. The nurse said it was her first time seeing a beautiful child like Niuniu,” Li Huairou triumphantly replied. “Brother-in-law is so happy. He holds it all day long—he can’t bear to let go.”
[Double eyelids are seen as beautiful in Asia]
“Huaiqing and Minglang look good, and their children are also good-looking. One of these days, once you wait for Niuniu to grow up, you can have another one. Such good genes can’t be wasted,” Mama Gao said with a grin.
Zhou Minglang shook his head. “No more. When Huaiqing gave birth to Niuniu, she suffered a lot. One Niuniu is enough.”
Li Huaiqing laid on the bed with a happy smile on her face.
Seeing them like this, how could she not understand? Mama Gao smiled with relief. Forget it, as long as they were happy.
Bai Duoduo only felt that this scene was too dazzling, and she couldn’t stand it. The same was true for Gao Lang. The two of them walked out of the hospital; one gave the excuse that something had come up at the office, and one was thinking about their son.
“Shall I take you home?” Gao Lang said with a sigh.
“No, I’ll take a taxi and go back by myself. Your business is important. I’m still waiting for you to make money and give me a grand wedding!” Bai Duoduo said with a smile as she stretched out her hand to adjust Gao Lang’s collar.
Gao Lang nodded. “Okay. I’ll go now.”
Gao Lang’s steps were a bit heavy, just like the burden on his shoulders.
Bai Duoduo stood there for a long time before turning and leaving. When talking about weddings in the past, Gao Lang had been full of longing and fantasy—just like her. But starting from some point in time, he didn’t even want to mention it.
In front of the window, Li Huairou happened to see this scene. She lowered her head and smiled. Behind her, there was a baby’s cry.
“Why did Niuniu cry? Are you hungry?” As a new mother, Li Huaiqing was very nervous.
“Didn’t you just feed it? It’s probably urine. It’s alright. Lay down, I’ll change her diapers,” Zhou Minglang said with a smile. Then, he skillfully changed Niuniu’s diaper.
Papa and Mama Gao watched by the side with a look of relief on their faces.
Li Huairou turned around, looked at this scene, and smiled.
