Lu Haici, of course, didn’t cry.

He quietly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

He didn’t believe his dad; he thought his dad loved to deceive little kids.

He decided to ask his mom later.

However, when he reached the door of the room and saw his mom busy, he didn’t want to disturb her.

So, he resolved to wait until bedtime to ask her.

“Haici’s here! You have to go to kindergarten tomorrow, so it’s time for a bath and bed. Go call your dad to help you with the bath,” Lin Qingqing said when she noticed Lu Haici lingering at the door.

“Okay!” Lu Haici quickly replied, hiding his handkerchief in his little backpack before running out.

He dashed to the kitchen and told Lu Cheng, “Dad, Mom said you need to help me take a bath. I’m going to bed because I have kindergarten tomorrow.”

Seeing that it was getting late, Lu Cheng agreed that it was time for Lu Haici to sleep.

He fetched some warm water to the yard to give Lu Haici a bath.

By the time Lu Haici was almost done, Lin Qingqing had also finished preparing her loungewear: a gray long-sleeve T-shirt with straps inside and gray pants.

She took her loungewear outside to rinse it, preparing it for the next evening.

“Are you ready?” Lu Cheng asked while washing Lu Haici.

“Yeah, I’m rinsing the new clothes. You should take a bath too, and I’ll keep an eye on the kitchen,” Lin Qingqing replied, grabbing a basin to wash her clothes in the yard.

Lu Cheng said, “You don’t have to; go sleep. Tell me the steps for the braised pig’s head, and I’ll handle it.”

Lin Qingqing insisted, “No, you trained all day; you must be tired.”

“I only trained in the morning; I don’t have to train for the rest of the time,” Lu Cheng explained.

“Oh,” Lin Qingqing said, surprised.

She had thought soldiers trained constantly when not on missions.

Lu Cheng clarified, “Soldiers below the company level train every day, but those above that rank have other responsibilities. Even for those below company level, they aren’t always training; they have simulated training, physical training, and discussions about battle plans, among other things.”

Lin Qingqing responded, “I guess I was thinking too simply.”

“I once thought about food very simply, too,” Lu Cheng instinctively comforted her.

Lin Qingqing teased, “Besides salty, it’s still salty.”

“No,” Lu Cheng replied. “It’s just to fill your stomach.”

Although he had never truly experienced hunger, he believed that food served merely to satisfy hunger, so whether it tasted good or not didn’t matter much.

Lin Qingqing wasn’t surprised by his perspective.

She thought Lu Cheng was that kind of person—very straightforward without any frivolous thoughts.

Some men always used the excuse of being straightforward to evade things they didn’t want to do, like on Valentine’s Day.

When a boyfriend fails to prepare a gift for his girlfriend or send a red envelope, he might say, “I’m a straight guy; I don’t understand this.”

Actually, Lin Qingqing felt that this insulted straight men.

Straight men have intelligence; it’s impossible for them to not know they should prepare gifts or send their girlfriends red envelopes on Valentine’s Day. In her understanding, a straight man would… simply give money to his girlfriend and let her buy whatever she likes.

Straight men are generous; they don’t understand subtlety.

And Lu Cheng was the straight man in her mind.

“What about now?”

“Now… food isn’t just for filling the stomach; it’s for… waiting.” Lu Cheng thought for a long time before using the word “waiting.”

“Waiting?” Lin Qingqing looked at him in confusion, not understanding why he chose that word.

“Yeah.” Lu Cheng said somewhat awkwardly, “Waiting for the next meal, to see what delicious food there is.”

Pfft…

Lin Qingqing laughed out loud.

---

Lu Cheng felt a bit uncomfortable and turned his gaze away.

In the dim light of the warm yellow lamps, one could faintly see that his face had turned a bit red, reaching all the way to his ears.

However, Lin Qingqing didn’t notice.

After washing the home clothes, she hung them outside.

It was fine to hang outerwear outside since the wind would help them dry quickly, but intimate clothing needed to be dried indoors.

Once she hung up the clothes, she went to the kitchen and poked at the pig head with chopsticks.

It had been stewing for over an hour and was almost ready.

She just needed to wait for the final reduction of the sauce.

Once that was done, the meat could be cut off and sold.

She checked the fire for a bit; once it was burned out, she wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.

The pig head could stay in the pot until tomorrow.

“Is it ready yet?” Lu Cheng had placed Lu Haici in his room to wipe himself down and then came out.

“It’s done. No need to worry about it anymore. We can go to bed now.” Lin Qingqing replied.

“Then you should wash up first. There’s hot water in the pot.”

“Okay.”

While Lin Qingqing was showering, she took the white three-piece sleepwear she had prepared earlier.

The clothes were dry and ready to wear.

Since it was late and their house was in a corner, the windows faced the front, meaning even if there were people living in the front house, they wouldn’t be able to see what was happening in the back.

So, even if she came out wearing the long knee-length sleep dress, no one would see her, and even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.

After taking a shower, Lin Qingqing washed her hair.

She was quick with her shower since she did it every day and didn’t have much dirt on her—just washing off the sweat.

Washing her hair took a bit more time, but since she had work the next day, she liked to prepare the night before…

Lu Qingqing tidied herself up neatly.

After that, she washed her underwear as usual, and when she came out, she saw Lu Cheng standing at the kitchen door. “You can go wash now; I’m done,”

Lin Qingqing casually said, then walked into the living room with her freshly washed clothes.

The moment Lu Cheng saw her come out, he was stunned.

He stared at her, not even hearing what she said.

All he could think about was how beautiful she looked.

Lu Cheng had always known she was good-looking—not just pretty, but the kind of delicate beauty that was well-nurtured.

However, today, she looked different in a way he had never seen before.

She wore a white dress, and her long, black hair cascaded down her back, revealing her fair legs.

He swallowed hard, suddenly reminded of something.

The way she looked so beautiful tonight…

Could it be that she wanted to consummate their marriage?

Remembering how he had refused to do so on their wedding night, he wondered how he would respond if she wanted to tonight.

Should he refuse again?

But the reason he didn’t want to consummate their marriage back then was that he didn’t have feelings for her.

He didn’t want to bring negative emotions into such an intimate moment.

But now… Lu Cheng licked his lips, admitting to himself that he was a bit tempted.

He hurried to take a shower, more serious about it than usual.

He used soap and scrubbed every inch of himself, creating enough bubbles to flood the floor.

He even spent twice as long in the shower as he normally would.

After finishing, he thought for a moment and decided to wash his hair again since he had sweat during morning training.

After getting cleaned up, Lu Cheng took a deep breath, turned off the lights in the kitchen and living room, and stood in front of the bedroom door.

He reached for the doorknob, his hands trembling.

When he pushed the door open, his throat felt dry.

However, once he opened the door, he heard Lin Qingqing say, “You’re done? You can sleep first; I need to dry my hair before I sleep.”

Lu Cheng saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, fanning her hair dry.

Beside her was Lu Haici, also using a fan to help dry her hair.

“I washed my hair too. I’ll wait for it to dry before sleeping,” Lu Cheng said, unable to help but glance at her legs.

The dress was short, stopping at her knees, so as she sat, the hem rose up her thighs.

Her legs were very fair, and in that white dress, they appeared even more so.

In fact, she radiated a bright, glowing aura.

Lin Qingqing replied, “There’s no more fan. Lu Haici, give the fan to your dad and go to sleep.”

Lu Haici hesitated, “I…”

“No need,” Lu Cheng interrupted. “I…” Suddenly, he thought of something. “I’ll step outside for a moment; I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be right back,” he said as he turned and ran outside.

Lin Qingqing asked, “Lu Haici, why did your dad rush out like that?”

Lu Haici replied, “Maybe he went to the bathroom; Dad must need to pee.”

He ran like that when he was in a hurry to urinate.

Surprisingly, Lin Qingqing thought Lu Haici made a good point.

After several minutes, Lu Cheng still hadn’t returned.

Lin Qingqing said, “Lu Haici, I don’t think your dad is just peeing; it wouldn’t take this long.”

Lu Haici responded, “Yeah, Dad is definitely pooping; that takes longer.”

Lin Qingqing felt that Lu Haici was still quite sensible.

A few more minutes passed, and Lu Cheng still hadn’t come back.

Lin Qingqing said, “Haici, why don’t you go to the door and call your dad? What if he fell into the toilet?”

She was just joking, but unexpectedly, the little boy took it seriously.

“The hole in the toilet is so small; Dad definitely won’t fall in,” Lu Haici said confidently.

Upon hearing this, Lin Qingqing thought the little one was quite clever: “Maybe your dad forgot to bring toilet paper while he was pooping; why don’t you check?”

“Alright,” Lu Haici said.

He got out of bed, dashed out the door without even closing it, and ran to the hall, shouting outside, “Dad, did you forget to bring toilet paper while you were in the bathroom?”

Lin Qingqing couldn’t help but laugh at his shout.

However, Lu Haici didn’t hear his dad’s response.

Since he didn’t hear anything, Lu Haici decided to check the toilet.

He found it dark inside and called out, “Dad, are you in there?”

Still, there was no answer.

So, the little one turned on the light and walked in to look.

As it turned out, his dad wasn’t there at all. He hurried back to the room and said, “Mom, Dad isn’t in the toilet!”

“Not in there?” Lin Qingqing said, not worried. “He might have gone out.”

Just then, they heard Lu Cheng’s voice from outside: “Who left the bathroom light on?”

“It’s me!” Lu Haici exclaimed, turning around excitedly and running back out.

He saw his dad coming in with something. “Dad, did you go get the fan?”

Lin Qingqing was puzzled. “What do you need the fan for?”

Lu Cheng brought the fan into the room: “Using a hand fan to dry your hair is too slow; use the electric fan instead.”

He set the fan up and plugged it in, causing a gust of air to blow out from it.