Chapter 16

When they arrived at the mall, the triplets wanted to eat Western fast food and fried chicken. Although Grandma Zhou said that children of their age could eat it, Wu Qingluan was still a bit concerned. She decided to ask for Yu Xuanwei’s opinion first.

She was in the middle of sending a message to Yu Xuanwei when he called.

“I have some matters to attend to these days, so I won’t be coming back tonight,” Yu Xuanwei’s cool voice came through the phone.

“Alright, I understand. I’ll take good care of them,” Wu Qingluan stepped aside and told him about what had happened today. “…Your youngest son didn’t get hurt, but he’s feeling upset.”

“It’s okay; he’s tough. He’ll forget about it soon,” Yu Xuanwei replied.

Yu Xuanwei seemed even more composed than she had expected. Wu Qingluan couldn’t help but smile. When she thought about the tense situation with Tongtong’s mother, she wondered if this was the difference between raising boys and girls.

“We’re planning to eat fried chicken. Can the three of them have it?” she asked.

“They can, but in moderation. Each of them shouldn’t have more than ten pieces,” Yu Xuanwei replied.

Wu Qingluan couldn’t help but wonder if she had misheard. “Ten pieces?”

But Yu Xuanwei didn’t respond further. He hung up the phone, and when she tried to call back, he didn’t answer.

Wu Qingluan felt a bit worried for no apparent reason. She had a feeling that his voice had sounded somewhat weak. Was everything okay?

The triplets chose a fried chicken buffet restaurant, and Wu Qingluan and Grandma Zhou took them inside, all excited.

As she watched the children enjoy their meal, Wu Qingluan couldn’t resist picking up her phone and taking several photos of them, which she sent to Yu Xuanwei.

Unfortunately, several minutes passed, and he still hadn’t replied.

Wu Qingluan noticed that Yu Jue was going to get more food again, and she grabbed his arm. “How can you still eat? Let me touch your tummy.”

“I’m not full yet, I want to eat more!” Old San protested.

Wu Qingluan gently patted his belly and noticed that it was still flat. She couldn’t help but think of that “ten pieces.” Could they really eat that much?

After all three children were full, she touched each of their tummies, a bit concerned. “Are you uncomfortable? I feel like you ate too much.”

Yu Jue burped and patted his belly. “I’m just right.”

The eldest and the second child nodded in agreement.

Alright, kids can eat a lot, and they digest quickly. Wu Qingluan put aside her doubts. “Let’s first take Grandma back home, and then we can go for a walk together to aid digestion.”

“Okay!”

After Wu Qingluan and the children left, the restaurant owner looked at the nearly empty plates, feeling at a loss. There used to be piles of fried, braised, and stewed chicken, but now…

This family better not come back again!

Yu Xuanwei hadn’t appeared for three consecutive days. Wu Qingluan was busy picking up and dropping off the triplets at school, playing games with them, giving them baths, and occasionally mediating their sibling disputes. She truly understood the challenges of being a parent.

Yu Xuanwei hadn’t responded to her messages on WeChat or answered her calls. Fortunately, the triplets hadn’t insisted on contacting him, or she would have been really overwhelmed.

On Friday night, after finally getting the triplets to sleep, Wu Qingluan came downstairs and playfully said to Grandma, “Grandma, taking care of children is really tiring. I want you to give me a kiss.”

Grandma chuckled at her. “You’re thirty years old and still acting cute. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“I’m not embarrassed.”

“Come and lie down; I’ll comb your hair for you.”

“Alright!”

Wu Qingluan laid down comfortably with her head resting on Grandma Zhou’s lap.

Grandma Zhou gently stroked her hair. “Our Qingluan has such beautiful hair—long, silky, and thick. It’s like satin. I’ve been taking care of it all these years.”

Wu Qingluan closed her eyes and listened to Grandma Zhou humming the Hair-Combing Song.

“With the first comb, there’s no need to worry about wealth and prosperity.

With the second comb, you’ll have no illness and no worries.

…”

In a drowsy state, she felt herself being lifted.

“Hmm…?” She saw Yu Xuanwei. “You’re here?”

Yu Xuanwei’s face appeared somewhat blurred, and he seemed to be surrounded by mist, with a vast expanse of white clouds behind him.

He looked quite different from his usual self.

Wu Qingluan reached out and grabbed a strand of his hair. “Your hair has grown so long?”

Yu Xuanwei didn’t speak; instead, he bent down and kissed her.

Wu Qingluan closed her eyes and used her hand to hold his face, responding to his kiss with passion.

It was strange—why did she find this person so irresistible?

Their embrace and kisses were incredibly comforting, and each interaction with him ignited her desires.

But it wasn’t enough. These fleeting moments were far from satisfying her desires.

The following morning, Wu Qingluan woke up with a flushed face and sat at the edge of the bed in a daze.

She had actually had an, um, adult dream. Being a grown-up was truly terrifying!

After a moment of calm, Wu Qingluan took out her phone and sent a message to Yu Xuanwei: “Are you coming back today?”

As she sent the message, she felt she might be coming across as too eager for his return. She hesitated about whether to retract the message, but Yu Xuanwei replied.

“I haven’t finished what I’m working on yet. It’ll take a few more days.”

Wu Qingluan’s heart felt like a balloon with a small hole in it, slowly deflating.

“Okay.” She replied to his message, then tossed her phone aside, as if she didn’t care whether he came back or not.

After getting ready and changing into sportswear, she went upstairs to wake up the triplets.

Yu Jin and Yu Jue were already awake, wrestling on one of the beds, but the door to the eldest brother’s room remained tightly closed.

This was quite unusual because the eldest brother was usually the first one to wake up. Could he be feeling unwell? Was it something he ate?

Wu Qingluan lightly knocked on the eldest brother’s door, but there was no response. So, she pushed the door open.

The second and third brothers squeezed their way in after her.

Wu Qingluan was shocked by what she saw in the room: there was a pile of fine sand with a large white egg in the center, and the eldest brother was lying on top of the egg.

“What are you…” Wu Qingluan circled around the eldest brother, bewildered.

The eldest brother had a serious expression. “The most critical moment is coming. Starting today, I won’t leave the house until it hatches.”

Yu Jue chuckled and said, “Big brother is hatching an egg again. He’s an egg-hatching weirdo! Only females hatch eggs, so big brother is actually a big sister!”

The eldest brother’s face turned red, and he grabbed a handful of sand from beneath him and threw it his third brother. “Get out!”

Wu Qingluan was quite exasperated. She stopped Yu Jue from teasing further and squatted down beside the eldest. “Sweetie, aren’t you afraid of crushing it? How about getting up to have some food first?”

The eldest shook his head. “It won’t break. It needs my energy, and I have to keep hatching it.”

No matter how much Wu Qingluan tried to persuade him, Yu Lang refused to budge from the egg. In the end, she had no choice but to feed him breakfast, spoon by spoon.

After breakfast, Wu Qingluan coaxed him, “Isn’t this posture tiring? Come down and stretch a bit.”

Yu Lang’s little face remained resolute. “Not tired.”

Wu Qingluan sighed and sat down beside him. “Who told you to hatch it like this? Humans don’t hatch eggs this way.”

Yu Lang furrowed his brow. “It was Eggie who told me. It’s really crucial now, and I can’t leave it.”

Wu Qingluan stayed with him for a while, watching him grow tired. She felt a mix of amusement, heartache, and concern. “Do you need to go to the restroom?”

Yu Lang  remained stubborn. “No.”

“But you haven’t gone for two hours now. It’s time to go.”

“I haven’t. I don’t need to.”

“Are you going to stay like this?” Wu Qingluan’s voice grew louder. “No bathing, no eating, no using the restroom? In less than three days, you’ll be stinking! Shall I ask Grandma to make you a backpack, so you can carry the egg with you?”

“No!” The eldest still refused.

Wu Qingluan was getting angry. If this were her own child, she would have given them a good scolding by now!

Wu Qingluan, feeling helpless, took a picture of the eldest brother’s “egg-sitting” pose and sent it to Yu Xuanwei.

Ten minutes passed, but Yu Xuanwei still hadn’t replied to her message.

Wu Qingluan scrolled through their chat history, seeing a long list of messages she had sent and just one brief reply from Yu Xuanwei. Her anger continued to rise.

She decided to call Yu Xuanwei again, but there was still no answer.

Wu Qingluan cast a stern look at the eldest brother, who was determinedly sitting on the egg. She jabbed her finger at the screen, her tone filled with frustration. “If you don’t reply to me now, I’m going to spank your son!”

After sending the message, she shoved her phone into her pocket and gave the eldest brother one final warning. “Now, get up and change your clothes.”

However, Yu Lang remained stubborn. “No!”

….

In the yard, Yu Jue had just caught a small, fluffy hen, when he heard a clear “snap” coming from the building. This was followed by the sound of sobbing, growing louder.

Yu Jue opened his mouth wide in surprise. He accidentally loosened his grip on the little hen, which pecked him and then flapped its wings as it ran away.

Yu Jin,  who was helping Granny Zhou water the plants, also heard the commotion. He stopped abruptly, his face filled with astonishment.

“Wuwuwu—my egg!” The crying was getting closer. Yu Lang was rubbing his eyes with one hand and being dragged by Wu Qingluan with the other, forcefully pulled into the yard.

Wu Qingluan was furious, “You stand there and reflect on your mistake. You’ll eat when you realize what you did wrong!”

“Wuwuwu, my egg—,” sobbed the child.

Wu Qingluan  opened the bundle in her arm and placed the beloved white egg at the child’s feet. “Here, it’s for you. Let’s see if you still dare to misbehave!”

Yu Jin and Yu Jue  exchanged a glance and shivered in unison. They were genuinely frightened. They realized that when their mother got angry, she was much scarier than their father!

They never would have expected that their big brother would be the first one to get a spanking!

Wu Qingluan  watched her teary-eyed Yu Lang and felt a pang of guilt, but she forced herself not to intervene. This stubborn little rascal had a temper as fierce as a bull. No matter what, he refused to leave the egg, and it infuriated her enough to give him a few spanks.

After  a while, after she had finished scolding the child, Grandma hurried over to wipe his tears away. “Don’t cry, don’t cry, let Grandma take a look. What’s going on? Why did you suddenly start hatching an egg?”

The eldest’s lips were pouting so much they could hold an oil bottle. “The egg is about to hatch, and it can’t leave without me.”

Wu Qingluan   was speechless. She crouched down and lightly tapped on the eggshell. “Who told you it’s about to hatch? If you really want to hatch it, I can take you to a special incubation room at the zoo.”

The eldest child turned angrily and said, “You don’t understand anything, and you still spanked me

o(╥﹏╥)o.”

Wu Qingluan  :…….

With a soft “crack,” the eggshell in her hand suddenly split.

The eldest child swiftly turned his head back, his eyes fixed on the cracking eggshell with a fanatical gleam.

Wu Qingluan  was drenched in cold sweat, too afraid to move her hand away from the egg. It had cracked, oh dear, she had actually cracked the egg!

With another “crack,”

A strong gust of wind erupted from inside the eggshell, forcing her to move her hand away. The eggshell suddenly shattered into pieces, and a small white object shot up into the sky. Instantly, a powerful gust of wind swept through the area, lifting the chickens in the yard into the air one after another!