Chapter 32: A Small Reunion is Sweeter than Newlywed

After finishing his private conversation with Zhou Linglan, Fu Zhengtu stepped out and saw that Su Taotao had just finished cooking.

As Fu Zhengtu entered the kitchen, he saw three grinning faces, each smudged with soot.

Chenchen raised his two little black paws, asking his uncle to take him to wash his hands.

Zhou Linglan said, “Taotao, go wash your face too. I’ll start serving the meal.”

Su Taotao, while taking off her apron, said, “Mom, the rice in the pot needs a little more time to steam. Let’s serve everyone a bowl of tomato soup first. Chenchen loves tomatoes, so give him an extra two pieces.”

“Alright, I know,” Zhou Linglan replied, taking the apron and hanging it on the wall.

Fu Zhengtu looked at Su Taotao’s dirty yet bright smile and sparkling eyes, and suddenly understood why his mother had grown so fond of her.

Su Taotao not only washed her face but also changed into a clean set of clothes. She had been sweating from cooking and had gotten dirty again from Chenchen, to the point that even she couldn’t stand it.

The kitchen at home was quite large. In the winter, it was warm to eat there, and in the summer, if it wasn’t raining, they would move the dining table to the yard.

Su Taotao also enjoyed eating in the yard. Before meals, she would wash the yard floor with well water, making it cool and refreshing, and light some mugwort to keep mosquitoes away.

In such a farmyard, with the sunset glow and the sounds of frogs and insects, dinner was the highlight of the family’s day.

Fu Zhengtu was not one of those men who couldn’t tell grains apart or wouldn’t lift a finger to help. On the contrary, he was quite diligent. Rolling up his shirt sleeves, he revealed his sturdy, light wheat-colored arms. A table that usually required two people to lift was easily moved out by him alone.

When Su Taotao returned, having changed her clothes, she saw that Fu Zhengtu had already sat next to Chenchen. The father and son were bowing their heads, not speaking, just touching heads, playing with something curious.

Seeing Su Taotao return, Zhou Linglan smiled and said to Chenchen, “Let’s eat first, then you can play again after dinner.”

Fu Zhengtu looked up and saw his wife, wearing a white shirt, her delicate features and clean, jade-like smile bathed in the golden light of the sunset. She was as beautiful as an immortal who had mistakenly wandered into the farmyard.

Fu Zhengtu, usually focused and determined in his scientific research, rarely got distracted by anything else. Marriage was an accident, and having a child was an even rarer accident. It was as if he was seeing his wife’s beauty clearly for the first time.

He hadn’t given much thought to Zhou Linglan’s comment about Su Taotao smearing her face with soot to avoid attention.

It had been over two years since they last saw each other, and his wife had become so beautiful.

Fu Zhengtu withdrew his gaze.

She truly deserved the description of a woman whose beauty could turn heads.

The dinner was extremely rich. Su Taotao had mentioned that Chenchen loved pork head, so Chef Xu had saved a portion for him. Su Taotao had also bought a Wan River fish, originally planning to only eat pork head for dinner, stir-fry a vegetable, and save the fish for the next day. But since Fu Zhengtu had returned unexpectedly, Su Taotao made sour fish soup as a special welcome and also added a tomato egg soup. A meal like this was almost as elaborate as a New Year’s Eve dinner.

Fu Zhengtu didn’t have much of an appetite, and in the past, food for him was merely about filling his stomach and replenishing energy. He didn’t have much of a concept of whether food tasted good or not, as long as it was edible.

But tonight, as the food touched his mouth, he realized the difference in quality could be vast. He recalled Zhou Linglan’s pride when she mentioned that Su Taotao had secured a job at a state-run restaurant with her cooking skills, working only ten days a month for a full wage.

She indeed had the capital to be proud. Even the taste of state banquets couldn’t compare to her cooking in terms of suiting his palate.

Especially the sour fish soup, which he had never seen prepared this way before. The bones of the Wan River fish were pan-fried to make the broth, turning the fish soup milky white. The fish fillets were sliced as thin as cicada wings, paired with aged pickled mustard greens, creating a refreshingly sour and delicious taste. Considering Chenchen’s palate, only a few bright red dried chilies were sprinkled on top for garnish, and a splash of hot oil was poured over to enhance the aroma and flavor. Though he had eaten fish many times before, nothing had ever made him feel this hungry.

As usual, Su Taotao reserved the whole fish belly for Chenchen, carefully breaking it apart to ensure there were no bones left before placing it in Chenchen’s bowl. The little guy had a big appetite, finishing a bowl of soup, a bowl of rice, and a pile of vegetables, his belly round like a balloon.

Su Taotao didn’t want Chenchen to eat any more, so she let him play with a small ball to help with digestion.

Even Fu Zhengtu had unconsciously added two more servings of rice for himself. Fu Yuanhang was even scraping the crispy rice crust from the bottom of the pot, dipping it in leftover sauce to finish the meal.

Fu Zhengtu began to understand why Chenchen had grown so round.

The family finished their satisfying dinner just before the last rays of the setting sun disappeared behind the western mountains.

Fu Yuanhang volunteered to wash the dishes, Zhou Linglan cleaned the table and put away the chairs, Fu Zhengtu moved the table, leaving Su Taotao as the only one who was free. She sat in a small recliner, watching Chenchen play with a ball, occasionally glancing at the distant sunset.

After being here for so long, she felt like she was experiencing peace and tranquility for the first time.

Regardless of whether there was any emotional foundation between her and Fu Zhengtu, a husband was a man who stood by her side. He was her husband, the head of this family. With him back, she felt like her anchor had returned, and this feeling was crystal clear to her at this moment.

Or perhaps, she could try to trust this man.

After dinner, Fu Zhengtu played origami with Chenchen. Su Taotao initially thought Chenchen was already quite skilled, but when she saw several ordinary old newspapers instantly turn into a tank in Fu Zhengtu’s hands, she had nothing to say.

No need for a blood test or DNA analysis, they were definitely father and son.

“This is a tank.” Fu Zhengtu handed the folded tank to Chenchen.

Chenchen, unusually, furrowed his little brows and mimicked Fu Zhengtu in a childish voice, “Tank~~”

“It’s ‘tan,’ not ‘tang,'” Fu Zhengtu corrected him.

Chenchen: “Tang~~”

Fu Zhengtu: “…” Forget it, he’s still young.

Soon, Fu Zhengtu watched as the young Chenchen dismantled the “tank” in just a few moves.

Fu Zhengtu frowned, thinking about how to communicate with the little guy.

Then, he watched as Chenchen restored the dismantled “tank” to its original state in just a few moves, suddenly realizing, “Ah~~” as his furrowed brows relaxed. He handed it to Fu Zhengtu, tilted his head, and said in a childish voice, “Tank~~”

Fu Zhengtu: “…”

Are kids already this amazing at two years old? He had always been praised for being smart, but at two, he couldn’t fold paper to this level.

Before they knew it, it was Chenchen’s bedtime. Su Taotao assigned Fu Yuanhang the task of reading a bedtime story to Chenchen every day, not limited to fairy tales, but also classics, poetry, or even quotes, and it had to be in standard Mandarin.

At first, Fu Yuanhang read stiffly with incorrect pronunciation, but after practicing with Su Taotao a few times, asking her about pronunciation when he didn’t know a word, and following radio broadcasts, he gradually improved over several months.

Now, he could read any book clearly and with intonation, not quite broadcast quality but not far off, and Chenchen had become accustomed to falling asleep to his uncle’s storytelling voice. Sometimes, Su Taotao would stay and listen to an interesting story.

Fu Zhengtu stood outside his brother’s room, arms crossed, listening for a while, lost in thought.

When it was late at night and the family members had gradually gone back to their rooms to sleep, Su Taotao, having finished her bath, walked into the bedroom to see a handsome man in pajamas leaning against the bedhead, the top two buttons of his shirt undone, revealing his solid honey-colored muscles. Su Taotao clutched her collar, her heartbeat nearly stopping!

She had almost forgotten that she and Fu Zhengtu were a real couple, true husband and wife who had a child together. It was perfectly reasonable and legal to do those things that involved turning off the lights, drawing the curtains, and getting under the covers.

The problem was that Su Taotao had been a lifelong single in her previous life, and in this life, she didn’t even remember how children were born, let alone the details of the wedding night. The main issue was that she and Fu Zhengtu were not familiar at all!

How could two unfamiliar people do those things?

“Come here.” The man’s clear voice, in this rural night filled only with the sounds of frogs and insects, was particularly distinct, like a furry ear pick entering her ear, causing a tingling sensation.

Su Taotao, who prided herself on having a thick skin, couldn’t help but blush at this moment. She slowly walked over, clutching her collar, and asked, “W-what?”

Fu Zhengtu suddenly put down his book, stood up, and reached out to her. Su Taotao froze on the spot, her breath catching…