Chapter 35 – The Gift

After breakfast, Zhou Linglan went to work as usual, and Fu Yuanhang headed off to school. On normal days when Su Taotao was home, Chenchen would stay with her. Only when she went to work in the county would he follow his little uncle to school.

Today, it was rare that both Mom and Dad were home, which made it a very novel experience for Chenchen.

Fu Zhengtou was someone with stable emotions. When he learned that Chenchen was his son, he appeared calm on the outside, but inside, he was excited and slightly at a loss.

Fortunately, Chenchen resembled him a lot as a child, both in personality and appearance—only Chenchen was more obedient and smarter. He really liked this son who had suddenly appeared in his life.

Recently, Su Taotao had started introducing Chenchen to early education. Nothing advanced—just the Three Character Classic, Thousand Character Classic, basic shapes, colors, and Arabic numbers.

But Chenchen had a great memory and picked things up fast. Normally, little kids forget things quickly, but Chenchen remembered almost everything she taught him—and remembered it well. Even days or a month later, when asked again, he could still recall it clearly.

Chenchen might just be one of those gifted children. Aside from speaking a bit slowly, he performed excellently in every other area. A child like this needed personalized teaching, or his talent might go to waste.

Su Taotao didn’t have experience raising kids—she was figuring it out as she went. There wasn’t a great educational environment around either, which made her worry she might not do a good job. If the base had a kindergarten, she was planning to let him attend.

Fu Zhengtou turned out to be a surprisingly interesting dad—he actually brought out a set of military chess, saying it was a gift for Chenchen.

Su Taotao suspected he was bluffing. It didn’t look like he had prepared any gift in advance—more like he scrambled to find something after she asked him about it the day before. The military chess set clearly wasn’t new. The pieces were smooth and shiny from use. She even found Go and Chinese chess sets in his luggage.

Still, Su Taotao didn’t call him out. Chenchen had never seen military chess before, and receiving this novel gift made him very happy.

Trying to teach a two-year-old who couldn’t even read yet how to play military chess—Su Taotao had no idea what Fu Zhengtou was thinking. Go might’ve been a little easier to start with.

But Fu Zhengtou seriously began teaching his son to recognize “army commander,” “division commander,” “brigade commander,” “regiment commander,” “platoon leader,” and “soldier”…

Chenchen earnestly followed along, mispronouncing adorably, “army… fish… group…” The whole scene was actually pretty heartwarming.

This dad had more patience than she expected.

After a few rounds, while taking a break, Su Taotao asked, “Mom’s really not coming with us to the base?”

Fu Zhengtou shook his head. “She wants a few quiet years to herself and will come later. The newly built school over there is good. I’m thinking of taking Yuanhang over to study.”

After a pause, he added, “I won’t be home much… can you handle raising the child alone?”

Fu Zhengtou was skilled at phrasing things gently—his words were very tactful. He used to spend days in the lab without returning home, after all.

Su Taotao could actually understand Zhou Linglan really well. Even in the 21st century, most older generations revolved around their children and grandchildren, rarely enjoying time for themselves. In this era, people even more strongly believed in “the more children, the more blessings,” living entirely for their families. Someone like Zhou Linglan, who was so clear-minded and chose to have time alone, was very forward-thinking. Even many elders in modern times couldn’t do that.

If it had been any other reason, Su Taotao might have tried to persuade her otherwise. But for this one, she was fully supportive—and deeply admired her. She hoped that when she was older, she could also live her own life.

Su Taotao patted her little one’s head. “If it’s what Mom wants, we should respect it. Xiao Hang has talent—he’s already outgrown the teachers here. It’s time he had better resources. And Chenchen is very well-behaved, not much trouble. By the way, does the base have a kindergarten? Something like a pre-school class?”

Fu Zhengtou honestly shook his head. “I’ve never paid attention.”

If he’d known earlier that he had a two-year-old waiting for him at home, he might’ve looked into it in advance.

“No worries. We’ll see when we get there. I can still take care of him myself—it’s just that good jobs like the one at the state-run restaurant are hard to find.” Getting in as a consultant required the perfect combination of timing, connections, and luck. It was a one-in-a-million chance.

Fu Zhengtou looked at her. The words “You don’t need to work—I can support you” were on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed them. His instincts told him she’d be upset if he said that.

“Mm.” He grunted instead, then turned back to teaching his son the names of military ranks again.

Su Taotao: “…”

Honestly, it was pure luck that this guy got married early. With his ability to kill conversation dead on the spot, he’d definitely be single forever otherwise.

Even though they had slept together and had a child, the two of them still weren’t exactly close. Sitting in silence like this was awkward. Chenchen wasn’t talkative, and Fu Yuanhang wasn’t chatty either. Add the three of them together, and they couldn’t even form a full conversation. Su Taotao could already imagine future dinner scenes where the four of them sat around the table, and she’d be the only one chatting nonstop—just the thought of it gave her a headache.

Su Taotao stroked her chin as she looked at Chenchen. No, she had to train this child to be a talk partner. The older two were hopeless, but Chenchen had potential.

“I’m going to the county later. Can you handle watching Chenchen on your own?”

Both Fu Zhengtou and Chenchen looked up at her in sync—big eyes staring at each other.

After a moment, Fu Zhengtou said, “We’ll go together. I’ll drive you.”

Chenchen nodded vigorously, “Together~~”

Su Taotao: “…” Fine then, even father and son aren’t that familiar yet.

That morning, Fu Zhengtou suddenly “announced” that he would be leaving the day after tomorrow, catching Su Taotao completely off guard. She had originally planned to go hand over her work tomorrow, but after thinking it over, she decided it would be safer to go today to handle the handover, and then go again tomorrow to supervise a batch of brined dishes.

She left a note for Fu Yuanhang, returned to her room to grab her notebook and bag, then went to the storage room and dragged out a big sack of items.

Fu Zhengtou didn’t ask any questions when he saw this—he simply stepped forward and silently helped carry everything to the car.

Su Taotao actually felt that this quiet, reserved side of Fu Zhengtou wasn’t so bad. At least it saved her the effort of explaining everything.

She held Chenchen as she got into the back seat. Without saying a word, Fu Zhengtou got into the driver’s seat. After making sure they were all settled, he slowly started the engine.

It was Chenchen’s first time in a proper car—he was even more excited and curious than the first time he rode a tractor. Most of the time, the little guy didn’t show much expression, but when he came across something interesting or was really happy, his eyes would curve into crescents and sparkle brightly.

Su Taotao sat him on her lap and wrapped her arms around him, explaining all the parts of the car along the way. She would grab his chubby little hand to point things out as she went: “That’s the steering wheel, this is the handbrake, that’s the window, and this is the seatbelt…” She even explained the purpose of each one.

The little guy was often lazy, only repeating the last word she said. But when Su Taotao praised him or kissed him, he would squint his eyes happily and even clap for himself.

From time to time, Fu Zhengtou glanced at them through the rearview mirror, a little surprised that Su Taotao’s knowledge spanned more than he had expected. Then he remembered she was a zhiqing from a big city, so it wasn’t that strange after all.

He wholeheartedly agreed with something Zhou Linglan had once said: She’s really raised Chenchen well.

She treated Chenchen with genuine respect, placing him on equal footing regardless of whether he could fully understand her or not. She never brushed him off—she always explained things with patience and clarity.

No matter what questions Chenchen asked her, she would lower her head and smile as she answered each one with care.

Fu Zhengtou’s lips curved into a faint smile. Probably no child would dislike having a mother like that.

If he had looked at himself in the rearview mirror just then, he would’ve seen the happiness and contentment written all over his own face.