Chapter 35.2

Jiang Rou took An An home, fed her, changed her diaper, and finally went to bed.

She slept soundly until 12:30 in the afternoon.

Aunt Wang from next door came over to visit. She had come by in the morning but, finding the door closed, was curious. Now that it was open, she brought some food.

Knowing An An was sick, Aunt Wang held An An with a tender expression, saying, “Children are most prone to illness around March and April. An’s constitution is relatively good. My daughter used to catch colds and fevers all the time when she was young, and she’d only get better when the weather warmed up.”

When An An woke up around noon, she was still a bit listless. She took her medicine but appeared to lack energy.

Seeing her little pitiful state, Jiang Rou felt a pang of sympathy. She asked Li Xin to wash some apples and steam them, saying, “Once you’ve finished the medicine, you can have some apples.”

After a while, Jiang Rou scooped out the softened apple with a spoon and fed it to her.

An An loved eating fruit, but Jiang Rou usually only gave her small amounts to avoid upsetting her stomach. Today, however, she was so distressed that she decided to steam the apples to make them easier for An An to eat.

The steamed apples tasted a little sweet and sour, and the little one liked them very much. She hadn’t grown teeth yet; she chewed the apple pieces cutely with her gums.

After eating a few bites, she raised her head and smiled at Jiang Rou—she looked so sweet and obedient.

Aunt Wang, who was holding her, also saw it, and her heart melted. She couldn’t help but praise: “This child is really obedient. I have never seen a child more obedient than her. During the year my daughter was born, I never had a good night’s sleep. She would cry constantly, and her grandmother always added to my troubles. I look back on those days and remember how hard they were.”

Jiang Rou looked at An An gently and smiled, “She is obedient. After her father left, she didn’t make trouble for me whenever I fed her. She would fall back to sleep right away and sleep through the night.”

Jiang Rou didn’t know how other children were, but she remembered her own noisy nephew, whose cries would disrupt the whole household. Compared to him, An An seemed like a little angel.

When Jiang Rou first gave birth to An An, her feelings towards the child were more rooted in a sense of responsibility than love. Jiang Rou wasn’t someone who dwelled on the past. She believed that since something had already happened, there was no point in overthinking it. Living in the present was what mattered most. So, at that time, she decided to take on all responsibilities, take good care of An An, and try her best to get along well with Li Xiao.

Her thoughts were actually quite simple—she would take life one step at a time and deal with the future as it came.

But now, watching An An grow and seeing her nestle into her arms with joy when she saw Jiang Rou…

It wasn’t just An An who depended on her; Jiang Rou had come to rely on An An as well.

Jiang Rou thought perhaps this was what it meant for a mother and child to be connected at heart.

Maybe it was the first time she encountered something like this, but Jiang Rou suddenly found herself missing Li Xiao a little.

When they talked on the phone a few days ago, Li Xiao had given her a phone number and said that if she needed anything, she could reach him at that number.

After feeding An An half an apple, Jiang Rou held her and went to call Li Xiao.

She used Aunt Wang’s phone. Nowadays, when Jiang Rou called from Aunt Wang’s house, Aunt Wang would no longer eavesdrop; she would just step outside.

Jiang Rou quickly dialed the number. After a moment, the call was answered by a strange man’s voice. Jiang Rou said, “Hello, I’m looking for Li Xiao. I’m his wife.”

An An in her arms reacted strongly to the name Li Xiao, shouting, “Ahh! ” while wriggling around.

Jiang Rou smiled gently. The man on the other side of the phone seemed a little surprised but quickly responded, “Oh, okay, hold on a minute, I’ll get him.”

Then she heard the man shouting loudly, “Li Xiao, your wife’s on the phone!”

Jiang Rou felt her face heat up even through the phone. After a moment, a familiar voice came on the line, “Jiang Rou?”

Jiang Rou hummed softly and asked, a bit embarrassed, “Did I disturb you?”

Li Xiao answered without hesitation, “No.”

Then, with a smile, he asked, “What made you think of calling me?”

Usually, he was the one calling her. Jiang Rou rarely initiated calls, so he was surprised when she suddenly called him.

Jiang Rou didn’t know how to respond. He couldn’t just say she missed him, could she?

After a pause, she found an excuse and said, “Nothing much. I was just thinking about how the weather has been changing a lot recently, and I wanted to remind you to take care and not catch a cold.”

Li Xiao, perceptive as ever, seemed to sense something: “What’s wrong? Is An An still sick? ”

Jiang Rou hesitated, but the man on the other end urged, “Speak up; don’t hide anything.”

Realizing she couldn’t keep it a secret, Jiang Rou explained what had happened with An An during the night. She added, “But don’t worry, she’s better now. She even ate half an apple earlier. Oh, and I ran into your mom at the hospital this morning. She was holding He Wenhua’s child. That kid was so dark; I remember He Wenhua being quite fair, and your mom seemed to care a lot about this grandson. How did he end up so dark? He looked like he’d been dug out of a coal mine.”

At this point, she couldn’t help but feel curious about what He Wenhua’s wife looked like.

When Li Xiao heard this, he knew An An was truly okay and felt a wave of relief.

He chuckled, “Who knows? Maybe he just didn’t turn out well.”

He thought to himself that it was no surprise the child was dark, considering the father was quite dark-skinned.

Jiang Rou, concerned about the cost of the call, said, “You take care of yourself out there. Don’t eat too many cold things or raw food; the flu is pretty bad right now.”

Li Xiao enjoyed Jiang Rou’s little nags and kept saying “hmm” in response. He was reluctant to hang up.

However, he finally ended the call and handed the phone to the man standing not far behind him, “Brother Yong, here’s your phone.”

The man, known as Brother Yong, stood at the construction site, took his phone with a smile, and joked, “What good news did you hear? This is the first time I’ve seen you smile so happily.”

There were two men beside Brother Yong, who also laughed when they heard this. One of them said, “Mr. Chang, you don’t know, last night after dinner we were going to KTV to sing, but he didn’t dare to go, saying that his wife was very strict and wouldn’t let him.”

Brother Yong burst into laughter, patting Li Xiao on the shoulder. “I didn’t think you’d be so afraid of your wife. She must be quite fierce! ”

Li Xiao also smiled, “She’s not fierce, just a little clingy.”

Brother Yong looked unconvinced.

Li Xiao, fearing any misunderstandings, decided to explain his situation to the group, telling them how he had been deceived into joining a pyramid scheme. At first, several men had laughed at his misfortune, but now their laughter had faded. He hadn’t earned a single penny from the scheme; instead, he had lost a significant amount of money. Yet, when he returned home, his wife not only refrained from scolding him, but she also took on the responsibility of earning money to support him.

Looking at Li Xiao’s handsome face, which seemed to stir envy in both men and gods, the others couldn’t help but feel a bit sour.

Li Xiao continued as if nothing had happened: “The temperature in my hometown has been fluctuating a lot lately. My wife noticed that many people were getting sick, so she called me out of concern and told me to be careful.”

Another tall man, filled with envy, commented, “Your wife is really nice.”

If it had been them, their wives wouldn’t have just scolded them—their parents would probably have beaten them as well.

Li Xiao, though inwardly happy, downplayed it by saying, “She’s alright.”

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