Chapter 62.1

Aunt Wang’s prediction proved accurate. Within a few days, Lin Meiru called Li Xiao directly, even reaching him at his office.

At that moment, the family of three was wandering through the vegetable market. Li Xiao usually tried to handle things in advance and leave early in the afternoon. Today, he first went to the kindergarten to pick up An An, and then met Jiang Rou at the market.

He placed An An on his shoulder, letting her ride like a horse. Jiang Rou walked ahead, twisting her head to look around. The family of three was like a miniature version of ordinary people.

When his phone rang, Jiang Rou glanced back.

Li Xiao put An An down.

An An was reluctant to walk, spreading her little chubby legs. She wore new shoes bought by her mother and disliked the dirty ground.

Jiang Rou found it amusing and walked over to reach out to hold the child.

Seeing that Jiang Rou had groceries in her hands, Li Xiao didn’t hand the child over. Instead, he held An An with one arm and took out his phone with the other.

After taking out the phone, he looked around and then walked to a nearby, unoccupied corner.

The market was too large and crowded, making it easy to get separated. Jiang Rou followed him closely.

The call was from Zhou Jian, informing him that Lin Meiru had called the office and asked if he wanted to take the call.

Li Xiao answered, and Lin Meiru’s voice soon came through, beginning with her sobs. Before she spoke, her crying was already audible. She knew her son was on the other end and started to choke up, lamenting her difficult situation and how the He family had mistreated her, portraying herself as pitiful.

Li Xiao remained unmoved—feeling nothing. Perhaps due to seeing Jiang Rou’s affection for An An and recalling how Aunt Shi had suffered while searching for Da Peng, he had developed a specific feeling about the image of a mother. Seeing Lin Meiru, he even began to doubt if she was truly his biological mother.

Of course, this was just a fleeting thought. He looked so much like his father that it was impossible not to be his biological child. He could only say he had little affinity with his parents.

Li Xiao had little patience and directly said, “If you don’t finish soon, I’ll hang up.”

Lin Meiru was taken aback, knowing he was capable of such a response. She immediately said, “I want a divorce, but they won’t agree. Can you come back?”

“Divorce?”

Li Xiao couldn’t help but laugh. “How can He Wenhua honor you if you divorce his father?”

Lin Meiru felt a bit uneasy upon hearing this but still boldly replied, “I still have you, don’t I?”

She wasn’t foolish; her son had become successful. He was now a big boss and even several stepchildren combined couldn’t compare.

Li Xiao sneered, “Don’t count on me. I’ve never seen you as my mother. In my heart, you’re just He Wenhua’s mother. Let him take good care of you. I won’t be coming back. I don’t care at all how you’re doing. You’ll have to deal with it yourself.”

He found her ideas completely unrealistic.

When Lin Meiru heard this, she became agitated. “How can you say such things? I’m your real mother. Do you know how difficult it was for me to give birth to you…”

It seemed she wanted to say more, but Li Xiao coldly hung up the phone.

When he turned around, Li Xiao saw Jiang Rou standing not far behind him and walked over. She was still holding An An in her embrace: “Is there anything else we need to buy?”

Jiang Rou noticed that his expression seemed off and assumed it was related to work, so she didn’t ask further.

“Let’s buy some more vegetables. Also, get a small chamber pot for An An, to put in her little room.”

Recently, Jiang Rou had been trying to get An An to sleep alone. An An, who was five years old, was quite intelligent and understood the difference between boys and girls. Jiang Rou had taught her various things about gender differences, such as not allowing anyone to touch her body inappropriately, not sleeping with boys during school nap time, and not letting anyone see her in the bathroom. She was now aware of these things.

Jiang Rou thought it was time for her to sleep alone. She had slept alone at a young age herself, having asked for her own room when she was around three or four years old.

Li Xiao didn’t really understand these matters, but he agreed with the idea. When he wanted to be closer to Jiang Rou at night, little An An would run over and wedge herself between them, pushing him away as if to demonstrate that she and her mother were the best partners.

An An, not understanding much, was excited to hear she was getting something new and asked, “What’s a chamber pot?”

Li Xiao replied directly, “It’s a good thing.”

—o—o—o—

The family of three continued shopping, buying bean sprouts, eggplant, and fish. Afterward, they visited a small general store at the market entrance, where Jiang Rou let An An choose something for herself. An An picked out a chamber pot with a pattern of auspicious flowers, finding it extremely pretty.

Not knowing what it was actually for, she thought it was a type of tableware. Holding it in her hands, she innocently said, “Mommy, we can use this to hold soup when we get home. It can hold a lot.”

The soup bowls at home weren’t large enough, so they usually used two bowls.

“…”

Li Xiao was quite disgusted, taking the chamber pot from her hands. “Alright, stop talking about it.”

Before bedtime, Jiang Rou rearranged the small blanket in An An’s room. Li Xiao, holding An An, stood by the door. The little one pouted and softly pleaded, “Mommy, I want to sleep with you. Can you let Daddy sleep alone?”

Jiang Rou found this amusing.

Li Xiao, not pleased, turned to look at her. “Your mom and I are married. How can married couples sleep separately?”

An An was not afraid at all. “But Mommy and I are both girls, and only Daddy is a boy. Daddy should sleep alone.”

Her logic was very clear.

Jiang Rou arranged the small blanket and pillow on the bed and placed a cup of water on the nightstand. She then turned and picked up An An from Li Xiao’s arms.

As soon as she was held, the little one immediately snuggled against Jiang Rou, resting her small head on her shoulder, and said sweetly, “Mommy, I love you so much.”

Jiang Rou’s heart softened.

Worried that she might be swayed, Li Xiao couldn’t resist adding from the side, “Your teacher says you sleep soundly during naptime at school. You don’t have so many issues. Just sleep on your own.”

An An glared at her father in anger.

Li Xiao patted her little head and then left the room.

Jiang Rou carried An An around the room, showing her the chamber pot and the cup of water on the bedside table. She explained, “If you’re thirsty or need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, you can get up yourself. Mommy won’t turn off the light; there will be a small lamp for you, so you won’t be scared.”

An An didn’t respond.

Jiang Rou placed her on the bed, tucked her in, and said gently, “Mommy will tell you a story. How about a story about a little fox named Tong Tong?”

She covered An An with the blanket and continued softly, “Once upon a time, there was a little fox named Tong Tong. She lived on a mountain from a young age, carefree and happy, with many good friends…”

—o—o—o—

After settling An An, Jiang Rou returned to the room where Li Xiao was already lying on the bed. Seeing her come back, he couldn’t help but ask, “Did she fall asleep?”

Jiang Rou nodded, turned off the light, and climbed into bed.

As soon as she lay down, Li Xiao turned and hugged her, burying his face in her neck and sighing, “This is nice.”

He hadn’t held Jiang Rou like this in a long time.

Jiang Rou smiled and felt that he was holding her a bit too tightly, so she gently nudged him a couple of times.

Li Xiao did not loosen his embrace but instead lowered his head and kissed her earlobe. His hands also began to wander.

Jiang Rou caught his hand and said, “I need to wake up early tomorrow to save a spot, so let’s go to bed early tonight.”

Li Xiao was reluctant. “It’s fine. I’ll drive you tomorrow.”

“No, it’s a hassle. I will commute.” Jiang Rou replied.

Jiang Rou shifted in his arms, turning to face away from him.

Li Xiao noticed Jiang Rou’s lack of response but he did not loosen his hold. Instead, he shifted slightly and rested his chin on top of her head.

The room was completely quiet.

As Jiang Rou began to feel drowsy, he suddenly spoke, “The call this afternoon when we were in the market was from Lin Meiru.”

As expected, when these words were spoken, Jiang Rou’s body involuntarily moved, and she turned her head to glance at him.

Li Xiao reached out to brush the hair from her cheek, his hand then moving to her ear, cheek, and lips…

Jiang Rou felt a bit ticklish from his touch and was about to say something to stop him when he continued, “Lin Meiru wants a divorce and asked me to come back. I refused. I was confused during childhood and didn’t understand much. I only remember that once, we were asked to write an essay about ‘mother.’ Everyone wrote beautifully, but I didn’t know what to write…”

After hearing this, Jiang Rou’s heart softened. She turned to face him and reached out to embrace him. She gently patted his back. “It’s all in the past.”

“Yeah, it’s all in the past.”

Li Xiao lowered his head and kissed Jiang Rou. This time, Jiang Rou did not reject him but instead wrapped her arms around his neck. As their lips met, a faint smile lingered in Li Xiao’s eyes.

—o—o—o—

After the night of passion, Li Xiao looked at the woman sleeping peacefully in his arms—his mouth curving into an involuntary smile.

He gently caressed Jiang Rou’s cheek and neck, then lowered his head to lightly kiss her lips.

He whispered softly: “Silly.”