The capital.

Mrs. Qin was already sixty years old, but at the moment when she returned to her mother’s house, she was like a child who had made a mistake and was punished by her mother by standing. She had been standing for more than half an hour, while her brother’s grandchildren, just a few years old, poked their heads from the stairs every now and then to look at her quietly. How curious the children must have been, right?

And her mother had punished her for one reason only: because she bullied her son.

Why would she bully her own son?! She didn’t.

The silver-haired old lady left the dining table and walked over carelessly, glancing at the two grandchildren peeking around the corner of the stairs, then at her daughter, who was already a middle-aged lady, and said seriously, “If you feel ashamed and unreconciled, you can stop standing.”

“……” Mrs. Qin was silent.

“I am in my eighties and I have never beaten a child. You’re so impressive, hitting my grandson with a bag, huh.” The old lady stood leaning on her cane and even though she was short in stature, her face was no less imposing.

Mrs. Qin hissed, “Mom! I was so angry, I…”

“I know what you are going to say.” The old lady interrupted her, “You think that Zhuopu complained to me? He tells me everything, no matter how busy he is, he flies to the capital to see me and your father whenever he can, even if he’s too busy to have a sip of tea, and you? He can’t be a nicer boy and you’re still not happy with him.”

“Mom…” Mrs. Qin hung her head, feeling doubly aggrieved.

“Aggrieved, huh?” The white-haired old lady stared solemnly at her daughter, “Back then when you brought your future husband home, your father asked a few questions and you got so angry that you jumped on your feet to defend him, saying that if we bullied your boyfriend, we were bullying you.”

Mrs. Qin looked in a daze.

“How come you are so different when it’s your turn to be a mother? Zhuopu is your own child, how can you be so hard on him?”

“Mom!” Mrs. Qin was anxious.

The old lady grunted, “If you bully the person he likes, aren’t you bullying him?”

“It’s not the same at all!”

“Your beloved is a human being and his beloved is not?”

Seeing that her daughter was so suffocated she couldn’t say anything, the old lady sighed. How could she not feel pity in her heart? “I think you are sick. After your husband passed away, you rarely even came back to your mother’s house, only because you were afraid that I would force you to remarry.”

Mrs. Qin was crying.

“It turned out that I didn’t force you to do anything, but you are forcing yourself and forcing my grandson. How can you be so stupid that you can’t see through him? He’s been pining for that child for six or seven years! Back then your father had a hundred objections in his heart to you marrying far away, but he kept them all to himself and didn’t say anything, and ended up marrying his daughter happily. That was the man you chose, so how could we object?”

The old lady lamented, “Look, the beloved you chose for yourself was the right one and you loved each other all your life. Now that he is dead, you are bullying his only child because you are his mother. You are hitting his son like this, are you not afraid that the coffin’s lid can’t hold him?”

Mrs. Qin was trembling; her tears were pouring down like rain and she couldn’t stop them.

The old lady was disappointed; what a terrible daughter she had. When Mrs. Qin’s husband, who had loved her all her life, died suddenly, everyone around was crying, but Mrs. Qin was the only one who didn’t shed a single tear. It was as if once she had cried, she would have admitted it.

When Qin Zhuopu arrived, the old lady was cutting flowers in the courtyard.

“Zhuopu!”

“Grandma.” Qin Zhuopu embraced the old lady affectionately and looked around, “Where’s my mother?”

“She’s asleep.” The old lady carefully told him about what had happened, and Qin Zhuopu let out a long sigh.

“Then Grandpa can also rest assured.” Elder Qin had always been extremely worried about his daughter-in-law, fearing that one day she might think of… She wouldn’t, right?

“Your grandfather made an appointment for Master Yuan to come tomorrow to see your mother. She should have started taking medicine long ago. She gets older and she is overly emotional. The less she can control it, the more dangerous it is. She hit you with a bag, this is simply unbelievable behaviour! How is your boyfriend now? Grandma has been looking forward to meeting him for a long time. It must have been hard for you when your mother made a scene.”

Qin Zhuopu rubbed his brow: “I have something urgent to confirm with Mother. I’ll wait for her to wake up.”

The sun was setting when Mrs. Qin finally woke up. She was haggard from crying so much and looked much older, but not as severe as before.

“Mom, I have something very important to verify with you.”

Mrs. Qin nodded weakly, knowing that what her son was asking must have something to do with Lu Ying. Oddly enough, she was very calm.

“When Lu Ying suddenly left me back then, was it something you did behind my back?”

Grandma sighed darkly and Mrs. Qin wiped her face, “You ask, knowing the answer.”

Qin Zhuopu looked up abruptly, “I know?”

Mrs. Qin was startled, “Of course you know. You were furious with me over this and rushed to find Lu Ying, saying you wouldn’t come back in the future…” She was about to explode with anger at the time.

“And did I find him?” Qin Zhuopu asked anxiously.

Mrs. Qin stood up and looked at him oddly, “Don’t you know if you found him or not? Are you not awake?”

“Then where did I go?”

Mrs. Qin instinctively replied, “I didn’t follow you.”

“Why did I just go to the airport and come back!” Qin Zhuopu was very unwilling to accept it.

Mrs. Qin was taken aback.

“You ran out alone and only came back home a week later. You haven’t mentioned Lu Ying since then…” She was almost 100% expecting Lu Ying to be brought back by her son, and had thought about just avoiding him by not meeting him in the future. The result was that her son came back alone, and she figured that most likely Lu Ying had broken up with him. She couldn’t help but praise Lu Ying for being sensible, but she also felt quite guilty.

“I didn’t say anything when I came back? Where did I go that week? Was it Qixia Town?”

Mrs. Qin shook her head: “You have been busy at work every day since you came back, and you didn’t mention him. Don’t you remember where you went?”

“I was away for a week?” Qin Zhuopu didn’t dare to believe it.

Mrs. Qin seemed to be unable to understand.

“Sure enough, it’s impossible just to go to the airport…”

Mrs. Qin felt desperate. There was obviously something wrong with her son. The old lady also stood aside solemnly, concerned about her grandson, and the atmosphere in the room was quite tense.

“Grandma, tomorrow please ask Master Yuan to take a look at me as well.”

The old lady nodded gravely, her eyes full of worry.

Suddenly his mobile phone rang and Qin Zhuopu returned to his senses. Seeing the caller ID on his mobile phone screen for the first time, he felt his tense spirit suddenly relax and his distorted face softened considerably.

“Lu Ying.”

“Uh… you know it’s me?” Lu Ying was surprised; he hadn’t told Qin Zhuopu his number.

Qin Zhuopu smiled: “I even know your home number, let alone the mobile phone number.”

“Oh… was your medical check-up okay?”

“The check-up was fine but they couldn’t find the cause.”

“Then most likely nothing is wrong. So you can’t blame me for stimulating you to faint…”

“You’re just afraid that I’ll blame you?”

Lu Ying said in a low voice, “I’m afraid of your mother…” What if Mrs. Qin came back if she knew her son had been stimulated to faint!

Qin Zhuopu said solemnly, “Don’t be afraid of her. She won’t do anything to you in the future.”

I hope so.

“Oh, I have to go to work…”

“Lu Ying, did you deliberately write down my mobile phone number?”

Lu Ying said hurriedly, “You have it on the form for a membership card.” You fainted in my house, so I had to call you, right?

“Your bakery is very good, I’ll come again in the future.”

“It has nothing to do with me.” Lu Ying didn’t want to say anything and muttered, “Take a good rest, don’t follow me, it’s always bad to meet and quarrel.”

Qin Zhuopu’s anger surged and he swallowed it again.

“I won’t quarrel with you in the future.”

“Then do what you say.” Qin Zhuopu’s fainting really scared him. Lu Ying was in a complicated mood. He couldn’t understand why Qin Zhuopu kept saying things that didn’t exist at all. It was fruitless anyway. Being safe and healthy was more important than being right or wrong.

“Lu Ying, promise me one thing.”

As Lu Ying listened to the low, depressed voice on the other side, his finger that was about to interrupt the call paused slightly.

“Don’t go sweeping the streets, okay?”

……

“Dad, why didn’t you ride the moped to pick me up today?”

At the entrance of the kindergarten, Lu Zaizai followed his father on foot in surprise.

“There’s not enough electricity, is it okay if we walk home today?” Lu Ying’s voice was gentle.

“Dad… have you been crying?” Lu Zaizai stared uneasily at Lu Ying’s slightly red eyes.

Lu Ying was about to deny it when Lu Zaizai added, “Dad, don’t lie, good boys don’t lie.”

“……” Lu Ying blinked and admitted frankly in front of his son, “Well, yes.”

“Why is Dad crying? Are there bad guys bullying you?”

Lu Ying smiled, “There are no bad guys.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“There is a treasure Dad really wants but can’t have. It’s hard and he wants to cry.”

“Don’t be sad, Dad, I’ll buy you the treasure when I grow up.”

“There are some treasures that you can’t buy with money, like stars…” Lu Ying shook his head. “Dad was only sad for a while, he won’t be anymore. Because you are the treasure that Dad loves the most.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Lu Ying nodded vigorously.

Lu Ying smiled and bounced a few times: “Hee hee~~ Dad, I’ll tell you a secret! Come here~” The little fat hand beckoned at him.

Lu Ying cooperated by leaning down and heard his son whisper in his ear, “Dad, you’re my favourite treasure, too. I love you the most!”

Lu Ying gave Zaizai a hug and a squeeze.

“Dad loves you too.”

“I definitely love you more than you love me~” Lu Zaizai emphasised.

“No, definitely Dad loves you a little more, just a little more.”

Unhappy, Lu Zaizai increased the volume, “Hmph, I love you two points more than you do!”

“Then I’ll have three points.”

“I love Dad four points more!” Lu Zaizai clenched his fist and raised the bar.

“I love Zaizai five points more.” Lu Ying smiled and shook his hand.

Lu Zaizai jumped and shouted, “I love you six points, seven points and eight points!”

“Then I love you for the full ten points.”

“Ah ah ah, Dad, you’re cheating!”

Lu Zaizai jumped up in anger and opened his arms as if to embrace the sky, “I love you so so so so many points, one hundred! One thousand! One hundred million billion billion billion points!”

Lu Ying looked at the child and kept laughing.

The chubby little man with the red face was out of breath: “I declare my win! The competition is over! You can’t add any more points, you hear me?” Lu Zaizai seriously warned his father, lest he cheat and add points again.

“Hahaha… yes, Dad lost.”

On a cloudy evening, Lu Ying smiled as brightly as the sun.

Soon, January ended in rainy weather and February started, still very cold.

They quickly approached the Chinese New Year.

***

Mini-theatre:

Lu Ying: Who do you love more, me or the child?

Mr. Qin: You.

Lu Ying: The desire to live is okay (*^▽^*)

Mr. Qin: Who do you love more, me or the child?

Lu Ying: Definitely you.

The child: Daddy, I want you to sleep with me tonight.

Mr. Qin: No, you have to sleep alone.

Lu Ying: Good boy, I’ll stay with you.

Mr. Qin: …what about me?

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