Chapter 395: Chapter 405: Doting Love_1
Chen Zhao excitedly asked, "Sis-in-law, what’s going to keep us busy then?"
"You’ll know when the time comes. Don’t worry about other things. Their business is booming, and we don’t need to be jealous, because soon it will be their turn to be envious of us." Gu Xiaobei said confidently.
In the afternoon just before the end of the work day, Gu Xiaobei gave Chen Zhao twenty yuan, telling him to buy some meat to stew and eat recently. Once they were full, they could work better.
Since Ji Xiangdong’s return date was set, Gu Xiaobei would stay at the family housing area whenever Lu Zhanguo was home. Sometimes she would leave the children in the small courtyard, and the couple could return to enjoy some alone time. Although Xiaopang sometimes disagreed with this set-up.
Take this evening for example, after dinner, Xiaopang began to hug Gu Xiaobei and said, "Mama, hug Xiaopang, let’s go home."
Gu Xiaobei happily said, "Okay, tonight let’s take Xiaopang home." It’s just right; she can also take the two kids home for a bath.
After dinner, without dilly-dallying, she got the two children dressed in cotton clothing, put on their caps, wrapped them in a small quilt, and hurried back to the family housing area.
Barely after entering the house, there was a knock on the door. It was Zhao Hongmei bringing Erhu over for a visit.
When she heard you talking to the kids in the corridor, we came over," Zhao Hongmei said, holding Erhu with a smile. "My Erhu is at home all day without a playmate. It’s quite lonely."
Gu Xiaobei quickly ushered them in: "Come in quickly, we’ve just come home ourselves. Erhu, quickly get on the floor and play with your brother and sister."
Xiaopang and Mo Wang were standing by the coffee table, watching Lu Zhanguo fold a box gun out of scrap newspaper.
Erhu, too, was curious and joined Xiaopang next to Lu Zhanguo to watch him fold the gun.
Zhao Hongmei, laughing, said to Gu Xiaobei, "Your Lu is quite patient, even playing with the kids. My husband Zeng only knows how to tell the kids to go and play by themselves."
Gu Xiaobei smiled without speaking, and went into the kitchen to wash apples for the three children. She remembered the lesson from last time and washed two apples, gave one to Erhu, and the other to be shared between Mo Wang and Xiaopang.
Seeing the three children all obediently standing in front of Lu Zhanguo and not causing trouble, Zhao Hongmei followed Gu Xiaobei into the kitchen and started chatting.
After Lu Zhanguo finished folding a box gun, seeing the thirsty gaze of the three children, he decided to give it to Erhu first and said to Xiaopang, "This will be given to Erhu first. Dad will fold another one for you, okay?"
Xiaopang nodded, seemingly understanding, and didn’t fuss about it.
Lu Zhanguo thought his own daughter was really too good. He hurriedly bowed his head and folded another box gun for Xiaopang and Mo Wang.
Erhu, feeling it was quite fun after receiving the box gun, poked Xiaopang hard with the coiled paper gun tube. As he was taller than Xiaopang by half a head, he poked Xiaopang’s tender face correctly. The soft white face immediately turned red. Seeing this, Lu Zhanguo immediately told him to stop, "Erhu, you can’t poke your sister. She’ll feel the pain."
Erhu briefly calmed down, but as soon as Lu Zhanguo lowered his head again to fold the paper gun, Erhu started poking Xiaopang’s face again. Xiaopang was on the verge of crying from the grievance, and standing next to him, Mo Wang saw this and suddenly turned around and ran towards Erhu, with swift movements, he started to scratch Erhu’s face with both hands.
Xiaopang, seeing this, also followed his brother in scratching Erhu. Erhu was still not clear about what was going on when his face had been scratched several times by the brother and sister.
Lu Zhanguo hurriedly picked up Xiaopang and Mo Wang and embraced them while Erhu stood in the same place crying out loud for his mother.
Gu Xiaobei was peeling the second apple in the kitchen, Zhao Hongmei was deep into gossiping about others, hearing her son cried, she rushed out. Seeing the scratches on Erhu’s face, she hugged him and cooed, "My good boy, don’t cry. Who hit our Erhu? Mom will hit them back."
Coming out to see, Gu Xiaobei noticed several red marks on Erhu’s little face, one next to the nose was even bleeding. Glancing at Lu Zhanguo who was holding a child in each arm, standing aside expressionless, she said to Zhao Hongmei awkwardly, "Sis-in-law, I’m really sorry."
Zhao Hongmei said a little unhappily, "Our Erhu is just not violent, otherwise he wouldn’t be scratched like this. Xiaobei, you shouldn’t spoil the kids like this."
Gu Xiaobei felt a little embarrassed as it was not her who taught the kids to fight. With a stiff smile on her face, she said, "I’ll talk to Xiaopang about this later." She was pretty sure that this time, it was her own daughter who started the fight.
Zhao Hongmei was still unsatisfied and continued, "Children need to be educated from a young age. If she is so quick to get physical, in the future who would dare to play with her?" Then she continued worrying about Erhu’s face, "I don’t know if it’ll leave a scar or not. We’ve never encountered this type of child before."
Gu Xiaobei was getting a little annoyed. What type of child was Zhao Hongmei referring to? Even after apologizing, what more did Zhao Hongmei want? Could it be that she wanted Gu Xiaobei to hit her own children in front of her?
All the while, Lu Zhanguo had been frowning and keeping quiet. Holding both children, he said, "Look at Xiaopang’s face, Erhu poked her with the paper gun. Mo Wang only fought Erhu because he was protecting his sister."
Zhao Hongmei was taken aback for a moment, stood up with Erhu in her arms, and noticed a large red patch on Xiaopang’s delicate little face. For a moment, she felt embarrassed, but then she was upset again, "Lu, you were here, you should have stopped Erhu from poking Xiaopang. He’s still young and doesn’t know the extent of his actions. And besides, you should have stopped Mo Wang from scratching Erhu."
Still expressionless, Lu Zhanguo replied, "Mo Wang was just protecting his sister. If we’re talking about being young, Mo Wang and Xiaopang are half a year younger than Erhu."
Zhao Hongmei was a bit upset. She hugged Erhu and left with a huff, and before leaving, she left a word, "If you all continue like this, no one would dare to play with you in the future."
Gu Xiaobei, stifling a laugh, saw Zhao Hongmei out of the house, and then couldn’t help but laugh as she said, "Look at you, why did you take it so seriously just now?"
Lu Zhanguo gave her a glance and said, "I’m just telling the truth. Didn’t you see how Mo Wang ran to scratch Erhu earlier? This kid has potential; he’s so small and already knows to protect his sister."
Gu Xiaobei walked over and wrapped her arms around the three of them saying, "Mo Wang won’t hit someone for no reason. Look how fast the fingernails we just cut grew back. See how he scratched Erhu’s face and it even bled near his nose. I don’t know if it will leave a scar."
Lu Zhanguo didn’t seem to care about this. He was ready to continue folding guns with the two children.
Thinking that Lu Zhanguo and Zeng Changzhi were working together, and considering how the latter cherishes his late-born baby, this small incident might strain their relationship. Gu Xiaobei couldn’t help but suggest, "How about we buy something to go over and see them tomorrow? We shouldn’t let this affect your relationship with Zeng."
Lu Zhanguo let the two kids sit on the coffee table and started ripping the newspaper apart to fold guns again. Hearing Gu Xiaobei’s suggestion, he didn’t even lift his head and replied, "No. Going will make it seem like we did something wrong. If Zeng can’t understand such a small thing, he is not fit to be the political commissar."
