Back To The 80s

Gu Xiaobei smiled and said to him, "Please come in and have a seat, Editor-in-chief Jiang." Gu Xiaobei didn’t speak of forgiveness, nor did she mention the situation with Jiang Jiayan, because in her heart, she had a deep grudge against Jiang Jiayan that was irremediable.

Upon noticing that Gu Xiaobei didn’t mention her conflict with Jiang Jiayan, Jiang Jiahua knew that Gu Xiaobei wouldn’t forgive Jiang Jiayan. He gave a soft sigh, picked up his stuff and followed Gu Xiaobei inside the house.

Lu Zhanguo was seated on the heated brick bed with two little children lying next to him. Jiang Jiahua politely greeted Lu Zhanguo, "How are you feeling since leaving the hospital?"

"I’m fine, please sit down. You didn’t have to come all the way here on such a cold day." Lu Zhanguo answered courteously.

"Have you had your meal yet? I made more noodles than usual today. I’ll make you some more." Ge Chunling said while stepping down towards the kitchen.

Jiang Jiahua also didn’t stand on ceremony and laughed saying, "I really feel bad about coming at mealtime, I will not refuse then." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

After Ge Chunling left for the kitchen, Gu Xiaobei said, "Mr. Jiang, please take a seat." Then she sat next to Lu Zhanguo’s side of the brick bed.

Jiang Jiahua peeked at the two children by Lu Zhanguo and smiled, "Your children are truly beautiful. The one with the earring must be a boy, he’ll surely grow up to be a leader."

Gu Xiaobei was somewhat surprised at Jiang Jiahua’s observational skills. Not many had noticed Mo Wang’s earring, yet Jiang detected it with just one glance.

"Children shouldn’t be praised that much, they’re not as good as you say." Gu Xiaobei answered modestly.

Jiang Jiahua continued to look at two soft-legged children kicking back and forth, and remained silent.

Gu Xiaobei felt slightly uncomfortable, after all, they weren’t very familiar with Jiang Jiahua, and they didn’t have any topics to talk about. She turned to serve soup to Lu Zhanguo and kindly said, "This mutton soup isn’t hot anymore, you should drink it right away. We’ll wait for Chunling to serve the noodles before eating."

"No worries, we can eat together later." After Lu Zhanguo finished speaking, his sharp gaze spotted Jiang Jiahua’s involuntary three-second pause each time he glanced at Gu Xiaobei, followed by a slightly uncomfortable shift of his eyes.

Lu Zhanguo lowered his eyelids. Although he used to be emotionally obtuse in the past, when it involved Gu Xiaobei, his emotional antennas were as sharp as radar.

After Ge Chunling served the noodles to Jiang Jiahua, she took a bowl for herself, picked some vegetables, and went to the kitchen to eat. Gu Xiaobei thought that Chunling might feel awkward eating here, so she didn’t stop her.

While eating, Gu Xiaobei suddenly remembered that she didn’t tell Lu Zhanguo that they were renting this house from Jiang Jiahua. She promptly turned to tell Lu Zhanguo, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, we’re renting this house from Jiang Jiahua."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jiahua urgently exclaimed, "I told you I wouldn’t accept any money. Please don’t mention renting anymore, you’re being too polite."

Lu Zhanguo quietly watched Jiang Jiahua for a second before opening his mouth, "It’s always better to keep things clear-cut." Without saying anything more, he filled another bowl of soup with his empty bowl and put it in front of Gu Xiaobei.

Jiang Jiahua was a bit taken aback by Lu Zhanguo’s gaze. It felt as if Lu Zhanguo’s gaze had pierced through to the depth of his soul. Coupled with Lu Zhanguo’s cryptic statement, Jiang felt a little anxious.

Jiang Jiahua believed that he admired and appreciated Gu Xiaobei, but he didn’t harbor any inappropriate thoughts. However, one word and one glance from Lu Zhanguo seemed to penetrate through the deepest desire in his heart that he was not even aware of - that he wanted Gu Xiaobei.

Startled by his own thoughts, Jiang Jiahua quickly lowered his head to eat his noodles.

Gu Xiaobei was completely oblivious to the brief clash between the two men and happily held her bowl of mutton soup, "This mutton soup would be perfect if we had fresh green onions. It’s a shame they don’t sell them in the provincial city during the winter."

Lu Zhanguo turned and lovingly looked at Gu Xiaobei, "When we back home, I’ll plant some green onions in the flowerpot on the balcony. This way, you can have it anytime."

Gu Xiaobei looked at Lu Zhanguo quizzically. Something was different about him today. In the past, he would’ve quietly done it without saying it out loud. However, his directness was quite endearing today. Thinking this, she couldn’t help but smile.

From across the table, Jiang Jiahua watched the affectionate interaction between them quietly. It felt as if a rock was lodged in his chest, heavy and uncomfortable.

After the meal, Jiang Jiahua didn’t stay long and left. Gu Xiaobei began to clean up the dishes and urged Chunling to rest. The past few days had been tiring with her taking care of the children, laundry, and household chores. She hadn’t had time to rest properly.

After washing the dishes, Gu Xiaobei returned to the room to find the children asleep. Xiaopang was squirming and pressed tightly against Lu Zhanguo, and one of his small legs was resting on Mo Wang. Somewhat surprised, she whispered, "Xiaopang usually falls asleep while nursing and fusses if not. He didn’t cry today, it’s like the sun rose from the west."

Lu Zhanguo decided not to move for fear of waking the children up and spoke quietly, "You should also lie down and rest for a while." He knew that Gu Xiaobei must have been sleep-deprived from all the back and forth in the past few days.

Gu Xiaobei climbed onto the brick bed, covered the children well, initially wanted to lie next to Mo Wang, but after a thought, she went to the other side of Lu Zhanguo, laid down and said with her face against his shoulder, "It’s really great to have you here. It makes me feel secure."

Being worn-out from recent days, Gu Xiaobei fell into a deep sleep within minutes of lying down. Lu Zhanguo looked at his daughter and son on his right, then at his little wife who was snuggling on his left. He felt that Gu Xiaobei was right – sleeping in this way felt truly secure.

After a few more days, Gu Xiaobei noticed that Lu Zhanguo was recovering incredibly well. He was already able to carry Xiaopang and move around.

Gu Xiaobei decided to allow Ge Chunling to return home. She felt it was inappropriate to keep her here after such a long period of help.

Ge Chunling hesitated, "I’ll wait until the company commander is fully recovered before I leave. I really don’t have anything important to do at home anyway."

Gu Xiaobei winked and said while smiling, "You’re not in a hurry, but I’m afraid that your husband Guanghan might be."

Ge Chunling blushed at Gu Xiaobei’s joke, but insisted on staying. The thought of Gu Xiaobei alone having to care for the two children and Lu Zhanguo seemed too difficult.

"Don’t worry. As you can see, my husband Lu is almost fully recovered. He can stay at home to look after the children while I can go out to buy groceries," insisted Gu Xiaobei.

Lu Zhanguo also chimed in, "Xiaobei, call Liu Hongbing later and ask him to help Chunling buy a ticket."

Seeing that Lu Zhanguo had spoken, Chunling didn’t say anything more.

After lunch, Gu Xiaobei put the two children to sleep and was getting ready to make the phone call. To avoid creating an awkward situation between Chunling and Zhanguo, she asked Chunling to accompany her. They would be back within an hour.

The two women left the residential complex, found a public phone and called Liu Hongbing. After hanging up, Gu Xiaobei saw a grocery store across the street. She thought she should buy some food for Chunling to snack on during the journey and some junk food for Dadong and Xiaodong to take back home. They had been a great help to her recently. Even if she had three heads and six arms, she wouldn’t have been able to manage everything.