Back To The 80s

Gu Xiaobei took Ge Chunling into the food store and paid attention to the items displayed on the tall counter: pastries, twisted dough sticks, fruit candies. At the fruit candy counter, she was taken aback by the shop assistant. Wasn’t that Liao Qing?

Liao Qing had trendy curls, her lips dabbed by cheap lipstick. The most notable feature was her hair tucked behind her ears to expose the chunky gold earrings she wore.

Gu Xiaobei was puzzled. Why was Liao Qing here? She seemed to be doing well. Ever since Chen Qiumei had attacked her at the family compound, Gu Xiaobei had not seen Gu Weimin and his family. Suddenly seeing Liao Qing again reminded her that they had not bothered her for a long time. How strange.

Liao Qing had obviously seen Gu Xiaobei as well. A hint of awkwardness flitted across her face before she pretended not to recognize Gu Xiaobei and turned her face away.

Gu Xiaobei had originally intended to buy candies, but lost interest upon seeing that the salesgirl was Liao Qing. She switched to checking out pastries, fried dough twists and such with Ge Chunling.

Ge Chunling noticed that Gu Xiaobei was buying quite a lot of each item and realized that these were meant to be taken home. She tugged at Gu Xiaobei’s arm and said, "Sister-in-law, buy less. These things don’t keep well."

"It’ll be okay. These fried dough twists don’t spoil easily. If you enjoy drinking oil and flour soup, these dough twists would supplement it perfectly as breakfast," Gu Xiaobei said. She bought two jins of each item, separately packaged for Ge Chunling to share with Li Fengmei’s household.

After shopping, Gu Xiaobei couldn’t help but glance back at Liao Qing as she exited the store. Coincidentally, Liao Qing was also looking at her. Their gazes met and Liao Qing quickly averted her eyes again, looking uncomfortable.

Suppressing her curiosity, Gu Xiaobei hurriedly went home with Ge Chunling. Upon their arrival, the children were still asleep, and Lu Zhanguo was in the bathroom washing diapers.

"Who asked you to wash these? Put them down right now! You’re just throwing your health away," Gu Xiaobei rushed over, sounding angry as she put a stop to it. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Lu Zhanguo stood up and looked at Gu Xiaobei’s stern face, saying, "It’s not a big deal, it’s quite quick work." When Gu Xiaobei had held his hand that day, he had noticed a change. Her hands were no longer soft and delicate but had become hard and coarse. He felt an overwhelming sense of distress. She had to wash so many diapers in cold water every day, and in winter, the water was chillingly cold. Her hands were chapped.

So taking advantage of Gu Xiaobei’s absence today, he quickly washed the diapers. Between the two children, they could go through a whole tub of diapers in just one morning.

The more he washed, the more desolate he felt. Every day there were so many soiled diapers, not to mention the children’s clothes that needed to be changed every day. Sometimes when the children spit up their milk, they needed to change clothes several times in a day. His poor wife had to wash all of them, plus find time to translate, cook, and nurse the children, especially since Xiaopang was such a handful.

With so many household chores, it’s no wonder that she would fall asleep immediately every night by the time she had finished. When the children woke up in the middle of the night for a feeding, she would feed them without even opening her eyes, and would continue sleeping as the children ate.

For the first time, Lu Zhanguo felt that he had failed - both as a husband and a father.

Gu Xiaobei had no idea that Lu Zhanguo had so much swirling in his mind. She maintained a stern expression and said, "That’s not acceptable either. If you continue to disobey me, I’ll just take the kids and go back home, leaving you here by yourself."

Seeing Gu Xiaobei genuinely angry, Lu Zhanguo kept quiet due to Ge Chunling’s presence. He put down the diapers obediently and entered the room.

Visibly irritated, Gu Xiaobei poured out her thoughts to Ge Chunling. "How can such a grown man not know how to take care of himself?"

Laughing, Ge Chunling said, "Commander Lu just cares about you. He wants to help bear some of the burdens."

"I know he cares about me. I’d willingly accept all hardships as long as he’s healthy," Gu Xiaobei replied with a pouty expression. She was on the verge of tears.

Seeing this, Ge Chunling quickly changed the subject, asking, "We are making dumplings tonight, aren’t we? I’m going to mince the meat now. Would you prefer cabbage or radish stuffing?"

Gu Xiaobei thought for a moment and said, "Let’s have cabbage stuffing. I’ll wash the cabbage."

"No need for that. You should go and check on Mo Wang and Xiaopang. They should be waking up soon." Ge Chunling pushed Gu Xiaobei into the room and kindly closed the door behind her.

Lu Zhanguo was sitting on the bed, looking nervously at Gu Xiaobei as he said, "Don’t be angry. I’m recovering very well now." He thought about their time together, and about how Gu Xiaobei had rarely spoken to him so harshly. He was a little nervous.

Gu Xiaobei walked over and held his hand, saying, "I know you’re worried about me, but you don’t understand that I’m more afraid of you not waking up. I’m not afraid of suffering as long as we, a family of four, can be together forever. That’s more important than anything else." She never wanted to experience that heart-wrenching anguish again in her life.

Moved by her words, Lu Zhanguo held Gu Xiaobei’s hand tighter. He remembered everything that she had spoken about when he was in a coma, and appreciated her efforts more. She only had him in this world.

"Alright, I’ll listen to you from now on. We’ll stay together as a family from now on," Lu Zhanguo assured her.

Only then did Gu Xiaobei show a smile. She laid her head on Lu Zhanguo’s shoulder, ready to enjoy some quiet time together.

Lu Xiaopang woke up, and upon not feeling his parents’ warm embrace, he started to cry. His crying awoke Mo Wang, who was sleeping peacefully. Little Mo Wang, not understanding the situation, started crying loudly after hearing his sister’s cries.

Gu Xiaobei quickly climbed on the bed and picked up Mo Wang, saying, "Why are you crying today? Isn’t Mommy right here?"

Lu Zhanguo also picked up Xiaopang, and once they were in their parents’ arms, the two little ones immediately quieted down. Xiaopang stuck his head out, rooting in his father’s chest for milk, making Gu Xiaobei laugh as she held Mo Wang.

Ge Chunling finished mincing the meat and kneading the dough. Gu Xiaobei had also finished feeding the children, and left them with Lu Zhanguo to help Ge Chunling make the dumplings.

Ge Chunling minced a lot of meat, and there was a generous amount of dough. She said to Gu Xiaobei, "It’s cold now so you can make more than usual. Keep the leftovers on the balcony of your kitchen. You won’t have to cook tomorrow."

"You’re so considerate. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us," Gu Xiaobei said while kneading the dough.

Ge Chunling waved her off, telling her, "If you’re going to be so formal, I will be upset. It’s like the saying goes ’A close neighbour is better than a distant relative’, right? We get along so well, it’s normal for me to help out."

While they were making the dumplings, Liu Hongbing arrived with his wife and son. Liu Hongbing’s wife was named Tian Yuanyuan. She was a primary school teacher who wore glasses and had a refined presence. She gave off a very comfortable and approachable vibe. Their son was eight months old, a cute, chubby-faced little boy who looked very clever.

Perhaps owing to her profession as a teacher, Tian Yuanyuan had a slightly hoarse voice due to frequent speaking. Still, she had a pleasant laugh. She said to Gu Xiaobei, "I’ve meant to visit you for some time, but due to being so busy with work, I didn’t have the time. Since today is my day off, I decided to come with Hongbing and visit you."

"As a working woman, of course, you wouldn’t have the flexibility. What’s your little boy’s name?" Gu Xiaobei said as she playfully reached for the little boy in Tian Yuanyuan’s arms.