Chapter 294

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Protagonist:

Lin Xiyu

"Put on the bracelet, and you're one of our family."

Lin Xiyu bent down, picked up Nuan Nuan, and teased her with a smile: "Nuan Nuan, how about living at Auntie's house from now on? Auntie's house has four little brothers and little sisters to play with you."

"Okay."

Nuan Nuan was very cooperative, returning a sweet, sweet smile.

"It's settled then."

Lin Xiyu held the soft, adorable little girl, smiling until her mouth couldn't close: "Stay at Auntie's house tonight, don't leave, let your mom go back all by herself."

"One gold bracelet and you're bought?"

Wu Meng felt sour inside, feigning displeasure: "Little ungrateful thing, Mommy doted on you for nothing."

"Mommy, hug."

Nuan Nuan understood, leaned her little body outward, and reached out her hands toward Wu Meng.

Wu Meng was appeased, hurriedly took her daughter over, and kissed her little cheek hard.

"Hee hee."

Nuan Nuan happily shook her little wrist, the gold bracelet glittering brilliantly in the sunlight's reflection.

——

Each autumn rain brings a chill; the weather suddenly turned cold, and the leaves on the loofah vines all withered overnight.

Lin Xiyu picked the tender loofahs, left a few on the vines, planning to save the seeds for planting next year.

"Loofah sponges wash dishes the cleanest."

Seeing her busy in the vegetable garden, Liu Jie came over to help too: "Back in my hometown, we always used loofah sponges to wash dishes, never used those city things, what steel wool, dishcloths, none of them compare to how useful a loofah sponge is......"

"I also like using loofah sponges......"

Hearing her words, Lin Xiyu left a few more that looked relatively large unpicked, and turned her gaze toward the pumpkins.

"Pumpkins taste best after frost......"

Liu Jie smiled and advised: "No rush to pick now, wait a few more days and they'll be even sweeter and more floury, the flavor will be better."

"The weather's cold."

Lin Xiyu's eyes showed worry: "Won't they freeze and spoil left outside?"

"No."

Liu Jie had vegetable-growing experience: "As long as the outdoor temperature doesn't drop below 5 degrees, they won't freeze; just pick them before the Start of Winter snowfall."

"You're the expert, I'll listen to you......"

Lin Xiyu smiled gently, accepting Liu Jie's advice.

——

The four babies watched Mommy pick loofahs, and after she finished, they toddled along behind her to the water basin.

Wanting the babies to have a sense of participation, Lin Xiyu gave each of them a loofah, letting them help Mommy wash loofahs.

The babies were all very happy, imitating Mommy's movements, washing and playing at the same time, laughing and frolicking in a heap by the water basin.

"Alright, all washed clean?"

Lin Xiyu saw the hour was late, interrupted the babies' frolicking: "Done washing, time to go to the kitchen to cook, Mommy's cooking personally, making stir-fried loofah with eggs for you."

"Washed clean."

The babies understood Mommy's words, all held up the loofahs in their hands, and answered in milky voices.

"Come on, let's go to the kitchen."

Lin Xiyu smiled, waved her big hand, and led the four little ones off to the kitchen in high spirits.

——

"Wow......"

Lin Xiyu used practiced knife skills to slice the loofahs, eliciting a chorus of wows.

The babies' little eyes all lit up; Pingping had the most courage, and pulled the same trick again, tiptoeing, eager to try, reaching a hand toward a kitchen knife placed on the cupboard.

"Aiyo, my little ancestor, you absolutely must not touch the knife......"

Given the previous experience of the little tyke getting stung, Liu Jie's alertness was exceptionally high; seeing Dabao make a move, she immediately rushed in from outside, scooped him up, and carried him out.

Dabao was unhappy, pulling his little throat crying and howling.

Liu Jie was unmoved, held him standing outside the window, firmly refusing to let him come back in.

"Huang Jie, you take Anan and them out too, I'm going to stir-fry."

Fearing hot oil would splash onto the babies and burn their skin, Lin Xiyu gave Huang Jie a meaningful look, signaling her to take the kids away too.

"Okay."

Huang Jie agreed readily, but unfortunately one person couldn't handle three tykes.

The three babies all didn't want to leave, dodging and laughing in the kitchen, playing hide-and-seek with her.

Huang Jie didn't know whether to laugh or cry, caught this one and that one ran off.

Finally it was Guben who heard the commotion, came over from the study, and with a father's imposing pressure subdued the three little tykes, forcibly carrying them out.

——

Outside the kitchen window, Liu Jie held Pingping, Huang Jie held Anan, Guben held a daughter in each hand.

Three adults and four children crowded the window full.

The babies stared wide-eyed into the window, watching Mommy stir-fry and cook rice.

Lin Xiyu heated oil, put it in the wok, stir-fried — one smooth flow, movements practiced and effortless.

To give the babies a more immersive viewing experience, she even deliberately lifted the wok and gave it a toss.

Emerald-green loofah, golden-yellow eggs, paired together turning in the wok, looked especially pleasing to the eye.

The babies watched excitedly, and Guben didn't miss the chance to praise his wife in front of the nannies.

Lin Xiyu wasn't affected in the slightest by the commotion outside the window; her attention stayed on the cooking. Just before taking it off the heat, she sprinkled a bit of salt and chicken essence into the dish, poured it onto a plate, and a plate of fresh, fragrant, delicious loofah scrambled with eggs was done.

"Babies, time to eat."

Huang Jie had already prepared all the other dishes and rice, just waiting for the loofah scrambled with eggs to come out of the wok.

Seeing his beloved wife walk out of the kitchen carrying the plate, Guben also brought the four little tykes along, following behind cheerfully.

"Mommy's cooking, tasty or not?"

Food on the table, the babies ate with mouths full of grease, and he took the opening to flatter his wife again.

"Good, sss—"

The babies' mouths were stuffed with food, speech unclear, soft little milky voices, still making one's mood especially comfortable to hear.

"The loofah was grown by Mommy herself......"

Guben kept leading the rhythm: "Is it especially fragrant to eat?"

"Yes."

Four little heads nodded up and down, couldn't be more adorable.

"Mommy worked so hard......"

Guben watched happily, then said: "Should we give Mommy a little reward?"

"Mm-hmm."

The four babies nodded in unison.

Guben's series of warm-up achieved its purpose; he immediately tossed out the bait: "Let's go one by one, each give Mommy a kiss, okay?"

"Okay."

The four babies' little eyes all lit up, scrambling to give kisses.

Guben also took the opportunity to lean over and kiss his wife.

"The babies kissing is enough, what are you joining in the fuss for?"

Lin Xiyu wasn't accustomed to showing affection in front of outsiders; seeing Grandma Gu and the three nannies all looking at them with joking gazes, she blushed red on the cheeks.

"I am the babies' father....."

Guben gave a black-bellied smile: "Naturally I must set an example for them, play the role model and take the lead."

"You really are......"

In front of the whole family, Lin Xiyu didn't have the nerve to retort; a sentence "thick-skinned enough" that had reached her lips was forcibly swallowed back down.

"Hehe."

The four little babies watching Daddy and Mommy's intimate interaction also grinned their little mouths, hehe laughing stupidly happy.

——

Winter came, snow fell.

Snowflakes fell thick and drifting for a day and a night; roof tiles, wall corners, branch tips — all covered in a thick layer of accumulated snow.

"Babies, come out and play in the snow, Daddy will build you snowmen."

Guben is one who can't sit idle; snow fell and he still didn't settle down, took an iron shovel, built snowmen in the yard.

When it snowed, Lin Xiyu feared the babies would catch cold and get sick, forbade them from going out to play.

Finally waited until the snow stopped; the babies were all going stir-crazy, not one could resist the temptation — hearing Daddy was building snowmen, they all rushed out impatiently.

"Ground's slippery, run slower."

Lin Xiyu hadn't even managed to warn them before she saw the four babies one after another slip underfoot; they hadn't run far before they all fell flat on the ground.

Bundled thick for winter, the falls didn't hurt.

Four snow-dusted little glutinous rice balls, fell down and didn't cry, clumsily climbed up themselves, continued toddling forward to run.

"Ay ay."

Lin Xiyu smiled helplessly, let the babies run wild in the snow, gave up on the idea of chasing after them.

Guben taught by word and deed, teaching the babies to build snowmen.

He had a knack for building snowmen: first rubbed a small snowball by hand, then put the snowball on the ground and rolled; the snowball grew bigger and bigger, in no time it rolled into a big snowball.

The babies clumsily imitated Daddy's movements, also rolling snowballs on the ground.

——

The four babies building snowmen for the first time in their lives, temperaments all different, equally wonderful.

Dabao Pingping pushed for a while, saw the snowball wasn't getting bigger, got a bit anxious.

So the little fairy had a flash of inspiration, changed from pushing with hands to kicking with feet.

The snowball was loose and soft; one kick down, like setting off fireworks, it exploded into dust.

This move, all previous effort wasted; to build a snowman, had to start over from scratch.

——

Anan is a little person of influence; she drew experience from Big Brother's clumsy movements.

The firmer the snowball, the better to roll!

The little fairy was very smart; rolled a few circles then stopped, used hands to squeeze the snowball tight, waited for the snow not to scatter, then continued rolling forward.

As a result, the snowballing speed noticeably accelerated, and before long it had rolled into a snowball the size of a bowl.

——

Xixi has a strong ability to imitate and is good at observing.

Seeing Anan rolling a snowball very smoothly, she also imitated her brother's method and mastered the knack before long.

The little girl was full of motivation, rolling her snowball and frolicking in the snow, and soon surpassed her two brothers.

——

Lele is a bit of a clean freak.

When rolling a snowball, it's inevitable to get a little dirt on it.

A snowball with dirt on it is no longer so pure white and flawless.

Lele couldn't stand the snowball being contaminated; seeking perfection, as long as there was a single blemish, she would stop and pick it off with her little hand.

As a result, her speed noticeably slowed; the snowball didn't roll very large, and her little hands froze bright red instead.

Guben doted on his daughter — truly doted on her down to his bones.

Seeing Lele pursuing perfection, he himself cupped snowflakes that hadn't touched a speck of dirt and let his daughter roll the snowball in his hands.

Lele was happy; with Daddy helping, her speed finally caught up to her brother and sister, and before the snow melted she had also built her own little snowman.

The four babies' snowmen were of various sizes and shapes; with Daddy's help, overall evaluation: Lele's snowman was the best — both the upper and lower snowballs were very round, and its height was the tallest of the four snowmen.

In the snowman-building contest, little cutie Lele, just like at the one-year grab ceremony, became the biggest winner again.

——

"Come come come, time for a photo."

Grandma Gu watched with delight, and her interest stirred again; she wanted to take commemorative photos of the babies.

The babies were also very cooperative, standing in front of their respective snowmen, striking different poses, cooperating with Great-Grandma for the photos.

"This photo is good, take another one, take another one..."

Grandma Gu was in high spirits, holding up the camera and snapping one photo after another.

"Ah-choo."

It was cold in the snowy weather; finally one baby couldn't bear the cold and sneezed.

"Stop taking photos, stop taking photos, hurry back inside."

Guben saw it was Lele; his heart and liver trembled in alarm, and he hurriedly scooped up his daughter and returned to the living room.

Lele had a weak constitution; even drinking ginger sugar water didn't help — she caught a cold after all.

The couple didn't dare delay; when they took their daughter to the hospital to see a doctor, by coincidence they ran into the same doctor who had delivered the four babies.

Lele was already two full years old, reaching the age when surgery could be performed.

For the sake of their daughter's health, the couple thought it over again and again, and in the end accepted the doctor's advice and had surgery done on their daughter.

——

Lele was going to have surgery; her condition could be concealed no longer.

On the day of the surgery, the whole extended family came.

Female Cousin insisted on stuffing a big red envelope to the doctor, still not at ease, and started chattering away again, like ants on a hot pan pacing anxiously at the doorway.

Aunt Da really couldn't stand watching anymore, gave her a slap, and forcefully silenced her.

Pingping, Anan, and Xixi the three babies also came.

At first the three babies didn't understand what was going on; seeing the adults all with lowered brows and grave faces, they followed suit trembling with fear, not daring to cry or make a fuss.

Anan was the smartest; from the adults' low murmurs she heard a different meaning, and combined with her younger sister's absence, guessed the truth.

Younger sister is sick; surgery must hurt a lot, right?!

Anan felt heartache for her younger sister; her eye rims reddened, and patter patter she began shedding tears.

Perhaps the four little babies truly had telepathy; once Anan cried, Xixi and Pingping also cried along.

The three little darlings' crying gave the whole crowd of adults a genuine fright.

Lin Xiyu's first reaction was telepathy.

The babies are crying — could it be the surgery failed, something happened?

She was already anxious for her daughter, couldn't bear thinking further, vision went black, and she nearly fainted on the spot.

Guben, quick-eyed and quick-handed, caught his wife; the usually calm and composed man also revealed a flustered expression at this moment.

Fortunately, the three babies' crying turned out to be a false alarm.

After waiting nearly seven or eight hours, the operating room door finally opened from inside.

"The surgery was very successful."

A surgeon who looked quite young came out to relay the message; as his words landed, a burst of jubilation erupted outside the operating room.

Guben and his wife leaned on each other, shedding tears of emotion.

At this moment Female Cousin found the doctor exceedingly pleasing to the eye; for a moment she couldn't think of any words of gratitude, so she simply took out another big red envelope and insisted on stuffing it to him.

The doctor refused; the two tugged back and forth at the doorway for a good while, until finally Aunt Da couldn't stand it anymore and gave her daughter another slap, invoking her authority as the mother to forcefully stop her daughter's nonsensical commotion.

At this moment, none of the relatives and friends realized that a beautiful marriage had already opened its prologue.

Female Cousin and the doctor — they got acquainted through the tugging, and thus formed a destined connection.

——

Lele was very strong; during her hospitalization she didn't cry or make a fuss.

Under the family's meticulous care, she recovered smoothly and was discharged a month later.

The surgery left a not-small scar; Lin Xiyu didn't want her daughter's young heart to be hurt, so she inquired in many directions and tracked down a fine medicine for removing scars.

Years of persistent effort, applying it every day without interruption, the scar grew lighter and lighter, and finally disappeared completely after a decade.

Lele's body recovered, and the couple also put a Worry to rest.

Guben saw his beloved wife's efforts with his own eyes, and jokingly called the medicinal ointment the "Mother's Love brand".

Only selfless, great maternal love can create miracles.