Chapter 272

"Ah Ye, Jiaojiao just said they're registering their marriage next month and invited us to the wedding banquet, and I agreed."

"Mm."

"Mm? Why do I feel like you're not in a very good mood?"

"Ever since the children were born, have you noticed that you've become more and more perfunctory with me? You used to call me 'Brother Jiang Ye' so sweetly, but now it's cold and distant—'Ah Ye'."

Under the shade of the tree, the man calmly spoke his heart, which was full of resentment. The more he said, the more aggrieved he felt; it was as if a stone were blocking his heart, heavy and anxious.

It turns out that it's not just women who have postpartum depressive tendencies and sensitive hearts; men do too.

It was just that Jiang Ye had given people the impression of being mature and steady from the very beginning.

So when Shen Man, and everyone around him, habitually relied on him, they instead ignored him.

He was actually fragile too, longing to receive care and to receive his wife's reliance as he always had.

But Shen Man was completely unaware of this point, ignoring the needs of the person closest to her.

She was busy with her postpartum recovery, and her attention was either on the children or on work...

"I'm sorry, I—"

In an instant, many, many images flashed through Shen Man's mind.

The apology was stuck in her throat. Yes, she had been perfunctory with him—oh no, she had ignored him...

"Eeya-ya."

The brother and sister in her arms both felt the strange atmosphere between their parents and subconsciously sought attention, invisibly easing the tension.

Jiang Ye changed the way he was holding the child in his arms and added in a gentle tone:

"I feel much better after saying it out loud. I'm not blaming you; I just wanted to communicate properly in private..."

"Mm, I understand. We are both being a husband and a wife for the first time.

If we do anything wrong, let's not bottle it up inside. Let's communicate in private, talk it out, and discuss things.

If I've done something wrong, I'll change. If it's a misunderstanding, we'll explain it clearly and then discuss a solution..."

Shen Man also changed the way she was holding the child in her arms, and under the man's encouraging and indulgent attitude, she spoke her heart.

No one had taught them how to be a husband and wife, and no one had taught them how to be parents; they were both doing it for the first time.

When encountering emotional problems, although they were caught off guard, as long as it wasn't a matter of principle, the two could sit down, discuss things with a good temper, and communicate; there was no obstacle they couldn't overcome.

"I'm not pointing out that you did something wrong; I just felt a bit of a gap."

Jiang Ye sighed softly, hugging his daughter with one arm while using his other hand to smooth out the hair that had been blown messy by the wind for his wife.

"I hope that you can set aside some time from the children and work to accompany me and care for me—"

After finishing, he couldn't help but reveal a bitter smile; perhaps he was being greedy.

"I can. I'm sorry, it was me who ignored your feelings. I will correct this in the future."

Shen Man turned her head, rubbed her cheek against the large palm by her ear, and agreed readily.

Then she still had to explain, "Someone teased me, saying that now that I'm a mother, why was I still calling you like a little girl—and that's why I changed how I addressed you. There was absolutely no other meaning behind it."

So that was the reason?

Who was so gossipy?

After the man understood the ins and outs of the matter, the bitterness in his heart dissipated.

It turned out he had been overthinking and twisting things himself.

His wife's change wasn't because of distance or lack of love.

It was precisely because of love that they would treat each other as the closest people.

And people often don't hide their bad tempers in front of those closest to them, thereby ignoring the other person...

"Also, I—I wasn't intentionally being cold to you. At first, it was because I couldn't share a bed during my postpartum recovery, and then Grandpa moved in to help with the children, so it wasn't very convenient..."

Since they were clearing up misunderstandings, Shen Man simply stated all her concerns.

Husband and wife are one; she had previously thought the man was omnipotent and ignored his emotions.

Now she realized her mistake; no matter how strong the other party was, they were still a flesh-and-blood individual.

Some words, or small details ignored in daily life, could very likely provoke conflict between husband and wife and form a barrier.

"I'm sorry, I was overthinking it."

Jiang Ye combed through the mess in his mind. After talking it out, he also realized he had been a bit sensitive and suspicious.

No one is perfect; even sages make mistakes.

After the couple was honest with each other, the emotional crisis was resolved, and their love grew even stronger.

Describing them as a young couple wasn't entirely accurate. From Jiang Ye's perspective, he was the elder, so how could he bicker with his own wife?

From Shen Man's perspective, she was about the same age as him; she wasn't really a nineteen-year-old girl, so how could she be so immature and ignore her own man for so long without giving him enough sense of security?

Love is mutual fulfillment, love is often feeling indebted, love is always keeping each other in one's heart.

Husband and wife fight at the head of the bed and reconcile at the foot of the bed.

The two didn't go so far as to fight, but after eliminating the barriers, there were no more hard feelings in their eyes or hearts; their love was full and came from each other.

The brother and sister, who were playing with their fingers, had no idea that their parents had just had a "serious" talk in a calm manner.

The result was, of course, good. In the decades that followed, the two siblings never saw their parents bicker; at most, they saw them kissing.

When they were little, they would avoid them, but later, when they grew up, they could already manage to bump into them unexpectedly and continue doing whatever they were doing without changing their expressions.

But that's a story for another time...

Different couples, different personalities, different conflicts.

After Shen Man and her husband were honest with each other this time, their relationship got better and better, and both were changing.

The person who felt the difference most intuitively was Grandfather Lu.

He had loved his own wife deeply, so he could naturally feel the sweet atmosphere between his granddaughter and her husband, that kind of sweetness that outsiders couldn't break into.

He was happy to see this.

Only when the relationship is good can they face the storms together in the future, never leaving each other and moving forward hand in hand.

Lu Xiu Bai was completely oblivious to this and didn't notice anything wrong at all.

If there was anything, it was that he felt his sister smiled at her husband more often and for longer than she did at him!

Lu Xiu Bai gritted his teeth; no matter how he looked at his brother-in-law, he didn't find him pleasing.

Perhaps a brother-in-law and a sister's husband are naturally at odds; this saying was very fitting for Lu Xiu Bai.

But setting aside that relationship, he had to admit that Jiang Ye's strategy and ability to command in battle were indeed more impressive than his!

He wasn't as skilled as the other, and he admitted it!

Sigh, when would his rank be able to surpass his brother-in-law's?

He couldn't always be suppressed by him.

He heard there was a secret mission this year; should he go?

Taking advantage of the fact that his special constitution was still there, if he went, he could turn bad luck into good and keep his life.

If he didn't go, without military merit, it would be hard to compete.

What a headache.