Chapter 34
Liang Shi and Lingdang did not have a good relationship.
To be precise, Liang Shi didn't like children before. When they got married, Lingdang was a flower girl, and she always seemed timid and hesitant, not daring to come over and talk to Xu Qingzhu.
During the meal, Lingdang and Xu Qingzhu sat at the same table, and Xu Qingzhu kept looking after her.
Lingdang lowered her guard a little, but the little girl wanted to eat shrimp. She didn't know how to peel them, and she had to look at Liang Shi's expression to take shrimp from the plate. It was Xu Qingzhu who peeled a few shrimp for her.
Hsu Ching-chu once told Liang Shi, "Don't be so fierce, you'll scare the children."
Liang Shi frowned and replied indifferently, "With such a timid nature, it's no wonder you got scared."
The child was being mischievous, running around the wedding venue. He tripped over a string, fell to the ground, and hit his knee, crying loudly in pain.
Liang Shi scooped her up from the ground, his expression one of disgust and impatience. "You're so annoying."
Anyone could tell that it wasn't a worried complaint, but a genuine feeling of dislike.
Liang Shi did all this when Liang Xinhe and his wife were not present. When Lingdang met her parents, she was very caring towards her. Even when she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown, she tried her best to endure it.
Children are the most perceptive of changes in adults' emotions.
Especially little girls this young are very sensitive emotionally.
So Lingdang was always quite afraid of her, let alone take the initiative to come and play with her.
What exactly happened in just a few days?
Xu Qingzhu looked at Liang Shi, took Lingdang's hand, squatted down to look her in the eye and chatted with her, asking softly, "Have you had breakfast?"
"I've already eaten. The nanny made seafood porridge for me," Lingdang replied in her childish voice.
"Okay," Liang Shi said, "Let's say goodbye to Mom first, and then go play games, okay?"
"Okay." Lingdang tilted her head, revealing a small tiger tooth when she smiled, and turned to wave to her mother. "Goodbye, Mom! Be careful on your way home, and come pick me up again tonight!"
"Okay, then you have to be good with your aunt and uncle, okay? You can't have ice cream today, and you can't let your aunt buy you toys," Sun Meirou gently instructed. "Mom will be back soon."
"It's okay, Grandma is important," Lingdang said. "You should tell Grandma that I miss her!"
Sun Meirou chuckled, "I know."
Liang Shizheng and Lingdang were discussing what to play later, while Xu Qingzhu said to Sun Meirou, "Second sister-in-law, I will take good care of Lingdang, don't worry."
"Thank you, sister-in-law." Sun Meirou said, then suddenly leaned closer and whispered, "When my third sister came home last time, I felt like she was a different person. She was more patient with Lingdang. There was nothing to do at the old house, so she just played with Lingdang the whole time. So this time when I was going back to my mother's house, she insisted on coming here to play. I couldn't do anything about it."
"It's alright," Xu Qingzhu said. "It's Sunday today, so we both have time."
“Hmm.” Sun Meirou paused, then looked at Xu Qingzhu’s lower abdomen, “Sister-in-law…”
He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
Xu Qingzhu asked, "Second sister-in-law, what's wrong?"
Sun Meirou smiled and said, "It's nothing."
However, her gaze towards Xu Qingzhu's lower abdomen was too obvious, so Xu Qingzhu immediately said, "Second sister-in-law, I'm not pregnant."
Sun Meirou: "..."
She gave an awkward smile, "I thought it was because you were pregnant that Third Sister started to like children."
Xu Qingzhu was also helpless, but she didn't expose Liang Shi in front of Sun Meirou. She only said, "Maybe it's because she's grown up. She has indeed become very good recently."
"That's good." Sun Meirou chatted with her casually. "People often say that you should marry a virtuous wife. If you have a good wife, you've already succeeded halfway in life. Third Sister used to be spoiled too much by her mother-in-law. She's much better now, and that's all thanks to you."
Xu Qingzhu: "...?"
How could I dare?
"Maybe she's getting older," Xu Qingzhu said dismissively. "She probably also feels that if she continues to be spoiled, no one will be willing to support her anymore."
"Anyway, this is quite good." Sun Meirou glanced at her watch. "It's getting late, I'll go first. You can take care of Lingdang for the day. If you have children in the future, I will help you take care of them."
Xu Qingzhu: "..."
She coughed softly and said with an awkward smile, "Okay, Second Sister-in-law, be careful on the road."
After Sun Meirou left, Xu Qingzhu closed the door and turned around to see Liang Shi standing in the middle of the road with a bell in his hand, looking at her with a very serious and earnest expression.
Xu Qingzhu's heart suddenly skipped a beat. "What are you doing? You scared me."
"No." Liang Shi chuckled, teasingly saying, "Why are you so timid?"
Xu Qingzhu tucked the stray hairs behind her ear and walked back casually, saying, "It's none of your business."
She was just thinking—was she being pressured to have a baby in a roundabout way?
"Was Second Sister-in-law subtly pressuring you to have a baby just now?" Liang Shi asked.
Xu Qingzhu: "...?"
She stared at Liang Shi with wide eyes.
Liang Shi asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"
Xu Qingzhu was silent for a few seconds, then shook her head and said, "It's nothing."
I never expected the two of them to have such great chemistry.
"Don't take my second sister-in-law's words to heart," Liang Shi clarified. "I know what you're thinking, and I won't force you to have children."
Xu Qingzhu raised an eyebrow at her. "What do I think?"
Liang Shi: "..."
She glanced at the bell and decided to swallow all her words.
This little kid is already mimicking speech. When we go back to the old house, he'll just say that his aunt and uncle are getting a divorce.
Liang Shi felt that he probably wouldn't have any good days ahead of him.
Putting aside how Liang Xinhe would condemn her, given Qiu Zimin's eagerness to pair her with Zhou Yi'an, she'd probably receive a threatening phone call the very next day after she went to get a divorce.
Let's forget about it.
"Auntie, Auntie," Lingdang looked up and asked innocently, "Are you two arguing?"
Xu Qingzhu & Liang Shi: "..."
The two exchanged a glance and simultaneously denied it: "No."
Liang Shi squatted down and patted Lingdang's head. "How could Aunt and Auntie be arguing? We were just chatting."
“But when my parents argue, they use these kinds of rhetorical questions.” Even though she was young, Lingdang already knew what rhetorical questions were. She pouted, “My dad would say: What did I do wrong? Did I do something wrong? Are you unhappy?”
She imitated Liang Xinhe's accent quite well, especially the rising tone at the end, which was quite impressive.
This amused Liang Shi and Xu Qingzhu, who both thought she was quirky and clever.
However, fearing that she might repeat this when she got back, Liang Shi patiently explained to her what he and Xu Qingzhu had just done. "This is just our unique way of getting along. It's like how your father talks to your mother. He didn't argue with her; he was just asking if what he did was reasonable. Every couple has their own unique way of communicating, so don't make wild guesses."
The bell seemed to understand, but not quite. "Okay."
After Liang Shi finished speaking, she noticed that Xu Qingzhu was staring at her intently, her eyes conveying the message: "You keep making things up, and I'll just watch you make things up quietly."
Liang Shi: "..."
//
Xu Qingzhu has been very busy lately. She was originally scheduled to work on the plan for the autumn new product launch in the morning and meet with Sally, Cherry, and Dr. Gu in the afternoon. However, since Lingdang rarely comes over, she felt embarrassed to go directly to the study and leave Lingdang there.
Among the entire Liang family, Liang Xinhe and Sun Meirou were the easiest to talk to.
Therefore, because of this affection, Xu Qingzhu will also treat Lingdang very well.
Liang Shi and Lingdang are playing a game called Snake.
She then took her laptop, sat on the sofa to work on her proposal, and Lingdang said very sensibly, "Auntie, you can go and do your work, I'll just play with you."
Xu Qingzhu laughed, "Then wouldn't I have been a poor host?"
"It's okay," Bell said. "Just finish your work quickly and then play with me."
“My mom says it’s immoral to disturb other people’s work,” Lingdang said emphatically. “So when my dad is working at home, I never let him play with me.”
"Lingdang is so well-behaved," Liang Shi praised gently.
It must be said that Sun Meirou taught Lingdang very well.
She has a pleasing appearance, a gentle and cute personality, is well-mannered, not naughty, and never makes unreasonable demands.
Xu Qingzhu looked at her and couldn't help but pinch her cheek. "But I want to stay with you. You don't need to worry about me. I'll be done soon."
She did part of it after she got back last night, and with what she just did, it's just a matter of finishing it up.
Bell nodded, "Okay, then we'll wait for you."
Afterwards, she quietly told Liang Shi, "Let's be quiet and not disturb our aunt."
Liang Shi thought she was precocious despite her young age, but he still listened to her advice.
For a moment, the only sound in the vast space was the sound of Xu Qingzhu typing on the keyboard.
She became very serious once she got into work mode, and Lingdang was squeezing and kneading her panda doll in her hands.
Seeing that the children were really bored, Liang Shi found a rope in the drawer, tied the two ends together and put it on his hands, and started playing cat's cradle.
The bell had never seen anything like this before, let alone played with it.
Liang Shi then put the thread on her hand and flipped it over once.
Lingdang's eyes lit up, and she wanted to scream with surprise, but she stopped herself in time. She looked a little pitiful as she pursed her lips and dared not speak. After a while, she finally suppressed her voice and whispered to Liang Shi, "Auntie, it's so amazing."
“There’s something even more amazing,” Liang Shi said confidently.
She had Lingdang remove her fingers, then hooked the threads from her hand one by one onto Lingdang's hand, and then had her spread them out, perfectly restoring the previous pattern. Liang Shi stretched out her fingers again to hook them, her nimble fingers flying freely, and when they returned to her hand, they were in a different pattern.
Bell: "!"
She stared wide-eyed, and being very perceptive, she proactively extended her fingers so Liang Shi could replicate the rope on her hand; she wanted to see other patterns as well.
After doing this twice, Lingdang untied the rope and asked in a low voice, "Auntie, can you teach me?"
Liang Shi nodded and smiled gently: "Of course."
When Liang Shi smiled at the bell, the corners of his mouth curved into a perfect arc, his eyes crinkled, and his smile was gentle and beautiful.