"Have you thought it through? Do you want to keep him here? If not, I've already talked to my parents and they're emotionally prepared."
"What do you mean?" Xiang Lan asked, puzzled. "You were talking so well just now."
“It causes you pain,” Fang Zidu said earnestly. “I’ve said before that there’s always a solution to every problem. Find the root cause, eliminate it, and everything will be perfect. You said you didn’t want it before, and I’ve thought about it for a long time. It’s not impossible. The only problem is that we need to make a decision immediately and start planning for our future life—”
She stared at Fang Zidu, dumbfounded, thinking he was just saying it casually.
"I've already researched this online and consulted some doctors by phone. If it's treated within 45 days, it shouldn't have a significant impact on my health."
"No." Xiang Lan was a little confused. "Zi Du, we haven't discussed this matter yet."
"You've already expressed your thoughts, haven't you?" Fang Zidu raised an eyebrow. "Now, you've changed your mind at the last minute, making the decision to keep him here all by yourself, without even telling me."
Xiang Lan was stunned by his train of thought. Suddenly, her mother-in-law's words flashed through her mind. Looking at Fang Zidu's serious face, she felt a pang of fear. Her casual complaint had actually been taken to heart. Didn't he ever experience any emotional turmoil?
“If you feel troubled by this matter, I can personally discuss it with your older brother and parents. It won’t affect you at all.”
"No—" Xiang Lan's body trembled. "That's not what I meant, I just—"
But what? She did say those words, so does that mean she's changed her mind?
"I don't really not want it, I just, I just—" she said, sweating profusely, "I'm just being cute, I'm just being cute."
Fang Zi stared at her silently, which gave her the creeps. He said, "Then we can't change our minds anymore. Once my documents are transferred to the school, we'll have to go get the birth permit."
Xiang Lan lowered her head and ate her noodles, and after a long while she said, "Okay."
"You have to be good from now on and not be willful, okay?" He could see that she was also frightened, so even if she was willful in the future, she probably wouldn't use children's matters to play games.
She dared not speak, could only nod, and could not even be willful. How was she going to live like this?
"Can you tell me who told you they didn't want this child?" He was asking, but his tone was very certain.
This time, Xiang Lan didn't dare betray her brother. Her cute little brain finally started to think: it seems there's a conflict between her brother and husband.
That night, the two lay in bed to sleep. Xiang Lan listened to Fang Zidu's heartbeat, touched her lower abdomen, and felt the sound of blood flowing through her body, echoing each other's movements.
She wasn't afraid of the unborn child, but rather of the deep, inseparable bond that she couldn't resist.
This is something called love, born from the pain of one's own flesh and blood.
Chapter 43
She brought back some local specialties from Haicheng and gave them to Hu Li when she registered at the hospital. She also took the opportunity to show off Fang Zidu's future income and financial prospects to prove that she had sharp eyes and had chosen such a beautiful and intelligent partner from a group of mediocre people.
Hu Li didn't care about her little bit of smugness, but Deng Yifan was extremely jealous. When she came to her little house to pick up things, she wanted to grab her by the neck and make her spit out her radar for finding handsome guys, because good sisters should share.
Xiang Lan felt that her cohabitation with Fang Zidu was generally quite pleasant, if you disregard his personality issues and the time she was startled by him. She barely needed to use her brain; he would automatically input all her schedules into the computer and send her reminders at the designated times. His self-control and execution were so good that even if he stayed up until 2 AM the night before, he would still get up at 6 AM the next day to start working. Compared to him, Xiang Lan suddenly seemed incredibly decadent.
In addition, she is clumsy and can't do laundry, cook, or clean properly. The recipe didn't spare her any leeway.
“If it were just the two of us, of course I could do all these things, but with a little one coming into the family, you’ll need to know a thing or two.” His reasoning was always very sound.
"Maternity nurses and nannies—"
"It's not 24 hours a day, and you can't rely entirely on others. You need to know a little bit yourself, right?"
"I'll teach you, okay?"
Looking at his face, she couldn't utter a single word.
Fangzi gets up early every day to go to the morning market to buy fresh vegetables and meat, and also gets some exercise. When she gets home, she wakes Xianglan up and they have breakfast together. After breakfast, washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen becomes her job. At first, she was clumsy and would often break dishes. She would stick out her tongue to see his reaction, but he would just smile and not say anything.
Xiang Lan got mischievous and deliberately messed up at least half of the dishes in the house, wanting to see if he could stand it and simply take over the work himself.
His voice immediately came over the loudspeaker, "Watch your hands."
By the way, Fangzi even modified the home security system. He removed the bathroom camera and moved it to the kitchen and front door, replacing the old ones with various alarm buttons. The kitchen camera wasn't very useful; he only supervised and gave instructions while she was working.
She made a face at the camera and said, "It's too slippery, I can't hold it steady."
"You used too much dish soap. Be careful next time."
She just couldn't understand why he didn't fall for it.
"Fang Zidu, you've taught me so many times and I still can't understand. Do you think I'm particularly stupid?" She made an innocent expression.
"Hehe." He chuckled, not exposing her true intentions, and said, "It's alright, my IQ is high enough that it won't lower the average. I'll buy another set of dishes tomorrow, and you can smash them slowly."
What happened? Where's the promised sweet romance?
Xiang Lan noticed that Fang Zidu had a style of not wavering until he achieved his goal. She guessed that even if he destroyed all the dishes in the house, he wouldn't even lift an eyelid. This was too boring, so she gave up.
Once his cleaning skills reached a basic level, Fangzi started cooking, because he couldn't bear to let his wife and children eat only vegetable salads and fruits when he wasn't home.
"What's wrong with this being healthy, delicious, and nutritious?"
"Humans are carnivores."
Fangzi didn't have any expectations for Xiang Lan. He simply taught her a few stews that were perfect for lazy people. All she had to do was wash and chop all the ingredients, throw them into the pot, and that was it.
"Fang Zidu, there's a reason my brother taught you to cook. If he knew you treated me like this, guess what would happen to you?" Xiang Lan said to the small loudspeaker while learning to chop various scallions, ginger, and garlic.
"He can't do anything to me unless he's willing to mess with you."
She picked up the knife and tested the blade with the pad of her thumb. She wondered if he would stop if she hurt her hand. But risking her own life seemed like a bad deal.
"Fang Zidu, these are the hands of an artist, and you've ruined them like this."
"It's okay, a scientist's hand is with you."
The two were working enthusiastically at home, seemingly forgetting the lonely obsidian on the coffee table in the living room—their graduation project, which had been completely forgotten.
When Liu Nanyang pushed open their door, the two young people were discussing how to simplify the housework process. One was looking for design blueprints for a cooking robot on his computer, while the other was making requests. When he saw him arrive, the other simply said, "Sit down."
"Lanlan, how's your graduation project going?"
Xiang Lan pushed the untouched stone on the table over, saying, "Still like this."
"May Day is just around the corner, and once it's over, we'll start arranging our thesis defenses!"
"I know." She was past the point of being anxious; there was a sense of utter despair about it all.
"Zidu, have you had any new works lately?" Liu Nanyang looked at him with expectant eyes. "Or your old ones are fine too, let me see them."
“No,” Xiang Lan replied immediately. “He’s very busy. He’s reporting for duty next week, and he’s running around dealing with paperwork every day.”
"So busy!" Liu Nanyang said with a sympathetic look. "That's how it is with scientific research, working day and night. Our department is much better; when we have free time, we can go out for inspiration, and when we have a burst of ideas, we can go into seclusion for a few days, eat and have fun, and not have to miss out on anything. Zidu, how about hanging out with your uncle?"
“No interest.” She immediately refused. “Those graduate students under your supervision seem to be living very miserable lives.”
Without inspiration, no work can be produced; people will die. She wasn't unaware of the horrific state of those people, forced by this devilish teacher to explore the limits of their talent and unleash their so-called self-potential. To this end, they were willing to engage in all sorts of practical experiences. In the old man's words, if you don't have enough talent, make up for it with experience. Thus, in just a few years, she witnessed many inhumane performance art pieces. One senior student, to experience what it felt like to be sealed up, stripped naked, wrapped his entire body in tape, and couldn't move for several hours. In the end, he not only experienced the feeling of suffocation but also the exhilarating sensation of having all the hair on his body plucked out when the tape was torn off. The piercing scream he made that day still sends chills down her spine when she recalls it.
"How do we play?" The formula was pulled out from the design drawings.
"Writing and drawing is simple, you have a foundation, and it's a lot of fun."
"OK!"
"How can you do this?" Xiang Lan stood up, grabbed Liu Nanyang's arm, and tried to kick him out. "Uncle, go away. You're not allowed to corrupt my Zidu."
"Little girl, what's the rush?"
"You have so many students yourself, why don't you go and give them some proper guidance first?"
"We need to have a life outside of work."
Xiang Lan bit her lip, knowing that Liu Nanyang was determined to get all the prescriptions to his side. She chuckled to herself and remained silent.
"How's drawing?" Fang Zidu turned to look at Lan. "Is it easy to learn?"
“You’re eager to learn, I’ll teach you. I taught Xiang Lan too. She’s so slow, but she learned it in a few days. You’ll only learn faster and better—” Liu Nanyang laughed and pulled out a box from behind him. “This is a wedding gift for you two.”
"What is it?" Xiang Lan asked disdainfully.
"Open it and take a look—"
She lifted the lid, her hand trembled, and the box tipped over. Fangzi hurriedly reached for it, and Liu Nanyang's throat tightened as he yelled, "What are you doing?"
"What is this thing?"
"Wealth and glory—"
"My God!" Xiang Lan touched her forehead, sweating profusely. The so-called wealth and glory was a hard lump in the box, like a pile of solidified cement, with countless tiny pebbles embedded on the surface. It triggered her trypophobia.
"You blind fool," Liu Nanyang said smugly. "These were dug up in Hotan years ago; they're all pebble stones. I've set them up, so you can keep them at home as decorations. Isn't that interesting?"
"I'm afraid I'll have nightmares, Uncle. Could you send someone something they like?"
"What?"
"Jewelry and such, or you can make me a set yourself—"
"You're dreaming." After rebuking Xiang Lan, Liu Nanyang said to Fang Zidu in a friendly tone, "Zidu, come to my office whenever you have time. I'm available anytime, and we can have a good chat. I'll send you the office address to your phone later, or you can go directly to my studio in the art district. It's spacious there, and you can see exhibitions—it's much more interesting—"
Xiang Lan pushed Liu Nanyang out the door. When they reached the stairwell, she said fiercely, "Uncle, don't try to pull that trick on me. Do you want to lure him into becoming a traitor to science?"
"Science and art have always been one family; what traitor?!"
“I told my brother to never sponsor you again.”
"Hmph, fine, don't sponsor me then, I have my own ways. But finding money is easy, finding a master is hard. Let me tell you, your family's Fang Zidu is a true genius; we can't let his talent go to waste—"
“What waste?” Xiang Lan glared. “His dad thinks he can win the Nobel Prize, and following you is the wrong path.”
"I showed his statue to several people, and they were all amazed. You know what? He's already famous in his small circle—"
"If you keep doing this, I'm taking it back, okay?"
"What a waste of talent! What a waste of talent!" Liu Nanyang lamented. "So many people have begged me to see their works, but I've never bothered to go."
When Xiang Lan returned home, Fang Zi brought out the "Wealth and Prosperity" item and examined it closely, looking at it from all sides with a smile on his face.
"Put it back quickly, I don't want to see it unless all those jade pieces are cut open and made into jewelry."
"Sure, I'll get it for you when I have time."
"You can?"
"You'll learn it in no time."
She looked at him strangely. "Why are you suddenly interested in these things? Are you really going to change careers?"