Five years ago, Sister Zhai Hua had just come into contact with Wei De. At most, they just began to have positive feelings for each other and were in the midst of confirming their relationship as a couple. How could they possibly have a child then?
“I see…” Miao Jing heaved a sigh of relief. It was fine as long as it was not Hua Hua’s child.
As to whether this child was Wei De’s nephew, Miao Jing did not care. Of course, if this child was Wei De’s son, her reaction would be much stronger. This was because, in that case, Zhai Hua could just directly break up with Wei De.
“Auntie Miao, good day.” Wei De could only address Miao Jing as ‘auntie’ in front of Qiao Nan. On the contrary, Qiao Nan could now openly address Miao Jing as ‘mom’, and Miao Jing smiled happily when she heard that. He thus felt very unhappy. “I heard that Regiment Commander Zhai and Qiao… Teacher Xiao Qiao are engaged. I came here specially to congratulate them. Wei Wei, greet everyone.”
Wei De put Wei Wei down on the ground and then gently waved Wei Wei’s hands.
Wei Wei, who was dark-skinned and quite sturdy-looking, lifted his tiny head and called ‘maternal grandma’ with his baby voice.
At the sound of this ‘maternal grandma’, Miao Jing nearly fainted.
Wei Wei was just a child and could not read the change in Miao Jing’s expression. He then turned his tiny head and looked at Qiao Nan. “Little auntie-in-law?”
Qiao Nan nearly spat out her saliva. Wei De really knew how to teach Wei Wei. Wei De had really assumed that he was the son-in-law of the Zhai family. He had taught the child to address them directly as such. “Little friend, what is your name?”
“Wei Wei.”
“Oh, how old are you this year?”
Wei Wei showed three of his fingers but said, “Four years old.”
“Oh, Wei Wei is already four years old. Wei Wei, are you going to study here in the future?”
Wei Wei nodded honestly.
Qiao Nan smiled. “If Wei Wei is going to study at the school here, when you see someone like her in the future, you should call ‘grandma’, and when you see someone like me, you should call ‘sister’. In this way, people will adore Wei Wei.”
Given Qiao Nan’s age, she was not pretending to be young when she asked the children to address her as sister.
With Wei De’s teaching, was he not afraid that the child would address others wrongly at school? He would become a joke.
In the eyes of a child, one form of address represented a category of people. Depending on how the adults taught him, he would simply categorize the same kind of people and address them in the same way.
“Grandma? Grandma is at home.” At the thought of Mother Wei, Wei Wei said with some longing, “Uncle, I miss grandma. I miss Mom. I miss home.”
In this place that was full of strangers, there was no one familiar by his side. Actually, Wei Wei could not adjust well at all. He had been crying every two or three days. He had even lost weight.
One week ago, when Wei De just brought Wei Wei to Ping Cheng, Wei Wei was truly a little dark-skinned and plump boy.
As Wei Wei said that, he started to cry and throw tantrums. His two legs were kicking nonstop. The sound of wailing made people feel like they were going to have a headache. The sound of the cries proved that Wei Wei must be a very healthy and lively child at normal times. His lung capacity was quite huge.
“Wei Wei, how did uncle teach you before you came here?” Wei De was so angry that his face looked scrunched up. Clearly, he had taught Wei Wei so many times at home. In order to coax Wei Wei to be obedient, he had even bought many toys and mini cars for Wei Wei.
At home, he had agreed to be obedient. However, he had to fumble the ball at the most critical juncture when he was at the Zhai family.
Wei De, who had initially wanted to make use of Wei Wei to gain favor, was extremely angry. He felt the child had dragged him down instead.
Miao Jing’s expression turned increasingly sullen. Finally, she could not endure it any longer. She could not even be bothered to ask what had happened at the entrance to make the old master and Zhai Yaohui’s faces looked so black. She simply said, “I’m exhausted today. I’m going back to my bedroom to rest.”
After saying that, Miao Jing simply passed the authority of controlling the situation to Qiao Nan. “Nan Nan, take care of the guests in the house.”
In short, the difference between Qiao Nan and Wei De was akin to the borders of two opposing powers. There were very clear boundaries drawn.
The Wei family was just an unwelcome guest in the Zhai family whereas Qiao Nan was part of the family.
Qiao Nan had no choice but to take over this mess. She grabbed a few sweets that were beside her and squatted in front of Wei Wei. “Wei Wei, right? You’re already four years old. You’re a big boy now. Let’s not cry. As long as you don’t cry, sister will give you these sweets, okay?”
A child was always like that. They became content very easily. When they heard that there were food and toys, they would be distracted very easily.
Seeing that the sweets in Qiao Nan’s hands looked nice and seemed delicious, Wei Wei really stopped crying. He even nodded.
As promised, Qiao Nan passed the sweets to Wei Wei. She even unwrapped one of the sweets and placed it in Wei Wei’s mouth. At this moment, Wei Wei completely quieted down. He was no longer kicking up a fuss. This also gave the adults an opportunity to talk.
IIONI
Once Miao Jing left, Zhai Sheng dominated Qiao Nan again.
At the sight of this scene, Zhai Sheng whispered into Qiao Nan’s ears. “Next time, when we have children, you will definitely be able to raise them up well.”
Zhai Sheng looked forward to how Qiao Nan and their children would look while they were standing together. Of course, he was looking forward more to when the child would arrive and the process of having one.
Qiao Nan blushed. She shot Zhai Sheng a glare before she said to Wei De, “Keeping the guests standing is not a practice of our Zhai family. Everyone, please have a seat. Grandpa, don’t forget that your legs are not good. You can’t stand for too long. Auntie, make some tea and also bring some cakes and pastries out. It’s not good if the child becomes hungry.”
Those guests had left after eating at the banquet. Although Qiao Nan was still around, Qiao Dongliang and Shi Qing had already gone home first.
Zhai Sheng said that he would send Qiao Nan home.
The two of them were engaged today. The couple also needed some private time together. This time, Qiao Dongliang could not stop them anymore. They were already an official couple. He could not possibly forbid them from having some time together, right?
Judging from the way Wei De and Wei Wei looked, they must have been waiting outside for a long time. It was just that they did not have a chance to enter the Zhai’s residence.
They had waited for such a long time. The adults could endure hunger but the child could not.
True enough, just as the auntie served the cakes and pastries, Wei Wei’s eyes lit up. Without the need for anyone to prompt him, his two little hands grabbed the cakes and stuffed them into his mouth. Wei De could not even stop him.
“Auntie, could you get a cup of warm water for the child, please?”
“There is a lot of fruit juice at home. Do you want that?” There was a lot of fruit juice leftover after the banquet today. The auntie asked as she did not want to waste them.
“No need. Just get some plain water.” Qiao Nan did not like the packaged juices nowadays as there was too much artificial sugar and flavoring in them. If they had too much of it, it was not good for the health of an adult, not to mention that of a child.
In fact, Qiao Nan meant well but Wei De was not aware. He thought that Qiao Nan was petty and could not even bear to let Wei Wei drink some fruit juice. His expression turned black on the spot.
Old Master Zhai snorted in displeasure. “Hua Hua, what kind of taste of yours is this?!” There were some people who looked good but had no substance. At the very least, they were good-looking. However, the Wei De before him should be described as someone who had neither looks nor substance.
His looks were average but he was not down-to-earth at all.