After the gathering at Chunhua’s Household had dispersed and everyone had helped with the cleanup and returned home, Cheng Su’s Household also had set up a table. Even though it had been tidied up, things were still a bit messy. Since she disliked disorderliness, she simply rolled up her sleeves and cleaned everything up once more, inside and out.
Qi Taiguo had drunk quite a bit and was too lazy to move, but seeing Cheng Su roll up her sleeves, he also stood up to help sweep and mop the floor, until everything was clean. Then, they both washed up before lying in bed to talk.
Cheng Su brought up the matter of Hualing stirring up trouble and grumbled, "She just can’t stand to see me live in peace. Just when things have been quiet for a while, she has to pick on me. Tell me, do you think it’s because she can’t have kids that she’s taking it out on me?"
Before Qi Taiguo could reply, she continued, "That’s enough, really. Her infertility has nothing to do with me, so why take it out on me? It’s just inexplicable."
"Didn’t you just say these past few days she might have been feeling irritable? Getting upset with her is exactly what she wants," Qi Taiguo consoled her.
"That’s true," Cheng Su pursed her lips, then turned to look at him.
"What is it?"
Blinking, Cheng Su said, "However, one thing she said does make some sense."
"Hmm?"
"I mean, just if, and I’m talking hypothetically here, if you really have to be stationed at the border for three to five years, we’d definitely have to live apart, and then having children really would be an issue!" Cheng Su said.
The new year had passed, and she was twenty-one, while Qi Taiguo was already twenty-nine. According to her own way of thinking, both of them were still very young, but by the standards of the time, Qi Taiguo was of the age where many were already fathers.
If, by some misfortune, he was deployed to the border, then their plans to become parents would have to be pushed back a few years. But was that really okay?
Cheng Su didn’t have a particular longing for children at the moment, but Qi Taiguo probably did, right? Not to mention the Qi family, who all had their eyes on her belly.
"So what now?" Qi Taiguo turned to look at her too.
Cheng Su bit her lip and said, "What do you think about us having a child now?"
"Didn’t you not want to have one right now?" Qi Taiguo raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, but if you really get selected, and you go away for a few years, and you never know when you’ll come back, I’m not in a hurry, but you aren’t either?" Cheng Su pouted, "I’m just afraid that you’ll blame me later, when everyone else’s kids are in elementary school and yours doesn’t even exist."
Qi Taiguo laughed, stretched his arm from under her neck, pulled her into his embrace, and said, "I’ve already agreed to wait for you, what is there to blame? You’re such a fool."
"Who knows? You’re good at talking after the fact," Cheng Su scratched his chest.
"Actually, that’s exactly why we can’t have kids right now," Qi Taiguo said.
"Why?"
"If you got pregnant and I was sent to the border, wouldn’t I have to leave you and our child behind? That’s no good. Pregnancy is tough, giving birth is tougher, and raising a child is too exhausting. If you had to endure it all alone, how would you manage if you couldn’t cope? I wouldn’t feel assured or bear to let you do that. So, it’s best if you get pregnant and have the baby while I’m here!" Qi Taiguo spoke from his heart, sharing thoughts he had been having over the last few days.
A wave of warmth swept over Cheng Su’s heart, and she buried her head in his chest, saying, "This is your own words, don’t you go back on them in the future!"
"Hmm," Qi Taiguo drew out the drawer, took out that box with only three condoms left, and said, "I won’t go back on my word. So, how about taking good care of me tonight?"
"Scram, you little brat!"
But Qi Taiguo had already pressed down on her, and Cheng Su soon couldn’t resist anymore. Her hands scrambled around, grabbing at the condoms Qi Taiguo had taken out, and she felt that something was not right, but before she could figure it out, he had snatched them away and...