...
The four of them went out for a meal in the evening. After they got back, Guo Jinnian insisted on sleeping in a separate room from Tong Yao because she tended to toss and turn at night and feared she’d put pressure on Tong Yao.
So they had to get two more rooms for Guo Jinnian and Hu Haiyun.
After a peaceful night’s sleep, the four of them had breakfast together. Gu Hongwei accompanied Tong Yao to the tea shop, then followed Hu Haiyun to Yangcheng Town with their flashlight samples.
Tong Yao sat and drank tea in the tea shop, chatting with Qin Xiaoshuang. Three little dogs settled at her feet, whimpering. Tong Yao stroked each one of their heads, the dogs waggle their tails, though she had no idea what they were yapping about, for she could no longer understand.
Qin Xiaoshuang was quite intrigued, "Boss, these three dogs seem really attached to you. They don’t usually stick to people like this. They mostly run around playing together. Our residents here really like them, even the school allows them freely.
"Maybe it’s because I took them in!" Tong Yao chuckled, scrolling each dog’s head again.
Looking at the chubby little trio, she felt they were adorable. It was a pity that dogs weren’t appropriate to keep in Kyoto. Even if she could take them there, they wouldn’t be as free as they are here. If she could, she would indeed want to take them with her.
Having thought about it, Tong Yao looked at the three puppies and asked: "My parents are on the breeding farm, where food is plentiful everyday, located at the foot of the mountain. Would you like to go there? If you’d like, how about barking twice? When we get a car later, we’ll take you there."
As soon as her voice dropped, the three puppies barked twice in unison. Tong Yao squinted slightly, smiling cheekily: "Well, in a while, once Hongwei gets us a car, we’ll take you there. You can look after the chickens and ducks over there! My parents love little animals, they’ll treat you well."
Hearing her words, the three puppies wagged their tails continuously.
Qin Xiaoshuang and the two shop attendants stared in surprise.
"Boss, they understand what you’re saying!" People usually say dogs are psychic, that they understand human language. Qin Xiaoshuang thought they were exaggerating, but these three dogs really seemed to understand human speech.
That was astonishing.
In this era without the Internet, people rarely saw such intelligent dogs. Suddenly facing three of them, it was quite surprising.
Tong Yao giggled and said: "Indeed they are very clever. Dogs are people’s best friend, they are very faithful. As long as you treat them well, they will never betray you."
Qin Xiaoshuang nodded vigorously, not daring to question these three dogs at all.
The weather was a bit hot and Tong Yao wanted to drink something cold. However, thinking about the baby inside her, she had Qin Xiaoshuang prepare a fruit tea that was just a little colder than room temperature. Just as she took a sip, she heard Zhang Lijuan’s voice from behind.
"Yaoyao."
Tong Yao turned around. There stood Zhang Lijuan with her family of three by the roadside. Zhang Lijuan was holding her child and Si Boyi was carrying some stuff, both were sweaty.
Tong Yao hurriedly stood up and said: "Come in and take a break from the heat."
Zhang Lijuan accepted the invitation without hesitation, walked in with her child, and smiled: "We just arrived in the city. Haven’t found a place to live yet. Boyi thought I’d get too tired carrying the child continually while house hunting, so he had me wait here."
Si Boyi brought in the things and put them in the corner at the entrance, looking somewhat embarrassed he said: "Sorry to disturb you again, Yaoyao. Lijuan is now pregnant. I’m worried she’d get very tired following me around."
Si Boyi was concerned about his wife. He didn’t want Zhang Lijuan to be exhausted from running around with him. Although Lijuan got thinner and thinner, their son was not skinny at all. He weighed more than twenty pounds and holding him made the arms sore.
He couldn’t hold the child because he was carrying too many things. After thinking about it, the only option seemed to bring Zhang Lijuan here.
"What nonsense about disturbing me are you saying? Lijuan is pregnant. She definitely should not be running around carrying a child." Tong Yao took the baby from Zhang Lijuan’s arms and held him for a while. She had an attendant make them some fruit tea. Seeing Si Boyi’s sweaty face, she asked for two cups at room temperature.
It’s not good to drink cold beverages when one is very hot.
Both Si Boyi and Zhang Lijuan were moved. Si Boyi didn’t waste much time, he found a room rested a little before heading out on his house hunt. The development in Li City had changed significantly in recent years. More houses were available for rent in the city, and prices were rising sharply.
Si Boyi wanted to find a house similar to Qin Xiaoshuang’s. They already had a child at home, who sometimes cried at night. It was a bit inconvenient to share a yard with others. However, it was not easy to find a house with a single yard. Even if one were found, the price could be a bit high.
For his child and Zhang Lijuan’s sake, he had to look anyway. He is a man and he needs to take on his family responsibilities.
Not long after Si Boyi left, Zhang Lijuan took her child from Tong Yao. Tong Yao was pregnant and she didn’t want to burden her. After all, from Zhang Lijuan’s perspective, Tong Yao was very delicate.
Even though she felt she shouldn’t ask, Zhang Lijuan couldn’t help but inquire: "Yaoyao, are you really pregnant?"
Tong Yao did not deny it, but nodded: "I wasn’t sure before. But today I went to the hospital for a check-up and confirmed the pregnancy."
Zhang Lijuan was surprised, her mouth wide open, "Then... who’s the father of your baby?"
As soon as the words came out, Zhang Lijuan felt she shouldn’t have asked that. She quickly added: "Yaoyao, don’t be angry. I just have a loose tongue. I didn’t mean anything else."
"It’s okay." Tong Yao shook her head and laughed, she knew what Zhang Lijuan was implying. She straightforwardly said: "Don’t worry! The child has nothing to do with Gu Hongwei."
Hearing Tong Yao’s a d this, Zhang Lijuan felt a little embarrassed as if her thoughts had been read. To comfort herself, she explained: "Yaoyao, I was just curious. Actually, even if the baby is related to Hongwei, it is natural. After all, you and big brother are divorced now, and who you marry is your own business."
Tong Yao smiled while playing with the baby and did not pursue the topic. Seeing this, Zhang Lijuan could not help saying again: "It’s a pity that you and big brother ended up this way. Big brother still has feelings for you. It was all due to grandma’s and Xiaohui’s random meddling that you two got separated. This morning when we left, they admitted their mistakes to Boyi, saying they cried and regretted their previous bush behavior and said they were not going to have Xiaohui’s wedding. Luckily, Boyi did not go soft."
Tong Yao sneered: "Crocodile tears, that’s all it is. Even if Lin Fengying regrets it now, she doesn’t truly regret it. It’s just that life isn’t good now, so she doesn’t dare to make trouble. You can discern her character by the things she did when she was young. Do you believe that a person, who has been bad all life and has no sense of right and wrong, can change easily? She didn’t suddenly turn bad. She was never a good person."
"Being able to make money and providing her with a good life, grandpa couldn’t satisfy her, she cheated with someone so close. That’s enough to prove what kind of person she is."