"Brother Gao, Handsome man, Brother Jun, enough already," Xia Xiao teased with various voices, intentionally dragging out the last syllables in a whiny manner, then grimaced and bared her teeth as if to look fierce, followed by a provocative motion like a tiger pouncing on a sheep.
"Xia Xiao, you’re done for."
As soon as Xia Xiao finished speaking, Gao Jiaxing laughed and said, "How could I bear to see you die? Don’t talk about such unlucky things in the future. I’ll be gentler and more tender next time."
Just as Xia Xiao was about to reply, they heard voices at the front door, Gao Guoqiang and Zheng Xianghong had returned. She immediately said, "Don’t make a sound anymore, Mom and Dad are back."
"Let them be back, you must be tired, lie down, I’ll go get some hot water for your bath," Gao Jiaxing said as he was about to get out of bed.
Xia Xiao quickly hugged him and said, "No need, let’s sleep, it’s the same if we bathe early tomorrow morning."
Xia Xiao certainly didn’t want Gao Jiaxing to go out to heat water at this moment; how embarrassing that would be. They had already taken a bath earlier, and now heating water to bathe again would make everyone in the family aware of what they had just been doing.
"Alright, then let’s sleep," Gao Jiaxing, understanding that Xia Xiao was self-conscious, did not go out after all, and he couldn’t be happier.
"Mom, why did you lock the door? I just got back and couldn’t get in without the key," said Sun Yuhua, who had just stepped through the door, to Zheng Xianghong.
Holding Weilin in her arms, Zheng Xianghong replied, "Everyone was out, so of course, I locked the door." She then handed Weilin to Sun Yuhua, saying, "I’m going to the kitchen to heat up some porridge for her."
Taking her daughter, Sun Yuhua inquired, "Dad hasn’t come back yet? What about Jiazhi, and Jiaxing and Xia Xiao?"
"Your father went back to his room to sleep, and as for where Jiazhi has gone, I have no idea," Zheng Xianghong didn’t say much more and headed to the kitchen. She didn’t respond to Sun Yuhua’s question about Gao Jiaxing and Xia Xiao.
Before long, Zheng Xianghong had heated the porridge and brought it out, passing the bowl to Sun Yuhua, "Feed Weilin half a bowl of porridge before she sleeps. Eating too much isn’t good for sleep either; just half a bowl is fine."
Sun Yuhua attempted to feed her daughter, but Weilin was unwilling to eat, so Sun Yuhua placed the spoon back in the bowl, saying, "She doesn’t want to eat."
"You need to coax her, you have to charm kids into eating," Zheng Xianghong advised from the side.
"Mom, you do it, I don’t know how to coax kids," Sun Yuhua handed the bowl straight back to Zheng Xianghong.
Shaking her head inwardly, Zheng Xianghong took it and proceeded to feed Weilin porridge. She saw Sun Yuhua taking off her coat and getting ready to lie down on the bed, and Zheng Xianghong remarked, "Chunfang and Lifang are coming over tomorrow. Even though they won’t enter your room, you should still tidy up a bit."
"I know, Mom. After Weilin falls asleep, just lay her next to me," Sun Yuhua said as she lay down, too sleepy to care and settling down to sleep herself.
When Gao Jiazhi returned, he found Zheng Xianghong feeding her granddaughter, with Sun Yuhua already asleep.
"Mom, I’ll feed her, you go sleep," offered Gao Jiazhi.
"Weilin has finished eating. Take her with you. She previously slept for a long time, she might not be sleepy now," Zheng Xianghong handed Weilin over to Gao Jiazhi and left with the bowl.
Gao Jiazhi held his daughter affectionately and looked at the sleeping Sun Yuhua, whispering to his daughter, "Your mom’s really something else, not even feeding you."
Entertained by Gao Jiazhi, Weilin giggled happily, and the room was filled with the joy of father and daughter playing together. Passing by, Zheng Xianghong saw them frolicking and couldn’t help but smile, then glanced at Gao Jiaxing and Xia Xiao’s firmly shut room door before heading back to her own room.
The next morning, Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing got up early, with the bath water already heating. As Gao Jiaxing entered the bathhouse, Xia Xiao started preparing breakfast.
Over at The Wangs, it was still dark and nobody else had awakened, but Wang Xueyong and Liu Haihua were already up.
Wang Xueyong opened his eyes to find Liu Haihua beside him, his heart leaping with surprise, yet he remembered the events of the previous day.
Wang Xueyong looked at Liu Haihua as if he wanted to eat her alive, and Liu Haihua was terrified but tried to appear calm, saying, "I’m sorry, Mr. Xueyong, we were both drunk..."
"Drunken my ass," Wang Xueyong couldn’t help but curse, contemplating slaughtering Liu Haihua, his mind solely occupied with how to deal with her.
"I just like you, I couldn’t help it, Mr. Xueyong, don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, it wouldn’t do me any good to say anything," Liu Haihua hurriedly assured.
"I can’t possibly marry you," said Wang Xueyong.
Liu Haihua nodded, "I know, I know, I know I’m not good enough for you, and I won’t make you marry me. I was wrong yesterday, Mr. Xueyong, you can hit me, scold me."