Chapter 118

It was another school enrollment season.

The arrival of the Class of ’81 freshmen injected a new burst of vitality into the campus.

During his junior year, Xie Tingyu had completed all his courses ahead of schedule, passed the internship assessment for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and officially began working there.

Having previously accompanied the Chinese delegation on a visit to the United States, he had garnered many admirers. Many students were inspired by seeing his demeanor in the newspapers while they were studying for their exams. This year, many freshmen chose Peking University specifically because they were influenced by him.

When the freshmen arrived, they scoured the Mathematics Department several times but couldn’t find a trace of Xie Tingyu.

“Where did Senior Xie go?”

Where was Xie Tingyu at this moment? He was busy changing bedsheets and doing laundry for his wife, working hard as a dedicated member of the “support staff.” After coaxing the children, he had to buy groceries and cook to bring lunch to his wife.

Ye Qingshui’s “Feishuang” project was currently in a critical experimental stage. It could be said that aside from basic human functions, she spent every waking moment in the laboratory. In addition to her lunch, Xie Tingyu had also brought the sons’ milk bottles.

Although the two babies had started eating solid food, they were not yet a year old and hadn’t been weaned. In the sweltering heat of summer, breast milk would spoil easily if left for too long. Since Ye Qingshui was too busy to run home to nurse them, Xie Tingyu brought the bottles along when he delivered her food.

When lunchtime arrived, he stood under the girls’ dormitory holding a steaming lunch box.

Several girls returning to the dorm saw this and called out to Ye Qingshui: “Room 309’s brother-in-law is here!”

Xie Tingyu presented the lunch box to his wife; it contained three dishes and a soup, perfectly balanced in nutrition. He then pulled two milk bottles from a bag and handed them to her with a look of helpless affection.

Ye Qingshui went back to her room to express the babies’ “rations” and handed them back to the man waiting downstairs. “Hurry back now,” she said.

Xie Tingyu took the bottles, pulled his wife into a corner, and when no one was looking, touched her face and gave her a firm kiss.

“You’ve gotten thinner. Finish up early tonight and come home.”

Ye Qingshui touched the spot he had kissed and lowered her head, unable to stop smiling.

Back in her dorm, she ate the meal he had personally prepared: steamed fish, shrimp with scrambled eggs, vegetables, and a sweet soup.

Pan Lijuan said, “The project is almost wrapping up. Since Senior Xie is here, you should pack up and go home with him.”

“Exactly, Qingshui, don’t waste Senior Xie’s efforts. He’s brought you food every single day for a month, rain or shine. For the sake of his devotion, have some pity on him.”

If there was one thing about Ye Qingshui that people envied most, it was her relationship with her husband. The “dog food” they inadvertently scattered was enough to make anyone full.

There was no need to mention the low-profile yet luxurious wedding they had over the summer. Everyone originally thought that marrying into such a family would mean many restrictive rules, but her in-laws respected her deeply and prioritized her wishes. Every little detail of their interaction was enviable. Xie Tingyu had a great family background, immense talent, and good looks, yet he had no air of arrogance when he was with Ye Qingshui.

Ren Yingying reminded her seriously: “A lot of new students came to PKU this year, and they don’t seem to know Senior Xie is married. I heard he has a ton of admirers.”

Ye Qingshui nearly choked on a piece of fish. She couldn’t help but laugh. She had long known about Xie Tingyu’s “attractiveness.” Back in the countryside, he was very popular with girls; when he was cold, people wanted to get close to him, and when he smiled, he could melt anyone’s heart.

In her previous life, before he went to university, her mother had worriedly said: “Shui-ya, what if Little Xie is like those other ‘sent-down youths’ and leaves you?”

But you can’t worry about what you can’t control. His legs were his own; if he wanted to run, he’d run faster than anyone.

Thinking of this, Ye Qingshui’s eyes curved into a smile. “No need to worry.”

Thinking of the two babies at home, she finished her meal and packed her things to head home. As she cycled through the campus toward the gate, she spotted Xie Tingyu. Her gaze froze.

A young female student with short hair was standing in front of him. Xie Tingyu was speaking to her with a cold, frowning expression. The girl turned away, looking utterly devastated, and left.

Ye Qingshui felt a bit awkward. The scene looked familiar; years ago, she had similarly cycled past him when He Fang was confessing her feelings.

Xie Tingyu turned his head, and his gaze immediately landed on Ye Qingshui. He cleared his throat loudly. “Why are you here?”

He naturally took over her bicycle, sat on it, and asked, “Finished with the lab?”

Ye Qingshui nodded. Xie Tingyu placed her hands around his waist. Looking at the bright sunlight, he asked calmly:

“Why aren’t you at all curious about what just happened?”

Ye Qingshui pressed her face against his lean back and followed his lead: “So, what just happened?”

Xie Tingyu said slowly, “A female student just blocked my path. But I told her—”

“I already have a wife whom I love deeply. To marry her, I waited for many, many years.”

He whispered to her, “We still have a long lifetime to walk together.”

In truth, she never needed to worry about such things. In their previous life, when she wove grass grasshoppers to coax him, she had already tied a thread to him. Wherever she was, his heart followed. The other end of the thread was in her hand; no matter how far he traveled, his heart was always tethered to her.

Not even the separation of life and death could pull them apart; nothing else could change them now.

With the dappled shadows of trees falling over him and the cool summer breeze blowing, Ye Qingshui listened and her lips curled upward.

When the young couple had held their wedding banquet, Uncle Ye had brought his whole family to the capital.

Ye Qingshui’s cousin, Ye Tian, was now three years old. The little girl was fair and delicate, as tender as a little cabbage in the field. Ye Qingshui remembered her as a tiny newborn bundle, and it felt like just yesterday she was holding her.

In a blink, time had flown by.

Tian-tian was not used to the capital at first. When she cried, it broke everyone’s heart. Grandma Xie looked at Tian-tian and said to her granddaughter-in-law, “They say a niece takes after her uncle. You look like your uncle, and Tian-tian looks like she was carved from the same mold as you.”

Ye Qingshui held her chubby little cousin, unable to put her down. She had always wanted a “little padded jacket” (a sweet daughter). When she was pregnant with Chenchen and Guangguang, she had a premonition it would be a girl because she had become so delicate and fussy during the pregnancy, putting Xie Tingyu through so much trouble.

She hadn’t expected to end up with two “stinky boys.”

However, that autumn, the country implemented strict family planning policies (the One-Child Policy). Ye Qingshui knew in her heart that her wish for a second pregnancy would never be fulfilled in this lifetime, so she doted on Tian-tian even more.

Ye Tian was a quiet child, inheriting the Ye family’s refined and handsome features. Although Chenchen and Guangguang were more “exquisite” and took after Xie Tingyu’s eyes—and would surely be handsome when they grew up—boys just weren’t as heart-melting as a little girl.

During the summer break, Ye Qingshui looked after Tian-tian for a month. Afterward, Uncle Ye took his wife, daughter, and Grandma Ye back to the countryside.

She held Tian-tian reluctantly and said seriously to the little girl, “Tian-tian, remember to come to the capital often to visit your big sister.”

Though they were technically cousins, Ye Qingshui cherished the toddler as if she were her own daughter, much like how Mother Ye had once cared for Uncle Ye as if he were her own son.

Xie Tingyu was caught between laughter and tears, not knowing whether to blame himself for the fact that they had two sons or to be annoyed that the boys weren’t girls. He hugged his wife. “How about we adopt a daughter?”

Ye Qingshui shook her head. “Chenchen and Guangguang are enough.” Both were her heart’s treasures. To have these two in this lifetime was already a blessing from heaven; she was satisfied.

When family planning was first introduced, the checks were extremely strict. Everyone in the Xie family worked in the public sector; unless they wanted to throw away their careers, they had to strictly follow the policy.

As a young married woman who had already given birth, Ye Qingshui was also called in for a sterilization procedure that year. Young couples always have endless energy; after the procedure, Xie Tingyu “paid his taxes” (was intimate) even more frequently.

At night, Xie Tingyu would often hold her and tease, “It seems Shui-er has become much more passionate.”

Ye Qingshui would shyly cover her ears, wishing she could sew his mouth shut.

After graduation, Ye Qingshui began to get busy with her own career. Xie Tingyu was also flourishing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With his excellent linguistic skills, meticulous logic, and good looks, he was hailed for a time as the most handsome diplomat in history.

When Ye Qingshui was twenty-eight, she frequently flew from the capital to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

A week after Xie Tingyu left the country for a trip, her usually punctual cycle suddenly became irregular. Half a month later, she bought a pregnancy test and it showed two lines.

She called Xie Tingyu, her voice trembling.

He comforted her: “Shui-er, don’t worry. I’ll be back very soon.”

Xie Tingyu took leave and flew back to China. He found his wife lying in bed, looking thin and frail, her hair messy and her nose a bit red. His heart softened immediately.

“Is Shui-er okay?” He smoothed her hair and gazed at her slightly reddened eyes, sighing helplessly. He said seriously, “If the baby is here, then it’s here. We will keep this child.”

Ye Qingshui nearly cried. She knew his career was on the rise. For this job, he had once stayed awake for three consecutive nights, boarding a plane with eyes open and getting off with eyes shut, too tired to even lift his eyelids. He hadn’t liked this career at first, but after years of striving, he had come to love it.

Xie Tingyu held her hand with a warm smile. “If it comes, the worst-case scenario is just that I lose my job.” He squinted as he began to imagine it. “Then I’ll have to rely on my wife to support me. But thinking about it that way is actually quite nice. I can stay at home with the baby, send Chenchen and Guangguang to school, pick them up in the afternoon, and cook a meal for you…”

He rambled on about these trivial, domestic things. This coaxed a laugh out of Ye Qingshui; placing a man like him at home to raise kids and do housework would be a terrible waste of talent.

He gently touched her eyelashes with his thumb, wiping away her tears. He said tenderly, “So don’t be sad anymore, okay? This is my responsibility; I should carry it.”

As he spoke, he took off his coat, tie, and shoes, shedding his travel-worn appearance. He washed his hands, went to the kitchen to knead some dough, and made a bowl of squid noodles.

Wearing a white apron, with flour dusted on his black suit trousers and squid ink on his hands, he stood in the bustling kitchen filled with the sounds of boiling water. The house was suddenly filled with the breath of life. Soon, he brought the bowl of noodles to her.

The man was wearing an “effeminate” apron, his slender fingers stained with grease, but in Ye Qingshui’s eyes, he had never looked more handsome—even more heart-stopping than his impressive appearance on television.

Ye Qingshui couldn’t help but lean in and kiss him. “Thank you, Chenguang’s Papa.”

Xie Tingyu wiped his hands with a tissue and reminded her, “Eat while it’s hot. Once you’re full, I’ll take you for an exam.”

Ye Qingshui nodded. After eating, the couple went for a check-up. Looking at the results, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Xie Tingyu nudged her. “Not pregnant. Are you disappointed?”

Ye Qingshui shook her head and leaned against his shoulder. “You were willing to give up your career for it. You should be the one who is disappointed, right?”

Xie Tingyu couldn’t help but laugh. “Silly wife.”

It was because he loved her that he loved their children. He wasn’t disappointed; having too many children would drain too much of her vitality and energy.

In his view, having her, Chenchen, and Guangguang—no more, no less—was exactly right. To have them in this life, he was already content.

Sansukini: I feel like having one child is just too lonely. Having two is the best.

Well guys, we’re at the end now. One last chapter to go.

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