A Beauty in the 80s Goes on a Blind Date with Her Child, Captivating the Military Compound - Chapter 43

At first glance, Xu Hongying was nearly melted by the little girl’s cuteness. However, a flash of mockery quickly crossed her lips. She liked children, but only her own; seeing this “little wild seed” from outside only irritated her. In her eyes, the child wasn’t her son’s blood, yet she was taking up the spot of her eldest granddaughter.

“Go away, I don’t want that!” she barked, waving her hand to push the egg away.

Niuniu’s smiling face fell. She pursed her lips, her small hand frozen in mid-air, unable to pull it back for a long time. She could feel that this “Grandma” disliked her very much.

Seeing this, Shen Sisi’s entire body went stiff, a simmering rage building in her eyes. She took a deep breath, but before she could speak, Gu Chengfeng picked Niuniu up. “Niuniu, Grandma doesn’t know quality when she sees it. It’s fine—we’ll keep it for ourselves.”

“Daddy can tell that you really like this egg, right?”

The “little pearls” in Niuniu’s eyes were about to fall, but they were instantly warmed away by Gu Chengfeng’s words.

“Mmh, Niuniu likes it…” Niuniu cradled the egg like a precious treasure, tucking it close to her chest to hide it.

Gu Chengfeng looked into her small eyes. “If you like it, we keep it. In this house, you don’t need to suck up to anyone!”

It was the first time Niuniu had ever heard such words; she seemed to like her daddy even more now. She carefully tucked the egg into the folds of her clothes.

Shen Sisi hadn’t expected Gu Chengfeng to be so open-minded. Her eyes grew moist for a moment before turning into a shallow smile, her dimples faintly visible.

With Gu Chengfeng there, the mother and daughter managed to have a pleasant meal. Xu Hongying, on the other hand, barely touched her food, having filled up on pure anger. She wondered what kind of “confusion soup” Shen Sisi had fed her son to make him this infatuated—he had even accepted that little brat.

After the meal, Gu Chengfeng rose to clear the table. This was the tacit understanding between him and Shen Sisi: she handled the prep and cooking, while he was responsible for the cleanup. Sisi’s hands were fair, slender, and delicate; he couldn’t bear to let them soak in dirty dishwater.

Shen Sisi didn’t stay idle either; she boiled a pot of water to prepare Niuniu’s medicine and then got ready for a nap. Niuniu loved stories, so Shen Sisi had found ways to buy storybooks and picture books from old bookstalls. She made sure to read two stories to her every day before sleep.

Standing outside the door, Xu Hongying looked askance at the two of them “skulking” in the room.

“You live off my son, eat my son’s food, and you won’t even wash a single bowl? All you know is how to be lazy! Get up and go clean the kitchen!”

Shen Sisi didn’t even look up. She kept her eyes on the picture book, her voice calm and gentle.

“Shen Sisi, are you deaf?” Xu Hongying snapped, breaking the tranquility.

“Auntie, it’s not that I’m being lazy,” Sisi replied. “It’s just that I’m clumsy. I can’t wash them clean and I keep breaking the bowls. Chengfeng couldn’t stand to watch, so he took over the job.”

“If the bowls break, doesn’t it cost Chengfeng money to buy new ones?” Xu Hongying stamped her foot in frustration. “You spendthrift woman! If you’re no good at it, can’t you learn? Get up and get to the kitchen!”

Acting as if she had no choice, Shen Sisi rose and pressed the picture book into Xu Hongying’s hands, smiling brilliantly. “Alright then, I’ll go learn how to wash dishes from Chengfeng. Auntie, you can coax the child for me.”

She was naturally beautiful, and her smile only enhanced it. Her soft voice was nearly impossible to refuse. Before Xu Hongying could react, she had been assigned a task. Holding the book and looking at the wide-eyed, expectant little girl on the bed, she realized her meddling had backfired into a chore.

Shen Sisi slipped into the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe, admiring the sight of Gu Chengfeng bending over the sink. That lean, powerful waist… she had held onto it all morning on the bike. Honestly, the feeling hadn’t been bad at all.

Sensing the tempting presence at the door, Gu Chengfeng found it hard to look away. “Is Niuniu asleep?”

“Not yet. Your mom is reading her a story.”

“Reading a story?” Gu Chengfeng let out a snort. His mother was practically illiterate; how could she possibly tell a story? She was only good at scolding people. “No, I have to go check on them, lest she starts saying nonsense to Niuniu again.”

Wiping the water off his hands, he walked out.

Across from the kitchen in the main bedroom, Xu Hongying was being pestered by Niuniu. Staring at the dense black characters on the page, she scratched her head in frustration. She slammed the book shut. “What stories? Just go to sleep!”

Niuniu turned up her nose, her eyes sparkling. “Grandma, you don’t know how to tell stories, do you?”

Xu Hongying’s face flushed red. “Nonsense! I… I’m just too lazy to tell you. You aren’t even my real granddaughter…”

Niuniu didn’t quite grasp the concept of “real,” but she was defiant. “I might not be your real granddaughter, but I’m Daddy’s real daughter!”

“Oh, Heavens! Who taught you to say that? You can’t go around saying that outside; you’ll ruin my son’s reputation…”

“She’s right,” Gu Chengfeng said, his face cold as ice as he entered. “From now on, I, Gu Chengfeng, am her father.”

Xu Hongying was stunned, then she lunged to hit him. “What madness has possessed you? Raising someone else’s daughter… I’ll beat the life out of you!”

While she was wailing and causing a scene, a noise erupted from the kitchen. Shen Sisi pinched her own palm until it was red, picked up a bowl that was already chipped and cracked, and “accidentally” dropped it.

CLATTER!

Gu Chengfeng and Xu Hongying immediately rushed into the kitchen. Seeing the shards everywhere, Gu Chengfeng’s first instinct was to check her fingers. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt.

With reddened eyes, Shen Sisi whispered, “My hand slipped.” She bent down to start cleaning up the mess.

Gu Chengfeng grabbed her soft fingers. “Don’t move! I’ll sweep it. You’ll get cut…” He forced her to stand aside like a child who had done something wrong. As he skillfully cleaned the shards, he grumbled, “I told you, leave the dishes to me. Don’t meddle.”

“Mmh,” Sisi murmured. She looked at Xu Hongying with an apologetic gaze that seemed to say: See? It’s not that I don’t want to do it, it’s that your son won’t let me.

Xu Hongying felt like she was going to grind her back teeth to dust. This “fox spirit” really was clumsy—another bowl gone. “Chengfeng, just keep pampering her! What is she going to do when you aren’t home?”

He looked up. “Won’t you be here? Since you’ve come, you can help share the housework.”

“What did you say?”

Gu Chengfeng tossed the shards away and said matter-of-factly, “You live in my house and eat the food Sisi cooks, while she has to watch the child. What’s wrong with you doing some chores? If you aren’t willing, then please, head back to Kyoto!”

Xu Hongying finally understood—her son was trying to drive her away! Truly, “once he has a wife, he forgets his mother.”

“You want me to leave? No way!” she huffed.

As long as Gu Chengfeng was home, he protected this Shen Sisi at every turn. But once he returned to the military camp… she would see how she dealt with this fox spirit then!