I Became the Mother of His Child

Xu Jingjing had stayed at the Song Family home till evening and left with reddened eyes. She hastily bid farewell to the Song Family, and Xu Xiuxiu, worried about the young girl's state, had Song Yuanhuan take Xu Jingjing back to her parents' home. He was also to share the joy of her having boy and girl twins to Mr. Xu and Mrs. Xu, and deliver New Year's gifts that had been prepared earlier. Since she was still in her postpartum confinement and wouldn't be able to visit her parents on the second day of the New Year, Xiuxiu didn't skimp on the gifts a daughter should buy.

As soon as Xu Jingjing left Xu Xiuxiu's bedroom, the oft-neglected Song Chengguang stealthily sneaked into the room.

"Mama." Song Chengguang pouted as he called out. Because the wooden beds at the old house were generally quite high, Song Chengguang could barely reach the edge of the wooden bed. Standing alongside it, the little guy looked up at Xu Xiuxiu with a face full of grievance, looking incredibly cute and doleful, which relaxed the otherwise agitated Xu Xiuxiu.

"Chengguang, have you been eating well with Auntie these past few days?" Xu Xiuxiu asked softly, reaching out to gently scratch the little guy's cheek.

"Yes." Song Chengguang answered, tilting his head back, then frowning and reaching up to the edge of the bed, "Mama, Chengguang wants to sleep too." Knowing he might disturb his brother, Song Chengguang tried to lower his voice as he spoke, yet he couldn't control his longing for his mother and instinctively wriggled his little legs, trying hard to climb onto the bed. His short legs, however, made him look like a short-legged husky, struggling at the bed's edge without success.

If Xu Xiuxiu hadn't been truly unable to watch any longer and if she hadn't seen Song Chengguang's almost tearful struggle, she might have continued to watch the scene with schadenfreude. Thinking this, Xu Xiuxiu slightly shifted her body and laughed as she easily helped the little guy onto the bed.

"Phew!" Song Chengguang settled onto the bed with effort. The little guy began to remove his shoes, then grabbed the quilt and started grunting as he tried to burrow into it, wriggling like a little worm deeper onto the bed. "Mama, is it brother and sister?" Song Chengguang eagerly crawled toward the head of the bed, then looked at Little Moon and Little Baby lying side by side, his face showing surprise.

One of them looks so ugly! Song Chengguang thought to himself after seeing the twins' faces, silently criticizing the sibling lying closer to his mother.

"Mhm." Xu Xiuxiu nodded softly, "This is your brother, and this is your sister," she introduced them to Song Chengguang.

"Mama, brother is good-looking." Song Chengguang frowned as he glanced at Little Moon and Little Baby. He had initially liked his brother and still did, promptly ignoring his sister, Little Baby: "Sister is not pretty." Song Chengguang's friends were mostly boys, with the only girl being Sister Niuniu, who was quite older than him. Perhaps influenced by Wang Qinghua, that girl had been secretly bullying Song Chengguang these past few days, so now when he saw his sister, he didn't even bother to give her a look. Ugly and potentially a future bully, he decided not to like his sister.

"Don't you like your sister?" Xu Xiuxiu asked with a frown, thinking about how Yuanhuan doted on the girl; she had thought that Chengguang would like his sister as well.

"I don't like her." Song Chengguang answered bluntly, "If my sister grows up and doesn't bully me like Sister Niuniu, I will like her." Song Chengguang was a good child, expressing his true feelings but also worried about upsetting his sister; thus, he explained why he didn't like her.

Bullying! Song Tianxin bullied Song Chengguang?

"Sister Niuniu bullied you?" Xu Xiuxiu tenderly raised her hand to rub Song Chengguang's head, which now had smooth hair, unlike the prickly sensation when Xu Xiuxiu had first cut it. Additionally, it was cold here, Song Yuan Yao had little experience after all, and Mrs. Song was a worried sort, so the little guy was dressed very warmly. Plus, his outfit today was brown, making him look just like a little brown bear.

"She said I stole Auntie, and she grabbed me, look, Mom!" Song Chengguang complained, nodding his head, then the little guy began rolling up his sleeves to show Xu Xiuxiu his scratched little fleshy arm: "It really hurts, Chengguang." Song Chengguang said, pouting and acting coquettishly, "Mom, can we go back to our own home? I don't like it here anymore, Sister is mean, and Auntie is even meaner." Song Chengguang, who had been indulged and loosely raised by Xu Xiuxiu, had been feeling very stifled these past few days, seldom seeing his mom, and his dad's whereabouts were often unknown, which made him feel very sad. He didn't like it here.

Xu Xiuxiu looked at the scratch marks on Song Chengguang's arm; the little guy's arm was plump and tender, so the scratches left by Song Tianxin were particularly noticeable.

"In a few days, we'll go back to our home, and the new room Mom prepared for Chengguang will also be ready by then. Do you still remember the new room? Before we took the car, Mom took you to see it, and I even drew Sun Wukong on the wall of the room for you!" Xu Xiuxiu cooed, blowing on Song Chengguang's little fleshy hand.

The renovation of the new house back in their hometown was basically completed before they left, with only some finishing touches needed. Furthermore, the renovation smell was relatively strong, and Xu Xiuxiu, heavily pregnant, naturally was not in a hurry to move into the new house, thinking of moving in after the New Year for a better overall meaning.

"Um! Chengguang remembers." Song Chengguang immediately broke into a smile, cheered up by the thought of the room with Brother Monkey, "Mom, I want to sleep in Brother Monkey's room soon. Let's take the car and go back now," Song Chengguang said excitedly, grabbing his little feet, then tried to persuade his mom.

"We can't go back right now, sweetie." Xu Xiuxiu shook her head, "We can go home after another three tens of days." Song Chengguang, whom she had taught to count, could only count up to ten and got confused beyond that; he would understand when taught but forget in a few seconds, which was amusing as it seemed he had a built-in forgetfulness feature.

"Three tens of days?" Song Chengguang irritably stretched out his little hand, scratching his head through the winter warm hat, then hesitantly frowned, "Can't we go sooner?" Song Chengguang didn't know if three tens of days was a long time; he only knew it must be a very long time since he couldn't count it clearly.

"No, we can't!" Xu Xiuxiu continued to shake her head with a smile.

"Alright then!" Song Chengguang sighed in distress, resigned like an old man.

Seeing this, Xu Xiuxiu soothed Song Chengguang for a while, and then when Song YuanHuan had finished sending Xu Jingjing back, she brought up Song Tianxin's behavior with him. After all, her time of confinement wasn't short, and Song Chengguang's stay in his old hometown wasn't short either; if Xu Xiuxiu didn't take Song Tianxin's bullying seriously, Song Chengguang might get bullied again at any time, which would break her heart!