I Became the Mother of His Child

The housewarming and the baby's full month celebration were lively affairs, so after lunch, a group of soldiers got a bit tipsy. Because it was rare for them to gather, everyone wanted to enjoy the occasion. Besides Chen Hualong, who had to leave early for other commitments, almost everyone else stayed, creating a noisy scene in the living room as they gathered to play cards. Meanwhile, the military wives who had come along helped clear the leftover dishes from the dining table and tidy up the living room.

After Xu Xiuxiu saw the group of men engrossed in their card game, she finished her kitchen chores and carefully prepared several plates of fruit and seeds snacks to serve them.

"It's only because of Lieutenant Colonel Song's attentiveness that they get such good treatment. If it were my house, with a group of men leaving a mess after eating and drinking their fill, expecting me to serve them tea and bring snacks, I'd show them," remarked one military wife upon seeing how beautifully Xu Xiuxiu had arranged the fruits, even with decorative patterns. Having tasted Xu Xiuxiu's cooking, she knew Xu was a virtuous and remarkable woman, half complimenting Xu Xiuxiu and half despising the group of rowdy men.

"Oh, yes! The fruit even has decorative patterns, really quite unique," added a couple of other military wives, joking along.

Xu Xiuxiu just smiled and didn't say anything, while Yan Moli assisted her in tidying up. Once all was set, the group of military wives sat at the dining table, sipping tea and chattering idly, while the men continued their noisy card games.

Because of her age, Xu Xiuxiu naturally wouldn't let Aunt Lai lift a finger to help. After lunch, she sent her off to rest, but Aunt Lai, being forthright, grabbed Song Chengguang to go upstairs and see the boy and girl twins.

The new house had two connected rooms upstairs and downstairs, so Xu Xiuxiu had also prepared a cozy separate nursery for the twins. Upon entering the bedroom, one could immediately appreciate Xu Xiuxiu's attention to detail as the host: curtains drawn over the doors and windows and a dim yellow lamp left on, fearing that a blackout might scare the twins should they awaken and cry. Although simply decorated, the nursery was absolutely comforting at first glance.

At that moment, the adorable twins were peacefully lying in their cradle with big eyes, looking around curiously. Aunt Lai peered into the cradle and saw the two babies, who looked exactly alike, and couldn't help but adore them. In addition to the twins seemingly having been awake for a bit already, and with no adults around while a group of men loudly played cards downstairs, the children were still well-behaved, not crying or fussing, endearingly melting hearts. Seeing the twins comfortable and not afraid of strangers, as they laid there babbling in their baby language made Aunt Lai extremely happy.

"Oh my, these children are truly delightful, look how lively they are!" exclaimed Aunt Lai joyfully, as she carefully picked up one of the babies to play with, her happiness clearly showing. After all, at her age, where one could already be a grandmother, her heart was incredibly tender towards children.

Standing next to her, Song Chengguang held Zhao Nan's hand, and seeing Aunt Lai praising his siblings, felt a surge of pride: "Grandma, you're holding Chengguang's brother, he's very cute, right?" boasted Song Chengguang, "Mom says my brother and sister look alike, but Chengguang can tell at a glance who is who!" Song Chengguang had been proudly flaunting this skill recently.

"Really, our Cheng Guang is truly amazing," Aunt Lai gently held Little Moon, playing along with Cheng Guang's little boast, "So Cheng Guang, tell Grandma, how can you distinguish between your younger brother and sister?" Aunt Lai, holding Little Moon and looking at Little Baby lying in the small bed watching her, saw that the two children really looked almost identical; she couldn't tell which one was the daughter and which one was the son at the moment.

It was the first time Aunt Lai had seen the two children and felt unable to distinguish them, but for Xu Xiuxiu, distinguishing Little Baby from Little Moon was still quite easy. Moreover, Little Baby was lighter than Little Moon, so Xu Xiuxiu could tell the son from the daughter just from the weight, and other small habits could also be discerned with careful observation.

However, due to the cold weather now, the boy and girl twins wore thick, brightly colored little jackets, wrapped outside in red and blue swaddles. The twins only showed their little faces, and just based on their little faces, it was indeed hard for Aunt Lai to tell who was who. It was very common to make mistakes, so Aunt Lai was curious about how Cheng Guang could distinguish between his younger brother and sister.

"The brother is wrapped in a blue swaddle, and whenever he sees Cheng Guang, he opens his little mouth and laughs, while the sister is wrapped in a red swaddle, and she pouts and makes noises when she sees Cheng Guang," Song Chengguang explained proudly, then imitated the expressions of sticking out the mouth and opening the mouth like his brother and sister. After imitating, he smiled and pulled Zhao Nan closer to look at his sister in the little rocker, "Brother Nan, this is Cheng Guang's sister. She can't talk or walk yet, but when I teach them to talk and walk, I can take them out to play."

"Um." Zhao Nan was much quieter now; the cheerful and occasionally shy boy he was before had grown up and matured a lot, changed significantly by the drastic changes in his family environment. He came to see the twins because he was dragged in by Cheng Guang. His heart might be hard, but faced with Song Chengguang, his younger brother, and Xu Xiuxiu's children, his aunt, he couldn't be utterly cold-hearted. So now, looking at the tender babies lying in the little rocker, Zhao Nan's cool eyes gradually softened a bit.

"Hee hee..." Little Baby smiled at Zhao Nan looking at him.

"Really very cute," Zhao Nan said sincerely, immediately praising as Little Baby smiled broadly.

No other reason, only because now, Little Baby, compared to when he was just born, really had grown a lot. His features were a small version of Xu Xiuxiu, very tender and pleasing, especially when he occasionally smiled toothlessly, revealing two very obvious dimples on the corners of his mouth, clearly inherited from Song Yuanhuan, so cute he could melt hearts—indeed inherited his parents' good genes, though only a month old, but one could already feel he would definitely be a heartbreaker.

"She is Cheng Guang's sister, of course, she's very cute." Zhao Nan's genuine praise immediately made Song Chengguang beam proudly, as if Zhao Nan had been praising him just now.

Rattle! Suddenly, the atmosphere in the perfect baby room was disrupted by the sound of a rattle. Aunt Lai was playing with Little Moon, yet she instinctively looked toward the source of the sound. Song Chengguang and Zhao Nan's gazes also shifted away from the little rocker, silently looking up towards the corner where the noise came from.