I Became the Mother of His Child

After the military spouse performance gathering at the base, Xu Xiuxiu brought her children back to the city the next day. After resting for three days, Xu Xiuxiu was planning to devote her energy once again to the busy construction site. But as luck would have it, the heavens were uncooperative; it had begun to pour heavily from the night before. When Xu Xiuxiu woke up the next day, she could hear the incessant sound of rain outside the window.

"Well, now I'm good. I'm always complaining about being too tired to rest, and today I can legitimately laze at home," Xu Xiuxiu said as she opened the window and looked at the pouring rain outside, not sure if she felt regret or excitement.

Anyway, the busy times at the Tangshui City Resort could afford a rain delay of a few days. Xu Xiuxiu also decided, rather relaxed, to spend the day at home with the kids. After all, such opportunities were rare.

"It's raining heavily outside; you stay at home and rest well. I'm heading out," said Song Yuanhuan. As a soldier, no weather could deter his resolve to go to work, especially in a heavy downpour prone to issues. Song Yuanhuan tended to be busier than usual, and even some of the nearby poorer villages greatly needed the army's attention.

"Mm, be careful," Xu Xiuxiu said anxiously as she saw Song Yuanhuan off, standing by the door, and watching him walk towards the stairway from the porch before disappearing. A vague sense of unease came over Xu Xiuxiu as images of soldiers engaged in perilous flood relief efforts from her previous life flashed through her mind.

Xu Xiuxiu frowned and chided herself for overthinking, but she could not shake the sudden anxiety that had gripped her chest. She was always a cautious person, evident from her previous life when she possessed a space yet worriedly prepared for the apocalypse, even hoarding various unnecessary items.

"Aunt Luo, considering the weather won't clear up anytime soon, we'll all be staying home. You might want to take a couple of days off and go check on your son. The rain is so heavy today, and they would likely halt work at the construction site too." Aunt Luo's son didn't work at Xu Xiuxiu's construction site, but in weather like this, almost no construction work would go on. Besides, Aunt Luo had lived with them for some time now and didn't see her son often. She usually rushed to glimpse her son at the site whenever there was someone to watch the kids at home or when she went out to shop for groceries. Despite this, it had been a long while since Aunt Luo had the chance to sit down for a meal with her son.

Xu Xiuxiu was, of course, aware of this. But since she was tied up with affairs at Soup City, and the home needed someone constantly, she tried to compensate Aunt Luo with extra money. Aunt Luo was a simple and earnest person, who, upon seeing her salary increased, took even greater care of the children and the household, keen to put Xu Xiuxiu's mind at ease and to ensure that her compensation matched her efforts.

But now, with the relentless rain outside and yesterday's TV report predicting several days of heavy rainfall across the province—amounts that could set historical records—Xu Xiuxiu had originally ridiculed the forecast, given that the sunset was exceptionally beautiful last evening. However, the rain that began today made her reconsider the accuracy of the weather report. Since she was finally at home, she thought to simply give Aunt Luo a couple of days off, to spare her from being distracted by thoughts of her son.

"Xiuxiu, if I take the time off to go home, you'll need to go out once the weather clears, and what about the kids?" Though Aunt Luo was pleased with Xu Xiuxiu's kind offer, she had grown attached to the boy and girl twins and naturally didn't want to leave the children unattended for a few days.

"Looking at the weather, it probably won't clear up today or tomorrow. Just take your mind off and rest!"

"""Then I'll head home first and come back as soon as the sky clears," Aunt Luo hesitated, but in the end, the yearning for her son was too strong, and she agreed."""

"""Okay," Xu Xiuxiu nodded, smiling."""

As soon as Aunt Luo got the permission, she excitedly turned and went to her own room to pack some things. Then she braved the rain and rushed home, not even waiting for the rain to lighten as Xu Xiuxiu had suggested. Luckily, Aunt Luo was elderly but in good health, and, as the construction site had shut down, perhaps out of concern for her, her dutiful son braved the heavy rain to visit her and managed to pick her up and take her home just in time.

With Aunt Luo gone, the house was left with just a few women, three children, and Song Yuanming, a man who hadn't quite matured. Song Yuanyao and Xu Jingjing had intended to go out, but the rain was too heavy, so Xu Xiuxiu forcefully kept both Xu Jingjing and Song Yuanyao at home.

"Big sister-in-law, come on, the four of us can play cards to pass the time," Song Yuanming suggested. Being a boy, he gave up on the idea of watching TV as the signal was very poor due to the heavy rain, flickering on and off. Bored, he found the deck of playing cards that the soldiers had played with during the housewarming.

Rarely did the family have an opportunity to gather so completely; Xu Jingjing and Song Yuanyao agreed, and they settled down beside the sofa to shuffle the cards.

"Mmm," Xu Xiuxiu agreed verbally to join the card game, but she walked to the balcony with a frown of unease, looking out at the gloomy weather. It seemed like it would rain for several days and didn't look like the normal sudden downpour of summer, but rather a sparse and continuous drizzle.

Xu Xiuxiu's brow was furrowed for a long time, then suddenly she made a decision, "Yuanying, put the cards aside for now, put on a raincoat from the house, and come with me to stock up on some food." Xu Xiuxiu was very anxious as the weather forecast had mentioned that the rain would last for several days and that it was a signal of a typhoon swirling towards Province F; a rainfall of such magnitude came once in decades. They even specially emphasized to the citizens to take precautionary measures for safety.

Ever since Song Yuanhuan left the house this morning, Xu Xiuxiu had not had a moment of peace, not even the cries of Little Moon could soothe her much. Maybe the rain would stop tomorrow or the day after, but Xu Xiuxiu felt it was better to be prepared in advance—better safe than sorry!

"Big sister-in-law, in such heavy rain? You've got to be kidding!" Song Yuanming mumbled, holding the playing cards, clearly unable to comprehend Xu Xiuxiu's sudden change of plans.

Running out to buy supplies in such heavy rain, there was no need to be in such a rush, was there? Why not wait until the rain stopped or lightened?

"Stop talking, hurry up," Xu Xiuxiu stared at Song Yuanming with a very serious expression, giving him no chance to refuse. This kid, he couldn't even see the situation, so carefree without a sense of crisis.