Chapter 3: Could He Be a Genius?

Chapter 3: Could He Be a Genius?

"What is this?" Su Taotao picked up the paper plane made of old newspaper, asking a rhetorical question.

Chenchen didn’t respond to her.

He pursed his lips, his big eyes focused on the old newspaper. His small, nimble hands folded the yellowed and worn-out newspaper into several squares, then a rectangle, and rolled a "stick" the size of a pencil. After some fiddling, he inserted the squares into each other to form the "body of the plane," and finally, after a few more adjustments with the pencil, a perfect paper gun was completed.

Su Taotao was astonished. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed that a child under two could fold something like that. As a klutz, she hadn’t even figured out how he did it before he was already done.

Without lifting his head, Chenchen placed the paper gun aside and continued to fold the remaining old newspaper into boats of various sizes. Seeing a bit of leftover paper, he casually folded a few small stars, not wasting even the tiniest scrap of paper.

Su Taotao was beyond shocked. How was this possible?! Could Chenchen be a genius?

Feeling a bit envious as an ordinary person, and recalling her nominal husband’s profession, Su Taotao thought it must be his strong genes at play. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked into the child's eyes. Holding the paper plane, she made a flying motion and asked gently, "Chenchen, how are you so amazing? Who taught you?"

Chenchen tilted his small head, his big eyes filled with questions. Perhaps the previous "mother" had never spoken to him in such a tone, and he sensed something unusual about "Mom." He looked at Su Taotao seriously, his gaze inquiring. Though he remained silent, his focused eyes showed he was paying attention, even a bit of exploration.

This discovery greatly relieved Su Taotao. If Chenchen couldn’t sense external emotions at all, she would have feared he had autism. His exceptional paper folding skills indicated his intelligence was fine. His ability to respond to her words showed his comprehension and hearing were good. Even if he was a bit withdrawn, at least the situation didn’t seem too severe, and it would be easy to correct at his young age.

Su Taotao was about to say something more when Zhou Linglan pushed the door open, carrying a bowl, followed by a boy half her height.

"Taotao, awake?" Zhou Linglan placed the bowl on the bedside table and examined her carefully. "Huang Liu examined you and said you’re fine, just need a few days of rest and to stay warm."

Su Taotao didn’t know what to say, worried that she might say something polite and scare her again. So, she simply sat up and nodded at her.

Zhou Linglan sighed in relief and pointed to the bowl on the bedside table. "Fu Yuanhang caught a few small fish. I made you some fish paste porridge. I’ve removed the bones and added ginger and pepper to remove the fishiness. It’s not fishy at all. You should eat it while it’s hot."

In such times of scarcity, the careful emphasis on removing the fish bones and adding ginger and pepper indicated how picky the original owner must have been, likely giving them a hard time over such matters.

How did she end up in such a difficult person’s body? The thought made Su Taotao want to slap someone.

Looking at the smooth, congee-like white porridge, Su Taotao couldn’t help but ask, "Have you guys eaten?"

Both Zhou Linglan and Fu Yuanhang were visibly shocked, their eyes wide with surprise.

Zhou Linglan took a breath and nodded. "Yes, we have."

They had eaten, but their meals were different. The fish were small, only a few of them, and there wasn’t much fish meat. The finer grains were saved for Su Taotao and Chenchen. Zhou Linglan made soup with the leftover fish heads, tails, and bones. Half of it was used to make porridge for Su Taotao, and the other half was mixed with coarse grains for her and Fu Yuanhang to eat with pickles. For them, this was already a rare treat.

Su Taotao sighed inwardly, knowing what must have happened. If they had a good housewife, with the money and ration tickets left by Fu Zhengtu, the whole family could have been well-fed and clothed. Unfortunately, they ended up with the original owner, who was far from ideal.

They would get by slowly, one step at a time.

Su Taotao got out of bed, sat on a small stool, and held Chenchen in her arms. She scraped a spoonful of porridge along the edge of the bowl, blew on it gently, and brought it to Chenchen’s lips. "Our Chenchen eats first."

Chenchen’s big, round eyes were still full of questions, and he even furrowed his little brows in confusion, turning his head to look at Zhou Linglan.

Zhou Linglan rubbed her hands together, looking nervous. "I, I saved a small bowl for Chenchen. Why don’t you give him to me, and you eat first."

Su Taotao ignored her, gently touching Chenchen’s lips with the spoon. "Eat, it’s delicious."

Chenchen instinctively opened his mouth, took the porridge, and swallowed it before he even realized what he was doing.

Satisfied, Su Taotao smiled and scooped another spoonful.

Perhaps because of the delicious taste he hadn’t experienced in a while, Chenchen let his guard down and ate half a bowl of fish paste porridge before shaking his head, indicating he was full.

Su Taotao wiped the baby's mouth with a clean handkerchief, feeling more and more fond of this well-behaved child. She put him back on the bed and said, "Now that Chenchen is full, it's Mom's turn to eat. You play by yourself for a while."

Su Taotao had experience from when she took care of her cousin's son before, so she was quite skilled with children. Her only thought now was to raise this little one to be as healthy and chubby as her nephew was.

However, the mother and son watching Su Taotao were already stunned, their mouths wide open enough to fit an egg.

If it weren't for the fact that they had just called the village doctor to check on her, Zhou Linglan would have wanted to call them again. After just falling into the water, how could she change so much? It was as if she had become a completely different person.

Seeing the shocked expressions of her mother-in-law and her younger brother-in-law, Su Taotao didn't know what to say. Feeding my own kid is just what any mom does, yet their expressions made it seem like she had done something miraculous.

In any case, Su Taotao had accepted the persona she had in other people's eyes. I can’t go back to being the way the old Su Taotao was. She could only let them adjust to her "changes."

She slowly finished the remaining half bowl of porridge, wiped her mouth clean, and then said with a solemn expression, "Mom, Yuanhang, the departure of Fu Zhengtu was a big blow to me. He has been out of touch for so long. From pregnancy to giving birth, I went through everything alone. Lately, I’ve been thinking all wrong, and I’ve made a lot of mistakes. After everything that happened, I’ve had a lot of time to think. I will be good to Chenchen and won't think about returning to the city. We’ll focus on being a family, and we won’t treat anyone differently. We’ll put Chenchen first. When Fu Zhengtu returns, our lives will improve."

Su Taotao realized that her husband, Fu Zhengtu, had been the one holding this family together. The older ones were too old, and the younger ones were too young to have much say. Once he left, the family fell into disarray, which was why the original Su Taotao had been able to dominate them so easily. Since that was the case, this family would have to rely on her from now on.

She needed to come up with a reasonable excuse for her transformation; otherwise, their ghost-seeing expressions would be too much for her. In any case, she couldn't explain why this Su Taotao had taken over the original one.

No matter what, I’m still Su Taotao, and that’s not going to change. They’ll just need some time to get used to the new me.

Zhou Linglan's eyes turned red as she listened and kept nodding, "Good, good, good. I understand your hardships, my daughter-in-law. You have not let us down. It is our family, Zhengtu, who has wronged you. In the future, we will all live well as a family."

Fu Yuanhang was skeptical, wondering if his sister-in-law was up to something again. What was she planning this time?