Chapter 78: Thrown into Disarray

Chapter 78: Overthinking Things

"I’ll start breakfast. The kids are still sleeping—I’ll wake them up later."

After speaking, Su He noticed Fu Tinghua seemed to be spacing out and didn’t respond.

"Fu Tinghua? Fu Tinghua?" Su He called his name twice more.

"Huh?" As if snapping out of a daze, Fu Tinghua finally came back to reality.

"What’s wrong? You’re spacing out. I said I’m starting breakfast," Su He said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah. I’ll give you a hand."

Without waiting for her reply, Fu Tinghua walked straight into the kitchen.

"What’s for breakfast?" he asked after bringing a few pieces of firewood from the yard into the kitchen.

Su He thought for a moment before answering, "Steamed eggs and yams."

"Alright, I’ll get the fire going."

"Okay."

And so, the couple split the work and got started.

By the time Su He finished washing her face and brushing her teeth, Fu Tinghua had already had the fire ready.

Su He quickly washed the yams, added water to the steamer, and placed it over the stove.

After putting the eggs and yams inside, she hesitated for a second, then added two more corn cobs.

With Fu Tinghua back today, the kids couldn’t have milk—no way to explain where they got it.

But then again, they’d been drinking milk for days now. Why get jumpy now just because their father was home?

Ever since coming to this world, she’d faced nothing but trouble. She hadn’t wronged anyone—why should she feel guilty?

What if Fu Tinghua realized she wasn’t the real Su He? So what? She could just deny it. Worst case, they’d get divorced—wasn’t that exactly what she wanted?

As if deciding to screw it all, Su He grabbed the milk, dumped it in a bowl, and placed it in the steamer to warm.

Fu Tinghua watched her actions silently, his face giving nothing away, but in the end, he asked nothing.

Now it was Su He’s turn to be thrown off. She’d been waiting for him to question her, already preparing her excuses.

Yet even after the kids woke up, Fu Tinghua showed no intention of asking.

Well, she’d worked herself up over nothing.

It was all Fu Tinghua’s fault—being so handsome, cool, and capable.

He was different from everyone else she’d met. How to put it? He just oozed smarts, which made her get flustered around him every time.

"Mom." Niu Niu rubbed her eyes as she walked up to Su He.

"Go on, brush your teeth. Liangchuan, your toothbrush and towel are here—go wash up," Su He smiled.

"Thank you, Aunt Su," Ji Liangchuan said sweetly.

Perhaps because they had too much fun yesterday, the kids were all dead asleep. Now that they're awake, they feel weirdly alert.

It's so nice staying at Aunt Su's place—waking up to such a warm scene is wonderful.

If they were at their own home right now, it'd probably just be the nanny home alone.

"Come grab breakfast after you wash up," Su He called out to the kids while pulling the food from the steamer and dishing it out.

Fu Tinghua helped her with everything.

When Ji Liangchuan saw the glass of milk set out for him on the table, he asked in surprise, "Aunt Su, you have milk at your house too?"

Su He, who was peeling an egg, paused for a moment. She didn't think Ji Liangchuan would be the one asking this.

"Yes, Zai Zai and Niu Niu weren't eating right before, so I thought giving them milk would help," Su He replied with a smile.

"Oh, my folks make me chug milk daily too," Ji Liangchuan said casually.

Mainly because when his parents forced him to drink milk, his mother had scolded him, "Do you know how fortunate you are? Some families go their whole lives without tasting milk."

Turns out his mom wasn't completely on point.

This was only his second time at Aunt Su's, but they had milk here too.

Not wanting to refuse Aunt Su’s kindness, Ji Liangchuan forced himself to take a sip.

But surprisingly, the milk at Aunt Su’s house didn’t have that funky aftertaste. With the comparison, it went down way easier.

So this time, he finished the whole glass.

Aunt Su's place is the best—everything here tastes better than at home, Ji Liangchuan thought to himself.

As the five of them ate breakfast, Fu Tinghua noticed Su He was so wrapped up in looking after the kids that she hadn’t eaten anything herself. He couldn’t help but say, "You should eat too. I’ve got the eggs covered."

With that, he placed a freshly peeled egg into Su He’s bowl.

Su He was speechless...

Even though he had only sworn just last night they'd make this work, Fu Tinghua was jumping into this dad role awfully fast.

Before Su He could respond, Zai Zai chimed in like a little grown-up, "Mom, you eat. We can take care of ourselves."

Fu Tinghua was impressed by his kid's maturity and gave him an approving look.

Su He was speechless again...

"Alright then," Su He smiled as she picked up the egg Fu Tinghua had peeled for her and nibbled at it.

But she didn’t notice Fu Tinghua glancing at her from the corner of his eye, the corners of his mouth quirking up.

Not long after breakfast, Ms. Zhou, Ji Liangchuan’s grandmother, pulled up.

The moment Ji Liangchuan saw Ms. Zhou, the light in his eyes faded.

"Miss Su, thank you for looking after Liangchuan for me," Ms. Zhou said as soon as she got out of the car and went straight up to Su He.

"Not at all. Liangchuan is very responsible and hardly needs any supervision," Su He replied with a smile.

"Chuan, Grandma’s here to pick you up."

Ms. Zhou turned her gaze to her grandson, expecting that after a night apart in an unfamiliar environment, he would have missed her. But...

"Mm. Grandma," Ji Liangchuan mumbled gloomily.

Ms. Zhou was speechless. This kid wasn't even happy to see her.

Su He quickly noticed Ji Liangchuan's unusual mood and promptly introduced, "This is my husband, Fu Tinghua."

Ms. Zhou had already noticed the exceptionally good-looking man standing beside Su He and had been wondering if he was her husband. Turns out he was!

"Hello," Fu Tinghua nodded at Ms. Zhou.

"Ha-ha, hello, hello. We've really put you out with Chuan."

The adults exchanged a few more words. After Fu Tinghua walked away, Ms. Zhou said to Su He, "Miss Su, your husband is really handsome."

"Ha-ha, is that so? Everyone says that," Su He replied with a smile.

When it was time to get in the car, Ji Liangchuan turned to Zai Zai and Niu Niu and said, "When the village market day comes, you have to come play with me!"