Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Gao Mingzhu rode her bike home. Before she even stepped through the gate, Tiewei, with his sharp ears, had already heard the noise and dashed out of the house like a black lightning bolt, excitedly wagging his tail and circling her, overjoyed—a stark contrast to his aloof appearance!

"Good dog!" Gao Mingzhu jumped off the bike and happily patted Tiewei's big head as she pushed the bike forward, teasing with a smile, "Are you this happy to see Mom back?"

"Mom?" A surprised voice rang out.

Gao Mingzhu looked up and saw Huo Huaichuan pushing his wheelchair out of the house, having just overheard how she referred to herself in relation to Tiewei, his face full of shock and disbelief.

"That's right, my dog son, Tiewei!" Gao Mingzhu pointed at Tiewei, who was nuzzling her pant leg, and said matter-of-factly, "So what else would he call me but Mom?"

"Woof!" Tiewei barked even more excitedly at Gao Mingzhu, his eyes and posture almost as if he were responding to the call.

"Are you happy?" Gao Mingzhu laughed, teasing Tiewei a little more, then looked at Huo Huaichuan again, only to see his expression of utter absurdity.

In later times and abroad, many pet owners treated their animals as family members, often calling themselves "Mom" or "Dad," and it was very common. But in this rural setting, it was indeed unusual, and it was normal for Huo Huaichuan to find it hard to understand!

Still, that didn’t stop her from teasing him. She looked at Huo Huaichuan with a grin and deliberately said, "If I'm its mom, then you’re naturally its dad!"

Huo Huaichuan’s expression immediately softened.

They were a couple—if she was the mom, then of course he was the dad!

Thinking this, his gaze toward Tiewei became a bit softer.

Tiewei: "..."

"So, how did work at the production brigade go today?" Huo Huaichuan changed the subject, looking at Gao Mingzhu.

"Pretty well, I can handle it." Gao Mingzhu untied the large stack of account books from the back of her bike and carried them toward the house.

Huo Huaichuan drove his wheelchair behind her, and Tiewei also trotted along, entering the house.

Gao Mingzhu placed the account books on the table, then rolled up her sleeves to prepare for cooking in the kitchen, and the one person and one dog both followed her around again.

Huo Huaichuan pressed on: "Did the Lin family give you any trouble?"

"A little bit of trouble, but I didn't take it to heart!"

Hearing that Gao Mingzhu had indeed been harassed by Village Chief Lin and his family, Huo Huaichuan couldn’t help but let his expression darken slightly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

When Gao Mingzhu looked over, he quickly composed himself, his expression softening again, and he said warmly, "That’s good! Be sure to tell me if anything happens."

"I know!" Gao Mingzhu replied, then looked at the empty stove, hands on her hips, troubled: "What should we cook tonight?"

There was no fresh meat in the house. They’d been eating mostly cured meat for the past few days, but no matter how delicious it was, eating it every day got tiring.

She had meat in her space, but since Huo Huaichuan was always hovering around her, and she had just started working, it was hard to find an excuse to pull out the meat from her space.

"How about we just fry some eggs tonight?" But eggs alone were too plain.

Just as Gao Mingzhu was thinking of going out to find a villager to exchange for some greens or melons, Mother Huo’s familiar loud voice rang out: "Mingzhu! Mingzhu!"

"Hey! Mom, what’s up?" Gao Mingzhu called back loudly.

Then she saw Mother Huo carrying a bunch of greens and a few fresh bitter melons, smiling: "I brought you some freshly picked vegetables."

"Oh! You’re bringing vegetables over again?" Gao Mingzhu was thrilled; this was just what she needed. "I was just worrying about what to cook tonight... Did you pick these from the private plot? So many? Won’t the folks back at the old house scold you when they get back?"

"Don’t worry, don’t worry. I tend the private plot the most, so what right do they have to scold me? Besides, even if you didn't help with the planting, you still paid the household expenses, so you helped. When we split up the family, we forgot, but you deserve your share. Why shouldn’t I bring them over? If they scold me, I’ll scold them right back. I’m not afraid of them!" Mother Huo said firmly, as if she were having a shouting match with the old house folks from a distance.

She didn’t linger with Mingzhu and turned to rush back to the old house, shouting over her shoulder: "I’ll head back to cook now. Oh, and Mingzhu, how did work at the brigade go today? No one bullied you, right?"

"It went well, no one bullied me." Gao Mingzhu quickly answered.

"That’s good to hear. If anything comes up, go find your uncle, don’t be afraid!" Mother Huo’s voice gradually faded as she hurried away.

"..." Gao Mingzhu smiled helplessly. Her mother-in-law, now clear-headed, was much more endearing!

She turned and saw Huo Huaichuan staring pensively in the direction Mother Huo had gone.

Noticing Gao Mingzhu’s gaze, he said softly, "Mom seems a lot happier these past couple of days."

"With your condition improving steadily, how could she not be happy?" Gao Mingzhu gave the most convenient reason.

Huo Huaichuan’s dark eyes were unfathomable as he looked at her without saying whether he believed it or not.

Gao Mingzhu didn’t care if he believed her; given his high intelligence, it would be strange if he believed everything she said!

As long as he didn’t know the truth and didn’t go mad, that was fine!

She picked up the freshly picked vegetables and went into the kitchen to start cooking.

Though there was no meat tonight, she had the spiritual spring water!

She had to admit, the spiritual spring water was a true treasure. Even if she craved meat before cooking, once she took a bite of the vegetables cooked with the water, she felt inexplicably satisfied!

After dinner, Gao Mingzhu and Huo Huaichuan went to the bedroom together.

Huo Huaichuan continued reading, while Gao Mingzhu took out the account books and examined them carefully under the lamplight.

During the day, Gao Mingzhu was at work, and Huo Huaichuan focused on his reading at home. But as soon as she was by his side, he found it hard to concentrate, often distracted by her.

Normally, Gao Mingzhu would have noticed his unusual behavior, but today she was so engrossed in the calculations that she paid attention to nothing else.

Seeing this, Huo Huaichuan moved closer to see what she was working on.

Although Huo Huaichuan wasn’t an economics student, he would later become the chief designer of aerospace strategy, highly gifted in mathematics and physics. To him, this village’s little accounts were as simple as one plus one, so, like Gao Mingzhu, he spotted the problems in the account books at a glance.

Especially when he saw the errors she had meticulously noted, his brows furrowed deeply: "Is someone cooking the books?"

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