ZuoZuo and YouYou didn’t climb into their parents’ bed with their pillows anymore on weekend mornings once they turned six.
Zhou Shiyi sighed with relief, grateful they hadn’t had a third child—otherwise, he and Zhong Yi would hardly have a peaceful, free weekend for years.
That Saturday morning, the brothers woke up before eight o’clock.
YouYou, just like when they were little, pushed his older brother forward as they walked.
They were used to their parents sleeping in every weekend, so the two of them went straight to the dining room to eat and discussed watering Mom’s garden afterward.
“Mom’s hydrangeas are about to bloom, we have to water them well! Plants don’t grow without water.”
YouYou worried, “But Dad said we’re not allowed to get near those flowers!”
ZuoZuo replied, “We’ll water them before Dad wakes up.”
YouYou agreed, “Okay!”
Then he suddenly remembered something. “Brother, I want to go shopping with Mom tonight. Dad won’t buy her a bag, so I want to buy her one, but I’m afraid I don’t have enough money.”
He then fell asleep.
With Mother’s Day approaching, ZuoZuo was already thinking about what gift to give their mom. “I’ll give you all my money.”
Mom took care of all three of them so hard. She never bought a pretty bag, only two very old Canvas Bags.
While they were talking, ZuoZuo got a call from Grandpa, asking what time they would arrive.
ZuoZuo said, “Dad’s still not up.”
Zhou Yunlian said, “Forget him. Have the driver bring you and your brother over first.”
The two kids had finally passed the noisy stage; a whole day with them no longer left their ears aching.
Of course, the noisy times had their own joy—tiring but happy.
Today was his birthday, and Shi Fanyin said they would celebrate at home.
It was no easy feat. After more than thirty years of marriage, she finally remembered his birthday.
After breakfast, ZuoZuo and YouYou brought along drawings they had made for Grandpa. The driver took them to the Lao Zhai.
“Brother, what did you draw? Let me see.” YouYou leaned his head closer.
ZuoZuo pulled the drawing out of his bag and unfolded it: “I drew Grandpa racing.”
On a bright red racecar sat a stick figure.
Worried Grandpa wouldn’t recognize himself, he had carefully labeled the name: yunlian Zhou.
YouYou opened his eyes wide and lied, “It looks just like him!”
Then he burst out laughing.
ZuoZuo laughed along.
“What did you draw?”
The brothers thought about it together. YouYou’s drawing was also about the F1 Grand Prix.
He showed his brother: “I drew the P room.” Then he asked, “Can you tell what it is?”
ZuoZuo couldn’t tell, but there was a label on the drawing: “I can tell!”
YouYou continued, “The one wearing sunglasses is Grandpa. This is me and you.” Then he giggled.
ZuoZuo said, “Cool sunglasses! Even bigger than Grandpa’s face.”
The driver in the front seat listened to the boys’ descriptions and felt like he was looking at two wonderful drawings.
But he knew the kids had inherited their drawing skills from Zhong Yi.
ZuoZuo and YouYou kept praising each other’s artwork.
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror at the backseat and chuckled.
No matter how the drawings looked, Zhou Yunlian treasured them like precious jewels.
When he was young, he often took his son to watch the F1 Grand Prix, but his son didn’t seem very interested in racing and would often lean on him halfway through.
In recent years, whenever he had free time, he took his two grandsons to the races. The kids were engaged from start to finish.
Except for being a little noisy, the two kids were much easier to handle than Zhou Shiyi had been.
Looking back, his son’s stubborn temper wasn’t inherited from anyone; it was completely spoiled by him.
But no matter how spoiled, his son had never given him a hug like Zhong Yi had once hugged Jiang Jingyuan.
At 9:20, ZuoZuo and YouYou arrived at Grandpa’s house.
At that moment, Zhou Shiyi was just waking up.
Zhong Yi rubbed against his chest, “What time is it?”
Zhou Shiyi reached for his phone and glanced, “9:21.”
He had woken once at six, before dawn, cuddled her, and fell back asleep.
Zhong Yi said, “Get up, today’s Dad’s birthday.”
“No rush.”
Zhou Shiyi put down his phone, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her forehead. “Sleep a little more.”
She had the day off today but had stayed up late last night.
Zhong Yi was too tired to open her eyes. “Then wake me in ten minutes.”
Zhou Shiyi replied with a hum.
Wanting her to sleep a bit longer, he took his phone and sent a message to his father: 【Got a last-minute video meeting, will be a bit late.】
He rarely lied, except to his father.
Zhou Yunlian quickly saw through it: 【If you’re not up, just say so instead of saying there’s a meeting!】
Zhou Shiyi:
Zhou Yunlian: 【Your son just said you’re still not up.】
Zhou Shiyi wanted to ask if it was ZuoZuo or YouYou who said that but stopped halfway through typing.
He just replied, 【I’ll be there around eleven thirty.】
Zhong Yi slept in his arms until naturally waking.
Zhou Shiyi didn’t sleep but kept glancing at her in his arms.
When he looked down again, Zhong Yi opened her eyes and tilted her head up.
She felt like she had slept more than ten minutes. “What time is it?”
“Ten thirty.”
Zhou Shiyi immediately explained, “I already told my dad. I have a meeting at the last minute, arriving at eleven thirty.”
Zhong Yi relaxed at the news of having an hour to spare.
She reached behind him and rubbed his waist. “After keeping me company for so long, aren’t you sore?”
Zhou Shiyi smiled helplessly. “I’m not in my forties or fifties yet, so no.”
“Don’t move around.” He turned his hand, caught her wrist, and pulled it away from his waist.
Her feeble strength wasn’t a massage—just a touch.
Zhong Yi freed her hand and laid it back on his lean waist.
Their eyes met, and her fingertips traced his spine like wildfire.
Zhou Shiyi didn’t stop her this time but just smiled, watching her calmly. “You’re taking advantage of the time. I can’t help you, huh? I’m counting it, we’ll make up for it tonight.”
Seeing she wasn’t backing down, he pretended to flip over and pin her down.
Zhong Yi quickly withdrew her hand, laughing as she pushed him away and got up to wash.
It wasn’t until they were on the way to her in-laws’ house that she finally had time to check her phone.
Her two sons bombarded her with dozens of voice messages:
“Mom, when are you coming?”
“Mom, Brother and I made you a chestnut cake, hurry up and come!”
“Mom, is Dad still not up? Don’t pay attention to him! We won’t take him!”
“Mom, if you don’t come soon, I’ll eat the cake.”
“Mom, why does Dad always hold us back?”
“Grandpa said he regrets having Dad! Luckily, I persuaded Grandpa to take that back!”
Zhong Yi didn’t bother reading the texts and played the voice messages instead.
Zhou Shiyi listened from start to finish, used to their kids complaining about him.
Zhong Yi replied to every single message without missing one.
Zhou Shiyi tilted his head, about to say something to her, but his gaze fell on her hair, and he forgot his words for a moment.
Her hair had grown a lot, almost down to her Lockbone.
“I’ll help you trim it this afternoon.”
Zhong Yi stopped typing halfway and looked up. “No more trimming. I deliberately didn’t cut it—not because I don’t have time.”
“I want to grow it longer.”
“Why suddenly want long hair?”
“I want to feel the hairstyle I had when I was younger again.”
Zhou Shiyi said, “If you’re not young anymore, then what about me? I’m even older.”
Zhong Yi smiled, “Your waist doesn’t ache, so you’re not old.”
Wanting to grow her hair wasn’t a whim. The other day, she flipped through old photos with ZuoZuo and YouYou.
They saw her wedding photos when she had long hair and almost didn’t recognize her, comparing seriously.
“Mom, is that really you?”
“Yes.”
“Mom, long hair looks good too!”
“My mom is the most beautiful mom in the world!”
She thought Zhou Shiyi hadn’t seen her with long hair for many years and decided not to cut it short again.
After so many years of marriage, he would occasionally twirl her hair with his index finger, but because her hair was short, it sometimes hurt, so gradually he stopped.
At 11:32, the Meibach stopped in the courtyard of the Lao Zhai.
The chef was still busy in the kitchen, and the pastry chef was still making the cake. Helping the boys make the chestnut cake earlier had delayed some time.
The living room was empty; the Ayi told them everyone was in the home theater.
They hung up their coats, and Zhou Shiyi held Zhong Yi’s hand as they walked over.
He thought his parents were watching a movie with ZuoZuo and YouYou, but before they reached the theater door, they heard YouYou’s excited voice: “Wow, Dad is so small! So tiny! He’s our little brother!”
Zhou Shiyi: “……”
He opened the door.
His parents were replaying videos of him watching the F1 Grand Prix as a child.
“I may have been younger, but I can’t be your brother!”
Hearing this, YouYou suddenly turned his head.
Unexpectedly, Dad heard just in time, and he covered his mouth laughing.
Zhong Yi sat down in an empty seat nearby; it was also her first time watching Zhou Shiyi’s childhood videos.
In the video, he was about three or four years old, wearing a blue and white racing suit. At that time, Grandpa was still young, around thirty.
“Dad, I’m hungry!”
Little Zhou Shiyi lay on Zhou Yunlian’s leg, bored and looking pitiful.
“Who told you not to eat breakfast properly.” Zhou Yunlian picked up his son and went to the dining area.
“What do you want to eat? Lobster? Fried fish?”
Little Zhou Shiyi shook his head, “No.”
“Steak? Lamb chop? Should I have the chef fry you one?”
“No.”
“Dessert?”
“No.”
“Braised noodles?”
“No.”
“Seafood rice?”
His head kept shaking like a rattle.
At this moment, Shi Fanyin’s voice interrupted: “No picky eating! If you keep being picky, I’ll show this video to your kids in the future.”
Zhou Yunlian: ……He’s only three and a half, what does he understand?
Zhou Shiyi couldn’t bear to watch his whiny little self anymore and told his parents not to play the video again.
He threatened his two sons who were still laughing at him, “There are plenty of embarrassing videos of you when you were little. Watch out, or I’ll show them to your kids someday.”
“No, Dad!”
“Dad, no!”
ZuoZuo and YouYou both threw themselves into Zhou Shiyi’s arms and each kissed one cheek.
“Dad, I love you.”
“Dad, you’re the best.”
Zhou Shiyi didn’t believe them: “Tomorrow you’ll forget everything you said now.”
“No!”
“Definitely not!”
They promised for a long time before Zhou Shiyi stopped teasing them.
After watching over twenty minutes of videos, Zhou Shiyi realized his father was even more patient than he had imagined.
At the end of the video, his father asked if he wanted a hamburger and fries.
He thought for a moment and nodded.
At that moment, ZuoZuo and YouYou both looked at him.
Because he only occasionally allowed them to eat those.
YouYou imitated Grandpa’s tone and asked ZuoZuo, “Do you want a hamburger and fries?”
ZuoZuo copied the expression Dad had in the video and nodded.
The whole family laughed.
Zhou Shiyi was exasperated and laughed back.
He lightly slapped each of his sons’ behinds once.
Shi Fanyin rubbed the kids’ heads, “Didn’t you make Mom a chestnut cake? Go get it for her.”
The boys almost forgot and dashed to the kitchen.
The family came out of the theater, with Shi Fanyin and Zhou Yunlian walking last.
She glanced at her husband’s profile. If it weren’t for watching those old videos today, she would have long forgotten what he was like with the kids.
Maybe because he was young then, she never felt he was so patient.
No matter how unreasonable the kids were, he always spoke softly and found ways to coax them.
He used to say he was a qualified father, but she had always scoffed.
The birthday cake was freshly finished. ZuoZuo and YouYou helped stick in the candles.
On the table were also two crooked chestnut cakes, made especially for Zhong Yi by the two boys.
After lighting the candles, ZuoZuo called for Dad to light them.
Before lighting, Zhou Shiyi turned and hugged his father standing beside him. “Dad, happy birthday. Thank you for all your hard work over the years.”
“Wow!”
“Wow! Dad, you’re amazing!”
The two kids clapped simultaneously.
Zhong Yi picked up the lighter on the table. “Ding,” the lighter clicked open.
The candles were lit, and the boys joyfully sang the birthday song.
Only when the song ended did Zhou Yunlian snap out of the embrace his son had just given him.
“Grandpa, make a wish!”
“Grandpa, hurry, hurry and wish!”
Zhou Yunlian had no more wishes to make, but his wife took the initiative to celebrate him, and the hug he had longed for had finally come today.
If he had to make a wish, it was simply to have days like this year after year.
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