Butcher Fulang’s Noodle Shop - Chapter 43
Xu Zhongyue was stunned. Song Shi’an noticed he was still in a trance as he walked over. His husband’s face was as white as marble plaster, temples getting darker, eyes motionless, and mouth half-open.
He suddenly became anxious, “Xu ge-ge?”
Even the old doctor quickly took out a silver needle, ready to prick him in important orifices.
Fortunately, he saw a flash of silver light. Xu Zhongyue blinked and asked hurriedly, “Did I hear you correctly?”
The old doctor, sensing Xu Zhongyue’s weird temper, didn’t tease him anymore.
“I congratulate you. In seven months, you will have a big fat baby! But your wife just became pregnant less than three months ago. Take care during this period, avoid strenuous activities, and ensure he’s not overexerted.”
“Okay, okay!” Xu Zhongyue nodded, requesting prescriptions for fetal protection and overall health.
Song Shi’an sat silently, his black eyes showing a bit of panic.
After paying, Xu Zhongyue carried several large bags of medicinal materials. He mentioned to Song Shi’an for him to come up so he could carry everything back to the inn.
“I can walk by myself. I’m not sick.”
Xu Zhongyue noticed something but stayed silent, accompanying Song Shi’an back to the inn.
On their journey, Song Shi’an mentioned having a reduced appetite, but Xu Zhongyue still bought meat rolls, red date cakes, and sweet-scented osmanthus soup, anticipating his hunger later.
Observing Xu Zhongyue’s tendency to spend lavishly when excited, Song Shi’an, despite his reservations, expressed a preference for something sour.
This led to a flurry of purchases, with Xu Zhongyue buying various items like jujube cakes, pickled cabbage buns, sour soup dumplings, and even clothes from a silk shop, including close-fitting pockets and drawstring trousers suitable for pregnant women.
Although Xu Zhongyue didn’t verbalize it, his joy radiated from every pore. Upon returning to the inn, he prepared hot water and gave Song Shi’an a foot massage, treating his feet like delicate lambs.
The foot soak at night brought comfort to Song Shi’an, and Xu Zhongyue, wiping his feet clean, “I was so happy to finally have a child with you.”
While Song Shi’an initially looked blank, he eventually laughed, “I know you are so happy. Look how stunned you were today; do you think you wouldn’t be able to be a father or what?”
Xu Zhongyue, despite blushing, joined in the laughter, after laughing together he put his hands around his wife’s thin neck and put his forehead close together.
“We will soon have our own baby.” He said happily.
Song Shi’an sighed quietly and became silent.
In his previous life as a man, Song Shi’an never imagined he would experience childbirth. The vivid depictions of pregnant women’s agonizing cries in period TV dramas, the forehead sweat, and the portrayal of basins of blood chilled him.
Yet, witnessing his partner’s overwhelming joy, with tears in his deep, steady eyes, brought an unexpected happiness that felt like fireworks in his head.
Concerned about Song Shi’an’s silent contemplation, Xu Zhongyue, gently holding his chin, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m afraid of pain….”
Xu Zhongyue felt his heart was scratched by a cat, sometimes his young wife was really cute like a child. He stroked his hair softly and reassured him, “Don’t be afraid. I will always by your side. If you are hurt, you could bite my arm, let me feel it with you.”
Later, Song Shi’an wanted to shower by himself but Xu Zhongyue felt it was dangerous to climb in and out of bath up on his own. So, he asked the waiter to send a big bath up upstairs so they could take a bath together.
Fortunately, the inn was accustomed to guests taking shared baths, and the experience was skillfully facilitated.
Xu Zhongyue carefully washed Song Shi’an’s hair with water boiled from Tiebo leaves, his hands tracing delicate neck hollows and resting on the now-moist and full waist that had transformed since their marriage.
When they first got married, this slim waist had no flesh at all. Now, after raising it for a long time, it finally showed some moist curves, and it was still full and tight. Xu Zhongda could hold the wife’s waist by closing his palms but there was still a gap in the middle.
The belly button was also small, and the inside was very deep pink. At first glance, it looks like a little flower bud on the snowy field.
He touched it very carefully, touching it lightly before retracting it, for fear of hurting the wife’s body.
Hidden within them was a little child, a product of their joint efforts.
‘What is the little doll doing now?’
.
After a day filled with various events, Song Shi’an found it challenging to sleep peacefully at night. Troubled by a nightmare, he woke up Xu Zhongyue, waving hands and kicking feet.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
Song Shi’an’s opened his teary eyes, he looked at his husband and got angry so he turned away in apparent anger.
Xu Zhongyue hugged him tightly, “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong? Just scold me. Don’t get angry, you will be uncomfortable.”
Recalling the scene in his dream, Song Shi’an felt aggrieved, his lips curled downward, “You are to blame. After returning to the capital, you turned out to be a senior official with wealth and a beautiful wife. I bring ten children in search for you, but you kicked us out like beggars.”
Ten children!! All of them were begging for foods.
Perplexed, Xu Zhongyue exclaimed, “When did I become like this? When did you give birth to…ten children?”
Although it wasn’t impossible but… more children meant more blessing. He had to work really hard for it.
Song Shi’an replied dully, “…. in my dream”
Xu Zhongyue: “……”
Xu Zhongyue, “What I did in your dream was wrong. I’ll help you beat him up, let’s beat him together. Don’t say ten, even if it was twenty or thirty. I will take good care of all of them. I will support our hundred children.”
However, if one hundred children shouted ‘Daddy’ at the same time, it would be very noisy.
To show his guilt, he hit his chest strongly which made Song Shi’an felt distressed. Why was his husband so rough to himself.
The worries turned to be nonsense, Song Shi’an turned over and buried himself in Xu Zhongyue’s arms but still worried.
“But I’m so worried. You don’t remember anything except your name. Then… isn’t it possible that you have parents and relatives elsewhere, or even another wife and children?”
Perhaps due to his pregnancy, Song Shi’an was more fragile than usual, worrying about gains and losses.
Xu Zhongyue stroked Song Shi’an’s back to help him calm down and said sincerely, “No.”
Because he didn’t feel anything.
After being rescued from the river, his heart had always been empty and peaceful, like a snowfield covered by heavy snow, with only him walking alone.
That kind of loneliness and coldness taught him that he was the only one left in the world.
Otherwise, there must be an invisible pull in the dark, making him unable to let go and search everywhere.
.
In the next two days, Xu Zhongyue arranged relaxing activities.
The two of them slept until midnight, had brunch and lunch at a famous shop in Yuezhou City when the sun was shining brightly, and then had the option to go back and take a nap or find a theater to listen to a play.
As the sky darkened, they would cool off and stroll around the large lakes in Yuezhou City, reading monuments written by famous people. In the evening, they could go on a boat to admire the lanterns or visit the ghost market that only came out at night to buy various snacks and gadgets.
They enjoyed themselves, and their restaurant ran the business in an orderly manner.
Because their restaurant opened much later than the dock noodle stall, Shen Fusheng felt sorry for his grandma, mother, and younger brother, so he often got up earlier and pushed his cart to Zaozi Lane to find Aunt Liu, allowing the three of them to sleep a little longer.
This time, as soon as Shen Fusheng arrived, he heard noise inside through the door. The sound abruptly stopped when he knocked, and after a while, Liu Yu came out to open the door, smiling, “Fusheng-gege is here, please come in.”
Liu Yu, two years younger than Shen Fusheng, was a thin and fair girl who willingly worked hard to help her mother and sister. Seeing how sensible she was, Shen Fusheng always felt warmly to her.
Her eyes were red, but she pretended to be nonchalant.
Shen Fusheng took a second look. After Aunty Liu loaded everything into the cart, Shen Fusheng counted out the coins and paid off the money.
He looked at Liu Yu and said, “I sprained my foot yesterday. There’s a slope at the intersection I’m afraid I won’t be able to go up. Can you help me push it a bit?”
Liu Yu nodded, closed the courtyard door, and accompanied him out. Shen Fusheng took two more steps before asking her what happened.
Seeing that Liu Yu refused to say anything, Shen Fusheng added, “If you’re just quarreling with your mother, I’ll advise you to be more modest. Our mothers raised us alone, and it’s not easy for them. Even if she scolds you for a few words, as long as it helps calm things down, it won’t be a big deal.”
Seeing Liu Yu hesitate to speak and look at him, he knew he must have guessed wrong, so he continued: “But if there are other difficulties, you might as well say it. If it troubles you, it may not trouble me. Maybe I can help solve it with you?”