Shao Hua"s cousin left immediately after leaving the food behind. His income was now much better than before due to the improved business. His wife was also really hardworking. She would typically get up at three a.m. in order to start making meat buns and ordinary buns. Their food was clean and proper, so their business was excellent. In fact, the bun stand in front of the hospital where the bun seller always wiped his snot on his hands and then touched the buns had already gone out of business.Since they now had better income, they began to value their child"s education more. This was due to Zhang Fan and Shao Hua being excellent examples as the two of them were college graduates. The cousin and his wife now understood that it would be necessary to have a good education in order to have a better life, and good education would mean being good at studying. Thus, their young child"s life became a nightmare.
Zhang Fan didn"t like to eat meat all by itself, but he did enjoy rice pilafs, which was why Shao Hua"s mother made the fresh sheep meat into a rice pilaf combined with onions. Zhang Fan ate two large bowls of the sheep rice pilaf. This was a problem of his. He would always eat an enormous amount of whatever he loved while avoiding anything that he didn"t like! He ate more than Shao Hua"s entire family combined!
After dinner, Shao Hua"s parents forced the young couple to go out on a walk. Zhang Fan was busy every day with performing surgeries and treating patients, while Shao Hua would always do nothing but study whenever she got home from work. Neither of them had it easy. Shao Hua"s parents didn"t want them to have to do something extra like dishwas.h.i.+ng.
"Let"s go take a walk at Chasu River! We can watch the setting sun!" Shao Hua stuffed her hand into Zhang Fan"s jacket pocket as she walked right next to him.
"Isn"t the wind too strong today? It"s the middle of winter!" He felt that men had been accustomed to hunting ever since ancient times, but men weren"t able to outrun wild animals, which was why they habitually waited to ambush the animals instead. This was why men genetically didn"t like to walk. This wasn"t laziness! It was science, Zhang Fan thought to himself!
"I suppose so. Yes, the wind"s rather strong today. You can go back by yourself, then! I"ll go by myself." Shao Hua held her head up high as she walked forward while mentally counting to three. If Zhang Fan still didn"t try to catch up to her by the time that she reached three, she would definitely turn around and hunt him down.
Zhang Fan pretended to be nervous as he chased after her. "Yes, we definitely must go. Even if I must run across knives or through a sea of fire, I"ll accompany you!" Zhang Fan then puffed out his chest as he walked towards the river against the wind! He acted as if he was a samurai warrior!
"Haha, look at you act!" Zhang Fan"s little act made Shao Hua laugh. The two of them walked slowly by the river. Although it was a bit windy, the wind wasn"t that chilly. The winter sunset wasn"t as blinding as it would be in summer. Shao Hua leaned into Zhang Fan"s embrace.
"Do you still remember what we talked about the first time that we were by the riverside?" Shao Hua asked.
"Of course!" Actually, Zhang Fan didn"t remember at all. This wasn"t because he was a sc.u.mbag, but rather a difference between men and women. Men would rarely remember such small details, while women would particularly care about such things. Maybe this was a difference between the genders!
Luckily for Zhang Fan, Shao Hua didn"t ask what they had talked about. Instead, she gazed at the slowly setting sun before turning around, raising her head slightly, and standing on her tiptoes while gently kissing Zhang Fan"s forehead.
Zhang Fan was rather confused by Shao Hua"s rather serious kiss!
"Today is the one-year anniversary of when you decided to romance me!" Shao Hua smiled while gently using her hand to block Zhang Fan"s mouth as he was about to speak.
Zhang Fan was truly surprised by this. Heavens! It had been one year already! He was rather disappointed in himself for forgetting this.
"Let me tell you, I truly am so fortunate. Over the past year, I"ve felt like I"m the luckiest and happiest woman in the world, especially whenever I see how cool you are while saving patients. Although I also sometimes get angry or worried inside, still, you"ll always be the coolest and handsomest man in my mind!"
Zhang Fan gently embraced Shao Hua. He felt that it was truly fortunate to have someone who loved you.
Shao Hua gently lowered her head onto his chest. "Ever since the past year, you"ve gradually entered and became a part of my life. You also moved my parents with your sincerity. You used your actions to show me how you can be my support. Zhang Fan!"
"Hmm?" Zhang Fan was still in a foolish state of confusion as he had gotten lost in his pride! He was too busy savoring the kiss from earlier to react.
"I love you!" Shao Hua"s dark black eyes looked directly at Zhang Fan. He had somewhat ignored the fact that she had long eyelashes, a high nosebridge, and white skin. He was somewhat of an introvert, so he had never expressed his love for Shao Hua so directly before.
This sudden direct love confession from her hit him in the softest portion of his heart. At this moment, Zhang Fan felt no l.u.s.t at all, and only pure love.
"I love you. I must be a kapok next to you, standing with you as trees together. Our roots will tightly grasp each other underground, while our leaves will combine amongst the clouds." Shao Hua pa.s.sionately recited a cla.s.sical love poem to him. Zhang Fan was tremendously moved by this, even to the extent where he couldn"t find words for how moved he was.
"Fan, I"m willing to be with you until the end of my life. Are you willing to accompany me into old age?"
"I am!"
Shao Hua gently kissed Zhang Fan on the lips!
Meanwhile, Shao Hua"s parents were also busy back home. Shao Hua"s mother was was.h.i.+ng the dishes, while Shao Hua"s father was wiping down the furniture. "Old man, just look at Shao Hua"s cousin and his wife. They still need to rent a home. Since we"re not using our old apartment anymore, how about we let them move into it?"
Although Shao Hua"s mother didn"t like Shao Hua"s aunt very much, she still felt pity for these two independent children. Shao Hua"s mother was the softhearted type.
Shao Hua"s father put down the rag that he was wiping the furniture with, and said to his wife, "The older you get, the less you understand!"
"You d.a.m.ned old man, what are you saying that I don"t understand?" Shao Hua"s mother didn"t get it.
"Oh, you. Yes, it"s good to help others. Zhang Fan already helped them to find a much better job. They owe him a huge favor already. Giving them anything else will be too much. Without even mentioning things like potential jealousy, we"re still currently living in Zhang Fan"s apartment. If you want to be technical about it, we"re already relying on our future son-in-law to survive," Shao Hua"s father stated as he drank some water before speaking again. "Originally, I wouldn"t have wanted to move no matter what, but I couldn"t win against you two women and Zhang Fan. Besides, Zhang Fan is an excellent young man. Not only is he hardworking, he"s such a good person. He never gets angry. He always speaks gently and politely. Someone like him who has no connections in Chasu City can do so well at Chasu City Hospital. Have you ever considered the reason for this?"
"What do you mean?" Shao Hua"s mother really couldn"t come up with an answer.
"See, you"re not thinking for Shao Hua"s sake now. Since we"re currently living in Zhang Fan"s apartment, Shao Hua will have to humble herself to Zhang Fan, you understand? And in the future, if something comes up about our family, especially anything major, we"ll have to talk about it with Zhang Fan first. This is a matter of respect. How old are we already? We can"t treat him as a child. For instance, about our old apartment, even if we let it sit there unused, we can"t just loan it to our relatives. That"s something troublesome. What if my nephew tells me that he wants to buy it from me after living in it? What do we do then? How much is an appropriate price to sell it for? If we ask for too much, my nephew won"t like it, and if we ask for too little, what if Zhang Fan doesn"t like it?"
Shao Hua"s father sat down as he continued, "Besides, in the worst-case scenario, while we"re still alive, Shao Hua and Zhang Fan will still be able to go out and have fun because we can take care of their children. Once we"re dead, they won"t be able to go anywhere. They"ll be the two living together in the future, which is why we should think about such things now since Zhang Fan is now around. Even teeth sometimes fight with the tongue. If we"re not careful or if we"re inconsiderate, it will only make things hard for Shao Hua."
"Oh!" Shao Hua"s mother responded contemplatively.
"This isn"t to say that Zhang Fan isn"t doing the right thing. As we"re elders, we must first think of things from his standpoint. If you don"t believe me, just watch. That brat Zhang Fan definitely isn"t someone so kind. Right now, he"s slowly making us rely on him for everything. Once we reach the point where we rely on him for everything, that"s when he"ll use his ultimate move!"
Shao Hua"s mother no longer believed this. "You"re making it sound so mystical. You think this is some movie?"
"Who do you think I am? I can see three moves ahead when playing Chinese chess, but you think I can"t tell this much?"
"Then what can you even tell? Just say it!" Shao Hua"s mother was now looking down on her husband. What he said at first sounded quite reasonable, but the last part was just purely for show. She knew what her own husband was like.
"That"s difficult to say!" He was indeed just making things up.
"You probably just want to slack off and not do any work again! You probably want to go have fun playing Chinese chess against Old Yu! Let me tell you, things are still so messy here, so go ahead and have fun if you want me to tire to death! You probably just can"t stand seeing me anymore!"
"Just look at you! You old woman, you"re so unreasonable. When did I say that I didn"t want to do any work?"
"Then hurry and go wipe down the cabinet. Stop standing here in the kitchen and blabbering with me. Go already!"
Shao Hua"s father unhappily picked up the rag and continued wiping, while Shao Hua"s mother thought about what he"d said.
"Yes, in order to have a daily life together, we must learn to think from another"s standpoint. For us three to gather together here! He!" She suddenly seemed to think of something, but uncertainly shook her head, and went back to was.h.i.+ng dishes!