CH 91

Xu Zhao was shocked.

Cui Dingchen turned over and lay with his back to Xu Zhao. He threw out a “sleep” and didn’t speak again. The room fell into silence. The silence made Xu Zhao doubt what had just happened.

J-Just now, Youngest uncle said that he was reluctant to part with him.

Youngest uncle said he was reluctant to part with him—

Reluctant—

Xu Zhao always had a calm heart, but now little weeds of thoughts were appearing, growing and unable to be pulled out. He was unable to smooth them out. He felt a bit flustered, a bit panicked, and a tinnie tiny bit uncontrolled. In any case, his heart was a mess.

A mess!

He was a complete mess that he couldn’t even fall asleep. It wasn’t until the dim morning light shone from the East that Xu Zhao finally got a bit of sleep. But he didn’t sleep comfortably. He kept dreaming. Dreaming that Cui Dingchen had said he liked him and Xu Fan. Dreaming that Cui Dingchen had even kissed him. His cheeks that were kissed were burning hot… He opened his eyes to take a look, and Xu Fan, who was wearing his thermal underwear and laying over his face, had given him a kiss on his cheek.

“Daddy.” Seeing that Xu Zhao had woken, Xu Fan happily called out, “You’re awake?”

“Mn,” Xu Zhao replied.

“Let’s go eat beat buns.”

Xu Zhao rubbed his eyes and asked, “You’re hungry?”

Xu Fan nodded. “Mn, I want to eat meat bun.”

“Okay. Let me take a look at the time.”

“It’s 8:30.” The one who spoke was Cui Dingchen.

Hearing Cui Dingchen’s voice, Xu Zhao was stunned for a bit before looking at Cui Dingchen.

Cui Dingchen was already neatly dressed and sitting by the small table. He held the newspaper in his hands, and looked at Xu Zhao as he said, “But the train ticket we have isn’t until four this afternoon. You can sleep a bit longer before getting up.”

Xu Zhao’s tone was a bit unnatural. “I-I won’t sleep anymore.”

Cui Dingchen asked, “You’ve slept enough?”

Xu Zhao nodded. “Mn.” In fact, he hadn’t.

“Then you should get up.”

Xu Zhao quickly dressed under Cui Dingchen’s gaze. He also dressed Xu Fan before they all walked out of the hotel together and headed to the famous breakfast shop in the imperial capital. They ate pork buns, beef fried balls, and sesame balls. They also had chicken broth bean curd jelly and other things. During this time, Cui Dingchen’s gaze was stuck on Xu Zhao. He also meticulously took care of Xu Zhao and would also occasionally take care of Xu Fan.

Xu Zhao saw it all but didn’t say anything. He took Xu Fan for a walk around the imperial capital and bought some gifts for Mother and Father Xu and the others. In the afternoon, they went to eat roasted lamb, then returned to the hotel to pack up their suitcases. 2:30 in the afternoon, they went to the train station. At 3:15, they arrived inside their train carriage. At 3:45, Xu Zhao and Cui Dingchen had good luck again and both got the bottom bunk beds.

“Wow, the train’s small house!” Xu Fan was extremely happy.

Xu Zhao didn’t pay attention to Xu Fan.

Xu Fan came to Xu Zhao’s side and said, “Daddy, we’re going home.”

Xu Zhao smiled. “That’s right, do you want to go home?”

“I do!”

“Why do you want to go home?”

“B-because at home, I can see Grandpa, Grandma, Da Zhuang, Zhuangzhuang, and the big yellow dog.”

“Do you miss them?”

“Mn.” Xu Fan nodded.

“How do you miss them?”

Xu Fan tilted his little head and thought about it before saying, “I-I-I miss them in my l-little heart.”

Xu Zhao smiled and asked, “Your little heart? Where is your little heart located?”

“Here.” Xu Fan’s small meaty hand covered his right side.

“That’s incorrect. It’s on the left,” Cui Dingchen reminded him.

Hearing this, Xu Zhao and Xu Fan looked at Cui at the same time.

Cui Dingchen looked at Xu Zhao and asked, “Did I say something wrong? Isn’t Xu Fan’s little heart talking about his heart organ?”

Xu Zhao was stunned and a bit awkward as he said, “You didn’t say anything wrong. His little heart is referring to his heart organ.”

Cui Dingchen didn’t say anything else and looked at the book in his hand instead. From time to time, he would glance at Xu Zhao and Xu Fan. A faint smile raised from the corner of his lips. Very quickly, it was dinnertime and the carriage became very lively.

Cui Dingchen originally planned to eat in the dining car, but when he saw the train attendant pushing the small car and selling lunch boxes, Xu Fan wasn’t able to wait any longer. He shouted that he wanted to eat, and so Cui Dingchen bought three lunch boxes. The three of them arte around the small table.

Xu Fan sighed again. This era really was fair and nice. The train’s lunch boxes were not only cheap, but delicious and had a big portion. The three lunch boxes were cleanly eaten by the three of them. Of course, Xu Fan only ate half a portion.

After they finished eating, they listened to the other passengers in the carriage chat all the way until late into the night before everyone went to sleep. Xu Zhao, Xu Fan, and Cui Dingchen also went to sleep.

Xu Zhao was really sleepy. He hugged Xu Fan and fell asleep. In his confusion, he heard Xu Fan muttering that he needed to pee. He wanted to wake up and take Xu Fan to go to the bathroom, but he was too tired. Even after a while, he was unable to open his eyes. As he was struggling, he suddenly heard Cui Dingchen’s gentle voice.

“Continue sleeping. I’ll take him to the bathroom.”

Xu Zhao was slightly shocked. Xu Fan, who was in his arms, was gently carried away by Cui Dingchen. Not even three to five minutes later, Xu Fan was once again placed back into Xu Zhao’s embrace. Xu Zhao’s heart felt stable.

As he was feeling very grateful to Cui Dingchen, Cui Dingchen’s hand reached out to his body and pulled up the blanket to cover him and Xu Fan.

Instantly, a burst of warmth filled the bed, and Xu Zhao didn’t know what kind of feeling he was suddenly poked by, but his heart felt moist and his eyes stung a bit. Besides Mother and Father Xu, it seemed that no one else had covered him in a blanket before.

“You should sleep. Don’t worry about oversleeping. I’m here. When we’re almost at the station tomorrow morning, I’ll wake you,” Cui Dingchen’s deep and gentle voice sounded again.

Xu Zhao subconsciously grunted in acknowledgment and quickly fell into a sweet sleep. He slept especially well, and when he woke, he was full of energy. He didn’t expect Xu Fan to be even more full than him. His small meaty hand held the bottle of milk, and he drank it while it was nestled in his arm. It startled Xu Zhao.

“Where did you get the milk from?” Xu Zhao asked.

Xu Fan pulled the small pacifier from his mouth and said with a giggle, “Second Grandpa Cui filled it up for me.”

Cui Dingchen had watched them make Xu Fan’s formula these past few days and had already learned how to make it. Although it was a bit watery, it was still made correctly in the end.

Xu Zhao looked around the carriage, and not seeing Cui Dingchen, asked, “Where’s your Second Grandpa Cui?”

Xu Fan answered, “He’s buying meat buns.”

“Where did he go to buy them?”

“Second Grandpa Cui said to the dining car to buy meat buns.”

As soon as Xu Fan spoke, Cui Dingchen returned with two aluminum lunch boxes.

“Youngest uncle,” Xu Zhao greeted.

Cui Dingchen hummed in greeting and said, “You’re awake.”

Xu Zhao answered, “Mn.”

Cui Dingchen asked again, “Did you sleep well?”

“Very well.”

“Then you should go brush your teeth and wash your face before you have breakfast. We’ll arrive in West Prefecture in fifty minutes.”

“Okay.”

Xu Zhao got up from the bed, dressed Xu Fan, then carried Xu to the head of the carriage to wash Xu Fan’s little face and hands. He then brought Xu Fan back inside the carriage before going to brush his own teeth and wash his own face.

After washing up and when he came back, he saw Xu Fan sitting in front of Cui Dingchen. He was holding the milk bottle with one hand and had a meat bun in the other. He took a bite of the meat bun before drinking a sip of milk. He looked especially happy.

“After you finish eating this, you can’t have anymore,” Cui Dingchen said as he read the newspaper in his hand.

Xu Fan raised his small meaty face and asked, “Why?”

“You’ve already eaten one.”

“B-but the meat bun is so small.”

“You also drank milk.”

“But my belly is still hungry. What if I haven’t eaten enough yet?”

“…”

Cui Dingchen turned his head and was about to look at Xu Fan when he caught a glimpse of Xu Zhao, who was standing by the side with a smile. He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and said, “Come and eat breakfast.”

“Mn, thank you, Youngest uncle.”

“Mn.”

Xu Zhao smoothly carried Xu Fan to the bed, then began eating breakfast. Not long after finishing breakfast, they arrived at West Prefecture train station. Xu Zhao, Cui Dingchen, and Xu Fan followed the flow of people off the train. When they exited the train station, Old Liu welcomed them with a smile and handed Cui Dingchen’s car keys to Cui Dingchen.

Cui Dingchen gave his thanks, then put all the luggage into the trunk. He then gave Old Liu a bag of fruits and had Xu Zhao and Xu Fan get in the car. Only then did he start the car and drive off.

“Wow! I’m riding a big car again!” Xu Fan was very happy.

Xu Zhao smiled and asked, “Do you know who’s big car this belongs to?”

Xu Fan answered, “Second Grandpa Cui.”

“So smart.”

“Mn. I’m the smartest! Daddy is also smart. Grandpa is also smart. Grandma is also smart. Da Zhuang isn’t as smart as me!”

Xu Fan’s small little mouth didn’t stop moving. Especially when the car drove onto the dirt road of South Bay Village, Xu Fan knew he had arrived back to South Bay Village. He was extremely excited and pasted himself against the car window. When he saw Da Zhuang and the others, who were playing inside the village, Xu Fan became even more excited as he shouted.

“Da Zhuang! Da Zhuang! I’m back!”

Xu Zhao could only say to Cui Dingchen, “Youngest uncle, you can just drop us off at the intersection.”

Cui Dingchen nodded and stopped the car.

Xu Zhao quickly got out of the car and opened the car door. He first carried Xu Fan off, then let Xu Fan run to play with Da Zhuang and the others. Afterward, he turned to Cui Dingchen, who had opened the driver’s door and told him that he didn’t need to get out, and that he could get their luggage from the trunk by himself.

After getting the luggage and closing the trunk, Xu Zhao deliberately walked to the driver’s side to thank Cui Dingchen.

Cui Dingchen lowered his gaze and didn’t speak.

Xu Zhao called out with doubt, “Youngest uncle.”

Cui Dingchen raised his gaze to Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao thought Cui Dingchen didn’t hear him and said again, “Youngest uncle, thank you for bringing us back. You should also quickly go home. Uncle and Auntie Cui must be missing you. I won’t make you come to our home to eat this time. Next time, I’ll invite you to eat next time. I’ll leave now.”

“Xu Zhao!”

Xu Zhao had just taken a step when his hand was grabbed by Cui Dingchen. Xu Zhao was startled and slowly turned to look at Cui.

Cui Dingchen held his hand and said, “You’re not rejecting me, right?”

Xu Zhao asked back, “D-do you reject Xu Fan?”