"That's true."
Lu Jingming also smiled. He cracked open another hairy crab for Xu Yanxia and placed the meat into her bowl.
He didn't forget to prompt his cousin sitting nearby, saying, "Bro, you should peel a crab for my sister-in-law too."
The cousin, who had just worked hard cooking the meal, looked at him speechlessly. "Look at you showing off, huh? Your sister-in-law is breastfeeding right now; she can't eat crabs."
This made Xu Yanxia a little curious. She quickly asked the cousin's wife, "I remember that you can eat crabs while breastfeeding, as long as you don't eat too much."
The cousin's wife sighed and said, "Normally, yes. But recently, didn't Xiaobao get an allergic eczema rash? It got better after we switched his formula, but it flared up again these past few days. I was wondering if it's because I ate crabs over the last two days, so I'm holding off on them for now."
So that was why.
Xu Yanxia nodded.
Right after, the sound of Xiaobao crying came from upstairs.
The cousin's wife paused and immediately moved to put down her chopsticks to go check.
Her husband, however, stood up before she could and said, "I'll go check. You go ahead and eat."
Then he went upstairs.
Seeing this, Mrs. Lu quickly said to her son, "You really need to learn from your cousin on this. Once you become a father, you must be hands-on."
"Of course."
Lu Jingming nodded immediately, glancing over at Xu Yanxia.
Xu Yanxia felt her face grow a little hot.
But then, the nanny who was taking care of the baby came downstairs and told them, "Xiaobao is hungry. I'm going to mix some rice cereal for him so he can sleep well after eating."
With that, she went into the kitchen.
Soon, she came out with a bowl of rice cereal and went back upstairs.
Xu Yanxia frowned imperceptibly.
The Shen family's dining room was right next to the kitchen. Because of where she was sitting, she was very close to it.
When the nanny came out just now, Xu Yanxia clearly smelled a peculiar scent coming from the bowl of rice cereal.
...
However, with so many people around and her being a guest, it wasn't appropriate to say anything without direct evidence.
Soon, Xiaobao upstairs had probably eaten his fill and fallen asleep. The cousin returned to his seat to continue eating.
It was obvious that the young couple had a great relationship. The cousin's wife lovingly put a lot of food into his bowl.
Seeing this, Mrs. Lu remarked with emotion, "The first few years of a child's life are the hardest for parents. Husband and wife must be understanding of each other. Especially the father, if he helps out more with the child from a young age, the child will listen to him in the future."
As she finished speaking, two people at the dinner table nodded simultaneously and said, "Noted."
One was the cousin, who was already a father.
The other was Lu Jingming, who wasn't even married yet.
Xu Yanxia: "..."
Everyone at the table burst out laughing.
The aunt teased Chairman Lu and his wife, "A guy with a girlfriend really is different."
His biological father, Chairman Lu, nodded. "Yes, in the past, he wouldn't even listen when we brought up this topic."
His biological mother, Mrs. Lu, added, "This is what they call 'every monkey has its own leash.' What we couldn't manage, someone else finally could."
Pfft...
The whole table couldn't hold back their laughter.
...
The family dinner drew to a close amid the laughter.
Everyone left the table, and today's show-off, Lu Jingming, took the initiative to wash the dishes.
Xu Yanxia finally got the chance to enter the kitchen.
At first, Lu Jingming thought she was there to help, so he quickly said, "I can handle this myself. Go out and rest."
But Xu Yanxia just said, "I know," and began looking around the kitchen.
After a moment, she pulled a small glass bottle out of a cluster of seasoning jars.
It contained a light brownish-yellow powder that, at first glance, looked a bit like Sichuan peppercorn powder.
Before Lu Jingming could ask, she opened it, smelled it, poured a little into her hand, and tasted it.
This took Lu Jingming by surprise. He quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Just as Xu Yanxia was about to speak, the cousin walked into the kitchen and asked with a smile, "Do you need any help?"
"No."
Xu Yanxia quickly replied, "He insists on washing the dishes himself and won't even let me help."
The cousin smiled at Lu Jingming and said, "Good job. Keep it up."
Xu Yanxia also smiled and asked the cousin, "I see you have a lot of seasonings here. Do you cook often?"
To her surprise, the cousin said, "We usually have to work and rarely eat at home. Normally, it's just Grandpa and your sister-in-law eating at home. The nanny used to do most of the cooking, but for the past few days, my third aunt has been doing it."
Xu Yanxia let out an "Oh" and didn't say anything else.
The cousin smiled and said, "I won't bother you two anymore," and then left.
Lu Jingming took all this in. Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one else in the kitchen, he asked in a low voice, "Is something wrong?"
"A little, yes."
Xu Yanxia nodded and whispered back, "Do you have your phone on you? Mine is in my bag outside."
Forgive her, the long dress she wore today didn't have pockets. If she went out to get it and came back in now, it would seem a bit suspicious.
"Yes."
Lu Jingming didn't hesitate. He immediately turned to the side, showing her the phone in his pants pocket.
Xu Yanxia took it straight out and heard Lu Jingming tell her, "The passcode is 320116."
320116
Xu Yanxia silently repeated it as she turned on the screen. While entering the passcode, she couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
320... wasn't that her birthday?
When did he set her birthday as his passcode?
Of course, now wasn't the time to ask about this. She unlocked the phone, quietly took a picture of the seasoning bottle's location, and then opened his WeChat, intending to forward it to herself.
That was when she noticed the nickname he had saved her under, "Cute Little Silly Baby"
Xu Yanxia: "???"
How was she silly?!!
Of course, now wasn't the time to pursue this either.
She silently glanced at a certain someone who was washing the dishes, tapped on her own profile picture, and sent the photo to herself.
Then she turned off the screen for him and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
After a while, Lu Jingming finished cleaning up the kitchen, and the two of them walked out together.
His aunt and uncle called out to them, "Come sit down and rest for a bit."
Lu Jingming replied, "Xiao Xia still has some work at the restaurant, so we'll be heading out first."
"Alright then."
The aunt added, "Bring Xiao Xia over to visit when you have time. Your grandfather really enjoys chatting with you two."
"Will do."
The two politely said their goodbyes and left the uncle's house.
Once they got in the car, Xu Yanxia immediately sent a message to Mrs. Lu.
The car had barely driven out of the uncle's residential complex when Mrs. Lu called her back.
"Xiao Xia, it's convenient for me to talk right now. Tell me what's going on."
Xu Yanxia said, "I smelled something strange in the bowl of rice cereal the nanny mixed for Xiaobao earlier, so I went to the kitchen to take a look, and I found a bottle of sour jujube seed powder."
"Sour jujube seed? The one used for helping people sleep?"
Mrs. Lu asked immediately.
A few years ago, she had a bout of insomnia, and a friend who practiced traditional Chinese medicine had recommended sour jujube seed to her, so she still remembered it.
"Yes,"
Xu Yanxia said, "This thing is a type of traditional Chinese medicine that has the effect of nourishing the heart and calming the nerves. But Xiaobao is too young; he definitely shouldn't be eating it casually."
"And just now, cousin-in-law said that the baby still has eczema even after changing the formula, so it's highly likely that it's caused by this thing."
"I understand."
Mrs. Shen on the other end immediately said, "I'll think of a way right now. Thank you so much, good child."
"You're welcome."
Xu Yanxia said, "I'm just glad I could help uncle and the others."
After hanging up the phone with Mrs. Lu, the car had already driven onto the main road.
Lu Jingming freed one hand, touched hers, and said, "My baby is indeed kind and wise."
— He understood that if she were a cold-blooded and selfish person, she could completely ignore this matter.
But she wasn't.
And even if she wanted to intervene, if not handled well, it could very likely trigger a "turmoil" in his uncle's family and affect everyone's relationships.
So telling his mother was the best choice.
Unexpectedly, as soon as his voice fell, his Xiao Xia baby glanced at him and hummed, "I haven't asked you yet. Why did you save me on WeChat as Little Silly Baby?"
Lu Jingming, "..."
He forgot about that.
He smiled and said, "Silly is a nickname, it means love, okay?"
However, his little silly baby didn't seem to buy it, just snorted and said, "Then I'll change your WeChat name to Big Dummy."
"Sure,"
Lu Jingming immediately nodded with a smile, "I'll just take it as you saying you love me."
"What the..."
Xu Yanxia laughed out loud.
Lu Jingming also laughed. After laughing, he touched her hand again and asked, "Where are we going next?"
He heard her say, "Accompany me to buy some clothes."
— She would be recording the show next week and had to travel to different cities. The climates in various places were different, so she had to buy a few decent pieces.
After all, she was now the Senior Regional Director of Lu's Catering, and good clothes did indeed enhance a person's temperament.
Lu Jingming readily agreed, "Okay."
He finally waited for the day to accompany his girlfriend shopping for clothes.
Unexpectedly, right after, he heard Xu Yanxia add another sentence, "I'll pay the bill today. The program crew has already transferred the first batch of funds to me."
— Thanks to CEO Lu's superb negotiation skills, the salary Qi Wei originally intended to give her was directly tripled.
Although it was still a seven-figure sum, it was absolutely not the same concept as the previous seven figures.
Lu Jingming frowned, "If I accompany you shopping and you pay the bill yourself, people will think I'm bankrupt."
Xu Yanxia raised an eyebrow and said, "Let them think what they want. Anyway, I'm a rich person now. I want to experience the feeling of being rich today."
"In short, I'll pay for everything today: shopping, eating, and watching a movie."
"Alright."
Lu Jingming also smiled and nodded.
"Then I'll also experience the feeling of being kept by a rich girlfriend today."
