What puzzled Jiang Si the most was that usually, she could just brush off the usual backaches and soreness.
But this time, she hadn’t exerted herself at all, nor had there been any deep conversations between the two of them.
So how... could she still end up this exhausted?
It just didn’t make sense!
But at this moment, even a single strand of her hair felt weighed down by fatigue, and she didn’t have the energy to think any further.
She drifted into a deep sleep.
When she woke up again, daylight was already flooding the room. Jiang Si reached under her pillow and pulled out her watch.
She glanced at the time.
Crap!
She’d overslept!
It was already almost ten o’clock!
Usually, the two little ones would be up for their milk before seven in the morning. She wondered if they had been fussy today.
Jiang Si only found out in the early hours of the morning.
The two babies had definitely caused a lot of trouble the day before.
Because Jiang Si had slept in until well past noon, she came out looking exhausted.
As an experienced mother-in-law, Mother Huo immediately saw through it at a glance.
She commented that the third child had gotten up looking perfectly refreshed.
Before Jiang Si left, Mother Huo even reminded her to brew some bird’s nest soup.
Thankfully, Huo Tingzhou wasn’t home at the time.
Otherwise, Mother Huo would have definitely slapped him a few times.
Ugh, that shameless guy!
He’d been sterilized, yet he still wouldn’t behave.
All day long, he just knew how to pester his daughter-in-law!
“Si Si, you better drink this bird’s nest soup quickly.”
Knowing her daughter-in-law was shy, Mother Huo didn’t even waste a breath and went straight to the kitchen to bring out the freshly brewed bird’s nest soup.
As for her son? He could eat dirt.
Though Mother Huo didn’t say a word about it, Jiang Si’s face was burning red.
“Mom, did Suisui and Zhaozhao make a fuss this morning?”
“No, no.”
The two grandchildren were way more sensible than their father.
“They obediently drank their milk in the morning. I took them out for a walk, and now they’re sleeping soundly.”
The more Mother Huo talked, the angrier she got.
She even went to the vegetable garden and picked all the bitter gourds.
When Huo Tingzhou came home at noon, he was stunned to see the table full of dishes.
Stir-fried bitter gourd slices, cold bitter gourd salad, bitter gourd scrambled eggs, bitter gourd mung bean soup...
In short, the entire dining table was a sea of green—like a bitter gourd convention.
“Mom, why did you make so much bitter gourd today?”
“There’s a lot of bitter gourd in the garden, and if we don’t eat it soon, they’ll get old.”
Saying that, Mother Huo expressionlessly scooped a big helping of stir-fried bitter gourd into his bowl.
“This is specially made for you. Eat more.”
Then she ladled a bowl of bitter gourd mung bean soup for him. “You’ve been irritable lately. Eat more bitter gourd—it clears heat and cools the body. Good for your health!”
Hearing Mother Huo’s tone and glancing at his daughter-in-law’s ears, flushed almost to bleeding, Huo Tingzhou understood perfectly.
It was not the time to say too much.
He reluctantly picked up a piece of bitter gourd and put it in his mouth.
Huo Tingzhou wasn’t a picky eater; he often ate bitter gourd.
But today’s bitter gourd was somehow unbearably bitter.
There was even a faint medicinal taste lingering on the tongue.
“Mom, this bitter gourd…”
“Is it not tasty?” Mother Huo asked.
Huo Tingzhou: “...”
Did he dare say it wasn’t good? No way.
Before he could say anything, Mother Huo gave him a meaningful look.
“Bitter medicine is good medicine. This is all for you. Eat more.”
As for her and her daughter-in-law, of course, they wouldn’t be eating any bitter gourd.
“Here, Sisi, drink this pork trotter soup. Mom has been simmering it for hours. And try the shrimp I stir-fried.”
After the meal, Huo Tingzhou was so overwhelmed by the bitterness that he started questioning his life choices.
It took all his willpower to get through most of the bitter melon on the table before Mother Huo finally let him off the hook.
When Huo Tingzhou finished clearing the dishes and returned to his room, Jiang Si was already lying in bed, fast asleep.
The two little darlings were also lying side by side on the bed.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, gently illuminating the faces of the three of them.
Looking at their peaceful sleeping faces, Huo Tingzhou felt his heart swell with fullness.
Jiang Si wasn’t sleeping deeply. Feeling a movement beside her, she groggily opened her eyes.
She saw Huo Tingzhou leaning on the edge of the bed, his gaze soft and warm as he looked at her and the children.
Instinctively, she asked, “Do you want to sleep for a while too?”
Before she could finish, Huo Tingzhou suddenly leaned down and quickly pressed a kiss on her lips.
An intense, bitter flavor, tinged with the taste of coptis root, instantly spread across Jiang Si’s lips.
She immediately became much more awake.
Thinking of the two children still asleep, she lowered her voice to scold him, “So bitter! Stay away from me!”
After a moment, she asked again, “With a taste this bitter, why didn’t you rinse your mouth after eating?”
Huo Tingzhou held her hand and replied, “I already rinsed with salt water. More than ten times.”
Unfortunately, his mother was too generous with her ingredients; every dish contained coptis root.
At that moment, Mother Huo’s voice came from the doorway, tinged with obvious displeasure.
“Third son, come out here!”
The smile on Huo Tingzhou’s face stiffened as he reluctantly let go of Jiang Si’s hand.
“Wait for me,” he said softly, then quietly slipped out of the room.
Although Mother Huo lowered her voice, Jiang Si still caught fragments of what she was saying.
“What’s wrong with you? How many times have I told you? Jiang Si just gave birth to twins. Her body is still weak!”
“She only gave birth two months ago. How can she possibly endure your reckless behavior?”
“You’re comfortable, but can’t you see she’s suffering?”
“You’re an adult now, and you don’t know how to be considerate at all!”
“I think you just have too much energy. From now on, you’re sleeping on the floor at night!”
“I’m telling you, if I catch you being careless again, you’ll be eating bitter melon every day for a month. Got it?”
Huo Tingzhou didn’t argue. He obediently agreed.
After a while, he rubbed his nose and came back with a helpless look.
By then, Jiang Si was fully awake, holding back a smile as she teased him, “What did Mom say to you?”
Huo Tingzhou looked completely at a loss for how to handle her.
In the end, he could only give her a firm ruffle of her hair. “Didn’t you hear everything?”
He could accept everything else.
Except for the part about sleeping on the floor.
And this time, Mother Huo insisted he sleep on the floor in the living room.
She wasn’t bluffing.
As soon as dinner was over, she grabbed the bedding and went to the living room.
It was only after Jiang Si pleaded on his behalf that Mother Huo reluctantly agreed to let Huo Tingzhou sleep on the floor in their bedroom.
But for the next few days, she still guarded her son like he was a thief.
It wasn’t until Mother Huo noticed that her daughter-in-law’s complexion was growing healthier and more radiant by the day that she finally felt at ease.
Meanwhile, after a few days of rest, Jiang Si threw herself wholeheartedly back into her work.
For Jiang Si, the challenge didn’t lie in the design itself.
After all, in this era, the standards for the appearance or style of high-rise buildings weren’t particularly demanding.
The real difficulty was that all the design drawings had to be hand-drawn, and the deadline was only one month away.
This meant that once the plan was finalized,
she would have to follow that direction all the way through, with no chance for revisions or second attempts.
Fortunately, Jiang Si had a solid foundation to build on, coupled with some experience she had accumulated from the future.
As a result, the design draft, originally estimated to take about twenty-five days to complete,
was finished two days ahead of schedule.
During this period, Jiang Si also managed to find time to attend the full-month celebrations at Auntie Lu’s and Sister-in-law Xu’s homes.
Otherwise, she might have completed the work even sooner.
That evening, the whole family gathered for a lavish dinner.
The occasion was twofold: to celebrate Jiang Si’s successful completion of her project and to bid farewell to Mother Huo.
