"Let's just leave it at that, then," she said. "It's only for a few days anyway. We'll talk about it after the New Year."
Xu Yueyun stood up and walked upstairs.
Reaching the stairs, she turned back. "Let me make this clear beforehand. If those two make me mad, I'll kick them out without hesitation, even if it's the New Year."
"I know, I know," Su Bingcheng nodded repeatedly.
...
To make the trip home, Su Lang and Lin Zhilan took the children on a steamboat for over a day to reach Yangcheng.
Then, they boarded the express train from Yangcheng to the capital. Departing on the first day, they finally arrived in the capital on the early morning of the third day.
Su Lang and Lin Zhilan had already changed themselves and the children into their thickest cotton-padded clothes.
The two children were bundled up so tightly that they could barely move their arms and legs.
After spending several consecutive days on the train, by the time they arrived, not only were the two children exhausted, but even Lin Zhilan was feeling a bit drained.
It was her first time meeting her parents-in-law in both her lifetimes, so she was inevitably feeling a little nervous.
"How about we go to a guesthouse first? I want to take a shower and freshen up."
Su Lang tied her scarf for her and couldn't help but smile. "To take a bath around here, you have to go to a public bathhouse. Let's go home first, and I'll take you and the kids there later."
"Don't be nervous." Su Lang resisted the urge to kiss his wife, gently smoothing the hair that was exposed to the cold. "My mom will definitely like you."
"Why?" Lin Zhilan looked up at him.
Su Lang chuckled lightly. "I think it's very hard for anyone not to like you."
Dressed too thickly to move easily, Lin Zhilan could only shoot him an eye-roll. "Smooth talker!"
Su Lang pinched her cheek and said seriously, "Honestly, if you don't like staying at the house, we can leave early."
Su Lang loved his wife, and of course, he also loved his mother.
He had become independent at a very young age and had a very mature mindset.
If it weren't for him, his wife and his mother would be nothing more than strangers.
If his wife and mother got along, it would naturally be a good thing for him.
But the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had been a difficult family issue since ancient times.
Su Lang understood clearly that he could neither force his mother to love his wife nor force his wife to love his mother.
Just like strangers making friends: if they liked each other, they could spend more time together in the future.
If they didn't, they would just see less of each other.
Hearing him say this, Lin Zhilan couldn't help but laugh. "Then I won't leave either. It's not easy to make a trip to the capital, so I have to use up all our vacation days."
"Wow!"
The children's gasps of amazement interrupted the couple's conversation.
A layer of frost had frozen on the train windows, though the center of the glass was clear enough to see outside.
Looking like a little penguin, Jiang Chengzhou stood on his tiptoes, holding his younger sister and lifting her up.
Outside the window lay a vast, white landscape, with heavy, feather-like snowflakes falling from the sky.
Jiang Chengzhou had grown up in the capital previously, but he was too young back then and didn't have much memory of it.
His only impression was the stinging sensation of his hands freezing when his father made him wash diapers in the winter.
Little Linlin was also too young.
She had long lost her memories of Zhoujia Village, even believing that she had grown up on the island.
For these two children, it felt as though this was the first heavy snowfall they had ever seen in their lives.
"Candy." Little Linlin tilted her head up, pointing at the heavy snow outside, and asked Lin Zhilan, "Mommy, is it candy?"
"It's snow," Lin Zhilan corrected her. "It's snowing."
Little Linlin nodded in confusion and awkwardly twisted her neck. "Mommy, I don't want to wear so much."
"Be good. It's too cold outside. We can take the clothes off once we get to Grandma's house."
The train stopped. Su Lang pulled their luggage from under the bunk and picked up his tightly bundled daughter.
Lin Zhilan carried a small bag, grabbed Jiang Chengzhou tightly with one hand, and squeezed off the train with the flow of the crowd.
Su Bingcheng and Xu Yueyun were getting older.
They couldn't count on his eldest brother and sister-in-law, and his second sister-in-law was raising a child alone and had no time to pick them up.
Su Lang held his daughter and shielded his wife as they walked forward.
After taking only a few steps, Su Lang spotted his father walking against the crowd toward them.
His heart warmed, and he shouted loudly, "Dad! I'm over here!"
Hearing the voice, Su Bingcheng stopped looking around and quickly hurried over to greet them.
"Xiao Lang, you're back. It's good that you're back."
Su Bingcheng's gaze swept over Su Lang several times, his eyes turning slightly red.
Su Lang smiled and introduced her, "Dad, this is my wife, Lin Zhilan."
Lin Zhilan greeted him gracefully, "Hello, Dad."
"Ah, good, good, good."
Earlier on, Su Bingcheng had held some prejudice against Lin Zhilan, but after being scolded by Xu Yueyun, it had long since vanished.
Lin Zhilan squeezed her eldest nephew's hand.
Jiang Chengzhou pulled his scarf down. "Hello, Grandpa!"
Jiang Chengzhou had been eating well over the past two years and had grown quickly. When they measured his height last month, he was already 1.35 meters tall.
The last time Su Bingcheng saw him, he was just a little bean of a boy.
Now, he already looked like a big boy.
Su Bingcheng said in disbelief, "Are you Chengzhou?"
Jiang Chengzhou nodded, gripping his aunt's hand tightly.
Su Bingcheng felt a mix of emotions. Just as he was about to say something else, the little girl in Su Lang's arms spoke up sweetly, "Grandpa~"
Su Lang tossed his daughter up gently. "Baby, you should call him Grandpa."
The little girl nodded obediently and called out again, "Grandpa~"
Su Bingcheng hurriedly replied, "Ah, hello there. Are you called Linlin or Baby?"
Linlin reached out her arms. "Grandpa can call me Baby. Grandpa, hug~"
Su Bingcheng was also from a military background. Although he was nearly seventy years old, his posture was still upright.
He wore a dark gray cadre's cotton coat with the collar buttoned tightly, and a Lei Feng hat on his head.
His expression was always serious; only when Xu Yueyun was around would his demeanor soften a bit.
The family's two grandsons and two granddaughters usually preferred their grandmother and were somewhat afraid of him.
Su Bingcheng hadn't expected his little granddaughter to be so comfortable around strangers and not afraid of him. He quickly reached out to take her.
He glanced at his new daughter-in-law and couldn't help but remind his son, "It's okay to teach a child to be wary of strangers. There are a lot of human traffickers around nowadays; don't let the child get lost."
"You can't lose children!" Linlin became anxious upon hearing this and hurriedly told her grandpa.
"Yes, yes, yes," Su Bingcheng agreed repeatedly, forgetting whatever he was going to say to his son and daughter-in-law, and walked outward carrying his granddaughter.
Lin Zhilan looked down at Jiang Chengzhou.
She was considering the child's feelings from an adult's perspective.
Lin Zhilan worried that Jiang Chengzhou would feel his grandpa was neglecting him.
Little did she know, Jiang Chengzhou was secretly delighted.
He didn't have any sense of belonging to the capital, and he felt nothing toward his grandparents, his uncles, or any other relatives.
In his heart, his uncle, his aunt, and his sister were his only family.
Everyone else didn't matter.
It was best if they didn't like him, so they wouldn't try to steal him away from his uncle and aunt.
Linlin hugged her grandpa's neck and looked back.
She only felt at ease as long as her parents remained in her line of sight.
Seeing her like this, Su Bingcheng didn't know what to say to his little granddaughter. He was also curious in his heart as to why this little girl let him hold her the very first time they met.
