Su Lang carried Su Li to wash his face and used a towel to wipe the sweat off his back.
While her youngest son was out of earshot, Lin Zhilan said to Jiang Chengzhou and Linlin, “If Little Brother hits someone again in the future, you can hit him back too, but only on the palms and the bottom, okay?”
Linlin nodded.
Jiang Chengzhou hesitated. “What if Grandma and Grandpa say something to me?”
Lin Zhilan said, “It’s fine. As long as there’s a reason, I’ll definitely be on your side.”
Only then did Jiang Chengzhou agree.
After washing his face, Su Li perked up again.
Seeing that his sister had been held by Mom all along, he also wanted to be held by Mom and insisted on squeezing in and cuddling.
Linlin hadn’t seen Mom for many days and only wanted to nestle in Mom’s arms, refusing to give way to him.
Su Li got jostled and instinctively raised his hand. Then…
Jiang Chengzhou raised his hand.
Su Lang raised his hand.
Lin Zhilan raised her hand.
Linlin herself slowly raised her hand.
Four big hands, any one of which could have pinned the Monkey King under the Five Finger Mountain.
Su Li let out an “ow” sound and rested his head on Lin Zhilan’s knee.
Linlin patted her younger brother’s head.
Little Brother might be a little fool, but he absolutely must not be a little fool who likes to hit people.
That evening, Linlin again insisted on sleeping with Mom, so Lin Zhilan chased Su Lang and her youngest son out.
Since the weather was hot, Su Lang moved the bamboo bed directly into the courtyard and also called Jiang Chengzhou over.
Jiang Chengzhou acted like he disliked it, but he was actually pretty happy.
Su Li rolled around on the bamboo bed, with Dad on one side and Big Brother on the other, so no matter how he squirmed, he couldn’t roll off.
Su Lang yawned and reached out to restrain his youngest son. “Stop messing around. Sleep.”
“Go!” Su Li sat up like a leaping carp and pointed at the room. “Go! Mom!”
“Mom is asleep. Don’t disturb her. Today you sleep with Dad and Big Brother.”
“No!” Su Li tilted his head back to look at Dad and Big Brother. “Stinky. Mom, fragrant!”
Su Lang flipped him over on the bamboo bed. “Mom is fragrant. You’re stinky.”
“No!” Su Li got so worked up he sprayed spit. “Not stinky.”
Su Lang hit him with the facts. “You wet the bed.”
Su Li already knew that wetting the bed was a bad thing. He whimpered aggrievedly, turned his head toward Big Brother, fumed to himself for a while, and slowly fell asleep.
Jiang Chengzhou pinched his chubby cheek gently and said softly, “Uncle, I could actually help wash Su Li’s diapers too.”
Su Lang chuckled. “That’s not needed. I’m here. Making you wash diapers would mean your uncle doesn’t have what it takes.”
Jiang Chengzhou said wistfully, “The ability to wash diapers?”
Because of the matter with Su Jue, Su Lang hadn’t slept well for several days either. Hearing this, he yawned again. “Right. When you have kids someday, you’ll have plenty of diapers to wash.”
Jiang Chengzhou didn’t say anything more, silently thinking to himself: When I have kids, I’m not going to wash diapers for them.
But who will?
It can’t be my wife, right?
No.
Maybe Uncle can wash them?
Jiang Chengzhou drifted off to sleep thinking about it.
Summer on the island brought many mosquitoes and bugs. Lin Zhilan had planted some mosquito-repelling herbs around the yard.
The three males slept in the yard all night, and only Su Li ended up covered in bites, even on his face.
Su Lang was startled when he woke up in the morning and quickly caught his son’s little hands as he tried to scratch.
“Zhilan, do we have any medicine at home? Su Li got bitten by mosquitoes.”
Lin Zhilan tidied her hair and took her son over. “There is some at the clinic. I’ll bring him along when I go to work.”
Su Lang nodded. “Alright. I’ll have the kids wash up first, then I’ll make breakfast.”
Su Li woke from his sleep and opened his eyes to see his beautiful Mom. He laughed. “Mom, fragrant.”
Lin Zhilan smiled and tapped his nose. “You little rascal. Didn’t the bugs hurt? Why didn’t you cry?”
Su Li reached out to scratch all over, but Lin Zhilan grabbed his hand. “Alright, alright. If you scratch the bites, they’ll scar.”
“Stinky!”
Lin Zhilan didn’t understand what he meant and thought he needed to poop, so she quickly called Su Lang. “Su Lang, your son needs to poop.”
Su Lang had just set up the pot, but hearing this, he had to turn back to deal with the little rascal.
Su Li strained for a while but only squeezed out a pee.
Su Lang asked him, “Where’s your poop?”
“No!”
Su Lang nearly threw him away in irritation.
After breakfast, Lin Zhilan took Su Li to work.
As soon as they entered the clinic and saw Su Li, everyone gathered around to tease him.
The little rascal was still a show-off. He pointed at the bites on his arms and legs for everyone to see, which made them all feel sorry for him.
Lin Zhilan rolled her eyes inwardly, got some medicine, and applied it to him.
Xu Yueyun and Su Bingcheng dropped Linlin and Jiang Chengzhou off at school, then came to pick up Su Li.
But Su Li had grown so comfortable there that he refused to go back with Su Bingcheng.
Lin Zhilan still had to go check on Su Jue and was afraid Xu Yueyun might catch wind of something, so she quickly said, “Mom, you and Dad go back and rest. Su Li will just stay with me today.”
Xu Yueyun hesitated. “Won’t it interfere with your work?”
Ye Congshan came out. “Sister-in-law, don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on things over here. It won’t be a problem.”
Ye Congshan was close to retiring and now just handled odd jobs and spent his free time drawing or writing.
He also liked Lin Zhilan’s kids, so watching over Su Li was no trouble.
Xu Yueyun and Su Bingcheng had no choice but to go back.
Lin Zhilan told her son to obey Grandpa Ye, finished seeing her current patients, then carried him over to Su Lang’s ward.
There were always people guarding the outside of Su Lang’s ward. When they saw her holding a child, the two soldiers were a bit surprised.
“Has my second brother woken up?”
One of them said, “He woke up. The doctor did rounds this morning. He’s getting an IV now.”
“Can I go in? I need to give him acupuncture.”
The soldier nodded and opened the door.
Lin Zhilan shoved Su Li into his arms. “This is my son. I don’t have time to watch him right now. You keep him under control.”
Lu Gang, caught off guard, found himself holding a child and was completely baffled.
But he quickly accepted it.
He had previously served in a special forces unit and had been through all kinds of fire and blood—how could he be afraid of a kid?
Soon, though, he understood what Doctor Lin meant by “keep him under control.”
He had a fierce look, rarely dealt with children, and exuded a cold aura.
But Su Li, having hung around his dad for so long, wasn’t afraid of that scowling face at all. Seeing Mom go into the room, he frantically slid down, his little short legs kicking wildly.
Lu Gang had to tighten his arms to hold him firm, but the kid slipped like a loach, unstoppable.
Lu Gang finally managed to trap him in his arms, but Su Li couldn’t stay still for three seconds before trying to bite the buttons on Lu Gang’s clothes.
He couldn’t bite through the buttons and instead hurt his own little baby teeth.
Su Li burst into loud sobs, and Lu Gang worried that Doctor Lin might come out and cause trouble for him.
But Su Li cried for ages, and there wasn’t a sound from inside the ward.
Su Li cried himself out, then voluntarily wrapped his arms around Lu Gang’s neck and rested his head on his chest.
Lu Gang, a lifelong bachelor, was instantly touched by the child’s gesture.
