She walked over to Deng Jing, pursed her lips with a smile, and handed the painting from behind her to the woman. “This is for you all.”
Deng Jing took it happily.
What Linlin had drawn was a family portrait of their household.
Deng Jing stood in the middle, with Su Pei and Su Yao on either side of her.
Linlin had been learning to paint from Wang Rou for two years and already had a bit of a foundation—at least enough to tell who was who.
After studying it for a while, Deng Jing looked into Linlin’s eyes and said, “Linlin, you’ve painted this so beautifully. Auntie Unca really loves it. When we get back to the capital, I’m going to have it framed and hang it in the living room so I can look at it every day.”
Seeing that her gift was appreciated, Linlin couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth from lifting, but she was too shy to smile openly, so she just turned and buried herself in her mother’s arms.
Su Li squeezed in too. “Big sis, big sis, big sis…”
Linlin was about to be squashed flat by her chubby little brother and quickly cried out for help.
Su Lang hadn’t even moved yet, but Jiang Chengzhou had already pulled Su Li aside. “How about I hold you, okay?”
Su Li nodded. “Hold me tight.”
Jiang Chengzhou: “…Fine.”
The painting was passed around until it reached Su Jue’s hands.
Su Jue frowned as he looked at it. “Linlin, how come Second Uncle isn’t in this?”
Linlin, leaning on her mother’s arm, tilted her head and said, “Big sister said you don’t live at home.”
Little Linlin thought that a family portrait was meant to include only the people who lived in the house.
If someone didn’t live there, they didn’t need to be drawn.
Su Jue’s smile faltered for a moment, then he laughed. “Second Uncle is just away on a work assignment. Once it’s finished in a couple of years, he’ll move in with Second Aunt and your cousins. Can Linlin add Second Uncle into the picture?”
Linlin blinked, studying Su Jue seriously.
Su Jue: “Second Uncle is counting on Linlin, okay?”
Linlin still hesitated, turning her head uncertainly to look back at her mother.
Lin Zhilan smiled. “Second Uncle is asking you. You can decide for yourself.”
Linlin ran over and grabbed her two cousins’ hands. “Do you want me to add Second Uncle?”
Su Pei lowered her eyes. “Whatever Mom says is fine.”
Everyone looked at Deng Jing.
Deng Jing chuckled. “Then we’ll trouble our Linlin.”
“No trouble at all!”
Linlin dashed into the room and took out her crayons.
She had a bit of perfectionism—the three figures in her earlier drawing were arranged neatly and evenly.
To keep the balance from being ruined, Linlin tucked Su Jue off to one side.
Su Jue didn’t mind at all, as long as he was included.
Lin Zhilan pulled Deng Jing aside and handed her another bottle of medicine.
Deng Jing looked at her. “What’s this for?”
Lin Zhilan said softly, “This is Wu Ji Bai Feng Wan, a remedy I specially made for you. Haven’t you been having irregular periods and menstrual cramps lately?”
Deng Jing was taken aback. “How did you know that?”
“I’m a doctor, aren’t I?” Lin Zhilan shot her a playful glare.
Deng Jing clutched the medicine in her hand. “Zhilan, you’ve helped me so much.”
Lin Zhilan nudged her with her elbow. “Don’t say things like that to me—cringes me out. Besides, Manager Qian keeps asking me if I have any new formulas. I only thought of this medicine when I saw you. Just treat it as part of the trial run for the factory.”
Deng Jing knew she was saying this to ease her mind and could only look at her with gratitude. “Zhilan, I won’t say any more thank-yous. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, just say the word.”
“Good. Then I won’t be polite when the time comes.”
Deng Jing let out a relieved sigh.
Linlin had been fine while finishing the family portrait, but when it was truly time for Second Aunt and her cousins to leave, and the whole family saw them off, her mood sank immediately.
Lin Zhilan picked her up and asked quietly, “Can’t bear to see them go?”
“Mm-hmm,” Linlin mumbled, burying her face in Lin Zhilan’s shoulder and secretly wiping away tears.
Lin Zhilan patted her back. “It’s okay. When summer vacation comes, we’ll invite Second Aunt and your cousins over, or you could go to the capital to visit them.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Lin Zhilan had a meeting in Yangcheng and took the same boat out of the island with Deng Jing and the others.
When Linlin returned home with Grandpa, Grandma, and her brother, the house instantly felt much more empty, and she grew even gloomier.
Jiang Chengzhou noticed his younger sister was unhappy. He pulled out her jump rope. “Linlin, want to jump rope? Big Brother will hold one end for you.”
“Hold it! Me too!” Su Li popped up out of nowhere and squeezed in front of Linlin.
Linlin pouted. “You guys won’t jump with me. It’s only me jumping alone.”
Jiang Chengzhou sighed in resignation. “I’ll jump too, okay?”
“I jump too, yeah!” Su Li, as always, mimicked whatever his brother said.
With Su Li around, the house could never really feel empty.
Su Li didn’t know how to jump rope. He’d hop once, trip, and fall; hop again, trip, and fall.
Xu Yueyun and Su Lang were napping indoors, and Jiang Chengzhou was terrified that if his little brother started crying, it would never end.
To his surprise, even after falling, Su Li didn’t cry. He got back up and kept jumping, giggling happily.
Jiang Chengzhou briefly gained a new respect for him, thinking he was being pretty tough this time.
But after the jump rope session ended, Su Li started clutching his knees and crying in pain.
Jiang Chengzhou rolled up his pants to check and saw that his knees were scraped red and raw.
Linlin blew on them to soothe him, then hurried off to find the medicine for sprains and bruises.
Both older children knew where the family first-aid kit was kept, and Lin Zhilan had taught them about its contents.
Every ointment tube had a label on it. Linlin pulled out the one for bruises and applied it to her brother’s legs.
Jiang Chengzhou crouched half-bent, holding Su Li’s pants up, and asked, “Why didn’t you say something when you got hurt jumping earlier?”
Li Li, nervous about his own wound, sniffled and said when he heard his brother’s question, “Huh?”
Jiang Chengzhou: “Didn’t it hurt when you fell?”
Su Li thought back. “No!”
Jiang Chengzhou thought about it and understood.
Su Li wasn’t being tough; he’d just been having so much fun playing that he’d forgotten the pain.
Weirdo…
Jiang Chengzhou thought to himself silently.
When he was with his older brother and sister, Su Li actually wasn’t that wild; he just wanted to follow along and play with them.
Jiang Chengzhou and Linlin had to do homework, so they gave him a notebook and a pen, and he was perfectly content, sprawled out on the table doodling.
By the time Jiang Chengzhou finished his assignments, he found that Su Li had already fallen asleep on the table.
Linlin poked her little brother’s chubby cheek with her finger. “Brother, Little Brother is so cute.”
Jiang Chengzhou glanced at the two siblings. “Do you like him?”
Linlin nodded.
“Brother, do you like Little Brother?”
Jiang Chengzhou paused for a moment. “A little.”
Lin Zhilan and Su Lang had been very deliberate about this matter.
They had followed every item in the pledge they made before Linlin, step by step.
Linlin had always been Mommy and Daddy’s treasure, and after Su Li was born, she didn’t feel the slightest disparity. She took to having a little brother easily.
At first, Jiang Chengzhou hadn’t liked Su Li.
When Su Li was younger, he had loved to cry and fuss, and Lin Zhilan and Su Lang had had to take turns soothing him, which made Jiang Chengzhou feel that this little brother was nothing but a nuisance to his aunt and uncle.
But as time went on, Jiang Chengzhou discovered that even though Su Li was mischievous and often got on his aunt and uncle’s nerves, if you looked closely, you could see that even as they complained, they still took good care of him.
