Having a Baby Before Marrying a Wicked Husband - Chapter 135

Yan Cai stood with his hands behind his back, looking very imposing, at least he managed to keep the two kids in check on the surface. Qingzhi, unable to get a hug, pouted and seemed about to cry, his chubby arms raised in the air, feeling empty.

Jiang Manyue wanted to go over and hug him, but hesitated and didn’t move.

“Father…” The little kid stamped his foot and lifted his leg. “Feet tired.”

Lifting his foot caused him to lose balance and fall backward, but Qingke acted quickly, took a step, and stood behind his brother. The brother plopped down onto his feet.

Yan Cai’s eyes twitched; he couldn’t continue scolding.

He squatted down and said to the already half-asleep little one, “Open your mouth.”

Qingzhi opened his mouth with an “Ah” sound, and Yan Cai carefully inspected his tiny teeth, the size of glutinous rice grains, before picking him up.

“KeKe, open your mouth too, let me see.”

Qingke, being older, felt a bit embarrassed and closed his eyes, opening his mouth.

“Your teeth are about to change, so eat less candy. If you have cavities, you will have a mouthful of rotten teeth, which is painful and ugly.” Yan Cai said seriously after the inspection. He had seen people with decayed teeth, with small black holes in their mouth. Toothaches could be life-threatening.

That sounded painful.

Qingke was a bit scared by the warning and immediately said he wouldn’t eat candy anymore.

“Father, I don’t want to eat it anymore.”

Seeing him obedient, Yan Cai softened and relaxed the rules, allowing him to have one piece a day. However, he had to hand it over to Yan Cai for safekeeping.

So, Qingke handed over the sesame candy bought with his other father’s private money.

Yan Cai carried the bag of candy back to the room and chewed on two pieces.

Jiang Manyue was astonished, “So, you’re eating the candy? Guarding and stealing from yourself?”

Yan Cai felt embarrassed to accept the chopsticks, wiped his mouth, pretended as if nothing had happened, and solemnly said, “No, I’m just helping them collect and count how many there are. This flavor is quite good, huh?”

However, later on, Qingke did eat less candy, because a few days later, he lost his first tooth.

Qingke was at the age of changing teeth.

When his first tooth fell out, he was shocked. He thought of what his father told him about tooth decay and rotten teeth, he thought he might have cavities and that all his teeth might fall out.

There was an old lady in the neighborhood, around sixty or seventy years old, whose teeth were all gone. When she opened her mouth, it looked like a shriveled walnut. Since she had no teeth, she could only drink rice soup and soft tofu, foods that didn’t require chewing.

Qingke had seen her a few times at a tofu pudding shop on the street. The tofu pudding there was especially soft, and in the morning, it still had a bit of warmth. They had both sweet and savory options. For the sweet one, they would scoop a spoonful of sugar and add some osmanthus honey, making it fragrant and sweet. The savory one would be topped with the shop’s special sauce and sprinkled with chopped green onions, looking and tasting delicious.

Qingke loved sweets and used to add sugar to his pudding. The old lady sitting next to him always ate the savory one without teeth, using her lips to scoop the tofu pudding.

He thought for a moment that if he lost all his teeth, he would be like that old lady, having to scoop tofu pudding with his lips.

Whimpering, he decided not to eat candy anymore. That day, Qingke didn’t go to his dad to ask for his candy. And on that day, Qingke didn’t say a word, behaving quietly like a bride-to-be who had been instructed not to speak in her boudoir.

“Come here, my dear son. What’s wrong today?” Yan Cai called him over.

Qingke stood in front of him, keeping his mouth tightly shut and shaking his head.

“Not speaking? Did someone bully you?” Yan Cai became nervous, even though he knew his son’s strength meant he was usually the one doing the bullying, not the one being bullied. Still, he worried.

“Is it at school?” Jiang Manyue’s expression also became serious. Was their son being bullied at school!?

Qingke’s face turned red, and finally, he opened his mouth and burst into tears.

“Wuwu, dad, my tooth fell out.”

As soon as he opened his mouth, the two fathers noticed that there was a gap in Qingke’s lower tooth bed, right where one of his big front teeth should be.

When his little brother heard Qingke crying, he wobbled over and imitated the motions their two dads usually made to comfort him to sleep, patting Qingke. He was too short to reach Qingke’s face, so he patted his legs instead, with quite some force.

Yan Cai, not very tactful, chuckled after checking the gap where the tooth was missing.

“Silly boy, you’re changing teeth. It’s not decayed.”

Qingke immediately stopped crying, but because he had been crying so hard, his voice still sounded choked up and he kept sniffing.

“Father?” Qingke blinked, tears still clinging to his eyelashes. Jiang Manyue handed him a handkerchief to wipe his tears and glanced disapprovingly at Yan Cai, who was still smiling.

This unreliable dad, Yan Cai, really scared his son.

Qingke also understood and his face turned red with embarrassment. He dove into his other father’s arms, burying his face and hiding it from Yan Cai.

It’s so embarrassing! How can he face anyone now?

Finally, they followed the tradition of throwing the lost tooth onto the bed canopy. Yan Cai even looked proud, although he had never followed this custom when he was changing teeth.

And besides, there’s simply nowhere in the base’s laboratory to throw them.

When one tooth is lost, a second one will appear. His teeth fell out and grew back quickly, and the next day, Qingke lost his second tooth.

Qingke, who had made a fool of himself at home because he lost a tooth, decided not to make a fool of himself again.

That day, as usual, Qingke went to school, unusually without his little brother. Bringing his brother along meant having to speak to comfort him, so he decided not to speak until his teeth grew back.

Qingke, who insisted on the principle of silence being golden, really didn’t say a word in school all day, and he was silent until the end of the class.

The next day, and the day after that…

By the fourth day, people at school were curious why the spoiled little brother fanatic hadn’t brought his chubby brother along for so many days. They had gotten used to the chubby kid’s presence, so not seeing him suddenly felt strange.

Unfortunately, even if someone asked, Qingke would just glance at them and then lower his head to continue reading his own book.

He just wouldn’t speak.

The classmates who asked but didn’t get an answer were a bit upset, feeling that Qingke was being too sensitive and proud, acting like a big shot.

Zhu Yang glanced at Qingke and snorted coldly. Zhu Yang was the student who had failed to memorize the text last time.

At this moment, he held his head high and chest out, like a victorious rooster who won a cockfight. Since losing to Qingke last time, he had been training even harder at home, and now he could almost recite the “Classic of Filial Piety” by heart.

This time, he could surely beat Jiang Qingke. Since losing that time, he felt he had lost face and was determined to reclaim it.

Today was his chance to reclaim his dignity. As luck would have it, the teacher, who always liked to test students on recitation, asked again.

This time, Zhu Yang stood up on his own initiative and recited smoothly. Although he hadn’t finished the last bit, the teacher hadn’t reached that part yet, so he was ahead of schedule. Zhu Yang was quite satisfied with himself, feeling that he had done perfectly.

The teacher, being fair, praised him after he finished. But Zhu Yang, feeling smug, looked over at Jiang Qingke, only to see him with his chin propped up in his hands, his gaze unfocused, clearly not paying attention to the recitation at all.

This won’t do. Today, he wanted to regain face mainly in front of Jiang Qingke.

So, Zhu Yang spoke in a sarcastic tone, “Why isn’t Mr. Jiang reciting today?”

After hearing his name, Qingke finally came back to his senses. Without saying a word, he just shook his head and signaled he wouldn’t recite.

Zhu Yang felt frustrated!