Cheng LiQi was already lying in bed hugging her teddy bear, waiting for her parents to come to bed.
Shao ChengZe looked at Cheng Jinlan, he had no say in this matter, whatever she said, he would do.
Cheng Jinlan's eyes flashed, but she didn't say anything.
The room was too quiet, Cheng LiQi covered her mouth with her little hand and coughed a few times.
Cheng Jinlan stepped forward and leaned over to ask her, "Does your throat feel uncomfortable?"
Cheng LiQi pursed her lips and smiled, "My throat is not uncomfortable, I was choked by my own saliva."
Cheng Jinlan's eyes showed some smile, she stroked her forehead, her voice gentle, "Do you still feel unwell?"
Cheng LiQi shook her head vigorously, "I'm not feeling sick anymore," she took her mother's hand, "Mom, lie down quickly, you took me to see Doctor Uncle, you must be very tired, you need to rest well."
Cheng Jinlan froze for a moment, and finally got into the bed on Cheng LiQi's left side.
Cheng LiQi helped her mother pat the pillow, watched as her mother lay down beside her, she snuggled into her mother's arms, turned her head to look at her father, and looked at the bed again. There were only two pillows on the bed, one was hers, and one was her mother's. There was no pillow for her father. Her father could go to her mother's room to get a pillow.
Cheng Jinlan saw what her daughter was thinking and said, "It's okay, your dad doesn't need a pillow to sleep."
Sleep without a pillow? Would that be comfortable? Little LiQi looked at her father doubtfully.
To Shao ChengZe, Cheng Jinlan's words meant that he could get on the bed.
He spoke very affirmatively to his daughter, "Dad can sleep without a pillow."
As he spoke, he got on the bed and took up the position on Cheng LiQi's right side.
It was the first time Cheng LiQi had her parents sleeping together with her. She didn't notice the difference between the two adults' thoughts. She just felt it was novel. She stroked her mother's hair for a while, and played with her father's fingers for a while. Just now she was still drowsy, but now she was not sleepy at all.
Cheng Jinlan hugged her and said, "Sleep soon, or you won't be able to get up tomorrow morning."
"Oh, okay, let's sleep, we all have to be early birds."
Cheng LiQi had heard her mother say once that the early bird gets the worm, but she didn't remember it fully, and only remembered waking up early and worms. She leaned in her mother's arms, her teddy bear leaned in her arms, she fiddled with the teddy bear's ears, making the ears stand up, then held her father's hand, "Okay, Daddy can sing a lullaby now."
A gale was blowing outside, the sultry heat that had been pent up all day was going to welcome a downpour in the early hours of the night.
Cheng Jinlan gently patted Cheng LiQi on the shoulder, closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. Shao ChengZe stopped singing.
Only the roaring wind outside came through the airtight windows and thick curtains into the house, proving that time was still moving.
Cheng LiQi was not fully asleep yet. Hearing that her father was not singing the lullaby, she called out to her father vaguely, "I want to listen more."
Shao ChengZe held the small and big hands, tightened them, tightened them again, and gently told his daughter, "Okay, Daddy will sing another verse."
The singing sounded again in the room, drowning out the wind and rain outside.
Cheng LiQi gradually entered a sweet dream, with a sweet smile on her little mouth.
With the low singing, the steady breathing of the daughter, Cheng Jinlan didn't know which sound made her feel more at ease, or...both did. She and her daughter entered the same dream.
After a windy and rainy night, the sky cleared.
Sunlight penetrated through the curtains into the room. Cheng Jinlan slowly opened her eyes and turned over, colliding into a pair of deep dark eyes.
She was still in between waking and sleep, not fully returned from her dream to reality yet. Looking at his sunken eye sockets, she murmured softly, "You didn't sleep all night?"
Shao ChengZe reached out to pick away the long hair covering her eyes, his fingers slid down along the hair, past her ears, and gently stroked her cheeks. He propped himself up halfway, leaned over across the still sleeping Cheng LiQi, pressed his forehead against hers, and lightly kissed the corner of her lips.
"I'm sorry."
"And thank you."
There was a lot he wanted to say, but in the end, only these two sentences came out of his mouth.
Cheng Jinlan looked at the person up close, her eyes slowly filled with some clarity. She moved her head back, separating the two lips with air, but her gaze did not move. Their eyes were fixed on each other. Her eyes kept looking into his. In the coagulated air, there was a subtle indescribable taste.
There were slight sounds in the quiet room, and their entangled gazes moved away at the same time, looking at the little person in the middle.
Cheng LiQi's tightly closed eyelashes fluttered quickly, and her breathing was a little hurried too. After a few seconds, she slowly opened one eye first, then slowly opened the other eye. Her voice was soft and tender after just waking up, "Dad, are you done kissing Mom? Can I go to the bathroom now?"
She had just woken up from her sleep and really couldn't hold it in anymore. She didn't want to be a bedwetting baby.
Shao ChengZe immediately got out of bed, carried his daughter down, and took her to the bathroom, then closed the bathroom door and leaned against the door frame barefoot, waiting for his daughter to come out.
Cheng Jinlan turned over and buried her face in the pillow, and didn't move for a long time.
In the morning light, the two adults' ears remained red for a long time.
Cheng LiQi’s illness came and went quickly. After sleeping for one night, she was now full of energy. Cheng Jinlan had originally planned to let her rest at home for a day today. Cheng LiQi drank the white porridge her father cooked bit by bit, and said to her mother, "Mom, I’m all better now, I don't feel sick at all anymore, I can go to kindergarten."
Cheng Jinlan looked at her rosy little face and said, "Then if you feel any discomfort at all in kindergarten, you must tell the teacher immediately, okay?"
Cheng LiQi nodded, "I will, don't worry Mom." She looked at her mother's red ears, "Mom, you don't have to be shy, I didn't see anything."
When she came out of the bathroom, she saw her mother's red ears. Her mother's ears were still red now. Grandma said that when Mom was shy, her ears would turn red.
Cheng Jinlan almost choked on the porridge she had just sent into her mouth. She pulled out two tissues to cover her mouth and barely swallowed the porridge. She wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.
Cheng LiQi bent her hand into a semicircle, cupped it to her mouth as a little trumpet, and whispered to her mother, "Mom, I know, Dad likes Mom, and Mom also likes Dad, that's why Dad kisses you."
She thought she was whispering very softly, but her voice was not actually small. And she was completely unaware that the two sentences she said contradicted each other.
Shao ChengZe came out of the kitchen with the sandwiches he had just made and put them in front of Cheng Jinlan. The corners of his mouth smiled as he ruffled his daughter's hair, "Eat up, after you’re done eating, Dad and Mom will take you to kindergarten."
Cheng LiQi shouted loudly, "Yay!" and happily concentrated on eating.
It was a chaotic morning. Cheng Jinlan just wanted to pretend that nothing had happened and forget it all completely. But some things, the more you want to forget, the more unforgettable they become, and continue to appear in your dreams every night.
On Cheng Jinlan’s birthday, it was a clear sky without a hint of cloud, the sky was as blue as washed. Considering there were young children, the birthday banquet was held at home. Although it was a home banquet, only relatives and friends were invited, business relationships would not be involved, but there were still a lot of people, cars filled up half the yard.
Cheng LiQi prepared two gifts for her mother. One was a ceramic vase she had made with her father earlier. It could be placed in her mother's office, so whenever her mother saw the vase she would think of her. The other was a thick handmade greeting card she had made, with various scenes of her and her mother together drawn inside the card. One page also had a handwritten letter in Chinese characters and pinyin. The letter was titled "I Love My Mom the Most."
After reading the letter, Cheng Jinlan closed the greeting card. Although she tried hard to restrain herself, her eyes were still a little red. She lowered her head and kissed her daughter's face, "Thank you baby for the birthday present, Mom really likes it, Mom loves Little LiQi the most too."
Cheng LiQi hugged her mother's neck and kissed her mother hard.
The crowd cheered and envied that this was not just a little cotton-padded jacket, this was a down jacket.
The later it got into the night, the more lively the banquet became. The livelier this side was, the colder the lights looked on the other side.
Cheng LiQi was excited but not for long before she got sleepy when it was time. Fei Zuhui carried her back next door. She would sleep with her little granddaughter tonight, leaving the young people to have fun and relax.
Cheng Jinlan was chatting with a friend when her phone vibrated. She glanced at the screen and muted it, then put it back on the table and continued chatting with her friend. After a few seconds, she said excuse me to her friend, "Sorry, let me take this call," got up with her phone and left the room.
Shi Ran and Jiang Jiang were talking in a corner of the yard. The distance between them was not close but also not far. Cheng Jinlan took a look at Cheng Jinchuan standing by the window holding a glass of wine and looking outside, sighed silently, and walked with her phone to another corner, and answered the call.
"Why are you calling?" Very calm tone.
Shao ChengZe said, "Happy birthday."
Cheng Jinlan replied, "Thank you."
The phone fell silent.
After a while, Shao ChengZe tentatively asked, "Can I have the last hour tonight? I want to celebrate your birthday with you."
Cheng Jinlan held the phone, her foot lightly kicked the wall. She couldn't say yes, and couldn't say no either.
In the night sky, stars twinkled, and moonlight shone like water.
There was only a wall between the two of them. She was on this side of the wall, he was on the other side.
