CHAPTER 351: CHAPTER 344: WANT A HUG

"Honey."

"Mm?"

"Guess what I found."

He Fang, clutching a grape, lay sprawled on the sofa, swinging her feet in the air as she shouted to the balcony.

Qin Guanglin glanced over but saw nothing unusual. She was still eating her grapes; it was just that her other hand was shaking a phone, so he bent his head back down and continued to scrub clothes, saying, "Doing laundry here, I’ll look in a bit."

As long as there were no worms in them... Grapes shouldn’t have worms, should they?

"Then I’ll read it to you."

"Go ahead, read it."

"Ahem... The standard for a good husband, one, high income, at least five hundred thousand a year to start.

Two, spends little money, doesn’t smoke or drink, and can’t even spend a thousand bucks a month.

Three, respects the in-laws... Every time we visit, my dad mentions the pig you carried on the back of the bike. Bring half of one next time; let me continue...

Four, no expensive hobbies, just goes to work and stays at home to do chores, washing clothes, cooking, mopping the floor..."

Qin Guanglin rubbed at the clothes resentfully; his hobbies had indeed cost him a fortune.

Not to mention the RV, dowry, and the three golds, he had invested his whole latter life here.

"...Five, not a womanizer, doesn’t flirt around, and shares his phone password for anyone to see.

Six, a teddy boy... ugh, skip that.

Seven, dresses well and stylishly, not shabby, won’t look embarrassing when going out... let’s not count this one.

Wow, you’ve got six out of the seven points."

He Fang made an effort to look up at Qin Guanglin on the balcony, exclaiming in exaggeration, "Come here and give me a kiss, my wonderful husband."

"..."

Qin Guanglin turned his head and wiped a bead of sweat on his shoulder, pausing as he looked toward the living room, wondering, "I’ve noticed you’ve been getting more childish since you got pregnant; is that normal?"

"What’s abnormal about it?"

"Maybe we should see a doctor... don’t want pregnancy turning you into a fool," he said with concern. He Fang’s belly was getting rounder by the day, although it wasn’t yet obvious, only detectable without clothes, but her change was too apparent.

Is the saying ’pregnancy makes you dumb for three years’ true?

Does this thing really reduce intelligence?

"Hmph, you’re so unromantic," He Fang shot back at him with a glance, continuing to browse through her phone. A moment later, she added, "Do you know the standards of a good wife?"

"Let’s hear it; I want to see how many you meet."

"The standard for a good wife, one, manages her husband’s finances well, keeping him from spending recklessly."

"..."

"..."

After a long wait and hearing no second point, Qin Guanglin couldn’t help but ask, "And?"

"And what?"

"..."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha." He Fang laughed heartily, kicking her feet as Qin Guanglin watched with a furrowing brow. He flung the suds from his hands and wiping down as he walked over.

"Laugh my ass off, in a bit you’ll laugh the baby out... Give me the phone, put it away, this thing has radiation; can’t play with it anymore."

"You don’t keep me company, and you won’t even let me play with my phone."

"Isn’t this keeping you company?"

"Only on weekends. I’m home every day for summer break, and you’re at work every day..."

Qin Guanglin felt exasperated, "You want me to quit my job again?"

"Quit, you’re the one saying it."

"..."

He knew that somehow the conversation would always wind back to this topic.

He squatted next to the sofa, took He Fang’s hand in his, and rubbed his face against it twice, sighing, "I know staying at home every day is boring for you. I’ve asked Mom to move in to keep you company, but you don’t like that idea. I have to work to earn money for baby formula, otherwise, will you support me if I stay at home?"

"I..."

"Stop, I know you can support me, but we have to plan for the future. If we have enough formula, won’t the kid need clothes? And when they get bigger, school, right? Kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, college... all cost money. And after finishing school, they’ll have to get married, right? They’ll need a dowry, won’t they?"

"You could paint at home, why do you have to run off somewhere?" He Fang pinched a grape, intending to feed it to him, but halfway through, she got angry and pulled back to stuff it into her own mouth. "Get it yourself, I’m not giving it to you."

"..."

Qin Guanglin wasn’t interested in eating and continued, "I only painted that one original work, and it was sheer luck that it became popular. What am I going to paint if I stay at home? Ask Chen Rui to give me the script so I can bring it home to paint?

...Although he most likely wouldn’t refuse if I asked, it’s not proper. Going to work has to like going to work. If today I take company property home to freely create, tomorrow someone else might want to do the same. How would we manage then?"

"Paint our daughter, your daughter is enough subject matter for many years, from kindergarten till when she gets married. You won’t need to think about anything else for half a lifetime." He Fang, holding his hand, spat the grape skin into his palm—even though a trashcan was right beside them, this was simply what she wanted to do.

"Our daughter will need to be at least two or three, maybe four or five years old before there’s interaction, before I can paint her. That’s years from now; you’re thinking way too early... Who knows if I’ll even be remembered by then, and what if I flop?"

Qin Guanglin raised his head, pondering for a moment, then continued since she hadn’t responded, "I know, I used to keep you company, full-time care, but it’s different now. Back then, I only knew how to draw comics, be an artist or something... Picking it back up now is too late. Besides, even if I could get famous overnight in a gallery show like you said, that would again depend on luck, and everything’s different now. My paintings would surely differ from before, and I might end up being a poor painter for most of my life.

Hey, are you listening? What are you laughing at? What did I say that’s wrong?"

He was full of confusion as to why He Fang suddenly burst into laughter while he was talking about serious matters.

What was so funny?

"If you’re a poor artist, and I’m a poor teacher, that’s not so bad." He Fang blinked at him. "Before you became famous, that’s how we lived, wasn’t it? It wasn’t bad at all. No big house, just an old Alto, and you were always cheerfully teasing me..."

"..."

You just can’t reason with a pregnant woman!

Qin Guanglin flicked the grape skin into the trashcan, too lazy to reason with her any further, and got up to continue doing the laundry.

"If you’re bored, go out more with Xiaoqing... Just don’t wander too far, don’t take the bus, just take a taxi when you go out. Didn’t I install Didi for you? Use it freely, don’t feel bad about the money."

He didn’t doubt the words he said to He Fang. Even if they were both "poor," him as an artist and her as a teacher, constantly on the lookout for the school’s housing policy for faculty and being careful about grocery prices, they could still live a happy and joyous life, just with a bit more effort.

But who would choose to struggle in a small, dilapidated house, counting every penny spent on necessities, if they could live comfortably?

"What are you doing?" Just as he sat back on the balcony to scrub through He Fang’s clothes, he saw her climbing off the couch to look for shoes.

"Writing a novel."

"Lie down a bit longer. I’ll take a walk with you later, sitting too long writing isn’t good for the baby."

"No, I want to become a millionaire, then I can keep you, and you won’t dare go west if I tell you to go east..."

Humming to herself, He Fang slipped into her slippers and clattered into the study.

"Humph!"