CHAPTER 385: CHAPTER 375: WORK OUT OF TOWN FOR HALF A MONTH EVERY YEAR

Dreams are called dreams because achieving them is truly difficult.

If success came easily, they wouldn’t really be dreams—no one dreams of eating deep-fried dough sticks or drinking soy milk because it’s too simple.

Their significance lies not in the achievement but in the process of striving.

Chen Rui left after a long chat with Qin Guanglin, having made numerous promises about benefits and cooperation—this was necessary. Unlike Chen Rui, Qin Guanglin had a whole family to support. He had to provide for them, ensuring they had food on the table before anything else.

For a great ideal, to bow one’s head upon meeting a kindred spirit without considering other matters is something found only in novels. Reality is much more complex.

Qin Guanglin watched Chen Rui drive away, then sat alone in the store for a while. After finishing the half pot of tea on the table, he stood up and prepared to head home.

He Fang wasn’t there; only Qin’s Mom was holding Anya, playing in the living room with several paper bags of new clothes for her granddaughter on the table. They looked quite upscale.

"Where’s He Fang?"

Qin Guanglin put the keys on a cabinet beside him and asked casually.

"She went out to buy groceries. She just left."

"Oh."

Seeing him searching in the kitchen, Qin’s Mom thought for a moment and then waved him over, "Come here, come."

"What’s up?"

"Anya is already a year and a half old, she can walk by herself... Have you thought about having a second child?" Qin’s Mom couldn’t stop thinking about this matter, seizing the opportunity when He Fang was absent to mention it. "Now is a good time, whether to give Anya a little brother or sister, to have a companion. Look at you, you’re all alone..."

"Having a second child is out of the question; our daughter is so cute and understanding enough, I’m quite content with just one..."

"???"

Qin’s Mom looked bewildered.

"What does a one-and-a-half-year-old know? Talk sense!"

"Ah, I’ll go check if He Fang hasn’t bought too many groceries to carry."

Qin Guanglin then picked up the keys again and turned to leave. Qin’s Mom, refusing to bother He Fang about the second child, bothered him instead.

Second child... as if having children were as simple as eating.

He hurried downstairs, texting He Fang on his phone as he walked towards the nearest supermarket. Sure enough, he found He Fang there, buying groceries. After casually strolling around, he found her in the vegetable section.

"Chives, fried yuba."

Qin Guanglin took over the cart, guiding her towards their favorite dishes.

"We seem to be running low on yuba at home," He Fang said.

"Then buy some! Are we missing anything while we’re at the supermarket?" Qin Guanglin looked at his naive wife with disdain.

Lu Xun once said that men become smarter after marriage, while women become sillier—his words were truly accurate.

The two pushed the cart around the supermarket again, buying much more groceries than usual since Qin’s Mom was eating with them, filling up half the cart. He Fang pushed the cart to the checkout and waited in line while Qin Guanglin remembered they were nearly out of carrots and went back to pick a few.

Being a vegetarian and still getting fat, happiness must be the cause, not diet—Qin Guanglin consoled himself with this thought as he returned, only to find a skinny young man nonchalantly standing in front of He Fang’s cart.

"Hey, buddy, get in line."

Without waiting for He Fang to speak, Qin Guanglin stepped forward and spoke.

"Who are you?"

"I said, get in line."

Qin Guanglin repeated, standing there with his nearly 200-pound frame, his typically smiling chubby face turning serious, giving him a rather intimidating appearance. He Fang couldn’t help but smile and said nothing, taking the bag of carrots from him to put in the cart.

The man glanced at them, and seeing Qin Guanglin’s bulk, he hesitated, awkwardly stepping back and repositioning himself behind He Fang, signaling his yielding.

Behind He Fang was originally an old lady, who, just as her smile began to form, grew even more furious.

"Getting in line... Isn’t the meaning of these two words quite clear?" Qin Guanglin looked at him puzzled, unable to understand why someone would be so shameless.

Really acting righteously shameless, huh?

"You..."

"What do you mean, ’you’? Get in line!"

"..."

Qin Guanglin glared furiously, his plump face appearing even more menacing, matched with his intimidating figure. The man sheepishly turned his head and scurried to another counter’s line. Many people looked over, making him feel somewhat embarrassed, but he honestly lined up at the end.

"You’re quite impressive," He Fang remarked in a low laugh, clinging to Qin Guanglin’s arm, feeling utterly secure.

Being a bit chubby does have its perks, at least it’s scary.

"Do you know what I just remembered?" she asked.

"What?"

"That chubby dad in ’Train to Busan.’"

"Mmm... If they suddenly all turned into zombies, I could definitely carry you and rush out."

Qin Guanglin and He Fang quietly chatted as they paid the bill, each carrying a bag of vegetables, they walked home together in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Their shadows stretched long behind them, merging and casting diagonally on the ground.

...

When Anya was three, she could already fetch soy sauce.

Of course, that meant going to Uncle Pan’s convenience store on the old street, looking up and calling out in her milky voice, "Grandpa Pan, soy sauce."

Then, the silver-haired Uncle Pan would cheerfully get up to find the soy sauce, he would also take a candy from the counter and give it to her, and then watch her with her small, bouncing steps heading back home before he pulled out his ledger from under the counter to note it down—of course, he wouldn’t note the candy. At the end of the month, he would settle the tab with Qin’s Mom, just like how the neighbors would do when they didn’t have small change.

Qin Guanglin had tried teaching Qin’s Mom to use "WeChat Pay" countless times, but she was worried about her money disappearing and stubbornly refused to use it, sticking with cash even today.

Qin Guanglin stood at the window watching the little kid bouncing back with the soy sauce, he went to the door to greet her, picked her up to give her a big kiss as a reward, and then boasted to He Fang about how capable his daughter was.

"My daughter is very independent, this is called successful parenting."

"Wasn’t it I who taught her?" He Fang scoffed, believing he didn’t teach anything, just spoiling her all the time.

"I taught her." Qin Guanglin felt good about himself, stubbornly taking the credit.

"It was both of you, both of you."

Qin’s Mom, with her hair in big curls, took Anya over and urged the couple to start cooking.

Now, besides the slight regret of their son and daughter-in-law not having a second child, they had everything they needed. Happy and seemingly getting younger by the day, she didn’t act her age even with white hair, going for an oil treatment and getting a perm into wavy curls, she became the most beautiful grandma on the street.

In the heat of July, with the street sweltering, the few who had finished dinner had no desire to go for a walk, instead choosing to rest in the living room with the electric fan on.

"Mom, you take Anya for half a month, we are going out in a couple of days."

"What for?" Qin’s Mom asked.

"Well, it’s our wedding anniversary. We just want to stroll around, and also gather some inspiration—I need materials for my paintings and her novels, we can’t get inspired stuck at home," Qin Guanglin explained softly, caressing He Fang’s hand, "We haven’t been out much since Anya was born, you see, I’m even earning less money."

"You’re not taking her?" Qin’s Mom was puzzled.

"It’s troublesome with her being so young. We’ll take her when she’s a bit older, the whole family together."

As the child grew, their time as a couple lessened. Realizing this, Qin Guanglin wanted to relish a few more years of freedom, fearing future regrets—nearing thirty-five, he and He Fang hadn’t had enough fun yet.

Plus, caring for a child for too long can indeed be tiring.

"Okay... but you need to tell Anya."

Qin’s Mom was happy to look after her granddaughter, just worried about her not finding her mom and causing a fuss, which would be troublesome.

"Anya is very well-behaved, no worries, right Anya?" Qin Guanglin chuckled.

"Mommy and Daddy are going to work, not to have fun. We work to earn money so we can buy delicious and fun things, you know?"

He patted Anya’s head gently and instructed, "Be good at home and listen to grandma, don’t be naughty."

"Okay."

Little Anya nodded, her big innocent eyes sparkling.