CHAPTER 790: CHAPTER 786: EXTRA | FAN HONGSHAN 05

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On the easel, there is a painting of Lotus Lake, with lotus flowers perched atop the branches and three small brocade fish beneath the lotus leaves, above the lotus flowers, a dragonfly is preparing to land...

A typical lotus painting, but Fan Hongshan’s painting skills are excellent, rendering the dragonfly’s posture delicately and vividly, making the lotus elegant, and the brocade fish even lively, giving the impression of the vitality of ’summer’ just by looking at the painting...

Such skill could not be achieved without more than a decade of practice.

There are many items on the shelves, daily household goods, and even more, paints, paper, easels, and even a foldable writing desk, brushes...

Zhou Yilang looks at such a cramped and narrow space and questions himself: Is he too harsh towards his wife?

Thinking again about the room allocation at home...

They currently live in a new room, which was converted from two large three-bedroom sets into one large five-bedroom set.

Three rooms serve as bedrooms; the remaining two, one is his study, and the other is the children’s classroom. On weekends, specially hired teachers come to give them various classes.

Looking at it this way, there really is no space for her study.

Perhaps, he should consider getting a new house?

At the same time, the instruction from Grandpa came to his mind—

Zhou Yilang casually restored the painting, then went into their marital bedroom.

Upon entering the bathroom, he noticed the faint moisture and fragrance in the air, evidently, someone had used it earlier.

No wonder he never noticed anything amiss with his wife.

Turns out, after every painting session, she would take a bath to wash off the smell of the paints from her body, handling details so perfectly that it even surprised him.

He always thought Fan Hongshan was just an ordinary woman who would either hang out with friends chatting or watch TV to pass the time at home, like the other women of the Zhou family, or at most, get a few acquaintances together to play cards.

Who could have imagined that a girl from a small town in a remote city could have such exquisite national-class skills!

If not for seeing it with his own eyes, Zhou Yilang wouldn’t believe that his wife had so many talents—not only could she paint, she could also embroider, not to mention her good calligraphy!

Oh, and also, her hands could cook very delicious and appropriate dishes!

His eldest daughter and young son both really like the meals she makes by hand. Maybe it’s her cooking that made his children easily accept her presence.

Zhou Yilang suddenly reminisced about the supremely delightful taste from last night, feeling a tightness in his lower abdomen... it looks like he needs to add another item.

Indeed, as his grandfather said, he should have a child now.

Having a child would keep her from thinking about ’getting a divorce,’ right?!

Suddenly, he remembered the ’matter of course’ way his wife took medicine in the morning, slowly went to the bedside table, pulled open the drawer, and saw the jar of medicine inside, huh.

Zhou Yilang didn’t touch it, but merely pushed the drawer back as if nothing had happened.

Some matters can’t be rushed. Rushing leads to chaos.

Loosening the button on his neck, Zhou Yilang tidied up his clothes and took a comforting bath in the bathroom, then dressed in casual white shirt and black pants before leaving the room.

It was not yet six o’clock, and besides the kitchen, the house was quiet.

Zhou Yilang did not go to the kitchen to see his wife, but instead habitually sat on the living room couch, casually picking up an English book from the nearby small bookshelf to read.

As soon as the eldest daughter and the young son returned, they were extremely surprised to see Dad had already changed clothes and was sitting in the living room, especially the eldest daughter, whose cheeks turned red when she saw Dad’s calm and handsome face.

It wasn’t shyness, but shame.

She didn’t actually mean any harm, she just didn’t want that woman to have another child, to divert her attention away from her siblings!

Although she and her brother were the oldest granddaughter and grandson in the grandfather’s family, in reality, they weren’t favored at all in front of their grandparents, and were even less cherished compared to the great-grandfather’s treatment towards them.

Especially their grandmother, for some reason, every time she saw the siblings, she had a displeased look, and was usually not very pleasant.

Dad was too busy with work and hardly had time to take care of the siblings.

Maybe it’s only that woman who would wholeheartedly maintain her role and sincerely take care of the siblings!

Indeed, both siblings harbored some discomfort towards ’her’ because even though they were still young, they knew that woman really took great care of their daily lives—yet she never implied they should call her ’Mom’.

Not at all!

She did her best to care for them and similarly towards their dad, solely focusing on the well-rounded care and not expecting any change of feelings from them.

Initially, they referred to her as ’that woman’, yet she never got angry but smiled warmly, letting them have their tantrums or be disrespectful, always with that light, gentle smile.

It was as if she wore a mask in front of them, never getting angry or unhappy. At first, they didn’t understand this ’stepmom’ mindset, thinking she was playing hard to get.

But with time, they realized that their stepmother did not have any bad intentions. She didn’t even care about the ’Zhou family’ at all.

Her responsibility towards them as siblings was just her ’job’, because of her indifference, no matter how the Zhou family treated her, she could still wear a mild and gentle smile.

She didn’t take it to heart, so she was fearless!

Understanding this angered her profoundly!

Even specifically targeted her stepmother for a while, only to realize that she did have feelings, she just didn’t want to show her emotions in front of the Zhou family.

If it hadn’t been for the day she came home early from school feeling unwell, she wouldn’t have known that her stepmother was sleeping alone on the couch, her little face slightly swollen, tears still at the corners of her eyes, and looking distressed and uneasy in her sleep.

Regardless of the reason for her stepmother’s tears, they made the young girl realize that despite her stepmom’s cold and indifferent demeanor, she was still a human being.

As a human, she could get hurt, she could be sad, she just didn’t expose her wounds to others.

Just like when she felt aggrieved at school and wanted to cry, she never cried in front of outsiders.

In the Zhou household, who really cared about the stepmother’s emotions?

Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.

Today, after her dad found out about her antics, the eldest daughter was directly reprimanded by him, and suddenly she matured a lot.

Knowing her past actions had hurt her stepmother, the eldest daughter barely ate at dinner, her worried little face pitiful.

Just looking at her stepmother, who continued to smile gently, the young daughter felt even more remorseful.

The young son, sharp as a whip, occasionally glanced at his sister then at his stepmother, and then sneakily peeked at his father’s expression, as if he got caught, quickly bowing his head down to drink his soup seriously—

His mom made the most delicious meals. But...

The young son took another secretive look at Fan Hongshan, seeing her behave as usual, her face serene, except for the slight swelling, showing no emotional trace, he felt extremely disheartened...

When could he openly call her ’Mom’?

Prideful and awkward, the young son, holding back his grievance, fiercely ate his meal.