MGASC -Chapter 56 A Flamboyant Man

He moved lightly out of bed, dressed, pushed the door open, and slipped out of the courtyard.

Moonlight flowed like water, bathing every blade of grass and tree in a silvery glow. Cicadas shrilled without pause, as if echoing his restless mood.

Lin Ran stood at the doorway and glanced toward the Wang family’s house across the way.

It was just as pitch-dark—clearly no one had come back for the night.

His eyes hardened dangerously, and his small fist clenched tight.

He didn’t go out through the front gate. Instead, he scaled the wall—over a meter high—leapt down, and landed inside the Wang family’s courtyard.

The small boy stood alone in the empty yard, emotions pent up inside him like gunpowder, on the verge of exploding the place apart.

He bent down, picked up a brick from the ground, and without the slightest hesitation hurled it at the window ahead.

In the stillness of the night, crisp shattering sounds rang out one after another.

Only after he had smashed everything he could, staring at the mess strewn across the courtyard, did the suffocating anger inside him ease a little.

Climbing back over the wall, something poked at him from his pocket.

It was the few pieces of White Rabbit milk candy he’d never eat. He’d kept them so long they were nearly melted.

Lin Ran squeezed the misshapen candy, pulled it out, and dumped it all into the foul-smelling ditch by the roadside.

He turned to head home, but at the gate ran straight into a tall, upright figure—pine-straight.

It was Lin Xun.

“It’s this late—where did you go?” It was too dark for Lin Ran to see his face, but the tone alone made the reproach clear.

Lin Ran lifted his chin stubbornly, said nothing, and walked straight inside.

Lin Xun grabbed him. “Say something! What, you dare do it but not own up to it?”

“What’s there not to own up to?!”

Lin Ran’s stubborn streak flared. He shook free.

After all, he was still a kid, with limited self-control. His nose stung, and he finally poured out everything that had happened over the past few days to Lin Xun.

When he finished, he added angrily, “I did the bad thing all by myself. If you want to tattle, go ahead. Worst case, Dad beats me—I don’t care!”

Lin Xun stood quietly under the moonlight, absorbing his emotions.

“Alright. Go back and sleep.”

He patted his younger brother on the back. Lin Ran looked at him in surprise, as if asking: You’re not telling?

Lin Xun pressed his lips together, then asked calmly, “You didn’t leave any evidence, right?”

“Don’t worry.”

Lin Xun nodded again and pushed him toward the house. “Next time, don’t do something reckless by yourself…”

“Huh?”

“Call me along!”

Lin Ran had been fuming, but at those words he froze—then broke into a wide grin.

……

The next morning, when Zhang Qiao woke up, she flat-out refused to stay in the hospital another day.

The ward was noisy and chaotic. And unlike her own era, hospital conditions were poor—no private rooms at all. The woman who’d been neglected all night finally had her husband show up the next morning, but not once did he give his wife a kind look. Instead, he kept sniping at her sarcastically, blaming her for not giving him a son.

If she stayed any longer, Zhang Qiao felt she’d end up throwing punches.

Besides, she felt perfectly fine—no discomfort, no more bleeding.

Lin Zhengyue was still uneasy and went to confirm with the doctor. Only after being assured she was out of danger did he agree to take her home.

To be safe, he even arranged a more comfortable car and personally brought Zhang Qiao back.

The car stopped at the gate, horn honking.

The three kids had just started breakfast. They dropped their chopsticks and rushed outside.

“Aunt Qiao, you’re finally back!” Lin Xun shouted.

“Is Auntie’s little baby okay? Aunt Qiao—waaah, I missed you so much! I missed you so badly I couldn’t even eat. I lost several jin overnight!”

Lin Jin clung tightly to Zhang Qiao’s leg. The youngest of the three, he bonded with adults the fastest and had clearly already taken Zhang Qiao as his real mother.

Lin Ran felt guilty and stood farthest away, but his eyes were filled with concern as he looked at her.

Feeling the three kids’ dependence and care, warmth spread through Zhang Qiao’s heart. The shadow she’d picked up in the hospital gradually faded at the sight of the three adorable kids.

Who says children who aren’t biologically yours can’t be raised close?

So far, she was doing pretty well as a stepmother.

“Alright, alright. Don’t listen to your dad exaggerate—Auntie was fine all along. Come on, let’s go inside. Auntie brought you something tasty.”

On the way back, Zhang Qiao and Lin Tianyue had eaten breakfast at the market and brought back fragrant beef steamed dumplings and mutton soup for the kids. Once inside, she handed the dumplings to Lin Xun and glanced at the table—each child had only a bowl of corn porridge, boiled sweet potatoes, and pickles.

Good thing she’d thought ahead. The kids were growing—how could they live on porridge and pickles every day?

Just a second ago, Lin Jin had been whining that he couldn’t eat another bite. Now, seeing the beef dumplings, his eyes lit up.

“Oh yeah! This is awesome! When Aunt Qiao’s home, life is beautiful—there’s yummy food every day!”

Lin Xun and Lin Ran exchanged a look and scolded him. “All you care about is eating! I bet you don’t really care about Auntie—you just care about the food.”

Lin Jin pouted, utterly wronged. “That’s not true!”

His eyes blinked rapidly, on the verge of tears.

Zhang Qiao hurried to hug him, rubbing his mushroom-cut hair. “Good boy, your big brothers are just teasing you. Eating all the yummy food someone gives you—that’s the greatest respect you can show them. And our Jin does that best of all.”

“Alright, go eat.”

After soothing the kids, Zhang Qiao went back to the room to rest for a bit.

Lin Tianyue poured her a cup of warm water, then took the medicine the doctor prescribed, measured out the dose into his palm, and brought it to her lips.

Zhang Qiao frowned and swallowed it.

“So bitter!”

She’d barely complained when a sweetness bloomed in her mouth—Lin Tianyue had unexpectedly slipped a piece of milk candy between her lips.

It was her favorite: White Rabbit.

“You bought this candy somewhere else?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“That’s great. This was my favorite when I was little.” Realizing she’d misspoken, Zhang Qiao quickly added, “Lin Xun, Lin Ran, and Lin Jin like it too.”

“It was meant for all of you anyway.”

Zhang Qiao noticed the black leather bag Lin Tianyue had been carrying earlier was open, revealing a large bag of White Rabbit candies. Besides that, there were two fluorescent tubes and a desk lamp.

She squatted down and shook everything out. Earlier, Lin Tianyue had said the bag held clothes, but in reality his clothes only lined the very bottom. Everything else was for the household.

Seeing the desk lamp, Zhang Qiao was delighted. “Who’d have thought—a big rough guy like you actually used your head this time. You even bought the right things. How did you know I was missing a desk lamp?”

She also found two fountain pens, several bottles of ink, and thick notebooks—everything she needed.

Lin Tianyue flushed from the praise. He bent down, helped the squatting Zhang Qiao up, and took the items from her hands.

“Put these aside for now. You can’t use them for the next few days—you’ll tire yourself out. You have to listen to the doctor and rest properly. If the translation work’s too much, just pause it.”

As he spoke, he pressed her onto the bed, not allowing her to move around.

Zhang Qiao was in a great mood and didn’t argue right away.

She fiddled with the desk lamp. It was rose-red, looking especially festive. “Lin Tianyue, look at what you bought—red, pink, all of it. A grown man with such flamboyant taste.”