RIRW – Chapter 154

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Back at home, Zuo Dan picked up the envelope and examined it carefully. But she was still a person with principles and didn’t plan on snooping into the letter inside.

She mused to herself—when Zuo Cong got home and saw the envelope, how would he react? Just imagining it made her happy. Hahahaha! Her younger brother was finally about to find someone! “My little brother is finally growing up,” she thought proudly.

Beside her, Youyou saw his mom laughing to herself and calling out “Oh oh oh!” so he reached out to be picked up. When Zuo Dan ignored him, he actually grabbed the edge of the bed, stood up, and even took a small step.

Zuo Dan turned to look and was so shocked that the envelope nearly fell from her hands.

“Mama, oh oh oh…” Shen Youyou teetered forward on wobbly steps while babbling at his mom.

Zuo Dan stood there in a daze for a moment before she realized—her precious son could walk now! But just as she was about to feel delighted, Shen Youyou’s leg gave out and he fell back onto the mat, looking pitifully at her.

“…” So much for being cool for more than three seconds. Zuo Dan set the envelope on the table and rushed over to help her son up. She let him grab the edge of the bed again. “Practice walking by yourself. Show Mommy a few steps.”

Then she sat nearby, ready to watch her son perform.

Little Youyou thought they were playing a game again, so he held onto the edge of the bed and shuffled his short little legs slowly. But he seemed to think this method was too inconvenient and crawling might be faster, so he let go and was about to drop onto the mat and crawl. Zuo Dan picked him up again and propped him back up against the bed.

“Walk!” Zuo Dan said sternly. At least stay cool for more than three seconds, she thought.

Seeing that his mom looked unhappy, Shen Youyou pouted in grievance. “Mama, da da…”

“Mama is da da now. So what? Resistance is futile.”

Shen Youyou pouted even harder, looking like he was about to cry, even letting out some whimpering sounds—clearly a warning of an impending tantrum. But Zuo Dan remained unfazed. She knew her son’s little tricks all too well.

“…” Shen Youyou stopped frowning and, with his lips pursed, he grabbed onto the bed and shuffled forward on his little legs. He kept sneaking glances at Zuo Dan’s expression, and when he saw a smile gradually forming on her face, he knew he was doing the right thing—Mama wanted him to walk like this.

While he was toddling along the edge of the bed, Shen Yiming came home. When he saw his son actually walking with support, a flash of surprise crossed his face. “He can walk now?”

Zuo Dan replied, “He can walk while holding on to something, but the moment he lets go, he falls. I just discovered it myself. This little guy never showed us before—I don’t even know when he learned to stand up. But just now when I watched him walk a few steps, his legs were strong. He must be developing well. Probably just lazy—he can crawl, so he doesn’t bother standing.”

In this era, kids usually walked late because of malnutrition. But their child was well-fed and taken care of. Ever since he could eat solid food, he had meatballs with every meal. He was growing sturdily.

Shen Yiming put away his school bag, washed his hands, and was about to come over to help his son practice walking when his eyes landed on the envelope on the table. Since it was placed face-down, he didn’t see the writing on the back. He casually asked, “Who’s the letter from?”

“Some classmate I don’t even know,” Zuo Dan said, feeling annoyed as she brought it up.

Shen Yiming’s face immediately darkened. He reached out and picked up the letter, ready to see which fool had written it. But when he saw the writing on the front of the envelope, his expression instantly cleared up, even smiling. “Zuo Cong’s letter—how come it ended up with you?”

Zuo Dan didn’t even turn her head. “Yeah, right? That girl didn’t even dare to deliver it herself. So shy.”

Shen Yiming didn’t care about that. The letter wasn’t important—what mattered was their son learning to walk. He dragged a stool over to sit by the bed and watched his son, who looked like he was enduring torture, pacing back and forth. From time to time, the little one would pout and glance at his dad.

After a couple of laps, Shen Yiming picked him up.

Shen Youyou was thrilled.

But the joy didn’t last. Shen Yiming moved the mat to the center of the room, away from any corners or edges, to prevent injury in case of a fall. Then he stood Shen Youyou on the mat and encouraged him to walk—this time with no support at all.

No more holding onto anything.

“Da da!” (Dad!)

Under the ‘heartless’ watch of his parents, Shen Youyou slowly stepped forward with his little legs. His body wobbled after each step. After the third step, he toppled over.

Shen Yiming nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad—his legs are strong, just lacking in balance. It’s perfect timing with summer break. We’ll have time to help him practice. By the time school starts again, he should be able to walk on his own. Your mom will have it much easier.”

Zuo Dan added excitedly, “Once he can walk, we won’t need to help him with eating either. Shen Yiming, raising a kid is so easy!” They hadn’t even raised him for a full year, and he was already semi-independent.

Shen Yiming agreed.

Meanwhile, Shen Youyou sat on the floor, pouting at his parents. He had fallen down and no one came to help him! He rolled over onto his stomach and quickly crawled to the other side.

At dinner, Grandma found out Shen Youyou had learned to walk and was overjoyed. She picked him up and smothered him with kisses.

She even asked him to walk a few steps to show her. But Shen Youyou pouted and started crying. Grandma’s heart instantly ached for him, and she cuddled and coaxed him until he smiled again.

“Such a good actor,” Zuo Dan was utterly defeated.

Zuo Cong came back from school the next day. They were on summer vacation now. Since students could stay on campus, he didn’t plan to squeeze in with Zuo Dan’s family. Besides, their professor also lived on campus. Due to the turmoil in past years, many materials had been damaged and now needed to be restored by the professor. Zuo Cong planned to stay during the summer to help sort through the old materials with him.

Zuo Dan, of course, had no objections. She just handed him the letter she received yesterday.
“A female classmate asked me to pass this on to you. I don’t know who she is—maybe her name is in the letter. Take a look yourself.”

Zuo Cong didn’t quite understand what she meant, but casually opened the envelope. After reading it, his expression didn’t change at all.

“Oh, she’s from the Foreign Languages Department at your school. Said she read an article about me and really admired me. Wants to discuss academic matters and make progress together.”

He frowned, troubled. “But how are we supposed to discuss anything? I’m in Physics, she’s in Foreign Languages. There’s no common ground for discussion.”

“…” Zuo Dan didn’t expect her brother to be this dense—utterly clueless.

“She wants to date you!”

Zuo Cong was dumbfounded. “How could that be? We don’t even know each other. Besides, she literally just said she wants to discuss studying. Sister, don’t talk nonsense. That could damage her reputation. But I do need to reply—can you help me pass the letter back?”

Zuo Dan said weakly, “I’m telling you the truth. She really wants to date you.”

“Sis, I know you’re worried and want me to find someone. But these things can’t be rushed,” Zuo Cong said reassuringly.

Hopeless. The guy’s an emotional idiot. Unless someone confesses to his face, he has no idea when someone likes him.

Zuo Dan decided he just hadn’t had his awakening yet. So she gave up. No point in pushing him to date—better not waste that girl’s time either.

Since it was summer vacation, Shen Yiming started looking at houses. Now that the baby had learned to walk, it wasn’t ideal to stay in their current place. There were too many kids and people in the courtyard, and the relationships weren’t good—problems could easily arise. It was better to live separately, preferably somewhere with a slightly better environment.

Zuo Dan called home.

Now, she didn’t have to call the number at Zuo Village anymore. Calling the commune office directly could get her father. But it turned out her father was out in the countryside.

Secretary Liu used to be in charge of youth and education, and after her father took over, he handled those areas too. After the college entrance exams, the educated youths were restless again, so Zuo Dacheng had to go manage them.

Since she couldn’t get in touch with her father, Zuo Dan chatted with Secretary Liu instead, asking whether Yang Wenxin got into Huada (short for Beijing University). She mentioned she had seen him a few times on campus.

“Yang Wenxin? Hmm… I don’t think so. I thought he got into a teachers’ university? I can’t really remember. I’ll look into it later. But we’ve just finished the college entrance exams—things are hectic here. Not easy to pull his records quickly.”

“No worries, I was just asking casually. I heard from Yiming that only Xiaocong from our commune got into Huada, so I was surprised to see him there. If I was wrong, then no problem,” Zuo Dan said with a smile.

She had just asked offhandedly—she wasn’t interested in Yang Wenxin as a person.

As for seeing Yang Wenxin getting close with a female student from Huada, she had no intention of meddling. Although Zuo Huan was her cousin, their two families weren’t even as close as some of the outsiders in their village. And Zuo Huan herself was a heartless one—since marrying Yang Wenxin, she hardly ever visited her parents. If she got involved, Zuo Huan might just pin the whole issue on her. Not worth the drama.

Back in Zuo Village, Zuo Dan’s aunt, Xu Fengxia, was pressuring Su Dai and Zuo Qing to hold their wedding.

The two had been dating for a long time and had a good relationship. They originally planned to get married after Su Dai passed the college entrance exam last year. But he didn’t get in.

Su Dai was determined to go to college, so he and Zuo Qing agreed to wait until this year’s exam results. No one knew what the new college admission policies might be. If they got married and it turned out married people couldn’t apply, they’d have to get divorced. Su Dai didn’t want to become someone who divorced just to take the college entrance exam.

After this year’s exam, Su Dai felt uneasy—not because he lacked confidence, but because he thought he did well last year too and still didn’t get in. This year’s result might end up the same. So when Xu Fengxia brought up marriage again, he hesitated. He wanted to wait and see the results first.

When Xu Fengxia heard that he still wouldn’t agree to a wedding, she got angry. “What, if you never pass, is my daughter supposed to stay unmarried forever? She has a perfectly good job teaching elementary school—what college is even for? There’s nothing good about college! She’d be better off working steadily at school. We even have a house ready for you two. You and Zuo Qing can just live with us. We don’t care if you have nothing.”

Su Dai felt really uncomfortable hearing that, but he was shy and introverted, and didn’t know how to respond. He looked at Zuo Qing—she stayed silent, looking aggrieved.

But from her expression, it was obvious she was very upset.

Thinking of how good she had been to him, and how she had endured so much in this household, Su Dai’s heart softened.

“I will marry Qingqing. I just hoped that after getting into college, I could give her a better life. With a degree, I could earn a better salary.”

“We don’t care about that. We’re just simple farmers—what do we need all that money for? We can’t even spend it. I think you’re just using college as an excuse to dump my daughter. Just like Yang Wenxin—disappeared after going to college!” Xu Fengxia practically spat the name out.

Furious, she turned and slapped Zuo Qing several times. “I told you not to date an educated youth, but you didn’t listen! He never intended to marry you! Shameful girl!”

Zuo Qing’s face was swollen from the slaps, but she didn’t dare dodge. She could only look helplessly at Su Dai.

Su Dai was stunned at first, then quickly stepped in to stop it. “Stop hitting her! I’ll marry her. I won’t abandon her.”

Xu Fengxia finally stopped. “Then give us a proper wedding date.”

“…If I get in, we’ll marry before school starts. If not… then after the semester begins. At least I’ll have something to hold on to while she goes to school,” Su Dai compromised.

Xu Fengxia did the math—only two months away. “Fine. But if you delay again, I’ll find another husband for Zuo Qing!”

Back in the capital, Zuo Dan and Shen Yiming had looked at several houses and were still deciding.

Zuo Dan wanted to buy a traditional courtyard house. The problem was—they didn’t have the money…

Although housing prices in the capital weren’t high yet, for them it was still expensive. Buying an ordinary house was doable, but a courtyard was out of the question. When it comes time to spend money, you really feel how little you have.

“Let’s just buy a house with a small yard. We don’t have many people—no need to get something so big,” Zuo Dan said, trying to comfort Shen Yiming.

Shen Yiming stood in front of a courtyard gate, staring for a long while. “No rush. Let’s think of something. Buying a house is like getting married—you can’t force it.”