TPW – Chapter 84

“Really, An’an. Has Mommy ever broken a promise to you? Daddy truly went off to be a big hero just now.”

Qiao An’s eyes lit up instantly. He grabbed Xu Haizhou’s hand and exclaimed, “—Daddy is amazing!”

The little one who had planned to cry his heart out was now completely distracted and wouldn’t stop bombarding Xu Haizhou with questions.

Before they left, Qiao Lu stopped to ask the homeroom teacher of Class 1 about Qiao An’s behavior at school that day.

“Ms. Qi, how did our An’an do today?”

The teacher, Ms. Qi, was a kindly woman in her late thirties, with a perpetually gentle smile that radiated warmth and friendliness.

She glanced down at Qiao An, who was happily animated in front of his parents, then back at Qiao Lu. A flash of surprise passed through her eyes.

“He was very well-behaved. He doesn’t talk much, but he listens well—quiet and obedient. If only he were a bit more outgoing.”

Ms. Qi felt Qiao An wasn’t very sociable. However, before the semester started, his parents had already informed her that he had always been resistant to kindergarten. He’d only attended for half a month in the past, and only returned to school this year at the age of five. So, she understood his temperament.

Qiao Lu smiled gently and patted her son’s head. “He’s getting there. Today’s already a big improvement for our An’an.”

The little fellow shyly hid behind Qiao Lu, wide-eyed as he peeked at Ms. Qi.

He thought Ms. Qi was nicer than Teacher Liu from the silk factory. She was gentle, spoke softly, and—most importantly—wasn’t scary.

So even though he’d felt sad today, it was nothing like two years ago when he was at the silk factory’s kindergarten. This time, he was happier. After all, he’d received so much love from Mommy and Daddy these past two years. His emotional state had changed, and he wasn’t on the verge of a breakdown anymore.

Qiao Lu said, “An’an, say goodbye to your teacher. We’re going home.”

Qiao An clutched his mother’s shirt with one hand and waved at Ms. Qi with the other. “Goodbye, Teacher~”

Ms. Qi’s eyes crinkled in delight. “Goodbye, Qiao An. See you tomorrow.”

Turning around, he grabbed both his parents’ hands and hopped cheerfully out of the kindergarten.

Even after they reached the street, Qiao An’s admiring gaze never left Xu Haizhou. “Daddy, how did you kick them? Were the bad guys like the villains in Fearless, flying through the air and then crying on the ground, howling?”

Howling? Like he thought they were wolves or something.

Xu Haizhou chuckled and gave his small hand a gentle squeeze—it was soft and a little warm. “Yeah, something like that.”

The little one clutched his chest in awe, looking up at his father with even more admiration. “Daddy, you’re amazing! I want to learn martial arts from you!”

Xu Haizhou laughed. “You’re still too little. Let’s start by building up your body first. When you’re eight or nine, I’ll teach you martial arts.”

“Okay~ Then let’s start training today!”

Just after they exited the school gate, Qiao An suddenly remembered something. He urgently tightened his grip on his parents’ hands. “Ah! My backpack!”

“Wait here. I’ll go get it,” Qiao Lu said and hurried back inside.

The little girl who had been playing with Qiao An earlier immediately understood why Qiao Lu had returned. Smiling brightly, she handed over his backpack. “Here! This is Qiao An’s bag. He forgot to take it.”

“Thank you, sweetie!” Qiao Lu was both surprised and pleased. What a clever little girl, she thought.

“No need to thank me.” The girl then cheerfully asked, “Are you Qiao An’s mommy? Auntie, you’re so pretty!”

Qiao Lu paused for a moment, then smiled and patted the girl’s head. “You’re adorable too. Goodbye!”

“Bye-bye!”

Watching Qiao Lu leave, the little girl returned to her small stool, patiently waiting for her own parents to pick her up.

Halfway down the path, Qiao Lu couldn’t help glancing back a few times and smiled. “Hey, Haizhou, look at that kid—so well-behaved. Her parents still haven’t come, and she’s not crying or fussing.”

“Mama, I didn’t cry or fuss either!” Qiao An chimed in, proud of himself.

Qiao Lu pinched his cheek, laughing. “That’s right. You were just a little sad for a bit, but you didn’t sob and whine, huh?”

The little guy skipped along energetically and nodded. “Mhm! I was sad for a little while, but when I saw you both, I wasn’t sad anymore.”

Xu Haizhou bent down, picked him up, and set him in the back seat of the car. Then he climbed in himself and called out, “An’an, hold on tight.”

Qiao An immediately hugged him tight and waved with his other hand. “Daddy, I’m holding on! Mommy, come on up!”

Instead of going straight to dinner, Xu Haizhou first took them to the new apartment in South Lake Garden to check on the renovation progress.

As soon as the bicycle stopped, Qiao An dashed out like a sword from its sheath, racing toward the neighborhood gate. He kept looking back and waving. “Daddy, hurry up! Mommy, hurry up!”

“So excited just to see the new place?”

He walked up and scratched Qiao An’s chin playfully.

The little guy squinted with pleasure for a moment, then tugged on Qiao Lu’s hand toward the stairwell. “Mommy, we haven’t been here for so many days. What does our new home look like now?”

He had seen the interior design sketches his mom drew—colorful watercolor ones. They looked so grand and beautiful! He couldn’t wait to see the real thing.

“It’s been two weeks. I bet it looks really different now.” As they spoke, the family reached the third floor.

Their new home was unit 301. The neighboring unit 302 had been occupied for about a year, but Qiao Lu had never run into the owner—probably the type who left early and came home late, busy with business.

The renovation team Xu Haizhou hired was trustworthy. They had previously renovated Li Yu and her husband’s home.

Even though they hadn’t visited for half a month, the team hadn’t slacked off. Everything was progressing steadily. The basic work—painting and flooring—was already completed with care. Even without furniture, one could already imagine how beautiful the place would be when fully decorated.

The most unique feature was the arched transition between the living room and the balcony. Instead of a door, they used curtains as a divider. The balcony was enclosed in glass—clear and stylish, not like the common iron-bar security grilles.

Now that the hard renovation was complete, the carpenters had begun working on Qiao Lu’s custom wardrobes—also recommended by Li Yu’s family.

In fact, Tian Jianzhong’s father was a carpenter too. But they didn’t ask him for help because Qiao Lu hadn’t told anyone about buying the new house yet. She preferred to avoid any unnecessary complications, so she hired someone else.

After checking out the place, they found that once the wardrobes and cabinets were installed and everything was cleaned, they could start furnishing and moving in. But first, they needed to ventilate for at least a month.

Furniture in the present day didn’t have the excessive formaldehyde issues of the future, so the airing period didn’t need to be too long.

With their hearts full, the family of three headed off to dinner at a restaurant.

When they first bought the house, Xu Haizhou’s motivation was simple—he just wanted to give his wife and child a comfortable living environment and fulfill his wife’s dream.

Only now, seeing how beautiful their future home had turned out, did he realize what a wise decision it had been.

“Haizhou, in the next couple of years, we should work even harder. Let’s try to buy more properties in the best parts of the city. Their value will definitely go up.”

“Go up?” Xu Haizhou looked at her, slightly puzzled.

Qiao Lu nodded. “Yes. If you don’t get it, you can check out the real estate market in Hong Kong. It’s already mature over there. If all goes as expected, the mainland will probably develop in the same direction.”

Although he didn’t know how Qiao Lu had learned about the situation in the Harbor City—probably someone had told her?

The important thing was, a husband should take his wife’s words to heart: “Alright, I’ll go find out more when the time comes.”

On the way home, they passed by a provisions store. Qiao Lu had promised her son a date paste roll as a reward because he had bravely gone to school today and behaved well while he was there.

It was still the same provisions store where Song Qingping worked. At this hour, there weren’t many customers, so Xiao Zhou, who was standing at the counter, stood out quite a bit.

“Hello, comrade. How much is a pack of peach crisps?”

Song Qingping pointed to two piles of peach crisps behind the counter with different weights. “The large one is two yuan, the small one is one yuan thirty. Which one do you want?”

“How many crisps are in the large and small packs?” She didn’t even know that—seemed like her household was pretty tight on money.

It was almost closing time, and Song Qingping was in a good mood, patiently explaining, “The large pack is a full jin and has sixteen crisps. The small one is half a jin and has eight. Depends if you want more or less. If it’s for gifting, I suggest the big one.”

People with tight finances usually only buy peach crisps for gifting. Song Qingping was sharp—she could see through it instantly.

After thinking for a while, Xiao Zhou pulled out a few wrinkled bills from her pocket, counted them several times, hesitated for quite a while before finally deciding, “I’ll take the big one.”

“Two yuan.” With a smack, Song Qingping placed the peach crisps on the counter.

After collecting the money, Song Qingping noticed a family of three entering the store and immediately brightened up. “Oh, Qiao An, sweetie, you’re here! You came with your parents today? What are you buying?”

“Auntie! Mommy promised to buy me date paste rolls!” And she said I could get two packs—one for school, and one for home!

“My, your mom is so good to you—buying date rolls again.” Song Qingping skillfully pulled out a pack from beneath the counter, raised her arm, and passed it down from the counter. “Here you go—can you hold it?”

The little guy tiptoed, cradling the bottom of the wax paper bag with both hands. “Auntie, you can let go. I got it.”

Song Qingping slowly released the bag and realized that compared to last year, Qiao An was much more stable on his feet—no wobbling even on tiptoe.

He really had grown up.

Hearing the commotion, Xiao Zhou turned around and exclaimed in surprise, “Sister Qiao Lu!”

The couple exchanged a smile as Xiao Zhou quickly stepped forward and handed over the peach crisps. “I was just about to come find you. Here!”

“What are you giving me this for?” Qiao Lu looked completely confused.

Xiao Zhou smiled warmly, pushing the crisps into her hands, afraid she might refuse.

“What happened with Gao Xin—I really owe you both. I didn’t know how else to thank you, so I bought some peach crisps for your child.”

She couldn’t afford anything expensive, but since Qiao Lu had a kid at home, she figured peach crisps—something suitable for all ages—would be a fitting gift of gratitude.

“Big sister, why are you giving my mom peach crisps?” Qiao An hugged his two packs of date rolls, clearly puzzled.

Even at his age, Qiao An understood: one shouldn’t take unearned rewards.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch—if someone gives you something for no reason, there must be a hidden motive!

Such a soft, adorable little guy—Xiao Zhou’s heart melted, and she gently patted his head.

“Your mom and dad helped me a lot this afternoon, so I wanted to give them a little thank-you gift,” Xiao Zhou explained earnestly.

“Was it because my dad helped drive away the bad guys?” Qiao An asked, his big misty eyes blinking with innocence.

Xiao Zhou was startled, eyes wide. “Yes! How did you know that?”

The little guy nodded seriously. “I know. They told me. They were supposed to be the first to pick me up from school, but they came really late. I almost cried. But Mommy said they saw some bad guys on the way and had to chase them off. That’s why they were late—not on purpose.”

He wasn’t an unreasonable kid, so he wasn’t mad anymore.

“Oh my, how old is this child? So little and already so articulate,” a colleague of Song Qingping looked at Qiao An with great interest.

Song Qingping chuckled. “I think four? Maybe five? Anyway, he’s a smart one—his parents are raising him so well.”

“Such a sweet kid. Here, take this—it’s for you,” Xiao Zhou said, her gaze even softer now.

“Thank you, Sister.” Qiao An accepted the gift with joy.

As they were leaving, Xiao Zhou whispered to Qiao Lu, “Sister Qiao Lu… can I pay you back for the medical expenses in a few days?”

Qiao Lu nodded generously. “Sure. No rush—our family doesn’t need the money right now. Just pay it back when you can.”

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

Watching the family of three walk away, Xiao Zhou was filled with envy.

If only she could have a well-behaved baby like Qiao An someday too.

She longed and longed… When would her and Gao Xin’s happy days finally arrive?

After returning home, Qiao An shared the peach crisps Xiao Zhou had given him with his little friends, and also told them the story of how his dad was a hero.

The kids listened with rapt attention, even egging Qiao An on to call his dad over and tell them exactly how he kicked the bad guys. If it was anything like the hero in Fearless, it would be so cool!

And the silly boy actually did go get him. At the time, Xu Haizhou was in the kitchen helping Qiao Lu, and he was pulled out with a bemused smile.

“An’an’s dad is here!” the kids screamed.

“Let me reintroduce my hero dad!” Pfft—this kid was such a little drama king.

Qiao An happily clutched his dad’s hand and proudly pulled him over.

Even the adults were drawn in by the lively atmosphere and turned to watch the father and son with curiosity.

Qiao Lu didn’t understand what was so interesting about kicking a bad guy, but the big and little one managed to chat with the others all the way until dinner. Qiao An only reluctantly waved goodbye to his friends when called.

“What were you talking about? I called you several times, and you didn’t even hear.”

“Mommy, I was telling my friends about my hero dad~”

Qiao Lu scratched his chin and gave Xu Haizhou a teasing glance.

So the man went out to soak in praise, huh?

“Hero dad? You gave your dad a nickname that fast?” Qiao Lu said, laughing.

“It’s not a nickname, it’s a title.” He knew the difference.

Pfft—

“For someone so small, you sure have a good vocabulary.” Like a little prodigy.

“Oh? The college student’s packing up to leave for school?”

There was a buzz of excitement outside. Liu Xiaohong was helping her son pack—he had to catch the 8 a.m. train the next day for university, so they started preparing today, much to everyone’s amusement.

Nothing like good news to lift the spirits. The once tense mother and son were all smiles now. Liu Xiaohong’s grin was so wide, the wrinkles on her face looked like they could trap flies.

“Yep, school starts in two days. He’s going early to get settled in,” Liu Xiaohong said.

“It’s just in the neighboring province, right? Only five or six hours by train.”

Aunt Tian was full of admiration. “You’ve raised a good one, sister. Once Youwei finishes school, you’ll be living the good life!”

Fang Youwei had performed exceptionally well in the college entrance exams—not only placing third in the city in art, but also scoring thirty points higher than last year in academics.

He’d been accepted into the provincial art university next door, majoring in fashion design, which surprised Qiao Lu a little.

She even teased him, saying by the time he finished in four years, she might have the funds to start a factory. If he couldn’t find a job, he could come work for her.

College grads these days were the real deal. If she could recruit such talent, her factory would surely flourish.

Everyone teased her, “College grads get assigned jobs these days—how could he not find one?”

Qiao Lu suddenly realized, clapped her forehead awkwardly. “Oh right, I forgot about that.”

But then Fang Youwei looked at her seriously and said, “Sister Qiao Lu, don’t worry. I won’t forget your kindness.”

Qiao Lu waved it off. “No big deal. If you study hard and repay your mom, that’s the best thank-you to me.”

For the first time, Fang Youwei’s eyes held unwavering determination.