Chapter 25: Xibao, Lebao

It was only when the cold, hard cash was pressed into their palms that Xie Youzhen and Xie Cheng finally felt a sense of reality.

The bills in their hands felt heavy, almost hot to the touch.

Xie Youzhen took several deep breaths before he tremblingly, carefully tucked the money into his pocket.

“Let’s… let’s go.”

He said in a low voice.

Xie Cheng nodded and quickly followed Xie Zhao away from the wonton stall, pulling the handcart behind him.

Once they left the crowd behind, Xie Cheng and Xie Youzhen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

They had never made so much money all at once. Even when Xie Cheng worked in the mines, his wages had been paid daily, just a yuan or two at a time.

Now, holding a whole stack of bills at once, they felt an underlying anxiety, as if they were stepping on cotton with no solid ground beneath their feet.

“Whew!”

Xie Cheng exhaled heavily.

He stared at the empty vegetable basket for a moment, then turned to Xie Zhao and said, “I never knew those wild greens could make so much money. Mom never picks them, saying it’s a waste of firewood and oil to cook them, and not worth the effort. Who knew city people loved eating this stuff? This has really opened my eyes!”

Xie Zhao nodded and said, “Our village looks poor, but if you search carefully, there are plenty of good things to sell.”

As he spoke, he pulled the handcart toward the hospital.

“Let’s head to the hospital first. Muyu is being discharged today, and we need to pay the bill. Selling some fish should cover it.”

The three of them had no objections and walked toward the County Hospital.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the County Hospital.

Xie Zhao checked the time. It was still early, and the patients’ families who cooked meals hadn’t come out yet. There would be plenty of time to sell the fish later.

“Dad, Big Brother, let me take you to the ward first to see the two little girls.”

At the thought of his daughters, Xie Zhao’s lips curled up in an involuntary smile.

His eyes softened with tender affection, and his palms still seemed to hold the memory of the soft, delicate touch from yesterday.

“They’re very cute. You’ll definitely love them.”

Xie Youzhen’s eyes lit up as well.

Granddaughters.

These were his very first granddaughters!

People often said that grandparents doted on their grandchildren, and there was truth to that. When Xie Youzhen followed Xie Zhao into the ward and saw the pair of pink, tender babies, even he, a father of three, felt his hands tremble with nervousness.

“Even the director said our two babies are blessed!”

Tian Xiufen said softly, “They’re survivors. Any later and they wouldn’t have made it. Tell me, isn’t this a gift from the heavens to our family?”

Xie Youzhen nodded repeatedly.

Xie Cheng couldn’t help but lean in to look at the two tiny babies, who shared a slight resemblance to him. A gentle expression softened his dark, weathered face.

“Have they been named yet? Which one is the older sister, and which is the younger?”

Xie Zhao paused.

He instinctively looked toward Lin Muyu.

“Well… they look identical to me. Wife, do you know which girl is the older one?”

However,

Lin Muyu, who was sitting on the hospital bed, felt her soul nearly fly out of her body at Xie Zhao’s call of “wife”!

He… he… what did he just call her?!

Wife?!

She must have heard wrong.

Had she zoned out and misheard?

Lin Muyu’s heart pounded wildly. Her mouth opened, but not a single word came out. Her head spun, and she didn’t dare to look Xie Zhao in the eye.

Her cheeks flushed red visibly, and her fingers, resting on the blanket, couldn’t help but twist together.

Seeing her lower her head in silence, Xie Zhao was also surprised.

Huh?

No way.

Are the two little girls really that identical?

Even Lin Muyu couldn’t tell them apart?

In the end, Tian Xiufen stepped in to smooth things over. Pointing at the baby with the slightly rounder face, she said, “This round-faced girl is the younger one. She has quite an appetite! If I feed her too slowly, she’ll wail so loudly you can hear it from outside!”

“This one is the older sister. Director Huang said that when they grow a bit older, they’ll start looking different. What did he call it? Fraternal twins, or something like that. Anyway, we’ll be able to tell them apart later!”

Xie Cheng nodded, half-understanding.

Seeing the younger sister pouting her little mouth and trying to suck on her own fingers, Xie Cheng couldn’t help but laugh.

This little girl.

Quite the little glutton!

“Second Brother, have you named them yet?”

Xie Cheng asked.

He only asked in passing, but Xie Zhao nodded with absolute seriousness.

“I have. I named them a long time ago.”

He wasn’t lying.

How could he not have named them?

In his past life, there was a period when Xie Zhao was heavily addicted to alcohol.

When his brain was numbed, his body would enter a strange state of dullness, and the world that once existed only in his dreams would seem to manifest around him.

He seemed to see that his two daughters hadn’t died.

They grew up, took their first steps, learned to babble, and would laugh as they hugged his legs, calling out “Daddy” in their sweet, childish voices.

How could Xie Zhao not have thought of names for them?

The corners of his mouth curled up as he reached out and cradled the older sister in his arms.

He heard his own voice ring out clearly, “Let’s call them Xi Bao’er and Le Bao’er^[1].”

A lifetime of peace, joy, and freedom from worries.

This was his greatest wish for his children.

Xie Cheng and Xie Youzhen repeated the names a couple of times, then smiled with satisfaction and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Wonderful! Those names sound so cheerful!”

The two of them sat holding the babies for a while longer, during which Xie Cheng kept glancing out the window.

“Ahem!”

Xie Youzhen knew exactly what his son was thinking. He was the same, constantly worrying about those three large buckets of fish!

“Er Xiaozi, look at the sun. It’s almost noon. What are we going to do about the fish?”

Xie Youzhen asked.

Hearing this from the side, Tian Xiufen also paused.

Fish?

“What fish?”

Tian Xiufen turned to look at her husband, only to see a tense expression on his face. He quickly looked around, and only when he saw that the patients in the neighboring beds were still resting and not paying attention did Xie Youzhen let out a sigh of relief.

He lowered his voice and whispered in Tian Xiufen’s ear, “Keep your voice down, woman! We finally found a way to make money. What if someone overhears us?”

A way to make money?

Tian Xiufen glanced at the three buckets of fish placed beneath the window.

“You caught them?”

She asked in surprise.

Xie Youzhen nodded. “Yeah, Er Xiaozi took me and our eldest to catch them last night. Said city folks love eating them and they can fetch a good price!”

However, Tian Xiufen’s attention was not on this at all.

Her lips parted slightly, and her gaze drifted uncontrollably to Xie Zhao and Xie Cheng as they spoke.

“Er Xiaozi has grown up.”

Xie Youzhen’s voice was filled with emotion. He looked at Tian Xiufen, deeply comforted. “He’s a father now, after all. He’s matured. We can finally stop worrying.”

Tian Xiufen’s eyes instantly welled with tears.

She nodded quickly, but her eyes stung, and tears began to fall one by one.

“He’s grown up. That’s good, that’s wonderful.”

She murmured, wiping her tears with the back of her hand, her heart filled with joy.

She couldn’t help but look up at Xie Zhao, who had his back to her.

The youth resembled her more than anyone else. He was tall and high-spirited, almost a carbon copy of his uncle, carrying half of her own bloodline.