Sweet Wife in My Arms

Yan Huan lifted the plump little boy in her arms, and noticed the difference in his weight. He had grown heavier again. Soon, she might have trouble carrying him.

Little Lei nibbled on his finger. "Do you have any toys for me, Aunt?"

"Of course," she gave his cheeks a squeeze. "I bought you a big robot. It's even bigger than you."

She had bought an expensive AI-powered model from a foreign country, the newest in its series. There was still loneliness in Little Lei's life, and she thought it would be a good remedy for that. It was an advanced and safe toy.

"Where is it, Aunt?" asked Little Lei, his eyes twinkling like Yi Ling whenever she saw tasty-looking good. Little Lei was the same as his mother, except he had more passion for toy cars and airplanes than food. He would play with them for hours, gripping them tightly in his tiny hands. 　　

Yan Huan lifted her wrist to consult her watch.

"It's gonna be here anytime now," she said. The delivery status had informed her that the package was on its way. It shouldn't take long.

She put Little Lei down and held his meaty hand in hers. He had grown too heavy for her to carry, she had to admit.

And Little Lei had turned out to be a crafty little fellow. He let go of Yan Huan's hand, ran to his granny, and wrapped his hand around hers, telling her that he would soon have a big robot in a purring voice.

"How big is it?" she asked, playing along.

"It's thiiis big," said Little Lei, making out the outline of a figure bigger than himself with his arms.

"It's that big?" asked Madam Lei, trying hard to stifle her laughter. "But how are going to feed it? You eat a lot, so we don't have that much food left. With your new robot friend, you might have to starve a little. Would that be alright?"

Madam Lei pretended to be troubled. It wasn't a complete act, however. Little Lei was healthy and had a good appetite, two factors combined that made him little overweight. The child would demand to be carried after a short while of walking, but how could they blame him? His little feet had a hard time supporting his weight.

He Yishan suggested to put him on a diet, but he was only three; an infant who understood nothing and cried whenever he grew hungry. No one had the heart to do it. And so they had to devise a plan to make the child eat less on his own.

Little Lei considered the bad news, nibbling on his fingers and blinking in quick succession.

"Leilei understands. I'll share my food with the robot, so that he wouldn't starve."

"Such a good boy," praised Madam Lei, rubbing his head, hoping that he would keep his word. She gave her grandson's little limbs another squeeze. So meaty. It made her happy, but worried at the same time. Children looked cuter with a little meat on them, but her grandson was clearly getting a little too much meat on him.

Yan Huan walked to Ye Shuyun and sat down beside her.

"Has your health gotten better lately, Mom?" she asked. Ye Shuyun's return had surprised her, after claiming that she might not be able to make it back for the New Year. Yan Huan had not expected to see her before March.

"How can foreign places compare to home? Look at me now," said Ye Shuyun, all smiles. "I have gotten much better lately. It's as though the soil and water at home nourish me. Nothing beats home, after all. Now that the weather has gotten better, your Dad was for coming back too. He misses his recruits, I know. If we stayed any longer, he might have started drilling me instead."

That made Madam Lei laugh out loud. "Do you still remember that time when he just got promoted to platoon leader? He was so not confident he felt the need to practice at home, so he had you posing as a recruit and drilled you on military postures."

Ye Shuyun had to smile. She remembered that. Time flies, doesn't it? At that time, Lu Jin had just married her into the family. Old Master Ye had chased him across a few streets, yelling that he had stolen his daughter. Lu Jin became so terrified of the old man he fled at the sight of him. Zealous in his new designation, Lu Jin drilled her every day. That was until she had a heat stroke when maintaining a military pose under the sun. Lu Jin had been so scared that he was on the brink of tears, red-eyed when he brought his wife to the hospital, thinking that he had killed his own wife. He even thought of killing himself if something bad befell Ye Shuyun.

The examination results soon revealed that Ye Shuyun was pregnant. When Ye Jianguo and Old Master Lu learned about it, they beat him in turns. The doctor had given him an earful too.

The child turned out to be fine, thankfully, just a bit dimmer than others at birth. Ye Shuyun always complained, attributing their child's lack of intelligence to Lu Jin making her do military postures. Lu Jin had to endure the unjust accusations for years, before they found out that Lu Yi was actually a genius, and wise beyond his years.

As a child, he talked little, mainly because he was lazy, but they took his taciturn nature as a red flag for stupidity, even though no one had actually decreed that cleverness had anything to do with talkativeness. The extreme extent of Lu Yi's intelligence could only be matched by his obstinate reluctance for speech.

But now, Ye Shuyun had outlived her son. 　

The thought of that made Ye Shuyun and Madam Lei grow silent. In her heart, Madam Lei regretted sorely. Why did she have to mention that? Things were going great before she stirred up the bitter memories.

Little Lei nibbled on his fingers, confused at why the adults had suddenly stopped talking and smiling.

A pair of hands lifted him up. The attention made him grin again. He bit his fingers and tilted his head.

"Aunt, Leilei wants to sleep," he said, rubbing his eyes. The sleepiness was really getting to him.

"Go to sleep, my dear. The robot would be here by the time you wake up."

She carried Little Lei into his own room and tucked him in. She left Ye Shuyun and Madam Lei to their talk; she wasn't from the same generation as them, and they could talk more freely without a junior around.