146. Waiting nights
Qin Yun, due the holidays had been unable to find time to see An Ran, but will still call An Ran every day to ask about her basic condition. Meanwhile, Xiao Fen had officially retired, while she was free she would cook some soup and make some small pastries to send to An Ran. Since An Ran had let go of her past, Lin Xiao Fen seemed to be more relaxed and smiled a lot more.
Regarding Tong Wen Hai’s issue she did not ask Su Yi Cheng about it. Su Yi Cheng also didn’t bring it up to her, but she did see an article in the newspaper that said there was a record of a major punishment, stopped all the work on hand. Regarding the disciplinary actions, fair or not, he later found someone else to carry it out so she does not know about it, and she doesn’t want to know about it.
Sitting in the study, An Ran opened her previously bought architectural magazine. Having not touched these things for a few months, she felt rusty. The last time when Xiao Ying Tian asked her to help participate in a project, it wasn’t that she wasn’t moved, just considering the children, and she does not want to worry Su Yi Cheng who was busy with work. So when Xiao Ying Tian called her again to ask her about her decision, she had simply declined.
However, she did recommend Chen Cheng to Xiao Ying Tian. She had always felt that Chen Cheng was very talented, she had a special feeling towards her designs, she is now just too young, has no experience, as long as they give her space and time to practice, then she will definitely bring unexpected surprises.
“Knock knock knock…” The door of the study was knocked on, and Auntie Zhang came in with hot milk, “Madam, have some hot milk.”
“Thank you Auntie Zhang.” An Ran thanked, put down the magazine in her hands, and reached toward the hot milk.
Sometimes when she was bored she’d start to think, it’s good that she does not reject the taste of milk, otherwise drinking these few cups a day for several months would have made her tired of it. Being pregnant with a child made her deeply appreciate being a mother, even through the hardest, painful times she would cover her belly with her hand, and when she felt a kick, everything would turn fine, and at that moment she would felt that it was worth it.
Auntie Zhang took away An Ran’s empty cup, looked at the time, and asked, “Not napping today, madam?”
An Ran had slept a little in the morning, so now she wasn’t sleepy. She just said, “Not yet, I don’t feel like sleeping yet.”
“Okay.” Auntie Zhang nodded gently and pushed the door out as she left.
An Ran put the magazine back to the bookshelf, and then went to take another book, but for a while couldn’t find one she’d like to read. Su Yi Cheng had a large collection of books, but are a little too boring, all were big texts of non-fiction, there wasn’t anything that An Ran wanted to see.
She opened the desk drawer again, the drawer was neatly sorted. Su Yi Cheng was a tidy person, everything was filed well, not messy, very orderly, each were classified. Even in the drawer, they were neatly packed.
When she was mindlessly looking through things, she even found the original ‘couple agreement’ that she had printed.
Looking at the ‘couple agreement’ in her hands, she saw someone’s stiffly written, cunning addition. An Ran couldn’t help but shake her head and laugh, mouth gently scolding, “Scammer, treacherous official!”
She stroked that paper with nostalgia, looked at the agreement in her hands, and then looked at her bulging stomach. Thinking about it was wondrous, how long has it been, really it was just as Su Yi Cheng said, fate is really an incredible thing.
Suddenly she kind of wanted to see their marriage certificate. She still remembered the surprise when she saw his name on the marriage certificate, she did not think that she would sign up with the wrong person. But thanks to the original mis-identification, she was now so happy.
From the top of the drawer she pulled out those two big red marriage certificate, opened it up to see two strangers in a photo, could not help but laugh out loud, “Hehe.”
Looking back to when it was issued, she was suddenly surprised that time passed by really fast, unknowingly half a year had already passed.
“It turns out, we’ve been married for half a year.” An Ran touched the picture of the two people on the marriage certificate, muttered in a low voice.
Looking at the photo, she started to reminisce more and more.
After National Day Su Yi Cheng seemed to be busier, every day starting early and coming home late seems to be the norm now. They both live in the same house, but An Ran felt like she has not seen him in a while. Every morning when she wakes up Su Yi Cheng was already gone, every night when she falls asleep he has not come back, so, she always staggers the time, if not for the fact that every morning Su Yi Cheng would make breakfast for her before leaving, An Ran would not know if he came back the night before.
She took out her cellphone and looked for his number. She just wanted to call, but afraid that she would disturb his work, she decided to text instead.
Less than a minute after the text message was sent, Su Yi Cheng’s phone call came in.
Looking at the flashing caller ID, the corner of An Ran’s mouth unconsciously went up.
She answered the call, “Hey.” Voice so sweet, even she didn’t know that she had such a sweet and delicate tone herself.
“Miss me?” Su Yi Cheng’s gentle voice came from the phone, with a slight smile, and it sounded very comfortable and nice.
“I didn’t.” An Ran did not want to admit. She stroked that long finger along that small photo, back and forth, the corner of her mouth had a good-looking smile.
Su Yi Cheng on the other side was not annoyed, only gently sighed, and said, “But I miss you.” The voice was low, very magnetic, listening to him say such a sentiment, can really bewitch people.
An Ran’s heart skipped a beat, unconsciously said, “I miss you too.”
“Hehe.” Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng started to chuckle, his mood seemed to be a lot better.
An Ran also does not bother, she really did miss him, holding the phone gently she murmured, “Yi Cheng, what to do, I feel like I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve been a little busy lately.” Every time when he got home she was already asleep, and when he got up she was still asleep, he was reluctant to wake her up, but the two of them did not say a word for several days in a row.
“I was just looking at the marriage license, and it turns out, today is our half-year wedding anniversary.” An Ran muttered.
“I’ll come back early today.” He could hear the loneliness and want in her voice, So Yi Cheng answered so.
“Really?” An Ran did not really believe it, recently his work had gotten busy that much she could naturally see, because Ling Chuan Jiang’s issue was so sudden, before there was no mayor’s candidate, and now only Su Yi Cheng can manage some of the mayor’s affairs. Originally his work was already a lot, and now there are more positions, that matter is naturally more. Thinking about it, she said, “I don’t want you to delay your work because of me, I was just talking.”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, because of her compassion and understanding, just said, “There wasn’t too much issues today, but at night there is a dinner, when the time comes I will have Secretary Zheng go in place of me, I will come back to accompany you.”
“Really not impeding your work?” An Ran was still a little uneasy, because she understood that Su Yi Cheng was trying to coax her to make her happy, even if there was a lot of work that was not completed and instead came to accompany her, then he would stay up late to work overtime. As a wife, she could not share half of the work with him, but at least she should not cause him burden.
“It’s okay.” Su Yi Cheng said in a low voice, “An Ran, I want to have a good meal with you.”
Hearing him say so, An Ran did not say more, only gently agreed.
Hanging up the phone, An Ran went out to look for Auntie Zhang. Auntie Zhang at the moment had finished cleaning and was sitting in the living room watching TV.
“Auntie Zhang, teach me how to cook!” An Ran said with a look of anticipation. This evening she was going to cook a dinner herself.
In fact when it came to learning how to cook food An Ran was really embarrassed. This has not worked for 2 months, speaking of shame, such a long time, she hasn’t even properly learned even one dish. Although her cooking can’t even to be said to have a little progress, but in addition to not burning the dish, the taste was still not flattering. Also, Su Yi Cheng was not willing to have her eat all the food she made, she reckons she won’t be able to find a single person in the world to eat her food.
Auntie Zhang smiled, and said, “Why are thinking of cooking again, last time didn’t Mister not let you do it?” The last time An Ran had accidentally cut herself with a knife, although the wound was not big nor deep, but Su Yi Cheng noticed, his heart hurt, then said she doesn’t have to learn.
“It’s alright, last time was an accident, I didn’t notice it myself.” An Ran did not care and said, “Today is our half-year wedding, just called him, Yi Cheng promised to come back early to eat with me in the evening, I want to personally make something once, Auntie Zhang, please be beside me and teach me. I don’t know how much seasoning to add, each time I do it, it is either too salty or light.”
Auntie Zhang had been here to help for a little over two months, had long gotten used to the couple’s love and sweetness, but also envied the couple’s affection. Compared to her own son and daughter-in-law who would all day look for a small matter to fight about, she longed for them to be like An Ran and Su Yi Cheng and got along.
She took the remote control from the short table, turned off the TV directly, stood up, and smiled and looked at An Ran and said, “Okay, I’ll teach you.”
“En.” An Ran smiled and nodded, “Auntie Zhang just needs to stand next to me and teach me how to do it, watch me and do not let me make a wrong step or misplace the seasoning.”
Auntie Zhang nodded, “Okay, I will just talk and not move.”
Because An Ran’s movement was slow, hands of a newbie, she was afraid that she wouldn’t make it on time, so even though she had a few hours to spare, An Ran began to prepare early.
Auntie Zhang was responsible for running errands, went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients for the dish this evening.
Auntie Zhang understood that she was pregnant, was afraid that if she did not sleep at noon she will get tired, proposed to let her to prepare these ingredients and so on, so when she wakes up she can just start on them immediately.
But An Ran stubbornly refused, she really wanted to make her own dinner, so from washing the dishes to preparing the ingredients and so on, she wanted to each of them on her own.
Under Auntie Zhang’s instructions she handled all the ingredients, and then again under Auntie Zhang’s instructions she made each dish in accordance with Auntie Zhang’s steps. When she was done, An Ran specially snuck a bite to eat. The taste wasn’t special, but it wasn’t bad either, absolutely not difficult to swallow, compared to the thing she made before, it was much better. And when these dishes were all finished, it was a little past five o’clock, according to her estimate, Su Yi Cheng will probably arrive home at around six o’clock, then at that time the dishes should still be warm, ready to eat.
It was a candlelit dinner for two people, An Ran specially let Auntie Zhang to leave work early. Auntie Zhang could see through her intention, and gave her an ambiguous look, then with laughter carried her own old-fashioned bag home.
After Auntie Zhang left, An Ran specially put out the candles and candlesticks prepared by Su Yi Cheng before and put them on the bar, and used the remote control light to turn the lights of the whole house to a very romantic lighting. She even changed into her own beautiful maternity dress, goose-yellow coloured, straight skirt, had a girdle-design at the waist, with a bow at the back. Simple but elegant, well worth a second look, and the dress was especially comfortable.
After changing her clothes, she went to the bathroom to put on some lip gloss to make herself look a little more spirited.
Looking at the mirror at herself, An Ran suddenly stopped, and then laughed out loud. She thought it was funny, hands on her chest, she could obviously feel that her heart at the moment was constantly in acceleration, even a little nervous. This sort of feeling as if she’s liked one person, like two people holding hands for the first time, like two people hugging for the first time, like two people kissing for the first time, it felt like that, heart beating quickly, nervously, but also somewhat excited. This feeling, she had experienced it when she fell in love for the first time, at that time her simple pounding heart scared her, somewhat panicked, she pulled Lin Li aside and asked her if she was ill, but was then rudely laughed at by Lin Li, who said she was not sick, just pining. She even loudly touted to the dorms publicly, then in a matter of days the entire class and even the school knew that she and Mo Fei were dating. Only, looking back now it was all but a distant memory.
The other hand covered her bulging stomach, and whispered, “Baby, say isn’t mother so useless, dad just promised to come back early in the evening to accompany us to dinner, mother is just so happy like a child, really not so mature right.”
Not sure if it was truly a response, but at this moment An Ran felt like the two little guys in her belly actually responded with a movement.
An Ran was somewhat moved, hand followed along the direction of the movement, and said jokingly, “You also feel so ah! But it can’t be helped, mother has not seen father for several days, really miss him, you guys also miss him, right?”
As if they truly understood An Ran’s words, after An Ran finished, her stomach was kicked twice, the force was much heavier than the previous times, even other people would be able to feel it. An Ran chuckled, a face full of happiness and satisfaction.
Such fetal movement may be just a coincidence, but such a coincidence made An Ran especially happy. She was humming a small song sitting on the side of the living room sofa waiting for Su Yi Cheng to come back. When she was bored she would touch her stomach and talk to the babies in her stomach. Time had passed on bit by bit, the sky outside was quickly darkening. It was six o’clock and Su Yi Cheng still hadn’t come back.
An Ran assumed that he still had unfinished work, so did not call him, and just stayed in the living room waiting, flipping through the magazine, or watching TV.
After an hour, when Su Yi Cheng had not come back when it was 7 o’clock, An Ran was getting hungry, protesting by growling out. She pursed her lips, frowned slightly, reached out gently to caress her big belly, softly said, “Let’s wait a little okay, wait for father to come home, when father comes back we will all eat together, we have not eaten with him in a long time.”
So after another hour, waiting until 8 o’clock and that door was not opened from the outside, the smile originally on An Ran’s face gradually dropped, was slowly replaced with worry and uneasiness instead.
She took out her cell phone and called Su Yi Cheng, the mobile phone rang for a long time but no one picked up.
An Ran did not know what happened to Su Yi Cheng, she comforted herself and said that he was probably still busy, perhaps still in a meeting, a situation came out last minute and he didn’t have the time to inform her.
Comforting herself like that made the worry in her heart halve a little. As she had been busy in the kitchen during the afternoon preparing dinner with Auntie Zhang, she did not even eat snacks, so now her stomach was really hungry and a little uncomfortable. Because she was with child, An Ran does not dare to be insistent, got up and went to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of hot milk to ease her own hunger. Then she sat back in the living room and waited for Su Yi Cheng to come back.
As she was waiting her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, bit by bit she could no longer hold them up, slowly closing, even her consciousness was beginning to become a little hazy. She was truly tired, after spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen, she naturally had no time to take a nap.
So she fell asleep on the coach hugging a long pillow.
An Ran did not know how long she slept for, when she woke up again the house lights were still on, the dinner had gotten cold, even the red candle had been burned down to half. She grabbed the cellphone to look at the time. It was already 10:30pm but Su Yi Cheng was still not back. She called him again, but still no one had answered.
An Ran worried, but had no other way. At this moment she wondered why she did not ask for his office number or Secretary Zheng’s number, otherwise if she could not reach him she could go find Secretary Zheng to ask about the situation. Actually the main thing was that he was too good before, even if he were busy, he would never make it so that she couldn’t reach him.
She made several calls in a row, and no one answered them.
Somewhat helplessly she got up, took some saran wrap and covered the dishes only to keep them fresh, perhaps in a moment he will come back, and when he’s home he perhaps did not eat, so he could just heat them up and eat.
And at this moment besides being worried she no longer felt hungry, she hugged the pillow and sat on the sofa in the living, waiting, eyes staring at the door, thinking that the next moment it will open, and then Su Yi Cheng would come in with a smile.
Waiting and waiting, not sure how long after, her eyelids began to become more and more heavy, and finally she fell asleep.
In the midst of her dream An Ran felt a jolt, then her eyelids moved slightly. She awoke faintly, in the midst of her daze she could see Su Yi Cheng’s handsome face in front of her own eyes, and at this moment she was being carried by him.
“Yi Cheng?” An Ran muttered out a call, reached out and lightly touched his face, confirming that she wasn’t just dreaming, and that the person carrying her at this moment was Su Yi Cheng.
Su Yi Cheng turned his head, faintly and gently smiled at her, yet apologetically said, “I’m sorry, I came back late.” As he was carrying her to the room, he gently put her on the bed.
An Ran looked at him, somewhat aggrieved said, “I waited for you for a long time, called you and no one answered, I don’t know if something happened to you, I was really worried.”
Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng bowed his head to kiss her forehead, and whispered, “I’m sorry, last minute situation, I also forgot my phone in the office, so I didn’t receive your calls. Sorry, I let you worry so much.”
An Ran shook her head, carried a faint smile on her mouth, only asked, “Have they been handled? Is everything alright?” She was just worried about what happened to him and she didn’t know what was going on. Now that he was back, knowing he’s okay, she was relieved.
Su Yi Cheng nodded faintly to her, and said, “Yes, it’s all handled, it’s all right.”
An Ran smiled. Suddenly remembering something, she sat up, and asked, “Have you had dinner yet? Did you forget to eat?”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, pressed her to not let her get up, and said, “Don’t get up, don’t worry about me, I’ll go get something to eat myself.”
An Ran shook her head, touched her stomach, and playfully stuck her tongue out, said, “I have not eaten, I am very hungry.”
Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng frowned, and disapprovingly said, “It’s this late and you haven’t eaten, don’t you know you are pregnant now! Why starve!”
An Ran mumbled, and said, “I was waiting for you to come back, who would have known I couldn’t wait.”
Sighing softly, Su Yi Cheng stroke her face and said, “You are not the same, from now on don’t wait for me at least don’t be hungry and wait for me, okay?”
An Ran nodded, and then smiled and said, “I made the dishes tonight, in the fridge, in a minute I'll take them out and heat them up, the taste isn’t that bad!” Her tone was full of pride.
Su Yi Cheng also smiled, pinched her nose, and said, “I’ll go heat them up, don’t get up, I’ll bring them to you.”
An Ran nodded, and smiled happily.
The next morning when Su Yi Cheng had gone to work, An Ran was still brushing her teeth when Lin Li called her, her tone was very urgent.
“An Zi, did you see that video on the internet today?”
146. Waiting nights
Qin Yun, due the holidays had been unable to find time to see An Ran, but will still call An Ran every day to ask about her basic condition. Meanwhile, Xiao Fen had officially retired, while she was free she would cook some soup and make some small pastries to send to An Ran. Since An Ran had let go of her past, Lin Xiao Fen seemed to be more relaxed and smiled a lot more.
Regarding Tong Wen Hai’s issue she did not ask Su Yi Cheng about it. Su Yi Cheng also didn’t bring it up to her, but she did see an article in the newspaper that said there was a record of a major punishment, stopped all the work on hand. Regarding the disciplinary actions, fair or not, he later found someone else to carry it out so she does not know about it, and she doesn’t want to know about it.
Sitting in the study, An Ran opened her previously bought architectural magazine. Having not touched these things for a few months, she felt rusty. The last time when Xiao Ying Tian asked her to help participate in a project, it wasn’t that she wasn’t moved, just considering the children, and she does not want to worry Su Yi Cheng who was busy with work. So when Xiao Ying Tian called her again to ask her about her decision, she had simply declined.
However, she did recommend Chen Cheng to Xiao Ying Tian. She had always felt that Chen Cheng was very talented, she had a special feeling towards her designs, she is now just too young, has no experience, as long as they give her space and time to practice, then she will definitely bring unexpected surprises.
“Knock knock knock…” The door of the study was knocked on, and Auntie Zhang came in with hot milk, “Madam, have some hot milk.”
“Thank you Auntie Zhang.” An Ran thanked, put down the magazine in her hands, and reached toward the hot milk.
Sometimes when she was bored she’d start to think, it’s good that she does not reject the taste of milk, otherwise drinking these few cups a day for several months would have made her tired of it. Being pregnant with a child made her deeply appreciate being a mother, even through the hardest, painful times she would cover her belly with her hand, and when she felt a kick, everything would turn fine, and at that moment she would felt that it was worth it.
Auntie Zhang took away An Ran’s empty cup, looked at the time, and asked, “Not napping today, madam?”
An Ran had slept a little in the morning, so now she wasn’t sleepy. She just said, “Not yet, I don’t feel like sleeping yet.”
“Okay.” Auntie Zhang nodded gently and pushed the door out as she left.
An Ran put the magazine back to the bookshelf, and then went to take another book, but for a while couldn’t find one she’d like to read. Su Yi Cheng had a large collection of books, but are a little too boring, all were big texts of non-fiction, there wasn’t anything that An Ran wanted to see.
She opened the desk drawer again, the drawer was neatly sorted. Su Yi Cheng was a tidy person, everything was filed well, not messy, very orderly, each were classified. Even in the drawer, they were neatly packed.
When she was mindlessly looking through things, she even found the original ‘couple agreement’ that she had printed.
Looking at the ‘couple agreement’ in her hands, she saw someone’s stiffly written, cunning addition. An Ran couldn’t help but shake her head and laugh, mouth gently scolding, “Scammer, treacherous official!”
She stroked that paper with nostalgia, looked at the agreement in her hands, and then looked at her bulging stomach. Thinking about it was wondrous, how long has it been, really it was just as Su Yi Cheng said, fate is really an incredible thing.
Suddenly she kind of wanted to see their marriage certificate. She still remembered the surprise when she saw his name on the marriage certificate, she did not think that she would sign up with the wrong person. But thanks to the original mis-identification, she was now so happy.
From the top of the drawer she pulled out those two big red marriage certificate, opened it up to see two strangers in a photo, could not help but laugh out loud, “Hehe.”
Looking back to when it was issued, she was suddenly surprised that time passed by really fast, unknowingly half a year had already passed.
“It turns out, we’ve been married for half a year.” An Ran touched the picture of the two people on the marriage certificate, muttered in a low voice.
Looking at the photo, she started to reminisce more and more.
After National Day Su Yi Cheng seemed to be busier, every day starting early and coming home late seems to be the norm now. They both live in the same house, but An Ran felt like she has not seen him in a while. Every morning when she wakes up Su Yi Cheng was already gone, every night when she falls asleep he has not come back, so, she always staggers the time, if not for the fact that every morning Su Yi Cheng would make breakfast for her before leaving, An Ran would not know if he came back the night before.
She took out her cellphone and looked for his number. She just wanted to call, but afraid that she would disturb his work, she decided to text instead.
Less than a minute after the text message was sent, Su Yi Cheng’s phone call came in.
Looking at the flashing caller ID, the corner of An Ran’s mouth unconsciously went up.
She answered the call, “Hey.” Voice so sweet, even she didn’t know that she had such a sweet and delicate tone herself.
“Miss me?” Su Yi Cheng’s gentle voice came from the phone, with a slight smile, and it sounded very comfortable and nice.
“I didn’t.” An Ran did not want to admit. She stroked that long finger along that small photo, back and forth, the corner of her mouth had a good-looking smile.
Su Yi Cheng on the other side was not annoyed, only gently sighed, and said, “But I miss you.” The voice was low, very magnetic, listening to him say such a sentiment, can really bewitch people.
An Ran’s heart skipped a beat, unconsciously said, “I miss you too.”
“Hehe.” Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng started to chuckle, his mood seemed to be a lot better.
An Ran also does not bother, she really did miss him, holding the phone gently she murmured, “Yi Cheng, what to do, I feel like I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
“I’m sorry, I’ve been a little busy lately.” Every time when he got home she was already asleep, and when he got up she was still asleep, he was reluctant to wake her up, but the two of them did not say a word for several days in a row.
“I was just looking at the marriage license, and it turns out, today is our half-year wedding anniversary.” An Ran muttered.
“I’ll come back early today.” He could hear the loneliness and want in her voice, So Yi Cheng answered so.
“Really?” An Ran did not really believe it, recently his work had gotten busy that much she could naturally see, because Ling Chuan Jiang’s issue was so sudden, before there was no mayor’s candidate, and now only Su Yi Cheng can manage some of the mayor’s affairs. Originally his work was already a lot, and now there are more positions, that matter is naturally more. Thinking about it, she said, “I don’t want you to delay your work because of me, I was just talking.”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, because of her compassion and understanding, just said, “There wasn’t too much issues today, but at night there is a dinner, when the time comes I will have Secretary Zheng go in place of me, I will come back to accompany you.”
“Really not impeding your work?” An Ran was still a little uneasy, because she understood that Su Yi Cheng was trying to coax her to make her happy, even if there was a lot of work that was not completed and instead came to accompany her, then he would stay up late to work overtime. As a wife, she could not share half of the work with him, but at least she should not cause him burden.
“It’s okay.” Su Yi Cheng said in a low voice, “An Ran, I want to have a good meal with you.”
Hearing him say so, An Ran did not say more, only gently agreed.
Hanging up the phone, An Ran went out to look for Auntie Zhang. Auntie Zhang at the moment had finished cleaning and was sitting in the living room watching TV.
“Auntie Zhang, teach me how to cook!” An Ran said with a look of anticipation. This evening she was going to cook a dinner herself.
In fact when it came to learning how to cook food An Ran was really embarrassed. This has not worked for 2 months, speaking of shame, such a long time, she hasn’t even properly learned even one dish. Although her cooking can’t even to be said to have a little progress, but in addition to not burning the dish, the taste was still not flattering. Also, Su Yi Cheng was not willing to have her eat all the food she made, she reckons she won’t be able to find a single person in the world to eat her food.
Auntie Zhang smiled, and said, “Why are thinking of cooking again, last time didn’t Mister not let you do it?” The last time An Ran had accidentally cut herself with a knife, although the wound was not big nor deep, but Su Yi Cheng noticed, his heart hurt, then said she doesn’t have to learn.
“It’s alright, last time was an accident, I didn’t notice it myself.” An Ran did not care and said, “Today is our half-year wedding, just called him, Yi Cheng promised to come back early to eat with me in the evening, I want to personally make something once, Auntie Zhang, please be beside me and teach me. I don’t know how much seasoning to add, each time I do it, it is either too salty or light.”
Auntie Zhang had been here to help for a little over two months, had long gotten used to the couple’s love and sweetness, but also envied the couple’s affection. Compared to her own son and daughter-in-law who would all day look for a small matter to fight about, she longed for them to be like An Ran and Su Yi Cheng and got along.
She took the remote control from the short table, turned off the TV directly, stood up, and smiled and looked at An Ran and said, “Okay, I’ll teach you.”
“En.” An Ran smiled and nodded, “Auntie Zhang just needs to stand next to me and teach me how to do it, watch me and do not let me make a wrong step or misplace the seasoning.”
Auntie Zhang nodded, “Okay, I will just talk and not move.”
Because An Ran’s movement was slow, hands of a newbie, she was afraid that she wouldn’t make it on time, so even though she had a few hours to spare, An Ran began to prepare early.
Auntie Zhang was responsible for running errands, went to the supermarket to buy the ingredients for the dish this evening.
Auntie Zhang understood that she was pregnant, was afraid that if she did not sleep at noon she will get tired, proposed to let her to prepare these ingredients and so on, so when she wakes up she can just start on them immediately.
But An Ran stubbornly refused, she really wanted to make her own dinner, so from washing the dishes to preparing the ingredients and so on, she wanted to each of them on her own.
Under Auntie Zhang’s instructions she handled all the ingredients, and then again under Auntie Zhang’s instructions she made each dish in accordance with Auntie Zhang’s steps. When she was done, An Ran specially snuck a bite to eat. The taste wasn’t special, but it wasn’t bad either, absolutely not difficult to swallow, compared to the thing she made before, it was much better. And when these dishes were all finished, it was a little past five o’clock, according to her estimate, Su Yi Cheng will probably arrive home at around six o’clock, then at that time the dishes should still be warm, ready to eat.
It was a candlelit dinner for two people, An Ran specially let Auntie Zhang to leave work early. Auntie Zhang could see through her intention, and gave her an ambiguous look, then with laughter carried her own old-fashioned bag home.
After Auntie Zhang left, An Ran specially put out the candles and candlesticks prepared by Su Yi Cheng before and put them on the bar, and used the remote control light to turn the lights of the whole house to a very romantic lighting. She even changed into her own beautiful maternity dress, goose-yellow coloured, straight skirt, had a girdle-design at the waist, with a bow at the back. Simple but elegant, well worth a second look, and the dress was especially comfortable.
After changing her clothes, she went to the bathroom to put on some lip gloss to make herself look a little more spirited.
Looking at the mirror at herself, An Ran suddenly stopped, and then laughed out loud. She thought it was funny, hands on her chest, she could obviously feel that her heart at the moment was constantly in acceleration, even a little nervous. This sort of feeling as if she’s liked one person, like two people holding hands for the first time, like two people hugging for the first time, like two people kissing for the first time, it felt like that, heart beating quickly, nervously, but also somewhat excited. This feeling, she had experienced it when she fell in love for the first time, at that time her simple pounding heart scared her, somewhat panicked, she pulled Lin Li aside and asked her if she was ill, but was then rudely laughed at by Lin Li, who said she was not sick, just pining. She even loudly touted to the dorms publicly, then in a matter of days the entire class and even the school knew that she and Mo Fei were dating. Only, looking back now it was all but a distant memory.
The other hand covered her bulging stomach, and whispered, “Baby, say isn’t mother so useless, dad just promised to come back early in the evening to accompany us to dinner, mother is just so happy like a child, really not so mature right.”
Not sure if it was truly a response, but at this moment An Ran felt like the two little guys in her belly actually responded with a movement.
An Ran was somewhat moved, hand followed along the direction of the movement, and said jokingly, “You also feel so ah! But it can’t be helped, mother has not seen father for several days, really miss him, you guys also miss him, right?”
As if they truly understood An Ran’s words, after An Ran finished, her stomach was kicked twice, the force was much heavier than the previous times, even other people would be able to feel it. An Ran chuckled, a face full of happiness and satisfaction.
Such fetal movement may be just a coincidence, but such a coincidence made An Ran especially happy. She was humming a small song sitting on the side of the living room sofa waiting for Su Yi Cheng to come back. When she was bored she would touch her stomach and talk to the babies in her stomach. Time had passed on bit by bit, the sky outside was quickly darkening. It was six o’clock and Su Yi Cheng still hadn’t come back.
An Ran assumed that he still had unfinished work, so did not call him, and just stayed in the living room waiting, flipping through the magazine, or watching TV.
After an hour, when Su Yi Cheng had not come back when it was 7 o’clock, An Ran was getting hungry, protesting by growling out. She pursed her lips, frowned slightly, reached out gently to caress her big belly, softly said, “Let’s wait a little okay, wait for father to come home, when father comes back we will all eat together, we have not eaten with him in a long time.”
So after another hour, waiting until 8 o’clock and that door was not opened from the outside, the smile originally on An Ran’s face gradually dropped, was slowly replaced with worry and uneasiness instead.
She took out her cell phone and called Su Yi Cheng, the mobile phone rang for a long time but no one picked up.
An Ran did not know what happened to Su Yi Cheng, she comforted herself and said that he was probably still busy, perhaps still in a meeting, a situation came out last minute and he didn’t have the time to inform her.
Comforting herself like that made the worry in her heart halve a little. As she had been busy in the kitchen during the afternoon preparing dinner with Auntie Zhang, she did not even eat snacks, so now her stomach was really hungry and a little uncomfortable. Because she was with child, An Ran does not dare to be insistent, got up and went to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of hot milk to ease her own hunger. Then she sat back in the living room and waited for Su Yi Cheng to come back.
As she was waiting her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, bit by bit she could no longer hold them up, slowly closing, even her consciousness was beginning to become a little hazy. She was truly tired, after spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen, she naturally had no time to take a nap.
So she fell asleep on the coach hugging a long pillow.
An Ran did not know how long she slept for, when she woke up again the house lights were still on, the dinner had gotten cold, even the red candle had been burned down to half. She grabbed the cellphone to look at the time. It was already 10:30pm but Su Yi Cheng was still not back. She called him again, but still no one had answered.
An Ran worried, but had no other way. At this moment she wondered why she did not ask for his office number or Secretary Zheng’s number, otherwise if she could not reach him she could go find Secretary Zheng to ask about the situation. Actually the main thing was that he was too good before, even if he were busy, he would never make it so that she couldn’t reach him.
She made several calls in a row, and no one answered them.
Somewhat helplessly she got up, took some saran wrap and covered the dishes only to keep them fresh, perhaps in a moment he will come back, and when he’s home he perhaps did not eat, so he could just heat them up and eat.
And at this moment besides being worried she no longer felt hungry, she hugged the pillow and sat on the sofa in the living, waiting, eyes staring at the door, thinking that the next moment it will open, and then Su Yi Cheng would come in with a smile.
Waiting and waiting, not sure how long after, her eyelids began to become more and more heavy, and finally she fell asleep.
In the midst of her dream An Ran felt a jolt, then her eyelids moved slightly. She awoke faintly, in the midst of her daze she could see Su Yi Cheng’s handsome face in front of her own eyes, and at this moment she was being carried by him.
“Yi Cheng?” An Ran muttered out a call, reached out and lightly touched his face, confirming that she wasn’t just dreaming, and that the person carrying her at this moment was Su Yi Cheng.
Su Yi Cheng turned his head, faintly and gently smiled at her, yet apologetically said, “I’m sorry, I came back late.” As he was carrying her to the room, he gently put her on the bed.
An Ran looked at him, somewhat aggrieved said, “I waited for you for a long time, called you and no one answered, I don’t know if something happened to you, I was really worried.”
Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng bowed his head to kiss her forehead, and whispered, “I’m sorry, last minute situation, I also forgot my phone in the office, so I didn’t receive your calls. Sorry, I let you worry so much.”
An Ran shook her head, carried a faint smile on her mouth, only asked, “Have they been handled? Is everything alright?” She was just worried about what happened to him and she didn’t know what was going on. Now that he was back, knowing he’s okay, she was relieved.
Su Yi Cheng nodded faintly to her, and said, “Yes, it’s all handled, it’s all right.”
An Ran smiled. Suddenly remembering something, she sat up, and asked, “Have you had dinner yet? Did you forget to eat?”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, pressed her to not let her get up, and said, “Don’t get up, don’t worry about me, I’ll go get something to eat myself.”
An Ran shook her head, touched her stomach, and playfully stuck her tongue out, said, “I have not eaten, I am very hungry.”
Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng frowned, and disapprovingly said, “It’s this late and you haven’t eaten, don’t you know you are pregnant now! Why starve!”
An Ran mumbled, and said, “I was waiting for you to come back, who would have known I couldn’t wait.”
Sighing softly, Su Yi Cheng stroke her face and said, “You are not the same, from now on don’t wait for me at least don’t be hungry and wait for me, okay?”
An Ran nodded, and then smiled and said, “I made the dishes tonight, in the fridge, in a minute I'll take them out and heat them up, the taste isn’t that bad!” Her tone was full of pride.
Su Yi Cheng also smiled, pinched her nose, and said, “I’ll go heat them up, don’t get up, I’ll bring them to you.”
An Ran nodded, and smiled happily.
The next morning when Su Yi Cheng had gone to work, An Ran was still brushing her teeth when Lin Li called her, her tone was very urgent.
“An Zi, did you see that video on the internet today?”
