A Thousand Good Things - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

At the dinner table, the two of them started arguing again.

Seeing them like this, Zhou Zi’an didn’t dare touch his chopsticks.

I picked up some shrimp for Zhou Zi’an, then served him a bowl of soup. “It’s fine. Don’t be scared. Grown-ups arguing has nothing to do with you. Just eat your meal.”

Everyone at the table sat there without eating. Zhou Zi’an was the only one who ate.

If word got out, people would surely say he had no manners and didn’t know proper etiquette.

Just as I was feeling smug over my little scheme, Zhou Zi’an also picked up a piece of meat and placed it in my bowl.

“Aunt Li, you eat too.”

My son had served me food. If I didn’t serve him some in return, then if word got out, people would say I, his stepmother, was unloving.

No, I had to put something back in his bowl.

Back and forth we went, and before long, Zhou Zi’an’s bowl was piled full.

It was almost dark by the time we returned to the Zhou Family.

Zhou Yu had come back at some point, so I had the wet nurse carry Zhou Changde over to him.

Mother said a child couldn’t only be close to his mother. His father had to hold him and dote on him more too. That way, Zhou Yu would love the child more and understand how difficult it was to raise a son.

Zhou Zi’an wasn’t close to Zhou Yu precisely because Zhou Yu had tossed him to the nannies to raise.

Zhou Yu held Zhou Changde in his arms. His beard had grown out, and he hadn’t shaved, so it kept brushing against Zhou Changde and making him giggle.

I sat in front of the mirror, taking down my hair while admiring my own beauty.

I really was both smart and good-looking.

Zhou Yu asked me, “Baoying, did you go back to your maiden home again today? And you brought Zi’an with you?”

I nodded.

“In the future, don’t keep running back there so often. Last time, I heard the things your mother was teaching you, and I’m afraid she’ll lead you astray.”

I huffed and whined, grabbed a soft pillow, and hurled it at Zhou Yu.

“What nonsense are you spouting? My mother is the best mother in the world. Even though I’m not her biological daughter, she treats me even better than one!”

Zhou Yu curled his lip and stopped talking.

Just then, Zhou Changde suddenly burst into loud cries. It turned out he had wet himself.

Zhou Yu was about to call the wet nurse to change his diaper, but I wouldn’t let him.

“You’re going to make someone else change your own son’s diaper? Are you, his father, incapable of doing it?”

I was deliberately picking a fight with him.

Zhou Yu rolled his eyes at me, then clumsily changed Zhou Changde’s diaper. After placing the child in the little bed beside us, he came over and said to me,

“Baoying, I know you’re a good woman. You’re good to our Changde, and you’ll be good to Zi’an too. That child lost his mother as soon as he was born, and I’ve been away all these years. He was at home all by himself, and I didn’t raise him well. But ever since you came, he’s clearly been much happier. You treat him better than I do. He truly likes you, and I have to thank you for that.”

“It’s just that you know my temper is bad too. I’m blunt and impatient. If I ever say something wrong and make you unhappy, please be a little more forgiving with me.”

I gave a little snort.

“As long as you know it.”