Chapter 121: Chapter 119: The Two Families Meet

Mu Tianrui seemed to sense Su Tang’s attitude. He gave a slight nod and said nothing more.

The meal became somewhat strained after that.

However, Grandpa Mu and Lu Xiao chatted happily. As fellow soldiers, they naturally had endless topics to discuss.

After the meal, Su Tang left. She had to work in the afternoon.

Just as Mu Tianrui helped Grandpa Mu into the car, he noticed Lu Xiao was still standing there.

“Is there something else?”

Hearing this, Lu Xiao looked Mu Tianrui up and down, smiling but not speaking.

“Have a safe trip.”

Those four words were directed at Grandpa Mu in the car.

After saying that, Lu Xiao turned and left.

Mu Tianrui watched his retreating back, his gaze dark and unreadable.

It takes a man to know a man. There was no shortage of animosity between them.

A smile touched the corners of Mu Tianrui’s lips. He raised his hand, glanced at his watch, and got into the car.

Seeing this, Grandpa Mu asked, “What’s wrong, Tianrui?”

“It’s nothing. Deputy Commander Lu doesn’t seem very friendly toward me.”

“That’s just how Xiao Lu is.”

His old title of “cold-faced captain” wasn’t for nothing.

When Su Tang got home from work that evening, she told Lu Xiao about her suspicions.

Lu Xiao lowered his head and placed a kiss on her hair.

“The doctor told you to rest and worry less, have you forgotten?”

“If you keep this up, I’m going to get angry.”

Lu Xiao pretended to be angry, and Su Tang laughed helplessly. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop thinking about it.”

Hearing this, Lu Xiao finally stroked her head. “No matter what they do, and no matter what happens, I’ll always be at the forefront to protect you.”

“Tangtang’s most important job right now is to take care of your health, hmm?”

The man’s words, spoken with his head lowered, were tender and focused. Su Tang leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

“I know.”

The two embraced, and the room was filled with a warm and beautiful atmosphere.

Three evenings later, Lu Xiao had just gotten home when he saw two familiar figures standing by the door.

Mr. Lu was wearing a faded blue work jacket, its sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing dark, sturdy arms.

He was struggling to hold a bulging canvas bag, its corners stretched out of shape.

Mrs. Lu had an army-green messenger bag slung over her shoulder and was carrying a wooden box tightly bound with coarse hemp rope in her other hand. The wisps of hair on her forehead were damp with sweat, clinging to her flushed cheeks.

“Dad! Mom!”

Lu Xiao rushed over in a few strides and took the items from his parents’ hands. The weight almost made even a sturdy man like him stumble.

“I told you I’d pick you up from the station. Why did you carry all this yourselves?”

Mrs. Lu caught her breath, but she couldn’t hide the smile crinkling the corners of her eyes.

“Your wife is pregnant, how could we have you running back and forth? We just asked a few people after we got off the train and found our way here using the address.”

“Your place is easy to find, anyway. It’s not in some remote spot.”

As she spoke, she caught sight of Su Tang, who was just getting home from work, and her eyes instantly lit up.

“Oh, my dear Tangtang! Let Mom have a look at you!”

Su Tang had just reached the door when Mrs. Lu grabbed her hand. The older woman’s palm was warm and bore red marks from the bag she’d been carrying.

Only then did she get a clear look at what the elderly couple had brought.

A few plump ears of corn peeked out of the canvas bag, and dried daylilies and chili peppers were stuffed into the cracks of the wooden box.

The army-green messenger bag wasn’t zipped up all the way, revealing several pieces of patterned fabric folded inside, with a few shiny thimbles pinned to the corner.

“This is the new millet we just harvested at home. It’s the most nourishing for making porridge.”

Mr. Lu spoke in a gruff voice, pointing at the canvas bag.

“Your mother insisted you can’t buy our kind of yellow millet here, so she made me pack a full bag.”

Although the items weren’t rare, it couldn’t have been easy for the two elders to carry them all this way.

Su Tang reached out to take something, but the other three immediately stopped her.

“Oh, Tangtang, you’re pregnant now! You can’t lift a thing. Mom will do it.”

Just as she was speaking, Mr. and Mrs. Su also came out of the house to greet them.

Mrs. Su spotted the fabric peeking out of Mrs. Lu’s bag at a glance and teased with a smile, “It looks like my dear in-law has brought her whole house with her!”

Mrs. Lu laughed shyly and opened her bag a little wider.

“I had someone in Lanzhou buy this dacron for me. It’s sky-blue, perfect for making Tangtang a confinement outfit. And these cloth shoes—I spent half a month sewing the soles. They’re soft and comfortable to wear during confinement.”

Opening the wooden box was even more astonishing.

The top layer was neatly packed with red dates and walnuts. The bottom layer, surprisingly, was cushioned with old cotton and held a red cloth bundle.

Mrs. Lu carefully lifted the red cloth. Inside was a gleaming silver lock pendant. The body of the lock was engraved with four small characters for “long life and health,” and its edges were adorned with tiny bells.

“Before we came, the old man and I went to the market. We bought this especially for our grandchild.”

Mrs. Lu pushed the lock pendant toward Su Tang’s hand, her eyes full of solemnity.

“We’re not ones for old-fashioned customs, but we had to have this sentiment.”

Mrs. Su looked at the pile of things before her, and her eyes grew warm.

That the Lu Family valued her Tangtang so much—that was what truly moved Mrs. Su.

She took Mrs. Lu’s hand and led her into the house. “Quick, come inside and rest. I’ve made chicken soup; I was waiting for you.”

Mr. Lu was still murmuring to Mr. Su, “The jar has pickled vegetables. If Tangtang has cravings for something sour, it’s best with cornbread buns.”

The family entered the house in a lively hubbub, while Lu Xiao was responsible for moving the things inside.

The chicken soup bubbled in the clay pot. To help nourish Su Tang during her pregnancy, Mr. and Mrs. Su had raised this chicken themselves. They had originally planned to save it for the New Year, but had slaughtered it for this occasion.

Mrs. Su carefully skimmed the rendered fat from the surface.

Mrs. Lu squatted in front of the stove, helping to add firewood. The firelight flickered against the white hair at her temples. “My dear in-law, your cooking is truly authentic. The chicken soup my husband makes always has a smoky taste.”

Su Tang leaned against the kitchen doorway, talking with her mother and mother-in-law. Lu Xiao came up from behind and gently supported her by the waist. “Go sit in the living room. It’s too smoky in here.”

“I haven’t seen Mom in so long. I want to talk with her.”

’The window’s open, how smoky can it be?’

“Did you finish moving everything?”

“I did. There’s too much stuff. We can organize it after dinner.”

More importantly, Lu Xiao had a feeling his mother wanted to organize everything, so he decided to leave it alone.

“Tangtang, go sit down over there. Don’t just stand around, you’ll get tired.”

Seeing Su Tang standing in the doorway, Mrs. Lu quickly got up and told her to go sit down.

“Mom, I’m fine.”

Hearing this, Mrs. Su also chimed in to persuade her. Helpless, Su Tang finally gave in.

’I’m being treated like a giant panda now,’ she thought. ’Everyone who sees me tells me to go rest.’

But she also knew it was because her family cared for her.

Resigned, Su Tang turned and left.

Dinner was a sumptuous feast. Many dishes were made from the ingredients Mrs. Lu had brought, and they greatly boosted Su Tang’s appetite.

She had been feeling nauseous lately and couldn’t eat much, but the pickled vegetables allowed her to eat two whole cornbread buns today.

“Mom, Dad, thank you for coming all this way.”

She raised her glass, using plain water instead of alcohol, to thank Mr. and Mrs. Lu.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep