Haitong came out and saw her husband teasing their daughter. As she walked over, she said softly, “If you wake her up and she cries, you’ll have to soothe her.” “My touch is very light, I won’t wake her,” Zhan Yin replied, sitting up straight. He said to his wife, “Darling, our Beibei gets prettier the more I look at her, even cuter than Ye Junbo’s daughter was at her age.” “All kids are cute when they’re little. When Yanyan was Beibei’s age, you couldn’t take your eyes off her, practically wanted to take her home to raise. Now that you have your own daughter, you think Yanyan wasn’t as cute back then.” “Of course, our own kid is always the cutest,” Zhan Yin chuckled lowly. Soon, his smile faded, and he said enviously, “I still envy Ye Junbo. His two kids are so well-behaved, with great grades. Yanyan, at such a young age, already has the air of an eldest sister.” “I wonder if our Beibei will do well in school when she starts, if she’ll be as sensible as Yanyan, making things easier for us and keeping her brothers in line.” Haitong said, “You were a top student, and I wasn’t bad either. Our kids will have high IQs, so grades aren’t a worry. I’m not concerned about Baobao’s grades; I feel his IQ is even better than yours.” “He’s got to surpass me, or he won’t be able to manage the vast Zhan family estate in the future. But some top-student couples still have kids who struggle academically. With multiple kids, the older ones might be brilliant, but the youngest could be the odd one out.” Haitong glared at him. “Our Beibei won’t be a poor student. She’ll definitely be a top student. If you call her otherwise and she struggles in school, I’ll hold you accountable for jinxing her with your big mouth.” Zhan Yin laughed. “Alright, alright, our daughter’s a top student, not a poor one. I won’t say it again. My daughter is brilliant. Even at just over a year old, you can already see her cleverness.” The thought of his daughter being a poor student was unbearable for Zhan Yin; it might make him furious enough to spit blood. He hoped she’d be a top student. Seeing Haitong had washed her hair, Zhan Yin got out of bed, grabbed the hairdryer, and pulled his wife out of the bedroom to dry her hair outside, so as not to wake their daughter.
After drying her hair and putting the hairdryer away, Zhan Yin returned to his wife’s side, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. Feeling her, he praised, “Darling, you’ve kept your figure so well, still so slim. No one would believe you’ve had two kids. To me, you’re as youthful and radiant as when we first met.” Haitong leaned against him and said, “I’m in my thirties now, middle-aged. No matter how much I care for myself, I can’t be as youthful as before. When we first met, I didn’t need skincare products, bare-faced and naturally beautiful, a born beauty. Now, I can’t skip skincare. Without makeup, the changes in my skin are obvious. People age, and eternal youth is a joke, just makeup.” With age, makeup could make you look years younger, but it was all technique, high-tech methods, not true eternal youth. “In a few years, when the kids are grown, we’ll start showing our age.” Haitong was at peace with growing old; everyone did. As long as her mindset stayed positive, she’d be the most beautiful old lady, like Grandma, cheerful and confident, a standout even at ninety. “Not yet. We’ll only be old when we’re grandparents. Baobao’s only six; we’re still the morning sun, full of vigour.” As Zhan Yin spoke, he leaned down to kiss his wife’s cheek. “Darling, the usual spot, or in the bedroom?” “The usual spot. It’d be awkward if we woke our daughter.” Before they had their daughter, when Baobao was still small, the couple was once intimate when their son suddenly woke up, startling them into pulling the covers tightly over themselves. Haitong had to pretend nothing was wrong to soothe him back to sleep. The little one, waking in the middle of the night, wasn’t easy to settle, and it was exhausting. Since then, they made sure the kids were asleep before retreating to the small study, where they’d added a bed. With the study door closed, whether the kids woke or not, it was their private world.
