94

It was already six o'clock in the afternoon when Duan Baiting got home, just in time for the rush hour traffic.

Duan Zhiwan fell asleep on the way. Duan Baiting carried her out of the car, and she didn't wake up until he entered the living room and returned to the room.

So I let her sleep upstairs alone for a while.

In the kitchen on the first floor, Song Wanyue, with an apron tied around her waist, was learning how to cook from Aunt Qin.

Aunt Tan's reminders could be heard from inside from time to time.

"Pour it slowly into the pot, otherwise the oil will splash out."

And Song Wanyue exclaimed: "Ah! It's splashed out."

Aunt Tan smiled helplessly: "If you pour it all in at once, it will definitely splash out. Take your time."

Song Wanyue is a slow and impatient person, although this description is a bit contradictory.

But it is very appropriate to use it on her.

She is very impatient when she should be slow, and she slows down when she shouldn't be slow.

Duan Baiting pushed the door open and saw Song Wanyue pinching her ears and backing away, looking frightened.

Aunt Tan was cleaning up the mess for her.

——Wipe the soup that has spilled on the drainpipe.

Duan Baiting went over and asked: "What's wrong?"

Song Wanyue looked up at him, her face still showing that painful expression.

He frowned slightly and took her hand away from her ear. The fingertips were already burned red.

Aunt Qin said nearby: "She reached out to open the lid directly, and the hot steam came out, and her fingers got burned. I don't know if she got burned."

Duan Baiting frowned even deeper, and pulled her to the sink, repeatedly rinsing her fingers with cold water to dissipate the heat.

"You..." He was about to say something, but saw that Song Wanyue's eyes were a little red. He was distressed after all, so his tone softened: "If you want to learn how to cook, you can start with simple ones."

Song Wanyue sniffed: "I saw that you have been staying up too late recently, so I wanted to make some soup to help you replenish your energy."

Duan Baiting smiled gently and rubbed her eyes: "Cry if you want to, don't hold it in."

Song Wanyue shook her head: "Who wants to cry? I'm a mother now."

Aunt Qin laughed beside her and left the kitchen silently.

Before she finished, she reminded: "Just let the soup stew first, it's not ready yet. Leave it there and I'll make it later."

She was worried and told Song Wanyue, "Don't touch it, be careful not to burn other places again."

Song Wanyue was not convinced and wanted to argue again. Aunt Tan didn't give her this opportunity.

Close the kitchen door, leaving them some space alone.

Ever since having a child, the time they spend together has been limited.

Although Duan Baiting gave great respect to his children in educating them, he rarely interfered with her own choices. But in other ways, he remains a strict father.

Song Wanyue naturally followed her wishes. She completely inherited her parents' endless doting.

In addition to accompanying Zhiwan, I also have to help her with her homework.

In addition, since both parties have work, the time they can spend alone together is naturally reduced.

It was unknown how long the water had been flushing, but Song Wanyue felt that her fingers were turning white.

"I feel it's almost there."

Duan Baiting was unmoved: "If the heat is not dissipated in time, it will definitely be swollen tomorrow."

Song Wanyue pursed her lips and said nothing.

After rinsing with hot water, he went to get the burn ointment and applied it on the wound.

It's refreshing and cool, and smells lightly of mint.

Song Wanyue glanced at the kitchen worriedly: "I don't know if it's cooked yet. Aunt Qin just said to wait a little longer. But we've been waiting for so long now."

Although she has begun to learn to cook some simple meals, it is only entry-level, not enough to kill people.

As for the taste, it all depends on luck.

Duan Baiting took off his cufflinks and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Then push the door open and go in.

The soup in the casserole was already giving off a fragrant aroma. Duan Baiting turned off the fire, put on a pair of heat-insulating gloves, and opened the lid.

Ask her what she is cooking.

Song Wanyue said: "Sea cucumber and mutton soup."

Sea cucumber and mutton are both good for nourishing blood and strengthening yang.

He paused for a moment, then looked up at her.

The look in his eyes was somewhat complicated.

Song Wanyue looked innocent: "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, put the lid back on, and turned on a low heat again.

"You just said that you cooked this soup specially for me to nourish my body?"

"Yes." Song Wanyue looked at him with a distressed look on her face, "After this busy period, you should be able to have a good rest for a while, right?"

"Well, I'll take a vacation and spend more time with you then."

Duan Baiting confirmed with her again, "Are you sure this soup is cooked for me to nourish my body?"

"Who else could it be cooked for?"

Duan Baiting looked away and coughed unnaturally: "I'm not referring to this."

She still had that ignorant and innocent look on her face: "Then what do you mean?"

"Forget it." Duan Baiting did not continue to argue with her on this issue.

He asked her to go out first and he would come here.

Song Wanyue understood the hidden meaning of his words and knew that staying here would only make things worse.

She curled her lips, unhappy that he always treated her like a child. It barely made sense that he treated her like a child when she first married him.

After all, I had just graduated at that time and was too well protected by my family, so I was a little unaware of worldly affairs and didn't understand the ways of the world.

Many things require his hands-on teaching, or even need him to do things for others.

But now she is already a mother of a child.

She protested to him: "I'm not a child anymore."

Because of her words, Duan Baiting's gaze shifted from the temperature displayed on the top of the screen to her.

The latter's half body had already left the kitchen, leaving only his hands and head.

Holding onto the door frame, he leaned against it.

Sometimes I feel that she is more stable and sensible than before, and sometimes I feel that she hasn't changed at all.

Yes, how can it change? She used to be spoiled by her parents, but now that she is married, it is just someone else who continues to spoil her.

Duan Baiting nodded: "I understand."

Song Wanyue was angry no matter how she thought about it, and felt that his response was perfunctory.

She emphasized: "So don't always treat me like a child. This will give me the illusion that Zhiwan and I are of the same generation, Uncle Duan."

She deliberately emphasized the latter part of the address.

Originally, he was planning to be sarcastic, but he forgot that Duan Baiting was a stubborn person and it would not work at all.

He smiled and nodded, and even made a brief comment: "The name is not bad."

Song Wanyue: "..."

She deliberately said: "Okay, then I'll call you that from now on."

She suffered a loss in front of him, but she couldn't get angry, for fear of creating an atmosphere of anger and humiliation.

Song Wanyue took off her slippers, sat cross-legged on the sofa and started watching TV.

About ten minutes later, Duan Baiting came out with two bowls of soup.

Song Wanyue was still angry. She took the spoon he handed over and thanked him in a stiff tone: "Thank you, Uncle Duan."

Duan Baiting: "..."

He sat down silently.

There was an advertisement playing on TV. He picked up the remote control to turn down the volume and saw her lowering her head to eat a small piece of mutton.

He coughed vaguely and said, "Do you know what this soup nourishes?"

"What else can it nourish? Of course it nourishes the body." Song Wanyue thought he was asking nonsense. "I specifically asked Jingxiang what soup is suitable for nourishing a man's body, and she recommended this to me. She sent me the recipe and tutorial."

Duan Baiting nodded and ended the topic.

It seems she doesn't know.

I don't know when the commercials on TV ended, and the previous TV series began to be replayed.

Song Wanyue looked at the familiar woman's face on the screen and paused for a moment.

The woman still looked very young, with some baby fat. Song Wanyue knew that this TV series was Yun Wei's debut work.

She was very young at that time and worked part-time to earn tuition for college.

She won the Best Supporting Actress award for this role that year. It was also through this opportunity that I formally met Xi Yang.

Song Wanyue lowered her head to eat, but she had no taste for the food.

Duan Baiting picked up the remote control and turned off the TV.

After that incident happened, Xi Yang had to deal with his family while also dealing with the negative news on the Internet that was unfavorable to Yun Wei.

He was so busy that he could only ask Song Wanyue to accompany her.

Compared to Xi Yang's worry, Yun Wei remained very calm. She told Song Wanyue that she had actually thought about this day a long time ago.

In fact, she had thought of this day since she decided to be with Xi Yang.

"I know him too well."

Song Wanyue is not very good at comforting people: "So what do you plan to do next?"

"The money in my card is enough for me to not work in my next life. I plan to take this opportunity to retire."

This is also the best outcome.

Song Wanyue said, "If you need help in the future, you can always come to me."

Yun Wei smiled and said, "Thank you."

Song Wanyue said quickly, "You don't have to thank me or be afraid of bothering me. It's just a small favor."

She shook her head, "I'm not referring to this, but everything."

They chatted until very late that night.

Yun Wei told Song Wanyue: "I've said before that I envy you very much. In fact, in addition to your family background and your loving family, I also envy your optimism and kindness towards life. In you, I feel the vitality that I have been away from for a long time. Before, I always thought that you were very lucky to be loved wholeheartedly by someone like Duan Baiting. But later, I felt that it was actually Duan Baiting who was lucky."

She looked at Song Wanyue with gentle eyes, "It's hard for anyone not to like you."

No matter how thick-skinned Song Wanyue was, she was a little embarrassed by her praise: "I... I'm not as good as you say."

Yun Wei looked at her and suddenly thought of a long time ago.

It was my first time to go to the UK, to a place like that.

Xi Yang took her there as her new play had just finished filming. He would always accompany her when they were shooting night scenes on the set.

The spoiled young master sat in the countryside where there was not even a shed, with only a chair and a coat, and fell asleep intermittently.

He arrived in the afternoon, having just returned from abroad. He came straight to see her even without adjusting to the jet lag.

We were too young at that time, only about eighteen or nineteen years old. We were ignorant and simple-minded. We would blush for a long time when our hands touched each other.

He stammered and couldn't say anything, and apologized to her: "I...I didn't mean it."

She laughed in her heart but looked calm, shaking her head and saying it was okay.

That part had to be NGed countless times because the other actor couldn't get into the right state.

After finally finishing the shoot, Yun Wei took off the props on her head and went to find Xi Yang.

But I saw a young man huddled in a chair. The chair was too small and his height seemed a little cramped.

I couldn't move my hands and feet.

I was a light sleeper and opened my eyes when I heard the sound. His eyes were bloodshot, but he still smiled and waved at her.

She remembered that smile for a long time.

But slowly, she couldn't remember when that pure smile started to change.

All I know is that besides her and Xi Yang, there were other friends of his when they went to England.

He would hold her hand and introduce her to his friends with a smile: "Her name is Yun Wei, my girlfriend."

Yun Wei had long known that Xi Yang's friends must be from the same class as him. They had the best educational resources and received the best education since childhood.

Be dignified and appropriate in treating people and things.

They would greet her with a smile and call her to play with them.

But in that harmonious and peaceful atmosphere, she could sense a subtle presence.

In fact, they looked down on her and treated her nicely, not only because of their upbringing, but also because Xi Yang was willing to give her the status of a girlfriend.

But everyone in this circle knows that the status of a girlfriend depends on when the man gets tired of her.

Xi Yang will get tired of it one day.

But there is only one person who is different.

——Duan Baiting.

He is different from Xi Yang's previous friends.

Yun Wei had this feeling when she first met him.

He seems difficult to approach and seems defensive and distant towards everyone. But his indifference was impartial.

He was also the only one who did not look down on Yun Wei because of her identity.

Maybe it's because I don't care.

But Yun Wei was grateful for his indifference. Let her retain some of the pride she should have.

Yun Wei and Song Wanyue also said this. After hearing everything, Song Wanyue fell into rare silence.

Yun Wei never talked about these things. She gently accepted everything about Xi Yang and swallowed it all silently.

She said that everything that happened now was the retribution she deserved, she had no complaints and accepted it willingly.

"But it ends here." Yun Wei smiled at her with a sense of relief, "I should also start my new journey. Maybe I will get married, maybe I will live alone until the end of my life, who knows."