January 2nd.
The short New Year’s holiday had passed, and Liu Xiazhi, back at school, stayed in her seat after the dismissal bell rang. She quietly watched the teacher leave the classroom.
Unlike the other students who went crazy rushing out to the playground to play in the snow, Liu Xiazhi calmly pulled a notebook out from her desk.
Holding a chanical pencil, she started writing sothing down.
Wearing the new down jacket An Yuanyao had bought her, Liu Xiazhi tucked her hand as far as she could into her sleeve while carefully and neatly writing on the blank page.
This behavior was completely different from her usual habit of charging out the classroom after class ended. Her unusual behavior didn’t escape the notice of her deskmate, Feng Shuyan.
Feng Shuyan was very confused.
Her expressionless little face turned toward Liu Xiazhi. After watching her focused expression for a bit, curiosity finally got the better of her.
She couldn’t help but ask,
"Xiazhi, what are you doing?"
"I'm picking nas for the little baby."
"Picking nas?"
Feng Shuyan thought for a second and quickly realized what Liu Xiazhi was talking about.
On the night of December 31st, Feng Shuyan had gone with her father to eat dinner at Fat Uncle's house, and she clearly rembered her father ntioning that Xiazhi’s family was going to have a new baby.
She tilted her head and continued asking,
"So... what kind of nas are you thinking of?"
"Heh heh!"
Liu Xiazhi let out a little hum—she had been waiting for her to ask that!
Hearing Feng Shuyan’s question, she imdiately grabbed the notebook like she was showing off so masterpiece and shoved it in front of Feng Shuyan.
The two little heads bumped together.
Liu Xiazhi lowered her voice and pointed at the nas she had just written.
She proudly said,
"If it’s a boy, I'll na him Liu Xiazhi. If it’s a girl, she’ll be Liu Xiazhi. Shuyan, what do you think? Aren’t these nas aweso?!"
"......"
Staring at the two nas on the page, Feng Shuyan fell silent, silently mouthing the nas a few tis in her mind.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt sothing wasn’t right.
Suddenly, it hit her.
She looked at Liu Xiazhi, who had scooted closer, and said,
"But then... their nas will sound almost exactly like yours."
"Exactly! Don’t you think my na sounds really nice? And besides, I’m so cute! If the baby has a na like mine, they’ll be just as cute as !"
"Uh... is that how it works?"
"It totally is!"
"But I still feel like... sothing’s a little weird..."
"No way!"
Liu Xiazhi said it with absolute certainty.
In her mind, her na was the best-sounding na in the world.
Her family was about to welco a new little baby, and soon she'd be a big sister. As soon as she got ho, she planned to tell Dad the nas she had picked.
Dad would definitely approve!
anwhile, Feng Shuyan had a thoughtful look on her face. She still felt like sothing wasn’t quite right, but couldn’t figure out how to argue against it.
Unable to think of a good counter, she simply stopped trying.
Instead, she asked sothing she was more interested in.
"By the way, Xiazhi, did your dad tell you where he’s going to find a little baby for you?"
"Find? What do you an?"
Hearing Feng Shuyan’s question, Liu Xiazhi looked puzzled and asked,
"Don’t babies co from the hospital?"
"From the hospital? But... my dad told he picked up from a trash can."
"No way! Shuyan, you’re so silly! How could a baby co from a trash can!"
Hearing Feng Shuyan’s explanation, Liu Xiazhi couldn’t help but laugh.
Their conversation wasn’t exactly quiet, and a short distance away, Wang Tianhao heard every word clearly.
At that mont, he finally decided it was the perfect ti. He jumped out of his seat and quickly ran down the aisle to the two girls.
Hands on his hips, head slightly raised.
He declared loudly,
"I know this! Babies aren’t picked up or adopted! They’re born!"
Liu Xiazhi and Feng Shuyan blinked at Wang Tianhao’s words.
First, they looked at each other,
then at Wang Tianhao, who had just made this announcent.
Big, round eyes.
Completely full of question marks.
Liu Changqing accompanied An Yuanyao to the hospital for an ultrasound.
After completing a series of checkups, the couple headed ho.
The whole way, neither of them spoke a single word.
Silence.
As if they had reached so sort of unspoken agreent.
The atmosphere was... strange.
Even when they got to the apartnt and took the elevator up, neither made any move to speak.
Like a man possessed, Liu Changqing quietly unlocked the door. They stepped inside, changed into their indoor cotton slippers, and shut the door behind them.
They walked to the sofa.
Sat down.
Ti ticked by, minute after minute...
Finally, Liu Changqing broke the silence.
His expression, which had been blank when they entered, slowly shifted into overwhelming joy. His breathing quickened, as if he was about to suffocate.
He whipped his head around to look at An Yuanyao.
And just at that mont, An Yuanyao was looking at him too.
Their eyes t.
An Yuanyao sniffled, her eyes welling up with tears. She seed to be struggling to hold them back.
But she couldn’t.
She had reached her limit.
Tears stread down her cheeks.
One hand clutched her belly, the other covered her mouth.
Between sobs, she cried out,
"Wuwuwu... twins... Honey, am I... am I dreaming?"
"It’s real, baby! You’re carrying two!!!"
Liu Changqing shouted it out loud.
He jumped up from the couch in one explosive motion, pacing back and forth like a madman. His hands flailed, unsure whether to hold them up or let them fall—whatever he did felt wrong.
Words couldn’t express what Liu Changqing was feeling.
On the way to the hospital, he hadn’t been particularly excited. He had kept calm, as usual.
Back when An Yuanyao first found out she was pregnant, he had already done his howork.
He knew the first ultrasound was mainly to check if the baby was healthy. At just twelve weeks, it was too early to tell the gender.
That’s what he thought.
Until... the doctor told them.
There were two babies.
And both were healthy.
That mont, both of them had lost the ability to think.
Like two soulless shells, they had sohow driven ho.
It wasn’t until just now that Liu Changqing fully processed what had happened.
He couldn't put into words how excited he was.
He just knew that even breathing felt difficult.
anwhile, An Yuanyao was crying her eyes out.
She had always dread of becoming a mother, of nurturing her own child. When she first found out she was pregnant, she was overjoyed.
But now, the heavens had blessed her even more generously.
The thought made her cry even harder.
"Hahahahaha! Twins! This is the best!!!"
Liu Changqing ran around the living room seven or eight tis, laughing like a madman, shouting random things that didn’t even make sense.
It didn’t last too long though.
As his emotions slowly cooled down, Liu Changqing started to regulate his breathing.
He cald down bit by bit, but the smile on his face never faded.
He looked at An Yuanyao sitting on the sofa, crying her heart out.
Still smiling, he walked over, leaned down, and pulled her into his arms, feeling her sobbing body curl up against him.
Gently, he patted her back.
He opened his mouth and said softly,
"Baby... you’ve worked so hard."
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