Chapter 79: Kissing Makes a Baby
Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Kissing Makes a Baby
Stepping out of the elevator, Jiang Xia bumped into his mother-in-law in the residential complex, who was returning from buying groceries.
"Hello, Aunt Ji," he said, stopping to greet her politely.
"Oh, Xiao Xia? What are you doing here?"
The question slipped out, but Ji Wanqiu immediately realized the answer: this boy must be here to see her daughter again.
The two of them had been inseparable back in school, and now that they had graduated, she figured they were together all the time. Although she had her reservations about her daughter’s relationship, she couldn’t deny that Jiang Xia was a good kid.
"My mom asked me to bring Xiao Man home," he said with a faint smile. He didn’t say the word "wife," but every word was about her.
And Jiang Xia was being a little clever.
His mother was Xia Shanshan, but Xiao Man’s mother was Ji Wanqiu. And he’d said he was bringing Xiao Man *home*. So, who exactly he was calling "Mom" in that sentence was rather intriguing.
Given that Jiang Xia had a history of "mistakenly" calling her Mom, Ji Wanqiu pretended not to catch his underlying meaning.
A smile bloomed on her face. "Is Xiao Man home already? Thank you. Why don’t you come up and stay for a bit? I bought fish today. You can have a taste of your auntie’s cooking."
"I can’t, but thank you for the kind offer, Auntie. I have things to do at home, and my mom has already called several times to hurry me along." Jiang Xia declined with a smile. He knew to quit while he was ahead; sometimes, being too forward could backfire and cause resentment.
’She’s my mother-in-law, after all. There’ll be plenty of chances to score a free meal later. No need to rush,’ he thought.
"Oh, I see. Well, maybe next time, then. And don’t you dare turn me down again," Ji Wanqiu said with a smile. "Be safe on your way."
"Next time for sure. Goodbye, Auntie."
"Goodbye, Xiao Xia."
Watching Jiang Xia leave, Ji Wanqiu lowered her head, lost in thought. ’If my daughter really likes him this much, maybe I should find a chance to sound him out?’
’If he’s just playing around, it would be better to make my daughter give up on him.’
Mulling this over, she walked slowly toward the elevator.
Back at home, after Jiang Xia had left, Lin Xiaoman kept staring at her older sister’s stomach. Lin Yanwan found her weird gaze completely baffling.
"Xiao Man, what are you staring at? Is my outfit weird today?" Lin Yanwan looked down at herself. ’No, it’s not,’ she thought. ’Even that guy said it looked good.’
After a beat of silence, Lin Xiaoman looked at her sister’s stomach and said very seriously, "Big Sis, are you going to have a baby soon?"
Lin Yanwan froze on the spot, her face instantly flushing hot and red. "No way!"
She huffily pinched her little sister’s soft, chubby cheeks and said through gritted teeth, "Instead of studying, what kind of nonsense are you thinking about all day?"
"Ow, Big Sis, that hurts." Lin Xiaoman pouted, looking aggrieved. "Xiao Mei told me! She said she peeked and saw her mommy and daddy kissing, and she said that if a girl kisses a boy, she’ll have a baby. But Big Sis, you’ve obviously kissed Brother-in-law lots of times."
Lin Yanwan was suddenly speechless. ’I used to believe that too, but hearing it from my own little sister now is just beyond awkward.’
’This is all Jiang Xia’s fault!’
"She’s talking nonsense! How could you possibly have a baby just from kissing?!"
"Then how *do* you have a baby, Big Sis?" Lin Xiaoman asked with an innocent expression.
"Well, you have to..." She stopped mid-sentence, realizing with a jolt what she was about to say. ’I’m so flustered, I almost let a little kid lead me into a trap!’
"Have to what?" Lin Xiaoman pressed. "Brother-in-law said you won’t get a stye from peeking at people kissing, and now Big Sis says girls don’t get pregnant from kissing. I’m going to tell Xiao Mei tomorrow that she’s completely wrong about everything."
"Just watch your TV! This isn’t something you need to worry about! You’ll... you’ll understand when you’re older," Lin Yanwan said, her face flushed.
’Eight years as Jiang Xia’s wife... We tried every position, we both got checked out at the hospital, and they said nothing was wrong. But we never had a child. It’s so strange.’
"Big Sis, why is your face so red? Are you thinking about Brother-in-law? If you’re thinking about him, you should call him!"
"Of course not!"
Just then, the sound of a key turning in the lock echoed through the room. Lin Yanwan immediately put a finger to her lips. "Shh!"
She looked at her little sister threateningly. "Don’t you dare say any of this to Mom and Dad. If you do, I won’t take you with me when I go out, and I won’t buy you any treats!"
"Brother-in-law will still buy them for me~"
"Your brother-in-law is *my* husband. Who do you think he’s going to listen to, you or me?" Lin Yanwan narrowed her eyes.
"Yes! Xiao Man gets it! Xiao Man won’t tell anyone but Big Sis and Brother-in-law!" She stood up arrow-straight and, imitating Tom the Cat, mimed zipping her lips from one side to the other.
"You can’t tell your brother-in-law either!" Lin Yanwan shot her a glare.
’If he found out about this, there’s no telling what kind of unreasonable demands he’d make.’
"Xiao Man, Yanwan, I’m home."
The door opened, and Ji Wanqiu entered with the groceries. "Mama! Mama!" Lin Xiaoman cried, running over to hug her leg.
"I just ran into Xiao Xia downstairs," Ji Wanqiu remarked to her daughter, her tone deliberately casual.
"Mhm, it was Bro—" At a terrifying glare from Lin Yanwan, Lin Xiaoman stuck out her tongue and quickly corrected herself. "It was Big Sis and Brother Jiang Xia who brought Xiao Man home."
Lin Yanwan silently breathed a sigh of relief.
’Please, Xiao Man,’ she prayed, ’don’t say the wrong thing in front of Mom and Dad.’
◇
When Jiang Xia got home, his mother, Xia Shanshan, had also just returned from buying groceries. She took one look at her son and guessed that the boy had probably spent the entire day with his daughter-in-law.
’Looks like it’s time to have his father give him ’the talk’ about the facts of life,’ she thought.
’After all, the interest is mutual. A young man and a young woman alone in a room together are like dry kindling and a hot flame—one spark and they’ll ignite. If they act on an impulse during this summer break and a life is created, the Jiang family would lose all face. People would point fingers and call them indecent.’
’Most importantly, it would be bad for the girl’s reputation.’
"You’re back?"
"Yeah." Jiang Xia felt inexplicably guilty, as if he could never hide anything from his mom’s eagle eyes.
Xia Shanshan came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands. "I haven’t had a chance to ask you yet. How did your exams go?"
"I did fine, I’ve got a good feeling about them." Seeing that his mom wasn’t asking about his love life, he relaxed considerably.
"Did you think the exam was difficult this year? I asked a few of my friends, and they all said this year’s national test was very hard."
"It was alright. About the same as usual."
Jiang Xia wasn’t lying. He’d found the test quite straightforward and hadn’t felt it was particularly difficult.
Xia Shanshan felt relieved hearing this. Based on his current grades, as long as he performed as usual during the exam, getting into a Tier 1 university wouldn’t be a problem. If he got lucky, he even had a shot at a top-tier one.
"So, are you going to explain to me why Xiao Man is calling you ’Brother-in-law’?"
...
(There will be another Chapter before 12.)