Zhao Lifei came home earlier than Yang Feng which was surprising because it was well past six o'clock. She handed her coat to the housekeeper and walked to the open kitchen to her left where a basket of freshly harvested and cleaned vegetables was awaiting her.
"That's odd. Our carrots have recently sprouted." She thought out loud, making her way to the large basket. Her fingers ran over the design of the weave which seemed like it was handmade. She recognized the material as something you could only find growing in the forest of the rural town a few miles out of Shenbei.
She picked up the note attached to the basket:
'I decided to stop selling vegetables and return to my family, but I have a lot of extra left in my inventory, so I hope these could be of use to you.
PS. Please eat these and give me healthy great-grandchildren.
Warmly,
Grandmother'
Zhao Lifei's face heated at the last line, but settled the basket down and decided to thank the Matriarch later on. Since Yang Feng had always cooked for her, she decided to begin preparing dinner for tonight. But, first things first, she went to the pantry and took out flour, yeast, and eggs. After struggling for a while, she finally had a ball of dough. Painting it with egg wash, she placed the dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray and placed it in the heated oven.
Then she began cooking dinner. By the time a car rolled to the entrance, it was already half-past seven and she had finished placing the garnish of sliced herbs onto the colorful plates of food. She had utilized a lot of the vegetables sent to her and tonight's dinner would be packed with nutrients.
Zhao Lifei felt a bit nauseous looking at the food, cringing when she saw how much was on the table. 'Maybe I cooked too much food?' She rubbed her stomach and nearly screamed bloody murder when a large hand was placed over hers and another wrapped itself over her collarbone.
"I missed you." Yang Feng whispered, kissing the side of her head and peering down at the dinner she made. He wasn't hungry when he was on his way home, but smelling her dishes made his stomach growl a bit. "Where were you this morning?" He curiously asked in a soft voice, leaning his head upon her soft hair. He was frightened to see her absence in bed with her side of the mattress stone-cold. He only relaxed when he sent a message to his bodyguards who instantaneously reported that she was at her grandfather's house.
"I had something to tend to…" Zhao Lifei's eyes cast onto the floor. She was no longer worried about throwing up or feeling sick because she was too distracted by her emotions.
Zhao Lifei was conflicted by her grandfather's decisions and was too angry to realize what he was trying to tell her. He didn't directly ruin her life, but his actions had caused it. However, she felt wrong for blaming it all on him, when she was part of the blame too. 'If only I wasn't so clingy towards Zheng Tianyi… If only I realized how much he despised me.'
Seeing as she was at Zhao Moyao's house early in the morning, Yang Feng had a suspicion about the conversation that went down. He hugged her tighter and pecked her on the cheek. "It's going to be okay." He said to her, already understanding she was facing a turmoil inside of her head.
Truth be told, Yang Feng had already figured out the primary suspect in her first amnesia. He just wished she didn't have to find out on her own. It must've hurt her a lot more to discover the truth all by herself. He was always waiting and waiting for Zhao Moyao to inform his granddaughter, but it seemed that his patience was all for nothing.
"You knew all along, didn't you?" Zhao Lifei didn't understand where her sudden surge of anger came from. She was overwhelmed by her own emotions and the commotion inside of her head. She wondered if it was pregnancy mood-swings because if it was, then Yang Feng was about to greatly suffer in the next few months.
"I had a suspicion that it was my grandfather for the first time, which was precisely why I was on edge whenever you were in his presence." Yang Feng spun her around so that he could read her face more carefully. If he felt anything towards her blank face, he didn't show it. "I had an inkling that your grandfather was also involved, but I couldn't confirm it in time."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was unsure of my suspicions and I didn't want to tarnish your relationship with him." Yang Feng patiently explained. Her hazel eyes went back to normal. She was no longer angry.
"It's already tarnished." She deadpanned, frowning to herself. She wondered if she overreacted this morning. She was aware that Zhao Moyao had health issues, but didn't know the extent of it…
Yang Feng was not going to dictate her actions. It was up to her to decide whether to mend their broken relationship or not. Why was it that both of their families were dysfunctional? He caressed the side of her face and said, "Whatever you do, I will support you as long as it makes you happy. If you feel regret and remorse from your actions, I won't stand by the sidelines and watch you ruin yourself." He cupped her face, "If you ever want to talk about something with me, I am all ears for you."
Zhao Lifei processed his words and slowly nodded her head.
"Don't bottle up your emotions." His thumbs rubbed back and forth on her squishable cheeks, "Communication is very important, my dear."
"Understood." Zhao Lifei wondered how the tables had turned on her. Originally, she was the one advocating for communication, but now it was time for him to do so. She was glad her nagging had gotten through him, but she needed some time to gather her thoughts and plan out her next move.
"Now, let's eat dinner, my love. The food is getting cold." Yang Feng debated whether or not he should kiss her on the lips. Just a small taste of her kiss was enough to ignite his flames. He knew this better than anyone else, yet he couldn't resist the temptation, so he bent down and captured her lips. He only applied light pressure and didn't take it any further.
Zhao Lifei nodded her head and was going to pull out her chair, but he gently brushed her hands away and did it for her. Right when she sat down, her eyes widened at her forgotten bread. "Yang Feng, there's a bun in the oven." She was hoping with his impressive IQ that he would read in-between the lines.
"You baked? I thought we established baking and desserts will be my specialty." Yang Feng mused, pushing her chair into the table and straightening to his height.
"Yes...but this bread is made with the help of you as well."
"But I wasn't home to bake with you…?" He was intrigued by her words and pushed the double-doors leading to the open kitchen.
Zhao Lifei turned around and eagerly watched as he opened the oven door. He put on the oven mitts and sure enough, a burnt loaf of bread was pulled out. Great. Just great. The symbolism of the burnt bread was a great start to her pregnancy reveal.
Yang Feng stared at the bread and chuckled, "Don't worry, I will still eat this."
"That's strange. My bun has not risen yet."
"You weren't referring to this bun?" Yang Feng asked, placing the tray back onto the oven racks. He grabbed a wooden serving board and then placed the burned bread onto the surface.
Zhao Lifei wanted to facepalm at her dense husband. Was it that hard to read in between the lines? "No, I'm talking about our bun."
"What bun?" He confusedly asked, turning to the other oven and opening it to see if she had baked another bread. She didn't.
"Oh my goodness. Nevermind." Zhao Lifei huffed, deciding her plan was too stupid to work.
Yang Feng raised a brow at his moody wife. He turned back to face the oven, stared at the loaf of bread and tried to piece together what she was attempting to say. After a minute of standing there with a blank, thinking face, his eyes briefly widened. A bun in the oven. A bun they made.
He stiffened. His expressionless face underwent different phases of emotions, starting from confusion to clarity, then understanding, next shock, and lastly euphoric happiness. His lips stretched into the biggest smile she had ever seen. The sight alone was enough to send her heart into overdrive and make her stomach do backflips. She had never witnessed a smile like that on his face and was momentarily caught off-guard by the sudden assault towards her heart. He was suave as it was, but when he smiled, the whole world seemed to stop for him.
Without warning, he rushed to her, lifting her to her feet in a warm embrace. He couldn't stop his smile from deepening when she let out a small giggle.
"You're pregnant?" His voice was filled with hope and disbelief. Fearful that he might hurt her, he hurriedly settled her down onto her feet. She didn't even confirm the truth and he was already worried about her stomach. He kept his body at a safe distance from it. Then he felt the smallest tinge of remorse for the way he handled her last night. Maybe five or six rounds was a bit too much…
"I confirmed it yesterday." Zhao Lifei warmly smiled up at him, happy that his reaction was exactly as she had hoped for it to be. Her eyes widened when he began to pepper her face with kisses, elated at the news. He had never felt more happiness than at this moment.
"Truly?" He breathed out, pulling her back, only to hug her again, pulled back and proceeded to kiss her face again. She laughed at his treatment, "That tickles!"
"I'm going to be a father." He let out a burst of delightful laughter that made her body tingle.
"I'm going to be a father." He repeated again and again, his heart filled to the brim with hope and happiness.
The gender wasn't revealed yet, but he was all set and ready to go shopping for cute little dresses. "If it's a daughter, I want her to look just like you. No, wait, a son that looks just like you is fine as well. I want all of them to look exactly like you." Picturing a soccer team of tiny Zhao Lifei running around the house made his heart swell.
Zhao Lifei could already see that he was thinking of the endless possibilities of their child and she shook her head with a silly smile on her face. He was surely the type of father to spoil their kids with love and gifts.