novelaction Chapter 1343 Yunrui Juanchen: Naming the Child
Chapter 1343 Yunrui Juanchen: Naming the Child
Xiangcheng's autumn rain had fallen for three days straight, washing the bluestone pavement to a gleaming shine. Qi Ruixiang was standing at the doorway, carrying a freshly braised duck, when the crisp sound of chess pieces dropping onto the board came from inside.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door gently. The sound was particularly clear in the rain.
"Come in." Yang Bin's voice came from the yard. No emotion could be heard in it, but it was much softer than the cold and hard voice of the past few days.
Qi Ruixiang pushed the door open and walked in. Yang Xiaotang followed behind him, holding her waist. The hem of her skirt brought up a few drops of water when it swept over the threshold.
Yang Bin was sitting at the stone table under the grape trellis, setting up chess. The "Chu River and Han River" on the chessboard was darkened by the rain. He looked up and glanced at the pickled duck in Qi Ruixiang's hand, frowned, but said nothing in the end.
"I just passed by Lao Zhou Ji and saw a long line, so I bought one." Qi Ruixiang placed the oil-paper package on the stone table. The sauce-colored oil seeped through the paper, exuding a rich meaty aroma. "Would you like to try it?"
Yang Bin paused holding the chess piece, his gaze fixed on the character "Knight" on the board. He said in a muffled voice, "Put it there."
Qi Ruixiang pulled over a rattan chair for Yang Xiaotang to sit on, and he himself moved a small stool to sit across from her. He reached out to help set up the chess pieces, but Yang Bin hit the back of his hand with a chess piece: "You're watching a game of chess in silence. Do you understand the rules?"
"Dad!" Yang Xiaotang gave her father a reproachful look, but her hand gently covered the back of Qi Ruixiang's hand, and the warmth of her fingertips was soothing.
Qi Ruixiang smiled and said nothing more, just quietly watching Yang Bin deduce the chess game alone.
Raindrops fell through the gaps in the grape vines, splashing tiny drops of water on the stone table. Yang Xiaotang occasionally whispered to Qi Ruixiang. The topics were nothing more than how many times the baby kicked today and what the doctor said during the prenatal checkup. The trivial words mixed with the sound of rain actually made this deserted courtyard feel a bit warmer.
This scene seemed like a fantasy just two weeks ago. Qi Ruixiang was standing at the door carrying chicken soup, but Yang Bin wouldn't even let him in, instead calling him "shameless" through the door.
Later, he would come to the park every day without fail to "encounter" Yang Bin, squatting beside the flower bed with Yang Bin to watch the old man practice Tai Chi and listen to his street-speaking comments on current affairs. Only then did he slowly learn to speak a few words;
Until last week, when Yang Bin was playing chess and was missing a "cannon", Qi Ruixiang took out a chess piece cut out of cardboard from his pocket and handed it to him. The old man was stunned for a moment, but did not chase him away again.
"Xiaotang, are you craving something sour?" Yang Bin suddenly made a move, bringing Qi Ruixiang back to his senses. The braised duck on the stone table remained untouched, but the sour plum soup next to it was practically empty. Qi Ruixiang had made a special detour to the south of the city to buy it, supposedly effective for morning sickness.
Yang Xiaotang touched her stomach, her face flushed: "Well, I always want to eat something sour lately."
"Aunt Wang downstairs pickles some delicious sour beans. Ask her to pack you a jar later." Yang Bin's eyes fell on his daughter's bulging belly, and his tone softened a bit. "Drink less sour plum soup from the store. It has too many additives."
Qi Ruixiang quickly replied, "I've learned how to make it from Aunt Wang. I'll cook it myself at home. I'll stew it with rock sugar and no preservatives."
Yang Bin didn't respond. He simply put the chess pieces back into place and said slowly, "Another game?"
This invitation flowed like a warm current through Qi Ruixiang's body. He nodded quickly, his fingertips gripping the chess piece with a cautious, joyful intensity.
Yang Xiaotang leaned on the rattan chair and looked at them. The smile on the corner of her mouth was like the sunshine after the rain, so gentle that it could melt the water in the yard.
At dinner, three people sat at the courtyard table for the first time. Yang Bin drank two cups of baijiu, his cheeks flushed, and he became more talkative.
He talked about how Yang Xiaotang broke her knee when she climbed a tree secretly as a child, and how she insisted on sticking the certificate in the middle of the main hall when she got it for the first time. When he spoke of those trivial past events, there was a rare warmth in them.
"Have you thought of a name for the child?" Yang Bin suddenly put down his wine glass and his eyes fell on Qi Ruixiang.
Qi Ruixiang's heart skipped a beat. He put down his chopsticks and answered seriously, "I've thought of a few, but haven't decided yet. If it's a girl, she'll be named Qi Yutang, with "Yu" being the "language" and "Tang" being the "little"; if it's a boy, he'll be named Qi Chengyu, with "Cheng" meaning to carry on the past and the future, and "Yu" meaning to be imposing and majestic."
Yang Xiaotang's eyes lit up and she gently touched the back of his hand - she knew that her name was hidden in "Yutang", like a carefully stored candy.
Yang Bin showed no expression, just picked up a piece of braised duck and chewed it slowly: "It's too literary, not a name suitable for daily life."
Qi Ruixiang didn't refute, but just smiled and said: "If you have any ideas, we will listen to you."
"What ideas do I have?" Yang Bin put down his chopsticks, stood up and walked towards the main room. "I have a Kangxi Dictionary in my room. You can look it up yourself."
After his figure disappeared behind the door, Yang Xiaotang leaned close to Qi Ruixiang's ear, her voice filled with uncontrollable joy: "My dad... seems to dislike you less."
Qi Ruixiang held her hand, his fingertips gently caressing the jade bracelet on her wrist—he had picked it with her a few days ago, saying it would bring safety to the child. "It'll get better." His voice was soft, yet filled with conviction.
Lying on the bed in the rental house at night, Qi Ruixiang looked at Yang Xiaotang who was sleeping beside him, with the screen of his mobile phone still on.
That was because she treated the chat box as her own tree hole. "When the child is born, name him Qi Nian" Those words were like a seed, quietly sprouting in his heart.
Thinking, thinking. Thinking of you, thinking of peace...peace...an.
He recalled the scene when he first met Gu Yunxi. They bumped into each other on the road and took the wrong phone. He wanted to use the other party's power, and the other party wanted to use his influence...
Later, he found out that her nickname was An An, so he followed her closest people and called her "An An"...
After these days of companionship, he thought he could forget, but the moment Yang Bin asked about the child's name just now, the two words "An An" suddenly jumped into his mind, as clear as if they had been engraved there for a long time.
Qi Ruixiang turned off the screen of his mobile phone. In the darkness, he gently stroked Yang Xiaotang's lower abdomen.
There, a tiny life was being nurtured. It was the future for him and the woman before him. As for the past hidden within "Nian An," let it remain in darkness forever...
In the following days, the courtyard gradually became filled with the atmosphere of daily life.
Qi Ruixiang would come over every morning with fresh soy milk and fried dough sticks, while Yang Xiaotang would accompany Yang Bin in the yard to tend to the half-dead flowers and plants. Occasionally, Qi Ruixiang would join in, and the three of them would sit around the flower bed discussing which fertilizer would be more effective, and their laughter could be heard in the next yard.
Yang Bin started to let Qi Ruixiang accompany him to the vegetable market. The old man bargained with the stall owners in front, and Qi Ruixiang followed behind with large and small bags, occasionally interjecting a word to help out, and there was actually a tacit understanding between the father-in-law and son-in-law.
Once, the fishmonger smiled and said, "Uncle Yang, your son-in-law is more caring than your own son." Yang Bin cursed, "Don't talk nonsense," but the corners of his mouth secretly curled up.
That evening, Qi Ruixiang was in the kitchen making sour plum soup for Yang Xiaotang when Yang Bin suddenly walked in and placed a red cloth bag on the stove: "This is for the child."
Qi Ruixiang opened it and saw a pair of silver bracelets engraved with the simple word "peace". The bracelets were a bit old, but they were polished to a high shine. "This is..."
"It's a hand-me-down from my mom. Xiaotang wore it when she was little." Yang Bin stood at the door with his hands behind his back, looking at the grapevines outside the window, his voice muffled, "I've thought of a name, Qi Nian. What do you think?"
Qi Ruixiang's heart felt like it had been struck hard by something. The sweet and sour taste of the plum soup surged in his throat, causing him to choke a little. "Good... pretty good."