Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 281 - 277: In Case It’s a Brat

Chapter 281: Chapter 277: In Case It’s a Brat

Out of the phone booth, Qin Guanglin took a deep breath.

The weather was too cold; the snow hadn’t melted, and white wisps of cold fog drifted from his mouth into the air.

Anyway, he felt much more at peace.

He strolled back to his building, took a turn, and continued walking all the way home, where Qin’s Mom was frying small dried fish, peeking out with a spatula in hand, "Where’s He Fang?"

"With a little... friend shopping."

"Little friend?"

"Friend."

Qin Guanglin replied and went straight into the art studio.

"Will you eat here at noon?" Qin’s Mom shouted toward the closed door of the art studio.

"No."

"Oh."

After getting her answer, Qin’s Mom returned to the kitchen with her spatula, continuing to fry her small dried fish.

Qin Guanglin sat in front of his drawing board, changed to a new blank sheet, and thought for a moment with pen in hand, writing and drawing intermittently while occasionally pausing to close his eyes and ponder.

More than half an hour later, a chaotic mind map appeared on the drawing board.

He tapped his forehead with his pen, and after a moment, he circled the words "sedative" heavily.

—He Fang had some mental instability.

Taking everything into account, Qin Guanglin came to this conclusion with furrowed brows.

Buying duck feet at midnight was real, so was making a phone call.

It was likely that while buying duck feet, she saw a phone booth and ran over to make an emergency call—it was mean-spirited, but it was the most reasonable explanation.

Besides, he couldn’t fathom why a perfectly sane person would run out at nearly one o’clock in the morning to make a minute-long emergency call in a phone booth, only to then casually buy duck feet and go upstairs.

Crazy, right?

...Indeed crazy.

This would explain why she wouldn’t tell the truth—nobody would want their close ones to know they secretly did such despicable things... unless they were out of their mind.

He needed to have a serious talk with He Fang...

Qin Guanglin dropped the pen, tore the paper from the drawing board into pieces, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into his pocket before leaving the room.

"What’s cooking? Give me some."

Qin’s Mom looked at him puzzled, "Didn’t you say you weren’t eating?"

"Did I say that?"

"...I didn’t make yours. Go eat out."

"Oh."

Qin Guanglin casually strolled back to South Fly Road with his hands in his pockets, had some steamed dumplings at Sha County Hotel, threw the crumpled paper into a trash bin along the road, and went upstairs to catch up on sleep with a yawn.

A sleepless night really took its toll.

When he woke up, it was already past four in the afternoon. He Fang crawled into the bed and nudged him awake. Seeing him awake, she then touched his forehead and asked, "Have you been asleep since this morning, or did you just take a nap?"

"Just a nap."

Qin Guanglin was still not fully recovered, yawned, and held her tightly, "I thought you wouldn’t be back until the evening."

"Just strolling around... Here’s your hat."

He Fang got up, took a brown cotton hat with two fluffy balls on it from the bedside, barely a couple’s match to her yellow one, "Couldn’t find a blue one... but this one will do."

"All right, it’s nice."

Qin Guanglin tried it on, then casually set it aside and checked the time. Seeing it was already past four, he got up and said, "Let’s eat at my place. My mom asked about you at noon when I was there, and without you, I won’t get any food either."

"It’s not that exaggerated."

He Fang didn’t object either, and sat up again to put on her shoes, joining Qin Guanglin in heading downstairs.

"Where are my keys?"

Qin Guanglin suddenly asked.

"Here, are you going to drive to buy groceries?" He Fang rummaged through her purse and handed him the car keys.

"No... I just need to grab something."

Qin Guanglin climbed into the car, glanced back at He Fang standing by the road, removed the dash-cam and stowed it in his pocket, then picked up the recipe book she had left on the back seat the day before, closed the car door again, and went over to hold her hand.

"Let’s go."

"Forgot to bring it up yesterday... Are you giving it to your mom?" He Fang asked.

"Just to give her something to pass the time, she’s always fussing over food anyway, she’ll definitely like it."

The two, like always linked arm in arm, finished strolling through the market, carried the groceries back to the Qin family home, where He Fang went into the kitchen to cook and Qin Guanglin handed the recipe book to Qin’s Mom, then sneaked into his studio and locked the door behind him.

Although he suspected that He Fang’s inexplicable behavior might be due to too much mental pressure, he still needed to confirm it once more—that was why he had asked He Fang to drive out that morning.

Shopping with Xiaoqing... it felt too simple to be the whole story to him.

Turning on the dash-cam, Qin Guanglin found the timestamp from that morning, set the playback to fast forward and began to watch, feeling a twinge of unease, coupled with a touch of guilt.

Watching someone else’s driving route was no different from peeping.

To put it more seriously, it was a sign of distrust in one’s partner.

Fifteen minutes later, the tinge of guilt in Qin Guanglin’s heart had vanished, he raised his arm to get a closer look at the screen.

That large pile of garbage... 116 He Garden Lane!

The place they had visited yesterday.

He frowned at the static image; it only showed a few pedestrians passing by, He Fang hadn’t even gotten out of the car, just parked beside the pile of rubbish for over twenty minutes and then drove away.

The car traveled all the way to the north of the city, picked up the heavily clothed Gu Xiaoqing, then rerouted to Shentian Square where He Fang and Gu Xiaoqing left the parking lot chatting and laughing. Several hours later, Gu Xiaoqing, carrying shopping bags and holding a milk tea, and He Fang, holding a brown hat, got into the car together, Qin Guanglin drove Gu Xiaoqing back to the north of the city, then drove back to South Fly Road.

After fast-forwarding through the day’s trips, Qin Guanglin rewound to the part at He Garden Lane, staring at the garbage pile on the screen and falling into thought.

What was she doing there?

Everything else was normal, but this place felt inexplicably odd, just like that call last night.

Could it be she has a thing for children? Just to glimpse that little Yuan? A stalking obsession?

A series of thoughts flashed through Qin Guanglin’s head, he shook his head vigorously, casting aside the messy ideas, and put away the dash-cam to leave the room.

"What’s cooking, it smells delicious." Qin Guanglin leaned on the kitchen doorframe watching Qin’s Mom and He Fang busying themselves.

"Can’t you see? Not even helping out." Qin’s Mom glanced at him, her slight dissatisfaction apparent at his idleness.

Girls are just better, more considerate and sensible.

"I just don’t want to get in the way... The kitchen’s only so big, you step out and the two of us can handle it."

Qin Guanglin grinned and helped Qin’s Mom out of the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves to assist He Fang.

"Yesterday’s little Yuan... how is her studying going?" he asked casually while chopping vegetables.

"Yuan? She’s doing quite well, top ten kind of student."

"Hmm... she looks cute, didn’t expect her studies to be good too."

"You like daughters that much?"

He Fang tossed the vegetables into the pan with a sizzle, gave it a few stirs with the spatula, and continued, "We’ll definitely have one in the future."

Qin Guanglin cocked his head to the side and said, "Are you so sure? What if it’s a little stinker?"

He Fang’s movements paused imperceptibly, then she turned to smile at him.

"Then we’ll just keep trying."