Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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This time, Ji Yue prepared a lot of things for Ji Yan: a latest Chanel dress and high heels, a limited edition LV bag, a set of cosmetics, and two very sexy lace lingerie sets.
When Ji Yan saw these two sets of lace lingerie that barely covered anything, he was quite taken aback. What were these two doing? Why did they buy him this? How could they give him something like this? If he gave it to Tang Tang, she would just think he was a pervert!
Ji Yan was very glad that he had opened and checked it beforehand instead of giving it directly to Tang Tang.
But the problem was, what should he do with the lingerie now? Taking it home was definitely out of the question, returning it to Gu Chang’an would be a bit pretentious, and throwing it away would definitely cause misunderstandings if the garbage collector saw it. Ji Yan sat in his office staring at the two sets of lingerie for a long time, until his eyes ached, and finally decided to lock them at the very bottom of his office drawer and never open them again.
Having resolved this discordant element, Ji Yan felt the other items were quite good. Even though he didn’t understand women, he knew no woman disliked clothes, shoes, bags, and cosmetics. Tang Tang wanted to become more beautiful, so she would definitely like them.
Ji Yan took the items home again. This time, Ji Xiaozhuo knew without a doubt that these things weren’t for him but for his mother. So he patted his father’s shoulder with an encouraging and instructive expression, “Dad, you have to do your best this time! Don’t be so slow! A man should be decisive!”
Ji Yan was suddenly puzzled. Why did his son talk so much? Who did he take after?
This time, Ji Yan didn’t dawdle. He placed the items directly on the bed, so Tang Tang could see them as soon as she entered the room.
Sure enough, Tang Tang immediately noticed a large box on the bed. She looked at it curiously, confirmed it wasn’t from home, and seeing that it didn’t seem immovable, she reached out and opened the box.
Inside was a pure white sleeveless dress, a pair of red high heels, a red women’s handbag, and a set of cosmetics with an unreadable label.
How could there be so many women’s items in the house?
Tang Tang looked towards the bathroom door with a puzzled expression. Ji Yan was taking a shower inside. This thing wasn’t something she brought back, nor could it be Ji Xiaozhuo’s. It could only be something Ji Yan brought back, but where did he get all these women’s things? Was it a gift from someone, like last time?
Thinking for a moment, Tang Tang waved to Ji Xiaozhuo, who was driving in the living room. “Baby, come here quickly.”
Hearing his mother’s call, Ji Xiaozhuo immediately turned his luxury car around and skilfully drove into the room. “Mom, what did you call me for?”
Tang Tang pointed to the box on the bed. “Baby, do you know what this is? Where did it come from?”
Ji Xiaozhuo rolled his eyes, realizing he shouldn’t reveal the secret his father had told him.
Seeing his mother’s surprise, Xiao Zhuo shook her head. “Mom, I don’t know either. You can ask Dad.”
Tang Tang could only nod and was about to put the lid back on when the bathroom door clicked open. Ji Yan came out, drying his hair. Seeing Tang Tang having opened the box, a hint of nervousness flashed in his eyes.
“Honey, I was just about to ask you, are these things for you?”
Facing Tang Tang’s questioning gaze, Ji Yan cleared his throat with his fist to his lips, his voice devoid of any emotion. “Ji Yue said women like these things, so I asked her to buy some for you too. See if you like them.”
For her again?
Tang Tang blinked, suddenly feeling that Ji Yan had been acting strangely these past few days. Why was he always buying her things? It wasn’t her birthday or a holiday, and she didn’t need these things at all. This dress, in the local parlance, was too sexy, showing both arms and legs. How could she dare to wear that? And these high heels, the heels were as thin as needles, probably eight centimeters high. Wearing those would be excruciating; she’d probably end up in the hospital after just a few steps. Finally, there were the cosmetics. Her skin was in such bad condition right now, using cosmetics would only make it worse, so makeup was definitely out of the question.
Therefore, these things would just sit there collecting dust, and it would be such a waste to let such expensive things gather dust.
Tang Tang felt a pang of regret and couldn’t help but ask the question that had been bothering her, “Honey, why did you think of buying these for me? It’s such a waste.”
Ji Yan’s eyes flickered, unsure how to answer. After thinking for a while, he replied, “Well… you work so hard at home every day doing housework and taking care of Xiao Zhuo, buying these things isn’t a waste.”
So it was a reward for her hard work… no wonder he always gave her things. But taking care of the child wasn’t hard work at all; it was what she was supposed to do, and she didn’t need a reward.
Wen Wen said that women here who didn’t work and earn money had no status at home and were looked down upon by their husbands. But not only did he not look down on her, he even rewarded her. That’s too good!
He’s so good to his wife, who was so bad before and he also had no feelings for her. If she were a girl he truly loved, how happy she would be. How lucky it would be to be the woman he truly loves. If only this woman were her…
Thinking of this, Tang Tang remembered Gu Yanran’s words, and her heart ached a little. She tried to suppress the bitterness, looked up at Ji Yan, and smiled to thank him, “Thank you, husband, but please don’t buy me anything else. It’s my duty to manage the household and take care of Xiao Zhuo. I don’t need these things.” Since he had already bought them, she couldn’t return them. She would accept them, but she couldn’t accept them next time. She was just eating, drinking, and living here for free, and doing these things was only what she should do. Why should she need a reward?
Seeing that she accepted the gift but didn’t seem particularly happy, Ji Yan frowned slightly, unsure whether she liked it or not. He simply asked, “So, do you like it?”
Tang Tang didn’t particularly like it, but she felt that he had bought it for her out of kindness, and it would be hurtful to say she didn’t need it or didn’t like it. So she decided to tell a white lie, smiling and nodding, “Yes, I like it very much.”
Ji Yan breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing in his eyes, “That’s good.”
Tang Tang carefully put the gifts away in the cabinet before turning to Ji Yan to talk about business, “Honey, school is starting soon, right? Have you settled the matter of our baby’s schooling?”
Ji Yan had already taken care of that. “There’s a kindergarten in our family compound. All the children from the military region attend there. I’ve already made arrangements. I’ll take Ji Xiaozhuo to register tomorrow, and then I’ll take him to school the day after tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s good. But what do we need to prepare for registration? I’ll take the baby, you go ahead with your work. I’m fine at home anyway.”
Ji Yan shook his head. “It’s okay, I’ll take you both tomorrow. You’re not familiar with this place, so I’ll show you around first. After that, you can pick up and drop off Xiao Zhuo at school.”
Tang Tang thought about it and agreed. She didn’t know any of the teachers here, so it would be better if Ji Yan showed her around. She turned around, found Ji Xiaozhuo’s schoolbag, packed the little guy’s pencil case and books, and handed the schoolbag to Ji Xiaozhuo. “Baby, you need to carry your schoolbag to the new school tomorrow.”
Ji Xiaozhuo was about to take his schoolbag when Ji Yan took it first, unzipped it, and took out a workbook. He opened it and found it empty; not a single question had been answered.
This was an arithmetic workbook, full of addition and subtraction problems up to 100. Ji Yan bought it for Ji Xiaozhuo at the beginning of summer vacation as his summer homework. He was worried that Ji Xiaozhuo would go crazy playing at home all summer and wanted him to exercise his brain so that he wouldn’t forget how to use it when he went to school. Unexpectedly, the boy hadn’t done a single problem.
Ji Yan beckoned Ji Xiaozhuo over, lifted him out of the car, and made him stand up. “Ji Xiaozhuo, explain to me why you haven’t done a single problem?”
Ji Xiaozhuo twisted two fingers together, looking down at the ground without saying a word.
“Ji Xiaozhuo, Dad hasn’t checked your homework for two months because Dad believes you are a self-managing child and wouldn’t forget to do your homework. But now you need to give me an explanation.”
Tang Tang didn’t expect that her casually packing his schoolbag would lead to such a big problem. Seeing that things were getting bad, she quickly came over and flipped through the workbook in Ji Yan’s hand, only to find that it really was blank. She felt both angry and guilty.
Tang Tang was angry because Ji Xiaozhuo hadn’t written a single word. Going to school was for learning, and studying hard was what students were supposed to do. Even though Tang Tang doted on Ji Xiaozhuo, she wouldn’t tolerate him not doing his homework. She didn’t want him to be so lazy and unmotivated at such a young age.
Tang Tang also felt guilty because she didn’t even know Ji Xiaozhuo had homework. She assumed that if the teacher hadn’t assigned it, then there wasn’t any, and therefore hadn’t inquired about it. If she had known earlier that Ji Xiaozhuo had homework, she would have definitely supervised him to complete it every day.
Tang Tang looked apologetically at Ji Yan, “Honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t even know Xiao Zhuo had homework. If I had known, I definitely would have supervised him. I’ll make sure to urge him to study harder next time.”
Ji Yan frowned and waved his hand at Tang Tang, “Tang Tang, this isn’t your problem. This is Xiao Zhuo’s own business. If someone doesn’t even know what they should do and needs someone else to supervise them, then that person will achieve nothing.”
Tang Tang was speechless for a moment, and had to admit that Ji Yan was right. It seemed that she needed to teach her baby more about this in the future; it was her oversight.
Seeing her mother so remorseful, Ji Xiaozhuo finally looked up and spoke, “Dad, I think these questions are too easy. Doing them is a waste of time, so I didn’t do them.”
Tang Tang’s eyes widened in surprise at Ji Xiaozhuo’s words. She really hadn’t expected his reason to be like this.
Ji Yan, however, wasn’t surprised at all. He knew that Ji Xiaozhuo could do it. The boy was smart, and the addition and subtraction in this workbook wouldn’t be a problem for him, but his purpose wasn’t to have him practice addition and subtraction.
“Ji Xiaozhuo, does that mean you can skip your homework just because you know how? If you think it’s easy and don’t want to do it, why don’t you just tell me? Is this the attitude I taught you?” Ji Yan knew that sometimes smart people lose because of their arrogance, looking down on simple things. But often, it’s those simple things that determine your success or failure. He didn’t want Ji Xiaozhuo to be so arrogant because of his intelligence that he wouldn’t even follow the most basic rules.
Ji Xiaozhuo lowered his head again, remained silent for a long time, then raised his head and stammered an apology: “I’m sorry, Dad, I was wrong. I won’t do it again next time.”
Ji Yan didn’t let it go easily just because he apologized. Instead, he said, “Now, as punishment for your mistake, you’ll have to run five laps. Any objections?”
Ji Xiaozhuo shook his head and shouted, “No objections!”
“Okay, then you have to finish your homework now, and you’ll run again tomorrow.”
Without saying a word, Ji Xiaozhuo took out his little pencil, grabbed his homework, and ran to his desk to start writing.
Tang Tang had no objection to Ji Yan’s punishment, but glancing at the time, it was almost nine o’clock. How could he possibly finish writing at this hour?
She couldn’t help but plead with Ji Yan, “Honey, it’s almost bedtime. Such a thick book can’t be finished in one go. The baby is too young to stay up late. Can’t he finish it tomorrow?”
Ji Yan waved his hand to reassure her, “Don’t worry, he writes very quickly. He won’t stay up late. Go take a shower.”
“But…” How could Tang Tang be at ease? But she couldn’t interfere with Ji Yan’s parenting. So she worriedly packed her clothes and went to the bathroom to shower. She showered much faster than usual. When she came out, she saw Ji Xiaozhuo still in the same position, doing his homework. She had no choice but to run back into the bathroom to prepare a tub of foot bath water for Ji Yan. While giving Ji Yan his usual foot massage, she accompanied Ji Xiaozhuo as he did his homework, thinking that she would definitely plead with Ji Xiaozhuo after the foot bath so that he could go to bed earlier.
To Tang Tang’s astonishment, before she had even finished massaging his feet, Ji Xiaozhuo came running over with his workbook and handed it to Ji Yan. “Dad, I’m done!”
Ji Yan took it. “Okay, let me check it. Go take a shower now, and we’ll talk after you’re done.”
Ji Xiaozhuo knew he had done something wrong, so he obediently grabbed his pajamas and went inside to do it himself, not daring to disobey his father or beg Tang Tang to help him shower.
Tang Tang was so surprised by Ji Xiaozhuo’s speed that she even stopped massaging his feet. She checked the time— only two hours had passed!
Two hours to finish a math workbook? Was Ji Xiaozhuo just scribbling something to fool his father?
Tang Tang was terrified that Ji Yan would discover Ji Xiaozhuo’s scribbling and punish him even more severely, so she was anxiously glancing at the workbook in Ji Yan’s hand. Ji Yan noticed Tang Tang’s expression out of the corner of his eye and found it amusing. So he simply patted the seat next to him, “Come and help check it too.”
Tang Tang should have refused, but she was too worried about Ji Xiaozhuo, so she finally moved next to Ji Yan and leaned in to look at Ji Xiaozhuo’s homework together. She had been there for quite some time, enough for her to learn to read and write Arabic numerals, so checking Ji Xiaozhuo’s homework was no problem for her.
Tang Tang first glanced at the workbook and found that every question had an answer written on it. It was quite impressive that he had filled in every question in two hours, but she didn’t know about the accuracy rate, or whether Ji Yan would be angry if there were too many mistakes.
Tang Tang began to check Ji Xiaozhuo’s work, and then she was surprised because she found that these questions really didn’t seem like something a three-year-old child who hadn’t even started school yet would write. She had initially thought Ji Xiaozhuo would be doing addition and subtraction problems within ten, but the numbers in these problems were quite large, and some were even difficult for her, an adult who had learned counting on an abacus.
Was this really a problem for a three-year-old?
“Honey, are these problems really for the baby? Aren’t they too difficult?”
Ji Yan, noticing Tang Tang’s confusion, explained, “Xiao Zhuo has a great memory, and his learning and thinking abilities are very strong, especially in calculation. While other children were learning to count, he had already mastered addition and subtraction within ten. Later, I taught him some mental arithmetic, and now he can do addition and subtraction within one hundred without needing scratch paper. That’s why he thinks it’s too easy and doesn’t want to do it.”
Tang Tang: “……” Waaah, is she the dumbest person in the family?
Seeing Tang Tang’s self-deprecating expression, Ji Yan found it strangely endearing and found himself talking more than usual. “Actually, I know it’s not difficult for him, but I don’t want him to look down on simple things and not do them. Even the simplest things should be taken seriously, so I punished him tonight.”
Tang Tang immediately nodded in agreement. Compared to Ji Yan, she really didn’t know how to raise a child. Luckily, Ji Yan was there; with such a father to guide him, her child would definitely be outstanding when he grew up.
Finally seeing a bit of the same admiration and respect in Tang Tang’s eyes as before, Ji Yan’s mood immediately improved. He continued, “Starting this semester, I will train Ji Xiaozhuo in mental arithmetic of multiplication and division up to 100. I will use this to train his thinking and calculation abilities. When he officially starts school, I will let him study more advanced topics.”
Multiplication and division up to 100 can’t even be considered advanced learning? Then is she no different from an idiot? Tang Tang suddenly remembered what the regimental commander’s wife had said during a chat. She said that Ji Yan was a top student with a master’s degree from S University, with a first-rate and brilliant mind, and that many said he was wasting his time in the army.
She now completely agreed with this statement, and at the same time, she deeply realized that she had really dragged them down.
While Tang Tang was checking Ji Xiaozhuo’s workbook up to the tenth question, Ji Yan had already finished checking the entire book. “That’s right, this kid is quite diligent.”
Tang Tang silently put down the workbook and went to do her own thing.
The author has something to say:
One day, Ji Yan returned to his office, opened the bottom drawer, and personally took out two sets of underwear that he had sworn he would never take out…
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