Chapter 63 Stinky Daddy-Os dias de reclusão com a rainha da poesia waka(Galo montando em um gato.)

From these two text messages, Lu Anzhi could sense Zhang Suxin's panic right through the words. He couldn't help smiling and didn't expose her, simply replying: Alright, received.

Zhang Suxin quickly replied: Mn.

Then sent another text: Go to sleep then.

Lu Anzhi: Good night.

Zhang Suxin: Good night.

As he put down his phone, Lu Anzhi suddenly recalled the internet's explanation of the phrase "good night" from his past life. But considering that both Zhang Suxin and he had decided to take their relationship slowly, it seemed a bit too early to mention the secondary meaning of "good night" to her now.

Never mind, we'll talk about it later.

Lu Anzhi pulled up his quilt, listened to the sound of rain outside the window, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

For some reason, in his dream, he seemed to have become a scarecrow, stuck upright in the ground and unable to move. Qianqian and Zhang Suxin stood on his left and right sides respectively, grabbing his arms and pulling hard.

"Daddy is mine!"

The two of them pulled and shouted while arguing. Lu Anzhi felt as if he was about to be torn in half, completely failing to notice the inappropriateness of the forms of address.

After waking up the next day, he still felt groggy and absurd about the dream.

He shook his head to clear it, washed up, heated up the leftover food from yesterday for breakfast, went downstairs, and opened the shop door.

Outside the shop, the sky was overcast with thick clouds, but the rain had temporarily stopped. There was no sun to be seen amidst the gloomy firmament. Lu Anzhi breathed in the moist, refreshing air and actually felt much more comfortable than usual.

Summer mornings in Haidu usually heated up very early. Although it wasn't unbearable, it still lacked this sort of cool comfort.

Before long, Wang Ping arrived carrying the umbrella she had taken from the shop yesterday. Seeing Lu Anzhi, she smiled and said, "Morning, Boss. Have you eaten?"

Lu Anzhi never woke up late and could almost always open the shop before Wang Ping arrived every day. When she first started, Wang Ping used to ask him, "So early, Boss?", but now it had gradually turned into "Morning, Boss."

Wang Ping was holding a bag of steamed buns and said, "I bought some Xiao Long Bao on my way out this morning. If you haven't eaten, we can share them."

Lu Anzhi smiled and said, "Sister Wang, I've already eaten. You brought so much food yesterday that I couldn't finish it last night, so I just heated it up this morning and cleared it out."

Wang Ping didn't say anything more and prepared to clean up the place before eating. Lu Anzhi stopped her and told her to eat first. Unable to win against Lu Anzhi, Wang Ping had no choice but to sit down and eat first.

Lu Anzhi said, "Sister Wang, you don't need to come over so early. In the future, just take your time eating at home before coming over. There's no rush here. If there's ever an emergency, I'll just call you to come early."

Wang Ping said, "I wake up early and can't sleep. Staying at home is boring, so I might as well come to the shop. But once my grandson comes back and school starts, I'm afraid I won't be able to come this early."

She ate a steamed bun and sighed, "A place like Haidu is great, except that the living expenses are too high. A single steamer of buns like this would cost at most one yuan fifty in Jinzhou, but here it costs three. Today my son and daughter-in-law left too early, so there wasn't time for me to make breakfast, and I was too lazy to cook for just myself. I am definitely not buying buns outside anymore."

Lu Anzhi smiled and said, "Sister Wang, if you're too lazy to cook at home, why not cook here in the shop and make a little extra for me too?"

Wang Ping nodded and said, "That works too! If I don't need to cook at home, I can just buy groceries every day and cook for you here, Boss. I've been feeling a bit guilty about getting paid so much for doing so little work. Being able to help with other things would be even better."

Lu Anzhi said, "Then thank you very much, Sister Wang."

Wang Ping said, "What are you thanking me for, Boss?"

After Wang Ping finished her meal, Lu Anzhi went out. There was only one umbrella in the shop for the moment, and seeing that the sky was just overcast with no sign of immediate rain, he left the umbrella with Wang Ping and didn't take it with him, figuring he would buy another one if the weather required it.

Wang Ping insisted that Lu Anzhi take the umbrella, but he refused, leaving Wang Ping full of frustration and regret that she had so few umbrellas at home. After her grandson took one to summer camp and her son and daughter-in-law each took one to work, there weren't any extras left. Otherwise, if she had brought another one this morning, she wouldn't have let Lu Anzhi stubbornly go out without an umbrella.

Lu Anzhi didn't expect that as soon as he got into the taxi, halfway through the ride, the rain would start falling.

However, the rain wasn't heavy, just drizzling against the car windows. After the taxi arrived at the entrance of Bamboo Garden Residential Compound, Lu Anzhi opened the door and got out, feeling that running a short distance in the rain wouldn't matter much.

He planned to check the convenience store at the entrance for an umbrella, but when he reached the store, he saw the rolling shutter door pulled down with a white piece of paper pasted on it, which read: Family matters, temporarily closed.

With no other choice, Lu Anzhi had to enter the compound first and run through the rain toward Zhang Suxin's apartment.

He had visited frequently during this period, and the security guards at the compound already recognized him, so they let him in casually. He ran all the way to the foot of Zhang Suxin's building; his clothes were slightly damp, but still within acceptable limits.

Taking the elevator up and knocking on Zhang Suxin's door, Lu Anzhi immediately heard Qianqian's voice inside.

"Daddy!"

The little one called out, and amid a flurry of pattering footsteps, her calls of "Daddy, Daddy" grew closer and soon reached the back of the door.

"Click—"

As the door opened, Lu Anzhi saw the little one doing her familiar routine of holding the door frame, touching the doorknob, and standing on tiptoe, looking up from the gap in the door and smiling at him.

Lu Anzhi patted Qianqian's little head without picking up the little girl as he usually did. His clothes were wet, and he was afraid of getting the little one wet too.

Entering the house and changing into slippers, Qianqian suddenly put her hands on her hips in front of him and said angrily, "Stinky Daddy, you didn't even know to bring an umbrella!"

Lu Anzhi was stunned, not expecting the little one to be able to say such a caring remark in that tone.

Zhang Suxin had just emerged from the kitchen, and Lu Anzhi turned to look at her, asking, "Did you teach her that?"

"What?"

Zhang Suxin didn't catch it at first. She had been cooking breakfast in the kitchen with the range hood running, so she hadn't heard Qianqian speak. Seeing the state of Lu Anzhi's clothes, she said, "Why are you soaked like this? Didn't you bring an umbrella?"

Lu Anzhi said, "It wasn't raining when I left, so I didn't bring one. When I got to the entrance of your compound and wanted to buy an umbrella, I found the convenience store closed, so I had no choice but to run through the rain."

Zhang Suxin gave Lu Anzhi a sideways glance and complained, "The convenience store outside doesn't sell umbrellas even when it's open. I told you yesterday that it's going to keep raining these few days and asked you to bring an umbrella, but you just wouldn't listen."

Qianqian chimed in with her own complaint, "Stinky Daddy, just wouldn't listen!"

Lu Anzhi smiled and said, "It's no big deal, just got a bit wet. It's fine. This little girl was just lecturing me, saying 'Stinky Daddy, you didn't even know to bring an umbrella,' and now she's repeating after you with 'Stinky Daddy, just wouldn't listen.' It seems she definitely learned this from you."

Zhang Suxin said, "Qianqian was nagging about it first thing in the morning—whether Daddy was coming, whether Daddy brought an umbrella, whether Daddy had an umbrella. She cares about it much more clearly than you do! I specifically reminded you last night, yet you still didn't know to bring an umbrella! You wait here!" With that, she turned and walked into the bedroom.