Sensible Reason

“How long do you want me to stay?”

Jiang Danhe did not answer her but asked her instead.

“Hmm…” Xiaoguo hummed for a long time but did not speak. “You can stay as long as you possibly can.”

In the end, she gave a reply, acting nonchalant about it.

“… Xiaoguo.”

“Huh?” Xiaoguo turned around and could only see half of Jiang Danhe’s face.

“Do you prefer to have me at home or in the capital?”

It seemed that the two of them had never discussed this matter openly face-to-face. Although this was brought up in the letter before, they did not see each other in person, so it was impossible to tell what the other person’s expression was.

Xiaoguo chuckled. “The rational part of me wants you to stay in the capital while the emotional side wants you to stay at home.”

She was being honest and said whatever was on her mind.

“What do you mean by rational and emotional?”

Jiang Danhe wanted to hear her true thoughts.

“If you stay in the capital, you can do what you like and continue to shine. Moreover, absence makes the heart grow fonder, so it will also reduce minor conflicts between us. But if you come home, to be honest, I will feel very at ease. I will no longer be the only one holding up all the responsibilities at home. There is at least someone I can rely on.”

When Jiang Danhe heard the last part, he felt that it was more important to stay by his family’s side.

“However, the two options are not in conflict. Previously, you had to risk your life to stay in the capital. Under that situation, I would have let you come back without hesitation. But now you get to do the job you like and at the same time, your safety is ensured. There’s no reason to hesitate at all.”

With that, Xiaoguo patted him gently. “Besides, you can come back often and it’s still too early to think about retirement. It’s not like you cannot come back till you’re very old.”

Jiang Danhe nodded thoughtfully. “Then I’ll come back once a month and stay for seven days each time.”

“Don’t!” Xiaoguo stopped him with a smile. “That’s too troublesome. You can just come back once every two to three months.”

If he came back once a month, the traveling time would take five days. He would stay for seven days, and it would take another five days to travel back. That would be a total of seventeen days, which means that he would be away from work for at least half the month. Shao Zhan would definitely not agree to it. Besides, there was nothing much for him to do at home.

Xiaoguo did not expect Jiang Danhe, who looked quite rational, to be so emotional.

After talking for a long time, Xiaoguo finally persuaded him to give up on his plan to come back once a month. He reluctantly decided to return home once every two months.

When they arrived at Teacher Kong’s house, Jiang Danhe got off the horse first and carefully carried Xiaoguo down.

After Xiaoguo came down, she quickly knocked on the door. If Zhuang Zhuang saw that Jiang Danhe had returned, he would probably scream.

At the thought of this, she knocked another two times

“Coming.”

Mrs. Kong walked out of the house. Without having to ask, she knew that it was Xiaoguo. This was mainly because they hardly had any visitors. The two of them mostly kept a low profile and no one knew their identities. The only people they kept in contact with were Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoguo.

“Zhuang Zhuang was just talking about you,” Mrs. Kong said as she opened the door.

“Mrs. Kong.”

As soon as she opened the door, Jiang Danhe greeted her.

“Oh, you’re back!”

Mrs. Kong was very excited to see Jiang Danhe. She enthusiastically held their hands and walked into the house. She even took the opportunity to touch Jiang Danhe’s hand.

Xiaoguo glanced at Jiang Danhe. “So his face was well-liked by people of all ages? That was really quite amazing!”

Jiang Danhe felt very helpless. Facing Xiaoguo’s puzzled gaze, he shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn’t understand.

“Wait a moment. I’ll call them. Sigh, forget it. Come with me. Danhe hasn’t seen Zhuang Zhuang in class yet, right?”

Mrs. Kong led the two of them towards the study.

Before they got close, they could hear Zhuang Zhuang reading aloud.

Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe couldn’t hide the joy on their faces. They quickly walked to the window of the study and gently opened a crack to look in.

In the study, Mr. Kong was sitting in an armchair, while Zhuang Zhuang was sitting in front of his custom-made desk. He was sitting with an erect posture, and was reciting poetry scriptures with a nodding head.

Xiaoguo had basically seen this many times, but this was the first time Jiang Danhe was witnessing it. The joy in his heart could not be expressed in words. He could only look at Zhuang Zhuang carefully, trying to memorize this scene.

If being a husband was the first joyous event in his life, then being a father for the first time was the second most joyous event that has happened to him. Then, the third most joyous event was Zhuang Zhuang’s admission to school.

At this moment, he was extremely satisfied. He hugged Xiaoguo tightly and looked at Zhuang Zhuang happily.

Mrs. Kong was about to knock on the door when Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe stopped her.

“Forget it, Auntie. Let them continue.”

After Xiaoguo finished speaking, Jiang Danhe nodded in agreement and decided not to interrupt them.

“Alright. Stay here for lunch! Don’t refuse me!”

After saying that, Mrs. Kong looked at the two of them seriously.

Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe looked at each other and laughed. “We didn’t intend to leave in the first place.”

As she spoke, Xiaoguo revealed the pig head meat in her hand. “Auntie, I’ll cook for us.”

“That’s great!” When Mrs. Kong heard this, she was overjoyed. Xiaoguo’s cooking was really superb. “We’re all in for a treat today!”

With that, she smiled and brought Xiaoguo to the kitchen, leaving Jiang Danhe alone.

Looking at the energetic Mrs. Kong, Jiang Danhe chuckled. Then, he secretly stood in front of the window and looked at Zhuang Zhuang through the gap in the window. The smile on his face could not be concealed.

Xiaoguo followed Mrs. Kong to the kitchen and found a basin of noodles. “Auntie, what are you planning to do with this?”

“We were going to have noodles. Both of them were clamoring for noodles, but I don’t know what soup base to prepare yet.”

There was enough dough. Xiaoguo looked around the house. There were a bunch of leeks, half a basin of soybeans, and a few cucumbers.

“Why don’t we stir-fry some chives and soybeans? Do we still have sauce at home?”

“There’s sauce!”

“That’s good. How about I stir-fry some chives and soybeans, mince some pork, and fry it in sauce? Then, I can cut some cucumbers and make a cold dish out of the pig’s head meat?”

“Sure!” Now that Mrs. Kong had Xiaoguo, she could just assist her on the side. It had been a long time since she had tasted Xiaoguo’s cooking. She really missed it.

The few of them were not people who enjoyed following formalities. Mr. and Mrs. Kong really treated Xiaoguo and Zhuang Zhuang as family, so they did not treat them like guests and prepared a large feast for them. Instead, they prepared home-cooked dishes for them, like how they would do with their family.

The two of them worked in full swing. Just as Mr. Kong was done with class, the food was served.

Mr. Kong was walking in front, and Zhuang Zhuang was right behind him. Suddenly, Mr. Kong stopped without any warning. Zhuang Zhuang did not manage to stop in time and bumped right into him. Fortunately, the impact was not strong, otherwise, he would have knocked Mr. Kong over.

“The general is back?”

“Teacher, just call me Danhe.”

Zhuang Zhuang heard a familiar voice, so he ran to the front and saw Jiang Danhe. “Father!”

“Zhuang Zhuang!” Jiang Danhe bent down and picked him up. It had been a long time since he was carried by his father. Zhuang Zhuang was on the verge of tears.

He hung around with Jiang Danhe for some time. Later on, he heard that his mother was also here and was cooking in the kitchen. Without another word, he jumped down and ran away to look for his mother.

Jiang Danhe looked helplessly at Zhuang Zhuang, who had escaped his embrace and was running away faster than a rabbit. His true feelings just now had been misplaced.

Jiang Danhe retracted his gaze and bowed solemnly to Mr. Kong.

“Hey, General, there’s no need for you to do this.”

Mr. Kong quickly grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up.

However, Jiang Danhe still bowed seriously before getting up. “Thank you for spending so much time on Zhuang Zhuang.”

“Not at all, I like Zhuang Zhuang very much. I am so happy to have such a talented disciple.” Mr. Kong waved his hand while he spoke. Actually, he should be the one expressing his gratitude instead. To be given such a good seedling like Zhuang Zhuang, he was smiling even in his sleep.

The two of them exchanged a few more pleasantries before Jiang Danhe handed over the gift in his hand.