Jiang Qingqing also noticed, and the two walked forward to pick out hats.
The boss was a middle-aged woman, very good at dealing with people. A glance told her they were a couple, and she immediately said, "You're a couple, aren't you! You're so well-matched, the man tall and handsome, the woman beautiful and lovely, truly a match made in heaven."
"..."
The middle-aged woman's words made Jiang Qingqing blush and her heart race, her big eyes constantly scanning her husband.
Hearing this, Zhang Liunian cast a look of approval at the woman before turning to his wife. Seeing her so happy she could float, he smiled too.
"Liunian, which one looks good on me?" After her shyness subsided, Jiang Qingqing became indecisive about which hat to choose.
"Both look good, let's buy both, and pick one for Huabao and Xiaomei too," Zhang Liunian said, unable to choose and opting to buy them all.
"But, it's too wasteful." Jiang Qingqing had always been a thrifty woman who managed their finances carefully. Buying two hats felt like a real waste to her.
"What's for you is not a waste. Let's not dwell on this and pick one for Huabao and Xiaomei as well!" Zhang Liunian reached out and stroked her hair, coaxing her into accepting the decision to buy two hats.
Seeing him like this, Jiang Qingqing sighed inwardly, vowing never to fuss over choosing again.
After buying the hats, the two left.
Upon returning to their doorstep, they heard their daughter crying loudly. Zhang Liunian grew anxious, turning to his wife and saying, "Qingqing, don't worry, I'll go see."
After parking the bicycle, he rushed into the house, only to see Huabao crying her heart out while holding Zhang Xiaomei.
"Daddy," Huabao, upon seeing Zhang Liunian, opened her arms for a hug.
Zhang Liunian, filled with concern, quickly picked up his daughter and asked, "Huabao, what's wrong?"
"Mommy, Mommy is gone." Huabao had started crying hysterically when she returned home and found Jiang Qingqing missing.
Zhang Xiaomei, suppressing a laugh, explained, "Huabao wanted to come back to find Mommy. We didn't see Third Sister-in-law when we came in, so she cried."
Zhang Liunian felt awkward. He had been too worried about his wife to tell Xiaomei about going to the hospital, and he hadn't expected it to scare their daughter so much.
"Huabao, don't cry, Mommy went to buy you a hat!" Jiang Qingqing, who had just entered the house and understood the situation, immediately took out the small hat she had bought for her daughter to appease her.
Seeing her mother back and hearing that she had gone to buy her a hat, Huabao finally stopped crying and smiled.
"Mommy, you should take Huabao with you when you buy hats in the future. Huabao will be very well-behaved and won't run around." In Huabao's mind, she and her mother were inseparable.
This sudden separation had frightened her, leaving her afraid that her mother might disappear.
Jiang Qingqing also realized how dependent her daughter was. She reached out and stroked her head, replying, "I promise, Huabao, Mommy will take you wherever she goes from now on."
"Huabao remembers."
"Okay, then Mommy will help you put on your hat now." Jiang Qingqing then helped her daughter put on the hat.
Huabao preened and looked at Zhang Liunian, "Daddy, do I look good, Huabao?"
"You look great, my Huabao is the most beautiful daughter," Zhang Liunian kissed her cheek, praising her.
Huabao hugged Zhang Liunian's neck tightly, smiling innocently.
Zhang Liunian knew she was still unsettled and didn't let go of her.
Just then, a sputtering sound was heard. Zhang Liunian remembered his ordered bricks and walked to the yard gate holding his daughter. He looked up and saw Du Ziteng standing by the tractor, a blade of grass in his mouth.
"Yo, Liunian!" Du Ziteng immediately spat out the grass upon seeing Zhang Liunian and jumped down to greet him.
Zhang Liunian was speechless, "Why are you here?" Also, they had only met in this lifetime; there was no need to act so familiar.
"Aren't we friends? Of course, I came to see you!"
As Du Ziteng spoke, he noticed Huabao in Zhang Liunian's arms, his eyes lighting up. "This must be my little niece! Come here, uncle will give you some candy."
Huabao looked at the candy offered to her but, unlike before, wasn't tempted. Instead, she said seriously, "We have candy at home."
"This is different, this is special candy from your uncle." Du Ziteng was thick-skinned and wouldn't feel embarrassed. He then directly put the candy into Huabao's hand.
Huabao, seeing a candy suddenly appear in her hand, turned to Zhang Liunian, "Daddy, can Huabao accept his candy?"
Zhang Liunian raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips, "Do you want to eat it, Huabao?"
Huabao shook her head, "We have it at home."
"Then why are you asking Daddy?" Zhang Liunian hadn't let their household run out of candy these days, and Huabao had no need for it.
"This uncle wants to give it to me, and if I give it back, will he lose face?"
"..." Was this something a five-year-old child should consider? Besides, even if the whole world cared about saving face, Du Ziteng was hardly one of them.
"If you don't want something, you must learn to refuse. Do you understand, Huabao?"
Zhang Liunian began to teach his daughter to refuse and not be overly accommodating.
His daughter, Zhang Liunian, didn't need to please others; she just needed to be who she wanted to be.
"Here you go, we have candy at home." Huabao, half-understanding, then tossed the candy in her hand onto Du Ziteng, her earlier docility gone.
"Hahaha, my niece is too cute, Uncle likes you very much."
Du Ziteng caught the candy and stepped forward playfully, reaching out to pinch Huabao's face.
Zhang Liunian smoothly dodged, warning him, "Stay away from my Huabao."
He was afraid his daughter might pick up bad habits from this shameless fellow who wouldn't consider anything.
"Protecting her from a wolf? I don't want to be your son-in-law, ah!" "Bang!" Before Du Ziteng could finish his sentence, he was kicked away by Zhang Liunian.
Huabao, seeing this, clapped her hands with sparkling eyes, "Daddy is so amazing, so amazing."
Zhang Liunian rubbed his daughter's little head and then, along with the tractor drivers, headed for Daming Lake.
"Just put the bricks here." Zhang Liunian, holding his daughter, arrived by Daming Lake.
The tractor drivers exchanged glances and then complied.
They didn't quite understand why someone would build a house here.
While they didn't ask, Du Ziteng was uninhibited. He glanced at the seemingly endless Daming Lake and asked, "Are you building your house here to be a lake guardian?"
Zhang Liunian ignored him, continuing to watch them work.
Seeing that he wasn't answering, Du Ziteng quickly struck up a conversation with an honest-looking uncle on the construction site and, within a few sentences, learned why Zhang Liunian wanted to build a house here.
"You're really good to your elder brother, paying him to guard the lake and helping him build a house.
But you've actually leased Daming Lake? You're quite the wealthy person!" Du Ziteng sidled up to Zhang Liunian and teased.
"You should be going back." Zhang Liunian still had lobsters to deliver and turned to go home, completely ignoring Du Ziteng.
Du Ziteng wasn't discouraged. He jumped onto the tractor, lay down, and stared at the sky, singing a song that no one could understand.
Hearing the strange singing, Huabao suddenly spoke, "Daddy, that uncle is very strange."
Zhang Liunian looked at the uncomprehending light flickering in his daughter's clear, black-and-white eyes and inwardly cursed Du Ziteng, the troublemaker, for making his precious daughter curious. It was infuriating.