In his last life, Le Yao had often heard the elderly say, 'There is no need to worry about the growth of children.' But at that time, he had no children and had no particular feelings towards them.
But now, it was no longer the same. He had three children, and as time passed, he increasingly felt that the saying was right.
In the blink of an eye, his children had passed the mark of being a full month old. In another blink of an eye, they were half a year old, then a whole year old, and then a year and a half, and now they had started to run around everywhere.
The children of other families started to walk steadily only when they were one year old. At the same age, their children could already run on their little legs. When they reached one and a half years of age, other similarly aged children almost couldn't catch up with their physical strength.
But all in all, they were more likely to cause trouble.
There were no household appliances in the family that Xu Yao hadn't disassembled and repaired. Also, rice and seasonings were things that Le Yao had to constantly hide away from their reach. But just when they thought that this stage would soon be over, they realised that it had been a big mistake to even consider such an easy future.
One day, early in the morning, Le Yao had only just woken up, yet the chaos had already started again.
"Lele Lele! Mama!" Xu Li shouted from the bathroom, "Big brother toys, throw, in the bucket!"
"Here it comes!" Before Le Yao got up, he covered his eyes with his hand.
"I'm coming!" He quickly responded as he sat up with his still messy hair and got out of bed to see what was going on.
"Lele!" said Xu Li, "Ugh, toys stink!"
"…Who did it?" Le Yao looked at the Lego pieces in the toilet and felt pain begin to throb behind his temples.
He suddenly regretted the upgrade Yan Jie was giving Leslie, because it was due to this that Leslie was not currently at home. Uncle Ming and the guards would help watch the children during the day, but they didn't usually head over to the house until he had woken up.
And now, these small ones were using this time to make trouble!
Xu Li pointed to Xu Wei. "Second brother."
Xu Wei felt a little guilty, so he just stood there with his round belly showing. "I just wash it there!"
Le Yao reined his anger in and smiled. "Little boy, are you joking with me? This is the place where you poop. If you want to wash, why wash it in there? Did you not think about how stinky it will become?"
Xu Wei sniffed, and then sniffed again carefully before he spoke in a milky voice, "Not stinky, fragrant."
Le Yao was dumbfounded.
"…" So it's my fault for putting some spices into the toilet to get rid of the bad smell?!
Xu Wei stared at him and felt guiltier. "When my milk-spilled milk, I remember, hands not washed, sticky. Washing, where?"
Le Yao turned to look at the new faucet and sighed, "Isn't it because you almost flooded the house last time? Otherwise, Dad wouldn't have changed the faucet into a smart one." Le Yao then added, "By the way, where's your big brother?"
Xu Li shook her head and said, "I don't know."
Xu Wei nodded heavily in agreement. "He's lost!"
Le Yao: "…"
It was near impossible for him to be lost. There were so many people in the division, and the guards were not few in number either. So logically, he shouldn't be able to just disappear, that too without any reason. At most, he probably just ran out to play.
Le Yao walked outside to take a look. As expected, his eldest son had gone to play in the yard of their neighbor's house, and of course that was Yan Jie's house.
At that moment, Xu Hang was hanging on the edge of a smart crib, looking at his little brother.
Yan Jie's child was still less than a hundred days old, but there was no problem bringing him out to bask in the sun. The little guy was an Alpha boy. Xu Hang was very interested in this small new life. If he had nothing to do, he would always go and visit him.
"Later, when Uncle is busy, can Hanghang help me watch over him?" asked Yan Jie, smiling.
"Yes!" exclaimed Xu Hang as his tender finger touched Yang Yirui's little face. "My brother is so cute."
"Cute?" Yan Jie asked with a smile. "You were also very cute when you were little."
"Hanghang, don't run around. I'm going to clean up the house." Le Yao looked at the two of them for a while before smiling and saying, "Brother Yan, thank you for watching him."
"It's not hard, Hanghang is quite reliable." Yan Jie gave a thumbs up to Hanghang, to which the latter immediately straightened up and puffed out his small chest!
Le Yao and Yan Jie thought it was rather funny as they watched his cute actions. After laughing, Le Yao looked at the time and asked, "By the way, have you already eaten breakfast? If not, would you like to have some together later?"
Yan Jie indeed hadn't eaten yet and accepted his offer. "Okay."
After the birth of the baby, Yan Jie had done some thinking. After much consideration, he finally decided to take care of the child by himself. But as he still had work to do, he was usually busy.
He couldn't cook, so he would either go to the cafeteria, or ask the intelligent chef to make some simple dishes. But sometimes, he would forget about these details when he was busy, like this morning. In such cases, and if he happened to remember, he would eat something simple, or just wait until noon for lunch.
It took Le Yao the same amount of effort to make four or five portions, so he directly included Yan Jie's share while cooking. Recently, Xu Yao had gone on an inspection, so he was not at home. Yang Hengtian also went back to Tarot for a period, otherwise he would be the one eating together with Yan Jie most of the time.
A group of senior officials in the division had discussed and finally decided to set up a school in Huaxia. This meant that, in the future, the children would not have to go to Tarot for schooling, thereby making it much more convenient. In addition, it was more appropriate for the families that were considering joining the army. The extra facility would also help reduce their worries of relocating to Huaxia, especially for those who had young children or were ready to have children.
After the start of Huaxia's second reconstruction project, the facilities had become more and more perfect. As early as three months ago, some families had already submitted their applications to join the army. A family residential area had been built in the living quarters, and even Le Yao and Yan Jie had moved from their homes to this residential area. Not only did this area have intelligent assistants, it was also safer and more convenient for families, than the former living area.
When the other families arrived, they immediately joined their relevant teams and busied themselves with work. The parents couldn't watch their children full-time or stay at home every day, hence the family residential area was very popular. Some of them were doctors, who were transferred to the hospital to work; some were teachers, who were just waiting for the establishment procedures of the school to finalize so that they could start teaching the children. There was also no lack of graphic designers, and people in need of one could easily make an appointment in advance.
From a familiar place to somewhere new, it was inevitable that many people were strangers, but the people that they missed the most resided here with them, so they were willing to make some changes in order to be together.
"I heard that Brother Yang's younger brother and his girlfriend are going to come to our division?" Le Yao asked Yan Jie at dinner.
"Well, yes, I've applied for his transfer with my superiors several times." Yan Jie said, "It has finally been approved. It is possible they will come with Hengtian this time."
"So, your parents-in-law and their youngest son will be staying on Tarot? Or will they also come?" If Le Yao remembered correctly, it seemed that the old couple also wanted to move to Huaxia. Although Tarot was better in various aspects when compared to Huaxia, their grandchild wasn't there.
"They must have wanted to come. But for now, it's no use thinking about it." Yan Jie said with a smile, "We can't arrange all the details of our work. At the moment, Hengtian is busy here most of the time, but the Yang Company's Headquarters are still in Xingdu. If they come here, there will be no one left to take care of the company. But the old couple also said that they would come to visit their grandson every month, as long as there were no urgent matters in the future."
The old couple had thought about it. It didn't matter if their first grandson or granddaughter was a Beta. In any case, no matter what gender they were, they were all good children of their own. It was enough to just raise them well.
No one would have expected that Yan Jie was so powerful that he drew the one out of a thousandth chance, and gave birth to an Alpha instead of a Beta, one who perfectly inherited his father's genes, making the old couple very joyful.
Now, the old couple were adamant on having a video call with their grandchild every night.
"They really do love their grandson very much." Le Yao said, "Our parents-in-law are the same. If they could, there's almost no doubt that they would be willing to pluck the stars and the moon just for the children to play with."
"Children are very good. Especially when sleeping, they're really too cute." Yan Jie squeezed his son's small hand and continued, "How soft it is."
"Uncle, don't squeeze. My brother is sleeping," Hanghang whispered from next to him. As he spoke, he patted Yan Jie's hand and took it away.
"Little devil." Yan Jie turned to pinch Hanghang's face. "How can you be this considerate?"
"Dad said." Hanghang seriously said, "Dad didn't like Mama squeezing."
Yan Jie: "…"
Le Yao: "…"
This foolish brat…
Hanghang was still lacking in EQ so he simply said whatever he knew.
Le Yao couldn't help but cover his face and laugh. He coughed a few times as he gagged a little. However, as it was probably a normal reaction after such a long laugh, so Yan Jie and Le Yao didn't take it seriously and it passed just like that.
Two days later, Xu Yao came back home, and the three little buns rushed to him together.
"Dad, Dad, Dad!" The three of them kept shouting.
Xu Yao encircled the three children within his arms and kissed them one by one. "Well, did my children help me take good care of Mama these days while I was away from home?"
Hanghang said, "Yes!"
"Must be!" said Xu Wei.
Xu Li: "…"
Xu Yao didn't hear his daughter's voice and asked with a smile, "Why doesn't our little princess speak?"
"Father, brothers lie," said Xu Li.
Xu Yao uttered an "Oh?"
Xu Li said, "Big brother always with Ruirui, Second brother makes trouble."
Xu Hang and Xu Wei suddenly looked elsewhere, their small eyes seeming to say: We were born together, why are you bothering others like this!
They didn't dare to look at Xu Yao. When Xu Yao saw his sons' evasive reaction, he knew what was going on. He asked his daughter, "How about Lele?"
"Tired. Sleep sleep," said Xu Li.
Le Yao seldom slept during the daytime after having children, but it might be because Leslie had since been sent back after being upgraded by Yan Jie. He was more than relieved to leave the children to their own devices, so he slept very well.
Xu Yao headed into the bedroom and saw his wife in bed. His footsteps were very light. He sat beside the bed, and even knowing that Le Yao would not get sick easily, he still checked his forehead. No fever. Then he stroked his head lovingly.
Smelling the familiar scent, Le Yao slowly opened his eyes and grabbed the hand that was caressing him.
"You're back?"
Xu Yao bent over and kissed the man who smiled as soon as he saw him. "I just arrived. Have you not been resting well these days?"
"Just a little bit tired," said Le Yao. "Maybe it's because it's spring. It's getting warmer and warmer these days and I always just want to sleep."
"Then you continue sleeping. I'll take a bath first, then accompany you to sleep," said Xu Yao.
Le Yao nodded and then noticed the item on the bedside table. It was a small square box, the size of a paper drawer box, and he was sure that it hadn't been there before he had gone to bed.
He asked casually, "What is that?"
Xu Yao said, "It's for you. Open it."
Every time Xu Yao went out, he would bring something back for Le Yao. Sometimes it would be a local specialty fruit or a precious stone. In a word, it was not necessarily expensive, but it was filled with love.
Le Yao especially liked to open gifts. However, this time, when the box was opened, he found that there was a bottle of liquid with some small shapes floating within. The bottle was the kind that came with a screwed cap, and after Le Yao opened it, he almost tumbled off the bed.
"Husband! What kind of stinky thing is this?" Le Yao almost vomited, so he covered his nose and thrusted the bottle away.
"Stink?" Xu Yao had just taken off his coat and returned from the bathroom. "How can it stink? It smells good. Didn't you say that you liked the fragrance that we used in our Xingdu house? You said that it had a special fragrance. This is it."
"Is it?" Le Yao looked at the lilac fruits inside the bottle with a hint of disgust. "I think maybe I smelled too much of it."
"Really?" Xu Yao opened the lid. "Do you want to smell it again?"
"Urgh!" Le Yao ran to the bathroom before his words had finished, and vomited.
Xu Yao: "…"
Xu Yao stood silently while still holding the bottle for a while. He put his clothes on again, and then took Le Yao to visit President Liu.
After reading the examination report, President Liu said with a smile, "Congratulations to the General and your wife, you have two more children on the way."
"Two? Why not one?"
President Liu said, "If it decreases in sequence, then next time you should be having only one."
Le Yao: "…" Who wants so many!
This was completely unplanned.
On their way back, Le Yao poked Xu Yao with his elbow. "Hey, didn't you say that you would pay attention?"
"I did pay attention to it," said Xu Yao as he spread his hands out in a helpless manner.
Le Yao showed a painful expression.
Surprisingly, their children were very happy to know that they were going to have younger siblings. Especially Xu Wei and Xu Li.
Xu Li was the only girl and she could express her happiness better. She raised her little fingers and said, "Two brothers or sisters, one for Second Brother, one for me."
"What about your Big brother?" asked Xu Yao.
"Big brother has Ruirui," said Xu Li.
Xu Hang nodded. "Mm-hmm, I don't want to rob."
Le Yao suddenly said, "Hmm, I forget who it was occupying Ruirui for himself, wouldn't even let anyone else touch him."
Xu Hang pretended to not understand and suddenly entered the play. He hugged Le Yao's thigh and said happily, "Wow! Our Lele is so awesome!"
Le Yao shook his leg. "Go to the side."
Xu Hang slowly fell onto the playing mat and giggled. He sat up and said, "Dad, Mama, I'm going to go and see Ruirui."
"Go ahead, don't run too fast," said Le Yao.
Xu Hang waved his hands and ran out of the house.
Seeing this, Xu Yao smiled and said, "Isn't this guy too kind and too interested in Ruirui? Will he find us an Alpha daughter-in-law?"
Le Yao also smiled. "Who knows, I can't even divine their marriage. But that's also good. Only surprise can make our life richer. Let it develop naturally."
If everything could be predicted in advance, although some things couldn't be prevented, life would become less fun. Like Xu Yao, the triplets, as well as the two new children inside his stomach, they were all unexpected surprises.
He hadn't expected for these things to happen to him in advance, but it was all good.
Very good.
…