Gu Xinzhou ate a whole lion's head meatball and then drank a bowl of crucian carp soup.
She squinted her eyes in satisfaction.
She looked like a contented little baby.
Only then did she look at Lan Baozhen and explain the day's events.
Upon hearing this, Lan's eyes went wide.
Gu Xinzhou could tell from her reaction that she had only just found out!
Bowing her head, she silently ate her food, giving her grandmother time to digest the news.
Gu Xinzhou ate two bowls of rice and drank three bowls of soup. Such simple delights, she hadn't tasted in many years.
Amazingly, after sharing her deepest secrets with her closest kin, she felt much lighter.
Looking up again, she noticed that Lan Baozhen had hardly eaten.
Gu Xinzhou cheerfully said, "Grandma, don't worry about me."
But Lan Baozhen bowed her head and wiped her tears.
She got up to clear the table, avoiding Gu Xinzhou's gaze as she did so.
Her series of actions revealed feelings of hesitation and helpless entanglement.
Gu Xinzhou watched her, feeling that something was amiss.
She got up to help, only to be quietly scolded by Lan Baozhen, "Don't bother!"
Gu Xinzhou wouldn't listen and insisted on carrying plates.
She even rushed to the kitchen ahead of Lan Baozhen.
Behind her, Lan Baozhen's voice carried a complaint: "You child, why don't you understand? I told you not to bother. I can manage."
Gu Xinzhou's face was filled with a smile.
She felt that her grandmother's nagging was like McDull's, the sweetest song in the world.
She snatched the apron and put it on, grabbed the gloves, put them on, and stood at the sink to wash dishes and pots.
She hummed a song her grandfather used to hum to her when she was a child.
Lan Baozhen had grown old.
She couldn't outpace her, nor scold her effectively, and didn't have the heart to hit her.
The only option was to stand not too far away, watching with a heavy heart as the young girl expertly moved around, and sadly ask, "Zhouzhou, did you cook for yourself in Italy?"
Gu Xinzhou turned to her grandmother and smiled sweetly, "Yes!
I couldn't get used to foreign food, so I cooked for myself.
But, I didn't cook much."
She mostly cooked baby food for McDull, while for herself, she preferred convenience.
Sometimes Cassie couldn't bear it and would take them, mother and son, directly to a restaurant so that Gu Xinzhou could eat better.
Now thinking about it, her gastric ulcers must have developed from that.
Lan Baozhen always stood behind her granddaughter, accompanying her.
The more she watched, the more she thought the granddaughter resembled her own daughter.
Everything in the kitchen was tidied up properly.
The grandmother and granddaughter sat on the sofa watching TV.
Gu Xinzhou lay on the sofa like she used to as a child, resting her head on her grandmother's legs.
And Lan Baozhen, holding an earpick, carefully cleaned Gu Xinzhou's ears.
Gu Xinzhou smiled, comfortably closing her eyes, "Grandma, I'm thinking of moving you to City B."
She had already thought it through.
Even if she didn't live with Song Zhen, Gu Yibo would buy another house anyway.
And even if she didn't live with Gu Yibo, the money she had saved was enough to buy a decent apartment.
Moreover, she didn't want to always bother Cassie.
Going back to Italy to bring McDull back was something she needed to do soon.
She just wasn't sure if her grandmother would explode upon learning about McDull?
After all, Fang Lingwei had gotten pregnant before marriage.
And Lan Baozhen was also hesitating about whether to tell Gu Xinzhou about Fang Lingwei's situation.
She really hadn't expected Gu Yibo's marriage to be like that.
She was once angry at him for leading on her daughter despite having a family.
But her daughter's role in breaking up a marriage was also at fault.
Over the years, Gu Yibo had been fulfilling his filial duties, consistently for seventeen years without fail.
Lan Baozhen, despite having a heart of stone, had long forgiven him.