Chapter 195

Old Pei knew that they were coming back, and had been lingering around the door these past few days.

The weather in Jin City was clear and sunny. As soon as they got to a place not far from home, Old Pei came over to greet them.

"Dad." ZhiXia called out at once.

"Oh, it's good you're back. You must be exhausted from the trip, hurry home and rest." Old Pei looked at her protruding belly and felt it was rather frightening, always feeling it was bigger than most women's when they were close to giving birth.

But then again, this was triplets after all, not something ordinary pregnant women could compare to.

"ZhiQing, you should also go home and rest your feet. ZhiXia, don't think about going to your paternal grandparents' right now. I'll go tell them you're back, you should rest if you need to rest, don't worry about anything else." Old Pei was afraid she would feel it inappropriate not to go see Grandpa An, and force herself to go even if she wasn't feeling well.

Right now, nothing was more important than her belly, no one would pick on her for this.

ZhiXia really was extremely tired from the trip, so she didn't insist, "Then please help me inform them, Dad. I really am worn out, I'll go see them after I rest a bit."

"You go on ahead." Old Pei urged her, then turned to look at the two children hiding behind ZhiXia, "These must be ChenYe and WanQing, oh my, my two little grandchildren have grown so big. I'm your grandfather, last time you came back I was still carrying you around to play..."

Pei ChenYe walked out from behind and politely called out, "Grandpa."

"Oh oh, what a good child." Old Pei praised.

WanQing may usually be boisterous, like a little firecracker, but right now she was hiding behind her brother, not daring to show her face.

ZhiXia pulled her out and introduced them again. Old Pei was overjoyed, even though she was shy. ZhiQing sent ZhiXia and the two children back to the Pei house. The room had already been tidied up. ZhiXia sat exhaustedly on the bed, not wanting to move an inch.

ZhiQing brought their luggage into the room, "You rest at home, I'll bring them to see Grandpa and Grandma An, it'll also keep this little devil from pestering you."

ZhiXia asked her daughter, "WanQing, do you and your brother want to go with Uncle to see Grandma and Grandpa An?"

"Okay, mom you rest well at home, I'll go play for a bit then come back." Pei WanQing looked at her brother, then her uncle, before going to hold ChenYe's hand.

Watching their retreating backs, ZhiXia smiled warmly.

Children may be naughty at times, but they're your own flesh and blood, you can't help but find them cute no matter what. And they're always so thoughtful at critical moments.

ZhiXia closed the door to her room, took out a Frost Crystal fruit from her space to eat. The fist-sized fruit made her fatigue slowly fade away.

She took off her thick padded coat, making her belly look even more protruding and round.

She carefully laid down and pulled up the quilt to cover herself, before closing her eyes to rest. Very soon, she fell asleep.

When she awoke from her slumber, the sky was already dark.

ZhiXia opened her eyes. Not seeing the two children in the room, she figured they probably hadn't come back yet.

She got up and went out. Sister Zhang was washing vegetables in the yard. Seeing her, she smiled and greeted, "ZhiXia's awake. The two kids are still at Grandma An's place having fun. Old Pei hasn't come back either. This afternoon, WenQing brought them to play with firecrackers for a long time, they really enjoyed themselves without making any fuss."

"That's good if they didn't kick up a fuss. I'll go take a look next door then." ZhiXia also smiled as she replied, then headed out.

As soon as she stepped out, she saw the three elders all at the door, as well as second and third brother Pei Jianguo. WenQing was running around with the two little ones, followed by a group of neighborhood children.

"Mom... Mom..." WanQing was running forward, turned around and saw ZhiXia, immediately changed directions and ran over.

Afraid she would thoughtlessly throw herself at ZhiXia and hurt her, Grandpa quickly called out to stop her. Luckily the little girl had been repeatedly reminded by Pei Jing when they were still in the army to be gentle with her currently fragile mother. Seeing there was still some distance when she got to ZhiXia, she stopped herself and carefully walked the rest of the way to hold ZhiXia's hand. Her other little hand gently touched her belly, "Little brothers, your big sister was very well-behaved today, were you well-behaved too?"

"Oh? Our WanQing is so well-behaved today." ZhiXia also couldn't carry her, only able to stroke her little face with her hand, "How do you know they're all little brothers in my tummy, what if there's a little sister too?"

"Then I'll give her all the little skirts mom made." WanQing cunningly thought to herself, that way she wouldn't have to wear little skirts anymore.

Although the little skirts were very pretty, they weren't convenient for running around and playing in, and she'd get scolded if they got dirty. She knew exactly what her daughter was thinking.

ZhiXia helplessly poked the girl's forehead, "You little monkey, just because you think you're so clever."

ChenYe had also come to ZhiXia's side. The young boy didn't talk much, giving off a steady feeling somehow, and you could vaguely see Pei Jing's shadow in him.

With the two children here, everyone looked over at ZhiXia, all talking at the same time as they gathered around.

Eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law walked out from grandpa's yard. An Jingzhi and his wife were also here. Old Pei said for them all to go to his home for dinner tonight, Sister Zhang was already preparing the food, Sister-in-law Zhou had also gone over to help, sparing ZhiXia from having to run over to the An's with a huge belly.

An Jingzhi naturally didn't dare raise any objections. Even without Old Pei making these arrangements, ZhiXia may not necessarily have gone back with them.

Although he had made the same choice as Zhou Nan back then, compared to her, he saw the situation much more clearly.

A wounded heart is hard to mend. Their actions back then had hurt ZhiXia. Now if they wanted to make amends, their daughter didn't seem to be giving them the chance.

ZhiXia didn't see Wang Caixiang anywhere. With so many people around, she also couldn't ask outright.

After the meal, everyone dispersed.

Grandma An was worried about ZhiXia having to look after two children on top of her huge belly, and wanted to coax them into sleeping next door. Unfortunately the two little ones were more sensible now and had their own opinions. Although they didn't directly refuse, they clearly weren't willing to agree either.

"Grandma, dad's not here. Mom will be scared sleeping alone. My brother and I have to protect mom." These were WanQing's words. ChenYe at the side was also nodding in agreement,"That's right, we promised dad before coming back that we'll take good care of mom, we can't go back on our word."

The innocent childish words made the whole room laugh.

Because they were reluctant to part with Pei Jing, the two little ones were already very upset on the way here. WanQing had even cried hard for a while.

ZhiXia was also worried that changing their lodging without accompanying them would make then more uneasy, so she said she could manage on her own.

Sister-in-law Zhou helped wash their hands and feet before leaving. With the crowd dispersing, the yard also quieted down.

Looking up, the stars filled the sky. Just as ZhiXia was about to go back inside, she heard An ZhiXian's voice behind her, "Little sister, long time no see, do you have time to chat?"

With so many people around earlier, they didn't have the chance to catch up. An ZhiXian had deliberately waited for everyone else to leave first.

ZhiXia looked back. Figuring he wouldn't have phrased it that way if he didn't mind others overhearing, she nodded,"Of course, it's quite cold outside too, let's go inside."