CME Chapter 91

Chapter 91: Braised Shrimp Tofu

Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Lin ShuYi didn’t sleep the entire night because Tao Tao and Xiao Yu were sleeping by his side.

Originally, Xiao Yu could sleep by himself in a room, but Tao Tao was still young. His little wooden bed hadn’t come back either, so he could only sleep with Lin ShuYi. But Tao Tao slept a bit too long during the day, so he wasn’t sleepy at night, and dazedly insisted on seeing Xiao Yu in order to fall asleep. It was like he had telepathy: the moment Xiao Yu left, he would wake up. In the end, Lin ShuYi simply let Xiao Yu also sleep there.

Fortunately, the Shen family had large beds, and it wouldn’t be too crowded even if there were two more Xiao Yu’s. Xiao Yu and Lin ShuYi slept facing each other, Tao Tao in the middle. When he looked to the left, he saw his dad; when he looked to the right, he saw his brother. It made him so excited that he kept flopping around. Lin ShuYi had no choice but to turn off the light and coax him to sleep quietly. After a while, he heard Tao Tao’s breathing smooth out as he fell asleep.

Lin ShuYi stared up at the ceiling, eyes open, not sleepy at all. His emotions were a little bit stirred up since they now suddenly had children. He inexplicably felt that he should be a good father, so that he could make these two obedient, adorable children happy.

Xiao Yu suddenly whispered a question from the dark. “Is Papa asleep?”

After such a long time without any noise, Lin ShuYi thought that Xiao Yu had also fallen asleep. He turned to look ahead of him in the darkness, fumbling around until he touched Xiao Yu’s face. “You still haven’t slept yet?”

He felt Xiao Yu’s soft cheeks brush against his hand, before he felt him smile. “I’m so happy that I can sleep with Papa.”

Lin ShuYi was startled. “I thought that you would prefer to sleep alone. If you like it, you can sleep with me from now on.”

Xiao Yu’s eyes were wide and round, very pleasantly surprised, but Lin ShuYi couldn’t see it. “Really? That’s awesome. But I won’t sleep with Papa every day. Papa Shen said that men have to ***, so it’s fine if this kind of thing just happens once or twice.”
(t/n: the *** were in the raws)

Lin ShuYi gritted his teeth in the dark. What in the world did Shen Fu teach this child while Lin ShuYi was distracted?

But Xiao Yu said, “I can’t be greedy either. What I have now is something that I couldn’t even dream of. Tao Tao is next to me, and I have fathers and grandparents, and even a great-grandfather who seems strict but actually loves us very much.”

Xiao Yu’s words made Lin ShuYi’s heart ache. With Tao Tao in between them, he patted Xiao Yu’s back gently. “That isn’t greed. You two are worthy of anyone’s love.”

Xiao Yu didn’t understand, but he held Lin ShuYi’s hand tightly. “Can Papa sing a song for me?”

Lin ShuYi was stunned again. The only thing he didn’t know how to do was sing, much less a melody that could lull a child to sleep.

He recalled a few of the remaining melodies floating around in his mind, and he started to softly hum. Strictly speaking, it couldn’t be considered a song at all, and Lin ShuYi’s pleasant voice wasn’t any use whatsoever. However, Xiao Yu still closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep with a slight smile on his lips. He hoped that this wasn’t a dream. He hoped that, when he opened his eyes, not only would he see sunlight, but also the warm face of someone who loved him.

Xiao Yu had a night full of good dreams, but Lin ShuYi slept while trembling in fear.

Tao Tao slept between the two of them, and the first time he woke up, the little kiddo had managed to roll around until he was horizontal above Lin ShuYi’s head. He had carefully hugged Tao Tao and rearranged him before Lin ShuYi lost all traces of sleepiness. He kept getting up blearily to see if Tao Tao had already fallen onto the floor, if his blankets were covering him well; it would be troublesome if he caught a cold, since the days were already so cool.

As a result, Xiao Yu and Tao Tao both slept very well, but Lin ShuYi didn’t sleep well at all. He only finally fell asleep when the sky was beginning to be suffused with light.

He was woken by a wet kiss.

He opened his eyes to see that Tao Tao was lying next to his head, dropping damp kisses on his face. Tao Tao was wearing a little tiger onesie with alternating yellow and orange stripes. There was a big ‘king’ character written on the hat on his head, and he was both adorable and cute. Lin ShuYi couldn’t help but smile. When Tao Tao saw him open his eyes, he gurgled with laughter. “Papa~ Papa~”

Xiao Yu walked over from the other side. “Papa, are you awake?”

Lin ShuYi nodded and sat up from his bed, hugging Tao Tao, before he saw Shen Fu walk in from outside.

“You haven’t slept enough, have you? When we get in the car in a bit, you should sleep some more. Everything’s ready, and we can leave as soon as we eat breakfast.”

Lin ShuYi was still a bit muddle-headed. “En? Where are we going?”

Shen Fu burst out laughing before he went over to kiss Lin ShuYi’s cheek. “Are you still dazed from sleep? We’re going home, ah, where else?”

Lin ShuYi was so startled by this kiss that he gathered his wits again and hastily looked at Xiao Yu’s face. He couldn’t even bothered to push aside Shen Fu, but all he saw was Xiao Yu teasing Tao Tao and making him laugh, his head turned away. Only then did Lin ShuYi turn back to Shen Fu and viciously rolled his eyes at him.

Shen Fu licked his lips. All he wanted to do was kiss him again.

They descended slowly down the stairs, one of them holding a little one, the other leading the older child by the hand.

The table was already full of breakfast items downstairs: Chinese-style steamed buns, deep-fried breadsticks, soy milk, and porridge. There were all sorts of food.

Grandfather Shen sat in the very middle. When he saw the four of them come down, he beckoned towards Xiao Yu. “Come sit next to great-grandpa.” Then he lifted his head and said to Lin ShuYi, “How are you? Was it tiring with Tao Tao yesterday?”

Lin ShuYi felt a bit embarrassed. So many people were waiting for just him, but he was truly too tired. He didn’t even know when Xiao Yu and Tao Tao had woken up. Apparently Xiao Yu had woken up when Tao Tao had, and Xiao Yu was the one who had changed Tao Tao’s clothes. Luckily, Tao Tao was fairly well-behaved very early in the morning, and he hadn’t kicked the blankets aside anymore.

Mama Shen smiled as she put the congee ladle in front of Grandfather Shen as she looked at Lin ShuYi. “From what I can see, it’s been a struggle. Xiao Yu has always slept early, so this must be the first time he’s slept so late. It isn’t easy taking care of children.”

Papa Shen nodded, no objections at all to what his wife said.

Actually, it was all because the children weren’t used to the bed. If it was Tao Tao’s own little wooden bed, he probably wouldn’t have been able to flip out even if he wanted to. Lin ShuYi put Tao Tao into his own little high chair, settling him in place with the safety belt, before he wiped Tao Tao’s hands carefully with a wet wipe. He put the feeding bottle that Mama Shen had prepared in front of Tao Tao, who clutched the bottle with shining eyes and started to drink it. After taking a few gulps, he saw that Lin ShuYi was still looking at him, and he reluctantly took the bottle out of his mouth before he held it next to Lin ShuYi’s mouth. “Milk~”

Lin ShuYi was amused. “You can drink it, Papa doesn’t need it.”

Everyone laughed. Aunt Shen truly wanted to go up and hug Tao Tao, but unfortunately the circumstances didn’t allow it. Her heart trembled watching him act cute in such close proximity, and she could only grab Tao Tao’s face and forcefully kiss him a few times. Tao Tao didn’t mind, and he held onto his milk bottle and started to drink from it again.

Xiao Yu sat next to Grandfather Shen, revealing his two little canines with his smile. It was too great, it hadn’t been a dream.

After finishing the milk in his bottle, Tao Tao started to peer at all the different breakfast items on the table. He was already one year and two months old, so he had eight teeth. He had started to add all sorts of supplementary foods at the orphanage already, and his appetite for breakfast was second only to his appetite for milk. Now that the milk was finished, his stomach still felt a bit empty, so he quickly looked at the breakfast food.

He looked with puppy eyes at Xiao Yu. “Big brother~”

Lin ShuYi laughed as he moved Tao Tao a bit closer to his side, along with his high chair, before he ladled a scoop of porridge into his own bowl. He distributed it evenly with his spoon before he blew it to cool it. Lin ShuYi didn’t even get a chance to eat much before he started to feed Tao Tao.

Tao Tao giggled as he ate, extremely overjoyed.

The housekeeper also liked the two young masters who had come to join the masters family very much. She brought out a small dish filled with something tender and yellow and placed it in front of Lin ShuYi before she reached out and took the bowl from Lin ShuYi. “Young Master Lin, eat, I’ll feed the little master.”

The dish was filled with braised shrimp tofu. The pale yellow Japanese tofu was as soft as steamed egg custard, and because of Tao Tao, the shrimp had been chopped up into shrimp paste, placed in the round tofu slices. There was a tiny bit of baby soy sauce dripped over it. It was original and authentic, fresh and soft, covered with juice, and Tao Tao liked it very much.

As Lin ShuYi ate, he thought, I have to do quite a bit of research into what little babies of this age can eat.

After breakfast, they prepared to leave for S City. This time, there were many people going, and Shen Fu had already told everyone in advance. As a result, naturally everyone decided to go. Brother Shen, who had been left behind last time, wasn’t willing to be left again; taking advantage of how it was almost the new year and many things had already been settled, he decided to skip work for a few days. If anyone needed him, they could get in touch with him via laptop.

The entire family prepared to go with Shen Fu and Lin ShuYi to S City.

Since Xiao Yu and Tao Tao would definitely still visit the Shen family often in the future, Lin ShuYi didn’t plan on bringing a lot of the things that they would need to S City. He only brought some clothing and essentials, as he intended to buy the rest of what they needed at S City.

But even if this was the case, the two children had so many things that it still filled the entire car.

As a result, there were three cars being used. In an instant, this procession suddenly became quite grandiose. They weren’t actually in that much of a rush on the road. They definitely wouldn’t be able to make it back in the morning, so they might as well just aim to make it back before lunch.

Last night, they had called Old Man Yang and told him about Xiao Yu and Tao Tao. Old Man Yang had been both shocked and happy, and he didn’t even know what to say. He had told Xiao Wan’s family on the spot, and everyone was very happy to hear that they had adopted two children at one go, telling them to quickly bring the children back so they could take a look.

By the time it was noon, Old Man Yang was already overflowing with anticipation. When he saw so many people show up, he was stunned. Man, had the entire family come? When they got out of the car to see, he saw that he had actually guessed right. A family of ten people: standing together, they looked particularly enormous, making quite a sight.

Old Man Yang immediately gave a greeting to Grandfather Shen. “Big Brother Shen also came too?”

Grandfather Shen nodded in assent before they started to chat amiably.

After just a few pleasantries, Old Man Yang saw the little one that Mama Shen was holding. He was just a wee one, with a scarf around his neck and wearing a hat, revealing two round, black grape-like eyes that were both bright and pretty. Old Man Yang was struck dumb at once. He pointed at Tao Tao. “This is?”

Grandfather Shen laughed loudly. “This is one of the children that they adopted. There’s also Xiao Yu, come out and greet your other great-grandfather.”

Xiao Yu was still in the car, getting Tao Tao’s toys. When he heard that, he quickly popped out from behind Lin ShuYi. “Great-grandpa!”

Clever and sensible, enough to make one’s heart melt. Old Man Yang gave a loud noise of agreement, and he reached out to rub Xiao Yu’s face. Xiao Yu beamed as he looked up at Old Man Yang. His expression actually did match up quite well with Lin ShuYi’s smile.

“Beautiful, beautiful. Each one, so beautiful.” Old Man Yang brought everyone straight to Lin ShuYi this time, since he had already moved completely out of his own home. Adding on how Lin ShuYi’s house had already finished being made up, it was much better than his shabby old house. Of course he would no longer be receiving them in his house.

The heating had already been turned on in advance at their house, and it was nice and warm the moment they entered.

Shen Fu reached out and undid the scarf from around Tao Tao’s neck before he also took off his coat. Tao Tao immediately felt much more relaxed, and they put him down on the carpet so that he could crawl around to his heart’s content.

Xiao Yu put Tao Tao’s toys down on the carpet, and Tao Tao instantly grew interested. He quickly crawled over and picked up the toys before he started to giggle and play with his big brother.

Old Man Yang felt extremely gratified to see this. Even though Lin ShuYi chose to be with Shen Fu in the end, now that they had two such cute kids, there really were no more regrets. The degree of affection that these two children had received from the Shen family had also much exceeded his expectations.

Especially after he found out that the entire family was planning on coming here often to help out and take care of the kids, his thoughts reached the ultimate peak.

Could they have forgotten that there was still a nanny who had already arrived here before them?