Raising a pair of dragon-phoenix twins isn’t easy, but luckily there were many people in the family and everyone was of one mind. With everyone pitching in, this brother and sister grew up.

"Sometimes the old man would be busy all day and come back so tired he didn’t even have a bit of strength left. In the middle of the night, if I cried, he’d pick me up and rock me; before I’d even fallen asleep, he’d already nodded off sitting there. The old lady at home would often pinch him over this, and it’s a miracle I didn’t get dropped to my death, haha."

Thinking back on these things, Yu Minglang also felt he’d really been lucky to survive.

"You’re going back to work tomorrow. I’ll go see Dad in your place," Qian said.

Mr. Yu might have been a bit strict in disciplining the kids, but he was a responsible, good father.

She had never thought being busy was a man’s excuse to not take care of his kids, and she didn’t agree with men dumping all the responsibility of child-rearing on women.

Plenty of women nowadays have jobs: working during the day, taking care of the kids at night, bearing both the burden of supporting the family and raising children. Yet some men like Zhuzi always envy how ancient men could have three wives and four concubines and still live like some lord, while ignoring that those ancient men could actually afford it. If a man’s income alone could cover all family expenses and pay for a nanny to help with the kids, women could also live life like a poem.

It’s not that men have to both earn money and take on half the child-rearing; admittedly, most men’s incomes are higher than women’s, so they shoulder the breadwinner role. Most women’s demands really aren’t that high—just that when the wife is exhausted, the husband can lend a hand and help with the baby a bit, and she’ll already be very satisfied.

Someone with Mr. Yu’s status could still, within his ability, share a bit of the burden for his wife, so what right do ordinary men have to act like hands-off bosses?

"Tomorrow you go bring some dishes back from the restaurant. Don’t bring too much of Mao’s Braised Pork, watch the amount and don’t let him eat too much. The old man’s always trying to sneak a little food and drink when the old lady isn’t home. Let him have a bit to satisfy his craving, fine, but you can’t let him go overboard." Xiaoqiang only bantered with the old man with his mouth; in his heart, he still worried about him a lot.

"Got it."

Once everything was taken care of, Xiaoqiang wore a fawning grin. "I’m leaving first thing in the morning tomorrow. Wife, the night is long, how about—"

"Waaah~" A baby’s piercing wail rang out, even more miserable than the crying from just now.

The sound was downright creepy.

Qian frowned.

"Whose kid is that? It’s been crying for quite a while."

It didn’t sound like a normal baby’s crying; more like it was sick.

The light in the living room came on. Qian’s mom came out in her bathrobe, muttering under her breath.

"The kid next door is crying again. Lately it’s always crying at night. Your brother’s about to take his exams; this is really..."

They’d all raised children, so anyone could understand a baby crying in the middle of the night. The problem was, there was also a student at home. Crying in the middle of the night really would disrupt her son. Qian’s mom headed toward Dalong’s room, and Qian came out and grabbed her back.

"Mom! What are you doing!"

"I bought your brother some earplugs. I don’t know if he’s using them. I’m going to check so he doesn’t lose sleep."

"Oh, come on, Dalong’s a grown guy now. You keep going in and out like this, it’s not appropriate."

Qian actually felt quite sorry for her brother. Apparently there had been several times when he woke up in the middle of the night and saw their chubby mom’s face looming over him while she tucked him in. He was practically traumatized.

"But if he doesn’t sleep well—"

"With that carefree, nothing-fazes-him personality of his, even thunderstorms can’t wake him up. You think a crying baby can? I think the one with the real problem is you."

"What problem do I have!" Qian’s mom was still unconvinced.

"Dalong’s told me several times already that you’re always going into his room without knocking. It’s not appropriate. After he gets married, if you just barge into your son and daughter-in-law’s room without knocking, they’re going to hate it, you know?"

"Oh, you little brat! Now you know how to嫌弃 your mom? When you two were little, I was the one who literally waited on you hand and foot, especially you, Miss Fussy! You could cry all night long. You should be secretly grateful I didn’t toss you out. Now that you’re grown, all you know how to do is嫌弃 your mom. Back then—"

Here we go again!

Qian rolled her eyes. What was she going to do with her mom? So naggy—once she started in with "back then," it was endless.

"Xiufang, let’s go back to bed. The kids need to rest too." Mr. Liao also came out in his pajamas, timely rescuing Qian from the fate of being tortured for half an hour in the middle of the night by a "back then" lecture.

"Just you wait, I’ll deal with you tomorrow!" Qian’s mom tossed out a threat that didn’t have much force to it and turned back to her room.

Qian snorted at her retreating back. Tomorrow it wasn’t even certain who would be dealing with whom!

She was determined to correct Comrade Qian’s mom’s bad habit of entering her kids’ rooms without knocking. Dalong wasn’t a child anymore; this habit had to change.

When she went back into the room, she saw Xiaoqiang grinning. Qian glared at him. "What are you laughing at!"

"Emperor Zetian, mighty and domineering."

His wife strutted around her parents’ home like she owned the place; everyone in the family listened to her.

"You don’t get it! Babies crying, that can’t be helped. But my mom’s behavior is what’s really out of line. If we have a daughter-in-law in the future, and she just walks into their room without saying anything, won’t the daughter-in-law be annoyed? I have zero interest in dealing with all that petty mother-in-law/daughter-in-law drama later on."

"All right, all right, my mighty and domineering empress, hurry up and sleep. Tomorrow you can go back to managing the affairs of the world."

Lying in bed, Qian listened to the baby’s intermittent crying and stared at the ceiling, as if deep in thought.

"Xiaoqiang, do you remember things from early on?"

"Sure. I can clearly remember my first day of kindergarten. That day, that coward Xiaoxi was standing at the door crying and refusing to go in. I yanked her pigtails and dragged her in, and then when I got home the old man gave me a beating."

"I don’t remember things that early. A lot of stuff from my childhood is already blurry."

"Doesn’t matter. Even if you can’t remember the past clearly, as long as life is good now, it’s enough."

The baby’s crying went on. Qian’s thoughts drifted far away. The relationship between children and parents in this country was really very subtle.

When kids are little, you have to love them wholeheartedly, yet because of that excessive love, some parents can’t let go even when their children are adults. Today, when treating Zhuzi’s sister-in-law, she had said that holding a baby is a form of love; and just now, she’d told her mother that knowing when to let go is also a form of love.

Being a parent really is the hardest job in the world.

Qian rested her head on Yu Minglang’s arm; his hand, by habit, lay over her chest. Accompanied by the baby’s bouts of crying, the two of them gradually grew drowsy.

Qian was just about to fall asleep when suddenly there was a frantic knocking at the door. She opened her eyes groggily; Yu Minglang had already sat up before her, having heard the sound too.

The two of them exchanged a look. Who the hell was pounding on their door in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?