Chapter 22: Second Winter

Lu Chen's labor began at the first snow, in the middle of the Chairman's list of rules for grandchildren.

"Point nine," said the Chairman. "No screens before the age of six."

"Su Ye," said Lu Chen, from the sofa, in a very calm voice. "I need the car."

Su Ye looked up from the floor, where he was building a tower of blocks for the older boy to knock down.

The older boy, who was fourteen months old and had opinions, knocked it down.

"Now?"

"Now."

Su Ye was on his feet before the blocks stopped rolling.

He put the older boy in the Chairman's arms, and the diaper bag in Mrs. Su's.

He gave the Chairman's pad back to the Chairman.

He did not hand anyone Lu Chen.

"Don't carry me," Lu Chen said, hanging on to the arm of the sofa. "It's fifty meters. I can walk."

"I'm carrying you."

"You'll drop me."

"I won't."

"You dropped the flour."

"That was the flour."

Su Ye slid one arm under his knees and the other behind his back.

"You are not the flour."

He picked him up.

Lu Chen was heavy with the boy, and the porch steps were slick with snow.

Su Ye's knees shook at the first one.

He took the second.

He took the third.

The Chairman held the car door open.

Mrs. Su had the older boy on her hip, and neither of them said a word.

Su Ye laid his husband in the back seat with great care.

Then he climbed in after, and took his hand.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Fired His Secret Heir, Then Begged for His Love from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.