Shang Zhitao gained weight quickly during her pregnancy.

By the middle of her pregnancy, she was nearly 140 jin (about 154 pounds). Being tall and having gained so much weight, she looked much more robust than before.

During prenatal checkups, the doctor would criticize her: “Are you eating too much? You need to control it! If this continues, the baby will grow too large, and you’ll need a cesarean section! You must be responsible!”

Pregnancy hormones caused significant changes, and this normally strong woman cried as soon as she left the doctor’s office. Luan Nian saw her crying and asked, “What’s wrong?”

She sobbed while explaining what the doctor had said, feeling wronged: “You know I don’t eat that much, and I eat healthily. I also walk every day. If the baby grows fast, what can I do about it?”

She didn’t understand. Lin Chuner, Xiao Mei, Lu Mi, and He Yun—when they were pregnant, only their bellies grew while their arms and legs remained slender, looking beautiful. She had to be so disheveled.

She had asked Dr. Liang, who said: “Everyone’s constitution is different. You’re doing just fine. How adorable.”

Dr. Liang and Da Zhai weren’t concerned about whether Shang Zhitao looked good or not; they cared about her health. After all, Shang Zhitao was having a child late—in a few more years, she would have been considered a geriatric pregnancy. So Dr. Liang specially created a diet plan for Shang Zhitao and instructed Da Zhai and Luan Nian to feed her according to it. It would satisfy her cravings while controlling her blood pressure and blood sugar during pregnancy.

After becoming pregnant, Shang Zhitao turned into a national treasure—everyone she knew took care of her. At the company, Sunny calculated her working time each day, making her go downstairs for a walk if she worked for more than an hour. Every young person in the company became her walking companion, taking turns accompanying her downstairs for fresh air. At home, everyone accommodated her.

She felt everything was going well, except for gaining weight. When the doctor criticized her, she felt bad, and when she felt bad, she blamed Luan Nian: “It’s all your fault!”

…

Luan Nian snorted and took out a tissue to wipe her nose. “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about!” Shang Zhitao’s tears surged as she wiped her eyes with another tissue. “I’m now fat and ugly.”

“You’re overthinking,” Luan Nian pointed out the problem with her statement. “You’re just fat, not ugly.”

Luan Nian was speaking the truth. Shang Zhitao looked great now, with her protruding belly and her newly cut first-love hairstyle, looking fresh and clean like an adorable penguin. His truthful remark nearly infuriated Shang Zhitao. She had been merely sobbing, but suddenly she burst into a loud wail. People in the hospital turned to look at the cute pregnant woman crying in front of her husband.

It took Luan Nian quite a while to console her. When they returned home, Shang Zhitao flopped onto the sofa, feeling dejected.

“Want something to eat?”

“No, I don’t deserve it.”

“You might not eat, but my daughter still needs to!”

Hearing this, Shang Zhitao became even more upset. She sat up and scolded him: “Now I know why my weight is increasing so fast! It’s because of you! You’re home four days a week, constantly asking if I want to eat something! Like you’re fattening a pig!”

“When you’re not around, I eat very healthily. When you’re here, I eat too frequently…”

“And why does your cooking have to be so delicious? Can’t you just cook carelessly? If you cooked badly, wouldn’t I eat less?”

“So are you eating too much or too little?” Luan Nian finally couldn’t help but ask. Shang Zhitao paused, pretended not to hear, and continued scolding him.

The scolding went on for a long time.

Luan Nian was in a good mood and let her scold away. Occasionally, when he couldn’t bear it anymore, he told her: “I can cook, but you can choose not to eat.”

Shang Zhitao glared at him angrily, and he pinched her face firmly.

Pregnant Shang Zhitao was like a fully ripened peach. Luan Nian felt like he had a different wife. Sometimes, seeing her round, rosy face, he couldn’t resist pinching it. Despite her big belly, she only lounged around at home. Once outside, she resumed her usual posture—sitting and standing properly.

Luan Nian thought women had a strange self-restraint.

When he was around, he took care of her himself. When he wasn’t, Old Shang and Da Zhai did. Although pregnant, Shang Zhitao didn’t slack off at work, except for leaving a bit earlier than before because she needed to go home and sleep—she was extremely sleepy. Otherwise, everything else remained the same as before.

Luan Nian worried about her being tired, but she was happy. Working with her colleagues made her joyful.

When her pregnancy advanced further, Shang Zhitao dragged Luan Nian to take maternity photos. Luan Nian was reluctant to cooperate, disdainful as always. Shang Zhitao glared at him, and he finally agreed to kneel on one knee and kiss her belly.

The day little Nian Tao was born, Shang Zhitao was meeting with a client.

She was five days past her due date with no signs of labor. Shang Zhitao went with a young colleague to meet an important client. They were having a pleasant conversation; the electronic contract had been sent, and the client was preparing to request payment through the process. As Shang Zhitao stood to shake hands with the client, she suddenly felt a warm flow beneath her.

Her water had broken.

So she found a place to lie down and called 120 (emergency services).

Luan Nian had just landed from his flight. He went home to get the hospital bag and then headed to the hospital. For the first time in his life, he discovered his hands could tremble.

On the way to the hospital, his hands kept shaking.

Da Zhai reassured him: “She’s doing fine, don’t worry, she’s already dilated.”

“Okay, thank you.”

When Luan Nian arrived at the hospital, companions weren’t allowed during the pandemic, so he couldn’t see Shang Zhitao. He could only call her on the phone. When the call connected, he heard Shang Zhitao enduring pain as she said hello. Luan Nian asked if she was in pain, and suddenly this tough man began to cry. He wiped the tears from his eyes and told Shang Zhitao: “I’m right outside. I’m with you.”

Hearing Luan Nian choke up, Shang Zhitao’s eyes reddened: “Then tell me you love me.”

“I love you.”

“Then call me wife.”

“Wife.”

“Then say ‘Wife, I love you.'” Shang Zhitao began having contractions again and couldn’t continue speaking. Before hanging up, she heard Luan Nian say: “Wife, I love you.”

Now Luan Nian didn’t find it cheesy anymore. He wanted to say all the things Shang Zhitao liked to hear, as long as it could make her feel even a little better.

Luan Nian continued standing there, making all the elderly people a bit nervous. They took turns persuading him to sit down, but he wouldn’t budge. However long Shang Zhitao was in labor, that’s how long he stood. When he saw the weakened Shang Zhitao, his eyes reddened again.

Having a baby is a miraculous thing.

Shang Zhitao didn’t want to rest. She asked Luan Nian to bring little Nian Tao for her to see. Luan Nian had never held a baby before. He stiffly held little Nian Tao, who was so tiny, sleeping with her eyes closed, and his heart melted. His fingertip gently touched her face. The baby’s skin was so soft and delicate, like touching cotton. Luan Nian felt his heart had never been so tender.

“I think little Nian Tao looks a bit like you,” Luan Nian crouched by Shang Zhitao’s bed and placed little Nian Tao beside her hand. The two of them gazed at little Nian Tao, not even willing to blink.

Shang Zhitao looked at little Nian Tao, then at Luan Nian, and suddenly realized Luan Nian had just been talking nonsense. Little Nian Tao was his replica. Shang Zhitao felt unsatisfied. I carried you for ten months with great effort, went through so much to give birth to you, and you don’t look like me at all, but exactly like your father.

“You just said she looks a bit like me. Where does she look like me?” Shang Zhitao asked Luan Nian.

Luan Nian thought carefully, a hint of smugness on his face, his perfunctory answer obvious: “Look at her… ears, they’re so much like yours. The hair is quite similar too.”

Little Nian Tao’s hair was dark and oily, very thick. It felt like while others were trying to look good in their mother’s womb, she had been trying to grow hair, focusing on the wrong effort. As for her ears, they hadn’t fully developed yet! What kind of person is this?

Both of them stared at the child, and Shang Zhitao said: “How can there be someone so ugly yet so cute…”

“Who are you calling ugly?” Luan Nian was a bit unhappy. “Where is she ugly?”

The nurse came to chase him away twice, but Luan Nian refused to leave. The last time, the nurse threatened him: “If you don’t leave now, you won’t be allowed to come tomorrow!” Only then did he leave. Still worried, before leaving, he confirmed arrangements for the caregiver to stay overnight. Concerned that Shang Zhitao would be in pain from the episiotomy, he instructed the caregiver to take good care of her.

After leaving the hospital, he sat in his car for a very long time without starting it. The day felt like a dream.

Luan Nian was somewhat excited and eager to share something with others, so he wrote in the friends’ group chat: “I’m a father now. I also have a daughter.”

Tan Mian was quick, immediately initiating a video call that everyone gradually joined. Luan Nian was the last to connect, his eyes still red.

Everyone was stunned for a moment. Song Qiuhan asked him: “Did you cry?”

Luan Nian didn’t speak for a while, then nodded: “Yes.”

“A tough guy shedding tears?” Tan Mian looked closely at his eyes. “Am I seeing this right?”

“It’s not embarrassing, not embarrassing at all. Which one of us didn’t cry when becoming a father? Oh wait, Tan Mian hasn’t been a father yet.” Even at a time like this, Chen Kuannian couldn’t resist teasing others.

“Get lost.” Tan Mian told him to go away. “Where are the photos? Photos of little Nian Tao.”

Luan Nian sent them the photos, saying: “My genes are too powerful.” Now that Shang Zhitao wasn’t beside him, Luan Nian finally openly admitted that little Nian Tao indeed looked just like him.

Everyone looked carefully, and it was true—she looked like she was cast from the same mold as Luan Nian.

“Share your feelings,” Song Qiuhan interviewed him.

“The feeling is that life is so damn good. Marrying the person you love, and if you both want to, having a child. This feeling is especially good. Better than anything I’ve ever experienced.”

“Alright, brother. We’ve heard your statement,” Chen Kuannian joked, then asked, ‘How is Ms. Shang Zhitao?”

“She’s a bit tired.”

“We’ll be there tomorrow,” Tan Mian said.

“No need. Wait until she’s discharged. Otherwise, you’ll only be able to see her and Nian Tao briefly.”

“Then we’ll come in five days.”

“Good.”

Luan Nian didn’t dare go home, afraid that if something happened, he wouldn’t be reachable. So he sat in the car listening to music. Worried that Shang Zhitao might feel lonely, he sent her a message: “I’m in the hospital parking lot. Don’t be afraid. If anything happens, I’ll be there quickly.”

“What could happen to me? Go home and sleep.”

“No,” Luan Nian replied. After a while, he said to her: “Shang Zhitao, thank you for your hard work.”

“It wasn’t hard work, Luan Nian. From now on, taking care of the child is all yours.”

“Okay.”

“You know? Today I’m especially happy. Both heartbroken and happy. I never knew before that people could be so contradictory,” Luan Nian said.

“I’m satisfied with today, except that Nian Tao doesn’t look like me.”

“It’s okay. When she grows up, her expressions can resemble yours.”

“? Are you speaking human language?”

Luan Nian laughed out loud, looking at the family photo of the three of them. Shang Zhitao’s face was slightly swollen, his lips on her forehead, little Nian Tao sleeping; there was also a photo of their three hands, fists together. These photos that Luan Nian had previously been too lazy or unwilling to take now came so naturally. He didn’t feel uncomfortable; in fact, he quite liked them—especially liked them.

Life unfolded a new scroll before him, and this time Luan Nian looked at it carefully.

This scroll was beautiful, encompassing almost all his beautiful imaginings about life.