Give Me Another Smile

After returning the book on internal medicine to the shelf, Yin Zhao-an quietly slipped out of the study to avoid disturbing her father's online meeting.

…

Wang Zhen had performed several major surgeries on her night shift, working consecutively for more than ten hours. At this point, she even began to worry whether her body could keep up with such a hectic work schedule. Fortunately, her department head was kind enough to give her a vacation to rest, worried she might make a crucial mistake during work due to her exhaustion.

With a soulless look on her face, Wang Zhen slowly sipped on some hot soybean milk. Even when her daughter took a seat in front of her, she did not spare the girl a single glance.

"Mom." Yin Zhao-an reached out and waved her hand in front of her mother's eyes. Then, after successfully catching her mother's attention, she said, "Mom, I have something to ask you."

As soon as Yin Zhao-an finished speaking, she saw her mother getting up from her seat, seemingly intending to head upstairs. Fortunately, she grabbed the woman's arm before the other party could leave.

"It'll only be a moment. I won't take up much of your time!" Yin Zhao-an pleaded. However, when she saw that her mother was still putting up a struggle, she had no choice but to use her ultimate move:

"I'll do the dishes for this month!"

"Okay."

Wang Zhen sat back down just as quickly as she got up. Then, she put on an expression that seemingly said, "I'm all ears."

Yin Zhao-an was exasperated by her mother's response. Her mother was the type of person who knew how to cook but hated doing the dishes. Though, out of love for her only child, her mother would never force her to do the dishes, even though she didn't really mind taking on such a chore.

As for her father… Some people were simply not cut out to do the dishes. Their household would lose either a bowl or a plate every time her father tried to do the dishes. If he was left in charge of the dishes, they'd run out of bowls and plates in less than a month. It was also why her mother would never let her father do the dishes, opting to take care of everything herself.

Honestly, Yin Zhao-an had once suspected her father might be breaking the dishes on purpose. However, after she spectated her father doing the dishes once, she was fully convinced of his clumsiness. Either that, or he had hands that were incredibly slippery.

"Do people usually get stomach pains at my age?" Yin Zhao-an asked.

Wang Zhen immediately sensed something different and leaned forward, asking, "Don't tell me you have a stomachache?"

Shaking her head, Yin Zhao-an replied, "No, it's a friend of mine. She doesn't seem to have a particularly healthy stomach."

"Oh." Yin Zhao-an leaned back in her chair and pondered for a moment. Then, she said, "Children at your age are unlikely to suffer from stomach pains induced by excessive anxiety, so an irregular diet, maybe?"

"Impossible," Yin Zhao-an firmly said. "I've been keeping a close eye on her diet. There's no way she has been eating irregularly.'

Realization dawning upon her, Wang Zhen said, "You're talking about Little Yu, right?"

"I… How do you know?" Yin Zhao-an asked, stunned.

"It's not hard to guess. Apart from Little Yu, I can't think of a second person who you'd keep a close eye on."

Wang Zhen froze for a moment when she finished speaking, getting a strange feeling from the words that just came out of her mouth.

"If it's Little Yu, then it's understandable. Your Aunt Yu doesn't have a particularly healthy stomach, either. Maybe it's a genetic factor, but I can't say for certain. She'll have to undergo a specific checkup at the hospital to get a clear answer… What, does Little Yu herself not know about this?"

Nodding, Yin Zhao-an said, "It doesn't look like she is aware."

"Oh…" There was nothing else Wang Zhen could say at this point. She might be a doctor, but she couldn't diagnose a patient who hadn't done a systematic examination. Standing up from her seat, she tiredly asked, "Anything else? If not, I'm going to go catch up on my sleep."

"That's all."

Hearing this, Wang Zhen sluggishly left the dining table. Before she got on the staircase, she suddenly stopped and turned around, saying, "Remember. One month."

"Yes, yes, Dearest Mother," Yin Zhao-an helplessly replied.

After Wang Zhen went upstairs, Yin Zhao-an sat in the living room by herself. Then, while staring at the illustration on the table, she muttered, "A hereditary stomach disease, is it…?"

…

It had already been a long time since Tang Zhengyang had returned home. As soon as he stepped through the front door, he promptly felt a different vibe. After changing into his house slippers, he made his way to the not-so-quiet kitchen.

The first thing Tang Zhengyang saw when he entered the kitchen was a boiling pot of water sitting on the stove. He also spotted a red lobster tumbling in the boiling water.

Currently, there were three people working in the kitchen, and they worked in two separate groups. On one side were two young girls preparing ingredients together, while on the other side was Yu Wanrou turning these ingredients into delicious food.

The scene in the kitchen was warm and harmonious. Quietly, Tang Zhengyang took out his phone from his pocket to capture this scene.

Yin Zhao-an was the first to notice Tang Zhengyang standing in the doorway. After she politely called out "Uncle Tang," the two other people in the kitchen also noticed his presence.

"Daddy." Tang Yu promptly dropped what she was doing and turned to look at the scruffy man at the doorway, her nose getting a little stuffy.

It had been a long time since Tang Yu last saw her father. In fact, she had only seen her father a few times this year. So, while keeping her mother by her side, she couldn't help but worry about her father.

However, Tang Yu also knew that Tang Zhengyang would occasionally come home. He would usually come home in the middle of the night and sneak a glance at her and her mother's slumbering faces before leaving in a hurry.

Honestly, if she hadn't happened to have insomnia on one of the days her father decided to sneak back home, she would have really thought that her father had put the greatness of the country over their family.

"This is?"

After being away from home for so long, Tang Zhengyang failed to immediately recognize the tall and lean figure standing next to Tang Yu. He only felt that the other party's face looked familiar.

Putting down the seasoning in her hand, Yu Wanrou smiled and teased, "Have you grown senile? She's An-An."

Tang Zhengyang immediately revealed a look of realization and let out a hearty laugh. Then, he jokingly said, "You've grown so tall, An-An! I nearly mistook you for some boy here to abduct our Little Yu!"