Chapter 662: Criticism
Chapter 662: Criticism
The barbecue lasted until midnight.
Ruan Tang and her two friends had agreed to go tide-pooling with the Zhou family at four or five in the morning.
Ruan Tang and her friends were doing this for fun, not for a living. They didn’t want to disturb the entire family by making them stay up late and wake up early to accompany them.
Jiang Xia arranged for the three girls to shower and sleep on the third floor.
The men were responsible for cleaning up.
They were busy until around one in the morning, and only then did everyone finally go to bed.
Jiang Xia and Zhao Chenglei had barely fallen asleep when the children woke up.
Zhao Chenglei held down Jiang Xia, who was about to get up, and said, “I’ll take care of it. You keep sleeping.”
“I can’t sleep if they’re awake.”
How long would it take for one person to take care of three children?
And if they waited too long, the children would start crying.
Just because they were usually well-behaved didn’t mean they were always well-behaved.
So the couple changed diapers and breastfed, busy for a while, and it wasn’t until three in the morning that they managed to get the children back to sleep.
Jiang Xia, lying in Zhao Chenglei’s arms, mumbled, “I wonder when they’ll stop needing to be breastfed at night and can sleep through until morning. Feeding them every night is exhausting!”
Zhao Chenglei replied, “Next time we go for a check-up, we’ll ask Dr. Gao when we can stop night feedings. We’ll gradually change this habit.”
“Mm-hmm.” Jiang Xia gave a light response and fell back asleep.
Zhao Chenglei leaned down to kiss the top of her head, then closed his eyes and quickly fell back asleep.
The next morning, Zhao Chenglei woke up at five. The position they had fallen asleep in had changed.
He habitually glanced at Jiang Xia, who was still sound asleep in his arms, and then turned to look at the three children in the crib.
Seeing that they were all sleeping well, he withdrew his gaze.
He carefully moved Jiang Xia’s long hair, which was spread across the pillow, to one side, then slowly pulled his arm out to avoid pulling her hair and waking her up.
Zhao Chenglei quietly got out of bed and tucked Jiang Xia in.
After getting out of bed, he went to the crib and gently removed the little sister’s arm, which was draped over her older brother’s neck.
He held his daughter’s hand and placed it back under the covers, then went to the next room to get dressed to avoid the rustling of clothes waking Jiang Xia.
After washing up in the bathroom, he went downstairs, taking a flashlight and tide-pooling tools with him.
At that moment, Zhou Chensen came back.
“Second Brother, up so early?” Zhao Chenglei greeted him.
“It’s low tide. Should we wake them up?”
“Let Mom go up and have Yingying wake them up. You take Yingying and Zhou Zhou to go tide-pooling with them. Don’t wake Jiang Xia. She only just fell asleep last night when the children woke up. She hasn’t had a good rest since the Canton Fair; she’s very tired.”
Zhao Chenglei was about to leave.
Zhou Chensen stopped him, “Didn’t you and your wife bring them here? Shouldn’t you take good care of them?”
Zhao Chenglei replied, “We brought them here for you to take care of.”
Zhou Chensen was speechless.
The people had come specifically for his second brother, so Zhao Chenglei was justified in passing the responsibility.
He went to catch some fresh shrimp, crabs, clams, and octopus to bring home and cook a bowl of seafood broth noodles for Jiang Xia.
She hadn’t had the freshest seafood broth noodles in a long time.
Zhou Chensen couldn’t just go up to the third floor and wake them up, considering there were female guests staying there.
Zhou Mu was already awake, feeding the chickens.
She and Zhou Fu had gone to bed earlier than the children last night.
Zhou Chensen found his mother, “Mom, it’s low tide. Can you go up and see if Dr. Ruan and the others are awake? I don’t know if they want to go tide-pooling.”
“Sure. I’ll go check. You feed the chickens.”
“Okay, should I let the geese and ducks out to forage?”
"Let the ducks out! I'll take the goose to the hillside later." Zhou Mu went upstairs after washing his hands.
But there was no need for Zhou Mu to call them, as Zhou Ying and Zhou Zhou had already brought the three of them downstairs.
Zhou Mu smiled, "The tide has receded. I was just about to ask if you wanted to go foraging by the seaside. I didn't expect you to be up already."
Zhou Ying immediately said, "I woke up first and called Ruan Tang to go foraging."
Zhou Zhou chimed in, "I woke up very early too!"
Zhou Mu asked, "Did you wake up the sisters?"
Ruan Tang and the others laughed, "No, we were woken up by the roosters."
"In the countryside, it's either roosters crowing or dogs barking. By the way, Ah Sen said the tide has receded. If you're going foraging, wear more clothes and take some eggs and sweet potatoes to eat. You can have breakfast when you get back. Grandpa Ying and Lei have already gone foraging."
Zhou Ying, who rarely had the chance to wake up so early for foraging, said, "Hurry up! You can catch a lot of octopuses before dawn. They hide in their dens once the sun comes up!"
Nurse Li hurriedly said, "Let's go then!"
They walked out of the yard, and Zhou Chengsen had already prepared the foraging tools for them, along with a basket of boiled eggs and sweet potatoes that Zhou Mu had cooked.
He told them to change into wading boots and take the tools. Zhou Chengsen then drove them in a tractor.
Jiang Xia heard the tractor and woke up. She glanced at the children, turned to go back to sleep, but then thought of something and quickly got up. She stepped out onto the balcony and saw Ruan Tang and the others leaving in the tractor.
It seemed Zhao Cheng Lei didn't want to wake her, and Jiang Xia didn't have a chance to stop them and wait for her.
She would drive her motorcycle over later.
As the mistress of the house, Jiang Xia felt it was her duty to ensure everyone was taken care of. The children had only fallen asleep after feeding at around three in the morning and wouldn't wake up until around eight.
Jiang Xia got up, washed her face, and brushed her teeth. She also prepared some food for the children and put it in the fridge before going downstairs.
*
Zhou Chengsen brought them to the beach, where many people were already there.
Everyone was holding flashlights and shining them around.
Zhao Cheng Lei was in the water with Zhou Fu, Zhou Chengxin, and Zhou Guodong, pulling a net.
When the tide receded, they could catch a lot of fish.
Zhou Chengsen led them down to the beach and shone his flashlight on the shallow water. "Many sea snails come out to feed at night. You can find them by shining your flashlights."
Zhou Ying didn't want to collect sea snails. "Dad, we want to catch octopuses. Didn't you say they like to come out at night?"
Zhou Chengsen replied, "Yes, but it's almost dawn. Just catch them if you see them."
"Alright! Dad, did you put out any clay pot traps?"
"Yes, I'll pull them up when it's light. For now, let's catch the ones that come out to feed."
This season, there were many octopuses, and many villagers would set clay pot traps to catch them.
If they were lucky, they could catch dozens in a day, which could earn them a few dollars.
Zhou Chengsen had set some traps the previous day and would check them later to see if any octopuses had taken refuge.
Zhou Ying said, "Okay."
Zhou Chengsen added, "You and Zhou Zhou can have a competition to see who catches more. The one who catches the most can play the video game for an extra half hour."
The two kids' eyes lit up, "Okay!"
Zhou Ying thought that without flashlights, they would have to stay close to the adults, which wasn't convenient, so she said, "Dad, you and little sister can be a team, and I can be a team with Ruan Tang. Let's have a competition?"
"Sure."
So, Zhou Ying quickly pulled Ruan Tang, "Ruan Tang, follow me! For my game time, we have to win!"
Ruan Tang smiled, "Okay."
Thus, they split up and started foraging.
The octopuses that came out to feed at night were easier to spot. Ruan Tang shone her flashlight on the water, and Zhou Ying immediately saw one, "There's one here!"
Ruan Tang looked and saw it was about to hide in a crevice!
She quickly reached out to grab it, but as soon as she caught it, it sprayed her face with ink.
Zhou Ying: "..."
Ruan Tang: "..."
(End of Chapter)
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