Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

When the door of the safe clicked shut, Pei Ma's heart was still like ripples that could not be calmed.

The cool touch of the cabinet door could not at all block the burning heat in her chest.

"Mom? What are you doing here?" Pei Luochuan came down from upstairs in his slippers, scratching his head sleepily. "I heard several noises and thought there was a thief."

Mother Pei turned around abruptly and hurriedly stuffed the scarf into the closet in the cloakroom: "Are you dreaming, kid? Where did the thief come from?" As she spoke, the smile lines at the corners of her eyes could not be hidden - that smile was like freshly opened cloudberry jam, overflowing from the corners of her mouth, and even the strands of hair at her temples were stained with sweetness.

Pei Luochuan narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

His mother was wearing a light camel-colored sweater today, with a magnolia brooch on her collar and her leather shoes were polished to a shine. The most outrageous thing was that when she turned around just now, he clearly saw the smile in the corner of her eyes that she couldn't hide.

"You didn't..." He suddenly leaned in close, his nose almost touching his mother's shoulder, "did you win the lottery?"

"I've accomplished a great happiness in my life, which is much better than winning the lottery!" Mother Pei slapped his face away, turned around and walked towards the kitchen, her steps as light as if she were stepping on cotton.

When the refrigerator door was opened, she suddenly remembered that just now at the Civil Affairs Bureau, Sister Wang said, "This number 520 is more thoughtful than the project report that Luonan wrote for Fanxing." She couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh out loud, almost crushing the milk carton in her hand.

"Mom! The milk spilled!" Pei Luochuan rushed over holding a tissue, looking at the milk stain on the countertop in shock. "What's more amazing than winning the lottery? Tell me so I can be happy too?"

"Keep it a secret. When the time comes, it won't be too late for you to be happy." Mother Pei was keeping Pei Luochuan excited.

Seeing that Pei Ma refused to say anything, Pei Luochuan stopped asking and went back to his room to take a nap.

After Pei Luochuan left, Pei's father came back with a birdcage.

As soon as he entered the door, he was startled by his wife's red cheeks: "What's wrong with you? Your face is so red, do you have a fever?" He put down the birdcage and was about to get the thermometer, but was stopped by Pei's mother.

"I'm fine," she said, dragging her husband to the living room, her voice as soft as a mosquito's hum. "I have something to tell you, don't scare me."

She pressed Pei Dad onto the sofa and asked, "Guess what I did today?"

Seeing the light in his wife's eyes, Father Pei suddenly had an idea: "Could it be that you... got Luo Nan and Fan Xing's marriage certificate?"

Mother Pei raised her head suddenly, her eyes wide as bells: "How did you know?"

"I can't guess what you're thinking." Father Pei smiled and scratched her nose. "A few days ago, you were rummaging through boxes and drawers looking for Luonan's household registration booklet, and yesterday you mysteriously went to Gu's house to ask for Fanxing's ID card - if it wasn't for this, what else could it be?"

He patted the back of his wife's hand, his tone filled with unconcealed relief, "In fact, I've long felt that these two children are in love, and it's a good thing to get the marriage certificate sooner."

When Pei's mother was hit on the heart of the matter, she felt embarrassed.

She took out the photo of the red book that she had secretly taken at the door of the Civil Affairs Bureau from her pocket. The sunlight made the two names shine.

"Look at this number, 520, how auspicious."

She pointed at the photo and smiled, but tears suddenly fell, splashing on the phone screen, leaving a small stain. "When we got our marriage certificate, we only took a black and white photo, without even a number..."

"Silly." Father Pei took out a tissue and handed it to her. "This shows that the children are more fortunate than us." He looked out the window. The shadows of the magnolia flowers swayed on the ground, like two people holding hands. "When he comes back tonight, we..."

"No, no, no!" Pei's mother quickly waved her hand and put her phone back in her pocket. "We have to find the right time to give them a surprise."

At lunchtime, Aunt Zhang served the last plate of steamed sea bass. Seeing Mother Pei's beaming expression, she couldn't help but joke, "Did Madam win the jackpot today? You haven't smiled since this morning."

"I'm happier than winning the lottery!" Mother Pei put a piece of fish belly into her bowl. "I'll give you half a day off this afternoon. Go home and spend time with the kids. Your salary will still be paid."

Aunt Zhang left, flattered. Pei Luochuan ate the rice in his bowl and stared at the mountain of vegetables in his mother's bowl, smacking his lips. "Mom, you ate so much today? You always say 'only eat until you are 70% full to be healthy.'"

"I'm happy to!" Mother Pei rolled her eyes at him and stuffed a piece of cloudberry cake into her mouth, squinting her eyes in sweetness. "Today's cloudberry cake is especially sweet, you should eat more too."

"It's quite sweet." Pei Luochuan took a big bite and suddenly remembered something. "By the way, Mom, should we ask Sister Fanxing to come over for dinner tonight? I asked someone to ship some fresh cod from Iceland. She said she likes the pan-fried cod you make."

When mentioning Gu Fanxing, Pei Ma's eyes lit up like falling stars.

At three in the afternoon, Pei Luochuan was fiddling with his Nordic project model in the living room when he suddenly heard his mother humming in the kitchen. The tune was an old song from decades ago, sung quite off-key, yet revealing an indescribable joy.

He peeked into the kitchen and saw his mother grinning foolishly at a bowl of cloudberries, the whisk in her hand spinning rapidly, butter and icing sugar splashing all over her face, like a child who had stolen dessert.

"Mom, what are you doing?" He leaned against the door frame and laughed. "The cloudberry jam is almost turning into cloudberry paste."

"What do you care?" Pei's mother scolded, but she still handed the egg beater to her son. "Give me five minutes of stirring. I'm going to change the flowers in Luo Nan's study. He said yesterday that it was time to change the magnolia flowers."

In the evening, the doorbell rang and Pei's mother ran to open the door.

Gu Fanxing and Pei Luonan were standing at the door. The girl was holding a lunch box in her hand. Their shadows were stretched out in the setting sun, like a watercolor painting that had not yet dried.

"Hello Auntie."

Gu Fanxing raised the lunch box with a smile.

"Freshly baked cranberry cookies, thought you might like them."

"Come in, come in," Mother Pei took the lunch box and deliberately touched the back of her hand, "It's cold outside, come in and warm up."

Pei Luonan followed behind, and just as he changed his shoes, he was pulled into the living room by his mother.

"Look at you," she patted her son's shoulder, "I told you to pick up Fanxing earlier, why are you coming back only now?"

"There was a bit of a traffic jam on the road." Pei Luonan explained.

The dinner table was ten times busier than usual.

In order to make the simulation device in the project more realistic, Pei Luochuan pestered Gu Fanxing to talk about the ice caves in Iceland.

Grandma Pei picked up some food for Gu Fanxing and said, "Eat more of your favorite cod."

Pei Ma kept serving the two of them food: cod, asparagus, cloudberry tart...

This made Pei Luonan unable to help but say: "Mom, Fanxing can't eat so much."

"What do you know?" Mother Pei glared at her son and added another spoonful of fish soup to Gu Fanxing's bowl. "Fanxing is growing, so she should eat more."

The moonlight outside the window climbed onto the dining table, casting the shadows of the two people on the tablecloth, like two snuggling little birds.

After dinner, Pei Luochuan took Gu Fanxing to see his Aurora projector, leaving only Pei's parents in the living room.

Mother Pei looked at the light coming through the crack in the study door. Gu Fanxing's laughter could be heard faintly from there, mixed with Pei Luochuan's muttering, "Brother, stop standing over here all the time, blocking me from asking Sister Fanxing questions!"

She touched the safe key in her pocket and suddenly felt that the secret she had hidden for a day was like a ripe cloudberry, so sweet that it was about to explode.

Late at night, when the car that took Gu Fanxing home had just driven out of the community, Mother Pei couldn't help but take the red book out of the safe and show it to Father Pei.

"Look at you," Pei's father couldn't hide the doting in his eyes, "You're such a grown-up, but you're still like a child."

"I'm happy!" Mother Pei pressed the red book against her cheek. "My son is getting married. How can I not be happy?"

The moonlight outside the window climbed up the windowsill, illuminating the red book.

Mother Pei looked at the two names side by side on the cover, and suddenly felt that this "conspiracy" that was hidden from everyone was very much like the aurora in Iceland - although it came silently, it was enough to illuminate the years to come and warm people's hearts.