Free Web NovelChapter 478: Chapter 478: Wowo
When Yi Roujing returned to the carriage, Li Hongying was wiping the little child’s face. The water in the basin was all murky, but at least the child’s original appearance was visible. The cheeks were rosy, paired with big eyes, looking exactly like a doll from a textbook. Yi Roujing found it somewhat amusing.
The little child turned her head at the sound and smiled upon seeing Yi Roujing, tilting her head adorably. How could such a cute child not be endearing?
"The clothes for Dumplings still look too big on her," Li Hongying said. "We don’t even know how old this child is. If we send her to the orphanage, who knows if she’ll get enough to eat."
Having grandchildren and a granddaughter, Li Hongying especially felt sorry for the child, who was so well-behaved and lovely.
"Let’s just keep her for now. Having one more child won’t make a difference," Yi Roujing thought about the conversation between the two brothers she had overheard and made this decision.
"Shall we take her back to Huaixi County?" Li Hongying was delighted at the suggestion.
Yi Roujing nodded in agreement, with Ding Anmin and Feng Lishu chiming in. This major decision was settled just like that.
"Once we’re back, we’ll give you a proper bath. It’s too cold on the train," Li Hongying said, putting the little child, with her face now clean, into the sleeper berth with Tangyuan.
"Grandma, stinky," Tangyuan said, pinching her nose and looking at Li Hongying with some grievance.
The little child glanced at Tangyuan with a puzzled look on her face, then leaned down to smell her own clothes, eyes lighting up as she turned her head to look at Tangyuan, waving her right hand to indicate that she wasn’t smelly.
"Wow, this child understands," Ding Anmin laughed heartily.
Feng Lishu gave her daughter a reproachful glance, "Weren’t you the one who smelled worse when you pooped? Your sister is already clean now, not smelly anymore."
Tangyuan didn’t pay attention to Feng Lishu’s other words, only hearing "sister." Watching the little child across from her waving her hand was amusing. Her childish nature took over, and she crawled closer to the little child. "I’m the older sister now, and you’re the little sister."
There was no response from the little child, who simply tilted her head as if pondering.
"Since you’re the little sister, and I’m the older sister, you can sleep with the smelly," Tangyuan declared, as if making a big decision.
"Hahaha—" Everyone in the compartment laughed.
Yi Roujing and the others reported their situation to the train conductor, registered their address, left a contact number, and even showed their student ID. Seeing it, the conductor quickly recognized them as students from Jing University. He promptly made a call to the contact number given by Yi Roujing to verify it, confirmed their identity, and then reported to his superiors, who immediately agreed.
This was a great favor to them, after all, otherwise this little child would have fallen into their lap to deal with.
When the train arrived at the Jiang Province capital station, Yi Roujing and her group disembarked. Xu Ancheng was already waiting on the platform, wearing a black long woolen coat, a red scarf, leather gloves, and shiny leather shoes. He saw Yi Roujing and her group and approached with a gentle smile.
"Big sister-in-law’s knitting skills are impressive. That scarf looks nice on you, big brother," Ding Anmin said, looking at the red scarf around Xu Ancheng’s neck, clearly understanding. Yi Roujing couldn’t knit and had specifically gone to learn from someone else.
Xu Ancheng gave Ding Anmin an appreciative look.
"Mom, what about mine?" Baozi gave Yi Roujing a slightly dissatisfied look, and it was rare for Yi Roujing to blush.
Xu Ancheng lifted Baozi up, "In the future, let your wife knit for you, don’t trouble my wife."
"Mom," Baozi said, looking at Yi Roujing coyly.
"I’ll make one for you on your birthday," Yi Roujing promised.
"Okay." Baozi was satisfied.
Xu Ancheng playfully tapped his son on the head, but his heart was sweet. After all, he was the first to receive a scarf knitted by Yi Roujing personally.
"That’s the little child found on the train," Xu Ancheng said, looking at the little child being held by Li Hongying.
"Yes, the family didn’t want her. Her parents are probably gone," Yi Roujing said, somewhat sentimental. Losing the people who protected her at such a young age struck a chord in her maternal heart.
"Our family can afford to raise one more child," Xu Ancheng said, taking off his leather gloves and holding Yi Roujing’s hand. "How come it’s so cold?"
Xu Ancheng put Baozi down, put his gloves on Yi Roujing’s hands, then held her hand through the gloves, and picked up Baozi again.
"Mom and Dad, let’s stay in the city for the night and return to Huaixi County tomorrow." Xu Ancheng had arranged everything, and Ding Weihuo and Li Hongying had never contradicted their eldest son.
By the time the group reached the guesthouse, it was nearly dark. After securing four rooms with an introduction letter and marriage certificates, everyone settled in.
With Ding Weihuo and Li Hongying being older and weary from the journey, they didn’t have the energy to go out to eat. The kids were still young, and in the cold weather, restaurants mostly served hot dishes that weren’t suitable for such a large group of children. So, Xu Ancheng took Ding Anguo and Huang Xiaobao to the state-run restaurant to pack dinner.
After putting down a deposit, they brought back restaurant dishes and split them among themselves, eating a simple meal together in their rooms.
"You look after Baozi, I’ll go help Mom bathe the child," Yi Roujing said after dinner. She fetched hot water, using all four water bottles allocated to each room, borrowed a large wooden basin from the counter, and smoothly borrowed some soap by gifting a tin of Friendship Cream.
Li Hongying and Yi Roujing worked together to give the little child a comfortable hot bath, scrubbing off quite a bit of dirt. They had to use soap three times before her hair lathered.
All cleaned up, Yi Roujing noticed the little child was noticeably happier, grinning with eyes squinting and obediently letting Yi Roujing wring her hair dry.
"We need to give this child a name," Yi Roujing said happily, observing the newly freshened up, slightly rosy little child. "Let’s give her a nickname first, call her Wowo, like Wowo head."
"Wowo, it sounds quite nice," Li Hongying repeated, nodding with approval.
"Wowo, do you like your nickname? From now on, you’ll be called Wowo." Yi Roujing whispered closely. The little child, very perceptive and well-behaved, though unable to speak, nodded in agreement with Yi Roujing.
"Wow, our Wowo likes the name," Yi Roujing was very pleased with the affirmation. "As for your formal name, we’ll decide once we’re back in Jing City. Would you like to come to Jing City with us?"
Wowo found the word Jing City unfamiliar, raising her head to look at Yi Roujing with utterly unrestrained innocence in her eyes.
"Would you like to come home with us later?" Yi Roujing rephrased, and this time Wowo understood, nodding her head.
"Is this child..." Li Hongying held back the word "dumb" that came to her tongue.
