ST3YC Chapter 128

Shrank to a 3-Years-Old Child Chapter 128: Professor Zhang and His Wife

When Fu Heng led her back to find Professor Zhang, Qingqing’s little face was still flushed, like a ripe red apple.

Professor Zhang, having been through similar experiences, could roughly tell what had happened at a glance.

However, this is a private matter between students and has nothing to do with him. Besides, they are a married couple, so whatever they do is perfectly reasonable.

So he just stood up with a smile, beckoned Qingqing to come over and help her hold up a bouquet of flowers, and then slowly led the way with a basket in his hand.

Fortunately, Qingqing regained her memory in time. Even though it was just a memory of her first year of university, it reminded her of some things about Professor Zhang Xia.

For example, this person is actually their professional course tutor, and another example is that he is also a big name in the industry.

But what interested these students the most was the love story between Professor Zhang and his wife.

The most impressive thing is that the two were born on the same day, month, and year, a coincidence that makes people sigh that the world is indeed a big place where anything can happen.

So today is not only Professor Zhang’s birthday, but also the birthday of his wife.

The bouquet of flowers and the gift he asked Qingqing to help him carry were birthday presents he was preparing to give to his loved one.

Walking behind Fu Heng, Qingqing winked at him.

I didn’t expect Professor Zhang to be so romantic.

This professor is always very serious in front of his students, but he can also be a little humorous at times. He is also very professionally competent, so he is very popular with his students.

The two elderly people live in the school’s staff housing.

Room 1 on the second floor.

The family housing here is quite nice. It’s a seven-story building with two households on each floor. Each household has three bedrooms and two living rooms, which is enough for a teacher’s whole family to live in.

Professor Zhang finished class quite late, and it was almost noon when he led Qingqing and the others home.

As soon as he opened the door, the rich aroma of food wafted out.

Qingqing closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “It smells so good!”

“It seems your teacher’s wife has already prepared dinner.”

Perhaps because it was his and his wife’s birthday, Professor Zhang was in a good mood, and the smile on his face never left him from morning to night.

Even now, he was even more eager than Qingqing to enter the house and ran into the kitchen.

Then someone chased him out with a spatula.

“Stealing food again? Get out of here right now, we have guests coming today.”

Mrs. Zhang, in a fierce manner, urged Professor Zhang out. As soon as she stepped out of the kitchen, she saw Qingqing standing awkwardly in the entryway.

The usually composed Fu Heng was taken aback for a moment, then quickly pushed Professor Zhang aside and greeted her with a smile.

“Qingqing and Fu Heng are here, just in time. The meal is ready, come and eat quickly.” Madam Zhang clearly knew Qingqing and Fu Heng, and her attitude was very friendly and warm upon meeting them.

She pulled Qingqing to sit down on the sofa, shoved a handful of washed cherries into her hands without giving her a chance to refuse, and told Professor Zhang to take good care of the guests before returning to the kitchen to continue her work.

“Um… let me help.”

Feeling embarrassed, Qingqing sat on the sofa and watched the two elderly people busy themselves. She got up to go to the kitchen to help, but Professor Zhang stopped her.

“You’re really something. Going to the kitchen, I don’t know if you’ll be helping or just causing trouble.”

Qingqing was furious when her cooking skills were rejected. She instinctively retorted, “You make it sound like you’re just causing trouble for the professor.”

“So you can’t see me sitting here obediently?” Professor Zhang readily accepted his identity as a kitchen killer.

Qingqing: “…”

Realizing she couldn’t win an argument with Professor Zhang, Qingqing instinctively turned to look for an ally, only to find that Fu Heng had already gone to the kitchen to help Madam Zhang cook.

Well then, she’d better stay here and keep Professor Zhang company while he drinks tea.

“How old are you now that your memory has returned to?” Professor Zhang began to inquire about Qingqing’s condition.

“Eighteen, just started college this year,” Qingqing answered honestly.

“That means you’ve already remembered who I am.”

“Of course, how could I forget you, sir?” Qingqing sweetly coaxed Professor Zhang, showering him with compliments until the increasingly childlike professor beamed with joy.

Hearing the cheerful laughter of the old man and the young woman outside, Mrs. Zhang in the kitchen couldn’t help but smile knowingly.

“Their relationship is still so good.”

“Qingqing is only missing the title of your daughter, so naturally she’s close to you,” Fu Heng said gently.

He was always gentle and humble in front of his teachers, especially since these two elderly men had a deep connection with his wife.

“I heard that her mother recently… never mind, let’s not talk about it.”

With a sigh, Mrs. Zhang continued to process the crayfish in her hands.

Qingqing loves to eat crayfish, especially Mrs. Zhang’s special salted egg yolk crayfish. So when Mrs. Zhang heard that she was coming to eat, she immediately ran to the market and bought five catties of crayfish.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that five pounds seems like a lot; the meat extracted from it isn’t even enough for Qingqing to eat by herself.

However, she had prepared other dishes, so it wasn’t appropriate to buy too many crayfish.

The main problem is that the pots at home aren’t big enough to hold it all.

While Fu Heng was intently stirring the vegetables in the pan, he suddenly heard Madam Zhang beside him say, “Han Dayu, who tried to harm Qingqing, has been sentenced by the court to life imprisonment. He’ll never be able to get out of here for the rest of his life.”

Mrs. Zhang had been following this matter closely, and since she had a friend who worked at the Judicial Yuan, she received the news as soon as the verdict was announced.

“Okay, I understand.”

Fu Heng paused slightly before continuing to stir-fry skillfully, but unexpectedly Madam Zhang said, “I heard that Han Dayu left a son outside.”

With his pupils contracting slightly, Fu Heng abruptly turned his head, meeting Madam Zhang’s calm face: “Don’t worry, that child has no ill intentions towards Qingqing. On the contrary, he is very grateful to Qingqing.”

“Gratitude?” Who would be grateful to someone who sent their father to prison twice?

Seemingly sensing Fu Heng’s inner mockery, Madam Zhang patiently explained to him, “You should know that Qingqing and my husband have been sponsoring some poor children for years, enabling them to go to school and have food. That child is one of the children Qingqing has sponsored. It’s a coincidence that he is also a graduate of Jinian University. I learned about his existence by chance. For Qingqing’s sake, I specifically inquired about him and found out that his mother used to be Han Dayu’s mistress, but was killed by Han Dayu. Later, he became an orphan and wandered outside as a little beggar. It was Qingqing who sponsored him, allowing him to go to school with other children. Therefore, he has no ill intentions towards Qingqing.”

After hearing Madam Zhang’s explanation, Fu Heng’s expression softened completely.

“I know him; he is not Han Dayu’s son.”

Mrs. Zhang was taken aback: “What do you mean by that?”

“You probably don’t know why Han Dayu killed that mistress. It’s because she had another lover behind Han Dayu’s back and got pregnant with his child. He was overjoyed to welcome his son, but it turned out he wasn’t his own. Naturally, Han Dayu couldn’t tolerate that.”

So he brutally murdered his mistress.

“Sigh, this is really…” Madam Zhang sighed, and in the end could only say, “These people are all rotten to the core.”

No longer bringing up that topic, Mrs. Zhang quickly put the cleaned crayfish into the wok and stir-fried them. The rich aroma wafted out of the kitchen door, attracting two heads, one big and one small, to peek in.

“Is dinner ready?”

Not allowed to step into the kitchen, Qingqing and Professor Zhang clung to the door frame in unison, peeking inside cautiously.

“Almost done, hurry up and serve the rice and set out the bowls and chopsticks.”

“Alright!”

Qingqing was the most enthusiastic when there was food to eat; she took on the task of setting the table.

The professor then went to serve the rice.

In the previous episode, faced with a table full of delicious food, Qingqing and Professor Zhang almost simultaneously went for the salted egg yolk crayfish.

Besides Qingqing, Professor Zhang also loves this dish.

However, Madam Zhang found cooking crayfish too troublesome and rarely made it for him.

This time, he benefited from Qingqing’s good fortune.

“Qingqing, eat more.” Madam Zhang smiled and served Qingqing some food. The happiest thing for the cook is when the person eating expresses appreciation for their cooking skills.

And the way to do this is very straightforward: just eat it all.

Fu Heng smiled as he watched Qingqing’s cheerful appearance, feeling that bringing her here today was the right decision.

Perhaps Qingqing herself didn’t realize that although she had lost most of her memories of being with Professor Zhang and his wife, she still instinctively felt a sense of security, like returning to her parents’ home, as soon as she stepped into this house.

For her, this is probably her second home besides the Fu family, and the two elderly people living here are more like her parents than her own parents.

Upon closer inspection, one can discover that Qingqing’s face actually bears a 30-40% resemblance to Madam Zhang, especially her distinctive peach blossom eyes, which are practically a must-have for the Gu family.

In fact, Qingqing and Madam Zhang are indeed related by blood.

Madam Zhang’s real name was Gu, and she was a distant relative of the Gu family. In terms of seniority, Qingqing had to call Madam Zhang her great-aunt.

So they came here today not only as students to celebrate their teacher’s birthday, but also as juniors to celebrate their elder’s birthday.

This can be seen as making up for the regret that the two elderly people’s children are not around.

“Qingqing, eat more, look how thin you are.”

Madam Zhang was very enthusiastic about serving Qingqing food and even peeled shrimp and removed fish bones for her herself, making Fu Heng’s presence seem like a mere decoration.

Knowing that this was the old woman’s way of showing her love for the younger generation, he didn’t try to take the job. He just ate his meal in peace and dealt with Professor Zhang’s occasional surprise inspections.

As expected of someone who has been a teacher all his life, he always feels the urge to test his students’ knowledge whenever he encounters them.

Fortunately, even after graduation, Fu Heng still works in the business world, so he could never forget the essential knowledge required to handle things with ease.

He survived the inspection during the meal, but couldn’t endure the chess game afterward.

Faced with Professor Zhang’s eager urging, Fu Heng had no choice but to get up and go over.

He would rather do a hundred practice tests than play chess with Professor Zhang.

It’s not that this person is particularly skilled at chess, but rather that Professor Zhang is a terrible chess player. When he gets impatient, he’ll get angry and start cursing. Playing chess with him is not a pleasure, but a form of torture.