My Taoist nun girlfriend is from the Republic of China era, 1942.

Chapter 178 Father and Son Time
It was already 1 a.m. when I got back to Jiangcheng city.

Lu Yuan turned off the engine and turned to look at Chen Xiaomiao, who was dozing off in the passenger seat.

"Got home."

"Ah."

Chen Xiaomiao snapped out of her daze, unbuckled her seatbelt, and yawned.

Lu Yuanben suggested staying overnight in the county town, but Chen Xiaomiao immediately rejected the suggestion.

Since Lu Yang was born, Chen Xiaomiao has never been away from her son for more than 24 hours. The thought that the little guy might wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to find his mother makes her restless.

The two of them walked into the house one after the other.

Hearing the noise, Sister Zhang came out of the bedroom. Seeing the two of them, she lowered her voice and said, "Sir, Madam, you're back. Yangyang has been sleeping for a while."

"You didn't cry or make a fuss, did you?"

I asked my mother a few times, and she didn't cry or make a fuss.

"Thank you for your hard work, Sister Zhang. Go to sleep now."

Chen Xiaomiao quietly changed her shoes and went to the bedroom.

Little Lu Yang was sleeping soundly, smacking his lips twice as if he were having a sweet dream.

Seeing her son, Chen Xiaomiao finally felt relieved of her last worry, washed up quickly, and went to bed.

The next morning.

Chen Xiaomiao woke up naturally. Having not worked for a long time, she suddenly worked all afternoon yesterday, and her bones ached, but she also had a long-lost sense of peace.

She turned over and saw that Lu Yuan had woken up and was lying on his side, his gaze fixed on her face for who knows how long.

"woke up?"

"Hmm." Chen Xiaomiao rubbed her eyes and asked softly, "What time is it now?"

"It's still early, not even eight o'clock." Lu Yuan reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair from her forehead. "Sleep a little longer, you were exhausted yesterday."

"I'm not going to sleep." Chen Xiaomiao shook her head, threw back the covers, and got out of bed: "Where's Yangyang?"

"He woke up around 6 a.m., and I had Sister Zhang take him away. He's playing in the living room right now."

"Oh……"

Chen Xiaomiao rubbed her eyes, got out of bed to wash up, and then went to the living room.

In the living room, Sister Zhang was playing with Lu Yang.

The little guy sat on the carpet with a circular track in front of him. He held a small red train engine in his little hand and was trying to connect it to the green carriage behind it.

The nanny, Sister Zhang, sat to the side, holding freshly mashed apple puree, feeding him a bite every now and then.

"Yangyang."

Chen Xiaomiao walked over and called out softly.

"Mother……"

When Lu Yang saw his mother, he immediately dropped the toy in his hand and opened his arms for a hug.

Chen Xiaomiao sat down and played with her son's train for a while. When she saw that it was almost time, she got up to go to school.

Before leaving, Chen Xiaomiao changed her clothes and, as was her habit, wanted to kiss her son before she left.

Suddenly, I saw Lu Yang leaning against the wall, taking small, inching steps toward the study door.

The study door was ajar, and Lu Yuan could be seen sitting behind his desk, his brows furrowed as he faced the computer screen, as if he were dealing with something important.

Little Lu Yang arrived at the door, but instead of going in, he clung to the door frame, stood on tiptoe, and peered inside, making longing "ba...ba..." sounds with his little mouth, while his little hands reached out and grabbed at Lu Yuan's direction.

But the people inside seemed completely unaware.

Chen Xiaomiao quickly went over, picked up her son, and knocked on the door.

"The child's father!"

"Ok?"

Lu Yuan turned around upon hearing the sound, took off his earphones, and went to the door.

"Honey, is something the matter?"

"You're still the child's father, don't leave everything to Sister Zhang."

Chen Xiaomiao handed her son, whom she was holding, to Lu Yuan.

"Yangyang wants you to hug him, can't you stay with him a little longer?"

"Why do you say this suddenly?"

"I saw on Douyin yesterday that an expert said that if a father doesn't spend enough time with his child when they are young, they may have incomplete cognitive development and be prone to health problems when they grow up!"

"..."

Lu Yuan was both amused and exasperated, but also felt a pang of shame.

Although those short video "experts" may be unreliable, their reasoning is generally sound.

After saying goodbye to Chen Xiaomiao, Lu Yuan heeded Lu Lei's advice, informed him to suspend the meeting, and walked out of the study to pick up his son.

"Sister Zhang, you can rest today. I'll take Yangyang out for a walk."

As Lu Yuan spoke, he took a slightly worn diaper bag from the entryway cabinet.

This was a gift from Qi Lili back then; it contained everything: baby bottles, diapers, wet wipes, and small toys.

He checked it carefully and then filled the bottle with warm water.

"Yangyang, where do you want to go?"

Lu Yang tilted his head, seemingly trying to process the word "play".

He stood up, holding onto the coffee table, and ran to the balcony door with his short legs. He patted the glass door with his little hands and made indistinct syllables.

"Car...car...ride in a car."

Lu Yuan followed his gaze and saw cars coming and going on the street below.

"Okay, Dad will take you for a ride in the car."

Lu Yuan changed his son into a onesie that was easy to move in, put a small baseball cap on him, carried him to the underground garage, and put him in the stroller seat.

As soon as Lu Yuan drove out of the garage, little Lu Yang started giggling nonstop, his two little feet swinging in the air, looking quite content.

Whenever a bus or a large truck passes by, Lu Yang would excitedly wave his arms and shout, "Big truck... big truck..."

Lu Yuan slowed down the car, letting him take his time looking.

Long ago, Lu Yuan discovered that his son had a natural interest in these steel creations, especially those complex and large engineering vehicles.

For example, excavators and cranes working on the roadside always attract his full attention.

Before we knew it, the car had arrived at the shopping center.

Lu Yuan found a parking space, parked the car, took his son out of the back seat, and took out the stroller from the trunk.

The mall wasn't crowded on a weekday, and the environment was bright and spacious.

Lu Yuan pushed his stroller aimlessly, and when he passed by a baby and maternity supermarket, he inexplicably turned into it.

The shelves were filled with a dazzling array of baby and toddler products.

From baby formula and diapers to clothes and toys, the sheer variety is dazzling.

Lu Yuan didn't know much about these things; Chen Xiaomiao and Sister Zhang usually took care of them.

He pushed his cart to the milk powder section, looking at the rows of beautifully packaged cans, wondering which brand his son was drinking.

He remembered Sister Zhang mentioning that it was an imported brand, and the packaging seemed to be gold.

He tilted his head back, his eyes searching through the jars.

"dad……"

The soft, sweet voice of her son came from inside the stroller.

Lu Yuan lowered his head: "What's wrong?"

Lu Yang stretched out his chubby little finger and pointed to the corner of another row of shelves diagonally opposite.

“Nei nei… then… drink milk powder.” Lu Yuan looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that on the bottom shelf, there were indeed several familiar golden milk powder cans.

Because it's not a featured product, it's placed in a rather remote location.

Lu Yuan walked over, picked up a can, glanced back at his son, and began to have doubts again.

This kid is only a little over a year old, and he can already recognize pictures and objects to this extent?
How can you accurately locate the target in such a complex environment?
Lu Yuan's lingering worry about the potential for great wisdom resurfaced, but he quickly suppressed it.

Why think so much? He's your own son; it's always better for him to be smart than stupid.

Then he pushed the cart to the toy section.

Various toys with sound and light made a lot of noise, several children chased and played among the shelves, and a three or four-year-old boy lay on the ground throwing a tantrum, crying and shouting that he wanted to buy a huge Transformer.

The boy's mother looked embarrassed and kept pulling and tugging, but the boy's crying only got louder.

Lu Yang sat in the stroller, watching the scene before him with curiosity, his big eyes full of confusion.

He turned to look at Lu Yuan, then at the boy rolling on the ground, his little head seemingly unable to comprehend such behavior.

Lu Yuan squatted down to be at eye level with his son and asked in a low voice, "Yangyang, do you want a new toy?"

Lu Yang shook his head decisively, a hint of disgust even showing on his small face.

Lu Yuan was amused by his little expression, straightened up, and pushed him to continue forward.

"If you want a particular toy, point it out to Daddy."

Lu Yang's gaze swept over the dazzling array of toys, but those fancy, whistling, and light-up gadgets didn't attract much of his attention.

Finally, the father and son left the baby store empty-handed. Suddenly, they passed a model shop, and the little guy's eyes were instantly drawn to the display in the glass window.

The shop window had no fancy lights or sound effects, just a few scaled-down models of engineering machinery displayed quietly.

A yellow tracked excavator, with every detail of its robotic arm and cab clearly visible; next to it is a huge white mining truck, its tires alone being larger than Lu Yang's head.

"Ah...ah...big cart!"

Lu Yang in the stroller got excited, leaned forward, poked his chubby fingers straight at the glass, and made urgent syllables that were hard to understand.

That eagerness was completely different from the lack of interest he showed in the toy section earlier.

Lu Yuan stopped and looked in the direction his son was looking.

Good guy.

This kid doesn't care about those toys for kids; he wants the real thing.

Lu Yuan pushed the stroller into the model shop.

The shop was quiet, with a faint smell of glue and paint in the air.

A bespectacled man, who looked to be in his thirties, was sitting behind the counter, carefully attaching tracks to a tank model with a pair of small tweezers.

Hearing the wind chimes at the door, the shop owner looked up, saw Lu Yuan pushing a stroller, and greeted him politely.

"Hello, feel free to browse. Just let me know if you need anything."

After saying that, he lowered his head again and continued to work on the model in his hands.

Clearly, he regarded Lu Yuan as the kind of ordinary customer who would casually stroll around with his child and be immediately deterred by the prices of the models.

Lu Yuan didn't mind and walked straight to the shop window, pointing to the excavator model and asking, "Boss, how much is this?"

The boss looked up again at the sound, adjusted his glasses, and his gaze shifted back and forth between Lu Yuan and the model.

"Oh, this one is all alloy, 1:50 scale, the details are quite well done, it's a collector's item."

He quoted a price in a calm tone, as if he was certain that the number would scare the other party away.

After hearing this, Lu Yuan didn't even haggle over the price, and instead pointed to the giant truck next to him.

"Okay, I'll take this one. And while you're at it, bring me one of those trucks too."

"what?"

The boss's tweezers trembled, almost poking the model.

He quickly put down his work, stood up, and looked at Lu Yuan with suspicion: "Sir... are you playing by yourself?"

Lu Yuan shook his head, pointed to his son looking longingly in the stroller, and said succinctly.

"I bought it for my son."

The boss's expression froze instantly. He looked at Lu Yuan, then at the baby in the stroller who was sucking on a finger and drooling. His eyes widened as if he had heard something unbelievable.

"Give...to your son?"

The shop owner raised his voice, took a few steps to walk around from behind the counter, and stood in front of Lu Yuan: "Sir, I need to make this clear to you, what I'm selling here are not toys, but life-size simulation models!"

"I know."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"you do not know!"

The boss spoke with unwavering conviction, carrying the stubbornness of an expert.

"This thing is all metal, and the edges and corners are very sharp. Children's skin is delicate, and it will cut them with just one scratch!"
Look at this again, it's full of tiny parts. If a child were to pick them off and put them in their mouth, it could be fatal!

The boss became more and more excited as he spoke.

"Moreover, this thing is very precious and is meant for adults to collect, not for children to play with."

Look at this excavator arm! The hydraulic rods inside are all simulated. If a kid were to try and pull on them, they'd snap right in the face! It's not worth spending thousands of dollars just to make a noise!

Lu Yuan listened quietly to what he had to say. Instead of being discouraged, he thought the boss was quite honest.

He glanced down at his son, Lu Yang, who was still staring intently at the models, his eyes filled with the determination to "want it, I want it."

Lu Yuan smiled, looked up at the shopkeeper and said, "It's alright, I'll watch him play, nothing will happen. We can just buy another one if it breaks."

"..."

The shop owner was speechless for a long time after Lu Yuan casually said, "I'll buy another one if it breaks." Finally, he waved his hand in frustration, his face full of a helpless expression that said, "You don't understand me, but I'm a professional."

"Fine, you're the customer, so you call the shots."

He muttered to himself, then turned and walked toward the shelf: "It's stupid not to make money... But let me be clear, don't take these collector's items. I'll get you two entry-level ones, with simpler structures and fewer odds and ends."

But you absolutely, positively must supervise your child and never actually give it to them as a toy!

The boss kept giving instructions while taking down two brand-new boxes from the shelf.

An excavator and a heavy truck were handed to Lu Yuan.

The total came to a little over 4000 yuan. Lu Yuan paid the bill and left.

Carrying the two heavy boxes back to the car, Lu Yuan put the items on the passenger seat.

In the back seat, Lu Yang clung to the edge of the seat, craning his neck and staring intently at the two colorful boxes printed with construction vehicle patterns.

Lu Yuan glanced at his son in the rearview mirror, started the car, and merged into the traffic.

"dad……"

The little guy suddenly spoke up, his sweet voice tinged with a hint of grievance.

Lu Yuan slowed down and replied, "Yeah, what's up?"

Lu Yang stretched out his chubby little hand and pointed towards the shopping mall outside the car window, muttering something indistinctly.

"Big...big truck..."

Lu Yuan understood immediately.

So this kid still has his eye on that biggest and most impressive excavator model in the shop window.

Lu Yuan was amused by his son's persistence and explained with a wry smile, "That one is too big. Let's play with these two small ones first. If you play well, Dad will buy you the big one next time."

Lu Yang seemed to understand the words "next time" and "big". He pouted and didn't say anything more. He turned his head back and continued to stare at the two boxes, as if he was thinking about something.

Lu Yuan understood that the model shop owner's reminder was entirely reasonable.

For an ordinary child, let alone such a sophisticated alloy model, even a regular plastic toy could be dismantled to pieces in less than half a day.

But my own son is just different...

Lu Yuan, on the contrary, felt a bit expectant. He really wanted to see if his son, who was only a little over a year old, could understand this "toy" that was far beyond his age.

(End of this chapter)