Chapter 187: Chapter 187

Eating the meal Hua Miaozhu personally cooked, Zhan Jing felt it was quite comforting.

It’s not that Cai Meina’s cooking isn’t good, in fact, it’s much better, but it just lacks a mother’s touch, Zhan Jing thought.

"If you find it delicious, eat more, and then later we’ll do some exercise." Hua Miaozhu was previously startled by Zhan Jing’s behavior and didn’t want her to exercise.

Now that she knows her daughter’s pregnancy looks risky but everything is under control, she is relieved.

Since things are going well, more exercise will make childbirth easier. "By the way, have you found a midwife yet?"

"And are all the baby’s clothes and other necessities ready?"

"Have the diapers been prepared?" Hua Miaozhu was really worried that her daughter hadn’t prepared anything.

"Everything is ready. Meina helped me make a lot of baby clothes, and Guang Ran and the others left behind enough clothes." Zhan Jing pointed to the wardrobe, indicating the baby’s clothes were inside.

It turns out, the beautiful girl had already helped prepare for her own daughter, which gave Hua Miaozhu a sigh of relief. Opening the wardrobe, it gave the old lady quite a shock.

"So much new fabric?" In these times, buying fabric required coupons. Hua Miaozhu had saved for a long time but hadn’t accumulated many fabric tickets. She didn’t expect her daughter’s place to have so much.

See, even her own mother was surprised. Softly, she explained the origin of these fabrics, "Mom, don’t worry about us; we really don’t lack anything here."

Zhan Jing also wanted to take this time to let Hua Miaozhu know that her life wasn’t necessarily difficult; rather, she was living quite richly.

Hua Miaozhu always believed that her daughter’s life could not be as good as she wrote in her letters, thinking she was just trying to ease her worries, but she didn’t expect her daughter to hide so much.

Hua Miaozhu truly regretted it, "If I had known your life was so good, with no worries about food and drink, I would have come earlier."

She always wanted to take care of Zhan Jing, but was worried about the lack of food here, so she kept postponing her travel plans.

Now that she knew her daughter’s house had plenty of supplies, Hua Miaozhu wouldn’t hold back at all and took over the family’s head chef role.

Cai Meina originally felt uneasy, thinking it wasn’t right to let Hua Miaozhu cook for so many people, especially since she came from a scholarly family. But after seeing Hua Miaozhu’s skills, Cai Meina willingly gave up her position.

"In terms of calligraphy, I don’t have much to teach you; the copybooks you’re practicing with are quite good now." Hua Miaozhu originally wanted to start with calligraphy, but seeing that the children practiced writing every day and were doing well, she turned to teaching painting.

Gong Ruini supported this decision, and Gong Ruwen had no objections, so they started learning with Hua Miaozhu.

At first, Zhao Guangran was quite resistant, always feeling frustrated because daily writing practice was already driving him crazy. According to him, as long as he got the words down, it was good enough.

However, he couldn’t resist the strict scrutiny of his older brother. If his writing had even a slight flaw, it would definitely be sent back to be redone with more added, leaving Zhao Guangran completely out of patience.

But learning painting from Hua Miaozhu, Zhao Guangran found it quite interesting, especially after he drew a simple picture of his own home; he was very excited.

"This is our home that I drew," Zhao Guangran looked at Hua Miaozhu’s evaluation and smiled happily.

Gong Ruini peeked at Zhao Guangran’s painting. Oh well, fortunately, this kid didn’t become a designer; otherwise, with the sketch he drew, no one would likely hire him to design a house.

Zhao Xuran looked at it too and was quite surprised. Although the key points of the house were depicted, together, something seemed off about the house.

Looking at her excited little grandson, Hua Miaozhu felt a twinge of regret, wondering why she praised Zhao Guangran so much. She just felt this child had been bullied too much and needed a bit of confidence.

She didn’t expect Zhao Guangran to be so thrilled, so much so that before his excitement wore off, Hua Miaozhu was tempted to give Zhao Guangran more assignments.

Luckily, after boasting for a while, Zhao Guangran went to show off to Zhan Jing, otherwise, someone would definitely stand up to give Zhao Guangran a lecture.

What Hua Miaozhu cared more about was Gong Ruini’s painting, which although looked childish, showed a spark of talent, pleasantly surprising her. Although Hua Miaozhu wasn’t a famous painter, she had exchanged views with many well-known artists.

She placed great importance on the so-called spark of talent, "Very good, why did you paint it this way?"

Gong Ruini was taken aback by Hua Miaozhu’s question. Although they had many basic lessons with her over the past few days, she felt that Hua Miaozhu wasn’t very attentive towards her. Fresh chapters posted on novel•fire.net

Now, suddenly being asked by a big shot, Gong Ruini was surprised and uncertain about whether this was good or bad.

In her previous life, Gong Ruini had no exposure to painting. Playing the piano was something her previous parents had nurtured, so she had a bit of a foundation. This time, she painted purely following her heart’s desire.

Gong Ruini worried that Hua Miaozhu might have perceived something from her painting, like thinking she’s quite mature, making her feel it’s atypical for a child of her age.

Gong Ruini wanted to be cute, but she was never the type to go for that route in her previous life. She was just trying hard to fit into it now, but it wasn’t going to have quick results.

Even though she was anxious, Gong Ruini explained why she painted it that way.

Her tone carried a touch of childishness, combined with slightly mature thoughts, which surprised Hua Miaozhu a bit. However, compared to the astoundingly mature Zhao Xuran, it wasn’t that unexpected for her.

"Very good. In the past, your grandma would have introduced you to a good teacher, but it’s a pity." Over the years, without contact, she doesn’t know how her old friends are doing or even if they’re alive.

A good teacher? Is that implying her painting is good and someone more capable might be introduced to teach her?

Gong Ruini was about to go crazy; she never imagined such a good opportunity. "Learning from grandma already makes me very happy."

Gong Ruini held back a bit; she couldn’t become too haughty. What if it was a trick?

Moreover, could there really be good art teachers to introduce now? Judging from Hua Miaozhu’s attitude, it seemed like she hadn’t contacted them for a long time, not knowing if they were even in this world anymore. So staying grounded was the best approach.

Whether it was sincere or not, Hua Miaozhu wasn’t going to let such a good seed slip away, "From today, I will have high standards for you."

Even if you don’t meet a good teacher in the future, as long as the foundation is set well, and Gong Ruini doesn’t give up painting, she will eventually be discovered, and maybe someone will be willing to guide her.

High standards? Is this the result of focusing on grooming? There’s no way Gong Ruini would object to such a good opportunity, especially when the Zhao brothers didn’t even have it.