Page 177 of He Is My Bride

“I’m home!” Li Ying called from the door. He had returned from his job at a local hospital, where he was doing his surgery residency.

“Welcome home.” Hanjun was cooking in the kitchen while the little one, now three months old, was playing nearby in his pen.

“Ooh!” Li Ying cooed at the toddler, “Is the little beast contained! Is the little beast in prison! Whywould bàba do such a thing!”

Hysteric baby-giggles.

“Unleash the beast!” Li Ying growled in a heavy metal voice, which the toddler absolutely loved, picked up the ‘little beast,’ and came to the kitchen to give Hanjun a kiss. “How’s everything coming along?”

“Should be ready before the guests come,” Hanjun said.

“Okay, say if you need any help.”

“I think the ‘beast’ needs you more. You should tire him out so he can take a nap in an hour and be well-rested for the evening.”

“The beast needsdaddy,huh?” Li Ying tossed the baby in the air, eliciting more delighted giggles. “Okay, let’s rock!”

Hanjun had bought the house a year ago, a couple of months after their return to the States when Li Ying had figured where he would do his residency—he couldn’t afford to be picky at that point, but he had found something that suited him just fine.

Wu Yiheng had offered Hanjun back his position as the senior business manager of Measumed, the company affiliate in New York. Hanjun had accepted.

It was an hour’s car ride to Manhattan, which was manageable, but while they had a small one to take care of and his husband worked long hours, Hanjun had taken some paternity leave. Li Ying had only stayed home for the first month.

Hanjun’s househusband try-out had enabled Li Ying to keep focusing on his demanding residency, and given Hanjun some time to reflect: in the end he still wanted to have a career instead of househusbanding and living on his dividends. He wanted to be able to help his family back in Shanghai as much as he could from overseas, so he had decided he would return to the office soon.

‘What about the baby?’ Li Ying had asked, wondering if they should hire a nanny or place the child in daycare.

Help had come from Li Ying’s family: Grandma had offered to look after the child on weekdays, and the plan was that Hanjun would drop and pick him up each day from the Qians’ home in Brooklyn Heights on the way to work. They were set to work out the details today when the Qians would come over.

As for the Qians, they had embraced Hanjun as a new addition to the extended family, some with mixed feelings.

Li Ying had called Uncle Qian one day and said he would bring his boyfriend over, and showed up at their door with none other thanWuHanjun, declaring that they would marry sometime next summer. Mrs. Qian had said nothing and walked out of the room. Kai had been quiet. Uncle Qian had invited them in for dinner and carefully inquired how Hanjun’s family had taken the news. Li Ying had explained the best he could without revealing the whole pretending-to-be-a-woman part. So, no, he had not told Uncle Qian much at all, but with it being all over the Shanghai news, Qian Hong would definitely know the whole story before too long. Everyone would.

Mrs. Qian had come around eventually, at least agreeing to be in the same room with Li Ying and his boyfriend when they came over every week, but she still had her scruples, fearing she had lost face in the mainland.

Amy had been such a darling about it all, congratulating her brother and his fiancé on their betrothal, telling Hanjun how glad she was to see that Li Ying had found someone who made him happy. Hanjun and Amy got along well. Amy was all over the baby too. She was just the perfect auntie.

Li Ying tired the baby out and put him into his crib to nap. “I wish I could have a nap too…”

“Then take a nap,” Hanjun said. “The guests can help set the table later. The neighbors already helped me erect the canopy earlier.”

“Oh, that’s nice! They are good neighbors, aren’t they? Should we invite them? I think we have enough food to feed everyone.”

“Let’s just keep it between family and friends. We can invite them over another day.”

“Okay.” Li Ying looked wistfully at the couch. “There’s too much to do! I’ll go put up the decorations.”

Li Ying fetched the boxes of decor from the garage: fairy lights to hang on the canopy, heart-shaped balloons, and a red cloth with the double happiness symbol; it was the day of their second wedding.

They had already been legally married at a courthouse earlier that week and scheduled the wedding for today due to their busy schedules.

While Li Ying was putting up the lights, a car pulled up to the yard:

“Hi, Li Ying!” Anne greeted.

From the passenger’s seat emerged Huang Xiang. “Hello!”

“Ciao,my loves!” Li Ying dropped the lights in an instant and ran to hug both of them.