Chapter 64: The Babysitting Experience (1)

Xiu Ling raised her head in shock. She turned to look at Lin Kang. The man had his head lowered as he focused on his food.

"What, what did you just say?" Xiu Ling asked cautiously. She believed she had heard wrongly. 'I must have heard wrongly right? There is no way Lin Kang will say something like that. Why would he?'

Lin Kang took his eyes off the table and levelled a fiery gaze Xiu Ling's way. When she saw this, her suspicion that she had heard wrongly was further confirmed.

What Xiu Ling did not know was Lin Kang's anger was a manifestation of his embarrassment. Honestly, he did not understand what had come over him at that moment to make him say such a thing, to give his wife such a huge leeway but to be forced by Xiu Ling to repeat it made the man all flustered. Instead of showing he was flustered, Lin Kang channeled that into rage.

"I said, you can go back home to Mrs. Xiu if you want to. After all, it is Mid-Autumn Festival, like the anchorwoman said, a period for family to be together. What, or do you prefer to stay here?!" Lin Kang said hurriedly and with not a small amount of sharp exasperation in his tone.

Xiu Ling was stunned, by both her husband's aggression that seemed to come out of nowhere and the content of his words.

"Thank, thank you…" stammered Xiu Ling. As mentioned earlier, she was indeed missing her mother and to think her husband would grant her the opportunity to go back home to visit her was like a present that fell from the sky.

This might seem like a frivolous thing to an outsider but one had to understand Xiu Ling's position at the Lin family. She was at the bottom of the power pyramid and she had no say. She had gotten so resigned to her position that she did not even think to ask Lin Kang whether she could go back home. She had accepted her fate, which was to accept everything the Lin family would like to throw at her without comment and without complaint.

Therefore, it came as a complete surprise that Lin Kang would grant her this valuable permission without being prompted. This was truly like a scenario from a dream from Xiu Ling, which at the same time, was an appropriate examination of the sad state of Xiu Ling's life. The happiness of her life was fully depended on a man's permission and will, it is sad really when you sit down and think about it.

Regardless, Xiu Ling was happy to have given the permission but as she came down from the high, she came across a problem, one that might ruin her happiness wholly.

She began carefully, "Lin Kang, do you think I can bring Lin Xi with me. I am sure mother would love to see him. After all, it has been such a long time and I promise to take good care…"

Before Xiu Ling could finish, Lin Kang cut her off by saying a firm, "No."

Xiu Ling's mouth still hung open during mid-speech. Her natural instinct was to ask why but she did not think Lin Kang would even give her an explanation. Perhaps he thought she did not deserve one and she definitely was not brave enough to ask for one.

To her surprise, while she was hesitating, Lin Kang continued, "Lin Xi is still too young to go on such a long journey. You can bring him with you when he is older…" Lin Kang paused to take another bite of his dinner before adding, "Or next time, you can invite Mrs. Xiu to come stay with us. We have more than enough spare bedrooms."

This came as yet another surprise to Xiu Ling. She started to suspect her husband had been possessed. Lin Kang had extended an invitation to her mother to come back to stay with them after all that had happened?!

'Perhaps Lin Kang is more forgiving and understandable than I give him credit for,' thought Xiu Ling. Xiu Ling smiled sweetly at the man.

She found her appetite returning and she picked up the chopsticks to continue her dinner. Out of her sight, a smile that was similarly sweet as her blossomed on her husband's lips.

As Xiu Ling chewed on her food, a different worry started to burgeon on her mind. She had always been the one who was given the task of looking after Lin Xi. When she was not available, which was incredibly rare, that task would fall on her mother-in-law, Mrs. Lin.

Xiu Ling could not help but worry about Lin Kang's babysitting ability.

Like most fathers who had work responsibility that demanded long working hours, Lin Kang was only there for the "good times" or when Lin Xi was not in a fussy mood. He was there for play time, present time or cuddly time. He was not there for the diaper-changing time, feeding time and crying for no reason time.

Yes, Lin Kang had the whole house of maids to help him but Xiu Ling still felt he was woefully unprepared. She was not worried about Lin Xi but she was worried about Lin Kang.

Both her mother-in-law, Mrs. Lin and she would not be there to lend Lin Kang any help should he need it. This was going to be the first time Lin Kang was going to be alone with Lin Xi for a prolonged period of time ever since the boy's birth.

This prompted Xiu Ling to ask, "Lin Kang, the journey to my mother's place is long, it will take at least two days coming to and fro. Are you sure you can handle being alone with Lin Xi for that long? How about I just stay behind to look after him and I can reschedule when mother is home."

Lin Kang scoffed like he was insulted. "Just go, I'll be fine. I am the CEO for a multi-million empire, how hard could taking care of a one-year-old toddler be?"