readease Chapter 1245: Is Major General Xie Having a Second Child?
Chapter 1245: Is Major General Xie Having a Second Child?
Student Casimir Shaw had been living in the South Seas for a whole week, eating and drinking every day and sticking to his mommy, feeling as happy as if it were New Year’s every single day.
Every now and then, Leah would also pick up Benjamin Leclair and Nicholas Carter and bring them over; all of a sudden she was raising three kids at once. The usually quiet Squire Manor was filled with laughter and chatter every day. This kind of joy was something Casimir had never felt back at the Shaw Mansion.
Great-grandma liked peace and quiet, Old Shaw was a stuffy gourd, and he’d skipped grades so aggressively that all his classmates were several years older; basically, he had no playmates.
"Brother Casimir, you’re happier than Benjamin." Benjamin’s little tummy was round from eating, his big dark eyes curved into crescents when he smiled, looking absurdly cute. He tugged coquettishly at Casimir’s clothes, seriously laying on the flattery.
Having grown up in a little wooden house with a block of wood like Old Shaw, student Casimir nearly dropped his jaw. He hadn’t even seen his mommy until he was six years old, okay. If he weren’t born a little sunshine that everyone loved at first sight, he would’ve long since blackened into the evil Witch in a fairy tale—ptui, Wizard.
"See, you’ve got Mommy doting on you. Nicholas and I don’t have anyone to love us or care about us." Benjamin pouted aggrievedly, pointing at herself and Nicholas.
Their daddy and mommy had left them for months now. Every time they said they’d come back, but they just wouldn’t. Their eyes were about to go blind from staring down the road.
Casimir thought for a moment, then scratched his head in embarrassment. It did kind of seem that way. Old Shaw had raised him by his side since he was little, and even though Old Shaw wasn’t around now that they were in the South Seas, he had Mommy.
Why did he always get stupid whenever he was in front of Benjamin? The little boy thumped his own forehead.
"Brother Casimir, you were already stupid. If you keep hitting your head, you’ll just get even stupider, and then nobody but Benjamin will want to play with you." Benjamin’s dark eyes sparkled as she said this with a squinty smile.
Those expectant big eyes were practically saying, Hurry up and reward me with two—no, three lollipops.
Casimir silently stuffed all five of his lollipops into Benjamin’s hand. He also loved sweets, but seeing how happy Benjamin was, the boy felt a strange sense of accomplishment.
Raising a little sister seemed...kind of fun.
Casimir’s big eyes rolled around, and then he started a video call to Old Shaw.
The man was still in his office at the Military District having a small meeting. It was the end-of-month summary report, nothing too formal. After the reports, it was basically subordinates tearing into each other, all over snatching top soldiers. In order to poach good seedlings, the Military District officers were literally rolling up their sleeves and going to war.
Richard Shaw sat behind his desk, a cigarette pinched between his long, rough fingers, his face cold and stern, his expression barely shifting. While listening to his subordinates bicker, he stood up and stepped outside to take the call.
His finger slid across the phone screen, and he saw the pretty little boy with wide, expectant eyes, asking eagerly, "Old Shaw, when can I have a little sister?"
The boy’s voice was crisp and strong; everyone in the office heard it. The officers who’d been arguing fell into a weird silence. When the man’s tall, straight figure disappeared out the door, the room exploded: Damn, what are we even fighting for? The forever-bachelor, ice-cold Major General is planning on having a second kid, and we’re still fighting over top soldiers? Time to go home and coax the wife.
That very afternoon, the news that Richard Shaw was planning on having a second child had spread all through the Central Military Region.
Holding his phone, Richard found an empty, unused conference room and asked in a low, surprised voice, "You want a little sister?"
"Yeah! Look how cute little sisters are." As Casimir spoke, he adjusted the camera angle, stroked the happily munching Benjamin beside him with her eyes shining bright, then looked at Benjamin’s flushed cheeks, itching to his bones, and gave her a smack of a kiss. "I want a little sister as cute as Benjamin Leclair."
On the other end of the video, Richard fell into a strange silence, staring as his own little radish of a son kissed Old Leclair’s darling daughter. Little Sweetheart Benjamin even blinked her big eyes and cooed, "If you kiss me, you have to pay for my lollipops for a whole year."
The little girl who had no idea she’d just been taken advantage of was focused entirely on lollipops and didn’t feel she’d lost out at all.
Richard pressed his fingers to his brow. If Old Leclair found out, he’d probably grind Casimir into the dirt. Uh...well, it was just a kiss on the cheek.
"Casimir Shaw, you can’t bully your little sister," the man said in a low voice. At the end of the day, he only had one son—he had to look out for the kid’s life.
Off to the side, Nicholas said in a prematurely old tone, "Benjamin, you can’t let men besides Daddy and your brother kiss you, okay?"
With lollipops clutched in her hands and her eyes sparkling from eating sweets, the little girl still had no concept of gender. She looked at handsome Brother Casimir, then at stern and adorable Brother Nicholas, and suddenly burst into tears, feeling like she’d suffered a huge loss.
The living room instantly descended into chaos.
Hearing the noise, Leah came in from the garden outside. Seeing Benjamin crying, and Casimir and Nicholas so weirdly tongue-tied, she hurried to coax the little girl. She gathered the delicate child into her arms and showered her with kisses, cooing softly, "Tell Auntie, who bullied our most beautiful and adorable Benjamin Leclair? Auntie will beat him up for you, okay?"
As she spoke, Leah stuffed beautifully wrapped snacks tied with bowknots into Benjamin’s hands and the little pockets on her clothes, smiling as she said, "Auntie will take Benjamin to buy tons of yummy treats, okay?"
"Can we buy a candy house?" Benjamin squeezed out two token teardrops, then tilted her head and asked sweetly. Her face-changing speed was god-tier—worthy of a child of the South Seas Leclair Family.
"We sure can. We can buy lots of snacks and pile them up into a little house, and then Benjamin can invite all her friends over to share." Leah tapped the little girl’s nose, smiling.
The man remained frozen in his original position, unmoving, staring at the delicate, luminous face on the screen, listening to that soft, half-teasing voice. His gaze burned, unable to look away. He’d always known she could be wild and willful, knew she could be gentle as water, and knew she could be cool as the wind. Every side of her drew him in deeper.
His blood stirred faintly, blue veins snaking under his skin and faintly bulging. With restrained control, he reached out and brushed his hand over the person on the screen.
"Thomas, what are you doing? Help Mommy bring Benjamin’s handkerchief over."
"Okay!" Casimir answered cheerfully. The camera flipped; the little boy leaned close to the screen, gave Old Shaw a kiss through the phone, and then hung up.
Caught off guard by a kiss from his son, the Army Major General froze for a moment, then let out a low chuckle. Sure enough, after hanging around with Old Leclair’s two kids every day, Casimir had been led astray.
The man sat in a daze for a long time, all the gloom between his brows dissipating. The corners of his lips curved slightly—today was, indeed, a very good day.