After the game.
Ethan didn't go home. He simply slept in the guest room Victoria had prepared for him.
...
Eleven o'clock in the morning.
A baby's cry woke him from his sleep.
When he opened his eyes, his phone showed it was 11 AM.
Ethan rubbed his sleepy eyes and followed the cry to the living room.
He saw Victoria skillfully changing the baby's diaper, and the little guy kicked his chubby little legs and cried with a red face.
"Sister Vic, did the baby cry because of the diaper change?"
Ethan squatted down and looked at the twisting little bundle curiously.
Victoria looked up, and the light plated her slightly tired face with soft golden edges:
"No, every change is like a war. But the crying stops right after the change!"
She buttoned up the diaper neatly, and the crying stopped immediately. The baby began to gnaw on her little fist with teary eyes.
Victoria picked up the child and pointed toward the bathroom:
"All the toiletries are set up for you. You can have lunch after cleaning up!" The baby in her arms suddenly grinned at Ethan, revealing two small baby teeth that had just sprouted.
"Okay!"
Ethan responded and walked to the bathroom. He pushed open the door and was stunned when he saw the things on the sink.
Victoria was very thoughtful.
There were two unopened toothbrushes neatly placed on the sink, one marked "soft bristles" and the other marked "medium."
Next to them was the familiar light blue towel, the one he'd used last time he came, and now it gave off the freshness of the sun.
What surprised him most was that there was actually an unopened bottle of men's oil-control face wash.
Ethan looked at these things on the sink and felt a wave of warmth.
.....
After washing up, he returned to the living room.
Ethan saw Victoria holding the baby in one hand and preparing formula with the other.
He quickly stepped forward to help pour warm water and couldn't help but ask:
"Sister Vic, what time did you get up? You watched the game until so late last night—shouldn't you be resting? After you finish eating, you can catch up on sleep, and I'll take care of the baby."
Victoria shook the bottle gently, and her profile looked particularly soft in the sunlight:
"It's okay, I've been used to it for a long time."
She lowered her head and rubbed the baby's little nose:
"When this little guy was born, he'd wake up four or five times a night. Now it's much better."
Seeing Victoria working so hard to take care of the child, Ethan felt a bit distressed.
Ethan couldn't help but ask:
"Sister Vic, you must be even busier running your own company! Didn't you hire a nanny to help take care of the baby?"
Victoria handed the bottle to the impatient little guy and said with a smile:
"My mother usually comes to help. I stayed at my parents' house during postpartum, and she helped me take the baby later while I worked. During this time, she went back to her hometown for some business, and it just so happens I'm not too busy with work, so I can take the baby to the company!"
Hearing that someone was helping, he felt better instantly. Otherwise it would be too hard.
The baby was holding the bottle and drinking happily, the chubby little feet happily dangling in the air.
After drinking the milk, he quickly fell asleep again under Victoria's gentle patting and coaxing.
This month-old little guy spent most of the day sleeping, waking up only when hungry or needing a diaper change, but wasn't too difficult to take care of.
Victoria gently put the baby back in the crib, turned to Ethan and said:
"Let's have hot pot for lunch—it's convenient and easy. I prepared all the ingredients, and there are ready-made beef and lamb rolls in the fridge. Just wait another ten minutes for the rice. You can mix your favorite dipping sauce first."
"Hot pot sounds great! Convenient and delicious."
Ethan replied with a smile and got up to walk to the kitchen.
He skillfully prepared a classic spicy dipping sauce—minced garlic and cilantro as a base, poured with two spoons of chili oil, drizzled with vinegar and soy sauce, and finally sprinkled with a handful of toasted sesame seeds.
Victoria took out the neatly stacked ingredients from the refrigerator: tender green spinach, snow-white enoki mushrooms, orange-red carrot slices, and crystal-clear shrimp paste, etc.
Ethan helped bring out the bubbling divided hot pot, with a few goji berries and red dates floating in the clear broth, and the spicy broth churning with an attractive buttery aroma.
Sunlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the dining room, illuminating the ingredients on the table particularly brightly.
The two sat opposite each other, steam rising between them...
After eating the hot pot and cleaning up the table, it was already past one o'clock in the afternoon.
Ethan sat on the sofa and took out his phone to find several unread messages.
Glancing at his phone, the group message was from Jack:
[Dude, where'd you disappear to? I just went to your house and you weren't home! No driving practice this afternoon?]
Ethan replied with a smile:
[This afternoon you ride the scooter to the driving school, and we'll meet at the entrance]
Switching to messages, his sister Emily at the top had sent a message:
[You brat, I'll be home next week—don't be out all day!] The text was followed by a punching emoji.
Ethan's heart warmed—he'd been reborn for more than a month and hadn't seen the sister who loved him most.
He quickly replied:
[Welcome Miss Emily back to the palace!] He added a kneeling emoji in greeting.
Scrolling down, Diana's chat box showed three unread messages.
After clicking on them, the latest one made Ethan almost choke:
[Little man~ I heard you're an Argentina fan? There's an Argentina game in a few days—auntie invites you to watch the game together~ There's a surprise~] It was followed by a winking cat emoji with a heart on its tail.
Oh boy, watch the game together? What kind of ball would they be watching...
Seeing Diana's message, Ethan immediately thought of the exciting matchup between Argentina and Nigeria.
He quickly replied:
[Okay, it's a date then! Remember what I told you last time? I just want to talk to you about it!]
He'd originally wanted to find time to discuss what he'd mentioned before with her.
A few days ago, he'd gone to the sports betting center to redeem the multi-million dollar prize from Spain vs Honduras—the amount was too large for ordinary betting shops to redeem.
For this reason, he'd also gone to the largest local sports betting center.
This fund was the first pot of gold in his business empire.
As for the bets on other games, he'd deliberately controlled the amounts, sometimes a few hundred, at most a few thousand, with wins and losses.
It was all about not being noticeable, and the real highlight was yet to come—the 7-1 Brazil vs. Germany game that would shock the world.
For other matches, he'd deliberately placed random bets.
After replying to all the messages, Ethan chatted with Victoria in the living room for a while.
After chatting past two o'clock, Ethan got up to leave.
Victoria insisted on driving him:
"Anyway, the baby's asleep. I'll drop you off quickly."
Ethan smiled and waved his hand:
"No need, Sister Vic. On such a hot day, it's too much trouble for you to go back and forth. Besides, what if the baby wakes up? I'll just take an Uber—it's very convenient!"
The Uber stopped right at the entrance to the driving school.
Ethan saw Jack walking over like an agitated poodle, spitting fire:
"Dude! Where the hell were you?"
Ethan didn't mention Victoria, so he casually made up a reason:
"I went to the internet cafe. After the game started, I didn't come back and stayed up all night there."
Jack said dubiously:
"Damn, you went online and didn't call me?"
Ethan patted his head:
"Next time, next time!"
"Bullshit!"
"I don't believe you at all!"
Jack spat.
Afternoon training continued as usual.
Two days later was the written test, and everyone practiced driving all afternoon while memorizing test questions.
Of course, except for Ethan. This cheater had an advantage that couldn't be compared!
All the topics from his past life memories were accurately etched in his brain.
There are 50 advance chapters ahead in my Patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
patreon.com/B_A_3439