Stretching little arms, kicking little legs – that’s the little ritual Yaya does right before she wakes up.
Huo Jiusi came over, stretched her little arms for her, and stretched her little legs too. Yaya opened her eyes and gave Huo Jiusi a sweet smile.
She took his hand, placed it by her little cheek, and rubbed against it, then hugged his arm and rolled around on the bed for a bit.
Huo Jiusi went along with her, rubbing her back and gently pinching the sides of her spine.
Dong Hesong had told Ye Zhiqiu that massaging Yaya’s spine every day would be good for her health and help her not get sick easily.
So Ye Zhiqiu and the family all learned to massage Yaya’s spine. After watching a few times, Huo Jiusi learned how to do it too and would massage Yaya as well.
“Mmm~” Yaya, like a little kitten, would squint her eyes and let out a single syllable whenever she felt really comfortable.
Huo Jiusi picked up Yaya, tilted his head, and kissed her little cheek: “Yaya, I thought carefully about what you said yesterday. I agree.”
Yaya was fully awake by now. She took Huo Jiusi’s hand: [Little devil, you said it, okay? No going back on your word.]
“I won’t. A gentleman’s word is as good as his bond. Even a team of four horses can’t catch up to it.”
[Then you can’t bully me anymore either, got it? If you bully me again, I won’t just ignore you, I’ll bite you too. Grrr~]
Yaya made a biting motion: [Let me tell you, I am very, very fierce.]
Huo Jiusi was amused by Yaya. Afraid that telling her the truth – that she wasn’t fierce at all, but actually very cute – would make her get embarrassed and angry, he just played along: “Oh my, I’m so scared.”
[Pfft!] Yaya rolled her eyes: [Your acting is way too fake.]
Huo Jiusi touched his nose awkwardly. He really couldn’t fake it well.
After this little disagreement, the two of them got along even better than before.
Another weekend arrived, and the weather was unusually nice. The family decided to take the kids to the zoo for another visit.
Ye Zhiqiu had let Kang Zhimiao know in advance, and this time, they brought Xu Rui along too.
Yue Youxin and Yue Youhui didn’t come this time. Yue Youxin had joined the school’s table tennis team and had practice, while Yue Youhui had to go to a math Olympiad competition.
Qin Feng, Huo Jiusi, and Xu Rui were all the same age. Qin Feng and Xu Rui even went to the same kindergarten. Once Huo Jiusi’s paperwork was all transferred, he would go to the same kindergarten as them.
Just thinking that once Huo Jiusi went to kindergarten, she’d be left all alone, Yaya instantly lost interest in the outing.
“Yaya, today we’re going straight to see the giant pandas.”
Qin Feng squatted down and looked at Yaya sitting in her stroller: “Yaya, did you know, besides giant pandas, there are also red pandas? Even though they’re both called pandas, giant pandas and red pandas are completely different, you know.”
“Oh, and also, there are pink lakes in this world.”
A few days ago, while drawing in kindergarten, Qin Feng drew a pink lake. The teacher came to talk to him, saying that lakes should be blue or green, not pink.
When Qin Feng went home and told Qin Liping about it, Qin Liping didn’t say he was wrong. Instead, he took him to the library. After searching for an entire afternoon, they actually found information about pink lakes.
The next day, Qin Feng went and told the teacher about it, and the teacher praised him in front of the whole class.
Now Qin Feng really loves going to the library. Every day after dinner, Qin Liping takes him to the university library to read for a while.
“Yaya, is the sun hurting your eyes?” Qin Feng noticed Yaya wasn’t very excited and thought maybe the sun was bothering her.
Yaya shook her head, indicating no.
“Then what’s wrong with you?”
Hearing Qin Feng’s question, Huo Jiusi stopped, squatted down next to Yaya, and held her little hand: “Yaya, where do you feel uncomfortable?”
Yaya shook her head, not sure how to explain it to Huo Jiusi.
Her gaze landed on a snack stand nearby. Yaya pointed at it, pretending she wanted to drink some soda.
Huo Jiusi immediately went and bought a bottle of soda for her. He poured a little bit into her milk bottle, brought it to Yaya’s lips, and reminded her: “Yaya, you can only have a little, and take tiny, slow sips.”
Yaya nodded and only took one sip.
Huo Jiusi could tell Yaya still wasn’t quite right, but he also saw she didn’t want to talk about it right then, so he just focused on helping her have a good time.
Finally, they saw the giant pandas. Qin Feng and Xu Rui were both very excited.
Qin Liping lifted both of them up at the same time, sitting one on each of his shoulders.
The giant pandas’ cute, adorable appearance was really endearing. Qin Feng laughed happily: “When I get home, I’m going to draw lots and lots of giant pandas.”
“Alright.”
Qin Liping put Qin Feng and Xu Rui down and told them: “Don’t run around, and don’t push forward.”
Then he first picked up Yaya so she could see the pandas, and then lifted Huo Jiusi up too.
This was the first time Huo Jiusi had seen real giant pandas. He had come back with his mom once before, but he was really young then and didn’t have many memories of it. Plus, that trip had been very rushed, and they hadn’t gone to the zoo.
Thinking about Huo Jiusi going to kindergarten, Yaya didn’t ask Huahua to turn on the switch that lets her hear animals talk, so she didn’t hear what the pandas might have said.
They played until noon, ate lunch out, and then went home.
Yaya fell asleep on the way home and didn’t wake up until evening.
Huo Jiusi made Yaya a bottle of milk formula. After she had her fill, he held her in his arms and asked: “Yaya, why were you unhappy?”
Yaya looked down at her little hands. Instead of answering Huo Jiusi, she asked him: “When are you going to kindergarten?”
Huo Jiusi immediately understood why Yaya had been unhappy. He answered first: “Grandpa told me, probably around the end of October.”
“Yaya, if you don’t want me to go, I don’t have to.”
Huo Jiusi held Yaya’s little hand: “Or, you could come with me?”
Yaya’s eyes widened: [But I’m still this little, I can’t go to kindergarten.]
“Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Grandpa. I’m sure we can find a solution.”
Actually, Yaya really did want to go to kindergarten. She wanted to go play with other kids. She wanted to learn lots and lots of things.
She wanted to grow up quickly and become strong, so she could protect her family.
Yaya remembered all the good things Huo Jiusi did for her. Her eyes curved into crescents: [Little devil, thank you.]
“Yaya, you never have to be polite with me.” Huo Jiusi touched Yaya’s little cheek, then couldn’t help but lean down and kiss her.
Xu Rui watched from the side, feeling very envious. He really wanted a little sister of his own.
Later, when Ye Zhiqiu took Xu Rui to see Kang Zhimiao, Xu Rui held Kang Zhimiao’s hand and acted cute: “Mom, I want a little sister.”
Kang Zhimiao blinked, exchanged a glance with Ye Zhiqiu, and then laughed: “But you already have little sister Yaya.”
“But little sister Yaya belongs to Jiusi. I want a little sister who is just mine.”
Kang Zhimiao felt quite helpless about this. She thought for a moment, then explained the national one-child policy to Xu Rui: “Rui Rui, your father and I can only have you as our one child. If we had another little girl, that would be breaking the law, and your father might lose his job.”
