She had a younger cousin with the exact same temperament as Wen Shengnan, so the moment she saw her, she more or less knew what kind of person she was dealing with.
On the surface, she appeared cool and indifferent, but in reality, she was extremely calculating. And the most frightening thing about people like that? They never believe they’ve done anything wrong—everyone else is always at fault.
She’d only learned to see through her cousin’s true nature after getting burned several times herself.
Guojing, the Yue Family Home.
In winter, the blanket was always impossibly cozy, and Yaya had actually woken up quite a while ago—she just didn’t want to get out of bed.
Especially with two little space heaters right beside her. Little White and Little Bear were both incredibly warm.
Those two creatures, though, were growing way too fast. Little White, when fully stretched out, was already about as big as she was, and Little Bear was growing even faster.
In just a few months, her little crib couldn’t hold him anymore.
Luckily, Yaya had stopped sleeping in the crib a month ago and had moved to the big bed with Huo Jiusi.
Actually, ever since Huo Jiusi had moved into Yaya’s room, he’d been sneaking her over to sleep beside him every night after she’d fallen asleep.
Holding Yaya’s little hand, breathing in her sweet, warm scent, he’d been sleeping better than ever.
Before, he’d always had nightmares—dreams of his mother being brutally killed—and he’d wake up drenched in cold sweat every time.
He’d never told a soul about this. Not even his father knew.
He’d endured the pain all alone, fixated on avenging his mother.
But then he met Yaya. She was like a little sun that chased away the shadows in his heart and filled his life with light once more.
Yaya cradled Little White in her arms, while Little Bear kept her little feet warm under his belly.
She rolled over and wrapped her arms around Huo Jiusi’s, rubbing her face against it.
Huo Jiusi leaned down and kissed her chubby cheek. “Yaya, it’s snowing.”
Yaya’s eyes snapped open. She scrambled up to sit, then used Huo Jiusi for support to stand and look out the window. Sure enough, the whole earth was covered in a blanket of silver-white.
“Go out and play!” Yaya’s big round eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Okay, we’ll go out and play in a bit.”
Huo Jiusi dressed Yaya in clothes that had been warming on the radiator, helped her sit down, and put on the little bunny slippers Ye Zhiqiu had crocheted for her.
Yaya had changed a lot over the past few months. She could now walk on her own, and her speech had become much clearer and more articulate.
Still, most of the time, she was carried around by Huo Jiusi—she might as well have been a little pendant permanently attached to him.
Now that she could walk, Yaya went to the bathroom by herself. After Huo Jiusi set her down, she’d give him a little shove, signaling him to step out.
Once she’d taken care of business, she’d climb up onto her little stool to wash up, and during that time, Huo Jiusi would go prepare her milk formula.
Huo Jiusi carried Yaya, and Yaya clutched her little bottle. Little White and Little Bear trotted along on either side. Even though they saw this scene every single day, Yue Guohuai and the rest of the family still found it absolutely adorable.
“Grandpa, Grandma, Second Uncle, Second Aunt.”
Yaya greeted everyone individually, and even said hello to the baby in Meng Fang’s belly. “Little brother, be good, okay? Sister loves you.”
Meng Fang’s belly immediately bulged out in a little bump, as if the baby had heard Yaya and was responding to her.
By now, no one in the family was surprised by this anymore.
Whenever Yaya spoke, the little one responded a hundred percent of the time. With Meng Fang, it was about seventy to eighty percent. But with Yue Mingli? It depended on the baby’s mood—maybe two or three times out of ten, if he was lucky.
Yue Mingli could only laugh in exasperation, grumbling that once the little rascal came out, he was going to give him a good spanking first thing.
“Yaya, come here, Grandpa’s precious girl.”
At that point, it was time for the handoff. Yue Guohuai took Yaya into his arms and fed her steamed egg custard one tiny spoonful at a time.
Aunt Zhao made Yaya a different variation of steamed egg custard every day—sometimes with a bit of vegetables, sometimes with minced meat, and occasionally with a shrimp tossed in.
Yaya’s absolute favorite was shrimp with steamed egg. For her sake, Huo Jiusi sent someone to the neighboring city of Tianjin every week to bring back fresh shrimp.
Whenever she ate something she loved, she’d go at it with such relish that feeding her was an immensely satisfying experience.
As a result, the whole family took turns feeding Yaya her meals—but if Yue Guohuai was home, nobody could wrestle that privilege away from him.
“Oh my, Grandpa’s precious girl is so amazing! You ate it all so cleanly!”
Yue Guohuai wiped Yaya’s mouth and picked up a piece of sponge cake. “Yaya, here, have a little more cake.”
Yaya was obliging and ate half of it.
But once she was full, she wouldn’t take another single bite. She’d cover her mouth and wave her little hand.
“Alright, we’re done eating now.”
Yue Guohuai planted a kiss on Yaya’s chubby cheek and pointed outside. “Yaya, look, it’s snowing. How about going to work with Grandpa today?”
“It’s freezing out there. Why are you taking Yaya along?” Wan Jiayin shot Yue Guohuai a glare. That old fool was getting more and more unreliable with age.
“Today’s the final day of the military-wide competition. Mingyuan will be there.”
Yue Guohuai lifted his chin and asked Yaya, “Yaya, do you want to go see your daddy?”
Yaya nodded vigorously. “Yes! Yaya wants to see Daddy.”
At the mention of Yue Mingyuan, Yaya pouted and hugged Yue Guohuai tightly.
She missed her daddy—and her mommy, too.
Stinky Daddy. After Mommy left, he hadn’t come home either.
Even though they called her every week, she wanted to see them in person.
“Then bundle Yaya up well.”
Wan Jiayin brought out the little floral red cotton-padded jacket and bib overalls she’d made for Yaya, along with a big red sheepskin cloak.
She’d gone out to sweep snow that morning. Though there was no wind, it was still quite cold.
The military company was out in the suburbs, where it would be even colder than here—especially the competition grounds, which had no shelter at all.
“Make sure you take good care of Yaya.”
“No, I don’t trust you to handle it—you’re all thumbs.”
Wan Jiayin turned to Huo Jiusi. “Jiusi, you go too. You’re more careful with Yaya.”
Huo Jiusi replied obediently, “Don’t worry, Grandma Wan. I’ll make sure Yaya is well taken care of.”
Even without her saying so, he would have followed along and done exactly that.
Yaya wore the new cotton-padded top and bottoms made from fresh cotton. Over them was a lovely children’s outfit that Yue Minghui had someone bring back from Hong Kong, and on her feet were a pair of little leather boots.
A little hat, a little scarf, and little gloves—everything was complete.
Once she was wrapped up in the red cloak, with only her big, dark, sparkling eyes peeking out, Yaya felt like a round little red ball.
But even if she was a red ball, she was the cutest red ball there ever was.
Seeing Yue Guohuai carrying Yaya, the driver and guard, Xiao Zhao, was completely unfazed.
He worked alongside General Yue every day, so he knew better than anyone how much the old general doted on his granddaughter.
“Hello, Uncle Zhao.”
Yaya flashed a sweet smile and greeted Xiao Zhao.
Xiao Zhao liked Yaya a lot too. “Hello, Yaya.”
“Uncle Zhao, get married.”
Xiao Zhao was just starting the car to pull out when Yaya’s words made him stomp on the gas pedal in shock.
Yue Guohuai lurched forward with Yaya in his arms and gave a rare, stern reprimand: “Xiao Zhao, what’s going on?”
