Yaya wore a red princess dress with puffy sleeves and a little crown on her head.
Yue Guohuai carried Yaya into the venue, and everyone couldn’t help but hold their breath.
They had heard that General Yue’s little granddaughter was especially beautiful, but they never expected her to be this beautiful.
Even though she was still young, you could already tell she was going to be a real beauty.
At the head seat was Dong Hesong—he was the oldest and highest in seniority among everyone present.
Then came Yue Guohuai and Wan Jiayin. On Wan Jiayin’s side were Yue Mingyuan and Ye Zhiqiu, while on Yue Guohuai’s side were Huo Jiusi, then Huo Yingnian and Ling Chao.
The highlight of today was, of course, the zhuazhou—the first birthday grab.
Everyone pitched in together. If you could think of it, they had it.
The table in front of them was completely covered with all sorts of things. Yaya glanced over it—it was a real mixed bag, with everything you could imagine.
“Yaya, let’s begin. Just pick whatever you like.”
Dong Hesong lifted Yaya from Yue Guohuai’s arms and placed her on the table.
The first thing Yaya picked up was naturally the Huangdi Neijing right in front of her. Dong Hesong nodded with satisfaction.
Then came the wooden pistol next to it. No need to guess—she knew her grandfather had put that there.
Sure enough, Yue Guohuai’s eyes crinkled with a smile.
Next was the piano sheet music Wan Jiayin had placed. Yaya found it a bit heavy to hold, so she gave Huo Jiusi a look. Huo Jiusi stood up and came to her side, holding a big bag.
Yaya first put everything in her arms into the bag, then picked up items one by one.
Grandpa Huo’s peace buckle—taken. Grandpa Ling’s little gold lock—taken. The elders were all beaming.
The dancing shoes Mom put out—taken. The perfume Auntie put out—taken. The ladies were all delighted.
Anyway, as long as she liked it, Yaya put it into that big bag. As for the strange things—like a comb or a spatula—she didn’t even glance at them.
After the meal, Yaya started getting sleepy. Yue Mingyuan held her, but she squirmed for quite a while without finding a comfortable position.
Huo Jiusi couldn’t stand watching anymore. He stepped forward and reached out to Yaya: “Yaya, want me to hold you?”
Yaya heard Huo Jiusi’s voice through her drowsiness. Without thinking, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck.
A familiar scent, a familiar feeling. Before long, Yaya was asleep in Huo Jiusi’s arms.
Yue Mingyuan couldn’t help feeling a little jealous. He whispered in Ye Zhiqiu’s ear: “Isn’t Yaya getting a bit too close to Jiusi?”
“No one has spent more time with Yaya than Jiusi. If she’s not close to Jiusi, who would she be close to? You or me?”
Ye Zhiqiu was very relaxed about it: “Since Yaya and Jiusi are destined to be bound together for life, it’s good for them to build their bond from a young age. With Jiusi looking after Yaya, I feel quite at ease.”
Yue Mingyuan just felt uncomfortable, but he also understood that because of his and Ye Zhiqiu’s work, they were away from Yaya for long stretches.
And ever since Yaya’s full-month celebration, it had always been Huo Jiusi taking care of her.
No one could match Huo Jiusi’s attentiveness to Yaya.
Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d given Huo Jiusi a daughter.
“Yaya, what do you want to do when you grow up?”
In the afternoon, Yaya woke up and was reading with Huo Jiusi in the study. Huo Jiusi suddenly looked up at Yaya.
Yaya shook her head: “I haven’t figured it out yet.”
She really didn’t have any particular goal.
When she was first born, her goal was to make her mom see her natal family for who they really were, and to help her parents clear up their misunderstandings and love each other.
Now she just wanted to study hard and learn as much as she could.
“Little Devil, what do you want to do when you grow up?”
Yaya had originally been sitting on the little sofa Huo Jiusi had custom-made for her. As she spoke, she stood up and walked over to the single sofa where Huo Jiusi was sitting, settling in next to him.
“To avenge my mother.” When Huo Jiusi said this, his eyes turned ice-cold. The blue faded away, leaving only a deep purple, and the coldness seemed to turn that purple into frozen ice and flying snow.
It was the first time Yaya had heard Huo Jiusi say something like this. She grabbed his hand: “Little Devil, I’ll be with you.”
Huo Jiusi was stunned: “Yaya, you won’t try to stop me from getting revenge?”
He had thought that after he said it, Yaya would tell him not to seek revenge—after all, revenge means bloodshed.
No one knew better than him how kind Yaya was.
He hadn’t dared to say it out loud before. He was afraid Yaya would hate him. He was afraid Yaya would be scared of him.
“If my mom was hurt, I’d want revenge too.”
Yaya reached up and touched Huo Jiusi’s eyes: “I believe you’d be with me too.”
“Little Devil, just—revenge is revenge, but don’t let hatred blind your heart. I don’t want your heart to be filled with nothing but hatred.”
Yaya didn’t know if Huo Jiusi in his past life had succeeded in his revenge. She only knew he wasn’t happy.
Even though he was always smiling, the smile never reached his eyes. Instead, there was always a faint sadness in them.
“Yaya, you’re in my heart too.”
Huo Jiusi held Yaya’s hand with one hand, and with the other, he tapped his own chest: “Before I met you, my heart really did hold nothing but hatred. But now, my heart holds you too.”
“Besides wanting to avenge your mom, what else do you want to do?” Yaya turned to face Huo Jiusi, sitting cross-legged: “Let’s both share our plans for the future.”
“I want to be with you always. Whatever you do, I’ll do it with you.”
Yaya furrowed her little brows and wagged her index finger in front of Huo Jiusi: “Little Devil, that’s not good. You can’t just do whatever I do. We can each do different things, and it won’t stop us from being together.”
“I don’t want your whole life to be just me. I want you to have other things you love too. We’re two independent people.”
“I’ll probably become a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. Great-Grandpa took me as his apprentice and passed down such precious medical skills to me. I can’t let him down.”
“Traditional Chinese medicine is a cultural treasure of our country. I want to carry it forward and make it shine.”
“Besides being a doctor of Chinese medicine, I also want to learn lots of things—learn an instrument, learn to paint, learn martial arts, learn to dance, go horseback riding, go skiing, go swimming, travel and see the world’s great landscapes, and eat all the delicious food in the world.”
Yaya grew more and more excited as she spoke. There were so many things she wanted to do. But she was still young—she believed she could make them all happen.
Watching Yaya glow with excitement, a fire lit up in Huo Jiusi’s heart too.
So there were actually so many things you could do in life.
He used to think all of it was meaningless. But if he did it with Yaya, it would definitely be so much fun.
“Yaya, whatever you want to do, I’ll be right there with you.” Huo Jiusi’s heart swelled: “I don’t know yet what I want to do besides getting revenge. Can I first come along and do the things you want to do? When I figure out what I want, I’ll go do my own things.”
