Knock, knock, knock~
Knock, knock, knock~
Mo Jingchun, awakened by the knocking, rubbed his eyes with dark circles and let out a big yawn.
Mo Jingchun suddenly jolted awake; it seemed like the knock was on his bedroom door!
"Oh no!" The only person who could come in was Na, the counselor.
"Coming, coming."
Mo Jingchun hurriedly put on his clothes, didn't have time to fix his messy hair and eye gunk, and went to open the door in his slippers.
"Old... Na."
As soon as Mo Jingchun opened the door, he was about to call her "teacher," but quickly changed it to "Na."
Li Na walked into the bedroom, glanced around, and finally picked up Candy, who was wide-eyed, and then cast a sidelong look at Mo Jingchun, who awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"You took so long to open the door. I thought you were hiding someone in your golden house!"
Suddenly, Li Na felt something off about her words, especially seeing Mo Jingchun's blushing face, and she glared at him.
"What did you do last night? It's already nine-thirty, and you're still not awake, with those two dark circles."
"You didn't feed Candy, did you?"
"No need to say, I bet you didn't."
Li Na carried Candy to the living room and skillfully made her some milk powder.
"Didn't you say you'd treat us to lunch today? If I hadn't come, you would have slept through the whole afternoon."
"For someone your age, you should have some sense of time."
Standing in the living room, Mo Jingchun watched Na bustling around, feeling awkward to sit or stand.
"I went to bed early last night... just had some insomnia."
Li Na gave Mo Jingchun a serious look; he didn't seem to be lying.
There were only two reasons Li Na could think of for Mo Jingchun's insomnia. One was the pressure of figuring out how to raise Candy properly.
Raising a child isn't easy; it's not just about feeding them; you also need to teach them the principles of being a good person and cultivate the right values.
What are values? They comprise a person's worldview, value system, and perception of life.
Regardless of which of these values, cultivating them is never easy. A slight misstep could lead to a wrong view of the world.
As for the other reason Li Na could think of, it was that Mo Jingchun became nostalgic last night.
Seeing familiar objects brings back memories of past people who are no longer around.
Staring at the void, sadly reminiscing!
Thinking, thinking, thinking.
Seeing familiar objects evokes memories, but the people are no longer there.
Gazing into the distance, feeling helplessly melancholic!
Thinking, thinking, thinking.
Li Na fell silent, and the living room became eerily quiet.
One person didn't want to ask, and the other never intended to speak.
Luckily, the milk in the bottle had cooled down, and Li Na handed it to Little Candy in her arms.
"Candy, be a good girl, drink your milk."
However, something unexpected happened. Instead of putting the bottle in her mouth immediately, the little one called out "gege" first and then started sucking happily.
"Gege? What's that mean?"
Li Na looked at Mo Jingchun, bewildered.
Mo Jingchun couldn't remember how many times he'd scratched the back of his head, worrying if he'd go bald at this rate.
"I was just teaching Candy to talk yesterday, and it turned out like this."
Li Na frowned, thought for a while, "Did you teach Candy to call you 'brother'?"
Mo Jingchun nodded, and to prove he was telling the truth, Candy in Li Na's arms called out "gege" again reflexively upon hearing those two words.
"I don't know why it turned out like this, I think my pronunciation is quite accurate."
Li Na didn't say anything, but her eyes clearly told Mo Jingchun she didn't believe him.
————————————
In the bathroom, Mo Jingchun suddenly paused while washing up, thinking he misheard something.
"jiě jie, sister."
After hearing it a few times, Mo Jingchun pretended not to notice and continued brushing his teeth, but he perked up his ears, curious if Little Candy would actually say "sister."
However, Candy disappointed both Mo Jingchun and Li Na.
The little one would only say "gege," not calling anything else, not even babbling.
"Na, could you watch Candy for a bit while I go buy groceries?"
Li Na impatiently waved him away, urging Mo Jingchun to leave quickly.
"I just can't believe it, me, a university professor, can't teach a kid to pronounce words?"
After Mo Jingchun left, Li Na, unwilling to give up, started teaching Candy to speak again.
"Come on, Candy, follow me, jiě jie, sister."
"jiě jie, sister."
Candy looked at Li Na, utterly confused, and much to Li Na's despair, the little one would even pop out a few "gege."
Heartbroken!
The convenience of a large supermarket next to the school meant in less than 40 minutes, Mo Jingchun returned with a heap of groceries.
Opening the door for him, Li Na glanced at the groceries in Mo Jingchun's hands and frowned, "Why did you buy so much? There's only four of us; how much can we eat? Four dishes should be enough, with maybe a soup."
Mo Jingchun smiled and said nothing, no way he'd really only cook four dishes as Na suggested.
The past half month, the counselor and others had been helping a lot, and in the future, they'd probably need their assistance even more.
Mo Jingchun dove into the kitchen and got busy with preparations for cooking.
Washing vegetables, defrosting frozen foods, opening new seasonings.
Mo Jingchun was confident in his cooking skills; he took over his mom's kitchen last year during New Year's and made a feast for the family.
During the New Year's meal, even Uncle Mo Changyou's family praised him, and his mom's delight was all over her face.
He sighed, smiling to himself.
It's a pity his mom could no longer eat his homemade dishes, and he couldn't taste hers either.
Though birth and death are natural, a part of life, man is emotional by nature and can't help but feel unwilling to part.
Knock, knock, knock~
Hearing the knock, Mo Jingchun ran out wearing his frilly apron to answer the door.
"You're here? Come in."
Seeing the grinning Zhang Hui Zhen and the smiling Yang Wenzhao at the door, Mo Jingchun invited them in.
"Na." Yang Wenzhao and Zhang Hui Zhen greeted Na in unison, who was on the living room sofa holding Candy.
Li Na nodded and said, "Come, have a seat."
...
On the not-so-large dining table, there were six dishes and a soup neatly arranged.
A big bottle of Sprite was also placed on the table.
Mo Jingchun cheerfully invited everyone, "Come, try this, these are Huizhou dishes from our An Province. Let's see if they suit your taste."
"Looks good!"