House Dad’s Literary Life

Chapter 214 – Baby’s Little Red Flower1

Xixi’s name, “Yang Xi”, the character “Yang” was fine, the little girl learned it relatively quickly, but when it came to the character “Xi”, Xixi encountered a problem.

With her father’s hands-on guidance, the clever little girl learned quickly and easily, but because the character ‘Xi’ was too complicated, as she wrote it, she would often forget some of the details here or there.

Here, the stroke for ‘丂’ needs to be a turn, not directly written as an ‘s’. You need to write it stroke by stroke, look at how Papa does it…” Yang Yi was also very patient and tirelessly corrected the details with Xixi.2

Nevertheless, it took Xixi almost an hour to learn the two characters, which was longer than the time she spent on her daily homework during that period.

“Come on, now you try it yourself.” Yang Yi let go of his daughter’s hand and encouraged her.

Without her father’s hands-on guidance, at first, Xixi was not used to it. Although she could still write the character by referring to the examples, her strokes were crooked and uneven.

However, the progress was evident. After a while, she gradually became proficient. Her childish “Yang Xi” characters were also written with a pattern and style.

It was enough. Did they really expect such a small child to write like a calligrapher?

Yang Yi gently rubbed Xixi’s small head as she sat upright at her children’s desk writing, feeling distressed for her. He said softly, “That’s enough, Xixi. You’ve already written very well. Go play for a while! Look, Xiao Guai is already here to call you!”

Xiao Guai, who was closest to Xixi, was curious about why his little master hasn’t come to play with him for so long. He wagged his tail and wandered around, occasionally looking up and gazing at his little master.

Previously, he had come over and rub against Xixi’s little feet, but was shooed away several times by the annoying poop-scooper. Xiao Guai could only express his yearning in this way, as if saying, “Little master, can you see me? I’m here! I’m here!”

However, today Xixi has no intention of playing with him. The little girl, whom he had been longing for, had just been liberated and quickly pestered her father to tell her a story. “Papa, Papa, please tell me quickly the story about the child monster! Is it really powerful?”

Since Xixi performed very well today, Yang Yi decided to give the little girl a reward. He swiftly moved and jumped to the empty space in the living room, startling DuoDuo who was playing there. DuoDuo jumped onto the sofa with a meow.

“By the way, Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie found the Huoyun Cave, and beat up the little monsters there until they cried and ran back to the little boy monster. That little boy had a fair complexion, red lips, hair in a bun, and red cinnabar dot between his eyebrows…”3

Yang Yi gestured while vividly telling the story, which made Xixi couldn’t help but hold her breath. Her bright eyes were fixed on her father as she listened attentively to the story.

Beside them, Xiao Guai tilted his head and glanced at the hateful poop-scooper, realizing that he seemed to have ignored him. He secretly walked around to his little master and snuggled up to her.

However, today’s Xiao Guai couldn’t compete with “Red Boy” for the favor of his little master!

…

The next day.

“It seems that everyone has finished writing, and Teacher Mu has seen everyone’s efforts. But, we still need a few children to perform4. Nan Zhaoyu, your handwriting is very beautiful, and Yang Luoqi, you can write your name independently. Great job!”

“Finally, teacher want to specially commend Yang Xi, who will receive the Little Red Flower today. Yang Xi has made great progress. She can write her complex name so well and beautifully. Shouldn’t we give her a round of applause?”

Amidst the uneven applause in the envious eyes of her little friends, especially in the envious eyes of Lan Xin who could not write the character “Xin”, Xixi stood proudly in front of Teacher Mu and was awarded a little red flower!

This was the first little red flower that Xixi obtained. When she learned to dance before, although Xixi danced well, it was Yang Luoqi who received the little red flower.

This honor was something that Xixi has been longing for. Wearing the little red flower, the little girl’s joyful smile almost never stopped.

Even during nap time at noon, the little girl had a slight smile on her lips, as if she had dreamed of something happy.

But happiness can sometimes turn to sadness. Xixi insisted on taking a nap wearing the little red flower, but when she woke up in the afternoon, the little red flower had been flattened by her… coupled with the grumpiness after waking up, the little girl cried sadly!

“Wuwu…” Perhaps there was regret, perhaps there was unwillingness, but when it accumulates in the heart, it becomes an indescribable sadness. This force made Xixi cry into tears in Teacher Shen’s arms.

No matter how hard Teacher Shen tried to console her, Xixi’s eyes were swollen from crying, and her pitiful appearance with teary eyes and a sad expression made her feel sorry for her. 5

Fortunately, Teacher Shen carried Xixi outside under the shade of a tree to comfort her. Otherwise, with her tearful appearance, Lan Xin and Yang Luoqi might have shed tears as well. 6

Teacher Mu cut some unused red paper and made a little red flower for Xixi on the spot, and the little girl finally smiled through her tears. This time, after experiencing a painful “loss”, Xixi became even more careful in protecting the little red flower pinned to her clothes, and wouldn’t let anyone touch it.

In the afternoon, Yang Yi went to pick up Xixi. The little girl, who had long been smiling like a flower after the rain, ran over eagerly and couldn’t wait to show her father her little red flower.

“Papa, look! Come down and see, this is Xixi’s name. Hehe, Teacher Mu let me write it. Only Xixi’s flower has a name!” Xixi pulled her father’s hand and asked him to squat down to look at the little red flower on her chest.

“Let me see!” Yang Yi also attached great importance to the first reward her daughter received and immediately reached out his hands.

“Um, you can’t touch it, it will break.” Xixi pouted and quickly retreated, protecting the little red flower.

“Okay, Papa won’t touch it, I’ll just take a look and see Xixi’s name.” Yang Yi said quickly.

Xixi then agreed.

However, Xixi’s name was a bit covered by the petals in the middle, and couldn’t be seen without being opened. 𝚍ｏ𝚟𝚕.ｏｒｇ

After all, as her father, his treatment was different from others’. It was unclear what kind of mental struggle the little girl went through, but she eventually hesitantly said, “Papa can touch it, just a little bit, but don’t break it!”

Looking at the way the little girl treasured it, Yang Yi knew he had to get her a little glass box to keep it in when they got home. Otherwise, if it got broken at home, Xixi would be heartbroken.

However, even if Xixi didn’t care, Yang Yi would still collect it. After all, this was the first small prize that her daughter has won!

“Papa, let’s go back. You need to take pictures of me and show it to Mama!” Sitting in the car, Xixi couldn’t contain her excitement. She lowered her head and gently played with the folds of the little red flower.

“Okay, okay. Such a big event, of course, we have to let your Mama know”. Yang Yi said with a slight smile as he drove the car.