Knock knock knock~
Knock knock knock~
Woken by the knocking, Mo Jingchun rubbed his dark-ringed eyes and let out a huge yawn.
Mo Jingchun suddenly jolted awake. That had just been the sound of someone knocking on the bedroom door, hadn't it?
"That's bad!" There was only one person who could come in, and that was his counselor, Na Jie.
"Coming, coming."
Mo Jingchun hurriedly got dressed. He had no time to deal with his messy hair or the sleep in the corners of his eyes, and he hurried to open the door in his slippers.
"Tea... Na Jie."
As soon as Mo Jingchun opened the door, he had been about to call her "Teacher," but he hurriedly changed how he addressed her at the last moment. "Na Jie."
Li Na walked into the bedroom and looked around. Finally, she picked up the wide-eyed Candy, then cast a glance at Mo Jingchun, who stood there awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
"It took you so long to open the door. I thought you were hiding a beauty in your golden house."
Suddenly, Li Na felt that what she had said sounded a little off, especially when she saw Mo Jingchun's flushed face. She glared at him.
"What were you doing last night? It's already nine-thirty. Not only are you still groggy from sleep, you have two dark circles under your eyes."
"You didn't feed Candy either, did you?"
"No need to say it. You definitely didn't."
Li Na carried Candy toward the living room and skillfully prepared a bottle of formula for her.
"And you said you'd treat us to lunch? If I hadn't come, wouldn't you have slept until noon?"
"You're already a grown man. You should have some sense of time."
Standing in the living room, Mo Jingchun didn't know whether to sit or stand as he watched Na Jie bustle about.
"Last night... I went to bed pretty early. I just had some trouble sleeping."
Li Na studied Mo Jingchun carefully. He didn't look like he was lying.
Of the reasons that could make Mo Jingchun lose sleep, Li Na could think of only two. One was that he was under so much pressure from figuring out how to raise Candy into an adult that he couldn't sleep.
Raising a child into an adult wasn't easy. It wasn't merely a matter of keeping Candy fed and clothed; he also had to teach her how to conduct herself and cultivate the right worldview, values, and outlook on life.
What did those three views mean? They were how a person understood the world—their outlook on life, values, and worldview.
No matter which of the three it was, cultivating it wasn't easy. The slightest carelessness could lead to distorted values.
As for the other reason Li Na could think of, perhaps this child, Mo Jingchun, had been reminded of his loved ones by the sight of something last night.
The sight of an object evoked memories of a person, but the person was gone.
He gazed into the endless sky, only to sigh in sorrow!
Think, think, think.
The sight of an object evoked thoughts of his loved ones, yet he could never see them again.
He gazed into the vast distance, left with nothing but melancholy!
Longing, longing, longing.
Li Na fell silent, and the living room became frighteningly quiet.
One person was unwilling to ask further, while the other had never intended to speak from the beginning.
Fortunately, the milk in the bottle had cooled to the right temperature. Li Na handed the bottle to the little Candy in her arms.
"Good girl, Candy. Drink your milk."
What Li Na hadn't expected was that after taking the bottle, the little one didn't immediately put it in her mouth. Instead, she first called out, "Guo-ge," and only then happily began sucking away in great gulps.
"Guo-ge? What does that mean?"
Li Na stared at Mo Jingchun in bewilderment.
Mo Jingchun had already lost count of how many times he had scratched the back of his head. He was starting to worry that if this continued, he might go bald.
"I taught Candy to speak yesterday, and then it turned out like this."
Li Na frowned and thought for a long while. "You taught Candy to call you 'big brother'?"
Mo Jingchun nodded. To prove that he was telling the truth, the Candy in Li Na's arms reflexively called out "Guo-ge" again when she heard those two words.
"I don't know why it turned out like this. My pronunciation was pretty accurate."
Li Na said nothing, but her eyes clearly told Mo Jingchun that she didn't believe him.
In the bathroom, Mo Jingchun, who had been washing up, suddenly stopped. He thought he must have heard wrong.
"Jiě jie, big sister."
After hearing it several times, Mo Jingchun pretended not to notice and continued brushing his teeth. However, he perked up his ears. He also wanted to know whether his little sister Candy would really call someone "big sister."
But Candy disappointed not only Mo Jingchun, but Li Na as well.
Aside from "Guo-ge," the little one refused to call out anything else. She wouldn't even babble anymore.
"Na Jie, could you watch Candy for a while? I'm going to buy groceries."
Li Na impatiently waved her hand, urging Mo Jingchun to leave.
"I refuse to believe that a university teacher like me can't teach a child how to pronounce a word."
After Mo Jingchun left, the unwilling Li Na began teaching Candy how to speak again.
"Come on, Candy. Repeat after me. Jiě jie, big sister."
"Jiě jie, big sister."
Candy stared at Li Na in utter confusion. What made Li Na feel even more crushed was that the little one still managed to blurt out several "Guo-ge"s.
That hurt!
Having a large supermarket right beside the school was incredibly convenient. Less than forty minutes after leaving, Mo Jingchun returned carrying a huge amount of groceries in both hands.
Li Na, who opened the door for him, glanced at the groceries and frowned. "Why did you buy so many vegetables? There are only four of us. How much can we eat? Four dishes should be enough, with one soup at most."
Mo Jingchun smiled without saying anything. How could he really cook only four dishes, as Na Jie suggested?
Over the past half month, his counselor and the others had helped him tremendously. Moreover, there would be plenty more days ahead when he would need their help.
Mo Jingchun plunged into the kitchen and began preparing the ingredients before cooking.
He washed the vegetables, thawed the frozen food in hot water, and opened and put away the newly bought seasonings.
Mo Jingchun had always been quite confident in his cooking. During last year's New Year's Eve Dinner, he had snatched the spatula from his mother and cooked a whole tableful of dishes.
While they were eating the New Year's Eve Dinner, even his uncle Mo Changyou's family had praised him. At the time, his mother's happiness had been written all over her face.
But as he smiled, Mo Jingchun let out a sigh.
Unfortunately, his mother would never get to eat food he cooked again, and he would never get to eat food his mother cooked again.
Although birth, aging, illness, and death were normal and simply part of nature's laws, humans were emotional creatures after all. They would still be unable to let go.
Knock knock knock~
Hearing the knocking, Mo Jingchun ran out to open the door in a frilled apron.
"You're here? Come in and have a seat."
Seeing Zhang Huizhen smiling brightly outside, along with Yang Wenzhao's smiling face, Mo Jingchun invited the two of them in.
"Na Jie." When Yang Wenzhao and Zhang Huizhen saw Na Jie sitting on the living-room sofa with Candy in her arms, they greeted her in unison.
Li Na nodded. "Come sit for a while."
Six dishes and one soup were arranged neatly on the not-too-large dining table.
A large bottle of Sprite sat on the table as well.
Mo Jingchun smiled and beckoned everyone over. "Come, come, hurry up and try them. These are all Hui Cuisine from our An Province. I don't know whether they'll suit your tastes."
"They look pretty good."
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