"I took my son from Ye Qing. He was a little kid who could barely talk, but he loved to talk. He'd tell me what he'd done that day, what he'd eaten, and how he'd played games with Ye Qing.
"My wife and I both had a lot of siblings, so our son had plenty of older brothers and sisters, plus a few uncles and aunts. He used to see them all the time. But this past year, we didn't dare let him be around so many people. We also kept him from spending too much time with the neighbors or the other kids in the neighborhood.
"He chattered away in my arms. After a while, he couldn't sit still anymore and tugged at Ye Qing, asking him to play with his toy cars.
"Ye Qing glanced at my expression, then played with him for a while.
"It was the first time I'd ever seen that kid smile.
"By age, he was just a child. About the same age as my eldest nephew.
"But it was the first time I'd ever seen him smile.
"I didn't want my son doing those things. Ye Qing never said so outright, but I felt sure the things he usually did weren't what a child his age should be doing. They were probably good things, but they weren't things a child that age should be doing, and they weren't things I wanted my son to do.
"We still felt a little soft toward Ye Qing.
"That day, we asked him to stay for dinner.
"My son suddenly got very close to him. He asked Ye Qing to help serve him food, and even tried to feed him from his own spoon. Ye Qing went along with it.
"Before bed, my wife told me Ye