Tang Tang felt she had figured out the trick.
"I want to try too! I want to try!"
She handed all her plush toys to Su Xiajing and Su Zhihao, then freed up her hands to scan the code and buy tokens. But Lu Hengyuan beat her to it and bought her fifty yuan's worth.
Tang Tang paused, then happily took a few tokens. "Thank you, Uncle."
After inserting a token, Tang Tang moved the joystick and timed the claw's descent. But it failed to grab anything, slipping past a Minion's hand.
Undeterred, Tang Tang immediately put in a second token, slowly getting a feel for it.
Finally, after putting in ten tokens, she got the hang of it and successfully grabbed her first plush toy.
"I did it! I did it!"
Tang Tang happily picked up the Minion that had dropped out and held it up to show Su Xiajing. "Mom, look! I caught one!"
Her carefree, innocent, unrestrained laughter was infectious.
Su Xiajing's eyes stung, and she nearly cried.
After more than five years, she had finally seen Tang Tang smile from the heart.
"Yes, you're amazing!"
Su Xiajing was generous with her praise. "You're so clever! It only took you ten tokens to get the hang of it."
Tang Tang proudly lifted her chin. "Of course!"
"Mom, this Minion is for you."
Tang Tang held the Minion out to Su Xiajing.
Su Xiajing paused. "For me?"
The first plush toy Tangtang had caught herself was for her?
"Yes, this first one is for Mom." Tang Tang nodded. "I'll catch more in a minute."
So that was it.
Su Xiajing took the Minion. "Thank you, sweetheart."
Tang Tang's eyes curved into happy crescents. "You're welcome!"
She turned around and immediately inserted another token to try again.
With one