“Hello, Happy New Year,” Xing Yin’s husband has a tall nose, deep facial features, and neatly combed back hair. He was the boss of a well-known company in the United States. Despite his polite greetings, his speech was rather awkward.
He really had no talent for Chinese. Even after living with Xing Yin for several years, he still couldn’t speak Chinese well. These few greetings were the most standard Chinese he could pronounce.
Yu Antong took the red envelope and said with a smile, “Thank you! Happy New Year to both of you also!”
Little Judy was stopped by her mother, and followed her mother’s example,”Happy newlyweds! Be a part!” Her pronunciation was much better than her father’s, though her Chinese was still barebones.
“Haha,” Yu Antong bent down and pinched her little face, “Does little Judy remember me? We met before.”
“I remember,” Judy’s big blue eyes blinked as she chirped, “You’re Tongtong-gege!”
“Judy is amazing,” Yu Antong was a little surprised. He didn’t expect that the three-year-old girl who had only been with him for a short time would remember his name clearly.
Xing Yin shrugged and said, “She has a good memory.”
Judy twisted her body, trying to break free from her mother’s control, and shouted, “I want to play with Tongtong-gege!”
Seeing that Yu Antong liked her daughter very much , Xing Yin only ominously said, “Don’t regret it.”
Yu Antong looked at Judy’s big watery blue eyes and chubby little face. His heart almost melted, ‘She is simply a little angel!’
‘It would be great if I could give birth to such a lovely daughter…’ Yu Antong rubbed his stomach, still wondering what Xing Yin meant.
He had a little sister, yes, but caring for her was vastly different from caring for a little girl like Judy. If Yu Annan was around – the girl felt awkward around Xu Yin and her family, and she still needed time to acclimate, so she retreated first until dinnertime – he might ask her help to babysit Judy.
Xing Yin let go of her daughter, like throwing away a big problem, and said to Yu Antong sympathetically, “Good luck.”
Xing Lixuan chatted with Xing Yin’s husband, Lesley, about the recent international financial situation in fluent English. As for the rest, they huddled in the kitchen to make New Year’s dumplings.
It has always been a small tradition of the Xing family that the dumplings for the New Year’s Eve dinner must be made by the family members, so even if they are well-off and can afford many chefs, they still made dumplings by themselves every Spring Festival.
As for the housemaid Auntie, she was invited by the Xing family to celebrate together. It’s not because she wasn’t given a holiday leave, but because her husband passed away years ago, and she had no relatives left, so now she celebrated the New Year with the Xing family.
Yu Antong sat on the sofa, holding Judy in his arms. She spoke to her with a gentle voice, like a loving father, “Does Judy like to draw?”
Judy responded childishly, “Yes!”
“Then let’s draw a little mushroom,” Yu Antong pointed at Judy’s little drawing book and said, “Little mushrooms can’t be scribbled, they should be drawn in the drawing book, so that little Judy can save the little mushroom.”
“Save it~” Judy shook her head as she tried to mimic Yu Antong’s pronunciation. She took a brush and followed Yu Antong to draw cartoony little mushrooms.
Yu Antong smiled more lovingly, and taught Judy to draw while humming a nursery rhyme he adapted, “Litty Judy is picking mushrooms, with a big basket on her back, picking a big mushroom!”
“Big mushroom, Judy wants to draw a big mushroom,” The little girl stretched out her short, stubby little arms and gestured. She threw the drawing book on the ground, and turned her head to see the expression on Yu Antong’s face.
Yu Antong picked up the drawing book with a good temper. “Judy, you can’t throw things around, we will continue to draw big mushrooms in the drawing book.”
Seeing that her big brother was still smiling and not angry, she boldly pushed the drawing book away, pressed the paintbrush fiercely on the tea table and drew a big circle. “Judy wants to draw such a big mushroom. It’s not possible in a book.”
–Then she began to show her true colors.
Yu Antong still didn’t know that this little girl was so good at watching people’s faces, so he said kindly and gently, “Did Judy dirty the tea table? You can’t draw on the tea table…”
“No, don’t!” Judy got out of Yu Antong’s arms by wriggling around. She ran to the other side of the sofa with her short legs, sat down on the ground, waved a watercolor pen, and painted on the back of the sofa.
Yu Antong chased after her, “Judy, get up quickly.”
“I’m going to paint here,” Judy sat on the carpet and kicked her legs.
Yu Antong wanted to pull her, so she retaliated by simply laying down on the ground and rolling around. She even started screaming, making Yu Antong hesitate on whether he was using too much force or not.
“Judy!” Yu Antong looked bitter and helpless, how could this happen?
The little brat still peeked at him with her big blue eyes from time to time, stretching out her little chubby fingers to scribble on the carpet, sofa, table, everywhere. She glanced at him every time she drew, obviously trying to annoy him on purpose.
‘What kind of little angel is this? This is clearly a little devil!’
When Xing Yin heard the noise, she knew that her little brat was causing trouble. She patted the flour on her hands and stood up, “I’ll go and see.”
Mrs. Xing smiled and said, “Go, go.”
Xing Yin walked until she was in front of Judy. With a stern face, she scolded her daughter. “Judy!”
Judy saw a pair of familiar high-heeled shoes, freezing her rolling movements. She slowly raised her head, and then screeched, “Ah! The big devil is coming!”
Xing Yin wished she could beat her with a stick1clarification: the original actually says that she wished she could hit her with a stick, bc the US law prevent her bc that would count as child abuse. Hitting your children is never right guys 🙂 there’s even a scientific study about it.. “Within three seconds, stand up and apologize to your Tongtong-gege, or else. Three, two…”
“Tongtong-gege, I’m sorry!”
Xing Yin hadn’t finished her count before the little devil got up with a huge pout on her face. She stood up in a military posture, with her hands hanging down and her feet separated. She looked like she had done this multiple times.
–That is to say, she may have apologized, but that doesn’t stop her from being a repeat offender.
The typical “I was wrong, but I’ll do it next time”.
Xing Yin said to Yu Antong, “You go and sit over there, and I’ll take care of her.”
Yu Antong witnessed the series of actions that the little devil has done. So he might feel sorry for her, but he agreed on a harsher discipline being done on her.
‘She looks so obedient, too! What a liar! Deceiving my feelings!’
Xing Lixuan and Lesley had just gone to the study on the second floor to pick up things. When they came down from the second floor, they saw Yu Antong wiping the tea table with a wet towel and asked, “What happened?”
Yu Antong pointed to the pair of mother and daughter next to him and said, “Children are too scary.”
Lesley couldn’t speak Chinese, but he could still understand some simple things. He laughed when he heard Yu Antong’s remarks. “Haha! Angelic devil!”
Yu Antong nodded in agreement. ‘Looks like an angel, but her naughtiness is like a little devil’s.’
Xing Lixuan said, “Let her parents worry about it. Be careful, her rough tumbling can hurt the baby in your stomach.”
Yu Antong replied: “I dare not play with her anymore.”
Fortunately, it will soon be dinner time. Judy liked Chinese food, and thanks to that, she behaved obediently on the dinner table.
Children and pregnant women should go to bed early after meals.
Judy grabbed the door frame of Yu Antong’s bedroom and did not let go. “I want to sleep with Tongtong-gege!”
Yu Antong trembled when he heard this. He definitely rejected this.
Fortunately, the little devil was surrendered by the “big devil” in the end.
In the middle of the night, Yu Antong was woken up by the urge to urinate. He often wanted to go to the bathroom these days, to the point of asking the doctor that it was a normal phenomenon in the first trimester.
Yu Antong turned on the bedside lamp to go to the bathroom, and Xing Lixuan woke up as soon as he moved. When he came back, Xing Lixuan helped him tuck himself into the quilt. The two were about to continue sleeping when they heard footsteps coming from the corridor.
–Then, the doorknob turned frantically.
Yu Antong was most afraid of ghosts. When he heard a strange sound at night, he trembled in fright. “Husband, did you hear any sound?”
Xing Lixuan frowned, and he patted Yu Antong and said, “Lie down and don’t move. I’ll go and have a look.”
Xing Lixuan turned on the lights, and the room was suddenly bright as day, making Yu Antong’s nervousness subsided a little.
The bedroom door was locked from the inside, and it couldn’t be opened from the outside, but that didn’t deter the stubborn clicking sounds from the doorknob. Xing Lixuan turned sideways and opened the door from the inside.
–And there was no one!
“Gege!”
Xing Lixuan looked down following the childish voice, and saw the little girl in pajamas standing on tiptoe, stretching her arms to grab the doorknob.
When Yu Antong heard that it was that little devil’s voice, he breathed a sigh of relief. ‘God… I was really scared to death by her.’
Judy saw the door opened and was about to sneak in immediately.
However, Xing Lixuan had good reflexes. He successfully blocked the little girl from coming inside with his long limbs. “Why are you here, where are your parents?”
Judy pushed Xing Lixuan’s leg, trying to get it away from blocking her. “Judy wants to play with Tongtong-gege.”
“Your Tongtong-gege is sleeping, so you should go to sleep too,” Xing Lixuan said in a stern voice. Then, he picked her up and went to find her parents.
The little girl kicked her legs and threw a tantrum: “Judy doesn’t want to sleep! Let go, let go!!”
Xing Lixuan hugged her and rang Xing Yin’s guest room.
Lesley went to open the door with sleepy eyes, “Lixuan? Why…”
Before Lesley could finish his question, something was stuffed into his arms, and upon closer inspection it was his daughter. A very angry and wriggling daughter.
“Oh, my God!”
Xing Yin was also woken up by the ruckus, and she walked to her husband. Seeing her bear daughter, she was also surprised. She turned her head to look at the bed, and there was no one there. She grabbed her daughter’s ear and said, “When did you run out!”
They forgot to lock the door before, and this troublesome brat woke up in the middle of the night, got out of bed, ran out, and used her excellent memory to find Yu Antong’s room.
Xing Lixuan was still half-asleep when his aunt apologized and locked the door. He walked back to his bedroom, only to find Yu Antong had already woken up and was currently drinking water. He said, “It’s all right, go to sleep.”
“Ah…” Yu Antong fell asleep on the bed with a long sigh. He rubbed his stomach, and lamented, “Xing Lixuan, what if the baby in my stomach is born like her?”
Yu Antong looked at Xing Lixuan and continued, “What should I do, I suddenly don’t want to give birth anymore…”
His desire to pack Judy back to the US as soon as possible peaked. He patted Yu Antong on the stomach and replied, “It’s okay, if our baby is disobedient, I will strictly educate them so they will grow up into a sensible person.”
The author has something to say:
Tongtong: I don’t want to give birth anymore…
Xiao Nian: What on earth? I already got a scheduled beating even before I’m born??
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