palm-leaf fan
In the room, little Jiang Qing slept in an unrestrained posture, with her face on the pillow, her feet and body turned at a 90-degree angle. The thin summer quilt was kicked off from her bulging belly and curled into a ball, leaving only a corner barely covering her butt.
The weather was hot in the summer, and the adults were afraid that the children would catch a cold, so they unplugged the fan early. The hair on the child's face was wet and stuck to his forehead. He fell asleep wet and deep, and his stomach rose and fell with his breathing, in a very regular rhythm.
Little Nanyan, biting a banana, tiptoed to open the girl's bedroom door and saw the person sleeping in a mess at a glance.
He wrapped the remaining banana in his hand with the peel and placed it on the table. He grabbed the edge of the bed, moved closer, and tentatively stretched out a finger to poke little Jiang Qing's fair cheek. The soft skin sank into it, forming a cute little dimple.
The person didn't wake up after being poked, but just wrinkled his nose and waved his little hand as if swatting a fly. He withdrew his hand in time and looked at little Jiang Qing sleeping soundly, and couldn't help laughing.
Suddenly remembering the sudden quarrel between his parents last night, little Nanyan put away his smile and sighed sadly.
Adults are so strange, he thought.
Jiang Jiang is still the best, she won't quarrel with him, but the last time Jiang Jiang yelled at him because of the caterpillar candy flashed through his mind, and his thoughts were stuck. He changed his mind and thought, Jiang Jiang's voice was just a little louder, and he didn't say anything, so it didn't count as a quarrel between the two of them.
Yes, definitely not.
Little Nan Yan quickly comforted himself, and out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a huge palm-leaf fan thrown on the head of the bed.
He took off his shoes, carefully leaned halfway over the person sleeping on the bed, and reached out to pull her over. In the middle of the process, Jiang Jiang turned over, and he was so startled that he froze in place.
Until the people gradually stopped moving, he glanced at the little person under him, slowly withdrew his hand, raised the palm-leaf fan to fan himself, and the direction of the wind blew across the girl's face, blowing her little curly hair up and down.
Little Jiang Qing smacked her lips and was comfortably chasing a big strawberry with long legs in her dream. Seeing that the strawberry suddenly sped up and was about to disappear from her sight in the blink of an eye, she pounced on it anxiously like a tiger.
He opened his mouth and took a bite, then smacked it in his mouth. He felt that the strawberry didn't seem very delicious, not sweet at all, so he spat it out, turned over and fell into a sound sleep.
Across the wall, the adults' conversation in the living room continued.
Lin Chongshan: "The elderly at home are not here and can't come to help take care of the child. Yu Ke and I are also busy, so we can only find a better nanny to take care of him. When he grows up and becomes sensible, we will send him to boarding school."
"That won't work!" Wang Hong immediately felt the idea was unreliable. "Haven't you heard the news about the countless cases of child abuse by nannies when parents are away? And then there's that boarding school thing where a teacher has to take care of multiple children all by themselves. Even the most responsible teacher can't take care of everything."
"If you do this, Xiaonan will have psychological problems."
Put yourself in his shoes. If her daughter had to be sent to boarding school by Lao Jiang since elementary school, she would never give up until she got a good scolding from him.
The Red Star School that the children of the two families attend nearby is not a boarding school. If they want to board, they have to find a school far away that has a corresponding program.
It means that Xiaonan, a child, would be thrown into a strange place alone, without friends or family, and would have to start all over again. How scared would he be?
Lin Zhongshan bravely endured Wang Hong's accusing gaze and laughed at himself, "It turns out that we two discussed it in the middle of the night and came up with such a disappointing result."
"There's really nothing we can do. Nanyan has to deal with irresponsible parents like us, so we can only make do with it."
The more Wang Hong listened to these words, the more uncomfortable she felt, as if her whole body was being tickled by thorns.
"So what is this...?" she asked, her eyes fixed on the expensive gift he had brought her.
Lin Zhongshan held the water cup and said embarrassedly: "The previous nanny left, and it will take a while to find a suitable new one, so I would like to ask you to take care of it for the time being."
"Don't worry, Nan Yan is a good boy. He's not picky about food and can eat anything. Just make him an extra bowl of rice every day so he doesn't go hungry..."
Wang Hong couldn't listen any longer and interrupted him, "What you're saying is, if raising a child means just giving them a bowl of rice and they can grow up healthy on their own, then we wouldn't need to be parents anymore. We could just support online beggars. It doesn't matter if we feed them anyway."
Jiang Shanhai's pupils dilated instantly and he started coughing violently.
Wang Hong glanced at him and said, "If you are sick, take medicine."
Jiang Shanhai:......
Of course Wang Hong knew what Lao Jiang meant, but she really tried hard to hold it back and couldn't force herself.
Although Lin Chongshan's words sounded nice, he really didn't care about the child's condition.
Who would ask someone else to help take care of their children and just give them a meal? It's not like the family was too poor to afford that meal a few generations ago.
He belittled Xiaonan too much.
"Xiao Nan has his own preferences. He likes lotus root and candy, but dislikes bitter melon and cannot eat spicy food. Every day he says goodbye to the black dog from the neighboring building, the old Ge family, before going to school. He neatly sticks the little red flowers given by the teacher on his textbook, and when he is rewarded with an ice cream, he will sweetly thank the person."
"Similarly, he would be troubled by a hole in his shoe and afraid of waiting alone in the dark."
Wang Hong spoke a long speech without stopping. Finally, she said, "Xiao Nan is not a troublemaker. He is a normal child."
"Don't ignore his needs just because he's well-behaved."
Lin Chongshan was stunned, and vaguely remembered that before he stayed out all night, every time he returned home late at night, before he could open the door, a little head would suddenly pop out from inside, calling out "Mom and Dad" obediently, and running around to give him water and change his shoes.
"Nan Yan... is indeed very well behaved..." He murmured, coming back to his senses and glancing at his watch, "Sister-in-law is right, I was too careless."
Wang Hong didn't say much when she saw this. After all, it was someone else's family affair, and she had already meddled enough. Being annoying was one thing, but if she made things more chaotic, that would not be her intention.
"Please take the gift back." She pushed the gift box back.
Jiang Shanhai turned his head to look at her, and Lin Zhongshan also became anxious all of a sudden, "Sister-in-law..."
"Give me the money." Wang Hong's calm voice sounded.
Jiang Shanhai widened his eyes in disbelief. Why was he still accepting money? But he didn't dare to move or ask questions. He just moved his eyes around like a statue, trying to make Wang Hong notice his gaze and change her mind.
He looked so stupid that Wang Hong didn't bother to pay attention to him. "Xiao Nan will be left at my house. You should pay me the same as you paid the nanny. We should settle accounts clearly between close neighbors. When you and your wife have time to take care of him yourself, come and take him back."
Lin Chongshan was confused at first, but after hearing the rest of the sentence, he understood everything. This meant that he should not look for a nanny anymore.
"Of course, of course. I won't give you any less," he said with a smile. "I trust Nan Yan more than anyone else, leaving him with my sister-in-law. You should also accept this donkey-hide gelatin. It's not worth much."
Wang Hong said with a stern face: "It's said that close neighbors should settle accounts clearly. I only take what I should take. You can take the expensive things. If you really want to, just give me two buns."
She glanced at Lin Zhongshan's neat and clean suit and the briefcase tucked under his arm. "Don't you have to go out to work? Go quickly. Xiaonan, we will definitely take good care of you."
Jiang Shanhai echoed, patting his chest loudly: "Yeah, Lao Lin, go ahead. We promise to return you a big fat boy when the time comes."
Lin Chongshan finally left with the box of donkey-hide gelatin and expressed his gratitude profusely. When Wang Hong closed the door and turned around, she was startled by the person standing behind her.
"...What's that expression on your face?" she asked.
Jiang Shanhai had a mysterious smile on his face: "I thought you would accept the box of donkey-hide gelatin and only help the Lin family for a dozen days."
"So you were planning to make some extra money." He looked as if he saw through her.
Wang Hong was speechless: "I'd rather wash two more dishes in the store than spend that much time as a nanny. At least I could save one person's labor cost and not have to worry about everything. Do you think raising a child is easy?"
Jiang Shanhai was puzzled, "Then why did you take the initiative to ask Lao Lin not to find a nanny?"
Wang Hong poured the water from the cup on the coffee table into the kitchen sink. Amidst the sound of the water rushing, she said, "I'm doing this for Xiaonan. It would be such a shame if such a good child grew up crooked."
She turned off the faucet, put the washed cups in the cupboard, and turned around.
"I don't know if it's just me being paranoid," she frowned, "but I always feel like Lao Lin isn't as attentive to Xiaonan as he was when he first came. And Xiaonan's mother is always missing."
Jiang Shanhai nonchalantly picked up a rag and wiped away the remaining moisture in the kitchen. "What are you thinking? This is the only child you have, how could you not care about him? Ultimately, it's just because you're busier now than before and don't have the time."
"That's true." Wang Hong relaxed her brows, picked up another clean cup, cut open the milk bag and poured it in. "It'll take a while for Jiang Jiang to wake up, and Xiao Nan will be bored in there alone. I'll call him out to watch TV."
As soon as she pushed open the bedroom door, she saw little Nan Yan waving a palm-leaf fan with one hand trembling a little, and covering her right cheek with the other hand, while her good daughter was sleeping soundly with her belly button covered, and was almost snoring.
The heartwarming scene made Wang Hong smile. She reached out to take the fan from Xiaonan's hand, but she paused when she saw him pull his hand away uncomfortably.
"You haven't been fanning Jiang Jiang since you entered the room, have you?" The adults had been talking for quite a while, and Xiaonan's little arms must have been tired out.
Xiao Nanyan turned sideways slightly: "No, Aunt Wang, I'm a little hot."
Wang Hong: "...Come, drink some milk first, then..."
Auntie will rub it for you. Before she finished the second half of the sentence, a little pink pig suddenly came over, sniffing everywhere, and accurately grabbed the milk in one bite.
With a "Ah Wu", her white baby teeth suddenly hit the glass, making a crisp snapping sound. Little Jiang Qing felt so much pain that tears fell from her eyes, and her mind immediately became clear.
The bright red blood slid down, contaminating the pure white milk. Wang Hong looked at the teeth sinking to the bottom of the glass and fell into a rare silence.
Great, it seems I don’t need to go to the hospital again to extract this baby tooth that was once shaky but stubbornly stuck to the gums.
“Ouch…it hurts…”
Little Jiang Qing's eyes were blurred with tears and she couldn't see the person in front of her. She just wanted to find a hug from love.
Nan Yan was so flustered that he forgot what he was doing. A row of neat teeth marks appeared on the fair skin of his right cheek. He was completely unaware and continued to comfort the other person clumsily: "No, don't cry."
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