Chapter 48 To realize your dreams, you must be brave. The first step to being brave is daring to speak up...
Everyone's stomachs were so full from lunch today that they weren't fully digested by dinner time, so the family had a simple bowl of noodles for dinner.
After dinner, Wen Min convened a family meeting.
"Does everyone know why we're having a family meeting today?" Wen Min asked with a smile.
Apart from Wen Xingrui and Wen Xinglan, two family members who seemed out of sorts and were sitting in their parents' laps playing with toys, the other attendees shook their heads, indicating they didn't know anything.
Wen Min didn't keep everyone in suspense, "The main reason for today's meeting is to let everyone talk about their dreams."
Upon hearing the word "dream," Bai Mangmang remembered the essay she hadn't written yet. She glanced at Wen Min, then secretly shrank back, trying to appear smaller and less noticeable.
Wen Min pretended not to see Bai Mangmang's little actions.
"Mother Wen, what is a dream?" An Shisi raised his hand.
"A dream is something you hope to achieve or become in the future. Everyone has their own dreams. For example, some people hope to become a teacher, while others hope to eat delicious food. Dreams are like birthday wishes; they can take any shape. However, different birthday wishes require your own efforts to achieve your dreams. Therefore, dreams are also a remarkable thing."
"Does Mother Wen have a dream?" An Shisi asked.
"Of course there is. Mother Wen's dream is to watch you grow up happily." Wen Min asked, "Then what is Fourteen's dream?"
An Shisi looked intently at An Fusheng, "I most want to grow up to be as tall and strong as my older brother!"
An Fusheng: "..."
"Really? Why does Fourteenth Brother most want to grow up to be as tall and mature as his older brother?" Wen Min continued to ask.
“Because…because I’ve grown bigger and stronger, I can dig a lot of soil and plant seeds there, and the seeds will sprout,” An Shisi said.
Lou Lan smiled and said, "Fourteen likes to grow vegetables, so our family will be able to eat lots of fresh vegetables in the future."
“Yes!” An Shisi said, “We also need to plant grass and trees!”
Lou Lan asked curiously, "Oh? Why?"
“Then I will have a lot of friends! My older brother said that you don’t need to wear a hearing aid to talk to plants.” An Shisi said expectantly, “I want to plant the seeds in the yard, in the kindergarten’s flower bed, by the roadside, in the park, by the river, and everywhere else. That way, when I don’t wear a hearing aid, I can go and play with them and let them tell me stories. They are in so many places, they must know a lot of stories.”
"Fourteen's dream is wonderful! So remember to tell us the stories your seed friends tell you in the future," Wen Min said.
An Shisi: "Okay."
"Me too, me too!" Wen Xingmou couldn't contain herself any longer.
"What is your dream, little sister?" Lou Lan asked.
"I most want to be a doctor!"
"Oh?" Wen Min asked curiously, "Why?"
Their family has a lot of dealings with hospitals and doctors, so she thought the children would be afraid of doctors.
"I...I'll be a doctor and heal the sick! I'll heal Fourteenth Brother's ears so he can play with us even though he lost his hearing aid. I'll heal Sister Xinghe's eyes so she can see bean sprouts again. She's the only one in the family who hasn't seen bean sprouts yet. I...I'll also heal Lin Wuyang's mouth so he can talk to me."
She spoke haltingly, then took a few deep breaths afterward, "Yes! I heal everyone as a doctor, I'm super amazing!"
Wen Min was overwhelmed with emotion and almost couldn't hold back her tears. Look at her children, how sensible they are!
"Then I hope my sister's dream comes true soon. Next, Xinghe, would you like to tell me about your dream?"
Wen Xinghe thought for a moment and said solemnly, "When I go to school, I will study hard and learn many characters. When I grow up, I will become a teacher and teach other blind children to read."
"Great!" Wen Min exclaimed. "Xing Lin, tell us what you think too."
Wen Xinglin rarely expresses himself in public. From the moment his mother called out An Shisi's name, he had been in a state of high tension. Now that his mother was calling his name, he felt both a sense of relief that the guillotine had finally fallen and an even greater sense of tension and panic because he didn't know what to say.
"I...I..." Wen Xinglin couldn't utter a complete word for a long time.
"It's alright, take your time," Wen Min said patiently.
"I...I don't know." Wen Xinglin lowered his head in dejection. Although he had been in a state of high tension and had thought about it seriously, now that it was his turn to speak, his mind was blank.
"Does Xinglin not want to become an even more powerful person?" Wen Min asked gently.
Wen Xinglin lowered his head and after a long while stammered, "I...I don't want to become a powerful person, I...I want to become a brave person."
As soon as he finished speaking, a tear fell heavily onto his arm, which was resting on his lap. Everyone else at the table watched him silently without saying a word.
Once she started, her thoughts gradually became clearer in her mind. After a moment of pause, Wen Xinglin continued, "I hope that I'll dare to raise my hand to answer questions in class, dare to ask the teacher about math problems I don't know how to solve, and not be afraid to play with my classmates..."
"To realize your dreams, you need to be brave, and the first step to being brave is daring to speak your dreams aloud. You are especially brave today, and we all believe that you will be even braver tomorrow and in the future."
Wen Xinglin sat to Wen Min's left. Wen Min patted his head, took his hand that was fiddling with the hem of his clothes, and gently stroked it, saying softly, "You're very brave now. It's not that difficult, is it?"
"Yes." Wen Xinglin nodded heavily, and several more tears fell in quick succession.
Bai Miaomiao's dream is to get into a good high school, then a good university, and then find a good job.
An Fusheng's dream is to learn how to cook more dishes.
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, it was Bai Mangmang who was last to be dealt with.
Wen Min: "So, Mangmang, tell me, what is your dream?"
She had originally planned to just casually say that she hoped to become a teacher, scientist, or doctor, since that's what all her classmates said in their essays. But since her older and younger siblings all spoke so seriously, she felt embarrassed to just give a perfunctory answer.
After a moment of inner turmoil, Bai Mangmang closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and told the truth: "My dream is to be able to eat delicious food every day!"
After speaking, she glanced at everyone, who were all looking at her intently. Neither Aunt Wen nor Aunt Lou said anything wrong; everyone seemed to be waiting for her to continue. She grew bolder and her gaze suddenly shot towards An Fusheng. "Big brother, is it alright?"
"Huh?" An Fusheng didn't react at first.
"Big brother, can you cook delicious food for me every day?" Bai Mangmang looked at An Fusheng expectantly.
Before An Fusheng could answer, Wen Min said, "There are so many delicious things in the world, how can eating only what my elder brother makes be enough?"
"But the ones everyone else made didn't taste very good..."
"That's just because the people at our orphanage don't cook well. The world is so big, there's always someone who can make food taste better."
Bai Mangmang thought of all the delicious food she had at the buffet that day, but... "I don't have that much money..."
"If you don't have money, you can earn it yourself when you grow up."
Bai Mangmang hadn't thought about earning money to buy food, but after Wen Min said that, she felt that her dream seemed to become clearer.
"Alright, everyone has had some great dreams today. Now, let's all become dream superheroes and work hard to achieve our dreams. Meeting adjourned!"
It was already 8 o'clock when the meeting ended.
Bai Mangmang went off to write her essay, while the others prepared to take a shower and go to bed.
For some reason, Wen Xinglan was particularly attached to An Fusheng. During the meeting, An Fusheng had been holding him the whole time. Now, when Lou Lan wanted to take him to bathe him, he cried and clung to An Fusheng, refusing to let go, saying pitifully, "I want my brother to hold me..."
"How about I help him wash it?" An Fusheng couldn't bear it.
"Are you sure you can handle it?" Lou Lan thought of the heavy diaper bag that Wen Xinglan had carried that morning, and she didn't trust An Fusheng to take care of the child. "How about we do it together? You hold him and I'll wash him?"
"good."
As a result, after An Fusheng finished bathing Wen Xinglan, Wen Xinglan still refused to let go. He would watch An Fusheng bathe from the side. An Fusheng couldn't stand him standing there watching him bathe. "Fourteen, sing a song for your little brother."
"Okay! Moonlight shines on the ground, little shrimp, you better go to bed..."
Just as An Shisi finished singing a song, An Fusheng had just finished taking a bath.
"You're not going to sleep with me tonight, are you?" An Fusheng finished dressing and lifted Wen Xinglan up by his armpits.
Hearing that Xiao Ba wanted to sleep with his older brother, An Shisi, who was carrying his dirty clothes and following behind, immediately said, "I want to sleep with my older brother too!"
"What are you saying? I didn't hear you." An Fusheng switched Wen Xinglan to a hug with one arm and grabbed An Shisi with the other, then ran off. "Come on, I'll take you to sleep."
An Shisi was tickled by his older brother and couldn't help but burst into laughter, forgetting all about sleeping with his brother...
...
Sure enough, Wen Xinglan clung to An Fusheng while they slept, and he couldn't get her off no matter how hard he tried.
"Why don't you sleep with him? He slept quite well with you last night. I came over last night to take him away, but I couldn't," Lou Lan said. "Just change his diaper if you wake up at night. If you don't wake up, you don't have to change it. The diapers I bought this time are pretty good. There's a whole pack hanging down, and the surface is still dry."
An Fusheng glanced at Wen Xinglan, whose big, dark eyes were fixed on him without blinking. Wen Xinglan was gripping his collar tightly with both hands, as if afraid that Aunt Lou would take him away. "Okay, but he needs to drink milk at night."
“I’ll go get it for you. I’ll teach you how to make it in a bit. Little Ba is smaller than other children his age. He likes to drink milk, so it’s good to give him more.”
Ten minutes later, An Fusheng acquired a new skill: making baby formula.
Even after drinking the milk, Wen Xinglan still kept one hand gripping An Fusheng's collar.
"Am I such an untrustworthy person? If I promised you, would I send you away?" An Fusheng pried off Wen Xinglan's fingers one by one, but as soon as he pried off the first one, he grabbed the next one.
"By the way, be careful when you sleep, don't roll over on Xiao Ba, okay? Did you roll over on him this morning and that's why he suddenly started crying?"
"No, I usually don't move around when I sleep." His grandmother loved to praise him for sleeping so soundly since he was a child, never even moving when he turned over.
"Anyway, be careful not to crush him." Lou Lan put away the things Wen Xinglan would need for the evening.
After Wen Xinglan finished drinking her milk, Lou Lan washed the bottle before leaving. "I'm leaving now. Call me if you need anything tonight."
"good."
After Lou Lan left, Wen Xinglan finally let go of An Fusheng's clothes.
"You're quite clever." An Fusheng tucked him in. "Go to sleep!"
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Author's Note: An Shisi is singing the Cantonese children's song "Moonlight Shines on the Ground".
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