May has arrived. This is Fatty's favorite season.
May nights are the most comfortable time of year. The fat man set up a deck chair in the open space in the front yard, brewed a pot of good tea, and lay down on it, swaying back and forth.
His little girl was playing by herself nearby, occasionally letting out giggles.
The evening breeze was very pleasant, neither too hot nor too cold. The mosquitoes had not yet started to fly, and only the fragrance of flowers and grass remained in the air.
But this pleasant atmosphere was completely ruined by a loud voice; Xu Damao, carrying a child in his arms, ran and shouted, "Fatty! Fatty! Come and see what's wrong with my daughter?"
Qin Jingru's method worked. After she provoked Qin Huairu that day, Qin Huairu did not appear in public for several days.
Xu Damao actually managed to get this done on his trip home!
When the family heard that his wife "couldn't have children," and that the couple had a good relationship and couldn't bear to divorce and remarry, they decided to adopt a child.
Xu Damao then briefly revealed his work and his family's lifestyle to them, and the family agreed.
How could they disagree? Xu Damao was wealthy and powerful; the child was going to enjoy a life of luxury with him, so there wasn't much reluctance, and they readily signed the documents.
They brought in the brigade secretary and the village head, and followed Xu Damao's instructions to keep a low profile; not only were all the procedures reasonable and legal, but he also gave the family an extra 500 yuan.
And so, Xu Damao and Qin Jingru had a child!
After Xu Damao brought the child back, he inevitably held a grand banquet in the courtyard.
They specially invited two master chefs, Fatty and Silly Zhu, to cook, and also invited every household in the courtyard. Even Yi Zhonghai and Qin Huairu were invited.
In the past, when there were such good banquets, the main venue was the Central Court.
But after all those things happened, everyone's hearts turned to the front yard and to Fatty. Now, no matter what you do, the front yard is the priority.
When Qin Jingru married Xu Damao, she dreamed of wearing a red dress, applying rosy cheeks, and buying a bunch of wedding candies to make a grand entrance.
This small wish has finally come true today.
Xu Damao and Qin Jingru wore new clothes today, and Qin Jingru even got her hair permed. Holding their child in her arms, her face was filled with indescribable satisfaction...
When it came time to toast, he even brought the child to Sha Zhu and said, "Sha Zhu! See? I have a kid now!"
Sha Zhu retorted irritably, "I know! You should try to stay away from this kid from now on, or you might end up like you, growing a mustache!"
Xu Damao got anxious: "Hey, you idiot Zhu, you bastard..."
The whole room burst into laughter. Sha Zhu really has a sharp tongue. Xu Damao is a girl, and if she looked like him, how could anyone bear to look at her?
Beside the chubby boy, Chen Mengqi also curiously looked at her baby sister, who was still in swaddling clothes, and said to him, "Daddy, she's so tiny!"
As she spoke, she gestured with her hand to indicate the length of the child. The fat man affectionately tapped her nose and said, "You were only this big when you were little."
Chen Mengqi was very surprised: "How much food would you have to eat to grow up?"
His startled and exaggerated manner amused everyone, making them burst into laughter.
Xu Damao, carrying a bottle of liquor, sat down next to the fat man: "Brother, you're a cultured man, the name you came up with for your child is excellent! I've also come up with a name for my child, can you give me some advice?"
After saying that, she took out a red paper from her shirt pocket, on which were written two names: one was Xu Jie and the other was Xu Sisi.
It's clear that Xu Damao is truly dedicated.
The fat man looked at the two names: "Jie (洁) means clean, pure, and unblemished. It is indeed often used as a girl's name. However, your surname itself has the meaning of promise and commitment, so pairing it with this character is not ideal."
As for Sisi, it means "friends are very close and encouraging to each other," so it's not a good name for a daughter.
Another issue is that there are too many strokes; you have to consider how your child will write their name when they grow up and go to school. My daughter, Chen Mengqi, always complains to me, "Why isn't her name Chen Yiyi? It's so much easier to write!"
Chen Mengqi seemed embarrassed upon hearing this and hid behind Yu Li, which made everyone at the table smile.
When Xu Damao heard that the two names he had spent two nights burning the midnight oil to come up with had been rejected by the fat man, he wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.
People in this era mostly use single characters when naming their children, and girls especially prefer characters such as 英 (Ying), 静 (Jing), 丽 (Li), 艳 (Yan), 敏 (Min), 芳 (Fang), 霞 (Xia), and 红 (Hong).
For example, one of the most common names in this era is: Red Plum.
However, names like Guilan, Xiuzhen, Guizhi, Xiuying, and Guiying were mostly used by people born before 1959 and are no longer popular.
The fat man thought for a moment, then asked Xu Damao for a pen and wrote the two characters "Xi Yue" on a piece of paper: "The moon has set, the dew is about to rise, the year is drawing to a close, and there is no one to return to; the good time can be returned, but a light frost touches one's clothes! Xi Yue, Xu Xi Yue, what do you think?"
Xu Damao repeated "Xu Xiyue, Xu Xiyue, Xu Xiyue" several times in a row, then slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "What a great name! It's easy to pronounce. And you just recited this poem, even though I don't understand it."
The fat man glanced at him helplessly: "This is not a poem, but a fu (a type of classical Chinese prose-poem), Xie Zhuang's 'Ode to the Moon' from the Southern and Northern Dynasties; it is a fictional story about Cao Zhi and Wang Can appreciating the moon and expressing their feelings at midnight."
"..."
Fatty took the child from Xu Damao's arms, held him and rocked him for a while, and felt that the child was burning up; when he looked, good heavens, Xu Damao had wrapped the child up in three layers and three layers of clothes!
The fat man angrily berated him: "This is a human being! She's born with a body temperature of 36.5 degrees Celsius, not your thermos. It's already May, why are you wrapped up so tightly? This child isn't born with a deficiency, don't you know she's sensitive to heat?"
Oh? So it's for heating!
Xu Damao looked aggrieved: "How can you blame me? I have no experience. I was thinking it was still a bit chilly, and I didn't want my daughter to get cold."
The fat man speechlessly handed the child back to Xu Damao: "Take her back quickly, take all these off, wipe off her sweat, and don't let her get chilled. If there are any problems in the future, come find me immediately."
When it comes to parenting, Fatty is a seasoned dad. He's raised two kids in this life and the last one.
At this moment, Chen Fang came out of the house and said to the fat man with a smile, "This Xu Damao is really interesting, so eager."
The fat man glanced at her sideways and asked, "Finished the test?"
Chen Fang's smile froze, and she said irritably, "I came out to clear my head!"
The fat man then continued, "There's a kind of love called a father's love. You didn't see Xu Damao bathing his daughter; he just slapped a wet towel directly onto her face. After finally managing to pull the towel off, he splashed water all over her face, making her spit bubbles..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com