Chapter 10
The next day, Fu Chanwei and Theresa started preparing early for the guests they were going to invite. Many things in Chinese food need to be prepared in advance.
Last night, after visiting Chris's house, David and his family went to the central business district of Funchal and walked around for a long time to choose farewell gifts for each member of the Aveiro family and the football that Chunxi wanted to buy for Chris. Chunxi chose it herself. It was a beautiful white and gold football, the color was what Chanwei had described to her. When Chunxi thought of Brother Chris's warm hands and his laughter as bright and warm as the sunshine, she felt that gold really suited Brother Chris.
The wrapping paper was also chosen by Chunxi, it had a golden background with white feathers floating on it. When her mother was describing it to Chunxi, she somehow thought of the movie "Forrest Gump" that her father had told her about a few days ago, the white feather falling from the sky in the opening scene and Forrest Gump who kept running, moving forward and never giving up.
The clerk carefully wrapped the gift and handed it to Chunxi for her to hold. This was the first gift she gave to her brother Chris. Chunxi treasured it very much and was afraid that anything might go wrong with it. David was so jealous of that baby.
As soon as they got home, Fu Chanwei and Theresa started working busily. They had a clear division of labor: Fu Chanwei cooked some Chinese dishes, while Theresa cooked some of her signature Portuguese dishes. Portugal is famous for its dried fish, so Theresa made a dish called sintra, which literally means dried fish stuffed with cabbage. It is actually something like an egg cake, with a whole plate of cheese! It contains shredded fish, carrots and other things, and the cheese is baked. It tastes good, but it’s easy to get sick of it if you eat too much. The people in Portugal eat a lot of beans. If there are no beans in a meal, it is not a meal for the Portuguese. But the places where they put the beans are different. Some put the ground beans into pig intestines, while others stew black beans and pork together.
And because it is located along the coast, there is an abundance of seafood. There are really a lot of cuttlefish, cod, swordfish and so on. Portugal is indeed a place with a close affinity with grapes. Its Bordeaux wine is very famous, and the Portuguese are very particular about the way they drink. According to Portuguese tradition, they drink wine to stimulate digestion before meals and wine to aid digestion after meals. During the meal, they also pair wine with the food. Drink red wine with meat, white wine with fish, rosé wine with cold platters, and sparkling wine with desserts.
The poor cannot afford such etiquette. If they use it again, it will seem like self-mockery and make people who come to the party feel uncomfortable, so they don't do it. Instead, it was replaced with Madeira wine, a very famous local wine in Funchal.
David and Chunxi couldn't help, so they just played games on the side. David wanted to test Chunxi's sensitivity to sound, so he played a piece of piano and let Chunxi listen to a few notes. As a result, Chunxi answered all the questions correctly without exception, and David finally admitted that Chunxi really received some special gifts after the craniotomy.
In fact, David doesn't care what Chunxi wants to do in the future. He will be satisfied as long as Chunxi is happy, carefree and not hurt. However, he felt that it would be a crime if his daughter had talent in this area and he didn't try to develop it and missed it at the age of 20. The talent given by God should not be wasted.
David carried Chunxi to the piano bench and asked tentatively: "Ivory, do you like piano or other musical instruments?"
Chunxi touched the piano in front of her, tapped it excitedly and listened to the sound it made, and said, "I like it. I like the pipa played by my grandma, and I also like this one, and the one my grandma played for me yesterday. I also like singing. Teacher Little Cherry said that I sing very well." Teacher Little Cherry is Chunxi's kindergarten teacher.
Like singing? That's fine.
"Are you willing to learn them? This way you can play beautiful music in the future." David asked cautiously, fearing that his daughter would be disgusted.
"Okay!" Chunxi agreed readily.
"Which one do you want to learn most?" David asked.
"Dad, I want to learn what brother Chris said first." Chunxi turned around and faced David.
David: ...You little brat, I knew it was not simple (つД`)ノ
"Then dad can teach you. I want to ask you which instrument you want to learn first." David gritted his teeth and let go of the brat who kidnapped his precious daughter in one afternoon. After all, she would have no chance to meet that brat after these few days.
"Why can't I learn them all at once? It would be faster that way..." Chunxi asked naively.
"It's fast, but I'm worried you won't be able to learn it well enough." David said to Chunxi seriously that it would be of no benefit if you learned everything but your attention was dispersed and you couldn't learn it well enough. Actually, David wanted Chunxi to learn piano first, because he was quite good at it and could teach Chunxi a little. It would be such a beautiful picture for the father and daughter to sit on the piano bench and play the piano together in the piano room with gauze fluttering in the afternoon sun.
"No, my grandma said I'm super smart and can learn anything quickly." Little Chunxi is very confident in herself.
The author is also very confident in Xiao Chunxi.
David turned around and thought, yes, let her learn them all first. If she is particularly interested in one of them, it will not be too late for her to learn it in depth. After all, Chunxi is still young and has plenty of time to confirm her preferences.
While the father and daughter were chatting, the Aveiro family arrived. David opened the door and invited them in, allowing the Aveiro family to rest on the sofa and eat some fruit. As soon as Chris entered the room, he saw Chunxi sitting alone on the piano stool. Today Chunxi was wearing a light yellow dress, which was very pretty and cute. Chris couldn't control his hands when he saw it.
Chris walked to Chunxi's side, and Chunxi turned towards Chris and called sweetly, "Brother Chris." The girl's voice was very sweet, and Chris shuddered when he heard it, and felt as comfortable and relaxed as if he was immersed in a hot spring. Then Chris was a little surprised: "You can't see, how do you know it must be me?"
Chunxi didn't understand, but maybe the surprise in Chris's words was too obvious. Chunxi roughly knew what he was surprised about, so she explained it using a few stuttering Portuguese words she had learned from Chris yesterday: "Footsteps, hear..." Then Chris also understood that he knew it was him coming by listening to his footsteps.
Chunxi suddenly remembered something and quickly climbed down from the piano stool, groped for Chris's hand and pulled Chris towards the door. Maybe when Chunxi was groping for Chris's hand, she accidentally touched something on Chris's body, and Chris shook as if he had been electrocuted. Chunxi felt it, but because she was too excited about what was going on in her mind, she ignored this little episode.
Chunxi picked up a beautifully wrapped small box placed in the corner of the door, held it in front of Chris like a treasure, and said excitedly: "Brother Chris, a gift." It was still a Portuguese word, but Chris immediately realized that it was a gift for him, and he became a little excited. Oh my God, it was the first time he received such a formal and exquisite gift!
"Is this for me?" Chris murmured in surprise.
Chunxi didn't understand. Just then, Fu Chanwei came out with the dishes and saw the two children's awkward expressions. She smiled gently and said, "Yes, Chris, this is a gift that Ivory picked for you. Open it and see if you like it."
Chris's face turned red with joy, and he quickly and carefully opened the gift wrapping paper to see what was inside. As soon as Chris opened it, his eyes almost filled with tears. Dolores also smiled as she watched Chris opening the gift. Seeing how excited he was, she asked, "What is it? Chris, tell me what it is?"
Chris excitedly took out this white and gold football which looked very expensive and sturdy, and said excitedly: "Mom, this is a football, a new football, and it feels of very good quality and can be played for a long time." Dolores and Chris's father Denis were amused by the sight of their little son's red face and the way he scratched his ears and cheeks, not knowing how to vent his joy. There was also a hint of sadness in the laughter. The family was too poor to buy Chris a new football. Chris always wanted a hand-sewn football because hand-sewn footballs were sturdier and could be played with for a long time. However, hand-sewn footballs were too expensive and they simply could not afford it. Now, Chris finally has the hand-sewn football he has always dreamed of to support his football dream.
Chris didn't get excited for long before the dinner party began. The dishes on the table were very rich and varied. Half of the meal was Chinese food made by Chanwei, and the other half was Western food made by Theresa. This is truly unprecedented wealth for the Aveiro family, who are financially strapped and have to go hungry once every two weeks. Chanwei's big plate chicken made with boneless chicken thighs, braised cod fillets, tomato beef brisket, and braised shrimps are all very popular with Aveiro's family.
The conditions of Aveiro's family were really poor. As far as Theresa knew, they would go hungry every 15 days and could only eat meat on Sundays. During the week, they basically had to make do with buttered bread, clear soup and vegetables. They would occasionally have chicken, and it was like a family party, but even then the chicken they ate was always expired.
Under such difficult conditions, Dolores was still warm and helpful to others and worked hard to support the family. Chris still worked hard to play football and did not give up his dream. Such persistence and perseverance are really admirable.
Everyone was very satisfied with the meal. The fresh and abundant ingredients, the hearty meat, and the perfect cooking made them feel like they were celebrating Christmas. After dinner, they finally talked about the sad topic. Theresa was leaving and going to China with her son and daughter-in-law.
Dolores couldn't help feeling a little sad. Theresa was really a very good friend. Although she was careless and seemed to care about nothing, she actually knew about Theresa's help to their family. She just didn't say it out loud and was silently grateful for her generosity and love. It is a very sad thing to leave such a close friend and may never meet him again.
Teresa took out the gifts she had prepared for the Aveiro family and gave them out one by one, including clothes, shoes, and some Chinese specialties that Chanwei had brought with her.
Chris stroked the football in his hand silently, and a feeling of reluctance began to brew quietly in his heart. If Theresa left, Uncle David and Aunt Grace also left, then Ivory would definitely leave too, and he... couldn't bear to let her go.
This Ivory is as bright and warm as an angel, this Ivory is as pure and flawless as ivory, this Ivory is as sweet and lovely as sugar. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't bear to leave. The more he thought about the separation in a few days, the more he wanted to cry. Then he really cried and looked up and asked Chanwei: "Aunt Grace, can you leave Ivory with me?"
The author has something to say:
Today the author is going home...
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