Extra Chapter (6) Fragments of Life
(1) in advance
When Sui Sui was about 2 years old, Zhu Xu tried to teach her to sit on the potty. It was just the beginning of summer, and the weather was getting warmer. She could take off her diapers and run around indoors in her underwear.
The nanny in the family has been with us since Sui Sui was born, and she really likes this little girl, so she always follows her around and tirelessly wipes up the floor that Sui Sui pees on.
Zhu Xu felt a little guilty and wanted to give up halfway through, but her aunt encouraged her to keep going.
That weekend, Zhu Xu accompanied Sui Sui to play on the toy train.
She stood opposite her wearing only her underwear, her chubby little feet looking like white steamed buns.
Zhu Xu asked her more than once, "Does Sui Sui need to pee?"
He Sui shook her little head like a rattle drum.
In just a moment, the child froze, his brows furrowed tightly.
Zhu Xu had a bad feeling, but knew he couldn't disturb her at this moment, so he just watched as a large wet puddle appeared at her feet.
She sighed, but smiled and asked, "Has Sui Sui finished peeing?"
The child nodded happily.
Zhu Xu took off her soaking wet underwear: "Next time, don't wait until you can't hold it in and pee standing up. Go to the potty beforehand, okay?"
Sui Sui thought for a moment, then looked at her mother with her big, round eyes: "What does 'in advance' mean?"
Zhu Xu hesitated: "It's just... um... in advance..."
Later, the aunt suggested training He Sui to urinate at regular intervals.
So when she got up in the morning, Zhu Xu first carried her to sit on the potty. But Sui Sui held her face in her chubby little hands, pointing her fingers little by little, and just wouldn't pee.
Zhu Xu was utterly defeated by her, muttering to himself, "Please, just pee already."
Sui Sui frowned, her little brows furrowed, and said in a childish, drawn-out voice, "Mommy, you can't beg me anymore~"
(2) Sense of belief
He Sui is not a quiet little girl. It's unclear whether she inherited her genes from either of them, but she's constantly playing and causing trouble from the moment she wakes up in the morning until she goes to bed at night.
Because of this, she often got spanked by her mother. So she would always put one hand behind her back to cover her bottom, bend over, and swing the toys in the toy box backwards.
However, her father never hit her. No matter how messy she made the house, he would gently pat her head and say, "Sui Sui, can you help Daddy clean up after you're done playing? This task is a bit difficult, and I can't do it by myself."
She nodded happily, as she loved helping her father.
Sometimes, Zhu Xu felt gratified. In terms of raising children, his father seemed to have much more patience than he did, and seemed to be more methodical.
He Yanzhou did not spoil his daughter excessively, but preferred to accompany her to immerse herself in nature. Even if she ran around in the mud, he would not rashly stop her.
On the weekend, He Yanzhou took He Sui to dig in the sand in the yard. He specially asked someone to build a square sandpit in the corner.
Zhu Xu moved a small stool over and sat beside him, taking photos to document the event.
The weather was sunny today, and the flowers and plants in the yard swayed freely in the breeze.
He Sui dug and dug in the sand with a plastic shovel, scooped some up and put it in a small bowl: "Dad, this is a cake that my sister made, please have some."
He Yanzhou took the small bowl: "Sui Sui is great, it looks delicious."
"You eat it." She pushed her father's arm and brought it to his mouth.
He Yanzhou opened his mouth, took a bite, chewed it carefully for a few moments, and gave his approval: "It tastes really good."
He Sui clapped her hands happily.
Zhu Xu, standing to the side, remarked quietly, "You have such a strong sense of conviction."
He Yanzhou was digging in the sand with his daughter, not looking at her, but he chuckled softly without realizing it: "What is Sui Sui doing now?"
"fries."
"That must be for Mom, right?"
"Yes, yes." She climbed out of the sandpit carrying a plastic plate, scattering sand as she walked. "Mommy, eat." But in the blink of an eye, she tripped and fell into her mother's arms, spraying her with fries.
Zhu Xu: “....”
A soft "crack" sound came from beside my ear, accompanied by a low chuckle.
Zhu Xu looked up, and He Yanzhou held up his phone to capture the moment between the mother and daughter. In the sunlight, he tilted his head slightly, his handsome eyes looking over the phone, revealing a few teeth in a smile.
(3) Call for Mom
He Sui is 2 years and 5 months old and calls out "Mommy" 10,000 times a day, no matter what Zhu Xu is doing.
She said, "Mom."
Zhu Xu replied to her, "Eh."
As she tossed the ball with her aunt, she called out, "Mommy."
"Hey." Zhu Xu walked towards the study.
He Sui looked around: "Mommy, Mommy~"
"Mother?"
"Mom, what are you doing?"
Zhu Xu was about to look at a data report when he answered loudly, "Mom is working."
A little while later, the little boy, barefoot, ran into the study and sat down beside her, continuing to bounce the ball: "Mommy~"
"Eh~"
Not long after, Sui Sui looked up: "Mom?"
Zhu Xu put down his pen and looked at her for a moment, then suddenly had a bright idea: "Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey... Mom has already answered you many, many times in advance, so I won't say anything more later."
Finally, there was peace and quiet, but less than a minute later, cries of "Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy..."
"..." Zhu Xu was both amused and exasperated.
(4) Anorexia
He Sui has recently lost her appetite and keeps thinking about the crispy rice cakes her mother bought for her.
The aunt made various adorable dishes and served them to her, but she was only interested in their appearance. She would play with them for a bit, but refused to put them in her mouth.
He Yanzhou and Zhu Xu sat at the dining table eating silently, ignoring each other.
Sui Sui tried to get their attention: "Mom and Dad, do you know? There's a Didi in my mouth."
He Yanzhou looked at her, somewhat amused: "Who is Didi?"
"He's my good friend, she lives in my mouth." She opened her mouth and pointed with her chubby little finger: "Here."
He Yanzhou offered an explanation: "Is he hungry too?"
He Sui shook her head: "He's cooking for me right now, I'm already full."
The two couldn't help but chuckle, wondering what strange and wonderful thoughts were going on in her little head, considering she was only a child under three years old.
Zhu Xu covered his mouth and asked, "What delicious food did Didi make for you?"
He Sui sat in the dining chair, swinging her legs: "There are crispy rice cakes, hawthorn sticks... and small cookies..." As she spoke, she smacked her lips and swallowed hard.
Zhu Xu said softly, "If you finish your meal obediently, I'll reward you with a hawthorn stick later, okay?"
Sui Sui frowned, but still took a big bite of her steamed bun and complained, "Mommy, I'm unhappy when you make me eat, and I'm unhappy when you don't make me eat. I'm happy when you make me eat, and I'm unhappy when you don't make me eat..." She scratched her head a couple of times, getting more and more confused, and her face turned red with anxiety: "Mommy, I can't remember... Waaah..."
The two people eating next to them were absolutely delighted.
(5) Getting old
The first snowfall that year was very heavy; even Zhu Xu rarely saw snowflakes the size of paper.
She held little He Sui and stood by the window looking out.
The child looked up at the sky with delight: "Mom, look, our house is going up into the sky!"
Zhu Xu looked up, and the moment the snowflakes fell, it truly felt like he was rising in an elevator.
Many times, she thought children's imaginations were really cute. Once, she saw the lights on a roadside building flashing and said, "Mom, it's winking at me."
Another time, Zhu Xu braided her hair into two small braids, saying, "Your hair is too short; it will take a lot of hair clips."
He Sui laughed exaggeratedly: "There's no seat on my head anymore."
...
Zhu Xu was about to praise her when he saw her pointing outside, her little face a little downcast: "Daddy has become an old man."
She looked up and saw He Yanzhou striding into the courtyard, his hair and shoulders covered in snow.
Her intention was to tease her: "Mommy will become an old lady someday too."
He Sui didn't speak at first.
Zhu Xu thought she didn't understand, so he repeated, "My dad and I will both get old..."
"No!" she suddenly shouted.
Even at this moment, Zhu Xu was still teasing her: "Why?"
Sui Sui burst into tears, "I don't want you to become old ladies..." She couldn't yet clearly express, "Mom, you are the tallest person in my life..."
She cried so hard that tears streamed down her face.
Zhu Xu was terrified and quickly pulled He Sui into her arms, gently comforting her. Her eyes involuntarily welled up with tears. She had always thought that this child was more precocious than other children her age, but she never expected that she would be aware of the complexities of "birth, aging, sickness, and death."
She really loves her.
But at that moment she realized that her child's love was no less than her own.
(6) Character recognition/ancient poems
When He Sui was almost 3 years old, Zhu Xu tried to teach her to recite ancient poems.
These are all relatively basic five-character and seven-character poems. She adopted a learning-while-playing approach, initially reciting them herself for her to listen to, and gradually, she would only say the first two characters and ask her to continue reciting.
A few days later, the results were inspected.
Zhu Xu said, "Before the bed—?"
"Bright moonlight".
Little He Sui picked at her toes and recited absentmindedly from the beginning: "The bright moonlight shines before my window, and the ground is covered with frost."
“….” Zhu Xu.
After she corrected it, she changed the song to: "Qingming—?"
"The rain falls in torrents during the season."
"On the road—?"
He Sui continued, "The pedestrians on the street are unhappy."
Zhu Xu was furious.
She thought to herself that perhaps the child was just unfamiliar with these two poems, so she asked about others, but the child still recited them haphazardly.
Zhu Xu was about to slap her little bottom, knowing full well that she wasn't a stupid child; on the contrary, her little mind was very quick, she just wasn't focused enough.
She calmed herself down and grabbed the flashcards next to her; she had been taught a few Chinese characters over the past few days.
Zhu Xu pointed to the character "吃" (eat) and asked Sui Sui, "What's the pronunciation of this character?"
"eat."
Finally, I got one right.
Zhu Xu flipped it over, and the card below had a "Look" printed on it: "What about this one?"
He Sui frowned and thought for a long time, then pouted and shook her head.
Zhu Xu tried to guide him: "Use your eyes—?"
"look."
"Then this word is pronounced—"
"Eye."
Zhu Xu was both amused and exasperated. He threw the card in his hand and gave up completely.
I put He Sui to sleep that night.
Zhu Xu rolled over and into He Yanzhou's arms, complaining to him about how angry he was today.
He Yanzhou smiled and stroked her hair, his voice gentle: "What did our daughter do to upset you?"
Zhu Xu recounted the story to him with great emotion, which made He Yanzhou burst into laughter.
She was displeased: "You're still laughing, it's giving me a headache."
He Yanzhou gently comforted her: "Our daughter is still young. She has more than ten years of hard study ahead of her. Let her play carefree for a few years."
“But a few days ago, Xiao Yang from the public relations department posted on her WeChat Moments that her daughter, who is ten days younger than Sui Sui, can recite the Three Character Classic very fluently.”
He Yanzhou only asked, "Did you memorize the Three Character Classic when you were a child?"
"Recite it from memory."
"Do you remember now?"
Zhu Xu shook his head.
“We don’t compare ourselves to others,” He Yanzhou said. “Our daughter is still young, so let’s not compare her to others, or even ourselves. This kind of showing off to others is meaningless.”
Zhu Xu didn't say anything, but she knew everything in her heart.
He Yanzhou continued, "From your retelling, I feel that our daughter isn't very interested in these things at the moment. We can't force her to learn, right?" He patted her back gently, "We can't predict the future, but we can adapt to the situation. Perhaps when she's a little older, we can grasp her interests and then focus on cultivating them?"
Zhu Xu agreed. She still trusted He Yanzhou completely when it came to educating their child.
“I almost couldn’t hold back today.” She held up her right hand to show him: “This slap almost landed on her butt.”
He Yanzhou glanced down at her and said, "Why don't you hit me a couple of times to vent your anger?"
"Okay." Zhu Xu reached behind him and touched him, but didn't hit him. He just squeezed him a couple of times with moderate force. The skin felt a bit hard, but it was very elastic.
She looked at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes, and whispered, "What if I get you excited?"
He Yanzhou smiled and offered the best solution: "Let's play in another room."
He was incredibly agile; before Zhu Xu could say anything, he had already scooped him up in his arms and tiptoed out.
(7) Catching mice
He Yanzhou had been on a business trip to Singapore for some time, and finally returned this weekend evening.
He unlocked the door and went inside. As he bent down to change his shoes, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching from afar.
He Sui opened her arms wide, her soft voice echoing throughout the room: "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy..."
He Yanzhou's eyes softened, and he bent down to pick her up in his arms. "Did you miss your dad?"
"Yes, I want to~" she said, drawing out a long sound.
He Yanzhou kissed her cheek, then caught Zhu Xu walking slowly from the living room out of the corner of his eye. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, tilting his head to deeply inhale the scent of her neck and shoulders.
He seemed utterly exhausted, but all that weariness vanished the moment he embraced his wife and daughter.
"And you? Have you missed me?" he asked hoarsely.
Zhu Xu deliberately contradicted him: "I didn't think of that."
He Yanzhou chuckled: "Then why are you hugging me so tightly?"
He brought Zhu Xu a gift: a pair of royal blue sapphire earrings that he had seen in the window of a jewelry store one day. They should match her fishtail dress in the same color scheme.
Zhu Xu was stunned by the rich blue color, but when she saw the price tag with a string of zeros, she felt a pang of heartache. She scolded him for wasting money, but then tiptoed to kiss his cheek: "Mr. He, you've gone to so much trouble. I really like it."
He Sui shook his neck: "Where's my present?"
Yes, there really was one. But it was a bit perfunctory; it was a set of children's books he bought while waiting for his flight at the airport.
But the child was still very happy, immediately slid off her father and pestered her mother to tell her the story.
That evening, after taking a shower, He Yanzhou wandered around the bedroom for a while before going to the study and said to Zhu Xu, "It's time to hand in the homework tonight."
These are secret codes used exclusively between couples, requiring no further explanation.
"Okay," Zhu Xu said.
After He Sui fell asleep, Zhu Xu specially changed into a black slip dress and went over.
As she sat in his office chair, He Yanzhou braced himself on the armrests and lowered his head to kiss her.
The atmosphere was tender, and breathing was rapid.
His lips traveled down her neck, stopping at her side and then moving further down.
Zhu Xu instinctively hugged his head, tilted his head slightly, and closed his eyes, but he sensitively heard what sounded like coming from the door.
He Sui was already tall enough to reach the doorknob. The black handle was pressed down at a slight angle, and the door was pushed open a crack.
Zhu Xu was startled and instinctively kicked He Yanzhou in the shoulder.
He was clearly caught off guard, and fell to the ground, using his arms to support his balance.
He looked up in disbelief, and the next second, he noticed the little boy standing at the door.
He Sui rubbed her eyes: "Mom... Dad..." She looked over: "What are you doing?"
Zhu Xu's face flushed red; he was so glad that his nightgown hadn't been taken off yet.
She immediately crouched down. "Did you find it?"
He Yanzhou didn't answer, but smiled to himself.
"I'm asking you."
"What are you looking for?" he asked.
"Mouse, didn't you just call me over to help you catch mice?"
He Sui instantly snapped out of it, her black, glass-like eyes looking over: "Where's the mouse?" This was incredibly appealing to a little kid who could catch horned frogs with his bare hands.
She bent over, taking small, shuffling steps, muttering, "Where is it? Under the table? In the bookcase? Dad, where did you see it?"
"...under the bookshelf."
Zhu Xu stood in front of the desk with his hands behind his back. Seeing his embarrassed look, I couldn't help but laugh.
He Yanzhou glanced over, and after calming down a bit, he propped himself up and said, "Dad will help you find it." He walked over to Zhu Xu, pinched her butt hard, and whispered, "If you don't lock the door next time, see how I deal with you."
Zhu Xu rolled his eyes at him, rubbing his bottom, even though he had clearly forgotten as well.
(8) Pregnancy
That day, after putting their daughter to sleep, they finally finished the important task they hadn't completed, and even went through twice the trouble.
On a whim, no action was taken.
In fact, the couple has always planned to have a second child, but they haven't decided on the timing yet.
Who would have thought it would be so accurate? More than a month later, Zhu Xu's period was late. On her way home from work, she bought a pregnancy test, and when she took it, it showed two deep lines.
Zhu Xu is pregnant.
(9) New Year greetings
When He Sui was 3 years and 11 months old, a new member of the family arrived – a younger brother.
Zhu Xu named him with the single character "年" (nian).
Her wish was as simple as He Yanzhou's: that the siblings be safe and well, year after year.
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