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Arguments are inevitable in families with multiple children, and this time it's gotten a bit big, with a 1v2 situation for the first time. Mumu is battling her younger brother and sister, but who will be the final winner?
Here's what happens: Usually, if the three children don't go out with their parents in the morning, they'll play with their toys after breakfast. When they get bored, the adults will turn on the TV for them.
In the past, when Zhong Wan chose cartoons, she would first ask the children if they wanted to watch them before deciding whether to let them watch. Most of the time, they were in agreement and would watch any cartoon that came along, so whatever their mother let them watch, they would watch.
But today was different. Zhong Wan initially put on an animated film called "The Adventures of a Kitten". After watching for a while, Mu Mu suddenly realized something was wrong. She had seen this animated film before. A few days ago, when Cai Cai and Xiao He were punished by their mothers and were not allowed to watch cartoons, Mu Mu watched it by herself. She still remembered it.
At this moment, the younger siblings are sitting on the sofa, maintaining an attentive posture, intently enjoying one of the few pleasant moments of the day.
Mumu forced herself to watch a few minutes of cartoons she had already seen, but quickly got bored. She pouted, her legs swayed, and her whole body was filled with rejection.
But her parents were busy with housework and didn't have time to look after them, so Mumu forgot to ask them for help.
Suddenly, the remote control on the coffee table caught her attention. She climbed off the sofa, ran to get it, but then stared at the buttons and struggled to find the right one.
Mumu had seen her mother use this to turn on the TV many times, but she forgot which button to press. She carefully placed it on the sofa with both hands, scratched her head, and dared not move it.
Nursery rhymes were playing on the TV, and the screen showed a row of cute little cats. Cai Cai and Xiao He clapped as they watched, and even tried to dance like the cartoon characters. Mu Mu had already seen it and didn't want to watch it again. She wanted to watch a new cartoon, so she went ahead and, based on her vague memory, pointed her index finger at a button on the remote control and pressed it on the TV.
In an instant, the television screen that was playing music went black, and there was nothing on it except the reflections of three children.
Cai Cai and Xiao He were stunned. How could the cartoon just suddenly stop? It felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over them. They both jumped off the sofa, ready to go find their parents to come and see. Mu Mu didn't want them to go and hurriedly shouted, "Don't go!"
"What's wrong, sister?" Xiaohe asked, puzzled.
"I can make cartoons."
Mumu pressed the power button again, and the familiar cartoon appeared. Cai Cai and Xiao He felt relieved and didn't realize anything was wrong. They climbed back onto the sofa, leaned against the cushions, and happily continued watching.
The interruption, which lasted less than two minutes, did not affect them.
Meanwhile, Mumu, seemingly having discovered a way to adjust the situation, decisively pressed the button next to the center button, and the cartoon immediately turned into an archaeology program. The three children were stunned for a moment, their eyes glazed over.
"ah?"
He pointed forward with his finger and said, "I want Yuxi, this is not Yuxi."
Yu Xi is the name of the protagonist in the animated film.
Mumu shook her head. She pressed the button twice more, and could switch channels almost at will. She wanted to watch the cartoons she liked.
"No, I want to see something else."
Xiaohe always sides with her older sister. Her thought process is similar to her sister's, and she likes to follow her sister around like a shadow.
However, not today. It involves the most important cartoon, which she also wants to watch, so there's no room for negotiation.
Mumu ignored their conversation, held the remote control and pressed buttons for a long time before finally getting to an animated film she hadn't seen before.
She felt it was fair; Cai Cai and Xiao He had been watching things she didn't like for so long, so now she should be allowed to watch something she liked for a while.
Perhaps she doesn't fully understand the true meaning of fairness, but she knows that doing so will make her happy.
"Sister, don't look at this, look at what just happened."
Mumu, her eyes fixed on the TV, replied, "I've already seen the cartoon from earlier, so I want to watch this one."
She didn't understand why her younger siblings didn't want to watch it, even though none of them had seen it yet.
"elder sister."
Cai Cai called her that too, and asked her to switch the cartoon to the one she had just watched, but Mu Mu ignored her.
Two children stood on either side of Mumu, trying to win her over with sweet "sister" calls, but she ignored them completely, focused on watching TV, and even said, "Don't bother me."
Cai Cai and Xiao He were really wronged. Not only were they interrupted from watching the exciting part of the cartoon, but their older sister also impatiently said those things to them, as if she were some kind of hated person.
"Sister, don't look at this."
Cai Cai used both gentle persuasion and persistent cajoling.
Because the time for watching cartoons at home is fixed, and the clock will keep track of the time, the TV must be turned off when the time is up, without any room for discussion, so the children cherish their cartoon time twice a day.
Seeing that communication had failed, the bolder Xiaohe wanted to imitate her sister and also pull out the kitten cartoon from that long, thin thing.
While Mumu wasn't paying attention, she took the remote control from the other person's side and, not knowing anything about it, started randomly pressing buttons.
At first, the remote control couldn't detect the TV and didn't move at all. But as Cai Cai and Xiao He pressed the buttons too many times, the TV screen went from displaying a distorted image to being turned off in just a few minutes. Now, no one can watch TV anymore.
This made Mu Mu a little angry. She snatched the remote control from the two of them and said, "I found it first."
The three of them were only slightly taller than the sofa. Mu Mu was a little taller, but Cai Cai and Xiao He had more noticeable baby fat on their faces. The three little cuties were sweating profusely as they fought over a remote control, each feeling that they were the most reasonable and the most wronged.
"Sister, Xiao Qingcai and I want to watch cartoons," Xiao He said.
"I want to see it too."
"Then let's watch together, let's watch the kitten."
"No, I want to see something else."
After only a few words of discussion, they started arguing again, and the remote control fell onto the carpet. Suddenly, no one wanted to grab it anymore, probably thinking that even if they got it, they wouldn't be able to turn on the cartoon.
They were deadlocked and divided into two camps, with Cai Cai and Xiao He standing on one side and Mu Mu standing opposite them.
"snort."
Mumu rarely shows an unhappy expression; now she thinks her younger siblings are not cute at all.
Similarly, Cai Cai and Xiao He also felt that their older sister no longer loved them.
...
Zhong Wan was tidying up her summer short-sleeved shirts in the bedroom, while Chu Qinghuai was cleaning and mopping the bathroom floor. The two of them were chatting intimately as husband and wife, momentarily forgetting that there were three children outside.
It was eerily quiet.
As Zhong Wan put the last piece of clothing on the bed into the closet, she suddenly realized that she hadn't paid attention to her three babies for a long time. They were probably engrossed in watching TV. She said to Chu Qinghuai, "Turn off the TV for them. They've been watching for so long, their eyes are going to be ruined."
"good."
The two of them walked out of the master bedroom together, a bad feeling rising in their hearts.
Sure enough, when Zhong Wan turned her head, she saw the three children in the living room sitting separately on the carpet. They weren't watching TV; they were playing with toys.
Cai Cai whispered to Xiao He, while Mu Mu leaned alone against the back of the sofa, playing with a jigsaw puzzle.
"Who was so sensible as to turn off the TV?"
Seeing her parents come out of the room, Xiaohe, with Caicai's help, stood up and ran over, anxiously explaining, "Mom and Dad, my sister won't let us watch cartoons!"
Mumu felt that she was tattling, but what she said was true, so she didn't rush to defend herself and continued to play with her toys slowly.
Cai Cai couldn't sit still, so she ran to Chu Qinghuai's side, hugged her father's leg, and hoped to continue watching the cartoon she hadn't finished watching.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Wan immediately understood that the children's quarrels, which occurred when she wasn't looking, were nothing serious. She cheerfully asked, "What happened? Tell Mom properly."
Zhong Wan and Chu Qinghuai sat on the sofa, and Cai Cai and Xiao He climbed onto their mother's lap so she could hold them.
Seeing that Mu Mu hadn't come over yet and seemed to be sulking, Chu Qinghuai picked her up without saying a word.
Now, let's begin the family meeting.
Chu Qinghuai spoke up, "Mumu is the older sister, so tell me first, what exactly happened?"
Despite their dissatisfaction, the other two children never interrupted her when she spoke, because they respected their older sister from the bottom of their hearts.
"I want to watch a different cartoon." A simple and clear statement.
Zhong Wan guided her: "Why do you want to change it? Mom asked you if you wanted to watch it when she put it on."
"I've already seen it."
"When?" Zhong Wan had no recollection of it.
"My dad put it on for me once."
It must have been the time when Cai Cai and Xiao He were punished by being made to stand. At that time, the two younger ones couldn't watch cartoons, only Mu Mu could, so Chu Qinghuai arranged a separate one for her.
That's a pretty good reason.
"Did you discuss it with your younger siblings before you decided you didn't want to watch it anymore?"
"No," she answered honestly.
Zhong Wan pondered, "Your idea is not wrong, but your younger siblings are watching cartoons with you. Shouldn't you ask for their opinions? Talk things out calmly, don't argue. You are all good friends, and you can solve any problems together. You can ask your parents to solve the problem."
Mu Mu remained silent.
"Mom knows you're upset, and Cai Cai and Xiao He are upset too. It's okay, it's just a little cartoon. Mom and Dad will make sure you both enjoy it. Next time you have a problem, come to me and Dad, okay? Mom doesn't want to see you two arguing, it makes me so sad."
What is a small matter for adults is a huge deal for children. Zhong Wan cannot fully empathize with the children, but she can try her best to understand everyone and say nice things. She still hopes that the three children can take care of each other as they grow up and become close and important people to each other.
Afterwards, Chu Qinghuai changed the TV to show a kitten cartoon for the two younger children, and put a new program on Mumu's phone. Since the viewing experience on the phone wasn't as good as on the TV, she could watch for five more minutes, and no one objected.
It's true that even an upright official can't settle family disputes. Chu Qinghuai found it more and more amusing as he watched. He even told Zhong Wan that the children's childlike innocence was becoming stronger and stronger. It was not like when they first arrived, when each of them was well-behaved and cute, and the adults didn't have to worry about them. It's better now. The three babies seem more like the couple's own children.
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