As Chen Bing watched the intimate interaction between Liu Yue and her son, a young voice entered her ears.
"That's wonderful. I wish I could have a child like Bingbing."
Unlike the slight flattery in other people's voices, the envy in this voice was clearly more genuine.
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but Chen Bing, whose eyesight was not yet fully developed, couldn't immediately tell who the person was.
"Oh dear, Xiaojing, you'll be getting married soon too. It's only a few months away." A relative comforted her, "Your older sister is already married, so it won't be long before you, the younger sister, get married."
younger sister?
Chen Bing remembered whose voice it was; it sounded like her aunt, Liu Jing.
The reason I didn't immediately recognize my aunt was because I didn't have much contact with her in my past life. I vaguely remembered that after her divorce, she went to work in the south and wouldn't return to her hometown for several years. So my impression of her was only the thick red envelopes she received during holidays and her indistinct face.
"Come here, let me hold this child."
Chen Bing felt herself being moved to another place, and at the same time, a pair of gentle hands took her in.
"This child is so well-behaved. He doesn't make a fuss even when there are so many people around and he's being carried around."
I could vaguely make out a black and white mouth, its outline barely visible, saying something. A moment later, I felt a wetness and softness on my cheek.
Chen Bing thought that when she grew up and met some relatives she rarely saw, when they jokingly said to her, "Do you remember me? I even held you when you were little!" she could sincerely reply, "Oh, I remember. I remember you kissed me at the full moon feast. You had the smell of the feast food on your mouth, so I remember it very clearly."
The time spent being watched passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was evening. As the guests departed and the banquet was almost over, her grandmother came into the room.
"It's warmer here. Let me add some more charcoal so our little Neng Neng doesn't get too cold." With that, she added a few more shovelfuls of charcoal, then grabbed something and left the room.
The temperature in the room kept rising, and Chen Bing felt a little hot, so he made "ah ah ah" sounds to remind the new mother, Liu Yue. She initially thought he was hungry, then started checking his diaper.
Neither.
When she put her hand on her back, she realized she was hot. She quickly removed a layer of the blanket from Chen Bing's body, then shifted her body a dozen centimeters away from the stove, as if that would lower the temperature.
My own mother is inexplicably adorable.
I remember seeing a particularly touching passage online in my past life. It was about a boy telling his mother how terrible he was, that not even a girl liked him. His mother then comforted him, saying that she liked him the first time she saw him; she was only in her early twenties then, just as young and beautiful as she was.
The greatness of the moon needs no further explanation.
Just as Chen Bing was thinking this, Ms. Liu Yue simply threw him onto the bed and ran outside to help.
Huh? No, I was just praising the greatness of maternal love, how did you run away?
There was nothing she could do. Chen Bing was still unable to move on her own. Babies normally take seven months to learn to crawl and twelve months to learn to walk. Even if she had the consciousness of an adult, she probably wouldn't be able to control her weak body to crawl.
He was lost in thought, and then began to consider whether he could speak at all.
Because she was always accompanied by someone, Chen Bing was unable to try it out.
It's not that they necessarily have to say anything, but it's really suffocating for a normal adult to not speak for a month.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, Chen Bing spoke in a low voice.
"Ah... Liu Yue."
Okay, it seems I can still talk. It's a bit unusual that the first word I uttered wasn't "daddy" or "mommy," but who says the first word in a person's life is "daddy" or "mommy," right? Kids abroad say "mommy fever."
My thoughts suddenly became aware of one thing: my mother tongue.
Infants are far more sensitive to language than at other times. If you listen to English, French, Russian, Japanese, Korean, etc. more during this period, wouldn't it be easy to master them?
Even if I don't become a top linguist or master eighteen languages, I'd be happy to just understand English, which I wasn't good at in my previous life, and get a perfect score on the college entrance exam!
The thought of this made Chen Bing feel her blood boil. She couldn't wait to go to the living room, turn on the old CRT TV, and listen to foreign language channels all day long. The pressure of getting into good schools these days is immense; the college entrance exam is like a grueling ordeal from infancy.
Today is January 2005. There are less than 7,000 days left until the college entrance examination in 2023. How can you sleep at your age!
Just as he was thinking this, Liu Yue, who had gone out to help, was sent back.
As soon as she entered, she walked up to Chen Bing with a smile, while simultaneously hiding her hands.
"Little Bingbing, guess what I brought back?"
No, is it really meaningful to play this game with a one-month-old baby? I don't even understand what you're saying.
Chen Bing was speechless.
His feelings were written all over his face, so much so that Liu Yue saw a hint of disgust on his face.
My baby seems to be looking at me with a look of disgust… After a moment of surprise, Liu Yue calmed herself down. She figured she was probably overthinking it. He's so young, how could he understand these things?
Stopping her thoughts on these trivial matters, Ms. Liu Yue took out the items she had brought from behind her back and began to introduce them one by one with her gentle explanations.
"This is a little toy that your uncle and aunt gave you."
After placing the small box on the bed, Liu Yue took out the small toys one by one.
"This is a rattle drum that your second uncle gave you. Isn't it fun?" Liu Yue played with it for a bit and found it quite interesting. Just as she was about to hand it to Chen Bing, she noticed that the other woman was looking at her with that strange expression again.
Under that gaze, Liu Yue felt a little embarrassed. She smiled awkwardly and then put the rattle away.
"Looks like you don't like this. How about this? It's a colorful little notebook your aunt gave you." Liu Yue said, unfolding it and showing it to Chen Bing.
A one-month-old baby can only distinguish between black and white, and its visual range is only twenty centimeters.
In Chen Bing's eyes, the colorful notebook was a blurry black and white drawing with a pixelated look.
"Uh-huh~" he said in a nasal tone, while also shaking his head.
"Oh, I see. You don't like it either."
To Chen Bing's slight surprise, the oblivious Liu Yue didn't think there was anything wrong with her one-month-old baby making such an action. She put away the booklet and continued to look for small toys that Chen Bing might be interested in.
I never imagined that my mother, whom I remembered as fierce and nagging, was actually so naive and innocent when she was young.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com