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Di Yue's youngest daughter, Momo, definitely inherited her father's good looks and her mother's obedience. She was much cuter than Fu Xiaole, the naughty girl who always gave her a headache. Xia Tong liked her very much. That day, the Fu family of three came to visit Di Yue's house. The two men went upstairs to talk, while Xia Tong chatted with Xixi, who was already a mother.
Momo rubbed her eyes as she came out of the room, still wearing her fluffy pajamas and looking like she hadn't woken up yet. She stared blankly at Xia Tong sitting on the sofa for a long time before reacting and saying in a childish voice, "Hello, Auntie."
"Hey, Momo, come over here to Auntie." Xia Tong waved to her, looking very kind.
Momo glanced at her mother, and only walked over after her mother nodded to her, looking at Xia Tong with a puzzled expression. Xia Tong scooped her up and let her sit on her lap, touching her fair and smooth little face—what a beautiful little baby!
Holding a soft, cuddly little girl in her arms, Xia Tong spoke in a gentle, delicate voice. She was incredibly envious: "Having a little girl is so wonderful, so well-behaved and obedient. Unlike my Fu Xiaole! Last week, he was drawing during class. Then, while the teacher was writing on the blackboard, he secretly ran to the front and pasted his drawing behind the teacher. The worst part is, he drew the teacher terribly ugly, with three horizontal lines on her forehead and two missing front teeth. Later, that young teacher, who was only in her twenties, dragged me to the office and gave me a long, stern lecture. I was so humiliated!"
Xixi covered her mouth and laughed, "Lele is really naughty, but what boy isn't mischievous? I've heard that a little naughtiness makes a child smarter."
"Smart? Not necessarily. He's definitely incorrigible. One day he draws a portrait of the teacher, the next day he lifts up a girl's skirt. Every time he gets scolded, he swears he won't do it again, but then he turns around and does something else. He even argues that he listened to me. I've never seen a kid who doesn't make the same mistakes twice!" Xia Tong started to have a headache whenever she mentioned Fu Xiaole and poured out her grievances to Xi Xi.
Just then, Fu Xiaole, who had been playing in the garden, ran back with a handful of toy guns, looking for a drink of water. He glanced at the little girl sitting on his mother's lap and immediately stopped. His little face still had a smear of ash from when he was lying on the ground fishing for earthworms. He wiped it with his sleeve, and half of his face was black. But his eyes were wide open, staring at the little girl in his mother's arms. She had a watermelon-shaped haircut, bangs, and was wearing a strange cow costume. She looked a bit dull and didn't say anything, just playing with her fingers while sitting in her mother's lap.
He ran over and squeezed Momo's little hand, tempting her, "Let's go out and play!"
Xia Tong saw Fu Xiaole's face covered in ash, and her little black hands pressing on Momo's white hands: "Where have you been running around again? Let go of her right now." She quickly put Momo down and found a tissue to wipe Fu Xiaole clean.
Momo stood aside and looked at Fu Xiaole, feeling a little strange: This older brother never paid attention to her when he came to her house, and always played by himself. Why did he suddenly come over to play with her today?
After Fu Xiaole took Momo out to play, he ran back by himself a little while later, climbed onto his mother's lap, and hugged her with both hands: "Mommy, hug me."
Xia Tong was both amused and exasperated. This little guy could be so annoying it made you want to grind your teeth, but when he was trying to please you, you couldn't stay angry with him. Fu Xiaole used his little hand to turn Xia Tong's face towards him and asked very seriously, "Mommy, you like me the most, right?"
"If you behave well and don't cause me any trouble, I'll like you," Xia Tong said to him seriously, making a deal.
"Mom, I'll be good from now on—" Fu Xiaole puffed out her cheeks and looked at her sincerely.
Xia Tong was amused by him: "I want to see how long your guarantee will last."
Just as everyone was chatting happily, Xixi suddenly remembered: "Where's Momo? Didn't she go play with you just now? Where is she now?"
Fu Xiaole's eyes darted around twice, and then she wiggled her little body, trying to jump off Xia Tong: "She's still playing over there, I'll go call her over."
Just as she jumped down, Xia Tong grabbed her clothes: "Fu—Xiao—Le—", her voice turned cold. That was Fu Xiaole's standard expression after doing something wrong, and she always knew it. "Tell me, where did you take Xixi?"
“She’s inside… I’ll go call her out…” Fu Xiaole swayed left and right, trying to get rid of Xia Tong’s clutches.
"Will you tell me or not? Otherwise, you'll be in big trouble when we get home tonight," Xia Tong threatened him.
"It's in the closet." Fu Xiaole's mouth twisted into a grimace, as if she felt wronged and unwilling, but she still succumbed to Xia Tong's tyranny.
Upon hearing this, Xixi immediately ran to the closet to rescue her daughter, and Xia Tong quickly followed, still holding Fu Xiaole in her hand, and questioned him: "Why did you lock her in the closet?"
"She crawled in there herself!"
"Then why did she crawl into the closet?"
"We're playing hide-and-seek... Did I win this time?" Momo asked Fu Xiaole, puzzled, as she came out of the closet.
"Yes, you won." Fu Xiaole accepted the defeat readily and immediately admitted it.
Xia Tong choked on her breath: This kid clearly knows where you are but doesn't go looking for you. This isn't playing a game with you sincerely; it's just teasing you!
Xia Tong pulled him aside: "Why are you bullying her again? Didn't you promise me you'd never bully female classmates again?"
"She's not my classmate," Fu Xiaole argued, fiddling with her fingers.
"You never learn! You want stir-fried green peppers and carrots again tonight?"
Upon hearing the words "stir-fried green peppers and carrots," he acted as if he had been greatly wronged, pouting as he loudly accused Xia Tong, "You can't treat me like this!"
Xia Tong was baffled by his outburst: "How have I treated you? Why do you treat me like I'm your stepmother?"
"You hug other kids but not me, and you always say bad things about me! You always force me to eat stir-fried green peppers and carrots! A mom who doesn't like me isn't a good mom!" He ran away quickly, then stood at a safe distance and looked back at Xia Tong. "I'm ignoring you! I'm going to find my dad! I want my dad to eat the green peppers and carrots for me, I'm not afraid!"
Xia Tong was speechless: Is it wrong to hug someone else's child? You're playing in the mud in the flower bed one minute and catching crickets in the grass the next. I wanted to hug you, but I couldn't bring myself to do it to a little mud doll!
So that afternoon, everyone stared at each other in the conference room on the 36th floor of a building. Twenty minutes had passed since the meeting started, and the boss, who always hated people being late, still hadn't shown up!
At this moment, the president's assistant walked in and announced: "The meeting will be delayed by one hour. President Fu has something important to attend to."
Everyone stood up without objection. President Fu has always set an example by being extremely punctual. Since he was delayed by something, it must be something extremely important, at least more important than this emergency filing for the 30 million yuan bid.
Meanwhile, President Fu, who was dealing with something even more important than the emergency filing, was currently comforting Fu Xiaole, who was clinging to his leg and crying.
“How could Mom not like you? It’s because you’re always so naughty,” Fu Jia comforted him.
"I didn't—" Fu Xiaole drawled, denying it.
"How could you not have? Your mother went to school yesterday and got scolded by your teacher for drawing on the teacher during class, right? The week before that, it was because you led the class to pull up all the flowers in the school's flower bed, right? And another time you smeared chalk dust on the sides of all the desks near the aisle, and every teacher in the class was covered in chalk dust, right? Tell me, your mother runs to the school every day to solve your problems, how can she not be angry?" Fu Jia didn't think it was a big deal, but it was really tough on Xia Tong.
"But I've learned it all, I've corrected all my mistakes!" Fu Xiaole blinked her eyes with absolute certainty.
Fu Jia sighed. He had indeed corrected all his mistakes, but this kid always managed to cause some other trouble. In this vast world, did he have to wait until he had done every single one of his wrongdoings and then corrected them all?
Fu Xiaole tugged at his sleeve and continued, feeling aggrieved, "But Mom wants me to eat green peppers and carrots again today."
"Okay, I'll eat it for you."
"Daddy, you're so great!" Fu Xiaole kissed Fu Jia on the cheek, and his face finally brightened. Fu Jia looked up at the sky speechlessly. I knew this little thing was saying all this just to get me to eat that for him.
As evening fell, Xia Tong returned from grocery shopping and noticed a postman about to put something into her mailbox. She asked in confusion, "Just give it to me, what is it?"
The postman turned around, his dark face revealing bright, even teeth, and smiled, "Mrs. Fu, you're back from grocery shopping?"
“Yes!” Xia Tong smiled as well. This young man often came to this area, and they all knew each other.
"This is your postcard, sent via slow mail, it's from ten years ago." The young man pushed his cart and handed over the item.
Postcards? From ten years ago? I haven't received a postcard in so many years, I thought they had disappeared long ago.
She took it. On the front was an abstract clock, shaped like water, dripping with the seconds. On the back was Fu Jia's familiar handwriting, strong black ink written on slightly yellowed white paper:
You must be the mother of my child by now. I once saw a quote: "Love is raising a child who looks like you to have the same personality as me." I think my previous personality wasn't very good, which is why you didn't like me. It's better to raise a child who looks like you to love you as much as I do. —Fu Jia
In that instant, Xia Tong didn't know what she was feeling. She recalled a long, long time ago, in that bustling ancient city, when Fu Jia carried her all the way back. She felt that in this life, she was fortunate to have found the right person to hold hands with.
She shook the green peppers and carrots she was carrying, looked at the postcard, and nodded solemnly: "I think we shouldn't have this stir-fried green peppers and carrots tonight."
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I clearly put it in my drafts folder but it didn't post, so I'm posting it again now.
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