Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Adoption was not something one could easily hide from the media, so Twain did not go about the issue furtively. The Chinese media knew that Twain was returning to China to adopt a child but news like this regarding a celebrity’s private life would only make it to the tabloids. Mass media would never publish something like this — since when did the Xinhua News Agency or China Central Television publicize news of a famous person coming to China to adopt a child? Never, right? In reality, there were a lot of foreigners who visited China to adopt children and quite a number of them were celebrities, too, so the media did not really report things like this.
On top of the paperwork that came with adopting a child in China, the foreigners had to fork out a large sum of money as well. China set a high threshold for foreigners who were looking to adopt children. Even if the person was someone as famous as Twain, they would have to do it by the book: pay the requisite amount of money and abide by the necessary formalities and procedures. But for Twain, problems that could be resolved with money were no problems at all. He had no lack of money and there was no issue with the procedures either; he was determined to get what he came for.
Right from the get-go, Twain specified for the adoption area to be in Sichuan. He would not settle for anything else — he was born there and he had a deep attachment to his hometown, a sentiment that carried over to the children of this land.
He went round to the welfare centres in Sichuan and picked out a few of the better children before discussing with Shania again. Finally, they chose a four-year-old girl. In the more backward and remote parts of China, there was still a clear preference for sons instead of daughters. Many families had a lot of children because they desperately wanted a boy but they did not have the means to raise all the children, so they either abandoned or gave away their daughters. As such, there were a lot more girls than there were boys in the welfare centres. Even if there were boys, half of them had a physical disability. Twain did not have the same preference, and neither did Shania. To them, boys had their own merits and girls were cute in their own way; it just so happened that there were more girls in the welfare centre and so they settled for adopting a girl.
The little girl who was on the cusp of turning five was not as rowdy as the other children when she met Twain and Shania. She was very quiet. Decked a red floral dress, she sat on the chair and blinked at the two strangers in front of her. She seemed a little apprehensive, much like an innocent animal, and was extremely loveable.
Shania was taken by the little girl the moment she laid eyes on her and Twain was also very much enamored of the way she sat quietly. Because of the nature of his work, he preferred for his life to be calm and silent so he did not really like children who were too rowdy. Quietness was just right up his alley. According to the case file the welfare centre had, this little girl was from Zigong, Sichuan. She was left on the doorstep of the welfare centre not long after she was born. Her parents were heartless, leaving her on the doorstep without even giving her a name. The parents left the child there and no other information or message. As such, the people at the welfare centre named her Liu Ai, homonymous with the Chinese phrase for “keep love”, in hopes that the little girl would hold on to love. They decided her birthday would be the third of October — the day the welfare centre found her.
Now that they had decided on a child to adopt, they would move on to settle the paperwork. Once that was done with, Liu Ai would have no more ties with the welfare centre and would officially become Twain and Shania’s first child, even if she was adopted.
Twain realised how fortunate he was when he was dealing with the paperwork. According to regulations in China, foreigners who wanted to adopt from China had to be older than thirty but younger than fifty. Twain was two months shy of fifty, falling just within the age range. Had he been two months later, there was no way he would have fulfilled this wish of his.
Twain was a celebrity; even in Zigong, a small town in southern Sichuan, he was still rather popular. On top of that, the person accompanying him was much more popular amongst the Chinese public than he was. Shania was a worldwide model and Hollywood star who had long broken into the Chinese market. The public had long familiarized themselves with posters of the products she endorsed as well as television advertisements.
There was a perk to being a celebrity: much emphasis was placed on his status as a celebrity and so it was a lot easier to get things moving during his discussions with the welfare centre and the Civil Affairs Department, which was really satisfactory.
In just a day, Liu Ai had become the child of Twain and Shania. Now that she was a foreigner’s child, she had to have a foreign name, too, though Twain decided to keep her Chinese name. He had an inexplicable affinity with China and this child was part of that, so how could she not have a Chinese name? And so, Shania was tasked with giving her an English name. She eventually chose ‘Teresa’, Greek for ‘harvester’ and the Portuguese Goddess of Harvest. This was a name often given to girls with black hair who were beautiful, demure, direct, and pious. Faith aside, everything else seemed to fit Liu Ai’s appearance and personality to a tee.
After the paperwork was done, the lady at the welfare centre helped Liu AI — she was Teresa now — pack her belongings and handed them over to the Twains. Not that there was much, really, just a few gifts from different people as well as some toys and coloring books donated to the welfare centre. She had some clothes but Twain rejected them, opting to keep only the toys and coloring books. Why would she still wear those old clothes? He would definitely be buying her new ones. She was his daughter and he would make sure she was dressed to the nines, like a princess.
Little Liu Ai said little through the entire, trailing behind with a little toy doll she owned clutched to herself. Twain thought she was really likeable; he really liked children who were quiet and sensible.
At the end, when they were standing at the door of the welfare centre, a bunch of the kids came out to send Liu Ai off. She was adopted by parents who came from overseas and had to move there with them, so this would probably be the last they would see of her. The bunch of kids were crying and laughing, reluctant to see her leave. The Twains were stood by the side, talking to the director who was probably thanking them for being so kind and adopting little Liu Ai, and hoping they would treat her well.
“Mr Twain, Miss Shania. Ai-ai doesn’t like to talk a lot and she keeps a lot of things to herself instead of talking to us. I know you’re both celebrities and have a lot on your plate when it comes to your job, but I do hope you take care to not neglect her,” said Liu Ai’s caretaker, who went out of the way to mention this. This was the lady who looked after the little girl and she seemed rather worried still. She knew Liu Ai rather well and feared that the little girl would be unhappy moving to a foreign country with that personality of hers, but also because of language barriers and a possible inability to adapt. There was something else that worried the lady, though she did not vocalize this concern. Twain and Shania were, after all, foreigners — celebrities, at that. Celebrity marriages were often tumultuous, and what would happen to Ai-ai if they ended up splitting? Who knew if Twain and Shania even loved each other in real life? Could they really love their adopted daughter?
Twain was not aware that the lady had her doubts about him and was just happy that he had a daughter now. He nodded at what she said, “That won’t be an issue at all. I’ve retired and can look after my daughter now.”
Twain dealt with the bulk of the communicating since Shanie still did not know how to speak Chinese. All she did was stay by his side and stare at the little kids nearby who were bidding Teresa farewell with eyes full of love. She had always wanted a child of her own but she never got pregnant despite trying for nine years, so she had no choice but to take another route and adopt a child instead. Now that she had a daughter, the maternal instincts she had suppressed for so many years had resurfaced. Twain was probably going to be neglected in the coming days.
The children were ultimately herded by the other ladies. After saying their goodbyes, Teresa was brought to Twain and Shania’s sides.
Shania saw tear tracks staining her daughter’s face — the girl had obviously been crying. She hurriedly fished out her handkerchief and gently dabbed away the tears on Teresa’s face. Her eyes were filled with worry and her smile was a little forced. It was as if this short interaction had established some sort of telepathic bond with her daughter, and the sight of her daughter’s sadness was enough to trigger her own.
But Twain was focused on something else. The little girl had been very sad when she was saying goodbye to the other kids but she could control her emotions when she was in front of them. She was obviously a very sensible child and Twain liked this very much.
The director of the welfare centre was a lady in her fifties who had been working here for more than two decades. Now that she had to send off a kid, she was a little reluctant too. She squatted down to stroke Liu Ai’s head, whispering, “Hey, Ai-ai, you have parents from today onwards. Are you happy?”
Little Ai-ai kept her head down. She snuck a glance at Twain before casting her gaze down again, then nodded.
“Granny hopes you’ll live well and healthily in England.”
The director stood up and patted her shoulders, signalling for her to walk over to her new parents on her own.
The little girl slowly took two steps forward to stand in front of Twain and Shania. She then said in a whisper, somewhat embarrassedly, “Daddy, mommy.”
She spoke in Chinese, but it was a Sichuan dialect. Despite that, “mommy” sounded almost the same in every language so Shania could pick up on that. She bent down, elated, hugging her daughter and kissing her face.
Twain was not as expressive as his wife so he only smiled brightly. He had been married to Shania for nine years and now they finally had their own child. It did not matter that she was adopted; he was still very much content with this. After all, he knew he was sterile. This summer, he had led his team to clinch the World Cup — the highest accolade in football — then retired after that accomplishment to adopt his first child. This was arguably the happiest year he has ever had.
Just like this, Liu Ai — she was Teresa now — boarded the car with her new parents. She was leaving behind four years in this welfare centre with her friends, who were sending her off reluctantly, to start a new one.
Now that he had his first daughter, Twain was in a really good mood. He was now a father. Twain had little experience in that field and all he knew was that he had to keep his child happy. As such, he took Teresa around Chengduthe next day. He brought her to see the charming and adorable pandas, even buying her a few panda dolls. They then headed to Jiuzhaigou to sight-see after roaming around Chengdu. He wanted the little girl who had never left the welfare centre to experience the scenic sights the world had to offer.
During the course of the trip and having interacted with the child over these few days, Twain understood the problem that the lady at the welfare centre had told him about: Teresa was just too quiet, almost as if she did not know how to laugh happily anymore. This was not a good habit; it was scary for a child to not know how to smile. Twain decided he would do something about her overly introverted personality. Since she was still a child, then she should be sprightly when the occasion called for it.
And so, Twain and Shania brought her to themes parks in Hong Kong like Disneyland and Ocean Park after they returned from Jiuzhaigou, in hopes of giving her a new experience and a taste of happiness.
They headed to Beijing after Hong Kong and Twain brought her to Tiananmen Square for the flag-raising ceremony. This was not Twain’s idea. Teresa had brought it up herself; she had always watched the ceremony on television and so she wanted to see for herself what it was like. This was his daughter’s request, so how could he not grant her wish? Twain brought her to Tiananmen Square for the ceremony and even brought her to the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, and other tourist attractions in Beijing. He brought her to the zoo as well to see the lions, tigers, monkeys, and elephants. He brought her to the amusement park to ride the roller coasters and Ferris wheel. On the roller coaster, the quiet girl screamed for the first time, a sort of cathartic release. Though she was still rather frightened when they stepped down from the roller coaster, Twain caught a trace of exhilaration on her little face. Teresa was the only child from her welfare centre who had been to Beijing to have fun, and this was as good as her buddies back in the welfare centre having their wish granted as well. After this day came to an end, she printed out the pictures from this excursion and sent them back so her friends could share the experience with her.
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The Twains got closer to their daughter after the trip around China. At the very least, she was no longer calling out for them in a timid and quiet voice. In fact, she was interacting with her new parents very liberally.
After their China trip, Twain and Shania brought their daughter straight to Brazil from China. They brought her to visit Shania’s parents so the latter could meet their granddaughter. Shania’s parents were also very fond of the obedient and sensible granddaughter. They did not care that she was not related to Shania by blood, and the loved the child if their daughter loved her. On top of that, they were not the type to prefer sons to daughters. On the contrary, they seemed to prefer daughters.
“But I’ll never allow Teresa to follow in my footsteps!” Shania swore to her parents as a precaution. She was not expecting her daughter to be making big bucks or building a name for herself — it was still much too early to be thinking about something like this. All she wanted was for her daughter to have a healthy and happy childhood.
“She’s your daughter, Jo. Whatever you say goes.”
Her parents were not angry. After all, parents knew their children best. They knew that their daughter had always wanted a child and felt helpless that Twain was sterile. Now that she finally adopted a daughter, she was over the moon, and her parents were too content with that to be fretting over a training plan for the little girl.
Teresa was on her best behaviour, too, which her grandparents really adored. They bought her a pile of new stuff to bring back to England.
They stayed in Brazil for about a week before Twain and Shania returned to England with Teresa. The Twains were surrounded by a bunch of reporters who had caught wind of their arrival at Heathrow Airport. It was a chaotic scene and the airport security was there as well. The flash of the cameras and the noise of the crowd frightened Teresa, who hurried to hide behind Twain.
Twain furrowed his brows at this. It seemed like the vicious reporters had scared Teresa.
He did not care if he was the one being harassed by the media, but there was no way he would just let his daughter suffer through this. The child could not understand why there were so many people here to see her, which would surely stress her out somewhat.
And so he pointed at his daughter who was hiding behind her and said to the reporters, “This is my daughter, Teresa. You’ve scared her and so I’m declining any and all interviews here. If you have any questions, ask me when I’m alone. I hope that you won’t harass my daughter like this in the coming days as well.” After saying his piece, he guided his wife and daughter out of the crowd and hurriedly disappeared at the airport exit.
The reporters shook themselves out of their shocked stupor. Tony Twain has a daughter! Not only that, but it was also very obvious that he loved her. Seems like this will be something they have to take note of when they deal with him in the future…
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PS,Twain has finally gotten a child, please give more of your support~~~
PS2,There are people who cursed me in the comments to be unable to bear a child and only able to get children through adoption. I have to thank this friend for giving mercy and not cursing me from having a bastard child. I would rather not be able to bear children than having a bastard child. If I am unable to bear a child, then I would just go ahead and adopt a child, isn’t that a lot more simple. However, if I were to bear a bastard, then I would be in trouble… (To be continued, if you want to know what happens afterwards, please log into www.qidian.com, where there would be more chapters, support the author, support legal reading!)
