Young children actually couldn’t understand the true meaning of death. The same applied to Fang Yu. She had not understood it even though such a long time had passed, and now, after seeing that her father had really never returned, she finally understood the difference between not coming back often and never coming back.
“Brother Shao Xi, I actually miss Daddy a little, but I haven’t told Mommy. I’m afraid Mommy will cry.
“I want him to give me a piggyback ride, like all the other children’s daddies. He used to make me fly all the time. No one is taking me flying anymore.
“Brother Shao Xi, I’m also a little afraid that I’ll forget what Daddy looked like because I haven’t seen him in a long time. If he doesn’t come back in the future, I’ll forget him. Before Mommy moved with me, I couldn’t bear to part with Brother Little Hua, but now, I rarely think of him. I’m afraid that I’ll also forget about Daddy in the future and forget what he looks like.
“I’m really afraid, so I stole a photo of my father from Mommy last night. I’ll look at it when I’m about to forget his face in the future.
“But I’m so afraid that Mommy will find out. If Mommy finds out, she’ll hit me. There are only three photos of Daddy. Mommy will definitely find out. I’m also really afraid that I’ll accidentally lose it.”
If she lost the photo, Fang Yu might really forget what her father looked like, so she was really worried.
Shao Xi was initially smiling as he read the letter, but when he finished reading it, he couldn’t smile anymore. He felt a little upset.
After some thought, he replied, “You can ask your mother if she has any negatives. The negatives can be used to develop photos. If she manages to find some, you can develop more of them, like even 100 of them. That way, you’ll have a lot of photos of him. Many people don’t even have 100 photos in their lifetime, so your father wins.
“Besides, by doing this, you won’t have to be afraid of losing the photo anymore.”
Shao Xi made a suggestion. He really hoped that she would find out soon that her father wasn’t a little baddie but a big hero.
Shao Xi wrote a letter back and asked Shao Qiyang to help him send it the next day. Shao Qihai, who happened to be beside them, looked at the address on the envelope. “What did you write? Are you going to constantly keep in touch?”
“I just wrote something about developing photos. If nothing goes wrong, we will indeed keep in touch.” Shao Xi glanced at Shao Qihai. “What’s wrong, Dad? Can’t we keep in touch?”
Shao Qihai was conflicted. “Not really…” It would be strange if he suddenly said that they weren’t allowed to contact each other.
Mu Jingzhe didn’t know about this little incident between them. She came out and asked, “Have you applied for leave from school?”
Bai Lu’s death anniversary was coming up, and since they had ultimately decided to pay their respects, the kids needed to apply for leave in advance.
“Yes,” Shao Qihai quickly replied. “The teachers have agreed, but they said that they should come back as soon as possible. The final exam is coming soon, and they’re going to skip grades again.”
It was only because the children had performed well and were going to pay their respects on their mother’s death anniversary that the teachers agreed. Otherwise, at a time like this, the teachers wouldn’t have approved their request for leave.
Two days before Bai Lu’s death anniversary, Shao Qihai took Shao Dong, Shao Xi, Shao Nan, and Shao Bei to Bai Lu’s hometown to pay their respects to Bai Lu and also meet their maternal grandparents.
Shao Qihai took the four of them there, leaving Xiao Wu alone at home. As soon as they left, Mu Jingzhe really could not get used to it. She kept feeling that the house was empty.
Although the children would go to school previously, they would sometimes run back during their break. Furthermore, she would be worried about their meals and water, so she didn’t feel like they weren’t around.
However, when they really left this time, the place suddenly felt empty. When she prepared lunch, Mu Jingzhe was still used to preparing their share. Only when she came back to her senses did she quickly put everything back.
Shao Qiyang was busy at work and wasn’t at home either, so it was only her and Xiao Wu. Mu Jingzhe suddenly didn’t know how much food she should cook.
Shao Dong, Shao Xi, Shao Nan, and Shao Bei were all in their growing phase and weren’t picky about their food. Their appetite wasn’t small, and even Little Bei ate quite a lot. Mu Jingzhe expended a lot of energy and ate quite a lot every day. Shao Qihai and Shao Qiyang ate even more, so she usually cooked a lot of food every day.
Now, it was only the two of them… Mu Jingzhe scratched her head.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Xiao Wu was surprised to see that Mu Jingzhe wouldn’t move.
“Xiao Wu, how much do you think we should eat?”
The two of them discussed the portions before getting down to cooking, but in the end, she still prepared too much. Looking at the remaining food and vegetables, she said, “If your older brothers were here, we would have finished it all.”
Xiao Wu looked at Mu Jingzhe and ran out. After a while, he returned with a small drum tied to his waist. “Mommy, let me play the drum for you.”
He could tell that his mother was just not used to it. Since his siblings had left, she had been a little distracted because she missed them.
Fortunately, he was still there. Otherwise, what would Mommy have done if she were alone?
Xiao Wu transformed into sticky candy and stuck to Mu Jingzhe’s side for the rest of the day, talking to her non-stop. From time to time, he would pick small flowers and put them in an empty beverage bottle. He would then put them in the kitchen to surprise her.
Every now and then, he would run out. For the next two days, Xiao Wu would pluck all the flowers by the roadside in the village. That wasn’t enough. Xiao Wu even spent money to buy sunflowers.
It happened to be the season when the sunflowers bloomed. In Great Eastern Village, many people would plant a circle of sunflowers on the outer perimeter of their corn fields so that they would have sunflower seeds to eat in the future.
The sunflowers looked gorgeous when they bloomed. Mu Jingzhe had marveled at their beauty before, so Xiao Wu wanted to give them to Mu Jingzhe to make her happy.
Other children would also mischievously tear off the petals of the sunflowers when they saw them. Not Xiao Wu. After careful selection, he finally chose the sunflowers in Li Fang’s field. He felt that hers were the most beautiful and went to buy one with his pocket money.
Li Fang wanted to decline the money, but Xiao Wu simply left the money and ran home with the sunflower in his arms.
“Mommy, come and see what this is?”
Mu Jingzhe’s eyes widened. “Where did you pluck it from?” Oh no, she’d have to apologize later.
“Mommy, never mind where it came from. Do you like it? Is it pretty?”
“It looks good, but…” But she’d have to apologize. Mu Jingzhe felt helpless. She was about to tell Xiao Wu that he should not pluck flowers casually in the future and that sunflowers could be left to grow in the fields so that people could admire them for a few more days. Also, there would be sunflower seeds to eat in the future if one left them alone, so why pluck them?
Mu Jingzhe, who was about to take this opportunity to talk to Xiao Wu about this, heard him say, “All that matters is that it’s beautiful. Sunflowers turn to follow the sun. I turn to follow you, Mommy. You are my sunflower.”
Xiao Wu reached out and placed the sunflower in Mu Jingzhe’s arms.
Mu Jingzhe’s heart beat faster. “Xiao Wu…” What kind of wonderful son was Xiao Wu?
Since she was already Little Wu’s sunflower, she decided to just let him be a brat for once. Children who hadn’t been bratty before weren’t considered to have a perfect childhood. It wasn’t a big deal to apologize. After all, she was Little Wu’s sunflower.
Mu Jingzhe abandoned her principles and hugged Xiao Wu, kissing him twice. She felt that Xiao Wu’s smile was brighter than a sunflower.
After two kisses, Mu Jingzhe still felt that it wasn’t enough. She couldn’t help but spin around a few times with Xiao Wu in her arms. Xiao Wu chuckled, afraid that the sunflower would be damaged.
“Mommy, the sunflower. Don’t damage it.”
“It’s okay. It won’t get damaged.”
