Perhaps because the events the day before were so earth-shattering, when Meng Jiajia’s Mom came to pick Meng Jiajia up, her face still carried a visible trace of anger.
But after hearing how the two kids had tricked the other children, she almost couldn’t keep a straight face. After apologizing somewhat awkwardly to the other parents, she couldn’t help but feel both angry and amused as she grabbed Meng Jiajia by the ear. “You little rascal, are you trying to stir up a rebellion? It’s one thing to shave your own head bald, but you even want to mess with others too?”
Sensing trouble, Qu Tantan immediately hugged her Godmother’s leg and looked up pitifully. “It was Gu Quan and the others who said Jiajia looked ugly first. I think Jiajia looks really cool like this! Don’t you think so, Godmother?”
Seeing the little princess’s sparkling eyes—especially with the girl wearing the adorable overalls gifted by herself and the girl’s hair tied in two little buns, looking particularly cute—Meng Jiajia’s Mom couldn’t stay mad.
Upon hearing Qu Tantan’s words, Mother Meng’s brows furrowed. “Is that so?”
Qu Tantan nodded firmly, counting on her fingers. “But it was only a few boys who said that. The other kids and I think Jiajia looks super cool like this, just like the male lead in a TV drama!
“And it wasn’t on purpose either. Don’t be mad at her, okay, Godmother?”
Having been annoyed ever since her little rascal got a buzz cut last night and still agonizing over what outfit to dress the rascal in that morning, Meng Jiajia’s Mom couldn’t help but smile a little after Qu Tantan’s sincere praise.
Suddenly, when she looked again at her wind-leaking little cotton-padded jacket, she found the rascal a bit more pleasing to the eye, and decided not to beat the rascal tonight.
“But Tantan, you mustn’t follow Jiajia’s example. She almost drove me mad.” Meng Jiajia’s Mom gently stroked the little girl’s hair buns with a loving smile. “Our little princess looks beautiful just the way she is now.”
Qu Tantan nodded with a bright smile.
Meng Jiajia’s Mom then crouched down and apologized to the two kids. “I owe you both an apology. I’m sorry for blaming you without asking first. And thank you, Tantan, for standing up for Jiajia. You were wonderful.”
Seeing the two kids listening seriously, she added gently, “But what Jiajia did was still wrong and not something to be praised, especially for encouraging other children to cut their own hair. Didn’t I tell you kids not to play with scissors? That’s a very dangerous thing to do and not worth imitating.”
Qu Tantan was momentarily stunned. Since she hadn’t considered herself a ‘kid,’ she hadn’t thought about it that way. Recalling how Meng Jiajia couldn’t even see her own head while cutting her hair, she suddenly felt a bit afraid. If something had gone wrong, the consequences could have been serious.
Meng Jiajia clearly felt a bit ashamed too and promised to apologize to the other children at school the next day.
But when her Mom’s expression finally softened, she rubbed her round little head and added rebelliously, “Still, I think it looks great. I want that big brother at the barbershop to cut my hair again next time.”
Qu Tantan : “…”
Qu Tantan glanced at the grinning rascal who showed a mouthful of little white teeth, then at her Godmother behind the rascal, whose face was shifting colors like a traffic light before finally turning pitch black. Silently, she prayed for her friend, hoping the rascal would still be bouncing around alive tomorrow.
—Well, let’s just hope her butt survives.
Today, it was Lou Xiangwen who came to pick Qu Tantan up again.
At first, Qu Tantan thought her Mom must’ve been busy and asked him for help again. But noticing that his expression was clearly off, even tinged with concern, she grew a bit puzzled.
Faced with her questions, Lou Xiangwen seemed hesitant, hemming and hawing. Only when the little girl trailed after him like a tail, bombarding him with questions, did he finally cave and whisper, “Just so you know, you have to behave when you get home and not make your Mom mad, okay?”
Qu Tantan : ?
Lou Xiangwen scratched his head. “Honestly, I don’t really know what happened either. Your Mom suddenly came to the shop this afternoon and asked me to take you home. She didn’t look too good. Did she have a fight with Uncle Qu?”
Her parents… fought?
Qu Tantan was in disbelief. No way, her Dad, who always obeyed her Mom without question, actually fought with her Mom?
Curious and worried, she declined Lou Xiangwen’s suggestion to hang out at the shop first and decided to go home and keep her Mom company. On the way back, they unexpectedly ran into Lin Zhenmo.
He seemed to be coming from the mall. Curious but not pressing, Qu Tantan simply waved at her little neighbor from across the street with a bright smile.
Lin Zhenmo immediately noticed her. But the moment he saw her, his expression turned a bit unnatural, as if he tried to hide something behind his back and slipped it into his backpack.
When the light turned green, he crossed the road to her side and nodded at Lou Xiangwen—who looked rather awkward—as a greeting.
Qu Tantan noticed that Lou Xiangwen glanced around cautiously while they passed that particular street, as if looking for someone, seeming quite wary.
Only after they turned a corner did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
…Weird. Why is everyone acting so strange lately?
Qu Tantan sighed like a little old lady, shook her head, and turned her attention back to Lin Zhenmo.
Without needing any words, the two little ones naturally walked home side by side.
Lin Zhenmo had been worried she’d bring up the incident from that morning, but to his surprise, Qu Tantan didn’t mention it at all. Instead, she shared the funny things that had happened at kindergarten, eventually bursting into laughter herself.
But, Lin Zhenmo didn’t laugh. Instead, he looked a little inexplicably nervous. Then he glanced at the small tuft of hair tied at the top of Qu Tantan’s head, his expression tinged with disapproval.
“You look fine the way you are now. No need to cut it short on purpose.” Thinking of something, he added, “Scissors are dangerous. Don’t play with them.”
Qu Tantan was a little surprised to hear someone his age say something so similar to her Godmother. She looked at him in amazement, then laughed.
“Got it, I won’t use scissors by myself.”
Lin Zhenmo’s expression relaxed slightly, then, as if to confirm again, he asked,
“You’re not going to cut your hair that short, right?”
Though she didn’t quite understand why he was so insistent, Qu Tantan still shook her head.
“Nope, that hairstyle doesn’t suit me like it suits Jiajia.”
Back when she was going through her rebellious phase, she’d been egged on by Meng Jiajia to copy Meng Jiajia and get a super short haircut. In the end, she wasn’t sure if the hairstylist was bad or if it just didn’t suit her, but when she looked in the mirror, she thought she looked like a braised egg that had grown sentience.
Ever since then, she wouldn’t leave the house without a hat, and every time she did, she would hit that Meng Doggy once. She kept doing that until her hair grew back, and after that, she never dared mess with her hair again.
Lin Zhenmo felt the item in his backpack and quietly let out a sigh of relief.
As they were nearly home, they saw Father Qu in front of a fruit stand.
He was carrying a bag of fruit, and carefully took something else from the vendor’s hands, placing it very delicately at the top of the bag.
Qu Tantan ran over curiously to peek, but was unexpectedly blocked by him.
It was the first time her Dad had rejected her, and Qu Tantan looked up at him in disbelief. But she saw his gaze flicker slightly, and then he rubbed his nose and tried to placate her with a smile. “It’s nothing interesting, just bought some fruit, really.”
He naturally changed the subject. “Right, does Tan Bao’er or Xiao Mo want any fruit? I can get more while we’re here.”
“Haven’t you already bought some?” Qu Tantan looked at him suspiciously, feeling like he was hiding something. She acted obedient and said, “I’ll just eat whatever Dad bought. Tan Bao’er isn’t picky.”
Father Qu coughed awkwardly a few times, pretending he hadn’t heard that.
“Well, since Tan Bao’er doesn’t want anything specific, let’s go home. Mom’s already waiting.”
Qu Tantan narrowed her eyes slightly, noticing that he was subtly guarding the bag in his hands. At once, she leapt over and begged to be picked up. Father Qu was clearly a bit conflicted, but still, with both pain and joy, used his free hand to lift his precious daughter.
Since they’d run into Father Qu, Lou Xiangwen didn’t need to walk Qu Tantan home anymore and returned to the shop. But just before he left, he glanced back, seeming to let out a breath of relief.
Before Qu Tantan could wonder about it, Father Qu was already holding her and leading Lin Zhenmo toward home.
When they reached the building, Qu Tantan unexpectedly asked to be put down. Then she watched as her Dad walked upstairs slowly, and her eyes turned crafty as she reached into the front pocket of her overalls.
Dragging her feet, she eventually arrived at the door. She saw Father Qu take a deep breath, clearly nervous, and without caring that the two kids were still behind him, he leaned against the door and peeked in sneakily. “Wife, I’m home.”
“Still mad? I specially got you your favorite strawberries. I had to walk several streets to find them. Want some?”
Qu Tantan : “……”
In that moment, only one meme flashed through her mind : [Wife, I’m back from fooling around.jpg]1
She hurriedly shook her head to get rid of the inappropriate image. When she saw Father Qu go inside, she grabbed Lin Zhenmo and pressed close to the door to eavesdrop on how her Dad was going to sweet-talk her Mom.
Caught off guard by her tugging, Lin Zhenmo froze up awkwardly, not sure whether to stay or leave, forced to listen to the voices coming from inside.
Father Qu had already thickened his skin and cozied up to Mother Qu, who sat on the couch with a cold face. “I know you love strawberries the most. Look, I specially picked the biggest, reddest ones. I promise they’re super sweet.”
Like he was sharing a little secret, he said in a low voice without even blushing,
“I’ll tell you a secret: even when Tan Bao’er wanted one, I didn’t give her any, I saved them all for my Wifey.”
—Lies! Dad didn’t even let me see them!
Qu Tantan couldn’t help feeling a little overwhelmed by the sweetness, cupping her cheeks. Then she heard Father Qu’s voice suddenly soften: “Of course, even if strawberries are sweet, they’re not as sweet as your smile.”
Qu Tantan: “……”
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before they heard Mother Qu break into a helpless, amused laugh.
Qu Tantan’s eyes sparkled, clearly thinking of something.
Just as Lin Zhenmo was about to pull his head away in embarrassment, she suddenly reached into the front pocket of her overalls and fished out two perfect strawberries.
The bright red strawberries sat in her tiny hands, looking especially tempting.
“Lin Zhenmo, I want to share my strawberries with you.” Qu Tantan said softly, “I shouldn’t have kept asking you questions when you didn’t want to answer this morning. I’m sorry.
“These are the biggest and reddest ones I secretly picked out while Dad wasn’t looking! One for each of us, I guarantee they’re super sweet.”
She cleared her throat, mimicking someone else’s tone as she spoke sweetly:
“But I think, no matter how sweet strawberries are, they’re not sweeter than your smile, especially that little dimple. So you should smile more often, okay?”
Lin Zhenmo, who found those words oddly familiar: “……”
He silently watched the little girl hold up the two almost heart-shaped strawberries with shining eyes. Just as he was about to say something, they heard Father Qu’s shocked voice from inside: “I had another surprise for you… Huh? Where are my two strawberries?!”
“Strawberries count as a surprise?”
“No, no, these were special. I picked them out myself, two heart-shaped ones! I swear I put them right on top so they’d be easy to find! Where did they go?!”
Lin Zhenmo : “……”
Lin Zhenmo : “…………”
After a long silence, just before Father Qu could figure it out, he grabbed Qu Tantan’s hand and quickly dragged her next door. “Let’s wash the strawberries at my place.”
Better escape early. He was worried she’d get scolded if they got caught.
“But you have to say you forgive me first.”
Seeing that she was being persistent, Lin Zhenmo stopped walking, let out a small, awkward cough, then suddenly took something from his backpack—the item he’d been protecting all along—and handed it to her.
“Oh, and I didn’t mean short hair doesn’t look good on you.”
He added awkwardly, “I just thought… if you cut it short, then this would be useless.”
- This is what I found :
Though, the words in that picture was only the “I came back from fooling around” part. ↩︎