Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
AHEM! AHEM! “Um, Baitu…” Xiaotu’s mother coughed a bit as she tried her best to suppress a laugh. She attempted to put on a serious expression as she whispered, “Sweetie, you must realize that Cheng Zhiyan is a boy, and you are a girl. How can boys and girls bathe together?”
…
“Why can’t we?” Xiaotu blinked her eyes and looked perplexed as she said, “Daddy’s a boy also, and I’ve bathed with him.”
“That is an entirely different matter.” Xiaotu’s mother thought about it for a little while, and then she proceeded to try to explain it to Xiaotu.
“Your father only bathed with you when you were a baby. Now that you’ve been getting older, your father hasn’t bathed with you in a long time, has he?”
“…” Baitu thought about it for a while and nodded to her mother. However, she then shook her head and clung to Cheng Zhiyan’s arm as she shouted, “I don’t care. I want to bathe with Brother Orange Juice, no matter what.”
“Then you can stay at Brother Cheng’s house all by yourself, because Mommy is leaving to return home!” Xiaotu’s mother stood up and pretended she was about to leave. “Don’t you want to sleep with Mommy tonight?”
“No, I want to sleep with Brother Orange Juice!” Xiaotu felt as if she was on cloud nine when she’d heard that her mother was about to leave. That meant that she was going to be able to stay in Cheng Zhiyan’s house to play.
GULP.
An awkward,embarrassed expression flashed across the face of Xiaotu’s mother. Everyone always said that girls didn’t stay at home for very long. Her daughter was still practically a baby, and already she was experiencing difficulties in her wanting to stay at home. She helplessly turned to Cheng Zhiyan’s mother and made some pleading eye gestures.
Cheng Zhiyan’s mother instantly grasped what she was trying to say.
“Xiaotu, you really aren’t allowed to stay overnight in our home, unless…” Cheng Zhiyan’s mother stooped down to smile at Xiaotu and purposefully dragged her words out dramatically without further elaboration.
“Unless what?” Xiaotu’s combative eyes were wide open, and she urged Auntie Zhou to finish her sentence. “Unless what?”
“Unless, you are Yan Yan’s wife. Only then can you take a bath with him and sleep with him.” Cheng Zhiyan’s mother patted Xiaotu’s fluffy little head as she spoke gently.
“What is a wife??” Xiaotu asked confusedly.
“Uh…it means a bride. Someone who is married.” Cheng Zhiyan’s mother thought about it a little, but simply managed to change the phrasing.
“Huh?” Xiaotu still couldn’t quite understand the concept of a wife.
“For example, daddy’s wife is mommy, and granddad’s wife is grandma.” Xiaotu’s mother started to explain to her with a great deal of patience. “So you see, grandpa and grandma and daddy and mommy all live together, and they all eat together in the same home everyday. Isn’t that so?”
“Oh, yes!” Xiaotu seemed to nod her head with some degree of understanding, yet her little hands still refused to let go of Cheng Zhiyan.
“So you see, since you aren’t Yan Yan’s wife at the moment, you two can’t take a bath together, nor can you two sleep together. Do you understand?” Xiaotu’s mother asked.
“I understand!” Xiaotu nodded vehemently. Then she said in an impish, self-righteous voice, in a declaration to everyone present in the room, “I want to become Brother Orange Juice’s wife.”
“Uh…this…”
Everyone in the living room felt completely dumbfounded. Their strategy had failed.
Cheng Zhiyan looked at Xiaotu’s mother, and his eyes seemed to send forth a message: “Why doesn’t your daughter play by the rules?”
Xiaotu’s mother looked completely helpless as she slapped her forehead…
At times like this she really didn’t want to acknowledge that this little rascal was her daughter!