In fact, the present wasn’t supposed to have been opened until the day of Xiaotu’s birthday. However, the little rascal simply didn’t have the patience to wait. The first thing she’d do as soon as she saw Cheng Zhiyan every day was nag at him to let her open her present.
Finally, Cheng Zhiyan had ended up getting so exasperated by her constant nagging that he’d had no choice but to give her the present before her actual birthday.
Xiaotu clumsily tried to unwrap the present. Yet, she didn’t quite have the skills necessary to unwrap presents, so, after struggling with the gift for a while, she’d only managed to tear away a small piece of the wrapping paper.
Cheng Zhiyan stood watching her for a few minutes. Then finally he’d taken the box from her hands, dexterously unwrapped the packaging, and taken out the present.
It was an adorable, fluffy white stuffed bunny with two long ears that stuck up, a pair of red eyes, and a pink ribbon tied around its neck.
Xiaotu joyfully hugged the stuffed bunny in her arms, then, without allowing him a chance to refuse, she’d planted a forceful kiss on Cheng Zhiyan’s cheek as she said, “Thank you, Brother Orange Juice.”
Cheng Zhiyan was a little bit dazed, and he couldn’t help but blush as he touched his cheek.
“From today onward, I will go to bed with Xiao Xiaotu in my arms!” Xiaotu was bursting with excitement as she embraced the stuffed bunny that Cheng Zhiyan had given her.
“Xiao Xiaotu??”
“That’s the name of this bunny.” Xiaotu excitedly fell down on to the bed with the bunny, and she proceeded to roll all around the bed.
Cheng Zhiyan stared at her with a helpless expression on his face.
When it was time to go to bed that night, Xiaotu indeed obediently lay down in bed beside Cheng Zhiyan with Xiao Xiaotu in her arms, and, within a moment, she was fast asleep.
Cheng Zhiyan finally breathed a deep sigh of relief. As long as this bunny was here, he no longer would have to endure the torture of Xiaotu touching his face all night, every night, as he was trying to sleep.
Once, a little while ago, after Xiaotu had fallen asleep, Cheng Zhiyan had seized the chance to place a stuffed bear in his place to give Xiaotu something to touch during the night.
Yet who would have thought that Xiaotu would burst out crying after touching it and yell, “Gone, gone, my Brother Orange Juice is gone…”
Cheng Zhiyan had had no choice but to let her know that he was still there and let her touch him all she wanted.
Yet deep down he’d always been bothered by a question. Did Xiaotu perhaps have the ability to recognize people merely from their bone structures?
Yet, fortunately, now, there was a stuffed bunny, and the little rascal wouldn’t be bothering him anymore.
However, reality soon proved that he’d been way too naive with his simple way of thinking.
Although she had been happy originally hugging her stuffed bunny, a little while after Xiaotu had fallen asleep, she’d suddenly turned around and her chubby little hands had routinely started touching Cheng Zhiyan’s face again.
Cheng Zhiyan became thoroughly exasperated.
…
After Xiaotu’s birthday had passed, the weather started getting warmer and warmer.
Humidity gradually started to form in the atmosphere, and the temperature slowly climbed higher.
After they’d entered the month of June, Xiaotu had eagerly started to look forward to the arrival of summer every day. Soon, when it was summer, her father was going to be discharged and come home to play with her.
The rain outside the window fell nonstop. The translucent raindrops fell on the green leaves and then bounced to the ground.
With her arms propped on the sill, Xiaotu sat in front of the window and watched the rain, and she asked Cheng Zhiyan, “Brother Orange Juice, when will it be summer?”
“We only have to wait one more month.” With a book in his hand, Cheng Zhiyan glanced at Xiaotu, by the window. Then he paused for a moment before he continued, “Doesn’t it seem like this rain has already lasted for days now?”