Chapter Text
“Your daughter did it again.”
The man vigorously stirring the pot on the stove scoffs.
“Oh sure, only when she does something mischievous she’s my daughter…”
“Tell her, Papa! Tell her I’m your daughter!” a little voice shrieks, and Yuan Shai detects a tinge of distress. With a sigh, he turns around, and the sight before him makes him gasp.
His son, barely a year old, is grinning quietly from his wife’s arms – his face is full of powder. A gargantuan amount of powder. In fact, Yuan Shai barely makes out the two beady eyes and the smile on his son’s face.
Near his wife’s knees, stood the culprit. Little Zimi, pouting with the weapon of choice in her hand: a bottle of baby powder.
His eyes travel back to the mother of his children, and he had to bite his lips back. “Jiang Jun ah….” He trails off, mirth evident in his voice.
“A minute. I stepped away…for a minute,” Jiang Jun sighs defeatedly, and Yuan Shai swiftly turned back to the pot so his children don’t see the quiet laughter on his face.
“Okay, how about this: continue stirring this stew. I’ll clean him up,” he offers.
“And discipline her,” Jiang Jun adds, and Yuan Shai grimaces.
“Is that neces –”
“Lǎo Gōng!”
Yuan Shai hurries towards his wife, grabbing the baby and gently holds his daughter’s hand. Jiang Jun has had a very stressful week at work and he figured he should not poke the sleeping dragon.
“I just thought didi could do with some powder – Mama always puts on powder and she looks so pretty….I wanted didi to look the same”, little Zimi explains as they walk to the nursery, sniffling a little.
Yuan Shai’s heart melts. He could never be stern with this girl, much to Jiang Jun’s dismay. She had him wrapped around her little pinkie. And, to top if off, she pouts just like her mother.
He was set up to fail, from the beginning.
“That is okay, Ah Mi…It is okay to want Zixing to look nice, but be careful with him next time, okay? What if the powder goes up his nose? Or his mouth? We don’t want to hurt didi..” he explains as he gently cleans his son. Zimi nods her head, still pouting, but considerably calmer now.
Once both his children seemed clean and calm, he begins to dress them up. It was Spring Festival today – his mother-in-law was set to arrive any time, and he wanted to have the children ready so that he can go back to wrapping up the lunch he has been preparing.
“Papa, will we see fireworks today? Can I light them up? Can I, can I??” Zimi asks as he leads her to the lving room. She bounces up and down, and her brother imitates her, bouncing and squealing in Yuan Shai’s arms.
Jiang Jun joins them, gently laughing as she gathers Zimi in her arms – their short squabble has long been forgotten. She kisses her daughter’s cheek.
“Today, what Ah Mi wants, Ah Mi gets.”
Zimi cheers upon hearing her mother.
Yuan Shai passes Zixing to his wife, and gently kisses her lips. “I’ll go finish things up in the kitchen, you relax with them. Your mother should be here soon,” he smiles at her softly.
Jiang Jun nods, and settles down on the couch.
Hours later, the small family is out at their vast backyard, ready for the celebrations to begin. He holds Zimi in his arms while his mother-in-law holds Zixing. Jiang Jun sets the fireworks on the ground, and turns to her husband.
“Are you ready?” she asks.
“Yes!” came Zimi’s excited answer, and Yuan Shai cannot help but laugh. Holding her tight, he rushes forth, allowing Zimi to light the firework up, holding her safely. He runs back to his family once done, in time to see the firework light up the sky. Zimi shrieks in joy and excitement, her eyes lighting up in happiness.
“Papa, look! Papa, Mama, look!!” she screams, laughing and clapping.
Yuan Shai joins in her cheers, his heart filling with the kind of warmth that he may never be able to put into words.
“Are you hearing me? Listen....listen.”
It was a muffled voice. A haunting echo, from a long distance away.
Yuan Shai feels his breath hitch at the deep sorrow the voice holds. His wife's voice. He looks at Jiang Jun, his heart sinking a little.
“Did you say something?” he asks her, and she shakes her head no. But he catches a glimpse of her eyes, brimming with unshed tears, and he gently caresses her cheek.
“What’s wrong?” he whispers, just as the fireworks die down.
Jiang Jun shakes her head again.
“It feels like déjà vu, this moment,” she whispers back. “And it makes me feel….I don’t know. Sad, and happy, at the same time.”
Yuan Shai feels his own eyes filling up. He pulls her close, and kisses the top of her head.
I’m listening, a part of his heart breathes out.
A gentle breeze brushes past them, as if sighing in relief.