House Dad's Literary Life

Chapter 97 - What is Papa Doing?

“Papa is very strange today. He doesn't even play with Xixi anymore!” Xixi was sitting on the Persian carpet in the living room with her big bear (cat) in her arms. She looked up for a moment and peeked at her mother, who was sitting cross-legged and reading a book on the sofa.

Mo Fei usually did the same at home. She liked to sit quietly and read a book, and then let Xixi play with her own.

She was also willing to accompany her daughter. If Xixi has anything to say to her, Mo Fei would put down the book and respond gently, but to make her sit on the ground and play with toys like a child, that was really not her character.

(PS: In reality, many adults are the same, there is nothing wrong with it.) (Author's note)

But because of this, Xixi preferred to be with her father. Because her father would accompany her to play with toys and play roles with toys and tell stories to her vividly.

“Mama said that Papa opened the shop below, and wouldn't let Xixi look for Papa.” Xixi muttered in her heart, her little head full of imagination, “It must be Papa secretly cooking delicious food below. Not letting Xixi eat, Xixi is so sad…”

Xixi was going to be four years old today. She has her own thoughts and observation ability. So, she knew that her father would not be very busy when he opened the shop. He often accompanied Xixi to draw pictures. What was he so busy about that he was afraid to be disturbed?

So her imagination went wild, and she thought of something entirely different.

Xixi couldn't stop mumbling. She muttered to herself for a while and her clever big eyes darted about. Then, she got up from the carpet, ran to hold her mother’s hand: “Mama, I'm hungry.”

Mo Fei put down the book in her hand, gently stroked her daughter’s hair and said softly, “Mama will make you a glass of milk.”

Xixi shook her head and said, “No, I want to eat!”

Mo Fei had a headache. She stood up, went to the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator. She saw that it was full of fresh meat and vegetables. She was helpless. Why was this refrigerator different from hers?

Mo Fei has two refrigerators at her house. She often opens them to find something to eat in the living room. Aunt Zhu prepares a lot of her favorite snacks, yogurt and some fresh fruit for her.

Those were ready-to-eat!

Now Yang Yi’s refrigerator was full of raw ingredients, which made Mo Fei, who lead a pampered life, dumbfounded.

Xixi knew her mother's thought. She pouted and said “Papa put the delicious food in the cupboard next to the TV, but Xixi don't want to eat those.”

“What would you like to eat?” Mo Fei asked, puzzled.

Xixi has long wanted to say: “I want to eat delicious food made by Papa. Mama, let's go find Papa, OK? He said he was downstairs!”

Mo Fei knitted her brows. She was thinking of an excuse to calm Xixi first when a noise came from outside. Mo Fei breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Yang Yi came back, otherwise she would have been entangled to death by her daughter.

Xixi happily ran out of the kitchen first, and then her little long legs jumped up, letting her father caught and hugged her. She said a little aggrieved, “Why did Papa ignore Xixi in the afternoon?”

“Well, because Papa is doing a very big thing!” Yang Yi winked at Mo Fei, hinting her to get ready.

Mo Fei understood and quickly turned around to go back to the master bedroom and found the gift in her bag.

“What’s the very big thing?” Xixi was immediately attracted by her father’s words, didn't bother to complain, and curiosity asked.

“The very big thing is…” Yang Yi deliberately dragged it, waiting for Mo Fei to come out.

“Oh, what is it?” Xixi held her father’s face with her small white hands, tried to pull it, and said, “The suspense is killing me!”

“What is it? Papa will take you down and you'll see it!” Yang Yi saw Mo Fei came out, then said with a smile.

“All right, let’s go and see it!” Xixi wriggled her little behind anxiously.

“Shall we go?” Yang Yi asked Mo Fei.

Mo Fei raised her jade white hand, tucked a strand of hair blown by the wind behind her ear and nodded.

It was more than seven o’clock in the evening, and although there was still a faint glow of sunset on the horizon, it was already dark. The coffee shop was also dark, like a black hole.

Xixi had come down from her father’s arms, but seeing this, she became afraid. She hid behind her father’s leg, and grabbed her father’s pants with her small hand, and said timidly, “Papa, I’m afraid.”

“Don’t be afraid. Just wait for Papa to go in and turn on the light!” Yang Yi said with a smile.

But at this time, he suddenly felt his shirt tightened. He subconsciously looked back, only to see Mo Fei’s face turned pale with nervousness, and she was gently clutching the small corner of his shirt with her left hand.

Uh, Yang Yi froze for a moment.

Was she also afraid?

Mo Fei happened to make eye contact with Yang Yi. She saw the surprise in Yang Yi’s eyes. She blushed and quickly released her hand, then turned her head to the side.

“How old are you? Are you still afraid?” Yang Yi, this idiot, said with a smile.

He really mentioned the pot that doesn’t boil^[1]! Mo Fei gave Yang Yi a white eye angrily, kicked him, and said snappily, “Still not opening the door?!”

Little Xixi's height was short^[2] and she didn’t look up, so she didn’t know what had happened. She thought her father was talking about her.

How old was she?

Xixi said vaguely, “I’m three years old, but it’s scary!”

When Mo Fei and Yang Yi, who were quarreling^[3], heard Xixi’s words, they were stupefied for a moment, and then chuckled at each other.

Opening the door, Yang Yi didn't press the light switch, but directly pushed on the electric switch^[4]

Mo Fei and Xixi were caught off guard for a moment, and both were dazzled. It took a while for them to see clearly.

“Wow!” Xixi exclaimed first.

Colorful lights were hanged up in front of the bar, blinking^[5]. if the incandescent light was turned off later, they would feel like little stars in the night sky!

And on the line of the colorful lights, there were strands of ribbons dangling down, and there were small triangular flags hanging in between. On the surrounding ground, Yang Yi also tied up balloons of different colors to form a sideline, with triangular piles of four balloons on one side and cubes of eight balloons on the other.^[6]

Not only that, the bar has also been decorated with rainbow stickers and small white balloons to form the sky.

Inside the bar, there was a large white blackboard with the words “Happy Fourth Birthday Yang Xi” made out of colored paper!

“It’s so beautiful!” Of course, Xixi could not fully understand these words, but she knew her own name and ran over to look at it curiously.

“Xixi, today is your fourth birthday!” Mo Fei smiled. She went over, took the little girl’s hand and said, “After this evening, you are four years old!”

“Are these all for Xixi’s birthday?” Xixi used to celebrate her birthday with her mother, but her memory of it has been somewhat vague. Xixi just remembered that there has never been such a big scene, so she asked excitedly.

“Yes! Your father has been preparing all day! ” Mo Fei turned to look at Yang Yi.

In fact, this was also the first time she has seen the results, which couldn't be said to be particularly shocking, but Yang Yi’s intentions could be seen everywhere, and Mo Fei’s eyes also shone with moving light.

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[1] 哪壶不开提哪壶 – mention the pot that doesn’t boil (idiom); to touch a sore spot; to talk about sb’s weak point

[2] They were not really quarreling. More like a playful fight.

[3] Xixi is not a short kid and she's actually tall for her age. It just means that with her height, she wasn't able to notice what Yang Yi and Mo Fei was doing.

[4] I didn't get what this mean, but I'm guessing that instead of turning on the regular lights in the coffee shop, he turned on an electric switch that control all the light on the coffee shop, including the lights added for Xixi's birthday.

[5] Think Christmas lights.

[6] If you want to imagine how this looks like, the triangular piles of four balloons, imagine a triangular pyramid (triangle base instead of a square), each point/corner is a balloon. Same goes with the cube one, each point/corner is a balloon.

TN: Shout out to Mohammed A. Thank you for your support.

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