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Chapter 37: Are All Father’s The Same? (1)
When Huo Xiaoxiao woke up, she found herself in her father’s bed. She had no impression of how she got there.
“Is Xiaoxiao awake?” Auntie Zhao happened to walk in from outside the room. She saw Huo Xiaoxiao, who had just woken up with a head of messy hair, sit on the bed and yawn.
“I want to sleep for a bit.”
Aunt Zhao rubbed her little face and smiled. “Get up quickly. Master wants to bring you to Ocean Park to play.”
“Ocean Park?” Huo Xiaoxiao was excited. Losing her sleep, she jumped up from the bed. “Quick, auntie, help me dress up. Let’s go to Ocean Park.”
“You, I heard when you go out to play, you wake up faster than anybody else.”
“Where is Daddy?”
“Master Huo is waiting for you downstairs. Yi Qian is already awake. Only you are the one still sleeping.”
“Quick, quick, quick.” Huo Xiaoxiao urged anxiously, almost with a mentality of being released from prison. She couldn’t wait to get dressed and wash up. She excitedly ran downstairs. “Good morning, Grandpa! Good morning, Daddy! Good morning, Yi Qian!”
Yi Qian had woken up early. He sat at the table with Huo Suicheng and Old Master Huo for breakfast.
Old Master Huo had just picked up the milk, which he put down again. “It’s early in the morning, yet you are so energetic.”
Huo Xiaoxiao smiled and climbed onto the chair. “Daddy is going to take us to Ocean Park today. Is Grandpa going?”
“Grandpa is not going. You and Yi Qian will follow your Dad. Have fun, but you have to promise Grandpa that you are not to fool around, run everywhere, or eat randomly when you are outside, okay?”
“OK! Grandpa, rest assured, I will take good care of Yi Qian and Daddy.”
Old Master Huo squeezed her small face. “If you are so capable, then Grandpa can feel easy.”
Huo Xiaoxiao ate her breakfast heartily, her mouth full of milk foam.
Seeing her careless appearance, Huo Suicheng wiped her mouth with a tissue. “Eat slowly.”
“Daddy, why did I sleep in your room last night?”
Huo Xiaoxiao asked casually. Old Master Huo and Yi Qian both looked at Huo Suicheng.
Huo Suicheng calmly took a sip of milk. “It ‘s normal for children to have sleepwalking symptoms.”
Huo Xiaoxiao had a fork in her hand as she looked at Huo Suicheng in confusion.
Sleepwalking? She had symptoms of sleepwalking at a young age?
Real or fake?
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Why didn’t she know?
“Sleepwalking?” Old Master Huo looked worried. “Really?”
“Don’t worry, it is normal for children. It will be alright once she grows up.” Huo Suicheng asked Huo Xiao Xiao, “Do you know what sleepwalking is?”
Huo Xiaoxiao shook her head.
“That’s when you run to Daddy’s room while sleeping, but you have no memory at all.”
“What?”
Old Master Huo was a little concerned. “Then, since Xiaoxiao sleepwalks, she can’t sleep safely. Suicheng, you can sleep with her for a while. Take good care of her at night, and wait until her sleepwalking symptoms get better.”
Huo Suicheng frowned and looked at Huo Xiaoxiao, seemingly a little awkward. In the end, he didn’t say anything. “Behave well when sleeping tonight.”
Feeling disliked, Huo Xiao Xiao replied reluctantly, “…Oh.”
After eating, Old Master Huo repeatedly asked him to check the things he was bringing with him. He felt that Huo Suicheng had no experience taking care of children or taking two children out to play. It was not safe, and it was best to let Auntie Zhao and Xiao Wu come along, so more people could look after the children.
On weekends, there was more traffic on the road. The one-hour road to Ocean Park became two hours.
Huo Xiaoxiao and Yi Qian nested in the child seat and played Rubik’s Cube.
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Yi Qian followed her steps, but he still didn’t know how to play it. Huo Xiaoxiao stretched most of her body and grabbed Yi Qian’s Rubik’s Cube to teach him.
“Look, this horizontal and vertical shape is called a cross. Then, we turn it like this… Look, isn’t this all right?”
Huo Suicheng listened to these Rubik’s Cube formulas from Huo Xiaoxiao and asked in doubt, “Who taught you these?”
A two- or three-year-old kid could solve a Rubik’s Cube so skillfully?
Huo Xiaoxiao shifted the blame to the teacher. “Teacher taught it before.”
“You learned it so fast?”
“It’s very easy. Like this, this, and this, and you see, it’s done.” Anyway, her dad couldn’t open her brain to see what was inside.
Huo Suicheng did not suspect much. There were many talented children interested in Rubik’s Cube.
Looking at Yi Qian again and seeing his bewildered gaze, in contrast, he shook his head.
Yi Qian turned the Rubik’s Cube around, then stopped again. “I still don’t seem to understand it.”
“It’s okay. Just practice more, and you will get it.”
Huo Suicheng couldn’t help but remind them, “Sit down properly.”
Huo Xiaoxiao said ‘Oh’. She no longer leaned out of her seat and sat quietly.
The traffic jam in front of the intersection finally cleared, and the Bentley slowly drove into the Ocean Park parking lot after half an hour.
On weekends, Ocean Park was full of people. Parents with children could be seen walking around in the park. The children laughed and screamed one after another, or took pictures, or clamored for snacks.
Huo Xiaoxiao was in Huo Suicheng’s arms, while Yi Qian was held tightly by Auntie Zhao. As soon as he entered the park, several large-scale water attractions appeared in front of her, making Huo Xiaoxiao a little bit itchy.
However, judging from these attractions’ excitement level, even if she wanted to play, her height would be ruthlessly rejected at the ticket gate.
Huo Suicheng was even passed up the moment she saw these attractions.
“Daddy, I want to come down.”
Huo Xiaoxiao kicked around with her legs to come down.
Huo Suicheng looked at the crowd everywhere in the park and frowned. “Don’t run around. No one will look for you if you get lost.”
“I got it!”
Huo Suicheng then put her down.
Obtaining freedom, Huo Xiaoxiao immediately grabbed Yi Qian’s hand and ran to an ice cream cart decorated with seals five meters away. “Elder sister, please, I want three cones! Yi Qian, what flavor do you want?”
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“I want…”
“Do you want to eat chocolate?”
“Okay.”
“Elder sister, I want a chocolate, a strawberry, and a mango.” After that, Huo Xiaoxiao reached Yi Qian’s ear and said, “Will you give me a bite later? I will just take a bite.”
“…Okay.”
Huo Suicheng and Aunt Zhao followed the two kids.
The young lady in the ice cream shop looked at the two children with their feet and hands in front of her ice cream cart and the calm and handsome man who followed behind her. She couldn’t help but brighten up.
“Kids, three cones, did you forget anyone?”
Huo Xiaoxiao turned her head and took a look. “I almost forgot about Daddy and Auntie. Elder Sister, I want five cones! Daddy will give you the money!”
“…” Huo Suicheng came forward and picked her ears. “Eating so much, aren’t you afraid of diarrhea? Three cones are enough.”
“Three?” Huo Xiao Xiao raised her head, “Daddy won’t eat?”
Huo Suicheng did not deny it.
But when the three ice creams were served, Huo Xiaoxiao understood what her father meant.
One for Yi Qian, one for Aunt Zhao, and one for her father.
Huo Suicheng picked her up and handed her the ice cream in his hand. “Children can’t eat too many cold things. You can only have half.”
“What about Yi Qian…”
“He is older than you.”
Aunt Zhao smiled and said, “I won’t eat anymore. Xiaoxiao can have my ice cream instead.” She passed the ice cream in her hand.
“Thank you, Auntie!” Huo Xiaoxiao reached her hand out, but it returned empty.
Huo Suicheng walked two steps forward and opened the distance with Aunt Zhao.
“Aunt Zhao, you eat it. She will only get half.”
Huo Xiaoxiao looked at him.
Huo Suicheng raised his eyebrows. “Don’t want to eat? If so, Daddy will eat it.”
“Eat!”
Huo Xiaoxiao took a bite of the ice cream and asked as she ate, “Daddy, where are we going?”
“To the aquarium.”
Huo Xiaoxiao knowingly asked, “Is there anything fun in the aquarium…?”
“A lot of sea animals.”
Huo Xiaoxiao ate the ice cream nervously, distracting her dad. “Sea animals? What are they?”
“There are sharks, turtles, jellyfish, and many beautiful marine fishes.”
“What is a jellyfish?” Only half of the ice cream was left.
Huo Suicheng glanced at her and snatched the ice cream from her mouth. “You’re only allowed to eat half of it.”
When the ice cream in her mouth flew away, Huo Xiao Xiao pouted and said, “But… it is such a waste!”
“Not a waste.” Huo Suicheng didn’t think she had eaten dirty. He took two bites. “Daddy will eat it.”
“…” Snatching food from the children, her father was really shameless.
Huo Xiaoxiao kicked around with her calves. “I want to come down!”
Huo Suicheng put her down.
Yi Qian quietly walked up to her and whispered in her ear, “Don’t be angry. I saved all my ice cream for you. I didn’t eat it. Here you go.”
The weather was too hot, and the sharp edges of the ice cream in Yi Qian’s hand had melted into the shape of poop like in the cartoon. The back of his hand was also full of ice cream.
“Yi Qian, you are so kind!” Huo Xiaoxiao glanced at Huo Suicheng. Before her father paid attention, she took two bites of the ice cream in Yi Qian’s hand.
Huo Suicheng glanced at her and noticed the chocolate stains on her mouth. He was angry yet amused by her actions. “Huo Xiaoxiao, wipe your mouth clean when you steal food.”
Huo Xiaoxiao, who was exposed, did not stop. She grabbed Yi Qian’s hand and ate several mouthfuls. “It’s done!”
Aunt Zhao quickly squatted down to wipe her mouth with a tissue and then wiped the cream stains on Yi Qian’s hand.
When Huo Xiaoxiao saw that her father was going to scold her again, she quickly dragged Yi Qian towards the aquarium entrance.
Aunt Zhao also persuaded Huo Suicheng, “Sir, they have all come out to play, so don’t be harsh on her.”
Huo Suicheng glanced at her helplessly, but he didn’t say much.
There was a long queue in front of the aquarium entrance. There was no need to line up in the VIP passage, though. As Huo Xiaoxiao followed the staff, many people in the queue paid attention to Huo Xiaoxiao and Yi Qian running around in front of them. The two kids were followed by Huo Suicheng. The spectators took out their mobile phones and secretly took a picture.
“Eh, did you see that just now? Those two kids are so cute!”
“That’s their father behind them, right? He’s so handsome! Sure enough, children take after their fathers.”
When Huo Suicheng heard these comments, he couldn’t help but frown.
The father of the two children?
Him? And Yi Qian?
Huo Xiaoxiao saw her father lag behind her, so she stopped, turned around, and called out to him, “Daddy, hurry up!”
“Look! It really is his daughter!”
“But why do I think the father is a bit familiar, as if I have seen him somewhere?”
“You have seen him before?”
“I can’t put my finger on it, but I do have an impression… Oh, I remember! How could I forget him!”
“Who?”
“My boss!”
The comments disappeared in the crowd in an instant.
Following the guidance of the staff, Huo Xiaoxiao and the rest entered the Ocean Sightseeing Tunnel. After passing the tunnel, her vision suddenly opened up. It was a full blue above the glass, and the water waves were printed on the ground under the projection of light. The marine fish was swimming around in the glass tunnel.
It wasn’t the first time Huo Xiaoxiao had come to Ocean Park, but she was still shocked by the scene in front of her.
She involuntarily stepped forward to touch the glass, feeling the cold water in the tunnel.
A tortoise swam over.
“It is so beautiful.” She pointed to the turtle in the glass tunnel and said to Yi Qian, “Do you know what this is?”
Yi Qian nodded. “This is a turtle.”
“Then do you know how long it has been alive?”
Yi Qian shook his head.
“A thousand years.”
Yi Qian’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Huo Xiaoxiao babbled. “Have you not read the Adventures of the Turtle? The old tortoise in there looks exactly like this one. That tortoise lived for a thousand years, so this one must have lived a thousand years too.”
Yi Qian suddenly nodded in understanding.
One dared to say, while one dared to believe.
Huo Suicheng shook his head and laughed at Huo Xiaoxiao’s naive remarks.
Click–
Aunt Zhao took a picture of the two children standing in front of the glass tunnel discussing the turtle.
Huo Suicheng ruthlessly punctured her lie. “This turtle is not the same as the old turtle. It is only in his thirties this year. The 1000-year-old turtle is inside.”
“Really? Yi Qian, let’s go. I will take you to see a thousand-year-old turtle.”
After speaking, she dragged Yi Qian forward.
“Slow down.”
“Daddy, hurry up!”
The undersea tunnel became more spacious as they went inwards. Reefs and various sculptures gradually became visible in the glass tunnel. There were more and more types of marine animals, such as huge sharks, wandering jellyfish, and various marine fish of multiple colors.
“Yi Qian, take a look at that big, blue fish. It’s called a blue shark, is it pretty?”
“…” Yi Qian frowned. “Beautiful.”
“Then do you know what that fish of many colors is called?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is called a colorful fish. You see, there are several colors on it.”
The staff on the side smiled and introduced the fish, “The kid is so smart. This fish is indeed called colorful fish, but its full name is Colorful Angelfish.”
“Colorful Angelfish?” Huo Xiaoxiao turned her head. “Daddy, this fish is so beautiful. Can we bring it home and raise it?”
“Yes.”
Huo Xiaoxiao didn’t expect her dad to agree so readily. She couldn’t believe it. “Really?”
“That shark is also beautiful. We will raise one if you like.”
Before Huo Xiaoxiao could say yes, she heard her father say, “You have to feed it.”
“…”
She knew that her father would never agree so readily.
“Xiaoxiao, come, you and Yi Qian stand here. Aunt Zhao will take a picture of you.”
“Okay!” Huo Xiaoxiao put her arms around Yi Qian’s shoulders. The two small faces were pressed together as she posed for an intimate photo.
“Daddy, let me take a picture of you too.”
“Can you shoot?”
“Of course, I can! Just press this button.”
In order to prove her capabilities, Huo Xiaoxiao took the camera from Aunt Zhao’s hand and ran forward three to four meters. Since she was short, when she raised the camera to take pictures, it was from the perspective of looking up. Huo Suicheng’s legs were originally long. As Huo Xiaoxiao looked up from the lens, the view was almost covered with his legs.
“Daddy, smile!”
Huo Suicheng looked at the camera, and his brows stretched out.
Huo Xiaoxiao looked at Huo Suicheng from the lens and pointed at him. “Daddy, mouth, the mouth must smile!”
Huo Suicheng had no choice but to hook his mouth.
Huo Xiaoxiao put down the camera and said, “Daddy, you have to smile like this.” She split her mouth and pointed at herself to reveal the two rows of sparse baby teeth. “Laugh like me. Show your teeth.”
“Just take the picture.”
Huo Xiaoxiao urged solemnly, “No! Daddy must smile. Hurry up!”
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Huo Suicheng rarely smiled. The few photos he had were all serious without a hint of a smile.
He looked at the camera and tried to pull the muscles at the corners of his mouth. In the end, he just sighed, walked over, and said to Huo Xiaoxiao, “Alright, Daddy will take a picture of you.”
Huo Xiaoxiao grabbed the camera strap and pulled Huo Suicheng, motioning him to squat down.
Huo Suicheng crouched in front of her.
Huo Xiaoxiao reached out her hand and held Huo Suicheng’s mouth. “Must smile.”
The soft hands lifted the corners of his mouth, which was strange. The straight and stiff corners slowly formed a tender arc under her gentle strength, and even the cold snow under his eyes was bathed in the spring breeze. It all melted, accompanied by an illusion of love and kindness.
Huo Xiaoxiao stepped back. Holding the camera, she snapped this precious photo with a click.
“Have you taken the photo?”
“Yeah! It is done. Daddy smiles beautifully!”
Huo Suicheng glanced at himself in the camera, and he almost couldn’t recognize the person in the picture.
Going further in, the space became vacant, and there were more and more buildings and statues in the underwater glass tunnel.
“Daddy, take a look, a mermaid.”
In the aquarium’s transparent submarine tunnel, a staff member was dressed up as a blue mermaid and swam freely in the underwater world. She would float over in front of the glass tunnel from time to time to greet and interact with the children.
Huo Xiaoxiao waved towards the mermaid.
Miss Mermaid swam over and blew a bubble in front of her. It slowly dissipated into a love heart in the seawater.
Huo Xiaoxiao also smiled and blew her a kiss.
The staff member smiled and said, “Children, have you heard the mermaid story?”
“Daddy told me before.” Huo Xiaoxiao turned to Yi Qian and said, “Yi Qian, have you heard the mermaid story?”
“No.”
“Daddy told me, do you want to listen? I will tell you.”
“Okay.”
Huo Xiaoxiao cleared her throat. “A long, long time ago, seven mermaids lived on the bottom of the sea, and the smallest mermaid was the most beautiful. One day, she went to the surface and saved a prince…”
Yi Qian carefully listened to her story.
“Finally, before the sun rose, the little mermaid turned into sea foam and disappeared on the beach.”
After Yi Qian heard it, his little face wrinkled into a bun. “The little mermaid died? Why is the prince so bad!”
“Yes, he is so bad! The mermaid is so miserable. To save the prince and to be with him, she lost her voice, tail, and the dagger that her loving sisters brought from the witch. She would rather disappear into foam than hurt the prince. I can’t hurt myself for others like the little mermaid in the future.” She turned around and said, “Daddy, am I right?”
“Correct.”
Yi Qian frowned and seemed to be a little confused. “But, where is the mermaid’s father? The mermaid’s sisters gave their beautiful hair to the witch. Why didn’t the mermaid’s father help her? Did the mermaid’s father dislike her?”
“…” Huo Xiaoxiao thought this was a good question.
But this question could only be asked from Hans Christian Andersen.
“I don’t know, but I think the mermaid’s father shouldn’t like her, right? She abandoned her relatives for others. Her father definitely didn’t like her. If the mermaid hadn’t disappeared, her father would have definitely broken her leg—No, definitely must break her tail!”
The mermaid in the glass tunnel swam among the schools of fish while the water waves and light blended together. She wandered alone in front of a sculpture on the seabed after moving away from the glass tunnel.
The sculpture was a huge human figure, standing quietly on the bottom of the sea with a trident in its hand.
With a trace of wickedness, Huo Xiaoxiao raised her head and asked her dad, “Daddy, why didn’t the mermaid’s father save her? Did her father not like her? Why didn’t he help her? Was it because the mermaid hurt herself for the sake of other men, so her father got angry? Or was it because the mermaid’s sisters exchanged beautiful hair, but the mermaid didn’t hurt the prince, so he didn’t want to care about her?”
Huo Suicheng looked at the sculpture on the bottom of the sea without saying a word for a long time. Then he picked her up, pointed at the statue, and said, “That’s the mermaid’s father.”
“?” Huo Xiaoxiao couldn’t believe it. “The mermaid’s dad?”
“Did Daddy never tell you the ending of the mermaid story?”
Huo Xiaoxiao wondered, the ending?
“Didn’t the mermaid disappear into sea foam?”
Huo Suicheng said, “The mermaid’s father didn’t dislike the mermaid or not want to save her. He didn’t get angry because the mermaid chose the other men and hurt herself. He didn’t want to control her, as he loved the mermaid. After the mermaid turned into sea foam and disappeared, he found the witch and turned himself into a sculpture that would sink to the bottom of the sea forever to save the mermaid.”
Huo Xiaoxiao went silent. “After the mermaid was resurrected, did she regret it?”
“She did. She kissed her dad’s face on the bottom of the sea, saying that she knew she was wrong. Since then, the mermaid has never left the bottom of the sea and will always guard him.”
“Then… will the mermaid’s father wake up?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t he wake up?”
“Because any decision requires someone to bear the consequences. With her dad around, no one is allowed to harm the mermaid.”
“But the mermaid’s father is dead. He can no longer protect the mermaid.”
“The mermaid has grown up because of this and won’t let anyone hurt herself.”
“Daddy…” Huo Xiaoxiao kissed him on the face. “Are all fathers the same?”
“Yes. All fathers are like this.”