Chapter 453: Chapter 446: Daddy Is Here
He Xuewen arrived swiftly, for it was a significant matter concerning the establishment of a subsidiary factory, and thus he personally took charge and hurried over. Of course, he would never admit that he was missing his daughter.
Mo Ye accompanied him. Since getting married, she had appropriately reduced her performance activities. Although He Xuewen was very supportive of her career, she didn’t wish to be as busy as before—a marriage would be no different from being single if she was!
The most important thing was that He Xuewen was also swamped every day. Naturally, she had to fulfill her wifely duties and take good care of her husband’s health—besides, she was not the type of woman to prioritize her career above all else.
She once thought she would end up lonely for the rest of her life, but to her surprise, fate took pity on her, leading her to Ah Nan’s family.
Ah Nan was so much like her daughter—in beauty, age, and name, and even the slightly curly bangs. If she hadn’t witnessed her own daughter die in her arms, she might truly believe that Ah Nan was her child!
Indeed, it was her fondness for Ah Nan that preceded her love for He Xuewen. When He Xuewen proposed, her first thought was how she could legitimately care and cherish Ah Nan from then on. Naturally, she had love for He Xuewen—a man as outstanding as He, how could she not be moved!
Her sisters-in-law would say that all children look similar and concluded that her closeness to Ah Nan stemmed from missing her own child too much. But why didn’t she feel the same about her nieces at home?
Whatever the reason, even if she was deceiving herself, she now felt very happy and at peace. Her heart, adrift for so long, finally found a place to rest. She had often complained that life was unfair, but now it seemed that destiny was just—though the first half of her life was filled with sorrow and instability, the latter half granted her a home, the very home she’d prayed for countless times.
When He Xuewen arrived, Sisi happened to be on summer vacation and idling at home. Learning that Daddy and Aunt Ye were coming, she happily cleaned up the guest room. She even decorated the brick bed with bright red ornamental trimmings to make it festive.
Daddy would definitely love it!
Looking at the warm and welcoming bed, Sisi clapped her hands in satisfaction.
Sisi drove to the provincial city’s train station to pick them up, as trains did not reach Huang Yuan. It was several hours by bus from the provincial city to Huang Yuan. Daddy had mentioned they were bringing quite a few things, which wouldn’t be convenient to carry on the bus.
Alright, Sisi initially thought that when He Xuewen said they were bringing some items, he meant just some food and clothes. But upon seeing the large and small bags behind He Xuewen at the station exit, her jaw dropped.
How did they manage to get on and off the vehicle with so much stuff?
"Daddy, Aunt Ye, why did you bring so much stuff? That must have been so tiring!" Sisi said with concern while helping move the items into the car.
He Xuewen shook his aching hand, "If I hadn’t reduced some, there would have been even more! Your Aunt Ye would have preferred to bring everything from home if possible!"
Mo Ye shot him a glance and spoke softly: "I heard that even with money you can’t buy good things here. Since we’re coming, of course, we should bring more."
He Xuewen touched his nose and remained silent, simply winking at Sisi. Sisi found it amusing; Daddy had become much livelier since getting married, not carrying the faint sorrow in his brows like before, which used to be heartbreaking to see.
By the time Sisi and the others arrived home, Tian Xinhua had also finished his meeting and returned. He helped carry down the things He Xuewen brought—color TVs, rice cookers, electric ovens, and so on made Sisi dazzled.
"Daddy, are we manufacturing rice cookers and electric ovens ourselves now?" Sisi asked.
He Xuewen smiled and nodded, "Yeah, these are all produced by our family. Uncle San Shi said he wants to build the world’s number one household appliance brand and take down Japan."
Sisi felt secretly delighted inside. Perhaps in this life, she wouldn’t witness Japanese home appliances flooding China’s shopping centers like in her previous life. The Chinese people would no longer only recognize Japanese products and be ignorant of their own.
At this end, Tian Xinhua was moving things, while Sisi showed He Xuewen and Mo Ye around their family’s cave dwelling.
"Daddy, this is the room I tidied up for you. Look, I even specially pasted decorative border paper all around. Pretty, isn’t it?" Sisi said, seeking praise with a hopeful face.
He Xuewen looked at the glaringly red cut-out paper of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, his eye twitching. Sleeping surrounded by such an array of red paper, seeing red whenever you open or close your eyes, how could that be comfortable?
But this was his daughter’s heartfelt effort, and He Xuewen could only suppress his dislike, nodding slightly.
"I knew it was pretty. Daddy, you don’t know, but foreigners really love these paper cut-outs. They sell a lot every day! Later, I’ll also show you the dough figurines and shoe pads here; they’re all very beautiful," Sisi said proudly.
He Xuewen curled his lip: With your taste, I doubt they’d look good. Just what did you learn over four years of university? It seems they only cultivated this bumpkin-like aesthetic in you.
Mo Ye, on the other hand, liked these paper cut-outs quite a lot. Learning that there were other items as well, she happily asked Sisi to bring out more for her to admire later, intending to take some back to give to friends when she returned.
He Xuewen couldn’t understand why these two women liked such things. When conversation lacks common ground, even half a sentence is too much. Tired of listening to the endless chatter between these two ladies, one older, one younger, he went out to help his son-in-law with arranging things.
When he saw that his daughter’s room was also plastered with red paper cut-outs, He Xuewen looked at his son-in-law with sympathetic eyes. He was only staying temporarily, but Xinhua was there for the long haul. Poor guy!
On one side, the two men were busy as could be, and the two women followed them. Sisi took her treasured collection out of the cupboard, arraying it all on the kang bed for Mo Ye to admire.
"Wow, these are so beautiful, Ah Nan! I’m going to take this set of the twelve zodiac animals with me. These flowers are made so realistically, I want these too, and these little animals are also good-looking. Oh my, they’re all so pretty, Ah Nan, just give them all to me!" said Mo Ye as she looked at one piece after another, exclaiming in amazement.
Sisi reluctantly glanced at her dough figurines, hesitating, "Aunt Ye, would it be alright for you to take half of them?"
"Good girl, Ah Nan, just give them to Aunt Ye. When I go overseas to perform, I’ll bring back some handicrafts from there for you," coaxed Mo Ye.
Sisi’s eyes lit up, and she immediately replied, "Alright, take them all, Aunt Ye. But you must remember to bring back something nice for me!"
"Of course, I could forget anyone but not your things, Ah Nan!" Mo Ye happily packed up the dough figurines, ready to take them back to display at her home.
He Xuewen, seeing those brightly colored dough figurines, had a bad feeling. When he heard that his wife actually wanted to take them all back, his eyes twitched even more severely. If these things were displayed at home, it would seriously lower the taste of the household!
"What’s up with Ah Nan? Coming here, did you just throw away all your taste? Fond of nothing but these countrified trinkets?" He Xuewen quietly asked his son-in-law.
Tian Xinhua laughed and said, "Daddy, don’t underestimate these countrified trinkets. Foreigners particularly like them; our county has earned quite a bit of money from these things!"
He Xuewen snorted, "Foreigners’ brains have always been a bit off."