In truth, although Murphy's concern made Yang Yi feel warm, her skills were still hard to praise. Yang Yi had a wound on the corner of his mouth, but Murphy rummaged through the family medical kit for ages, at a loss, and ended up just disinfecting it with light salt water before slapping on a tiny band-aid! This band-aid was even bought as a spare for Xixi! Yang Yi didn't know if you could put a band-aid on a mouth injury, but here he was, a burly man, with a small band-aid featuring a cartoon character on the back stuck to his lips—it gave him a sense of utter despair inside. But it was hard to refuse Murphy's sincerity, so Yang Yi could only accept it with a grimace, sneaking it off and tossing it only on the way home with Xixi.
Back at Dad's house, Xixi was like a wild little kitten, running around and, like a tabby cat, tirelessly inspecting her territory: Were her favorite dresses hanging properly in the closet? Were her big bear plushies and other toys on the bed in the right spots? Had anyone touched the other toys in the box? She only calmed down when Yang Yi called her for a bath in the evening. As usual, after getting all clean and fragrant, the little girl waited for Dad to tell a story before going to sleep!
But today, the little girl was a bit mischievous. She bounced around on the bed in just her little underwear, giggling and dodging when Dad tried to put her nightgown on. Yang Yi had to resort to his "real skills," reaching out with his long arm to grab the playful little girl, and while she was laughing with her mouth open, he got her dressed.
"Are you this happy to be back at Dad's?" Yang Yi asked, dotingly tapping her nose.
"Mm-hmm!" Xixi nestled obediently in Dad's arms and nodded, but soon she couldn't sit still and struggled to climb out of his embrace.
"Yang Yi, squat down!" Xixi said, imitating her mom's cool pose today, hands on her hips. Murphy, of course, hadn't had her hands on her hips.
Yang Yi was stunned, not knowing what the little one was up to.
"Hurry up, Daddy, squat down!" The little one stomped her feet on the bed impatiently, urging him.
Fine, Yang Yi obeyed the command, first standing up on the bed, then bending his knees to squat. Xixi leaned in, but the little one couldn't reach him! Even squatting, Dad was still too tall!
"Squat down a little more!" Xixi said, pressing on Dad's shoulders and hopping.
Yang Yi had to bend over a bit more, and finally, he just knelt on one knee on the bed, using the other leg to balance, so he could be "on the same level" as the standing little girl.
"Let me see your wound too," Xixi said, continuing her imitation. She cupped Dad's face with her little hands, looking worried, and leaned in with wide eyes.
Yang Yi couldn't help but smile, a grin spreading across his face.
"Oh, you can't laugh! Your mouth is hurt!" Xixi pouted.
Yang Yi quickly suppressed his smile and pursed his lips.
"Alright! I see it! Yang Yi, your mouth is hurt! What should we do?" The little one tilted her head, thinking.
"Xixi, don't worry, it's already much better. It'll be completely fine by tomorrow!" Yang Yi, with zero cooperation skills, tried to comfort her.
But then, the little girl suddenly lowered her head and gave a smack on the corner of Dad's mouth! It was really just the corner, and Yang Yi instinctively turned his face a bit, so Xixi's kiss landed almost on his cheek! Even so, Yang Yi was stunned by his daughter's action.
"Alright! Mom says, wherever it hurts, Xixi's kiss will make it stop hurting!" The little girl patted Dad's shoulder innocently and said boldly, "Yang Yi, you won't hurt anymore!"
Although Yang Yi often had Xixi kiss his cheek, or he would affectionately kiss her forehead, this was a bit of a problem! The little one naturally didn't understand anything, but Yang Yi felt a bit conflicted. He even grumbled inwardly: "Comrade Murphy, do you know it's a big problem to casually灌输 Xixi with these ideas? Do you know that your precious daughter, ahem, has taken what was yours, ahem, stolen her dad's first kiss!"
Did Yang Yi still have a first kiss? He really didn't know, but in his memory, this guy had never had any intimate contact with other women. As for that crazy night in the car in the maple forest, the memory was fragmented, and Yang Yi didn't know if there had been any kissing... Let's assume there still was...
After being speechless for a long time, Yang Yi still felt awkward inside. Although he'd seen plenty of news reports about celebrities kissing their kids on the lips, which might be a way to express love, Yang Yi felt it wasn't right. But Xixi didn't have that awareness yet. After fooling around enough, the little one climbed into the blanket, patted the spot beside her, and called out, "Daddy, come quick, come tell Xixi a story!"
Yang Yi shook his head, setting aside the distracting thoughts for now, and went over to tell his daughter a story. However, Xixi still seemed unaware of the concept of "men and women should keep their distance." Yang Yi felt it was necessary to discuss with Murphy about teaching Xixi some preventive knowledge. Otherwise, when she got to kindergarten, she might come into contact with other little boys when Dad wasn't around... Yang Yi certainly didn't want his daughter kissing other little boys either! "Who would dare be so bold? I'd chop them down with one slash!" Yang Yi thought fiercely.
"What story is Daddy telling Xixi today?" the little girl asked sweetly.
Right, what story should he tell his daughter? Over the past few months, Xixi had nearly exhausted the Western fairy tales in his mind, and many he'd made up himself using the patterns of those tales! "I need something longer, something that can last a while," Yang Yi thought to himself. He smiled and said to his daughter, "Today, Daddy will tell you a story about a monkey!"
"A story about a monkey?" Xixi perked up. "Is it the kind of monkey that eats apples and bananas? Xixi has seen them on TV!" Murphy hadn't taken Xixi to the zoo yet; the little one's knowledge mostly came from TV.
"Yes! Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, our world was divided into five regions. The east was called East Victory Divine Continent, the west was called West Ox He Continent..." That's right, the story Yang Yi was about to tell Xixi was *Journey to the West*! Yang Yi's memories from his past life were very clear—he could recall the complete story of *Journey to the West*, including every word. But telling the story to a four-year-old, he couldn't just recite classical Chinese; he had to narrate it in his own words. Even so, Xixi couldn't understand the names of these continents. She pouted and said, "What are they called? I can't remember."
Yang Yi comforted her, "It's okay if you can't remember. Xixi just needs to know that in the east, there's a country called Aolai, and there's a Flower-Fruit Mountain there."
"Why is it called Flower-Fruit Mountain?" Xixi asked.
"Because the mountain is full of blooming flowers, and the trees are covered with lots of fruit!" Yang Yi laughed. He was already used to being interrupted by this little "why" machine during storytime!
"Wow! That's so nice!"
"Mm-hmm. On the mountain, there was a stone, and this stone was no ordinary one..." Yang Yi continued the story, and Xixi was already captivated.