Brainoid

When Mimi was almost one year old, financial constraints gradually caused a series of problems.

When Mimi was young, Qi Min and Anton's focus was on how to take care of her healthy growth, and when she finally grew from a defenseless baby to a toddler and began to imitate adults' speech, Little girl, the worries in their hearts were slightly relieved.

For Qi Min, her original hope was that she could return to her previous life. Now that Mimi can be carried in a sling instead of having to travel in a stroller, she and Anton can take the little girl on weekend outings - all they need is a child seat.

But Anton had no interest in this. When Qi Min suggested going hiking on the weekend, Anton said with some surprise: "Do we need to hire a babysitter on the weekend? We don't have enough money."

"There is no need to hire a temporary nanny. Mimi is already old enough to take her with her." Qi Min explained.

"Take Mimi with you? Are you carrying her?" Anton frowned.

"I'll carry it, no problem." Qi Min agreed without hesitation. Because Anton takes Mimi to work with him on weekdays, and it is also appropriate for her to carry his daughter on his back when going out for fun on weekends.

"Forget it. Your actions didn't make Mimi fall." Anton mocked her jokingly, but he didn't pay attention and his hand shook, and he dropped the spoonful of egg custard he fed Mimi on the little girl's chest. on the front scarf.

Qi Min pointed at the egg custard on Mimi's scarf with his chin. This meant that it wasn't obvious who was handicapped?

Anton quickly wiped the egg custard with a paper towel, but the little girl grabbed a corner of the paper towel and stuffed it into her mouth, laughing while stuffing it.

Her smile was so funny that Qi Min was also amused. He stretched out his chopsticks to tease his daughter. Mimi went to grab the chopsticks dancingly again. After her chubby hands touched the sauce on the chopsticks, she wiped it on her body.

Anton felt that he couldn't do this job anymore: "Hey, can you not be a hindrance to me?"

"What's wrong with me?" Qi Min spread his hands, "I didn't want to help at all."

"You're so embarrassed to say that." Anton took the chopsticks out of her hand, then grabbed Mimi's collar and took off her scarf and threw it to Qi Min, "Go and throw this in the washing machine and bring a clean one. "

"But the scarf isn't dirty yet." Qi Min muttered, balled up the scarf and threw it into the laundry basket outside the bathroom door opposite. Then he had to stand up and walk to the cabinet in the living room to pull out a clean pair. scarf, and then threw it to Anton.

After catching it, Anton unfolded it and took a look. It was actually not clean...but forget it, Mimi's clothes were never completely clean. It is better to surround the little girl and continue to feed her egg custard.

Qi Min returned to the dining table to eat his noodles with soybean paste, and suddenly remembered that the topic just now was not over yet: "Hey, can we go hiking on the weekend?"

"No." Anton answered in the negative simply.

"Why?" Qi Min explained the benefits of mountaineering from a different angle, "Mimi has never left the five-kilometer area around here. I read the weather forecast and said that the sun will be good this weekend, which is suitable for taking children out to play."

"The sun is nice for those Americans, it will burn Mimi." Anton also gave a reasonable reason for rejection.

"You can apply sunscreen and wear a hat - isn't this normal?" Qi Min proposed a solution.

"We will be very tired when we climb the mountain and won't be able to take care of Mimi. And carrying Mimi on her back the whole time won't be a fun thing for her, right?" Anton glanced at her helplessly, "But if the weather is good on the weekend , we can take Mimi to the park so she can sit in the stroller while she basks."

Qi Min inserted his chopsticks into the bowl and covered his eyes with his hands in pain.

They have been going to the park on weekends for five consecutive weeks. Qi Min can use his toes to imagine what it would be like if they spend this weekend the same way: nothing more than pushing a stroller into the park, looking for something when the sun is not dazzling. We laid out a mat on a flat piece of lawn, took Mimi out of the stroller and played with her - in fact, it was like sitting there watching the little girl amuse herself - and then took her back to the stroller when the sun was strong. Pushing and walking on the stone road...

She feels that she is still very young, but this kind of life makes her feel like she has entered middle age.

"Don't insert your chopsticks into the bowl." Anton corrected her behavior.

Qi Min let go of his hand, took the chopsticks out of the noodles, and placed them flat on the bowl, but still muttered: "You are a feudal superstition."

"This is table manners." Anton shrugged, "Be careful in front of your children and don't teach Mimi to do bad things."

"What can Mimi learn? She can't even use chopsticks. Let alone using chopsticks, Mimi can't even hold chopsticks steady." Qi Min tilted his head indifferently and handed his chopsticks to Mimi, "Here. , Mimi, take this—"

As a result, Mimi happily held the chopsticks and inserted them into the bowl accurately.

Anton gave Qi Min an indescribable look, and Qi Min looked away.

————————————

But there is no chance of hiking on the weekend anyway, and not only is there no chance of this weekend, but there is no way to go out for fun next weekend, the next weekend, and the next weekend. On the one hand, they really cannot afford to find a temporary nanny on weekends. On the other hand, Mimi needs someone to take care of her when she is learning to speak and walk. In principle, they must try to accompany their daughter in person during this critical period.

Therefore, after Qi Min went through a year of working in the laboratory one night and having to coax her children back home, and not even being able to go out for fun on the weekends, she was looking forward to Christmas in her heart, so that she could take winter vacation and go back to China to work as a child. The good daughter of her own parents.

Although Qi Min would go home every winter vacation without Mimi, she rarely talked to Anton about her affairs in China. The important reason is that Anton has no other relatives, so talking about his parents and relatives in front of him always seems a bit unkind.

It is also for this reason that when Qi Min mentioned to Anton that she was going home during the winter vacation, she always emphasized that she was going to deal with "clerical work" in the country, just to maintain normal social relationships and resolve her status as an international student. matter. She described the things she had to do when she returned home as boring, and even vaguely revealed that it was some semi-forced work that she had to do, and felt that only in this way could Anton feel balanced.

Now this gives Qi Min a good opportunity. Because Anton felt that she had to be busy doing a lot of boring things when she returned to China, she could return to China as a matter of course during this winter vacation - even though the Chinese fast food restaurant where Anton worked was usually busier during the winter vacation, and Mimi also became She needs parents to accompany her even more... But no one can deprive her of her right to go out and play, no one can!

When Qi Min said goodbye to Anton and Mimi at the airport, he still felt a little guilty. However, when she thought that she would be able to return to China soon and live a life of eating and sleeping like Mimi under the care of her own parents, she still felt guilty but overall very happy to board the plane.