I almost touched the moon

After lunch, Wen Song returned to the research institute to work, and because Astrid said she wanted to see where she worked, he took her with him.

Arriving at the institute, Astrid looked at the various sophisticated instruments in front of her and the piles of documents on Wen Song's desk, and for the first time she understood that her mother's work was really hard. Under the glamorous title of professor, her daily work was tedious and boring.

Wen Song asked Astrid to sit on the sofa in the office, handed her a book and said, "Baby, read here obediently. Mommy is going to the laboratory now."

Then he said to Sasha, "Sasha, if you have time, can you help me look after Astrid?"

"Of course." Sasha immediately agreed with a smile, "I don't have much work to do this afternoon, professor, don't worry, I will take good care of Astrid."

Wen Song also told Astrid, "Baby, if you feel bored, let Brenda and Colin pick you up. You can play here, but you can't run around or touch the things on my table."

"I know, Mom." Astrid nodded obediently, and frowned again when she saw Wen Song's desk. "Mom... I think you should tidy up your desk. Dad said that if things are not placed neatly, they will be hard to find."

"That's just his habit." Wen Song smiled faintly, "For me, if things are arranged neatly, I won't be able to find them."

At 1:14 pm, Wen Song finished the experiment and breathed a sigh of relief after looking at the latest data: "OK, perfect, Aurora will definitely be able to launch successfully on January next year. It's really tiring. I'll ask Sasha to finish writing the summary report tomorrow, and then we can finish our work at NASA ahead of schedule. I have to take a long vacation, otherwise you can send my ashes to the Kuiper Belt together with Aurora."

Felix laughed, took out his cigarette box and said, "Iseylia, do you want to go smoke a cigarette together to celebrate that our hard work is finally over?"

"No." Wen Song shook his head and smiled calmly, "My daughter is here, she doesn't like me smoking."

"Every child doesn't like their parents smoking." Felix also laughed, "My daughter is the same, so I spray perfume like crazy before I go home every day."

Wen Song also smiled, glanced at his watch and said, "It's already half past ten. Oh my God, I wonder if my daughter is still in the office. I have to go. Bye."

Arriving at the office, Wen Song saw Astrid sleeping on the sofa as soon as he walked in. Sasha was also working on the next day's work at the desk next to her. When she saw Wen Song, she smiled brightly, "Professor, you are finally back. Astrid is very obedient and well-behaved. She even drew a portrait for me. It was a very good one."

"Sasha, I'm so sorry, I thought she would go home early." Wen Song said apologetically, "I will pay you overtime at five times the daily wage. You can take a day off tomorrow. You don't need to come to work. Have a good rest. I'm so sorry, it's my fault."

"It's okay, Professor." Sasha smiled immediately, signaling Wen Song not to blame himself. "Astrid is a very well-behaved and lovely child, and I spent a very pleasant day with her. But since there is extra salary and vacation, I won't be polite. Thank you, Professor. I'll go home first."

After Sasha left, Wen Song looked at Astrid's sleeping face and suddenly felt a little guilty. For so many years, she had hardly taken care of Astrid for a single day. When she was just born, she traveled around on maternity leave. After the vacation was over, she was busy with work again. Even on her days off, she never thought of taking care of her with Cheng Che.

She always thought Cheng Che did a good job, but she forgot that Cheng Che was not born to take care of children. She also remembered that when Astrid was only one year old, Cheng Che often held Astrid in his arms and waited for her to get off work. He asked her many times if he could go home early to spend time with his daughter. At that time, she always said nonchalantly, "Let's talk about it later. I'm very busy recently."

But actually… she felt a little ashamed and guilty. Her work was never so busy that she needed to work overtime. She just didn't want to hear the baby crying. She also remembered that before Astrid was two years old, Cheng Che's dark circles under his eyes never disappeared.

Even before Astrid was born, Cheng Che told her that she didn't need to take any responsibility for raising a child, and that he could do everything without causing her any trouble or affecting her life. But Astrid was never Cheng Che's daughter alone, and she suddenly realized that she seemed a little selfish towards her family.

Thinking of this, she sent a WeChat message to Cheng Che with a somewhat apologetic tone, [Honey, thank you for your hard work].

Cheng Che called her immediately, his tone a little flustered, "What's wrong, Songsong? Did something happen? Don't worry, I'll be back right away. What happened?"

"It's okay." Wen Song smiled, lowered his voice, stretched, and said to Cheng Che, "I just finished work and saw Astrid sleeping in my office. Then I realized that in all these years, I really haven't taken care of her for a single day. You have always been alone. Thank you for your hard work..."

"What's the big deal? It's not hard at all."

Cheng Che smiled and kissed her through the screen, "Really, baby, Astrid is very well behaved and not spoiled at all. She is the best child in the world. As her father, it is my duty to take care of her. How can it be hard? Baby, are you too tired from work? I'd better come back. For tomorrow's negotiations, at worst, I can let my dad come to the United States himself, or I can participate online."

"No, no." Wen Song said quickly, "I have almost finished my work. There is nothing to do. You can rest tomorrow. You don't have to come back early. Astrid and I get along well. Don't worry."

"That's good." Cheng Che instructed again, "It's late, honey. Go eat and sleep. Eat more delicious food. I'll make you a big meal when I get home. Tell me when I get home."

Wen Song agreed with a smile, then squatted down beside the sofa, held Astrid in his arms, and carried her out of the office.

When she picked her up, Wen Song realized that Astrid had really grown a lot taller. She looked to be over 130 centimeters tall, much taller than when she was six years old. She couldn't help but laugh and said in her heart, "What long legs! She will definitely be taller than me when she grows up."

On the way home, Astrid woke up, looked at Wen Song, rubbed her eyes, and said drowsily: "Mom, are you done with work? Where are we?"

"Little silly girl, we are on the way home." Wen Song touched her head and said gently, "Do you want to sleep for a while? We will be home in half an hour. Has Astrid had dinner?"

"I've eaten." Astrid leaned on Wen Song's shoulder, hugged her arm and said, "Aunt Sasha took me to eat. She was so gentle, and she bought me donuts and ice cream. I really like her. But mom, the restaurant in your research center is so terrible. I have never eaten such terrible beef and pasta. Mom, do you usually eat such terrible food every day at work?"

Wen Song laughed in silence, thinking to himself, is it unpalatable? Why does she think it tastes good? But he pretended to be pitiful and said to Astrid, "Yes, it really tastes bad. What should I do?"

"Hmm..." Astrid thought about it and came up with a great idea, "Just let Dad come and cook for Mom every day. Dad also said that Mom likes his cooking the most!"

Wen Song smiled even more brightly, with curved eyebrows and eyes, very similar to Astrid's smile. She hugged Astrid and kissed her, rubbed her little head and said: "Cheng Yuwei...you really deserve to be Cheng Che's daughter..."

"Mom, don't call me by my Chinese name!" Astrid shuddered reflexively, "It's so scary!"

Wen Song said "OK", touched Astrid's hair and said, "Baby, I seem to have cared too little about you before. I'm sorry. I will spend more time with you when I'm not busy in the future. You said our restaurant is terrible, so what do you want to eat?"

"I want to eat the food that mom cooks." Astrid chuckled, "I want to eat the Shin Ramen that mom cooks, and I also want to eat chocolate crepe with vanilla ice cream, and matcha strawberry crepe! Can mom make it for me?"

"Today?" Wen Song shook his aching neck, "But... Mom is really tired today..."

When she lowered her head, she saw Astrid's expectant eyes. She didn't want to disappoint her, so she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll make it for you when I get home."

After finishing his meal with Astrid, Wen Song was so tired that he fell on the sofa and couldn't move. But Astrid kept pestering Wen Song to give her a bath and tell her a bedtime story.

Wen Song wanted to cry but had no tears. Just after she finished saying, "Let Brenda tell you a story, okay? Mom is really sleepy," Astrid looked at her with tears in her eyes and sobbed, "Mom lied. Mom promised me that she would spend more time with me. I want to listen to mom tell me Greek mythology. Woo woo woo, mom still doesn't love me. Mom has finished her work..."

"But I'm really tired..." Wen Song almost cried, "My little princess, I stood in the laboratory for more than nine hours today..."

"But Daddy wouldn't be like this..." Astrid lowered her head and continued to sob, "Even if Daddy has been drawing designs for the whole day, he would still tell me stories. He never complains to me about how hard his work is. Wuuuuu, Mommy lied... Mommy didn't do what she promised me."

Wen Song was a little annoyed by her crying, so he could only take the storybook and said, "Go to sleep, my ancestor, I will tell you the story of Athena, okay?"

"Mom? What are ancestors?"

Wen Song almost let out a wail, and began to talk nonsense to Astrid: "Ancestor is you, baby, this is your new Chinese name, Yuwei means ancestor in Chinese, so you can also call me ancestor from now on. Do you understand?"

"I see." Astrid nodded, not quite understanding, and urged Wen Song, "Mom, tell me a story quickly."