Me at two years old, a queen!

"Hey~, I'm here to put the kids to sleep! I've already prepared the storybooks!"

As Lu Jing spoke, he pulled out a book and gestured, "Hey~, 'Andersen's Fairy Tales,' stories that all children love to listen to. An'an will definitely love listening to them!"

Lu Jing didn't notice Ms. Song Yuan's hesitant expression. He walked straight in and smiled at An'an, who was wearing a fox-themed pajama and nestled in bed with a picture book.

"Oh dear~, sweetie~, come on! Let's not watch anymore, it's too tiring for you to watch by yourself. Close your eyes and let Grandpa tell you a story!"

"No~, I want to see it myself!"

Lu Jing could hear the little girl's frustration in her voice and guessed that she probably missed her father and was feeling a bit uneasy. So he quietly sat down beside her and straightened the picture book she was holding upside down.

"Great! See for yourself, our An'an is so great, she can read books all by herself!"

"If you don't understand something, let Grandpa read it to you!"

Ms. Song Yuan was reading the book "International Economics" that Lu Junxing had prepared, planning to read it to An'an if she couldn't fall asleep later.

An'an flipped through the book irritably, not really reading anything, then closed it again: "Grandpa and Grandma~, I'm going to go play with my brother~"

Lu Jing glanced at the time; it wasn't even nine o'clock yet. Yan Zhou was still awake, so he casually nodded and followed the child to Yan Zhou's room.

Seeing her older brother playing with a remote-controlled car, An'an also went over to watch. Seeing that the two children were playing by themselves, Lu Jing was also thinking about how to coax them to sleep!

Lu Jing had spent the entire afternoon meticulously preparing for tonight's bedtime mission, and seeing An An eager to try, he said, "How about Grandpa sings a song for you two?"

"Grandpa? Can you sing?"

Not only was An'an pleasantly surprised, but Qin Yanzhou also looked at him with astonishment.

"Hahaha~, cough cough~, you guys get ready to clap!"

"In spring, the mackerel calls (ya-ha-ke), in spring, the turtledove calls (ya-ha-ke), the turtledove (li-ge) calls (lie-ge), it really (li-ge) calls so well (wa-ya-zi-yo)."

"You call over there (yo-ha-ke), I listen over here (ya-ha-ke), the turtledove (li-ge) calls (lie), cluck-cluck-cluck, cluck-cluck-cluck until (that) peach blossoms bloom (yo-ha-ke),"

"The peach blossoms are smiling (yo-ha-heh), the peach blossoms are blooming, they are really beautiful (wa-ya-zi-yo)."

"Ugh~, Grandpa! Stop singing!"

"Grandpa? What song are you singing? We've never heard it before!"

Neither An'an nor Yanzhou had ever heard folk songs before, and they couldn't understand the lyrics. When they suddenly heard Lu Jing singing this, they were so surprised that they picked their ears.

"The Turtledove Tune, a local folk song, what? Doesn't your school teach it?"

An'an shook her head and said, "Our teacher taught us the handwashing song and the radish-pulling song~"

Seeing that Lu Jing was about to sing again, Qin Yanzhou quickly spoke up: "Grandpa, I've never heard this song before either. What is it about? What is it about?"

"These are songs sung by people when picking tea leaves. They are sung in Hakka dialect with local accents and lyrics. It's not surprising that you can't understand them."

"Let me tell you, this is about..."

An'an and Yanzhou listened with curiosity. It was the first time they had ever heard of the tea-picking tune. Seeing that the two children were also very interested in the tea-picking opera, and that it was rare for anyone in the family to listen to Lu Jing like this,

He excitedly told An'an and Yanzhou, "Tea-picking opera is..."

Lu Junxing called An'an for a long time without getting an answer, so he called Ms. Song Yuan, who then came looking for him with her phone.

"Daddy? Waaah~, I miss you so much~, when are you coming back?"

As soon as An'an saw the person on the screen, she couldn't hold back her emotions. Clutching her phone, she wiped away her tears as she walked towards her room.

Finally, hiding under the covers, she looked at Lu Junxing and asked, "Dad~, can you come back tomorrow? Please come back tomorrow, okay?"

"Listen to me, can you sit up and talk to me? It's bad for your eyes to stay under the covers like this!"

"Grandpa will take you to Pingshan Park for your spring outing tomorrow morning. I'll try my best to get back to pick you up from school tomorrow! You can see me after you've finished playing with Duoduo and the others, okay?"

"..."

Lu Junxing tried his best to soothe her emotions. During the day, she could play wildly on her own and forget about his existence, but as soon as it got dark and she wanted to sleep, she only recognized him.

"Dad~, do you know what? I swept the floor a lot today. Did you see the message your brother sent you?"

"Yeah! I see!"

"They even watered the flowers, and went to pick vegetables with their brother. Those were all planted by others. I even helped Aunt Liu wash the vegetables!"

"Remember to give them money, Dad! Lots and lots of it, okay?"

"Ok!"

"We also went to Yu'an's house and watched him play the piano. He's really good at it! Uncle Zhao even gave us some food..."

When Ms. Song Yuan arrived, she saw the father and daughter chatting away. If she ignored the rustling of pages turning and the clattering of typing on Lu Junxing's end, she truly felt that a warm and ordinary life couldn't be more like this.

And so it went until An'an was exhausted from talking and drifted off to sleep. Only then did Ms. Song Yuan quietly take the phone from An'an's arms.

Then, seeing Lu Junxing on the other end of the video call still wearing glasses and working, I didn't want to disturb him, so I hung up. I adjusted the air conditioning for An'an, sat for a while longer, and only left quietly after seeing that she was fast asleep.