My Queen, My Rules - 94
Extra: Sparrow’s Cub-Raising Diary (3)
For the past two years or so, Cen Sen and Ji Mingshu had actually maintained a fairly active marital life, especially during the two months after Ji Mingshu had recovered from childbirth. All the mischief she had gotten up to while pregnant, using the baby as her shield to torment Cen Sen, were repaid in full, with interest.
By then, Cen Sen had gone nearly a year without sex and had very little inclination to show mercy. Every time, he kept going until she was reduced to teary little sobs, all while repeatedly reminding her of how she had tormented and tempted him during her pregnancy.
Ji Mingshu felt she had admitted to more wrongs in those two months in bed than she had in her entire life. If Cen Sen had not subsequently been so busy with work and frequently away on business trips, she had no idea what year or month she would finally have escaped that ordeal.
After two full months of payback, their marital life had now settled into a fairly stable rhythm of three times a week. As for how many rounds each session had and how long it went on, that was entirely dependent on Cen Sen’s mood.
Although Ji Mingshu had verbally refused when her own little boy asked about the pork ribs, once the ribs were served at dinner, she still found herself stealing several glances at them.
Yan-bao was a sweet, thoughtful little boy. Knowing that his mother liked the ribs, he clumsily maneuvered his chopsticks, trying to pick some up for her, but after struggling for ages, he still couldn't do it.
A little dejected, he pouted and asked Cen Sen for help in his soft, babyish voice. “Papa, get Mama some ribs, please. Mama likes little ribs, but Yan-bao can’t get any!”
Cen Sen glanced at Ji Mingshu, who was sitting opposite him, absently picking at her greens.
Ji Mingshu deliberately avoided his gaze.
Whatever he was thinking, he slowly extended his chopsticks. One piece, two pieces, three pieces... He picked out all the most tender ribs and placed them in her bowl.
Yan-bao’s eyes curved into happy little crescents. With three tiny tufts of hair sticking straight up from the top of his head, he looked up at Cen Sen and said, “Thank you, Papa!”
Then, imitating the grown-ups in his cartoons, he turned to Ji Mingshu and earnestly advised, “Mama, now you have ribs too. You have to eat properly, okay!”
“...”
Speechless, Ji Mingshu picked up a piece and put it into his bowl.
He shook his head solemnly. “Yan-bao doesn’t have very many teeth. Can’t chew it!”
Ji Mingshu pinched his soft, round cheek and mercilessly teased him. “Oh, so you do know you’re still a little kid who hasn’t even grown all his teeth!”
Yan-bao nodded obediently. “Mm-hmm. I know!”
He stretched out his little arm and reached over to pinch Ji Mingshu’s cheek too.
Melted completely by his adorably silly expression, Ji Mingshu squeezed him and gave him a little shake. “Little Grub, how are you so cute?”
He grinned, revealing his tiny baby teeth. “Mama is cute too!”
The mother and son were happily playing together when Cen Sen, who had been neglected across the table, suddenly tapped the rim of his bowl and said calmly, “Eat properly.”
Cen Yan immediately straightened up and gave a little salute. “Okay!”
He didn't forget to add, “Oh, right, right! Papa is cute too!”
Ji Mingshu couldn't hold back a laugh. Cen Sen stared at him for two seconds, the corners of his lips lifted almost imperceptibly as well.
Thanks to little Cen Yan’s interference, Ji Mingshu finally had a perfectly legitimate excuse to eat her beloved ribs.
After dinner, the family of three went to the supermarket for a stroll to digest their meal. Once they got home, the three sat on the floor and played with LEGO blocks and dinosaur puzzles together.
Cen Yan had endless energy and didn't start feeling sleepy until ten o’clock. Before he fell asleep, Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen gave him a bath, then tucked him into the middle of the bed and told him a bedtime story.
They even told it bilingually. Ji Mingshu would say one sentence in Chinese, then Cen Sen would follow with one in English. The hypnotic effect was immediate. In less than ten minutes, Cen Yan was rubbing his little belly and snoring softly in his sleep.
“Little Grub? Little Grub?”
Ji Mingshu called softly twice. Little Cen Yan didn't stir.
Cen Sen made a "shush" gesture, quietly got out of bed, and carried Cen Yan back to his own room, instructing the nanny to watch over him while he rested.
It was still early by adult standards. Back in their bedroom, Cen Sen pulled Ji Mingshu into his arms and watched a movie with her in bed.
Of course, neither of them was paying much attention to the movie. Less than half an hour later, they were busy with the sort of exercise adults were supposed to be doing, and by the time the movie ended and the credits and sponsor list began rolling, they still had not finished.
At the crucial moment, Cen Sen leaned close to Ji Mingshu’s ear and asked in a husky voice, “Can I…do it inside?”
Ji Mingshu was thoroughly exhausted, barely able to catch her breath. Her mind was completely blank, she didn't even have the energy to answer.
After waiting about five seconds, Cen Sen earnestly put into practice the universally accepted principle that silence meant consent, personally making a significant physical contribution for the arrival of the little sister Yan-bao so eagerly awaited.
---
When Cen Yan turned three, it was officially time for him to start kindergarten.
Ji Mingshu carefully prepared a whole assortment of little outfits, little shoes, and backpacks, determined to make Yan-bao the best-dressed kid in kindergarten.
She never expected that not a single thing she had prepared would be used. The kindergarten provided matching uniforms and backpacks, and even little watches and water bottles came as standard.
Ji Mingshu was a little deflated. That evening, during their late-night pillow talk, she curled up in Cen Sen’s arms and complained about these trivial matters, criticizing the school for suppressing the children’s individuality and aesthetic development.
Cen Sen, however, thought the school's approach was excellent. “The most important thing for children is learning. Wasting their energy comparing clothes is meaningless.”
At first, Ji Mingshu thought that sounded quite reasonable. Then she thought about it again and found it completely ridiculous.
She pulled herself out of Cen Sen’s arms and challenged him. “What do you mean, the most important thing for a child is learning? He’s only three. What can he possibly learn? Isn’t childhood supposed to be about being happy? I’ve been meaning to tell you this for ages. Stop setting such high expectations for your son, okay? You’re trying to force a seedling to grow by pulling it upward!”
Cen Sen was entirely unmoved. “There are already plenty of things a three-year-old can learn.”
"Then tell me, what could you do at three?"
Cen Sen thought for a moment, “At three, I could recite Tang poetry, hold simple English conversations, and had already started learning taekwondo and piano."
Both Mr. An and Mrs. An were highly educated and had always placed great importance on their child’s education. The kindergarten he attended back then had also been one of the best public kindergartens in Xingcheng.
Ji Mingshu fell silent after hearing this. At a rather inappropriate time, her thoughts wandered off in another direction. People with good brains really were different. He could actually remember exactly what he had known and done at the age of three.
During that brief silence, Cen Sen had already begun explaining Cen Yan’s various development plans to her. He had actually written out a comprehensive plan that could be printed and bound into a booklet.
Ji Mingshu was speechless for a long while. She couldn't decide whether she ought to bow her head in silent mourning for the miserable future awaiting little Cen Yan, or kneel in worship before his father’s terrifying ability to put plans into action.
Perhaps Cen Yan had somehow sensed his fate coming. Half-asleep in his little bed, he suddenly sneezed. "Achoo!" It was a bit chilly. He unconsciously rolled over, pulled his blanket tighter around himself, and shivered in his sleep.
---
A child’s first bout of kindergarten adjustment was probably something both parents and children had to go through.
Before Cen Yan went to school on his first day, he had promised them very confidently that he would behave. But the moment they actually left him at the kindergarten, he began stomping his little feet in panic and launched into a full-scale, heart-wrenching performance. “Waaah, waaah! Papa, Mama, you don’t want Yan-bao anymore? Yan-bao will be good, waaah!”
The kindergarten teacher tried to comfort him and pick him up, but he shuffled several tiny steps away, let out an especially loud “Waaah,” and resisted with every ounce of his little body.
Seeing Cen Yan crying as though his entire world had collapsed, Ji Mingshu’s heart clenched with every sob. She immediately stepped forward and picked him up, gently patting his back as she coaxed him with unusual tenderness. “Yan-bao is the best-behaved boy. How could Papa and Mama not want you? You’re the cutest little boy in the whole world, aren’t you? But didn’t we agree before we left that from now on you’d be a good boy and go to kindergarten, and that Papa and Mama would come pick Yan-bao up after school this afternoon?”
“No! Waaah! I want... I want Papa and Mama to come with me! Waaah! We’ll all go to kindergarten together!” Cen Yan cried so hard that bubbles of mucus appeared beneath his nose. He hiccupped, and his words came out in broken little fragments.
Ji Mingshu was about to coax him some more when Cen Sen called his full name in a cool voice. “Cen Yan.”
A Siberian cold front swept through. Little Cen Yan was so frightened that one of his mucus bubbles nearly popped.
Cen Sen stepped forward and rubbed his head. “You’re a little man. You can’t go back on your word.”
Ji Mingshu looked up at him accusingly. “Don’t be so stern with him!”
Cen Sen was silent for a moment. “I’m not being stern.”
“...”
That expression saying, “If you don't go into that school today, you're no son of mine,” was not stern? Then what was it?
Ji Mingshu wanted to say something more, but to her surprise, this spineless little boy really did respond to Cen Sen’s approach. He was still hiccupping and sniffling, but he no longer showed the same fierce resistance toward the kindergarten teacher.
After making Ji Mingshu promise several times that she would come pick him up after school, Cen Yan reluctantly headed inside with a whole face full of tears, taking three steps and turning back once each time. His little legs carried him into the school alongside the kindergarten teacher.
Ji Mingshu breathed a sigh of relief, but on the way home, she still felt unsettled by her son’s crying. There was a lingering heaviness in her chest.
She opened the live classroom feed, and her anxiety was quickly cured. Cen Yan’s crying was by no means an exception. Every child in his class was wandering around in complete disorder, bawling their eyes out.
Cen Yan had probably used up all his tears outside. At that moment, he didn't even have the energy to join the crying army inside the classroom. Instead, he offered a piece of candy to the little girl next to him, whose pigtails were practically standing on end from crying.
Not bad. Already knows how to charm girls at three.
Ji Mingshu felt completely healed, and even a little proud.
After surviving their tearful first week, everything at kindergarten suddenly returned to normal in the second week. The children were practical little creatures too. Once they realized crying could not solve anything, they immediately stopped wasting their energy on it.
At the same time, Cen Sen’s development plan for Cen Yan officially began.
At first, Ji Mingshu was a little worried that Cen Sen’s carefully designed program might have the opposite effect on their son. She always felt that introducing a three-year-old to so many things was simply too early.
But after observing him for a while, she discovered that little Cen Yan’s ability to adapt and learn was almost absurdly strong.
According to Cen Sen’s plan, the year between ages three and four would be a period for discovering and developing Cen Yan’s interests and talents. He would have Cen Yan try all sorts of different activities so they could determine which ones interested him most and where his natural talents lay.
Yet whether it was drawing, piano, violin, running, martial arts, or taekwondo, Cen Yan managed to stand out among the other children his age. His teachers all sang his praises, calling him clever and naturally gifted.
When they asked him which activity he liked best, he had no particular preference. He simply said he liked all of them.
And so, after finishing the younger kindergarten class, the clever and talented little Cen Yan skipped straight into the senior class.
The senior kindergarten class was different from the previous play-all-day routine. The school began introducing some pre-elementary material and even assigned homework.
One Friday, little Cen Yan was picked up from school. After Ji Mingshu and Cen Sen played with him for a while, they asked him, as usual, what homework his teacher had assigned that day.
Cen Yan thought for a moment, then rested his chin in both hands and said, “Teacher told us to think about what Papa and Mama are. Next week, Teacher Yuanyuan will call on everyone to answer.”
Ji Mingshu copied his pose, resting her chin in her hands as she asked, “So, Little Grub, what do you think Dada and Mama are?"
Cen Yan tilted his head. “I want to say something different from the other kids.”
Cen Sen glanced at him, seemingly curious about just how different his answer could possibly be.
Cen Yan mischievously tilted his head in the opposite direction. “Papa and Mama are liars.”
Cen Sen: “...”
Ji Mingshu: “...”
The two exchanged a look. Cen Sen asked, “How are Papa and Mama liars?”
He tilted up his little face and accused them, “Papa, you said Yan-bao would have a little sister. But a long, long, long time passed, and Yan Bao still doesn't have little sister."
Ji Mingshu was eating a tangerine and nearly choked to death.
Cen Sen was silent for quite a while too. Finally, he said, “Papa and Mama didn’t lie to you. Papa and Mama have already been trying very hard too.”
---
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