Work Text:
Maomao sighed and headed to her workstation, the very reason she wanted to come to her medical lab. Despite the distractions from the two who stubbornly followed her, she pulled out a chair and sat down.
But before she could begin her work, her eyes drifted towards her husband and their little girl, settled on a pile of cushions they had brought. The entire contents in the child's toy bag had already been emptied.
As usual, Jinshi asked her what she wanted to play with first, and as always, little Xiaori reached for the same toy. Her father simply chuckled softly and began to play with her. Maomao thought, "Ah, that toy they can't stop playing with—what's so fun about taking care of that wooden cat doll?"
Maomao couldn't help but feel a twinge of irritation towards Jinshi, who had ordered that doll to be made for their daughter, claiming he noticed her fondness for cats. Especially after his response to her question about where that princess would even see cats to begin with—something that still slightly annoyed her (to be honest, there was another feeling, a strange warmth that spread in her chest accompanying his words).
He smiled broadly and reached out to pat her head, saying, “She is indeed attached to a particular cat in our palace, the one that loves to wander around the gardens at odd times and follows her everywhere.”
After a moment of thought, it seemed that Maomao grasped the meaning behind Jinshi's words. She frowned and took his hand, pulling it away from her hair to lightly bite it—unfortunately to avoid leaving any visible marks.
Returning from her thoughts, Maomao tried to ignore their presence and focus on what was in her hands, but to no avail; the sound of their laughter echoed around her, and each time she found herself glancing their way, watching what they were doing, they seemed to be having the time of their lives pretending to feed the cat doll.
A smile crept onto her lips as she watched Xiaori extend her hand, holding a small spoon towards the doll and making sounds with her mouth that mimicked what Maomao usually did to coax her into eating her meal. And at the sight of her husband looking astonished, hand over his mouth, seemingly trying to stifle his laughter.
"How cute!" Maomao thought against her will, slapping her cheeks to suppress her growing smile! She shook her head in an effort to concentrate, thinking that at this rate, she wouldn't make any progress on the two medicines she wanted to prepare "Ugh, that's why I always tell them not to follow me here, so they don't distract me with their noise!" Yet each time they would pout and look at her with eyes like those of a sad, abandoned puppy! Both of them! Even the grown man!
And she always ended up surrendering to their wishes. Maomao couldn't understand why she wasn't immune to their antics; it wasn't that she had become soft and lenient since the arrival of their daughter. As her daughter grew older, Maomao found her weakness for her beauty and cuteness increasing little by little, often justifying it by thinking that no one could resist such an adorable little creature. After all, she was Jinshi's daughter—the heavenly maiden.
While Maomao had finally focused and engaged in preparing the medicines, her train of thought kept drifting from one to another—much to her dismay—she found herself mostly thinking about her husband and Xiaori; her husband with his unhealthy habit of exhausting himself by staying late at work and getting little sleep as a result, and her daughter, easily susceptible to catching colds.
She had decided to prepare these two medicines with the intention of treating them, as autumn, the fickle season, was just around the corner, and Xiaori was bound to catch a cold as soon as it set in.
As for Jinshi, he had been through a week of intense and exhausting work, and signs of fatigue were already appearing on his complexion. That time, Maomao tried a new formula with different ratios from the previous times, hoping it would be more effective.
Her train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door, followed by Suiren entering the room, to announce that lunch was ready. Maomao hadn’t realized how much time they had spent here, with hours of Jinshi and the child playing, distracting her with their laughter and fun, besides her focus on the task at hand.
Maomao was about to finish; she didn't want to interrupt her work, so she told them she would join them shortly. Jinshi didn’t try to press her to come along—perhaps knowing she didn’t like to leave her medicines unfinished, even for a short while—and he picked up Xiaori in his arms and left.
Maomao thought, "Ugh, there he goes spoiling her again even though she can walk perfectly well on her own!"—but what she tried to ignore was the fact that these actions of his, which showed how much he loved their little girl, often softened her heart.
Once the source of distraction and annoyance was gone, Maomao felt her workflow improve, and completed the preparations for the medicines in record time before Jinshi and Xiaori returned. Lunch couldn’t have taken more than half an hour—but perhaps Xiaori had caused a mess again since her mother hadn’t come with them to feed her herself—by the time they returned, Maomao had stored the medicines, cleaned her workstation, and rearranged her tools, putting them back in their places.
But the first thing that confronted her as she stretched out and before sitting down was Jinshi's frowning face and his disgruntled words: “You've done it again; maybe I should have carried you there by force!”
Maomao rolled her eyes and didn’t respond. Instead, she headed toward her bookshelf and fetched the book on herbs and medicines—the one Jinshi had requested for her from the West—that she hadn't had a chance to finish reading the previous night—thanks to whom but her husband, who refused to let her finish reading in peace! Simply because, as he said, he missed her terribly and needed her so much, especially after that busy week he had spent away from his beloved family.
And in any way he could express that other than drowning her in the pleasure swamp for the rest of the night, despite her attempts to get him to settle for a little sleep and rest, which was natural and what was the most important that night. But the hungry beast he was, he refused—yet what warmed her heart was what Xiaori did upon her return, she ran towards her and hugged her legs, laughing joyfully, probably because she saw her mother holding the intriguing illustrated book.
Maomao bent down, took the little girl’s hand, and led her to sit on the cushions, but she wanted to sit in her lap instead. As soon as Maomao opened the book, Xiaori began flipping through the pages with her small hands rapidly, leaving Maomao no chance to read anything as the child seemed captivated by the illustrations.
Maomao sighed and glanced at Jinshi, who seemed to understand her intentions, as he went and brought Xiaori's simplified herbal medicines book, that Maomao had asked him to bring for her because she had shown great enthusiasm for that field, probably having seen all the passion and excitement her mother poured into it.
When it became clear to Maomao that the little girl's curiosity was growing, she decided to satisfy it by bringing a book filled with simplified illustrations to attract her, while also being understandable for her age. It took Maomao several days to teach her the names of the herbs and repeat them to encourage her to memorize them, but to no avail, as Xiaori still hadn't learned to pronounce many words yet.
All she could say was: Mama, Baba, yes, and no. This was natural; as she hadn’t yet turned three. Maomao understood this well, but inside, she longed to hear her daughter pronounce the name of one of her favorite herbs as her first new word.
Jinshi took Xiaori from her mother's lap and moved her onto his lap. The little girl protested at first, but once she saw the book in his hand, the sparkle of excitement lit up in her eyes, and she quickly took the book from him and sat obediently in his lap. Maomao couldn’t bring herself to thank him or give him a look of appreciation as she usually did whenever he tried to help her with her motherhood duties, because she still harbored resentment from his action the previous night!
A while passed, filled with the sounds of pages turning, the cheerful exclamations from Xiaori, Jinshi's comments on each illustration, and Maomao's hums. Until in one moment, Maomao heard the little one finally pronounce the name of one of their favorite herbs—both for her and for the little one. Maomao froze for a moment in disbelief at what she had heard, but she quickly put her book down on the cushion beside her and approached Xiaori.
She called her name, and both of them looked at her, Xiaori with a look of fondness and admiration in her eyes (her usual gaze at her mother) and Jinshi with shock in his eyes. The little one replied, “Yes, Mama!” then stood and walked over to her mother, taking her hand. Maomao bent down to be at eye level with her and asked excitedly, “Xiaori, what did you just say? Mama didn’t hear you well!”
The little girl nodded and repeated the word again. Maomao stood up and covered her mouth with her hand, looking at Jinshi, and directing her next words to him: “Did you hear that, Jinshi! Our daughter finally said it!”
Jinshi smiled and nodded. Maomao shook her head and placed her hands on her cheeks, then began to jump lightly from one spot to another, laughing with joy, unable to control her excitement and happiness that were fueled by the delightful expression on her little one’s face as she utterd the word.
Maomao had never imagined that she could learn the word so quickly, but her diligent efforts had finally borne fruit. In the heat of the moment, Maomao squatted in front of her astonished and joyous daughter upon seeing her mother’s happiness. Then took her small hands between hers, saying, “You did well, Xiaori! Mama is proud of you.”
Xiaori beamed a toothy smile and moved closer to her mother’s embrace, placing her hands behind her back. In return, Maomao’s eyes softened, and she allowed herself to surrender in the embrace, stroking the little girl's head from time to time.
Jinshi, standing in the back, watched with amusement and adoration in his eyes, his wife's genuine excitement and enthusiasm reflected in the light blush on her cheeks and her gentle interaction with their daughter, a broad smile gracing his lips. If someone had happened to witness the scene unfolding in that room, they would have seen a sparkle of happiness and contentment shining in his eyes.
Suddenly, his wife stood up, cradling Xiaori in her arms. She bent down to pick up the little girl's book and turned to leave, her excitement undimmed.
“My little one, let’s practice more words!” She exclaimed, leaving behind the book she had been engrossed in for the past hour, forgotten on the cushion.
Jinshi froze for a moment, then, after he seemed to recover from his astonishment at this strange turn of events, his expression transformed from one of profound tenderness to that of a neglected puppy.
Within moments, he hurried his steps to catch up with his wife and daughter, unbeknownst to him, what would happen in a few weeks, his little girl would utter a new word connected to him, a word that would impact him for the rest of his life, as she would say that name instead of using the real name just like her mother: Jinshi.