Looking at the girl in front of him, Nan Youxi felt pity in his heart.
All the children in welfare institutions have suffered a lot and experienced the feeling of being poor. However, not all scarcity will make people realize the value of things and learn to be moderate. On the contrary, the desires that are hungry due to scarcity will often seek satisfaction without restraint after scarcity turns into abundance.
Most children, after experiencing the pain of being poor, will become extravagant once they have money to use at will.
Compared with them, Mozi is particularly sensible and mature.
"Don't worry, the money we've saved is enough for Mozi to use for the rest of her life. As long as Mozi doesn't invest or start a business, you will never spend all of dad's money." Nan Youxi touched the girl's hair.
Momoko's face shape and long hair are most similar to Reina. Looking at her face and feeling the softness of her hair, Nan Youxi couldn't help but think of his wife, and he was a little absent-minded.
"It's not a question of how much spare money I have. I think those things are useless. There's no need to buy useless things." Nan Mozi expressed her philosophy seriously.
"Well, Mozi gets so much pocket money every month anyway. If you can't spend it all, just save it. You don't have to report it to me."
After pinching her face for the last time, Nan Youxi stood up from the chair and said, "I just had surgery this morning. I'm tired, so I'm going to sleep first."
"Do you want to take a bath? Dad, please sit on the sofa and wait for a while. I will prepare the bath water right away."
"No, I'll do it myself." Nan Youxi wanted to say this, but he couldn't say it out loud. His lazy body wouldn't allow him to take on such a hard task.
"Thank you for your help." He said the exact opposite useless words.
"No trouble." The girl looked at Nan Youxi with clear and serious eyes, "I am dad's daughter. This is what I should do. I will take good care of dad!"
After saying that, she walked quickly to the bathroom. The light blue collar of her black sailor suit swayed up and down with her steps, revealing a corner of the red triangular scarf underneath. The fluttering square collar was like leaves tumbling in the spring breeze, and the exposed corner of the scarf was like sunlight that was constantly blocked and revealed by the tumbling of leaves. Just looking at it was pleasant.
The happiness of the scarf comes from the cheerful steps of its owner, and those cheerful steps come from the girl's happy heart.
Nan Youxi scratched his cheek. It seemed that his daughter said the lines he was supposed to say.
Never mind, this is fine.
He lay on the sofa, enjoying the care with peace of mind.
The most comfortable sofa he picked out at the furniture store supported his body and made him sleepy.
By the time Mozi called him softly, he had already been floating in his dream for a while.
After taking off his clothes in the dressing room, Nan Youxi opened the frosted glass door, walked into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and sat down in the bathtub. The slightly hot water covered his chest, soothing his muscles and spirit.
He placed his hands on both sides of the bathtub, enjoying this rare bath. Except for the November every year when he went to Yoshida Town, he would take a bath in the hot spring hotel. When he was at home, he would take a simple shower for about ten minutes because he thought the preparation and cleanup of the bath was too troublesome.
A long time ago, in the short few months after Reina got married, she was the one who prepared the water for bathing.
Now, there is a new person in the family who can prepare bath water for me.
"Dad, put your pajamas here!" Nan Mozi pushed open the door of the locker room and said to Nan Youxi through the frosted glass.
"Okay." Nan Youxi looked up and responded.
On the frosted glass door, there was a small figure of a girl. After putting down her pajamas, the figure did not leave immediately.
"Do you want me to help rub your back?" the girl asked again.
"I'm too sleepy. Let's do it next time." Nan Youxi rejected her daughter's kindness.
"Well, thank you very much."
The girl opened the door and went out. Nan Youxi soaked for a while longer, came out of the bathtub, quickly wiped her body, put on her pajamas and went out.
The moment he entered his bedroom, he hesitated for a moment, wondering if he had walked into the wrong room. Otherwise, how could the messy bedroom with clothes, magazines and various small gadgets scattered around become so clean and tidy
Nan Mozi poked her head out from behind the door, a little nervous: "Because Dad hasn't been home for so long, I tidied up the room when I cleaned it. Did I mess up anything?"
"It's cleaned very well. I'll trouble you in the future." Nan Youxi sat on the bed.
"Yeah!" the girl smiled.
She saw Nan Youxi looking at the pillow, as if looking for something, and hurriedly said, "The photo is on the bedside table inside."
Minami Yuxi looked at the bedside table inside and found Reina's photo.
It was a photo of my wife wearing a white wedding gown, taken at a shrine. The photo was enclosed in a wooden glass frame.
"Is this Mom?" The girl walked into the room, stood behind Nan Youxi and looked at the photo in his hand.
"Yeah." Minami Yuxi's fingertips stroked the smooth glass surface of the photo frame, "Her name is Reina."
Mozi already knew where her mother was now from the director of the welfare home and the photos displayed in the shrine on the first floor. She didn't ask any questions, nor did she try to comfort her mother in a self-righteous way. She just looked at the photos with Minami Youxi.
The photo was a half-length portrait, the traditional and elegant white wedding dress complemented the beautiful face of the woman in the photo. The woman's quiet eyes did not look towards the camera, but slightly lowered, and there were two blushes above her slightly smiling lips.
Just looking at the photo, a scene emerged in Nan Mozi's mind. The woman wearing a white wedding gown for the first time, with happy shyness, did not dare to look directly at her husband holding the camera, so she lowered her head slightly and smiled faintly.
"So beautiful." She couldn't help but exclaim.
Minami Yuki agreed with his daughter's words. He said, "She is in a small town on the edge of Yoshida-cho, Hokkaido. Let's go see her together in November."
"Yeah." Mozi nodded.
[You went back with a trepidation, and found that Mozi had tidied the house. The little girl had already learned how to do housework in the welfare home. You left her money, and she went to the supermarket to buy groceries after school every day, cooked for herself, made lunch boxes, did laundry, and cleaned the house.]
[When she saw you come back, she prepared dinner for you, asked for your change of clothes, ran a bath for you, and made your bed... You should have taken care of her, but she took care of you instead.]
[In the bedroom, you introduced her to your wife, her mother.]
[You agreed to go to Yoshida-cho in November to see Reina, and she happily agreed.]
[You went home more often and stayed in the dormitory less often. Chigusa University Hospital is a bit far from your residence. At Mozi's suggestion, you moved to a place near the hospital.]
[In November, you went to the Sora Pond and hung light blue hydrangeas on Reina's tombstone.]
[You told her the story of you and Reina, and the story of the late snow, and crystal tears rolled down the girl's cheeks.]
[You are not a talkative person. You told this to Mozi because the girl is not only your daughter, but also Reina's daughter. Her name was given by Reina, and you hope that she can know about her mother and love her deceased mother.]
I’m going home. There will be another update tonight, probably after midnight.
(End of this chapter)