ASFTB 18: Daddy Can Do Magic

When Jian Chengxi brought the two children home, it was already dark.

On the way, he asked them, “How are you getting along with your classmates at school? What have you been doing there?”

Li Suisui replied, “Classes, playing games.”

Jian Chengxi thought to himself that sending them to school had indeed been the right choice. When they were at home, the two of them had no way to communicate with children their own age. Especially Li Chen, this child didn’t like to talk, to the point where Jian Chengxi had once feared he might have autism. Now that he was in school and part of a group, things should start to improve.

“So, did Suisui and Xiao Chen play any fun games?” Jian Chengxi asked, holding one child in his arms and leading his daughter by the hand. “Anything that made you happy?”

Li Suisui smiled and said, “Yes!”

Jian Chengxi’s eyes lit up, ready to hear the child share something amusing. But instead—

Li Suisui pulled a piece of fruit from her pocket and handed it to him. “At lunch, the teacher gave us fruit.”

Jian Chengxi froze for a moment and asked, “Why didn’t you eat it?”

He had chosen the best kindergarten in the underground city for the two children. Even with his monthly subsidy of 300 yuan, each child’s tuition cost over a hundred. It was expensive, but he had gritted his teeth and paid for it. The kindergarten provided lunch, and to him, as long as the kids ate well, he would scrimp and save elsewhere. Anything could be cut back on, except the children’s needs.

He hadn’t expected that they wouldn’t even finish the fruit the school gave them.

Li Suisui placed the fruit in his hand. At three years old, she still had a milky scent about her, and her thin little hand placed the fruit in his palm. “Daddy, you have some too.”

Jian Chengxi was stunned, almost unable to believe it. “For me?”

As he was thinking this, something else landed in his hand. Li Chen had saved two for him.

Jian Chengxi looked at the three fruits in his hand, feeling both exasperated and amused. But as he stared at them, his eyes unexpectedly grew damp. Such is the heart of a parent and no matter how much they give to their children, it never feels like a burden. Yet the moment the children give something back, their defenses crumble in an instant. He hadn’t understood that before, but now his nose was stinging.

“Why didn’t you eat them yourselves?” Jian Chengxi asked, holding the children’s hands. “Daddy’s got an orchard at home, we have plenty of fruit.”

Li Suisui replied, “Daddy sells all the tasty fruit from the orchard. The ones from the kindergarten are sweet, and the teacher said they’re different and more expensive.”

Jian Chengxi hesitated. “Really?”

He took a bite of one himself. It was indeed sweet, though not as sweet as the fruit from his own orchard. This one must have been picked from somewhere else. As he ate, an idea began to take shape in his mind. His eyes lit up, a smile spread across his face, and in his joy he even kissed the children on their cheeks. “That’s wonderful, Suisui, Xiao Chen—Daddy loves you so much!”

Li Suisui and Li Chen froze.

Daddy had never kissed them before.

And he had never said he loved them…

Li Suisui was even more dazed. Other parents loved their children. They would hold them, coax them, and even kiss them. But her Daddy had always disliked her and her brother. Kisses were out of the question and in the past, he hadn’t even wanted to touch them. Ever since she was little, she had wanted to get close to her Daddy, but he would always push her away. Later, she understood that her Daddy didn’t like her, so she stopped hoping for it.

And yet—

Daddy was actually willing to kiss her now.

Did this mean he didn’t dislike her anymore? That she was now a child her Daddy liked?

Tiny sparks of hope and joy lit up in Li Suisui’s eyes. She said, “If Daddy likes eating fruit, then Suisui can bring some every day—”

Jian Chengxi cut in quickly, a hearty smile on his face, his voice brimming with excitement. “No, no, I was just thinking. I’d already been meaning to plant more fruit trees, but I was worried about not selling them all. Our fruit is much sweeter than the kindergarten’s. When the time comes, we can work out a deal with the school and sell to them then we’ll make even more money! I really am a genius!”

“……”

The air fell silent for a moment.

Li Suisui and Li Chen: “Oh.”

Heh.

Daddy really was a big dummy.

Hmph!

We’ll remember this!!

…

That night, after they got home, Jian Chengxi made some wild vegetable fritters for the children.

The fritters were fried until crisp, no longer too hot, and each bite was fragrant and delicious. The two children had never eaten anything so tasty before, and they ate quite a few in one go. Just like that, dinner was settled simply.

Seeing how happily they ate, Jian Chengxi was pleased. He picked up another fritter and put it in their bowls. “If you like them, Daddy will make more for you tomorrow.”

Li Suisui nodded. “I like them!”

Jian Chengxi let out a quiet sigh of relief. He didn’t dare admit that the only reason he had made vegetable fritters was because they didn’t have enough money left to buy nutrient solution, so they had to make do with something else. Fortunately, seeing the children eat so well eased his worries.

…

At night, after coaxing Li Suisui to sleep, Jian Chengxi sat down on Li Chen’s bed.

Li Chen’s leg injury had never healed well. Jian Chengxi had wanted to massage it for him, at least to loosen the meridians and make the boy feel a little better. But when he sat down and looked at that young yet always composed face, the words he meant to say caught in his throat.

In the end, it was the child who spoke first—

Li Chen said, “Daddy, you wanted to see me.”

Jian Chengxi replied, “Xiao Chen, Daddy once studied a bit of medicine. I was thinking of massaging your leg. Would you like that?”

He decided to ask for the boy’s consent.

It was late at night, the room lit only by the faint glow of fireflies. Outside the window, everything was silent. Sitting in the shadows by the window, the child’s thin figure looked so frail. Li Chen shook his head lightly.

Jian Chengxi was taken aback. “Why?”

“The doctors couldn’t heal it,” Li Chen said evenly. If not for the way his hand curled slightly at his side, one might think he was utterly calm. “Doing anything else is just a waste of time.”

The words were calm, but all Jian Chengxi felt was a sharp ache in his heart.

He would rather the child cry and throw a tantrum, rather hear him shout his grievances, than see him sit there in silence, as if he had taken it upon himself to bear and digest everything alone.

Li Chen was only three years old, he was still so little. He could have had a whole, unbroken life ahead of him.

If it hadn’t been for protecting his younger sister, if it hadn’t been for climbing to pick fruit just to survive, how could things have ended up like this?

Jian Chengxi’s chest ached as if something were lodged there. He said, “It won’t be a waste!”

Li Chen looked up in mild surprise.

In the night, his Daddy’s eyes seemed to hold a bright, glimmering light. Smiling, Jian Chengxi took his hand. “Don’t be sad. In the future, technology will be much more advanced and there will definitely be a way to heal you. The massage technique Daddy’s going to use on your leg, it’s something I learned from—”

He had been about to say “an old Chinese doctor.”

Jian Chengxi paused for a beat, then curved his brows into a grin and made an exaggerated gesture. “—from an old immortal! This technique has magic. From now on, Daddy will do it with you every day. The old immortal said that as long as we massage the child’s leg every day, it will get better!”

Li Chen: “…”

Daddy was so childish.

Still, looking at his father’s smiling face, even knowing he was lying just to coax him, that constant self-blame in Li Chen’s heart seemed to part slightly, letting in a bit of warm sunshine.

Jian Chengxi asked softly, “Then can Daddy massage it for you?”

Li Chen hesitated for a moment before finally giving a small nod.

Jian Chengxi felt a wave of relief. Compared to other children his age, his own boy was always thinner, weaker. When he fully rolled up the pants, the sight of those small, tender legs mottled with scars was shocking. Some had healed, but the marks remained. His hands trembled slightly, his nose stung fiercely, but not wanting to cry in front of the child, he forced himself to ask, “Were these all from falling?”

Li Chen stayed silent.

A terrible suspicion began to form in Jian Chengxi’s mind. He lifted his gaze, staring at Li Chen, his voice trembling. “Did… did I used to hit you?”

Li Chen’s eyelashes were long. He lowered his eyes, his thin, pale face calm in a quiet, chilly sort of way. The silent child said nothing yet it felt as if he had said everything.

Jian Chengxi took a deep breath, suppressing the fury boiling in his chest.

But then—

Li Chen’s voice sounded softly in the room. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Hearing that only made Jian Chengxi’s heart ache all the more. He couldn’t understand how the original him could have been so cruel to a child. As a parent, how could anyone bear to treat someone so young like this? It was as if that heartless man had never considered these two children his own at all.

Yet that despicable original self still had such adorable children.

Infuriating!

Jian Chengxi sniffed, doing his best to hide his emotions from the boy. His movements grew gentler as he said, “Daddy will massage it for you and once I do, it won’t hurt anymore.”

But in truth, loosening the places with bruising hurt quite a bit.

Even though he tried to be as gentle as possible, it couldn’t completely take the pain away.

Jian Chengxi could even feel Li Chen’s leg trembling faintly. Yet when he looked up, the boy only pressed his lips together and endured in silence, his dark eyes calm and unyielding—no crying, no fussing.

“If it hurts, you can say so,” Jian Chengxi tried to encourage him. “Once it’s better, it won’t hurt anymore. Then Xiao Chen will grow tall and strong, and become a real man who stands tall, someone amazing!”

Li Chen looked at his Daddy in puzzlement.

A faint spark of anticipation rose in his heart. Did Daddy really trust him that much? Did Daddy believe he could become someone great?

After all, he was still a child and no matter how clever, he couldn’t hide his feelings entirely. Unable to resist, Li Chen asked with quiet expectation, “Really? How amazing?”

Jian Chengxi froze.

He had only just transmigrated into this world and still didn’t understand much. How was he supposed to know what counted as “amazing” here? But coaxing a child was easy enough. Clearing his throat, he smiled and gave an example. “Amazing enough to be taller and stronger than A-Hu!”

Li Chen: “…”

Suddenly, it didn’t sound so exciting anymore.