Becoming a little over four years old again and choosing to live with her grandfather, You Guang quickly adjusted to her new state.
However, while she relaxed, the elders in the family did not relax.
After Xie Haitang privately spoke with her sister-in-law over the phone, the whole family spent several days interviewing nannies together.
"This auntie is too noisy, she would keep me from focusing." Sending away yet another nanny politely, little You Guang poked at her milk bottle and said this to Xia Rong and Xie Haitang, who were sitting on the sofa listening to her opinion.
"A child's attention span is very important, so this one won't do," Xia Rong said solemnly.
"?" Xie Haitang frowned, "This is already the sixth one."
Due to the previous incident with Auntie Huang, Xia Youqing rarely had the heart this time to tell her father and sister-in-law to be careful when hiring a nanny for her daughter and to listen more to You Guang.
When Xia Rong and Xie Haitang were choosing a nanny for the child, they didn't need Xia Youqing to tell them to be cautious; they already knew. However, they were unclear why Xia Youqing left the decision of choosing a nanny to a child, but this didn't prevent them from respecting the child's opinion.
"Alright, then I…" Xie Haitang just wanted to say that she'll look further, but she was interrupted by little You Guang halfway through.
"Can we do without a nanny?"
"How can we do without a nanny? There's no one at home specifically to accompany you."
"I don't need anyone to accompany me." You Guang threw the empty milk bottle into the trash bin.
"How would that work?"
"How would we know if it works without trying?"
"…" Xie Haitang looked at her father-in-law with difficulty.
She couldn't make the decision.
"Then let's not have a nanny," Xia Rong thought for a moment and said, "It's almost Chinese New Year. Before the New Year, I'll postpone my activities and spend more time at home with Youyou. After the New Year, the child will go to school, and she'll be with Daidai every day, so it would be fine without a nanny."
"I will also postpone activities where I can and use the extra time to accompany darling Youyou. However, before the New Year, I will be quite busy, so I'll have to trouble dad more then."
Later, Xia Rong and Xie Haitang found that some things they indeed overthought, and they figured out some patterns in interacting with little You Guang.
Not only that.
As time went on with this child at home, they found the child spoke very little, to the point of barely speaking unless necessary.
She was quiet every day; if no one interacted with her, she could just sit in the yard basking in the sun or watch flowers, fish, and trees in the garden.
Winter in Jincheng was gloomy, cold, and humid, with biting cold winds.
A child of four or five years old also didn't fuss about going out to play, often wrapping up in a cashmere blanket, obediently sitting by the window watching snow, listening to rain, with a pinkish and exquisite face so serene it was startling.
She was too quiet, so much so that she created a world of her own, making those around her sometimes afraid to disturb or startle her by talking to her.
After observing her little niece for a while, Ruan Qiulan couldn't help but whisper to others, "Does this child have tendencies towards depression and autism?"
As soon as she asked, several adults in the family became even more anxious.
However, they also found that this child, in addition to loving quietness and talking little, wasn't averse to communicating with others.
She ate at meal times, slept when it was time to sleep, her routine as stable as that of an elderly person, and she was more obedient than many adults, causing little worry.
You wonder, does this indicate a psychological problem or not?
It's a pity that in a house full of doctors, not one is a psychologist.
The two women in the family were more anxious about her future family education, unsure how to give this child a happier childhood.
After quietly observing his granddaughter for a while, Xia Rong, feeling relieved, concluded to his son and daughter-in-law, "Stillness brings calmness, calmness brings wisdom. This child, in the future, cannot be lacking in wisdom. You all, don't be overly concerned, give the child more personal space, respect the child's will more. Also, whatever the child needs, try to satisfy. She is quite an extraordinary child."
The old man's words finally stopped the older couple from buzzing around cluelessly, not knowing how to treat this child well.
…
In these times, smartphones were not yet widespread, and people were not often online; contact was mostly through phone calls.
Xia Youqing would go out for filming, gone for a month or two at a time, as if she disappeared when she left.
After leaving her daughter at her natal family, she felt more at ease to focus on her own work.
Moreover, she already knew her daughter wasn't an ordinary child, so she simply treated her like an adult.
It was the elders of the Xia family who found little You Guang would voluntarily call her mother every week, concerned about her life.
For her father, this child was the same, maintaining a once-a-week frequency, as disciplined as her routine, unchangeable.
However, there was a bit of a difference for these unreliable parents.
Ning Yi sometimes missed his daughter and would take the initiative to call the Xia family to chat with his daughter.
Xia Youqing did not.
Since her daughter started calling her, they had not seen this young lady make a call to the family.
It's just, absurd!
Angrily, Xia Rong called his daughter, strongly demanding she must care more for her granddaughter and call the child more often.
Xia Youqing told him her daughter was not an ordinary child and didn't need her to say much.
But Xia Rong didn't feel that way.
Then Xia Youqing started to chat awkwardly with her daughter, and soon, You Guang took the initiative to find the right way to chat with Xia Youqing, gaining much more understanding of her.
Consider it an unexpected gain.
...
As the New Year approached, the weather that day was unexpectedly nice.
Some of the herbs at home were starting to get damp, so Xia Rong was busy early in the morning moving the herbal medicine from the cabinets to the courtyard to dry.
In the courtyard, the workers had already set up the tools for drying the herbs.
Xia Rong spread the herbs out one by one to dry, while a little girl dressed in white, with delicate features like a carved jade figure, helped spread the herbs evenly that the workers had poured out.
"Don't touch the prickly ones, be careful not to get your hand pricked," Xia Rong reminded his granddaughter.
"I'll be careful," You Guang nodded obediently, her movements unhurried yet very efficient.
"Miss You Guang is so capable, even helping grandpa with the herbs," Aunt Li praised.
"Indeed, before Miss Daidai and Young Master Daidai would help the old master with the herbs too, but they'd scatter them like flower petals, not as evenly and nicely as Miss You Guang does," Aunt Zhang said as she carried a box of herbs over.
"You can just move the herbs over and leave them here, there's no need to worry about the rest." Xia Rong also thought his granddaughter was exceptionally smart. Hearing the workers praise the child, he said nothing, but his face beamed with pride.
Traditional Chinese herbs have been passed down in China for two or three thousand varieties, and the Xia family, being a lineage of doctors, has always upheld the tradition of Chinese medicine at home.
Herbs were never lacking in the Xia household, and the Xia residence had collected four to five hundred types of herbs. In the past, whenever drying herbs, Xia Rong would call several workers to finish as quickly as possible.
Today, Xia Rong just wanted the herbs to dry a little slower.
After Aunt Zhang and Aunt Li received their instructions, they didn't touch the herbs in the courtyard but went inside to bring out the ones that hadn't been moved yet.
"Youyou, do you want to learn with grandpa how to recognize herbs?" After the two workers left, Xia Rong casually asked his little granddaughter.
He asked casually but didn't know this was exactly what little You Guang wanted.
"Sure." Having been a Chinese medicine doctor in a past life, You Guang naturally recognized these herbs in front of her.
So, when the workers praised her for drying the herbs well, she didn't think much of it. She was even considering how she could reveal her knowledge of these things to her family in a more legitimate way.
Grandpa's proposal was truly a timely gift.
You Guang's lips curled into a delighted smile.
...
That evening, when the entire Xia family gathered, waiting for dinner,
The eldest uncle noted the workers placing a bottle of homemade ginseng and Lingzhi wine on the table and, with some interest, asked, "Is there some happy event today, with wine on the table?"
As a family of doctors, the Xiā family was very health-conscious, generally not drinking alcohol at home.
"That's right, that's right, today was a really happy day."
"Oh?" Everyone couldn't help but perk up their ears.
Soon, everyone in the Xia family was stunned to learn that little You Guang had recognized two hundred types of herbs in a single day.
"She recognized all of them?!" the second uncle exclaimed.
"Yes, she recognized all of them. Today, I taught her two hundred types."
Xia Rong's words were not exhaustive; perhaps the child could remember even more.
"Oh my God," Xia Xiqing, feeling stiff, walked over to his little niece, who was sitting calmly on the sofa but inwardly embarrassed. He gently patted her small head and marveled, "What kind of luck brought our dear Youyou to our home?"
"Who would say otherwise?" everyone chimed in.
Later on, little You Guang wasn't shy about reading books in front of everyone. What kind of books did she read?
There was Xie Haitang's child psychology, the eldest uncle's quantum mechanics, as well as grandpa's collection of metaphysics books, among others.
The Xia family was utterly amazed.
At first, the family thought she was just skimming through. But later they realized she was genuinely reading, recognizing every word.
They asked her, "How do you know so many words?"
You Guang replied, "Grandma Huang reads to me every day, so I learned."
Nonsense, Aunt Huang would be doing well not to put on melodramatic soap operas every day, let alone read to her!
What a beautiful story she made up!
The second uncle picked up his little niece, overflowing with affection.
"My sweet little Youyou, perhaps heaven played favorites, giving you the intelligence that was supposed to belong to your mother. She, who never passed an exam as a child, would be just a pretty face in the entertainment industry. Otherwise, her intelligence is truly worrisome."
At first, Grandpa Xia could nod in some agreement with his second son's words, but by the end, his old face was completely red with embarrassment.
Xie Haitang and Xia Duqing watched on the side, trying hard to suppress their laughter.
Ruan Qiulan shot her husband a sharp glance, "What nonsense are you saying? Youyou is smart, and Qingqing is not as bad as you make her out to be." 1314