At the Old Age Home.
Grandpa Wang was narrating the story while the other old men were acting accordingly.
As Grandpa Wang continued.
"Jun carefully took out the seed and moved it into another pot. He put the best and richest black soil from his garden in the new pot. He even broke up every clump of soil there was into tiny bits of dirt. With great care, he pressed the royal seed on top. Jun watched the pot every day, adding drops of water here and there. But still, his seed did not grow."
"Strong, mighty plants were soon rising from pots that were taken care of by other boys in Jun's village. Sadly, Jun walked around with his head down. The other boys used to laugh at him. When something was empty, they would say that it was, 'as empty as Jun's pot.'"
"Jun moved his seed yet again. This time he took some dried fish and made it into a powder. He dusted the powder into the soil as fertilizer. Yet, even so, Jun's seed did not grow."
As he said Old Wu had a dejected face as he was acting as Jun in the story.
"Slowly six months passed. The day came when all the boys needed to bring their plants to the palace for the test. Chen, Han, Wong and hundreds of other boys cleaned their pots till they were shining. They even cleaned each green leaf. They were dressed in their best clothes. Mothers and fathers walked next to their sons to help keep plants up so they would not tip over."
Old Wu seemed like he was crying as he looked at Grandma Nana.
"What will I do?"
Old Wu wailed to Grandma Nana who was acting as his mother as he looked out the window.
"The other boys were walking with pride to the palace." Old Wang continued.
"My pot is empty! My seed did not grow!" Old Wu called out.
"Bring the King your pot, the way it is." Said Grandpa Zhao, playing the role of father.
"That's right." Said Grandma Nan as his mother. "You did the best you could."
Old Wu's face reddened with shame.
Old Wang continued.
"Jun carried his empty pot on the road to the palace. Other boys could hardly hold such a large plant passed him by."
"At the palace, all the boys lined up. Holding their big, strong plants in front of them, they waited to be judged. The King, in his rich silk robe, walked slowly down the line."
Another old man walked like a king and looked at all the 'boys' plants with a blank look on his face.
When he came to Old Wu, he frowned.
"What is this? You brought me an empty pot?"
The old man was acting as the king here.
Old Wu looked like he was about to cry.
"If you please, Your Majesty!" Said Old Wu.
"I tried my best. I planted your seed in the best soil I could find. I kept it moist and watched it every day. When the seed did not grow, I moved it to new soil, and I even moved it a third time. But it just didn't grow!" Old Wu hung his head.
"I'm sorry."
"Hmm."
The Old Man nodded.
Turning so that everyone could hear he roared.
"I do not know where all these other boys got their seeds. There is no way anything could grow from the seeds we passed out for the contest.'
"And that is because all those seeds had been cooked! No plant could grow from them!"
And he smiled at Old Wu.
Thus the story ended.
__________
The ladies and Little Qiqi who were in the audience clapped for cheering them.
Old Wang came forward and asked as he turned to Little Qiqi.
"So Little Qiqi what do you understand from this."
"Grandpa Wang, it means that all the other boys lied while the boy named Jun was good and didn't try to do anything wrong, he was also honest."
Little Qiqi said as she rubbed her chin.
"Wow, our Little Qiqi has grown up smarter now!"
Grandma Xue exclaimed as she patted Little Qiqi's head.
Little Qiqi giggled and nodded at her patting.
"Alright, we still have time how about we do some more animal stories. Since Little Qiqi likes animals so much."
Grandpa Wang chuckled.
Little Qiqi's eyes shone after hearing him.
"Yee! yes grandpa Wang."
She clapped her hands and cheered.
As she was cheering and the old men went on their fours to start the play the door of the hall creaked as someone entered.
"Creaak"
A thin figure entered through the door and stood there looking at everyone in surprise.
He moved his eyes around a few more times until his eyes rested on Little Qiqi.
Upon seeing him, Little Qiqi crawled from Grandma Xue's lap and ran to him.
"Hehe, Papa you are back."
She hugged him as he crouched down to receive her hug.
"Papa missed my Little Butterfly a lot."
Ye Qian murmured as he picked Little Qiqi in his hand.
"Hehe, Papa, your Little Butterfly missed you a lot too."
Little Qiqi giggle as she rubbed Ye Qian's nose.
"Hey, why do you always rub my nose?"
Little Qiqi had been rubbing his nose a lot since he carried her so he asked.
"Papa, Mumma says Qiqi's nose is like papa."
"No, I think Butterfly's nose is like her Mumma's so beautiful."
"Qiqi told Mumma but she still says the same."
"Ah what can we say now, it is your Mumma's opinion we can't argue with that."
Hearing him the surrounding ladies and men giggled.
'You really know the rules of married life; you can definitely fight the world but won't dare to argue with your wife. Hehe'
Ye Qian looked at the amused faces of the old people and was confused as they seemed to be embarrassed a moment before but now they were about to show some of their non-existent teeth off.
Ye Qian walked to Grandma Xue as he carried Little Qiqi who was playing with his hair.
"Thanks a lot, we must be leaving now."
"It's time for Mengmeng to be back. Soon, she will be coming home."
Ye Qian said as he looked at the old men and ladies with a respectable and thankful gaze.
"En, didn't Qiqi's mother come at 6 how would she come now?"
Grandma Xue asked as all had the same question because Yuan Meng would daily come at 6 to take Little Qiqi back home, so they thought, her job would be finished at around 6.
"No, she used to walk from the City High School, so it took her about an hour to be back, today I told her to come by taxi."
Ye Qian said with a guilty expression.
Grandma Xue smiled.
"That is what all mothers will do for their child, don't feel that it's completely your fault for her being in such a situation, though there might have been some changes if you were here."
"Like Little Qiqi would not be coming here, we would not have such good days without her, and most importantly, we could never have thought that there might still be something good enough that we would love so much."
"It is all interdependent, you will understand that when you have less time to spend with your loved ones."
"Now you should take care of her, she has been too hard on herself."
"You can give all that she deserved to be such a good wife and your child's mother."
Grandma Xue sighed.
Ye Qian's mood lightened as he heard Grandma Xue and smiled.
"Yes, we will come on Sunday."
Saying that he turned to everyone and called out.
"We will have a small party on Sunday evening."
The ladies and men nodded as he cheered up.
Saying that Ye Qian took Little Qiqi's small Doremon bag with his other hand as he carried Little Qiqi with his right hand.
After picking the other stuff he turned and nodded at everyone gesturing about his departure.
With that, he started walking to the door.
Little Qiqi turned her head and waved at them as Ye Qian walked to the door.
"Bye-bye grandpa and grandma."
She waved her tiny hand as if it was a magic wand bringing a smile to everyone's face.
"Bye-bye Qiqi."
All of them waved at Little Qiqi while Grandma Xue called out.
"Qiqi, remember what I told you."
Little Qiqi giggled and nodded while waving her hand.
"Yes, Grandma Xue, Qiqi will remember!"
With that Ye Qian started walking down the stairs.
As he walked he was greeted by Guard Le.
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