Legoland, Billund.
At Legoland, Xiao Bao was excited to see the small lego houses.
‘Mama,’ Xiao Bao called. She pointed at the lego houses. ‘Small house.’
Qiao Tan Yuan was worried pointlessly. Xiao Bao wasn’t scared to be in an unfamiliar place. Xiao Bao was fascinated by everything Xiao Bao saw.
‘Xiao Bao, look at the small ants too,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said and she pointed at the lego ants.
‘Ant, no, no,’ Xiao Bao said.
Gu Jiao Wu saw the adorable confused look on Xiao Bao’s face, and he carried her in his arms. He searched ants on his phone, and he showed the photo to Xiao Bao.
‘Xiao Bao, look at daddy’s phone,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘This is what an ant looks like.’
Xiao Bao looked at the ant on the fir-tree’s phone then she pointed at the lego ant.
‘Ant, ant,’ Xiao Bao said.
Gu Jiao Wu took advantage while Qiao Tan Yuan was distracted looking at the lego displays, he wrapped an arm around Qiao Tan Yuan’s shoulder and he took a photo of them together with Xiao Bao. Afterward he set their family photo as his phone wallpaper.
Qiao Tan Yuan let the photo slide, because it was Xiao Bao’s birthday. She freed herself from Gu Jiao Wu’s arm, and she looked for other lego animals to show Xiao Bao.
‘Xiao Bao, look at the small bird,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
‘Bird, bird,’ Xiao Bao said.
‘Xiao Bao, do you want daddy to show you small angels?’ Gu Jiao Wu asked.
‘Gel, gel,’ Xiao Bao said.
Gu Jiao Wu laughed, Xiao Bao turned an angel into gel.
It was the first time Qiao Tan Yuan heard Gu Jiao Wu laughed so much in one day, and she couldn’t stop her heart racing.
Qiao Tan Yuan carried Xiao Bao to see the lego angels, because Gu Jiao Wu wanted to take photos of Xiao Bao and the lego angels together. But she sensed he was looking at her through the camera lens.
‘Gu Jiao Wu, I don’t want you to take photos of me,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
‘I’m taking photos of Xiao Bao,’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
Qiao Tan Yuan chanted to herself to focus on Xiao Bao, and ignore Gu Jiao Wu.
In the afternoon, Gu Jiao Wu took Qiao Tan Yuan and Xiao Bao to eat lunch at a restaurant outside Legoland. Then he drove them to Copenhagen to go sightseeing.
It was a sunny afternoon, Qiao Tan Yuan envied the families who were riding bicycles together. She had dreamt of having a happy family of her own. But she thought it would be meaningless to be a family with Gu Jiao Wu if he didn’t love her. She cleared her thoughts. It was Xiao Bao’s birthday, she should focus her attentions on giving Xiao Bao a happy birthday.
Gu Jiao Wu took many photos of Qiao Tan Yuan and Xiao Bao that strangers would have mistaken him as a photographer.
‘We’ve taken Xiao Bao out for most of the day,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘Xiao Bao must be tired by now.’
‘Um, I arranged Xiao Bao’s birthday cake to be delivered to the house at dinner time,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘Let’s take Xiao Bao home to eat her birthday cake before her bedtime.’
Qiao Tan Yuan carried Xiao Bao to the car, and Xiao Bao napped on the way home. At home, she changed Xiao Bao’s dress to comfortable clothes and washed Xiao Bao’s hands in the bathroom. When she and Xiao Bao walked to the dining room, Gu Jiao Wu had lit candles on Xiao Bao’s birthday cake.
Qiao Tan Yuan was surprised Gu Jiao Wu bought a raspberry cake. Xiao Bao only began to like eating raspberries since they moved to Denmark. She wondered how Gu Jiao Wu knew Xiao Bao liked raspberries.
Xiao Bao blew out the lit candles, and she clapped her hands.
Qiao Tan Yuan fed Xiao Bao a slice of raspberry cake.
Gu Jiao Wu gave Xiao Bao a wrapped birthday gift.
‘Xiao Bao, daddy wishes you a happy birthday,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘Daddy hopes you’ll always be happy like today.’
Xiao Bao didn’t know how to open her gift so she waited for the fir-tree to unwrap her gift.
Gu Jiao Wu showed Xiao Bao what ribbon to pull to unwrap the gift. Inside was a red electronic Ferrari toy car that was too heavy for Xiao Bao to carry.
‘Xiao Bao is still little,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘Xiao Bao can’t use the car remote on her own.’
‘It’s OK,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘I chose a car model that is easy for Xiao Bao to move the car around.’
Gu Jiao Wu put the toy car on the floor, and he showed Xiao Bao how to move the car around using the car remote.
Xiao Bao chased the car the fir-tree gave her around the room, and she laughed when the car moved a different direction if she almost caught it.
At bedtime, Xiao Bao ran baby steps to Qiao Tan Yuan, and Qiao Tan Yuan prepared Xiao Bao for bed.
After Xiao Bao fell asleep, Qiao Tan Yuan walked outside Xiao Bao’s bedroom. She was surprised to see Gu Jiao Wu didn’t leave.
‘Why haven’t you left?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked.
Gu Jiao Wu was looking through the photos he took of Qiao Tan Yuan and Xiao Bao on the sofa.
‘You want me to leave?’ Gu Jiao Wu asked.
‘Yes,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘This is my house.’
‘We haven’t eaten dinner yet,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘What do you want to eat?’
Gu Jiao Wu didn’t count cake as dinner.
‘I don’t want to eat dinner with you,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘I want you to leave my house.’
Gu Jiao Wu stood, stepped toward Qiao Tan Yuan and he hugged her.
‘Tan Yuan, I missed you,’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
End of Chapter 141