When they reached the fourth floor, the children were astonished once again.
There it was: a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil with a 1.2-ter-long jaw and 10-centiter-long teeth! Everyone had to crane their necks to look up at it. Even as a fossil, its murderous aura was impossible to conceal. There was also a Thunder Dragon towering 20 ters high!
The children were captivated, their heads turning every which way. Lin Feng held Zhang Yuxi's hand, while Zhang Yuxi held onto the children. A male guide explained what kind of dinosaurs they were, whether they lived in the Jurassic or Cretaceous period, and more. The children were completely srized.
They walked through the exhibit twice before reluctantly returning to the lobby to watch the movie. After half an hour, they were far from satisfied and wanted to watch it again.
Lin Feng smiled and said, "How about this? We'll go eat lunch, then co back for another look, okay?"
The children were instantly delighted.
By the ti they got ho, it was already seven o'clock. Zhang Yuxi was so tired she could barely move, but the children were still full of energy, jumping and making a racket. Lin Feng cooked dinner while Zhang Yuxi, utterly exhausted, dozed off for a bit.
Before bed, the children said they hoped to co back again.
Lin Feng promised, "Okay, Mom and Dad will bring you here to play again next ti!"
The world is so big, he thought. In the future, he would take the children out to see more of it, to broaden their horizons and let them experience new things. Besides, he was discovering that the kids had incredible mories.
「Back in Yangcheng.」
That evening, the children began sorting through the trinkets they had bought in New York. So were ant for their teachers, while others were for their best friends.
Dabao and Erbao had brought small gifts for everyone in their respective classes. Dabao had bought palm-sized Transforrs with movable joints that were very fun to play with. He'd purchased them at the Universal Studios specialty store, and they weren't cheap.
Lin Feng helped the children get dressed. "Are your backpacks ready?"
"All set!"
"Do you have your water bottles? And your sweat towels?"
"We do!"
Lin Feng walked them to school, where they t their friends at the gate.
"Daddy, goodbye!"
Lin Feng waved to the children, watching until they entered the school building before he reluctantly left.
Liu Qing's daughter, Tian Tian, had originally planned to attend school in Yangcheng, but due to family reasons, she had returned to Modu for her studies. The little ones still had video chats occasionally, but as they all made new friends, they gradually contacted each other less.
Lin Feng went ho to prepare lunch for the children.
Zhang Yuxi ca ho unexpectedly at noon. "Honey? Surprised to see ?"
Lin Feng laughed. "No classes this afternoon?"
"None!" Zhang Yuxi hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek. "What's for lunch?"
Lin Feng whispered sothing in her ear.
Zhang Yuxi tapped his chest with a soft fist. "Honey, I'm not joking with you!"
"Neither am I," Lin Feng said with a perfectly straight face.
With that, he swept her up and carried her upstairs.
That afternoon, the children were thrilled to see that not only their dad but also their mom was there to pick them up.
"Mom, what are you doing here today?"
"I don't have classes this afternoon, so I ca ho!"
One of Erbao's friends said enviously, "Wow, your mom is so beautiful!"
Erbao said proudly, "Of course! My mom is the most beautiful mom in the whole world!"
Her friend quickly chid in, "My mom is the most beautiful in the world, too!"
The friend's mother was amused and exasperated when she heard this. After all, Zhang Yuxi's beauty was in a completely different league from her own. But in a child's eyes, their own mother is the most beautiful in the world, beyond compare.
After school, the girls always walked hand-in-hand, while the boys were like monkeys bursting forth from a stone, bounding all over the place. They leaped around so much, they were just short of riding away on magical clouds. A quiet, well-behaved child like Sanbao was a rare sight.
Back ho, the children's howork for the week was to make clothing out of recycled materials. All the children from the eight first-grade classes had to make an outfit and walk on a runway.
This was no challenge for Erbao. The mont the teacher assigned the howork, she already had a plan.
While clearing the dinner table, Lin Feng called out towards the living room, "Do you need Mom and Dad's help?"
Zhang Yuxi was in the living room with the children, sorting through materials to see if there was anything they could use. Learning from their experience with kindergarten craft projects, Lin Feng now saved any unused plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, and similar items in a small storage closet.
The children shook their heads and shouted back, "If we need anything, we'll ask Dad!"
Erbao asked her siblings in a soft voice, "Do you need my help?"
The other kids laughed. "No, thanks! The teacher said we have to do it ourselves!"
Erbao smiled sweetly. "Okay, but if you need help, just let
know!"
"Sure thing!"
The craft project was due to be exhibited the following Friday, giving the children a full week. For now, after finishing their written howork, they gathered to work on their crafts.
With so free ti, Zhang Yuxi decided to look over their howork. Sanbao was, as always, a model student; she always finished her assignnts before doing anything else. As class monitor, Dabao did his howork diligently without needing any reminders.
Erbao and Sibao, however, were always the last to finish their howork. They were the ones who made Zhang Yuxi want to pull her hair out.
Compared to Sanbao's delicate and neat penmanship, Erbao's characters were scattered and ssy.
Yes, ssy. So ssy that Zhang Yuxi found it intolerable.
Previously, their howork had involved writing numbers or learning Pinyin for Chinese, with very little actual character writing. It was impossible to tell how good Erbao's handwriting was. But now it was clear: Erbao's handwriting was off-the-charts ugly.
Then there was Sibao. Zhang Yuxi had specifically reminded him to write each stroke with force. Yet his characters were so faint they looked like they hadn't eaten, about to float off the page. It had improved slightly for a while, but now, not only were the characters faint, they were also ssy.
Zhang Yuxi marched over to her husband and whined, "Honey, look at Erbao's and Sibao's handwriting! What are we going to do?"
Lin Feng frowned. "This is pretty bad."
At school, Zhang Yuxi was known for being a strict teacher. If it weren't for her stunning looks, who knows how much the students would complain.
She really, truly could not stand Erbao's and Sibao's handwriting at all. She had spoken to them about it more than once. Dabao's writing had been poor before, but it had improved and wasn't noticeably bad anymore. In fact, with Erbao and Sibao setting such a low bar, Dabao's penmanship suddenly looked much more pleasing to the eye.
Moreover, the teachers had raised this issue several tis, hoping the parents would supervise. Their handwriting was so bad that even the teachers were helpless; sotis, it was completely indecipherable.
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuxi felt she had to do sothing.
Lin Feng quickly tried to soothe his wife. "Honey, don't get angry yet. Let's take it slow, okay?"
With a stern face, Zhang Yuxi said, "I'm not angry. I'm going to buy them copybooks to practice with."
In truth, Lin Feng had also discussed this with Erbao and Sibao many tis. It would work for a while, but before long, they would revert to their old ways.
"I'll buy copybooks that match their first-grade Chinese lessons, and I'll supervise them when they do their howork," Zhang Yuxi declared. "This ti, this problem must be solved for good."
Lin Feng thought for a mont. "Okay."
In every family, soone had to be the good cop, and soone had to be the bad cop. Since Zhang Yuxi was a teacher, he would leave the matter of the children's education to her.
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