Gourmet: Twins' Father and Chef of the Kindergarten-Chapter 218 - 204: Being a Dad Isn’t Easy—Cherish Every Step
The bright moon hung like a bent bow, quietly illuminating the night city, draping the bustling realm in a silver-white gauzy glow.
In this tranquil and beautiful night, although Huang Jun had finished all the complicated household chores, he still couldn’t catch a moment of leisure.
The reason.
He had to rack his brains over making handicrafts with his two beloved daughters...
"Qingqing, Weiwei, why didn’t you both wait for Daddy to make lanterns together and decided to do it yourselves?" Huang Jun saw his two sweeties already engrossed and enthusiastic in lantern making, not without a hint of surprise, meanwhile, a slight guilt arose in his heart.
The two little ones were making him tenderly ache with their understanding!
"Daddy, because... I wanted to give you a surprise!"
Qingqing lifted her head, looking into Huang Jun’s eyes, which reflected delighted glimmers, then she pouted her little mouth, looking at Huang Jun with a face full of utter grievance: "But it’s really tricky, Daddy, why is making lanterns so complicated?"
Earlier, seeing her father busy, she had wanted to take on the responsibility as a sister, leading her younger sister to make a lantern to surprise their father.
But, alas...
As young as she was, she understood nothing about making lanterns.
Even though she tried learning from related tutorial videos on the phone.
The end result was... Eyes: I got it; Brain: Kind of understood; Hands: I can’t do it!
In short.
The paper and ribbons in her hands seemed conspiratorial, tangled messily together, utterly refusing to take shape.
So much so, she now sat deflated like a punctured ball on the carpet, disheartened, lamenting: "Why did Miss Yang have to assign such hard homework! Such hard homework, little kids simply can’t do it..."
"Yes, yes, making lanterns is really tough! These materials don’t listen to my little hands at all; they keep moving stubbornly, I can’t make them right..."
Weiwei also furrowed her little brows, confusedly staring at the lantern frame in her hands.
She had carefully tried setting it up, but the lantern frame wobbled unsteadily, refusing to stand firm.
As such.
After several attempts, Weiwei too, deflated, set aside the materials, looking at Huang Jun hoping for his help.
The reason they were busy making lanterns tonight was that the Mid-Autumn Festival was fast approaching.
The kindergarten teachers had assigned a parent-child project: asking parents and children to use available home materials to create a lantern together.
Originally a fun activity meant to enhance parent-child bonding, it had become quite a challenge for Huang Jun and his two little ones.
Indeed.
Making handicrafts might be the mom’s chore for other families.
But for Huang Jun who’s a stand-in dad and mom, it’s truly a daddy’s task!
Let alone, he had to help prepare two lanterns, which was truly taxing!
Sigh!
All one could say was... Being a dad isn’t easy, cherish each moment!
"Daddy, why doesn’t Miss Yang let us draw lanterns? That would surely be much simpler." Weiwei suddenly had a bright idea, posing the question.
Faced with his daughters’ complaints, Huang Jun could only manage a wry smile.
No other way!
This is kindergarten-assigned homework, and he couldn’t randomly alter it!
He could only match the teachers’ efforts!
Luckily, Huang Jun had a way with handling his precious daughters, tenderly tucking their hair behind their ears, smilingly assuring them: "Qingqing, Weiwei, don’t be discouraged. Miss Yang assigned this homework to cultivate your hands-on capability and creativity. While drawing lanterns might seem simpler, making them by hand teaches you more, like cutting, pasting, assembling—these are all valuable skills."
The two little ones nodded in a semi-understood manner.
Qingqing blinked her big eyes, curiously asked: "When we’ve made the lantern, can we hang it at home during the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Huang Jun smiled and replied: "This lantern is meant to be taken to school to decorate the classroom, so other kids can admire your work."
"Oh!"
Qingqing nodded, suddenly thinking of something, followed with questions: "Then Daddy, please help us make it better, make it prettier! If ours isn’t pretty, won’t other kids dislike our lantern? Would Miss Yang and others dislike our lantern too?"
She feared it might look too ugly and make them a laughingstock, also worrisome about the teachers disfavoring their lantern.
Sensing her low mood, Huang Jun gently patted Qingqing’s head, reassuringly said: "Don’t worry, Qingqing, Daddy will do his best to help make it well. As long as we put our hearts into it, every lantern is unique and worthy of admiration. Plus, the other kids and Miss Yang will surely like the effort we’ve put into our work."
"Really?" Qingqing looked at her dad skeptically.
"It’s absolutely true," Huang Jun confirmed with a smile, "Moreover, in school, you can share the lantern-making experience with other kids, fostering friendships, and enjoying the fun and sense of achievement in arts and crafts. Surely, thanks to the lantern, you’ll reap more happiness."
Qingqing and Weiwei listened to their dad’s words, their eyes brightening.
They were brimming with anticipation at the thought of sharing the lantern-making process with Yuanyuan and Tiantian and other little friends at kindergarten.
Weiwei urged, "Daddy, let’s begin quickly..."
"Alright, alright..." Huang Jun laughed, sitting between Qingqing and Weiwei, watching the tutorial videos together, learning and creating together.
Luckily, he had some knack for crafts, soon grasping the basic techniques for lantern making.
Then came the practical stage...
First, he selected chopsticks of suitable length and thickness and carefully glued them together with a glue gun to form the base frame of the lantern.
The glue from the gun made a slight sizzling sound as it instantly bonded the chopsticks together tightly,
With the base frame completed, Huang Jun began constructing the sides of the lantern.
He glued the chopsticks one by one onto the base frame, constantly adjusting the angles and positions to ensure each chopstick was straight and sturdy.
Seeing her dad busy without the slightest intention of involving them, Qingqing couldn’t help but remind him, "Daddy, you can’t do all the work by yourself. Miss Yang said this is a parent-child assignment, and both parents and kids need to participate together!"
Squatting beside them, Weiwei quickly nodded in agreement, blinking her bright eyes and eagerly saying, "Daddy, I want to play too!"
Huang Jun chuckled, put down the glue gun, and nodded, "Alright, I know, Qingqing and Weiwei should definitely join in. But Qingqing, Weiwei, I have to tell you, the glue gun is a bit dangerous, so you can’t touch it. This part is dad’s job to handle, while you two can assist by decorating the lantern. How about that?"
"Okay!"
Qingqing and Weiwei responded happily.
Although they thought using the glue gun looked fun, since dad said it was off-limits, they obediently complied. As long as they could participate and complete this parent-child project with dad, they were happy, no matter what they did.
So then...
During the subsequent production process, Qingqing and Weiwei became Huang Jun’s capable little assistants.
They excitedly picked up colored pens, ready to showcase their skills on the lantern paper.
But faced with the blank lantern paper, the two little ones were stumped.
Since they hadn’t been painting for long, they usually only drew simple patterns like watermelons and balls in kindergarten.
Now, suddenly asked to draw decorative patterns on the lantern, they honestly didn’t know where to start.
Well, if you don’t know, just ask.
The two little ones looked at Huang Jun, their eyes full of eagerness for help, and asked, "Daddy, what should we draw on it?"
Huang Jun smiled and guided them, asking, "What do we have during Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Qingqing and Weiwei thought for a moment, blinking, then almost answered in unison, "There’s the moon, Chang’e, and the jade rabbit..."
This week, their kindergarten theme was Mid-Autumn Festival, and the teacher had told the kids many stories about it, so the two little ones remembered quite a few Mid-Autumn-related things and scenes.
Huang Jun nodded with approval, "Very good, you’ve got great memories, remembering all that. So, you can draw the moon. You could draw a round moon, a crescent moon, or even Chang’e and the jade rabbit on the moon—all are fine."
Upon hearing this, the little ones’ eyes brightened up.
They began seriously pondering, discussing what kind of moon to draw and how to coordinate the colors.
Soon, they picked up the colored pens and started drawing on the lantern paper.
Although the moons and jade rabbits they drew weren’t perfect, every stroke was filled with their creativity and imagination.
"Wonderful..."
No matter how the little ones drew, the key was to praise them.
"Heehee~"
Hearing the compliment, Qingqing and Weiwei smiled happily.
The task of pasting the paper was naturally left to Huang Jun.
Under Huang Jun’s skillful hands, the lantern surface gradually adhered to the frame, and the entire lantern started to take its proper shape.
The patterns on the colored paper, though better viewed from a distance, looked especially vibrant under the light, adding a bit of charm to the lantern.
Finally, the two antique-style lanterns were completed.
At the end, Huang Jun further added inscriptions beside Qingqing and Weiwei’s artwork, giving the whole lantern a touch of rustic elegance.
"All done!" Holding the two antique lanterns, Huang Jun handed them over to Qingqing and Weiwei, smiling as he asked, "Qingqing, Weiwei, how do you like them?"
"Beautiful!" Qingqing and Weiwei’s eyes lit up as they excitedly circled around the lanterns, "Even prettier than the ones Miss Yang made!"
"Really? Then daddy is really happy!" Watching the two little girls’ joyful expressions and hearing their praises, Huang Jun’s heart blossomed with joy.
"Daddy, we don’t want to take them to Miss Yang. I really like these lanterns!" Qingqing and Weiwei held onto the lanterns, saying fondly.
"Why?" Huang Jun asked, puzzled.
"We want to hang them at home on Mid-Autumn night, so our home will be more festive!" Qingqing and Weiwei’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. They felt these two antique lanterns, made with their dad, were very special!
They just couldn’t part with them!
"You can submit them as your assignment and still get them back!"
Huang Jun responded, both laughing and crying, then added, "Don’t worry, I promise you that after the event, I’ll talk to Miss Yang to make sure these two antique lanterns will be back at home for Mid-Autumn. How does that sound?"
"That’s wonderful! Thank you, daddy~"
Qingqing and Weiwei jumped up happily, circling around the lanterns again as if they could already see the beautiful scene on Mid-Autumn day, with lanterns lighting up the entire room.
"It’s getting late, let’s wash up and go to bed early. We still have school tomorrow!" Looking at the night outside the window, Huang Jun couldn’t help but remind them.
"Okay!"
Qingqing and Weiwei obediently nodded, helping to tidy up the living room before washing up and going to bed.
