Earlier, Shen Yuan hadn’t returned yet, and Little Rice Cake had fallen. Little Peanut picked his sister up from the ground and placed her on the stone steps.
Little Rice Cake was still in her baby onesie from her nap, and the fall had left her knees and one side of her body dirty. Her hands were slightly scraped, the braids from that morning were now completely disheveled, and her face had smudges of dirt. She had cried a couple of tears from the fall, which made her already messy face even dirtier—she looked like a little scruffy street urchin.
She held out her palms to her brother, crying: “It’s broken.”
Seeing her cry, Little Peanut panicked and tried to wipe her tears, but his hands were also dirty from helping her earlier. The more he wiped, the dirtier she became. He realized it was his own hands making her little fair face look like a tiny tabby cat.
He paused, unsure what to do first. Then he remembered when he had fallen before, Dad would take the purple antiseptic from the medicine cabinet and clean it with a cotton swab. He recalled the bottle clearly and confidently said, “Brother will clean it for you. Sit here and wait nicely, okay?”
Little Rice Cake, still with tears clinging to her lashes, nodded: “Okay.”
“Don’t cry, alright? When I fell, I didn’t cry, right?”
She nodded again: “Right.”
Little Peanut, mimicking how Dad would touch him, patted her head: “Then don’t cry, Little Rice Cake. I’ll clean it, and it will be okay.”
She trusted him completely: “Oh!”
When Shen Yuan returned, he saw Little Rice Cake sitting on the stone step by the door, still in her pajamas, face smudged with dirt. Though she had promised her brother not to cry, she couldn’t hold back and was quietly sniffling—looking like a little street urchin.
The moment she saw Dad, all the frustration she had held back surged, and tears began to fall. She staggered toward him and clung to his leg: “Daddy.”
Shen Yuan quickly set down the enamel basin and scooped her up: “Hey, what happened? How did you end up sitting at the door? Did you come out by yourself? Where’s your brother?”
She showed him her hands: “It hurts.”
He carried her inside and immediately noticed Little Peanut rifling through the medicine cabinet. “Little Peanut, what are you doing? I told you to watch your sister, didn’t I?”
Startled by the sudden question, Little Peanut accidentally knocked over the cabinet, spilling everything onto the floor with a clatter.
“…,” Shen Yuan said, speechless.
Little Peanut froze, then looked guiltily at his father: “Daddy, sorry… I knocked over the medicine cabinet.”
“I’ll clean it up.”
Shen Yuan set Little Rice Cake on the bed and stopped Little Peanut: “Don’t touch it, there’s broken glass. Daddy will handle it. Go take care of your sister.”
Little Peanut, realizing he’d made a mistake, sat back down with his sister without saying a word.
Shen Yuan cleaned up the cabinet, swept the glass shards, mopped the floor, and then attended to the siblings. He took antiseptic and carefully cleaned Little Rice Cake’s palm wounds.
With a serious expression, he asked Little Peanut: “Now, tell me what happened while I was gone.”
Little Peanut spoke cautiously: “Sister woke up and wanted to find Daddy, so I took her. But we had to cross the threshold, and I said, ‘Sister, step over,’ but she’s too small and fell. Then I said, ‘Don’t cry, Brother will clean it.’ I remembered when I fell, Dad cleaned it, so I wanted to get that medicine.”
Shen Yuan frowned: “I only told you to watch your sister, not to take her to find me. And you didn’t know where I went. Where were you planning to go?”
Little Peanut said, “But Daddy, you didn’t say I couldn’t take Little Rice Cake to find you. I know where you went. You said you were getting water, so it must be at the well.”
Shen Yuan was momentarily stumped by the reasoning of a small child. He carefully countered: “Even if you know where I am, you cannot take your sister alone. You’re still a child yourself. Do you understand how dangerous that is? There are many bad people in the world. If you two were tricked and taken away, you might never see Daddy again.”
Little Rice Cake was frightened by the thought, her face paling. Shen Yuan cleaned her hands and wiped her face.
Little Peanut proudly declared: “I won’t go with strangers, and I won’t be tricked. I’m not as silly as my sister. I will protect her.”
Shen Yuan continued: “What if a bad person tried to take you anyway? What if there were several of them? Even if you refuse, you can’t fight them. You must never put yourself in danger. From now on, you cannot take your sister out alone when I’m not around, understand?”
Little Peanut, puzzled but grasping the point a little: “Got it.”
Shen Yuan said: “Your pajamas are dirty. Go change your clothes.”
He then picked up Little Rice Cake and left the room.
Little Peanut panicked and ran after him: “Daddy, are you angry? Where are you taking Little Rice Cake?”
Shen Yuan stopped after a few steps and placed Little Rice Cake by the threshold. She was still afraid of it after her earlier fall.
“Earlier, how were you going to cross? Try again.”
Little Rice Cake hesitated, looking at Dad, then tried but still couldn’t manage it. Shen Yuan lifted her safely. She held him tight: “I can’t do it. I’m too small.”
He insisted she try: “If you can’t step over, you can climb over.”
He showed Little Peanut how to lift one leg, turn sideways, hold the threshold, then swing the other leg over. Little Rice Cake copied and landed steadily, without falling. She clapped her hands, delighted, and looked up at Dad with a big smile.
Little Peanut clapped too: “Wow, Little Rice Cake, you’re so smart!”
Shen Yuan noted that she might have managed alone, but seeing her brother do it first encouraged her to follow his example.
Then he cleaned both children, changed their clothes, and placed them back on the bed.
But there was still work to do. He brushed Little Rice Cake’s hair patiently: “Daddy taught you to climb the threshold not so you can go out alone. Even if you learn, you must never run out by yourself. It’s so you’ll know that even if you fall, don’t be afraid. We find ways to overcome it. If you can’t, ask Daddy—I’ll teach you.”
Little Rice Cake didn’t fully understand, but gave a determined “Oh!”
He then addressed Little Peanut: “You’re different. What works for you may not work for your sister. The same method doesn’t apply to everyone.”
Little Peanut nodded.
Though Shen Yuan considered it an ordinary parenting moment, the broadcast caused heated discussions online. Some praised him for reasoning with the children instead of just pretending or physically guiding them over the obstacle. Critics claimed it was showy, lecturing a four-year-old and a two-year-old on abstract principles—useless, even harmful.
Shen Yuan didn’t care. How he raised his kids was no one else’s business.
Having grown up without much parental care, he didn’t know the textbook “good parenting” style, but he knew the pitfalls of bad parenting. And at twenty-four, he was still learning himself. He disliked being treated as a clueless child, so even if the kids didn’t understand fully, he spoke to them as he would want to be spoken to—knowing they’d grasp it as they grew.
His grandfather had also explained many things to him when he was young. Back then, he barely understood, but the reasoning made sense. He only truly appreciated it as he got older.
Shen Yuan had hesitated about bringing Little Rice Cake on the show. She became more lively meeting other children, so he and Qiao Hailou discussed sending her to kindergarten. She was introverted and couldn’t stay home all the time.
Qiao Hailou teased: “Can you even bear it?”
Shen Yuan, feeling mocked, replied: “What do you mean? She needs to learn and make friends. Sending both kids to school will give us some breathing room too.”
Qiao Hailou said: “I don’t think it will go as smoothly as with her brother. She’ll cry and resist. You’ll see her and soften instantly, and end up keeping her close again.”
Shen Yuan blushed: “I won’t be that soft.”
Qiao Hailou laughed knowingly: “I know you too well.”
Shen Yuan insisted: “Kids need to learn to be apart from us eventually. I can’t spoil her.”
Two months later, with the new products featuring Little Rice Cake’s photos ready for launch, Qiao Hailou took Little Peanut to record the last episode of the show, while Shen Yuan had arranged for Little Rice Cake to attend an international preschool. He wasn’t expecting her to study anything there—just to play and make a few friends every day.