12/16/24 - I couldn’t help but wonder to myself, are there really parents who are this gentle?

A compilation of what it’s like to have parents who love you:

“Just got off the plane and was walking towards the exit. There was a father and son in front of me. The father had a little boy with him, and he held his son’s hand in one hand and was making a call with his other. I followed behind him and heard that tall and strong man speak in a sweet, even little bit cutesy voice into his phone, “Wifey~ Wifey, I miss you so much. I’m so happy you came to pick me up. I’m hurrying to the exit with the little guy. How long have you been waiting? Don’t stand in the wind…”

After he hung up the phone, the kiddo asked his dad, “Why aren’t we there yet? Why is the Hongqiao Airport so big all of a sudden?”

And the dad very patiently explained to him, “The airport didn’t get bigger, you’re just tired because it’s late. Next time we go to Pudong Airport, it’ll be even bigger. We might have to walk for 30 minutes.”

And the little boy was like, “Wow! Thirty whole minutes!?”

And the dad nodded, “If you have to walk for 30 minutes, then that’s 30 minutes longer before you get to see mommy. We can’t make mommy wait too long, okay?”

They’re such a happy family…so cute…a little kiddo who didn’t cry and didn’t tantrum and didn’t complain about walking too much. A daddy who’s patient with his kiddo and is able to express his love. And a mommy who came to the airport to wait for the return of her loved ones. It was past 10PM by the time the plane landed, but because there’s a loved one waiting for them, they still looked really energetic.

Sometimes, airports witness more love than churches. The strongest feelings of attachment are usually triggered by “separation” and “being reunited”.

When I got out of the airport, my headset was playing Eason Chen’s “Banzai to us all”. He sung into my ear, “Lovers wander the world, exchanging baggage for time.” [bad translation, I know]

Lovers wander the world.”

“I was eating Luosi Fen [stinky noodles made with fermented bamboo sprouts], and a father and daughter were chatting at the table next to mine. The daughter looked to be about primary school age. In the middle of the dinner, the dad got a phone call, and he responded all impatiently, “What is it now!? Can’t I head over later? Why can’t I go later? I’ll bring an extra bottle of wine.”

The daughter: “Daddy, where are you going? Didn’t you just eat?”

Dad: “They’re making me go over and drink. I don’t wanna drink with them. I wanna stay with you. I love talking to you. Sweetie, why do you like the Luosi Fen here?” (he cares about her preferences)

Daughter: “All the other Luosi Fen places are too spicy. Dad, I’m really full.”

Dad: “Give it to me, I’ll finish it for you.” (My dad would only tell me, “If you can’t finish it, we’re never coming again!”)

At 30 years old, hearing all of that, it just made me want to run back to my rental and cry my heart out! How is there such direct fatherly love in this world? I’ve never experienced such a thing in all my life! And the dummy that I am, I only know how to seek missing fatherly love from men! >: (“

“Lu Yuxiao [actress who recently went on a reality TV show about exposing and covering celebrity family life] is so happy when she goes home. I’ve always known that she was a kid who grew up in love, but I really saw it this time and I really get now why she’s the way she is. She takes out the keys her parents left for her, and tells the doggy by the door, “I’m back”. Then she sits on her bed, looks over at her room, and said, “It’s so neat. Pity it’s gonna get messy soon.” And then she falls asleep.

Her dad comes into her room to help her close the curtains, and her mom checked on her too, and then they went off to work. Look at the way she’s curled up here. This is what every day is like for her at home, isn’t it?

When she wakes up, she sweetly complains to her mom on the phone, “You didn’t even wait for me to get up! I miss you!” Then she goes to get groceries from the supermarket because she wants to make everyone food. She teases her brother by the door, but she loses her key. She doesn’t panic at all. Just like everyone in the observation room says [basically like a room full of commentators who are usually also celebrities, watching the same footage as the audience and talking about it], normally, people would panic when this happens because they’re worried about getting yelled at by their parents. But Lu immediately called her mom, because she’s always felt safe with her family. She’s a kid who’s allowed to make mistakes.

When her dad got home, the very first thing he did was praise her food and come over and ask if he can help. When her mom gets home, she walked over to her daughter to kiss her and say, “Good work.””

While eating, her uncle and aunt praise her too. They even mentioned her dad had called them and said if her food wasn’t good, to just let it go and to not be mean to her. I’m sure Lu was touched by that.

The dad said, “The other day, I was cleaning this way, and your mom wrote, Xiao Xiao [childhood nickname] has gotten so tall!”” And her mom also said, “Because “Xiao Xiao’s forever nest” is written in your room, we would never sell this house.”

I really got moved by this family’s happiness in that moment. Like all parents love their kids this way. I couldn’t help but wonder to myself, are there really parents who are this gentle?

In the end, they brought out a box full of all the stories she’d wrote as a little kid. Drawing of her dad riding a bicycle to take her to school. Making sentences like, “Daddy’s stocks fell again.” Kiddo Lu Yuxiao is so cute it makes my heart soften.

And her mom got jealous and also found stories she’d written for her. Even though such a long time has passed, every sentence is still so sweet.

Their family atmosphere is so amazing. I feel like the warmth in her family is exactly what I feel every time I see her.”

“My kiddo didn’t close the cereal box all the way and accidentally spilled it all over the floor. I was just about to yell at her and haven’t organised my words yet, when she happily cried, “Wow, so many strawberries!” And started happily picking out strawberry pieces to eat.

So I held myself back and waited for her to finish and got a broom and cleaned it up. Whew. Thank God I didn’t yell at her.”

“Last time I went home for dinner, I broke a bottle of wine. My dad said it was fine, he couldn’t drink so he can at least enjoy smelling the wine. My mom said that broken things mean peace [a polite superstition to help kiddos avoid getting beaten up for breaking things] and that she’ll get a new bottle. My sister told me to not move while she went to get a broom. My little niece yelled from the balcony, “Auntie, are you okay? Did your hurt your hand?” And my husband just froze. Oh, I’m in my 30s, btw. As soon as my husband screws up even a little at home, his mom starts screaming at him. And he just completely froze.”

“Last time, I accidentally spilled all of her beloved crayons and broke several of them. I thought she was going to start crying, but she immediately ran over, hugged my leg, and went, “It’s okay, it’s okay, we can pick them up together.””

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A compilation of answers made by the account Mr. Chen Sheng, a Daoist to various netizens’ questions:

“Dao Master, why don’t you get off your mountain to catch some ghosts?”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “Last time I got off the mountain with my sword, I got fined hundreds of dollars. Just about got laughed to death by all the ghosts.”

“Dao Master, I feel like I’m addicted to women and can’t pull myself out. What should I do?” [distant photo of women at a park attached]

Mr. Chen Sheng: “I believe you should work hard at your job and try to improve yourself as a person. It’s only this way that you can switch to a new phone so I don’t have to zoom in to get a better look.”

“Dao Master, how are my photography skills?”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “I’ve always been very cautious. You can’t only look at one side of the story. Give me a photo of the front too.”

[Photo of a bouquet of roses in a trash can]

Mr. Chen Sheng: “Roses might appear in a trash can, but carnations never will.” [traditional flowers for mother’s day]

“Dao Master, does your heart still skip a beat when you see your first love again?” [The word to describe a girl who’s “the one that got away” is “white moonlight]

Mr. Chen Sheng: “That night, I looked up to discover that the moonlight that falls on me also falls on everyone else. From that point on, I’ve never been attracted to the moon.”

“Dao Master, I miss her. What should I do?”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “If you’re a flower, you’re always going to fear spring leaving you, but if you’re spring, you’ll always have flowers.”

“Dao Master, I’m trapped by love. What should I do?”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “You’re too young, and you don’t realise yet that life is all about winters and summers coming and going, the sun setting and rising, people gathering and people parting.”

“Dao Master, I know he’s with someone new but I miss him all the time. What should I do?”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “She grabbed a handful of candy and passed it out to everyone she met, but you still insist that she gave you the sweetest piece.”

“Dao Master, I’m still single at 28 years old. How do I attract romance? I’m worried about being forever alone.”

Mr. Cheng Sheng: “You’re asking me? I’m 68 and I’m still single.”

“Dao Master, I’m graduating next year and I want to wear this flying fish robe [just the name of the style] to my graduation, but I’m 85kg right now.”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “Oh, wear a catfish robe then.”

“I’m 34 this year. I’ve got two kids. Every day, I go to work, get back home, take care of my kids, and go to bed, just to repeat the same thing again the next day. I haven’t strayed from my path to and front work and to the grocery store for years. I feel like I’ve been trapped in this cycle. I feel lost.”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “But what I see is that you have a stable job, you’ve got a family and kids, and you can spend time with your family every day. What’s trapped you isn’t this cycle, but your own discontentment.”

“I’m afraid to talk to girls. How do I get a date?”

Mr. Chen Sheng: “You can go to Chengdu.” [A city known for a large homosexual population.]

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“Country primary school kids are so rotten.

I got into volunteer teacher work this year and was full of anticipation, but now I’m on the verge of a break down.

I only walked away from this jacket for a moment while getting homework out of my office during lunch break, and I just broke down in tears when I got back to see this…

Forget everything else, I just don’t know why they’d treat me this way after I’ve been teaching here for so long. My mom went out of her way to send this to me because she was worried about me being cold in the village. I don’t even know how to wash all this off.”

Comments say, “They deliberately used the hardest to wash blue ink too…what pure evil. (angry)”

“If you’re going to define a whole group of kids over a single event like this, then you should probably stop being a teacher. You’re just gonna end up making yourself unhappy and screwing all your students up. No place is going to have entirely kind primary schoolers. They might be more cautious in the city because their parents are around, but there are a lot of “left behind kids” in the countryside [where both parents work in the city and they’re being raised by grandparents instead], and they don’t have parents to discipline them, so teacher have to double as parents and it’s even harder. If you can’t accept that, just quit.”

“Take a breath and calm down and just keep wearing it. It actually looks quite nice. A beautiful person doesn’t deserve to get mad at herself for the sake of dirty people. Regulate yourself and stop caring so much about other people and things. Just be yourself and maintain your inner peace.”