[Period setting + educated youth sent to the countryside + devoted dad raising a baby + maxed-out baby talk skills + adorable baby + cherished first love + satisfying read + no saintly heroine]
He Huai Xu, a finance whiz, worked himself to death from overtime. When he opened his eyes, he had become an urban educated youth about to be sent to the countryside in 1972.
Even more shocking, on his very first day there, he found an abandoned baby on a snowy mountain road, starving and on the brink of death.
The whole village tried to talk him out of it: “Why should a grown man take on someone else’s burden? Just leave her!”
He Huai Xu tucked the baby into his arms, his face expressionless. “Her name is He Sui Ning. She’s my daughter. Anyone who says to abandon her again will be the one I abandon.”
And so, the howling north winds of Red Flag Brigade gained an icy-faced dad who spent his days wielding a hoe to earn work points and his nights soothing a baby, feeding her, and changing her diapers.
Until the three-month-old baby started talking.
Not ordinary baby babble, but
“Da…ddy… that… uncle… stole… grain…”
“Daddy… behind… the mountain… there’s… water…”
“Daddy… that… pretty… auntie… is… looking at you… again…”
He Huai Xu: “…”
The village beauty, Ji Yun Qiao, blushed as she brought over a basket of eggs. “Educated Youth He, don’t get the wrong idea. These are to help the baby get stronger, not for you.”
He Huai Xu accepted them coolly. “Mm. Sui Sui, say thank you to your big sister.”
Three-month-old Sui Sui hugged the eggs, tilted her head, and said in her baby voice
“Mama… Mama…”
From then on
No one could tell whether Educated Youth He was raising his daughter, or whether his daughter was finding him a wife.
And when the coldest young man in the village smiled with his daughter in his arms, he became the unforgettable first love in everyone’s heart.
It looks good, the author's writing is good, and every detail is very detailed.
Very well written