House Dad's Literary Life

Chapter 383: People Who Are Unwilling To Part

After spending two weeks at home and celebrating the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Yang Yi’s family began their journey back. Their car was filled with local produce given to them by their village neighbors.

Yang Huan stayed behind until the Lantern Festival and would take the train later. Yang Yi and his family, however, had to return to Jiangcheng early because their holiday ended, and Mo Fei needed to get back to work.

When it was time to leave, Xixi was fine. She only mentioned the little puppy a few times and reluctantly said goodbye to her grandparents, but she didn’t cry or throw a tantrum about not wanting to go home. However, Yang Chonggui felt very sad. He had gotten used to his granddaughter’s cheerful chatter over the past few days, and now that she was leaving, he felt an emptiness in his heart.

Early in the morning, he had a stern look on his face, clearly unhappy with Yang Yi.

Yang Yi was helpless about this and tried asking again, “Dad, how about coming to stay with us for a while before heading back?”

Yang Yi had already suggested this to Yang Chonggui and Dong Yue’e. He wanted to bring his parents to the city so they could enjoy a more comfortable life. However, both Yang Chonggui and Dong Yue’e weren’t interested. They preferred the small village where they had lived for decades over the city life.

Dong Yue’e had previously said, “I’ll come visit when you and Mo Fei get married or have a child!”

As expected, Yang Chonggui didn’t agree. Instead, he glared at Yang Yi as if he was taking his granddaughter away.

……

They returned to Jiangcheng safely, and a new year of life was about to begin.

Although the students hadn’t returned to school yet, Du Yuanlei was still there. She had spent the entire Spring Festival in the school’s editing room, determined to finish producing “Fairy Tale” as soon as possible.

The next day, Yang Yi took Xixi and some specialty products from their hometown to visit Du Yuanlei. He also planned to picked up the three kittens they had left in her care.

But when Yang Yi saw Du Yuanlei, he was stunned and almost didn’t recognize her.

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The girl in front of him, with her hair casually tied up and a tired, pale face, looked very different from the confident and proud director he had known before!

“Xiao Du, I didn’t give you a deadline, did I? And I didn’t ask you to rush to finish the editing. Why did you push yourself so hard?” Yang Yi couldn’t help but scold her.

Du Yuanlei shook her head, wanting to say something but hesitating.

“Teacher Yang, the film is finished. Would you like to take a look?” Du Yuanlei took out her laptop and placed it on the table.

When talking about the mini-movie, a hint of a smile appeared on Du Yuanlei’s face, as if it were her masterpiece.

Yang Yi nodded, leaned in, and started watching the film on the laptop.

The plot was familiar, but Du Yuanlei’s editing gave it a different flavor. Compared to the previous MV, this mini-movie’s story was richer, and the pacing was tighter. Especially in some of the tear-jerking scenes, the combination of dynamic and static shots was incredibly expressive.

“I want to become a fairy tale…” Guo Ziyi’s song, recorded before the holiday, was also included in the mini-movie. Compared to the MV, the editing and soundtrack here were more fitting and cohesive, avoiding the feeling of just being an extended version of the MV.

“Well shot and well edited!” Yang Yi praised. “You’ve done a great job on this film. After the school starts, we’ll officially release this mini-movie on Weibo and start the mini-movie competition! Believe me, more people will see your work!”

After watching, Yang Yi looked up and said to Du Yuanlei, who was with Xixi, showing her the three kittens.

Of course, they couldn’t really be called kittens anymore, as the 6-7 month old British Shorthairs were quite big, though still a bit silly-looking with their big yellow and black eyes giving off a cute and dazed expression.

However, when Xixi saw the kittens, she ran over, pouting and complaining, “Papa, Xiao Guai, Xiao Hui, and Duoduo, they’ve gotten fat!”

Fat?

Yang Yi, surprised, went over with Xixi to take a look. The three gray-blue little kittens were still lying lazily in their warm bed, lazily lifting their eyes to look at their caretaker. Only Duoduo meowed as a greeting.

They really had gotten fat!

Yang Yi petted Duoduo, who was now quite chubby with smooth fur, looking well-fed. The kitten didn’t feel like moving much, but it lazily waved its tail and brushed against Yang Yi’s arm.

Du Yuanlei, a bit embarrassed, said, “Sorry, Teacher Yang. During this time, I didn’t have time to take them out for walks, and I was afraid they’d get lost, so I kept them in the dormitory.”

Du Yuanlei lived in the graduate student dormitory at Jiangcheng Media, a building that’s only a few years old, very new, and similar to an apartment. Each dormitory room houses two people, but Du Yuanlei’s roommate moved out to live with her boyfriend, so she has the room to herself, which is quite spacious.

These three little guys seemed to have not only exercised less but also eaten a lot!

Next to them were small cans of fish that Du Yuanlei had bought especially for them. It was unclear whether they had developed a taste for it.

“Papa, getting fat is not good. Look, Xiao Guai doesn’t even play with me anymore!” Xixi said, feeling upset.

“It’s okay, when we get home, you can play with them using the cat teaser stick, and they’ll slim down quickly. They haven’t really put on much; it might just be that they don’t want to move around because it’s cold.” Yang Yi said, rubbing his daughter’s head with a smile. The latter part of the sentence was directed at Du Yuanlei.

He packed up, squeezed the three British Shorthairs into a somewhat cramped cat carrier, and then picked up their small bed, preparing to leave with Xixi.

“Teacher Yang, take this with you as well. You can feed it to them when you get back,” Du Yuanlei caught up and handed Yang Yi a bag with nearly a dozen cans of fish. She looked at the three cats with some reluctance, then shook her head and said to Yang Yi, “Anyway, I don’t have any cats here, so keeping these is useless.”

Yang Yi took the bag with a smile and said to Du Yuanlei, “You’ve finished the mini-movie, so there’s no need to push yourself so hard. Take a few days to rest, relax, or go out shopping. Once you’re refreshed, I’ll show you the new script.”

“Mr. Yang, you’ve already written the script?” Du Yuanlei asked with a look of surprise and delight.

From mini-movies to full-length movies, the latter was the real leap Du Yuanlei wanted to make!

“Don’t get too excited. We’ll talk about it when you’re in good shape!” Yang Yi waved his hand and said with a smile, “I can’t trust you with the script in your current state!”

After Yang Yi and his daughter left, Du Yuanlei returned to her room. She walked to the dressing mirror, looked at her haggard appearance, and sighed softly.

“Teacher Yang, do you think I look like this because I haven’t been sleeping well?” Du Yuanlei muttered to herself.

Du Yuanlei pulled a book from the drawer and took out a photo from inside it. In the photo, a girl with long hair was smiling brightly as she hugged the neck of a boy leaning forward, playfully jumping onto his back.