"Tongtong, what are you looking at? It's already nine o'clock, time for bed. You have kindergarten tomorrow morning!" Liu Yifeng entered the room.
Tongtong didn't reply, his eyes fixed on the television.
Liu Yifeng saw it was a singing variety show, replaying last night's program.
A masked female singer was on stage, and her singing was quite pleasant.
What surprised him was why Tongtong would be interested in a singing show. Didn't he usually prefer cartoons?
So, he walked over to Tongtong, picked him up from the chair, sat down himself, and then placed Tongtong on his lap. He asked, "Tongtong, why are you watching so intently? Do you like this kind of show?"
Tongtong then reached out and pointed at the masked woman on the screen. "Daddy, look, it's Mommy!"
Liu Yifeng froze. The woman wore a mask, her face completely obscured. Moreover, her singing voice differed somewhat from her speaking voice.
Could this woman really be Yun Duo'er? Or was Tongtong, longing for his mother, mistaking someone else?
Thinking this, he asked gently, "Tongtong, how do you know it's Mommy?"
"It is Mommy, Mommy is singing!" Tongtong didn't elaborate, but his tone was firm.
Liu Yifeng looked intently at the woman on the screen. Her figure did resemble Yun Duo'er.
And since Tongtong was so sure, it must be her.
Putting aside her past actions, her singing was indeed very good.
He hadn't expected she would participate in so many TV shows. It seemed she was on her way to stardom.
But no matter how famous she became, it wouldn't erase the harm she had caused Tongtong.
"Tongtong, tell Daddy honestly, do you miss Mommy?" Liu Yifeng asked.
To his surprise, Tongtong shook his head. "No, she doesn't miss me, and she doesn't want me anymore. She's not my Mommy anymore!"
"Then why were you listening to her singing so intently?" Liu Yifeng didn't want Tongtong to dwell on the woman who had abandoned him.
Yet, hearing him say it directly made his heart ache.
It was a cruel thing for a child of just over three years old to clearly realize that his mother didn't want him.
Tongtong explained, "I just saw it by chance. If you don't want to watch her, I'll change the channel."
But Liu Yifeng stopped him. "Let's leave it. She's almost finished singing. Let's see what the judges say about her song!"
He didn't want Tongtong to avoid it. Judging by Yun Duo'er's momentum, she would likely appear on screen frequently in the future.
He hoped Tongtong could get used to her presence, so that seeing her on television wouldn't cause him such strong emotional reactions.
At this moment, he wanted to ask one more thing. "Tongtong, Daddy wants to ask you something else. If one day you meet Mommy, will you acknowledge her? Or if you call out to her and she ignores you, will you cry?"
This was a situation they would soon face, and Liu Yifeng needed to prepare Tongtong, to prevent him from being hurt by Yun Duo'er.
"Daddy, I have you, and that's enough. Since Mommy doesn't miss me and doesn't want me, I'll see her like a stranger and won't call out to her!"
"Won't you be sad? Meeting Mommy but not being able to acknowledge her?"
"I used to be sad, but when I had a fever last time, and Daddy pleaded with her on the phone, she still wouldn't come to see me. I've come to terms with it now. In the future, Daddy can mention her in front of me, and I promise I won't be sad, and I won't make Daddy sad too." Tongtong said this with a serious expression, without any pretense. It was clear these were his true feelings.
Hearing this, Liu Yifeng hugged Tongtong tightly, letting him lean on his shoulder. "Tongtong, don't worry. Daddy will love you even more and promise not to let you suffer any injustice."
"En, Tongtong believes Daddy. So, to protect me better in the future, shouldn't Daddy practice the horse stance for seventeen minutes?" Tongtong suddenly changed the subject.
This made the emotional Liu Yifeng put on a distressed face. "Tongtong, it's so late today. Can't I practice tomorrow?"
Tongtong shook his head. "Impossible. We do today's work today. We can't be lazy, or Daddy will develop lazy habits, and that's not what a good child wants!"
Seeing that Tongtong was insistent, Liu Yifeng had no choice. He immediately went to the living room and began practicing the horse stance.
For Tongtong, for his father, he had to learn martial arts.
After two days of training, and with the continued use of the compound medicine, he could feel his stamina significantly improving.
His reflexes were also becoming more agile. He believed it wouldn't be long before he became a master.
Today's seventeen minutes didn't feel long at all to Liu Yifeng; it even felt quick. He no longer felt the bone-weary trembling from yesterday.
Instead, he felt refreshed and invigorated, which filled him with a sense of accomplishment. "Tongtong, do you think Daddy is improving very quickly?"
Tongtong immediately gave him high praise. "Daddy is amazing. After Daddy takes a bath, Tongtong will unblock your Ren and Du meridians, and Daddy can learn techniques tomorrow."
Hearing that his Ren and Du meridians were about to be unblocked, Liu Yifeng's heart fluttered. "Tongtong, is unblocking the Ren and Du meridians very painful? I saw on TV that unblocking them seems to involve a lot of suffering."
This comment made Tongtong burst into laughter. "Daddy, I told you before, TV is TV, and reality is reality. You need to distinguish between them! Actually, unblocking the Ren and Du meridians is very simple. You just need to insert needles at specific acupoints to clear them, and the Ren and Du meridians will naturally open. The process isn't painful at all. It only stings a little when the needle is inserted."
Liu Yifeng felt a bit embarrassed. Television could be so misleading.
However, he was still curious. "Tongtong, what's the benefit of unblocking the Ren and Du meridians?"
He dared not apply the logic from television anymore. In TV shows, unblocking these meridians was for better martial arts training, achieving twice the result with half the effort. But in real life, if he said the wrong thing, he, as a father, would be truly humiliated.
Yet, Tongtong's words left him somewhat baffled. "Daddy is so silly. Since I'm teaching you martial arts, unblocking your Ren and Du meridians is naturally to help you better practice martial arts. Only by unblocking the Ren and Du meridians can Daddy manifest techniques through internal energy, making them more potent and achieving twice the result with half the effort."
"I see, Daddy understands." Liu Yifeng nodded, appearing to understand, though he was still a bit confused. As long as he could become stronger, that was all that mattered.
So, after his bath, he stripped naked and lay on the bed, waiting for Tongtong to unblock his Ren and Du meridians.
While Daddy was bathing, Tongtong had already sterilized the silver needles. He had bought them on his way back today, specifically to unblock his Daddy's meridians that evening.
Silver needles have a remarkable effect on clearing blockages in the meridians. Once the meridians are cleared, the Ren and Du meridians will naturally open.
However, this requires extremely strict requirements for the practitioner; it's not as simple as just poking a few needles at random meridians. It tests the practitioner's skill and their control over time. The placement of each needle on specific meridians, the time it remains in place, and even the sequence of its removal, are all critical. Any mistake could potentially lead to the patient suffering mental disorders, becoming a moron, and ruining their life forever.
But Tongtong was confident in his abilities. He had extremely precise control over time, and his technique had always been highly praised by his master, with no errors occurring to date. This time would be no exception. After all, the person lying on the bed was his father; he would only be more focused and careful.
Soon, the first needle was inserted into Liu Yifeng's back. He expected it to be painful, but it felt no worse than an ant bite. For a man like him, this slight discomfort was negligible.