Yuanfeng winced. "The Rattler is a classic, Huaijin. If we bury it, it might decide to never wake up again."
"But I'm so excited!" she cheered, her pigtails doing a celebratory shimmy. "Yuanying says there are ice sculptures shaped like swans, and we're going to stay in a house with a fireplace that's as big as our whole bathroom!"
Yuanfeng felt a familiar, sharp pang in his chest.
Envy.
He was the one who had raised her. He was the one who knew the exact temperature she liked her milk. And yet, here she was, vibrating with joy at the prospect of spending a whole week away from him with the "Manor Kids."
North Mountain, he thought bitterly. With its fancy fireplaces and its swans. 'What's so great about a swan? A swan is just a goose with an ego. I could build her a swan out of liquid nitrogen if I wanted to!'
He hated that he had to share her. He hated that the Chi cousins, the kids he used to think of as "The Vultures," were now the stars of her dinner-table stories.
