Answer the question?
Deliberately answering wrong would do the trick—easy enough.
With that thought, Lin Mo flashed a sly grin. "Go on, ask."
"Hehe~ Then listen carefully, Daddy~"
Klee's eyes brimmed with anticipation.
The smile on her lips held a touch more innocent sweetness than Lin Mo's, but the two of them looked uncannily alike—like they'd been carved from the same mold.
Just then, Klee suddenly pointed at Lin Mo's chest and asked solemnly, her little face serious:
"The question is~ who founded the Dodoco family?"
"A! Klee's mommy!"
"B! Acting Grand Master Jean!"
"C! Klee's daddy!"
…
Dodoco was the plush toy hanging from Klee's little backpack.
But beyond the Dodoco plush, there were also the Dodoco Story Collection, the Dodoco Notebook, Dodoco Postcards, and a whole line of related items.
All of it was a fictional creation meant to give Klee a happy childhood.
Two people had worked together to create the Dodoco series back then—Lin Mo and his wife, Alice.
That meant both option A and option C were correct.
Only option B—"Acting Grand Master Jean"—was wrong.
"Oh? That's easy~"
Lin Mo grinned smugly. "The answer is B! Acting Grand Master Jean!"
He waited, expecting to see disappointment spread across Klee's little face.
But instead, Klee beamed with delight and tugged happily at his clothes.
"Heehee~ Congratulations, Daddy~ You got it right!"
"Wait! How is that right?!"
Lin Mo froze in disbelief. "The Dodoco series was clearly made by Alice and me—"
Crap!
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
"Oh~ right, right. Looks like Klee remembered wrong. Daddy answered incorrectly after all!"
Klee's eyes curved into happy little crescents.
She looked so pleased—like she'd known all along that Lin Mo would argue back and expose himself.
Watching her smug expression, Lin Mo couldn't help but crouch down and gently pinch her chubby cheek.
"Look at you, so proud of yourself."
"Hehe~"
Even with her cheek being tugged, little Klee looked utterly blissful.
"Klee, it's been years. How did you get so crafty, huh?" Lin Mo said, putting on a mock-ferocious face.
"Mmm… because Daddy's mean! Because Daddy didn't want to recognize Klee~!"
Her expression was a strange mix of grievance and happiness.
"Ahem…" Lin Mo coughed awkwardly and forced a smile. "Daddy was just teasing you. If I really didn't want to acknowledge you, why would I come find you on my own just now? Right?"
"Hehe~ Klee knows Daddy was being naughty again, so Klee isn't mad at all~"
As she spoke sweetly, her little body swayed happily from side to side.
Then, as if remembering something, she suddenly grew excited and slipped her backpack off her shoulders, rummaging through it.
Soon, Klee pulled out a familiar notebook—the old Dodoco diary.
"Daddy, Daddy~ Look, look!"
"This is Klee's diary from the days when Daddy wasn't around~"
"Klee listened to Daddy~
Klee wrote in it very, very seriously every day!"
She lifted the diary high with both hands and held it out to Lin Mo.
"Every day… you wrote a diary?"
Lin Mo was stunned.
Judging by the current timeline of this world, it had been over ten years since he'd left Mondstadt.
A small diary like this would probably be filled within a year or two at most.
If she truly wrote every single day, she should have gone through more than a dozen notebooks by now.
Had Alice made her new diaries over the years?
But the thought vanished the next moment.
Because it was obvious—the notebook in front of him was old.
The cover had once been a bright, cheerful red. Now it had faded into a deep, dark crimson.
With doubt in his heart, Lin Mo took the diary and opened to the first page.
April 1st, Sunny
Klee didn't manage to blow up any fish today… (QAQ)~
April 2nd, Cloudy
Mom taught Klee how to make a new waterproof bomb~ So happy!
April 3rd, Sunny
Oh no, oh no! Klee's bomb accidentally exploded in Grand Master Varka's office! Daddy got scolded because of Klee again (QAQ)~
…
Reading this, Lin Mo couldn't help but smile.
This was the very Dodoco diary he'd given Klee back then.
And these were records from the days before he'd left Mondstadt.
As he slowly flipped through the pages, Lin Mo could almost feel the path Klee's heart had taken over those long years.
From the moment she received the diary until the day he left, most of the entries were about small, trivial things.
From the diary, it was clear that Klee's childhood had been happy and carefree.
Until…
The day he left.
From that point on, the tone of the diary changed.
March 28th, Rainy
Daddy said he's going on a journey, but he didn't say when he'll come back. Still, Klee believes Daddy—he'll definitely come back soon once he's done!
March 29th, Rainy
Why hasn't Daddy come back yet… (QAQ)~
March 30th, Cloudy
Mom's back!
Hehe~ Mom told Klee lots and lots of stories about the outside world~
March 31st, Cloudy
That's strange… didn't Daddy tell Mom about his journey?
Mom even had a huge argument with Grand Master Varka because of it.
Daddy…
Where did you go?
At that point, guilt quietly bloomed in Lin Mo's chest.
If only he'd known back then that they would meet again one day.
Even though it seemed like the system had toyed with him, seeing this diary now made him feel differently.
At least in this final lifetime, it had given him a chance to reunite with his daughter.
Lin Mo decided to keep reading.
He wanted to see how this little girl had lived through the days when he wasn't there.
As his eyes moved from page to page, he learned that during the first few years after he left, Klee had been accompanied by her mother Alice and by Jean.
Klee also mentioned him from time to time in her diary.
But Lin Mo believed that with the bright, passionate Alice around, Klee must have been happy most of the time.
Among more than three thousand short diary entries, ten years passed.
For the long-lived elf race, ten years was little more than a single year in human terms.
Time flowed on quietly.
Until one day…
Alice, too, left Klee behind.
--------
T/N:
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