[1]
While Zhao Chen was flying the shuttle, Nannan kept glancing at Zhao Chen every so often, and at the control stick in Zhao Chen's hand.
Her eyes were full of curiosity about it.
"Want to give it a try?" Zhao Chen looked at Nannan with a smile, catching the thought in the child's eyes.
"I…" Nannan was somewhat shy to ask.
"It's fine; if you want to play, give it a try." Zhao Chen raised his hand, and a copilot's control stick appeared before Nannan.
"Take hold of it, and first listen while I tell you how it works…" Zhao Chen explained the controls to Nannan once and demonstrated them once too.
Nannan listened very carefully.
"Now I'm handing control to you; you're in charge of flying. Don't worry; fly it boldly. If anything goes wrong, I can take over from here at any moment," Zhao Chen said encouragingly.
Nannan nodded and gripped the control stick tight with both hands.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"I'll level off first, then hand over to you. Three, two, one." When Zhao Chen had finished counting, he handed control to Nannan.
When Nannan first held the control stick, she was somewhat nervous.
During the flight her moves went out of shape a few times too.
But she learned very fast; in under ten minutes she had fully mastered the most basic flight control.
Gradually she could even perform some difficult maneuvers in the air.
Nannan gradually mastered this shuttle with skill.
Her face shone with smiles too, and now and then her laughter could be heard.
Zhao Chen beside her offered some pointers and suggestions now and then.
Chu Xuan, sitting behind, watched this scene and felt warm all through.
They flew for about half an hour.
Nannan had had her fill of fun too.
Zhao Chen took back control and brought this shuttle straight down onto a landing pad in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's capital.
Here a car had long been waiting.
"Did you have fun?" Zhao Chen walked down with Nannan.
"I had fun." Nannan nodded hard, then said expectantly, "Are we going to the amusement park next?"
"Yes. But today is rather special. Because today the amusement park happens to be holding a special masquerade event, and everyone has to wear a mask. So, Nannan, you wear a mask you like too." As Zhao Chen spoke, someone had already pushed over a cart laid out with a hundred-odd different masks.
Seeing so many masks, Nannan for a moment could not choose among them all.
She blinked and looked at Zhao Chen and Chu Xuan: "Daddy, Mommy, what are you choosing?"
Zhao Chen looked at Chu Xuan, asking her opinion.
"Anything's fine with me," Chu Xuan said.
Zhao Chen thought a moment, looked at Nannan and said, "Then how about Nannan choosing what Daddy and Mommy wear?"
Hearing Zhao Chen's words, Nannan's eyes lit up.
She began choosing among the many masks before her more carefully still.
Very soon she picked out three masks.
On seeing these three masks, Zhao Chen and Chu Xuan both could not help laughing.
For they were three little piggy masks.
One was plainly a piggy like a little child.
Another piggy mask had whiskers; at a glance, it was Daddy.
And the other piggy mask had a flower on it; at a glance, it was Mommy.
This was a family.
"Don't you like them?" Nannan noticed the somewhat surprised looks on Daddy and Mommy's faces, and asked carefully.
"Whatever Nannan likes, Daddy and Mommy like!"