Mum gets busy after we move to a new city. “I need someone to watch you when I’m at work. ______ can we ask for help?” Mum worries. Finally, she asks Mr Green.

“It’s okay. Let me help.” He smiles (笑).

Mr Green lives near us. He plants trees in his garden and gives the ______ to everyone he sees. People always say, “In this way, you can’t make money! Why don’t you let us ______ your fruit?”

“It’s okay,” he answers.

“You never worry about anything, Mr Green, not like ______ . I’ll go to my new school tomorrow. Now I’m worrying about knowing nobody and having no ______.” I sigh.

“I worried a lot when I was young! Then I bought this house. There were fruit trees in the garden, ______ they looked sad and dying. I started caring for (照顾) them. When I got lots of fruit, I gave it to others. I’m ______ when people enjoy my fruit. It’s the best thing!” I ______ his words all night.

The next day, when I feel worried in my new classroom, I find a beautiful orange in my schoolbag. It must be ______ Mr Green! I imagine his smiling face saying, “It’s okay!”

Then I turn to the boy next to me and smile, “Hello! Would you like an orange?”

“I love oranges. Thanks!” The boy smiles back.

This time, I get to know Mr Green’s words. The best thing is ______!

Nobody can say no to a flower world in the real life. That’s why more and more people come to the Huazhao Festival to enjoy the beautiful and busy party in spring.

The Huazhao Festival is the birthday of all flowers and it happens on the 2nd, 12th or 15th day of February of the Chinese lunar calendar (农历). People started to celebrate the birthday of flowers before the Qin Dynasty and it became a festival during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the Tang Dynasty, it was one of the three important celebrations all over China.

The Huazhao Festival is rich in customs (习俗). Young people wear Hanfu, a kind of traditional Chinese clothes and have outings. The festival is in early spring, so it’s such a great time to have an outing to enjoy the spring time. Girls put colorful paper-cuts on the flower stems (花茎). They hope they can be as young and beautiful as flowers. Also, people in different places of China plant flowers. They think that flowers planted on that day can grow well. At the festival, the flower fair (集市) is the most popular. There are lots of fun activities in the fair, such as making flower cakes and playing music.

The Huazhao Festival is an exciting party to see the beautiful spring and it also helps people learn more about Chinese traditions. It’s really a wonderful celebration that you can’t miss.

Miguel finally sees Dad. He’s just back from a working trip. “How’s your chess game, Miguel?”

“Mrs Lambert says I’m the best chess player in the school! She says you teach me well.”

“We’ll play after dinner,” Dad promises.

At night, Miguel wants to help Dad clean out his suitcase (行李箱). “Wait, Miguel. I’ll take my next trip tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, Dad!” Miguel cries. “But you just got here!”

Miguel eyes the suitcase. When he was little, he got into the suitcase, thinking Dad could take him to work as well. Sometimes Dad travelled really far and it was day there when it was night for Miguel. They couldn’t even talk by phone.

“I’ll miss you,” Dad says. He then gets a box from his suitcase and hands it to Miguel.

Miguel opens it. A beautiful chess set!

“Thank you, Dad!” Miguel cries. “It’s much nicer than my old one!”

“Let’s play!” Dad smiles.

It’s an exciting game of chess. When Miguel’s bedtime comes, it’s still not over. “Keep it. We’ll continue (继续) the game when we meet again, OK?” says Dad.

Miguel carefully takes the chessboard to his bedroom. He looks at it, wishing the game could continue.

“Oh, that’ll be a great idea!” Miguel goes to get a camera. He takes a photo of the chessboard, and prints it out. Then he puts the photo and his old chess set into Dad’s suitcase.

The next morning, when Miguel wakes up, Dad’s gone. After studying the chessboard for a minute, Miguel calls Dad and leaves a message (留言). “Dad, it’s me…”