Easter morning in the panda village. Golden light spills across the quiet street.
Yimu sits at the painted table beside her uncle. He hands her a smooth white egg.
"Uncle, I want to make this Easter the best and most memorable!" she says, gripping the egg tight.
"Then we'll make it together," he says, dipping a brush into gold paint.
Yimu paints the first stripe of gold on her egg. It slips right off and lands on the tablecloth.
She tries again, but the egg rolls away and bumps into a basket of blue eggs. The gold stripe wobbles but holds.
She paints a third golden swirl around her egg. It is crooked and drips a little, but it shines.
She looks at her uncle's perfect egg, then at her own lopsided one. She hums softly.
A breeze opens the window. The paper flowers flutter. The egg tips — she catches it, but the swirl smudges across her thumb.
"Oops!" she says. Her uncle laughs and presses his golden thumb beside hers on the egg.
Together they add a second smudge, then a third, turning the mistake into a pattern. The egg sparkles with gold fingerprints — bigger and smaller.
They place the egg in the center of the table, right beside the basket of painted eggs. Yimu grins and taps her golden thumb against her uncle's.