Original Mandarin story series
Dad's Voice Messages
爸爸的语音
Dad's Voice Messages (爸爸的语音, Bàba de yǔyīn) is a SayMei Original, written in simple Mandarin as a 3-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 2 (Elementary).
An original three-chapter story. Every night at nine, Xiao Yu's dad sends a sixty-second voice message about nothing much. One night, the message doesn't come.
Meet the voices
- Xiao Yu · 小雨 — Works long hours in Beijing. Answers her dad's messages with a single word.
- Dad · 爸爸 — Not good with words. Recently learned to send voice messages — and uses every second of them.
- Mom · 妈妈 — The one who knows what Dad really means.
3 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: Sixty Seconds
六十秒
The weather, the kittens downstairs, a too-salty stew: Dad's nightly messages are always about nothing. Until one night, there isn't one.
Free to read
Chapter 2: Room Seven
七号病房
On the train, Xiao Yu finally listens. At the hospital, Mom hands her Dad's phone — and hundreds of recordings he never sent.
SayMei Stories
Chapter 3: The Message He Never Sent
没发出去的语音
What Dad recorded all night on her birthday — and the first voice message Xiao Yu has ever really meant.
SayMei Stories
Key words in Dad's Voice Messages
Behind the story
An original SayMei story about something very ordinary in China: family chats on WeChat.
Many Chinese parents send voice messages instead of typing, and parents of Dad's generation rarely say “I love you” out loud. Their care shows up as questions about food, the weather, and whether you're warm enough.
Did you know?
- A WeChat voice message stops at sixty seconds, which is where chapter 1 gets its name.
- “Have you eaten?” (吃了吗?) is a traditional greeting that also means “I'm thinking of you.”
- 病房 (bìngfáng) is a hospital ward. 七号病房 is Room Seven.