CH 3

After she decided what to eat for dinner, Aunt Hua lowered her head and kissed Little Miaomiao’s forehead, “Thank you, my dear, for helping Auntie decide so quickly.”

She turned around and jauntily strolled into the kitchen. Little Miaomiao touched her forehead and felt as if she had eaten way too many sweets.

Concurrently, Uncle Hua hung his coat on the hanger at the side and went into the study to get Little Miaomiao’s Mickey Mouse schoolbag. He walked over to her and said, “Miaomiao, did the teacher assign you any homework today?”

Little Miaomiao came back to her senses and looked at Uncle Hua. She observed Uncle Hua’s tall and imposing back traversing towards the study step by step. She became nervous, tightly held the hems of her clothes and looked down at her feet. Two cute, fluffy bunny slippers adorned her feet and the Little Rabbit’s face seemed to almost stare back at her with its two cute eyes. As if mustering her courage, Little Miaomiao tried to utter forcefully, “Homework was assigned.”

Their teacher stated that parents should supervise their children, while they did their homework. Lastly, the parents will have to sign their homework sheets, and the teacher will check tomorrow.

Little Miaomiao dared not to reveal too much to her tall and imposing uncle.

Uncle Hua had no idea what Little Miaomiao was so worried about. He took out the textbook from her small schoolbag and saw two sheets, which comprised today’s homework.

He wasn’t aware of anything else missing in the schoolbag. Uncle Hua looked at the sheet and said, “Primary school students are under a lot of pressure.”

Aunt Hua’s voice radiated from the kitchen, “It’s okay. If she can’t finish it. Then, we can do it. I heard, many parents do their primary school students’ homework.”

Little Miaomiao remembered what the teacher said. They should do their own homework and not let their parents do it, she recalled. But she remained silent. In her mind, whatever her aunt said, had more merit than her teacher.

Little Miaomiao properly sat on her little stool. Under the supervision of Uncle Hua, she began to do her homework sheets. Uncle Hua’s cell phone rang, and Little Miaomiao overheard Uncle Hua say, “Okay, I am coming right now.”

Then, he traversed into the kitchen and said to Aunt Hua, “Dear, I have to go to the hospital.”

Aunt Hua was already accustomed to it. She simply said, “When food is ready, Miaomiao and I will deliver it to you.”

“There’s no need, you can’t drive, and it’s inconvenient to take a taxi. I will just order takeout by myself. I may come back a little late tonight. You guys should go to bed early.” After Uncle Hua finished talking to his wife, he squatted down again and said, “Miaomiao has to watch Auntie at home. Make sure that she isn’t picky with her meals, okay?”

Little Miaomiao nodded timorously.

After Uncle Hua left, Little Miaomiao was the only one, who was engrossed doing homework in the living room. From the kitchen, there was the sound of a knife chopping meat.

The teacher assigned them two large sheets for homework. Little Miaomiao could only comprehend the first question on the front side. After finishing it, Little Miaomiao carefully flipped over the sheet to the back and looked at it. She couldn’t comprehend the questions.

Meanwhile, Aunt Hua was still cutting vegetables in the kitchen. The scent of rice in the rice cooker already started to waft out of the kitchen.

Little Miaomiao stood up and walked towards the kitchen. She suddenly stopped herself, when she noticed a broom in a corner.

Little Miaomiao turned her attention towards it. Walking over, she picked up the broom, which was a little taller than herself and started to sweep the floor earnestly.

Aunt Hua had cut the meat and vegetables for the stuffing and poured oil on the pan. She heard no sound outside, so she poked her head out to see what her little daughter was doing.

Ever since she had a daughter, she couldn’t help, but furtively watch what her little daughter was doing.

Then, she saw her little daughter, who held a broom and swept the floor with scrupulous care. The house wasn’t dirty. They used a special sweeping robot. Because they had just adopted a child, the couple was a little too excited. They bought a copious amount of children’s toys: Barbies, dancing dolls, panda dolls, totoro puppets, and even a few toy cars, princess crowns, shiny bracelets, puzzles, building blocks…

Little Miaomiao doesn’t play much with these toys, but there were two adults, who often played with them. As Little Miaomiao had started school, they were busy for the past two days. Hence, the house is a little messy.

Little Miaomiao squatted down and picked up all the puzzle pieces on the carpet. Then, she stood up and put them in a box on the side. She moved at an unhurried pace, but she took her task very seriously.

She was so well-behaved.

In the kitchen, the oil in the pan was already heated, so Aunt Hua hurried back to cook.

When she placed the chopped meat in the pot, there was a sizzling “chi” sound, and the savory fragrance wafted out.

Aunt Hua cooked very quickly. In just a fleeting moment, she made three dishes and a soup. Uncle Hua may not come back until the morning, so she saved some of the vegetable soup and put it in the container to keep it warm. If he’s hungry, he can eat some of the leftover morsels.

Then, she brought out the rest of the food.

During their meal together, Little Miaomiao shifted her attention towards her aunt. She saw that Aunt Hua ate the cabbage…then, she ate the cabbage again…then, her aunt still picked the cabbage.

While Uncle was at home, he always told Auntie not to just eat vegetables, but to also eat meat and rice.

Little Miaomiao anxiously took a bite of rice. She pondered, why her Auntie doesn’t eat meat….

She doesn’t know what to say. Auntie is an adult. If she said that, would Auntie be disappointed?

Auntie Hua picked up the cabbage again.

Little Miaomiao observed her carefully. While she was eating, she pushed the plate of meatballs towards her aunt. Then, she lowered her head to continue eating.

Aunt Hua eyed what her little daughter had done. Then, she quickly recalled what her husband said, when he was about to leave.

So, she took one of the meatballs and ate it slowly and said, “It’s so delicious. I almost forgot to eat some meat.”

Little Miaomiao was relieved, when she saw her eat the meat and continued with her meal.

After Aunt Hua finished washing the dishes, she helped Little Miaomiao complete her homework.

Little Miaomiao’s body was tense because of the secret that she hid within her schoolbag. She was afraid of being discovered.

In fact, Aunt Hua wasn’t aware of it at all. Aunt Hua gave Little Miaomiao the dried meat, so that she could eat it, when she was hungry. But, because children often shared food and befriended each other, she told her to share her food.

Aunt Hua took the homework sheets and checked them. Words and pictures filled the entire sheet. She noticed that Little Miaomiao had only finished the first question. She didn’t do the pinyin question at the end of the language section. The mathematics and English section were also left blank. Furthermore, she didn’t write her daytime summary.

Little Miaomiao waited nervously.

First, Aunt Hua looked through the two test sheets and felt relieved. Fortunately, she could complete her homework. She used to complain about children’s homework before, and how she couldn’t do it.

Aunt Hua started to explain the second question slowly.

Although the question wasn’t difficult, the question was a little imposing. And Little Miaomiao was inclined to do things slowly. Therefore, she also did her homework at an unhurried pace.

When the mother and daughter had finished writing the two sheets, two hours had already passed unknowingly.

Little Miaomiao felt very sleepy. It was Aunt Hua, who wrote with a pen, while holding her little hand.