CH 13

Before Jingjing’s mother arrived to pick her up, Jingjing spoke a lot about her mother with Little Miaomiao. Jingjing’s eyes resembled her mother’s. They even wore the same clothes.

When she saw Jingjing’s mother, Little Miaomiao realized that they were not the same size. Little Miaomiao couldn’t understand how they could even wear the same clothes, when Jingjing was so small and her mother was so big. 

Her gaze was fixed on Jingjing’s mother. She tried to come to a conclusion to this question.

Jingjing tried to stall her mother to let Little Miaomiao observe her.

But, no matter how many clever tricks children attempted to use, any adult could instantly see through them. Jingjing’s mother quickly realized that Jingjing was just pretending to have a stomachache. She smiled and squinted her eyes.

After Jingjing saw her mother’s expression, she immediately embraced her mother’s waist and shouted, “After I saw my young and beautiful mother, my stomach doesn’t hurt anymore!” This was how people were coaxed on TV.

Jingjing’s mother didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. But after she saw that she was fine, she lifted her daughter who was corrupted by TV shows, “Okay, it’s time to head home.”

As they walked out of the classroom, Jingjing’s mother started to admonish her, “You can’t scare me like that, do you understand? Do you remember the story of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’, Jingjing?”

Jingjing kept nodding her head, but she actually didn’t pay any attention to her mother at all. She was too busy gesticulating to Little Miaomiao with a gesture that she had made up herself.

A sense of pride filled Jingjing since she felt as if she had helped her friend. She had no idea why Little Miaomiao wished to see other people’s mothers, but a sense of elation still crossed her for assisting her friend.

Little Miaomiao cautiously nodded at her in acknowledgement. It seemed as if the two little ones had accomplished something sacred. 

Zhou Yuan stood next to Little Miaomiao and couldn’t hold back his laughter.

“Little Miaomiao, your parents are here.” The P.T. teacher’s voice entered the room from outside.

Little Miaomiao returned to her senses. She slowly secured her schoolbag onto her back and glanced at Zhou Yuan. She imitated the other students and whispered the phrase that she had practiced many times in her heart, “See you tomorrow, Zhou Yuan.”

When she arrived at the classroom door, Little Miaomiao approached the P.T. teacher, and resembling the other children, she said, “Goodbye teacher.”

The P.T. teacher nodded and replied, “Goodbye Miaomiao. Tomorrow is Saturday, so be obedient at home.”

Little Miaomiao blinked. She recalled that the teacher had declared that tomorrow would be a holiday. Nervosity seized her when she talked to Zhou Yuan. This resulted in her forgetting this important fact. She told Zhou Yuan that she would see him the next day.

The more she thought about it, the more she found it unacceptable. Abruptly, she stopped walking.

Noticing that she had halted, Aunt Hua squatted down and asked her, “What’s wrong, Miaomiao?”

Little Miaomiao whispered, “May we wait for a bit?”

Little Miaomiao never had any requests before. But all of a sudden, Little Miaomiao started to form her own ideas and thoughts. She even began to openly express them. Aunt Hua felt that this was great progress.

“Of course, we could wait!”, Aunt Hua agreed with a smile.

Soon, Zhou Yuan emerged and walked side by side with his mother.  Zhou Yuan and his mother bore no resemblances to the other mother-child pairs, who held each other’s hands, while they strolled along.

Zhou Yuan’s mother had long, blonde hair and radiated a feeling of gentleness.

Zhou Yuan noticed Little Miaomiao and asked, “Miaomiao, are you waiting for someone?”

When Zhou Yuan’s mother heard her son use the coaxing tone that he often used on children. She wasn’t surprised at all.

Little Miaomiao nodded. She gathered her courage and said, “Zhou Yuan, see you on Monday.”

Zhou Yuan didn’t know that Little Miaomiao was waiting for him, just to tell him that she would see him on Monday and not on Saturday.

Zhou Yuan casually replied back, “Okay, I’ll see you on Monday.”

Afterwards, Aunt Hua and Little Miaomiao continued their journey back home. Uncle Hua was on duty again today, so just the two of them trekked back home.

Aunt Hua said, “Today, Auntie had thought about a new design and made a dress. When we get back, will Miaomiao help try on the dress for me?”

Little Miaomiao nodded in assent, as she was willing to assist her aunt.

The nearby children were all talking to their parents about school. Children of this grade level often spoke endlessly with their parents about anything and everything.

“I lost my pencil today. Little Hua lent me hers. I want to marry her in the future.”

“The teacher said we will choose the team captain next week.”

“Today, I got four small, red flowers. One in mathematics class, when I answered the question. Another one, when I went on stage. And another one, when I finished my lunch…”

Little Miaomiao observed them, squeezed her little hands, and started talking about Teacher Li. She explained to Aunt Hua about how Teacher Li had praised her for her good handwriting, and how she only received a single, red flower for finishing her meal…

She did not raise her hand to answer any questions; therefore, she only received a single, small, scarlet flower, whereas the other children had a triplet of scarlet flowers.

Little Miamiao felt something tugging at her heartstrings. In reality, she actually knew the answers to several of the questions that the teacher had asked, but she didn’t dare raise her hand.

In the end, she missed out on receiving several red flowers.

Little Miaomiao decided that she would raise her hand next time.

On the other hand, Zhou Yuan’s mother looked at her son, who didn’t acquire any red flowers, and frowned, “Zhou Yuan, do you not like the color red? Or do you hate flowers?”

Zhou Yuan raised his head, “…”

Zhou Yuan’s mother had a headache. She settled down next to him and said, “I am aware that this kind of lifestyle has little to no meaning for you, and I know that you just want to experience something larger and more grand.”

Zhou Yuan responded, “Of course. After all, God didn’t grant me this IQ to solve how much seven plus six is equal to.”

“I just hope you could have as much fun as the other children. Hopefully, you could encounter something fun during this semester. If you have no desire to continue next semester, you could go to your father’s college,” Zhou Yuan’s mother said with a sigh.

Zhou Yuan’s spirits lifted as he hurried upstairs to write down his plans for next semester in his journal.

Simultaneously, Little Miaomiao was trying on the new dress that Aunt Hua had made. She wore a long, ankle-length, blue skirt with a tassel design. A small, knitted jacket also adorned her, but the long skirt had the extra effect of concealing her numerous trellised scars.

Aunt Hua lifted her in front of a full-length mirror, “Does it look good?”

Little Miaomiao peered at her own reflection in the mirror. While blushing, she whispered, “It looks good.”

Afterwards, Aunt Hua said in a mysterious tone, “Wait for me.”

She walked into another room. After a while, she came out adorning different clothes.

She wore a long skirt with the same design as Little Miaomiao. She even wore the same jacket as her. Aunt Hua approached Little Miaomiao, drew her into a warm embrace and declared, “Auntie and Miaomiao are now wearing matching mother-daughter clothes.”

Little Miaomiao looked at Aunt Hua and a thought came to her mind.

So…Aunt Hua is actually her mother…?

Suddenly, a surge of emotion welled up in her heart, She couldn’t understand it, but her nose was sour and eyes were wet.