CH 18

During class, Little Miaomiao’s heart fluttered all afternoon, because she had received two small, red flowers, answered the questions in class, and the tablet was finally repaired.

When she returned home, she would share every detail of this exhilarating news with her aunt.

When class was over, as soon as her name was called, she raced out of the classroom in a hurry. She even forgot to bid Zhou Yuan goodbye.

Zhou Yuan watched the retreating back of the exuberant, little girl, before silently retracting his gaze.

When Aunt Hua saw Little Miaomiao walked out of the classroom with a cheerful, ebullient expression, all of the dismal unhappiness that she accrued from work instantly vanished.

Within her heart, Little Miaomiao silently mused about how she was going to announce her triumph to her aunt.

Today, I received two little, red flowers. One was given to me in math class, because I raised my hand and answered the question.

I have to be able to say this.

Little Miaomiao squeezed Aunt Hua’s hand and repeated those words silently in her heart. Then, she uttered, “Auntie, two red flowers…”

I said it incorrectly.

Little Miaomiao became a little flustered when she saw that Aunt Hua looked at her. She said again, “I got two red flowers today…”

This time, Aunt Hua heard her clearly and said, “Wow, Little Miaomiao got two red flowers. That is fantastic!”

After digesting Aunt Hua’s joyous words, Little Miaomiao continued, “I got one flower for answering the math question, and I raised my hand…”

She already had the words sorted out in her head, but because of her overexcitement, she spoke with a hint of incoherence.

Fortunately, Aunt Hua understood her, “Did Little Miaomiao raise her hand to answer the question? Awesome! Was the question difficult?”

Little Miaomiao shook her head, “It wasn’t difficult, but the math teacher forgot to give…”

Soon, they treaded out of the school grounds. Aunt Hua helped Little Miaomiao get into the car. A wave of blissful exuberance filled Aunt Hua’s heart.

Originally, she assumed that Little Miaomiao’s condition would take much longer to improve, but she never expected that these little changes would arise in her so quickly. And they happened shortly after attending school, too.

She didn’t expect this quick turn of events. When she was little, Little Miaomiao endured a lot of malice and pain, which caused her to instinctively close off the vault to her heart. She would be beaten if she cried or uttered a word; therefore, she understood that she had to remain silent.

After her change in environment, however, she slowly experienced kindness and love. She still couldn’t express her emotions, and she still made a lot of mistakes, but instead of being beaten because of them, she was showered with kindness and affection. This encouraged her to improve for the future.

After talking about the little, red flower, Little Miaomiao noticed that Aunt Hua was still looking at her. Her look urged her to continue. She pondered for a moment and said, “After I answered the question, the teacher asked the other students a question. If they believed that 15 wasn’t the correct answer, they should raise their hands…then, a person raised his hand. The teacher, then, told him that 15 was really the correct answer.” 

Although Aunt Hua looked at her with a straight face, a storm of gleeful emotions swelled in her heart. 

Instead of erupting in exhilaration about her improvement, she asked, “The math teacher was really naughty, wasn’t he? Were you scared because you thought that you answered incorrectly?”

Little Miaomiao nodded in affirmation and said, “I was scared.”

Looking at Aunt Hua’s expectant eyes, Little Miaomiao assumed that she needed to continue speaking. Soon, a thought struck her, and she said, “Today, one of my classmates happily cried. Her mom is about to give birth to a younger brother…”

Little Miaomiao’s words didn’t carry any other meaning. Little Miaomiao noticed that her classmates chatted about anything and everything with their parents. She had desired to do the same with Aunt Hua. She had always envied them for being able to freely express themselves with their parents. Now that she had the chance, she racked her brain and thought of her tearful classmate.

As if mulling over something more complicated, Aunt Hua recalled that many of her colleagues were thinking about having another child. Several female colleagues had daughters, who were in college, and they had expressed their desire to have more children. 

She stroked Little Miaomiao’s head and said, “Auntie doesn’t want a brother. I just want Miaomiao.”

When they returned home, Aunt Hua went to change her clothes. When Aunt Hua left, Little Miaomiao placed the tablet onto the sofa.

Aunt Hua came back in her new attire and saw Little Miaomiao sweeping the floor with a broom. She looked at her occasionally.

As Aunt Hua walked over, she noticed the tablet on the sofa. She recalled her plans to have it repaired.

She picked up the tablet and found that the screen was no longer broken or damaged.

It seemed strange to Aunt Hua, since she clearly recalled that the tablet had a shattered screen.

“Honey, did you fix the tablet’s screen?” Aunt Hua contacted Uncle Hua.

“No, I was going to take it for repairs this morning, but I couldn’t find it.” Uncle Hua replied.

Little Miaomiao lowered her head and averted her gaze. She continued to sweep the floor and pretended to be unaware of what was going on.

There were only three people in the family. Her conjecture was unlikely, but she couldn’t think of anything else. 

“Miaomiao, did you fix the tablet?” asked Aunt Hua, as she picked Little Miaomiao up.

Little Miaomiao embraced her, “It was Zhou Yuan who fixed it.”

Aunt Hua immediately recalled the precociously intelligent boy. Then, she smiled and uttered, “He’s really amazing!”

Aunt Hua didn’t press Little Miaomiao for any more details.

Aunt Hua opened up her WeChat. Then, she requested Teacher Li to give her the WeChat ID of Zhou Yuan’s mother.

Teacher Li: “Oh. In his family, Zhou Yuan is basically the one in charge. It would be more appropriate if I give you his WeChat ID.”

“He has a WeChat account?” Aunt Hua looked at a screenshot that displayed Zhou Yuan’s explanation for why Little Miaomiao was weeping. She thought that his parents conveyed Zhou Yuan’s message using their WeChat account.

Teacher Li: “You don’t need to treat him like a child. Have you ever read one of those reincarnation novels? You could treat him like someone reincarnated.”

Aunt Hua could not resist laughing. Then, she added Zhou Yuan’s account. His WeChat account is very simple. His username is Zhou Yuan and his profile picture is ‘垣(yuan)’.

It appeared like people often mispronounced his name. He probably was very aggrieved by this.

Aunt Hua typed a verification message, “Hua Miaomiao’s mother”. She originally planned to type in Aunt, but she changed it to mother.

Many people referred to her as aunt, but she was, in fact, Little Miaomiao’s mother.

Soon, the verification process was completed.

“Hello, classmate Zhou Yuan, I’m Hua Miaomiao’s mother.”

“Hello, Auntie.” Zhou Yuan replied back immediately.

Aunt Hua: “It’s like this, Little Miaomiao brought the broken tablet to school today, which you helped repair. How much did it cost to fix the tablet?”

Zhou Yuan: “Little Miaomiao had already given me the fee for repairs. [Picture]”

The picture showed a bunch of snacks, an apple and a bottle of yogurt.

Aunt Hua gave the snacks and yogurt to Little Miaomiao, which Little Miaomiao placed inside Zhou Yuan’s desk drawer. Initially, Zhou Yuan refused to take them, which caused Little Miaomiao to lower her head in sadness. After seeing her dejected face that was on the verge of tears, Zhou Yuan agreed to take them.

The apple was distributed by the school for lunch, but Little Miaomiao left it for Zhou Yuan, who was absent for lunch.

Aunt Hua: “How could those snacks add up to become tantamount to the repair costs?”

Zhou Yuan: “These are all of her delicious treats that she gave to me. It’s enough.”

Aunt Hua: “…”

She suddenly felt like a layman who measured everything with money.