CH 26

Little Miaomiao wasn’t aware that her secret gift of the little red flower had moved Zhou Yuan so much. She didn’t think about it at all.

She never had even one little red flower in her possession before this either. Of the students in the entire class, neither of them possessed any little red flowers. But now that she had some, she decided to share some with Zhou Yuan. 

She conjectured that his mother would sign his homework sheet if he had a little, red flower in his possession.

Hua Miaomiao’s thinking was very simple. The other day, she overheard Zhou Yuan’s mother articulating her grievances about how he didn’t have any little red flowers when they made their trek back home. She assumed that was the reason why he did his homework every morning after arriving at school and signed the sheets himself.

Little Miaomiao connected the dots and her inferences led her to believe that Zhou Yuan’s mother would definitely treat him better if he possessed a little red flower.

Because of her personality, she never asked others to complete her tasks for her, so she worked arduously to clear all of the carrots, and then she secretly slipped him two little red flowers.

Tomorrow was Saturday, Little Miaomiao was in no hurry to complete her homework. She helped Mother Hua in the kitchen prepare the dishes for dinner.

Suddenly, they heard Mother Hua’s phone ringing in the living room.

Mother Hua discovered that it was a WeChat voice call.

As soon as she saw the profile picture ‘垣 (yuan), Mother Hua realized that it was Miaomiao’s little tablemate.

Mother Hua answered the phone in surprise, “Hello.”

“Hello Auntie. Is Miaomiao there?” the kid said from his end.

Mother Hua assumed that Miaomiao’s classmate was looking for her to play with, similar to how she used to play with the children from her own neighborhood outside her house when she was young. But nowadays, there were a scant few children who played outdoors like that. She felt fortunate that Miaomiao still made several friends.

Mother Hua called Miaomiao, “Miaomiao, your classmate is looking for you.”

Hua Miaomiao traversed out of the kitchen. This was the first time someone had called her.

Who could it be?

She came over and answered the phone just like how Mother Hua usually would.

“Hel…Hello…”

Zhou Yuan heard his tablemate’s milky voice through the phone.

Zhou Yuan chuckled lightly, “Guess who it is.”

Hua Miaomiao sat down on the soft, and just like what her parents did, she answered the phone earnestly, “Zhou Yuan.”

She felt a tinge of excitement and asked in a low voice, “Why are you calling me?”

Mother Hua watched as her daughter vehemently answered the phone. She thought the two little ones were so cute.

She decided not to bother them, so she retired to the kitchen by herself to continue cooking. 

Zhou Yuan said, “I found a little red flower in my bag, so I wanted to call you.”  

When Hua Miaomiao heard the reason, she asked him with a more serious tone of voice, “Did your mother praise you?”

Zhou Yuan replied, “Yes, she praised me.”

After Zhou Yuan answered, he fell into silence. After noticing the little red flower, he desired to call her immediately, but once he did, he had no idea what to talk about. 

Hua Miaomiao was a child, so she didn’t converse much, and Zhou Yuan didn’t know what to say; therefore, she also fell silent.

During this, Zhou Yuan was trying to find a topic to talk about, then he responded, “Since tomorrow is Saturday, we don’t have any classes. Would you like to go out to play?” 

Hua Miaomiao replied, “Go out to play? I don’t know, are you going out to play?”

On the weekends, Zhou Yuan usually attended his classes, but now, he thought that heading outside would be a good idea. It seemed his mother was traveling to the hot springs this weekend. He rejected her proposal to go with her in the past, but once he mused over it, it would be nice to let Miaomiao enjoy the outside world.

“If we went to the hot springs, would you come?” Zhou Yuan asked.

Hua Miaomiao recalled that Jingjing spoke about the hot springs during their physical education class. Tremulous with fear, she asked, “Are you going too?”

Zhou Yuan knew about her diffident nature, so he responded, “I’ll accompany you when the time comes.”

Hua Miaomiao scrunched her face tightly and said, “Then, I’ll ask my mother.”

In reality, she didn’t want to go with them; it caused her so much pain and sorrow…but, Miaomiao felt that it would definitely be pointless for her to retort. 

Therefore, she decided to just go. When the time came, she would just endure the pain. She had already experienced it before.

But how do I tell mom about this?

Hua Miaomiao hesitated. She couldn’t speak, but she wouldn’t need to soon.

The day slowly turned into the evening, and Mother Hua was helping Little Miaomiao with her homework, when all of a sudden, a notification sound came from her phone. When she looked through her phone, she found out that she had been added to a WeChat parents group.

It turned out that Jingjing’s mother had created a WeChat group together with Zhou Yuan’s mother and Deng Feng’s mother. She wondered if everyone was willing to take their children out for an autumnal trip.

Jingjing used her mother’s WeChat and sent a voice message to the group, “Miaomiao, Deng Feng, Tiantian, Zhouzhou, let’s all go on an autumn trip together. There are so many delicious things that we could eat. We could also climb the trees!”

Hua Miaomiao raised her head when she heard the voice. She felt a slight misgiving, since she wasn’t sure if her mother would let her go.

Initially, Mother Hua didn’t want to go, but when she overheard the little girl uttering Miaomiao’s name at the beginning of the message, a tinge of astonishment arose in her heart. 

Was she also Miaomiao’s friend? It seemed as if my daughter was beginning to open up her heart to her peers.

Mother Hua began to interpret the group’s messages in earnest. It turned out that they were planning an autumn trip in the Qui Ming Mountains. They wanted to eat roasted lamb and soak in the hot springs.

Soak in the hot springs…pangs of regret crept into Mother Hua’s heart. Miaomiao was terribly afraid of water; therefore, she wouldn’t be able to soak in the hot springs.

So Mother Hua said, “Miaomiao might not be able to go. You guys have fun.”

Hua Miaomiao tugged on her mother’s sleeves, “Mom…”

Mother Hua lowered her head, “Do you want to go?”

All of them were going, and she would definitely be sad and dejected if she didn’t go. And more importantly, the others would discuss their trip when they returned to school on Monday. Miaomiao wouldn’t be able to join in the conversation if she didn’t go.

Those few friends who went to an excursion together would seemingly develop a better relationship. 

Would they reject Miaomiao and cease playing with her? 

The more Mother Hua brooded over it, the worse she felt.

Mother Hua noticed Miaomiao nodding at her. A transient moment of hesitation briefly engulfed her. Then, she suddenly realized that it wouldn’t just be a trip to the hot springs. There were a multitude of other activities there. The little ones definitely wouldn’t have to soak in the hot springs for too long. She could definitely take the kids to indulge in other activities. She spoke to the other parents again to organize their plans, so that they could all travel together.

Their mothers began to discuss their meeting time tomorrow, and what they had to bring along.

Little Deng Feng and Jingjing had already started to converse with each other in the group. Just from listening to their voices, people could tell how elated they were.

Mother Hua bought a swimsuit for Miaomiao, just in case. 

After all, Miaomiao got along well with her peers. Many changes in her personality revealed themselves, and she had overcome many problems that Mother Hua initially concluded would require a long time to overcome.   

The evening eventually yielded to the night, and Hua Miaomiao was fast asleep. That night, Hua Miaomiao had a nightmare. She dreamt that she was trapped in an abominable place where water from a desolate sea had surrounded her everywhere, immuring her in a watery prison.