CH 71

Father Hua set the fruits he bought aside. Father Zhou and Mother Zhou greeted Father Hua.

Miaomiao handed the flower to Zhou Yuan.

Generally, when someone went to the hospital to visit a patient, they would bring some fruit and flowers. Father Hua was merely going to buy some fruits when he spotted some flowers that were next to the fruit stall, so he bought some flowers for Miaomiao to give to Zhou Yuan.

A strong, malodorous odor permeated the hospital. Miaomiao remembered this terrible, fetid smell during her last visit to the hospital when her mother was hospitalized.

Back then, she only focused on her mother, and she didn’t notice anything else, including this acrid smell. But now, she felt very uncomfortable.

Zhou Yuan coughed at this moment. Miaomiao quickly slipped out of her shoes, climbed onto the hospital bed, and patted his back.

Then, she spoke to him in a low voice, “Did you cough because this place smells bad?”

Miaomiao sniffed the fetor of the hospital as well, and she coughed a little.

Zhou Yuan initially wanted to convey that he coughed due to his cold. But after musing over this for a while, he realized that he had to explain how he caught a cold, so he agreed and nodded instead.

Zhou Yuan was aware that he could’ve made up an excuse and said that he caught a cold due to the cold wind that seeped into his room last night, which caused him to become bereft of sleep.

Since he didn’t sleep well last night, he was now in a state of lassitude. He felt very sleepy, but he was unable to fall asleep.

He refused to acknowledge that he was in this state due to a lecture yesterday about the Qin Dynasty’s legal system during his Legal History class.

If I admit it, wouldn’t that just mean that I’m still a child? Like other children, these types of stories could still frighten me.

Miaomiao noticed that they were on the same page. He agreed that the hospital’s stench was responsible for his coughing, so she lifted her sleeves to reveal her forearm. Her arm was now adorned with more flesh, but it still remained scarred. Zhou Yuan, who has been her tablemate, was used to seeing this mesh of scars.

“Fragrant,” Miaomiao mused as she reached out her hand to Zhou Yuan’s nose. 

Miaomiao used the palliative cream for her scars every morning and every night. The cream had a good, fruity scent to it, which smelled much better than the hospital’s stench. She exuded the smell of strawberries today. 

Miaomiao drew back her hand, sniffed it herself, and felt that she smelled delectable. She asked Zhou Yuan, “Do I smell like a little strawberry to you?”

She again placed her hand in front of Zhou Yuan’s nose as she spoke.

The scent of the cream was very reminiscent of that of a small strawberry.

The adults didn’t want to partake in the two children’s entertaining colloquy, so they excused themselves and allowed them to speak between themselves.

Father Hua mentioned that he was looking for a new house today.

Father Zhou then responded, “There’s a house for sale in our community that meets all of your requirements. But it’s a bit far away from school.”

Mother Zhou witnessed the two little friends conversing with each other with their little heads close together, and she said, “It doesn’t matter. When the time comes, we could elaborate more on this issue. We could take turns picking up and dropping off our children. Even if it’s in our community, you still have to check to see if the house meets your standards.”

Father Hua mused over this. It was indeed convenient, so he immediately made his decision. He asked for the family’s phone number and was about to head off to take a look. 

Miaomiao spent most of yesterday surveying the house, so she didn’t have much time to speak with Zhou Yuan. Therefore, she now told him anything and everything about what had happened yesterday.

“That aunt was very nice, and she also bought me candy to eat.”

“It’s a bit sour.”

“The first house has a big yard, but my dad said that their floor was too small and a bit damp…”

Zhou Yuan, who was next to Miaomiao, had already fallen asleep while smelling the sweet scent of strawberries as she spoke.

Miaomiao was stunned for a moment, but she stopped talking. She felt pity in her heart, for she still had a ton of things that she hadn’t told Zhou Yuan.

Miaomiao didn’t wait for Zhou Yuan to wake up. She had to leave, for her mother awaited her return back home so that they could eat.

In his dream, Zhou Yuan saw a field of strawberries. He didn’t have any nightmares this time.

Miaomiao had already departed when he woke up. He saw his mother standing next to his bed. She sat down and asked him, “Wouldn’t it be better if you played with people your own age?”

It was said that as people grew older, they would become more and more lonely. There wasn’t anything unreasonable about this statement. Adults paid more attention to themselves and had to carry more responsibilities. People also sometimes grew apart as they grew older. Old friendships disappeared, and new friendships arose; this was a vagary of life. Compared to their days of youth, adults no longer had the time, energy, or patience to maintain any of their friendships.

Furthermore, Zhou Yuan was still just a child. He couldn’t become good friends with a group of college students.

Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment, and then he said, “I think my life in college is pretty good.”

“If you go to college, you won’t be able to play with that kid who visited you right now. There will be no common language between you two at that time,” Mother Zhou said.

“We have no common language between us now.” Zhou Yuan retorted.

Mother Zhou: “…” They seemed so close just now. Weren’t they talking with each other?

Meanwhile, Miaomiao was told by her father that she could possibly be living in the same neighborhood as Zhou Yuan in the near future.

“Baozi Street, No. 222,” Miaomiao still recalled Zhou Yuan’s address.

Father Hua also remembered the address because he chased after Miaomiao during that little fiasco in which she left school to visit Zhou Yuan. He felt that he should discuss this with his wife when he returned. They could move in if the house met his conditions.

Miaomiao was very happy, although she hadn’t seen the house. The next morning, she told Zhou Yuan when he came to school.

“Zhouzhou, we will be living in the same community soon.”

Zhou Yuan hummed in response.

“Then, we could dance with each other,” Miaomiao uttered.

Zhou Yuan: “…” Even now, their houses weren’t too far away from each other. After all, they went to the same elementary school, and he took long promenades in the park after dinner.

Miaomiao was extremely happy. She has always liked Zhou Yuan. She was delighted to have the opportunity to go to school with him every day and to return from school together every afternoon.

They would be similar to Jingjing and Deng Feng, who attended school together and left together every day.

Jingjing and Deng Feng often quarrelled with each other, but Miaomiao had no intention of ever quarrelling with Zhou Yuan.

She wanted to maintain a good relationship with them.

Miaomiao was really jubilant. The more she thought about it, the more jubilant she became.

However, she also recalled that Zhou Yuan was sick; therefore, she also brought a bottle of warm water from home and gave it to Zhou Yuan to drink. Due to his cold, he had to consume more warm water.

Zhou Yuan inspected Hua Miaomiao’s pink water bottle, which was adorned with cat ears. He saw her looking at him expectantly as if she was sure that drinking two more sips of water would completely remedy his cold.

Due to his illness, he wore a mask to school. Since he used to wear a mask back then, everyone was already used to this.

Zhou Yuan removed his mask to take a sip of warm water that Miaomiao had bequeathed him.

“My father said you would get well soon.” Miaomiao said.

The next day, Zhou Yuan finished convalescing from his cold. Furthermore, he no longer had any more nightmares, but he never told anyone else about how he got his cold in the first place; otherwise, it would greatly sully his stately image.

He also found a problem, but it was a good problem. He found out that strawberries were very magnificent fruits.

Father Hua went to survey the house Father Zhou had mentioned, and it met all his requirements. Additionally, there was a sunroom and a courtyard. The previous homeowner mentioned to him that he could grow some vegetables and flowers in this area.

The reason why the house was for sale was because the owner’s son had to move to another area to take care of an elderly couple, so the owner had to sell this house.

Father Hua liked this house very much. After a discussion with Mother Hua, he ultimately decided to buy it.

However, they still had to complete a manifold amount of procedures and redecorations before they could move in.

The adults told Miaomiao that they should be able to move into their new home after she had returned home.

The house was in Zhou Yuan’s community, which meant that in the future, she would be able to go to school with Zhou Yuan. They would also be able to come home together.

Miaomiao was so happy that she consumed an extra bowl of rice for dinner.

I can go to Zhouzhou’s house to do my homework! I could also invite him to come play in my house.

Miaomiao called Zhou Yuan to share the good news. Despite seeing Miaomiao’s caller ID, Zhou Yuan didn’t answer the call.

Outside, Father Zhou and Mother Zhou were arguing. The reason was because his mother had found Zhou Yuan’s law book that he used for his college course. She perused through a few pages, and then she found a page in it about the cruel punishments that the Qin Dynasty’s Emperor had used on his subjects. Zhou Yuan had even scrawled down a few notes on this page, which were about the Emperor’s cruel punishments.

After perusing it, a sense of dread filled Mother Zhou. She couldn’t help but feel angry since a small child was reading about the brutal punishments that happened during the Qin Dynasty.

While Father Zhou felt that since Legal History was out of the question, Zhou Yuan could still attend the Civil Law and Commercial Law classes.

Zhou Yuan then interjected, “Why can’t I choose the course I like?”

In Zhou Yuan’s opinion, he felt that he behaved like a really good kid during all these years. He was completely different from all those other kids who didn’t understand their parents or cried all the time.

But since he had tasted the sweetness of knowledge, he was quite certain that this was the kind of life he wanted. The thought of obtaining more knowledge was appealing to him as if he had entered into a new world where he could learn all the things he had never learned before. 

He didn’t want to spend time in elementary school. He only had one life, and he didn’t want to waste it with trivial matters.

Mother Zhou was stunned for a moment. She sat down on a chair and looked at his obdurate expression. 

Maybe I was wrong. Zhouzhou might possibly be different from me.

She regretted not having a childhood. She regretted not having any friends like the other children who played with each other and not possessing any fond childhood memories.

Zhouzhou might not care about these things at all.

Miaomiao was a little surprised when Zhou Yuan didn’t answer the phone.

Why didn’t he answer the phone?

Miaomiao dwelled on this for a while, ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll meet again tomorrow anyway.’

Early the next morning, she saw Zhou Yuan ensconced safely in his own seat when she arrived at school.

A feeling of exultation enveloped Miaomiao as she declared to him, “Zhouzhou, Zhouzhou! Dad said that we will live in the same community soon. We could come to school together! We could leave school together! Isn’t that wonderful?”

She now had changed from being a very shy and timorous little girl to a very outspoken person.

When he met her for the first time, she still hid behind her mother and refused to look at him.

Due to her timidity, she didn’t dare look into his eyes when she greeted him.

Now she was full of vitality; Zhou Yuan could not remember when her personality had changed.

Zhou Yuan felt a little sad, but he soon suppressed his emotions.

“I’m going to change schools next week,” Zhou Yuan declared to Miaomiao.

Miaomiao blinked since she didn’t understand his words.

So, Zhou Yuan repeated. This time, Miaomiao finally understood this time. She mused over it, and she responded, “So, you’ll stop playing with us naive children now?”

Miaomiao always remembered what Zhou Yuan had said that day, about how he was very smart and didn’t feel the need to attend primary school.

When Zhou Yuan digested Miaomiao’s response, he replied back, “You’re not a naive child; you’re a lovely child.”

“But you still don’t like children.” Miaomiao wasn’t complaining. She didn’t express any negative feelings when she said that; she was simply stating the truth.

Miaomiao mused for a while, and then she smiled and said, “Well, you could play with me when I’m older. When I grow up, we could both go to university together.”

Miaomiao didn’t realize that Zhou Yuan wouldn’t need to go to college if he already went to college now.

Zhou Yuan didn’t know what to say, but he felt a great deal of discomfort. This feeling was similar to when he had caught a cold.

While a cold could be treated with some medication, this kind of discomfort cannot.

When Jingjing learned that Zhou Yuan was leaving, she took Miaomiao and Deng Feng outside their classroom for a discussion.

Zhou Yuan, who wasn’t asked to go with them: “…”

I’m not interested in the children’s discussion, although it mostly likely concerns me and my departure.

Zhou Yuan surmised correctly.

Jingjing said, “If Zhouzhou is leaving, then we should get him a gift as a sort of souvenir.”

Miaomiao nodded, “What should we get him?”

Jingjing asked, “Does he have anything he likes?”

“No…I don’t know.” Deng Feng said. 

Although Miaomiao had no idea about Zhou Yuan’s likes and dislikes, Jingjing still asked her to figure out what Zhou Yuan liked since Miaomiao had a very good relationship with Zhou Yuan. She also told her not to tell Zhou Yuan that were going to buy him gifts. If he found out, then the surprise would be ruined.

Miaomiao: “…” I don’t think I can.