The girl pulled him along, introducing him excitedly to the few close playmates she interacted with in the village. They were mostly immature and inexperienced kids, with the oldest being twelve years old and the youngest being no more than seven.
However, as Youyou criticized these children inwardly, he was unaware that from these natives’ perspective, he was also seen as an immature and inexperienced brat!
As the children saw the newcomer in their group, they surrounded him and sized him up.
“Lingling, who is this guy?”
“He was brought back by my ah pa. Apparently, he is from the city!”
“From the city?!”
Hearing these words, their eyes brightened. They flocked to him and began asking him questions curiously.
“The kids from the city look like what we watch on TV; their skin is so fair and soft! Hey, what’s your name?” The kid who spoke to him was called Er Gou.
“His name is Youyou. You guys can call him that!” Zhao Linghua introduced him enthusiastically.
“Youyou… Wow! What a nice name! It sounds so trendy, unlike my name, which is dull!”
“You are so handsome, like a white, porcelain doll! I heard from my daddy that the children in the city are all princes and princesses! Are you a prince, too?”
The corners of his lips twitched stiffly for a moment. “…”
The girl gently tugged at his sleeve. Her face was flushed due to her inherent shyness. She lowered her head slightly and asked expectantly, “Little brother, do you want to play with us?”
“Lingling!”
Li Ru pretended to be upset. “Your little brother is hurt; how can he play with you all? Stop fooling around. Also, have you completed all the assignments given to you? You only know how to play all day long instead of doing your homework! How will you get into a school in the city when you are older?!”
The little girl made a face as she retorted, “Ah ma, I’ve already completed my assignments. That’s why I came out to play!”
Saying this, she stuck out her tongue and turned to pull the boy’s hand along as they ran back into the house.
Her mother stomped her feet in anger behind them.
In front of the door was an open space, with tile-sized crooked chalk drawings on the floor. A boy dressed in dirty clothes was kneeling on the ground, fiddling with a small piece of the tile while his distinctive eyes were staring fixedly ahead with rapt attention.
Lingling introduced this little boy as her big brother, Zhao Tianyu.
The little guy was very young, no more than seven years old, but he had an exquisite appearance, and his phoenix-like eyes were especially pretty. His skin was flawless and his refined features did not take after the Zhao family. According to the rumors in the village, the Zhao family could not give birth so they had spent some money to adopt this child. He was worshiped at home like a god.
There was a saying in the village that one would bring up children for the purpose of looking after them in old age. There was also another saying which went: ‘There are three ways to be unfilial; having no sons is the worst.’ Due to this, the couple desperately hoped for a boy.
Their living circumstances were comfortable. Under their loving care, this little guy had the best out of all the children in the village with regard to clothes and food.
Zhao Linghua then was born.
Her older brother’s nickname was Doudou. Growing up together with her, he always followed her around to play. Their favorite game was undoubtedly jumping houses.
However, for someone who had an older mentality like Yun Tianyou, he found such a game to be extremely childish.