CH 9

“I gave it to her. Yesterday, she was sad and depressed, because the pomegranate withered and rotted away. She intended to give the pomegranate to her aunt, but before doing so, it had wilted away.”

When Aunt Hua saw Zhou Yuan’s message, she was shocked, then, she suddenly burst into tears. Her tears kept streaming down her face, and no matter how hard she tried, they wouldn’t stop. It was as if something had hit her heart.

Uncle Hua thought that something bad had happened. He ran to her, and then read the message. After digesting the message, Uncle Hua now realized what was going on. He embraced Aunt Hua and said, “I remember the day, when we picked her up from her first day at school. You mentioned that your colleagues gave everyone pomegranates, but you did not receive any. It seems she remembered it.”

Aunt Hua began to tear up again. She thought that her little daughter was altruistically trying to make her happy.

Little Miaomiao’s circumstances were always different from other children. Many people even told her that it might be very difficult for Little Miaomiao to open up to them, when they adopted her, for she was older, and engraved deeply in her heart, as if tormenting her, were the physical and mental scars of her past.

But, she never cared about these issues. She decided to adopt and raise her like her own daughter, she didn’t want anything else. All she hoped for was for Little Miaomiao to be happy and prosperous.

Early the next morning, Little Miaomiao woke up, and she noticed that her aunt’s eyes were swollen with a reddish tint. She knew this situation well. Every time her aunt cried, her eyes would become swollen. But her aunt hadn’t cried in a long time, why did she cry now? Little Miaomiao felt a little disconcerted.

Little Miaomiao followed Aunt Hua and tried to strike up a conversation several times, but to no avail.

During her past, when her mother cried, and Little Miaomiao asked about it, she would be beaten as a result…

She wasn’t afraid that her aunt would strike her. She definitely won’t strike her. But Little Miaomiao’s past still scarred and tormented her deeply. She recalled how her mother beat her, when she asked her why she cried. She doesn’t want to ask her aunt, why she cried. She doesn’t want her aunt to feel uncomfortable.

Although Aunt Hua’s voice was slightly hoarse, she was in a cheerful mood. She declared to Uncle Hua, “The pomegranates that I bought yesterday are gone and now, I feel down…”

After absorbing what Aunt Hua had said, Little Miaomiao now realized why she was despondent and cried. She realized that it was because sixteen was gone.

A thought suddenly occurred to Little Miaomiao. She didn’t give the sixteen that she bought for her aunt. She felt joyful that she didn’t give it to her last night. She quickly ran to the living room, opened her schoolbag and found the sixteen inside. Her eyes instantly glinted with joy.

Little Miaomiao took it out and held it with both of her hands. Then, she raced all the way to the kitchen, “Auntie, Auntie…”

Aunt Hua turned around and saw her little daughter holding up a pomegranate. Little Miaomiao’s eyes were sparkling with joy. But after her aunt turned her head towards her, Little Miaomiao felt a trace of embarrassment, lowered her head and awkwardly said, “Sixteen…”

Aunt Hua squatted down and asked, “Does Miaomiao want to give it to her aunt?” Aunt Hua took the pomegranate and gently hugged her, “Auntie is very happy.”

Little Miaomiao caught slight traces of melancholy and sorrow in her Auntie’s voice, almost as if she was about to cry, even though she exuded heartfelt joy and exhilaration. She couldn’t understand this emotional contradiction. She reached out her hands and embraced Aunt Hua to comfort her.

Uncle Hua stood next to them and saw this scene unfold: “…”

He felt fortunate that he resisted all attempts at persuasion and increasing pressure, when he decided to support his wife’s decision to adopt Little Miaomiao. After all, where else could he find such a well-behaved and filial daughter.

The couple always desired to have children, but because of fertility reasons, they couldn’t have any. Uncle Hua felt that Little Miaomiao was much better than the troublesome children of his brother.

Aunt Hua peeled the pomegranate and the three of them ate it along with some noodles for breakfast. This was the first time that Little Miaomiao had eaten pomegranate. She absolutely adored its taste.

After finishing breakfast, Aunt Hua helped Little Miaomiao pack her schoolbag and change her clothes. Before departing, a thought suddenly struck Little Miaomiao. She hurried back to her room and put the packet of dried meat into her schoolbag.

After her arrival at school, Little Miaomiao saw Zhou Yuan, who was already sitting in his seat and was rushing through his homework.

When Zhou Yuan saw her, he greeted her, “Good Morning, Miaomiao!”

He seldom did his homework at home because…his mother works at the Education Bureau. She strongly advocated for alleviating the burden of homework for children. She believed that children should go out, play everyday and enjoy their childhood.

Little Miaomiao sat in her seat and placed her schoolbag under her desk. Her little hands unzipped her schoolbag and she took out the packet of dried meat. She felt hesitant and ambivalent about whether to give this to Zhou Yuan or not, but then she recalled yesterday’s events.

Little Miaomiao’s doubts and ambivalence quickly dispersed, as she produced the packet of dried meat out of her school bag and offered it to Zhou Yuan. However, she dared not look into his eyes and only whispered, “This is for you.”

Zhou Yuan was astounded, when he saw the packet with dried meat inside and said with gratitude, “Thank you, Miaomiao.”

He immediately accepted it and thought that the two of them could eat it together in a moment.

After accepting it, Zhou Yuan held his pen again and returned to his homework. His hands were concealed by his sleeves.

Yesterday, Little Miaomiao held hands with Jingjing. Jingjing also told her that they would be good friends in the future, therefore, she is even more determined to become friends with Zhou Yuan. She had to hold hands, otherwise, they wouldn’t be good friends.

Because he had treated her very well and was so great, she wanted to befriend Zhou Yuan.

But seeing Zhou Yuan earnestly doing his homework, she doesn’t want to disturb him.

One by one, the classmates arrived. They greeted both Zhou Yuan and Little Miaomiao.

Little Miaomiao was a bit shy. But, she knew that everyone was a child and replied back, “Good morning.”

After she uttered the first sentence, she realized that it wasn’t difficult for her to speak to them.

A wave of excitement and joy swept over her, although she didn’t understand why she felt these warm, exuberant emotions.

Zhou Yuan was also in high spirits, as he felt that Little Miaomiao had made great progress.

At this time, Little Deng Feng ran in with his schoolbag on his back. After arriving at Little Miaomiao’s table, he took out his favorite vanilla-flavored wafer packet from his schoolbag and presented it to Little Miaomiao, “For…for…you.”

This astounded Little Miaomiao. After a while, Little Deng Feng squatted and said, “I…I…in the future…will…I will protect…you…”

Little Deng Feng, himself, was a little shy, and he didn’t wait for Little Miaomiao to respond. He dashed back to his seat quickly.

Little Miaomiao blinked, and Zhou Yuan said, “Don’t be afraid, he just wants to be your friend.”

Little Miaomiao hummed in acknowledgment and saw Little Jingjing walking inside the classroom, while holding hands with a girl. She carefully stretched out hand and attempted to grasp Zhou Yuan’s hand.

Zhou Yuan continued with his homework, for he still had some unfinished questions.

Little Miaomiao retracted her hand, interlocked both of her hands together and placed them on the desk. Staring at her hands, she thought that if she held hands with others, just like this, that they would be good friends.

Zhou Yuan was writing and looked at Little Miaomiao, who was ruminating cutely. He thought that he shouldn’t change schools for now, since she’s naive and could be bullied easily.