After the New Year, winter ended and spring came. Xiao Xue was two years old, and Lu Xiao Shu had grown to one and a half years old.
Now she could run all over the yard with gusto while her quiet sister appeared more and more beautiful. She had a melon face, straight nose bridge, fair skin, and shapely eyebrows that were slender and curved. Her eyes were narrow, clear and gentle, and her laughter was slightly shy and loving. She was what others would call a missy who would be loved dearly.
No one could bear to speak loudly to her for fear of frightening her.
On the other hand, Lu Xiao Shu had a pair of black and restless eyes, and a cute and fleshy little bun face that others could not help but want to pinch her face to see if they could pinch out some water.
The two sisters were very good friends. Perhaps it was because they grew up playing on the same bed. They held hands when they came and went anywhere. It was like they were one.
Miao Cui Lan was previously worried that Lu Xiao Shu would bully Xiao Xue. As such, she secretly observed them very carefully. Now, she was finally relieved.
Lu Qi had started to go to school. Every morning, he was pulled out of his warm bed by his mother. He would rub his sleepy eyes, get dressed, wash his face, and carry his small school bag to school.
Every time that happened, Lu Xiao Shu, who squinted at his bed, felt a sense of happiness: Being a girl is so much better, at least there won’t be a need to work so hard…
As it turned out, happiness was something that needs to be compared in order to be experienced.
Aunt Li still liked to carry or hold Xiao Yu’s hand to visit, and her words were just as insulting as before.
On one hand, she could not bear to see others living well. When good things happened to others, she would always comment on a few shortcomings to dampen their mood which annoyed them. Sometimes, the words she said could not help but make Miao Cui Lan angry.
On the other, she was always proud to show off whatever good that happened in her house, even the many beans in her vegetable garden and the large eggs laid by her hens.
Lu Xiao Shu despised her, and felt that she was both a shallow and annoying person. It was a pity that she was still too young, otherwise, she would have taught her a lesson.
Xiao Yu was just as annoying. Perhaps that was inherited from her mother, or maybe it was because of Xiao Xue’s temperament which made her seem easily bullied. As such, Xiao Yu always loved to snatch the things that were in Xiao Xue’s hands.
On this day, Aunt Li brought Xiao Yu over to play. The two mothers sat under the grape arbor to do some needlework while the three little dolls played on the reed mat under some fruit trees on the other side of the courtyard and ate the freshly picked grapes.
Xiao Xue grabbed a bunch of grapes and ate. Xiao Yu looked at the bamboo basket, and then looked at Xiao Xue’s hand before grabbing the bunch of grapes with one hand and shouted, “I want this big one, give me!”
“It’s mine!” Xiao Xue was not willing to let go and wringed the grapes. She was Miao Cui Lan’s daughter after all. Even if she was beautiful and quiet, she was not a bag without a temper to be bullied. It was just that she was not as rude and brute as Xiao Yu.
“Give me, I want it!” Xiao Yu was unforgiving and didn’t let go.
“No, it’s mine!” Xiao Xue held on.
While the two fought, the sweet purple grapes snapped off one after another and rolled all over the mat. The grapes in Xiao Xue and Xiao Yu’s hands were all mushy and juice was dripping on their hands.
The grapes had already been squeezed thoroughly and there’s nothing left to snatch, but Xiao Yu had always been used to getting what she wanted and would not stop until she had won. She grabbed Xiao Xue’s hand forcefully which caused her to cry out in pain.
When Lu Xiao Shu saw that her sister was crying again, she threw away the grapes in her hand and swallowed what was already in her mouth as she ran towards them. Lu Xiao Shu grabbed Xiao Xue’s wrist with both her hands and bit down.
“Wa!” Xiao Yu cried in pain and burst into tears.
At first, Miao Cui Lan and Aunt Li quickly got up and rushed over when they heard Xiao Xue crying. Who knew that before they arrived, there was a huge twist of events. Xiao Yu was facing the sky as she cried her heart out.
Both experienced mothers could hear that the crying was not the same as Xiao Xue’s cry from frustration, but from pain, real pain that must’ve hurt.
“Aiyo! My precious little baby girl!” Aunt Li saw that Lu Xiao Shu had no intention to let go and was still biting down on her daughter’s wrist. That made her anxious and angry and she hurried forward.
She gave another bite, and only then did she let go.
“Don’t cry, my baby, don’t cry, be good!”
Aunt Li hugged her daughter in her arms and looked down at the neat tooth marks on her daughter’s white snowy wrist. They were deeply sunk in and had turned purple. She felt even more distressed and scolded angrily at Lu Xiao Shu, “Can’t you just play nicely? Why must you go about biting! So small and already so vicious, no wonder you were abandoned!”.
“Sister Li, how could you say that? They’re just kids. They’re bound to get some bumps and bruises when playing together. Besides, how strong can she be on her own at such a young age?”
Although Miao Cui Lan felt somewhat relieved when she saw Xiao Yu crying so miserably – who told her to bully Xiao Xue all the time? She still felt apologetic and wanted to reprimand Lu Xiao Shu a little. Who knew that Aunt Li would say that? As such, Miao Cui Lan immediately felt annoyed and said that.
As the saying goes, scoldings should not be directed at their shortcomings. Lu Xiao Shu was still young, it was too mean and vicious of her to say such things.
Aunt Li took Xiao Yu’s wrist to show Miao Cui Lan, and said angrily, “Knock-knock! That’s easy for you to say. See for yourself, what a bite it is! What if my daughter gets a scar on her hand, huh?”
Miao Cui Lan also froze at first glance, but she frowned and still did not mean to blame Lu Xiao Shu. She only said, “Children’s skin is tender, and a little touch will also leave marks. Their skin is different from an adult, it’ll get better in a couple of days’ time. You don’t have to get so worked up!”
Lu Xiao Shu listened to her mother defend her, and when she thought about what Aunt Li said just now, somehow, she felt a sense of loneliness and sadness from being abandoned without a reason. She soon burst into tears.
Xiao Xue would have already stopped crying. She was sniffling and blinking at the spectacle, but when she heard her younger sister cry, she turned her head to look at her before sobbing again.
Anxious, Miao Cui Lan quickly hugged and coaxed them. Aunt Li could not say anything more when she saw them and only grumbled as she hugged Xiao Yu.
Miao Cuilan carried Lu Xiao Shu and took Xiao Xue into the house with one hand and sat down. She wiped her tears and coaxed her before turning to coax Xiao Xue again. After a while, Lu Xiao Shu stopped crying and her small hand tightly grabbed onto Miao Cui Lan’s clothes and sniffled like a kitten.
“Enough now, good girl, no more crying!” Miao Cui Lan wiped their faces and hands. When she saw Lu Xiao’s lips still flattened in distress, she couldn’t help but pinch her fleshy cheeks before chuckling, “So you can cry too! But why are you crying when you’ve bitten someone?”
Xiao Xue got up and tugged on her mother’s collar, and said with her cute-baby voice, “Mother, don’t scold Second Sister. Xiao Yu bad.”
My Eldest Sister is the best! Lu Xiao Shu couldn’t help but look at her.
Miao Cui Lan sighed softly and rubbed her head as she said, “I will not scold your second sister. Xiao Yu is brutal, so stay away from her in the future!”
Lu Xiao Shu went over and held Xiao Xue’s hand and said with her small mouth, “I’m not afraid of her! Big Sister, let’s go and play.”
Xiao Xue nodded her head and the two sisters held their hands together as they went back to play in the courtyard. Miao Cui Lan was a little confused, then she shook her head and laughingly scolded, “These two girls!”
Lu Xiao Shu was now very calm when others called her “Second Sister”. No, not that she was calm, but because no matter how she protested, no one would take a little doll like her seriously.
It was all because of that little brat, who kept calling her that. After Xiao Xue could speak, she also followed him and called her “Second sister”. Incidentally, her father and mother also heard them and started calling her in passing. There was even a moment when she became somewhat depressed about it.
Just when she thought that the incident had passed, who knew that during dinner, Lu Zhong suddenly asked about it when the family was eating around the table, “I heard that Xiao Shu bit Xiao Yu today?”
Miao Cui Lan suddenly opened her eyes wide and stared at Lu Zhong. She then nodded her head in doubt and said, “Yes? But who did you hear that from? How strange! You’re so quick to hear about from outsiders what happened at our house at noon!”
“What outsiders?” Lu Zhong said, ”I met Sister Li on the way, she said that!”
Lu Xiao Shu looked down on that woman even more. How dare she leave and tell on her! However, she continued to eat the porridge in her own bowl. Miao Cui Lan was afraid that she and Xiao Xue would not be able to digest the rice well, so she specially cooked porridge for the both of them at every meal.
“Oh? So she’s complaining to you now!” Miao Cui Lan couldn’t help but also feel sour, and said, “This Sister Li only has this good point. Xiao Yu is always bullying Xiao Xue, but did I say anything about it? Have I complained to anyone in the family? It’s just a fight between kids, it’s no big deal! She has no problems when Xiao Yu bullies others, but now that she has eaten such a loss, she wants our entire family to apologize to her?Her daughter is a daughter, but my daughter is not a daughter! So what did you answer her?”
Miao Cui Lan glared at Lu Zhong, as if she would be finished with him even if he spoke softly.
“Look at you, you’re still comparing yourself to others!” Lu Zhong laughed, “I didn’t say anything, I just casually said a couple of words about children not understanding things and told her not to take it to heart. I’ve also seen Xiao Yu’s hand. That tooth mark is really-”
In fact, Lu Zhong had already apologized and promised that when he was at his field the next day, he would help her family see if water could be poured into their paddy. Only then did Aunt Li let the incident today go.
When the rice started to turn yellow, there was no need to keep water in the paddy. The water would have to be drained completely so that the mud in the field dries before harvest.
Lu Zhong smiled and squeezed Lu Xiao Shu’s cheek with his hand, “You, little girl, your strength isn’t small!”
“She bullied my sister!” Lu Xiao Shu snorted angrily and shook her head away from her father’s hand. Really, why did others like to squeeze her face? Did she have the words “Come and pinch me” written on her?
“I’ll bite her again the next time she does that!” Lu Xiao Shu exclaimed.
