The girl lowered her eyes and asked softly, "Will bad people be punished?"
"That's for sure!" Er Mao suddenly stood up, scattering peanut shells all over the ground.
"Everyone's waiting!"
"Everyone's waiting!"
He repeated it twice, as if he were saying something very inspiring.
In reality, he had heard this phrase from someone else; people said it all the time, so he kept it on his lips and kept it in mind.
"Here, Brother Er Mao, you can have some too." Looking at Er Mao, who was standing upright with an adult-like expression, the girl smiled and offered him some peanuts.
Er Mao glanced at the peanuts and waved his hand, saying, "What's so good about these? Even if my dad peels them for me, I don't want to open my mouth."
"But I heard your stomach growling, Er Mao, let's eat together, peanuts are still very delicious."
The girl looked at him, her slender arm raised high, a peanut twirling between her frostbitten fingers.
Under the dim sunlight, the peanuts wrapped in red skins seemed to be coated with an iris, shimmering with brilliance.
"It's a little bit delicious, but only a little bit. Maybe I ate too much, so I can't tell," Er Mao said, chewing on a peanut and licking his lips.
The girl just smiled with her eyes narrowed, and Er Mao blushed, urging, "Hurry up, that's all, I'll take you to play after you finish eating."
The girl finished her food in a few bites, shook her head and refused, "No, Brother Er Mao, you go home, I'm going back too."
As she spoke, the girl stood up, wrapped her clothes tighter around herself, and waved to Er Mao.
"Okay then, I'll talk to you again tomorrow."
“My dad has a lot of peanuts, he can’t finish them all, I’ll get you some more,” Er Mao said with a smile.
"No need, Brother Er Mao. Didn't you say things would be better after this winter?"
"After winter, next year, I think I'll also be tired of eating peanuts, just like Brother Er Mao."
Let's go!
The girl blinked, smiled, and turned to leave.
The wind blew, stirring up dust on the ground. In the setting sun, Er Mao watched the girl's receding figure, the crimson sunlight casting her shadow long and thin.
He shouted from behind, "But my dad can't finish it!"
The wind howled, carrying with it the girl's laughter.
Er Mao laughed along with him. He skipped and hopped home, chasing after a rotten vegetable stalk on the ground, kicking it as he went, humming a nursery rhyme he had recently learned.
"I want a puppy, a good one. My dog is big but stupid; it doesn't bite thieves, it only bites chickens."
That toad is so irritating; it's so petty, it gets bloated just from being touched.
The whale swallowed up all the water of the Eastern Ocean, and millions of toads were inside.
The cheerful laughter stopped abruptly at the doorway, where the father stood with his arms crossed.
"Father, are you... waiting for me?" Er Mao sneered.
"Who's waiting for you? You little brat, you're always out gallivanting around. Your Uncle Zhao is here, come and greet him."
Er Mao breathed a sigh of relief, and a look of joy appeared on his face. His favorite Uncle Zhao, Zhao Zhennan, the former Lieutenant General of the Chiyan Army, had come.
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