Cai Xiaolian looked at Gu Xin with interest, waiting for her answer.
"Sister, I have some thoughts. You told me before about what it means to fall in love with someone. After observing the couples in our family, I have a different perspective." Gu Xin looked at Gu Nian and said, "I think love is mutual, not one-sided. While I love him, want what's best for him, and want the best for him, he must also love me, want what's best for me, and want the best for me! Otherwise, why should I love him? Maintaining a relationship isn't something one person can do alone; both people have to work together! It has to be worthwhile for both of us. If it's not worthwhile, it's a bad relationship, and you have to cut your losses in time to avoid getting hurt."
"Just like my grandparents, my uncle and aunt, my parents, and my third aunt and uncle, their love is mutual; no one is one-sided. It's just a matter of who loves whom more. For couples like my grandparents, who have supported each other through thick and thin, their love is equal and reciprocal. As for my uncle and aunt, in my opinion, my aunt loves my uncle more. With my parents and my third aunt and uncle, my father and uncle love my mother and aunt more because they can't bear to see them suffer even the slightest grievance. My uncle is different. Unless my aunt is injured or bullied outside, he's the one who bullies her the most at home."
Gu Hui and Gu Nian looked at Gu Xin thoughtfully. The little girl had thought about so much? The two older sisters felt ashamed, as they had never thought about such life questions before.
The little figures inside Gu Si's body are already having a blast. Sister Xin Xin is amazing.
I used to think only my older sister and Niannian were amazing, but now I realize that Xinxin is amazing too! I need to work harder!
Cai Xiaolian smiled helplessly and did not refute Gu Xin's statement that her father loved her mother more.
She smiled and said to the four girls, "When I was a girl, I heard a poem about love. Now that you're all literate and learning poetry, I'll recite it for you too! I really like it."
"If I love you, I will not be like the climbing trumpet creeper, flaunting myself by clinging to your tall branches. If I love you, I will not be like the infatuated bird, repeating monotonous songs on the green lawn. ... You have your bronze branches and iron trunk, like knives, like swords, like halberds. I have my red, abundant blossoms, like heavy sighs, like valiant torches. We share the cold waves, the thunder and lightning, we share the mist, the flowing clouds, the rainbows. Seemingly forever separated, yet bound together for life..."
Cai Xiaolian read "To the Oak Tree" to her daughters. It was her favorite contemporary poem and the one she remembered most clearly.
Gu Nian had studied this poem, but as a science student, she was genuinely uninterested in poetry, even less so than her nephew.
After Cai Xiaolian recited the poem, Gu Nian felt that it was somewhat different from the one she had read when she was in school, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why.
If there were a subject called "emotions," she'd probably fail it all the time!
After a while, Gu Xin's eyes sparkled as she said, "Mother, I understand a little! Although the format of this poem is different from what Father usually teaches us, I still understand it. This poem compares the kapok tree and the oak tree to a woman and a man. This poem expresses the poet's view on love. She believes that a woman is not dependent on a man. If you are a tree, then I must also be a tree as tall and upright as you. If you stand, I must also stand, standing equally between heaven and earth. We share hardships and enjoy joys together."
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