During the first month of the lunar calendar, aside from paying New Year's respects to several elders in the clan, Li Mai and Zhou Quan spent the rest of their time at home with their family.
One day, Zhuzhu, with her little beauty, was playing in the alley with the other children in the alley.
Perhaps hearing the commotion, children from other alleys also came running over, and suddenly, seven or eight children entered from the alley entrance.
The oldest looked to be eight or nine years old, and the youngest four or five.
Zhou Lei, who was leaning against the wall watching over Zhuzhu, frowned. Why are there so many brats here? With so many boys around, it's easy for them to bully girls.
"Zhuzhu, are you tired from playing? Do you want to go back?" Zhou Lei asked Zhuzhu.
"Third Uncle, I want to play a little longer!" Zhuzhu said happily; she and her friends were having a great time playing!
The toy they played with was a nine-sided ball made by their mother. Each side had a number on it, from one to nine. Then, each person taking turns holding the ball and throwing it once, the number that landed on the ground depended on how many words they had to say.
The child who hasn't given the answer by the time others count to ten has to perform a talent for everyone.
The whole family had played this game with Zhuzhu in their own yard, so Zhuzhu was very good at it, which is why all the other children were having so much fun and screaming.
Zhuzhu saw another group of children running over. She was about to invite them to play together when she noticed Dou Dou among them, the one who had tried to steal her boiled egg.
Suddenly, Zhuzhu didn't want to play with that group of children anymore; she continued playing the game with her original group of children.
The other children lunged forward several times, trying to grab the nine-sided ball and play with it, but they protected the ball and didn't want them to get it.
“Zhou Tingting, we want to play too! Let us play too!” As soon as Dou Dou saw Zhu Zhu, he remembered how Zhu Zhu hadn’t given him boiled eggs last time, and his face immediately turned sour. But since he wanted to play this game, he said to the other child with a grumpy face.
The oldest boy in Zhuzhu's group is named Zhou Tingting, who is the youngest son of Uncle Lin Cai.
Zhou Tingting is seven years old this year, two years older than Dou Dou who is five years old this year, so he shook his head, didn't say anything, and continued to call the next number to throw.
When DouDou saw that they weren't allowed to play, he pushed a chubby little boy standing next to him and said, "Fat brother, go and take it back, let's play together."
The chubby boy scratched his head and looked at Zhou Tingting, "Whose is this? Can we play with it?"
Zhou Tingting pointed to the pearl, "It's a pearl."
The chubby boy asked Zhuzhu again, "Zhuzhu, can we play? I have a gummy candy, can I play with you?"
Zhou Lei looked at everything in front of him with a wry smile, wondering how Zhuzhu would handle it.
Zhu Zhu thought to herself that she had plenty of gummy candies at home, as well as candies of all flavors, but she remembered that this chubby boy had played with her before, so she decided to let him play too!
So Zhuzhu nodded, took the candy from the chubby boy, and let him join them, joining the circle they formed, which expanded their small circle a bit.
The others were dumbfounded. "What about us?"
Zhuzhu glanced at them and asked, "What do you have for me?"
"I didn't bring anything with me when I came out, you wait!" Three children turned and ran away.
Two children, DouDou, were left behind.
DouDou remembered that he had traded vegetable pancakes for eggs with ZhuZhu last time, and that she had just asked for Fatty's candy, which ZhuZhu probably liked. With that thought, he turned and ran away.
Zhuzhu and the others continued playing.
The two children didn't intend to play either; they just leaned against the wall and watched the group of children play.
After a while, the three children ran back. One of them gave Zhuzhu a handful of sunflower seeds, and Zhuzhu let them join in.
The other two were probably siblings; they gave Zhuzhu two fried dough twists made at home.
Zhuzhu took one look, liked it, and bought it.
Zhou Lei silently looked down at the pile of things he was holding, and glanced at the Qilin standing on his shoulder.
Qilin just nestled on his shoulder to sleep, occasionally glancing up at Zhuzhu to make sure she was safe before putting his mind at ease.
"Six, my dad cursed my mom!" A child threw a six and blurted it out. My dad cursed my mom, that's six words.
The children continued playing, but Zhou Lei almost burst out laughing when he heard this.
"Three, it's Chinese New Year!" When it was Zhou Tingting's turn, he said casually.
"Eight, goose, goose, goose, with its neck bent, it sings to the sky!" When it's Zhuzhu's turn, she always recites ancient poems.
"Wow, Zhuzhu, you're so amazing! What you say is so nice." Zhou Tingting praised Zhuzhu.
“My parents started teaching me to recite texts last year,” Zhuzhu said proudly.
In the alley, DouDou returned with a white object in her hand.
"Here, I want to play too!" DouDou handed a steamed bun to ZhuZhu.
Zhuzhu glanced at it; she didn't want the steamed bun.
"I don't like steamed buns!" Zhuzhu glanced at them, then turned back to urge the others to continue playing.
DouDou got angry, "Why can other people play with things when they're given them, but I can't?"
"Because I like to eat all the other people's food, but I don't like steamed buns. I like steamed buns with sugar and jujube paste inside. Yours looks like it has nothing in it." Zhuzhu pouted and said, then turned her head away.
Anyway, she just didn't like DouDou. His eyes were fierce, and he always seemed to want to take her things.
"Nonsense, there's sugar in the middle of this steamed bun too." Dou Dou lied through his teeth. He thought the steamed bun was whole, and Zhu Zhu couldn't see whether there was anything inside or not. After he finished playing and left, she would go back and eat it. Whether there was anything inside or not was none of his business. Anyway, he had already played this game.
Zhuzhu gave him a disdainful look. "Do you think I'm blind? Your steamed buns are practically splitting into pieces from blooming, and you still can't tell?"
"Hmph, you just don't want me to play, right? Then you can't play either!" Dou Dou angrily threw the steamed bun at Zhu Zhu's face and ran over to grab the nine-sided ball.
Zhuzhu was stunned for a moment when he suddenly threw a steamed bun at her face.
The next moment, the Qilin appeared on Zhuzhu's shoulder, and with a casual flick of its tail, the steamed bun flew back towards Doudou.
After throwing the steamed bun, DouDou turned around to grab the ball, but the bun bounced back and hit him on the back of the head. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, hitting his teeth.
This is why the alleys are now paved with blue bricks; if it were the old mud floor, he probably would have eaten a mouthful of mud.
Dou Dou didn't quite understand what was going on. He glanced blankly at the children around him, then burst into tears, stood up, covered his mouth, and ran away.
Zhou Lei blinked and glanced at the Qilin that had been on his shoulder just moments before but had suddenly moved to Zhu Zhu's shoulder. Wasn't this a bit too much?
There were about ten steps between me and Zhuzhu. How could this ugly cat be so fast?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
