Chapter 9
The calm lake surface, carrying fallen leaves, rippled in circles with the cool early autumn breeze. The crooked willows by the lake drooped their branches, unable to stir the water.
Jiang Minghua gazed at the noisy group of small figures by the lake. They were pushing and shoving, laughing and jeering, forcing the boy towards the water's edge. He frantically waved his arms, trying to stop them, but it was futile against the three of them. Just as one of his feet was about to step into the water, Jiang Minghua, her face cold, picked up a small stone and threw it in front of the children. The stone landed in the lake, splashing up quite a bit of water. The splash brought a moment of silence.
"Auntie, don't meddle in other people's business." The chubby boy in the lead was not afraid of Jiang Minghua, an adult, at all.
No sooner had he finished speaking arrogantly than Jiang Minghua swiftly and accurately threw a stone at his feet, while her right hand continued to toss small pebbles into the air and catch them steadily.
It looked like it was about to hit the fat boy on the head any second.
The scene of these three children bullying the little mute girl was like a lightning bolt, violently cleaving open the depths of Jiang Minghua's memory. Those faded memories surged back, as if she had returned to that corner of the orphanage where sunlight never penetrated. The little girl, huddled against the wall, rarely spoke, always with her head down, her messy hair obscured by no one, covering most of her face. The orphanage teachers were most impatient with her; the children were clever, knowing who to play with to gain the teachers' attention. Over time, Jiang Minghua was excluded; cold rejection and unbridled teasing became commonplace for her.
She thought this kind of life would last a long time, until a new person came to the courtyard.
Jiang Mingjia was strange from the start. Despite being so pretty, and with all the other kids in the neighborhood vying to be her friend, she remained aloof and indifferent, only liking to talk to her. In my memory, she always wore that faded cloth dress, and when I was bullied, she would rush over like a ruffled hen, spreading her thin arms to shield me, her small body taut, her chin stubbornly raised, refusing to let anyone bully her. But at that time, Jiang Mingjia wasn't much taller than her.
Jiang Minghua once asked her why she chose to be friends with her. At that time, Jiang Mingjia was admiring herself in a small, chipped mirror. When she heard Jiang Minghua ask her, she turned around and looked at Jiang Minghua's face, which was mostly covered by her hair. She suddenly lifted Jiang Minghua's thick bangs, revealing a pair of extremely beautiful eyes.
Jiang Mingjia's eyes crinkled into crescents, as if she had discovered a treasure that belonged only to her, with a childlike, almost domineering sense of entitlement.
You're good-looking, and I'm good-looking too. Good-looking people should hang out together.
Then she pursed her lips, looked at the other children not far away with disdain, and shook her head to indicate that they were too ugly and she didn't want to be friends with them!
The first thing Jiang Mingjia taught her was that one person can actually isolate everyone else.
Later, the two became closer than blood relatives, secretly going to the dean's office to watch TV together, giving each other names, playing rock-paper-scissors to see who would become the older sister...
Although there is no sun in Jiang Minghua's world, she has Jiang Mingjia.
Jiang Minghua's personality wasn't like this at first. It was only after losing Jiang Mingjia that she gradually became like her. Just thinking about those who killed Jiang Mingjia filled her with uncontrollable hatred. She regretted only sending them to prison; she should have made them experience a thousand times more despair and pain than Mingjia had endured!
A sharp wail pulled Jiang Minghua back to reality. The girl with pigtails seemed frightened by Jiang Minghua's imposing manner and burst into tears. Children are strange creatures; they are easily infected by the cries of their own kind. Soon after, the chubby boy and the remaining child also cried loudly, and even the little mute boy they had bullied pouted, looking like he was about to cry as well.
Jiang Minghua was so angry at their crying that her head ached. Helplessly, she reached out and pressed her right temple, which was throbbing, and said impatiently, "Shut up, all of you. Don't cry. People will think I'm bullying you."
"But, but you're bullying us! You're a bad auntie!" The girl with pigtails cried the hardest, gasping for breath, her small body trembling with sobs.
"What did I do to you?" Jiang Minghua squatted down, her gaze level with hers, her beautiful eyes reflecting the little girl's crying figure.
"You, you're throwing stones, you're bullying us!" a trembling child's voice rang out.
"That's because you bullied him first." Jiang Minghua pointed at the little mute girl standing in the middle, took out a handkerchief she carried with her to wipe the girl's face, and a pleasant fragrance wafted out with her movements. "Why did you bully him?"
"Teacher Shen asked us to draw animals in the water. Everyone drew fish, but the mute boy drew a seahorse. Teacher Shen praised him separately." The boy in overalls was sobbing, but surprisingly he spoke very clearly, though his tone sounded like he was complaining.
The chubby boy and the girl with pigtails both nodded in unison, forgetting their tears. Their bright eyes looked up at Jiang Minghua, asking her to make the judgment.
At this point, Jiang Minghua was no longer the bad aunt, but Bao Qingtian (a legendary upright official).
Jiang Minghua found their reactions somewhat amusing; they really were just kids, so unpredictable. So she asked, "What color were the little fish you drew?"
The girl with pigtails said shyly, "Pink, I like pink."
"I... I drew a black great white shark, a really, really big one." The boy in overalls still had snot bubbles hanging from his nose, but he still gestured to her.
"I drew green fish, and I drew a lot of them, but Teacher Shen didn't praise me." The chubby boy was no longer arrogant. Instead, he lowered his head, took out his drawing from his schoolbag, and handed it to Jiang Minghua.
Seeing this, the other two also took out their paintings and handed them to Jiang Minghua.
Jiang Minghua looked at the three drawings, nodded, and said to the little girl, "I also like pink. Your drawing is very cute."
"Thank you, pretty auntie." Children are so easy to please. With just a few words, she went from being a bad auntie to a pretty auntie and earned a sweet smile from the little girl.
Then Jiang Minghua gave a serious evaluation of the black shark in the painting: "The shark you painted looks so real, which means you must observe them often. You really put your heart into it. It's very well done."
The boy in overalls wiped his nose with his hand, his little face full of pride: "My family owns a lot of aquariums."
Finally, it was the chubby boy's turn to draw the school of green fish. The chubby boy was a little nervous, clenching and unclenching his little fists repeatedly until Jiang Minghua spoke up and said, "You drew a school of green fish! That's great! Since you drew so many fish, you must have a lot of friends."
The chubby boy hesitated and then nodded.
"You must be a very good kid to have so many good friends, so why would you bully someone? Although you all drew fish, you drew different kinds of fish. You can't bully someone just because they're different from yours. Besides, your drawings were all great. Maybe I just didn't have time to praise you, right?"
All three children understood Jiang Minghua's words. They looked at their fish, then at the little mute boy standing in the middle, and apologized to him.
Jiang Minghua stood to the side, a smile playing on her lips, her gaze filled with satisfaction as she watched everything unfold. A child's world is a blank canvas, utterly innocent. Any harsh reprimand is like a glaring ink stain on that canvas, only planting seeds of fear and violence. It's better to patiently guide them, waiting for the flowers to bloom, allowing them to thrive through their own understanding.
Seeing that it was getting late, and considering that the four children had come to such a remote suburb, Jiang Minghua, adhering to the principle of being a responsible adult, thoughtfully called their parents, hoping they could come and pick up their children.
“Your children are with me now. Hurry up, I don’t have the patience to wait. It’s better for everyone if you act quickly. You don’t want to never see your children again, do you?”
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