"Okay," Meiya nodded and sat on a rock by the lake. She watched Chen Qingxuan take off his shoes and socks, then walked over to pick reeds. "Slow down. Don't go in."
"I know, don't worry. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, I come here to pick reed leaves. I'm very skilled at it," Chen Qingxuan smiled at Mei Ya. While picking reed leaves skillfully, he continued to chatter, "This place is close to Jixian Book House. I can just deliver the reed leaves to the private school later."
The spring ploughing is over. The private school is about to resume classes, and Chen Qingxuan and Grandma Chen will move back to Jixian Book House tomorrow.
"Okay, I see." Meiya looked back at the Jixian Book House not far away. Her eyes moved along the mountain road little by little. Finally, they stopped at a branch of green leaves on the mountainside. She stared at it blankly, and then silently looked away.
"Girl. Are you coming back to the private school with us?" Chen Qingxuan was a little puzzled in his heart, and after holding it in for a long time, he finally asked.
Mei Ya lowered her eyes, pulled the grass in front of her randomly, and nodded after a while.
Chen Qingxuan's heart suddenly relaxed, but then it tightened again. He put the reed leaves on the shore, looked at Mei Ya, and said in a deep voice: "Girl, if you don't want to, you can live in my house. I'll let grandma stay with you. I can be alone in the private school. When the time comes..."
"Mr. Chen, thank you for considering me so carefully, but..." Meiya looked up at Chen Qingxuan and said with some difficulty, "Mr. Chen, can you teach me how to read? And how to play chess, I also want to learn."
"Sure, why not?" Chen Qingxuan was startled, then he smiled, "I didn't expect that after being a teacher for so many years, I would have the honor of accepting a female disciple. I just don't know if I, as a teacher, can teach a female champion."
"Mr. Chen, you're making fun of me again," Meiya pursed her lips and smiled, then stopped laughing again, saying calmly, "How could I have such ability? Nor do I have such a future."
Chen Qingxuan looked at Mei Ya's expression, and the smile on his face gradually faded. He turned around and continued to pick two more handfuls of reed leaves. Finally, he finished picking them. Mei Ya went over and put the reed leaves into the bamboo basket, while extending her hand to Chen Qingxuan: "Come, I'll pull you up."
Chen Qingxuan looked at the hand in front of him, a little dazed. The hand looked very slender and white, but when he looked closer, he could clearly see the roughness of the back of the hand and the calluses of different sizes on the palm. Chen Qingxuan felt indescribable pain in his heart. Even the girls of ordinary families would never be born with such a pair of hands. Chen Qingxuan reached out and held Meiya's hand, while looking up at Meiya's tender and lonely face, feeling even more distressed. He was so busy that he lowered his head, and climbed ashore with Meiya's strength, while trying to force a smile: "The girl is really strong."
"That's all the brute force I have." Mei Ya curled her lips in self-mockery and put the bamboo basket on her back.
"Girl, what do you think is considered capable and promising?" Chen Qingxuan suddenly grabbed Mei Ya's hand. With strength in his hand, he forced Mei Ya to turn around.
"Mr. Chen..." Meiya looked at Chen Qingxuan helplessly, trying to shake his hand off. However, no matter how strong Meiya was, she couldn't compare with an adult man. She shook it off a few times without success, so she stopped moving and looked at Chen Qingxuan with a frown. When she spoke again, her tone was not very good, "Mr. Chen, let me go."
Chen Qingxuan immediately let go of Meiya, but his face remained serious: "Girl, in your mind, only those who can play the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and songs are considered promising? People like you who are illiterate and uneducated and can only work hard are useless?"
"Isn't it?" Mei Ya asked Chen Qingxuan with her neck stretched out. She didn't know why Chen Qingxuan had to poke her sore spot. She hated it so much that she gritted her teeth.
"Then tell me, my grandmother has worked hard for so many years to raise me, and has never let me go hungry or cold. She used to farm ten acres of land by herself, working from dawn to dusk every day without a day off, just to support my studies. Do you think my grandmother is capable?" Chen Qingxuan spoke every word seriously, looking at Mei Ya's red eyes, but he didn't stop, and continued to talk, "Let's talk about you, a sixteen-year-old girl, in a desolate place like Ningguta, you took good care of a half-dead paraplegic. Seeing that the former disabled person is almost able to walk now, do you think you are promising?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
