On the way, Tian Xiaolan also learned from Uncle Li that his granddaughter's father was an educated youth. He ran back to the city after taking the college entrance examination a few years ago and left her and her mother behind. Later, her mother went out to work and never came back.
Tian Xiaolan could sense deep resentment in his words. How could he not care about his own child? He was not a man at all! She could imagine what the little girl would encounter in the village, as if she saw herself in the past.
Take your time, she planned.
"This is Sister Tian. Just follow her slowly. I have to go to work first." Uncle Li introduced Tian Xiaolan to her and left.
Her body trembled slightly, she pursed her lips, her eyes revealed fear and shyness, and her feet involuntarily took a few steps back, not daring to look at Tian Xiaolan.
I went to his kitchen first. Since I was going to make lunch, I had to see what dishes were available in the house.
I opened a jar and found nothing inside. There were some wild vegetables in the winnowing basket on the ground, but nothing else.
"Do you have anything else to eat at home?"
The little girl's face turned red, and she lowered her head without saying a word.
She didn't answer, so Tian Xiaolan didn't ask any more questions. She peeled off a candy wrapper and put it into her mouth. The little girl heard her voice, but still stood there, not daring to make a sound.
It was still early, and Tian Xiaolan looked at her and couldn't help but feel a little soft-hearted. She went outside to find a handkerchief, wet it, and handed it to her to wipe her face. The little girl turned her head back and refused to wash.
Tian Xiaolan pointed at her face and said to her: "Your face has become like a little cat, why don't you wash it?"
The little girl looked at her curiously, and after a while she spoke: "This handkerchief is for wiping feet."
After hearing this, Tian Xiaolan immediately put down the handkerchief. She had just rubbed her hands several times. She didn't want to smell her hands now and just wanted to wash them quickly.
Seeing how disgusted she was, she whispered timidly, "This handkerchief was just washed yesterday, it's clean."
Tian Xiaolan breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
The little girl just took the initiative to talk to her, and Tian Xiaolan continued to say to her: "Little sister, how old are you?"
Seeing how short she was, I guessed that she was probably less than five years old.
"I'm seven years old."
"Have you been to school yet?"
The little girl shook her head, looking a little lonely.
Tian Xiaolan asked: "Is it inconvenient for your family to go to school?"
The little girl turned around and said, "My family has no money, so I can't go."
"Oh, so that's how it is." Now she has no money to help her, and she still owes Xing Yifei a lot of money. He should have left.
"Do you want to go to school?"
The little girl hesitated and did not answer the question. Every time she saw other people carrying schoolbags to go to class in the neighboring village, she was envious. But she also knew that it was not easy for her grandfather to support her. Her mother had never come back and never talked to them. The family had no money to send her to school.
Tian Xiaolan looked at her little hands, which still had some scars, and said, "I'll take you to school when I have money, okay? Are you willing to tell me your name now?"
"Really? My name is Xiaoyu."
Looking at her doubtful eyes, Tian Xiaolan affirmed, "Of course, who am I? I promise you, I'll let you go to school soon."
After hearing her words, Xiaoyu smiled, showing the first smile she had since seeing Tian Xiaolan.
The dimples on her face were very cute, and Tian Xiaolan felt happy too.
She must make money quickly and can't be so slow. She will start her business after harvesting the millet. She is excited at the thought, but also a little worried that she will have to find a way to sell it if it's not easy.
Xiaoyu noticed that Sister Tian had a serious look on her face, so she didn't dare to disturb her. She just sat at the door waiting for her grandfather to come home.
"You are so good, have a candy?" After saying that, he took out a candy from his pocket and gave it to her.
She was still a little hesitant, but her grandfather told her that she couldn't eat other people's food casually. Sister Tian would not discriminate against her and always spoke to her gently. She was really happy.
Tian Xiaolan peeled off the candy wrapper and put it to her mouth: "Eat it, I just ate one, it's delicious!"
Originally, these candies were given to her by Fang Guihua so that she could eat them when she was hungry on the road. She hadn't eaten much of them yet. She seldom ate this kind of sweet hard candy because it felt too greasy. Now it felt good in her mouth and not as sweet as she had imagined.
Xiaoyu opened her mouth and ate it, savoring the sweetness of the candy in her mouth. When her parents were around, they would also buy her candy. She hadn't eaten such sweet candy for a long time. As she thought about it, tears fell.
When Tian Xiaolan lowered her head, she saw her crying. Her heart seemed to be gently grasped by a small hand. She hesitated for a moment, opened her mouth, but found that she didn't know what to say. All those words of comfort were stuck in her throat, and these words might not work even if she said them.
Approaching Xiaoyu, she didn't move, but touched her head, squatted down, slowly stretched out her arms, and gently embraced her in her arms, as if to pass her strength to Xiaoyu, and whispered in her ear: "Don't be afraid, I'm here, everything will be fine."
Talking to her is like healing my past self. I don’t know how much pressure a child as young as her has to bear. I hope I can help her a little and not let her have a bad childhood.
Xiaoyu quietly wiped her tears where Tian Xiaolan couldn't see, not wanting her to see.
Tian Xiaolan pretended not to see it and went to the kitchen to cook.
Seeing the sweet potatoes, Tian Xiaolan felt numb. This was what she had eaten the most in the past few days. She planned to put it in the pot and cook it. Her bag was heavy with rice that Fang Guihua had packed for her.
She washed the rice first, then washed the pot again. There was not much water left in the water tank, so she wanted to save some.
Then use a knife to peel the sweet potato and cut it into pieces. Put the cut sweet potato pieces and the washed rice into the pot, and add appropriate amount of water to cover the sweet potato and rice.
Tian Xiaolan was lighting a fire on the stove, and Xiaoyu was watching over her, putting more firewood into the hole. When the porridge was about to boil, she would stir it from time to time to prevent the rice from sticking to the pot. When the sweet potatoes were cooked, the rice was soft, and the porridge became thick, she stopped adding firewood.
Xiaoyu obediently reached for the chopsticks she could reach, brought them to the table, and wanted to go out and call people back for dinner, but she glanced at Sister Tian who was cooking in the kitchen, and hesitated whether to tell her.
When Tian Xiaolan turned around, she found that the person was gone. She felt a little panicked. She had promised Uncle Li to keep an eye on the person, so how could he disappear?
When I went out, I found her standing at the door, looking outside.
Tian Xiaolan followed her gaze and saw only some fields in front of her. The people in the fields were bending over and slowly raising their feet to cut the fallen rice.
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