The voting ended with an extra fifteen minutes saved, and Wang Fang kept her word, ending get out of class immediately so everyone could go home early.
"Class monitor, come with me." She beckoned to Xu Chacha in a gesture that resembled beckoning a cat.
Xu Chacha packed her schoolbag and slowly replied, "Okay, Teacher Fangfang."
There was one less class on Wednesday, but the amount of homework was not much less than usual. Xu Chacha's schoolbag was still very heavy. She carried the bag backwards, dragged it with both hands underneath, and walked to Wang Fang's desk with a pattering motion, like she was carrying a watermelon. Then she stood on tiptoe and put the schoolbag on top of it.
Whew...so heavy.
"This is the class list. Take a copy and go with it." Wang Fang assigned her the task. "Our class doesn't have a discipline monitor, so I'll leave the responsibility of managing tardiness, early departures, and talking in class to you."
"Oh." These were all things that Cha Cha was familiar with; in fact, she understood them even without Wang Fang saying so.
Xu Chacha opened the stack of names and noticed a red dot next to one of them. She then remembered her deskmate, who hadn't shown up since the start of the semester. "Teacher Fangfang, why hasn't my deskmate come here?"
If she had dropped out or transferred schools, Wang Fang would definitely not have reserved a seat for her in the first row, but it's too strange that she hasn't come to class for so long.
“She had a little accident before the start of the semester and was hospitalized. That’s why you asked about it.” Wang Fang was tidying up a new set of books and test papers. “You’re coming with me to the hospital to visit Gao Lele on Friday. We can have her do these then.”
"ah……"
"What do you mean, 'ah'?" Wang Fang glanced at her. "Even if you're sick, the teacher can still bring you your homework. You won't miss a single lesson."
Xu Chacha waved her hands repeatedly, "No need, no need, Teacher Fangfang, this is too much of a hardship for you."
"It's not hard work," Wang Fang replied with a forced smile.
Xu Chacha: Help! What kind of monster chased me to the hospital with my homework?!
...
The junior high school schedule also includes the last self-study period on Wednesdays, and classes usually don't run overtime. So Xu Yanshu and Xu Chacha agreed to go home together every Wednesday and Friday, while she had to attend evening self-study sessions on other days.
It takes ten minutes to walk from the junior high school to the elementary school, so even if Xu Yanshu ran, she was still much later than the agreed time.
As soon as she ran to the foot of Xu Chacha's teaching building, she saw three short people sitting side by side on the steps, their furry heads huddled together, chattering away, though she couldn't tell what they were talking about.
"Cha Cha, have you been waiting long?" Xu Yanshu called her name, panting. "My deskmate asked for leave, and I helped her with the cleaning, so I'm late."
"It's okay, it's okay. Chacha and her friends aren't bored at all while waiting." Seeing the sweat on Xu Yanshu's forehead, Xu Chacha took out her small tissue from the mesh side of her backpack and opened it.
"Sister, squat down a little." Xu Chacha raised her arms but couldn't reach her face.
"Okay." Xu Yanshu walked down two steps, bent over and lowered her body so that Xu Chacha could reach her head without having to tiptoe.
Xu Chacha gently pressed the crumpled paper against her cheeks and forehead until the sweat was gone, then ran to throw the paper into the trash can.
Xu Yanshu caught up with Xu Chacha and took her schoolbag into her own hands, saying, "It's too heavy, let me help you carry it."
“Then my sister will be very tired too. Chacha can carry it herself.” Xu Chacha didn’t want to let go, so she pulled on the schoolbag and followed her.
"Your schoolbag is too heavy. You're still growing, and carrying it for too long will stunt your growth."
It felt as if an invisible arrow had pierced Xu Chacha's knee. Her lips twitched, and she decisively let go.
"Okay, thank you, sister."
Xu Chacha introduced Chen Qianqian and Xue Miaomiao to Xu Yanshu.
"This is Xixi, and this is Miaomiao. They are both my good friends." She puffed out her little chest, with an inexplicable sense of pride.
"Our Chacha is amazing." Xu Yanshu laughed, patted her head, and then greeted the other two little ones, "Hello, I'm Chacha's older sister, my name is Xu Yanshu, you can just call me Sister Yanshu."
"Let's go, let's go home." Xu Chacha grabbed Xu Yanshu's arm. They had discussed it beforehand and decided that it wouldn't be appropriate to bring Xu Yanshu to Xue Miaomiao's house as well, so they simply invited everyone to Xu Chacha's house instead.
The driver sent to pick up the two sisters was waiting at the school gate early in the morning. Fortunately, the back seat was spacious enough that four people could sit in the front passenger seat without any problem.
"Come in, this is my home."
In the entryway, Xu Chacha squatted down and took out two pairs of disposable slippers.
Housekeeper Zhang was thoughtful. Knowing that Xu Chacha was at an age where she would often bring friends over to visit, she prepared several pairs of shoes in a similar size for both of them.
"Wow! Chacha, your house is so beautiful!" Chen Qianqian exclaimed, her eyes wide. "And that big cat head at the door just now, it looks so grand!"
Xu Chacha: "...I'm glad I didn't scare you."
She felt it was necessary for her to find an opportunity to get her dad to take that thing apart.
"Please sit down, I'll go get you some food." Xu Yanshu put her schoolbag down, changed into slippers, and went to the kitchen.
Because she had called home in advance, the housekeeper Zhang specially bought some snacks and desserts to bring home. Xu Yanshu took them out of the refrigerator, plated the snacks, cut the cake into pieces, and then put them on a tray with honey water to cleanse them. She then served them all together.
The girls turned on the TV, turned up the volume, and watched the previously popular cartoon, Peppa Pig.
"I like Peppa Pig." Chen Qianqian mimicked the snorting sound from TV, "She's cute and smart."
"You like this?" Xu Chacha stood up. "I think I won a few last time I played the claw machine. Wait a minute, I'll go get them for you."
She smoothed out her skirt and hurried back to her room up the stairs.
She had won so many plush toys with Wen Mubai last time that they could be lined up against the wall. She squatted down, picked out a Peppa Pig toy, and then picked out a few other cute-looking ones to hug and share.
"Let me help you." Xue Miaomiao had caught up with him without him noticing her footsteps.
She stood hesitantly at the door, not daring to intrude into Xu Chacha's private space. "It looks quite heavy."
"Okay, thank you Miaomiao." Xu Chacha gave her two.
Xue Miaomiao grabbed a doll's head in each hand, tucked it under her armpits as if in a fight, and followed Xu Chacha's steps.
"Hey, why did you vote for me? Are you pitying me?" Her attempts to start conversations were always awkward and stiff.
"How did you know it was me? Maybe someone else voted for it." Xu Chacha didn't stop walking.
"I knew it was you!" Xue Miaomiao said seriously. "I saw that note, it was your handwriting, it was so ugly I couldn't help but recognize it."
"Why are you resorting to personal attacks?" Xu Chacha's eyes widened. "And how did you see the note? Did you rummage through the trash?"
“I…” Xue Miaomiao avoided her gaze, “It just so happened that I saw it float out.”
Yes, she turned it around! She was just incredibly curious about who voted for her!
"It's nothing, I just voted because I wanted to. I think you're quite suitable to be class monitor," Xu Chacha said, pursing her lips.
"You...you admire me that much?"
Xu Chacha turned to look at her while holding the doll, her big, questioning eyes clearly conveying a few words.
—What's wrong with your thinking?
Chapter 26
"What are you doing, looking at me like that?" Xue Miaomiao felt embarrassed.
Xu Chacha sighed and simply went along with it, "Yeah, thinks is so cool, so I think is definitely suitable to be class monitor."
"Don't worry, I'm the vice class monitor now, so you can ask me for help often." Xue Miaomiao patted her back affectionately.
Xu Chacha was almost knocked away by her slap. After regaining her balance, she managed a smile and said, "Thank you, Miaomiao."
The two went downstairs, and Xu Chacha gave the pink Peppa Pig dolls to Chen Qianqian, and put the rest on the sofa. "These are all ones I caught, and you can take any you like."
"Really?" Chen Qianqian asked with admiration. "Chacha, you're so amazing! You've never caught her before."
Now, whenever Chen Qianqian's mother sees a claw machine outside, she grabs her and runs, afraid that if she walks too slowly, Chen Qianqian will be rushing to deliver money to the arcade owner.
"I'll help you catch some next time if I have the chance." Xu Chacha crossed her legs on the sofa and bit into a dried sweet potato.
It's so satisfying to nibble on a xeeca while watching TV; it's chewy and you won't get tired of eating it even if you eat a lot.
“You three.” Xu Yanshu had just changed out of her school uniform when she came downstairs and walked behind Xu Chacha. “Aren’t you going to do your homework?”
Xu Chacha turned around, her face scrunched up, "Sister..."
“Being cute won’t work. Now that we’re class monitor, we have to set an example.” Xu Yanshu sat down next to them with her textbook. “Write, you can eat while you write, and I’ll keep an eye on you.”
"Okay, I know." Xu Chacha pulled out her homework book. "Qianqian and Miaomiao, let's do our homework."
Xue Miaomiao didn't have any objections, but Chen Qianqian quickly adopted the same gloomy expression as Xu Chacha.
"Chacha's older sister is fierce."
"Shh." Xu Chacha put her index finger to her lips and whispered to her, "I still have to protect my sister. She's a very nice sister. She even gave her some small cakes."
"Okay." Chen Qianqian leaned forward and said to Xu Yanshu, "Thank you for the little cake, it was delicious."
Xu Yanshu glanced at her, and remembered her. She should be the little crybaby that Xu Chacha often talked about. Her expression softened a bit. "Write it. If you don't know how, I can teach you. If you like cake, bring some back for you when you get home."
"Yay! Yay!" Chen Qianqian pulled her head back and whispered in Xu Chacha's ear, "Chacha, your sister is really a very nice person."
Xu Chacha shook her head secretly, telling herself not to be surprised at all by the rapid changes in the emotions of elementary school students.
First graders don't need ballpoint pens for their homework. In Xu Chacha's pencil case, pencils are neatly arranged from longest to shortest. She takes out the shortest one and carefully writes with it.
Housekeeper Zhang came over and turned off the cartoon, so Chen Qianqian, who was always sneaking peeks at the TV, had no choice but to concentrate.
Xu Chacha finishes her homework very quickly. She can fill in the answers to mental arithmetic problems with just a glance, and she doesn't need to look at the book at all when filling in the blanks in vocabulary.
She finished most of the work and left the copying assignments for last to work on slowly.
“How do you calculate that?” Chen Qianqian sniffed and pushed her homework book toward Xu Chacha.
Xu Chacha glanced at the question but didn't tell her the answer directly. "There's a similar example on page eleven of the textbook."
"Oh, oh, oh." Chen Qianqian was already used to her teaching method. She counted the pages to find example problems and started studying them, biting her pen.
"Cha Cha, did the teacher not teach you this word?" Xue Miaomiao, who was doing her English homework, quickly came over.
"It's in the little table marked with an asterisk for extracurricular activities," Xu Chacha said without looking up.
"Okay." Xue Miaomiao shrank back.
Xu Yanshu silently observed her younger sister, who rarely seemed serious. She never expected that Xu Chacha, who was always soft and coquettish at home, would appear so mature and reliable around her classmates, like an older sister taking care of her younger siblings.
"Sister?" Xu Chacha noticed her staring at her. " You don't have questions too, do you?"
Xu Yanshu broke down in her guard and quickly smiled, "Sister hasn't reached that level yet."
...
The film project adapting Wen Mubai's award-winning short story is in preparation very quickly. In less than a month, the cast has been almost finalized, and filming is expected to begin soon.
Because of this, Xu Chacha hadn't spoken to her for a long time.