“Dayi, yesterday, Grandpa Yan sent back a few limited edition Armani clothes. But Yan hope looked a little chubby in them, so I thought I'd give them to you.” Aheng smiled.
Yan hope had drunk too much milk the day before and woke up needing to pee. He saw A Heng making a phone call in the living room and groggily went over to her.
"Aheng, what are you doing?"
Ah Heng put her finger to her lips and shushed him.
"Okay, come over in a bit, the clothes are all ready." A standard eight-tooth smile, as radiant as spring flowers.
Yan hope shivered.
After hanging up, he dialed again—"Mary, I need to tell you something..."
Same steps, same words.
"When did you pick up all these clothes?" Yan hope looked at the oddly colored clothes with some disgust.
"Yanxi, how about we put on a show together?" Aheng laughed.
"Reward." Yan hope stretched out her fair and delicate hand.
"Armani, Calvinklein, Givenchy, Versace, two of each?" His features were clear and bright, his face incredibly gentle.
"Okay!" Yan hope thought she was such a good girl and agreed readily.
Not long after, the doorbell rang, and Xin Dayi rushed in excitedly—"Aww, Ah Heng, we brothers are the best! Where are the clothes? Don't be shy, as long as they're Yan Xi's, I can wear any size."
Hehe, it's a small matter if a pie falls from the sky, but to eat Yan hope's food for free and take advantage of this kid is a once-in-a-millennium event.
Yan hope, feigning concern, yelled from the side, "Aheng, how could you give these clothes to Auntie? They're limited edition! She can't wear them now, she can wear them after I've gained weight!"
Xin Dayi saw the clothes neatly folded on the sofa, with the Armani logo, vibrant and fresh, but the coloring looked a bit odd.
"I'll pay you back when you've gotten fat!" Xin Dayi said smugly, picking up the clothes—"Is this it? You know what, the limited edition isn't always the same as the regular one. Look at this color, so Armani, hehe."
Yan hope turned around, looking mournful and melancholy, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
Ah Heng smiled, raised his wristwatch; it was almost time.
Ding-dong, the doorbell rang again.
Chen Juan walked in.
Their eyes met, and a series of sharp sounds rang out.
"What are you doing here, you baboon (transvestite)? Haven't you been beaten (bitten) enough by your mother?!" The two teenagers pointed and said in unison, their eyes blazing with hatred as enemies met.
"It was Ah Heng who sent me, okay!" they continued in unison.
Ah Heng smiled and handed Yan hope a tissue, whispering in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Stop laughing, you're spitting out your saliva."
Yan hope has always been a talkative person.
A beautiful woman's most troublesome flaws.
The two of them turned to look at Aheng.
Ah Heng's eyebrows arched beautifully—"Da Yi, I invited Mary here. I was thinking, since you can't wear all of these, why not give half to Mary?"
"Don't even think about it, I (my mother) will never share clothes with this transvestite (baboon)!" The two teenagers, one fair-skinned and one dark-skinned, one glamorous and one rugged, stood together and created a beautiful sight.
Ah Heng smiled, utterly innocent—"Then what should we do?"
Chen Juan returned from abroad and was able to easily replace Yan hope's performance a few days ago, so he must be very wealthy and powerful, as he speaks with great arrogance.
"Aheng, we're sisters, this dress is a limited edition, I won't let you lose out, I'll pay for it all!"
Then, he gave Xin Dayi a disdainful look.
Xin Dayi, who had been pampered since childhood, had seen all sorts of grand occasions and was not about to lose face easily. "Damn it! You damn transvestite, nouveau riche, in the Cultural Revolution you would be a second-generation capitalist. I have impeccable revolutionary credentials, why would I be afraid of you! Ah Heng, tell me, how much did this dress cost? I'll pay for it, consider it a tribute to Grandpa Yan!"
This is what I've been waiting for.
A smile flashed in Aheng's eyes, then quickly faded into calm.
"Do we really need so many?" Ah Heng frowned, pointing with difficulty to the clothes on the sofa.
"That's all we want!" The two men glared at each other, furious and unwilling to back down.
"Oh." Ah Heng touched her nose, went into the laundry room, and brought out the same number of neatly folded, oddly colored clothes, her smile warm and gentle.
"Here, there's one more. One for each person, no fighting over it."
Last night, she kindly divided the clothes into two equal parts to avoid any unnecessary disputes.
The two boys were dumbfounded.
Yan hope laughed so hard he fell off the sofa.
This incident was the landmark event marking Wen Heng's downfall, which Xin and Chen had mentioned thousands of times. Mentioning it always evoked sighs of regret; Ah Heng was such a good child, but ever since she followed Yan hope, she'd turned bad. A beautiful woman is a curse, a curse indeed.
"Smash that bastard! You're the troublemaker! Your whole family is trouble!" Yan hope raised an eyebrow and cursed, "Our Aheng has always been a good girl, a good girl, how could she have fallen from grace? Tch! You two are a pair of scoundrels! Without our Aheng, would your affair have been possible? You don't know what's good for you!"
Da Yi Chen was exhausted and speechless.
In short, and then, and then, Yan hope happily put on two new Armani, Calvinklein, Givenchy, and Versace pieces.
*******************************Divider line****************************
Yan hope is very lazy. He insisted on drawing the sunrise, but even after setting three alarm clocks, he broke one and dropped two, and still couldn't fulfill his wish.
Ah Heng said, "Let me wake you up."
Yan hope said, "What if I accidentally turn you into my alarm clock..."
He hesitated, looking uneasy and harboring ill intentions.
"It's alright." Ah Heng smiled, amidst the slightly cool spring blossoms.
How could I, a perfectly healthy and intelligent human being, be compared to your inescapable alarm clock?
A different kind of creation, you know?
These words were spoken in my heart, not spoken to him.
The next day, as dawn broke, the fog, like soft, flowing cotton, leisurely awaited its destiny in the moonless and sunless sky.
Looking at Yan hope sleeping soundly, with his rosy face and soft eyes, he looked just like an angel, and she couldn't bear to hurt him.
But that angel babbled in her sleep, saying, "Oh, Ah Heng, how can you be so stupid? So stupid, so stupid..."
An endless loop, a cacophony of ear-piercing noise.
This is the distance between the devil and the angel. Lucifer's fall from heaven back then truly deserves no forgiveness.
She walked to his bedside and placed a towel that had been chilled in the refrigerator overnight on the boy's face.
one two three.
"ah!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Awake?" she smiled, watching Yan hope sit up in surprise.
Yan hope stared blankly for half a minute before she reacted. Her slender hands pounded the pillow, screaming as if she were dying—"My adopted daughter is unfilial! Waaaaah!"
Then, coughing twice, overcome with grief, she collapsed onto the pillow, her large eyes quickly closing, attempting to continue her escapades with sleep.
Ah Heng huffed and puffed as he lifted a basin of water and swung it over his spiky forehead—"I don't mind the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars dressed in colorful clothes to entertain their parents."
Yan hope, on the verge of death, was startled awake from his dream.
She pulled him along, asking him to go grocery shopping with her at the early morning market.
Why should I go? My sacred mission in getting up early is to paint a pure and beautiful sunset, not the infamous vegetable market.
He said this to her in a very serious tone.
Go ahead, just this once.
With a hint of ingratiation, she stood with her hands behind her back, her face slightly flushed, unaccustomed to acting coquettishly towards others.
In fact, there are people who would let her act cute.
Ugh, okay, okay, what an annoying and troublesome child.
But the boy immediately raised his short hair with pride, his pride as the older brother reaching its peak.
At this early morning market, the vegetables, still glistening with dew, are neatly arranged on the table, looking fresh and vibrant.
However, the sun had not yet risen, and the hazy mist only allowed us to see eight or nine layers of fog. We wondered if there were any hidden insect holes.
Ah Heng picked it up and examined it inside and out several times, which made the old man selling vegetables frown.
"This girl is too cautious. I, Old Wang, have been selling vegetables in the East Market for so many years, and everyone praises my vegetables for their good quality and low prices."
Ah Heng smiled and said, "Grandpa, please don't be offended. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that when buying groceries, you always have to take a look around."
Yan hope pouted, deeply moved—"This child, how can he be so petty? Strange, my upbringing is clearly very good."
Ah Heng's lips twitched, pretending not to hear.
Is the so-called family education just about dragging her to play video games all day long, and while she's earnestly learning Beijing dialect from him, seriously teaching her how to swear and use foul language?
After selecting the vegetables, I turned around and looked into the distance, but inadvertently saw a person squatting down next to a small cage containing a furry little thing.
She tugged at Yan hope's sleeve, moved closer, and squatted down.
"Sister, do you want to buy Little Grey?" The one squatting there was a child, about eight or nine years old, chubby, wearing a white vest and shorts.
"Little Gray, is that it?" Ah Heng smiled, pointing to the gray puppy in the cage. Its color made it look dirty.
The puppy seemed to understand their conversation, slightly raising its head. It was quite ordinary-looking, with a tuft of black fur around its left eye, giving it a somewhat silly appearance. However, its eyes held a timid and cautious quality, subtly evoking pity.
“My mom won’t let me keep it. She told me to throw Little Gray away. But it’s still so small. If no one feeds it, it will starve to death.” The child looked at Aheng, her clear voice tinged with sadness—“Sister, I’ve been here for so many days, but no one wants Little Gray.”
Ah Heng looked at the puppy, reached out her hand, and touched the cage opening. The puppy gently licked her index finger, making a whimpering sound.
Unable to ignore it, she made up her mind, opened the cage, took out the puppy, turned around, and smiled as she held it up to Yan hope.
"Yan hope, the braised pork rice needs a partner, doesn't it?"
Looking up, she saw that Yan hope's face had become stiff.
"Aheng, I'm allergic to dog hair." He said stiffly, looking at her with his big eyes, completely at a loss.
Ah Heng said "oh" and silently and gently put the puppy back.
"Sister, Little Gray is very well-behaved. It eats very little and never pees indiscriminately. You can put it by the door and keep it in a small cardboard box..." The child blushed and spoke earnestly, with a pleading tone.