The boy took the little parrot, smiling smugly, revealing the small red flesh of his gums.
"You wretched thing, go home and receive the young master's family discipline!"
Ah Heng moved closer to Si Wan and asked softly, "Family rules?"
Siwan lowered her voice, her smile barely audible, "It's basically like Yan Xi plugging his own ears and playing the violin for the little one!"
Ah Heng said "Oh," and looked at Si Wan with a deep smile.
Siwan knew what she was thinking about, and her face flushed red. She cleared her throat and changed the subject.
"Axi, when are you going to buy a birdcage? The braised pork rice keeps running around, and it's not good if it gets hurt or bumped."
Ah Heng was a little confused. Why don't people in the capital buy birdcages when they keep birds?
"I won't buy it." The boy's fine black hair trailed behind his ears in an elegant, languid arc.
"It is it, and I am me. People have freedom, and birds have freedom too. I've done nothing but provide it with a few meals and food. Why should I deprive it of its freedom?"
Siwan was speechless.
Yan hope glanced at him indifferently, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and she was completely justified.
Ah Heng smiled.
She noticed that Siwan easily became vulnerable in front of Yanxi. This was true when they first met, and it was true again today.
Later, she learned that there is a word in this world called aura.
This word was originally created by Yan hope.
Chapter 7
Since Yan hope took away the little bird named "Braised Pork Rice", Aheng and Siwan have become much more relaxed with each other. Occasionally, the young man would ruffle her long hair, make a joke, and smile gently.
Is this... how my brother feels?
Ah Heng wasn't sure, but this uncertainty was also comforting, so she didn't want to dwell on it anymore. Getting caught up in trivialities is exhausting.
She wanted to live earnestly, to live decently, to give slowly and receive slowly in return.
This is an ambition, a cautious and hesitant ambition.
Time flows like water, and the white horse wanders along, traversing countless paths called time. The autumn leaves have all fallen, welcoming winter with a desolate air.
No one mentioned Er'er to her again; the Wen family had reached a tacit understanding. They were trying to accept Aheng, but Aheng felt that they were enduring a lot of hardship and that one day they would explode.
So, before the balloon named "Er'er" exploded, she could only wait calmly, hoping that life would grant her some precious turning point or joy.
Er'er is an objective existence, while Wen Heng is a subjective name.
Objective and subjective, dialectical materialism—these are the things her political teacher taught her.
Of course, studying and going to school is tiring, which is an undeniable truth, both objectively and subjectively.
They're only in their first year of high school, yet every teacher is fighting like cocks, their eyes bloodshot, trying to steal their money. Who said it again—time is money?
Ah Heng wouldn't complain, but when he saw the teachers endlessly saying "just two more minutes" during the second long break, he would feel extremely hungry, his stomach rumbling incessantly.
When class ended, the girls usually rushed to the toilet, and the boys usually rushed to the convenience store. At this time, although Aheng followed behind the boys with light and cheerful steps, she still felt embarrassed when she saw the boys' stunned expressions when they inadvertently glanced at her carrying bread and following behind them.
She clutched the bread, trying to comfort herself; the toilet and bread were both physiological needs...
"Damn it! I grabbed the wrong bread! It's strawberry, it's so cloying..." Xin Dayi yelled, rubbing his black hair, as the stairs trembled.
"Hey Xiao Bian, trade with me, I only eat pork floss!" The boy, with messy, bird's nest-like hair, smiled and approached a thin, small boy.
Ah Heng chuckled softly.
Xin Dayi called the boy "Xiao Bian" (Little Pervert), a well-known top student in the class named Wei Xu. He was handsome and had a soft voice. He loved to jump rope and play shuttlecock with the girls. Xin Dayi, having nothing better to do, gave him the nickname "Little Pervert," or "Xiao Bian" for short.
Although Wei Xu was gentle and weak, much like a girl, he was still a boy. He hated being called "Little Change" the most, especially by the culprit Xin Dayi. When he heard him howl, his face turned pale, he snorted, swayed his willow waist, and gracefully left with the meat floss bread.
"Oh dear, Auntie, you've angered Xiao Bian. Be careful, or he'll bring all the girls to attack you today!" The other boys nearby laughed so hard they almost fell over.
"Get lost! Who's afraid of those brats!" Xin Dayi scoffed, completely unconcerned. "Anyone here have pork floss bread? Trade with me!"
Boys don't like sweets, and after hearing what he said, they scattered like birds and beasts.
Ah Heng looked at the pork floss bread in her hand, hesitated for a moment, then ran to his side, smiling as she held out the bread to Xin Dayi and said, "Exchange!"
The boy's eyes shone brightly through his disheveled hair, but when he saw Ah Heng, they became somewhat complicated. He awkwardly grasped the strawberry in his hand and said, "I'm not hungry!"
Then, with a beautiful parabola, the strawberry bread was thrown into the trash can, and then the person turned and left.
Ah Heng stared blankly at the lone bread in the trash can, sighed, picked it up, patted off the dust, and whispered in Wu dialect, "One yuan and fifty cents each."
"Aheng?" came a somewhat puzzled voice.
Ah Heng turned around and saw Si Wan. Although she knew he didn't understand much of the Jiangnan dialect, she was still a little embarrassed.
"You bought two loaves of bread? Perfect, give me one, I'm starving!" The boy smiled and held out his hand, his hands clean and slender. He looked at Aheng and complained softly, "The student council had a meeting today, and it only just ended. I was a little hungry, so I went to the convenience store, but they were sold out of bread!"
Aheng was touched and handed the pork floss bread in her hand to Siwan.
"I want to eat strawberries." Siwan's dimples were very eye-catching, and the girls coming and going on the stairs blushed and their hearts raced.
Ah Heng smiled and shook her head – “It’s dirty.”
Siwan smiled and said she didn't mind, but Aheng put her hands behind her back and smiled serenely.
Holding the strawberry bread, she went to the corridor on the floor where the classroom was located, opened the paper bag, and took small bites.
Ah Heng couldn't quite put her finger on the difference between strawberry bread and pork floss bread. She just felt that the sweetness of the strawberry jam overwhelmed the sourness, and it didn't taste like the strawberries she had ever tasted. But it was called strawberry bread, which was quite strange.
However, it was delicious.
***************************************************************
It rained on the day of the Beginning of Winter. Aunt Zhang repeatedly told her to go home early, saying that Old Master Yan had invited the Wen family to eat dumplings.
Grandpa Yan was an old friend of Grandpa Aheng, a close brother who had fought alongside him on the battlefield, shed blood, and exchanged death warrants. Before they rose to power, one was a regimental commander and the other a political commissar, one a civil official and the other a military man, and they were inseparable. They had originally planned to be in-laws through their children's marriage, but since both of their children were boys, the plan was abandoned.
Siwan had originally planned to walk home with Aheng after school, but she was held up by student council matters. Aheng waited outside the office for half an hour, and Siwan felt bad about it. So, she took advantage of her position and said she had something to do, and went out with an umbrella stored in the office.
"Are you cold?" Siwan asked Aheng, holding an umbrella, her starry eyes gentle.
Ah Heng put on the hoodie and shook her head.
The two walked quietly under the umbrella, one on the left and one on the right, an arm's length apart.
The winter wind was biting, and the rain kept falling. It was a drizzle in the morning, but by evening it was pouring. The raindrops dripped into the soil and were slowly absorbed. The alley, which had been neglected for years, was difficult to walk on, and the ground was covered in mud.
The two tried to avoid the mud, but as luck would have it, they were splashed with mud by a commuter riding a bicycle home.
The boy and girl pulled out their handkerchiefs, frantically trying to do one thing at a time, and ended up getting most of them soaked by the rain.
"Let's run!" Siwan laughed. "Our clothes are all wet anyway."
Ah Heng grew up in a water town. As a child, she was mischievous, swimming and catching fish. The plum rains of early summer accompanied her through her youth, so she wasn't used to carrying an umbrella. Now, Si Wan's suggestion suited her perfectly. She nodded to Si Wan and rushed into the rain.
Ah Heng jogged in the rain, but felt that the rain here was completely different from that in Wushui Town. The gentle rain in the distance dampened her clothes, while the rain before her was harsh and biting. Two different feelings, heaven and earth, stirred up the string of homesickness in her heart.
Siwan walked quietly in the rain, gently watching Aheng's back.
Cool, silky raindrops brushed his face, and his eyes gradually became wet with rain. The old film of his memories blurred and then became clear in the rain.
He had seen scenes from black and white films. A girl had once playfully tossed away the umbrella in his hand, grabbed his hand, and run in the rain. He was used to running alongside that girl, albeit reluctantly, used to having a pair of small hands placed in his, used to watching that girl's figure grow taller in the rain, used to calling her "Er'er".
His gentle laughter, amidst the winter rain, sounded just like swallows chirping in the April sunshine.
He was Er'er's brother, the brother she once thought was her own, but overnight, inexplicably, he and his dearest sister became strangers.
Sometimes, he was angry with his grandfather. Since he knew the truth, and knew that Er'er was not his biological sister, why did he allow them to be so close? Why did he let them mix their blood into each other's bodies before telling him that the person he was closest to every day had nothing to do with him?
.
At that moment, Ah Heng in front of him waved and smiled at him, but he couldn't smile back at her; he couldn't even pretend.
The flowers of April have long since faded, and a cluster of peach blossoms quietly blooms, but it is not as bright and beautiful as before.
*************************************************************************************
When they got home, the house was empty. Grandpa Wen left a note saying that he was going to the Yan family first and that they should come over as soon as possible after school.
Ah Heng and Si Wan quickly changed out of their wet clothes and left home.
By then, the rain had stopped.
"The Yan family, where?" Aheng asked curiously.
“You’ve seen it before.” Siwan smiled and led Aheng around the garden, along the winding pebble path, to the white Western-style building behind the towering trees.
"We've arrived, this is Yan hope's house," Si Wan said with a teasing smile, her charming and gentle demeanor radiating as she pointed her slender fingers towards the Western-style building.
“What a coincidence, Grandpa Yan’s surname is Yan.” Aheng suddenly realized.
Siwan, unlike her usual composed self, burst into laughter, her eyes bright.
What's so interesting is that Grandpa Yan's surname isn't Yan, so why would he take their surname, Wen?
"Old Wen, your little girl is interesting!" A hearty laugh, a loud, booming voice, deafeningly loud.
Ah Heng looked closely and realized that the door was already open, with Yan hope and a group of adults standing there. Her face immediately turned red.
Grandpa looked at her with a smile in his eyes. To his left stood Wen's mother, and to his right was a very robust and tall old man, slightly overweight, with gray hair, thick eyebrows, and bright, piercing eyes, exuding an air of authority without anger.
Yan hope was strikingly beautiful, a stark contrast to the old man's appearance, but the look in his eyes was remarkably similar to his—the same pride, the same spirit.
"Hello, Grandpa Yan." Siwan bowed politely and stood next to Yan hope with a smile. The two boys began to whisper among themselves.
"Aheng, say hello! This is your Grandpa Yan." Wen's mother looked at Aheng with a rare smile on her face, probably amused by her daughter.
Since Aheng came to the Wen family, today is the first time that Wen's mother has looked at her daughter properly.
She was a piece of her own flesh, yet she felt no pain even after being separated from her body. This puzzled her, and thus gave her a reason to love her adopted daughter, Si'er, whom she had raised little by little, even more deeply.
When she left, her mother was unaware that when she returned, all her maternal love had been entrusted to another bright and considerate girl who was like her own sun. How could she bear this?
Therefore, she rejected the absurd truth and shut her own daughter out.
She was a woman of deep affection; since she couldn't take back the love she had for her adopted daughter, she would continue to love her.
As for the girl in front of me, I'll treat her like a child I'm fostering in my own home.