Aunt Wang pushed open the door and brought us two bowls of white lotus seed soup. "Master, are you teaching Xiaoqing to play chess again?"
I stood up. "Aunt Wang, I'd like to have an ice cream."
"sit down!"
Wang Ma gave me a helpless wink and considerately closed the door for us.
"Is the game over?!"
I bit my lip and looked down at the chessboard.
But tears were already welling up in her eyes, and before long, two tears fell onto the chessboard with a "plop".
“Xiaoqing, now you are the one playing this game. All the pieces are following you. Your every word and action will affect the entire battle. Don’t think that just because you’re at the back, you can ignore the fact that everyone on the other side of the river is watching you, thinking about how to defeat you and make all your pieces crumble. Is this how you’re going to treat it? How can your father entrust Fuhua to you if you’re like this?”
I wiped away my tears and said, "I'm sorry, Dad."
He sighed and stared at me for a long time without saying a word. I didn't even dare to look him in the eye.
His expectations of me will always be far greater than my strength.
*
Xiao Ning, carrying a large teddy bear, knocked on my door. She walked sleepily towards my bed and said, "Sis, I'll sleep with you tonight."
"Don't you usually sleep alone?" I took another pillow out of the closet.
She coughed twice, covering her mouth, and sat in the center of the bed hugging the teddy bear. "I feel so awful. It's so dark when I woke up, and I'm too scared to call my mom."
"Then go to sleep." I covered her with the blanket.
She lay awake all night, unable to fall asleep, tossing and turning.
"Sis, you're not fun at all. Brother Xunan is much better. He can take me to play with lots of fun things. He has lots of cars, tanks, rockets, and his precious porcelain doll in his room."
I rolled over and covered my head. I have to get up early tomorrow. Dad said he's going to take me horseback riding. He told me to go to bed early tonight, otherwise I won't have the energy to ride and the horse will throw me off.
“But their home is so far away, on Dongfang Road in the South District…” Xiao Ning nudged my shoulder and said to herself.
I just felt sleepy and fell asleep without even realizing it.
In the morning, I was woken up by my mother's voice. I got up, still wrapped in my blanket, and saw my mother picking up Xiao Ning. She shouted, "Jingmo, come quick! Xiao Ning is freezing to death!"
"Sister, give me the blanket..." She kept her eyes tightly shut and clutched her mother's clothes.
I think last night at 1 a.m., I was so busy keeping her warm that I wrapped myself up and let her catch a cold.
"Xiaoqing, how can you not take care of your younger sister at all!"
I shook my head. "Mom, she wanted to sleep here herself."
"But you can't let your sister sleep outside the blankets in the dead of winter."
"She kept talking to herself all night and didn't sleep until very late..."
"What's all this noise so early in the morning? Can't you two adults keep a close eye on things? Let her disturb Qing'er!" The father glared at them sternly, and Xiao Ning choked up a few times before bursting into tears.
I got up to tidy up, and Dad came back after leaving the room. He picked up Xiao Ning's big teddy bear from the bedside and threw it out. "Wang Ma, don't put these things in Qing'er's room anymore!"
I actually dislike wearing riding clothes, but my dad always says I look smart and dashing in them.
Riding a horse against the wind in the dead of winter is actually quite uncomfortable; after only a few laps, my face turned red from the cold.
My father, however, never tired of it and made sure to bring me here once a week without fail.
“Xiaoqing, our research lab is doing very well. Now I can spend more time on Fuhua. You’re graduating from elementary school soon, so we’ll move to the South District, closer to the company, so you won’t have to travel so far to school every day.”
"Dad, you look very tired. You need to rest."
"Xiaoqing, when you become like your father, you'll know that sometimes you can't just stop whenever you want."
I nodded, seemingly understanding, "Because there are soldiers and officers behind Dad, right?"
Dad laughed heartily, "Yes, this is what I always call a sense of responsibility. The uncles and aunties in the company have all gone through thick and thin with me. Now that things are finally a little better, do you think I can abandon them?"
I shook my head firmly.
*
Sure enough, I moved house after graduating from elementary school.
Our villa on Beiyang Road is beautifully decorated. My room is bigger and brighter now. I love this house. Dad said the swing in the yard on the first floor is mine.
The staircase is spiral, with many turns, and it has a very artistic feel. Wang Ma said that her mother insisted on decorating it this way.
Later, Xiao Ning often played in the hallway, and would suddenly rush out to scare me, then skip away.
After that night, we rarely spoke to each other and spent even less time together.
She and her mother, and me and my father, seemed to live in two separate worlds. I always wondered why we were sisters.
My mother enjoys lively gatherings. After moving to the South District, her friends became closer, and she often held parties at home.
After I returned from the tutoring class, most of the people had already left.
Since we moved here, the people who visit our home most frequently are Uncle Yan and Aunt Yan's family. In particular, Uncle Yan and my father are very good friends and have known each other since they were children.
As I was going upstairs, I was silently reciting the French words I had learned that evening. I had just turned a corner when someone hugged me tightly from behind.