Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
Childhood sweethearts
墨書 Inktalez
On the hottest afternoon of the summer vacation, six-year-old Chen Jia squatted under the shade of a tree doing homework, while four-year-old Jiang Can drew pictures beside her. The deafening sound of cicadas filled the air, and Chen Jia's pencil became slippery from the sweat on her hand, making it hard to grip.
"I'm so thirsty," the little girl licked her chapped lips and looked up at the sky. "I want to eat a green bean popsicle. Do you want one?"
"I want to," Little Radish nodded honestly, "but you bought a card today."
Mentioning the card, Chen Jia flipped through the notebook to the page with the card holder, Bai Suzhen's golden smile reflected colorful light, Chen Jia regretfully closed the notebook, and a clear bell rang outside the courtyard.
Chen Jia's eyes lit up and she got up and ran outside.
"Watermelon, watermelon."
Chen Jia is circling around her mother's bicycle, and a large watermelon in the basket almost tilts the handlebars. She reaches out to hold it, but her mother firmly pats her arm.
"Are you even a little bit like a girl? Even Jiang Can is more refined than you."
Chen Jia's mom scolded her daughter for going in to get a knife, and her skirt fluttered in the wind. Chen Jia swayed her braids and followed her mom in and out like a little tail.
The large watermelon is cut in half, and one half is then cut into eight slices. The red flesh and green skin are neatly arranged in a plastic basin.
Chen Jia picks up the largest slice and hands it to her mother, who puts the other half of the melon into the basket on the bike and smiles as she steps on the pedal.
"You two eat, I'll go to Grandma's house," said Mom.
When it comes to eating, Chen Jia has never lost. She finished two slices while Jiang Can was still struggling with the first one.
She raised her arm to wipe off the watermelon juice on her face, then used the back of her hand to wipe her clothes. A line of ants was carrying watermelon seeds past her feet.
She squatted down and picked up a stick to poke at them.
" Zhanzhan Look at this ant, it's so silly. It got lost as soon as I put a stick in its way."
" Zhanzhan Guess how many days these melon seeds will last them?"
Jiang Can put down the watermelon rind, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his mouth. "Jia Jia, I finished eating," he said.
"There's still one piece left," Chen Jia said, staring at him brightly.
"I can't eat anymore, you have it."
Chen Jia had been waiting for this moment, she picked up the piece of Jiang Can and took a few bites.
"Wow, you're really clean, just like your brother. Your white clothes aren't even dirty. If it were me, I'd be a mess by now."
Jiang Can smiled shyly as Chen Jia picked up the basin. There were still four slices of melon left, and the two kids went together to find Fang Yu on the second floor of building three.
Pulling open the green gauze door of Fang Yu's house, Jiang Can's cousin Jiang Mo was unexpectedly there. Fang's dad returned from his business trip and brought gifts for the children.
"I was just about to call both of you, and you both happened to come."
Fang Yu's mother brought two bowls of ice green bean soup, with a hint of cool air rising from them, but Chen Jia and Jiang Can were attracted by the television set.
The little figure with a red hat on the TV was jumping, sometimes hitting mushrooms, sometimes stepping on coins, making a pleasant jingling sound.
"Chen Jia's big eyes widened even more than grapes, 'Ayue, what is this?'"
Fang Yu pressed hard on a yellow plastic box, ignoring her.
She turned her gaze to Jiang Mo, " Momo?"
"This is Super Mario, the latest game," Jiang Mo said.
Chen Jia immediately retorted, "Playing 'eagle catching chicks' and jumping rubber bands are games, but this is a TV program."
"You fool, this is a Nintendo game console, specifically for playing on the TV. The yellow one is the game controller, used to control the characters inside," explained Fang Yu's father, who is a translator at the research institute and often travels for work. This time, he went to Hong Kong with his boss and bought Fang Yu the long-awaited game console.
Chen Jia pounced on Fang Yu, reaching for the handle, but was pushed away by Fang Yu.
"Let me play for a while, A Yu," she hugged his waist, her entire weight dragging on him.
"No." Fang Yu struggled to lift the game controller.
"Just for a moment."
"Can't do it halfway."
Fang Yu pushed away Chen Jia and vigilantly stared at her colorless short-sleeved shirt.
"Jiang Can can play, but Chen Jia can't. She always ends up breaking things."
"How could you say that? You're accusing me unfairly," Chen Jia said tearfully, while Fang Yu had already forgotten about the Transformer she broke last week.
Jiang Can saw her crying and quickly said, "You can play with Jia Jia sister, if she doesn't play, I won't play either."
And so, the game controller ended up in Chen Jia's hands. With Jiang Mo's patient guidance, she finally managed to escape the teeth of the man-eating flower for the third time and ate the mushroom gold coins.
Fang Yu's father came out holding several boxes and cleared his throat, saying, "Jia Jia Zhanzhan Jiang Mo, look at what Uncle brought for you."
"Wow," Chen Jia exclaimed, throwing away the game controller and being caught by Fang Yu who had been waiting on the side for a long time.
Fang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, watching Chen Jia leave a saliva mark on the doll box, swearing never to let Chen Jia touch his game console again, not even once.
As the sun set in the west, the corridor was filled with the aroma of dinner, and the satisfied children carried their gifts home.
Chen Jia received a beautiful blonde doll as a gift, Jiang Mo got an exquisite globe, and the youngest Jiang Can got a remote control car.
The three children entered Unit 3 together. Chen Jia lives on the fourth floor, and Grandpa Jiang Mo lives below their apartment.
Chen Jia hopped up the stairs, leaving two boys behind, the keys on her chest jingling as she went.
"I'm back, Mom and Dad."
No one answered.
"Mom, Dad—"
Chen Jia tilted her head and stood in the corridor, the dust in the light floating like scattered gold dust, capturing her gaze.
She lifted her small face, exhaled forcefully into the air, then lowered her head and inserted the keys hanging around her neck into the lock.
The screen door opened, and the living room was unusually quiet.
Mom was sunk deep into the sofa, her eyes red, while Dad sat with his head down on the side, the pale light freezing on him as if it had turned to ice.
"Mom, Dad." Chen Jia felt inexplicably scared.
Mom forced a smile, "Welcome back, Jia Jia. Are you hungry?"
Chen Jia obediently stepped forward and pulled out a nearly melted chocolate candy from his pocket, stuffing it into his mother's mouth.
"Mom, you have the candy. I drank mung bean soup at Fang Yu's house, so I'm not hungry at all."
"I'm not hungry, Mom cooked egg noodles for Jia Jia." Mom touched Chen Jia's sweaty forehead and got up to go to the kitchen.
Dad finally came to his senses, pulled his daughter into his arms, lovingly tucked her soft, scattered hair behind her small ears, and pointed to the doll in her arms, saying exaggeratedly, "What a beautiful doll, who gave it to our Jia Jia?"
Chen Jia then became happy again, "It's Uncle Fang, he bought it in Hong Kong, and we all have gifts."
Comment 0 Comment Count