Genius Girlfriend

On the eve of the 2003 Spring Festival, Mom and Dad decided to take their daughter and son back to their hometown for the New Year celebrations.

They departed from the provincial capital's long-distance bus station, boarding a crowded green passenger bus. After a long and bumpy journey, they finally arrived at the village on the evening of the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Dad carried the suitcase and woven plastic bags while Mom held Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu's hands. The family walked quietly along the rural dirt road. The harsh winter wind blew across the open fields, and Lin Zhixia sneezed, whispering: "Mom, Mom, I'm cold."

Lin Zhixia was only seven years old, just beginning to lose her baby teeth. She was tired, sleepy, hungry, and cold, with a faint pain in her feet. She clung tightly to her mother, who said to Dad: "I'll take the suitcase, you carry Xia Xia. We still have some way to go."

Lin Zhixia looked up at her father, who bent down and picked her up.

With her hands resting on her father's shoulders, her view expanded. She saw the cold moonlight spilling over the bare rice fields, while the distant river flowed slowly. The dark night seemed endless, with no streetlights in the village lanes. Cold white, dim yellow, and warm orange lights leaked from windows of every household, their blurred halos resembling various nebulae in the Universe.

She could clearly identify her maternal grandparents' house - two red lanterns hung under the eaves of that building, showcasing the festive atmosphere of Spring Festival. A black Santana sedan parked outside the gate, which belonged to Uncle and Aunt. It was said to cost twenty to thirty thousand yuan.

Twenty to thirty thousand - that's really expensive, Lin Zhixia thought.

Lin Zeqiu suddenly blurted out: "I absolutely hate Ke Zhuangzhi."

Just as Dad was about to scold his son, Lin Zhixia chimed in: "Me too."

Dad began lecturing the children: "Qiuqiu, Ke Zhuangzhi is your cousin, your uncle's own son. He's only eight and a half years old and doesn't know better. Qiuqiu, you're ten already, a big kid. The New Year celebration only lasts a few days - just bear with it. Your grandparents are getting old, our family should be harmonious. Xia Xia, you too - Dad's not scolding you, but you should be more careful with your words..."

Lin Zeqiu snorted coldly, while Lin Zhixia fired off a series of questions: "Dad, I'm younger than Ke Zhuangzhi. If Brother has to give in to him, why doesn't he give in to me? If Ke Zhuangzhi bullies me, should Brother and I still tolerate it? If he insults us, can't we talk back?"

"That's not what Dad meant," Dad explained.

Lin Zhixia reasoned logically: "Brother and I don't want to cause trouble, but Ke Zhuangzhi often picks on us. He even steals my things. I won't tolerate it - we'll definitely have to fight."

Dad was left speechless.

But Mom said: "You're a little girl, don't fight with boys. We'll stay at your grandparents' for one day, then go to your other grandparents' for New Year's Eve dinner. We'll return home on the third day of the new year..."

Mom patted Lin Zhixia's head: "Xia Xia needs to be good."

Lin Zhixia remained silent.

In the harsh winter, she wore a thick pink down jacket - her new clothes for this Spring Festival. Lin Zeqiu's gray down jacket was the same children's style as hers. The two jackets had cost Mom and Dad over three hundred yuan altogether, representing one of their family's rare major expenses.Mom and Dad didn’t buy any new clothes. They were still wearing their old coats. Dad’s sweater was clean, but the collar was frayed. Lin Zhixia tugged at a loose thread, and Dad said again, “Xia Xia, Qiu Qiu, when we get to your grandparents’ house, remember to greet everyone politely. After eating, just go to sleep—eat, sleep, sleep, eat…”

Lin Zeqiu said impatiently, “I’m not a piglet.”

Lin Zhixia chimed in, “Exactly!”

Dad shot a reproachful look at his son. His son, in response, pulled the hood of his down jacket even tighter, grabbed the drawstrings on either side, and yanked them hard, exuding an air of domineering confidence.

A little past seven in the evening, Lin Zhixia’s family stepped through the gate of her grandparents’ home.

Grandma hurried over from a distance and started speaking in their local dialect with Mom. Lin Zeqiu couldn’t understand what they were saying, so Lin Zhixia translated for her brother: “Grandma saved a whole table of dishes for us. We can have dinner now. I’m so hungry—are you hungry, Brother?”

A series of gurgling sounds came from Lin Zeqiu’s stomach.

Lin Zhixia immediately called out, “Come on, Mom, Dad, Brother, let’s go eat together.”

She dashed through the darkness into the main hall on the first floor.

In the center of the hall stood a round wooden table, with a stove burning brightly beside it. Sunflower seed shells were scattered across the cement floor, and Uncle’s family sat gathered around the stove. Ke Zhuangzhi, cracking sunflower seeds, said, “Oh, my cousin and cousin are here.”

Uncle smiled but didn’t stand up. He sat lazily and just called out, “Little sister, brother-in-law, why are you so late? Stuck in traffic on the highway, huh? You didn’t even call home.”

Aunt cut in, “Sister, brother-in-law, you should buy a cell phone. Cell phones are really handy, and they come with a full-year warranty.” She pulled out a Sony Ericsson flip phone—the latest model with a color screen, complete with polyphonic ringtones, camera, MP3, and MP4 playback functions.

Lin Zhixia sat on a chair. She turned her head and quietly stared at the phone, as if trying to memorize every detail. The phone was too expensive. Her parents were still using PHS phones—devices that could only make calls and send texts, with poor signal reception, and much cheaper than brand-name cell phones.

Ke Zhuangzhi knew Lin Zhixia was intensely curious. He deliberately took out his phone, played music and videos, and laughed heartily to himself. When Lin Zhixia leaned in a little closer, he taunted, “Did I say you could look?”

The firelight from the stove flushed Lin Zhixia’s cheeks. Her skin was snow-white, her pupils dark, her eyes large and bright, sparkling like clear spring water. But she and her brother were both poor and annoying, always opposing their own family—Ke Zhuangzhi thought to himself.

Sure enough, Lin Zhixia retorted, “I don’t even want to look.”

She turned away and picked up her chopsticks.

Grandpa and Grandma brought over a pot of rice, along with braised pork ribs, oil-blanched chili peppers, minced pork with eggplant, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes. The aroma of the food wafted through the air, and Lin Zhixia was overjoyed: “Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma.”

Mom served Lin Zhixia a bowl of rice and even helped her strip the meat from the ribs because she was losing her baby teeth and couldn’t chew them properly. Delighted, Lin Zhixia mixed the meat Mom had prepared into her rice, added a few spoonfuls of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and happily ate until she was full.After dinner, around 8:30 PM, both Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu were extremely sleepy, so Mom took them to bed. They stayed in a bedroom on the second floor, where the air carried the distinct scent of old-fashioned furniture. A spacious wooden bed was already made with bedding, but Mom reached out to test it and said, "This mattress isn't thick enough. Xia Xia won't sleep comfortably. I'll find another quilt..." She turned to look at Dad. "Take the kids to brush their teeth and wash their faces."

Dad opened the suitcase and pulled out toothbrushes and towels. "Come with Dad, Qiu Qiu, Xia Xia."

Lin Zhixia was the most obedient. She followed closely behind Dad like a little shadow. When Dad glanced back at her, she reached out her hand, and he held it. "Did you eat enough at dinner, Xia Xia?"

"I'm full," Lin Zhixia answered honestly.

Dad murmured to himself, "Next year on the way back to our hometown, Mom and Dad will bring more snacks for Xia Xia."

But Lin Zhixia said, "I don't want to come back to our hometown next year."

Lin Zeqiu, brushing his teeth, mumbled indistinctly, "I don't want to either. I get annoyed just seeing Ke Zhuangzhi. Is that crappy phone even worth showing off? Why doesn't he just hang it on his forehead?"

This time, perhaps because Mom wasn't around, Dad didn't say much. He patted Lin Zeqiu's shoulder lightly. "Alright, Qiu Qiu." He picked up the thermos, but it was nearly empty.

Dad told Lin Zeqiu to take care of Lin Zhixia and went downstairs himself to fetch hot water.

Not long after Dad left, a door at the end of the corridor opened. Ke Zhuangzhi, dressed in cotton pajamas, shuffled out sleepily to use the bathroom. Spotting Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu, the "country bumpkin" siblings from the slums, he asked groggily, "Who said you could stay on the second floor? Go down to the first floor! My dad paid for the bathroom up here. What right do you have to use it? Did you pay for it?"

Lin Zhixia was stunned.

Ke Zhuangzhi pressed on relentlessly, "Go use the outhouse outside on the first floor."

Lin Zeqiu exploded on the spot, "Out-house your head! How dare you bring that up! How much money does your dad owe my mom?"

"My dad doesn't owe any money!" Ke Zhuangzhi shouted, now fully awake. "My dad is a top lawyer! What are your parents?"

Lin Zeqiu was only ten years old this year, a fourth-grader at Experimental Primary School. Influenced by his sister from a young age, he had a relatively wide range of reading and had already mastered the art of sarcasm. "If your dad's such a top lawyer, why doesn't he have the money to pay us back?"

Ke Zhuangzhi flushed red with anger. He grabbed Lin Zeqiu by the collar. "Say that again, and my dad will sue you! He'll make you lose everything!"

"Lose everything" was an idiom Ke Zhuangzhi had recently picked up from a TV drama, but his language skills were no match for Lin Zhixia's sharp wit.

Lin Zhixia said lightly, "Ke Zhuangzhi, why don't you go look up the Civil Code before trying to scare people?" She calmly held her toothbrush and squeezed toothpaste onto it. "You don't understand anything."

She didn't even glance at Ke Zhuangzhi, but her disdain was unmistakable.

A few drops of water leaked from the bathroom pipe, tapping out a soft "drip-drip" sound. The light bulb hung from the ceiling, casting a dim, yellowish glow. Years of grime had accumulated in the corners, darkening the white walls. Ke Zhuangzhi, unfazed by the dirt, kicked the wall and cursed, "You and Lin Zeqiu are both sick."He pointed at his own heart: "Lin Zeqiu is sick here." Then poked his temple: "Lin Zhixia is sick here!"

When Lin Zeqiu was born, he unfortunately suffered from congenital heart disease. His parents had expended tremendous effort to cure him. Ke Zhuangzhi's simple two sentences made Lin Zhixia furious: "You're the one who's sick! Your whole family is sick!"

Ke Zhuangzhi's neck turned bright red as he shouted back: "You're a freak! Your family is so poor you're practically penniless! Living in a garbage dump! Your brother deserved to get sick!"

Lin Zhixia couldn't take it anymore: "You're an idiot! Your brain is as dumb as a pig's! You can't even understand classical Chinese! You can't even do four-digit multiplication and division!"

The eight-year-old Ke Zhuangzhi roared madly: "You're a pauper! A beggar! Your whole family will die poor!"

The seven-year-old Lin Zhixia counterattacked fiercely: "I'd rather be poor than be an ignorant, foolish, arrogant, condescending, malicious, sinister, nitpicky, petty nouveau riche snob like you!"

Lin Zhixia's vocabulary was clearly on a different level from Ke Zhuangzhi's. No matter how Ke Zhuangzhi racked his brains and searched his mind, he couldn't compete with Lin Zhixia, who pressed on: "You won't let anyone use the toilet, you might as well sleep in it tonight!"

Before Lin Zhixia finished speaking, Uncle's scolding voice came from nearby: "Lin Zhixia, shut up! What did your mother teach you?"

Before Lin Zhixia could explain, Lin Zeqiu said fiercely: "Ke Zhuangzhi started it, how did you teach your son?"

"Ke Zhuangzhi said our whole family would die poor," Lin Zhixia pinned a big accusation on him, "During the New Year celebrations, he curses people like that."

Grandpa and Grandma lived in the countryside where the neighbors were all simple, honest farmers without much money. Ke Zhuangzhi's words about "dying poor" probably hit everyone's sore spot. The more Ke Zhuangzhi thought about it, the more scared he became, too anxious to speak. He hugged his father's waist and cried hysterically.

Hearing the commotion, Lin Zhixia's parents and grandparents came upstairs.

All the lights on the second floor were turned on, the sudden brightness making Lin Zhixia cover her eyes. Her mother pulled her into an embrace. She whispered: "Mom, I haven't brushed my teeth or washed my face yet."

Mom just stroked her head, while Aunt said: "Zhuangzhuang gets along just fine with other classmates at school, why can't he get along with your two children? Whose parenting problem is this? We paid for the toilet renovation, it's not illegal if we don't let you use it, is it?"

Grandpa had asthma and high blood pressure. Leaning against the wall, he said in non-standard Mandarin: "This is outrageous, your toilet... not letting, not letting your own family use it, is it a golden shithole?"

Grandpa scolded her son while patting his back: "Disgraceful!"

Aunt held Uncle's arm: "What's going on, husband, say something."

Uncle forced a smile and smoothed things over: "Little sister, if this goes to court, both our families will lose face, don't you think?"

Silence stretched through the air.

The dripping sound from the toilet pipes was cold and clear, as if falling right into Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu's hearts.Dad quickly shielded Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu behind him, facing Uncle with apologies: "I'm sorry, brother-in-law, please calm down, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The children are still young. Xia Xia is only seven, she doesn't know better and speaks her mind. Look, it's almost nine o'clock, and the children are growing. Let them go to bed first. Adult matters should be discussed by adults."

Mom also said: "Brother, are you really going to sue me? It'll be messy."

Uncle spread his hands: "I don't want to, I'm just worried our children might not get along and there could be disputes."

Lin Zhixia wanted to speak, but Dad waved her off.

Mom took Lin Zhixia's hand to lead her back to the bedroom. Both she and Lin Zeqiu were reluctant to leave, but Mom bent down and told them: "Your uncle is a lawyer, your aunt doesn't work, they know many people, including community clerks. Mom and Dad are busy with the shop in the neighborhood and don't have time to waste with them."

"Mom..." Lin Zhixia's voice trembled with tears.

Mom's eyes reddened too: "Mom knows you're smart. Both you and Qiuqiu be good and go to sleep. Mom and Dad are tired too."

Lin Zhixia turned her head and saw Dad offering Uncle a cigarette and bending down to coax Ke Zhuangzhi. This hurt her more than if Ke Zhuangzhi had insulted her ten thousand times. Tears welled up in her eyes, feeling both embarrassed for herself and her brother, and sad for her parents. She could only lower her head, tears falling one by one onto the new pink down jacket bought for the New Year.

Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu shared a common trait—if they were upset the night before, they would linger in bed the next morning, forcing Mom and Dad to repeatedly urge them to get up.

By 10:30 AM, Lin Zeqiu and Lin Zhixia finally woke up slowly. After having breakfast at their maternal grandparents' house, they prepared to head to their paternal grandparents' home. The maternal and paternal grandparents lived in the same village, one on the east end and the other on the west.

Uncle drove a three-wheeled vehicle to pick up Lin Zhixia's family. He also brought a bag of egg cakes he had bought at the market for Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu.

Lin Zhixia took the paper bag and said politely, "Thank you, Uncle."

Uncle was introverted and spoke little. Having farmed for most of his life, he treated his relatives very well and was known in the village as a kind-hearted man. The egg cakes he gave to Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu cost 4 yuan per pound. Neither he nor his wife would eat them themselves, preferring to share them only with the children of the Lin family.

Lin Zhixia's Dad patted Uncle on the shoulder: "Brother, you've lost weight."

Uncle waved his hand and urged everyone to get on the vehicle.

The back seat of the three-wheeled vehicle was padded with straw. Lin Zhixia hugged a hot water bottle, sitting in a pile of straw and tightly holding Mom's hand. She had heard that three-wheeled vehicles weren't very safe. She began calculating the various physical states of the vehicle, paying close attention to the wind vane on this muddy road.

Lin Zeqiu, however, thought of the Santana sedan at Uncle's house. He whispered in Lin Zhixia's ear: "How much does a Santana cost?"

"It's very expensive," Lin Zhixia whispered back to her brother, "tens of thousands."

Her brother picked up a withered straw: "How much for a flip phone with a color screen?"Lin Zhixia’s voice grew even softer. “I don’t know.” She tried to comfort her brother. “Don’t worry about material things, Brother. We’re still young. We should enrich our inner worlds first…”

Her brother clasped his hands behind his head. Resting on a haystack with a straw stalk between his teeth, he looked like a young shepherd from the countryside.

Lin Zhixia suddenly had a whimsical idea. “Let me tell you a story.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” her brother retorted.

Lin Zhixia threw herself into her mother’s arms. “Mom, Mom, I want to tell you a story.”

Most children loved pestering their parents for stories. But Lin Zhixia was the opposite—she always had endless words to share with others. Having raised her to the age of seven, her mother was already familiar with this habit and agreed, “Go ahead, Xia Xia.”

Lin Zeqiu muttered under his breath, “Mommy’s cling-on.”

Lin Zhixia completely ignored him. She described stories from The Homeric Epics to her mother, focusing on the wars between Greece and other nations. Before the complex tales of war could conclude, a biting cold wind swept under her scarf, turning her cheeks red. Her mother tightened her hat and adjusted the scarf to cover half her face, leaving only her glistening eyes visible.

Dad reached out to touch Lin Zeqiu’s nose. “Are you cold, Qiu Qiu?”

Lin Zeqiu replied, “I’m not afraid of the cold.”

No sooner had he spoken than he sniffled.

Dad let out a hearty laugh. He asked Uncle to drive even slower and draped the family’s only cashmere sweater over Lin Zeqiu’s head—Lin Zeqiu knew how precious this garment was. Clutching it with both hands, his sniffles soon subsided.

The morning sun was just right, though winter sunlight carried a cold hue, gently enveloping an old-style single-story house. Grandma and Grandpa stood at the doorway, waving to Lin Zhixia’s family.

As the tricycle pulled over by the roadside, Lin Zhixia climbed out, clutching a hot-water bottle. Muffled by her scarf, she greeted, “Hello, Grandma and Grandpa.”

Grandpa handed Lin Zhixia a red envelope, while Grandma gave hers to Lin Zeqiu. Suddenly, Dad took both Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu’s hands and confiscated their red envelopes, justifying it as, “I’m afraid you two might spend it recklessly. Mom and I will return them to you tonight.”

Why did Dad do this?

Soon, Lin Zhixia discovered his secret.

After lunch, Lin Zhixia wandered idly through the rooms and happened to overhear a conversation between her parents. Her mother spoke first: “How much does your mother dislike girls? Every year, the money in the red envelopes is different—two hundred for Qiu Qiu, twenty for Xia Xia. We have to take the envelopes first and make sure our son and daughter get the same amount.”

Dad sighed. “My mother just thinks we favor Xia Xia too much. She’s trying to remind us…”

“Xia Xia and Qiu Qiu are different,” Mom argued. “Xia Xia remembers everything that happens to her, while Qiu Qiu forgets in a couple of days. You make it sound like I’ve never cared for our son.”

Dad cleared his throat before saying, “No matter how flawed my mother may be, she at least keeps up appearances. She’s more genuine than your brother.”

Mom was seething with anger. “I have nothing to say to you.”

Dad clicked his tongue. “Then why did you agree to marry me back then?”

Mom’s voice gradually softened.Lin Zhixia thought Mom was crying. Her heart and mind were entirely preoccupied with her mother. She banged hard on the bedroom door, trying to save the situation: "Mom, Mom, it's me, Mom, open the door!"

After a few minutes, Dad unlocked the door.

Dad was over 1.8 meters tall, while Lin Zhixia was only seven years old and just 1.2 meters tall. Compared to her father, she was really short. Dad bent down to look at Lin Zhixia: "Xia Xia, you've had lunch, aren't you going to take a nap?"

But Lin Zhixia said: "Xia Xia doesn't want to take a nap."

"What about your brother?" Dad asked again.

Lin Zhixia complained to her dad, "Brother is catching sheep in the sheepfold. He wants to gather a bag of wool from the flock to make new woolen sweaters for you and Mom. I tried to persuade him not to do this earlier, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He’s still shearing the sheep right now. Brother is much stronger than me, so I couldn’t pull him away either."

Dad’s face instantly turned ashen. He first rubbed his temples and let out a long sigh. Then, he threw on his coat and dashed toward the Lin family’s sheepfold.

The Lin family’s sheepfold was built with wooden sheds, its foundation lined with rows of wooden planks, emitting the distinct musky scent of sheep. Yet Lin Zeqiu paid no mind to the smell. Holding a plastic bag in his left hand and a pair of scissors in his right, he targeted the plumpest sheep, snipping off large tufts of wool and stuffing them into his bag.

After working for a while, he suddenly heard Dad shout, "Lin Zeqiu, get out here!"

The sheep bleated incessantly, but Lin Zeqiu stood silently in place. Seeing no sign of her brother emerging, Lin Zhixia slipped into the sheepfold—perhaps because she was small and non-threatening, she managed to blend in among the flock and even hugged a pure black lamb.

"Don’t touch it," Lin Zeqiu warned. "This sheep hasn’t been bathed."

"Then why are you shearing them?" Lin Zhixia challenged.

Lin Zeqiu hid the plastic bag and scissors behind his back. "None of your business."

Lin Zhixia dusted off her hands. "I don’t want to bother with you. These sheep are all raised by Grandma and Grandpa, and there are pregnant ewes here too. If you scare them like this, Grandma and Grandpa will be angry, and Mom and Dad will have to compensate."

Earlier, Lin Zhixia had already tried reasoning with Lin Zeqiu using the same argument. Now, with even firmer conviction in her tone, Lin Zeqiu wavered and said, "I’ll use my New Year’s money to pay Grandma and Grandpa back."

Lin Zhixia retorted, "Your New Year’s money isn’t nearly enough." She held out a hand to him.

After a moment’s hesitation, Lin Zeqiu let his little sister lead him out of the sheepfold.

Dad stood with his hands behind his back under an old tree with withered branches. His expression stern and his tone grave, he asked, "Lin Zeqiu, how much wool did you cut?"

The fact that Dad used Lin Zeqiu’s full name indicated the seriousness of the situation.

Lin Zeqiu remained silent, so Lin Zhixia spoke up for him: "Dad, Brother didn’t cut much wool. There’s only a small handful in the bag."

Dad beckoned to the siblings, and Lin Zhixia scampered over. From her vantage point, she could just see a black Santana parked outside the courtyard gate. She immediately hid behind Dad as the front gate echoed with the voices of Uncle, Aunt, and neighbors chatting.

It turned out that Grandma and Grandpa still worried about Mom and had sent Uncle and Aunt by car to deliver preserved goose, cured meat, sticky rice cakes, sweetened bean paste buns, and two live grass carp.

Grandma’s sticky rice cakes were the best in the world. Grandma would wash the glutinous rice the night before, steam it until cooked, then pound it into a paste in a stone mortar, sprinkle a layer of sugared peanuts over it, and fry it until golden. The sticky rice cakes were crispy on the outside, tender and chewy on the inside—Lin Zhixia adored them.

Lin Zhixia completely forgot about her brother’s wool-shearing antics. Holding Dad’s hand, she walked with him toward Uncle.

Dad and Uncle exchanged a few pleasantries, and the atmosphere grew quite cordial.When Grandma saw Uncle bringing so many things, she quickly invited him and Aunt to stay for lunch. Aunt carried two grass carp and followed Grandma to the kitchen—they placed the bag of sticky rice cakes on a small stool outside the kitchen door. The sweet aroma lingered for a long time.

Lin Zhixia ran to the kitchen door, secretly crouched down, and reached her left hand into the bag. She only intended to take one sticky rice cake when she heard Grandma ask Aunt: "Ah Gui and his wife, yesterday at your place…"

Lin Zhixia’s father was named Lin Fugui, and Grandma always called him "Ah Gui." Though Grandma didn’t finish her sentence, Lin Zhixia guessed that Grandma had already heard from Dad about the series of disputes that occurred at her maternal grandparents’ house the previous night.

Just as Lin Zhixia was about to interject, Aunt suddenly spoke up: "When my husband was in college, he had no money. His sister sent him money—everyone in the village knows about it, and you know too. It was good of her to do a kind deed, but she keeps bringing it up every year, repeating it several times. My husband and I don’t know what to do."

Lin Zhixia roughly understood Uncle and Aunt’s mindset—they knew Mom had given a lot. Precisely because they knew, they worried Mom would use this favor to demand long-term repayment. Rather than prolong the tension, they preferred to cut ties.

So that’s how it is, Lin Zhixia thought. This was the real-life reflection of the proverb: "A peck of rice earns gratitude, a bushel earns resentment."

Aunt continued softly: "Last night, that child Xia Xia brought it up again, asking my son for money. My husband and I were already asleep but were woken up by the kids in the middle of the night…"

Lin Zhixia angrily interrupted her: "That’s not true! It wasn’t like that! Your son wouldn’t let me use your bathroom and called our whole family paupers!"

Aunt turned around, saw Lin Zhixia, and looked embarrassed. She nodded to Grandma, then bypassed Lin Zhixia, pulling her husband out the door. She completely avoided a confrontation with Lin Zhixia, while Grandpa called from the main hall: "Why did they leave? Aren’t they staying for lunch?"

Lin Zhixia, like an angry little leopard, declared outright: "I don’t want to eat with them."

Grandpa admonished her earnestly: "Child, it’s the New Year, and they are guests."

Before he finished speaking, Uncle came over and said: "I just went to feed the sheep, and the wool on their backs has been cut."

Hearing Uncle’s words, Lin Zhixia grew even more agitated, her throat suddenly itching. She coughed miserably, and both Mom and Dad hovered around her. Feeling wronged, Mom lifted her onto her lap, hugging and comforting her.

Dad patted Lin Zhixia’s head and casually replied: "Brother, my child cut the wool. I’m sorry. How much was it? Name a price, and I’ll compensate you."

Grandma glanced at Lin Zhixia, while Uncle waved his hands repeatedly: "It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s the New Year—family doesn’t keep accounts."

Dad insisted on giving Uncle four hundred yuan.

The Spring Festival wasn’t over yet, but Lin Zhixia only wished to return home soon—back to the home with just Dad, Mom, and Brother.

At four in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the sky was pitch black, and Mom and Dad were already up.According to rural customs, Mom and Dad had to perform ancestral worship this morning. They would light candles, set off firecrackers, and make offerings before the ancestral tombstones. But Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu were too young, so their parents didn’t dare take them to the graveyard. Mom said to the siblings, "Xia Xia, Qiu Qiu, Mom and Dad are going with Grandpa to worship our ancestors. We’ll be back in two hours. Stay at home with Grandma, and don’t run off. Wait for us to return."

After speaking, Mom asked again, "Do you remember, Xia Xia, Qiu Qiu?"

Lin Zeqiu was sound asleep.

Lin Zhixia nodded groggily.

Mom stroked Lin Zhixia’s hair before leaving with Dad.

As the bedroom door snapped shut, Lin Zhixia gradually woke up. She sat up abruptly in bed and shook her brother awake. "Brother, brother, why didn’t Mom and Dad take us to worship the ancestors this year?"

Her brother mumbled vaguely, "Because we’re young."

"Why can’t young people worship ancestors?" Lin Zhixia pressed.

Her brother said irritably, "There are ghosts in the graveyard!"

Frightened, Lin Zhixia burrowed under the covers. "Are there really ghosts? Has Brother seen a ghost?"

Her brother said, "If I saw a ghost, I wouldn’t be afraid."

"Why?" Lin Zhixia probed relentlessly.

Her brother rolled over, turning his back to her. "Aren’t you annoying, Lin Zhixia? Endless whys—you’re driving me crazy."

Lin Zhixia had woken her brother up earlier. Acknowledging her fault, she fell silent.

She lay in bed for a while, feeling a bit hungry. She had intended to endure it, but the more she tried, the hungrier she became—yesterday afternoon, she had eaten a lot of sticky rice cake and fried fish, so she hardly touched her dinner. Now, she found herself craving the flavors of sticky rice cake, sweetened bean paste buns, fried fish pieces, and braised chicken drumsticks.

She wanted to go to the kitchen to find something to eat.

Her brother’s breathing was steady, fast asleep.

Lin Zhixia quietly got out of bed. She draped her pink down jacket over her shoulders and tiptoed out of the bedroom.

Grandma and Grandpa’s kitchen stood diagonally in front of the main house, separated by four meters—a small, freestanding building in the courtyard. It was equipped with a wood-burning stove for cooking, and a chimney rose from the roof.

Last night’s leftovers, including the fried fish, had been left on the stove.

Muttering "fried fish" to herself, Lin Zhixia braved the cold wind and crossed through the darkness to the kitchen door. Only then did she realize the door was padlocked.

The sky was pitch black, and the dry, cold wind pierced to the bone.

Lin Zhixia sneezed.

She turned and walked back to the main house.

To her surprise, the main house door wouldn’t open either.

At first, she didn’t believe it and shoved it hard a few times, but the massive wooden door didn’t budge—someone had fastened the bolt on the other side.

Lin Zhixia fell silent for two seconds before frantically pounding on the door. "Grandma, Grandma! Brother! Lin Zeqiu!"

Grandma was hard of hearing, her brother was deep in sleep, and her voice was weak, her hands small—no one responded to her knocking.

The sky draped like a black cloth behind her, and unfamiliar footsteps occasionally sounded beyond the courtyard gate. Lin Zhixia’s hair stood on end, her body trembling from the cold wind. She wasn’t even half the height of the door.

Her stomach ached faintly, her fingers numb from the cold. Panic-stricken, Lin Zhixia’s voice grew even softer. "Let me in, I’m so scared. Mom, I’m afraid of the dark. Dad… Mom…"Mom and Dad were still visiting the ancestral graves and wouldn’t be back for at least another hour. Lin Zhixia tried hard to stay calm. To keep warm, she ran into the sheep pen, crouched among the flock, and began to think seriously—why had the main gate been locked from the inside? Only Grandma and Brother were at home. Since Brother couldn’t possibly have gotten up, it must have been Grandma who locked the gate.

Lin Zhixia came up with two plausible explanations.

First, Grandma’s room was close to the main entrance. She might have woken up, noticed the door slightly ajar, casually slid the bolt shut, and gone back to bed without hearing Lin Zhixia’s calls.

Second, Grandma knew Lin Zhixia had gone out. She had quietly observed her, silently closed the main gate, and ignored her granddaughter’s cries—this possibility filled Lin Zhixia with shock and dread.

Lin Zhixia couldn’t make too much noise. Earlier, she had heard strangers passing by outside the courtyard, and she couldn’t tell whether they were good or bad people. Her current situation was akin to that of a young girl left home alone. Her uncle and aunt lived next door, but their whole family had also gone to visit the graves, cutting off that potential source of help.

After careful consideration, Lin Zhixia concluded that waiting in the sheep pen for her parents’ return was the safest and most reliable solution at this stage.

She only needed to wait an hour.

It was the longest hour of her life so far.

Like the young fawn in Bambi , she stayed in her little shelter made of branches, wholeheartedly longing for her mother’s appearance.

The sky gradually brightened, and the crowing of roosters echoed across the fields. Finally, the courtyard gate was pushed open, and Lin Zhixia heard familiar voices. Peeking through the gaps in the wooden fence of the sheep pen, she spotted her parents and rushed toward them like a whirlwind.

Her mother caught her but scolded her sharply, “You’ve dirtied your new clothes. What did I tell you before I left? You and your brother were supposed to stay in your rooms! You went out and even played in the sheep pen—why are you so disobedient?”

Dad added, “Xia Xia, you can’t be so willful.”

“That’s not it,” Lin Zhixia explained. “I was locked out.”

Mom froze.

Lin Zhixia buried herself in her mother’s embrace. “My stomach was growling with hunger, and my hands and feet were as cold as ice. I’ll never forget how it felt—I was so cold, my stomach hurt, and I was terrified. Just thinking about it will make my stomach ache from now on. Why am I different from everyone else…”

It wasn’t as if Lin Zhixia had never experienced hardship before. She clearly remembered the pain of being sick with a fever as a young child. She hadn’t wanted to cry at all, but then her mother’s tears fell on her face. She took a deep breath, choked up, and her eyes filled with tears.

Afraid of worrying her mother, Lin Zhixia lied, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Her mother, eyes red, asked, “Xia Xia, does your stomach really hurt or not?”

Lin Zhixia nodded, then shook her head. “It really doesn’t hurt.”

That winter was exceptionally cold.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Mom and Dad set off on the return journey with Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu. Passing by the long-distance bus station, Mom took out ten yuan and held Lin Zhixia’s hand to buy a book.

Lin Zhixia absolutely loved buying books. She picked out a collection of essays titled The Temple of Earth and I .

Back home, Lin Zhixia opened the book and happened upon a page that read, “Child, this is your sin, and also your blessing.”

She lost herself in contemplation over these words.That night, Lin Zhixia took a hot bath and relaxed completely as she lay down on her bed.

Her small bed at home was the most comfortable. Lin Zhixia pulled up the covers and quietly made a New Year's wish: "I want to be a strong and optimistic person."

With a lack of confidence, she continued wishing: "I also want a good friend."

She elaborated: "My friend and I would understand and support each other. That's my New Year's wish, and I hope it comes true soon. But if it doesn't..."

She whispered softly: "I can still get along just fine by myself at school."