Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

She took two pieces of chestnut cake from Doggie, and Qiqi was not stingy. She returned a bunch of loquats.

The two little ones sat in the courtyard, eating and chatting.

The night sky of the village was gorgeous. It was full of stars, and the moonlight was bright.

The children chatted and laughed from time to time, and the quiet courtyard became lively.

Zhang Xifeng carried a stool and sat at the door of the central room. She fanned herself with a cattail-leaf fan, a faint smile on her face.

Such days were really good.

“My dad said that the big city over there has an ocean. It’s so big that you can’t see the end of it. The waves come from the ocean and can flip people over!”

“In the past, they would only come back during the new year and leave after the new year. My mom said that I’ve grown taller than last year. Isn’t that obvious? If I don’t grow taller, won’t I become a dwarf?”

“Once they come back, they are in charge of everything. You can’t eat less, and you can’t shower later. Especially my mom; women are good at nagging, aren’t they?”

“It’s great talking to you. I have to go back. My mom told me to go to bed at eight. If I don’t listen to her, she will twist my ears and spin them!”

Doggie didn’t play for long before he left in a hurry.

Qiqi suspected that he had come here to show off.

Moreover, the person who said that he wanted to go back to sleep did not walk in the direction of his home. Qiqi saw him turn into a small fork on the left, which was the direction to Huazi’s house.

Qiqi took the small stool from the courtyard into the central room and stuffed a piece of chestnut cake the size of two fingers into her Granny’s mouth.

She squatted by the old woman’s feet, tasting the chestnut cake, and smiled with her eyes curved. “Granny, brother Doggie is very happy today.”

Zhang Xifeng waved her fan around the child several times to drive away the mosquitoes, and her smile stretched. “How can I not be happy? It was a child’s nature to love their parents. Every year during the new year, the children in the village are the happiest when the people who work outside come back.”

Qiqi was stunned and didn’t speak.

Two blurry faces appeared in her mind. The clearest one was their gloomy and mean eyes. It was the image of them raising their clubs and hitting her.

“Eggie, is it in a child’s nature to love their parents? But I don’t seem to be like this ..” Qiqi pursed her lips and lowered her eyelashes to hide the sadness in her eyes. “I don’t miss them at all. Am I a bad child? ”

The little child squatted there. His figure was thin and small, like a tiny ball.

She was depressed and lost, like a little beast who had lost its way in the rain. She stood in the mud, her eyes full of sadness and hurt.

The little egg-man looked at the little figure and suddenly wanted to reach out and stroke her head.

“You’re good.” He said.

“Really? But I don’t miss mom and dad.”

“It’s not your fault,”

The cold teenager’s voice of Eggie gently entered the child’s ears. He said, “they were too awful.”

A gust of wind rose in the room and brushed the child’s hair. The force was the same as the young man’s voice, with awkward gentleness.

The child blinked, pursed her lips, and chuckled.

She turned around and buried her head in the old lady’s knees. “Qiqi doesn’t have parents. It’s enough for Qiqi to have Granny.”

She added sweetly in her heart, “I only need Granny and Eggie.”

The little egg-man lay back with his arms as a pillow and the corners of his mouth curled up.

Hmph, what a sweet-tongued little bootlicker.

..

In the morning, before Qiqi opened her eyes, she heard a sudden Pata Pata Pata sound coming from the roof. It was like a loud Gong and an overwhelming sound.

The rain in July came as it wished and was urgent and dramatic.

The window in the room was not closed, and half of the wooden table by the window was wet instantly.

The Zhang family’s house had been around for a long time, and the roof tiles were loose in many places, revealing cracks and causing the rain to pour in.

The old and the young immediately got out of bed, found the basin and bucket at home, and placed them in the leaking place. Otherwise, the ground would be dripping with water in a short time.

During this period, Chen Jianhe and a few other old men from the village rushed over with raincoats and hats. They set up ladders and braved the rain to help repair the roof.

Seeing that the rain in the house was gradually decreasing, Zhang Xifeng heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s all thanks to your help. Otherwise, when the rain stops, I won’t have any place to stand in this house.”

“We’re all from the same village. There’s no need to be so polite.” The old man standing on the staircase at the entrance of the central room said, “Jianhe had discussed with us before. They planned to repair your roof as soon as possible. Later, we were busy selling melons, and it was delayed. Who knew that the rain would fall so suddenly and so heavily?”

“It looks like the rain won’t stop for a while. It’s just in time to fill our fields with water. This joke made everyone laugh.”

While they were chatting, a voice suddenly came from a distance through the rain.

“Dad, Mom!”

“Daddy!”

“You guys, come back!!”

“Mom! Come back!”

The cry was hoarse and heart-wrenching.

Qiqi listened carefully and frowned. “Granny, it seems to be brother Tiejun.”

Zhang Xifeng could also tell, and worry appeared in her eyes. “What’s wrong? Why is he crying like this? I’ll go take a look!”

“Wait, there’s no need to go. The little boy is throwing a tantrum.” The old man on the stars sighed and said, “his parents must go back to work. They left early this morning, before dawn. They were worried that the child would make a fuss, so they didn’t dare to tell him and left quietly.”

“What do you think they’re thinking? If you leave quietly because you’re afraid the child will make a fuss, won’t the child be even sadder when he wakes up and can’t find his parents?” Another man said.

After saying that, everyone was silent.

Situations like Doggie’s were not uncommon in the village.

Many people went out to work in the village. Most of them went to the coastal cities in the neighboring provinces. Due to the distance and the expensive round-trip fare, they could only come back once a year during the new year.

The children were so happy to have their parents by their side during the new year, but they cried so sad when they parted after the new year.

But what could he do?

Life was not easy.

It was tough to live in poverty.

Who would be willing to be separated from their flesh and blood if they had a choice?

They all had no choice.

Qiqi leaned against the door of the central room and looked out of the room.

The rain was like a curtain, falling heavily and rapidly, creating a misty mist in the air.

The sky was gloomy, and the whole world seemed trapped in the heavy rain. It was hushed.

Even that tender cry gradually weakened in the heavy rain and was finally buried by the sound of the rain.

A figure draped in a raindrop cloth appeared in a hurry outside the Zhang family’s courtyard. “Aunt Zhang, did Doggie come to your place? ”

It was Grandma Doggie. Perhaps she had come out in a hurry, so she didn’t even wear a rain hat and only covered her head with the rain cloth.

The rain drenched her face, and her gray hair stuck messily on her face. Water droplets dripped down her old look, but she couldn’t care less. Her eyes were full of worry and anxiety.

Zhang Xifeng walked outside under the eaves and also became anxious. “He didn’t come over. What happened? did the child run out?”

Doggie’s grandma nodded her head and wiped the rain off her face. “This child has a bad temper. I asked a few families along the way. But I couldn’t find him. It’s raining so heavily. Why is he running around .. Sigh, I’ll go to other houses to look!”

“Wait, I’ll get you a rain hat.” As Zhang Xifeng spoke, she was about to take the rain hat.

Outside the courtyard, Doggie’s grandma had already left in a hurry. She couldn’t even wait to put on a rain hat.

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