However, this summer vacation, because the sudden arrival of the genius Jiang Mianmian, his mother insisted on stuffing him into Jiang Mianmian’s house to study together with her. He couldn’t express how stifled and uncomfortable he felt.
But happiness is all about comparison, and now, hearing about the miserable experiences of Zhiwen and Zhiwu, he felt extremely fortunate.
"Comic books? You have comic books?" The brothers were so excited upon hearing this that they grabbed Wang Li’s arm and asked.
Seeing their excitement, Wang Li smirked proudly, "Yeah, a whole lot of them."
"Wow, I’m so jealous of you!"
The Jiang brothers usually had at most a few pennies in their hands, just enough to buy an ice pop, so they never bought comic books and could only read along with classmates at school.
Now that it was vacation, they hadn’t seen a comic book in over two months. Hearing that Wang Li had some, both of them were extremely excited, "Could you, maybe, lend us some to read?"
"Sure, come to my house with me. I have loads of them. You can pick whatever you want to read, but there’s one condition, you can’t damage them," Wang Li said generously.
"Yeah, yeah, we’ll be really careful," Zhiwen replied, nodding his head excitedly.
Zhiwu was also overjoyed, "Don’t worry, we’ll just look at them gently, flip through them gently."
As long as they could read the comic books, anything was fine.
"Jiang Mianmian, Li Lan, are you coming with me?" Wang Li raised his eyebrows and asked them with a triumphant look.
"I won’t go. You guys go and read," Jiang Mianmian said.
"Neither will I." Li Lan had no intention of hanging out with three little boys. She preferred to read and study quietly with Jiang Mianmian.
"Hmph, if you’re not going, then forget it. Zhiwen, Zhiwu, let’s go. I’ll take you guys to my place," Wang Li said, waving his hand and leading the two little followers away with the air of a big brother.
"Zhiwen, Zhiwu, come back early from playing," Zhang Guihua called after her grandchildren as they left.
"Got it, Grandma, we’ll be back soon," Zhiwen replied loudly.
Jiang Mianmian watched the rowdy boys leave, finally breathing a sigh of relief, "Sister Lanlan, they’re gone. Let’s continue studying."
"Mm," Li Lan sat in the chair, worked on a few questions, and then frowned slightly, heaving a deep sigh.
Jiang Mianmian blinked her bright, moist eyes and asked, "What’s wrong? Sister Lanlan, is there a question you can’t answer?"
"No, it’s not that, Mianmian. I’m just really envious of Wang Li," Li Lan suddenly said.
"Huh? What are you envious of him for?" Jiang Mianmian asked, quite puzzled.
"I envy that starting this semester, he’ll be at the same school as you are, and he might even be in the same class. You guys can go to school together every day," Li Lan said enviously.
"What’s there to envy about that? Next year, when you go to middle school, we’ll be at the same school too. Then we can all go to school together," Jiang Mianmian consoled her.
"Yeah, you’re right. I must study hard this term so that when the entrance exams come, I can get good grades and make it worthwhile for you to have taught me for so long this summer," Li Lan said, sitting up straight with determination.
"Yeah, I believe in you, Sister Lanlan. You’ll definitely get good grades," Jiang Mianmian encouraged her.
When it was almost noon, the hot and sweaty Zhiwen and Zhiwu finally ran back home. Seeing cups and a kettle on the coffee table, they poured themselves two big glasses of boiled water and gulped them down voraciously.
Zhang Guihua admonished from the side, "Oh my, drink slowly, don’t choke."