Chapter 60: Chapter 60 Brother, Help Me Choose a Name Chapter 60: Chapter 60 Brother, Help Me Choose a Name Childhood, another rainy day.
Tingyuan Sheng arrived at the lakeside, where the little girl he had met before was already waiting for him in the pavilion.
Upon seeing him, the little girl ran out of the pavilion like a wisp of smoke, “Brother, you really came!”
However, Tingyuan paused, noticing fresh injuries on her face, one cheek swollen high with a clear handprint.
He pulled her into the pavilion, “Were those people bullying you again? Did they hit you?”
The little girl touched her face, “No, they didn’t hit me, my mom did.”
“Why did she hit you?”
“The young lady said I stole Madam’s money, so my mom beat me.”
Tears welled up in the little girl’s eyes, “Brother, I didn’t steal the money, really I didn’t. It wasn’t me who stole Madam’s money, it was the young lady, I saw everything.”
Tingyuan had tasted the bitterness of being falsely accused and beaten himself; his father never believed him, only the illegitimate child.
He whispered softly, “I believe you.”
“Really?”
The little girl lifted her head, breaking into a smile through her tears, “I knew brother would believe me, besides Little Pear Blossom, you’re the only one who believes me!”
“Your father doesn’t believe you either?”
The little girl hesitated, and after a while, she said, “My dad isn’t home.”
Tingyuan did not pry further, noticing she held a book wrapped carefully in a plastic bag, he couldn’t help but ask, “You skipped class to play, yet you brought a book with you?”
The little girl shook her head, “It’s not my book, I didn’t skip class, it’s Little Pear Blossom’s, she lent it to me to read.”
“You didn’t skip class? Aren’t you going to school today?”
“My mom says girls don’t need to go to school, so she pulled me out.”
“So you borrowed the book to teach yourself?”
The little girl nodded, “I have a best friend named Little Pear Blossom; she teaches me new characters she learns every day. But sometimes, Little Pear Blossom falls asleep in class and doesn’t recognize all the characters the teacher teaches.”
Tingyuan had heard her mention Little Pear Blossom more than once before; last time she was bullied by that gang, she tried to protect the medicine for Little Pear Blossom.
“Brother, can you teach me how to read?”
Tingyuan took her book and sat down side by side with her on the stone bench.
The book was a third-grade Chinese textbook, and it was no problem for him to teach her.
He read each character, then wrote each one; lacking paper and pen, he held her little hand and wrote on his thigh.
Soon, he discovered her exceptional intelligence and astonishing memory.
Each character he taught, she needed only one iteration to recite and write from memory.
After explaining a text, she could even recite it without looking at the book.
He looked at her with a complex gaze, “You’re very smart and learn things very fast, does your mom know how clever you are?”
“She knows, all my teachers used to tell her that when I was still in school.”
“And she still took you out of school?”
“She says I’m the daughter of a servant, I can’t be smarter than the young lady, that would upset Madam.”
How can there be such ignorant and foolish mothers in the world!
He felt both angry and distressed inside. He once thought he had a hard life, but now he realized her life was truly bitter. Although he was not the apple of his father’s eye, he had a mother who cherished him dearly.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Shi Tou.”
“How can a girl be named Stone?”
“Oh, I have another name!”
“What is it?”
“I’m called Girlie!”
Tingyuan felt even more distressed, this little girl didn’t even have a proper name; he wondered whether her parents were too uneducated or just didn’t care enough for her.
The little girl herself wasn’t too fond of these names, she said with envy, “The young lady has such a beautiful name, and my best friend’s name is also very nice. I wish I had a beautiful name too.”
“What kind of name do you want?”
“Like Little Pear Blossom!”
“You think Pear Blossom is a nice name?”
The little girl nodded vigorously, “It’s nice, it’s nice! Brother, can you give me a similar one?”
Looking at the lotuses in the lake, Tingyuan offhandedly suggested, “Little Lotus?”
The little girl was overjoyed, “It’s so beautiful, I’ll be called Little Lotus then!”
Tingyuan felt it wasn’t right to have named her so casually, “Shall I find another one for you?”
“No need, I really like this one!”