Li Man paused, but she didn’t around and only asked, “Yes?”
Li Mo looked at her delicate, but ramrod straight back. He gravely said, “If something happened, just tell me. Don’t… Don’t stifle yourself.” He seemed to have heard her crying last night. Although the sound was intermittent, it sounded very genuine. Moreover, he was sure after seeing her eyes this morning.
Li Man sniffled. She turned her head and smiled at him. “Some dust fell from the ceiling last night and got into my eyes. I only rubbed my eyes a few times and they became likes this. You should rest. I’ll go back to my hut and use water to help reduce the swelling.”
“Okay.” Seeing her like this, Li Mo felt even more sorry for her. This foolish girl, she had suffered a horrible grievance.
Li Man came out from the eastern hut and returned to her own hut. She blankly sat on her bed for a while. By the time Little Five returned home after playing outside, he stopped at her doorway and didn’t dare to enter. He was probably scared off by the palpable sense of gloom that hung over her.
When Li Man finally noticed his presence, she quickly pulled back her emotions and gestured for him to enter. “Little Five, come in.”
Little Five walked over to her side. “Older sister, what are you thinking about?”
Li Man’s eyes dampened again. She really had been thinking a lot. “Little Five, do you remember all the brush strokes that I taught you yesterday? I’ll test you on them.”
“Yup.” Little Five immediately cheered up. “Older sister, I prepared the sand tray that you mentioned. I’ll go get it.”
“En,” Li Man assented and followed after him.
In the corner, there was a bamboo woven tray filled with fine sand. It was obvious that this sand was the product of meticulous filtering. Little Five picked it up and asked Li Man, “Older sister, look, will this work?”
“En, it’s pretty good.” Li Man faintly smiled and nodded.
Little Five picked up the tray and headed towards the eastern hut. “Older sister, let’s go study together with oldest brother.”
“Ah?” Before Li Man could recover from the surprise, Little Five had already gone inside, so she could only put on a brave face and go inside too.
“Oldest brother, let’s learn how to write together.” Little Five put the tray on the small table, then took off shoes and climbed onto the bed.
Li Mo’s face turned red when he saw Li Man. He said to Little Five, “How about you go outside and learn from older sister instead? If I’m here, I’ll just get in the way.”
Li Man knew that he was feeling embarrassed, so she walked over and said, “Oldest brother, with you here, there’ll be another person to supervise Little Five. Besides, it’ll be more fun if there’s more people learning.”
Then, she handed them each a clean stick. “Here, take this. Little Five, write out your for me to check.”
“En.” Little Five repeatedly nodded and very quickly wrote out the characters in the sand.
Li Man took a look and smiled. “That’s pretty good. Not only did you write it correctly, your writing form is correct too.”
“Oldest brother, you should write your name for older sister to look too,” Little Five immediately egged Li Mo on.
Li Mo’s face revealed his embarrassment. He scolded Little Five, “Focus on writing your own words.”
Little Five smiled and stuck his tongue out. He looked at Li Man.
Li Man understood and smoothed out the sand to erased Little Five’s writing. She said to Li Mo, “Oldest brother, let’s see your writing.”
“I… I don’t know how,” Li Mo hastily waved his hands.