"Do you see, does it look like Big Pineapple?" Xu Nianhua saw his interest and encouraged him, "You can try too."
Hongen glanced at it, randomly picked up a small stone, and started drawing along. His drawing turned out to be even more beautiful than Xu Nianhua’s.
"And here, a little tree, sprouting branches, becoming small hills, turning into leaves."
Xu Nianhua continued to teach while Hongen imitated very quickly on the side.
The nurse watched intently, thinking to herself, could it be her way of drawing that got Hongen so interested?
Before long, the previously smooth ground was covered with all kinds of fruits and little trees.
Fei Jiayi felt as though she had opened her eyes; Xu Nianhua was actually pretty good at drawing!
The sky was overcast with dark clouds, and thunder rolled, signaling rain was imminent.
"Hongen, you draw really well. I hope next time we meet, you can call me ’sister,’ okay?" Xu Nianhua offered a sweet smile, reintroducing her name, "Remember, sister’s name is Xu Nianhua, ’Xu’ as in the Xu of ’noon’, and ’Nianhua’ as in ’youth fleeting like water’."
"Nianhua, we can’t wait any longer, or we’ll get soaked." Fei Jiayi, seeing the imminent downpour and hearing the thunder, became anxious to leave.
Even though the little boy was beautiful, beauty couldn’t substitute for an umbrella, could it?
"Hongen, let’s hurry back. You mustn’t get rained on, otherwise, you’ll surely become sick." The nurse, anxious, pulled Hongen along.
"Goodbye, Hongen," Xu Nianhua waved to Hongen, watching as the nurse pulled him away, yet he looked back several times, and she couldn’t help but feel moved by those eyes as black as obsidian. She hoped this adorable little boy would soon become as lively and cute as a normal child.
Xu Nianhua and Fei Jiayi hadn’t even gotten back to Ding Guo’s house when it started to pour. They ran into the school and took shelter in the nearest teaching building.
"This rain came out of nowhere." Fei Jiayi wiped off some of the rain that had splashed onto her hair.
"Summer is on its way; that’s how the rain is, it just comes when it wants to."
Xu Nianhua wondered whether Hongen and the others got caught in the rain?
"By the way, that little boy named Hongen we just met, what is autism?" Fei Jiayi looked at Xu Nianhua with a puzzled face.
After Xu Nianhua explained it to her, Fei Jiayi seemed to understand. She pouted, touched her face, then turned to Xu Nianhua and said, "He’s not that old, how come he responds to you but not to me? Could it be he’s already judging by looks, even at his age?"
Fei Jiayi considered herself pretty, but standing next to Xu Nianhua, well, she admitted she wasn’t as beautiful, yet she was still a beauty! So why was she ignored?
"Maybe, I have a certain affinity with him?"
Xu Nianhua said uncertainly, feeling a sense of kinship when she looked at Hongen, especially those obsidian-like eyes.
"Oh right, that big potato drawing you did, where did you learn that? It looked interesting," Fei Jiayi changed the subject, no longer wanting to feel slighted.
Xu Nianhua touched her nose and said, "I just doodled it myself."
"Teach me sometime, will you? It looks fun." Fei Jiayi urged, insisting that Xu Nianhua teach her how to draw while they waited out the rain. The rain fell heavily outside, but inside the teaching building, Xu Nianhua taught, and Fei Jiayi learned with joy, oblivious to when the rain outside had stopped.