The next day, Little Taotie, yawning, handed in her calligraphy homework to the teacher’s office.
The elderly teacher initially intended to glance over it quickly and be done, but when he opened the paper and saw the characters on it, he was taken aback.
He looked at it carefully for a long time, even suspecting that it was not written by Little Taotie herself, but rather by her parents after she went home.
But afraid of misunderstanding the child, he skillfully said, "This ’sharp’ character doesn’t work, write it again."
Little Taotie leaned in to look, she had already tried very hard, but still made the top of the character larger than the bottom, giving it a top-heavy feel.
She nodded her head, also feeling that the character wasn’t good, and obediently began to write in the teacher’s office.
Watching the young girl’s serious profile, the old man couldn’t help thinking: With such a beautiful little girl, if she could write beautiful characters, that would be the icing on the cake! It’s just a pity that the child has a heavy hand and can’t control her strength well; one stroke down and it turns into a blob of ink, fearing it would be hard to produce a decent character in three months... Huh?
The elderly teacher looked at the characters on the paper with surprise.
He thought it would take three months, but the little girl gave him a big surprise!
It turned out that the characters on the paper were indeed written by her. Although they were rounded and chubby without any brush strokes, she had managed to control her strength to not just create blobs, but to write the characters clearly, at least recognizable as characters.
The old man curiously asked, "Did you write many pages last night?"
Little Taotie yawned, nodding her little head, "Lots and lots, too many to count."
Last night, she had been determined to prove to her second brother that she wasn’t drawing lumps of coal but practicing calligraphy characters. She wrote and wrote until she finished, only then feeling the soreness in her hand. She had written so many that they piled up high on the desk, and she hadn’t counted them—there were just many, piled up high.
The stern face of the old man softened with a smile, he nodded and said, "Not bad, the child can be taught!"
He opened a drawer and took out a pack of freeze-dried strawberries to give her, "This is your reward, keep up the good work next time."
Little Taotie’s pupils widened, her eyes sparkled as if fireworks were set off inside, with countless Little Stars dancing and cheering.
She accepted the freeze-dried strawberries with renewed vigour, clenched her tiny fist in a gesture of encouragement, and loudly declared, "I will definitely keep trying hard!"
——Wow! How wonderful, to get tasty rewards for good calligraphy!
"Eat it here, don’t let others see." The elderly man touched his nose, using his hand to cover his rapidly rising smiley corners, trying hard to maintain his seriousness and sternness.
Little Taotie nodded like pounding garlic, her little mouth open wide, showing off her pearly whites with a "hee hee hee" sneaky laugh. Her eyes curved, eyelashes fluttered—a mischievous and adorable look, just like a little cat sneaking a treat.
This was a pack of freeze-dried strawberries without any brand name or production date, wrapped in a plastic seal bag—a clear homemade delight.
Little Taotie had tried freeze-dried strawberries many times before, from the ones her elder brother brought back from his company, to those her second brother got from specialty stores, and even the white chocolate-flavored freeze-dried strawberries made by the headteacher.
She broadly knew what freeze-dried strawberries tasted like, but this time it was a different flavor.
White stuff coated the vibrant red freeze-dried strawberries, giving off a pinkish hue. She leaned in to sniff it, and it wasn’t white chocolate, but rather a pleasantly tangy and sweet aroma with a hint of milky scent.
Her pearly teeth bit into the freeze-dried strawberry when suddenly she heard the sound of a "click" from a camera.
Little Taotie, with a piece of pink freeze-dried strawberry in her mouth, gazed curiously toward the camera with round, shiny black eyes, as the moment was perfectly captured.
The old man put away his phone, turned his head toward the window, pretending he hadn’t done anything.
Little Taotie: "..." I saw it! Your Flower is dancing on top of your head!