"Today, my old comrade in arms will bring his granddaughter here for a visit. She’s a very adorable little girl. You guys are not allowed to go anywhere this afternoon. When the guest arrives, you must play with her, understand?" My grandpa instructed at lunch.
I did not respond, but my brother obediently agreed.
"My comrade in arms said his granddaughter is adorable and polite, very likable. I am sure you guys will like her too," grandfather cheerfully said.
Adorable? Polite? Grandpa always gives such compliments, even to the little girl next door.
In fact, she was annoying and troublesome, crying at the smallest thing. Her cries were piercing and louder than a cannon.
Then, after having lunch, I stayed in the courtyard, not even blinking, just watching the outside.
As soon as I saw an old man far from the gate, walking with a little girl, I hurriedly ran into the house and upstairs.
Soon, salutations were heard from downstairs, along with grandfather instructing my elder brother to go play with her.
Not hearing my grandfather instructing anyone to come up and call for me, I breathed a sigh of relief.
After sitting in the room for a while, feeling bored, I moved to the balcony.
Because it wasn’t high enough, I could only peer through the holes in the decorative bricks on the outside.
Downstairs, a splash of bright red caught my attention.
The little girl, dressed in a red cotton jacket, red cotton pants, a red scarf, and a red hat, was taking small steps, swinging her arms as she moved forward.
Due to the extreme cold, her face was also red.
This entire person, looked like a red dumpling, rolling in the snow.
"Pfft." The little me couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Little Ye Ranran lifted her head, not paying attention to the path. She slipped and fell on the ground.
"Oh no." Jun Mochan muttered, hurriedly shrank his head and slowly moved inside the house.
After taking a few steps, there was no crying as he’d expected, which made him feel strange. He peeked out again stealthily.
She was still lying on the ground not moving, her eyes darting around, as if checking whether anyone was around.
After making sure there was no one, she got up herself and dusted off the snow that had clung to her.
A little girl who does not cry cannot be coddled by anyone, that was the thought that arose in his mind then.
My elder brother came running with a peeled tangerine and handed it to her.
She reached out her hand to grab the tangerine, saw how dirty her hand was and immediately retracted it.
"Thank you brother." She laughed, her eyes curved into crescent moons.
It was my first time seeing Ye Ranran. I was seven, she was five.
She did not know me, and I found her unattractive.
Since then, my elder brother, Huo Yi, had an additional little tail following him around.
Wherever he went, she would follow. Whatever he did, she would copy. She always took his instructions seriously.
One day, she ran mysteriously to my elder brother, opened her palm, her shiny eyes looking at the person in front of her: "Elder brother, grandpa gave me a piece of candy. I’ll share half of it with you, eat it quickly."
We’ve eaten candies before, however, I don’t know why, but the ones held in those small palms seemed more tempting.
"Hmph, what’s so good about it?" I disdained.
She didn’t mind at all, continued to laugh heartily, and kept happily doing this and that for my brother.
I mocked her, called her a little tail, and she still laughed joyfully, not getting angry at all.
This little girl is brainless.
One day, I finally couldn’t help but poke her face and ask: "Little Tail, are you brainless? Why don’t you ever get angry?"
(This flashback section is very short, basically just over two Chapters, three thousand words. Also, thank you to the reader ’Life is too long’ for the tip.)