"Grandpa always said, other people’s mouths are their own, let them say whatever they want, don’t worry too much about it."
Apparently, he was ’other people’.
For this ’other person’, she never cared, so she never remembered his name no matter how many times he said it.
It wasn’t deliberate oblivion, it simply never mattered to her.
Unfortunately, he didn’t understand at the time. He got mad for no reason and pointed to the neighboring yard. "The strawberries in there are ripe. My brother wants them so badly."
The old Party cadre in that yard had retired and had nothing to do, so he planted some strawberries. Now, it’s their season.
To prevent us naughty children from stealing them, he kept a big German Shepherd.
That dog was so fierce that its teeth would start baring long before anyone approached.
"Really?" Her soft childish voice sounded particularly pleasant.
"Really." He nodded heavily.
After supper, she carefully crawled into the doghouse with two bones in her hand.
The dog was eating. Upon hearing her, he raised his head, bared his teeth at her, then ignored her.
The little girl ran quickly. Of course, from his view on the second floor, she, wearing layers of clothes, seemed to be rolling over.
After quickly picking a few strawberries, she ran back.
The dog got mad seeing her daring to steal under his watch. It raced after her.
She quickly threw the bones in her hand at it, then used all her limbs to run out.
She fell twice during the escape.
Just as the dog was about to catch up with her, she managed to reach the dog hole.
The dog was tied up and couldn’t get out, it could only growl at her from inside to express its discontent.
"Hehehe, I got it." Holding two strawberries, she laughed joyfully.
At that moment, he suddenly envied his brother, envied him for having such a little follower.
He thought, he had never regretted anything, except for this. If he had been the one to play with her when he first met her, would everything have been different?
"Big brother, here, eat." She proudly offered the somewhat squished strawberries to her older brother.
Her brother stared at her in disbelief.
"You don’t like it, big brother?" Her eyes turned red, hurt.
"I like it, of course, I do." Seeing her trying so hard to please, her brother quickly took them.
He watched them coldly on the stairs. She was covered in dirt, her hair scattered, the hair-tie was nowhere to be seen.
That was his second impression of her.
She was annoying and dirty, a pesky little girl.
Later, her family moved to A City, and she went with them.
For a long time, he didn’t see her, but for some reason, he often dreamt of her rosy little face.
He didn’t know who she was with now, who she was devotedly treating so well.
Later, he followed his parents’ arrangement, joined a military academy, and accidentally found out she was with his brother.
He laughed but didn’t mind, only feeling a quiet sense of loss.
Once, when his grandmother fell ill, he took leave to visit her and ran into her by accident.
At fifteen or sixteen, she had grown up beautifully like a blooming flower.
His heart suddenly started beating faster.
From then on, he started to pay attention to her, intentionally or unintentionally.
He watched her feel happy for his brother, feel worried for his brother. He got happy when she was happy and felt worried when she was worried.