Chapter 11: Jiang Wan
It was early morning.
It wasn’t cool.
The room was very stuffy.
Father got up early to open the door and head to work.
There wasn’t any breeze outside the door either.
Jiang Mianmian was still sleepy; she started eating without even opening her eyes.
After she was full and had been passively changed after peeing, she fell into a deep sleep again.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw the round chin of her sister, Jiang Yu.
It was a rare occurrence for her sister to be home accompanying her in the middle of the day.
Her sister’s chin was round, but somewhat delicate.
Her face was also a bit smaller, without the puffiness of chubby cheeks.
In fact, her sister was quite pleasant to look at; she had the kind of appearance that suggested good fortune.
If she only looked like Mother, she would be a bit naively round, but with a touch of Father’s features, she appeared more delicate—blessed and rounded.
She was the type that elders liked.
It was just best if her sister didn’t open her mouth to speak.
When she spoke, she was always a bit mean-spirited, picking the most unpleasant things to say.
Jiang Mianmian turned her head left and right, but didn’t spot Mother. She sniffed, but couldn’t smell Mother either.
Guessing that Mother might not be home, she didn’t fuss; after all, even if she fussed, she wouldn’t get any milk.
She lay obediently in her wooden tub to play.
She played with her little feet.
Her sister sat beside her doing needlework, looking quite deft as she moved the needle back and forth.
Jiang Mianmian watched for a while and felt like her eyes were about to be poked blind; she couldn’t stare at the needle tip.
She hurriedly shifted her attention elsewhere.
She turned her head and ended up seeing a black ant.
It was standing seriously on the edge of her wooden tub.
It really was standing.
It looked like it was showing off its abs, with a wasp waist and thin arms and legs.
It just had a few too many arms and legs.
Jiang Mianmian remembered that it was the little ant she had fed the spiritual spring water.
It was actually still here; she had thought it had run off and gotten lost.
Seeing the little black ant now, she felt it was a bit big; it seemed a circle larger than it had been yesterday.
She didn’t dare to make a sound, worried that if she made a sound, that drop of spiritual spring water she had fed it would go to waste.
She felt that her whole family was quite fierce.
If her sister saw this ant, she would pinch it to death with a single fingernail.
She gently reached out her hand, watched the little ant, then closed her eyes, and reached out to push the ant off the edge of the tub.
If her hand could have grasped anything else, she would have used something to push it.
But she couldn’t grasp anything.
Opening her eyes, sure enough, the ant was gone.
Jiang Mianmian started yelling, babbling away.
She waved her hands, wanting to wash her hands, wanting to wash her hands.
Unfortunately, her sister Jiang Yu didn’t understand what her younger sister was saying.
Seeing her waving her arms and babbling, she thought she had soiled herself, so she came over to undo her diaper. Seeing the diaper was dry, she thought she was hungry, so she went to the kitchen to get some fine grain powder to brew for her.
Jiang Mianmian ate the rice paste with a helpless expression, taking the opportunity to rub her hands on her sister several times, only then did her heart calm down.
She ate the rice paste, eating very quickly. The bottom of the bowl was basically empty, and her sister scraped the bowl hard with the spoon, making a harsh sound, but only managed to scrape out half a spoonful.
When her sister scraped the bottom of the bowl, her throat was moving; it felt like she was swallowing her saliva.
Jiang Mianmian closed her mouth and stopped eating.
“Anyway, there’s no one here, Sister, you should secretly eat a bite. The osmanthus cake you fed me last time didn’t even taste as good as this rice paste.”
As a result, not paying attention for a moment, her chin was pinched by her sister, and she opened her mouth, and that last half-spoon of rice paste was shoved into her mouth.
Jiang Mianmian ate it feeling a warmth in her heart.
Although the bowl was scraped extremely clean, with not a speck of residue visible, Jiang Yu still poured a bowl of boiling water and drank it earnestly.
After drinking the water, which actually had no flavor at all, Jiang Yu still stuck out her tongue and earnestly licked the bowl clean.
Under the sunlight, the bowl was shiny and clean beyond compare.
Jiang Mianmian felt a bit ashamed watching her sister’s actions.
Fortunately, there were no outsiders; only she, this milk baby who couldn’t speak, had seen it.
Just as she was thinking there were no outsiders, a knock sounded at the door.
The door was pushed open.
It wasn’t Mother.
It was a very pretty little girl.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was carved from pink jade.
The little girl’s complexion was pinkish-white, and her eyes were clear and bright.
She was dressed in finery, and her head ornament was a silver hairpin—not the old silver hairpin of A-Cui’s Mother, but a glittering, thin, delicate butterfly with spread wings. The craftsmanship was so good that even Chow Tai Fook would have to bow down in defeat; it looked like a butterfly had landed on her head.
Her hair was black and shiny, incredibly thick.
Unlike her sister, who had a round face and yellowish, somewhat frizzy hair.
The little girl had an apricot nose and red lips, making anyone who saw her feel favorable toward her.
The ruqun she wore was layered, and although it wasn’t new, compared to her sister’s rough hemp clothing, it was like heaven and earth.
Could this be her sister’s plastic best friend, A-Cui?
That was way too pretty.
It was different from what she had imagined.
Then she heard her sister speak: “Jiang Wan, what are you doing here? You aren’t welcome here. If you trip or bump into something, we can’t afford to compensate you.”
The young girl also had the surname Jiang?
It wasn’t A-Cui.
Jiang Mianmian was even more curious.
The young girl came in, her gaze carrying a slight pity as she looked at Jiang Mianmian, and she quickly looked away, as if she couldn’t bear to look for long.
How to describe that gaze? It made Jiang Mianmian feel as if she might not live much longer.
A cold, chilling feeling arose in her heart.
“Sister Yu, you’ve misunderstood. The last time I fell, it was my own carelessness; I don’t blame you. I came this time to bring you some things.”
Only then did Jiang Mianmian notice that the little girl was carrying a large bundle in her hand.
The cloth of the bundle was brand new, not like something from this household.
“Last time my Mother blamed you wrongly. I was unconscious and didn’t know. Now that I’ve just woken up, I specifically came to apologize to you. Please don’t mind; although I’ve worn these, they are things I like extremely much.”
Jiang Yu said impatiently: “I don’t want them. My Mother doesn’t let us take your things. Mother says if we take a green onion of yours, we’ll have to compensate with an acre of land.”
Although Jiang Yu said this, Jiang Wan didn’t get angry, and instead smiled good-naturedly: “Sister Yu, I came secretly; the journey was quite hard.”
Although Jiang Yu was harsh, she still got up to find a clean bowl, poured a cup of water, and handed it to her.
“My house doesn’t have tea, just cold water. Drink it or don’t.”
Jiang Wan took the bowl good-naturedly; the smooth, oily jade bracelet on her wrist hit the chipped ceramic bowl, making a crisp clinking sound.
