Chapter 57: Just a Child
Qianmo had a week off from school.
Since she had no other urgent matters to deal with at the moment, she was thinking about helping Black during this free period. Qianmo always had a nagging feeling that this guy would do something unexpected when he was not being watched—that was what he was doing in her previous life, too!
He never ate medicine when he had a fever or caught a cold. Furthermore, there was one time where Qianmo caught him doing push-ups even when his body was burning with high temperature.
Qianmo texted him when she woke up and asked him to eat lunch with her. He replied instantly with one single word, or rather, a letter: k.
Two seconds later, he texted again, and it was still one word: Ok.
Qianmo felt indescribably concerned when she imagined him trying to practice breathing normally just to meet her. So she stopped her idea of staying far-away from him.
If she left at this moment, he would definitely not suffer from the phobia because she, the source of his disease, would be gone from his life. But he was never going to be happy till his last breath, and she would always be a lump inside his heart, never going away. In this way, her original intention of helping him was actually harming him.
What Qianmo could do was take one step at a time and think about what she ought to do next after she stabilized his current situation first. After all, she was the root of the phobia, and she was not going to hurt him under any circumstances.
What was weirder, however, was that why no one from his family stepped forward to help him?
She felt her heart aching when she realized that nobody was giving him a helping hand.
Qianmo didn’t have a good impression of Black’s kin. She always thought that this nouveau riche family lacked the familial love to care about their son. Since nobody from his home cared about him, she should be the one to nurse him back to health.
Believing that the canteen food was not so nutritious, Qianmo got up early in the morning and was about to visit the market to buy some pigeon for making soup with her aunt. The moment she came downstairs, however, she found something weird coming at her face…
“Oh, isn’t that Qianmo?” The exaggerated voice plus the twisted expression indicated that it was her Big Aunt who had called out to her. She was sitting on the sofa.
The moment Qianmo saw her Big Aunt, the first reaction she had was to look upwards. Sure enough, a boy around the age of 8 or 9 greeted her eyes. He had a stained red scarf around his neck, and his name was Zhou Zhou, the grandson of her Big Aunt. Still, Qianmo preferred to call him “the troublemaker.”
The doll in his hand—whose head and body were separated into two pieces, by the way—was supposed to be placed on the shoe shelf in her home.
Before the troublemaker arrived, the doll was still in a single piece. Currently, he was tearing it right in front of Big Aunt, who turned a blind eye to what was happening here.
Seeing that the troublemaker was aiming for the model on the shelf, Qianmo took a step forward and separated the boy from his target with her body.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at school today?”
“We had a test, so the school was off early.” The boy grabbed Qianmo’s model and said to his grandma, “Grandma, I want to play with this.”
“Do it then; it’s not something important. Also, we are having lunch at your place today.” Big Aunt didn’t think of herself as an outsider.
“Also, I heard about your matter; what a poor child! I knew that Lin Xiang was not anything good. After all, we can’t pick a handsome husband to spend our days with. Take my son-in-law as an example; he’s definitely qualified to enjoy life with.”
Qianmo rolled her eyes inside her heart. Big Aunt was here to catch up with the latest gossip by way of consoling her, who had just “lost her marriage”, so that she could find a sense of superiority for herself.
Qianmo didn’t believe that Big Aunt cared so much about her.
When her father was sick in her previous life and needed money, she had turned to all their relatives, especially to Big Aunt.
In the past, Big Aunt had borrowed more than 100,000 yuan from Chen Baichuan, and she even loaned some money from him for her own son’s store.
But when Qianmo wanted to borrow money from her to cover her father’s medical bills, Big Aunt wailed loudly and said that she only had her life to offer. Then she gave Qianmo 500 yuan to drive her away, and later, she even had the door completely sealed and refused to receive her any more.
It had been raining hard outside back then, and Qianmo was standing alone in the downpour facing the closed door as the fragrance of braised ribs wafted out of the family’s yard. At that moment, she felt her bones being chilled to the deepest degree.
Big Aunt came to visit them at this hour either to pry her private business or to borrow some money from their family. Besides, she could also take some other things from them, like some sea cucumbers and milk. She would even allow her grandson to bring some toys away from Qianmo’s home too.
Seeing that this troublemaker was trying to grab the puzzles Qianmo had spent so much time making, Aunt burst out in anger when she came out of the kitchen with the fruits in hand.
“Don’t touch the puzzle; your aunt spent the entire night putting it together.”
“I want this!”
Big Aunt was fiddling with her feet on the sofa and threw a sour look at Aunt.
“So, this Aunt now tries to suck up to our Mo?”
Aunt was on the verge of bursting out in anger when Qianmo stopped her.
“It’s not a big deal. Come, Zhou, follow me to the room, and I’ll give you some examination paper. Take them back with you and make good use of them.” Qianmo smiled affably as she touched his face.
“What’s your grade in the examination? Big Aunt, are you ready to be called to the school for a parent-teacher meeting?”
The troublemaker yielded instantly.
***
After they left home, Aunt complained.
“Did you see how your Big Aunt spoils the boy? Your father even complains about me and says that I am stingy! It isn’t about being miserly at all! You know what a child will be like after he grows up judging from how he behaves at the age of 3! You shouldn’t have stopped me earlier. I was going to slap him to make him obedient in the future.”
Aunt had not dared to share these ideas with Qianmo before, but she started to pour her heart to her when their relationship became better. But after the complaints, she was afraid that Qianmo would be annoyed, so she observed her face discreetly.
“Mo, you’re not mad about me talking so harshly against Zhou and your Big Aunt, right? I just don’t like Zhou, and I get so pissed when he touches your things.”
“I think you did well there. You’re a home defender.” Qianmo patted her on the shoulders encouragingly.
The reason why she had not liked her aunt in her previous life was partially because of the filthy words her family had said about her.
They claimed her to be a foxy lady that seduced men, someone who only desired her father’s money, etc.
When her father got sick, all those relatives backed off. Only Aunt stepped forward to gather money in whatever way she could think of.
After going through the ordeal once, Qianmo now understood the situation, and she could tell the kind from the cruel.
Aunt got assured after understanding that Qianmo was not mad. Even though they were outside home, she was still wondering what was going on with the troublemaker and the annoying grandma.
“I should have put away those things, but their visit was so unexpected… just like the robbers coming to the village! Not sure if the puzzles will be in a complete set when we return… Your dad doesn’t step forward to stop them, and he keeps saying that the child is still young, and he needs to be spoiled, etc. Anyway, I will call your father and ask him to watch out for them…”
Aunt was about to make the call when Qianmo stopped her.
“My father is a proud man with a kind heart. So if you make this call, he will throw temper at you instead.”
Those old men from the north, always caring about their own faces.
“Then what should we do about your things?”
Qianmo smiled mysteriously. She had her own countermeasures to deal with this issue.
After they bought the ingredients for the soup home, Aunt almost passed out when she entered the room.
“Ah, Mo’s Lego and puzzle!” They were everywhere on the floor, all torn into pieces!
Aunt rolled up her sleeves and was about to rush forward when Big Aunt sprang up from the sofa, looking fierce.
ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm “Who do you think you are speaking to like this? These are just some stupid toys. What’s the big deal?!”
Chen Baichuan was out for some business, leaving Big Aunt with the assumption that she was the woman of the house.
Aunt got so annoyed that her eyebrows turned upside down, but Qianmo stopped her in time.
“Aunt, he is just a child…”
Big Aunt was satisfied—that was quite nice to hear.
Actually, Qianmo had omitted the next sentence.
He was just a child, so… he must be punished.
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