novelraw Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
The three of them successfully made it through the haunted house. Lin Xiaoli was very supportive, praising Xia Ying for being amazing.
Little Xia Ying covered her chest and forced a smile, but in truth her hand holding Liu Wenjie's was trembling.
After the amusement park trip ended, for the next dozen or so days Liu Wenjie still took out most of each morning for special training with little Xia Ying.
The first thing Xia Ying did every morning was to stand in front of Liu Wenjie, clench her small fists and shout:
"Today I will be happy and strong too!"
Sometimes Liu Wenjie would take her to explore the empty parts of the park, chase cicadas with her, pull her up trees, or sit at the guardhouse to enjoy the breeze while teasing the puppy.
These seemingly meaningless activities were actually subtly training her courage every step of the way.
Following Liu Wenjie, little Xia Ying also became less restricted than before.
Summer vacation had already been going for nearly a month.
Today was another new day.
The sunlight was bright, even a bit hot.
Little Xia Ying woke up very early, put on her little white dress by herself in bed, sat at the bedroom desk and propped up a small mirror.
Biting on a small rubber band she tied her ponytail into a pretty style.
After brushing teeth and washing face she ate breakfast with Grandpa. Grandpa was the one who could best see the changes in little Xia Ying. He looked at his granddaughter who seemed different in spirit than before: "Going out to play with the Older Brother next door again today?"
Little Xia Ying giggled and nodded: "Mm, going again. Grandpa, do you want pickled vegetables? I'll get some from the fridge."
"Just a little."
"Okay." Little Xia Ying ran to the kitchen fridge, found a small dish of pickled vegetables, brought it back and placed it on the table.
After eating breakfast with Grandpa, she waved goodbye at the doorway: "Grandpa be careful on your way to work."
Watching Grandpa go downstairs and leave, little Xia Ying would then hurry to use Grandpa's old unused phone to check the time.
Only after seven.
Grandpa left a bit early today.
Far from the eight o'clock meeting time with Older Brother Wenjie.
Little Xia Ying could only go back to the bedroom bed, curl her legs up and squat on the bedside holding the old phone, staring at the time while humming songs to pass the time.
"Why hasn't eight o'clock come yet~ When will eight o'clock come~ I wonder if Older Brother Wenjie has gotten up~ What is Older Brother Wenjie doing now?"
These past month's memories were even richer for little Xia Ying than her entire childhood. Every day's experiences would make her think all afternoon, think all evening.
Waiting and waiting, finally around seven-forty-something, she couldn't wait anymore.
She got off the bed to change into shoes ahead of time, then squatted at the doorway to wait.
Because Liu Wenjie would come knock on her door right on time.
At exactly eight o'clock, as familiar knocking sounded, little Xia Ying who was squatting at the doorway instantly stood up, putting the phone aside: "Older Brother Wenjie!"
She happily opened the door.
What she saw was Liu Wenjie yawning.
Liu Wenjie looked at the energetic little girl: "Morning. Why have you been opening the door so quickly lately?"
"Good morning Older Brother Wenjie." Little Xia Ying answered matter-of-factly: "Because we agreed on a time, Older Brother Wenjie. Didn't you sleep well last night?"
Liu Wenjie yawned again: "Not bad, mainly because I read some books last night so went to bed a bit later. You know, sleeping in is truly a great invention."
"Reading books?"
"Just checking in advance what elementary school students are learning nowadays."
Xia Ying: "???"
Older Brother Wenjie always likes to say strange things.
The two went downstairs one after another, little Xia Ying following behind asked: "Older Brother Wenjie, what's today's training program?"
Liu Wenjie looked ahead. Actually he felt the special training was about done, it was time to test the results.
"Today's special training program is eating ice cream."
"Huh? What kind of special training is this?"
"Eating ice cream is of course ice cream special training."
Arriving at the estate entrance.
Liu Wenjie said: "We're not going to the park today, just here. You can shout the slogan."
Little Xia Ying felt a bit embarrassed at the entrance, looking around fortunately there weren't many people: "Here?"
"What's wrong?"
"N... nothing." Little Xia Ying blushed as she habitually clenched her small fists and raised her hand to shout the slogan: "B... be happy, be strong!"
After a month, even though she was shy her voice was louder than ever before.
Making the guardhouse uncle laugh - the little girl was really cute.
Liu Wenjie nodded in satisfaction: "Good. Then next you just wait here. I'll go buy a few ice creams, back in one minute. Remember don't run around."
"Older Brother Wenjie, I'll go with you? I can help carry them."
"No need, just stand here obediently."
"Mm... okay then, but come back quickly."
"Very fast."
After speaking Liu Wenjie turned and left, but glanced back at her halfway through leaving.
Of course Liu Wenjie wasn't really going to buy ice cream. He just went alone to the park nearby, found a group of little girls playing house.
Walked over to greet them: "Hello?"
When the little sisters playing house saw Liu Wenjie, his 13-point charm value came into play at this moment. Those little girls all felt this Older Brother was so handsome, so sunny.
The bolder ones even took the initiative to call out: "Hello Older Brother."
Liu Wenjie smiled and said: "Can you help me with something? After it's done I'll buy each of you an ice cream."
The little sisters looked at each other, then all smiled and nodded.
Only the children's parents nearby watched with question marks all over their faces.
If they didn't know Liu Wenjie from the same estate, they'd probably be wondering where this little punk came from, already hitting on little girls at such a young age.
Soon Liu Wenjie told them some things, and gave them some items. The little girls thought it seemed quite simple.
So at the estate entrance, while little Xia Ying was standing there obediently waiting for someone, a group of little girls suddenly ran over.
They looked a few years younger than her.
But even so, seeing these five or six little girls approaching, little Xia Ying still felt somewhat flustered, instinctively lowering her head half-way to make way for them.
Who knew the girls were looking for her:
"Older Sister, Older Sister! Do you have time? Can you help us? All of our hair clips are broken. Can you help us fix them?"
Little Xia Ying looked at so many people surrounding her. In the past she would definitely have been too nervous to speak, stammering for ages, even wanting to run away.
But after this month's special training, it was clearly having some effect. She blushed while pointing at herself: "Me? I don't know how."
"Older Sister just take a look first, see if you can fix them!"
Little Xia Ying nervously swallowed, oh'd once and took them to look. She found the broken places on these hair clips were exactly the same as where her own hair clip had broken before, and she had watched the entire process when Older Brother Wenjie fixed it.
"Th... this needs glue."
The little girls took out glue: "We have it!"
Little Xia Ying: "This..."
She bit her lip lacking confidence: "Then I'll try, but I might not be able to fix them for you. I can only try."
"Thank you Older Sister!" "Thank you Older Sister!" The little girls encouraged her one after another.
And not far away, Liu Wenjie was hiding behind a tree watching quietly, the corners of his mouth turning up. Looks like the special training was quite effective after all.