Zhao Meimei squinted her small eyes, glanced at the teacher, lowered her eyelids, with evident confusion and bewilderment flashing in her eyes.
When children first start kindergarten, they all cry and fuss wanting their parents. When Zhao Meimei was first taken to the kindergarten by Zhao Dazhuang, she also cried and fussed, but after wetting her pants and returning to kindergarten, little Meimei quieted down, not speaking or playing with others, just sitting silently in a corner. Whatever the teacher asked her to do, she did.
In the evening when Zhao Dazhuang picked her up at home, the teacher praised her: "Your Zhao Meimei is really obedient, especially easy to pacify."
Zhao Dazhuang was overjoyed, hugged his little darling daughter, and kissed her on the face: "Well done, making your dad proud! When we get home, I'll have your mom get you a bag of fish snacks to eat."
Usually, upon hearing about snacks, Zhao Meimei would be thrilled, but today she wasn't. She silently hugged her father's neck and went home.
Liu Xiue was the first to notice something was off with Zhao Meimei. This child used to be very talkative and cheerful, extremely mischievous. Now it was her 'ten thousand why' phase where her mouth was constantly moving, but today she was too quiet, not speaking or smiling, just sitting by the bed, her little head drooping, looking deeply troubled.
Liu Xiue went over and hugged her: "What's the matter, daughter? Tell mom if something happened. Did the other kids laugh at you for wetting your pants today?"
Zhao Meimei didn't make a sound. Another kindergarten kid also wet his pants today, and no one laughed at anyone.
Liu Xiue asked again: "Is it that the teacher was not nice to you? Or was the lunch not tasty? Were you hungry?"
Zhao Meimei lifted her head and looked at her mom's pretty face, hesitantly asking: "Mom, am I your birth child?"
Liu Xiue was stunned: "How are you not? Who said something like that?"
Zhao Meimei pursed her lips, her mother hit the nail on the head, her nose wrinkled and she started shedding tears: "The teacher said I'm ugly and that I was switched at birth."
Liu Xiue's face immediately darkened: "Which teacher said that? Was it the one who brought you back today?"
Zhao Meimei nodded resentfully.
Liu Xiue hugged her and wiped away the tears on her face: "How could you not be my child? If you weren't mine, would I have brought you home? Besides, you look just like your aunt. If she were here, you would see it too. You two are cut from the same mold."
Zhao Meimei nodded, half understanding. As long as her mom said she was her own, that was good enough for her.
That night, Liu Xiue cried in Zhao Dazhuang's arms, recounting what had happened to Zhao Meimei in kindergarten that day.
Zhao Dazhuang was furious: "What sort of teacher is this?! Do they even understand what it means to be a role model, to teach and educate? If they give my daughter some psychological shadow, I swear I'll set fire in front of their house!"
Liu Xiue wiped her tears, holding Zhao Dazhuang's hand: "The child's father, it's said that clothes make the man. People today are too superficial. I can't let others speak of my daughter like this. Tomorrow, take half a day off work. I'll go to town and buy our daughter some new clothes. She's young, who can tell if she's pretty or not? The teacher must have disparaged her because our daughter wet her pants today."
Liu Xiue made up her mind; Zhao Meimei is young and hasn't fully grown yet. She might look a bit unattractive now due to her natural features, which can't be changed, so they should pay attention to dressing her from now on. As long as a child is clean and obedient, no one would dislike them.
Since that day, Zhao Meimei became the only child in the entire kindergarten who wore new clothes every day, carried a new backpack, had beautifully packaged snacks in her pockets, and even the water bottle she used was the most expensive and popular one with a straw.
Kindergarten kids were quite envious of Zhao Meimei. In the eyes of children, whoever's stuff was nice became the leader.
Gradually, Zhao Meimei began to return to being that cheerful and talkative child she used to be.
Zhao Meimei's mind was sharper than other children's right from the start. When learning ancient poems, after repeating them with the teacher twice, she could recite them herself, though she had no idea what they meant, but once memorized, she never forgot.
Over time, even the teacher began to like her. Occasionally, when Zhao Dazhuang worked overtime at the factory and Liu Xiue locked up the grocery store to pick her up, the teacher would offer a few compliments.
Liu Xiue was always worried that the teacher wouldn't care for their child, causing Zhao Meimei to be bullied, so she would often buy some fruit, or in summer, take some popsicles from the home freezer to give to the teacher.
The teacher accepted her offerings and treated Zhao Meimei even better.
In kindergarten, the teacher would look after her, and classmates would pamper her, making her character more lively.
In kindergarten, she would lead a group of kids in games. After kindergarten, she would call together a bunch of spirited boys and girls and go off to play mischievously.
Sometimes when Liu Xiue wanted to find her, she would just casually ask one of the neighboring building's kids: "Have you seen my Zhao Meimei?" The other kid would immediately run to help fetch her back, and when they returned, they would always ask Liu Xiue: "Auntie, can Zhao Meimei bring me along to play next time?"
Whenever this happened, Zhao Meimei would lift her little face, straighten her neck, and squint at her mom with a particularly confident look.
When no one was around, Liu Xiue would while giving Zhao Meimei a bath, ask: "Why won't you play with him?"
Zhao Meimei pouted: "He always cries. If someone accidentally bumps him while playing, he starts crying and then tells his parents. I don't want to play with people like him, I like playing with Da Bao and them, they're really tough."
Liu Xiue laughed aloud, well, her little girl already knows what she likes and dislikes at such a young age, and she reached out to touch Zhao Meimei's ear, hmm, her ear cartilage is firm, meaning this child has a strong will.
When Zhao Meimei was five, she moved up to the senior kindergarten class, at an age when the innocent antics of children start to drive cats and dogs away.
Zhao Meimei was the one among her peers who was the best at playing, and her companions all admired and followed her.
On Qing Ming Festival, Zhao Meimei's family went to the intersection west of their residential building to send money to Zhao Meimei's grandpa and grandma.
While burning paper, Da Bao's family finished first. The adults went home to continue with whatever they needed to do, leaving the kids to play in the community.
While Zhao Dazhuang and Liu Xiue were busy burning paper, Zhao Meimei was already gesturing to Da Bao and the others: Wait up, once we're done here, I'll take you guys to play.
After finishing burning paper, Zhao Meimei told her parents and led Da Bao and a few mischievous boys off running.
Liu Xiue called after them: "Meimei! Come home early, be safe while playing, and stay away from the road!"
Zhao Meimei waved to her mom and ran off with the group, disappearing from sight.
On the side of the road during Qing Ming Festival, there were piles of burnt paper money. Zhao Meimei led Da Bao and a few others with plastic bags they picked up from the ground, filled with rainwater from the past few days. Whenever they saw a pile where the people had left but the fire wasn't fully out, they poured water on it, cheerfully shouting: "Firefighters coming through!"