Chapter 25: 25

Zhao Xiaohua rattled her head. “I don’t want to look, Mother!” Zhao Xiaohua didn’t want to open her eyes.

“You’re the one who insisted on learning, but you’re already giving up on the first step?” Meng Yao asked.

“I didn’t know it was going to be scary! I don’t want to look at the skeleton,” Zhao Xiaohua said.

“It’s just a drawing, not an actual skeleton. Why are you so scared?” Meng Yao knocked Zhao Xiaohua’s head. “Do you want to learn or not? I’ll keep the drawing and pretend that you never wanted to learn. But I will never believe you again,” Meng Yao said.

Going back on one’s word was not a good quality in a person. One could always overcome their fears. The skeleton drawing was child’s play compared to the first time Meng Yao dissected a human body.

Zhao Xiaohua was still covering his eyes, so Meng Yao started packing her things and said, “I’ll return to my room.”

“W-Wait, don’t! I want to learn!” Zhao Xiaohua said anxiously. She slowly separated her fingers and looked through them little by little. That way, she wouldn’t be too afraid.

Meng Yao didn’t rush Zhao Xiaohua. She knew Zhao Xiaohua needed time to adapt. That process took an entire hour, and Zhao Xiaohua finally opened her eyes to look at the skeleton drawing with an unsightly expression.

Meng Yao made a note on each joint, including its name and function. However, Zhao Xiaohua couldn’t read. Zhao Xiaohua never learned how to read because of the original Meng Yao.

“Let’s call it a day,” Meng Yao said helplessly.

“B-But, you haven’t taught me anything yet, Mother.” Zhao Xiaohua was confused.

“We have to take it slow. Haste makes waste, Xiaohua. I still need to make some preparations,” Meng Yao said.

“All right,” Zhao Xiaohua was delighted since she didn’t have to look at the skeleton anymore.

“I’ll stick this on the wall for you to look at when you’re free. You’ll get used to looking at it after a while,” Meng Yao said calmly.

Zhao Xiaohua’s smile froze. She didn’t want to look at that skeleton. However, she couldn’t see anything when Meng Yao blew out the lights, so it was okay.

Meng Yao retired to her room after sticking the drawing on the wall. Then she did some yoga and soaked her feet before going to bed.

“Ah! Mother!”

A shrill echoed, and the last bit of tiredness Meng Yao felt disappeared.

Zhao Xiaohua rolled on her bed and fell asleep after soaking her feet. However, she dreamt that a skeleton was chasing her, and it even said it wanted to marry her. Zhao Xiaohua got frightened and ran as fast as possible.

The first thing Zhao Xiaohua saw when she opened her eyes was the skeleton drawing on the wall. It scared the living daylights out of Zhao Xiaohua.

Meng Yao got dressed and exited her room, only to bump into Zhao Dahe, who hadn’t dressed appropriately.

“Did you hear that, Mother? That was Xiaohua. What’s going on?” Zhao Dahe asked.

“I heard that. Let’s go and take a look,” Meng Yao said.

“I’ll go with you.”

Zhao Xiaohua had already calmed down when Meng Yao and Zhao Dahe arrived. Zhao Dahe was shocked when he saw the skeleton drawing on the wall.

“Isn’t it scary, Dahe? I got scared to death when I opened my eyes and saw it,” Zhao Xiaohua said.

“Why did you stick it on the wall if you’re so scared of it?” Zhao Dahe mumbled.

“I didn’t do that. It was Mother,” Zhao Xiaohua said.

Zhao Dahe was perplexed. “Are you trying to teach Xiaohua to be more courageous or something, Mother?”

“I’ll draw another one for you to keep then. You can look at it to refresh you when you get tired of reading,” Meng Yao said calmly.

Zhao Dahe quickly waved his hand. “I-It’s better if you don’t, Mother. I’m okay with it, but who will be responsible if someone else sees it and gets scared out of their wits?”

Zhao Dahe looked at the drawing again as he spoke, and what he saw was incredible. He looked at it casually before but saw some impressive notes at a second glance.

Zhao Dahe had taken many notes at school. Although he could write, there were some words he could not comprehend.

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“Who wrote that, Mother?” Zhao Dahe asked.

Meng Yao asked Zhao Dahe for some paper yesterday, but he didn’t ask why. Zhao Dahe looked at his mother in disbelief.

Meng Yao calmly answered, “I wrote that, of course.”

“You know how to write, Mother?” Zhao Dahe was shocked beyond belief.

“Your father taught me how.” Meng Yao remained calm.

“How come I didn’t know?” Zhao Dahe instinctively asked.

“You were still a child then, so you can’t remember,” Meng Yao said.

“Dajiang should remember then, right?” Zhao Dahe continued to question.

“Remember what?” Zhao Dajiang arrived shortly after and heard Zhao Dahe’s question.

“Did you know that Mother knows how to write, Dajiang?” Zhao Dahe emphasized the word “write.”

“Oh, that’s right. Father taught Mother how to read and write, but she was dimwitted and couldn’t learn fast enough,” Zhao Dajiang answered sincerely.

A memory appeared in Meng Yao’s head when Zhao Dajiang said that. It was a memory of Zhao Ting teaching her predecessor to write.

It was as Zhao Dajiang said. The original Meng Yao was dimwitted and could not learn. She also didn’t have much patience and gave up.

“I was young and impatient, which was why I couldn’t learn much,” Meng Yao said indifferently. “But when your father… I started practicing again and tried to imitate your father’s handwriting with a branch on the ground.”

Zhao Dahe felt like he got punched in the gut. He started learning calligraphy at six years old, yet he was not as good as his mother. He could not bear it.

Zhao Dahe even had his mentor’s guidance and a book copybook to practice his writing, while Meng Yao practiced on the ground with a stick.

“I practiced writing because I missed your father. Words can wound or heal, and that’s why we should be careful what we say, especially to children,” Meng Yao said.

“Besides, I can only use branches and sticks. I’m useless with a brush,” Meng Yao added.

Unfortunately, Zhao Dahe suffered a heavy blow. Meng Yao was unable to coax him even after he left.

‘Forget it. It will motivate Dahe to study harder. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.’

Later that day, Meng Yao led Zhao Xiaohua to the river to get some sand. Zhao Xiaohua’s eyes were bloodshot, and her chubby hands tightly held onto Meng Yao.

“Are you still scared of the skeleton?” Meng Yao asked.

Zhao Xiaohua only shook her head.

“Then why are you crying?” Meng Yao was puzzled.

“You miss father a lot, don’t you, Mother?” Zhao Xiaohua asked sobbingly.

‘Do I miss Zhao Ting? That’s preposterous!’

Zhao Xiaohua frowned and continued, “You don’t have to be embarrassed. I understand, Mother. You don’t have to hide it from me because it means you two had a great relationship.”

Meng Yao was speechless.

“Oh, you,” Meng Yao sighed helplessly. She couldn’t deny nor confirm it.

“You must feel very lonely,” Zhao Xiaohua said.

‘W-What?’ Meng Yao was dumbfounded.

However, Zhao Xiaohua was sincere. “Madam Wu is a widow in the village who took in a son-in-law last year. The villagers say she’s lonely because she lost her husband. She’s just like you, Mother.”

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