Zhao Xiaohua covered her eyes, her head shaking like a rattle.
"Mom, I don't want to look, I don't want to look." Zhao Xiaohua's voice was full of resistance.
"You insisted on learning, backing out at the first step?"
"I didn't know it would be this creepy, and I have to look at a skeleton."
"It's just a drawing on paper, not a real skeleton, what's so creepy about it?" Meng Yao knocked on Zhao Xiaohua's forehead, "I'll ask again, will you look? If not, then I'll put it away. We'll treat this as if you never made an agreement with me. But, I certainly won't believe what you say in the future."
Backing out is not a good quality.
Fear can be completely overcome.
Compared to her first time dissecting a human body, the skeleton drawn on paper is just child's play.
Zhao Xiaohua still covered her eyes and refused to let go.
Meng Yao started to pack up, "Then I'll head back to my room."
"Wait." Zhao Xiaohua said urgently, "I'll look, I'll look."
Her fingers slowly opened, revealing a tiny gap, looking bit by bit, so it wouldn't be as scary.
Meng Yao didn't rush her; there always needs to be an adaptation process.
This process took a full half hour.
Zhao Xiaohua finally managed to face the skeleton on paper, although her complexion was even worse.
Every joint was annotated by Meng Yao, with names and functions.
There's a problem now, Zhao Xiaohua can't read!
Indeed, due to the traditional belief that a woman without talent is virtuous, the original self didn't give Zhao Xiaohua any education.
"Let's stop here for today." Meng Yao said helplessly.
"Mom, you haven't taught me anything yet!" Zhao Xiaohua looked bewildered.
"It takes time, and you can't hurry. I still need to prepare some things." Meng Yao said.
"Alright then." Zhao Xiaohua seemed a bit happy.
It's good to look at the skeleton a little less.
"I'll help you stick this to the wall, so when you're free, just take a look at it. Gradually, you'll get used to it." Meng Yao said calmly.
Zhao Xiaohua's smile froze on her face; she didn't want to get used to it.
At night with the lights out, you can't see anything, so sticking it is fine; she's not afraid.
After sticking it up, Meng Yao returned to her room.
Soaking her feet, doing yoga before bed, Meng Yao quickly fell into a deep sleep, sleeping very well without dreams.
"Ah—"
A scream rang out, dispelling the little bit of lingering sleepiness Meng Yao had left.
Last night, after soaking her feet, Zhao Xiaohua tossed and turned in bed for a long time before falling asleep. In her dream, she was constantly chased by the skeleton, which even said it wanted to marry her, scaring her into endlessly running and never stopping.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the skeleton stuck to the wall.
It scared Zhao Xiaohua quite a bit.
Meng Yao dressed and left her room, bumping into Zhao Dahe, who hadn't yet dressed properly.
"Mom, did you hear that? Was it Xiaohua? What's going on?"
"Heard it, going to check now, aren't I?" Meng Yao said.
"I'll come with you."
When Meng Yao and Zhao Dahe entered the room, Zhao Xiaohua had already calmed down.
Zhao Dahe caught a glimpse of the skeleton stuck to the wall and was startled too.
"Brother, isn't it scary? I opened my eyes and saw it, nearly scared me to death." Zhao Xiaohua's voice was filled with deep accusation.
"Why do you stick that to the wall for no reason? You brought this on yourself." Zhao Dahe muttered.
"But it wasn't me who stuck it, it was Mom." Zhao Xiaohua said.
Zhao Dahe was perplexed, "Mom, are you trying to train Xiaohua's courage? Why does a girl need to be so brave?"
"Then how about I draw one for you to carry with you? When you're tired of reading, take a look to refresh yourself?" Meng Yao said calmly.
Zhao Dahe quickly waved his hand, "Better not, I'm fine with it, but if someone else sees it and gets scared, who's responsible?"
Saying that, Zhao Dahe glanced at it again.
And with this look, something incredible happened.
Just glanced at it earlier without thinking much —
There are words beside the skeleton!
Moreover, the words are very powerful.
Until now, he had copied many calligraphy sheets, and although he could write decent characters, upon closer inspection, they were still somewhat soft.
"Mom, who wrote these words?" Zhao Dahe asked.
This paper was asked by his mom yesterday, and since then, no one visited the house, so…
Zhao Dahe looked at Meng Yao with a face full of disbelief.
Meng Yao was quite calm, "Of course, I wrote them."
"Mom, you can write?" This was truly shocking for Zhao Dahe.
"Your dad taught me back then." Meng Yao remained calm.
"How come I didn't know?" Zhao Dahe reflexively asked.
"You were young then, couldn't remember things." Meng Yao said.
"But surely, Big Brother remembers?"
"Remember what?" Dajiang came a little late and heard Zhao Dahe's question.
"Big Brother, Mom can write."
When saying "write," Zhao Dahe emphasized heavily.
"Oh, right. Dad taught Mom, but Mom was a bit clumsy, couldn't learn." Dajiang said seriously.
When Dajiang said that, a picture popped into Meng Yao's mind, the original self learning writing from Zhao Ting.
Indeed, as Dajiang said, the original self was clumsy, couldn't learn, and lost patience quickly, soon unwilling to continue learning.
"When young, it's hard to settle down, naturally can't learn well." Meng Yao said blandly, "Later, after your dad... I started practicing slowly, imitating your dad's handwriting. Didn't practice calligraphy, just used branches to write on the ground."
Zhao Dahe felt the attack.
He started learning at six, practiced writing, yet was not as good as his mom.
How should he cope with this?
After all, he always had a teacher guiding him, could imitate calligraphy sheets.
His mom wrote using branches on the ground!
"I practiced writing with thoughts of your dad, emotional writing is naturally different."
Can't suppress the child's self-esteem too much, Meng Yao said.
"Besides, I could only use branches or sticks, if you asked me to use a brush, it's impossible." Meng Yao said.
Unfortunately, the blow was too heavy for Zhao Dahe, and he wasn't cheered up by the time he left.
Forget it, with Meng Yao as motivation, maybe it'll inspire Zhao Dahe's little universe to strive harder, it might not be a bad thing.
Meng Yao led Zhao Xiaohua to dig sand at the river.
Along the way, Zhao Xiaohua's eyes were red, her chubby hand tightly gripping Meng Yao's.
"Still scared?" Meng Yao asked.
Zhao Xiaohua shook her head.
"Then why still teary?" Meng Yao was puzzled.
"Mom, you miss Dad a lot, don't you?" Zhao Xiaohua asked, chokingly.
Hmm? She misses Zhao Ting?
How is that possible!
Zhao Xiaohua put on a look that said, 'you don't need to feel embarrassed and hide it, I actually understand,' "Mom, don't be embarrassed. Missing Dad is nothing to be ashamed of. It shows you and Dad had a good relationship."
Meng Yao: ...
"You little girl!" Meng Yao felt helpless, couldn't deny, nor admit.
"Mom, you're quite lonely, right?" Zhao Xiaohua asked again.
Huh?
Meng Yao looked completely bewildered.
Zhao Xiaohua said seriously, "Widow Wu in the village took in a partner last year; they said she's lonely. Mom, Widow Wu lost her husband, and you did too!"