“What about you then, Yun Zhu?” Duan Li was elated but she immediately thought about Yun Zhu if his sister joined the sports meet with her.
“I’m a man. It’s okay if I don’t join. Go on, Chessie! I’ll cheer for you at the finishing line!” Yun Zhu feigned nonchalance and told Duan Li generously.
“But…” Tears brimmed Duan Li’s doe eyes. She was moved but she dared not accept the offer.
“It’s fine. Xiao Zhu’s a big boy now. I can join the match with you,” Yun Jian could not help patting Duan Li’s head and said. This was her first time meeting Duan Li but she was fond of the girl.
“Thank you. Thank you, Yun Zhu, thank you, jiejie!” Duan Li rubbed her tearful eyes and accepted their kindness gladly.
Duan Li had not experienced any parental love since kindergarten. Her mother had passed away while her father was an alcoholic who drank every day. She had a six-year-old younger sister who was now in kindergarten. The reason the girl seemed obedient and sensible for her young age was because she had to take care of her baby sister. Once their father drank, he beat both of them up, so Duan Li had never known what a father’s love was like.
She was only seven or eight years old now but she had to mature at a young age to look after her sister. Sometimes, when her father got drunk, she would get beaten up badly. When the school had events that required the presence of parents, Duan Li had long given up wishing for her father to come because he would never.
If departments of authority had not pressurized Duan Li’s father to send Duan Li back to school, she would not have even been here right now. Hence, the girl was yearning yet she shied away from accepting when Yun Zhu offered to lend his sister to her so they could join the sports meet.
After Yun Zhu and Yun Jian persuaded her, however, Duan Li went along with the kind gesture.
“Xiao Zhu, inform your teacher. I’ll go to the washroom. Lan Su-jiejie is nearby. I’ll call her and see if she could rush here,” Yun Jian told little Yun Zhu as she recalled that Lan Su was staying just around Wuning Yi Elementary School.
“Lan Su-jiejie is around here? Can she come? If she comes, then you can go with Chessie and Lan Su-jiejie can go with me. This way both of us get to compete in the sports meet!” Yun Zhu replied immediately with his big round eyes.
“Mn.” Yun Jian nodded and patted his head to tell both the children to stay where they were while she made her way to the washroom.
She had to leave for the restroom because the call she was about to make would probably be drowned by the clamorous crowd on the field. Cellphones during then were not as intelligent as the current ones.
After making the call in the washroom and rinsing her hands, Yun Jian came out to see Yun Zhu waving at her from a distance away.
“Jiejie, the event is starting soon. Is Lan Su-jiejie coming?” Yun Zhu asked eagerly. He was actually dying to join the match as well.
“It should take her a bit over ten minutes to arrive,” Yun Jian answered and added, “She’ll make it in time.”
Ding Yin’s child, the one with a lot of braids on her head and was dressed fashionably, made her way over from where she was standing some distance away while Ding Yin chatted to the other parents. Once the girl came, she pointed at Yun Zhu and Duan Li to snipe, “You two make a great match! You don’t have a dad and you don’t have a mom. Yun Zhu, I heard from Wang Ba that your mother isn’t your birth mother too! You’re picked up from the streets! Shame!”
