Chapter 16: Eleven Years Old – Nine Planets

Meng Yuning blinked helplessly. Facing the innocent expression of the little girl, he wasn’t sure whether he should tell her things that someone her age shouldn’t know.

“Xiao Zhu, time for a bath.”

Song Yanping’s voice sounded through the door.

“Coming,” Xuezhu replied, then turned to Meng Yuning, “Brother, remember to keep what I told you a secret, okay? Don’t tell Mom.”

Meng Yuning nodded. “Mm.”

Xuezhu trusted him, and after confiding in him, she felt much better. She ran to the wardrobe, grabbed her clean underwear and nightgown, and went to take a bath.

She had barely been in the bathroom for a few minutes when Song Yanping entered.

“Ningning, did Xuezhu tell you anything? What happened?”

Meng Yuning shook his head, signaling that he didn’t know.

Song Yanping muttered to herself, “This is strange. Usually, she tells you everything. Now, she won’t even tell you. Hmph,” she sighed, “She’s grown up, won’t share her worries, and prefers to keep them to herself.”

The psychological changes in little girls are delicate and sensitive.

At first, she would complain to her parents about small troubles at school during dinner. But now, she had started to separate school life and home life. Unless it was something like paying school fees or informing her parents about school activities, she no longer shared the details of her day—whether happy or sad—with them.

“Mom, Mom!”

Suddenly, Xuezhu called out from the bathroom.

Song Yanping snapped out of her thoughts and hurried to the bathroom, answering, “Coming.”

Xuezhu had already stopped letting her parents help with bathing. Every time she bathed, she would shut the door. Song Yanping stood at the door and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Mom,” Xuezhu’s voice was soft, only loud enough for her mom to hear through the door, “Dad and Brother aren’t beside you, right?”

Song Yanping felt puzzled but answered, “Your dad is watching TV, and Ningning is at home taking a bath.”

Only then did Xuezhu speak up. “It feels like something’s growing in my chest. When I press on it, it’s hard, and it hurts a little.”

The little girl was really growing up.

She had reached the stage of development. It was no wonder that she had worries now and no longer shared everything with her parents.

On one hand, Song Yanping felt proud, but on the other, she felt a subtle sense of loss.

She gently explained to her daughter, “That’s just your body starting to develop. You need to wear a small vest now. Tomorrow, Mom will go to the store and buy a few for you. Don’t press on it, and don’t sleep on your stomach. Let it grow.”

Xuezhu sounded a little reluctant. “Huh? Is it like the one you wear?”

She obviously didn’t want to wear it, thinking it would be uncomfortable.

“No, it’s not like the one I wear. You’re not at that stage yet. When you start wearing the kind of underwear I wear, you’ll have to learn to buy your own.”

Standing under the shower, Xuezhu wasn’t sure if it was the water temperature being too high or the foggy steam, or if it was because of her mother’s words, but a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

Buy it herself?

That would be too embarrassing.

She might as well let Mom buy it. Even when she grew up and wore underwear like her mother’s, she would still want her mom to buy it for her.

After soothing Xuezhu, Song Yanping returned to the living room, her eyes catching sight of her absent-minded husband watching TV.

Pei Lianyi, feeling his wife’s gaze, turned and asked, “Did Xuezhu call you for something? Did she fall while bathing?”

“You think your daughter is still a little kid?” Song Yanping responded sharply, “You, as a father, are completely useless.”

Pei Lianyi shrugged innocently, not understanding why his wife suddenly got mad at him.

—

A few days later, Song Yanping went to the mall and bought Xuezhu some small vests.

Made of 100% cotton, they were very soft and fit snugly, not as uncomfortable as she had imagined.

After she started wearing the small vests, Xuezhu noticed that many girls in her class had already started wearing them too. Some of them, like Xuezhu, wore the small tank top style, while others wore a halter-neck style with two thin straps behind the neck.

The latter style had a fatal flaw: the straps could sometimes show. Some mischievous boys sitting behind the girls would reach over and tug on the straps.

The result was almost always the same: the girls would be embarrassed and complain to the teacher, and the boys would get a stern scolding. Afterward, everyone realized that those straps were private to the girls, and boys should never touch them casually.

Sometimes Xuezhu would also wear this type of vest. During class, she would be careful to hold the straps with her left hand, fearing that Chi Yue might pull them.

Perhaps this constant vigilance annoyed Chi Yue, because one day during class, when Xuezhu once again tried to cover the straps with her left hand, Chi Yue grabbed her arm from behind, leaned over to her ear, and angrily whispered, “I’m not interested in your strap, stop being so vain.”

Xuezhu pulled her arm away and glared at him.

Chi Yue quickly released her and shot her an angry look. “What are you staring at?”

Then, he rolled his eyes at her and stopped paying attention to her.

Xuezhu snorted and let go of her hand.

One whole class passed, and Chi Yue really didn’t pull her straps.

Maybe he, too, resisted the rumors about them. After that, Chi Yue even stopped talking to her. Xuezhu was happy about that, if he ignored her, she would ignore him. Even though they sat at desks in front and behind each other, other than passing homework, they almost treated each other like air.

The negative responses from both of them were noticed by the gossiping elementary school kids, who quickly found new things to gossip about. Before long, no one talked about the rumors between Xuezhu and Chi Yue anymore.

Xuezhu breathed a sigh of relief. She thought that sometimes, Meng Yuning’s words weren’t entirely right.

This couldn’t be called liking.

They clearly hated each other so much that they wished the other would disappear from the world.

Soon, it was mid-term time again, and the class changed seats. This time, Xuezhu’s new seatmate was a quiet girl, and she was paired up with Zhu Qingying. Chi Yue’s new desk mate was a boy he got along with well. The two of them often talked during class and were frequently called out by the teacher. Both of them were happy with their new seat arrangements, and Xuezhu no longer feared someone pulling her hair from behind during class. Chi Yue no longer had to worry about the long hair of the girl in front of him constantly sweeping over and getting in his way.

The worries were gone, and going to school had become just an ordinary daily routine again.

Every day when she left for school, Xuezhu no longer looked toward the opposite door, wondering if Meng Yuning had gotten up, and if she could take the bus to school with him, since he didn’t live at home.

Gradually, Meng Yuning rarely returned home on weekends. Unless there was a long holiday, Xuezhu couldn’t see him anymore.

And Uncle Meng wasn’t lonely either. Xuezhu often saw a woman, dressed more stylishly than her mother, coming and going at the opposite door.

Occasionally, if they bumped into each other, the woman would smile at her.

Zhong Zihan was still as busy as ever. After starting high school, his weekends were completely occupied. In the past, he could occasionally sneak out at night to take Xuezhu downstairs to buy snacks, but now she only heard from Aunt Zhong that he was attending extra classes during the day and staying home to do homework at night.

He Zhenyue had promised Xuezhu that she would come and spend time with her every weekend, but it gradually became every half month, then every month.

She was busy making friends in college, and every weekend, she had plans with her classmates. Her phone, decorated with rhinestones, never stopped ringing—either a call or a text message.

In the past, He Zhenyue would shout at the door, and Xuezhu would rush out like a freed child, following her sister everywhere. They’d go to the music store to buy anime DVDs, sneak into internet cafes, where everyone else was playing violent games, but only He Zhenyue would let her play quiet web games with her.

With weekends now completely free, Song Yanping, having heard from one of her colleagues that dancing could greatly improve a girl’s temperament, decided to send Xuezhu to dance classes. Recently, Xuezhu had been hunching over due to her chest development, walking in a timid way, and no matter how many times her mother told her to straighten up, she refused to. So, Song Yanping sent her to the youth center every week to learn Latin dance.

Xuezhu didn’t want to learn, but she couldn’t resist her mother.

Children didn’t have any autonomy, and with a parent who insisted on making them learn everything, weekends were no longer for resting.

Finally, after the whole semester passed, and by the following autumn, Xuezhu no longer had the chance to go to Grandpa’s house with Meng Yuning for the summer. Her brother had extra classes to attend, and Xuezhu was busy with piano and Latin dance exams. She told Grandpa sadly over the phone that she couldn’t come to visit him in the countryside, and Grandpa comforted her, saying it was fine and that she could come next year.

When fifth grade started, the latest issue of Primary School Student Guide reported a big news in the astronomy world.

Pluto had been reclassified, and from then on, there were only eight planets left in the solar system.

In the school’s essay competition that semester, Xuezhu won first prize for her essay Goodbye, Mother Sun. The reason she won was that Xuezhu used excellent personification techniques to describe Pluto, in the cold and vast universe, being expelled and forced to leave its brothers, sisters, and mother, embarking on a lonely journey.

Of course, astronomy wasn’t as simple and innocent as it was depicted in fairy tale essays. Pluto couldn’t have human emotions, and the way a child would empathize with it was limited. But for Xuezhu, her thoughts about Pluto’s reclassification were as simple as that.

So, during a casual family conversation at dinner, when her mother told her that Uncle Meng was getting married, Xuezhu’s reaction was simply that someone new was joining Uncle Meng’s family and that Ningning’s brother would have a new mother.

Xuezhu wasn’t surprised at all. She didn’t even slow down the pace of chewing her food. Poking her cheeks, she asked, “Is it the aunt who often comes over?”

That aunt was very pretty, with beautiful curly hair dyed yellow, looking very fashionable. When she smiled, even when she covered her mouth with her hand painted in red nail polish, the harsh sound still couldn’t be concealed, so Xuezhu had a deep impression of her.

“Yes, from now on, remember to call her Auntie when you see her. Be polite, okay?”

Xuezhu nodded, “Oh.”

Song Yanping then reminded her, “We’re eating lunch at noon on Saturday. After your dance class, take the bus to the hotel. Got it?”

Xuezhu immediately responded, unwillingly, “Ah, Uncle Meng is getting married! Such a big deal, can’t I take a day off?”

Song Yanping found it quite amusing and didn’t get angry. She smiled and said, “It’s not your dad getting married, so why would you need to take a day off?”

“Then isn’t Dad committing bigamy?” Xuezhu shrugged her shoulders in resignation.

Song Yanping glanced at her husband nonchalantly and said softly, “Not necessarily. What if your dad gets tired of my nagging, divorces me, and finds you a new mom?”

Pei Lianyi took a bite of food and mumbled, “If you know you’re nagging, you should talk less.”

“I’m nagging? Do you think I want to say so much? Look at how much weight you’ve gained these years. Your belly has gotten bigger, and every night I tell you to drink less, you’re a government worker, not a businessman. Why do you need to drink so much at night with all these social gatherings?”

Sure enough, Song Yanping started nagging again.

“My friends ask me out for drinks, I can’t just refuse, can I?” Pei Lianyi sighed.

Upon hearing this, Song Yanping’s tone became even more dismissive. “Those friends of yours aren’t even real friends. You met them playing cards, they’re not even your bosses. Why do you have to go just because they invite you?”

Unable to argue back, Pei Lianyi had to forcefully end the topic. “You wouldn’t understand, I’m too lazy to explain.”

Xuezhu had long been used to her parents’ petty quarrels. After all, by the next day, they would be back to normal. Right now, she was just dreading tomorrow—after an exhausting dance class, she would have to take a bus to the hotel for the wedding banquet.

Before going to bed that night, Xuezhu suddenly remembered she hadn’t asked her mom which hotel Uncle Meng was having the wedding at.

Song Yanping said, “Jinhua Hotel, near the factory where your Uncle Meng works.”

“Ah?” Xuezhu frowned, having never heard of it. “I’ve never been there. What if I get lost?”

“How could you still get lost at your age?” Song Yanping sighed. “I’ll have Ningning go to the youth center to pick you up. After your class, you can go with him. That should be fine, right?”

This week, Ningning’s dad was getting married, and Xuezhu finally had a chance to see him on a regular weekend.

She was finally satisfied.

“Now that’s better.”

—

Finally, it was Saturday. Song Yanping asked Meng Yuning to pick up Xuezhu and take her to the hotel.

High school still had classes on Saturday, so Meng Yuning took the afternoon off. He came back to attend his father’s wedding banquet. Zhong Zihan, who had just finished school, volunteered to go with Meng Yuning to pick up Xuezhu.

Seeing that there were two bodyguards accompanying her daughter, Song Yanping felt twice as relieved.

Now, even if Xuezhu wanted to get lost, it was impossible.

On the way to the youth center, Zhong Zihan chatted casually with Meng Yuning, “I feel like I haven’t seen Xuezhu in a long time.”

Compared to Meng Yuning, who could meet Xuezhu every holiday, Zhong Zihan was genuinely busy and had to attend endless extra classes even during breaks.

“Do you think Xuezhu has grown taller?” Zhong Zihan asked.

Meng Yuning thought for a moment and shook his head. “Not sure.”

Every holiday, he would rush home, quickly deal with changing clothes, then meet up with classmates to go to the library to study or do homework. He rarely saw his father, who he shared a room with, let alone Xuezhu, who lived across the hall.

Zhong Zihan touched his chin, imagining what Xuezhu might look like now. He hesitated and gestured to his chest, “I guess she’s about this tall now.”

Meng Yuning glanced at the position Zhong Zihan indicated and calmly said, “She’s probably not that tall yet.”

When they arrived at the location, the children from the youth center were just getting out of class. Accompanied by the sound of the bell, a stream of kids, packed tightly like ants, rushed out the door and ran to their waiting parents. Those carrying large drawing boards were definitely the art students, those with big bags were likely the music students, and those in dancewear were, of course, the dance students.

Among the group of dance students, there was a little girl walking side by side with her peers, laughing and chatting. With a neat bun on her head, it was Xuezhu.

As she talked with her friends, her eyes darted restlessly from side to side.

“What are you looking at? Is your mom picking you up today?” her friend curiously asked.

Xuezhu, absent-minded, replied, “Today, my brother is coming to pick me up.”

“Your brother?” Her friend, trying to find him, added, “I don’t know what your brother looks like, but… is the one standing by the bulletin board your brother?”

“Huh? Where?” Xuezhu was almost jumping to look.

“Over there! There are two boys in school uniforms, which one is your brother?”

Following her friend’s pointing, Xuezhu finally saw the two boys.

Two tall teenagers stood amidst a crowd of noisy kids, both wearing light blue high school uniforms. In the midst of the chaotic crowd, they seemed calm and quiet.

Compared to Zhong Zihan, who was looking around restlessly, Meng Yuning seemed a bit indifferent, lowering his head to fiddle with the MP3 player in his hand, then putting on the headphones, likely to block out the noise.

“They’re both my brothers,” Xuezhu said with a smile. “I’m going now, bye!”

Her friend watched as Xuezhu, light and nimble like a small goose, weaved through the crowd, heading toward the two boys.

“Wow, two older brothers,” her friend said enviously, wrinkling her face. “Xuezhu’s mom sure knows how to have kids.”

“Brother!”

The sweet voice of the little girl grew louder as she ran closer.

Zhong Zihan looked in the direction of the voice and spotted Xuezhu, whom he hadn’t seen in a while.

“Is that Xiao Zhu?” He widened his eyes and, unsure, nudged Meng Yuning.

Meng Yuning took off his headphones and asked, “Where?”

“Right there, the one running toward us. How bad is your eyesight?” Zhong Zihan pointed to the lively little figure.

The little girl coming toward them had changed a lot because of her dance training. She had a delicate, slender frame, and her face had become more oval-shaped. Even though her hair was neatly styled, her face still seemed small. With the cold autumn weather, she wore a short jacket over her dancewear, and her legs were wrapped in white, form-fitting pants, like two straight white bamboo shoots.

It was only when Zhong Zihan pointed it out that Meng Yuning noticed the changes in Xuezhu.

When did the little dumpling turn into a little swan?