I Give Half of My Life to You

Chapter 8

The Young Master's letters were beautiful, contrasting boldly with the "r" in front.

Lin Miao's face turned even redder, she regretted not practicing her penmanship.

The Young Master took back the pen and pointed at the pinyin, "r-ong, róng (绒)."

Lin Miao hurriedly followed.

Then they proceeded to the next underlined word.

With one teaching and one learning, the two quickly figured the text out.

Lin Miao started to read to the Young Master, her voice was full of vigor and came with rises and pauses. It was uplifting and placed listeners in a good mood.

Lin Miao realized for the first time that reading and studying could be an enjoyable thing.

In the evening, Grandma returned. The Young Master went back to his room after eating dinner with Grandma.

Lin Miao knew that the Young Master was going to sleep again.

Because her mom said that it was detrimental to sleep directly after meals, she also thought this way.

So, Lin Miao slipped in again, and of course, the Young Master was lying on his bed.

Lin Miao went to him but realized that she still didn't know what to call him.

The housekeeper and doctor called him "Young Master", but she didn't want to call him this.

His mother and Grandma called him "Little Yu".

They told her to call him "Gege". Lin Miao wasn't very competitive, she only argued with her younger brother over this to entertain him.

(Note: "Gege" is pinyin for "older brother" in Chinese)

So, Lin Miao thought for a second, and called quietly, "Gege, sleep a bit later, okay?"

Lin Miao's voice was soft to start with, after lowering it, it was even softer.

The Young Master paused a bit, then turned his head. He saw her looking at him with her bright eyes and heard her say with anticipation, "Gege, Gege, let's go see the stars. The sun was giant today, there will definitely be a lot of stars."

The Young Master really wanted to say that he didn't want to get up, but he was still pulled up by Lin Miao.

The roots of the Young Master's ear were flaming red; he didn't say anything.

Lin Miao thought that "Gege" sounded euphonious. She doesn't have an older brother, so she never called someone that.

The doctor said that they were fine as long as the Young Master didn't catch the wind. So, Lin Miao led the Young Master to the windowsill and noticed that there was a myriad of twinkling lights outside but not even half of a star.

Lin Miao wasn't in dismay, she just realized that it was very pretty outside older brother's window.

She had never seen such a stunning evening.

The Young Master originally thought that she was disappointed because there weren't any stars in the sky, but then he heard her say, "It's so beautiful here."

The Young Master noticed that Shui Shui was completely different in front of him compared to when she was in front of everyone else. During dinner, she was very careful and didn't talk much. But, in front of him, she was the type that could go on endlessly and talked about anything available.

Lin Miao continued to talk, "Gege, lemme tell you a story."

Back at the village, she and her brother would enjoy the cool shade under the pear tree in their backyard during summer nights. Lin Miao would tell stories to her younger brother under the starry night.

The Young Master was curious about what she was going to tell, "Sure, go ahead."

"On a rainy evening..." After the first sentence, Lin Miao remembered the story that followed: it was about a child-eating witch being electrocuted to death. She stopped, it was a horror story that one of her friends had told her, it was unfit to tell the Young Master this. She was worried about scaring him.

Then, it came to her mind that all her stories, which her friends told her, were used by the adults in the village to scare children. They weren't appropriate to be told to the Young Master, what if it scares him?

So, she said embarrassingly, "I forgot what followed."

The Young Master believed her. After all, he had witnessed that her memory wasn't so sharp during the day.

"Then tell me something about your school." The Young Master said.

.....