Chapter One Little Girl

  After finishing breakfast and resting for a while, the three of them set off.

  Li Luyu wore an old basketball jersey and a pair of somewhat worn-out basketball shoes, just like a streetball player who hangs out on the streets all day. Li Banzhen was a girl after all, even if she had to wear old clothes for work, she still brought her old clothes over but wore something clean and pretty on herself.

  Annan Xiu looked at Li Luyu and then at Li Banyu before softly asking Li Luyu, "Do I need to change clothes?"

  Li Luyu listened to her voice, which seemed to be intentionally suppressed, and was used to her imperious tone, full of oppressive feeling and princess-like language. Li Luyu felt a bit unaccustomed, as if she were a little girl who could easily follow orders.

  Li Luyu felt something was off and cautiously said: "No need, just take a look and give us guidance on our work."

  Annan nodded, of course she would direct the work. In the past when the maids swept the bedroom, she always made them repeat the fixed procedure three times before going to check. This kind of thing didn't need much thought, making them do a few more repetitions would always make it cleaner.

  Take the subway first, then walk to the bus station and take a bus to the suburbs.

  The suburbs of the big city are still densely packed with all sorts of large and small factories, but the sky and air are much cleaner, and the distant sky has a clear azure color.

  After getting off the bus, An Nanxiu raised her head and looked far away at that blue sky, "I thought the earth's sky was all dull and ugly gray."

  Li Banzhuang thought: An Nanxiu is talking nonsense again.

  "Do you want to see a cleaner sky? Next time I'll take you to the seaside, that kind of sky, maybe it's similar to what you want to see." Li Luyu thought, An Nanxiu's most nostalgic place must be the Tianyun Divine Realm's sky, which should be very clear, deep and quiet, after all, there are no negative effects of global industrialization there.

  "Alright." An Nanxiu thought for a moment and smiled.

  Li Ruyu was stunned, and today An Nanxiu seemed to be not awkward at all. So he instinctively reached out to touch An Nanxiu's forehead, "Had a cold yesterday?"

  Annanxiu suddenly took a step back like a startled rabbit, her cheeks flushing: "Don't touch me!"

  "Say no touching, don't bring ambiguity." Li Luyou also became sensitive, feeling that saying no touching her would make Li Banzhuang have some bad associations.

  Li Banzhuang looked at the two people with a strange expression in her eyes. Something must have happened that she didn't know about, and the two of them didn't want to tell her either.

  Along the highway, you can see the rice fields being harvested. Jiangnan has many paddy fields, but in the autumn harvest season, the fields are all half-dry and some have cracks with gaps, leaving behind the stubble of the rice plants. Occasionally, there are frogs jumping around in them, and when startled by people, a few frogs always start croaking loudly to alert their companions nearby.

  Li Luyu led the way, winding along the edge of the small town to the courtyard where they used to live. Li Banzhuang also remembered this place where she and her brother had experienced many hardships and joys, taking a shortcut with ease.

  Annan Xiu furrowed her brow, gradually becoming somewhat dissatisfied, for the dusty place had dirtied her spotless shoes. However, she didn't feel like making a fuss about it today, as she was feeling rather guilty and was suffering from unprecedented mental torment.

  Yesterday evening, Annan Xiu had a dream. In the dream, Li Luyu was touching her, it was a strange and weird thing, a strange and weird feeling. When she woke up in the morning, Annan Xiu felt like she was broken or something.

  Ann showed disgust towards Li Luoyu for intruding into her dreams, this bad guy actually entered her dreams without her permission and did such things to her, what's hateful is that in the dream she seemed to have no way to electrocute him.

  An Nanxiu felt a bit downhearted and was angry with herself as well as Li Luyu, but of course more so at Li Luyu - it was all his fault.

  But Annanxiu was angry and couldn't justify herself, otherwise Li Luyu would definitely look very innocent and suffer unjustly. If he asked her to explain, what could Annanxiu say?

  Normally, An Nanxiu would have said irrationally that you are annoying and want to electrocute you, but now it's not possible with Li Banzhen around. An Nanxiu always felt that her irrational behavior towards Li Luyou was a matter between the two of them and didn't want others to see it.

  Walking and walking, An Nanxiu started thinking about Li Luyu's princess carry. If he was willing to take the initiative to hold her like this and walk over, An Nanxiu would definitely reluctantly agree. After all, he was being kind, and refusing him might make him feel embarrassed.

  Of course, An Nanxiu would never take the initiative to ask for this herself. How could she? Let him think that she's a girl who can be easily hugged at will?

  Annan Xiu thought so, walked for half an hour, and didn't see Li Luyu take the initiative, so Annan Xiu got angry again. I gave you the opportunity to take the initiative to hug me, but you didn't do it!

  As for what she thinks in her mind, how could Li Luyu possibly know, this is no longer the reason she cares about.

  She was just angry, An Nanxiu walked with her head down, sulking.

  "Ouch!"

  What was hit, if it was a utility pole, it would be embarrassing to death. An Nanxiu saw someone turning their head to look at her on the street and made such a fool of herself.

  She rubbed her forehead, it didn't hurt, and when she looked up, Li Luyu was standing tall in front of her.

  "What's wrong today? Is that it again?" Li Luyou felt that Annan was a bit off today, she walked silently with her head down and didn't express any opinions.

  "You've finally figured it out!" Annan Xiu thought, but instead of holding Princess Li Luoyu's hand, he was disappointed to see her walking alone. He glanced at Li Banyin, who was walking by herself, and then secretly squeezed into Li Luoyu's arms, giving him a little electric shock.

  Li Lu's whole body trembled slightly, and the awkwardness and discomfort in her heart finally dissipated. This was the real An Nan Xiu.

  How despicable! thought Li Luyu.

  "Brother, come quickly, where's the key to the courtyard?" Li Banzhuang was already standing at the gate of the courtyard. After all, it was her and her brother's home, filled with memories, although a small part of them were related to their father and mother, which she didn't particularly want to dig up, but the vast majority were warm and happy memories of being together with her brother.

  Happiness is not about having a luxurious Barbie doll like your peers, nor is it about eating H?agen-Dazs ice cream, or wearing new clothes that can't be changed with the seasons. When Li Banzhen was still young, she saw her brother running back home, drenched in sweat, his whole body dirty, his clothes and arm torn, with blood on his cheek, but he tightly grasped the candy that had been snatched from her, carefully counting it again and again, then returned every single piece to her. At that moment, Li Banzhen knew what happiness she should cherish and protect most was.

  Seeing Li Banzhuang standing at the gate of the yard waving to herself, Li Luyu remembered that after school, she went to pick up scrap iron from a nearby factory and rushed back home before dark, her younger sister moved a small stool to sit at the gate waiting for her.

  "Brother." Li Banzuan saw the warm smile at the corner of his mouth, originally planning to come here with only himself and his brother, but with An Nanxiu added, there was no chance for him to reminisce about childhood things with his brother.

  Li Luoyu took out the key, wiped the somewhat dusty copper lock, and opened the courtyard gate.

  Li Luyu and Li Banyu were born here, got used to the absence of their parents here, grew up gradually, and then left here, only to return again.

  The house is an old mansion that has been around for some years. In the colonial era, Zhonghai was a prosperous big city, and many luxurious villas were scattered around the surrounding towns and villages. Some of these villas have been well-preserved and are still the residences of wealthy people today. However, others have fallen into disrepair over time and have become dilapidated, just like Li Luyu's house, which had its attic blown off in a war and now looks no different from ordinary self-built houses of most villagers, with its low and humble appearance.

  The old house still has a fairly large courtyard, where Li Luyu and Li Banzhu can find countless delights, just like Mr. Lu Xun wrote in "Three Flavors Bookroom". At this time, because the two children no longer disturbed them, the vines and various flowers and plants that were pressed against the wall corners grew wildly, making the whole house green and quiet, with a hint of seclusion.

  "You go to the yard first. It's dusty inside, we'll sweep it first and then show you Li Zi's childhood photos." Li Luyu said to An Nanxiu who was standing at the gate without entering.

  Annan Xiu didn't respond to him, she just raised her head and looked at the pineapple tree in the yard that was as tall as a six or seven-story building.

  This pineapple tree has been growing for many years, and when Li Luyu and Li Banyu were still young, it was already this tall. According to the oldest person in the small town, this tree was here even when he was a child.

  The old man would sometimes say that when he was a child, his grandfather used to tell him that this tree had been here since his grandfather's childhood.

  No one knows how old this tree is. It's said that experts came to verify it and wanted to apply for some protection, but it seemed to have been abandoned in the end.

  The fruit of the jackfruit tree can weigh up to 20-30 kilograms, even small ones are much heavier than a normal newborn baby, over 10 kilograms is common. It's rare for jackfruit trees in this region to produce fruit every year, but Li Luyu's tree does, from May to now, and there's still the last batch hanging on the tree. Li Luyu has made quite some money selling these jackfruits.

  "This is the tree of life." An Nanxiu suddenly pointed at the pineapple tree and said.

  Li Luyu raised his head, and couldn't help but laugh dryly. The huge pineapple fruit, if you say that opening up the flesh inside to hide a small child is really not a big problem, if there's a fruit that can burst open to give birth to a small child, then the pineapple fruit must be the most suitable in terms of appearance.

  But how could this pineapple tree be the Tree of Life? Li Luoyou had picked and sold hundreds, no, thousands of pineapples from it.

  Li Ruyu looked at the swaying pineapple fruits and then glanced at Annan Xiu, "Then I'll go pick a few down, maybe I can still squeeze out a second princess, third princess, fourth princess!"

  All kinds of requests.