Chapter 4: Mengmeng, the Annoying Little Brat

“You want to grab its head? Aren’t you afraid it’ll scratch you? It might have even eaten dead rats,” Cao Shujie slapped his daughter’s tiny bottom.

But it was no use at all. Mengmeng continued to pester him, “Kitty… aw-woo, aw-woo, aw-woo.”

“What kind of strange noise is that?” Cao Shujie’s brow furrowed.

Cheng Xiaolin glared at her daughter with annoyance. She picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it at the wild cat on the wall.

‘Meow!’ The wild cat screeched as if its fur stood on end, then agilely leaped down from the other side.

When Mengmeng saw the wild cat was gone, her eyes turned red. “Mama, bad!”

“Then how about I throw you over to play with the wild cat?” Cheng Xiaolin extended her arms, ready to pick her up.

But Mengmeng wasn’t having it this time. She quickly wrapped her arms around her father’s neck, pouted her lips, and glared at her mother. “No!”

“You’re saying no? Didn’t you want to play with the wild cat?” Cheng Xiaolin rolled her eyes at her daughter, then followed her husband into the courtyard.

Through the weeds, they could still see the red bricks covering the ground, which was covered in a layer of dirt, and weeds grew out from between the bricks. The house also looked somewhat dilapidated from years of being unoccupied.

Cao Shujie looked from room to room. Each time he looked at a place, he recalled scenes from his childhood growing up there.

The next moment, he pointed to a spot and told his wife, “I remember when I was little, there was a chicken coop there. To the southwest was the pigsty, where they raised several pigs.”

As he spoke, he turned and pointed to a square iron cage to the southeast and said, “There used to be a big wolf dog there, extremely fierce. But one day when Gao Jian came to pick me up for school, it broke its chain and bit a chunk out of Gao Jian’s butt, then ran away.”

“Daddy, where’s the big doggy?” Mengmeng, held by Cao Shujie, became interested again when she heard her dad talking about the wolf dog.

Cao Shujie smiled and said, “How about Daddy finds someone to get another good dog for you to play with?”

“Okay!” The little one immediately agreed.

After looking around, Cao Shujie had a plan. “Wife, let’s go. We’ll buy some things and go to Grandpa Zhenggang’s house, tell him about it, and set a good date to start construction.”

“Alright!” Cheng Xiaolin nodded. The couple walked out of the courtyard together. Unexpectedly, the little wild cat that had jumped off the wall earlier hadn’t left; it was waiting just outside the wall.

When it saw them come out, the cat even let out a ‘meow’ at them, looking a bit arrogant.

“Oh, so you’re holding a grudge, are you?!” Cao Shujie picked up a stick from the ground and threw it.

The wild cat saw the flying stick and quickly darted aside, moving very agilely.

Cao Shujie then thought about picking up a stone to scare it, but Mengmeng kept yelling ‘aw-woo, aw-woo’ towards the wild cat. The little wild cat also looked at her, its cat eyes betraying a hint of confusion.

Perhaps it was wondering what kind of cat this slightly larger creature was? Its meow didn’t sound very similar!

Seeing this, Cheng Xiaolin stopped her husband from throwing the stone and said, “Husband, let’s go. If it doesn’t want to leave, let it stay here and catch mice.”

The family of three then left.

But as they left, Mengmeng kept looking back at the wild cat, her little mouth continuously making ‘aw-woo’ sounds, and large streaks of drool flowed out, all landing on Cao Shujie’s back, but Mengmeng didn’t care.

Cheng Xiaolin, seeing this from behind, didn’t even bother to remind her husband.

Cao Family Village has a small supermarket in both the north and south, satisfying the daily needs of the residents of Cao Family Village.

Cao Shujie took his wife and child to ‘Cao Hua Supermarket’ in the north and bought 10 catties of eggs, costing a total of 34 yuan.

“Shujie, are you really not going out anymore? You can’t make money in our old hometown, can you?” Cao Hua was quite curious.

Cao Shujie gave a chuckle. “Brother Hua, I’m not going out anymore. The money I make outside, after paying off the mortgage and deducting food and drink, isn’t much. It’s better to live comfortably at home.”

Watching Cao Shujie’s family of three walk south, Cao Hua thought to himself, “Does this mean they couldn’t make it outside?”

On the way, they met several villagers. Cao Shujie even pulled out cigarettes and offered them to a few people. By the time they arrived at Cao Zhenggang’s house, almost half an hour had passed.

There was no helping it; that’s just how hospitable people are in the countryside – you can stop and chat with anyone you meet.

If they ran into a distant uncle or elder who was still within five generations of kinship, they would chat even more.

As a result, many people in Cao Family Village learned that Cao Jianguo’s son was no longer working in Beijing and said he was going to “make a big splash” back in his hometown. Many people just smiled without comment.

However, many people who saw the chubby-faced Mengmeng wanted to hold her, and some even pulled out snacks for her, but the little one wouldn’t take them.

Her mother had told her not to eat snacks indiscriminately, otherwise she wouldn’t buy them for her anymore.

When it came to food, Mengmeng understood long-term considerations.

“Dang-dang!”

Cao Shujie knocked on the iron gate’s knocker a few times. “Grandpa Zhenggang, are you home?”

He shouted once, and no one responded, so he shouted again.

This time, a small old man with half-silver hair came out from the house. “Who is it? Just come in.”

As he spoke, he had already reached the gate. When he saw Cao Shujie, he immediately recognized him. “Oh, isn’t that Shujie?”

“And you two, mother and daughter, it’s cold outside, hurry inside,” Cao Zhenggang said.

“Grandpa Zhenggang, I came today because I need your help with something,” Cao Shujie said proactively.

Cheng Xiaolin had already handed over the 10 catties of eggs.

“Oh my, you just had to come, but why bring things? Take them back later,” Cao Zhenggang said as he accepted them.

Cao Zhenggang’s house was quite well-decorated, better than most homes in Cao Family Village. The floor was covered with floor tiles, and the walls were covered with wallpaper. From behind the sofa placed against the wall, they could even see exposed radiators.

As a small contractor, his living conditions were considered good in the village.

“Grandpa Zhenggang, it’s like this: I’m thinking of tearing down our old house and rebuilding it,” Cao Shujie said.

While he was talking to Cao Zhenggang, Mengmeng couldn’t listen to any of it and couldn’t sit still either.

Seeing her father sitting there motionless, she broke free from his arms, twisted her bottom, and was about to throw a tantrum on the floor.

Cheng Xiaolin knew her antics all too well and quickly picked her up. “Mengmeng, come on, I’ll take you out for a walk.”

“Walk!” Mengmeng was happy.

As soon as the mother and daughter came out, Mengmeng pointed to a flowering tree in the courtyard and said, “Mama, look, so pretty.”

Cheng Xiaolin looked over. It was an apricot tree, much taller than the roof, probably over 5 meters tall. The tree was covered in small white flowers, layered one on top of another, looking exceptionally beautiful.

“Mommy, I want,” Mengmeng didn’t know what politeness was at all.

In her mother’s arms, she propped herself up, trying to pick an apricot blossom, but even together, she and her mother couldn’t reach the flowers on the lowest branch.

“Woof woof, woof woof woof…”

As the mother and daughter were figuring out how to pick a flower, a

sudden short burst of barks startled them, entirely focused as they were.

Following the sound, they saw a small white dog running out from the base of the southern wall. It was tied with a thin iron chain, the other end of which was hammered into the ground via an iron ring.

Mengmeng’s eyes lit up even more. She pointed at the little white dog: “Mommy, a little doggy.”

“Down.” She didn’t want her mother to hold her anymore and struggled to get down. If her mother didn’t let go, she was ready to cry.

“Mommy!” Mengmeng cried out loudly and mournfully: “Daddy!”

She was going to call for Daddy again.

“Mengmeng, I really admire you,” Cheng Xiaolin was too lazy to scold her: “I’ll put you here, but you can’t get closer, otherwise if the little doggy bites you, I won’t be responsible.”

“Mommy.” Mengmeng shouted again, thinking, *Mommy, you really are slow.*

Cheng Xiaolin put her down, but kept a firm grip on her daughter’s arm, afraid she would rush forward without knowing the danger.

“Doggy, hehe!” Mengmeng squatted down and stared at the small dog, her eyes shining.

“Mommy, let go.” Feeling that just looking wasn’t enough, Mengmeng wanted to run over and pet it, but her mother was holding her, so she couldn’t get through, and she started vigorously shaking her arm.

Just then, the little dog, perhaps feeling underestimated by a baby, got very angry. It bared its teeth and backed up a few steps, then suddenly lunged forward, causing the thin iron chain to rattle.

“Woof!”

This sudden charge and bark from the little white dog startled Mengmeng. She stood in place, stunned and motionless.

Just as Cheng Xiaolin thought her daughter was scared and wanted to pick her up to comfort her, Mengmeng, like crazy, also started barking and shouting “Woof, woof” at the little dog.

Not only that, she also tried to break free from her mother’s hand and rush forward.

This sudden scene directly scared the little dog back into its kennel, and it refused to come out no matter what.

“Little doggy, wah-woo!”

“Shit!” Cheng Xiaolin was utterly stunned when she saw her daughter scaring the little dog. At this moment, only that one word could express her feelings.

She had never imagined that her daughter would be even fiercer than the little dog!

At this moment, she seemed to finally understand what it meant by a 2-year-old being at the age where they are disliked by people and dogs alike.

More than that, even the dog was afraid of her daughter!

What a waste!

(End of this chapter)