When the two began to babble and learn to speak, “Princess Pearl” began sweeping across all of Asia. Ye Xiaomei loved watching it too. The first thing she did after getting off work was sit in front of the TV to watch Little Swallow and Fifth Prince. She loved Zhao Wei’s big eyes. Since she didn’t have them herself, she hoped her daughter might have a genetic mutation. To bring good luck, she arbitrarily gave Cheng Lele a nickname—Little Swallow. For this reason, when she held Cheng Lele and played with little Chen An, she had her call him Little Prince.
Cheng Lele couldn’t say such a long phrase and could only call him Little Brother. After calling him that repeatedly, it became a habit, and Chen An became Cheng Lele’s Little Brother.
The nicknames Little Swallow and Little Prince reflected the beautiful wishes of both families to some extent. But things went contrary to expectations. By the time they could talk and jump and go to kindergarten, the two were like needle point against wheat awn—two tigers unable to share one mountain.
Chen An would play ball upstairs, deliberately preventing Lele from sleeping. Lele would practice piano downstairs, ensuring he couldn’t sleep peacefully either.
When Chen An secretly bought cola, Lele would go to her godmother to tattle. When Lele secretly drank cola, Chen An would pour sour vinegar into it beforehand.
Chen An climbed the pomegranate tree and tricked Lele by saying that once she got up the tree, she could pick stars. Lele climbed up with determination, but halfway up, Chen An scared her by telling her to look down, and she immediately cried so hard her snot bubbles were bigger than her face.
Lele—Lele was out of tricks. When it came to mischief, Cheng Lele was no match for her Little Brother. Chen An’s mind worked quickly, and he could always get one up on Lele. All the tears Lele hadn’t shed as a baby were saved up for this moment. Especially at night, the entire residential complex could hear heart-wrenching cries coming from the Cheng household. If those cries had physical form, they could crack the walls.
Why did Lele cry so fiercely at night? Because at night, Grandmother Chen would return to her own home to sleep. Grandmother Chen’s home was also in the complex, two unit buildings away from them. When Lele cried like that, it was to summon Grandmother Chen. The working parents of both families had become numb to the mutual fighting and brawling between the two siblings. They had given up on the fantasy of childhood sweethearts and didn’t even hold hope for brotherly affection and sisterly respect. Whoever came to tattle, both would be punished collectively—this was a tacit understanding the two families reached with each other to avoid encouraging their “burning the beanstalk to cook the beans” atmosphere, and for their own peace.
Only Grandmother Chen, in situations requiring her to take sides, would unhesitatingly choose to stand on Lele’s side. As soon as Grandmother Chen heard Lele’s crying, she would descend like a superhero, then grab Chen An by the collar like a vulture snatching a chick, drag him home, and administer a thorough beating.
“Say it! I will not bully my little sister, I will protect my little sister!”
After each beating, he had to make a vow.
Chen An had cried all his tears in infancy. He took the beating stone-faced, recited the vow, and as soon as Grandmother Chen turned around and left, he immediately went downstairs to exact revenge.
Little brat, what would he know about a gentleman keeping his word? In any case, the battle must continue!