Chapter 19: Preparation Work
Zhao Zhitong, having ’defeated every unrivaled child in the village,’ stood on a tree branch, hugging the trunk, overjoyed. Her incredibly smug little expression, however, didn’t even last a minute.
Sun Mei’s voice, tight with annoyance, carried from the distance. "Zhao Zhitong! Are you climbing trees again!"
"Ah!" Zhao Zhitong cried out, quickly scrambling down from the tree. "My Mom’s calling me! I have to go now. We’ll battle another day!"
With that, she scampered off on her short legs, disappearing in a flash.
Sun Mei led Zhao Zhitong home, closed the door, and began to scold her, "You think you’re quite something, don’t you?"
She had just left the Village Chief’s house when she heard villagers discussing how her daughter was stirring up trouble at the village entrance.
When she hurried over, she found a group of children—little radish heads, as they were—gathered under the tree. And there was Zhao Zhitong, perched on a branch like a monkey king, looking so proud it made Sun Mei want to hide her face in shame.
"You’re a girl! How can you behave without a shred of maidenly grace? If word of this gets out, who will dare marry you when you’re older?"
Zhao Zhitong didn’t think she’d done anything wrong. She pouted and said sweetly, "Lots of people want to marry me!"
Whenever she played house with her friends, they always argued over who would get to have her as the bride.
Sun Mei: "..."