Yaw.a.n.g reports her observations to her father, and he reply, “If he wasn’t autistic, I wouldn’t let you go! I want you to pa.s.s some of the ADHD you have to him.” Yaw.a.n.g twitches the edge of her lip.
“If I pa.s.s some of the ADHD to him, what will happen if he pa.s.ses some of the autism to me?” Her dad looks at her with a relieved expression on his face.
“That would be great.” This old man! She gives up talking to him. Every day, she goes to Xia Mu’s place and does the same routine. She would go into his room, occupy his bed, read her comics, eat her snacks, and take a nap. He plays with his things, she play with hers. No interference, no disturbance. Then, one day, Xia Mu catches Yaw.a.n.g’s attention when he is playing with a toy model of the QSZ-92-5.8. This type of gun model is only given to the officers with some sort of rank. She remembers her father owning one. When she was little, she used to steal it from the safe to play. Don’t be fooled from its small appearance, it’s actually quite heavy. She just started to play with it when she was caught by one of the patrolling officers. The officer took her and the gun to her father. Her father punished her severely and ever since that day, she never saw that gun in her home.
She sees Xia Mu disa.s.sembling the gun quickly, as if he’s done it often. He takes out a cotton cloth and starts to wipe every area of the gun slowly. She looks at the disa.s.sembled parts: the sleeve gun, barrel, muzzle cap, recoil spring rod, connector, firing mechanism, bullet, and the hook shank. All of the eight parts are there, just like the ones she sees in the military magazines.
“Wow, toy models nowadays look just like the real ones!” He ignore her and continues to wipe the parts. After he’s done, he a.s.sembles the parts back together.
“Wow, let Jiejie look at it.” She takes it away from his hands. Wow, so heavy, just like the real one! Xia Mu, who has been quiet this whole time, suddenly jumps up and tries to grab the gun back. Yaw.a.n.g raises her arms so he can’t reach for it. Ha, finally got a reaction from this little guy!
“Let Jiejie play with it.” His eyes widen and he tries to grab the gun back. His eyes are full of anger and shock, like an untamed little beast. She continues to tease him by raising the gun higher above her head.
“Call me Jiejie and I will give it back to you.” Xia Mu glares at her and jumps up to reach for the gun. He only reaches Yaw.a.n.g’s chest, so he can’t get the gun no matter how hard he tries. He suddenly backs up and jump again, grabbing one of her arms when she jolts backward in shock, and pulling it down. Yaw.a.n.g didn’t give in to him and resists, moving the gun further away from his reach. He’s not physically stronger than Yaw.a.n.g, so he still didn’t succeed in grabbing the gun. Then, he opens his mouth and bites into her right wrist.
“Ow, it hurts!” She yelps, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g in tears from the pain. She let go of the gun, having it fall to the floor, but he didn’t let go. She tries to shake him off, but he wouldn’t budge, like a stubborn dog. She can’t handle the pain and starts to scream. The maid, Auntie Mei, hears her cries and rush up the stairs to see what’s going on. She stands by the door in shock, and run towards them.
“What is going on? Xia Mu, let go!” Xia Mu won’t listen to her, his teeth digging deeper into Yaw.a.n.g’s skin. She cries in pain and Auntie Mei uses her hand to open up Xia Mu’s lower jaw, freeing Yaw.a.n.g’s wrist. Yaw.a.n.g pulls her wrist back, the two rows of b.l.o.o.d.y teeth marks with streams of blood flowing out. She glares at Xia Mu in anger. He bends his waist to retrieve his gun. He looks back at her, the corner of his lips covered with her blood, and said,
“Don’t touch my things.”
Another maid, Auntie Cheng, walks up the stairs to their room and cover Yaw.a.n.g’s wrist with a white handkerchief.
“We need to go to the hospital.” She presses her other hand onto the handkerchief and go to the military hospital with Auntie Cheng. The doctor gives her a shot and tells her not to worry. He said since the bite is deep, there might be a scar afterwards. Yaw.a.n.g look at the white bandages around her wrist, her anger boiling inside. I can’t believe I’m being bullied by a ten year old! When she arrives home, she show her mother the bandage. Her mother looks at her in sadness as she gently rub the bandage, glaring at her father.