Chapter Text
It was a calm, slow morning. The light of the warm morning was seeping through the leaves of the huge trees lined along the perimeter of a medium-sized children’s park in the city of Gusu. The birds were chirping and jumping about within the branches and tiny bees and butterflies were buzzing about among the flowers of Hibiscus, Balsum, Catharanthus, Roses, and many other ornamental flowering plants in the garden. There was a small fountain at the centre of the garden which had an elegant and intricate designing of a tree and a large basin at its bottom. The sanitation worker had just finished cleaning the fountain and replenished the basin with fresh water for the day that was continuously being siphoned to the fountain’s tip and falling back into the basin. A few sparrows were taking a bath in this water body at the centre. Surrounding this fountain were concentric circles, one of grass and the other of a soil circle fixed with decorative stones and chips of glazed tiles in between two circles. It gave a very unique design to the fountain’s surroundings. Just now, five or six children were running around these patches, making sure that their feet did not go out of a given grass circle into the soil + stone circle in between. Anyone whose stepped out of a given circle would be declared out and had to wait for their turn to run again till at least two others were declared out.
In another area of the garden where seesaws, swings, climbing blocks and other equipment for children to play. Two sandboxes were also installed in this area, close to the huge trees so that children playing in these sandboxes would be in shade at all times. Still, occasional rustling of the branches and beams of light pouring in from them caused beautiful dark and light patterns in this region. Some of the big trees in this garden were flowering trees with small white flowers in bloom in the current summer season. Five-year-old Lan Zhan had come to this park with his mother after many days since their family had to attend some marriage functions of their relatives for the past month. The moment they both entered, his eyes sparkled looking at the huge number of white flowers scattered across the ground. Lan Zhan just looked up at his mother without saying anything, but from that sparkle in his eyes, she of course understood that he wanted to collect them.
She nodded and said, “Go on. Collect lots of them. Let’s do something interesting.”
Lan Zhan nodded and ran towards a big patch of those flowers and started picking up the flowers one by one carefully. Meanwhile, his mother fetched a thick stick laying in a corner in the garden and started drawing something with the stick in a large patch of soil at a corner close to the sandbox. When he came back with both his hands full of those flowers, she gave him a big smile and brought him close to the drawing she had made in the soil. It was a simple drawing of a landscape consisting of a tree and a house near it. In the backdrop were tall triangular mountains. She took a few flowers from his hand and squatted down near this drawing. Then she started arranging the flowers one by one in the grooves made using the stick. She told Lan Zhan to follow her action to do the same. Lan Zhan was pretty excited to see the brown almost invisible lines in the soil suddenly showing a tiny pattern of the full picture. He squatted down and started putting the flowers neatly in the grooves, just like his mother had told him. He was eagerly anticipating about what the full picture would look like. His mother gave a happy smile seeing him enjoying this activity. She also went to fetch the second batch of those white flowers and gave them to him. Some time passed and now the landscape was half done. Lan Zhan got up and ran to fetch more flowers.
While he was picking them from the ground, someone asked him, “What are you picking up the flowers for?”
Lan Zhan looked up towards the voice. It was a child who looked similar to his age. He was wearing a black shirt and blue coloured half-pant, black boots and a red hat. His shirt and boots were a bit dirty and had bits of sand all over them. Lan Zhan was a bit hesitant to answer and just stared at him.
This boy sat down near him and asked him again, “Can I also pick them up?”
Lan Zhan was still a bit hesitant, but seeing the big black sparkly eyes of that boy, he nodded nervously. The boy flashed a huge smile at him and started picking up the flowers as well. From a distance, he could hear someone calling out.
“…Yi… Ying…”
“A-Ying… A-Ying…”
The sound came closer and closer and was very clearly a bit of a scolding tone now. “A-Ying! How many times have I told you not to run around alone!”
As his mother approached, A-Ying stood up in attention with a serious face and his tiny fists curled. He was a bit scared if his mother will hit him this time for being naughty yet again. Lan Zhan, too, was startled and froze on the spot on hearing the scolding. Just then, the lady reached them and stood looking at them for a second before realising that there was another kid with her A-Ying who was frozen in place due to her shouting. She immediately sat down softly besides A-Ying and apologised to Lan Zhan, “I’m so sorry, child. I didn’t realise you were here with A-Ying.”
Lan Zhan just looked nervously at her and then looked down on the ground immediately because he was still quite scared.
The lady turned her attention to A-Ying, saying, “Look at you! Your clothes are all dirty AGAIN! Do you think your mother is a washing machine?” On hearing this, all the nervousness in A-Ying went away and he burst laughing heartly. His mother looked bewildered and asked him in a superlative tone, which she purposely made it sound like she was half-joking, “You’re laughing at me?! Oh dear!!!” With this she slowly brushed off the sand that was on his shirt and boots and gave him and Lan Zhan a warm smile.
While all of this was happening, Lan Zhan’s mother had gone by a stall inside this park to buy a bottle of water. When she returned, she saw Lan Zhan still squatted in front of that large patch of white flowers from where he was picking up the flowers for their landscape and with him now were another child and a lady. She approached the group and squatted down to sit besides Lan Zhan. She smiled at A-Ying and his mother and greeted them hello.
A-Ying’s mother took the initiative to speak further. “I’m so sorry. I was running around trying to find my son and when I finally found him, I just ran towards him while shouting. I didn’t realise he was with your son. I might have scared your child by my shouting just now. I’m very sorry once again.”
Lan Zhan’s mother sat down completely on the ground while assuring A-Ying’s mother that it was no problem. She took him in her arms and sat him on her lap. Lan Zhan clung onto her tightly and buried himself in her body. His mother comforted him by patting his back softly a few times and he slowly stopped feeling nervous.
She turned to A-Ying’s mother and said while poking Lan Zhan’s cheek, “Please don’t worry Madam. My son needs such experiences once in a while,” and laughed. A-Ying’s mother too laughed a bit nervously because she still felt a little guilty.
Now that things had calmed down, A-Ying’s mother asked, “What are you picking up these flowers for?” It was the exact same question as A-Ying. Lan Zhan found this interesting. He looked at her and said, “We are making a landscape.” Both A-Ying and his mother’s eyes sparkled this time. Lan Zhan’s mother found this reaction quite amusing because this mother and son were in perfect sync while reacting. She set Lan Zhan aside so he can go back to picking up the flowers and got up. A- Ying’s mother followed and A-Ying went back to picking those flowers with Lan Zhan.
“Please come join us, Madam,” she invited A-Ying’s mother, “I drew a small scenery in the soil patch over there and told my son to arrange the flowers in the grooves of the lines of the scenery.”
A-Ying’s mother responded, “Oh! That’s such a good idea! We would love to join in!” She added, “Oh, yes, it’s so rude of me to not introduce myself and my son. My name is Cangse Sanren and my son’s name is Wei Ying. Nice to meet you.” Lan Zhan’s mother also introduced, “Nice to meet you Madam Cangse. My name is Lan Bai and my son’s name is Lan Zhan.” While the mothers introduced themselves, the children did too while picking up those flowers.
“What’s your name?” asked Wei Ying.
“Lan Zhan.”
“My name is Wei Ying,” spoke Wei Ying and beamed a big smile which looked a little silly.
Lan Zhan just looked at him and gave an “Mn” with a small smile.
Some more time passed and the two mothers chatted away watching their kids while little Lan Zhan and little Wei Ying gathered the flowers and arranged them neatly. Wei Ying was telling him all sorts of stories of how he built a big building in the sandbox some time back, the places he went to with his parents, how he and his friends play many games in their neighbourhood every evening and lots more. Lan Zhan was fascinated by all the things Wei Ying was telling him and listened to them attentively. Till now, because he talked less, many kids would bully him and so he used to keep his distance from most kids. His mother was quite worried about this and tried to get him to open up, but he would just go back into his shell every time his mother tried to introduce him to her friends’ children. He had become quite introverted and did not have anyone he could call his friend. So right now, when Wei Ying was talking about all sorts of activities he did with his friends, it was as if a huge canvas of things had been opened in front of his eyes.
As they finished arranging all the flowers, a really beautiful landscape scenery was revealed in front of them. All four of them were very happy and Wei Ying was jumping up and down with excitement, thinking that he had built something extraordinarily tough. That day, all the other kids and their parents who visited that park came to watch this beautiful scenery and everyone congratulated both Lan Zhan and Wei Ying for making something beautiful. Lan Zhan was as usual silent but still excited. He looked at Wei Ying all sparkly-eyed and Wei Ying shook his hands vigorously to express his happiness. Both the mothers took photographs of the scenery that their kids had built and also took group photos of the four of them.
It was a morning well spent. The mothers exchanged phone numbers and promised to remain in touch. They both also invited each other to their homes.
Wei Ying asked Lan Zhan, “Do you come here to play every day?”
Lan Zhan shook his head and said, “Not every day, only sometimes.”
Wei Ying said, “Oh! Then next time, tell me when you’ll be coming! I’ll come here to play with you again!”
Lan Zhan responded by firmly nodding, saying “Mn!” to which Wei Ying beamed another bright smile and dropped a few of those white flowers in his hands.
Lan Zhan got happy at his gesture and said “Thank you,” and gave Wei Ying two of those flowers back saying, “For you.”
Wei Ying replied with a “Thank you!” and while grinning ran towards his mother showing her the flowers his new friend had just given him.
It was actually the first time Lan Zhan had interacted with any other kid for so long. His mother was definitely happy at this turn of events. They said their goodbyes as lunch time was approaching. That day was actually the last day for Wei Ying and his family to be in Gusu. They had come here for sightseeing and were going to go back to Yunmeng after lunch today.
***
After that day, Lan Zhan insisted his mother to go to that park many times and they also did go. Every time they went there, Lan Zhan would roam around the spot they were picking up the flowers that day in hopes of finding Wei Ying playing there. But Wei Ying did not come. When Lan Zhan saw that his mother was watching him, he would quickly run to a different part of the garden. Within two or three times itself, Lan Bai had correctly guessed that Lan Zhan was waiting for his new friend. She had told his father about how he had made friends with another boy his age for the first time. His father was also of course delighted to hear it. Lan Bai had also been in contact with Cangse Sanren via phone and they had become good friends. Lan Bai and Lan Qingheng discussed and decided that since his friend is so far away and their son really wants to meet him, why not just go to his home to visit? That way, at least both the children can get to play together for one day again.
And so, it was decided. Lan Bai contacted Cangse Sanren and asked if they can come to their home so that their children can meet again. Cangse Sanren was delighted to hear from her and happily invited them.
Lan Bai went to tell the good news to Lan Zhan who was studying with Lan Qiren currently.
She insisted to Lan Qiren, “Brother, may I please tell A-Zhan a good news quickly?”
Lan Qiren was quite opposite in personality to Lan Qingheng who was a calm and softspoken person. Lan Qiren was temperamental and strict in terms of discipline and rules and did not like it when other interfered whenever he was busy with something. Right now, too, he wasn’t too happy about the interruption, but begrudgingly allowed her saying, “Okay. But be quick. A-Zhan needs to finish this homework in the next 20 minutes.”
Lan Bai thanked Lan Qiren and turned to Lan Zhan saying, “A-Zhan, we’re going to visit your friend Wei Ying!”
The moment she said this, Lan Zhan’s eyes widened and his mother could clearly see him smiling not just with his eyes but also his mouth this time. She was really delighted to see this change in his expression. She said, “Now be a good boy and hurry back to your uncle. Finish your studies fast and then we’ll go to Wei Ying tomorrow, all four of us.” With the “four of us”, she meant Lan Zhan, his elder brother Lan Huan, his father and herself. Lan Zhan was ecstatic and nodded excitedly with his signature “Mn!”
The next day, it was a fine sunny morning. Lan Zhan woke up at 5 A.M. as usual. He was of course very excited and his mother could feel it thoroughly, making her very happy. The family got ready, had their breakfast and left for Wei Ying’s home at 6:30 A.M. The drive from Gusu to Wei Ying’s home was a 5-hour ride by car. Lan Zhan’s mother had prepared many gifts for Wei Ying such as soft toys, jigsaw puzzles for kids - 3 to 4 different types of varieties, soft ball and many more. For Wei Ying’s parents, she had purchased a beautiful white coloured cutlery set which had a tiny delicate gentian flower design on the plates and bowls with thin purple lines decorating their rims.
They finally arrived at about 11:30 A.M. at Wei Ying’s home. It was a quiet neighbourhood with modest apartments in old buildings and a few small old bungalows lined at the end of the street. Wei Ying’s home was in one of the old buildings at the beginning of the street.
Wei Ying was already waiting at the entrance door of his building, anticipating Lan Zhan’s arrival. The moment he saw Lan Zhan stepping out of his car, he rushed towards him, shouting, “Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying’s mother had also just got down and welcomed her guests. Wei Ying’s family lived on the third floor of this building and there was no lift to go upstairs. And so, everyone slowly climbed through the narrow stairs of the building while Wei Ying pulled Lan Zhan and ran ahead of everyone. He was quite eager to show Lan Zhan around his home and also to introduce his friends, his best friends actually. All throughout while running from his car all the way till Wei Ying’s room, Lan Zhan was taking in all the things as much as he can and was very excited because this was his first time to visit any friend’s home.
Wei Ying pulled him directly into his room shouting, “Jiang Cheng! My friend is here!”
Startled, Jiang Cheng jumped up from the floor in an instant and stood stiff. Then, stuttering a little he said in just as loud a voice as Wei Ying, “H-Hello!”
Lan Zhan and Wei Ying were panting hard from all the running. Still Lan Zhan greeted Jiang Cheng immediately.
Wei Ying pulled Lan Zhan down and they both sat beside Jiang Cheng and started giggling. When they sat down, another head finally poked out from behind Jiang Cheng’s tiny standing figure. It was Wei Ying’s second best friend, Nie Huaisang, who lived just two streets away from Wei Ying’s home. Because Lan Zhan was coming to his home today, he had invited both his best friends to play together.
Wei Ying said, “Huaisang, he’s my new friend.”
Lan Zhan greeted him nervously, “Hello. I am Lan Zhan.”
Nie Huaisang also nervously greeted him back and scooted a little so that he was now properly sitting beside Jiang Cheng. The moment Lan Huan entered Wei Ying’s home, he immediately pulled him to play with them as well. There was yet another person left to be greeted, it was Nie Huaisang’s brother, Nie Mingjue. This was all too much information overload for poor Lan Zhan. But he exchanged greetings with this elder brother too.
The first game on their agenda was to play with building blocks. After that, they would be playing with their tiny bicycles. Then, playing cards. Wei Ying had a huge list of things to play without any breaks. And so, they did. Lan Bai gave all the gifts she had prepared for Wei Ying and his family. It was about time for lunch already. Cangse Sanren had prepared a very delicious meal for all their guests and made special dishes for the kids. Wei Ying’s father, Wei Changze, had brought ice-cream for the kids and sweets for their elder guests. The big group enjoyed the warm meal and as soon as they were done, Wei Ying pulled all the kids to play once again. And thus, with the parents acquainting themselves with each other’s families and sharing a relaxed conversation, the kids played the whole day.
It was now 5 P.M. and time for Lan Zhan and his family to leave. Wei Ying fetched five scaled-down models of super heroes from the animated shows he watched. In those days, these models used to come as complimentary toys with biscuits for kids.
He said, “Lan Zhan, these are for you,” and gave a wide grin.
“Thank you,” responded Lan Zhan while carefully holding all the models. This was his first time receiving any gifts from a kid his own age. Similar, to that day in the park, he was silent yet excited and looked at Wei Ying with sparkly eyes, trying to convey to him that he loved the gift from his best friend.
“Come play with us again,” invited Wei Ying. Following Wei Ying’s huge grin, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang also nodded vigorously and grinned happily.
The group all went downstairs and stood by the entrance of the building. All the kids said their goodbyes to Lan Zhan inviting him to their respective homes. Lan Zhan was looking a little fidgety. His mother noticed this and urged him to go on and bring what he wanted to from their car. His father took him and Lan Huan to their car and Lan Zhan searched through his tiny bag. He grabbed the marbles that made his hands full and carefully brought them to where Wei Ying was standing. He extended his tiny hands with an “Mn” and Wei Ying extended his palms in response. Lan Zhan carefully placed all the marbles in his hands.
Wei Ying’s eyes widened with excitement and he asked, “Are these all for me?”
Lan Zhan nodded vigorously, “Mn.”
Wei Ying started giggling and held a marble against the light. It shone with a brilliant blue colour and had a wavy white pattern in between. If one stared at it for some time, it would seem as if a tiny ocean was present inside that marble. The other marbles too were all of different colours and had strokes of white or green or yellow embedded inside them. Wei Ying tried to place a few marbles on Jiang Cheng’s and Nie Huaisang’s hands, but they both refused as it was a present from Lan Zhan to Wei Ying. Lan Zhan once again ran towards his car and rummaged through his bag yet again. This time he brought out candies his mother had brough him a few days ago and gave Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue a few each.
They all thanked him, which made him blush a little. He thanked them all back.
They all lined up near the car to wave Lan Zhan and Lan Huan goodbye. All in all, it was a fun-filled day for the whole group. And a very special and memorable first visit for Lan Zhan to his first ever best friend’s home.
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