Jasmine stared at her innocently and didn’t know how to react to her request.
The little girl didn’t hate Lanying nor did she have any liking towards her. Actually, no one has ever told her to hate her. Not having any particular liking towards her was caused by the little dramas at the dinner table.
Seeing the hesitation in the little girl’s sight, Lanying squatted next to her and started to treat her sweetly.
”Da Xia, you have a beautiful sketch here. Can you tell me what this is?” She asked while pointing at one of the sketches in the book.
Jasmine followed her finger to the football she drew and said, “It’s a football!”
”Wow! it is pretty, and you got the pattern right!” Lanying said as she clapped her hands.
”Thank you!” Jasmine finally replied with a smile.
The little girl liked to be praised because to her, it was a sign of encouragement.
In the heat of the moment, Lanying pulled out one piece of banana from the bunch and pulled it, before handing it to the little girl.
”Here is your reward!” Lanying said with a sweet smile.
Jasmine glanced at the banana in her hand with a frown before shifting her gaze back to her, “This belongs to my Mummy.”
Lanying’s smile froze, but she was fast to react on time. “I know it belongs to your mummy, but you see, Aunty doesn’t have any other thing to give to you, and it wouldn’t be nice to not give anything to you, hence I took something from your mummy to reward you. Don’t worry, if you are worried about it, I would tell your mummy that I gave it to you.”
While she was speaking to her, Jasmine was staring intently at the banana in her mind, while trying to recall what her mother had said to her when she first asked for it, but with Lanying talking earnestly beside her, she couldn’t seem to remember.
”Why don’t you take a bite and let me know if it is sweet? I don’t like bananas because I’m afraid that it’s bitter, but my mother has always said that is it sweet but I don’t believe her. Please check for me!” Lanying said as she pushed the banana into the little girl’s mouth with an expectant gaze.
Jasmine was forced to take a huge chunk of the banana in her mouth and chewed on it. The little girl looked a little annoyed and wanted to say something, but Lanying distracted her again.
”Is it that bitter?” Lanying asked with a disgusted look on her face.
”It’s not bitter at all, bananas are sweet, why don’t you try it?” Jasmine said with an annoyed gaze as she shoved the banana toward her.
’The banana is not bitter at all, why is she complaining?’ The little girl thought to herself.
Lanying bit off a little chunk of the banana before eating. And slowly, she relaxed her facial expression.
”Wow! It’s so sweet!” Lanying said while nodding her head with a big smile on her face.
”See, I told you! You can have more of you want.” Jasmine said as she handed the remaining banana in her hand to her.
”No thank you, you can eat it all. I only wanted to have a taste,” Lanying said and pushed it back to her.
Jasmine glanced at the banana in her hand and didn’t know what to do with it. She couldn’t put it back in the bowl along with the others because it was already peeled, and her mother would scold her, so she decided to finish it.
’This should be enough!’
The little girl has only taken another bite when Lanying snatched it from her out of guilt. “Let me finish it up!”
”Okay!” Jasmine said before fixing her gaze on her book.
Lanying stared at the little girl and apologized to her in her mind.
’Jasmine, I am really sorry for what I have done.’
Waking up from her thoughts, and knowing that Jia Li or any other person would soon come over, she said to the little girl, “Jasmine, if your tummy hurts, you must tell your mother immediately! Do you hear me?”
”Why would my tummy hurt?” Jasmine asked with a little confusion in her gaze.
”Just do as I say. As soon as you experience any sign of discomfort, you must tell your mother okay?” Lanying said while staring at her intently.
Jasmine was a little lost but managed to nod her head in understanding. “Okay!”
”Good girl! I am leaving now.” Lanying said and turned to leave with a sigh of relief, not knowing that a servant heard her, but couldn’t fathom what occurred.
The servant felt that everything wasn’t alright, and was about to leave her job and go and check on Jasmine when she met FangSu.
”Where are you going to? Are you trying to slack off?” FangSu asked.
The servant felt relieved on seeing FangSu, and immediately pointed at the window and recounted what she heard Lanying saying to Jasmine.
”What? Lanying is all alone with my niece?” FangSu asked with bloodshot eyes as she quickly ran close to the window to have a look.
She didn’t trust Lanying at all.
Glancing through the window, Lanying was nowhere to be found, as only Jasmine was seen staring intently at her book.
Thinking that Lanying must gave left before she come, she didn’t talk to the servant again, and instead went down the stairs. She was going to find Jasmine first before approaching Lanying.
Not long after Lanying left, Jia Li returned with the sharpener Jasmine asked for, plus some crayons in case she would need them.
”Thank you, mummy!” Jasmine said with a big smile on her face.
Jia Li chuckled at her cute gesture and the corner of her life that was stained with milk.
Glancing at the glass of milk, She saw that she had drank more from it since she left.
”Jasmine, you are not a child anymore, wipe that milk off your mouth,” Jia Li said to her.
