"Duoduo, why aren't you playing today?" Child A came over and took Xiaoqi's hand. Duoduo is Xiaoqi's official name. Xiaoqi's grandmother wanted a grandson, and Xiaoqi's mother had given birth to an older sister and clearly forbade any more children. So, to fulfill her grandmother's wish, she gave it her all.

The result was obvious. It's said that when her grandmother heard it was a daughter, she immediately returned to her own home without so much as a glance at Xiaoqi. Whenever Xiaoqi's parents argued, Xiaoqi's mother's last resort was this, and Xiaoqi's father would immediately shut up, daring not to say anything.

So Duoduo means "extra," an unexpected visitor! When Xiaoqi was a child in the army, people called her "Little Duoyu." Xiaoqi didn't know what it meant at the time, so she went home and asked her father. He said it meant a lot of beautiful fish, pointing to the goldfish bowl. Xiaoqi was delighted. She responded with a bright, innocent smile, her mind fixed on the fish bowl. This made her one of the more likable children in the army. Most of those years in the army took place before Xiaoqi could remember anything. All she could remember was having to avoid banana harvesting because it was hard to store them. Everyone would force them to eat. During those terrifying days, she'd have to hide inside, refusing to open the door. By then, Xiaoqi hated eating bananas and bananas. But when it came time to harvest lychees, she could sit in the playground and eat them. Each family had several trees, and the harvest would fill the playground to dry. The children said they were helping, but they were really just eating along.

So, when she saw these little brats, she wasn't even familiar with them; she couldn't remember them at all. The game the kid wanted Xiaoqi to play was really stupid: a circular flower bed, with a group of children running around the edge until they fell!

Xiaoqi remembered this. Perhaps because of her poor coordination, she was always the first to fall. Xiaoqi's knees were always sore, and every day before work, her father would tell her not to run outside. She promised, but as soon as her father's back was turned, she ran out, foolishly saying, pointing to her well-bandaged leg, "I'm bandaged today, I won't fall!"

She fell again after only two laps. It was almost healed, then it split open again, forcing her to reapply the medicine. It was a painful lesson. Even after such a painful experience, she wasn't stupid anymore, so how could she run again? And her knee was still bandaged. She wasn't crazy, running. Xiaoqi wondered, why was she so stubborn as a child? Why had she lost this wonderful quality as an adult? 2

Just as he was considering how to coax the brat away, he heard a series of exclamations from the flowerbed. Xiao Qi, at least thirty years old, still had some analytical skills. He immediately stood up, pointed at the child, and said, "Look who's fallen? Go get someone."

The brat was stunned for a moment, but was generally obedient and immediately ran to the infirmary. After all, children are smart. They played nearby and knew it was a convenient place to apply medicine.

Xiao Qi ran to the gathering of children and pushed through the crowd, expecting to see a crying child holding his knees. Instead, he found the child lying flat on his back with a small brick on the back of his head. His heart skipped a beat, and he shouted, "Get out of the way! Someone go get his dad!"

Afraid of being held responsible, Xiao Qi didn't dare approach, fearing someone would accuse him of pushing. He could only stare at the child, afraid of missing anything. The doctor from the infirmary arrived, still smiling. He was used to this, and generally treated Xiaoqi and the others well. Living in the same compound, everyone treated their children as their own. But as they got closer, his reaction mirrored Xiaoqi's. He immediately shouted, "Go, get the political commissar. Also, have him find a car. We need to take this child to the hospital."

He rushed forward, not daring to move the child. He reached out and gently lifted the child's head to see if the injury was serious. Xiaoqi, with her sharp eyes, couldn't see the head injury, but the brick was clear of blood. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then looked at the military doctor again. His face had worsened, and Xiaoqi immediately realized that internal injuries were more serious.

It wasn't clear if it was Xiaoqi's men or the military doctor's shouting, but the child's father arrived. Xiaoqi knew him: Political Commissar Wang, Xiaoqi's father's superior, with whom she had a very good relationship. He had two sons and no daughters. He had always adored Xiaoqi, holding her and playing with her whenever he had the chance. When the meal arrived, he had Xiaoqi sit on his lap and demonstrated his orange-eating stunt. He would cut a hole about one-fifth of the way through the orange, exposing the flesh. He would then place his mouth over the cut and squeeze it hard, sucking out the juice. Finally, he would squeeze it dry and blow it up into a round shape, opening and closing it to amuse Xiaoqi.

By this point, Political Commissar Wang had no time to look at Xiaoqi anymore and rushed directly to the military doctor. Xiaoqi hesitantly glanced at the little figure on the ground. They were the Wang brothers, Xiaoguang and Xiaoming. Xiaoguang lived in the city dormitory and only returned home on weekends. Xiaoming was the same age as Xiaoming, but perhaps because he was so invisible, Xiaoqi only remembered these two names and no visual evidence of them. 1

Xiaoqi's father rushed over. Seeing Xiaoqi's relief, he immediately said sternly, "Duoduo, was that you?"

"You're kidding! I was sitting far away. I was injured, watching them play. They can all testify!" Xiaoqi jumped up and shouted. Although Xiaoqi's eyes nearly welled up with tears at the sight of her father, her fear took over.

The other children immediately began to talk about what had happened. Overall, they seemed to be testifying in Xiaoqi's favor. She had indeed been sitting under the banyan tree, watching them play, and it hadn't been her fault. Xiaoqi was truly frustrated. How could someone so suddenly assume she was the one who had caused this, even with her poor character?

But then it occurred to her, "That's right, Dad is trying to clear her of suspicion." Dad was notorious for protecting his own shortcomings. After twenty years as his daughter, how could he not know? She looked up at Dad. Alas, she felt so embarrassed to tell him off. Xiaoqi's father's appearance was truly embarrassing for the Republic's soldiers. It was just like the riddle: 'A hemp house, a red tent, and inside lived a fat white man.' Whenever someone posed this riddle, Xiaoqi couldn't help but think of her father. He was so white and plump, with a bulging belly. Looking at photos from back then, he was actually quite handsome. It seemed life in the army was just too good. But Xiaoqi decided to forgive him and reached out to hold his hand. Having not seen him for over a decade, Xiaoqi was deeply moved.

But her father didn't care about Xiaoqi's feelings. Satisfied that she hadn't caused any trouble, he quickly picked her up and rushed over.

"Political Commissar, how's Xiaoming? I've called a taxi and just notified my sister-in-law."

"Is Duoduo okay?" Political Commissar Wang gave Xiaoqi a wry smile, then glanced at her and smiled.

"I fell on my foot. It hurts!" Xiaoqi quickly pointed to the scar she'd gotten before she wore the clothes. It was just a joke. She couldn't let him think she was causing trouble. "How pitiful! Be a good boy next time and don't learn from your brother's bad behavior." Political Commissar Wang gently pinched Xiaoqi's face, but his smile was uglier than tears.

The military doctor finally stood up. "We still need to take him to a larger hospital for a checkup. He hit his head, after all."

"I understand." Political Commissar Wang bent down with a stern face and picked up his son. A middle-aged woman, whom Xiaoqi also knew, ran over. She called herself "Mother Wang." Thinking of this, Xiaoqi felt a pang of contempt for herself. The adults knew her, but the children didn't recognize any of them. It was too much.

When she was little, she was sweet-talking, and Mother Wang made her delicious treats and wholeheartedly wanted to adopt her as her goddaughter. However, Political Commissar Wang said that wasn't accepted in the army, and that we should just keep it to ourselves. Xiaoqi never understood what "keeping it to ourselves" meant, but her father retired, and Political Commissar Wang lost contact with their family.