Fan Pingping moved into a new apartment. She had been busy working in her new home until evening came and she was too tired to stand up straight. Her room was still in a mess when electricity supply was suddenly cut off. The room was pitch-dark while everything became obscure outside.
She groped for and got a candle and a cigarette lighter when she heard a knock at the door. She opened it and saw her neighbor's little daughter. Looking up at the new neighbor with her hands behind her back the five-year-old plump-faced girl asked “Is there a candle in your room﹖”
She felt unpleasant. Some ideas flashed into her mind My neighbor is so stingy as to send her little girl to borrow a candle on the very day when I move in. Does she want to bully a newcomer like me﹖ I've had such kind of experience many times and I know how to handle it If I lend her a candle today she will come to borrow green vegetables tomorrow and even borrow seasonings the day after tomorrow. I must not lend her anything from the very start Therefore she casually said to the little girl“Sorry I've just moved in and I don't have a candle.”With these words she started to close the door.
“See what they are”the little girl suddenly lifted her hands from behind her back like a juggler and she was holding five thick candles. She said “My mother told me to bring you a candle but I am afraid you need more candles to put your things in order. So I bring you five candles.”
In face of the naive girl Fan Pingping was struck dumb. She squatted down held the little girl's face in her hands and shut her eyes in shame fearing to look at the girl' limpid eyes.
喬遷新居,范萍萍忙累了一整天,累得她連腰都直不起來,滿屋的東西還沒收拾完畢,突然停電了,室外朦朦朧朧,室內(nèi)一片漆黑。
“篤,篤,篤,”范萍萍剛摸到蠟燭和打火機(jī),門外便傳來了敲門聲。打開門一看,原來是對門鄰居家的一個小女孩,這女孩大約五歲左右,她仰著胖乎乎的小臉,背著手,問范萍萍:“阿姨,你們家有蠟燭嗎?”
范萍萍心想,這鄰居也真夠小氣的,剛搬來第一天,就叫孩子來借東西!是欺負(fù)咱新來的還是怎么的?這樣的事老娘見多了!要不然,今天借給她家蠟燭,說不定明天又來借蔥姜蒜,后天還要借油借鹽。不,不行,這個頭絕對不能開!范萍萍的腦海里急速地轉(zhuǎn)著彎兒。她隨口回答小女孩:“哎呀,真不巧,阿姨今天剛搬來,也沒有蠟燭。”說著準(zhǔn)備關(guān)門。
“阿姨,你看,我媽媽叫我給你送一支蠟燭。我見你正在收拾東西,怕一支不夠用,就給你拿了五支。”小女孩變戲法似的從背后抽出兩只手,高高舉起五支粗粗的蠟燭。
面對小女孩澄澈而天真的眼睛,范萍萍一下子驚呆了,她蹲下來,雙手捧起小女孩的臉,閉上自己的雙眼,羞愧得不敢與孩子對視。