Sam stared at the rows of characters in front of him, which looked like a heavenly text and were called Chinese. His head felt like it was about to split in two.
"Bella, why are you learning Chinese?"
The boy's voice was full of grievance. He blinked his big eyes, unable to understand.
"Maybe... I was Chinese in my previous life?"
Bella's soft, sweet voice answered. As she ate the slice of tiramisu in her hand, she calmly turned another page of The Birthday of Little Slope by the Chinese author Lao She.
She was engrossed in it.
Seeing that the girl wasn't paying any more attention to him, the boy lowered his head in frustration and continued writing crooked characters.
Bella, who was reading, secretly glanced at the downcast boy and covered her mouth to hide a giggle.
"Do you know what the line you're writing means?"
"What does it mean?"
Bella smiled, leaned over the desk, and moved close to kiss the corner of the boy's mouth.
"I'm not telling you!"
Sam stared blankly at the girl as she ran away, pouted, and was about to chase after her when he heard her voice coming from far away.
"Bella likes Sam!"
Bella stopped in the distance, mischievously blinked at him, and waved.
"That's why I told you to study Chinese hard!"
Many years later, when the grown-up Sam finally found the girl wandering alone amid the scenery on China's Changbai Mountain,
The girl gently smoothed her windblown hair and smiled warmly.
"Sam, did you study Chinese today?"
"I did. So will you marry me?"
Sam asked solemnly and confidently, speaking fluent Chinese, one word at a time.
The girl suddenly smiled mischievously, then answered with apparent seriousness:
"The exquisite dice are speckled with red beans. Do you know how deeply I yearn for you?"
Sam: "...???"
Wasn't I learning Chinese? What is this? How can there be something as bizarre and difficult to learn as Chinese in this world?
So this is actually a story about a Chinese whiz kid teasing a little foreign boy named Sam, a sweet, innocent tale of youthful first love.
