The year Mo Xiaoyun was seven, her parents gave her a little sister. The baby was pink and jade-like, lively …
The year Mo Xiaoyun was seven, her parents gave her a little sister.
The baby was pink and jade-like, lively and adorable. Mo Xiaoyun was delighted, wanting to give all the world's good things to her sister.
Her parents named the little one Xini.
But Mo Xiaoyun didn't like the name at all. "Xini, Xini—my sister can't be like mud!"
Her parents were doubled over with laughter, but the little sister reached out and grabbed her big sister's finger, refusing to let go.
Thus, changing her sister's name became Mo Xiaoyun's obsession.
When her sister was a little older, Mo Xiaoyun seriously asked her, "Little Ni, do you want your big sister to give you a new name?"
Mo Xini cupped her own face, looking up at her sister with an expression of incomprehension. "Big Sister, whatever you say, I will say yes!"
"Great!" Mo Xiaoyun immediately started racking her brains. "Mo Dayun? No good. Mo... Mo Xixi? Not good either..." Having not studied much, she couldn't come up with anything fresh.
Finally, she decided to change her own name along with her sister's...
That evening when their parents called them for dinner,
Mo Xiaoyun led her sister by the hand and announced proudly,
"From now on, we're changing our names! I'm Mo Dani, and she's Mo Xiaoni..."
Her parents looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
"Silly child, is it because you always thought 'Xini' didn't sound nice, so you wanted to change it?"
Father picked Mo Xiaoyun up. "Your names were ones your mother and I asked many tutors to suggest."
"What do your names make when put together?"
"Xiaoyun... Xini..." Mo Xiaoyun recited, puzzled.
"It's Morning Clouds and Evening Glories," Mother said gently, brushing dust from her younger daughter's skirt.
"Your father and I only wish that your lives be as free as clouds and rainbows, whether at dawn or dusk."
The sisters nodded, only half-understanding. They looked at each other, smiled, and their small hands clasped tightly together.