Chapter 23 Questioning
"Why is Penny unhappy? Is it because I'm late?"
Jiang Li took out the chocolate candy bought by Bee Duke from his pocket and handed it to Penny.
"How about this as my apology?"
Seeing that Jiang Li's first reaction was to coax her instead of asking who Lily was, Penny took the candy and felt a little better.
A long time ago, Penny also liked Lily as her younger sister.
But when she saw that her parents liked Lily more and even her friends around her were surrounding Lily, Penny suddenly didn't like her sister so much.
Lily is lively, cute and knows how to make people happy. Wherever Lily is, others will forget her existence. Even on her birthday, her parents let Lily blow out the candles and make a wish.
Although it was a bit selfish, Penny didn't want to introduce her friends to Lily and didn't want Lily to take her friends away.
When she went out this morning, she tried her best to avoid Lily, but Lily still found out and insisted on going out with Penny. Mrs. Evans even scolded Penny for this.
Petunia had no choice but to bring Lily out reluctantly.
Seeing Julia talking to Lily enthusiastically, Penny's heart broke into pieces. She felt that Julia was about to be taken away by Lily, and she would no longer be Julia's best friend.
Jiang Li noticed her mood, touched her head, and asked gently: "Penny, is this your sister? She is as pretty as you."
Just as Penny was about to speak, Lily immediately responded enthusiastically, "Hello, sister. I'm Lily Evans. You can call me Lily."
Penny, whose words were interrupted, couldn't help but clench her fists, feeling a little unhappy.
"Lily, don't make any noise outside."
"I didn't make any noise." Lily said a little aggrieved.
Julia also spoke up for Lily, "Penny, don't be too strict. Lily is just a little kid."
Seeing that her friends were not on her side, Penny felt a little aggrieved and tears welled up in her eyes.
Seeing that several people were about to quarrel, Jiang Li felt a little headache.
She walked over and hugged Penny, then said to Julia and Lily, "Why don't we go pick out some clothes for Penny? It was her birthday a few days ago, and I forgot to prepare birthday plans for her. Let's make up for it today and celebrate Penny's birthday, okay?"
Julia and Lily naturally had no objection and nodded in agreement.
Jiang Li took the three girls into a nearby women's clothing store, which was full of princess-style clothes.
As soon as the three girls walked into the clothing store, they immediately ran towards the clothes they liked and started choosing.
Jiang Li stood next to Penny, watching her staring at a yellow cake skirt, and tilted his head and asked, "Do you like this?"
Penny nodded.
She had seen princesses on posters dressed like this.
Jiang Li asked the waiter in the store: "Can I try this dress?"
"Of course, I'll help this lady get the right size for her."
The waiter quickly brought a dress to Penny.
Penny took it with some joy.
Lily rushed over excitedly, took a look at the dress in her hand and said, "Penny, this doesn't look good on you. Why don't you try this one?"
She pointed to a pink jumpsuit.
"No, I only like this one, and I don't like pink." Penny said angrily.
Lily didn't know what had made Petunia angry. She felt a little aggrieved and stood there at a loss.
"Penny, go try on your skirt first." Jiang Li said gently.
Hearing this, Penny took the clothes and walked into the fitting room.
Jiang Li looked at Lily, who pursed her lips and seemed to want to cry. He patted her head and said, "Why are you unhappy?"
"Petunia seems to hate me and is always angry with me," Lily said in a muffled voice.
"Then why do you think she hates you?" Jiang Li asked gently, "It's impossible to hate someone for no reason."
"I don't know. I want to play with her, but she is always unhappy. She always has a cold face."
Lily's voice was very low, like a wounded kitten.
"Since you can't figure it out, why don't you think about it from Penny's perspective and see how she is usually treated."
Jiang Li looked at Lily and said patiently, "How do your parents usually treat Penny? If you were Penny, how would you think?"
Hearing this, Lily began to think seriously.
She remembered that every time they ate, her parents would share the delicious food on the table with her, and Penny never seemed to get any.
The last time they shared the donuts, she ate all of them when Penny left. Penny was very angry and questioned her. As a result, her father thought that Penny was bullying her and scolded her.
Lily put herself in Penny's shoes. Things that she had ignored in the past suddenly came to her mind. She felt so uncomfortable that she wanted to cry. She felt that her behavior at that time was really abominable...
But Penny seems to be treated like this by her parents often.
Lily realized this and guilt immediately overwhelmed her.
"I... I don't know why my parents treated Petunia like that." Lily said, clasping her fingers.
"It's actually quite normal. Everyone is partial, but your parents are too partial. They are partial to you, so they don't care about Penny's feelings.
They should be good parents to you, but not necessarily to Penny."
Jiang Li put his chin in his hand and analyzed: "If I were Penny, I would definitely stay away from your parents when I grow up. I don't want to see them at all."
After listening to Jiang Li's analysis, Lily became extremely anxious.
"Is there no way to make my parents not be partial to me?"
Hearing this, Jiang Li smiled at Lily and said, "Are you really willing to give half of your parents' love to Penny?
From now on, half of your snacks and pocket money will belong to Penny, and half of all kinds of gifts must also be given to Penny. When your parents scold you, will you take the initiative to stand up and take responsibility and tell you that your parents are wrong about Penny?
From what I understand, your room seems to be much bigger than Penny's. Your parents can't treat you and Penny equally. Can you do it?"
Lily thought about the scene carefully and felt a little uncomfortable. She felt that she would lose a lot.
She gritted her teeth and said, "I can do it. If I can be fair, then Penny will like me."
Jiang Li didn't reply, but continued to look at Lili and asked, "Do you know why Penny doesn't want to introduce her friends to you?"
Lily shook her head. This time she really didn't know.
Obviously, all of Penny's classmates like her very much, but Penny is always unhappy.
"Because everyone has some possessiveness towards their friends. Penny doesn't get much attention at home, so she is very concerned about the eyes of her friends. But every time you appear, you attract everyone's attention. Penny feels left out and lonely, so she doesn't want to introduce her friends to you."
Jiang Li slowly expressed Penny's thoughts.
"How could that be? Those are Penny's friends. How could they forget about Penny just because they're playing with me?" Lily retorted.
Jiang Li looked at her chubby cheeks and couldn't help but poke them with his hand. He continued to criticize her, "Are you sure? Every time your friends played with you, you didn't bring Penny with you. You didn't even notice that she was sad. Do you really care about her?"
Lily was confused by what Jiang Li said.
So she had always been so harsh on Penny?
"Lily, you are very cute and young, so when you do something wrong, people will subconsciously forgive you. But sometimes Penny will also be misunderstood. Although it is also due to her personality, don't you have any problems? You should also enjoy the attention of others and want to prove that you are the most important person in the family, right?"
Jiang Li looked at Lily and spoke word by word.
Lily's face turned pale and she took a step back.
"I don't think so. I like Penny very much."
"Like taking Penny's friends away?"
"I do not have……"
"You have!"
Just when Lily was about to collapse under Jiang Li's pressure, Penny ran out, stood in front of Lily, glared at Jiang Li and said, "I don't allow you to talk about my sister. She is the best sister."
Lily immediately hid behind Petunia nervously.