Chapter 92: Night Before the Computer

(1)

I don’t even know how this whole day passed.

It felt like I just got up and sat for a while in the hallway by the door, and then it was already getting dark.

Time really flies—especially during holidays.

The rusty outdoor stairs echoed with the thudding footsteps of people returning home from work, while the dusk light stretched their shadows long.

Yu Minghui had gone back to her room to make dinner.

The laptop left on the coffee table was still showing the stock market fluctuations—

But the market had already closed, and the colorful data no longer flickered.

Yu Mingfei, wearing flat, round-toed leather shoes, wobbled down the stairs, her eyes barely open, as if her eyelashes were stuck together.

“Fei-jie!”

Anjing was quite energetic—after all, she had only woken up at noon.

“Ah… ah? What are you doing sitting by the door?”

“Just enjoying the breeze. The weather’s really nice today.”

“I spent most of the day in the conference room; hardly saw any sunlight…”

“No windows?”

“The curtains were all drawn—”

Yu Mingfei spat to the side, “Ugh, this crappy company, insists on using that old projector. Any bit of sunlight and you can’t see a thing, seriously…”

“Such heavy resentment,” Anjing teased with a smile, “It’s okay, at least you got off work on time today, no overtime.”

“If they make me work overtime again, I swear I’ll flip the table!”

“Seriously? You’d dare?”

“Brat, don’t underestimate me!”

Yu Mingfei suddenly rushed forward and grabbed Anjing’s collar.

“I just think you probably can’t flip the conference table…”

Anjing hurriedly tried to fix it.

“Tch, why do we have to work at all!!”

“Fei-jie, I think you should try to find the beauty of working. Huihui-jie said, you have to have eyes that can discover beauty.”

“Beauty my ass.”

Yu Mingfei couldn’t help but swear, “I’m exhausted, where’s the beauty in that!”

“Fei-jie, mind your manners!”

“You’re not qualified to talk about manners!”

“At least you get home earlier than those who only get back around eight or nine.”

“Getting off work at eight or nine, what kind of life is that? Just working for others, no time for yourself…”

Yu Mingfei rolled her eyes dramatically, “So tired. Got anything to drink?”

“Red bean soup, but it’s probably cold now.”

“Cold is fine.”

“Then ask Huihui-jie for some.”

“Huihui—”

Yu Mingfei raised her voice.

“Red bean soup’s on the table, drink it first.”

Yu Minghui said as if she had expected this.

“Aw, Huihui’s so nice to me!”

Anjing stood up, stretched lazily, and folded the small table back into the room.

The aroma of cooking drifted from each household in the corridor, though the sunset still had some time before it fully disappeared…

The days were getting warmer, and the daylight lasted longer and longer.

***

(2)

The happiest moment of each day was probably after dinner and a bath.

Most days, it was only then that time was freely theirs.

Even if the days were quiet, only at night did it truly feel like time to relax and enjoy—sometimes games that seemed boring during the day suddenly became fun at night.

Yu Minghui was washing dishes, and Yu Mingfei had just finished her shower and stepped out of the bathroom.

She pulled a long power cord out from the living room and stood in the hallway blow-drying her hair—this way she didn’t have to clean the bathroom after every shower.

As for the hair that fell in the hallway—well, that was easy enough to sweep up.

The TV was playing Jackie Chan Adventures.

Though the animation was rougher than Japanese anime, Anjing was still absorbed in watching.

Actually, you could find the entire series online now, but so far she hadn’t finished watching it.

“Xiao Jing, aren’t you going to shower?”

Yu Minghui, having hung her apron on the wall, came out holding a cup of tea.

“I’ll go after this episode.”

“Then I’ll wash first.”

“Okay, you go ahead…”

Anjing nodded constantly but her eyes never left the TV screen.

***

(3)

By the time it was Anjing’s turn to shower, it was nearly eight o’clock.

Not because Yu Minghui was slow, but because the hot water heater had run out and needed to heat up again.

She carried the clean clothes she would change into later and went into the bathroom, “bang!” slamming the creaky wooden door.

She didn’t understand why people in the past had such odd tastes—why use wood for a bathroom door?

And paint it yellow, no less.

After long exposure to moisture, it would rot, and the yellow paint chips falling off looked just like…

Poop.

“The bathroom door should be framed in stainless steel with frosted glass in the middle… like the one I saw at Xiaoying’s house.”

Anjing muttered as she stood in front of the toilet, zoning out for a few seconds before sitting down.

Though she’d been living as a girl for months now, when it came to other things, she still made some subconscious moves.

Some habits were just hard to break.

Like now—sitting on the toilet, she still instinctively wanted to press something down. Only when she realized there was nothing there did she awkwardly shift her hips.

Since becoming a girl, she was always worried about peeing outside the bowl.

After all, anatomically, this thing was far less safe and controllable than that thing.

“Is my period coming again…? I think it’s after the Lantern Festival… I hope it’s not early or late this time…”

Anjing rubbed her temples in frustration.

“Only the week right after it ends do I feel truly relaxed… the rest of the time I’m always worrying when it’ll come. So annoying…”

***

(4)

Warm water showered down from the showerhead, slowly soaking Anjing’s body.

Steam filled the bathroom, blurring everything into hazy shapes.

Anjing closed her eyes and gently traced her waistline with her small hand—she felt her body’s curves becoming a bit more defined.

The little egg-shaped scar hadn’t grown, but it was becoming more painful—just a light touch caused a sharp ache.

“Tch… what’s going on, I can’t even touch it, is there a nuclear reaction inside or what…”

Anjing pouted and carefully applied some body wash to it.

Before, she’d always rinse off right after lathering.

But now it was different—she would touch her smooth skin a little longer.

Especially her thighs.

“Has Wangwang finished exploring himself? Has Xiaoying explored? Eh!”

Anjing blushed and pulled back the hand that was unconsciously reaching where it shouldn’t.

“They’re them, and I’m me… I said I wouldn’t do that stuff anymore, absolutely, absolutely—”

Many things were like this: once you tried it once, there’d be a second time.

Especially bad things.

After doing them a few times, you get used to them, then you start to indulge…

Anjing was afraid she couldn’t control her desires, so she decided not to try even once.

But she didn’t plan to hold out forever.

That would be too hard to bear.

Her goal was—to not do those things until she went to university.

If the meteor really had some consciousness, it should forgive her past mistakes and turn her back into a boy.

And if the transformation caused by the meteor was irreversible, she could always try after starting university.

Others might see this as a meaningless and unnecessary stubbornness, but to Anjing, it was an important part of her identity.

If she didn’t hold on to anything, she might quickly fall apart…

Though it wasn’t that extreme, still, as a minor, she saw it as a bottomless abyss.

***

(5)

Though she had blow-dried her hair, it was still slightly damp.

Blowing it completely dry was a waste of time, so Anjing had already sat down in front of the computer.

The LCD screen was easier on the eyes than the old bulky monitor, especially at night; it didn’t make her eyes feel strained.

Still, she felt the colors on this screen were much duller than before, not as vivid.

She opened QQ and a flood of chat windows popped up.

Anjing hadn’t logged into QQ all day—even the mobile app.

Some were group messages, others from classmates and online friends.

“Wanna play?”

“Anjing, game?”

“Play?”

“Hello, are you a girl?”

“I heard you’re the cutest girl in the group, can you send a photo?”

“Princess Chu Yu, I’m going on a business trip to Z province soon, which city are you in?”

Anjing quickly typed replies to each.

For those wanting to play games, she replied “not playing.”

For the stupid ones asking for photos, she blocked them one by one.

“Don’t even know what they’re chatting about in the group. So many strangers adding me, so annoying.”

Anjing muttered as she rejected seven or eight friend requests, then finally replied to Zhu Ying.

“Come play!”

“Been waiting for you to get online, why so late today?”

“Chatted with Huihui-jie all afternoon.”

“About what?”

“Forgot, but we talked a lot.”

“Nothing weird, right?”

“Hey! What kind of topics do me and my sister talk about!”

“Hmm—chatting is fine, Xiao Jing, you gotta study hard~”

“I’m not gonna study that…”

Anjing smirked and double-clicked the game icon.

“Get online quick, I’m logging on now.”

“I’m already here, hurry up! Today I’m taking you through the dungeon!”

“I’m not ready yet, is that okay?”

“Who cares? If anyone dares say anything, I’ll scold them! So, master good?”

“Say ‘master good’!”

“Master good…”

“Good disciple~”

“Every time I call you master it feels so awkward.”

“That’s how it should be!”

“Yeah, right…”