(1)
The rain was heavy at first, but gradually it lightened, though it showed no sign of stopping.
From the eaves outside the window came the crisp sound of raindrops. Not wanting to dirty her hands, An Jing put her mouth to the opened bag of chips, pursed her lips to pick up two chips, then gently lifted them with her tongue and rolled them into her mouth.
Being able to snack while doing homework makes one feel exceptionally happy.
Especially the crunching sound from chewing chips made An Jing feel that her problem-solving train of thought became clearer.
Zhu Ying wasn’t writing her story right now, claiming her hand hurt from writing.
She was now sitting on the windowsill, sipping a carton of yogurt and staring blankly at the streets outside the window.
By the time An Jing had almost finished her homework and looked up, Zhu Ying was still biting the straw of her yogurt—the straw was full of teeth marks and didn’t look usable anymore.
“What are you looking at, so lost in thought?”
“Huh? Nothing, just think summer rain is especially comfortable. The wind isn’t cold, and the leaves on the trees are so lush. Raindrops drip down along the leaves…”
Zhu Ying shook the already-empty yogurt carton. “It feels so beautiful. I could watch it for a long time.”
“Summer colors are more uniform, I guess.”
“Not exactly uniform, but basically various shades of green.”
“People probably just really like green.”
“Yeah, colorful flowers are pretty, but looking at them for a long time gets tiring. But a green summer, no matter how long you look at it, never gets tiring—and I really love this feeling of nature blending with city streets.”
“There’s not much nature here, is there? Aren’t all the trees on the street planted by people?”
“But they’re planted very haphazardly. It feels like whoever was interested just planted one by the side. Some, I even suspect were seeds brought by birds. See—that corner over there, that kind of tree doesn’t look like it was planted on purpose, does it?”
“So chaos feels natural?”
“Exactly. And if you look further, there are fields and stuff. Xiao Jing, this apartment you’re living in is actually pretty nice!”
“If I had to choose, I still prefer your kind of big house…”
“Great! After you marry me, you’ll be able to rightfully live in a big house, right?”
“Ew!”
(2)
A silver Shenlong Fukang was speeding along the highway. Raindrops clung to the car windows, blurring the outside world.
“Huihui, aren’t you sleepy? You didn’t sleep at all yesterday…”
“Pretty energetic. Feifei, you took a nap earlier, are you still sleepy?”
“So sleepy…”
Yu Mingfei rubbed her brow with her palm. “I didn’t expect we’d play until so late…”
“The Sea Market was a lot of fun, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, so many large cargo ships parked at sea, with other small boats around—my favorite was that cargo ship that claimed to be a sea amusement park. It even had a Ferris wheel inside, amazing.”
“It’s a shame it’s not open year-round. Otherwise, we could take Xiao Jing to experience it during summer break.”
“No worries, the kid will have a chance someday!” Yu Mingfei said, then yawned again. “But the main reason we stayed until dawn was to pick out some gifts for her. It really took a long time…”
“In the end, you only bought some seafood snacks.”
“I mainly thought these are more practical, you know? After all, they’re edible. Other things might get boring after a while. Honestly, they weren’t that novel either—just seashells, boat models, stuff like that.”
“This batch of bulk shredded squid tastes even better than the ones during New Year’s.”
“Right, this is especially fresh! And not too fishy.” Yu Mingfei smacked her lips. “That kid will definitely like it. Lately, hasn’t she been looking for snacks while doing homework?”
“Xiao Jing didn’t use to be this fond of eating, right?”
“Maybe her body is developing and she needs nutrition.” Yu Mingfei propped up her cheek and lowered the car window a bit. “Hopefully she won’t grow too tall. If she gets too tall, she won’t be cute anymore.”
“Being taller makes you more beautiful.”
“So don’t be too tall.”
“Feifei, are you afraid Xiao Jing will be taller than you?”
“No way, how is that possible!” Yu Mingfei coughed. “I’m not the shortest in the family…”
“But you’re among the shorter ones, aren’t you?”
“Huihui, don’t get cocky just because you’re tall! You’re not even 1.7 meters yet!”
“Almost there, huh?”
“No way, are you still growing?”
“I seem to have grown two centimeters this year.”
“Puberty ended a long time ago!”
“Maybe it’s because I keep exercising?”
“Dammit, next time you go jogging, you have to take me along!”
“I always call you, Feifei, but you often make excuses not to go out.”
“Sometimes I’m just too tired after work… Ahhh, why? I do a lot of business trips, so why can’t that count as exercise!”
“First, drink less beer. You’re almost getting a beer belly!”
“No way!” Yu Mingfei nervously grabbed the little flab on her belly. “This, this is just something that comes with age, okay?”
“How old are you, Feifei, to be talking about age?”
“People who work age easily—especially salespeople!”
(3)
The homework assigned near the high school entrance exam seemed designed to ensure you couldn’t finish it.
Even someone as efficient as An Jing only finished one subject’s homework by the end of the morning. Thinking of the mountain left was headache-inducing.
No wonder many people still don’t do the take-home homework at this time—not just because the teachers don’t check, but because there’s simply too much!
“I heard that starting next year, No.2 Middle School will have evening study sessions.” An Jing put down her pen and gently rubbed her fingertips, which had been rubbed raw from too much writing lately. “Seems like it’ll be like No.1 Middle School, letting out only at 9 PM.”
“Then we’re lucky, huh?”
“Yeah… I wonder if high school will have evening study sessions—I’ve heard many high schools start them from freshman year.”
“That’s for key high schools, right? Regular high schools probably don’t.”
“Huh, isn’t Xiao Ying going to a key high school?”
“No, just a regular high school. But a regular high school in the capital is still better than a key high school here.”
“I was originally thinking of trying to get into a key high school in the capital…”
“Probably not possible? Xiao Jing, even though you’re in the top three in class, school-wide you’re only around top twenty, right? And our No.2 Middle School isn’t even the best middle school in town.”
“True… Well, it’s fine. It’s better to take it easy. Anyway, at worst, I can just go to a technical college like Fei Jie.”
“If you go to a technical college, will your dad beat you?”
“Tch, if he wants to beat me, he can just use his connections to get me into a bachelor’s program.” An Jing pouted. “Anyway, that’s all in the future. Who knows what high school will be like? Maybe it’ll still be easy, or maybe I’ll completely fall behind, like in math or something.”
“Right, in high school, I’m definitely going to study liberal arts! I absolutely don’t want to see science subjects again!”
“Even if you study liberal arts, there’s still math…”
“Bang—’Hey yo! Big sis is back!'” The door suddenly slammed open. Zhu Ying and An Jing instinctively turned around to see Yu Mingfei’s somewhat round face.
“Ah… Fei Jie…”
“Yo yo yo yo yo!!” Yu Mingfei teased exaggeratedly. “Taking advantage of us being away, you brought your little girlfriend over! Did you do anything bad last night, huh?”
“Feifei Jie, she’s not a little girlfriend, she’s a fiancée!”
“Wow, already a fiancée? You two are really close—come out and see, I brought you some souvenirs.”
“What is it?”
“Dried squid, shredded squid, baby squid… a whole bunch of snacks.”
“You have a thing for squid, don’t you…”
“Did you eat properly today? It’s already afternoon.” Yu Minghui’s voice came from the living room, laced with laughter. “Are those cucumbers in the fridge ones you bought?”
“Ah, those were given by the auntie next door yesterday. She said if you want to use them for a facial, use them while fresh. She grew them herself.”
“The auntie next door? The one who’s a single mom raising a son?”
“Yeah, her son came over to watch cartoons at our place before.”
“Good, I have something here to give back in return. Let’s take a fresh prawn over to her.”
“Wow, you bought prawns?”
“Yeah, still a bit expensive, but cheaper now. Last time you had it, it was good, right?”
“Delicious!”
“Then I’ll make it again today~ So, did you have lunch?”
“Xiao Ying and I only had some bread for breakfast. We didn’t have lunch…” An Jing scratched her head. “I just finished one subject’s homework and was about to take a break.”
“Okay~ Then I’ll cook.”
“Huihui, are you sure? Don’t you want to get some sleep?”
“No need. Feifei, you go sleep?”
“I definitely have to sleep…” Yu Mingfei yawned three times in a row and staggered into the bathroom. “I’ll sleep after a shower.”
“Fei Jie, what did you do yesterday?”
“We went to the Sea Market. A fleet from G Province…” Yu Mingfei slammed the bathroom’s rotten wooden door shut, her voice tinged with fatigue. “I’ll tell you the details later. If I don’t sleep now, I’ll fall asleep while showering…”
“Feifei Jie and Huihui Jie’s life is quite exciting,” Zhu Ying whispered with a chuckle.
“This is only occasional. Normally, she doesn’t go out much. Fei Jie’s biggest hobby is curling up on the sofa and watching TV. Sometimes, she starts watching right after breakfast in the morning, falls asleep by 9 AM, wakes up for lunch, then continues watching, then falls asleep again…”
“Pfft, Feifei Jie actually has that habit?”
“Yeah, when she’s home, she usually monopolizes the TV. Good thing I have a computer, so I don’t have to fight her for it.”
“But with all that napping, can she still sleep at night?”
“She can. When it comes to sleeping, she never seems to have insomnia.”
“It seems work really tires her out.”
“Not really. Huihui Jie said she was like this even in college…”
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