(1)
The midday sun was hot enough to make An Jing break a light sweat. The quilt had already been kicked to the foot of the bed.
A hot breeze rattled the clothes hanging under the awning, making them sway with a clang. A lost bee buzzed as its wings vibrated, thumping against the window glass again and again—if it just moved a little to the side, it could fly out of the room. From downstairs came a crisp tapping sound, like someone forcefully pressing chess pieces onto a board, or like someone tossing pebbles onto the ground. In the neighborhood road, a bicycle bell rang, the sound growing closer, clearer, then fainter, more distant, until it vanished completely.
An Jing rolled over lazily and saw Zhu Ying sprawled out beside her, one pale, soft thigh and arm draped over her own body. Crystal-clear drool was trickling from the corner of Zhu Ying’s mouth, and her hair, which had grown quite a bit, was a tangled mess, sticking to the sweat on her cheeks.
This was Zhu Ying’s bedroom. The bed was pushed up against the wall.
All the stuffed toys had been kicked onto the floor by the window during the night, making it look like, in the middle of the night, those little guys had suddenly come to life and had an intense free-for-all.
The computer on the desk was still on. The QQ Xuan Wu window had been hanging on the screen all night, behind which was an open shopping page displaying a bunch of hair clips and headbands. In the bottom right corner, a Legend ad had popped up, the colorful text “Slaying Dragon Saber, Click to Claim!” flashing repeatedly.
An Jing squinted, yawning drowsily. She remembered that last night, she and Zhu Ying had spent ages trying to figure out how to register an account on a new danmaku site called Yin Li Yin Li, but after trying for a long time, they couldn’t get an invitation code and had to give up.
After that, they opened the increasingly popular Tao Yin Shopping Network. Zhu Ying registered an account and curiously browsed all sorts of novel items—things you could find on Dapeng Shopping Street were sold there, and things you couldn’t find there were also sold there.
Even though she felt it was as likely to sell fakes as TV shopping, An Jing still couldn’t resist wanting to buy something to try. But then she found out she needed to link a bank card.
And of course, she didn’t have a bank card yet, so she could only look at the pictures and satisfy her craving.
After that…
After that, An Jing must have gotten tired, so she went to bed first. She watched Zhu Ying play Xuan Wu for a while from the bed, then fell asleep without knowing when.
She covered her mouth, let out a lazy yawn, and tilted her head to look out the window.
The bright sunlight was a little dazzling, but it also made the sky an exceptionally clear blue, and the clouds looked exceptionally pure white.
It was as clean as a washed blue canvas with a few freshly washed cotton toys placed on it.
“Hmm…” She felt completely languid, lacking all energy, as if she had briefly lost her purpose in this long life. She didn’t know what to do today. No pressure was chasing her from behind, so much so that lying here all day seemed pretty nice.
An Jing, lying in a starfish pose, suddenly rolled over and pressed half her body onto An Jing. “Huh… what time is it…?”
“Mmn—” An Jing propped her head up with her neck and glanced at the blocky alarm clock on the nightstand. “Twelve thirty.”
“Mmm…” Zhu Ying nodded drowsily, then suddenly sat up. “Wow! Twelve thirty already?”
“Yeah.”
“Almost afternoon.” She rubbed her eyes, then flopped down on An Jing’s stomach, rubbing her cheek against it gently. “It’s been a long time since I slept this late.”
“Me too. Actually, no—it’s been years since I woke up at noon.” An Jing hugged her and slowly sat up, stretching hugely. “That was so satisfying… feels like I’ve caught up on all the sleep I’ve missed.”
“Pfft, that exaggerated?”
“I was still a bit sleepy lying down, but now that I’m sitting up, I feel super energetic—like I could stay awake for three days and nights straight.”
“That energetic? Want to go out and play?”
“Now? It’s already noon. Where can we go?”
“The sun may be strong at noon, but… it has a certain charm.”
“What charm?”
“The scent of high summer, of course.”
“High summer doesn’t come until July, right?”
“It’s already mid-June now. Not far off. And compared to July, it’s still a bit cooler now. In the real high summer… I wouldn’t want to go out.”
“Fine! Let’s go out then!”
“Time to get up!”
—
(2)
The feeling of waking up at noon is completely different from waking up early in the morning.
Waking up early, you feel like the day is so long, it seems endless.
But waking up at noon brings a strange sense of urgency, as if if you don’t do something soon, evening will arrive in the blink of an eye.
“What? Even after graduating, you’re still wearing your school uniform!”
“Hey, hey, at least there are still a lot of acquaintances around here, okay? Wearing a short sleeve is already my biggest compromise!”
“No way! Put on the skirt I picked for you!”
“No, I won’t!”
“Really not?”
“No!”
“Hehe, if you don’t, then I’ll have to punish you, you know?”
“Hmph! I’m not wearing it!”
Zhu Ying picked up the glass on the table, took a big gulp of water, then licked her lips lightly. “How strange. After I said that, Little Jing, who was almost considering it, suddenly got so stubborn? Do you want to be punished that badly?”
“What, what are you talking about! Don’t talk nonsense!”
“Hee hee—” Zhu Ying’s black pearl-like eyes sparkled mischievously. “Wear it. This one looks really good.”
“B-but the skirt is way too short! Shorter than the previous ones!”
“It’ll be cooler that way.”
“My period isn’t over yet, you know! Why would I need to be that cool!”
“Hmm—then what about this white Western-style dress? Pretty and fluffy. I’ll comb your hair nicely too. It’ll definitely look great.”
“Ha…”
“And you can pick a stuffed toy to hold!”
“Who wants to hold that in the middle of summer? It’s too hot…” An Jing rolled her eyes dramatically.
“So, deal?”
“…Fine, fine. I’ll wear it.”
“Little Jing is the best~”
“Don’t go using your mind reading whenever you want!”
“Where did I use it?” Zhu Ying said, completely unabashed, and downed the rest of the water in her glass in one gulp.
“Hmph, you’ve already had three glasses of water just now! Do you think I’m an idiot!”
“Lately, I don’t know what’s going on, but the side effects of mind reading are really bad. Hoo… my mouth is so dry. I can’t use it casually outside, or I feel like I’ll really die of thirst.”
“See, you did use it!”
“I just did! So what! Bite me!”
“Eeek—if you’ve got the guts, come closer and let me bite you!”
“Here, come on, bite me! Bite right here!”
“Hmph, with your flat chest like a cutting board, I can’t even reach.”
“What—did—you—say—?! You, who are just a mere Little Jing, actually dare to say that!”
“Whoa, don’t get on top of me! I can’t breathe!”
“Today’s punishment is! I’ll change your clothes for you myself! And the underwear too!”
“I refuse!”
“Little Jing doesn’t have the right to refuse~ Hehe~”
—
(3)
An Jing pursed her lips, looking shyly at herself in the full-length mirror.
She was wearing a white Western-style dress, with pretty lace trimming the otherwise plain dress, making her look like an unadorned cream cake, exuding a faintly tempting scent.
Her short hair, now past her earlobes, had been neatly combed by Zhu Ying, with a pure white hair clip pinned in place, making her look especially well-behaved.
The bracelet on her left wrist added a touch of refined, ladylike elegance.
On her feet were Zhu Ying’s crystal sandals—their foot sizes were close, so they could swap both clothes and shoes.
“Well? Didn’t I say it looks good?”
“This dress looks really expensive…”
“I think it was around four or five hundred.”
“Whoa—if it tears, don’t come crying to me.”
“Don’t worry, how could it tear that easily? White may not be very stain-resistant, but it’s not the kind of dress that snags on things easily.” Zhu Ying crouched down, helping An Jing adjust the hem that barely reached her knees. “Hmm—okay, that’s good.”
“Can we not hang around near the school? Somewhere a bit farther away…”
“Of course we can, though I think it would be more fun if we ran into someone we know—”
“Hey!”
“Let’s head toward the school, then go find Xiao Ru. What do you think?”
“That… works?”
An Jing muttered and nodded, then couldn’t help taking another look at Zhu Ying.
“Well? Does this look good on me?” Zhu Ying twirled her skirt twice, asking with a light laugh.
She was wearing a fluffy blue strapless dress, with a loose white oversized shirt over it, making it look like she had draped the blue sky and white clouds over herself.
“You look soft.”
“Huh?”
“I mean—you look really nice, that’s all.” An Jing cleared her throat and turned her head away.
“If you want to look, you can look a little longer~ Right now, it’s only for Little Jing to admire~”
“Cough…”
“You can even touch it if you want. See, the fabric of this dress is super comfortable.”
“Cough, cough!”
“Or maybe Little Jing just wants to touch my thighs?”
“Cough, cough, cough!!!”
“Eeek~~”
“It looks like you’ve already finished the boiled water at home. Be careful you don’t die of thirst later.”
“No problem, I’ll buy bottled water outside!”
“Tsk.” An Jing clicked her tongue, touched the hair clip on her head to make sure it wouldn’t fall off easily, then picked up her compact Nokia phone. “If we’re going out, let’s hurry up. If we keep dawdling, it’ll be two o’clock.”
“Okay. If we go out, let’s eat first!”
“I’m not going to the shopping street.”
“Of course we won’t eat there. How about picking a small, out-of-the-way restaurant on the street? I bet it’ll be interesting!”
“A small restaurant on the street… Well, it’s not impossible, but some might be dirty.”
“Then let’s pick a cleaner one.” Zhu Ying gently grasped An Jing’s wrist. “Oh, your dress doesn’t have pockets. Is it okay to hold your phone?”
“Ah… no pockets?”
“I have a lot of spare lanyards at home. Pick one to hang your phone on! That way you can just carry it by the lanyard. Super convenient!”
An Jing glanced at Zhu Ying’s flip phone, which was covered in all kinds of small trinkets and jingled when she used it, and nodded helplessly. “You really like that kind of stuff, huh.”
“Because it’s cute, isn’t it?”
“Hanging too many things is just annoying…”
“What do you mean annoying? It doubles the cuteness, you know!”
“Eeek—”
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