(1)
June 21, 2010, Monday.
The sun hung high in the sky, yet it still sprinkled a few warm drops of rain like it was peeing. The crisp chirping of birds echoed from the treetops outside the apartment building, drowning out the sporadic cicada cries.
An Jing turned over in bed, but felt something empty beside her. Looking more carefully, she realized that Zhu Ying, who had slept with her yesterday, was nowhere to be seen.
The computer had been left on all night, still displaying a Sword Net 3 login screen. A pop-up window saying “Server Maintenance” had appeared—she had no idea when that happened.
The small digital alarm clock on the bedside table was showing the current time. As An Jing stared at it, the digits representing “seconds” jumped forward a few more times.
“Just past nine…” An Jing stretched, yawned, and sat up from the bed, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Her legs fumbled around on the floor for the slippers before she finally slipped them on. Then she wobbled over and pushed open the bedroom door, shuffling into the living room.
The noisier the world outside the window, the quieter the home seemed to be.
Qian Mingfei must have gone to work, and Yu Minghui hadn’t returned yet.
An Jing patted her head, which felt as heavy as if it had been filled with water, staggered into the bathroom, hastily washed up, and then plopped down onto the living room sofa.
She stared blankly out the window at the bright sky and lush green leaves, her mind completely empty. It took a long while before she started wondering why she was sitting here.
‘On a normal day, if I sit here early in the morning, it’s usually because I’m waiting for Minghui to bring breakfast to the table…’
Maybe, over time, this had become an unconscious instinct.
“There seems to be a smell of rice paste coming from the kitchen.” An Jing sniffed, letting her brain, which seemed to have stopped responding, start working again, thinking about what she should do now.
Regardless of whether she was going to eat breakfast at home, she needed to drink some water first.
It wasn’t that she was thirsty—it was just a habit. As if without water to moisten her throat in the morning, even breathing wouldn’t be smooth.
This habit was something Yu Minghui had helped her develop. Ever since she moved in, every morning before breakfast, Yu Minghui would make everyone drink a small glass of warm water.
Sometimes it was just plain warm water, other times it was water with salt or sugar.
At first, she found it troublesome, but gradually, it became a part of life. If she skipped it one day, she’d have a feeling of “forgetting something” for the entire morning.
An Jing wandered into the kitchen and saw a small cloud of steam and—Zhu Ying, curled up on a chair in front of the stove, fast asleep.
“Hey? Hey? Xiao Ying? Why are you sleeping here?” An Jing gently shook her. “What’s going on?”
“Mmm…? Huh…” Even if Huihui Jie keeps the stove super clean, you shouldn’t be sleeping on it! If you want to sleep, why not go to bed?”
“Grrr…” Zhu Ying groggily opened her eyes and licked her pink, glossy lips, which looked like she had applied lip balm. “I wanted to play games this morning, but I didn’t expect the servers to be down for maintenance today…”
“It’s Monday… I usually don’t notice at all.”
“Since we’re both at school on Mondays, it doesn’t matter if there’s maintenance or not.”
“Then why didn’t you go watch TV in the living room? Why come to the kitchen?”
“I wanted to try making breakfast.”
“Uh… What did you make?”
“Cooked some plain congee!”
“Oh…” An Jing sighed in relief. “That should be fine.”
“What’s with that condescending tone?!”
“No, no, I meant… it probably won’t cause any problems, like blowing up the kitchen.”
“I’m not an anime character! How could I blow up the kitchen?!”
“I think we have some pickled vegetables to go with the rice…”
“No need for pickled vegetables!” Zhu Ying stood up with a whoosh and lifted the lid of the frying pan on the stove. “Ta-da! I also pan-fried some zongzi!”
“Oh, impressive?”
“Impressive, right?”
“They’re a little burnt in spots, but most of it is golden and crispy. It looks really good.” An Jing opened the rice cooker lid, and the smile on her lips instantly vanished. “Uh… Xiao Ying, are you sure you cooked congee?”
“What’s wrong?”
“…It doesn’t look like congee?”
“Huh? All dried up? Did I put in too little water?”
An Jing stirred the semi-solidified mass with the rice paddle, scratching her head helplessly. “This is neither rice nor congee…”
“It’s just a bit thick. It’s still edible! Or maybe I can add some boiling water and cook it again?”
“If you add it later, the taste will probably be even weirder.” An Jing shook her head. “Forget it, let’s just eat it.”
“It’s not like it’s inedible—” Zhu Ying hugged An Jing from behind, resting her hands on her shoulders. “At least I made it for you with my own hands.”
An Jing gave a shy smile. The words “thank you” came to her lips but she swallowed them back down—maybe saying it would make things feel too formal. So she just gently squeezed Zhu Ying’s little hand, rubbing her thumb across her palm.
“…What happened to your finger?”
“I was trying to chop some garlic cloves to go with the fried zongzi, but my hand slipped while grabbing the kitchen knife. I nicked it a bit. It’s nothing.”
“Be careful.”
“It’s normal to have little accidents in the kitchen.”
“Then try to keep your hands dry today. I’ll do the dishes.”
“Even if Xiao Jing didn’t say it, I didn’t want to wash dishes anyway~” Zhu Ying chuckled and pinched her cheek. “Cooking is fun, but cleaning up isn’t pleasant at all.”
“Huihui Jie says that sometimes, too.”
(2)
It was almost noon, but for the two of them, this still counted as breakfast.
“Do you want me to turn on the fan?” An Jing asked, looking at the sweat on Zhu Ying’s cheek.
“Huh? It’s okay… but if there is one, sure? The sun is almost reaching the dining table.”
“It should be in the living room, but it’s not here… Let me check Fei Jie’s room—yeah, she moved it into her room.”
“Feifei Jie doesn’t have a fan in her room?”
“She does.”
“Then why does she need two?”
“She just likes more wind.”
“If it’s really hot, why not just turn on the air conditioner? Two fans aren’t necessarily saving much electricity.”
“Fei Jie…” An Jing clicked her tongue. “She can’t really stand cold AC.”
“Huh? Why?”
“She says the smell is unpleasant, like motion sickness. If she stays in an air-conditioned room too long, she feels like throwing up.” An Jing shook her head. “I don’t know, but it’s been a problem since she was a kid.”
“Then what does she do in the summer?”
“She uses fans as much as possible, or sets the AC temperature higher.”
“So Feifei Jie isn’t afraid of the heat?”
“Wrong, she’s the most sensitive to heat out of all of us…”
“That’s rough.”
“Last year, I remember she got a membership card for the swimming pool next to the shopping street. She’d go for a swim after work every day before coming home, or just soak in the cold water until she was satisfied.”
“Then she’d sleep without AC?”
“Yep. In the summer, she sleeps alone on the couch, since Huihui Jie can’t stand not having the AC on…”
“There are people with constitutions like that?”
“The world is full of all kinds of weird constitutions.” An Jing spread her hands. “Back before we split into classes in seventh grade, there was a classmate who got diarrhea every time she sang.”
“Oh~ right, that one was even weirder.”
“It was like she had some kind of switch…” An Jing muttered, just about to say something teasing when they heard a soft knock on the door.
Knock knock…
“Who is it—? Coming!” An Jing jumped off the table, not bothering to put on her slippers. She scurried to the door barefoot and slapped it open.
Standing at the door was a somewhat familiar figure—the nurse from the research institute, the one who was always assigned to take care of An Jing.
“Ah? Huh?” An Jing had never seen her out of her nurse uniform before. This blue-green striped short-sleeved shirt paired with light blue jeans made her look less gentle and more… “Sister Yujing…?”
“Long time no see, little one!” Jiang Yujing greeted her cheerfully, handing over the things she was carrying. “How have you been feeling lately?”
“Pretty good… No problems…”
“Did you have your period this month?”
“Ah, huh? Y-yes, I did…”
“Mm~”
“Is she the nurse who took care of us at the research institute last time?” Zhu Ying poked half her head out from behind An Jing. “Hello, Sister~”
“Hi there.” Jiang Yujing waved. “I’m on vacation right now. I just got off the boat, and while I do have something to deliver to An Jing, it’s also kind of on the way.”
“What is it?”
“Of course, a full set of ID documents.” Jiang Yujing looked at An Jing with a half-smile. “What, little one, aren’t you going to let me in?”
“Ah… Ah!” An Jing quickly moved aside. “Please, come in! The house hasn’t been cleaned much, it’s a bit messy. Uh… just grab any slippers!”
“Sister Yujing isn’t here just for that, is she?” Zhu Ying looked like she had guessed something.
“That’s right. I’m also here to give you two a physical exam—the simplest kind.” Jiang Yujing shrugged helplessly. “Can’t even rest properly during my vacation. No help for it, since I’m the most convenient person for the job right now.”
“We don’t have to go back to the research institute?” An Jing looked confused.
“You don’t have to go that often. Besides, you didn’t think the bracelet was just a simple bracelet, did you? It records your body data and uploads it to us. If anything goes wrong, we’ll know right away.”
“Ah… So that’s how it is.”
“What about me?” Zhu Ying touched the red-and-white necklace hanging around her neck. “Does this have body data monitoring too?”
“You don’t have one. After all, in terms of superpowers, you’re attached to An Jing. As long as she’s fine, you’ll generally be fine too.”
“By the way, then… when I go to the provincial capital, will I still have to come back for checkups?”
“Big checkups will definitely have to be back at the institute. As for small ones… don’t worry, we’ll let you know how to handle it.”
“Ah… Okay.”
“So, well—clear a spot for me. I’m going to check you two, and I’ll also give you a massage.”
“Will it still hurt a lot?”
“Don’t worry, it’ll definitely hurt more than last time!”
“So I don’t need a massage, right?” Zhu Ying quickly asked.
“Nope, both of you get one.”
“Eek!?”
Zhu Ying and An Jing both shrank their necks, looking extremely resistant.
But Jiang Yujing had come to their home in person—there was clearly no escaping this ordeal.