Chapter 326: Cleaning Up

(1)

It had only been two days without rain, yet the weather was already starting to feel muggy and hot.

The cicadas were gradually taking their place on the summer stage that belonged to them, singing their own songs with an electronic hum that grated on the ears of anyone listening.

The room that had been tidied up fairly neatly was now a complete mess, with a huge pile of clothes stacked on the bed and an open suitcase on the floor, waiting to be filled with things.

An Jing had already unplugged the power and was wiping the dust off the computer screen with a dry rag, while the tower had been moved aside and stuffed into a large black plastic bag.

It was nine in the morning, but it was already hot enough to make people sweat profusely.

The sun seemed to shine on the entire world without a single blind spot, and even with the windows wide open, the room still carried a lingering mugginess that forced An Jing to wipe the sweat from her forehead every now and then.

Today was the day she was heading to the province capital.

Yu Minghui wasn’t coming back until the day after tomorrow, and her father didn’t have time to come pick her up either.

So she’d asked her cousin Rong Hua, who had come back yesterday to visit Grandfather, to take her along to the province capital today.

Since he happened to have some business to take care of there anyway, it wouldn’t cost him much extra time—much easier than having Yu Minghui drive her to the province capital and then drive all the way back.

But since she’d only been notified this morning, she was now scrambling a bit to get everything packed.

She kept feeling like there wasn’t much to bring, but once she actually started sorting things out, she felt like she had to take this and that—and then she’d fall into a deep sense of self-doubt:

How the hell did I manage to accumulate this mountain of random junk?

Three years was enough to turn a stranger’s room into a little world of her own. In every nook and cranny were traces she’d left behind, and some things she didn’t even remember buying anymore. There were also quite a few items she’d once searched high and low for, only for them to now appear quietly before her eyes, covered in dust.

It was just that she no longer had any use for a lot of these things.

The little trinkets she’d once dreamed about had now become worthless junk that didn’t even stir any feeling when held in her palm. She’d even find herself wondering why she’d ever bought such things back then—like that toy that could be stuck to any surface, soft and squishy to the touch, with a texture that was somewhat unpleasant…

An Jing tilted her head and glanced at the trash can beside her. After hesitating for a moment, she got up and grabbed a basin instead.

She tossed all that random junk into it, planning to wash it later and then repack it into a box.

“I’ll have Huihui Jie put it in Grandfather’s house later. My room isn’t big, but there shouldn’t be any problem fitting one box in there.” An Jing muttered to herself, then dug out a bubble gum wrapper from the corner under the bed. This had been one of the most popular things back in elementary school—everyone bought bubble gum just for the wrapper inside.

It wasn’t an ordinary sticker, but a temporary tattoo sticker, mostly with cartoon designs, though there were also some really cool ones. Back then, everyone loved collecting them, occasionally pulling them out to compare or trade with each other. For a while, they’d almost become a currency that only circulated among elementary school kids.

“Whew…” An Jing blew the dust off it and carefully examined the design. She’d bought this one when she first started junior high, but once she realized everyone had already stopped playing with these, she never bought another one.

Maybe she’d also felt she was getting too old to be playing with such childish things anymore.

“Beep—beep—” Her phone suddenly vibrated with the sound of a text message alert. Her hair already soaked with sweat, An Jing straightened up with some effort and grabbed the phone from the table.

It was a text from Ye Ronghua, saying he’d come by at two in the afternoon and asking if she’d finished packing everything.

“Still packing, I’ll make it in time.” An Jing’s fingers flew across the keypad, producing a rapid tapping sound as she sent her reply to her cousin. Before she could even put the phone down, another message came in.

This time it was from Zhu Ying.

“Xiao Jing, have you finished packing over there?”

“Not yet, what about you?”

Zhu Ying’s flight was the day after tomorrow. An Jing had asked Yu Minghui to help send her to the T City airport when the time came. That way, at least it’d be cheaper than taking a cab, and most importantly—she wouldn’t get scammed like a pig being led to slaughter.

In small cities, taking a cab didn’t necessarily mean the meter would be used. Even if there was a meter, plenty of drivers would rig it, turning a hundred yuan fare into a hundred fifty or even two hundred. Some with darker hearts would even take a longer route on top of that…

So whenever people needed to go to the station or airport, they’d usually ask a relative with a car to drive them—that was just the local way of life.

“Not yet, I’m thinking about which clothes to bring. If we’re going to the seaside, should I bring a swimsuit?”

“There’s no sea in the capital…” An Jing sent a long string of ellipses to express her speechlessness.

“Oh right, then I won’t bring one. When are you leaving, Xiao Jing?”

“Two o’clock.”

“Then I won’t see you off, okay? We’ll meet again in the province capital in a month anyway.”

“Mm, it’s so hot out. You should just stay home.”

An Jing put down her phone and continued packing. Now it was time to organize her clothes. There were some women’s clothes Yu Minghui had bought for her at home, plus the ones Zhu Ying had given her—those all had to be brought along. Other than that, she just needed to bring the men’s clothes she liked: “Should I bring the ones that are too big? They don’t fit well, but they could work as pajamas… But if I bring all of them, there won’t be enough space…” She tapped her forehead in frustration, then swept her gaze over the toys she’d piled into the basin. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit her: “Oh right, I can just leave the extra clothes at Grandfather’s place. Yeah, that’s definitely more convenient. Then I only need to bring summer clothes. I’ll just buy clothes for the other seasons later—it’s not like those are new anyway…”

Packing up your things was a very interesting task—but usually, before you started, you had no motivation to do it at all.

But once you got going, you’d get immersed in the joy of slowly arranging everything into order. And occasionally finding something you’d forgotten—that was the best reward of the whole process.

(2)

The small room had been tidied up. The desk and computer table were both empty, with nothing on them. As for the computer tower and monitor, they’d already been placed by the door—they’d need to be carried downstairs later and brought along to the province capital.

The wardrobe was now empty, just like when she’d first arrived. The only difference was probably that there wasn’t much dust.

The layout of the room hadn’t changed, and the anime posters on the wall were still up, yet there was a feeling that this place no longer belonged to her.

The phone on the table vibrated and rang again. This time it wasn’t a text message, but a call.

It was from her father.

“Hello?”

“An Jing.” Her father’s voice carried a hint of heavy exhaustion. “Have you finished packing?”

“Almost. Cousin Rong Hua said he’ll come by at two this afternoon.”

“Mm, you should go stay at your grandfather’s place for a while first.”

“Hasn’t the new house finished renovating yet?”

“We just moved the furniture in recently. The place still needs to air out. It’s hot out anyway, so leaving the windows open for ventilation—it’ll be ready to move into after summer vacation.”

“Great~” A hint of anticipation rose in An Jing’s heart. “Dad, what about you? You sound really tired.”

“Got heatstroke. I had to run around outside under this blazing sun.”

“Aren’t you supposed to just stay in the office?”

“Ha! Don’t be silly. This is a critical period—I can’t afford to slack off.”

“Ah…” An Jing licked her lips, and the words that came out sounded a bit distant. “You’ve worked hard.”

Her father on the other end of the line also seemed taken aback, staying silent for a few seconds before speaking again: “Oh… Before you leave, say goodbye to your two sisters. At the very least, send them a text. And make sure you bring everything you need…”

“I know, I know.”

“Send me a text when you get to your grandfather’s—don’t be too mischievous over there. Don’t cause your grandfather any trouble.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not a little kid anymore—where’s Mom?”

“She’s… lately… been a bit busy.” Her father’s tone was somewhat hesitant.

“You didn’t get into a fight with Mom, did you?” An Jing could tell right away.

“Haha… a bit, yeah.”

“How long has it been?”

“About half a year.”

“That long?”

“We keep having disagreements. And sometimes I can’t control my own emotions either… there’s nothing I can do.”

“Once you’ve finished all this busy work, you should properly make it up to Mom.” An Jing said seriously. “But with you being this busy lately, it’s normal for you to feel a lot of pressure.”

“Ha, since when did you start giving me life advice?”

“Dad, I recently learned something. Even men need to be cared for and advised by others. Men aren’t immune to getting hurt either.”

“Hahaha, what does a little kid like you know.” Her father burst into laughter, his tone no longer as heavy as before. “I’ll come see you at your grandfather’s place tomorrow. If you can’t get used to living there, you can stay in my rental room.”

“Dad, your rental room… I remember it was already cramped enough when you and Mom shared it. And it only has one bedroom.”

“No problem, you can sleep in the living room.”

“Then I’d rather sleep at Grandfather’s place. At least I’d have my own room there…” An Jing curled her lip.

“We’ll talk about it later. Just don’t cause any trouble for your grandfather when you get there.”

“Dad, you’ve said that twice already—I’m about to be a high school student now!”

“Alright, alright…” Her father let out a warm chuckle. “I’ve been really busy with work, so I haven’t kept in touch with you much. Over all these years, do you ever feel like I…”

An Jing cut her father off: “It’s fine. I’ve had my sisters keeping me company, and I’ve been pretty happy every day—Dad, why did you suddenly bring this up?”

“I was thinking, once I have some free time, I’ll take you out to have some fun. Consider it a way of making it up to you.”

“There’s no need to make anything up… but I’d like to make some memories of going out together.”

“…You little one, you’ve grown up.”

“I’m probably more mature than you think, Dad.”

“Hehe… alright then, I’ll hang up now.”

“Mm, bye.”

An Jing hung up the phone and stared at the call log on the screen, unable to help muttering softly to herself: “Dad seems to have gone back to how he used to be. Not so stern anymore. There was a while where he felt as hard to talk to as Mom…”

She scrolled through her phone’s contact list, which didn’t have many numbers, and looked at her mother’s. She hesitated for a long time: “Should I call Mom? Eh… maybe I’ll just forget it…”

Her mother was different from her father. When she talked, she took things too seriously, so much so that…

It would always end up a little unpleasant.

—But when she was in front of other people, she was such a gentle and understanding woman…