(1)
First came a burst of chattering chirps, crisp and melodious, mixed with the sound of tires scraping against the ground.
An Jing dreamed she was lying in a forest, sunlight falling on her and the grassy patch beneath her.
Butterflies fluttered up and down, and fish leaped from the babbling stream, splashing droplets of water.
Gradually, though, even the fairy-tale forest grew noisy.
Perhaps it was because so many insects had appeared.
The most clamorous of them all were the cicadas.
“Zzzz-ah, zzzz-ah,” they droned on without end, each one sounding like a person who died a tragic death in a past life, all chattering at once about their grievances.
The sunlight shifted from warm to scorching—perhaps the Summer Maiden lacked patience, and seeing An Jing still asleep, she swapped her gentle caress for a fierce blaze.
It was so hot it felt like even the bedsheet might catch fire.
Half-asleep, An Jing curled her little feet, but the sunlight chased her body, spreading until it covered the entire bed.
With nowhere left to hide, she finally kicked off the thin blanket she’d slept under, rolled over a few times, and with a “thump,” tumbled onto the floor.
“Hiss… ow…” An Jing clutched her lower back and sat up groggily. She glanced at the bed, which looked like an altar, and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.
Grandfather’s house sat at the edge of the residential area, far from the other four- and five-story buildings, with no tall trees nearby to block the light—so the sunlight was excellent.
That was a good thing in winter.
But in summer…
Forget about sleeping in.
Besides, Grandfather’s house only had thin gauze curtains, so even pulling them shut did no good.
This sunlight couldn’t be blocked by such a scrap of fabric.
It was nearly nine o’clock, yet it already felt as hot as noon.
An Jing shook her head, stumbled to her feet, bumped into the desk as she wobbled along, shuffled through the living room, and stumbled into the bathroom.
When she turned on the water tap, the water that came out at first was warm, only turning cool after a moment.
She filled a large basin and buried her whole face in it, blowing “glub glub” bubbles for a full minute before lifting her head with a “hahh” and letting out a long breath.
A breeze carrying a hint of warmth drifted past just then, instantly refreshing her. The difference between summer and winter was that once you got out of bed and moved around a little, you woke up right away—no lingering state of being both sleepy and cold.
She looked at herself in the mirror, rubbed her little face, and patted her forehead. “Is it too late? Grandfather probably already left, right? No… at this hour, he might even be on his way back…”
A simple wash already made An Jing break a sweat. The cicada sounds outside grew clamorous again the moment she pushed open the second-floor door.
An Jing squinted, using her palm to shield herself from the blinding sun.
She didn’t mind it, though. In fact, she felt that without such a blazing sun and those noisy cicadas, it wouldn’t feel like summer at all.
The concrete stairs had clearly been cleaned again—they looked nearly dust-free. The wooden handrail had been wiped down too. An Jing reached out and touched it; her little hand stayed fair and clean, not darkening at all.
An Jing took the door key Grandfather had given her and unlocked the first-floor door.
Before she could even change into her indoor slippers, she saw a gray parrot as big as a little dog hopping toward her across the floor.
It didn’t stay in its cage all the time. In fact, as long as there were no guests or Grandfather wasn’t busy cooking in the kitchen, it would wander around the house.
No need to worry about it messing everywhere inside—because before letting it out, it was usually an hour or two after feeding.
Of course, an unexpected dropping now and then wasn’t out of the question. After all, that’s just how birds were—getting them to never mess anywhere was nearly impossible. Even with training, a bird’s straight digestive tract simply couldn’t hold anything in.
“Congrats, rich, congrats, rich!”
“Stupid bird.” An Jing shot it a sidelong glance.
“Stupid b, stupid b, stupid b, I’ll screw your mom’s next door!” The thing immediately cursed in perfectly articulated tones.
An Jing knew it wasn’t cursing blindly—this thing could actually understand word meanings. In other words, it knew exactly what it was saying… just like a six- or seven-year-old kid.
“Say bad words and I’m telling Grandfather!”
“Pfft, I pfft, I pfft pfft, pfft, I pfft——”
“Cai Qi, no cursing. You’re a girl.” Grandfather, who was brewing tea, looked up and scolded her with a deliberately stern expression.
“The sun sets behind the mountain, the sun flows into the sea, the sun eyes a thousand miles, the sun climbs a floor!” It immediately puffed out its chest and recited poetry with great flair. Even though half of it was wrong, it carried the air of someone who’d just aced an exam.
“Grandfather, it seems even more ridiculous than a few years ago.”
“Haha, it’s learned a messy mix.” Grandfather said with a chuckle, reaching out to summon this dog-sized parrot over. “Come on, Cai Qi, sing a song.”
“Pine nut, reward pine nut, I want to eat pine nut, congrats—rich!” Cai Qi nodded as it spoke, hopping onto Grandfather’s lap.
“Alright, one pine nut as a reward, here you go.”
“Grandfather’s nice, thank you Grandfather, Grandfather’s nice, thank you Grandfather!”
“Sing.”
“I am a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny—” Cai Qi repeated itself like a stuck record. Just as An Jing was about to interrupt, it continued, “—little bird!! No matter how I fly, little bird—”
“Forgetting the lyrics is pretty bad…”
“An Jing!! An Jing!!”
“Hahaha…” Grandfather stroked Cai Qi’s head, letting it lie down on his thigh, then took a sip of the clear tea on the table. “An Jing, just woke up?”
“Cough, yeah, it’s break, and I stayed up a bit too late reading a novel last night…” An Jing scratched her head sheepishly. “Grandfather, you already went to Nongdu Market this morning?”
“Of course. If I went at this hour, I wouldn’t even find rotten vegetable scraps.”
“Cough…”
“I boiled red bean soup this morning. It should be cool by now. There are also tea eggs. Have a little something to tide you over—lunch will be soon.”
“Cold red bean soup is the best red bean soup!” An Jing dashed happily into the kitchen, then came back out holding a bowl of red bean soup with her cheeks puffed out. “Grandfather, you’re lying! It’s warm!”
“That counts as cooled down. When it was first done, it was piping hot.”
“Pfft, I want it iced!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll chill some red bean soup for you later.”
“Mm!” An Jing plopped down in her seat. Grandfather’s chairs were a bit too tall for her—her feet couldn’t quite reach the ground, so she just let them dangle and sway. “Grandfather, Dad said he was coming by today. Did he tell you?”
“He did. He’s coming over for lunch.”
“He said he wants to go check out the new house. Grandfather, are you going too?”
“Hehe, I’m not going. I won’t be living there anyway.”
“If it gets demolished eventually, Grandfather, you’ll still need to stay there. Dad probably kept a room for you, right?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there!” Grandfather shook his head with a smile. “Me, I’m used to living here. Anywhere else and I won’t feel right.”
An Jing looked like she wanted to say something, but in the end she stayed quiet and just buried her head in the warm red bean soup. Meanwhile, Grandfather turned on the TV, sipped his tea, and started watching a rented martial arts disc.
It was playing the martial arts drama <Sword of Bixue>. Though it was an old TV series, An Jing had never seen it before. Now and then she’d lift her head, unable to resist stealing glances at the exciting fight scenes.
The nice thing about martial arts dramas was that even without knowing the plot’s ins and outs, just watching the fight scenes was entertaining. Some shows… once you actually paid attention to the story, you’d realize you’d rather just watch the fights.
From outside came the sound of tires scraping against the ground, then the noise suddenly stopped.
An Jing assumed it was just someone else’s car parking nearby, but a moment later, a knock came at the door.
“Knock knock.”
“Who is it?” Grandfather didn’t pause the show. He just set Cai Qi down and looked up.
“Dad, it’s me.”
“Oh, Qinghui, you’re here this early?”
Before Grandfather could get up to answer the door, An Jing jumped down from her chair and scampered over to the entrance. Seeing her father, who was so big he blocked the sunlight, she shouted excitedly, “Dad!”
“Li—little girl.” Her father smiled and rubbed An Jing’s head, then looked up at Grandfather, who had just stood up. “Dad, I brought some fruit.”
“Alright, just put it over there.” Grandfather didn’t stand on ceremony, pointing at the shoe cabinet by the door. “I’ll put it in the fridge in a bit.”
“She came last night?”
“She came in the evening.”
“Mm. An Jing, you haven’t been causing trouble at Grandfather’s, have you?”
“I’ve only been here one day, you know…”
“Haha, don’t know if she’s grown up, or if she’s realized she’s a girl now, but she’s not the wild little monkey she used to be, jumping all over the place.” Grandfather chuckled merrily. “Last night she was perfectly well-behaved. A lot quieter than she used to be.”
Her father patted An Jing’s shoulder and gave her a caring smile. “An Jing, once you reach high school, you’ll be going to school as a girl. Use this time to—take it and really get used to it.”
“Got it, Dad.”
“When you go out, wear more skirts.”
“Who said girls have to wear skirts when they go out…” An Jing pouted.
“Once you’re used to it, you can stop wearing them. For now, wear them more to speed up the adjustment.”
“I’m honestly already pretty much used to it…” An Jing put a hand on her hip and looked past her father. “Hey, where’s Mom?”
“Your mom’s busy.”
Grandfather shot her father a look, and her father gave a slight shake of his head.
The spirited old man let out a helpless sigh. “She’s still the same as always. The moment she starts working, she throws herself into it completely.”
“Yeah…”
“In this age of equality between men and women, it’s good that everyone works hard. But whether it’s the husband or the wife, both have to take care of the family. Can’t neglect it entirely. I’ll have a word with her.”
“Ah, it’s fine, Dad. I’m used to it. We’ve gotten through all these years, haven’t we?” Her father shook his head. “Lunch is still a while away. How about we head over to the new house first?”
“I won’t go…”
“Dad, come along. If there’s anything you don’t like, it’s still not too late to change it.”
“You’ve already finished furnishing it, and the furniture’s all moved in. What’s an old man like me going to change?”
“Cough…”
“Alright, no need to be polite. I trust you to handle things. That place, I’m not ready to live in yet. I’ll take a look when I’m in the mood.”
“Fair enough—An Jing, come on, I’ll take you to see the new house.”
“Wait wait wait, let me finish my red bean soup first!”