(1)
Friday, November 13, 2009.
Third floor of the First Hospital in the small city.
An Jing, who had just had blood drawn, leaned against the stainless steel railing by the window, her gaze shifting from the peeling paint on the ceiling to the deep blue window.
The First Hospital of the small city, built in the 1990s, was once the landmark and symbol of the area, an eight-story building integrating both inpatient and outpatient departments.
An Jing was also born here.
It was said that when she was born, she was so noisy, crying endlessly, so her maternal grandfather named her ‘An Jing’ (meaning ‘quiet’).
She remembered when she went back to her maternal grandmother’s house as a child, her maternal grandfather always seemed happier than her maternal grandmother when she first arrived, but within a day, he would often shout at her, “An Jing, be quiet!”
It wasn’t that her maternal grandfather disliked liveliness.
It was just that An Jing, as a child, was a complete chatterbox, only becoming slightly more ‘taciturn’ after starting junior high.
The most profound memory was her maternal grandfather’s constant refrain— “An Jing, you’re disturbing my bird.”
That was her maternal grandfather’s parrot, a particularly noisy grey parrot.
Later, the grey parrot also learned her maternal grandfather’s phrase, and every time it saw An Jing, it would jump up and down in its cage, shouting, “An Jing, you are my bird, An Jing, you are my bird!”
Hmm… it always missed a few words when learning longer sentences, and sometimes it would even completely mangle the original phrase.
The short-haired girl, whose hair reached her ears, now looked somewhat lost at the street dyed grayish-blue by the blue glass.
“I wonder how Grandpa’s health is recently. The last time I saw him was last summer vacation…”
She had to wait a while for the test results, so Yu Minghui went straight to the supermarket to buy things, while An Jing, too lazy to move, stayed here alone.
She boredly pulled out the red and white 3250 phone from her pocket—this phone was tiny, but for her current small hands, it was just right, “Hmm… I’ll log into QQ briefly. Hope it doesn’t burn too much of my data…”
An Jing mumbled softly, clicked on the QQ2008 icon, and after a slightly long wait, finally entered the main chat interface.
Her data plan wasn’t enough for her to luxuriously play games, and she even had to be careful not to chat for too long, otherwise, once the fixed data ran out, every excess KB would cost one fen (0.01 RMB).
That’s right, it charged by KB.
Last year, she accidentally went over a bit, and her phone bill for that month directly skyrocketed from twelve yuan to over a hundred.
This scared An Jing so much that every time she finished using her phone for the internet, she had to send a text message to check her remaining data before she could relax.
After refreshing for about ten seconds, new messages popped up.
An Jing used the direction pad, which felt uncomfortable like a joystick, to move to the first message.
It was from Wang Xinru.
「An Jing, how’s your illness? Do you want to come to my house for tutoring…?」
Her lips twitched.
She felt like the words ‘tutoring’ had some extra meaning.
However, in her current state, even if she wanted to do something, she probably couldn’t.
A girl so proactive/eager to pleaseli ke Wang Xinru, if it were her former self, she probably couldn’t refuse.
「An Jing, coming to my house for my birthday today?」
This message was from Zhu Ying.
This immediately gave her a headache.
How did two people’s events end up clashing…
And both were on a Friday.
But she couldn’t be in two places at once, so she definitely had to choose one.
“What to do… Go to Zhu Ying’s to celebrate her birthday? It’s only once a year after all… if you don’t count the last lunar calendar one, hmm… But her birthday will definitely be lively, right? A bunch of people will celebrate with her, one more me… probably doesn’t make much difference?”
An Jing vigorously scratched her hair, feeling hesitant.
“Ah… who should I go to? Wang Xinru said no one’s home today, maybe she’s lonely staying alone… or scared, that’s why she asked me to come along?”
This was truly a difficult choice.
To be honest, although Wang Xinru wasn’t as pretty as Zhu Ying, she was still quite good-looking, and considering there was still some lingering affection, would it be a bit bad not to go when she invited her for the first time?
“Jie…”
“Ah ah…”
An Jing vigorously scratched her hair, deciding to consult a seasoned expert.
That’s right, Zhou Chao.
And not by QQ, but by direct text message.
After all, this was easier to see, and—her plan included a hundred free text messages a month, so it would be a waste not to send them.
「Zhou Chao, Wang Xinru invited me to her house to do homework, Zhu Ying asked me to her house for her birthday, both today. Who do you think I should go to?」
She didn’t know if this guy played with his phone during class, but the reply came back incredibly fast.
Less than half a minute after she sent it, An Jing received a reply.
「Don’t go to either, come to my house.」
「Be serious!!!」
An Jing’s lips twisted, adding several extra exclamation marks on purpose.
「Go to Wang Xinru’s.」
An Jing was about to ask why, when the other party immediately sent another message.
「Zhu Ying’s place will definitely be crowded, you won’t be missed, and it’s all girls there, it’ll be more awkward for you to go.」
“What Zhou Chao said is pretty much what I was thinking…”
An Jing took a deep breath, and finally replied to Zhu Ying and Wang Xinru separately.
「My sister hasn’t been letting me stay out too late recently, so I won’t go, uh…」
「Okay, then can you help me get my homework?」
After the messages were sent, they sank like stones into the sea, with no response.
But this was normal; they were in class, after all, and couldn’t always be looking at their phones.
An Jing relaxed slightly, closed QQ, and sat on the plastic chair in the corner, mumbling softly, “About the truth, I’ll tell Zhu Ying in person next Monday… It’s not that I want to procrastinate, it’s just that I really have something to do today…”
***
(2)
“Xiao Jing? Xiao Jing—”
An Jing felt her body being gently pushed.
She groggily opened her eyes, rubbing them sleepily, “Hmm… hmm…”
“The report is out, everything is healthy, nothing wrong.”
“Hmm… That’s best, uh, what time is it?”
“Half past one in the afternoon.”
“Ah, I slept for so long.”
“You were sleeping so soundly, so I didn’t wake you. Are you hungry? Let’s go back and eat.”
“I’m fine, actually feel quite full.”
An Jing touched her flat stomach.
“Oh, right, I’m going to a friend’s house this afternoon… Uh, I might be back late tonight.”
“Boy or girl?”
“Are you really going to a girl’s house?”
Yu Minghui asked earnestly.
“Even though others don’t know about you yet, as a girl, you still need to protect yourself, okay?”
“R-really!”
An Jing’s small face flushed slightly.
“I haven’t really been to school this week, so she’s just helping me bring my homework out, and then when I pick it up, I’ll go to her house to do some homework together…”
“Oh.”
“Is it the girl who came to celebrate your birthday last time?”
“Not her.”
“Oh~ I see.”
Yu Minghui patted An Jing’s head with a smile.
“Go on, go on. If you’re not coming back tonight, let me know beforehand.”
“I’ll definitely be back!”
***
(3)
The warming weather meant fewer pedestrians were bundled up—earlier, during the rain, some people had even worn their down jackets.
The midday sun shone on the small square, making one wish to lie on a roadside chair and fully enjoy the sun’s warmth.
A middle-aged man in a black robe sat on a small stool by the road.
On the ground lay a piece of cloth with six large characters printed on it, Blessing, Exorcism, Calming the Spirit.
This blend of East and West, half-foreign and half-local style, made An Jing feel that if those characters were changed to “fortune-telling” or “face-reading,” it would look more natural.
Just as she glanced over and continued walking home, she noticed Yu Minghui had stopped in front of this seemingly unreliable stall.
“Exorcist…”
“Madam, I am a professional exorcist. Not only can I exorcise demons, but I can also remove persistent bad luck,” the man stood up and eagerly introduced himself.
“If you’ve moved to a new home, you can also find me. I can perform prayers and blessings for the new home, protecting you from evil spirits and ensuring a peaceful night’s sleep every day.”
“Hmm… Take a look, how is she?”
Yu Minghui pressed on An Jing’s shoulder, turning her around.
“This child… hmm… has the aura of a demon entwined around her.”
The man’s face suddenly darkened.
“She probably made a pact with a demon in her dreams…”
“Eh?”
Yu Minghui looked at him in surprise, realizing what he said actually seemed somewhat true.
Even An Jing herself felt a little nervous.
Could it be that her superpower wasn’t a righteous force, but given by a demon?
And becoming a girl was the price of a deal with a demon?
If it were her former self, she would never believe in such superstitious things, but having personally experienced these events, she now felt that many things in this world truly couldn’t be explained simply as ‘superstition.’
“Many unusual things have happened to this child recently, haven’t they? Making a deal with a demon…”
“Then, what happens if you make a deal with a demon?”
Yu Minghui’s eyes widened, asking seriously.
“Demons always demand souls! However, I am just the right person to deal with demons.”
The middle-aged man in the black robe gripped the cross hanging around his neck.
“An exorcist is specifically for dealing with demons—”
“Then, how… can she return to normal?”
“Just leave her to me. I will perform an exorcism ritual for her.”
The middle-aged man cleared his throat, subtly rubbing two fingers together.
“How much?”
Yu Minghui immediately understood and asked.
“Because I become very weak after each exorcism, and it shortens my lifespan, so—eighteen hundred.”
Yu Minghui turned to look at An Jing, who was standing behind her.
Just as she was about to ask for her opinion, she noticed An Jing’s pupils had turned golden, seemingly emitting a faint glow.
However, two seconds later, the gold faded, and her eyes returned to their original black.
An Jing rolled her eyes dramatically, “Sister Huihui, ignore him, he’s a liar.”
“Little girl, you may not believe, but some things…”
“‘This woman looks easy to fool, I can finally open for business this week’?”
An Jing pouted, tilting her head to look at him, her pupils once again emitting a golden glow.
The middle-aged man’s eyes widened in surprise.
He stumbled back several steps, then frantically snatched the tattered cloth from the ground, turned, and ran, “Monster!!”
“And he calls himself an exorcist…”
I hope she gets more powers. That’d be fun. Although her mind reading is already kinda OP ngl.