(1)
It was a Saturday morning.
The air in the room was filled with a faint scent of traditional Chinese medicine.
A few vibrant flowers in a vase swayed gently in the breeze…
An Jing opened her eyes and saw the gloomy sky outside the window.
She mumbled indistinctly and buried half her head back under the covers.
After all, this was a coastal city, and the drop in temperature during winter was much slower than in other cities within the province.
Although it was an overcast day, the temperature was actually still around twenty degrees Celsius, and the wind blowing in was cool, not icy.
—If it were really that cold, An Jing would have already crawled out of bed to close the window.
“Knock, knock, knock…”
“Xiaojing? Are you awake?”
“Uh…”
An Jing rolled over, shook her head vigorously, her messy hair gently brushing her face.
Her thoughts cleared a little, but her body still felt tired.
“The door’s unlocked…”
The bedroom door creaked open, and Yu Minghui walked in a few steps, holding a small bowl, placing it on the table.
“Get up and wash up, then drink your medicine, okay?”
“Oh… What time is it?”
“A little past eight.”
“Ah—so sleepy.”
An Jing, who had just gotten up, flopped back onto the pillow.
“Let me sleep a little longer…”
“Your medicine will get cold later, you know?”
“Mm.”
“You came back too late yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Mm… Something happened…”
An Jing rolled over, then suddenly threw off the quilt and sat up.
“Phew… Time to get up, time to get up…”
Actually, on weekends, it felt less difficult to get up.
Perhaps it was because she woke up later, or because she didn’t have to rush anywhere, so she wasn’t as reluctant to leave her soft bed.
“Ah…”
An Jing, who had just gotten out of bed and walked a few steps, stumbled and fell into Yu Minghui’s arms.
The latter gently patted her head.
“What’s wrong? If you’re still too sleepy, just lie down a bit longer, okay?”
“I’m awake, I’m awake. I have homework to do after getting up, and then I’ll play games…”
An Jing let out a big yawn.
“Is Sister Fei awake?”
“She’s still sleeping.”
“Tsk, lazier than me…”
“It’s a rare rest day; let her sleep in.”
“A rare rest day spent sleeping feels like such a waste.”
An Jing left Yu Minghui’s warm embrace.
“Ah—looks like there’s breakfast today?”
“Taro ball and rice cake soup, plus shaobing and youtiao I bought this morning.”
“Sweet?”
“Yes.”
“I feel like I can drink it while on the computer, as a dessert…”
“You can. I made a lot. We’ll eat this all day today.”
“Wow, Sister Huihui, you’re lazy too!”
“Being a bit lazy occasionally, doing nothing, just sitting idly, is also a kind of happiness.”
“Yeah, if only the weather were better.”
“Overcast days have their own atmosphere too.”
Yu Minghui always seemed full of enthusiasm for life, finding joy in everything she did.
During these three years of adolescence, An Jing had been greatly influenced by her, often acting like a carefree optimist.
“Did you have fun yesterday?”
“Yesterday, huh…? It was alright, I guess.”
“Next time you go out, don’t come back so late.”
“Got it, got it!”
***
(2)
The computer was slowly booting up, and the progress bar under Windows XP was continuously loading.
An Jing rubbed the last bit of face cream into her skin, picked up the still slightly warm traditional Chinese medicine, took a sip, and her cute little face immediately crumpled up.
Even though she had been drinking it for several days, she still couldn’t stand the bitter taste.
“Hiss—ah—it’s so awful…”
She mumbled, spitting a few dregs into the nearby trash can, and casually logged into QQ.
She didn’t plan on playing on the computer; she just had a habit of turning it on, logging into something, and playing some music.
Once she got used to it, she always felt uncomfortable doing homework without music.
As soon as she logged in, QQ ‘ding-ding-dinged,’ with several messages flooding in all at once.
She clicked the icon in the bottom right corner, and several windows immediately popped up.
The one displayed at the very front was Zhu Ying’s chat box—that QQ Show with its non-mainstream vibe, which she could recognize even without looking at the name.
‘Didn’t you dream of me yesterday?’
As soon as An Jing saw this sentence, she clutched her forehead in a headache.
Although Zhu Ying’s ability was hit-or-miss, she would occasionally see what An Jing was thinking.
And it seemed to be unrestricted by distance, not only able to see images but also some ‘memories.’
Most crucially, it only worked on An Jing and had no side effects—if the thoughts that frequently popped into her mind didn’t count.
She awkwardly scratched her hair, unsure how to reply.
“Yesterday’s dream…”
Last night, she thought a lot while lying in bed, but in reality, she fell asleep within minutes.
Her impression of the dream was battling monsters and saving the world, something very childish.
As for whether Zhu Ying appeared in her dream, maybe she did, but she was probably mixed in with the onlookers shouting, ‘Don’t give up!’
She patted her head, minimized the window, deciding to reply later, and then opened other chat boxes.
“How was it? Did you succeed last night?”
“Is that all you think about?”
“Damn it, you didn’t confess with such a good opportunity? I’m telling you, confessing would have definitely worked.”
“I’m a decent person.”
“Decent people are idiots.”
An Jing sent an eye-rolling emoji and closed his chat box.
This was from Wang Xinru, “No one’s home at my place this weekend, want to do homework together?”
“…No, I won’t go.”
Her reply sank like a stone; she didn’t know if Wang Xinru saw it.
The last message was from Fang Qiang: “My mom wants me to learn a skill after junior high. Do you think I should go straight to a construction site as an apprentice, learn to be an electrician or carpenter, or pay some money to learn more difficult skills from other masters?”
“That depends on whether you’re in a hurry for money…”
“I feel like my family is quite poor…”
“I don’t understand investing in the future. If worse comes to worst, maybe work and learn at the same time?”
“Sigh.”
Fang Qiang sent several sighing emojis in a row, then fell silent again.
While others were still thinking about further education, even if it meant vocational high school or technical school if they couldn’t get into regular high school, Fang Qiang was already worrying about life.
An Jing also felt that he had recently lost some of his youthful innocence and gained more of an adult’s sensibility.
Age doesn’t necessarily bring maturity, but facing reality always makes people mature quickly.
Fortunately, although An Jing studied in a small city, her family’s financial situation wasn’t bad.
No matter what, they would definitely support her education all the way.
As for not giving her pocket money—that was just a difference in parenting styles.
… “Got any photos of pretty girls? Show me some to relieve some stress.”
Just as An Jing was about to close the chat window, the other party suddenly sent this message, immediately relaxing her somewhat heavy mood.
“Heh… Looks like this guy hasn’t completely sunk into despair yet.”
An Jing smacked her lips, instinctively wanting to send Zhu Ying’s photo, but her hand paused on the mouse.
Although the two hadn’t confirmed any relationship, it felt like she was offering her ‘wife’ for someone else’s enjoyment.
“Ah, I can’t think like that, Zhu Ying will find out! We’re only connected because of the meteorite; we don’t have that kind of romantic relationship.”
A few minutes later, An Jing still sent a photo—not of Zhu Ying, but of herself.
It wasn’t a full-body shot, but a photo taken during a bath, showing only her smooth legs.
“Holy cow, is that Zhu Ying’s bath photo? How did you get it?!”
After Fang Qiang sent this, he typed several more exclamation marks.
An Jing deliberately waited a few minutes before replying: “Those are my photos.”
“Damn it!!!! Gross!!!”
“Hahaha… Got him!”
An Jing closed the chat window with a mischievous grin, just as she was about to open Kuwo Music, the taskbar icon flashed again.
—She could never resist replying to messages, sometimes chatting for an entire morning because of it.
Blue Thought: “Which color do you choose, blue or purple?”
“…Blue?”
An Jing typed a few words with a clatter, frowning in confusion.
“What does that mean…? Hmm…? No reply…”
***
(3)
Here’s the translation of the text you provided:
An Jing, having finally finished the entire bowl of bitter traditional Chinese medicine, frowned deeply and wobbled the bowl to the kitchen.
“Wow, Sister Huihui, you’re secretly eating yogurt!”
“I made it myself. Want to try some?”
“Huh? You made it yourself… It won’t kill me, right?”
“It… shouldn’t?”
“Don’t say ‘should’!”
An Jing twitched her lips.
She had a bit of trauma from the breakfasts Yu Minghui had made before.
“Really not going to try it?”
“You let Sister Fei try it first… Is she still sleeping?”
“Yes.”
“Oh… Where’s the rice cake taro ball soup? I want some; that traditional medicine was too bitter.”
“I’ll get it for you. Do you want some extra sugar?”
“Not sweet enough?”
“Hmm… It’s a light sweetness.”
“Never mind, I’ll just drink it as is.”
“Have you started your homework yet?”
“Cough… I was busy wrestling with the traditional medicine for the past ten-odd minutes, so I haven’t started.”
“Take your time, it’s only Saturday.”
“I actually want to finish it quickly so I can play games…”
“If your dad were here, he’d definitely scold you.”
“I can’t compare to him. He was a university student from that era! He always wants me to surpass him or something. How could it be that easy? His expectations are too high! It’d be great if I could just get into the same university he did back then!”
Yu Minghui smiled and stood up, about to get an enamel cup to serve An Jing some taro ball and rice cake soup, when a light knock suddenly sounded at the door.
“Coming—who is it?”
“I’ll get it!”
An Jing, wearing oversized slippers, shuffled quickly to the door and pulled it open.
Under the gloomy sky, stood a girl in a short skirt and white slouch socks.
She had medium-short hair that just passed her chin, and a cunning smile on her slightly baby-fat face, revealing a cute canine tooth.
“Ha—?!”
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