(1)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010.
The snow that fell yesterday afternoon didn’t last long; by this morning, it had all melted away.
The sky remained gloomy, as if another heavy rain or snowstorm could break out at any moment.
Even by noon, there was little change in the weather.
The classroom windows were tightly shut, and the howling wind whipped into invisible gusts, forcefully slamming against the glass with loud clang clang sounds.
An Jing still hadn’t come to school.
Her seat was empty, the drawer completely bare—no books at all, since the teacher had ordered everyone to take their books home for the final exams.
Yesterday, Zhu Ying had gone to the hospital and sure enough, just as Zhou Chao had said, Yi had already completed the discharge procedures.
If she was truly fine, she would definitely have come to school.
But today…
Ding ling ling—
The tardy bell had rung, yet there was still no sign of An Jing.
The telepathic connection remained useless, as if she had vanished without a trace.
Zhu Ying nervously rubbed the heel of her right shoe with her left foot and let out a faint sigh.
In the second semester of ninth grade, there was no longer any morning exercise or running drills, but that didn’t bring any joy.
The academic workload was heavy; one lesson often required covering two or three test papers.
Only the key points were explained in class, but afterwards there were two test papers worth of homework to be done at home because it couldn’t be finished during breaks.
Many classmates ended up working until midnight just to finish.
This was far busier than the previous semester.
And the teacher talked much less nonsense now, speeding through all the essential knowledge in dry detail.
If you got distracted even for a moment, you’d miss a lot.
That only made Zhu Ying’s heart more anxious.
Because she hadn’t yet passed the physical education entrance exam, PE classes were still kept, but they were mostly stamina and endurance drills with almost no rest time.
By the time the PE teacher said they could move freely, there were only seven or eight minutes left until class ended.
Sweating profusely, Zhu Ying panted softly as she walked alone to the vending machine.
Just as she was about to press the button for a hot coffee, a warm can was pressed against the back of her hand.
Turning her head, she saw Zhou Chao’s face.
“Brother, it’s on me.”
“I’ll buy it myself.”
“Hey, I already bought it.”
“I’m inviting you, brother.”
“I’m invited already, and those two idiots are sitting over there drinking too.”
“Alright.”
Zhu Ying let out a small sigh.
“Stop sighing so much. Thinking about An Jing again?”
“Yeah, telepathy… I still can’t sense her.”
“I think she’s probably fine.”
“But what if they’re using her as a lab rat, doing surgery, or even removing organs, injecting experimental drugs, or something like that?”
“No way.”
“You’re that sure?”
“To be honest, I don’t really believe there’s no dark side to this land, but I trust An Jing’s luck isn’t that bad.”
“…Why aren’t you using logical analysis now?”
“Ha, sometimes thinking too clearly just makes things more confusing.”
Zhou Chao shook his head.
“Why don’t you go to her place and check?”
“Will she be at home?”
“Maybe.”
“You going with me?”
“Ha, I’m not.”
Zhou Chao opened his can of Coke and took two big sips, tilting his head back.
“You go by yourself!”
With that, he smiled and returned to the boys’ group.
Zhu Ying glanced at him, then looked up at the sky again.
“Yeah… I’ll go after school.”
***
“Hey, hey, Zhou Chao, are you even human?”
As Zhou Chao returned to the boys’ side, the group immediately started shouting, led by Sun Wei.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Damn, Zhou Chao, did you always cheat on people before?”
“Wow, that’s shameless.”
“Yeah, An Jing has only been gone for a couple of days.”
“And it looks like you two had a pretty good time chatting.”
“Damn, Zhou Chao can handle any woman!”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Zhou Chao grinned and cursed, “I’m not going to mess with a brother’s girlfriend.”
“Hey, you never know.”
“Ah Wei, shut your mouth.”
“Heh heh… Just kidding, our Chao ge never goes for taken girls.”
“Zhou Chao.”
Fang Qiang was the only one not joining the jokes.
He scratched his head.
“Why don’t we just go to An Jing’s place today? That girl’s got a fever again, really sickly.”
“Today? No need to go today.”
“Why not?”
“Zhu Ying’s already been there. Why crash the party and be a third wheel?”
Zhou Chao smiled lightly, lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Don’t worry about that. There’s so much homework lately; better to rush home and finish it after school.”
“Bullshit.”
“Aren’t you going to college?”
“Next year.”
“The best time to work hard is always now.”
“Exactly, man, you better get moving.”
Fang Qiang patted Sun Wei’s back.
“I’ll just keep copying notes daily. As long as I graduate middle school, that’s enough.”
“You’re ruthless. You really quitting school?”
“Yeah, either learn a trade or start working.”
“Alright, your goals are pretty clear.”
Their conversation quickly moved on to other topics.
Even these energetic and reckless middle school boys feared the unknown future.
At school, many didn’t study seriously.
But if they said they’d quit school to work, most resisted.
So in the end, most went to vocational schools or technical colleges—no matter what, better to delay the future for a few more years…
***
No quiet days felt a bit boring.
Usually, when she was around, everyone would gather and play together.
Even if she didn’t talk much sometimes.
But she was the indispensable scale of fairness.
For example, when Sun Wei spoke too harshly, just Zhou Chao alone wasn’t enough; An Jing had to step in and say something.
Sometimes when the group got into heated debates over games, they’d look for An Jing to mediate.
And when there was no one else left to tease, they’d pick on An Jing a little…
Actually, none of them could be missing, but this time it just happened to be An Jing who was gone for a few days.
“Feels off.”
Sun Wei suddenly sighed.
“What’s off?”
Fang Qiang turned to ask.
“An Jing’s not here.”
“She’s not here usually either.”
“Yeah, ever since she got a boyfriend, she doesn’t hang out with us as much. But I’m not talking about that. I mean, at least she used to come along sometimes.”
“Why don’t you call her to play games?”
“Can she get up?”
“Should be able to.”
“Tch, I heard she’s been playing Jian Wang 3 with Zhu Ying recently?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s play too?”
“Forget it. I tried—my crappy computer can’t handle it.”
“Damn, what a piece of junk.”
“Buy me one?”
“Earn your own money!”
“Got more important things to use it on.”
Fang Qiang shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Still, not seeing her does make me miss her a bit. Mainly because we haven’t seen each other all winter break.”
“Right.”
“Let’s go see her some day.”
“Maybe later. I’m heading this way, see you tomorrow!”
“Bye.”
***
The apartment’s order had been restored, and the shattered window glass repaired.
All traces seemed to have been cleaned up, revealing no sign of what happened that night.
But if you looked carefully, you could still see shards of glass by the drain and a patch of ground noticeably darker than the rest.
The barbershop was closed; the deep blue glass door swallowed the sunset’s light greedily, as if it could still devour more.
That was what had happened late at night.
Most people’s knowledge of it came from news and newspapers.
Although it happened nearby, it seemed to have no effect on daily life; everything continued as usual.
Zhu Ying couldn’t stay out too long these days, or her parents would worry.
After all, having just gone through that ordeal, even the most lenient parents wouldn’t let their child come home late at night.
—Unless they didn’t love their child at all.
Spring’s daylight lasted long, with sunset still hours away, so Zhu Ying had some time to spare.
She stepped slowly up the rusty outdoor stairs, arriving in front of a somewhat unfamiliar apartment door.
The Spring Festival couplets still hung, looking brand new—as if they had just been put up.
She hesitated a moment, then gently knocked.
Knock, knock knock.
The dull room echoed with the sound, dust swirling in a chaotic dance.
Just as Zhu Ying reached to knock again, the door was forcefully pulled open.
“Huh?”
“Fei Fei, sister.”
“What a coincidence. I just got home too.”
Yu Mingfei said as she unbuttoned her jacket and threw it on the sofa.
Then she grabbed the bottle of cool boiled water on the table and took a big gulp.
“Hah… so cold!”
“Fei Fei, sister, how’s Xiao Jing…?”
“That little brat, I don’t think she’s in trouble. She’s at the research institute, the one on the island, so we usually can’t get up there. And people aren’t allowed to go in and out freely. Just forget about it.”
“She really is at the research institute… Is she okay?”
“…I’m not too sure. After all, no cell signal inside.”
Yu Mingfei grumbled as she opened the fridge.
“But you probably don’t need to worry. Hui Hui is there with her.”
“Can you get in, Fei Fei?”
“I can, but I still have to work. I can ask someone to bring some stuff for you—here, I’m just about to pack some things for that little brat. She must be bored in there, so I’ll take her some new books and her game console…”
“Homework?”
“Huh? At this point, who’s still doing homework?”
Yu Mingfei rolled her eyes.
“Let her relax and adjust her mood. Of course, get her some novels she hasn’t read. I’ll check the street stall later, they should be closing soon.”
“I want to bring some things for Xiao Jing too. Can I bring them along?”
“Sure, no problem.”
“Great! Can I borrow her room? I want to write a letter.”
“Go ahead, I still have to organize some stuff—are you hungry? Want to eat first?”
“No, I’ll finish quickly and then go with you to the stall. I’ll head straight home after. If I don’t get home early these days, I’ll get scolded!”
“Yeah, then hurry up and finish. Try not to walk in the dark.”
Yu Mingfei walked to the window and glanced at the still bright sunset.
“Luckily the sun sets late now.”