(1)
Yu Minghui had no intention of staying the night here, so as the sun gradually set, she bid farewell to Great Aunt and left.
When it was time to leave, Great Aunt wrapped a few freshly baked little sweet pastries for them in oil paper.
An Jing and Zhu Ying each got half a piece, eating as they walked up the sloping road out of the village.
Each little sweet pastry was just a bit bigger than a palm, neither thin nor thick, and a bit chewy when bitten into.
As for the filling, it was nothing but melted white sugar—no other ingredients whatsoever.
But surely, the ones they were eating now tasted far better than in the past.
After all, they probably couldn’t bear to put in so much sugar back then—now, it was so sweet that even thick syrup was oozing out from the bite marks…
“How is it? Tasty?”
Walking ahead, Yu Minghui had her hands clasped behind her back.
She turned slightly to look over her shoulder, a gentle smile on her face.
“It’s ordinary, but pretty good.”
Zhu Ying swallowed the pastry in her mouth.
“Of course, it can’t compare with those delicate pastries…”
“It’s just the taste of sugar, not exactly delicious…”
An Jing, who had already finished her half, was now licking syrup from her fingers with a soft tongue.
“But walking in a mountain village like this somehow makes it taste wonderful.”
“What’s sweet isn’t the pastry itself, but the happiness compared to those hard days in the past, right?”
Yu Minghui handed An Jing a wet wipe.
“Here, use this, or your hands will stay all sticky.”
“Ah, yes, it’s that kind of sweet that comes from remembering hardship!”
“Huihui-jie, did you just come here to chat with that old lady and then leave?”
Zhu Ying glanced at the white Fukang parked outside the tunnel.
“I thought we’d stay until much later.”
“I come here often, so I don’t have to stay long every time. Besides, the mountain roads here aren’t easy to drive at night.”
Yu Minghui unlocked the car with the key, not rushing as she sat down inside.
“I need to change the battery in the car key, or I won’t be able to unlock it remotely anymore.”
“It’s pretty normal for an old car like this to use a key,” An Jing said, tearing the wet wipe in half and handing one piece to Zhu Ying before plopping herself onto the back seat.
Even though they were just back in the car, it already felt like being home.
Yu Minghui opened the cover on the center console, took out the cassette tape inside and put it away, then opened the glove box.
The plastic cassette cases made soft clinking sounds as she searched through them.
Finally, she found an old pink-and-purple cassette tape, placed it into the cassette player, and gently pushed it in.
With a “clack,” the cover snapped shut.
Music with a hint of a bygone era started to play, drifting around the car and seeping into the mountain village air.
The engine roared as she pressed the gas pedal, making the whole car vibrate and causing An Jing’s body to tremble slightly as if getting a massage—so comfortable that drowsiness rushed over her.
The faint smell of gasoline made her feel extra safe.
Sure enough, the most restful sleep always came on the ride home.
***
(2)
The car rocked just right, like being in a cradle, soothing the heart.
An Jing didn’t even notice when Zhu Ying got out.
By the time she opened her eyes, she was already staring at that familiar apartment building.
“Xiao Jing, I was just about to wake you.”
“Mm… where’s Xiao Ying…?”
“She got off earlier at the greenhouse market.”
“Oh…”
An Jing nodded, groggily pushing open the car door.
Her legs felt numb, and when she stepped out, she nearly stumbled as if her body didn’t belong to her.
“Xiao Jing, can’t stand straight?”
“I’m fine… ha… hoo… I’m just so sleepy.”
“If you’re still tired, you can keep sleeping once you’re upstairs.”
“Okay.”
An Jing was sure she was dead tired—if she had a bed, she could probably sleep until tomorrow.
But by the time she got upstairs, that sleepiness had mostly faded away—in fact, she couldn’t understand how she’d been so tired just moments ago.
It was like when you’re starving and think you could eat a whole cow, but after a few bites, you’re stuffed and want to throw up.
People always make overconfident or exaggerated judgments.
“You’re back? Where did you run off to today? I was just about to go downstairs for food.”
As soon as the door opened, Yu Mingfei’s grumbling voice came through, tinged with dissatisfaction.
“There’s nothing to eat at home. I didn’t even have lunch today!”
“Busy with work again?”
“It’s just the usual running around, so many things to do, but I hardly finish any of them.”
“How hungry are you?”
“I’m so hungry I could just grab you and gnaw on you!”
Yu Mingfei widened her eyes, then pretended to bite Yu Minghui’s arm, smearing her own saliva all over it.
“Pfft. All right, all right, how about I cook you some dumplings and wontons?”
“Dumplings or wontons? Then—I’ll take dumplings! Steamed ones!”
“Okay, steamed dumplings. Xiao Jing, what do you want to eat?”
“I don’t really have an appetite, not very hungry…”
An Jing yawned, carrying her backpack into her little room.
“I just want a glass of water.”
“You brat, if you want water, go get it yourself. Don’t make Huihui do it for you every time—have some shame.”
“You’re allowed to ask Huihui-jie for help, but I’m not? Seriously, Fei-jie, how can you even say that?”
“Why, you think you can compare with me?”
“Tch!”
“All right, how about wonton noodles for Xiao Jing? Add some vinegar and a bit of rainbow pepper sauce—it’ll be appetizing.”
“Okay!”
The wonton noodles Yu Minghui mentioned was just tossing some pre-made wontons into the pot with noodles to boil together.
It wasn’t the real thing, but the form wasn’t too far off.
Most importantly, it cooked quickly, so you didn’t have to wait long to eat.
“Feifei, look what this is.”
“Huh? Isn’t this a sweet pastry? Little sweet pastry.”
Yu Mingfei picked up a plain, golden-brown pastry and inspected it for a few seconds, surprised.
“You went to your Great Aunt’s place again?”
“Yeah, it’s been a while. And Xiao Jing wanted to go out for a stroll, so it was just right.”
“It still tastes just like before, brings back memories.”
“Remember that time we had nothing to eat but little sweet pastries? We cooked up a pot of soup with instant noodle seasoning and a bit of seaweed, and ate it with the pastries as a midnight snack.”
“Ah, that was in university! Ha, it feels like a lifetime ago, even though it’s only been a few years.”
“Probably because work is just too busy?”
“I’d rather not be so busy.”
“Fei-jie! Where’s that thing you bought last time? The one with high absorbency that doesn’t leak easily… I forgot what it’s called.”
“It’s under the TV stand, should be there. Check for it, I put it there last time.”
Yu Mingfei grinned mischievously.
“Time of the month again, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s so annoying…”
“Hahaha—this is what it means to be a woman! Way more troublesome than being a man, right?”
“Yeah.”
An Jing covered her forehead helplessly.
“If only periods didn’t exist.”
“I suggest you don’t wish for that. Not having a period usually means there’s something really wrong with your body.”
“Like what?”
“Some serious illness—sometimes even fatal.”
“Eh? Is it really that serious?”
“Of course! Your period’s like an alarm—coming regularly every month means your body is still all right, nothing majorly wrong!”
“Once, Feifei’s was almost a month late—she was scared half to death,” Yu Minghui said with a smile.
“Phew, actually changing pads isn’t so bad—it’s just… not being able to shower that bothers me.”
“You only really need to avoid showering for the first couple of days. After that, it’s fine.”
“Getting blood all over the tiles is scary to look at though…”
“Is it? You’ll get used to it.”
“Get used to it… If I really got used to it, then I… phew…”
An Jing’s last few words were so soft, they were drowned out by the gentle sound of the door closing.
***
(3)
The news on small city forums was always more up-to-date than the official sites.
As soon as An Jing opened her browser, she saw several posts about a student from Small City No. 2 High jumping from a building.
Some people said kids these days can’t handle pressure, not like before; others sympathized with the student, and talked about their own painful school days.
A few replies even had photos—some taken at close range, the gory mess so disturbing that An Jing couldn’t bear to look.
She just glanced and quickly closed the post.
She logged onto QQ and found a few best friends had sent her game invites, but An Jing turned them all down.
She had time, but for some reason, just didn’t feel like playing.
[Xiao Jing, here’s a set of QQ Show for you! Click the link to put it on.]
Resting her chin on her hand, An Jing lazily clicked the link with her mouse. She saw the QQ Show Zhu Ying sent.
There were two kinds of QQ Show: one was more realistic, the other more cartoony.
Zhu Ying had sent her the latter:
A jet-black leather skirt with little leather shoes, two wings on the back, and fluorescent Martian text sparkling in the background—
Sure enough, it was Zhu Ying’s style… full of that non-mainstream vibe.
But An Jing still clicked to save and changed into it.
[Changed into it?]
[You’re still staring at QQ, huh…]
[Just happened to see it. So, do you like it?]
[It suits your style perfectly.]
[Want to play games tonight?]
[Today? I think you should go to bed early, Xiao Ying. Not enough sleep and you’ll have nightmares.\
[Can’t go to bed now! At least play until nine!] [Hmm… I don’t really feel like playing…]
[How about watching a movie together?] [Huh? How do we do that?]
[Turn on voice chat, and we both start the same movie, count down from three, then hit play at the same time, and we can watch together~]
[That works!]
Suddenly An Jing was interested—maybe just because it sounded so fresh and fun.