(1)
The night is deep.
A blue sky.
The stars are brilliant, but the bright, clear moon is nowhere to be seen.
Where the light does not reach is boundless, profound darkness.
The wind, carrying the color of night, drifts gently by.
The street lamps haven’t been maintained in a long time, flickering on and off, blinking wearily.
The night is too deep, dawn is still a while away, perhaps even the light is tired.
The faint sound of snoring comes from the next room, not sure if it’s Yu Mingfei’s or Yu Minghui’s.
Zhu Ying, lying beside An Jing, reaches out an arm and picks up the flip phone on the nightstand. As she flips it open, the screen’s fluorescent light makes her close her eyes, which weren’t fully open to begin with.
“Mmm…”
The bed frame creaks.
Zhu Ying, half-covered by the quilt, rubs her eyes and sways as she sits up in bed, gently shaking An Jing’s body. “Xiao Jing… Xiao Jing?”
“Mmm… gummy… can’t eat anymore… cola flavor… munch munch…” Who knows what kind of dream she’s having, mumbling incoherently in her sleep, drool uncontrollably trickling from the corner of her mouth.
But no matter how Zhu Ying shakes her, An Jing sleeps like a sticky rice cake that’s already been steamed, impossible to wake from her dream.
Three-thirty in the morning, probably the best time for sleep in the whole day.
Whether you’re an insomniac or someone who went to bed early.
Right now, everyone should be curled up in wonderful dreams.
Zhu Ying doesn’t dare shout loudly, afraid of waking the sisters next door, so she simply nibbles on An Jing’s earlobe with her teeth, whispering breathily, “Xiao Jing, get up—!”
“Mmm, mmm… so ticklish…” An Jing giggles in her dream, slowly opening her eyes with the laughter. “Mmm… a cow was nibbling my ear like it was grass… huh? Huh? Xiao Ying? Why are you in my bed…”
“You’re still half-asleep? Last night I slept with you, remember?”
“Oh, oh… right.”
“Wait, what did you mean by ‘cow’ just now?”
“Huh? Ah… in my dream, there was a cow, eating grass, then suddenly it started biting my ear, ticklish…”
“You’re the cow!” Zhu Ying says angrily, slapping the pillow onto An Jing’s face.
“Wow, it’s all wet, did you wet the bed?”
“Who wets the bed on a pillow? That’s your drool!”
“Eh? Hehe…” An Jing scratches her head and laughs foolishly, looking like she’s still not fully awake. Just as her eyes are about to close again, Zhu Ying quickly props her up against the wall.
“Time to get up.” “What time is it… it’s so dark.”
“Three-thirty.”
“Let me sleep…”
“We agreed yesterday we’d get up super early today, remember?”
“Eh—?”
“How could you forget?”
“No… I, I remember a little, but today is… we still have class, right?”
“You went to sleep at seven yesterday, you’ve slept enough by now!”
“I’m still sleepy…”
“Xiao Jing—if you don’t go, I’ll crawl into your clothes and rub around everywhere!” “Eek?!”
“Get up!”
“Okay… be quiet, Huihui Jie and Fei Jie are still sleeping. Fei Jie didn’t sleep well yesterday, she definitely needs to rest… rest properly today…” An Jing mumbles, yawning hugely, her body leaning forward to rest her head on Zhu Ying’s shoulder. “You go wash up first…? Let me sleep a bit more…”
“No, you’ll fall asleep again. We’ll wash together!”
“Mmm……”
“Hey, asleep again?” “Gurgle… want milk this morning…” An Jing’s little face slides from Zhu Ying’s shoulder to her chest, mumbling indistinctly, continuing the dream she hadn’t finished. “Warm… fresh… hot milk… huff huff…”
“Y-you, what are you saying!” Zhu Ying’s face instantly flushes bright red.
Thump!
“Ow! Ouch, ouch… why’d you hit me?”
“Who told you to do weird things and say weird things?” “Huh? Did I say something?”
“You think I’ll believe you if you play dumb now?”
“I really don’t remember…” An Jing looks wronged.
“Hmph, but this proves I do have some, right!” “Have some what?”
“Not telling Xiao Jing~”
“What is it…”
(2)
The feeling of washing up together isn’t particularly novel for An Jing.
After all, back in the village, there were even times when seven or eight siblings squatted together by the ditch in front of the door to wash up.
But for Zhu Ying, it’s especially novel.
After all, she’s an only child.
“Seeing another person brushing their teeth with me in the mirror is so fun.”
“Ah? Is it…” An Jing looks at the misted-up mirror and yawns again. “It’s okay, I guess.”
“I always wash up alone in the morning, or rather, my family doesn’t have the habit of sharing a bathroom, no matter the time.”
“Mmm… that one’s Fei Jie’s washbasin, you can use it. Mine is this one.”
“Feifei Jie’s? Pink? Looks round and plump, so cute. Xiao Jing’s is this one? Blue, bigger than the others.”
“That’s Huihui Jie’s…” An Jing points to the semi-transparent basin next to it. “That one’s mine.”
“Huh, so plain.”
“I just think semi-transparent is more interesting.”
“Wait—how are you going to wash your face, Xiao Jing?”
“Just like this?” An Jing looks suspicious. “Wet my face with water first, then rub on some cleanser, then rinse it off.”
“That’s not wetting it, you’re practically sticking your face into the basin!”
“It’s faster this way.” An Jing says seriously. “And it helps exercise lung capacity. When I’m not very awake, I always do this, like this—” Followed by a splash splash sound of water, An Jing sticks her head into the basin and starts blowing bubbles gurgle gurgle.
“Phew—Hah… huff… awake now!”
“How peculiar.”
“Xiao Ying, want to try it too?”
“I’ll pass.” “It feels great!”
“I don’t want water going up my nose, that’s uncomfortable for a long time.” “That makes you even more awake!”
“I’m awake enough already, okay.”
“Sigh…” An Jing sighs, as if a game she highly recommended has no players. “Okay.”
“That disappointed?”
“A little bit?”
“Then I’ll—” Zhu Ying glances sideways at An Jing, seeing the expectant look in her eyes. “Actually, never mind.” “Tch!”
(3)
It’s only four o’clock when they go out. But the weather is good today; looking up, stars blanket the entire night sky.
Only a small city near the countryside can offer such a sight.
An Jing has been to the Province Capital once. While it’s not a first-tier city, even in the city center, colorful neon lights are still on everywhere until the early morning.
Not like this small city, where to save electricity, most shops turn off their lights after one a.m. Even hotels don’t keep their lights on, only the signs on top of a few big hotels remain lit…
Zhu Ying holds An Jing’s hand, just walking like this.
An Jing doesn’t ask where they’re going, just silently follows, enjoying the pre-dawn scenery.
The place isn’t far from the School, maybe just the distance of one traffic light away.
A small river winds its way through here. A row of wooden buildings, slightly elevated, are built by the water’s edge—with some later-expanded bamboo corridors alongside.
Stepping on the creak creak wooden planks, Zhu Ying’s pace gradually slows.
Before An Jing is an old man who looks somewhat wooden. He’s using black tongs to pick up coal briquettes, stuffing them one by one into a coal stove.
At this entrance, there are four coal stoves in total. Two are already lit, each with a large copper kettle, blackened at the bottom, placed on top, boiling water.
“We’re here.”
“What are we doing here?”
“A teahouse! The teahouse from Lao She’s Teahouse!”
“I haven’t read Lao She’s books…” An Jing feels a bit awkward. Compared to those classics she finds dry and boring, she prefers reading popular novels.
“Anyway, it’s that kind of teahouse. We came early, there’s no one inside yet.”
The old man, focused on placing the coal briquettes, looks up, makes two “ah” sounds, and gives them a friendly smile.
“Uh……?”
“He’s deaf-mute, can’t hear.” Zhu Ying says, taking out a two-yuan bill from her pocket and handing it to him with both hands.
The latter nods gently, points inside the teahouse, then points to the still-boiling water at the entrance, the wrinkles on his face bunching together.
“Go in?”
“Mmm, let’s find a seat.”
“How do you know about a place like this?”
“Came here with my dad last time.”
“Your dad likes coming to places like this?”
“He said when he was little, he accompanied adults to similar teahouses, so he comes occasionally for nostalgia.” “What about you? You’re surely not here to reminisce about the past.”
“Me—even though it’s not my childhood, there’s something called feeling like old friends at first sight. Seeing this kind of teahouse feels nostalgic, like I’ve been drinking tea here my whole previous life, you know? That inexplicable sense of nostalgia.”
“Oh, oh, I can understand a bit… like how I like some old songs.” “Anyway, let’s go sit inside!”
Zhu Ying pulls An Jing by the wrist, quickly walking into the teahouse.
She looks left and right, finally choosing to sit at the longest table in the teahouse.
There are many kinds of tables in the teahouse. Some are against the wall, small, only seating one person. Some are proper square tables, seating two or three people no problem. And then there are ones like this—a long table with long benches in front, one bench can seat up to eight people…
“Not sitting in a corner?”
“No need, we’ll sit right in the middle today.” “So conspicuous…”
“That’s what makes it fun!”
“The one yuan is… just for tea?”
“You’ll know in a bit—when the water boils, he’ll bring us the hot water bottle.”
“Hot water bottle?!”
“Yeah, you refill it yourself. He’ll give you a cup too, of course you can also bring your own.”
“A teahouse… what exactly is it for?”
“Drinking tea, what else?”
“No, I mean, since it exists, it must have some special meaning, right?”
“Mmm… in the old days, it was probably a place for groups of people to chat. Nowadays, it’s probably similar to an elderly activity center.”
“I see… ah, he’s bringing the hot water bottle over…”
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