(1)
“Hey—Xiao Jing—don’t you—run away!”
“Full of murderous intent… Hah, hah… I, I’m not an idiot!”
“You—just wait!”
“Zhou Chao, save me!”
“Who told you to put a cricket in Zhu Ying’s clothes? I can’t help you with that…”
“Wah!”
“Don’t! Run!”
On this small country path, flanked by green fields on both sides, a petite girl was sprinting ahead for dear life, while another equally petite girl chased after her with all her might.
The sky was still early, the bright sunlight spilling over the two of them, the wind gently brushing past, bending the wild grass by the roadside.
“Such children,” Zhang Qiqi shrugged.
“Haha, that’s more like An Jing! She loves pulling these kinds of pranks—” Zhou Chao seemed to recall something from the past and couldn’t help but laugh heartily. “We actually got to know each other through a fight.”
“Oh? What happened?”
Zhou Chao’s expression didn’t change, but the laughter faded from his eyes. “It was nothing much. Back then, she was just like this, putting bugs in a girl’s clothes. I got so angry I ended up fighting with her.”
“When was this?” “Probably around first grade… That’s how we met. As for going from acquaintances to friends, to brothers… that came later.”
Zhang Qiqi smiled, her eyes narrowing, as if she had already guessed who the girl in Zhou Chao’s story was.
But she didn’t say it out loud. She just clasped her hands behind her back and moved a little closer to Zhou Chao.
Up ahead, An Jing was finally caught by Zhu Ying near a large roadside tree stump. The former was pressed firmly against the wooden stump by the latter, like a fish on a chopping block.
“Run! Why aren’t you running now!”
“Stop… hah… hah… can’t breathe…” “You’re gonna die! Putting a bug in my clothes!” “Crickets aren’t ugly…”
“It’s not about ugly or not!”
“Cough, have mercy!”
Zhu Ying pressed half her body onto An Jing, pinning Yi firmly against the stump. Seeming to finally feel a bit of relief, she took half a step back, took off her school uniform jacket, and flung it with a whoosh onto the face of An Jing, who had just stood up.
“Hmph, hold this!”
“Eww—smells like sweat.”
“Whose fault is that?” Zhu Ying shot Yi a sidelong glance. “It’s so hot. I haven’t exercised this much all week combined!”
Underneath her jacket, Zhu Ying wore a blue-and-white school uniform short-sleeved shirt. The skin exposed to the air was exceptionally pale and was constantly steaming with heat, like a freshly steamed bun, making one want to take a bite.
“Where are your eyes looking?”
“N-nowhere! I wasn’t looking at anything!”
“Even looking at my belly button!” Zhu Ying’s already slightly flushed face from the strenuous exercise turned even redder. She yanked her disheveled short-sleeved shirt down forcefully. “Pervert Xiao Jing!”
“I wasn’t looking!”
“You dare not look!”
“Hey! Why are you mad whether I look or not!”
“I’m mad, so what? Who told you to stuff a bug in my clothes?”
“Then you can stuff one in mine once, and we’ll be even, okay?”
“I don’t want to.” Zhu Ying extended a somewhat chubby little hand. “Here, be conscious.”
“Do what?”
“Bring your face over.”
“Wow, don’t be so… harsh, okay?”
“Hurry up!”
An Jing nervously moved her little face closer slowly, only to jerk it back the moment Zhu Ying was about to touch it.
“What are you dodging for? Hurry up, be conscious!” “Uh!” Yi took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stretched her face forward again. Zhu Ying then slapped both palms against Yi’s cheeks and started kneading them vigorously, like rolling glutinous rice balls. “Mmph ah mmph ah—”
“So soft, so soft, so soft—”
“My face is gonna get… kneaded into paralysis…”
“How could that be? This is a facial relaxation massage, okay? Let me knead a bit more and I’ll forgive you.”
“Mmm… okay.”
“Heave-ho, heave-ho—”
“Wait! You said you’d only knead my face!”
“Tch, it’s not even as big as mine. Boring.”
“Eek!”
“You two are really energetic. Not like me, I’m already old, don’t have the strength for such things,” Zhang Qiqi teased with a smile. The next second, she suddenly let out a sharp scream.
—Because Zhou Chao had put a fuzzy green caterpillar down the back of her collar.
“Zhou—Chao—I’ll kill you!”
“Your brother’s taking the first step to run!” “Don’t you dare run!”
“…” An Jing watched Zhang Qiqi chasing Zhou Chao into the distance and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth. “Says the one calling others childish, yet she’s just as immature herself.”
“The immature ones are clearly you boys, thinking such pranks are fun,” Zhu Ying pouted.
“It is fun, though!”
“Where’s the fun in that!”
“Watching other people’s reactions is fun.”
“Oh, so Xiao Jing likes watching people’s reactions so much? Then next time I’ll do something ‘fun’ too and watch your reaction—”
“Eek—what bad thing are you plotting? I’m getting goosebumps…” “Heh heh, just you wait!” “The little demon is so scary!”
“I told you, I’m not a little demon!”
(2)
The shell of the Zhang family’s bus sat in the middle of the field.
“From here to there, it’s one mu of land, all my family’s. My dad says he wants to fence it off. See? Over there, a small section is already fenced.”
“Why are there both wooden and wire fences…” An Jing stared blankly for a moment. “It’s a mess.” “You use whatever materials you have on hand,” Zhang Qiqi said, hands on her hips, looking down from the field’s edge. “The land’s been lying fallow, just a few fruit trees planted beside it.”
“So that’s the bus your dad got?” Zhou Chao squinted, looking at the bus in the middle of the field. “Are the wheels already removed?”
“I told you, it’s just a shell. Bought as scrap, but still cost a few thousand,” Zhang Qiqi shrugged helplessly. “He just likes tinkering with these odd things sometimes.”
“Opening a farm stay here actually doesn’t seem bad. It’s just the terrain is too flat. If it were on a mountain, with a nice staggered layout, it’d be great,” Zhou Chao commented. “So, can we do homework inside the bus?”
“Of course. The shell itself is quite intact, you know. Has windows and a door.”
As she spoke, Zhang Qiqi lightly hopped down into the field.
An Jing followed closely behind—the feeling of stepping on soft soil filled her with a sense of nostalgia.
“Xiao Jing, wait for me!”
“Huh? Wah!” The moment An Jing turned her head, Zhu Ying crashed right from above into her arms. The latter stumbled, took two steps back, and nearly fell—thanks to Zhou Chao, who was nearby, giving a timely supporting hand.
“Hehe~”
“What was that for? Such a dangerous move.”
“But it’s thrilling, right!”
“You really do like seeking thrills…”
“Just an occasional thrill—a safe kind of thrill, okay?” Zhu Ying chuckled softly, pulling out a plastic box from her pocket with a “Zhonghua” logo on it. At first glance, it looked just like a real cigarette pack, but a closer look revealed a tiny character “Dan” below it.
She shook out small, black ‘candies’ from the box—they should count as candy, right? Anyway, they tasted sour with a hint of sweetness. “Eating rabbit poop again…” An Jing gave her a sidelong glance.
“It’s called Zhonghua Dan, okay? Really, why call it such an unappetizing name? Want some, Xiao Jing?”
“Give me a few…” An Jing extended both hands. Zhu Ying immediately tipped the box, and more little black pellets tumbled out.
This was one of the kids’ favorite snacks. Its advantages were being cheap, and such a small box could last a long time, perfect for satisfying cravings.
Zhou Chao had already followed Zhang Qiqi to the front of the bus. He clicked his tongue and couldn’t help but laugh. “This is really simple. Just a chain and a brass padlock, and that’s the door lock…”
“Simple but practical. There’s nothing much inside anyway,” Zhang Qiqi said, unlocking it with a key, then pulling open the folding door. She stepped up easily with her long legs.
The inside of the bus really didn’t have much. Half the seats had been removed. In the middle were two square tables, looking like they were meant to be used with chairs.
The air inside was a bit stuffy, clearly not having been opened for a while.
Zhang Qiqi casually opened a window and sat down on one of the remaining seats. “Whew, how about it? Comfy, right? These are soft seats. Just move the table over and you can write.”
“This is so interesting—Xiao Jing, doesn’t it look like the bus we…” Zhu Ying suddenly realized something and lowered her voice a little, leaning close to Yi’s ear. “The bus we lived in, in the dream?”
“A bit like it…” An Jing tried hard to recall the fragments of dreams she had collected. That dilapidated bus finally surfaced in her mind.
By comparison, this bus shell was much newer. Apart from some dust, most of the interior was well-preserved, without much damage. And these seats looked quite clean, with no strange odors. If there was any smell, it was probably the faint gasoline scent common to all buses.
“Just sitting down makes me start to feel sleepy…” Zhu Ying placed her schoolbag on the seat beside her and couldn’t help yawning. “Feels like it would be very effective for treating insomnia…”
“Haha, An Jing too. Her first action upon getting in a vehicle is to close her eyes and rest, preparing to sleep.”
“That’s only because of motion sickness! And the smell inside the cabin is awful,” An Jing grumbled, putting down her own bag. “Speaking of which, how am I supposed to practice my handwriting? I don’t even have a copybook.”
“Copy the text neatly then. No sloppy writing allowed.”
“I can’t do that. When I copy text, after a few minutes my writing turns into cursive.”
“That’s not cursive! It’s just chicken scratch, okay!”
“Who says? My writing is at least better than Zhou Chao’s.”
“Damn, you have the nerve to say that?” Zhou Chao laughed and scolded. “Your handwriting, the only one worse is Awei. Even A Qiang’s is easier to read than yours.”
“Ahem! That’s the price of writing fast, don’t you understand?”
“So, Xiao Jing needs to practice writing that’s both fast and good now. Start with classical prose. Copy one piece and show it to me. If it’s not good, you copy it again,” Zhu Ying adopted the air of a little teacher. “Got it?”
“Okay…”
“Then let’s get to work. I’ll do my English homework first.” “I need to do math. Qiqi, are you doing math too?” “Mhm, I’ll keep you company~ Touched?” “So touched, so touched!”
“Eek, acting like an innocent, well-behaved girl in front of Zhang Qiqi…” “Xiao Jing~ Come sit next to me~” Zhu Ying said with a beaming smile.
“No way, I’m sitting on Zhou Chao’s side!” “Come on~ I won’t eat you~”
“Such a scary smile!”
“Zhou Chao, then I’ll sit on your side, let Xiao An Jing go to Xiao Ying’s side.”
“One little demon, one big demon,” Zhou Chao couldn’t help but sigh.
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