“Mom, what do you think ‘love’ is?”
After returning from a walk outside, Ji Yuenian had been moody and taciturn. At the dinner table, she suddenly looked up and caught Huang Qingchuan secretly observing her.
Startled by the abrupt question, Huang Qingchuan nearly dropped the soup bowl in her hands. She glanced at Ji Hong sitting across from her, then looked back and cleared her throat.
“Why are you asking that, Yueyue?”
“I just wanted to know.”
“…Uh, love is something that varies from person to person. Just like how there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes, everyone’s understanding of love is different.”
“Oh.”
Not getting the answer she wanted, Ji Yuenian responded coldly and lowered her head to continue eating.
Seeing her daughter fall back into silence, Huang Qingchuan felt that something was wrong. Why was her daughter suddenly feeling so emo? She hurried to keep the conversation going: “Well, what do you think love is, Yueyue?”
“I don’t know.”
Ji Yuenian shook her head and gave a brief answer.
Huang Qingchuan was left speechless for a moment.
At the dinner table, Ji Hong and Ji Haotong glanced at each other, but neither chose to speak up or join the conversation.
After finishing her meal in silence, Ji Yuenian put down her chopsticks and said softly, “I’m going to my bedroom to play some games for a bit.” Then, she stood up and walked toward her room.
Outside the window, the autumn rain drizzled with a rustling sound. The sky was as dark as if it had been stained with ink; there was no sign of the sun rising, and not a single ray of warm sunlight could be felt on the skin.
“Little brother, are you okay? How about we play King of Fighters? I happen to be free today.”
Ji Haotong’s voice came from the doorway.
“I’m fine, bro.”
In the dim bedroom, Ji Yuenian lay quietly on the bed and gave a casual response. She stared at the ceiling with steady breaths. Although she seemed motionless, her inner world was a surging storm of a thousand thoughts.
What is love?
For her, what exactly was love?
Ji Yuenian didn’t want to admit it, but she had to—she had been made completely emo by a single sentence from that girl who called herself Xu Yinsheng.
What is love?
She didn’t know.
Did she feel love for Jiang Chi?
She wasn’t sure about that either.
So she struggled, she hesitated, and she remained ambiguous.
With a “creak,” the bedroom door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.
“Bro, I’m fine, and I don’t want to play KOF…” Thinking it was Ji Haotong, Ji Yuenian sat up from the bed and turned toward the door.
However, the figure standing in the room wasn’t her brother, Ji Haotong, as expected—it was Jiang Chi!
He was wearing a white fleece long-sleeved shirt, light gray jeans, and black rain boots. He carried a backpack stuffed to the brim. With a simple hairstyle, he looked fresh, clean, and exceptionally handsome.
“Mrs. Huang said you were in a bad mood, so I came to check on you.” As Jiang Chi spoke, he walked into the bedroom and turned on the lights. In an instant, the dim room became as bright as day.
“Uh… it’s nothing. I’m in a great mood, don’t listen to my mom’s nonsense,” Ji Yuenian said guiltily, awkwardly fiddling with her hands.
What was this?
She was just feeling a little emo, so why did her mom have to call Jiang Chi over?
Seriously!
Hmph!!
“Come sit down, don’t just stand there.” Ji Yuenian shifted her position and pointed to the edge of the bed, signaling for him to sit.
Jiang Chi wasn’t pretentious; he sat right next to Ji Yuenian. As soon as he sat down, he took off his backpack, pulled out several books, and spread them out one by one.
“Since you’re fine, then I’ll help you review the coursework from this past week.”
“Ah!!”
Upon hearing that they were going to study, Ji Yuenian waved her hands in refusal. “No, no, no! Don’t I know my own level? Besides, I’m not in the mood to read books right now. Just let me keep lying on the bed.”
After saying that, she flopped backward, sprawling out in the shape of a star.
Jiang Chi, however, saw through her pretense. He reached out and stroked the top of the mature girl’s soft hair, his tone gentle: “Don’t give up on yourself like this. Ji Yuenian, your parents, your brother, and I—we all care about you.”
Ji Yuenian sighed helplessly. After thinking it over, she finally agreed to review the lessons.
The two of them sat quietly by the bed with books spread out before them. The air was filled with a strange mixed scent of faint tulips and mint.
They focused on the knowledge in the books, sometimes discussing in low voices and sometimes falling into deep thought.
Lessons that were usually dull and tedious became vivid and interesting when explained by Jiang Chi, full of vitality and fun.
Ji Yuenian couldn’t help but look up at the boy beside her. His long eyelashes cast fan-shaped shadows on his fair face. His straight nose, well-defined jawline, slightly lowered eyes, and focused expression made her lose herself for a moment.
As if possessed, she actually muttered in a low voice, “Jiang Chi, if you were to be my boyfriend, it seems like it would be pretty good.”
Though her voice was small, it sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet space.
Jiang Chi was momentarily stunned, but then the corners of his mouth curled up into a warm smile.
***
“Mrs. Huang, I’m heading back now.”
“Jiang Chi, won’t you stay for dinner?”
“No, my mom is waiting for me at home.”
“Alright. Yueyue, go see Jiang Chi out.”
The rain was pouring. Ji Yuenian held an umbrella and walked Jiang Chi to the entrance of the residential complex. A taxi pulled up steadily at the roadside. Jiang Chi waved for Ji Yuenian to go back, but before he could take more than a few steps, he was called back by the person behind him.
Jiang Chi’s pace faltered.
The next moment, a warm embrace wrapped around him from behind. A female voice—tsundere, shy, decisive, firm, yet carrying a hint of a plea—rang out.
“Give me a little time, okay, Jiang Chi? I’ll be able to adjust very soon.”
“Don’t worry about me. No matter how much I change, I will only ever be Ji Yuenian.”
“But… don’t be so kind to me, okay? I’m so afraid that I won’t be able to respond to you, that I won’t be able to give you what you want.”
The rain came down in torrents, pitter-pattering against the umbrella. The mature girl hugged the boy tightly, her heart full of complex emotions. Her voice was weak, yet it carried determination and a request.
Hearing these words, Jiang Chi’s eyes flickered. He didn’t turn around, but he could feel a small hand tightly clutching his chest through his clothes.
He opened his mouth to speak but stopped.
He raised his hand and patted the small hand hugging his waist. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke in a low voice.
“Ji Yuenian.”
“Yeah.”
“I look forward to you becoming my girl.”
***
After seeing Jiang Chi off and returning to her bedroom, Ji Yuenian took a set of clothes out of the closet. If there was anything different about these clothes, the only difference was that they were women’s clothes.
She picked them up and put them down, then picked them up again.
Ji Yuenian looked at the female outfit in her hands and then at the mirror. Her face in the reflection seemed to have grown a bit unfamiliar.
Her hair, which had originally been ear-length, had grown to her waist because she hadn’t trimmed it for a few days. Ji Yuenian didn’t even know why it grew so quickly.
She tucked her hair back and carefully examined this face that she had looked at for over ten years but was now becoming strange. She let out a small sigh.
There was no longer the arrogance and dominance of the past. The original overbearing and spirited school bully had turned into a cold, beautiful, long-legged, and well-endowed mature woman.
After changing into the female clothes, her face flushed red as she left the bedroom. The whole family was gathered at the dining table. Ignoring Ji Haotong’s expression as if he had seen a ghost, Ji Yuenian walked over and hugged Huang Qingchuan, nuzzling her head into her mother’s chest.
“Mom, I want to eat something sour tonight!”