Chapter 27: Lingering Warmth

(1)

The birthday party, not overly crowded but still lively, had ended.

Cake frosting was smeared everywhere, and Yu Minghui was busy tidying up.

Today, Yu Mingfei was doing the dishes, with the tap water running louder than usual.

An Jing still sat at the dining table, lost in thought, somewhat dazed.

She clutched the cloth amulet in her hand.

It still seemed to carry the warmth from when Zhu Ying had taken it out of her shirt pocket.

Actually, it was just an ordinary amulet bought from a shop.

The only difference was a few crooked little characters embroidered in one corner of one side.

It was clear the craftsmanship was unskilled, and it was also clear it had been made in a hurry.

But she still read the words “Happy Fifteenth Birthday An Jing” over and over again.

This was the first time in her life she had received a birthday gift from a girl her age.

And it was from the most beautiful girl in the whole school, which inevitably stirred a youthful stir in her heart.

Although, in reality, it was just an ordinary gift from an approachable girl to a male classmate.

An Jing was excited one moment, then disappointed the next. 

Young as she was, she thought of many things.

She even wondered if, should she and Zhu Ying get together, they could spend high school together, go through university together, then successfully marry and stay together until old age?

The span of time was truly too long.

No one dared to say “definitely.”

Those beautiful stories ultimately only existed in the childish fantasies of youth.

“Xiao Jing, there’s still some frosting on your face.”

“Huh? Uh… is there still some now?”

“It’s gone.”

“What a waste, such a good cake…”

“That’s just how birthdays are. What’s wrong, Xiao Jing, feeling a bit sad after your birthday that everyone left?”

“Ah… kind of. It suddenly feels quiet.” 

An Jing scratched her head, hugging the box of marbles on the table, then bent down to pick up the shoe box on the floor. 

She glanced at her two sisters who were still busy. 

Suddenly, this home, which usually felt lively, was so quiet now. 

“I’m going back to my room.”

“Why don’t you shower first? Otherwise, if we shower after, you’ll have to wait a long time.”

“Oh… alright.”

An Jing looked at the lotus-shaped electronic candle on the table and mumbled, “It’s still making noise.”

“I studied it for ages just now, couldn’t turn it off.”

“It should turn off when the battery dies, I guess…”

An Jing didn’t like the “Happy Birthday” song the electronic candle played.

She preferred the blessings everyone had given together just a while ago.

To the extent that she was even hallucinating now, as if she heard Zhu Ying’s smiling “Happy Birthday” again, and Zhou Chao’s hearty laughter…

It was just an ordinary night after a birthday celebration, but the young boy had become sentimental.

***

(2)

The cheap water heater was basically only enough for one person to shower, so it had to be kept on constantly to heat the water.

Otherwise, let alone the next person, if one person showered for a bit too long, the subsequent water would turn cold.

The steaming hot water poured over An Jing, slowly relaxing her somewhat tense muscles.

She subconsciously glanced at the dilapidated wooden door—though it was broken, at least the bolt inside could lock it.

At least this way, no one would suddenly barge in.

Otherwise, that scene would be terrible.

Her sisters would surely panic and ask her—”Where did your little An Jing go?”

Explaining it then would not only be troublesome, but also… embarrassing.

An Jing gently stroked her smooth, delicate skin.

It was truly a different experience.

After all, even when she was an elementary school student before, her skin wasn’t that good.

Although a whole day had passed.

In reality, at this moment, she still didn’t truly feel like she had become a girl.

That sentimental heart began to feel lost again.

Her soaking wet hair clung to her scalp. 

The wind, coming from who knows where, seemed to pierce her heart.

“Am I just going to be a woman for the rest of my life like this? What will the future be like…?” 

She unconsciously drew circles on the foggy tiled wall with her slender fingers. 

“Thinking about it, maybe life isn’t that interesting? Just graduate from junior high, then high school, get into university, start working after university, then marry and have children, then raise offspring, and then have offspring repeat such a day…”

Young as she was, of course she couldn’t understand many things.

She could only raise more and more questions.

And in reality, many questions actually had no answers.

It was just that adults chose to stop looking for answers, only pursuing what they wanted.

But young people always wanted to get to the bottom of things, to find an answer.

But life wasn’t an exam, so where were the so-called standard answers?

What’s good about being a girl?

What’s bad about being a girl?

What’s good about being alive?

What’s bad about being alive?

However, the confusion and perplexity of youth ultimately wouldn’t last too long, because he remembered that he could use the birthday as an excuse to play games all night tonight, and his mood immediately lifted.

Who cared about life’s future or whether life’s repetition was boring?

Anyway, there were always many interesting things every day, right?

Just like games, you just play them repeatedly every day, but you never get tired of them.

If you get tired, just switch to another game.

Life is the same; if you get tired, change your approach.

Games are a good thing.

An Jing loved playing games.

Because of games, she felt life wasn’t boring.

And because of games, she could forget her worries, forget about herself having turned into a girl, forget these troubles of growing up.

As for why she loved games so much…

Does love need a reason?

Wasn’t being happy when playing enough?

***
(3)

The smell of cumin and pepper drifted into the house from outside the window.

The air seemed to be warmed by the cooking stoves.

An Jing, who had just finished showering, was steaming.

She had run out of the bathroom dressed, specifically wearing a shirt so loose that its hem covered half her thighs, to avoid revealing her female identity.

Her second sister, who had already cleaned the kitchen, was curled up on the sofa watching a soap opera.

She glanced at An Jing from the corner of her eye, “Put on more clothes, it’s cold at night.”

“Oh!” 

An Jing, a little nervous, sped up even more, darted to the bedroom door, and then practically ‘flew’ inside.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” 

The eldest sister sat down beside the second sister, resting her head on the latter’s forehead.

“Are you going to shower?”

“Later. That kid showers for so long, the water’s probably cold already. Let it heat up again.”

Yu Mingfei hugged Yu Minghui’s arm.

“Sigh, what else could he be rushing to do? Just play games, right?”

“True.”

“It’s his birthday today, and tomorrow’s Sunday, so let him have fun. But if he shouts and yells all night, disturbing my sleep, he’s dead!”

“Pfft… By the way, the shoes you bought today still seem a bit big.”

“They do seem… No way, does that little rascal only have size 34 feet?” 

Yu Mingfei had an expression of envy, jealousy, and resentment. 

“I’m already a size 38!”

“You want to share some with him?”

Yu Minghui joked.

“Pfft, I’d rather share some with you! What’s wrong with you? You’re taller than me, but your feet are two sizes smaller!”

“Is it because you often played barefoot when you were little? Not wearing shoes might make your feet grow bigger.”

“Does that really have an effect? I was only in kindergarten then!”

“Maybe?”

“Ah, if only I could go back in time…”

***
(4)

The advantage of clothes becoming larger was that any jacket thrown over her body felt like being wrapped in a blanket.

An Jing now had a denim jacket draped over her.

She sat cross-legged, playing with a meteorite fragment for a while as she waited for the computer to boot up, until the familiar startup sound chimed.

This was a system made from a Radish Home CD, and the sound was different from the original XP, but she had gotten used to it after hearing it for so long.

An Jing’s computer desktop was a clean blue, what could be called a truly default desktop.

She had heard that using this kind of desktop could improve performance, so she had been using it ever since.

But today, for some reason, she found it a bit jarring, and… so ugly it made her feel anxious.

She gently squeezed her soft, tender little foot with her left hand, while her other hand controlled the mouse, clicking several times in quick succession to open a deeply hidden folder.

Inside were photos of Zhu Ying.

They were saved from the last time she entered her QQ space.

Although doing this might be a little improper… it was just to ensure she could still see them if she couldn’t access the space next time.

At least she could look at the photos…

Of course, it wasn’t for doing anything bad!

An Jing hesitated for a moment, then right-clicked on one of the landscape photos and set it as her desktop background.

It was slightly blurry when enlarged, but the subtle pixelation made it feel more textured.

“Mmm…”

She admired it for a while, a blush on her face, and finally decided not to change it back. 

“I’ll just use this…”

Most of the time, what do you do when you turn on your computer?

An Jing would usually choose to open QQ.

As soon as she logged in, the ‘beep beep beep’ notification sound of messages came through.

An Jing clicked on the flashing icon, and several windows popped up at once.

The top one was from Zhu Ying, she said she had arrived home safely.

An Jing hesitated, typing for a long time, but in the end, only sent an ‘OK’ emoji.

As for the next few, she replied much faster.

Zhou Chao, “Bro’s home, wanna game?”

Fang Qiang, “My dad woke up, seems fine, just needs a long recovery. How was your birthday? I forgot to give you your gift.”

Yang Lingfei, “Sorry about today.”

Sun Wei, “Damn it, a bunch of relatives kept asking me about my grades. I’d Rather celebrate my birthday with you guys, at least I could look at Zhu Ying and feast my eyes!”

An Jing typed away furiously, replying to each one.

“Game game game, what game?”

“Pretty good. Don’t worry about your dad, just give me the gift on Monday.”

“Boyfriend over friends!”

(Literally, “Having the opposite sex, no humanity!”)

“Idiot!”