In the silent house, the flip phone on the nightstand suddenly vibrated.
Zhu Ying glanced at the blurry light and shadows outside the curtain, fumbled for the phone on the bedside, and then lazily flipped it open.
“Hello…?”
“Yingying, what are you doing at home all alone?”
“Mm…” Zhu Ying turned over, as if searching for something other than sleeping to make up an excuse.
But her mother quickly realized she wasn’t doing anything: “It’s already noon, you haven’t woken up yet, have you?”
“Well—I’m awake… just in bed—” She yawned, pulled the blanket over her forehead, and mumbled indistinctly, “Reading in bed…”
“Reading in bed is bad for your eyes. It’s already noon, hurry up and get up. We haven’t been back for a long time, you don’t get up this late every day, do you? That’s not good for your health, especially if you sleep late at night.”
“That’s not true…” Zhu Ying whined and acted spoiled.
“Clean the house a bit, don’t let it get dusty. Wipe the cabinets with a cloth, check the fridge for spoiled food and throw it away.”
“Got it—” Zhu Ying wrapped herself in the blanket and rolled around on the bed, sneezing “Ah-choo!” “Are you and Dad coming back?”
“It’ll be a while yet. Your dad has to attend some study session, so I’m staying here with him.”
“You’re not working?”
“Anyway, I’ll have to find a new job once we get to the provincial capital.”
“Oh…”
“Is there any local specialty you want? I’ll bring some back when I come.”
“Haa…” Zhu Ying yawned again. “What specialties does the capital have?”
“How about pastries? There are many here that you haven’t seen in the south.”
“Okay, pastries it is. Bring a lot, I want to share some with Xiao Jing.”
“Is that the girl who often comes to our house to play?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’ll bring extra for you. You should get up now, clean the house a bit, don’t lie in bed. If you keep this up, you’ll be getting up in the evening.”
“Got it—”
Zhu Ying waited for the other end to hang up, then lazily closed the flip phone and tossed it carelessly to the bedside. As soon as she lifted the blanket to get up, she sneezed several times in a row.
“Ah-choo! Ah-choo! My nose is itchy, I think I have a cold… and my head hurts a bit.” She rubbed her temples, sat on the edge of the bed swinging her two fair legs, “I’ll ask Xiao Jing to help…”
(2)
An Jing used the key Zhu Ying had given her last time, turned the lock, and pushed open the door to her house.
The room was pitch dark, the curtains tightly drawn. The brilliant sunlight outside seeped through the not-particularly-thick curtain fabric, making the room slightly bright, yet there was still a chilly feel.
“Waaah—!!”
As An Jing straightened up after changing shoes, she saw a fair-skinned girl with a slightly chubby face standing in front of her, staring at her expressionlessly, scaring her so much that she almost pressed her back against the front door.
“What are you doing?”
“You ask me? Why are you walking so silently? You scared me to death.”
“Xiao Jing is so timid. Who else could be in the house besides me? Ah-choo!”
“Caught a cold?”
“A little.”
“Do you have a fever?” An Jing asked with concern, reaching out the back of her hand to feel Zhu Ying’s forehead.
The latter looked up with her little face, blinking her still-sleepy eyes, “So, do I have a fever?”
“Uh… I can’t tell.” An Jing felt her own forehead, thinking there was no difference. “Are you dizzy?”
“A little…”
“You kicked off your blanket again last night, didn’t you? It rained last night.”
“Hmph. It’s all Xiao Jing’s fault for not sleeping with me last night.”
“Hey, hey, weren’t you the one who said you wanted to sleep at home?” An Jing’s eyelids drooped. “And you should at least open the curtains to let the sunlight in, and open the windows for ventilation. It’s gloomy and stuffy in here, like a haunted house.”
“The main reason for not opening the windows is that I’m afraid I’ll forget to close them when I go out.”
“You can’t be that lazy.” An Jing pinched Zhu Ying’s cheeks and shook them up and down. “I brought you some Banlangen from home. Brew some and drink it. It’s not serious yet, maybe it’ll cure it.”
“I have that at home too.”
“Anyway, drink it first, then I’ll help you open the windows. For cleaning, just sweeping and mopping the floor is enough, right?”
“And also wipe the dust off the coffee table and cabinets a bit~” Zhu Ying blinked, plopped back onto the sofa, “I really don’t have any energy today, so I’ll leave it to Xiao Jing~”
“Good thing I did a simple clean last time, so it’s not too dirty.” An Jing walked over to the sofa and rubbed Zhu Ying’s hair, which was a bit frizzy from not being combed since getting up early. “You just sit tight, I’ll brew the Banlangen for you first.”
“Okay~ By the way, Xiao Jing, can you also get me the new issue of Zhiyin Manke that’s on the desk in my room?”
“Ew, you’re pushing your luck, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to watch TV. I watched a bit earlier and felt dizzy.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll go get it for you. Anything else you want?”
“I also want to hug Xiao Jing!”
“That’ll have to wait until I finish the housework…”
(3)
The floor tiles in the room were clean and shiny, and even the windows had been carefully wiped, first with a wet cloth and then with old newspapers.
Whether it was psychological or not, it seemed to make the sunlight coming through the window even brighter than usual.
The previously somewhat gloomy house was now filled with sunlight, making Zhu Ying feel warm all over and gain a bit of strength, and she was no longer as dizzy as before.
An Jing moved a small stool, stood on tiptoe with her arches tense, and wiped the liquor cabinet in the living room with some difficulty: “Xiao Ying, how are your parents? Are they coming back?”
“Not yet. My dad probably signed up for some course or something, he’s still studying.”
“At his age, he still needs to study?”
“Probably some internal school thing. Doesn’t Xiao Jing’s dad attend too?”
“I’m not too sure about that… Anyway, he seems busy every day, and I can’t be bothered to ask what he’s busy with.”
“What about Xiao Jing? Are you going to the provincial capital?”
“My dad hasn’t said when he wants me to go yet. But if I’m going to the provincial capital soon, I’m afraid Huihui Jie won’t be able to see me off.”
“What’s wrong?”
“She went to some editorial meeting. It happens every summer, and it’ll probably take three to five days for her to come back.”
“Oh, so these days it’s just you and Feifei Jie at home?”
“Yeah, we’ll probably have to eat out for several days.” An Jing wobbled as she jumped down from the small stool, wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead, “Alright, I’m just about done. Should be fine.”
“It’s very clean. Xiao Jing is amazing~”
“I know you’re just praising me to get me to work, but I’ll gladly accept it anyway.”
“Half of it is sincere!”
“Tsk…” An Jing pouted. “Have you eaten today?”
“Not yet.”
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
“I don’t seem to have much appetite?”
“There are tomatoes and eggs in the fridge… How about making tomato egg soup? Then cook a little rice and mix it together for a more appetizing meal.”
“Mm— that works?”
“Want to come help?”
“Ah yaya, my head suddenly feels dizzy again—”
“Tsk, honestly…” An Jing put her hands on her hips in exasperation.
(4)
“How did Xiao Jing make the tomato egg soup so sweet and sour?” Zhu Ying tilted her head to look at An Jing, who was standing by the fan, lifting the hem of her shirt to let the cool air blow on her. “Neither my dad nor my mom can make it taste like this.”
“I just added a little bit of sugar.” An Jing opened her small mouth, as if to let the fan’s air flow through her body. “I also put a little bit of vinegar, thought it might be more appetizing.”
“Did Huihui Jie teach you?”
“No, I just came up with it on a whim.”
“Oh~ So amazing!”
“As long as you have an appetite to eat.” An Jing lifted her shirt a bit more, looking like she wished she could stick her whole body into the fan’s wire mesh.
“What time did Xiao Jing wake up today?”
“Around eight or nine, why?”
“Nothing, I was just thinking, should we go out tonight when it’s late?”
“Go out for what?”
“To check out the midnight streets, of course! Don’t you think it’s interesting?”
“You’ve been liking going out at night lately.” An Jing gave her a helpless sideways glance. “What’s up? Changed class to become a night owl?”
“Mainly because I wake up late, and after school starts, I won’t have many chances to go out at night.”
“Summer break has only just begun.”
“Time flies! We must cherish it! Can’t waste it just because we’re bored!”
“So you want to find something different in the ordinary life?” An Jing tilted her head. “Oh yeah, what’s that thing in your kitchen? Looks like a small water dispenser.”
“Which one?”
“The black one, on top of the oven.”
“That’s a coffee machine.”
“Ah, a coffee machine. I’ve only seen it described in foreign novels; this is the first time I’ve seen one in real life.”
“My mom bought it but hasn’t used it many times.”
“How do you use it?”
“Check if there’s coffee in the fridge. I think you just put it in, or maybe you need to grind it first.”
“Just put it in? It can’t be that simple.” An Jing shook her short hair that was stuck to her scalp with sweat. “I’ll look it up online later. That’s the convenient thing now—anything you don’t understand, you just look it up online. Unlike my dad’s time—he said when he was in college, if he wanted to know something, he had to go to the library to dig through materials, often spending a whole day on one problem. Once, to fix a TV, he even bought a TV repair manual.”
“Yeah, the internet is super convenient, so convenient that people don’t want to go out. Anything you want, just sit in front of the computer and you have the whole world—Xiao Jing, aren’t you going to eat?”
“I’m all sweaty, let me cool down a bit more…”