Cousin Ye Ronghua drove away, leaving a table full of sumptuous dishes in the dining room. Although it was a pity that only An Jing and Grandfather were there to enjoy them, it didn’t feel lonely.
In fact, every summer vacation spent here in her memory had never been dull.
After all, there was always a chatty gray parrot at home.
“Food food, I want to eat pine nuts, reward, eat a pine nut!”
“Alright, I’ll give you one, but you have to sing a song first.” Grandfather put down his chopsticks with a hearty laugh. Teasing the parrot before every meal had been his habit for years.
“Eat pine nuts eat pine nuts, reward!”
“You sing first and then I’ll reward you. If you don’t sing, how can I reward you?” Grandfather’s face was full of expression, as if he were teasing a little child.
“Eat pine nuts first, pine nuts pine nuts—” The big parrot shook its feathers as if throwing a tantrum.
“No, you have to sing a song first.” Grandfather put on a stern face.
“Sun sets over western hills, red glow fills the sky, red glow red glow… red glow T!”
An Jing had just taken a sip of cola and sprayed it right into her own bowl with a “pfft,” followed by a fit of coughing mixed with laughter.
The little rascal had clearly forgotten the lyrics and was trying to bluff her way through.
But honestly, she was on key.
“That’s wrong, it’s warriors return to camp.” Grandfather clasped his hands behind his back and corrected her seriously.
“Warriors shoot targets…”
“Warriors return to camp.”
“Warriors return to camp, western hills red glow… warriors fly!”
“Pfft… hahahaha… cough cough…”
“Alright, alright, here’s a pine nut as a reward.” Grandfather smiled helplessly, slipped a pine nut through the cage bars to her beak, then refilled the small porcelain bowl with birdseed and fresh water. “Time to eat, Cai Qi!”
“So delicious, pine nuts are so delicious.” She blinked her lively round eyes, nimbly lifted one claw, and scratched at her feathers like a dog, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, old man!”
Grandfather shook his head helplessly, sat down at the table, and called out to An Jing: “An Jing, come on, eat up. You can eat less rice, but make sure to eat plenty of the dishes.”
“Mm, I’m not eating rice today. Cola’s enough!” An Jing poured the cola she had sprayed into her bowl back into her mouth. The taste was probably a bit off, so she smacked her lips and savored it for a moment.
Grandfather sat with a straight back, holding his chopsticks properly, but his words carried a hint of teasing: “An Jing… want Grandfather to take you out to buy a few summer dresses tonight?”
“Pfft!!” An Jing covered her mouth, just barely stopping the chewed taro from spraying onto the dining table in front of her. “Wh-what are you talking about…”
“Your father told me. The folks back home probably don’t know yet, right? Heh heh…”
“Uh… yeah… except for my two cousins, nobody back home knows.” An Jing awkwardly shrank her neck. “So you knew from the very beginning, Grandfather…”
“Haha, I always said you looked feminine since you were little. I thought it was just a boy with a pretty face. Never expected you were actually born a girl.” Grandfather shook his head. “I used to say that when your mother was pregnant with you, I kept dreaming it would be a granddaughter. But it turned out to be a grandson. Now it seems that dream wasn’t wrong after all.”
“Uh…” An Jing suddenly realized what her father had told Grandfather. He hadn’t mentioned anything about superpowers or such mystical things. He had only told him about the “corrective surgery” used to cover up the truth. “Cough… I didn’t know I would… would end up being a girl either.”
“I’ve asked around about it. Surgery like this requires regular checkups afterward, right? You should be all healed by now, right? Is your body feeling any discomfort? It probably takes some getting used to, going from a boy to a girl. If there’s anything bothering you in your heart, just tell your Grandfather.”
“Uh… okay.” An Jing nodded. She didn’t have the heart to say she was actually already quite used to having a girl’s body.
“In society, a change of gender brings a lot of trouble. But luckily, you’re young, and you’ve come here from your hometown, to a new environment for school. That’ll save you a lot of hassle. This summer vacation, you need to get used to it too. Don’t go making a fool of yourself.”
“Like… having to use the women’s restroom when going out and stuff?”
“Right, and you also need to watch your behavior and manners.” Grandfather picked up the tiny glass cup, about the size of a thumb, and took a small sip of white liquor. “A girl naturally can’t be as careless as when she was a boy. You need to be more reserved, more ladylike. When going out alone, you also need to pay more attention to your safety…”
“Cough…” An Jing awkwardly scratched her cheek. “I’ll be careful…”
“Don’t be like your mother. She was a wild child during her school days. Got into fights with people in high school too.”
“Huh? Mom used to get into fights?”
“Sure did. Got beaten black and blue, almost scarred her face.”
“No wonder I always felt like Dad was a bit scared of Mom…” An Jing twitched the corner of her mouth. “That’s way too violent…”
“Haha, anyway, being a girl means there are more things to watch out for. After all, the body structure, it’s different. If a boy gets a scar on his leg from a fall, no big deal. But for a girl, it’s different. Too many scars, and summer dresses won’t look pretty anymore.”
“Grandfather, I’m about to start high school. It’s not like I’m going to fall and get hurt every day…”
“You need to watch out for mosquitoes too. Too many bites leave scars, and that’s not pretty either.”
“Huh? I need to worry about that too?”
“Of course. This is a new era, not like before. Girls these days all want to be beautiful. You little one are still thinking like a boy, haven’t made the switch yet. When the day comes that you want to be pretty too, there’ll be no regretting it!”
“Ha—what happens in the future, I’ll worry about it later…” An Jing muttered, lowering her head and quickly shoveling a few bites of rice into her mouth.
“You should eat more gracefully too. You’re getting food all over your face.”
“Aw, Grandfather, this one doesn’t really matter, does it?”
“Haha—alright, alright, have it your way. Say too much and you might end up hating me.”
“This tomato tofu soup is delicious! Grandfather, when did you learn to make this? Is this tofu flower or what?”
“This is shredded tofu. It really tests your knife skills.”
“Wow, it’s cut like a flower.”
“Heh, but actually I used a tool to make it. In this day and age, you can buy anything. Never would have imagined before that life could be this convenient.”
“This is so good. It’s just ordinary tofu, but it tastes several times better. I want this again tomorrow!”
“Sure, tomorrow I’ll make you some tofu soup. Tomorrow morning I’ll head to Nongdu Market to buy some sea cucumbers. They sell fresh ones there.”
“Oh, Nongdu Market… I remember going there once. It seemed especially lively in the morning.”
“It’s not just lively, heh heh. A lot of vegetable shops get their stock from there.” Grandfather picked up a chopstickful of rice and put it in his mouth, waiting until he finished chewing before continuing, “How about coming with me for a stroll tomorrow morning?”
“If I can get up…” An Jing let out a dry cough. “But if it’s five in the morning, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it…”
“Fine, I’ll call you tomorrow morning. If you can’t get up, I’ll just go by myself. No big deal. It’s summer vacation, so you should enjoy sleeping in.”
“Hehe.” An Jing swung her legs back and forth. She knew Grandfather doted on her the most, so she pushed her luck a little. “Grandfather, do we have any popsicles at home? Can we buy some and put them in the fridge?”
“Popsicles? Haven’t bought any yet. But no worries, tonight we’ll go to Walmart. Any snacks, popsicles, or drinks you want, we’ll buy them and stock them up at home. Enjoy whatever you like.”
“Ah, this is why I love spending summer vacation at Grandfather’s house!”
“Hahaha—if you like it, stay for a while longer.”
Dinner ended in a lively atmosphere.
An Jing originally wanted to help wash the dishes, but Grandfather refused. The evening glow had completely faded, and nightfall shrouded this bustling city. Faintly, she could hear bursts of children’s playful laughter coming from the old residential complex that had once been a factory dormitory. But when she looked out the window, the road in front was pitch black.
Yes… this stretch of road had no streetlights.
Only the main roads in the residential area had streetlights, and even those weren’t very bright.
But An Jing liked this feeling. Maybe because it gave the night more atmosphere.
“The room is cleaned up. You can make the bed yourself. The cool mat was just sun-dried, should still be hanging on the second floor.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll go grab it later!”
An Jing wasn’t in a hurry to go upstairs. Mainly because she was full and a bit sleepy, so she wanted to sit in a chair and watch some TV.
The local children’s channel was airing Pleasant Goat back-to-back. An Jing wasn’t really in the mood, so she picked up the remote wrapped in plastic and started flipping through channels.
“Youth Gate No. 5… a sitcom? Uh… doesn’t look that great…” An Jing flipped around for a while and found there weren’t many channels available. In the end, she settled on the local news.
The name had a distinctly dialectal flavor to it, called “A Liutou Talks News.”
It was broadcast in dialect, but there was no worry about not understanding it.
In An Jing’s view, the provincial capital’s dialect was already very close to Mandarin, at least much easier to understand than that of W City, the small city next door…
Local news was all about household trivialities.
But spoken in dialect, it gained a bit more warmth and charm.
From time to time, the gray parrot named Cai Qi would mimic a few phrases in dialect, bobbing its head back and forth in the cage.
“Was that sweet and sour pork delicious earlier?” Although Grandfather spoke Mandarin, he occasionally slipped in dialect phrases, especially when he spoke quickly.
“Delicious!”
“That one was a pre-made dish I bought, heh heh. Doesn’t seem much different from making it yourself.”
“Oh, it was pre-made? But it really was quite tasty.”
“Then I’ll buy some more next time. Pre-made dishes are much more convenient to prepare.”
“Sure, Grandfather. Are you done washing the dishes?”
“Yeah, just need to wipe down the stove, then we’ll head to the supermarket.”
“Yay—!” An Jing raised both hands high in the air, her face beaming with excitement. “There’s no Walmart back home!”
“Then what’s the biggest supermarket in your hometown?”
“Uh… I think it’s Carrefour? Yeah, that should be it…”
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