(1)
The New House was full of surprises. An Jing had only taken a rough stroll through it, but she had already planned out a ton of things she wanted to do once she moved in.
Like inviting friends over to watch movies in her own Private Living Room. Or soaking in the bathtub, enjoying the warmth of the hot water while watching heavy snow fall outside the window on a freezing winter day. Or sitting by the long floor-to-ceiling window in her room during spring, sipping tea and admiring the flowers blooming outside. Or calling Zhu Ying over to write Homework together in the Study Rooms, and after they finished, Zhu Ying could write the little stories she wanted to write, while An Jing herself could rest her head on Zhu Ying’s lap and leisurely read a novel…
There were far too many things she could do.
So many, in fact, that An Jing almost wanted to ignore the slightly pungent Paint Smell and just move in right away.
“So, are you satisfied?” her father asked, leaning against the doorframe with his Beer Belly sticking out. The Formal Outfits he was wearing looked a bit ill-fitting.
“Yeah! There are so many places I didn’t even imagine would be designed like this. And those things… they must have been pretty expensive?”
“Some of them were brought from abroad by friends. Not too expensive, actually.”
“Haah…” An Jing stretched her arms, welcoming the bright sunlight streaming in through the window. Although it made the room feel stuffy and hot, she was actually enjoying the feeling of her skin starting to sweat ever so slightly.
She tilted her head, looking at her father sideways with one eye, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Dad, you need to lose some weight. When you and Mom share a Study Room, don’t push her against the wall, okay?”
“Haha—!” Her father slapped his big belly. “What do you know? This is called a big heart makes a big body.”
“Isn’t it bad for your health?”
“I’ve been seeing those Swimming and Fitness weight loss ads on the street lately. What do you think, should I sign up?”
“Dad, do you actually have the time…”
“Time? I do have it, I’m just lazy.” Her father shook his head. “But the way I am now, going to a Swimming and Fitness place would be a bit embarrassing too.”
“Then why not set up a fitness area at home? By the edge of the living room, or… oh, what about that Large Balcony? Looks like it could fit a Treadmill!”
“Heh, that’s something to consider.”
“And if you buy one, we can use it too.” An Jing touched her chest, worried on one hand that things might get too big up there, and on the other hand that the fat that wasn’t going there might go somewhere else.
“Alright, then I’ll go order one. A Treadmill—if I’m getting one, I’m getting a good one.”
“I’m kind of looking forward to seeing you get slim back to how you looked in your Wedding Photo.”
“Hahaha—I probably won’t get back to that level.”
“You’ve gotta have faith, Dad. Don’t you always say a person has to dare to dream and all that?” An Jing walked to the door of the room, looked up with a beaming smile, and playfully blinked at her father.
Her father vigorously rubbed her head, chuckling softly as he shook his head. “Kid, do you know how skinny I was back then?”
“How skinny?”
“I’m 1.7 meters tall, and I weighed only Ninety-Five Jin.”
“Wow, that skinny? Can’t tell from the photos. Feels like you looked at least One Hundred Ten Jin in those.”
“Haha, my face had a bit more meat. Back then my body was like a rack of ribs—no meat on it at all.”
“So how did you end up this heavy?”
“Middle age spread, that’s all.”
“It’s not Family Genetics, is it? Will I end up like that too…”
“Ha, that’s different. Mine was from Life Pressure back then, Stress Eating caused it. As for you, you don’t need any pressure. Life now is simpler than you think—and back then, I had to put in a lot of Effort for many things. By the time you grow up, we’ll have already finished Paving the Way for you.”
“Having the road Paved the Way is even more stressful. If it’s all paved, doesn’t that mean there are High Expectations?” An Jing pouted.
“You can only get what you truly want. If you don’t want it, you won’t get it. So there’s no need to force anything.” Her father patted her on the back. “Alright, you’ve seen just about everything. Let’s go.”
“Oh—” An Jing looked back reluctantly. “What’s the earliest we can move in?”
“At least not until August!”
“That’s still so long. This Summer Vacation is really dragging.”
“Haha—are you hot?”
“So hot. Look, I’m all sweaty. The top floor really is a bit warm.”
“Let’s go downstairs and get some ice pops.”
“Is there a shop downstairs?”
The residents of this Residential Area had only just started their renovations. Almost all the shops at the entrance were closed. The only one that was open was a Lanzhou Lamian Noodle Shop, and while they did sell drinks, it really didn’t look like a place that would sell popsicles.
“There is.” Her father’s answer was very certain.
(2)
Her father was right. There were indeed ice pops for sale downstairs—it was just an Old Lady Vendor pushing a tricycle and selling them.
She sold them specifically to the Construction Workers working in the Summer to cool off.
Inside the Foam Box with Ice, wrapped in a quilt, there was only one type of ice pop: an old-fashioned Sweet Water Ice Pop.
No packaging. It looked homemade. Handed over and eaten right away. And it was cheap—only Two Jiao each.
The ice pop had a faint Mint Flavor to it. An Jing gave it a lick and immediately felt her whole body cool down.
She saw her father, completely without airs, sitting directly on the shaded steps under the Tree Shade, so she went over and sat down beside him.
She held the ice pop in her mouth, tilting her head to look at her father’s oily skin and beads of sweat, then pinched the Wooden Stick and swirled the pop around in her mouth a couple of times.
“This is the first ice pop I ever ate when I came to the City. It tasted about the same as this. But back then it was cheaper… I was in Junior High School at the time. This kind of pop cost One Cent a piece. But even at that price, I couldn’t afford one every day.”
“Compared to those overly sweet ice pops, I think this flavor is just right—and it’s the best at beating the heat.”
“People these days look down on this kind of Sweet Water Ice Pop. It’s too simple.” Her father laughed and bit off a chunk of the ice pop, crunching it noisily in his mouth. “But back then, you know, when I came to the City to attend University, my Dream was that one day, every Summer, I could eat as many of these as I wanted. As many as I felt like.”
An Jing blinked. She didn’t seem all that surprised.
After all, when she first came to the City, she had plenty of naive thoughts too…
“Back then, I felt like this bustling City didn’t belong to me. What belonged to me was that island back home.”
“Mm…” An Jing quietly licked her ice pop, waiting for her father to continue on his own.
On the phone, whenever her father talked about the old days, she found it long-winded, naggy, and full of moralizing. So she didn’t like listening.
But when they were really sitting shoulder to shoulder, listening to him talk about the past like this, it didn’t seem so boring after all.
“But now, that island is gone too. Heh, maybe this bustling City really doesn’t belong to me. But at least, little by little, I can become a part of it. Almost everything I once Dreamed of has been realized. And when I look back on it now, it all feels Ordinary—like there wasn’t really anything that special to be happy about.”
“Because you put in so much Effort, so you started taking it for granted?”
Her father had already chewed through an entire ice pop. He twirled the Wooden Stick in his hand, poking at an empty cicada shell, and gave a meaningful smile.
Sitting under this tree, the Cicada Sound was far louder than anywhere else. It was like being at a live concert.
The noise was so overwhelming that even the cars driving by on the road seemed muted—the only thing in your ears was the constant “scree-scree” of the cicadas.
An Jing stretched out her tongue to catch the sweet water that was about to drip down the Wooden Stick onto her fingers. In this scorching Summer, it melted fast. No wonder her father had finished his in just a few bites.
“An Jing,” her father suddenly asked. “What kind of person do you want to become?”
“What kind of person…? Dad, what kind of person do you want me to become?”
“What Others’ Expectations have of you isn’t the Self-Identity you truly want to be. That’s just the person others want you to be.”
“But… hmm… who you want to become can’t be completely out of your own Independent Will, right? You’re bound to be influenced a bit by the people around you…”
“Influence is different from other people’s demands.”
“I see…”
“Although a person can’t live only for themselves, and everyone ends up as a Complex Individual, unable to become the person they wanted to be, I still want to hear—who do you, in your own heart, hope to become?”
“Dad, you suddenly asking this… I can’t really put it into words right now…” An Jing scratched her cheek awkwardly. Seeing her father’s gaze not wavering, she cleared her throat heavily. “Uh… I want to be the kind of person who can bring Happiness and Beauty to others.”
Her father’s smile faded, his expression turning serious. “Freud once said that Altruists are domineering, narcissistic, and twisted.”
“Isn’t that… something like a spirit of self-sacrifice?”
“You have to understand: the premise of giving is that you respect your own life. The premise of loving others is that you can love yourself first… Don’t become an extreme Altruist, because if it develops to that point, you’ll end up living only for others.”
“I don’t quite understand, but I don’t think I’m the kind of person you’re talking about. I think… hmm…” An Jing took another bite of her ice pop, thinking for a good while before she spoke. “I think I just want to share the Happiness and Beauty I feel with others.”
Her father stared at her deeply, then let out a long sigh with a smile. “An Jing, you know, sometimes you really are more mature than I give you credit for.”
“Pfft… it’s mainly because I’ve been through quite a lot.” An Jing scratched her cheek.
“But the Happiness and Beauty you share might, in other people’s eyes, be a sharper blade. Because they feel those things have nothing to do with them, just like the sun will never shine on them. So when you do that, they’ll only hate you more.”
“Then pull them into the Sunny Day and let them feel the sunlight for themselves.” An Jing looked serious. “After all—how can someone who’s never seen a Sunny Day believe that it clears up after the rain?”
“Oh?”
“So, I’ll be the Sunny Day.”
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