(1)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009.
The rain outside the window had stopped.
Under the grey sky, an unseen wind vigorously rattled the windows, making them bang loudly.
An Jing picked up the electronic clock by her bedside, checked the time, and then sat up with a “whoosh.”
Ignoring the cold air, she haphazardly threw on her school uniform.
“Sis, it’s eight o’clock, why didn’t you wake me up!!”
She rushed out of her room in a panic, ready to skip breakfast and head straight to school.
A medicinal aroma filled the house.
The pulsator washing machine on the balcony was churning water with a “clunking” sound.
On the dining table sat a somewhat heavy HP laptop, its screen displaying yesterday’s stock market curve.
Everywhere there were signs of life, but no one else was in sight.
An Jing didn’t have time to worry about it.
She grabbed her backpack and was about to push the door open, but the door opened first.
The wind caused the red flag hanging on the railing to flap fiercely, rippling as if to straighten An Jing’s messy short hair.
“Huh, Sister Huihui?”
“Xiao Jing, where are you going?”
“To class, why didn’t you call me!”
Yu Minghui, wearing a snug-fitting tracksuit, smiled and brushed her bangs away.
“It’s fine, I’ve already asked for leave for you. Don’t go to school this week, let’s see how your body is doing first.”
“Actually, yesterday I met a classmate from school, and they didn’t notice I was different from before…”
Yu Minghui slammed the door shut, blocking out the cold wind.
She made a shushing gesture, then smiled and ruffled An Jing’s hair, “But we still need to observe first, wait until things are stable before you go. And—”
“And what?”
An Jing waited a few seconds.
Seeing that her elder sister wasn’t speaking, she asked anxiously.
“And, your emotions are unstable too. You need to get some good rest and not worry too much.”
Yu Minghui lowered her head slightly and playfully tweaked An Jing’s nose.
“Have fun, get good rest~ We’re not telling your parents for now because we feel that telling them would only make you feel worse.”
An Jing scratched her head sheepishly.
She hadn’t expected her sister to notice all her emotional fluctuations.
Thinking about it carefully, if it were her parents, they definitely wouldn’t actively encourage her to play games to relax at a time like this…
At the very least, they’d tell her to go out for a walk or go shopping to relax.
Anyway, games were definitely seen as a menace in their eyes.
Her nose stung, and she took half a step back, still holding her backpack, “Hmm… What about the teacher? What about homework?”
Yu Minghui put her hands on her hips, smiling as brightly as the unrisen sun.
“Don’t write it!”
“Eh? But the high school entrance exam…”
“Those are insignificant compared to your happiness right now.”
Although she could freely play games at her sister’s house after finishing her homework, being encouraged to do what she wanted still made An Jing a little unaccustomed.
Because she always felt that what elders said and did must have an educational meaning…
“So, today I can do whatever I want?”
“That’s right, cough—hmm, of course, you can’t do that kind of thing without moderation. And you’re not familiar with a girl’s body, you might hurt yourself. If you really want to, I can teach you?”
“Huh? What… wh-what?”
An Jing froze for two seconds, her small face suddenly flushing crimson.
“N-no need! I’m not interested in that right now!”
“It’s fine, it’s normal to be interested.”
Yu Minghui, who had just returned from a morning run and was covered in sweat, hugged An Jing.
The smell of her sweat wasn’t unpleasant at all; instead, it had a reassuring feeling.
“Anyway, Xiao Jing, you can hear my thoughts, right?”
“I can’t use it casually, and using it also has side effects…”
An Jing coughed heavily, struggling to break free from her sister’s embrace.
“Then today… I’ll go back to my room?”
“Drink your medicine first. Do you still want the cake?”
“No, no, eating sweet then bitter, it gets more and more bitter…”
“Pfft, but, eating bitter then sweet, it gets sweeter and sweeter, too?”
***
(2)
On weekdays, Yu Mingfei had to go to work.
She seemed idle yesterday, but she had actually taken a temporary leave in the morning.
Last night, it seemed she had been scolded by her boss over the phone.
Of course, she rushed to work early this morning.
If she suddenly took leave plus being late, she probably wouldn’t be able to keep the job…
Although only one person was missing, the house felt suddenly quiet.
An Jing sat at the living room table, frowning as she drank the incredibly bitter traditional Chinese medicine, but she didn’t even touch the strawberry cake placed in front of her.
She decided to finish the medicine in one go, then eat the cake.
This was also her first time seeing what her eldest sister usually did on a weekday at home.
Actually, there weren’t a huge number of things to do, but there was always something.
For example, when the clothes in the washing machine were done, she had to hang them up; when the water in the kitchen boiled, it had to be poured into the thermos; occasionally, neighbors would even knock on the door to thank her for her usual help and bring some homemade side dishes or local specialties.
When there was nothing else to do, her elder sister would type on the keyboard in front of the computer, occasionally stopping to click the mouse and drink a few sips of hot tea.
“What does Sister Huihui do on the computer every day?”
After three years of junior high, An Jing still wasn’t quite clear about what her eldest sister’s job was.
“Me? I write some blog posts, or supervise authors in revising and editing novel content… It’s only Wednesday today, last week’s work has already been sent to headquarters, so this week I can be more relaxed. Besides that, I just check stocks. I haven’t invested much, just playing around.”
“It feels like there’s quite a lot to do.”
“You get used to it, it’s actually fine. Sometimes I even feel bored.”
“So Sister Huihui isn’t an author, but an editor?”
“That’s right, I’m an editor for Story Club. You must have read it, right?”
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve known!”
“Before, I was just an intern; I only became full-time this year.”
“It’s great to work from home.”
“But the salary is also half of what you’d get working in an office.”
“But it feels… very free.”
An Jing put the last small piece of cake into her mouth.
“I’m done eating, I’m going back to my room to play games!”
“Have fun!”
“Hehe… I can have some fun these few days,” An Jing said, a little excited.
Seeing that she seemed to have set aside the discomfort and bitterness of her gender transformation, Yu Minghui’s smile became even gentler.
“We’ll do another re-check this Sunday. If there are still no problems, you can go to school next Monday.”
“Ah, suddenly I wish there were always problems, so I could keep playing games at home—”
Before her sister could answer, An Jing hurriedly coughed twice, shouted “I’m just kidding!” and quickly dashed back to her room.
Are games fun?
Yes, they are.
But playing games alone doesn’t seem very fun.
On weekdays, her classmates in reality were all in class, and the friends she knew online weren’t around.
Not even many avatars in her chat list were lit up.
***
(3)
An Jing switched between several games, but the more she played, the less interesting they became.
Perhaps, what was fun wasn’t the games themselves, but the friends who could play with you.
She sighed softly, picked up the meteorite she had made into a pendant, and carefully examined it under the dim light.
It had turned back to a deep blue. In particularly dark places, she could feel it emitting a faint blue glow.
Like those glow-in-the-dark pendants. But the color had more depth.
Everything might have started because of it.
But An Jing didn’t dislike it.
Because while it turned her into a girl, it also gave her superpowers.
Perhaps everything comes with a price.
And heroes always silently bear something.
An Jing firmly held it, hung it around her neck, and before leaving, she looked back at the computer with Zhu Ying’s photo set as the desktop background.
She hesitated for a moment, then turned off the screen.
***
(4)
Her sister in the living room was slumped on the sofa, lazily squinting her eyes, as if asleep.
An Jing tilted her head and glanced into the kitchen.
Seeing that nothing was burning, she walked behind the sofa and gently patted her sister’s shoulder.
No movement.
The TV commercials were noisy, so An Jing pushed her shoulder again, but she still slept soundly.
“I’ve bitterly begged before Buddha for thousands of years…”
“So many beautiful ringtones, quickly download them with your phone!!”
“Let the autumn wind take away my longing, take away my love…”
“Mobile users dial 12590…”
“Sister Huihui?”
“Hmm…? Hmm… Xiao Jing? Are you hungry?”
“No, I’m just a bit idle.”
An Jing scratched her head, asking with a smile, “Are you done with everything today? Not checking stocks anymore?”
“The market already closed at half past eleven.”
Yu Minghui tilted her head back and raised her hand, pinching An Jing’s little face.
“Come sit on the sofa for a bit.”
“Hmm, Sister Huihui, you look so bored.”
“Sometimes I am a bit bored. Maybe I fell asleep while watching the ads… Hmm… Oh, right, Xiao Jing, do you want to sing?”
“Sing? Go to KTV?”
She stretched widely.
“No, right here at home.”
Yu Minghui got up and turned on the DVD player, inserting a song disc.
Then she took two wired microphones from the TV cabinet and handed one to An Jing.
“Oh, when did you buy these?”
“I bought them last month. I’ve always wanted to try them but never got around to it. Today’s a weekday, so there shouldn’t be many people in the apartment right now. Feel free to sing loudly~”
“What disc did you put in? I’m afraid I won’t know the songs…”
“They’re all old songs, you should know them, right?”
“Ah, the first song is Teresa Teng’s… How about Sister Huihui, you go first?”
“Me first? Hmm… alright.”
Yu Minghui picked up the teacup from the table and took a sip, then held the microphone, seriously staring at the screen.
“Many stories in a small town~ full of joy and happiness~ If you come to a small town, you’ll gain a lot…”
When Yu Minghui sang, her voice was exceptionally sweet, and even her ice-cold face softened and became lovely.
An Jing looked at her profile, somewhat dazed, even feeling that for a moment, she really resembled Teresa Teng…
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