(1)
“Ah ah ah ah—”
An Jing tried to use her shouting to block everyone’s view, but that was clearly impossible.
“Holy crap, holy crap, what kind of photo is this!”
Zhou Chao was the first to shout excitedly.
“Is this a personal photo shoot?!”
Sun Wei had almost plastered his eyes to the screen.
“Wow, those thighs, wow, that collarbone, wow~”
Fang Qiang’s face twisted into an expression of indignant envy, “An Jing, could it be that you…”
“Don’t guess wildly, don’t guess wildly!! I just, uh, I can only get into Zhu Ying’s QQ Zone! These are photos from her album!”
“Holy crap, how did you get in?!”
Sun Wei exclaimed loudly.
“I want in too, I want to see!”
“No, this, this, that… it’s because… ah… I just… I don’t know anyway!”
“You’ve got a chance, kid.”
Zhou Chao put his arm around An Jing’s slender shoulder.
“Give it a try, maybe it’ll really work out.”
“I don’t think so.”
Sun Wei immediately retorted.
“Maybe Zhu Ying just thinks An Jing is similar to a girl, so she treats him like a little sister.”
“It’s also possible she accidentally checked the permission box,” Fang Qiang quickly added.
“Cough! What are you doing, staring at me like that!”
“Got any more?”
Sun Wei faithfully followed his heart.
“…There are some… Uh, actually, they’re just ordinary photos, nothing too special… I guess…”
“Quick, pull them up and let us see!”
“Sun Wei, that’s not very nice. An Jing, just show them to me.”
“Damn it, A Qiang, you’re not a human!”
“Exactly!”
“Good things should be shared.”
Zhou Chao also joked.
“Ah ah ah…”
“Otherwise, tomorrow I’ll tell Zhu Ying you set her photo as your computer desktop!”
Sun Wei “threatened.”
Even honest Fang Qiang nodded vigorously in agreement.
An Jing’s small face flushed crimson, “O-okay… I’ll show you guys… Besides, what’s wrong with liking Zhu Ying? Many boys in the school like Zhu Ying, after all, she’s…” “Then tell her face to face?”
“Absolutely not! This liking is just that, thinking she’s pretty, so I like her. That, that, that… that’s not like wanting to be in a relationship or anything!”
“If you like her, go for it. How will you know if you don’t try?”
Zhou Chao said with the air of an experienced person.
“At worst, you’ll just get rejected.”
“Then it’ll be awkward even seeing her normally. Right now, at least we can still be friends…”
An Jing mumbled softly, quickly opening her cherished folder, which was full of photos saved from Zhu Ying’s QQ Zone.
“Wow, you little rascal, you’ve been hogging them!”
“Cough cough, quick, open it and let’s see.”
The boys excitedly admired Zhu Ying’s photos.
You have to understand, her usual school uniform covered her tightly, so even though not much was revealed, it still made the boys’ hearts pound.
Even in summer, Zhu Ying wore long pants to school; at most, they could see her in short sleeves.
But in the photos, there were many of her in skirts, and in tights.
There were also the bunched socks they saw at the cinema entrance last time—things they didn’t dare to boldly look at in real life could now be openly admired on the computer.
“Looks like we need to go back early today,” Sun Wei said, his face serious. “What are you doing?”
“Of course, going back to enjoy myself. Oh, right, An Jing, send us a copy on QQ.”
“No, no, I can’t send them to you! You can only look at them here!”
“Alright, you guys look like you’ve never seen a woman before.”
Zhou Chao finally stopped teasing her. Instead, he stood in front, blocking Sun Wei and Fang Qiang.
“Is it really that big a deal? It’s just a few photos. If you want to see, I’ll send you the photos of me and my previous girlfriends when we went out. Some of them dress much sexier than Zhu Ying, and I really don’t understand you guys. Why do you like childish-looking ones? Aren’t mature and graceful ones better?”
“Wait, Zhou Chao, you didn’t actually take those kind—ah—those kinds of photos, did you?”
“It’s not like I haven’t.”
“Holy crap, Edison Chen, ah no, Brother Chao! Hook us up!”
“Get lost!”
Zhou Chao pushed away Sun Wei, who was leaning in, cursing playfully.
An Jing took advantage of everyone’s attention being elsewhere to quickly shut down the computer, then kicked them all out, “Go play outside, go play outside, it’s too crowded in here—”
“Hehehe… An Jing, you’ve still got secrets, kid?”
“No!”
“Definitely! Maybe even girl’s clothes!”
“Huh?”
“The kind you wear yourself.”
“I would absolutely never wear that kind of thing, okay?!”
An Jing, enraged and embarrassed, grabbed one of Sun Wei’s arms and forcefully dragged him outside.
“No—I haven’t explored the treasure yet—”
He was shouting dramatically, making a lot of noise in the small room.
***
(2)
Yu Mingfei rubbed her tired face, standing outside the room, hearing a noisy commotion from inside.
She took out her key and pushed the door open with some confusion, only to see four junior high students squeezed onto the sofa, shouting and playing Monopoly on the coffee table.
“You evil landlord, you have too many properties!”
“Hmph, get ready to go bankrupt, A Wei!”
“Just wait, I’ll turn this around! If you lose, you’ll wear your sister’s skirt!”
“Go to hell!”
“Quick, whose turn next? A Qiang, is it yours?”
“Oh, is it mine?”
“Oh, Sister Fei’s back!”
An Jing straightened up and waved at Yu Mingfei.
“Sister Fei, my friends came to see me.”
“Oh—I wondered why it was so lively today.”
Yu Mingfei hung her shoulder bag on the coat rack and squeezed hard between the boys.
With one arm around An Jing and the other around Fang Qiang, she said very naturally, “Well, well, little rascals, don’t you need to go home for dinner?”
“We’re eating here today,” Zhou Chao answered for everyone.
“Oh, it’s you. Who’s this monkey-like fellow?”
“Sun Wei.”
“Everyone calls me Brother Wei!”
Sun Wei puffed out his chest.
“You’re full of crap!”
An Jing rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Hahaha, you boys are really interesting, reminds me of my middle school days.”
Yu Mingfei, completely unbothered, picked up the remote control and expertly switched to the soap opera channel.
This was a local channel, and the soap operas also had local characteristics.
The characters basically spoke in dialect, occasionally throwing in a sentence or two of standard Mandarin.
The storylines were also very close to real life, making most locals watch with great interest.
“How was Sister Fei in middle school? Did you also go home to watch TV?”
Zhou Chao asked with a smile.
“Nonsense, I’d get scolded for watching TV when I got home back then.”
Yu Mingfei vigorously rubbed An Jing’s head.
“But later when I lived in my hometown, grandpa and grandma didn’t care what we did, it’s just that the way back home every day was too far—and a bunch of people had to fight over the TV.”
An Jing’s grandparents not only raised a large group of children but also a group of grandchildren.
When they were little, most of the grandchildren lived in the old house in their hometown.
It was as lively as a kindergarten every day.
Grandpa and Grandma were only responsible for cooking and cleaning; the rest was the children looking after each other—the older ones looking after the younger ones, and the younger ones looking after the even younger ones.
It wasn’t until later that many of their parents went out to work, and some of them were taken away from their hometown, but some still remained there.
If she hadn’t been living with her cousins, An Jing would probably be living in her hometown right now, or simply boarding at school.
However, she was already among the youngest batch of children.
Now, going back to her hometown, it was no longer as lively as it used to be.
She heard that no one was leaving their children with Grandpa and Grandma to raise anymore…
“I heard An Jing’s family is especially huge?”
Fang Qiang asked curiously.
“Yes, very, very many…”
Yu Mingfei couldn’t help but recall.
“That was truly a huge family…”
“Yes, Grandpa and Grandma had a total of thirteen sons and daughters, and most of those who had daughters had two, and in our area, most of those who had daughters…”
“That’s a bit too much,” Fang Qiang exclaimed.
“My grandparents only had three.”
“My family has always been single-lineage,” Sun Wei teased.
“My grandpa always says my family practiced family planning back in the Republic of China era.”
“Pfft… Hahahaha—”
It wasn’t that funny, but Yu Mingfei still laughed very happily.
“Alright, alright, have dinner here and play for a bit, but don’t get too carried away, don’t go back too late.”
“Sister Fei,” An Jing mumbled helplessly, “We’re not little kids anymore, we’ll definitely go home on time.”
“When I was in middle school, not coming home when playing was a common occurrence.”
“No wonder Grandpa always called you a wild child…”
“Hahahaha—”
***
(3)
The temperature seemed to have risen a bit again.
The moonlit night didn’t feel very cold; the wind blowing in their faces even had a refreshing coolness. In the square, the busker was still singing, and the audience gathered around him was still neither too many nor too few.
An Jing stood at the intersection, waving goodbye to her best friends.
“When are you coming to class?!”
“Next week, but I want to go tomorrow!”
“Haha, your sister wants you to rest, right?”
“Still, take good care of yourself. Anyway, it’s the review stage, you can review at home too.”
“A Qiang, hearing ‘review’ come out of your mouth, it’s strangely unsettling.”
“A Wei, you’re asking for a beating again, aren’t you?”
“Hehehehe…”
“Anyway, don’t worry about me.”
“Seeing you so lively, we’re relieved.”
“Yeah, see you next week!”
Zhou Chao waved vigorously.
“See you next week, alright!” \
“See you next week!”
Although her friends had left, An Jing’s heart still felt warm, as if they were still there.
This care from her friends wouldn’t simply fade away with the wind.
Her heart felt sweet as she thought of many happy things.
Her upturned lips wouldn’t go down, and she giggled to herself as she walked into the bathroom to take a bath.
The warm water on her body made her not want to open the door and leave.
—Bathing in winter was simply too enjoyable.
However, a rapid knocking on the door pulled her soaring thoughts back.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey~ Why are you taking so long to shower!”
It was her second sister’s voice.
“Xiao Jing, don’t get too carried away…”
This was her eldest sister’s voice.
An Jing’s small face instantly flushed crimson, and she shouted back, both shy and annoyed, “I’m just showering!!”
So glad the stone is still kinda working on everything else other than her cousins. Does that mean Zhu Yung actually knew it was her and she’s just going along with this..?
Thanks for the chapter!