(1)
It was the summer of fourth grade, or rather, the summer before fifth grade.
Back then, time always seemed to pass slowly, and it felt like nothing in the world would ever change.
Graduation from elementary school was still “far away,” and becoming an adult was even further in the distant future.
At that time, enjoying happiness was paramount, and summer homework was tossed completely to the back of their minds.
“Woof Woof, you really run faster than a dog, wait for me—!”
The boy chased from behind, while a thin, tall girl was sprinting ahead.
“An An, hurry up! Let’s go over there!”
“Where?”
“Ahead! See that mountain? Then cross that mountain!”
“Is there anything good there?”
“There’s a huge wheat field!!”
“What’s so special about a wheat field?!”
“But, hardly anyone manages it!”
“What do you mean?”
“I saw adults driving really big cars back and forth in the fields, both when planting and when harvesting, it’s always like that.”
“Oh—I know, isn’t that what my dad calls a modern farm!”
“Exactly!”
“Is no one watching it there?”
“There are—but that wheat field is very, very big!”
“Okay, then let’s run faster!”
They didn’t need anything special; just a vast, almost unmanaged wheat field was enough to excite the children.
The two seemed to have endless energy, rushing to the foot of the mountain, then climbing the slope, and then they saw a shocking sight.
It was a flat piece of land hidden behind the mountain.
From the hilltop, it was an entire green ocean.
The cicadas in the mountains intertwined their chirps, playing the symphony of the whole summer in that instant.
“So—beautiful!”
“It’s very pretty, isn’t it!”
The girl smiled radiantly—though because of her naturally downturned mouth, she looked like she was both smiling and crying.
“Let’s go down!”
“What if we get caught?”
“We won’t!”
The boy shouted confidently.
“Let’s go down and see for ourselves, it’s so big, it’s really amazing!”
The small city was a coastal city, but also a city deep within a large mountain range.
Hills made up as much as 40% of the area; there were mountains everywhere, and they were mostly rocky mountains with little soil.
Even within the city, you could often find yourself walking up slopes.
Children who grew up here were used to seeing terraced fields in the mountains and sandy land for growing watermelons by the sea, but flat land like this, capable of growing a large expanse of wheat, was rarely seen.
The boy and the girl sprinted, running down the mountain and charging into that green ocean.
The wheat field engulfed them; their small figures became their best protection at that moment, making them hard to spot.
Finally, tired from running, they lay down on a large haystack in the middle of the wheat field.
“Woof Woof, why are there so many haystacks in the middle here?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Tch, what do you know.”
“I know so many things!”
She lay on the boy’s rising and falling chest and said with a smile, “I know An An loves to watch Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai. Your favorite Ultraman is Jack, your favorite Kamen Rider is Ryuki, and your favorite Sentai is Dinosaur Sentai…”
“Wow, you remember all that?”
“Of course! I also know you love to sleep on my lap, and… I also know you hate to eat ‘qian gao’ (a type of stuffed pastry). Hmm, anyway, I know so many things! All about you!”
“Wow… but I don’t remember that much about you.”
“It’s okay. You’ll slowly remember later; that’s not important.”
“But you know about me, and I don’t remember about you. Isn’t that not fair?”
“That’s just because I want to know, An An. Your mind is filled with so many fun things, it’s normal not to remember about me.”
“Hehe… You’ll definitely be a good wife in the future.”
“Your good wife.”
“Cough… haha…”
The boy chuckled awkwardly, his face red.
Even though they had been dating for a year, had held hands, and even hugged, they still easily felt shy about each other’s presence.
“Oh, right, An An.”
The girl sat up and looked at him seriously.
“I heard that boys’ ‘there’ is different from girls’.”
“Nonsense, who doesn’t know that? I can pee standing up, you can’t~”
“I want to see!”
“Eh? S-s-s-see…?”
“Mm, I want to see! I want to seriously see what it’s like!”
The girl’s small face flushed red as she leaned in closer.
“N-not really good… No…”
“Eh—An An is so stingy. Then I’ll show you mine?”
“N-no, don’t, please? That’s, that’s too impure!”
An Jing turned away, blushing.
“We’re a couple, what’s wrong with seeing?”
“But, but… couples on TV don’t… don’t look at that kind of thing… They just, just kiss, at most… And they only kiss after a difficult battle!”
“Hmph, An An, you won’t kiss me, and you won’t show me, I’m mad.”
“Ah…”
As the boy hesitated, he suddenly felt a chill beneath him.
Although he would be in fifth grade after the summer vacation, he still habitually only wore outer pants when not at school…
His body immediately stiffened.
And the girl’s gaze was fixed, unmoving.
He was very angry.
***
(2)
The pigeon, which had stopped at the window at some point, flapped its wings and flew high into the sky.
A feather slowly drifted down.
An Jing instinctively reached out to grab it but found she couldn’t reach, only watching it disappear from her sight.
She idly thought about the aftermath of that day.
Later, they played together a few more times, but a strange rift had inexplicably formed between them.
Before either of them could apologize, Wang Xinru suddenly disappeared.
An Jing went to her place to look for her and was told that her entire family had already moved.
That whole summer left her feeling somewhat empty—even though she still went out to play with friends every day.
By the time junior high started and she thought about it again, An Jing was naturally no longer angry, and she could also somewhat understand her emotions back then.
Girls always matured earlier than boys.
An Jing sometimes wondered why she suddenly disappeared back then.
Was it An Jing’s anger that made her feel too ashamed, or did it cause some other emotion that made her need to escape from there, to escape from his side?
“I actually wanted to apologize to you.”
Wang Xinru said, cutting her off, her head lowered.
“But… my family suddenly had to move to S City, so…”
“You went to school in S City too?”
“Why did you come back to junior high?”
“Because we aren’t living in S City permanently anymore. My dad wants to develop his business in H City, my mom wants to stay in the small city, and I also want to… come back.”
“Actually, I transferred here in my second year of junior high.”
“Ah, no wonder… I felt like I hadn’t seen you in any other class in first year.”
Wang Xinru gave a shy smile, gently pushing back the strands of hair covering her cheek.
“Then… An Jing, I want to say ‘I’m sorry’ for what happened that day.”
“Ah… no need, no need…”
An Jing awkwardly waved her hand.
“What’s past is past.”
“Uh, that’s also in the past.”
Disappointment immediately clouded Wang Xinru’s face.
She bit her lip, opening and closing her small mouth several times.
Finally, she looked up at An Jing, her eyes rippling with a silvery sheen like lake water, “Can we start over… just like before…”
“Th-this… ah, that… This… Let’s talk about it after high school!”
An Jing anxiously tried to refuse, but her words came out with a different meaning.
“High school… will I have a chance?”
“I, I don’t know… I’m currently…”
An Jing gritted her teeth, still not revealing her secret.
She took a deep breath.
“My situation is… quite special right now, it’s inconvenient to explain. But… you don’t have to choose me. The current me has no masculinity at all. You can find other boys, there will be more suitable ones, or you could try Fang Qiang. Oh, right, definitely don’t go for Zhou Chao, even though he’s my good…”
“But, but I just like the cute An Jing!”
“Well, there are other cute ones, like Yang Lingfei… Oh, right, he’s still dating someone…”
“It’s different.”
The atmosphere instantly became heavy.
After countless internal struggles, An Jing still chose to give up.
“Let’s just… do our homework.”
“Did you… come back for me?”
“It would be best if you didn’t, otherwise I, I’d feel pretty embarrassed…”
“Mm, no.”
“Phew… That’s good.”
***
(3)
The pale sun turned orange-red, slowly sinking below the horizon.
On the narrow street, shadows stretched long and thin.
An Jing still wasn’t in the mood to do homework, not because of relationship issues, but simply because…
Wang Xinru, wearing a white nightgown, exuded femininity everywhere, and every time she was about to think about a problem, her gaze would always start to drift.
“My… my mom is suddenly coming back.”
Wang Xinru said, a little nervous after receiving a text message.
“An Jing, you, you…”
“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine.”
An Jing sighed with relief as if freed.
“Then I’ll just pack up and head back. If you have any questions, you can just ask me on QQ. I’ll always have my computer on when I’m home—even when doing homework. Messages will make a sound.”
“Mm.”
A genuine smile suddenly bloomed on her face.
“An An, you’re still as gentle as before.”
“No way… I think I used to be quite a dork…”
“I’ll see you downstairs.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll take my things. Good thing I brought a backpack…”
She saw “him” downstairs.
The two stood on the long steps saying goodbye.
She was at the top, and “he” was at the bottom.
“You don’t need to see me off; I can get back by myself.”
“Mm! An An, next time I’ll cook for you!”
“Ah… n-next time, maybe!”
She watched “him” walk away, touched her long hair lifted by the wind, and a light smile played on her lips, “The past is past, but the future hasn’t arrived yet…”
Wow. They was actually handled pretty well. I wish I was that mature when I was a kid ðŸ˜ðŸ˜