Chapter 4
Summer vacation has arrived as scheduled, and students are leaving school one after another. L University's campus is more lively than usual, with tourists everywhere, mostly adults leading children.
Along the tree-lined paths, on the playground, and in front of the school buildings, parents, hoping their children will succeed, snapped photos of their beloved institutions of higher learning with their phones, as if pressing the shutter button would instantly absorb endless knowledge into their children's heads. Meanwhile, the children beside them were listless, showing neither interest nor any concept of what was happening. For them, their parents' pilgrimage was nothing more than enduring the scorching sun and long queues. Bored, the children would scratch at tree bark or at themselves. Only when passing the small shop next to the cafeteria did they become excited; the ice cream and smoothies there were their only solace in the sweltering heat.
When the weather got hot, Yan Qing lost her appetite. She ordered a plate of cold rice cake and a bowl of free rock sugar mung bean soup at the cafeteria, ate a simple meal, and then planned to return to the lab.
Suddenly, a little guy appeared in front of me.
"Sister...Sister...!"
"Jiaming?" Yan Qing asked in surprise.
Cheng Jiaming tilted his sun-reddened face up and grinned brightly, "Hello, sister... I'm here to visit."
Seeing that he was covered in sweat, Yan Qing took out a tissue and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Just you?" Yan Qing asked.
“Dad…” Cheng Jiaming pointed to the door, “He’s…he’s on the phone.”
Yan Qing took his hand and led him to the convenience store. Cheng Jiaming picked out a crispy Magnum ice cream bar from the freezer, and Yan Qing gave him a bottle of sugar-free soda before paying with her meal card.
"Thank you...thank you, sister." Cheng Jiaming took the soda and said obediently.
Yan Qing peered out the doorway: "Where's Dad?"
"In...in...the...Central...Auditorium."
"Let's go, I'll take you to him."
The two walked towards the auditorium through the narrow shade of the poplar trees. Cheng Jiaming held Yan Qing's hand with one hand and was happily slurping up an ice cream with the other, his face full of contentment. Seeing this, Yan Qing couldn't help but smile.
Reaching the corner of the auditorium, Cheng Jiaming suddenly turned his back, quickly swallowed the remaining half of his popsicle, then licked the last bit of chocolate sauce off the stick, before wiping his face, which was covered in chocolate, with a tissue and throwing the trash in the bin. Only then did he turn back, pointing to the auditorium entrance: "Dad!"
Following the direction of his finger, Yan Qing saw a man's figure. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt and straight dark trousers. The man had his back to them, one hand lightly pressed to his ear, seemingly talking to someone in the earpiece.
Just then, a mother and child walked past him.
The little boy followed behind his mother reluctantly, shouting as he went, "I'm not walking anymore!"
His mother slapped him hard on the back and yelled, "You lazy dog, just like your dad! Get moving!"
The little boy, after being hit, plopped down on the ground and burst into tears, crying, "I can't walk anymore!"
The mother pointed at the boy on the ground and warned, "I'll count to three. One! Two! Three!"
As soon as the word "three" was uttered, the mother swung her arms and picked up her son like a chick.
The little boy's heart-wrenching cries pierced the oppressive afternoon air, drawing frequent glances from those around him.
The man, who was just a step away from them, never glanced at them. The mother and son's earth-shattering commotion seemed to have no effect on him. He even considerately stepped aside to allow the mother to drag her child, who was rolling around on the ground, past them.
Cheng Jiaming said, "Dad's phone call... the meeting... it seems like it's not over yet."
Yan Qing remembered that she still had a paper to revise, so she said to Cheng Jiaming, "Then I'll leave you here. Don't wander off. Be a good girl and wait for Dad."
Cheng Jiaming took out his phone: "Sister... add... add me on WeChat."
Yan Qing laughed as she picked up her phone, "I thought you only had a smartwatch."
Cheng Jiaming sent a blushing corgi emoji to confirm that the addition was correct, and then said to Yan Qing, "Sister, I...I...we will meet again!"
Yan Qing bent down, rubbed his sweaty little head, and said, "Okay, I look forward to seeing Jiaming again!"
Yan Qing said goodbye to Cheng Jiaming, and the man not far away also hung up his phone. The two turned around at the same time, their eyes briefly meeting. In that blurry glimpse, Yan Qing felt that the face was inexplicably familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had seen it before.
Yan Qing turned into a side path beside the auditorium, and after walking about ten steps, she suddenly remembered that the valuable Ran Mouri badge was still in her dormitory. She quickly turned back. But Cheng Jiaming and his son were no longer at the entrance of the auditorium. Only a magpie perched on the grass, then spread its wings and fluttered up to a branch.
The cicadas chirped monotonously, the sun hung lazily overhead, and everything seemed drowsy. Yan Qing stood still, a long, deep yawn escaping her lips. The scene before her gradually blurred, like a daydream.
Wednesday was the first day of the sixth lunar month. Yan Qing brought the fruit she had bought the day before and rushed to Xingren Temple early in the morning.
Without fail, Yan Qing comes to Xingren Temple to offer incense on the first or fifteenth of every month. She has maintained this habit for over a year.
The first day of the lunar month is an auspicious day for offering incense and worshipping Buddha. Although Xingren Temple is only a small temple, it was packed with worshippers. Yan Qing waited in line for a long time before finally reaching the front of the main hall. She burned three sticks of incense, raised them high above her head, bowed in all directions, and then respectfully placed the three sticks into the incense burner.
An elderly man, holding a thick incense stick, squeezed through the crowd. He accidentally bumped into Yan Qing, and the embers, still glowing with a faint glow, fell onto her jeans, burning a small hole.
Yan Qing stared at the tiny hole, as small as a grain of rice, feeling confused, wondering if it meant some kind of omen.
Following the crowd, she walked through the Guanyin Hall, the Manjushri Hall, and the Samantabhadra Hall one by one, kneeling devoutly before each statue of a deity, and then offering the prepared fruit on the incense table.
She spent the longest time in the Medicine Buddha Hall.
In the backyard of Xingren Temple, there was a pond filled with a group of brightly colored koi. Yan Qing sat by the pond, watching the fish swimming freely for a while, before walking out of Xingren Temple with a heavy heart.
A voice called out to her: "Junior?"
Yan Qing snapped out of her daze and looked up intently: "Senior Zhuge, what a coincidence?"
Zhuge Xiaoxiang quickly caught up: "Yes, what a coincidence, to run into each other here."
Yan Qing smiled but didn't say anything.
Zhuge Xiaoxiang asked, "Didn't you go home for summer vacation? Or is your family from this area?"
Yan Qing said, "I didn't go home."
Zhuge Xiaoxiang said, "Study hard at school. Have you eaten? The vegetarian food here is quite good. If you have time, I'll treat you to a simple meal."
Yan Qing declined a few times, then stopped insisting.
The restaurant was located at the entrance of a small alley opposite Xingren Temple. Surprisingly, there weren't many people eating at lunchtime. The two chose a seat by the window, where they could see the ancient temple across the street and the lush old locust trees outside the wall.
Zhuge skillfully ordered stir-fried water chestnuts with green peas, pan-fried stuffed morel mushrooms, perilla tofu, kelp and winter melon soup, roselle and hawthorn cake, and preserved meat rice, then returned the menu to the waiter.
"Order these for now, and add more if needed. Actually, I saw you a long time ago, in the Medicine Buddha Hall."
Yan Qing smiled, said nothing, and picked up the teapot to fill Zhuge Xiaoxiang's cup.
Zhuge Xiaoxiang accepted the teacup with both hands and said, "Thank you. There are so many people today; the queue outside the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Hall stretches all the way to the main gate."
Yan Qing asked, "Is this your first time visiting Xingren Temple, senior?"
Zhuge Xiaoxiang took a sip of tea: "No, I come every year. To light a lamp for a deceased friend."
Yan Qing suddenly remembered that Gu Feimeng had mentioned that Zhuge Xiaoxiang's ex-girlfriend had committed suicide by jumping off a building due to depression.
Zhuge Xiaoxiang asked, "Isn't this very superstitious?"
Yan Qing quickly replied, "It's a token of your appreciation."
Zhuge Xiaoxiang asked, "And you, do you believe in this too?"
Yan Qing's eyes flickered, and her gaze fell on the white porcelain teacup in front of her. The cup was inscribed with the words "A heart like a lotus, as bright as the sun and moon" in running script.
"I'm just here to join in the fun," she said.
Before long, the waiters started serving the dishes.
Zhuge carefully served Yan Qing food and soup, and the two chatted as they ate. Zhuge Xiaoxiang ate incredibly fast, finishing a large bowl of rice in no time, leaving not a single grain. Yan Qing couldn't help but glance a few more times at the clean, shiny bottom of the bowl.
Zhuge noticed her gaze and laughed first: "Junior, are you shocked? This senior looks like a famine refugee?"
Yan Qing smiled.
Zhuge said, "These are all health problems I developed when I was a child. Back then, my family was poor, and all we ate all year round was stewed potatoes and millet rice. Even eating white rice occasionally felt incredibly delicious."
Yan Qing's heart stirred, and she listened with slight surprise.
Zhuge said, "I used to be really greedy. Once, my mom went to the market and bought some red dates to make zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). She was afraid my sister and I would steal them, so she hid them in a basket and hung it on a hook on the roof. My mom went to work in the fields, and I searched the house for the red dates. Hey, where did the red dates go? Finally, the bamboo basket on the roof caught my attention. I was sure they were in there. So I called my sister, and the two of us took a long bamboo stick and nudged the basket a few times. Sure enough, a few small dates fell down. We quickly squatted down, picked them up, and ate them. After that, we would steal red dates from the basket every few days, but we didn't dare steal too many at once, afraid that my mom would find out. And guess what happened? By the time we were ready to make zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival, the basket was empty."
Yan Qing was amused: "Did your auntie beat you up?"
"No, but that year we only had zongzi with pure glutinous rice filling for the Dragon Boat Festival."
Yan Qing said, "A mother's heart still aches for her child. Is Auntie still in her hometown? Is she doing well?"
Zhuge finished his tea and calmly said, "It's been six years since I left."
Gu Feimeng was a local of S City and was among the first batch of people to return home for summer vacation. However, she couldn't stand her parents' nagging after only a few days at home, so she packed her bags and ran back to school.
When Yan Qing returned to the dormitory, Gu Feimeng was posing in front of the dressing mirror, striking a pose with her breasts and buttocks in a curvaceous manner.
With her eyes half-closed in a seductive manner, she lightly touched her lips with her bright red nail polished fingers, sending a sweet kiss to Yan Qing through the mirror.
"How do I look in this?" Gu Feimeng asked.
Yan Qing struggled to wade through the scattered packages when Gu Feimeng had already rushed up to her and twirled gracefully in front of her.
Gu Feimeng was wearing a short dress with an intricate print. The delicate print was stretched out by her full and firm breasts, giving her a particularly glamorous look.
Yan Qing praised, "It's very beautiful!"
Gu Feimeng looked at herself in the mirror again, and suddenly became dissatisfied: "No, no! I just can't get the look out of this!" She ripped off her dress and shoved it into Yan Qing's arms: "You try it on!"
Yan Qing said, "You want me to try again?"
"Try it on, I want to see if it's the clothes' fault or mine!" he said, reaching out to unbutton Yan Qing's clothes.
Urged by Gu Feimeng, Yan Qing had no choice but to change into the dress. She was slender, and the same dress, which looked charming and graceful on Gu Feimeng, appeared light and ethereal on Yan Qing, like a fairy.
Gu Feimeng covered her mouth, as if she had seen a celebrity: "Wow, baby, you're stunning! What's that saying again? 'With such beauty, you don't need such a figure; with such a figure, you don't need such beauty!'"
Yan Qing smiled shyly and changed back into her own clothes.
"Looks like it's not that the clothes aren't nice enough, it's just that they don't suit me." Gu Feimeng grabbed a few new clothes she'd tried on from the bed and shoved them into Yan Qing's arms. "They're all yours!"
Yan Qing quickly refused: "I have clothes. Take these unsuitable ones back immediately. There are so many, it adds up to a lot of money."
Who knew Gu Feimeng would react so quickly, grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting off the price tags: "Now you can't return them. A few dresses aren't worth much, it's not even worth the trouble. Just take them, consider it helping me out!" She then opened her shopping app: "No, I still have to buy more, I have to find something I'm satisfied with. When I go for my car model audition later, I want to shine brightly!"
Gu Feimeng was only wearing underwear, with one foot casually placed on the stool. She kept rubbing her eyes while looking at her phone: "Qingqing, my eyes are dry."
Yan Qing said, "Your eyes are tired from using them too much, right? Don't stare at your phone all the time."
Gu Feimeng climbed onto the bed and sprawled out on her back. "Ugh, this awful weather! It's so hot it's hard to breathe. When it's hot, people are too lazy to move, and even parties are less frequent. Spring drowsiness, autumn fatigue, summer naps, and winter hibernation—I can't muster any energy all year round!"
Yan Qing smiled and said, "If you stay up less late, eat less takeout, go to bed early and get up early, and exercise more, your energy will naturally improve."
“I’m not staying up all night, I’m prolonging my life. There are only nighttime hours in a day that belong to me, when I can play the zither and read Buddhist scriptures.”
Yan Qing rolled her eyes at her suspiciously and said, "Of course, you can also watch variety shows and listen to novels. By the way, Qiao Yi's novel 'The Unlucky Prince and His Amorous Widow' has been on hiatus for several days! What's going on? It just stopped abruptly when the male and female leads were about to sleep together. Doesn't that leave us hanging?"
As Yan Qing tidied up the delivery boxes on the ground, she said, "You know him, when he's writing a novel, he doesn't care about anything else, he forgets to eat and sleep. He's probably stuck in a creative block again, otherwise he wouldn't stop. It's good for him to rest for a few days, otherwise I'm really worried that his body won't be able to handle it."
Gu Feimeng lay on the bed eating hawthorn berries, her cheeks trembling from the sourness. She gritted her teeth and said, "Qiao Yi's surgery last time was quite successful, you can relax a little for a while now. When are you going to see him again?"
Yan Qing said, "I got him a peace charm at Xingren Temple, and I'm planning to give it to him in the next few days. Oh, and I also ran into Senior Zhuge. We had a meal together and chatted."
Gu Feimeng asked, "How did he flirt with you?"
Yan Qing sighed helplessly: "It was a chat, not flirting. Senior Zhuge is a very honest person. It turns out that his background is somewhat similar to mine. We both come from poor families and have experienced a lot of hardships."
Gu Feimeng peeked out from behind the gauze curtain: "No wonder you are all so outstanding. This is what they mean by 'A sharp sword is forged through tempering, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold.'"
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