Chapter 9
“After she gave birth to my mother, my maternal grandfather passed away. So he doted on his only daughter, and even I couldn’t be told what to do.”
Bai Nan added a few pieces of firewood to the earthen stove, and the water at the bottom of the pot began to bubble.
"If you want to hear it, I'll speak Mandarin."
Seeing that Xu Xin was listening attentively, she specially changed her accent.
“My grandma told me that my mom never had a good day with her. Even this house was built because my mom got married and they had the money to hire craftsmen. So my mom never came back to see her after she got married, but she didn’t complain. She just called her more and more often.”
Bai Nan suddenly stood up: "You probably haven't seen that kind of phone before, have you? Let me look for it..."
Xu Xin watched her walk around in another room where miscellaneous items were stored, and a few minutes later she came back carrying a red plastic bag.
"When I first came here, it was the first time I had ever seen a rotary dial phone. I thought it was so much fun, but unfortunately no one answered it, so my grandma put it away."
She inserted her index finger into each hole and dialed the numbers one by one, only to suddenly remember after she finished speaking that Huang Ying no longer used this number.
“No, I’ve seen it in a museum,” Xu Xin retorted.
Bai Nan snapped out of her daze upon hearing this, her face showing some embarrassment: "Oh, oh, I was just ignorant."
At this moment, the pot started to make a bubbling sound, so she quickly lifted the pot off the stove and poured the boiling water into three different containers.
"This is for you to wash your face and hands. This bucket is very clean; you can use the porcelain cup to scoop some water to drink. If you want to soak your feet, you can use the water in that plastic basin as you like."
She tries to speak in a grander tone, which is something her grandmother taught her.
"Nannan, everyone who comes is a guest, so we must treat them well. That's what makes a polite child."
At that time, I was hiding behind my grandmother, curiously watching Bai Di, who was wearing a brand new denim outfit. It was the first time the siblings had met since Bai Di was born.
"Mom! I'm dying of thirst! Get me some water!"
Huang Ying and Bai Hua sat on the worn-out sofa. At that moment, she was speaking to her grandmother in a high-pitched voice.
"Mom! Is she my older sister?" Bai Di walked up to Bai Nan, pointed at her with her slender index finger, and asked in a childish voice.
She remembered Huang Ying rolling her eyes and saying impatiently, "Yes, she's your sister... Mom! Hurry up, Hua Zi and I have things to do, we have to leave soon!"
"Why the rush? Can't you stay a few more days?"
Grandma quickly brought out the thermos from the kitchen and poured it into her daughter's porcelain cup while talking.
"Mom! I don't want hot water. It's already so hot outside, why are you still pouring hot water? I want cold water."
"Ying'er, didn't you say there are wells in our hometown? Well water must be cold. Take me to see one."
Bai Hua suddenly had a brilliant idea, and Grandma was naturally happy to agree so that the two of them could stay longer.
She led the two to the backyard, leaving only Bai Nan and Bai Di in the living room.
The two teenagers, one three years old and the other six, quickly became friends.
"I first met Bai Di here. He was half a head shorter than me, but his denim jacket, jeans, and even his little leather shoes were all shining."
Bai Nan's amber eyes were hollow, as if she were lost in deep memories.
"I didn't voice my desire, but Bai Di understood. He took off his little leather shoes and held them to my feet, saying happily, 'Sister, I'll give them to you if you like them~' I remember cautiously asking, 'Then what will you wear?'"
At this point, Bai Nan chuckled.
She turned to Xu Xin and asked, "Do you know what he replied to me?"
"What?" Xu Xin blurted out unconsciously.
"He said it's okay, I have a whole shoe cabinet full of little leather shoes! My mom said she'll keep buying me more if I like them!"
Bai Nan turned her face away again, forcefully flicked a mulberry branch into the stove fire, and after a moment of silence, said in a hoarse voice:
"That was the first time I heard the word 'shoe cabinet'. My grandma's house didn't have a shoe cabinet, only a bench. The two pairs of shoes I could wear weren't stored in a shoe cabinet either; they were just placed on the cement floor under the bed."
Seemingly feeling that the atmosphere was too oppressive, Bai Nan never mentioned her childhood again. Instead, she boiled three pots of water and filled all the buckets and basins in the house with water.
She finally stopped when the summer rain gradually subsided.
"I'm going out for a walk."
She wanted to find some cicadas in the mulberry tree, since her stomach had been protesting for a long time and Xu Xin probably hadn't eaten either.
When I was little, I ate cicadas fried in rapeseed oil by my grandma. They were so crispy and delicious.
The house hasn't been used for a long time, so there's definitely no oil left, but it should still taste pretty good if you just put up a fire to heat it up.
The sky was still overcast, and the cicadas were at the height of their buzzing.
Using the faint light from her watch, she carefully searched for the cicada, circling the tree almost three times before finally holding one in her hand.
"It's not as simple as I imagined."
She was a little discouraged, since her grandmother could catch more than a dozen in a short time.
Xu Xin followed beside her, shining his phone's flashlight on the tree trunk. The blinding light shone on the trunk, and soon he had four or five more in his hands.
Bai Nan was very surprised: "How did you catch it?"
He first put all the cicadas into the breast pocket of his white shirt, covered them tightly with his hand, and then replied to her:
"Insects are attracted to light, so your watch is too dim, but overall my skills are still better than yours."
Bai Nan sensed the slight smugness in his words, so she deliberately retorted, "Really? Then you switch with me, I'll definitely catch more than you!"
To everyone's surprise, the provocation had no effect on him at all. Xu Xin calmly said:
"Dream on."
The two of them circled the tree until the sky began to lighten, then returned to their house, satisfied.
"Do you know how to grill them?" Bai Nan took out eight cicadas from his pocket and deftly removed their wings and legs.
Upon hearing this, Xu Xin followed suit, removing the wings and legs from each of the twenty cicadas and arranging them neatly on the bench.
To prevent Bai Nan from stealing it, she strung it with toothpicks and checked it again.
"You're so stingy! I just picked up a cicada that clearly escaped from your pocket." Seeing how distrustful he was, Bai Nan couldn't help but defend herself.
"Hehe," he replied.
After stringing all the cicadas together, Bai Nan took out a piece of wire mesh from the storeroom and washed it in a basin while saying:
"This was specially made by a blacksmith for my grandma. Before I came, she would just put it directly into the stove to cook. Sweet potatoes and potatoes, skin and all, would just be thrown in, and it smelled so good after they were cooked!"
She recalled the sweet taste of sweet potatoes and unconsciously swallowed.
Xu Xin glanced at her: "I just suggested we ride motorcycles to town for dinner, but you refused."
"..." She didn't want to be discovered by the villagers, after all, it was almost dawn and the villagers got up early.
Before long, the unique aroma of protein suddenly spread, and Bai Nan quickly pinched a small pinch of chili powder that he had somehow managed to find and sprinkled it evenly on the cicada.
"Gurgle!" Both of their stomachs rumbled at the same time.
After coughing, Bai Nan calmly flipped the meat over with a toothpick, instantly making the aroma of the meat even stronger.
"Is that enough?" Xu Xin was unusually anxious, he was just too hungry, they hadn't eaten for almost ten hours.
Bai Nan picked up a toothpick, put the cicada in his mouth, and chewed it quickly.
"It's cooked, it's cooked," she said, her tongue slurring from the heat.
Seeing that she had swallowed it, Xu Xin immediately pinched one and put it in his mouth as well, and then opened his mouth and exhaled loudly a moment later.
"...It's hot, so hot."
"Buzzing"
Just as the two were enjoying their meal, Bai Nan's wristwatch started vibrating again.
"Aren't you going to answer?" Xu Xin asked while popping a cicada into his mouth.
Bai Nan waved his hand: "Didn't you tell Grandpa Zong before you left the hospital?"
"Parents are different after all."
"It makes no difference to me."
"Can......"
Hey! Don't steal mine!
Xu Xin was caught off guard and Bai Nan snatched a cicada from him.
Bai Nan quickly popped some into his mouth and chewed: "Hmm, I don't have enough!"
"You've gone too far!"
Seeing that she had snatched another one, Xu Xin immediately grabbed her arm in a panic.
"Hey, no, no, it hurts, I'll let go."
Bai Nan frowned and pretended to be in pain.
Xu Xin hesitated and let go, but Bai Nan pretended to be in pain to lure him. Seeing that he had taken the bait, he immediately snatched two more and put them in his mouth.
"Bai Nan!!!"
The sky was bright, and the sun was at its zenith.
The air began to feel hot, but the two of them could no longer feel it.
They were speeding along a country road, the wind still carrying the slight chill of the morning. Bai Nan hugged Xu Xin's waist and buried her head in his bulging shirt.
On the way back, she already began to miss the carefree time she had just experienced.
The feeling of not having to wear a mask, speaking freely without caring about others' opinions, and revealing all my inner secrets is so liberating.
For the first time, she wasn't afraid of being looked down upon for exposing her poverty; for the first time, she talked about her deceased but beloved grandmother in front of outsiders; and for the first time, she recounted her childhood without prejudice.
Xu Xin is a perfect listener; he only listens and doesn't comment.
He wouldn't impose his views on her, which made Bai Nan feel that what she said didn't seem like a big deal, and that her past pain didn't seem like a big deal either.
She became more composed.
Whether facing oneself or the impending storm.
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