Back to Auntie’s School Days - Chapter 16

School.

There were no classes during the sports meet, and the students’ enthusiasm was sky-high. As the Sports Representative and the Class Monitor organized their teams to reach the playground and take their designated seats in the stands, the continuous chatter between classes became a dull roar.

Only one person was quiet.

Tan Yanqing stood at the highest point of the bleachers; from there, she could see the back of every classmate’s head at a glance.

From the moment the team assembled this morning, she noticed one head was missing.

Tan Yanqing looked toward the bottom of the stands, where Jian You was chatting excitedly with others. Naturally, she wanted to ask Jian You why Jian Lai hadn’t come. But Jian You disliked her, and Tan Yanqing wasn’t the type to grovel for a conversation.

Even though she repeatedly scanned for a certain figure, hoping against hope to see someone running through the playground entrance out of breath, she remained silent, appearing no different than usual.

On the podium, the school leaders finished their speeches and declared the sports meet officially open.

The playground speakers began announcing the morning’s events and calling for the participants to gather at the assembly points.

When the announcement called for the participants of the Senior Class 2 girls’ long jump and she saw Zhu Xinsui stand up, Tan Yanqing finally found an opportunity to walk over to Gao Jing.

“Jian Lai didn’t come,” she said.

“Yeah, she took a leave of absence because of a stomach ache,” Gao Jing replied.

“Is it serious?”

“Jian You said she was in so much pain she couldn’t stand up straight, otherwise she insisted she would have come.”

Tan Yanqing’s eyelashes slowly lowered.

Gao Jing assumed Tan Yanqing was worried about the class honor, so she rested a hand on Tan Yanqing’s shoulder and patted it gently. “It’s fine, we still have plenty of other participants.”

Nearby, Jian You asked the departing Zhu Xinsui, “Do you want me to go with you?”

Zhu Xinsui shook her head. “Sister Xin is also participating; I’ll just go with her. But what happened to Jian Lai? Why isn’t she here?”

Jian You replied, “Her period came.”

This sentence happened to be overheard by Tan Yanqing. Tan Yanqing said “Good luck” to Zhu Xinsui, watched her leave with the other participants, and then turned back to her seat.

Her hanging heart finally found a place to land.

So, it was just her period.

She had thought…

She had thought Jian Lai had recovered her memory and would never return to this school again.

Thinking of this, Tan Yanqing laughed at herself. She had actually started to believe that Jian Lai really had amnesia.

But then, she could only believe Jian Lai—what other explanation could there be?

The sports meet lasted two days. On the morning of the first day, the smaller events like high jump, long jump, javelin, and shot put were completed. The running events were scheduled for the afternoon.

Unexpectedly, the girls’ 1,000-meter run was on the second day; the afternoon race today was the girls’ 5,000-meter.

When the broadcast called out her number and name, Tan Yanqing had already finished her warm-up on the grass. Jian You was right beside her.

“Hey!”

Jian You called out to her with extreme awkwardness.

Tan Yanqing turned her head.

“Good luck.”

Tan Yanqing was stunned.

Jian You pursed her lips. “She told me to tell you.”

Under the blazing sun, Tan Yanqing’s eyes curved slightly. “Mhm.”

Having seemingly never seen Tan Yanqing make such an expression, Jian You blinked, frozen for a moment.

Until Tan Yanqing said to her: “Good luck to you, too.”

Jian You turned away and muttered softly, “As if I need you to tell me?”

Jian Hao had no idea how lively the school sports meet was.

She was lying on Jian You’s single bed covered with a blanket. At noon, Jian You had come back and, seeing her curled up uncomfortably on the sofa, helped her to the bed.

Jian Sihong was watching the shop at noon and couldn’t make it back. Usually, Jian You heated or cooked her own lunch. Today, Jian You made food, but Jian Hao couldn’t eat a single bite. She only drank a cup of brown sugar water before falling back asleep. “Sleeping” wasn’t quite accurate; the pain made Jian Hao numb, and she didn’t know if she was asleep or awake—her whole mind was in a muddle.

She didn’t know if she was dreaming.

Regardless, she saw Jian You. The Jian You of 2025.

She saw her mother sitting on the sofa in their 2025 home, covering her face and weeping. Auntie Zhu sat beside her, stroking her back over and over, her red lips moving as if saying words of comfort. After a while, her mother leaned weakly into Auntie Zhu’s embrace, still crying.

Jian Hao became anxious. She didn’t know why her mother was crying, or why she looked so heartbroken. She wanted to comfort her, but even though she stood right in front of Jian You, no sound would come from her throat. Only then did she realize she couldn’t hear what her mother and Auntie Zhu were saying.

She paced back and forth in a panic. Turning her head, she saw Auntie Tan standing across from them, her cold eyes downcast.

Jian Hao walked over, wanting to ask Auntie Tan what happened, but Auntie Tan couldn’t see or hear her either. She could only stand there in helpless frustration.

But in the next second, a sudden sensation of weightlessness made her body feel empty. The images before her became increasingly blurred and distant.

“Jian Lai?!”

“Jian Lai!”

“Is she having a nightmare?”

“Should we take her to the hospital?”

The voices appearing in her ear pulled Jian Hao back from the void.

Jian Hao kept her eyes closed. Beneath her lids, her eyeballs slid left and right. She furrowed her brows and slowly opened her eyes.

The moment she opened them, she saw a familiar face. Jian Hao lunged into her embrace and finally let out a sob. “Mom—”

Jian You was startled, but she let Jian Hao hold her. Stunned for a moment, she gently patted Jian Hao’s back. “Did you dream of your mom? Did you remember something?”

Jian Hao’s sobbing quieted down. She lifted her head from Jian You’s shoulder, only then realizing she was back in 2008.

And she realized that the Auntie Zhu and Auntie Tan she had just dreamed about were both standing by the bed looking at her. The 2008 versions of them.

She steadied herself, pulled back from Jian You’s embrace, and bit her lip. “I only saw a blurry figure; I couldn’t see everything clearly.”

“It’s okay. Amnesia is a big deal; we’ll take it slow,” Jian You comforted her. She had been leaning over the bed but now sat down.

Zhu Xinsui also spoke up: “Yeah, they say it takes a hundred days for a broken bone to heal; an injury to the brain will definitely take longer.”

“Thank you…”

Jian Hao forced a faint smile and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. The image of Jian You crying in her dream still lingered before her. Except for when Grandma passed away, Jian Hao had never seen Jian You cry so heart-brokenly.

She also belatedly realized: she had traveled to 2008, but what about the “her” of 2025?

“Alright, alright. Does your stomach still hurt?” Jian You asked.

She shook her head.

“I bought burgers. Get up and eat.” With that, Jian You stood up from the bed.

Jian Hao looked at her: “Didn’t Auntie say we were having noodles tonight? Why did you buy burgers?”

Jian You remained silent.

Zhu Xinsui, completely oblivious to the tension, explained: “Because Yanyan won.”

Jian Hao looked at Tan Yanqing, who was still standing there, and smiled at her: “I told you you’d get first place!”

Because of the sports meet, school let out early today.

It was currently around 7:00 PM, and the sun hadn’t fully set yet. Jian You had decorated her room quite cozily; the bedsheets were a pink checkered bear pattern. The bed was by the window, which was hung with a layer of thin, translucent lace curtains. A breeze blew in from the half-open window, making the curtains flutter like the skirt of a dancer taking a bow. The twilight light spilled into the room through the lattice window; some of the orange-gold glow was caught by the lace, leaving only a faint, shimmering light to fall on Jian Hao.

In the half-light and half-shadow, Jian Hao’s eyes—red from crying—looked particularly heart-wrenching against her pale, sickly face.

Yet, those were the eyes that, despite just crying for herself a second ago, were now curving into a smile for someone else.

Tan Yanqing’s hand, hanging at her side, unconsciously clenched.

Before the race, Jian You had told her “Good luck.” That made Tan Yanqing think of the words Jian Lai had whispered in her ear over the past few days.

“Tan Yanqing, you will definitely get first place.”

She didn’t even know why Jian Lai was so certain she could win. She never had the confidence to come in first, and she never wanted to come in first.

She still remembered the day she learned of her parents’ accident. She had come home in high spirits with a first-place report card, waiting for her mother to return so she could show her. Her mother had promised that if she got first place, she would grant her one wish. At that time, Tan Yanqing’s only wish was to visit her parents’ workplace.

Unexpectedly… the wish came true.

But the price was the accidental death of her parents. She was taken to her parents’ workplace, where she numbly packed their belongings. No matter how many times she called out in her heart that she didn’t want the wish to come true anymore, her mother would never return to her side.

Since then, only when she was running—running with all her might, until her heart rate was too fast and her blood felt as hot and boiling as lava, until her brain felt empty from lack of oxygen—would she reach a state of self-inflicted pain where she didn’t have to think about their passing.

Since then, she ran out of habit, and she also didn’t dare to take first place again.

The moment she stepped onto the track today, Tan Yanqing hadn’t planned on winning.

But as she ran, she saw the person who had been running alongside Jian Lai that other day; that person was running ahead of her.

If that person took first place…

Would Jian Lai go to her, look at her like a little puppy with eyes full of worship, and say: “Wow, you’re amazing! You actually got first place!”? And then would she pull out a few bags of candy from somewhere to give to her, reach out a hand, and say with a smile: “Let’s be friends!”?

It was exactly the kind of thing Jian Lai would do.

Inexplicably, after thinking of this possibility, Tan Yanqing felt a fire burning in her heart.

It burned until she overtook many people, overtook Jian You, and overtook that person.

After passing everyone and crossing the red finish line—which wound around her waist like a red thread—she walked slowly to stabilize her heart rate. She watched as other students cleared away the line. Finally, when Jian You crossed the finish line, Tan Yanqing walked over proactively and supported Jian You’s arm.

“You lost.”

“Don’t forget the burgers.”

“Jian Lai didn’t come, so buy the food and let’s go to your house.”