Back to Auntie’s School Days - Chapter 17

The small fan clipped to the iron rail at the foot of the bed oscillated with a rhythmic creak.

Despite its diligent efforts, Jian Hao still woke up drenched in sweat. Seeing this, Jian You found a set of fresh clothes for her to change into.

“Come out and eat once you’re changed,” Jian You said. She then grabbed Zhu Xinsui and headed out to turn on the TV, eager to share the latest drama she was following.

Tan Yanqing remained standing in the room, but Jian You didn’t bother hosting her. Buying burgers and bringing them home to eat? It felt like a blatant provocation right in her own house! Yet, she had no reason to refuse.

Only after Jian You and Zhu Xinsui left did Tan Yanqing move. Instead of walking out, however, she slowly approached the bedside under Jian Hao’s watchful gaze. She reached out, gently smoothing Jian Hao’s hair, which had become a mess from sleep.

Jian Hao didn’t move an inch. It looked as though she was letting Tan Yanqing fix her hair, but in reality, she was simply too stunned to react.

The moment Tan Yanqing leaned in, Jian Hao’s heart began to throb uncontrollably. As Tan Yanqing stood directly before her, Jian Hao looked up and met the clear eyes behind those lenses.

In those eyes, there was actually a faint trace of softness. Was it an illusion?

“You…”

Jian Hao’s tongue brushed against her dry lips.

Tan Yanqing lowered her hand and gazed down at her, a subtle smile playing on her thin, red lips. “What flavor do you want? I’ll save it for you.”

Jian Hao swallowed hard. “Any… anything is fine.”

“Mhm.”

Tan Yanqing turned and walked out of the bedroom, thoughtfully closing the door behind her.

“…”

The three seconds following the click of the door felt unusually long in Jian Hao’s daze. It wasn’t until the oscillating fan blew another gust of wind across her that Jian Hao finally raised a hand to press against the spot Tan Yanqing had just touched. She bit her lip, clutched her chest, and buried her head back into the pillow.

Isn’t this a total foul?! Aaaaaah!

Jian Sihong returned from work carrying groceries. Before she even opened the door, she could hear fits of giggling coming from inside.

She took out her keys, opened the door, and looked toward the living room from the entryway. Four kids were sitting on small stools around the coffee table, focused on their homework. She didn’t know what had been said, but two of them were laughing uproariously at Jian You, while another had her head down, though a smile was clearly visible at the corners of her mouth.

The group was laughing so hard they didn’t even hear the door open. It was the child sitting opposite who saw her first. “Hello, Auntie.”

Jian Sihong stared at the girl and quickly recognized her as the top student in Jian You’s class. She had a strong impression of Zhu Xinsui; having attended parent-teacher meetings for three years, this child had always been ranked first in the grade. Next to her was Tan Yanqing, a child the teachers often praised.

She never expected that Jian You—who usually hated studying—would be hanging out with these two top-tier students.

Jian Sihong placed the groceries on the table and said with a smile, “Oh, Xiao Zhu and Xiao Tan are here to play!”

Tan Yanqing stood up and gave a polite nod. “Hello, Auntie.”

“Hello, hello.” Jian Sihong turned to close the door and said warmly, “Are you hungry? I’ll go cook.”

Jian You spoke up, “Mom, we already ate burgers. We bought one for you too, so you don’t need to cook.”

Only then did Jian Sihong notice the burger left for her on the table. No wonder she smelled a faint scent of fried food the moment she walked in.

“Can you really get full on that?” Being from the older generation, Jian Sihong viewed fast food as junk. But with guests present, she held her tongue, only giving Jian You a sharp look. “Xiao Lai’s stomach still hurts, and you let her eat this?”

Jian Hao stood up from her stool, walked over to Jian Sihong, and affectionately took her arm. “The medicine you bought is like a miracle drug, Auntie. After taking it, my stomach doesn’t hurt at all.”

Jian Sihong was coaxed into a laugh. “You still need to eat something warm. If you’re not hungry for a meal, I’ll go brew some soup for you.”

“Thank you, Auntie~” Jian Hao said coquettishly.

Jian You couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She felt like if Jian Lai stayed a few more days, she’d become her mother’s second daughter. She turned back with her pen in her mouth. Seeing Zhu Xinsui and Tan Yanqing packing up, she asked, “You guys leaving already?”

Zhu Xinsui: “Mhm.”

Hearing this, Jian Sihong immediately interjected, “No rush! Stay a bit longer. Don’t feel constrained just because I’m home. I heard you all laughing so happily from outside.”

Jian Hao giggled, clutching Jian Sihong’s arm, and whispered, “We were reviewing, and we were laughing at Jian You. She answers math questions like she’s speaking a different language.”

“Like you got yours right?” Jian You snorted.

“I got mine wrong too, but my answer was at least in the right ballpark!”

Jian Sihong laughed. Seeing that the two were determined to leave, she didn’t insist further. “It is getting a bit late. Be safe on your way home, and come back to play tomorrow.”

She then told Jian You to see them out. Since Jian Hao’s stomach hurt, she wasn’t allowed to leave the house.

However, Jian Hao still shuffled down the stairs in her slippers.

Zhu Xinsui had her bicycle and walked in front, pushing it along with Jian You by her side. Jian Hao and Tan Yanqing walked behind them. As if by unspoken agreement, the two of them walked very slowly.

A stray cat crossed their path. Jian Hao followed it with her eyes for a few seconds before looking back with a smile. She glanced at the person beside her; Tan Yanqing was walking forward with an expressionless face, but the smile remained on Jian Hao’s lips. She clasped her hands behind her back, felt a cool evening breeze on her face, and looked up at the sky.

In this night sky free of smog, there was a vast cluster of stars that Jian Hao had never seen again after growing up.

“Look!”

Jian Hao cried out in surprise, and Tan Yanqing turned to look at her. In the next second, Tan Yanqing’s arm was grabbed by Jian Hao.

“A shooting star!”

Tan Yanqing looked in the direction Jian Hao was pointing, only catching the tail end of the streak as it vanished. She looked back down at Jian Hao, who had already clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, muttering silently toward the sky: “Make me rich, make me rich, make me rich…”

Tan Yanqing’s eyes curved slightly.

When Jian Hao finished her wish and opened her eyes, the shooting star was long gone. “Did you make a wish?” she asked Tan Yanqing.

Tan Yanqing’s expression had returned to its natural state. She continued walking. “I didn’t.”

“What? Why? It’s a shooting star! You have to make a wish!”

Tan Yanqing swept a glance over her. “I believe in science.”

“…” What a buzzkill!

Jian Hao tilted her head at her. “What if something unscientific happens? Like time travel, or parallel universes?”

“If it happens, it is science.” Tan Yanqing paused. “My mom… she researched things like that.”

“Time travel?”

“Wormholes… celestial bodies, that sort of thing.”

Jian Hao had never heard Tan Yanqing mention anything about her family. Hearing her speak of it now, even just a single sentence, made Jian Hao’s heart heavy. A dull ache spread from her chest to her throat.

After a silence, she asked cautiously, “Do you… miss her?”

“It’s impossible not to.” Tan Yanqing gave a faint, quiet laugh. “After meeting you, I thought for a split second: if I lost my memory, would things be easier? But I immediately dismissed the thought. They have already left this world; I cannot let them leave my world, too.”

Jian Hao’s eyes felt hot. She looked down, unsure of what to say. Two seconds later, she took Tan Yanqing’s hand.

Tan Yanqing stiffened for a moment but didn’t pull away.

The apartment building was quite a distance from the complex entrance. They walked a few more steps, hand in hand.

“Actually…” Tan Yanqing’s voice was as soft as the passing shooting star. “I’m just afraid of the people around me leaving.”

Jian Hao gazed at Tan Yanqing’s profile. So, refusing to form relationships with anyone is a form of self-protection?

Looking up again, besides the starry sky, there was the massive canopy of the tree by the complex wall. Beneath the tree sat an old-fashioned streetlamp. A few elderly residents sat in the shade, fanning away mosquitoes, while some small children chased each other around. The chirping laughter was quite noisy.

It made the silence between Jian Hao and Tan Yanqing feel almost excessive.

“What are you two doing? Hurry up!” Jian You turned back and shouted at them.

Jian Hao reacted like a teenager caught in a secret romance by her mother, instantly letting go of Tan Yanqing’s hand.

“…Uh, coming!” she stammered back. She turned her eyes to Tan Yanqing. “Let’s be quicker.”

Tan Yanqing: “Mhm.”

However, as Jian Hao stepped ahead, Tan Yanqing watched her back for a moment. She looked down at the hand Jian Hao had just held.

The exit of the complex led to an alleyway that split into two directions. Zhu Xinsui went left to go home, and the bus stop was to the right. The four of them parted ways at the entrance.

The alley was lined with streetlamps. Walking under them, the light stretched and shortened their shadows. The only constant was that even though there was a gap between the two girls, their shadows on the pavement—whether long or short—always seemed to overlap in the middle.

It was as if their shadows knew what was in their hearts, taking the lead to be intimate.

Few people or cars passed through the alley. Away from the complex, the noise faded, and a gentle evening breeze blew through the quiet atmosphere. Tan Yanqing was in her blue-and-white uniform, while Jian Hao wore a sleeveless long dress. Her arms were bare; even in the dim yellow light, her skin looked exceptionally pale. Her loose hair caught the golden glow of the streetlamps; she looked like a shimmering pearl.

Tan Yanqing took one look and couldn’t look away. She saw Jian Hao’s lowered lashes and thought she looked downcast because of what she’d said—or perhaps she was being cautious, afraid of saying something to hurt her.

Tan Yanqing pursed her lips and spoke: “She took second.”

“Huh?” Jian Hao was startled. “Who?”

“The person who was running with you that day.”

“Oh.” Jian Hao knitted her brows. “What was her name?”

Tan Yanqing spoke a name. Jian Hao’s expression froze. That name… sounded familiar. She remembered now; she had seen it on the school’s old sports records. In the 5,000-meter run, the first place was Tan Yanqing, and she had caught a glimpse of the second-place name—it was this person.

When Jian Hao had talked to her, she didn’t actually know her name. She had only happened to find out during training that the girl had also signed up for the 5,000 and had raced her once. She had beaten the girl by three minutes.

If she had competed today, she might have won too. Then would the name written for second place be hers? If it was her name, would the “her” of the future see it?

Her mind was a bit of a mess. She was thinking seriously, but Tan Yanqing misinterpreted her expression as thinking about that other person.

Tan Yanqing pressed further: “You don’t know her name?”

Jian Hao pulled herself together and nodded at Tan Yanqing. “Mhm. We met on the playground that day, but I never asked her name.”

Tan Yanqing was silent for a moment. “So you can chat with just anyone.”

“Treating me the same way you treat them.”

Hearing the strained note in Tan Yanqing’s voice, Jian Hao was stunned. Where did she get that conclusion?

“Of course not!” she denied urgently.

“I haven’t seen anything different,” Tan Yanqing countered.

Jian Hao instinctively grabbed Tan Yanqing’s wrist, her words tripping over themselves. “I really don’t!”

Tan Yanqing looked down at where Jian Hao was holding her. “Mhm.”

From that tone, Jian Hao knew Tan Yanqing didn’t believe her at all. She didn’t know how to explain, so she let go of her hand. While she was incoherently organizing words to coax Tan Yanqing in her head, she heard Tan Yanqing’s soft voice.

“If you recover your memory… will you forget me?”

What Tan Yanqing really wanted to ask was: Will you leave me? But the words stopped at her lips. Sometimes, forgetting is a form of leaving. If she didn’t forget, she would live in her heart forever.

“Forgetting you would be my loss. It would be like a gemstone losing a facet; I will definitely cherish my memories of you,” Jian Hao’s short-circuited brain started working again, and her tongue became sweet once more.

The corner of Tan Yanqing’s eye turned up slightly. “Mhm.”

As they spoke, they arrived at the bus stop. Tan Yanqing spoke again: “About what you said… regarding dating…”

“Oh, that~” Jian Hao, thinking Tan Yanqing was about to lecture her again, gave a sheepish laugh. “I was just joking.”

“…”

Joking?

Tan Yanqing’s gaze darkened. She hadn’t slept well for days because of that sentence, and it was just a joke?

But Tan Yanqing still gave Jian Hao a look and, after careful consideration to ensure she wouldn’t ruin their friendship, gave the answer she had prepared: “Before the college entrance exams are over, I have no plans to date.”

Jian Hao nodded repeatedly. “I know, I won’t make jokes like that anymore.”

“You can.”

Jian Hao was stunned. “Huh?”

The bus Tan Yanqing needed to board pulled up. Before getting on, Tan Yanqing looked back at Jian Hao, pushed up her glasses, and said:

“But in moderation.”