Back to Auntie’s School Days - Chapter 25

What, what exactly is there to tell “in detail”?

Do top students have a research-driven spirit for every single problem they don’t understand?

Jian Hao’s ears were burning, and the restless itch on her back felt like fireworks exploding. She scratched her head. “It was just thinking about that TV drama, thinking about the two leads doing… that… I, I wasn’t thinking about anything else.”

Tan Yanqing’s gaze swept over Jian Hao’s face, from her pink ear-tips to her darting, round eyes, finally settling on Jian Hao’s rosy, full lips.

“Are you curious?” she asked softly.

“Ye-yeah.” Being stared at by Tan Yanqing, Jian Hao pursed her lips and looked down, avoiding her gaze.

Where she couldn’t see, the corner of Tan Yanqing’s mouth quirked up, revealing a barely perceptible smile. She leaned back slightly, resting gently against the kitchen counter, watching the half of Jian Hao’s face hidden beneath her hair. There was a hint of something meaningful in her curved lips. “I’m curious, too.”

Huh?

Jian Hao looked up in surprise.

The last beam of evening light hit Tan Yanqing’s face. The light was gentle, and so was she. Jian Hao could see clearly that the usual coldness and distance in her eyes were replaced by a shimmering glimmer, like ripples on water. The shallow dimples at the corners of her mouth suggested she was in a fairly good mood.

Jian Hao: “You don’t seem like someone who watches dramas.”

Tan Yanqing blinked softly. “Mhm, I don’t.”

So… what did Tan Yanqing mean? What was she curious about?

Tan Yanqing’s dark eyes slowly scanned Jian Hao. She could see the confusion, but she had no intention of explaining. Instead, she returned to her usual expression and asked faintly, “What kind of noodles do you want? Soup or tossed?”

Jian Hao replied, “Noodles with egg and soybean paste.”

“Mhm.” Tan Yanqing filled a pot with water and turned on the gas. While the water heated, she took eggs and side dishes out of the fridge, washing them at the sink.

As she busied herself, Jian Hao stood rooted to the spot, still processing the answer. If she doesn’t watch dramas, then what is she curious about? Is it what kissing feels like?

Jian Hao put her hand to the back of her neck. Her room-temperature hand felt icy against her burning skin; the constant exchange of heat and cold did nothing to clear her head.

When she lowered her right hand and pressed her left to her neck, a fresh chill hit her. She gave a light cough. Tan Yanqing, busy chopping vegetables, didn’t pay her any mind.

Jian Hao cleared her throat again with a muffled cough. “Um…” She let go and paced over to Tan Yanqing’s side. “What are you curious about?”

“Mhm?”

Jian Hao’s tone was unnatural. “Just what you said earlier, that you were curious…”

Tan Yanqing glanced at her sideways. “What do you think?”

Jian Hao: “I don’t know.”

Tan Yanqing lowered her head, a soft chuckle escaping her throat. She set down the knife, propped her left hand on the cutting board, and turned toward Jian Hao. Tilting her head to the left, she arched an eyebrow. “I’m curious, of course, about why you’d think of me when you think about the leads in a drama kissing.”

“…”

Jian Hao felt her shyness bloom at the sound of Tan Yanqing’s laughter. Oh, so it was that! She thought it was the other thing.

“Because I was sitting across from you?”

Isn’t Tan Yanqing thoughtful? Asking a question and providing the answer. Jian Hao nodded. “That’s it.”

Tan Yanqing: “So, you’re saying no matter who was sitting across from you, you’d project onto them?”

Wait? Jian Hao shook her head. “Of course not!”

Tan Yanqing’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Then why can I be projected onto by you?”

…

Jian Hao suddenly felt like turning around and leaving. She felt like she was stepping into a net Tan Yanqing had carefully laid out, one step at a time.

She gave a forced laugh. “It’s just… a joke… haha.”

“Another joke?”

Tan Yanqing turned back, putting the chopped vegetables on a plate and reaching for another pan to fry the egg paste. Walking past Jian Hao, she didn’t look at her, saying as if in passing, “I’ve taken every one of your jokes seriously. This time too.”

She put the pan on the stove and turned back to search the cabinet near Jian Hao’s head for seasoning. She opened the cabinet, reaching high into the shelves.

Jian Hao was effectively shielded within her arms.

Jian Hao was about 170cm tall, and Tan Yanqing was similar; her height offered no advantage here. Being “caged” like this made her feel quite small and delicate. Jian Hao held her breath, waiting for Tan Yanqing to move away.

But Tan Yanqing seemed unable to find whatever she was looking for.

Just as Jian Hao was about to turn and help her, Tan Yanqing suddenly lowered her gaze, peering down at her. “I really thought you wanted to kiss me.” She gave a soft laugh. “I was going to say, maybe we could give it a try.”

Jian Hao was already feeling unnatural in her embrace; being looked at like that made her breath hitch. They were so close that Jian Hao could see the slight flutter of Tan Yanqing’s lashes and the sudden surge of tenderness in her eyes. But after saying that, Tan Yanqing took what she needed, closed the cabinet door, and turned away as if nothing had happened.

Jian Hao froze, her brain lagging a beat before realizing what had been said.

That single sentence kept Jian Hao wide awake until she went to bed.

Tan Yanqing said to give it a try.

Try what?

Kissing her?!

How is that possible?!

But Tan Yanqing wasn’t the type to play jokes. If she said it, there was a 70% chance she was serious.

Didn’t Tan Yanqing say she wasn’t a “casual” person? So why would she want to try with her?

What does that mean?

Does Tan Yanqing like her?

Huh?

All night long, Jian Hao dreamed of Tan Yanqing.

Tan Yanqing stood before her, saying she liked her and wanted to try. In the end, they actually did it. But just as they were about to kiss, Jian Hao suddenly woke up.

She had scared herself awake. This was too much stimulus.

In all her years of crushing on Auntie Tan, this was the first time she’d dreamed of them kissing. Usually, it was just holding hands or something.

However…

Jian Hao dove into her blanket with a burning face, screaming silently and rolling around while clutching the covers. Aaaaaah~ kissing is so dreamy! Even without the actual kiss, her heart was itching like crazy.

Once the tingle from the dream faded, she pulled back the covers, took two deep breaths, felt her still-hot face, and got up to wash with cold water in the bathroom.

After washing up and changing out of her pajamas, she stepped out of her room just as Tan Yanqing was coming downstairs.

“Morning, Tan Yanqing!”

From the stairs, Tan Yanqing saw a girl as bright as the sun standing by the sofa, looking up at her with a smile. She paused for a moment and nodded. “Morning.”

Jian Hao’s eyes lit up. After saying morning so many times, this was the first time Tan Yanqing had replied! Oh yeah! Today is a day to remember!

September 23, 2008: Tan Yanqing said morning to me!

She beamed. And her smile, in a certain someone’s eyes, was something no blooming sunflower could match.

Tan Yanqing watched her as she walked down the stairs. Jian Hao already had both their bags in her hands. She looked at her and said, “It’s still early, but how about we have breakfast at school? I’m craving the school wontons.”

“Mhm.”

Tan Yanqing walked to her side and took the bags from her. The two headed to the entryway.

While changing shoes, Jian Hao looked down at the white velcro sneakers. As she squatted to put them on, she looked up at the person beside her. “Thanks for the shoes. I really like them.”

Last night, Tan Yanqing hadn’t just found shoes for her; she’d found clothes, too. Since there was no wardrobe in that room, Tan Yanqing had found a chair for her to stack her clothes. She constantly marveled at her thoughtfulness, but a moment’s thought made her understand why Tan Yanqing was so meticulous.

Tan Yanqing said nothing, opening the door and waiting for Jian Hao to finish.

It was very early; a morning mist still hung in the air. Facing the thin moisture, the two walked slowly along the asphalt toward the bus stop.

Autumn had arrived, and the plane trees along the road were starting to shed. The leaves were five-pointed, yellowing at the edges while the rest remained green. They were large, the size of a palm. Falling leaves looked like parachutes for insects, spiraling down. Jian Hao reached out and caught one, rubbing the stem between her fingers so the leaf shook like a rattle.

“Tan Yanqing, did you dream last night?”

“No.”

“I dreamed of you last night.”

Jian Hao glanced sideways. Seeing Tan Yanqing only give her a flat look before turning away, she took it as disbelief. She stopped spinning the leaf.

“Really!”

“Guess what I dreamed about?”

She tapped Tan Yanqing’s shoulder with the leaf. In the breeze stirred by the leaf, there was the sweet scent of the candy she carried. Mingled with the mist, it settled heavily on the nose—sticky and a bit intoxicating.

Tan Yanqing’s breath hitched slightly, but she didn’t reply immediately.

Jian Hao assumed she was uninterested and didn’t want to guess. She used the leaf to stir the air again. The breeze ruffled her bangs—she had specially washed them this morning, and they looked very fresh and lively in the wind.

She pouted. “You’re not cooperating at all.”

She took two steps forward, turned around, and wrinkled her nose at Tan Yanqing. “Then I’m not telling you.”

Then she turned back and walked ahead with a light step. The leaf fell from her hand, landing steadily on the ground.

Two seconds later, it was picked up by a slender, pale hand. Later, it was tucked into a book.

For many, many years after, even though it remained in that book, it was often taken out and put back. In the butterfly-like shadows of old times, it became a wordless letter used by a lingering heart to remember.

At 6:30 AM, the bus stop was deserted, save for a puddle left by the rain the day before. It reflected a corner of the station, storing every image before it vanished.

A minute later, two figures in blue-and-white school uniforms appeared side-by-side on the water’s surface. One was calm, the other exuberant, talking incessantly. Occasionally, she would gesticulate excitedly.

The other person didn’t seem to find her annoying at all. Although she wasn’t looking directly at her, her ears were listening. She gave “mhm” and “ah” responses. Seeing the other girl’s waving hands, the corners of her eyes behind her glasses crinkled, and a faint smile played on her lips.

The puddle couldn’t record sound, but it was like a moon in the water—rippling at the slightest touch. A passing car splashed water into the pit, making the reflections on the surface crumple.

No one noticed. Not even the people standing right above it.

Jian Hao finished telling Tan Yanqing the entire plot of the drama she watched yesterday. Taking the water bottle Tan Yanqing had opened for her, she took a sip and said with sparkling eyes: “Watch it with me tonight! Otherwise, sitting downstairs by myself is cold and lonely.”

Tan Yanqing had a TV. But according to her, she only used it to check the weather forecast. Once she saw the weather for Nanqing, the TV was turned off.

What a waste! It was a color TV! Even though it had a thick back and couldn’t compare to the thin TVs of the future, in 2008, such a set was high-end. Jian Hao didn’t want such a good thing to go to waste; after Tan Yanqing went upstairs to sleep last night, she had sat in the living room binge-watching.

Of course, she also did it because if she didn’t find something to do, her mind would be filled with Tan Yanqing’s words.

At this moment, Jian Hao’s gaze drifted unconsciously toward Tan Yanqing’s lips. Tan Yanqing seemed to have applied lip balm; her lips looked hydrated, and the original pale pink now had a watery sheen, like a pearl.

She stared a bit too long. Tan Yanqing looked at her, and she jerked her head away, craning her neck to look behind Tan Yanqing. “Why isn’t the bus here yet?”

The glasses Tan Yanqing wore were like the transparent glass of a water tank; her eyes were as clear as black glass beads on the bottom. And the “Jian Lai” in her eyes was a red goldfish swimming in the water. Small, with a round belly. With every flick of her tail, she stirred up layer after layer of ripples.

Her heart was made of glass, and thus it reflected that tiny red fish and the ripples. Her heart was being softened by this little fish.

“Soon,” Tan Yanqing replied. After a pause, she asked, “What did you dream about last night?”

Jian Hao withdrew her gaze and looked back at Tan Yanqing’s face, but after a quick glance at her mouth, she turned away, clutching her bag straps. “…Nothing.”

Tan Yanqing: “Another joke?”

Jian Hao: “No.”

“Then why do you say it and then take it back?”

“I can say it, but I’m afraid you’ll think I’m a creep.”

“What’s a ‘creep’?”

“A pervert.”

Tan Yanqing couldn’t help but smile. “Tell me then. Let’s see how much of a creep you are.”

Seeing the smile, Jian Hao muttered to herself: Tan Yanqing is talking a lot today!

She stood at the edge of the platform, her left foot lifting and rubbing her toe back and forth against the step, kicking the air. Then she looked down at Tan Yanqing’s toes and said:

“I dreamed about the ‘try it’ you mentioned yesterday.”

“And? Do you want to try?”

“I—” Jian Hao was about to nod.

Tan Yanqing interrupted: “The bus is here.”

Jian Hao looked back at the approaching vehicle, which was still a long distance away. She looked at Tan Yanqing; the girl’s expression was flat, as if she weren’t interested in the answer at all.

If you’re not interested, why ask? Jian Hao suspected she was doing it on purpose to get back at her for those “jokes.”

You meanie!

Jian Hao gripped her straps, waiting for the bus to stop. As Tan Yanqing made a move to board, Jian Hao leaned in on her tiptoes and kissed Tan Yanqing’s left cheek with lightning speed.

There was a soft “pop.”

Osmanthus flowers fell into the puddle, stirring up ripples.

Jian Hao scrambled onto the bus.

The deserted platform, with its shallow puddle full of the scent of osmanthus, saw a girl freeze, then lower her eyes and give a faint smile as she boarded the bus.