TBTTSP - Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Zhang Xu Has No Story (6)
Yesterday, Shang Yi left a note at the secret base telling me to meet her to discuss important matters. Burn after reading.
I first combed my hair thoroughly, washed my face, and put on some face cream. After making sure I wasn't an eyesore for her, I boarded the bus to Pingdu.
At our meeting, I had barely settled in my seat when Shang Yi pushed her coffee cup forward. She glanced into the shadows to make sure the Old Girl was at her post, then rubbed the rim of her cup with her fingertips and asked, "Are you in a puppy love relationship?"
My legs went so soft I nearly slid under the stool.
"Puppy love" was truly a strange term. Although I was a primary school student, I was already fifteen. In ancient times, a girl my age would already be a mother, nursing her baby at home. Falling in love certainly wouldn't be considered early. But whether I had fallen in love was another question. I wracked my brain trying to invent a relationship history for myself, attempting to create the illusion that I was actually an old hand at this.
"No."
Even though I was fifteen, I really didn't have any relationship history to speak of, just a short-lived, unrequited crush.
Shang Yi paused. I couldn't tell if she found this answer surprising or expected.
I had deliberately used the very fragrant Frog Prince moisturizing cream today. Seeing the beautiful makeup on Shang Yi's face, I felt a pang of familiarity for a moment and held my hand out to her. "I smell really nice today."
Shang Yi nodded. "You are cleaner than usual."
Pleased with the compliment, I sat up straight. Across from me, Shang Yi had ordered a coffee but wasn't drinking it. She just kept stroking the rim of the cup as if she were trying to polish it, rubbing it in circles. Anyone who didn't know better would think she was DJing.
I had never had coffee before; it felt like something from the adult world. Shang Yi ordered a cup for me. I took a slow sip, savoring the taste of the big city. Shang Yi took out her phone to reply to messages, seemingly forgetting I was there. After a while, she suddenly looked up. "Have you noticed any more boys hanging around you lately?"
"No."
Ever since I made up with Li Zhaodi, my interactions with the boys had become much more distant. After all, from Li Zhaodi's perspective, they were a bunch of walking pollutants, and she wanted me to stay far away to avoid catching their lack of ambition. She didn't know that the words "lacks ambition" were already written into my DNA.
"Then have the teachers been treating you any better?"
"Ever since you came, the teachers have been praising me more. I was even a flag bearer last week."
Shang Yi covered her face. "Alright, then."
I didn't understand what she meant. Did she think there should be a few boys around me? That the teachers, as gardeners, should all be flocking around a flower like me?
Was she training me to be a social butterfly?
That seemed a bit difficult for me.
A troubled look crossed my face, and I didn't dare take another sip.
The coffee grew cold. Shang Yi replied to about two hundred more messages, then held her hand out flat. "Take down my number. I can't stay in Pingdu anymore."
"Where are you going?"
"All over the country." Shang Yi held her bag in one hand and her phone in the other, tapping the screen with one finger with the effect of a hundred, replying to messages before looking up. "Then has there been, say, a girl who has suddenly gotten closer to you?"
"Li Zhaodi," I said.
It's hard to describe the look on Shang Yi's face. It was like she'd just swallowed a huge clump of bitter herbs, only to have it chased with a shot of fiery Mongolian liquor. In any case, amidst the bustling traffic, Shang Yi walked out of the cafe and was hit square in the face by some small, hanging trinkets. Without a word, she and the Old Girl then bumped headfirst into an electric scooter, which immediately shrieked its alarm as if she had assaulted it.
Then she made a right turn on the spot to look for her car, only to bump into me.
"Shang Yi…" I was very worried about her.
Could it be that she was unhappy about me being friends with Li Zhaodi? But who was it that had ordered me to apologize, no arguments allowed?
The Old Girl called out, "Sister!"
Shang Yi came back to her senses and placed her hands solemnly on my shoulders. "Tell me in detail, how did Li Zhaodi forgive you?"
I didn't dare hold anything back from Shang Yi, so I told her about the kite incident as well.
She hastily wrote down her number for me, then turned to leave with the Old Girl.
After taking two or three steps, she suddenly turned back. "Come on, get in the car. Tell me about what's happened these past few days."
From the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep, I told Shang Yi about my days in painstaking detail. I'm not a good storyteller, and the Old Girl yawned so much she nearly caused a traffic accident. Shang Yi, however, listened and nodded along. As expected of a big boss, she had the patience to listen to me drone on about every trivial little thing.
It took a long time. I don't know if I was just trying to score a free meal or if I really had that much to say, but Shang Yi treated me to dinner, and I spent another half of the afternoon talking before I finally finished. I saved Shang Yi's number and rolled back to the county town to await my fate.
What was going on? I was a little bit worried, but if the sky were to fall, Shang Yi could hold it up. Besides, I was just an innocent primary school student whose body had been taken over. It probably had nothing to do with me, so I easily forgot about it.
On the third day, my desk mate told me I had been strange the day before—very nice to her in the morning, then cold and distant in the afternoon.
Shang Yi was probably in a bad mood.
On the fifth day, my desk mate said I had been strange on the fourth day, too—gentle with her in the morning, then fierce in the afternoon. The day after, I was back to normal.
...
Was Shang Yi deliberately being mean to my desk mate?
That evening, I nervously dialed Shang Yi's number, afraid of tying up her line for too long and interfering with her business. So I asked succinctly, "Did my desk mate make you angry?"
A short laugh came from the other end. "No, I'm on my period, just in a bad mood."
I quickly offered a few words of concern and hung up. I could understand that; being on your period really does put you in a bad mood.
I explained this to my desk mate. I told her I was on my period and in a bad mood.
"What's a period? Is it that thing in your diary?"
She knew everything from astronomy to geography, but she had so little life experience that she didn't yet understand this particular pain. I just don't know how her mother managed to hide changing sanitary pads from her, that she had absolutely no concept of it.
"No, I didn't write a diary about my period…"
"Then is it a monthly journal you write once a month?"
"No, it's not something you write. It's a change in your body. I've reached puberty, so my body is going to change."
"How does it change? Do you get mean?"
"No, you bleed!" I got straight to the point. "That's why some people get really mean, and some people get unhappy. You can't control it yourself."
My desk mate's face paled a little. She thought for a moment and said, "I understand."
A day later, I saw a text from Shang Yi on my phone: Li Zhaodi said she's bringing you brown sugar tomorrow.
"…" Thank you.
It was immediately followed by another one:
It's useless. I suggest you change out of those ripped pants and stick on a heat pack. Also, your period should have just ended. Do you need to go to the hospital?
No, I was just explaining, I didn't say I was actually on my period!
Whatever.
I threw on a thick jacket and went to Li Zhaodi's house to tell her not to bring me any brown sugar.
She came out the main gate while I was squatting on a stone by the entrance.
"What are you doing here?"
"You, you don't need to bring me brown sugar. I'm not… I don't need it. I have some."
"I already stole it! It'd be a waste not to use it."
We were like two people making a shady deal, glancing left and right to make sure no one was watching. She pulled out half a plastic bag of brown sugar. It wasn't great quality and had clumped together, looking very damp. She stuffed it into my jacket pocket.
Li Zhaodi actually stole brown sugar from her own family? I developed a newfound respect for her.
Could a good student also be a thief in her own home? I couldn't help but ask, "What if you get caught?"
"It's fine. I saved it up over two days, just taking an extra spoonful each day. My mom won't notice."
"Your mom doesn't let you have brown sugar?"
"My mom says it's bad for your teeth, so I… I don't eat sugar."
Li Zhaodi puffed out her chest, looking just like a proud rooster.
I was very grateful. The two of us were talking in the small alley behind her house when a group of young boys, like a string of firecrackers, exploded past us before raising a ruckus elsewhere.
Her younger brother was running happily, sucking on a lollipop.
I didn't actually know her brother, but he looked a lot like her.
I felt around in my pocket and found a few hard fruit candies. I gave her two and kept two for myself.
"Tongtong—" my desk mate called the little boy over and handed him a candy.
I took a closer look at the boy. For some reason, he shivered all over, as if my gaze were a cold wind. He hurriedly pulled two lollipops from his pocket, gave one to his sister, and practically threw one at me. Then he snatched the fruit candy from my desk mate's hand and ran off without stopping.
"He's afraid of you," I said, a bit slow to react.
"I'm his older sister. I'm bigger than him. He's afraid I'll bully him." My desk mate put on that proud rooster expression again, though I couldn't see what was so great about having a younger brother.
"Then why would you think of bullying him?" I asked, since I didn't understand.
She gave me a blank look, then lifted her head high again. "Why do you ask so many questions?"
Alright.
I had no idea what was going on with Shang Yi, nor what conflict had arisen between her and Xu Wanqing, nor why my desk mate wanted to bully her younger brother.
But I felt that my desk mate was so nice to her brother, she probably wouldn't bully him… right?
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