CH 4

Lin HeYuan just came to give Jiang Xiao a warning because of his sister, but Jiang Xiao reacted a lot better than he expected. Maybe he’d change his mind in the future, but all he did then was take the gift back and apologize with a serious expression. When Lin HeYuan didn’t say anything, Jiang Xiao turned around and left.

Lin HeYuan stood in place for a while, frozen, then returned to his sister, Lin QingYu.

She was a bit nervous and asked, “He won’t bother me again, will he?”

“No,” Lin HeYuan assured her, “He…”

He wanted to comment about Jiang Xiao, but he frowned, thought about it for a while, and decided not to say anything. In the end he had an impression of a somewhat unique person.

Jiang Xiao rushed back at noon. In the morning he didn’t have much time, so over lunch he went home to sort through the textbooks in his room, especially the ones for first and second year. If he wanted to relearn what he’d forgotten, the first thing he had to do was find his books.

Xia WanWan had gone to work, and her lunchtime was a little later. Jiang Xiao usually had to wait a while for her to return. Lunch for two people didn’t have to be complicated, so when she came back she would quickly stir-fry one or two dishes, and by half past twelve they’d eat.

Today when Jiang Xiao got home his mother wasn’t back yet. He opened the refrigerator and saw vegetables and meat inside, so he picked a few ingredients and fried some celery, beef, and shredded potatoes.

He’d learned how to take care of himself long ago. He wasn’t a teenaged boy who only knew how to eat ready-made meals, he actually had some skill.

Today Xia WanWan was delayed in the office because of urgent business. When she hurried through the door, Jiang Xiao was just bringing the steaming food to the table.

“You’re just in time. Let’s eat.” Jiang Xiao greeted her naturally and took off the apron.

… When did my son learn to cook?

Ms. Xia thought today was really magical. She stood there for a while like she was in a dream, then she sat down nervously. At first glance, the food didn’t look too bad. She decided that even if it was inedible, she’d close her eyes and say it was delicious. When she brought her chopsticks to her mouth, she was astonished to find the food was genuinely good.

The shredded potatoes were refreshing, and the celery and beef served with rice were downright delicious. The cooking was even better than her own.

“NianNian, when did you learn to stir-fry?”

“It’s not hard. I did it once or twice when you worked overtime before,” Jiang Xiao said lightly. “After you watch someone do it a few times, you’ll pick it up.”

His mother was quite easy to deceive, so she believed him. She didn’t ask too much, just gazed at him like she was moved. She praised Jiang Xiao several times in succession.

After eating, she happily helped Jiang Xiao find the textbooks scattered around the house. She hummed as she washed the dishes, and when she came out of the kitchen she saw Jiang Xiao sitting quietly at the desk in his room, reading a book.

Reading a book! Seriously!

Xia WanWan doesn’t know how long it was since she’d seen such a thing.

She didn’t dare disturb this quiet scene. Without making a sound she went back to her room. She sat blankly on the bed and wiped her face, forcing back her tears.

She didn’t know why her son had suddenly returned to his previous dutiful, obedient self. It was a huge and pleasant surprise.

Jiang Xiao found the books from his first year of junior high. Back then, he was serious about studying, and his notes were still with the books. After looking through them a bit, he found the summarized information was easy to understand.

He roughly flipped through the books and began to form ideas.

The high school entrance exam wasn’t as standardized as the college entrance exam. Various regions had their own testing methods. In Houlin County at this time there were always ten test subjects. The three main subjects, language, mathematics, and foreign languages, were worth 120 points each. Physics and chemistry were 100 points apiece, the history and politics combined papers were 50 and 70 points respectively, the biology and geography combined papers were 50 each, plus 30 points of physical education, for a total of 810 points.

Although there were a lot of tests, another aspect showed that junior high school wasn’t difficult. Physics didn’t start until the second year, and chemistry didn’t start until the third year. In a single year of effort, you could get a big improvement in your score.

Jiang Xiao gathered all his books together. After he had a clear understanding, he made a study plan and posted it on his desk.

During afternoon class, Jiang Xiao took out the exercise book to do problems while he listened. Class 15 wasn’t diligent, but the teachers were serious, and their lectures had a lot of detail. Jiang Xiao understood a little faster than an ordinary junior high student. He could take time to do problems to consolidate his knowledge.

Student life was always boring. It was difficult for teenage boys and girls to endure this kind of suffering, but for Jiang Xiao, studying was actually fun.

When it came to school, you always reaped what you sowed. As long as you studied hard, you could raise your grades. The knowledge you put in your head could never be taken away. It would always belong to you, and that was an amazing thing. In the adult world, the same equation didn’t apply. It was possible to put in constant effort and still get no reward. Jiang Xiao had some experience of that himself.

Ye YingYing was shocked in the morning, but as a highly accomplished chuunibyou teen, he quickly accepted Jiang Xiao’s transformation. At any rate, he had a side business so he didn’t have time to monitor Jiang Xiao. After playing cards all morning, he got bored and decided to take a job in the afternoon painting school uniforms.

Houlin No. 3 Junior High required all students to wear a uniform. This public junior high school strictly followed the nine-year compulsory education regulations, and it was fundamentally different from the private high school in the south of the city where Jiang Xiao was once enrolled. Overall school spirit and discipline were good, and the most basic school rules were still respected, so the worst students had a bottom line even as they skirted the edge of the school rules.

Painting school uniforms was an example. The school uniforms of Houlin No. 3 Junior High were blue and white, with white accounting for the majority. It was a blank canvas for self-expression. These days students didn’t dare to get tattoos, but they wrote and drew on the school uniform to express their personality and stand out.

Ye YingYing’s winged demon uniform design might be excruciatingly embarrassing to Jiang Xiao, but in the eyes of Houlin No. 3 Junior High students, it was simply the most fashionable trend of the season. You could even call it amazing. After all, the drawing was really good. The bloody-eyed demon was painted vividly, like it might draw breath at any moment. The technique wasn’t inferior to popular webcomic artists that Jiang Xiao had seen.

It seemed that the knight design he’d painted for Jiang Xiao’s uniform was even better, but unfortunately it was bleached by Ms. Xia after their previous quarrel. The knight-errant, which once attracted countless eyes, had been washed away, and hardly the slightest shadow could be seen.

Ye YingYing shared a desk with Jiang Xiao and had drawn it for free, but others had to pay. Custom designs cost anywhere from a few jiao1 to a few yuan. These days in small counties, prices weren’t high. A small grilled sausage sold outside the school entrance cost 50 fen2, and a breakfast bowl of hot noodles was just one yuan. Ten yuan could buy a lot of things. Junior high school students had limited pocket money, so Ye YingYing’s business was average, but he could earn a little money.

Today he took a small job. Though Jiang Xiao was reading seriously, his deskmate was so close that he still noticed what he was doing.

Ye YingYing had a more detailed job today. First, he drew a sample on white paper. During the break he ran to show it to his customer in the next class. After receiving approval he began to draw on the school uniform jacket.

According to the size of the school uniform jacket it probably belonged to a girl. She didn’t dare to draw a large design on the back. That would be too ostentatious, so she asked him to draw a thin circle on the uniform jacket and cuffs. You had to look carefully to see it. Jiang Xiao glanced at it and saw the circle was actually a woven bracelet with flowers and butterflies and a few small characters written next to it. It was quite ornate.

Jiang Xiao looked at the style of the bracelet and thought it was a little familiar, but he didn’t care too much about it so he returned to studying.

Who knew that after Ye YingYing finished this drawing and got the affirmation of his little customer, he received several related orders. All of them requested similar bracelets. He used different colors to add variety, but the look was all the same. He painted all afternoon and evening, and for two self-study sessions at night he didn’t skip class to go out to the game hall. It could be said that he was very conscientious.

Ye YingYing earned about ten yuan for his art, so he was very pleased. In fact, his family gave him a lot of pocket money, but the money he earned himself was different. The next day at noon he spent two yuan to invite Jiang Xiao to eat fried dumplings in front of school.

Jiang Xiao asked a casual question on the way home, “Why did they all want the same thing?”

“You don’t know? It’s the hottest costume drama on TV right now. It’s called The World of Mortals. My mom watches it too.” Ye YingYing ate fried dumplings as he explained, “The heroine wears a bracelet just like that. The girls are really into it.”

Jiang Xiao’s family didn’t watch many TV dramas, but he had the impression that TV was still the primary information vector in underdeveloped small counties in central China at this time.

Jiang Xiao lowered his head as an idea came to him. He thought about it a little more, but when he turned his head to look at Ye YingYing, he saw him finish the fried dumplings with a silly smile of satisfaction. Jiang Xiao looked at him a little helplessly, like an elder watching a child.

Ye YingYing painted several school uniforms and Jiang Xiao had seen them—he was really quite gifted, with a rare talent. Ye YingYing had never gotten systematic training. He began drawing on textbooks and later painted school uniforms. He was entirely self-taught.

“Well, think about what I said before,” Jiang Xiao said to him.

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“What?”

“If you don’t like reading you don’t have to force yourself, but you can still learn painting and art,” Jiang Xiao said. “You can go to a good university if you know how to draw. You don’t want your father to yell at you every day if you don’t go to school in the future, do you?”

Ye YingYing had never even thought about college. He was still young, and he thought muddling along from day to day was good enough. When Jiang Xiao talked about learning art and painting, he pictured the kind of person who appeared in TV dramas wearing a beret and small round glasses. Anyway, it was far away from him.

Jiang Xiao took one look at Ye YingYing’s face and knew he hadn’t listened.

The power of words was limited. Jiang Xiao shook his head, then he thought of something and said to Ye YingYing, “After the National Day3 holiday I’ll give you a present.”

When Ye YingYing heard he was getting a present he was delighted. “Okay! Do you want some more fried dumplings? I’ll go buy another three yuan!”

“No,” Jiang Xiao said, “you should eat less at street stalls. It’s not good for your health, and your family’s waiting at home.”

“Xiao Ge, you need to stop talking like my dad.” Ye YingYing looked at him with mixed feelings. “It’s like you changed as soon as the semester started.”

Studying again was one thing, but Jiang Xiao was suddenly acting like a pompous old man.

Jiang Xiao smiled and didn’t say anything else. He watched Ye YingYing run wildly back to buy more fried dumplings, and the hedgehog hair looked silly. He told himself it was good to be young.

Now the self-important old man inside him was going to start planning something else.

At lunch, it just so happened that Xia WanWan turned on the TV. Jiang Xiao discovered she was watching that costume drama too. It seemed really popular. The bracelet that earned Ye YingYing a tiny fortune was an important prop for the heroine. It was a memorable part of the show.

Jiang Xiao had a plan in mind, so he watched a bit more. When the episode was over, the station broadcast the local city’s weather forecast, and the iconic skyline of Liujiang City was on the screen.

It was going to rain in Liujiang tomorrow.

He froze for a moment, then he lowered his head. His expression didn’t change, but he was reminded of the past. Of course, he and Lin ChengYu lived in Liujiang for a long time. It was normal to associate it with him.

After his rebirth, Jiang Xiao seemed to have completely forgotten the man who was engraved in his heart in his previous life. Now, because of this image, he remembered everything again. He’d been reborn for a few days, and he’d already settled into his current life. His past life was gradually becoming like a dream. The memory was still there, but the emotions were blurred.

Maybe having died once made everything different. No matter how deeply that person was carved into his bones, it could all be washed away and polished clean by disappointment. Maybe it wasn’t possible to start over if the past was fresh in your mind. Jiang Xiao’s attention was totally absorbed. He had no time for anything else.

But this life’s trajectory would be completely different. He and Lin ChengYu would never intersect… he hoped.

When he saw Liujiang City again, he really had important plans to make.

TL Notes:

The World of Mortals – from 天下红尘 – red dust under heaven – “red dust” is a Buddhist term for human society/the mortal world

popular, hot – 红 – red

engraved in his heart, carved into his bones – 刻骨铭心 – imprint the bones and inscribe on the memory, heartfelt, engraved in the bones and printed on the heart, gratitude for a kindness impossible to forget, inscribed on one’s mind, engraved on one’s soul

Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:

Ms Xia – 夏女 – Xià Nǚshì – MC’s mom