After registering and getting their uniforms, the two of them found the nearby bus stop to head home. As soon as Feng Ning appeared at the entrance of Yujiang Lane, a yellow dog wrapped itself around her legs.
Shuang Yao turned around, startled and jumping onto the steps, screaming nervously, “Quick, keep your dog away from me!”
“Oh my sweet baby, my darling.” Feng Ning crouched down and gave it a good rub. “Come on, let’s go home.”
The yellow dog happily jumped on its hind legs, trying to pounce on her.
Feng Ning quickly stood up, using her foot to push Beibei away, “Hey, no no, don’t get my clothes dirty.”
“Shuang Yao, Sister Ning—”
They both looked up. Black power lines covered the wall, and dried radishes and cabbages hung from clotheslines, swaying in the wind. Zhao Weichen looked down from the second-floor balcony, “Have you finished registering?”
Feng Ning shouted back, “Yeah, classes start tomorrow. Did you like the birthday present I gave you?”
“I loved it, thank you Sister Ning!”
“Such a fool.” Shuang Yao crouched to the side and whispered teasingly, “If little Zhao knew the clothes were picked up for free…”
“Shh! Don’t tell him.” Feng Ning made a silencing gesture. “What if the poor kid closes his eyes and jumps from the second floor?”
They both burst out laughing.
The three of them lived in Yujiang Lane and grew up together. Zhao Weichen really admired Feng Ning. According to him, she was the most special girl he had ever met. When asked what made her special, he couldn’t really explain it, but his eyes would shine brightly as he bragged: “You’ll understand once you spend time with her, my Sister Ning is truly extraordinary!”
When Shuang Yao told this to Feng Ning, the “extraordinary lady” couldn’t stop cackling.
It was nearly noon, and the smell of stir-fried green peppers with pork wafted through the alley from somewhere. The loud voice of the neighborhood committee aunty crackled from inside the courtyard.
Shuang Yao turned and asked, “By the way, are you still selling alcohol at Little Zhao’s cousin’s place? School’s starting, you should quit.”
Feng Ning didn’t care at all, “I’ll do it for a few more months. It’s just weekends anyway, pretty relaxed, and it doesn’t affect my studies.”
“You’re so young, are you obsessed with money? Are you Grandet’s daughter? You’re so stingy.”
“I need to save money to take care of my mom.” Feng Ning avoided her serious expression. “Her health isn’t good, and her previous illness might flare up again.”
Shuang Yao paused briefly. Feng Ning had matured early, neither pure nor carefree. Most of the time she was self-centered, yet among them, she was the most sensible and ambitious one.
Looking up again, she had already run ahead with the yellow dog, bouncing and waving, “Tomorrow at seven, let’s go to school together!”
When she got home, Auntie Li, who helped cook at the mahjong parlor, was washing fish in the courtyard. Seeing Feng Ning, she called out, “Ning Ning, you’re back! Today auntie is making fish head tofu soup for you, with fresh wild fish!”
“Great, where’s my mom?”
“Making dumplings.”
Gently kicking aside the circling dog, Feng Ning threw down her backpack and strolled leisurely into the kitchen, “Ms. Qi, what made you want to cook today?”
Qi Lan paused her work and sighed somewhat wistfully, “My daughter is going to school tomorrow, leaving me alone at home.”
“You must be secretly happy about it.” Feng Ning tied up her hair, rinsed her hands under the sink, and picked up the rolling pin to start flattening the dumpling wrappers. “Shuang Yao’s mom, Little Zhao’s aunt, and the women from the next street all come to visit you regularly anyway.”
The water on the stove bubbled and boiled as Qi Lan looked at her worriedly, “Call me if you need money, don’t cause trouble at school, be nice to your teachers, and wash your underwear every day. Also, when are you moving your luggage?”
The TV outside was playing Chibi Maruko-chan, with the short-haired Maruko saying ‘I thought summer was still far away.’ Feng Ning watched intently, mumbling in agreement, “I’m not a child anymore, I can take care of myself. Mo Ge and the others are helping me move my luggage this afternoon.”
“What?!” Qi Lan turned to glare at her, shouting in anger, “I told you to stop hanging out with those East Street people! Are you ignoring my words?!”
Feng Ning quickly stepped back, afraid she would get caught up in another argument, “I’m not hanging out with them, I only hang out with Mo Ge, just Meng Hanmo, the one you’ve watched grow up since he was little.”
“Don’t think I don’t know anything.” Qi Lan scolded her daughter, unable to help feeling sad again. “Mom didn’t have time to watch over you before, thankfully you were well-behaved and didn’t learn bad habits from anyone. Otherwise, when I die, I wouldn’t know how to face your father.”
“Mom, don’t say things like that, it makes me sad.”
Although Feng Ning could be stubborn sometimes, she was always a good child in front of her mother.
Auntie Li came in with a basin of shrimp, saw the situation and smiled, “What’s wrong, arguing again?”
Qi Lan shook her head repeatedly.
Feng Ning spent a long time coaxing her mother until she finally calmed down.
Seeing her mother still wasn’t in high spirits, Feng Ning put down the rolling pin and solemnly raised three fingers, “I swear, I’ll study hard at school, get into the best university in three years, and bring honor to our Feng family name.”
Qide was a prestigious boarding school, standing head and shoulders above other high schools in the southern city, undisputedly the top school. Because the annual enrollment quota for new students was limited, most students were promoted directly from the school’s junior high division. However, to attract the best students and maintain their college acceptance rate, the school offered free tuition to a very small number of specially selected students each year.
Feng Ning was one of them.
The day before school started, flashy luxury cars lined up conspicuously at the school gate, mostly parents helping their children move in.
Feng Ning wore a cartoon t-shirt bought from a street stall and black denim shorts, moving things up and down the dormitory building alone. When tired, she would stop on the stairs to massage her waist. Chibi Maruko-chan smiled innocently and brightly on her shirt.
The privileged young ladies and gentlemen passing by, all dressed head to toe in designer brands and surrounded by groups of people, made her feel like a Filipino maid who had accidentally wandered into high society.
Four people shared a room, and two hadn’t arrived yet. While Meng Hanmo and the others were still waiting, she quickly tidied up and pushed her suitcase into a corner with a snap. Just as she was catching her breath, a timid voice suddenly spoke up, “Hello.”
Feng Ning looked up to see a thin, pale girl standing nervously at the door, holding two cups of milk tea.
“Hi, what’s up?”
The girl observed for a moment, took a step forward, and tentatively said, “I live here, are you also in Class 9?”
“Yes, Class 9.” Feng Ning noticed how shy the little girl seemed. With sweat on her face, she stood up and extended her hand warmly, “I’m Feng Ning, your roommate.”
“I-I’m Meng Taoyu.” She became even more flustered and offered one of the milk teas, “Would you like this? I just bought it.”
Feng Ning took it, had a sip, and showed her signature smile, “Yes, yes, I was just thirsty. But I have to go now, thanks for the milk tea. I’ll bring you an AD calcium milk tomorrow.”
When Feng Ning went downstairs, she saw a crowd of people in the distance. The boy standing in front was over 1.80 meters tall, wearing a black t-shirt with sleeves rolled up above his shoulders and a baseball cap that shadowed his face.
She ran over with small steps and cheerfully called out “Ge.”
“Ning’er, you’re quick.” Someone put an arm around her shoulder. “Come on, let’s eat, whatever you want, big brother’s treat.”
Feng Ning shrugged off the arm, “I only have one brother, don’t try to claim me as your sister.”
The group walked arm in arm towards the school gate. They were all longtime troublemakers from East Street, and when they got together, they looked like a gang on patrol, turning heads everywhere they went.
Feng Ning snatched Meng Hanmo’s cap and put it on herself, covering her eyes.
Meng Hanmo had neat short hair and features slightly more defined than others, with clear contours and faint old and new scars near his nose bridge. He looked at her impatiently, his voice deep, “What are you doing?”
“You guys look too gangster,” Feng Ning ducked her head. “For the sake of my image, I need to keep a low profile.”
They had all come on motorcycles, parked in a nearby alley. But as soon as they turned in, they found a flashy sports car blocking the entrance.
“Who the hell parked their car here, what a jerk.” Buzzcut got angry and was about to kick the tire, but someone quickly pulled him back, “Did you see what kind of car this is before trying to kick it?”
“Damn, is a Ferrari that special?”
Though he said this, seeing the shiny prancing horse logo on the hood, he gave it the middle finger but didn’t dare to follow through with the kick.
This was a dead-end alley with only one exit, and now that it was blocked, the group had to squeeze in and could only stand there staring at each other, waiting for the car owner.
“Calm down, here.” Feng Ning took out a pack of Langlou cigarettes and distributed them one by one.
Everyone was getting bored waiting when someone suddenly remembered something and asked Feng Ning to sing, “Ning’er, they say you sang some pretty amazing love songs at the bar the other day, show us a bit.”
Feng Ning responded irritably, “Dream on, you think just anyone deserves to hear my love songs?”
Fatty asked: “Then what do we deserve?”
“Children’s songs! Listen up.” She put her hand on Meng Hanmo’s shoulder and cleared her throat, “Under the bridge in front of the gate, a duck swam by, two four six seven eight, quack quack quack quack quack.”
Meng Hanmo lowered his head, biting his cigarette and snickering, “There’s a whole flock of ducks.”
Feng Ning insisted, “I don’t care, I only saw one.”
“Then why are you counting two four six seven eight, counting its feathers?”
As they bantered, several people laughed along. Amidst the laughter and chatter, the bright red Ferrari’s taillights suddenly lit up. With two beeps, they all stopped laughing and looked up in unison.
Jiang Yuyun poked her head out, assessed the situation, opened the car door and said to them: “Sorry everyone, there really wasn’t any parking space just now, I’ll move it right away.”
Seeing such a glamorous beauty, Buzzcut had already lost his temper, waving his hand, “It’s fine, just hurry up.”
Jiang Wen was already sitting in the passenger seat. In front was the constant flow of traffic, his dark eyes swept to the rearview mirror, unexpectedly seeing that person.
He had only seen her twice but recognized her immediately. She finally wasn’t wearing strange clothes, one leg casually propped up on the car, holding a milk tea straw in her mouth, standing very close to another boy.
She was focused on talking, not looking this way at all. The four or five people around her didn’t look like students, some standing, some sitting, leaning there smoking cigarettes.
In the narrow alley, dim brick walls, motorcycles parked haphazardly, dirty white canvas shoes. The ponytail falling on her shoulder was folded over, tied up with a hair tie making it stick up. Her wrist was very thin, wrapped with a red string, delicately hanging over her knee.
He watched coldly.
A button lit up on the center console, the roof automatically retracted from front to back, all the car windows lowered, and the outside air mixed with smoke and sweat rushed in from all directions.
The commotion attracted the attention of those behind.
Jiang Yuyun was just about to put the car in reverse, looked at him for a few seconds, both puzzled and amused, “Don’t you hate the smell of smoke the most?”
Jiang Wen remained silent, slowly leaning back. Gazing at the clematis climbing the corner of the alley outside the car window, an unexpected surge of irritation welled up in his heart.
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