“I still prefer calling you little bookworm…”
“The guest room is ready, Mom. Why do you need to squeeze into Qiaoqiao’s room?”
“I’m worried about the electricity bill.”
“It won’t use much power for one night, and Qiaoqiao might need to study. Please sleep in the guest room, Mom.”
Cui Shumei sneered, “Study? What’s the use of studying? She’ll end up like her father – short-lived.”
Jiang Rong, who had been silently listening to their conversation, felt as if she’d been plunged into ice water. She had always avoided this topic. Now it was being brutally exposed, and by her own grandmother who called her short-lived.
“Mom, Qiaoqiao is your granddaughter. Even if you don’t like her, you can’t say such things. That’s going too far.”
The usually quiet Jiang Rong spoke up: “She’s not wrong.” Her voice was calm. “I won’t live long, so I just want to spend my remaining days happily, doing what I like.”
Tian Ling became anxious: “Qiaoqiao, don’t say that. The doctors said there’s still a chance for recovery.”
Jiang Rong remained composed: “That’s just to comfort us. Everyone faces birth, aging, sickness, and death.” She looked at Cui Shumei: “I know you don’t like me, and that’s fine. I don’t like you either. I’m going to rest now, please leave.”
Jiang Rong closed the door.
“Look at that! Look how disrespectful she is! Is this how you raised her? Is this how she talks to her elders? Saying she doesn’t like me, how dare she speak to me like that! Oh my, she’s really crossed the line, I’m so angry!”
Tian Ling, upset by the earlier comments, said: “Mom, you were too harsh earlier. Please just say less.”
“Say less? No, I won’t. I’ll say what I want.”
The arguing voices at the door soon faded. It seemed Cui Shumei had been led back to the guest room.
Jiang Rong looked at the hourglass on the table and turned it over. She watched the blue sand fall through the small opening to the bottom. Life was like an hourglass. The sand would eventually run out, just as life would eventually end. She just wanted to live her remaining days well.
Her phone chimed several times, pulling her from her thoughts. She checked and saw messages from Luo Xing.
Luo Xing: Aww, Qiaoqiao, I love my grandmother so much! Her cooking is amazing, I’m in heaven! Luo Xing: [Picture] Luo Xing: Haha, such a fashionable old lady, even making peace signs at the camera!
Jiang Rong looked at the photos several times. The first showed a kind-looking elderly woman cooking, the second showed her making a peace sign at the camera. It looked so warm and loving.
[Jiang Rong]: Looks delicious. [Jiang Rong]: Haha, your grandmother is so cute.
She suddenly remembered she hadn’t replied to Xu Si’s message. Opening their chat, she saw his last message.
[Xu Si]: Fell asleep? [Jiang Rong]: No, I was talking with my grandmother.
Xu Si replied immediately.
[Xu Si]: Didn’t you say no one was home? [Jiang Rong]: They were supposed to stay at grandmother’s house for a few days, but she wanted to visit uncle’s place, so they came here. [Xu Si]: You don’t like your grandmother?
Jiang Rong stared at his message for a while, then sent back a question mark.
Seeing her response, Xu Si thought he might have overthought it. Just as he was about to reply, he saw her message.
[Little Bookworm]: She doesn’t like me, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t like her either. [Xu Si]: That’s the right attitude. Like my dad – he doesn’t care about me, so I don’t care about him.
Looking at his sent message, Xu Si understood that although she said those words, she still cared deep down.
[Xu Si]: Want to say hi to it?
Jiang Rong was confused by his message when a video call request popped up. She accepted.
She saw a black cat sitting in front of the camera and couldn’t help but smile, her eyes curving into crescents.
Yuan Yuan seemed interested in Jiang Rong on the screen, reaching out to pat at it. Finding it couldn’t touch her, it meowed several times in confusion.
Jiang Rong watched as Xu Si’s face entered the frame. He patted the cat’s head: “You like her?”
The young man’s features were filled with amusement. He wore a black long-sleeve shirt that highlighted his excellent bone structure and high nose bridge. As he petted the cat, he teased: “Stopping in your tracks when you see someone pretty, you’re such a flirty cat.”
Yuan Yuan meowed a few times, seemingly protesting.
Seeing Jiang Rong laugh, Xu Si said: “It really likes you. It was afraid of me at first.”
Jiang Rong looked at Yuan Yuan: “It must like you a lot, or it wouldn’t have come home with you.”
“True.”
Xu Si looked at Jiang Rong through the camera. Usually, she kept her hair tied up, but now her black hair fell softly around her shoulders. She wore light pink pajamas, and her eyes were bright with laughter.
Jiang Rong watched the cat in his arms: “How do you feed it when you’re not home?”
Xu Si glanced at the cat: “I leave food in its bowl before I leave, then feed it again when I return at night.”
Jiang Rong remembered how the cat’s tail had wagged while eating fish earlier, and laughed again.
Yuan Yuan meowed.
“Time for bed, little bookworm. It says you should sleep.”
“Okay, goodnight, and goodnight to it too.”
Xu Si chuckled: “Goodnight, you heartless one.”
Jiang Rong couldn’t help asking: “Why did my nickname change again?”
“Do you prefer when I call you little bookworm?”
“…”
“Then goodnight, little bookworm.”
Jiang Rong hung up the call.
She opened the videos Xu Si had sent earlier and found herself laughing again. In one, Yuan Yuan was drinking water when its head seemed too heavy and dunked into the bowl. Xu Si laughed while pulling it out. In the second video, Yuan Yuan was drinking again and once more dunked its face into the small water bowl, accompanied by Xu Si’s undisguised laughter.
Listening to the young man’s joyful laughter, she found herself smiling without even realizing it.
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