In the afternoon, the road leading to the bus station was very congested.
After discussing about it, the six people in two cars decided to get off on the bridge and walk instead, considering how crowded the traffic was. It was just after five o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun had not yet set, casting an orange glow over the earth. The six of them walked in pairs until Yan Qing inadvertently looked up and exclaimed, “Wow, there’s a plane!”
They all looked up at the sky unconsciously.
Sure enough, there was a plane flying by.
It was a rare moment. The clouds in the sky were fluffy, and a gentle breeze blew over the bridge. They all gazed in wonder as the plane flew by.
Sun Mengting withdrew her gaze and looked at Jiang Yumo, who was standing beside Duan Ye not far away. She raised her voice with a smile and said, “Yumo, didn’t you say you want to become a flight attendant in the future? Maybe when you’re flying up there, we’ll be looking up at you just like this.”
“Yes, yes!” Yan Qing chimed in. “It’s quite romantic to think about it. Maybe one day when a plane flies over our heads, you’ll be on it, just like in a TV drama where they say ‘passengers, please turn off your cellphones, passengers, please fasten your seatbelts!'”
Zhao Zheng clicked his tongue and said, “If Sister Mo becomes a flight attendant, can we get a discount on plane tickets?”
Guo Shichao covered his face and said, “Don’t you have any common sense? Flight attendants are not responsible for selling tickets.”
In fact, none of them, including Yan Qing, who came from the wealthiest family among them, had ever been on a plane.
They’ve taken trains and high-speed rail before, but airplanes seem a bit distant to them.
The group engaged in a lively discussion.
Only Duan Ye, after glancing at the plane, looked back at her, lowered his head, and whispered, “Aren’t you afraid of heights?”
He asked her this question.
Jiang Yumo was still looking up at the sky, but at these words, she looked at him in a daze and asked, “What?”
Duan Ye smiled, “You’re afraid of heights.”
At that moment, the breeze slowed down, and so did the clouds. It was hard for Jiang Yumo to describe her psychological state at this moment. In that dream, she did become a flight attendant. She had told her parents and friends about it after waking up, but they all just said, “Okay, that’s nice.” However, only Duan Ye asked, “Aren’t you afraid of heights?” She believed that her parents and friends loved her deeply, but it was all family and friendship affections. Their love and concern for her, she would never doubt about it.
But Duan Ye was different.
There never was any moment when she was more certain than now.
So when he said those words, Jiang Yumo suddenly understood why in that original story, as someone afraid of being hurt, she would be willing to go through the cycle of dating, breaking up, and getting back together with Duan Ye. Perhaps in that story, she and Duan Ye weren’t seen as a good match by others, perhaps they had faced many obstacles, perhaps they were both tired, but they would still choose to be together again.
She even felt that even if she was thirty years old, even if she had become a mature adult with reasons beyond her control, she and Duan Ye would still end up together in the end.
That’s how she guessed and thought.
“What’s wrong?” Duan Ye asked again when he saw her just staring at him.
Jiang Yumo shook her head and smiled at him, as if at this moment, he was the only one in her eyes. “Nothing. Yeah, I was also thinking, even though I’m afraid of heights, why did I become a flight attendant.”
The last sentence was almost a whisper, and Duan Ye didn’t hear it clearly.
When Jiang Yumo arrived home, it was already after eight o’clock in the evening.
She returned home excitedly, only to find her father watching a football game, and for a moment she was disappointed. “Where’s Mom?”
Father Jiang pretended to be unhappy. “You just got back and you’re just looking for your Mom.”
He paused and then said, “Your Mom went out to play cards. She won’t be back until after ten. She’s at your Aunt Wang’s house.”
Jiang Yumo sighed deeply, “Oh!”
“What’s wrong?”
Jiang Yumo took out the real estate agency leaflet from her bag, “Someone gave this to me when I was in the provincial capital. I wanted you and Mom to take a look,” she became more and more excited as she spoke, “I heard that the housing prices will soar in the future.”
Father Jiang only glanced at it briefly and showed no interest, “Who said that?”
Uh…Jiang Yumo couldn’t say that she dreamt it. No one would believe her if she did. So she said, “The real estate agent Sister said that the housing prices in Shenshi have already started to rise, and they will rise in our provincial capital too.”
Father Jiang smiled and shook his head, “Girl, that real estate agent is just doing her job. If she doesn’t say the prices will rise, who will buy it? It’s all just a gimmick. Besides, whether the price rises or not has nothing to do with us. We already have a house to live in. Be good, read more books, and don’t worry about things that aren’t your concern.”
Jiang Yumo became anxious, “But if the prices will rise in the future, and we buy now, won’t we make a profit later?”
“Okay, okay.” Father Jiang nodded repeatedly like soothing a child, “If the prices will rise, then they will. Dad knows now.”
Jiang Yumo said, “Then maybe we can buy a house!”
Father Jiang helplessly said, “Why are you jumping to conclusions? You know that in our family, Dad can’t make decisions on matters over a hundred yuan.
Seeing that his daughter was anxious, although he had no intention of buying a house, Father Jiang still coaxed her, “You’ve played outside all day today and must be tired. When your Mom comes back, I’ll tell her. So, for now, go take a bath and sleep in your room. Be good.”
Jiang Yumo stomped her feet, turned her head angrily, and left.
As Father Jiang had guessed, Mother Jiang didn’t return home until 10 o’clock, and she came back while humming a song. She went to the second bedroom quietly to check on her precious daughter before returning to the master bedroom, feeling proud of herself. “Today was my lucky day. I won big at mahjong. Four sets of four of a kind and all flowers. Tsk, tsk. I’ll buy some beef for Momo to nourish her body tomorrow.”
Father Jiang pinched the bridge of his nose, saying, “Yumo got an ad leaflet from somewhere that says housing prices will rise and that we can buy a house.”
“…” Mother Jiang was speechless. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“I think she took it seriously. She’ll definitely argue with you tomorrow.” Father Jiang lay on the bed and patted his belly with satisfaction. “Kids nowadays are something else. When we were young, it was a big deal to get a bike from our parents. But now, they just casually ask to buy a house.”
Mother Jiang didn’t care about this. “Kids have short memories. She’ll forget it tomorrow. Okay, I’m going to take a shower. Light a mosquito coil. I feel like there are mosquitoes.”
Meanwhile, after taking a shower, Duan Ye put on a loose pair of pants that exposed his lean upper body. He turned on the air conditioner and carefully looked at the leaflet he took earlier. He only came to his senses from the unit prices of those houses when someone knocked on his door. It was one of his friends.
“I happened to be passing by and saw that your light was on, so I took a chance.” The person held a bag of fried skewers. “Bought some fried skewers. Want to have them together?”
Duan Ye shook his head. “You can eat them. Oh, by the way, I don’t have any beer at home. If you want some, you’ll have to buy it yourself.”
“I’m too lazy to go. Let’s just eat like this.” The person was Zhang Chao, Duan Ye’s elementary school classmate. After completing nine years of compulsory education, he stopped studying and now works at various places. He lives life recklessly and carefreely.
Zhang Chao dragged the chair and needed something to cushion it. He reached out to grab the leaflet.
Duan Ye snatched it away and said, “Use something else.”
Zhang Chao snorted and glanced at it out of the corner of his eye. It was a real estate agency advertisement. “What, your Mom wants to buy a house?”
Duan Ye replied, “No.”
Zhang Chao casually said, “Actually, if you have money, you can indeed buy a house. Last month, a few bosses came from out of town, and Mr. Wang entertained them. Later, I delivered wine to them and happened to hear a few words from those bosses. It seems that the real estate market may be prosperous in the future. They all want to invest in this area. After all, a house is the fundamental basis for living.”
Duan Ye just listened quietly and didn’t say anything. He put the leaflet into the drawer.
On the next day, Jiang Yumo and Ning Zhiyu arranged to meet and to give Ning Zhiyu the books Jiang Yumo bought from Xinhua Bookstore.
As soon as they met, Jiang Yumo received a call from Yan Qing.
Yan Qing was very excited on the phone, “Yumo, come to my house quickly. My parents went out as guests today, and they won’t be back until at least at night! Mengting is also coming over soon. Anyway, we have nothing to do. My mom bought several Korean drama DVDs, and they are said to be really good. The male lead is extremely handsome! Come on, come on!”
Jiang Yumao hesitated, “Yan Qing, I’m with Ning Zhiyu.”
Yan Qing didn’t care and said, “Then bring her over to play. There are no classes today, right?”
“I’ll ask her then?”
“Okay, okay!”
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yumo looked at Ning Zhiyu.
Ning Zhiyu could probably guess what was going on, “Jiang Yumo, thank you for bringing me these books. If you have something to do, you can go first. I’ll take the bus back later.”
Jiang Yumo hesitated and said, “Yan Qing, my good friend, asked me to go to her house and invited you to come and play together.”
She didn’t know if Ning Zhiyu would agree, but she couldn’t help saying, “Sun Mengting will also be there. You both like the same celebrity, and there’s an autographed poster of that celebrity in Yan Qing’s house. Do you want to go and see it?”
Ning Zhiyu felt a little embarrassed: she had just said it without much thought that day. Actually, she didn’t even remember what the celebrity looked like…
This awkwardness made Ning Zhiyu hesitate.
But she still nodded her head in agreement.
Jiang Yumo was overjoyed in an instant, “Really! Ning Zhiyu, let me tell you, Yan Qing’s house is really fun. You’ll know when you get there! She has everything, we can sing, watch movies, and the screen is super big. And Yan Qing’s room has a bookshelf full of comics, many of which you can’t even find in bookstores outside!
“Also, Yan Qing’s room has a computer and an internet connection. We can surf the internet at her house~”
As Jiang Yumo chattered on, Ning Zhiyu listened absent-mindedly. Perhaps this was just the life of a seventeen-year-old girl?
The two of them took the bus to Yan Qing’s house.
Yan Qing’s house was located in a new residential area that had been opened in Ningcheng a few years ago. All the facilities were complete, and Yan Qing’s family bought a duplex with an estimated area of nearly 200 square meters. Yan Qing was also the only daughter in her family, and one could feel it as soon as they entered her home, as her solo art photos were hung on one wall.
“The study queen is here.” Yan Qing grinned, “You’re in luck, I just ordered two large pizzas. Oh, and Yumo, I also got your favorite grilled wings for you.”
“Love you!”
Ning Zhiyu was more reserved, because she wasn’t familiar with Yan Qing and it was her first time visiting her house.
Jiang Yumo was as if at her own home and went straight to Yan Qing’s room to turn on the computer. Turning around, she said to the three of them, “You all need to register on Weibo later, then follow me and become my fans. I’ll register first and familiarize myself with the steps. This is very important to me.”
Yan Qing said to Ning Zhiyu, “I don’t know what madness has taken hold of her, but she says she wants to become an internet celebrity. She didn’t even play much with her Qzone.”
Jiang Yumo opened Weibo.
“I’ve been thinking for days and I still can’t come up with a nickname, so I’ll just call it ‘Little Jiang’s High School Life Journal’, how about that? When I go to college, I’ll change it to ‘Little Jiang’s College Life Journal’, and when I…”
Yan Qing impatiently interrupted her, “I get it, I get it. When you get married, it’ll be called ‘Little Jiang’s Newlywed Life Journal’, and when you retire, it’ll be called ‘Little Jiang’s Retirement Life Journal’, right?”
Sun Mengting also made a comment, “You’re a genius at naming things, Yumo.”
Ning Zhiyu didn’t say anything, but there was a hint of a smile in her eyes.
“Whatever,” Jiang Yumao ignored them and finally completed this sacred step – she now had her own Weibo account!
“Wait a minute, Duan Ye also registered for Weibo. I’ll log in to his account and follow myself first.” Jiang Yumo logged out of her account and found the username and password that Duan Ye had sent her in their chat history. She clicked on login.
Yan Qing and Sun Mengting both crowded around to see.
And then, they laughed…
“What is this?” Yan Qing clicked her tongue. “Jiang Yumo’s Dear Husband, when did Brother Duan become so flirty?”
“Too mysterious!”
The fact that they both have each other’s account is so modern gen-z relationship coded