On the 10th, it’s Ning Zhiyu’s 18th birthday.
After Mother Jiang learned about this, she discussed it with Jiang Yumo and decided to invite Jiang Yumo’s friends to their home for dinner on the 10th to celebrate Ning Zhiyu’s birthday.
Even Zhou Ji had no objections to this arrangement.
In the evening, under Mother Jiang’s urging, Jiang Yumo began to tidy up her bedroom. Actually, she didn’t need her Mom’s reminder. Thinking that Duan Ye and the others would come to their house as guests, she wanted to clean up everything inside and out. She couldn’t let him see her ‘sloppy’ side, right? At this stage, she had to defend her image.
Jiang Yumo’s bedroom fully illustrated the saying : ‘Though small, a sparrow has all its vital organs1.’
Her bedroom wasn’t big, but it was still a laborious task to tidy up.
When she found her hair tie and potato chip can under the bed, she regretted for a few seconds. She couldn’t help but feel that her Mom’s description of her room as a ‘dog’s den’ was not an unjust one.
The bookshelf was the biggest project.
She had to sort out all her study materials and books for her younger cousin.
Her younger cousin was in the second year of high school right now, and he could make use of many of her books. Her Uncle and Aunt had already called and mentioned this matter. After three years of high school, her books and various exam papers had piled up into small mountains. By the time Jiang Yumo finished cleaning up, it was almost 11 o’clock. Thinking that she had already graduated and would never have to go to school for early self-study again, she was so happy that she wanted to do a bit of b-boxing with her hand covering her mouth.
While tidying up her bedroom, she discovered her treasure chest.
The box was quite big, a birthday gift from her uncle when she was in primary school. He asked her to put all her favorite little things inside, creating beautiful memories for the future.
Upon opening the treasure chest, Jiang Yumo saw all the little teddy bears inside, and they made her smile.
One of them was a gift from Yan Qing back in fifth grade.
At that time, she really liked it, and for a period, she even made clothes for this teddy bear together with Yan Qing.
Inside were indeed many memories. Things she thought she had already forgotten resurfaced as she opened the box, as if they had just happened yesterday.
There were musical greeting cards given to her by her classmates.
There was also a songbook that she treasured during primary school, adorned with many stickers of her favorite stars, back when her handwriting was still immature.
Additionally, there were some trinkets, like a bracelet made of colorful strings with little bells attached. Jiang Yumo tried hard to recall and remembered that this was a gift from her elementary school desk mate.
Apart from these, there were even more notes and messages.
They were paper notes that were usually passed during class.
Under the teacher’s watchful eye, it was quite thrilling.
On this late night, Jiang Yumo sat cross-legged on the floor, looking at the notes one by one, feeling both amused and embarrassed. These notes span from elementary school to middle school… In high school, she didn’t pass notes with anyone anymore. As she flipped through them, she unexpectedly found notes exchanged between her and Duan Ye. This surprised her because she couldn’t recall ever passing notes with Duan Ye.
It was really strange!
She thought she remembered everything about him.
She searched and searched but only found a few notes.
Back then, Duan Ye’s handwriting… could rival that of a doctor’s. Without looking at it carefully, she couldn’t even make out what he had written.
[What did the teacher assign for the weekly journal?]
[You haven’t written it yet? It’s due next class!]
[That’s why I’m asking you.]
[Well, the teacher said to read a book and write a reflection on it.]
[What book did you read?]
[Dream of the Red Chamber, I’ll secretly tell you, Teacher Zhao is a fan of Dream of the Red Chamber. You’ll get high scores if you write something related to Dream of the Red Chamber!]
[I haven’t read it.]
[…Then Journey to the West and Water Margin are fine! Also, Romance of the Three Kingdoms!]
[Okay.]
…
Jiang Yumo thought for a moment; if she remembered correctly, this should be in the second year of junior high.
In the second year of junior high, their Chinese teacher loved assigning weekly journals.
She continued to read :
[Duan Ye, can you lend me your mp4 player for a little while later?~~~]
[Sure.]
[Thanks, you’re so kind!!]
Jiang Yumo held back her laughter: She didn’t expect him to be so cool at this time. She wrote so much, and he replied with just one word and a period.
[I’ll download a movie tomorrow, what do you want to watch?]
[Me? As long as it’s not a horror film, anything is fine. Will you lend it to me later?]
[If I won’t lend it to you, I wouldn’t have asked you.]
[You’re so kind~ By the way, have you watched Titanic? To be honest, I haven’t watched it yet. I heard it’s a tragedy?]
[…I haven’t watched it. I don’t watch foreign movies. After watching one, I can’t even recognize the main characters or remember their names.]
This should be in the second semester of third year of junior high.
He became more talkative. It could be seen from these notes that his attitude has changed little by little. You can tell from the handwriting—starting from messy scribbles, and later the handwriting becomes neater, making it easier to read what he wrote.
It turns out that this is a boy’s journey from “indifference” to “liking.”
The current Duan Ye is different from his attitude in the third year of junior high.
Jiang Yumo lies on the bed, pressing these notes against her chest, feeling full inside. She realizes that she has known Duan Ye for such a long time, and his emotional journey has been like this.
It’s as if she has also experienced this period with him.
From “indifference” to “having a good impression,” and then to “having feelings” and finally, “liking very much.”
The next morning, Yan Qing and Sun Mengting came over early on with Ning Zhiyu.
Jiang Yumo had just woken up and hurriedly went to brush her teeth and wash her face. Yan Qing explained the purpose of their gathering, “Today is Zhiyu’s birthday, and we have a very important task at hand.”
This sentence… Jiang Yumo felt like she had heard it somewhere before, as she felt a sense of familiarity.
Ning Zhiyu also looked puzzled.
“Look!” Yan Qing opened her school bag and took out various makeup products, eagerly saying to Ning Zhiyu, “Zhiyu, let me do your makeup today. Turning eighteen is such an important milestone, and I promise you’ll be the center of attention!”
Ning Zhiyu : “…”
She looked at the bottles and jars on Jiang Yumo’s desk and instinctively took a step back, “No, no, no.”
“Yes, you do!” Yan Qing insisted.
Sun Mengting also mysteriously took out a set of dress from her bag, “Surprise! The three of us pitched in to buy this new dress for you. Your figure is similar to Yumo’s. This dress fits Yumo, so it should fit you too. You’ll look great in it! It’s the latest style!”
Jiang Yumo held Ning Zhiyu’s arm, not allowing her to escape, “This dress is really beautiful, and it even has a lovely name, ‘Blossom.’ We think it suits you perfectly, now that you’re turning eighteen, the age of blossoming!”
This dress indeed suited Ning Zhiyu well.
The hem was designed with a ruffled edge, and with Ning Zhiyu’s fair skin, the pearl-white color made her skin look even more translucent.
Ning Zhiyu realized that she couldn’t escape this fate today. She had no choice but to let them have their way. Jiang Yumo took Ning Zhiyu to the bathroom to wash her hair and blow-dry it. None of the three of them were idle; Yan Qing was testing which color of foundation suited Ning Zhiyu, while Sun Mengting applied transparent nail polish for Yan Qing. Jiang Yumo used her Mom’s straightener to style Ning Zhiyu’s hair.
After a busy time, Ning Zhiyu has undergone a major transformation.
Ning Zhiyu was already beautiful on her own, and Yan Qing’s makeup skills had made a great progress over the past year. However, Yan Qing didn’t dare to apply heavy makeup on Ning Zhiyu’s face, considering her age. Less is better. Yan Qing only applied foundation and lightly brushed some blush on her cheeks. Finally, Yan Qing applied a light layer of lipstick on her lips.
Even so, Ning Zhiyu’s complexion instantly became more rosy.
When she put on the dress called ‘Blossom,’ Ning Zhiyu looked absolutely dazzling.
Jiang Yumo applauded and praised, “This is how one should look on their birthday—gorgeous!”
While the girls were dressing up Ning Zhiyu, on the other side, Duan Ye and Zhou Ji were taking forever to get ready. Zhou Ji’s hair was slightly longer than Duan Ye’s, and after listening to Zhao Zheng’s recommendation, he wanted to use hair wax, but ended up making his hair look like a hedgehog. Zhou Ji grumbled in frustration and couldn’t take it, so he called Zhao Zheng and scolded him for twenty minutes before rushing into the bathroom to wash off the hair wax.
Duan Ye didn’t fare much better.
After trying on several outfits, he still couldn’t decide which one looked better.
He even brushed his already clean shoes one more time before leaving because he was uneasy.
Zhou Ji leaned against the doorframe and teased him, “The son-in-law always has to look his best when meeting his parents-in-law, huh?”
The ‘son-in-law’ Duan Ye couldn’t be bothered to deal with Zhou Ji.
Zhou Ji was also feeling both happy and sad. Yesterday, he went to apologize to Ning Zhiyu’s neighbor and offered some seeds, but the neighbor caught him and put him to work in the field, making him loosen the soil and fertilize it. He spent the whole day toiling under the scorching sun and ended up with sunburned skin.
The four boys met outside and went together to Jiang Yumo’s home.
Apart from Zhou Ji, Zhao Zheng and Guo Shichao also started to feel nervous because it was their first time being invited to a girl’s house as guests.
All four boys were tall, and when they climbed the stairs, they almost occupied the entire staircase. Jiang Yumo received a call from Duan Ye and had already opened the door, waiting for him. When she heard voices coming from the stairwell, she hurried to the door, peeked out, and the first person she saw was Duan Ye. She smiled warmly and said, “You’re here! Come up quickly. It’s so hot outside, right?”
Mother Jiang also came over upon hearing the commotion.
Just then, the four boys arrived at the door, each holding something.
Duan Ye had a box of milk and a box of Wang Lao Ji2.
Zhou Ji was carrying a large watermelon, which was insisted upon by Ning Zhiyu’s neighbor yesterday.
Zhao Zheng had a box of Eight Treasure Porridge3.
Guo Shichao was carrying a bag of grapes.
Mother Jiang was amused by them and said, “Look, you’ve come to visit, why bring anything with you?”
Originally, Duan Ye wanted to buy some other things, but he worried that it might not be appropriate. After all, he and Jiang Yumo… hadn’t reached the stage that their parents would approve of. So, following Guo Shichao’s suggestion, he only bought two boxes of drinks. On the way there, he kept pondering : Is this too little? Is it not good enough??
Jiang Yumo giggled.
She brought out slippers for each of the four of them.
It was the first time she saw all four of them so restrained. Was her Mom that scary? She remembered that these four swaggering guys didn’t shrink into frightened quails when facing the school principal. They appeared so obedient, sensible, and helpless right now; it was just too amazing.
“Mo…” Zhao Zheng wanted to ask Jiang Yumo if she had any water, as he was a bit thirsty. The words were about to come out of his mouth, but when he noticed Mother Jiang not far away, he changed his words, “Classmate Mo, do you have any water?”
That was what Zhao Zheng came up with as an address within a few seconds.
Calling her ‘Sister Mo’ was definitely inappropriate. After all, her biological mother was right there, and addressing her in a way similar to an elder sister was simply inappropriate.
But he had already called out “Mo,” so should he add another “mo” at the end and say “Momo”? He suspected that if he really did that, he wouldn’t survive tonight. Duan Ye would definitely beat him to death.
Classmate Mo?
Jiang Yumo burst into laughter, “Zhao Zheng, did you take the wrong medicine or something?”
Duan Ye just glanced at Zhao Zheng.
Zhao Zheng was chilled to the core by the look in Duan Ye’s eyes.
Mother Jiang walked over and extended her hand to give Jiang Yumo a flick, saying, “How could you talk to your friends like that? Talk properly!”
Jiang Yumo winced in pain and covered her forehead.
Duan Ye looked over and reassured her with his eyes. It was impossible to blame Mother Jiang for this matter; the blame could only fall on Zhao Zheng. Zhao Zheng once again felt a chill down his spine and looked at his good friends Guo Shichao and Zhou Ji. Guo Shichao pretended to look at the large potted plant in the living room, and Zhou Ji was almost laughing hysterically, but he had to hold it in. He said to Zhao Zheng, “Serves you right, now you wait to get scolded by Lao Duan.”
Zhao Zheng felt like hitting someone.
Mother Jiang walked towards the kitchen and suddenly remembered something. She raised her voice and shouted towards the living room, “Xiao Duan? Xiao Duan, come here for a moment!”
Both Zhao Zheng and Guo Shichao were puzzled.
Xiao Duan??
Before they could figure out who Mother Duan was calling, Duan Ye, who was quicker to react, was already walking swiftly towards the kitchen.
Mother Jiang’s gentle voice came again, “Xiao Duan, help cut the watermelon and serve it to them.”
Duan Ye obediently replied, “Okay, Aunt.”
- a Chinese idiom, it means that even though something may be small or seemingly insignificant, it still possesses all the essential elements or qualities. ↩︎
- also known as Wong Lo Kat, a canned Chinese herbal tea ↩︎
- porridge with eight kinds of toppings. It seems there’s a canned version too… ↩︎