Chapter 45

When Zhong Xing returned to the dormitory, he noticed a letter from home sitting on the table. His roommate was gnawing on an ear of corn. “I went to the mailroom to pick up some things and happened to see your letter, so I brought it back for you.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Zhong Xing sat down at his desk and opened the letter.

In truth, he was busy with work and didn’t write to Jiang Jiang often. However, every time Jiang Jiang replied, she was always very enthusiastic. Seeing the elegant handwriting of a young girl on the letter made him smile. After reading the letter, he was about to put it away when he noticed something seemed to be stuck inside the envelope.

He pulled it out and discovered it was a photograph.

In the photo, a young girl was smiling and wearing a light yellow dress. Her fair complexion and long, shiny black hair accentuated her youthful beauty.

Zhong Xing paused for a moment, and it took him a while to realize that Jiang Jiang was no longer the little girl from his memories.

The next morning, shortly after Jiang Jiang settled into her classroom, a boy in the front row turned back and asked, “Lin Jiang Jiang, what’s your relationship with Xie Jinyan from Class 1, Year 2? I saw him putting something into your drawer when I came in this morning.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jiang reached into her drawer and felt around. Sure enough, there was a lunchbox inside. Chen Qiannan, sitting next to her, leaned over with curiosity and urged, “Quick, open it and see.”

Jiang Jiang lifted the lid of the lunchbox, and a fragrant aroma of dried osmanthus wafted out. The box was filled to the brim with osmanthus cake, golden and soft, looking extremely tempting.

“It looks delicious,” Chen Qiannan remarked.

The boy in the front row added, “The scent of osmanthus is so rich and fragrant.”

Jiang Jiang bit her lip. It must have been made by Aunt Huang, Xie Jinyan’s mother. “Let’s all share it.”

“Great, great!”

Jiang Jiang kept two pieces of the osmanthus cake for herself and distributed the rest to everyone. Aunt Huang’s osmanthus cake looked exquisite and had a soft texture and a unique, refreshing fragrance. Even after finishing, the lingering taste of osmanthus remained on their tongues.

After enjoying the osmanthus cake, it was time to gather on the playground. Monday was the day for the school’s flag-raising ceremony.

Students from the first to third year of middle school gathered on the field. The county school’s middle and high school sections were located on different campuses, so the playground was filled with a sea of people. After the flag-raising ceremony, the principal delivered a speech consisting of a lengthy discourse on maintaining academic integrity. Once the principal finished speaking, a representative from the teachers stepped up to give a speech. Under the blazing sun, Jiang Jiang felt a bit dizzy from the heat.

When the morning dismissal bell rang, Chen Qiannan glanced at Jiang Jiang, who was lying on the desk with her stomach covered and beads of cold sweat on her forehead. She sighed, “Jiang Jiang if you really can’t take it, I’ll go with you to find Teacher Fang and ask for leave to rest.”

“I’m fine; I can hold on a bit longer.” This was Jiang Jiang’s second time experiencing her period. Her mother had told her that because she had suffered a lot as a child, her health had not been great, which made her periods particularly uncomfortable.

Li Yanhong, who had been focused on taking notes, couldn’t help but put his pen down and step forward to ask, “Jiang Jiang, is something wrong with your health?”

Jiang Jiang looked at her class monitor, Li Yanhong, who was kindly inquiring about her. She suddenly felt a bit awkward. She stood up from her desk and brushed a few stray hairs from her forehead. “No… it’s nothing. I just have a bit of a stomachache.”

“Let’s go, Qiannan. I’ll go eat with you.”

“Okay.” Chen Qiannan helped Jiang Jiang get up and headed to the cafeteria.

In the school cafeteria, the meat dishes served for lunch were twice-cooked pork and cabbage stew with vermicelli. The vermicelli was mixed with thick slices of meat, while the vegetarian options included cabbage, green beans, and celery. Jiang Jiang collected her meal according to the menu she had registered for yesterday: one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and two corn buns. Chen Qiannan picked up the same meal.

The buns in the school cafeteria were steamed well, fluffy, and soft, with a slight sweetness. The vegetables were stir-fried in large pots; some were overcooked, becoming wilted and mushy. The twice-cooked pork, stir-fried with garlic sprouts, was fragrant and went well with the rice. Some students would bring homemade chili sauce and pickled vegetables to complement their meals.

After finishing her lunch, Jiang Jiang returned to her classroom and sat down. A boy from the front row leaned over and asked, “Lin Jiang Jiang, can you lend me your notes from the Chinese class this morning?”

“Sure!” Jiang Jiang readily agreed. As she reached into her drawer to grab her Chinese book, her hand brushed against something strange.

Curious, she pulled it out to find a pile of various pills—some for treating gastritis, some for indigestion, others for bloating, and more for acid suppression and diarrhea. Jiang Jiang was momentarily stunned, and even Chen Qiannan looked taken aback.

“That’s a lot of medicine. It could last a lifetime!”

Jiang Jiang couldn’t help but laugh; she knew exactly who had left them there. She tore off half a page of white paper from her notebook and wrote a few words before asking someone to pass it over to him.

“Thanks, class monitor!”

Li Yanhong smiled slightly and added on the paper, “You’re welcome.”

Fengyin, observing Jiang Jiang’s back, seemed to be deep in thought.

That afternoon, after dinner, He Guijuan had been busy in the kitchen for quite some time before bringing out a bowl of dark medicinal soup.

She placed the bowl of soup in front of Jiang Jiang and urged, “Drink this quickly.”

A strange smell wafted up, and Jiang Jiang fought against the urge to gag. “Mom, what is this?”

“This is a medicinal soup recipe I specifically got from an old Chinese medicine doctor at our hospital. It nourishes the blood, boosts energy, regulates menstruation, and relieves pain. Just drink it, okay?”

Looking at the murky soup, Jiang Jiang’s porcelain-white face scrunched up in distaste. After a moment of internal struggle, she picked up the bowl and gulped it down.

Although the medicinal taste was quite strong, it surprisingly wasn’t that bad. It was sweet, and red beans seemed to have been added, giving it a rich texture.

He Guijuan smiled when she saw her daughter finish the medicinal soup. She glanced at Jiang Jiang’s somewhat messy hair and gently stroked the top of her head. “Let me tidy your hair.”

“Okay.” Jiang Jiang sat up straight in her chair.

Regularly combing hair could help promote blood circulation. He Guijuan held a wooden comb in one hand while using the other to gather a strand of her daughter’s hair, brushing from the roots to the tips.

Jiang Jiang had washed her hair just yesterday, and a light fragrance of shampoo lingered, fresh and pleasant.

“Mom.”

“Hmm?”

Jiang Jiang reached out and hugged her. “I love you.”

He Guijuan kissed her cheek and smiled back. “Mom loves you too.”

After washing the bowl from the medicinal soup, Jiang Jiang came out of the kitchen, casually grabbing a handful of coarse corn to feed their old hen.

Since Jiang Jiang had brought the hen from Dongxi Village to the county, it had been living in their little courtyard. Every week, Jiang Jiang would take a morning to clean its coop, and on nice days, she would take it for a stroll in the hills on the outskirts of the city, where it would happily find little bugs to eat.

The hen was quite clean, with shiny black feathers, and its beak and toes were a yellowish-brown. Its face was as red as a traditional figure, and its short, sturdy legs supported its body like pillars.

The hen never laid eggs. It should be around eleven years old, including the time before Jiang Jiang’s father bought it.

“Cluck, cluck, cluck…” Jiang Jiang scattered the coarse corn into the feeding trough in front of the hen, but she noticed that the hen did not come out to eat like it usually did. Jiang Jiang found this strange; normally, whenever she called, even if the hen wasn’t hungry, it would still wander outside the coop. What was happening today?

Jiang Jiang went back inside to grab a flashlight. Using its light, she peeked inside and saw the hen curled up in a ball. Unable to see what was wrong, she reached in and pulled the hen out. That’s when she discovered it was staring blankly with its eyes rolled back, completely motionless.

Panic surged through Jiang Jiang. The flashlight slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground. Tears streamed down her face as she cried, “Mom! The hen, the hen isn’t moving…”

In the evening, Xie Jinyan went out for a stroll after dinner. Huang Shuhua took the opportunity to have her son bring some freshly cooked mung bean soup to He Guijuan’s family.

Huang Shuhua’s mung bean soup was deliciously sweet, with each bean perfectly cooked, soft, and fluffy. It was refreshing and ideal for the hot weather. He Guijuan poured the soup into her bowls and returned the pot to Xie Jinyan. “Please thank your mother for me.”

Xie Jinyan looked around but didn’t see Jiang Jiang. He couldn’t help but ask, “Auntie, where’s Jiang Jiang?”

“She’s inside,” He Guijuan sighed, glancing at the child in front of her. “Oh, Jiang Jiang’s chicken, the one she’s raised since she was little, passed away. We ran to several vet clinics yesterday, but they all said there was nothing to be done. We just buried it this morning, and she’s feeling quite down.”

Hearing this, Xie Jinyan looked toward Jiang Jiang’s room, feeling a pang of worry for her.

A couple of days later, after dinner, Jiang Jiang helped clear the table and said to He Guijuan, who was browsing through a book, “Mom, I’m going out to throw the trash.”

He Guijuan closed her book. “Let me go with you.”

“No need, I’ll be back soon.”

With that, Jiang Jiang took the garbage outside.

After disposing of the trash, Jiang Jiang didn’t return immediately. Instead, she walked slowly along the road, her hands crossed over her chest, and the gentle evening breeze stirred her hair.

In truth, Jiang Jiang didn’t have a particular destination in mind; she wandered aimlessly for a while. As she estimated that enough time had passed, she realized her family might start to worry if she stayed out too long. With a deep breath, she began her slow journey back home.

When she arrived, she saw her father had returned, and they were both gathered around a cardboard box. Upon noticing Jiang Jiang’s arrival, He Guijuan excitedly waved her over.

“Come quickly! Look what your father brought back for you.”

Jiang Jiang leaned closer to take a look and couldn’t help but exclaim, “A puppy?”

Inside the cardboard box lay a pure white puppy with not a single stray hair. Jiang Jiang watched beside it and couldn’t resist reaching out to pet it. The puppy’s fur was long and soft, and as Jiang Jiang stroked it, the little dog seemed to sense her presence, opening its eyes and licking Jiang Jiang’s hand with its tongue.

“It seems this puppy really likes Jiang Jiang,” He Guijuan said with a smile.

Lin Youqing affectionately patted his daughter’s head. “Jiang Jiang, why don’t you give it a name? From now on, this puppy will be a part of our family, and you will be responsible for taking care of it.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Is it a male dog?”

“No, it’s a little female dog.”

Jiang Jiang thought for a moment. “Then let’s call her Lele.”

Jiang Jiang carefully lifted Lele out of the box and filled a small bowl with some cool boiled water to feed her. Worried that the puppy might be uncomfortable in the box, she also arranged some old cotton batting and scraps of cloth for bedding. The little dog was very well-behaved, with a pair of large ears hidden beneath its long fur.

He Guijuan watched her busy daughter and couldn’t help but laugh, praising her husband, who stood nearby. “You really had a good idea; you’ve worked hard.”

Lin Youqing sighed with relief. “It was worth it to run around several flea markets to find this little dog. Finally, we can make our daughter happy.”