Chapter 21: Twelve Years Old – Beijing Welcomes You

After returning home that day, Xuezhu lay on the desk, zoning out for the entire afternoon.

Her mother called her to practice the piano, but she didn’t. She was asked to do her homework, but she didn’t. She seemed like a lifeless puppet, maintaining a fixed posture, her blank eyes staring out the window at the large banyan tree that had grown up to her window.

Later, it suddenly started to rain outside. The sun was still in the sky, and it was a drizzling sunshower.

She didn’t close the window, and the warm rain dripped in through the leaves, soaking the floor. When Song Yanping came in and saw her acting like a fool, leaving the window open, she sighed, gave her a couple of taps, hurriedly closed the window, and said, “Just like your father, so lazy,” before leaving her to do as she pleased.

Xuezhu stared at the rain, her eyes filled with emotion, her face flushed, and her body felt as though it were sick—soft and weak, with no energy to do anything.

Later, Song Yanping couldn’t take it anymore and stood at the door, warning her that if she didn’t do her homework, she wouldn’t be allowed to watch TV that night.

Only then did Xuezhu pick up her pen, spread out a piece of draft paper, and appeared to be doing her homework. In reality, she was writing Meng Yuning’s name over and over on the paper.

She had never realized how much she loved writing her brother’s name.

No matter how many times she wrote it, she never grew tired of it.

This state of aimless daze lasted until the next day.

Around eight in the morning, Song Yanping called her to get up for breakfast, but Xuezhu didn’t move. After waiting for an hour, Song Yanping came again, but Xuezhu still didn’t move.

“Children need to go to bed early and wake up early, you won’t grow tall if you lie in bed too long, do you know that?”

Such words were just like saying “you won’t grow tall if you hold an umbrella indoors” or “playing with fire makes you wet the bed”—things said to fool children, but Xuezhu believed them wholeheartedly. For some reason that day, even though Song Yanping said that, Xuezhu was determined not to get out of bed.

Song Yanping had no choice but to bring her breakfast into the room and told her to sit up in bed to eat.

“I don’t want breakfast.”

“No! You have to eat breakfast! Do you know it’s bad for your stomach if you don’t eat breakfast? Do you want to get stomach problems at such a young age?”

Xuezhu ate a few bites, then lazily lay back down again.

Song Yanping, worried that she might be sick, took out a thermometer to check her temperature, but she didn’t have a fever.

“You must go to your piano lesson in the afternoon, understand?”

After a final reminder, Song Yanping couldn’t get through to her, so she had to let her lie down.

Xuezhu closed her eyes, thinking to herself that her ears were finally at peace.

Unexpectedly, around noon, Song Yanping came in to call her again.

Her mother was really so annoying.

Xuezhu, feeling resolute, pulled the blanket over her head, wrapping herself tightly, and shouted through the blanket, “Can’t you let me sleep a little longer? It’s not even time for class yet!”

The weather was already warm now, so Song Yanping couldn’t use the old trick of pulling off the blanket to force her out of bed.

Half exasperated, half amused, her mother said, “Lazybones, your brother Ningning is here to see you! Still not getting up? Aren’t you embarrassed to have him see you still lying in bed this late?”

Xuezhu scoffed, “Don’t lie to me. Brother Ningning stays at school even on Sundays.”

“I really don’t know what to do with her,” Song Yanping said helplessly.

It didn’t sound like she was talking to her directly. Xuezhu figured she was probably complaining to Dad—until the next moment, a gentle, clear voice with a hint of laughter came from outside the blanket: “Xiao Zhu, I really did come back.”

She abruptly opened her eyes in the darkness, awkwardly curling up her limbs in embarrassment.

A hand lightly tapped her head through the thin spring blanket. “Still not getting up?”

The spot he touched felt like it had caught a spark—warm and itchy.

At this moment, she really wanted to throw off the blanket and look him in the eyes.

But a voice in her heart whispered, Don’t… You won’t be able to handle it.

Still, hiding under the blanket wasn’t a solution either. Xuezhu slowly lifted it from her head—first revealing her messy hair, and then, a pair of big eyes suddenly illuminated by the sunlight.

Meng Yuning’s face was just above hers. Seeing her finally peek her head out, he blinked and smiled at her.

She murmured, “Brother…”

“…Why did you come back today?”

“To bring you the class year book,” Meng Yuning replied. “Zhong Zihan’s class has a surprise quiz today, so he couldn’t make it.”

Song Yanping, standing behind Meng Yuning, chimed in, “Hurry up and brush your teeth and wash your face. It’s almost time to eat.”

“Oh.”

She slowly sat up, instinctively reaching up to scratch her hair.

“Look at your hair—it’s a total bird’s nest. After you wash your face, fix it properly,” Song Yanping said, completely unable to bear looking.

Xuezhu suddenly pressed her lips together in embarrassment and, in a burst of frustration, flung the blanket aside and complained, “You’re always criticizing me, Mom—don’t you ever get tired of it?”

“You think I want to waste my breath? It’s only because you never listen,” Song Yanping clicked her tongue, then added, “Hurry up and change out of your pajamas. Your brother’s watching—what do you think you look like?”

Finally, her mom left the room.

Xuezhu looked down at her strawberry-print pajamas, her chin suddenly tensing up, the tip of her nose and her cheeks quietly turning red.

She instinctively clutched the collar of her pajama top.

But this tiny motion happened to catch Meng Yuning’s attention. Unfortunately, he got a clear glimpse of the open neckline, her defined collarbone, slender frame, and the slight swell of her chest.

The boy’s lowered eyes suddenly widened. He quickly turned his head away and gently urged, “Hurry up, I’ll wait for you outside.”

Then he stood and left the room, giving her privacy to change.

She didn’t rush to change clothes. Instead, she got up from bed and jumped in front of the full-length mirror behind the door to take a look at herself.

Her long hair was a complete mess, her face pale from sleeping too late last night, her pajamas loose and wrinkled, and one of the camisole straps under her top had even slipped out and was showing on one shoulder.

She quickly fixed her collar—hopefully her brother hadn’t seen the strap.

Please let him not have seen it.

Her chest itched unbearably in a spot she couldn’t reach, and through her own body no less. Xuezhu pounded her chest a few times and warned it to behave.

Once she was dressed, she quietly glanced at Meng Yuning and saw that he looked completely normal, helping her mom set the table.

He probably didn’t see the strap.

Five minutes later, she had finally finished washing up. Her parents didn’t wait for her—they had already taken a couple bites of food.

Pei Lianyi teased her, “Finally willing to get up after smelling the food?”

Xuezhu ignored her dad, picked up a piece of meat, and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing hard.

The TV was on, but for once, Xuezhu didn’t fight to watch her favorite shows and just quietly ate her food.

With no one fighting him for the remote, Pei Lianyi was able to watch the midday news, but he found himself a bit distracted. The news was covering live scenes from Beijing, which was already buzzing with excitement months ahead of the Olympics. Everyone—from reporters to randomly interviewed locals and tourists—had bright, smiling faces.

Pei Lianyi glanced at his wife, then at his daughter, and finally at Ningning.

The four of them eating together like this felt just like when Xiao Zhu had first started elementary school.

Now, in the blink of an eye, she was about to graduate.

Back then, the country had just won the Olympic bid. Everyone was counting down the days to 2008, saying how they would take the whole family to Beijing to watch the Olympics. And just like that, 2008 had really arrived.

Out of nowhere, the man suddenly asked, “Do you all want to go to Beijing to watch the Olympics?”

All three turned to look at him.

“It’s a huge event for our country. Xiao Zhu, Ningning—don’t you want to join the excitement? Your summer vacation starts in August.”

Song Yanping said, “They may be on summer break, but you’re not.”

Pei Lianyi replied, “Can’t I just take time off?”

Song Yanping said, “We can just watch it on TV. There are already so many people in Beijing now—by August, won’t it be overcrowded?”

Pei Lianyi said, “Every vacation spot is packed during the holidays. If you don’t want to take time off, then stay home and watch TV. I’ll take Xiao Zhu and Ningning myself.”

Song Yanping immediately said in a lower voice, “I never said I wasn’t going.”

Pei Lianyi chuckled, “Then why not just say you want to go? Why always argue with me?”

Xuezhu stared at the crowded capital city on the TV.

She still vaguely remembered—back in the year before she started elementary school—she, her sister Yueyue, her brother Zihan, and their parents had all gathered in the living room watching TV. At the moment when the foreign announcer on screen pronounced “Beijing” in broken Mandarin, the entire house erupted with joy. Right after, an uncle downstairs shouted out like an excited child:

“Our country won the Olympic bid!”

That night, her parents, for once, didn’t urge her to go to bed at 8 o’clock. All the children and adults in the neighborhood had bought sparklers and were playing downstairs. Fireworks lit up the entire street well into the middle of the night.

Back then, Xuezhu was still too young to truly understand the joy and excitement of the adults, but as she grew older, she gradually realized just how glorious, proud, and thrilling that moment really was.

“Let’s go! I want to go!” Xuezhu nodded eagerly.

She wanted to go to Beijing and have fun.

Pei Lianyi nodded with satisfaction. “Alright, that’s one vote for Xiao Zhu.” Then he turned to Meng Yuning. “Ningning, what about you? Want to go to Beijing? Uncle will take you.”

“Ningning will probably have gotten into Tsinghua or Peking University by then,” Song Yanping suddenly became interested and asked the boy curiously, “Ningning, are you aiming for Tsinghua or Peking?”

As if the question wasn’t whether he could get in, but simply which one he would choose.

Meng Yuning hadn’t really thought about it and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Ningning’s studying science, right? Then Tsinghua would be better,” Pei Lianyi analyzed seriously. “Tsinghua is stronger in science and engineering.”

“Even if he’s studying science now, he could still choose a humanities major later—nothing’s set in stone,” Song Yanping said with a cheerful laugh. “To me, whether it’s Tsinghua or Peking, they’re both top schools. Either way, it’d be a great honor for the family.”

Xuezhu had no way to cut in, but in her heart, Tsinghua and Peking seemed the same too.

After the news ended, even the commercials were filled with Olympic promotions. The five Fuwa mascots appeared standing in a row. Xuezhu immediately found a new topic of interest and pointed at the mascots on TV with her chopsticks.

“Dad, buy me one of those Fuwa.”

Pei Lianyi doted on his daughter, of course he wouldn’t say no. “Sure, I’ll take you to the supermarket in a few days and see if they have them. Which one do you like?”

“Huh? Can’t I get all of them?”

“You already have so many dolls by your bed. One is enough.”

Left with no choice, Xuezhu picked one. “Then I want Nini.”

“Oh? You like the swallow?”

Because Nini was designed as a little swallow.

“No,” Xuezhu shook her head.

“Then why do you want Nini?”

Xuezhu rolled her eyes and declared confidently, “No reason.”

No one should try to figure out what goes on in a kid’s mind. Pei Lianyi didn’t bother pressing further. He turned to another “child” in his eyes, Meng Yuning. “Ningning, which Fuwa do you like?”

Meng Yuning thought for a moment and said, “Jingjing.”

Jingjing was a giant panda.

Xuezhu suddenly remembered—Meng Yuning’s QQ avatar was also a black and white panda.

So her brother liked pandas.

After lunch, Xuezhu took a short nap. When she got up, it was just about time to head to her piano lesson.

She was already very familiar with the route from home to the music school. Before leaving, she glanced at Meng Yuning, who was chatting idly with her dad on the sofa, and suddenly had an idea.

“Brother,” Xuezhu ran up behind him, leaned over the sofa cushion, and tilted her head to look at him. “When are you going back to school?”

“Before evening study hall,” Meng Yuning handed her a freshly peeled lychee. “Want some lychee?”

Xuezhu didn’t reach out her hand—instead, she opened her mouth. “Ah.”

Meng Yuning chuckled softly and fed it to her as she wished.

The cool, juicy lychee filled her mouth. With one cheek puffed out, Xuezhu happily enjoyed the juice and mumbled, “You’re not doing anything anyway, so why don’t you walk me to the music school?”

Pei Lianyi was also eating lychees, his left cheek puffed up just like his daughter’s. “Don’t you already know the way? Why make your brother take you?”

“Why not?” Xuezhu shot back.

Well—there was no real reason not to.

Pei Lianyi just felt like his daughter was constantly troubling Meng Yuning.

While the father found it troublesome, the “older brother” didn’t mind. He didn’t really feel like studying this afternoon anyway—might as well go out for a walk.

The two of them headed out. When they reached the bus stop, Xuezhu suddenly remembered, “You haven’t given me the yearbook page yet!”

“It’s in my backpack. I’ll give it to you now.”

That’s when Xuezhu noticed—he had actually brought his backpack with him.

“Brother, why are you carrying your backpack?”

“After I drop you off at the music school, I’m going straight back to school.”

“You’re not coming home?”

“Nope.”

Xuezhu smartly didn’t press any further.

As Meng Yuning dug through his bag to find the yearbook page, he accidentally came across a “Letter to Parents” the school had handed out to all third-year students a month ago.

With the college entrance exams approaching, the school planned to hold one final parent-teacher meeting. If a student’s parents couldn’t attend, they had to provide a written explanation and signature.

It was due next week.

Looks like he’d still have to go home later after all.

Without a word, Meng Yuning pressed his lips together and handed the yearbook page to Xuezhu.

It wasn’t convenient to read while walking, so Xuezhu just held it until they got on the bus and sat down. Then she finally took a careful look at what he had written.

“Brother, so your favorite color is blue?”

“Mhm, the kind of blue like the sky.”

“Your favorite food is… hmm? ^[1]Jianbing guozi (煎饼果子) is a popular Chinese street food, especially in northern China. It consists of a thin, crispy crepe-like pancake made from a batter of flour, eggs, and water, which is … Continue readingJianbing guozi?”

“Yeah, the one they sell at the entrance of our school.”

“Is it really tasty?”

“It is,” Meng Yuning said with a smile. “Next time, I’ll treat you.”

Xuezhu nodded with excitement. “Okay!”

Holding the yearbook page and looking at Meng Yuning’s clean, strong handwriting, Xuezhu felt like she understood him a little more.

The message he wrote for her in the back said, ‘I hope Xiao Zhu will always be warm and bright like a little sun,’ and next to it he drew a smiling sun.

She happily and carefully tucked the page into her copy of Charnier 299, but not long after, she pulled it out again to look at it.

Meng Yuning caught her little actions from the corner of his eye.

“You’ve been staring at it all this time and still haven’t finished reading it?”

“I finished.”

Xuezhu hurriedly stuffed the book back into her tote bag.

“What’s with the panic?” Meng Yuning pressed down lightly on her head and squinted at her. “Did you do something bad?”

She pressed her lips together, voice stiff: “No.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Then why won’t you look at me?”

Xuezhu’s mind was a mess, but she forced herself to lift her chin and meet his gaze. “Who says I’m not looking at you? I’ve got nothing to hide.”

The two stared straight at each other. After half a minute, when she saw the teasing in his eyes growing stronger and stronger, her heart gave its final warning.

She couldn’t take it anymore and turned her head away.

“I haven’t finished my homework yet,” she blurted out an excuse.

Meng Yuning said gently, “Then remember to finish it before you go to sleep.”

“Okay.”

The bus moved smoothly and soon arrived at a new stop.

“Meng Yuning!”

It was a surprised female voice.

Not only did it startle Meng Yuning, it also gave Xuezhu a shock.

A high school girl wearing the same school uniform as Meng Yuning appeared before them.

Meng Yuning looked toward the girl. His expression was calm and refined, his eyes thoughtful as if trying to recall who she was.

“I’m Wang Ying from the class next door,” the girl’s voice suddenly softened. “I had Chen Li from your class give you a letter. Don’t you remember?”

“Oh,” Meng Yuning smiled politely, “that was you.”

“Yeah, what a coincidence! I didn’t expect to run into you here. Where are you headed?”

She sat down in the empty seat in front of him and turned around to ask.

“I’m taking my sister to her piano lesson,” Meng Yuning replied.

“Your sister?” The girl glanced at the seat beside him. “This is your sister?”

“Yeah.”

Right on cue, Xuezhu spoke up, “Hello, big sister.”

“Hi! You really look like your brother,” the girl said cheerfully, but her focus quickly returned to Meng Yuning. Her expression turned hopeful as she continued, “I wrote in the letter that I was waiting for your answer… Have you thought about it? Do you want to try being with me? I know you’ll definitely get into a university in Beijing. I plan to apply there too.”

Xuezhu’s eyes widened in shock.

Not only her—several adults nearby also turned their heads curiously, watching the pair of high schoolers in uniform.

Meng Yuning frowned slightly. When he caught sight of Xuezhu staring at him with wide, innocent eyes, his face flushed with embarrassment. He reached over and covered her ears.

Before covering them, he said, “Little kids shouldn’t listen to this.”

Xuezhu pouted.

It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before—how many times had she seen scenes like this in dramas? She was a girl who’d seen her share of drama.

With Xuezhu’s ears covered, Meng Yuning finally replied to the girl, “Sorry, I’ve never considered that.”

The girl instantly pressed her lips together. “Not even after the college entrance exam?”

Meng Yuning shook his head. “No, I won’t.”

“I see,” the girl shrugged. “To be honest, I figured you’d say no. No way I’d be that lucky.”

The bus reached the next stop. The girl stood up. “I need to transfer here. Good luck on the college entrance exam, Meng Yuning.”

“You too. Good luck,” Meng Yuning smiled. “If there’s a city you want to go to, just apply to a school there.”

The girl lowered her eyes in disappointment.

Even though his rejection was polite and gentle, it didn’t soften the blow in the heart of the girl who had just been turned down.

“Mm.”

Only after she got off the bus did Meng Yuning let go of Xuezhu’s ears.

This short conversation was quickly forgotten by everyone else on the bus.

But Xuezhu kept replaying that moment in her head.

“Brother, you don’t like that sister?”

Meng Yuning raised an eyebrow, not sounding very surprised: “Didn’t I tell you not to listen?”

“Then you should’ve covered my ears like this just now.”

Xuezhu poked her index fingers into her ears.

He let out a light sigh and nodded. “Right. I don’t like her.”

“Then who do you like?” she kept pressing.

Meng Yuning felt helpless at how nosy she was for someone so young: “Do I have to like someone?”

“You don’t have anyone you like?”

“No.”

Xuezhu clearly didn’t believe him. “Why not? There are so many girls at your school, and you’re so good at studying. Even if you had a girlfriend, I don’t think your teachers would scold you.”

Such a precocious little girl.

Amused, a faint smile flickered in Meng Yuning’s eyes. His voice lowered, calm and gentle as he explained to her, “Xiao Zhu, I’m not a genius. I’m not the type who can get good grades without paying attention in class or doing homework. I need to stay focused when I study. I don’t have the energy to spare for other people or other things. Do you understand what I mean?”

Still, Xuezhu didn’t believe it. Even if Meng Yuning wasn’t interested in anyone now, with all those girls at his school, who’s to say he wouldn’t fall for someone someday without meaning to?

Feelings aren’t something you can control.

“You really don’t like anyone?”

The look on her face said she wouldn’t stop until she got an answer, which made Meng Yuning feel a bit of a headache.

“I like you. Is that answer good enough?”

Leaning against the bus seat, Meng Yuning lazily reached out and tapped her nose, teasing the little girl in front of him.

Xuezhu knew it was just a joke.

But even so, that one little joke stirred up the calm waters in her heart.