“I came back in a hurry last time and didn’t tidy up the house. It may be a bit dusty.” Even though she was standing at the entrance of her own home, Song Yinan still smiled with some formality.
Seeing that there was no movement from the person behind her, Song Yinan turned to look at Jing Can and found that he was staring at the iron gate in front of him, lost in thought.
“Xiao Can?”
Hearing the call, Jing Can suddenly blinked and lowered his eyes.
“The car ride was too long, tired?”
“No,” Jing Can shook his head and picked up both of his bags with one hand. He looked at Song Yinan and immediately realized that he had just missed something, “What did you just say?”
“I said there might be a lot of dust in the house.” As Song Yinan spoke to the person behind her, she opened the iron gate with the key in her hand. The key collided with the lock, fitting into it as if they shared a secret password.
There were three limestone steps in front of the gate. Jing Can was standing at the bottom of the steps, so when the iron gate was pushed open, the first thing that grabbed his attention was the verdant green color that presented itself through the gap below Song Yinan’s cotton sleeve. It was some kind of plant, but Jing Can didn’t know what plant it was nor did he ask. He merely knew that it was his first impression of the world inside the gate.
As far as Jing Can was concerned, the world inside the gate was completely unfamiliar and strange. In a word, it should be his grandparent’s home. But when Song Yinan married his father, her father had passed away and her mother was dying, so Jing Can, who was still a child, had no chance to meet his grandparents.
Actually… Jing Can once attended Song Yinan’s mother’s funeral, so if you must say that they met, then you should probably say that they met one-sidedly.
At the funeral, Jing Can sat next to his father. He tried to lean forward to look at Song Yinan over his father’s upper body, but just as his eyes touched her tear stained face, Jing Zaihang slightly furrowed his brow and twisted Jing Can’s head away.
Jing Can could always clearly remember the things he cared about, so when he stepped into the gate and walked toward the house, Jing Can could accurately portray that scene in his mind.
They walked across the yard and went into the house. Song Yinan seemed to have said something during that time, but Jing Can appeared to be in his own world, like he was most of the time, and didn’t hear her. When he stood still in the room, he suddenly felt uncomfortable. This uneasiness manifested from not knowing what to do next, whether or not he should put down the luggage in his hand, and where to put it, if necessary.
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She put the key on the table in front of the window, then came to pick up the luggage in Jing Can’s hand and put it on top of the shoe cabinet beside the door. The bag bumped into a porcelain rabbit, and although it wasn’t made with very fine craftsmanship, the movement caused both of them to look at it. After placing the luggage on the shoe cabinet, Song Yinan did not completely withdraw her hand and let it hang by her side. Rather, she lightly gripped onto the edge of the cabinet, unconsciously scratching lines into the wood with her fingernails.
“When I was nine years old, during Chinese New Year, my father took me to the street festival to play ring toss and I won this rabbit.” She tilted her head, reached out, and touched the rabbit’s head with her index finger. There was a pink flower with burnt black stamens carved on its head. “After my parents passed away, I found that these things were all memories, so I left them as they were before.”
It was Song Yinan’s reminiscence that allowed Jing Can to realize why he was so uncomfortable in the house. This home had too many things, and these things held many stories and meanings that belonged to Song Yinan. But for Jing Can, it was like this was a house of stories, and he was an illiterate person.
Song Yinan walked to the window and opened it. The window was not opened by pulling inward, but rather by pushing outward. There was a table in front of the window. Standing by the table, Song Yinan suddenly turned around and beckoned to him. He wondered if it was an illusion created by the sunshine, but for a split second, Song Yinan’s expression didn’t really resemble that of a mother.
The ivy growing on the fence was not very dense, so the street in front of the gate could be seen. Maybe because it was lunch time, no one passed by on the street and it was very quiet.
“I used to like doing my homework here. When I was a child, I always thought the window was magical, because sometimes I would suddenly look out of the window and stare, and time would pass quickly… Once, I unconsciously sat and stared for an entire afternoon.” Song Yinan looked at Jing Can and suddenly smiled with her lips pursed. “Later, I realized that it wasn’t that the window was magical, but that I always didn’t want to study.”
Jing Can smiled gently when she said this. He slightly raised his head to look outside and was tickled by a gust of wind that blew in.
It was June.
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“I’ll get you some water.”
Song Yinan turned around and Jing Can watched her head into the kitchen. After she was out of sight, Jing Can turned around, thought for a second, and sat down on the stool. He looked down at the table, then folded his arms, put them on the table, and sat upright, just like a schoolboy in class.
There was a row of books in front of him. Jing Can glanced at them. They were textbooks for junior high school and senior high school that should have been used by Song Yinan when she was younger. He bit his lip gently, raised his hand, and reached towards one of the books. However, just before his fingertips touched the spine of the book, his hand hovered in the air and stopped
After a long time, Jing Can withdrew his hand. He stared at the row of books for a while, as if he could see the content, notes, and time stored within them.
The wind outside suddenly blew hot air in, and there was a noise outside the originally quiet window. It sounded like something was hitting the ground.
A basketball?
Something slightly stirred in his heart and Jing Can used both of his hands to support the table as he stood up swiftly. He leaned forward and really saw a basketball bouncing along the empty street. Jing Can stretched his neck forward again, trying to follow the path of the basketball and see the people following it, but the man seemed to be talking to his friend and stopped not far away. Even though Jing Can had stretched himself to the limit, and the veins on his arms were bulging because he used too much force, he barely saw half of the man’s body. Even half of his face was blocked by a cap, so Jing Can couldn’t see his eyes.
Someone laughed. The man in the cap turned his head and raised his chin.
Jing Can stared blankly. After a brief moment of doubt, his arms seemed to suddenly lose their strength and became numb. He abruptly recovered from his super forward leaning posture and stood firm, but he felt that the ground underfoot was extremely soft and unstable.
“Xiao Can?”
Song Yinan’s voice sounded so suddenly that Jing Can turned his head and looked back before he had time to adjust his expression. Song Yinan clearly saw his blank and vacant look in its entirety and unconsciously tightened her grasp on the cup in her hand.
Jing Can could feel the sweat forming rapidly on his forehead. He quickly dodged Song Yinan’s gaze, lowered his head, and leaned against the table.
“Do you have another headache?”
Song Yinan’s voice was very soft. Jing Can thought it was too gentle.
“No”, Jing Can shook his head and looked at her again when he felt that his body had recovered its strength.
Song Yinan didn’t say anything more. She simply handed him the cup of water she was holding and used a tissue to wipe the sweat off his forehead.
“It’s a little hot, right?” Song Yinan picked up a self-made pole hook that was leaning against the wall, held it out in front of herself, and hooked the window. “I had to put my desk here, which made it difficult to close the window. My father could only make a pole hook to close the window.”
When the window was closed, Song Yinan inadvertently turned to Jing Can and saw him turn his head and continue staring out of the window.
“What would you like for dinner?” Song Yinan coughed on purpose, adding a little more lightness to her voice, “Both your father and Xiao Wei don’t eat at home in the evening. We don’t have to go back early. I’ll take you out to eat some good food…”
“Can I stay here to study?”
“Huh?” Song Yinan was stunned by Jing Can’s question and paused while leaning the pole hook back against the wall, “What are you going to study?”
“At this age, I should go to school,” Jing Can lowered his eyes, bent his index finger, and knocked on the cup of water. “I should be in senior high school… Grade 2? Grade 3?”
——————–
A/N: It’s starting ahh ~~~
Still, tomorrow I have something to do and will ask for leave.
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