Standing at the entrance of Ning Qing's house holding an umbrella, Lin Yuan looked back at the short figure who was standing on the veranda looking in his direction. He wondered whether he should wave goodbye.
It's a bit embarrassing…
"By the way, you don't have to see me off like this. It's too much trouble…"
Ning Qing, who had considered following him until he'd reached the main road, thought for a second then nodded.
She looked at him seriously and said, "Okay, but it's not troublesome. I'm the one who's been troubling you. You've been walking me home even when you didn't need to. I'm very grateful."
Her serious expression made Lin Yuan uncomfortable.
That's because my sister asked me to…
I mean you already lent me your book so actually I'm in your debt instead…
Actually it's not troublesome to walk you home…
"Oh."
He grasped the handle of his umbrella tightly.
"...Well goodbye."
Lin Yuan nodded politely to her then turned around to start walking up the road again.
"Well take care -" She was about to wish him goodbye when he suddenly stopped.
"- By the way, tell your sister thank you for the coffee. It was very delicious."
Seeing him turn around suddenly Ning Qing was caught off guard. Then looking at his sincere expression, Ning Qing nodded and waved slowly.
"Goodnight, I'll see you on Monday, Lin Yuan."
"Goodnight…" Lin Yuan tried to utter the phrase 'Sister Qing' from his mouth, but for some reason he just couldn't do it.
She looked at his strained face and found it funny. Smiling, she asked, "Why? You can't call me Sister Qing?"
Hearing the teasing tone of her voice, Lin Yuan felt embarrassed but he thought about it and still answered honestly, "...I don't know why, it just feels a little strange."
"Then what would you prefer to call me? Teacher Ning?" Ning Qing was confused so she couldn't help but ask curiously.
"..."
Looking at her inquiring face, Lin Yuan felt silent.
Seeing as he didn't respond, Ning Qing thought he was embarrassed because he had rejected her desire for a more familiar address.
"You know if you want to call me Teacher Ning, that's completely fine."
"Oh."
Lin Yuan looked at her again, then spoke softly, "Goodnight…"
Seeing that he had trailed off again, Ning Qing felt helpless. She could only shake her head, laugh and wish him goodnight again.
After watching his figure disappear in the distance, Ning Qing slowly walked back through the courtyard. She surveyed the various pots and plants briefly before reaching the veranda. After opening her umbrella and letting it out to dry again Ning Qing turned back to her little sister who had returned to the table. Ning Yao was sipping from her tea cup.
"Thank you Xiaoyao for helping entertain our guest. You did a good job."
Ning Qing rubbed her head lovingly. Unlike other girls her age who might've gotten upset at being treated like a child, Ning Yao was very obedient and she seemed to be enjoying it.
"So what do you think of him?"
"Quiet."
"Haha, he's very different from Sister Yuerong right?"
Ning Yao glanced at the bright pink umbrella that Lin Yuerong had gifted her and nodded very seriously.
"By the way, he told me to thank you for the coffee, he said it was very delicious."
"Oh." Ning Yao responded nonchalantly.
Ning Qing saw that her eyes were very bright despite her stiff face, "Actually I think he's quite similar to you, don't you think?"
Thinking of the fact that Lin Yuan had praised her and also nodded obediently every time she went to refill his cup, Ning Yao felt he was not too bad.
"He's teachable."
"Oh, our Xiaoyao is not very modest! But that's fine, she's a very smart girl after all!" Ning Yao wanted to agree but looking at Ning Qing's curved eyes and wide smile she felt it was not very good.
"Silly."
…
…
…
When Lin Yuan finally returned to his house he was surprised to see his sister was already home. Looking at her back in her familiar position on the couch watching tv with an expression like a dead fish on her face, he felt bad.
He hadn't prepared anything for dinner.
"You're back?"
"Yeah." He had already placed his umbrella near the front door to dry. His jacket was a little damp, he would put it in the laundry with the rest of his clothes before taking a shower.
"Were you seeing Ning Qing off?"
"Yeah."
"You are very dedicated. Hmm, it seems you know how to listen to your elder sister!" Giving him a thumbs up, Lin Yuerong felt proud, thinking that Lin Yuan really listened to her instructions. "By the way, I already ate at work. I brought some takeout and put it in the fridge if you want."
"Oh."
Sitting on the couch, Lin Yuan glanced at his sister whose attention had returned to the tv and then began speaking absentmindedly.
"It was raining pretty heavily so I waited in their house for a while, that's why I was so late…" he glanced at Lin Yuerong who was still looking at the tv and continued, "By the way, I didn't see her parents, it was only her sister…"
"Oh, Ning Qing's parents passed away many years ago. She's actually living with her grandma and younger sister, you met her right? Isn't she very cute?"
Lin Yuan was so surprised that he couldn't even speak.
Misunderstanding his silence Lin Yuerong continued smugly, "You're probably thinking she has a very cold face right? Haha, that's because she doesn't like you! Actually Xiaoyao always calls me older sister and follows me around. It's actually troublesome hehe." She said so but she was actually smiling very gleefully.
Lin Yuan looked at her slightly creepy smile and couldn't help but be sceptical.
Seeing that he didn't seem to believe her, Lin Yuerong was very upset,"What's that look for?! I'll tell you I'm clearly her favourite. Whenever I buy her presents she always follows me around like a tail, yelling 'sister, sister!'."
"Oh."
She probably thinks you're a sucker…
Thinking of his silly sister laughing happily while being fleeced, Lin Yuan felt worried. He could almost imagine Ning Yao's disdainful smile as she watched his sister laughing obnoxiously while carrying huge bags of gifts like a maid.
Wait, that's not it…her parents…
Shaking away his strange thoughts, Lin Yuan tried to bring the conversation back on topic.
"About her parents…what happened?"
Lin Yuerong glanced at him and didn't speak for a while.
"Well, they died in an earthquake… It's almost been 10 years now so you probably don't remember but it was very serious, there were a lot of casualties. I remember seeing it on the news."
Her face was serious as she continued watching the tv.
"I think her parents were teaching in a rural area at that time, so it was very unexpected. She used to live in Shenzhen but she moved here after that to live with her grandma."
"I didn't know…" Lin Yuan was shocked that such a gentle girl had experienced so much tragedy.
"Well why would you…" Then Lin Yuerong looked at her brother very seriously, "By the way don't mention this in front of her alright? Anyway she doesn't need our pity, my Qingqing is very strong!"
Lin Yuan fell silent as he thought about Ning Qing's always smiling face and her gentle personality. He felt sick but he couldn't tell what was wrong. He didn't know how to describe this feeling. Like an ache in the soul.
…
…
…
It was already 9 pm when Lin Yuan finished washing up.
He sat at his desk working on an olympiad question. Whenever he needed to calm his mind he would always do maths questions. It had slowly become a habit as he began to take maths more seriously in highschool. Looking at the numbers and their clear and precise meanings that held no ambiguity he would always slowly start to relax.
"Ugh…" Lin Yuan groaned. For some reason he just couldn't concentrate.
He closed the exercise book and put away his pen and paper, before walking over to his bed. Sitting in his dark cotton pajamas watching the rain beat against the window, he didn't feel like doing any work today, so he decided to just lay in bed and read.
Looking at the ziploc bag that was lying unopened on the bed side table he reached over to it slowly before falling into a slight daze. Lin Yuan didn't know what was urging him but he found himself on his phone.
Ten years ago…Shenzhen…Earthquake…
Looking at all the news articles that popped he couldn't help himself. He didn't know whether it was wrong to look her up like this but he couldn't help but feel curious.
"The 6.5 magnitude earthquake occurred in the early hours of the morning centering in the small rural towns in the north of Shenzhen. Due to the lack of proper earthquake safe infrastructure as well as the large distances from emergency services, the casualty toll has been reported to exceed 100…"
"County officials blame lack of infrastructure funding in earthquake prone areas…"
"Funerals underway this evening… many bodies unable to be retrieved…"
Lin Yuan was scrolling through photos of the funeral ceremonies when he paused on an image. It showed a young girl wearing all black holding a small child in her arms standing in front of two framed photographs. The people in the black and white photo were a little blurred by the light and their faces couldn't be seen clearly.
But the girl was tall, with long brown hair tied to a ponytail, her face looked very pale and dark eye bags were clearly visible. She had a very cold look and her piercing eyes were hard. Unlike the other people in the photograph who were crying, she was standing straight holding the child in her arms tightly without any expression on her face.
Lin Yuan almost didn't recognise her.
Looking at this picture of Ning Qing, Lin Yuan felt uncomfortable, like he was seeing something he wasn't supposed to. He quickly exited the page and turned over his phone.
Lying on his back staring at the white ceiling absentmindedly, he couldn't help but recall Ning Qing's smiling face. Compared to that young girl in the photograph it was only a little older, a little more mature but her eyes were very different. Bright and lively.
Ten years…is that how long it takes?
Lin Yuan turned over and picked up the ziploc bag. Opening it carefully, he took out the two books. Looking at the one with the title in English, he quickly began turning over the pages.
He was surprised to see that it was heavily dogeared and many passages were underlined. He tried to read some of it but the words were too difficult, even when he knew the words he couldn't understand the meaning. Looking at the Chinese version that looked relatively newer, he decided to start there first.
Glancing at the time on his phone, he stood up to turn off the ceiling light and switched on his bedside lamp. Listening to the dull sound of rain, he began to read slowly.