She refilled her dad’s soup and served herself a bowl, sitting between her parents, sipping slowly.
“On the way back, I caught the market just before it closed, so I quickly bought two pork feet and a handful of soybeans. The stew is not quite falling apart yet; it could have been even better with a bit more time.” She leaned back in her chair, satisfied after a night of studying and a bowl of pork foot soup—it was truly blissful.
“My girl’s all grown up!” Father Hua wanted to pat his daughter on the head, but realizing his hand was greasy from handling pork trotters, he just rubbed the top of her head with his wrist instead.
“You’ve worked hard, Mom and Dad,” she said with a sweet smile.
“Our daughter really is like a little padded jacket, keeping us warm,” Mother Hua, who had been busy all day, felt suddenly hungry.
The couple each drank two bowls of soup and quickly polished off two pork trotters.
Huanhuan, who had been wagging his tail furiously by the table hinting for some, also got many pork bones. He would gnaw on one for a bit, then switch to another, his happiness catching him off guard.
After cleaning up the dishes, Father Hua stretched lazily, wishing he could just go straight to sleep.
Standing by the living room door, Hua Jie watched her mom turn on the TV and her dad sit down on the sofa. She clapped her hands and announced:
“Mom and Dad, the results for the Qingmei Biennale are out!”
“Really? How did it go?” Mother Hua leaned forward on the sofa, her eyebrows raised high, her fatigue swept away.
“Second place.” Hua Jie grinned, showing off her rows of small white teeth.
“Wow!” Mother Hua exclaimed, startling Father Hua just as he was about to show his happiness.
Before Father Hua could scold her for being too excitable, she suddenly hugged him.
“Wow, our daughter is amazing!” Mother Hua exclaimed as she hugged Father Hua tightly and patted him on the back.
Father Hua reached out, intending to push his wife away—after all, at their age, one should be more composed.
However, somehow, the hand that rested on her shoulder seemed to have a mind of its own. Instead of pushing her away, it gently started to pat her back.
“Can you believe she got second place in the competition? Didn’t her teacher say that it was attended by the best new generation from all over the country? Most of them are university students, right?” Father Hua asked.
“Yes! There aren’t many high schoolers,” Hua Jie said proudly, lifting her chin and boasting with a smile, “But I came in second.”
Father Hua couldn’t help but smile warmly, feeling a mix of pride and joy. He wondered if it was the pig’s trotter soup he had earlier that was energizing him, or the joy of his daughter’s achievement.
After struggling for words for a while, he finally managed to say awkwardly, “…Pretty good.”
Hua Jie laughed heartily and walked up to her parents. She leaned into her mother’s open arms and snuggled closer.
Father Hua reached out to ruffle his daughter’s hair, then awkwardly withdrew his hand.
Turning her head within her mother’s embrace, Hua Jie looked at her father silently for a moment before suddenly grabbing his rough, calloused hand and giving it a fierce kiss.
When you achieve honor, having family members who share your happiness and take pride in you is indeed a rare fortune.
Only after a lifetime did she realize how precious it is to have someone willing to share your happiness when you’re joyful and to feel your sorrow when you’re sad.
Not everyone has the capacity to love others, and she is fortunate to have parents who, though somewhat awkward, are so warm-hearted. Perhaps she saved the earth in her past life.
Father Hua withdrew his hand and playfully flicked his daughter on the head.
He turned back to the TV, and after a few moments, he couldn’t help but snicker. Glancing at his daughter, he stretched out his hand and ruffled her hair again.
“Let’s go for a buffet this weekend as a family to celebrate for our daughter,” Mother Hua suggested with a smile. “Let’s also invite Teacher Shen and Shen Mo; we haven’t properly thanked Teacher Shen yet.”
“Sure,” Hua Jie agreed, giving a thumbs up.
Leaving her mother’s embrace, she sat up straight on the sofa and discussed with her parents the upcoming plans Teacher Shen had for taking them to the capital.
“By the way, I made two adjustable desks for drawing like you suggested, one sized for you and one for Teacher Shen.”
“The one for Teacher Shen is quite large, with a simple pine branch pattern carved on the edges. It’s very elegant and beautiful.”
“Let’s give it to Teacher Shen this weekend.”
“Teacher Shen has been so good to you; we can’t owe him too much. From now on, during the holidays, we shouldn’t forget to bring gifts.”
Father Hua said earnestly.
“Thank you, Dad!” Hua Jie cheered, giving a thumbs up.
The three of them chatted for a bit more on the sofa before Hua Jie went back to her room to continue studying, as the final exams were approaching and she needed to buckle down.
In the living room, the conversation between Mother Hua and her husband continued:
“Wow, second place nationally, isn’t that a bit too impressive, haha…”
“That’s really something!” Father Hua scoffed, expressing his dissatisfaction with his wife’s stating the obvious.
“Who does she take after to be so talented? You or me?”
“It’s definitely from me. A carpenter’s hands are skilled, and isn’t painting also about having skilled hands?”
“Well, I can write with a brush too. Painting and brush writing are connected, aren’t they?”
“Is everything that uses a brush connected?”
“Of course!”
The television is playing “The Legend of the New White Snake,” which is being broadcast for who knows how many times. It seems every year there are two seasons, and various channels rotate between airing “The Legend of the New White Snake” and “Journey to the West.”
The girls have draped towels over their heads, mimicking White Snake’s gestures, spinning around the room pretending to be serpent demons.
The boys, meanwhile, clutch sticks and branches—any long objects they can find—swinging them in the air until they fly, the ones who can twirl the sticks to cast shadows becoming the stars among their peers.
Winter break is coming again.
…
It’s past 11 p.m., and the parents have gone to bed.
Hua Jie has almost finished the sets of practice papers she prepared for the exam. This exam seems to be going a bit better than the last one; after all, she doesn’t need to cram as many middle school problems and has never stopped studying hard. With enough accumulated knowledge, the workload right before the exam is much lighter.
Although she feels a bit nervous, she is not completely panicked.
She brushes her teeth, washes her face, changes into her pajamas, and tiptoes to the kitchen for a drink.
As she turns to head back to bed, her eyes suddenly catch sight of the telephone.
She walks over to the landline and touches the handset.
Her lips purse; suddenly, she really wants to call Shen Mo.
Does he know she won second place in the Qingmei Biennale competition?
She wants to tell him, to hear his voice, to see if he can be less awkward and generously praise her…
Her heart suddenly races, and she quickly pulls her hand back.
She’ll see him tomorrow at school; no need to be so anxious to call now, it’s not an emergency.
It’s just about wanting to share her achievements with him, to proudly show off.
That bubbling joy buried in her chest seeks an outlet, longing for someone to talk to, to chat with.
So, she thinks of Shen Mo.
Her palm rests against the window glass, her face close to the glass, looking up at the sky.
The crescent moon hangs in the firmament, stubbornly casting its halo.
She hesitates again by the phone, but ultimately, she’s too shy to make the call.
If only she had a mobile phone, she could just send him a text message.
It wouldn’t need to be as formal as a phone call, nor would it require mustering so much courage.
She turned back to her room, closed the door, crawled into bed, curled up, and nestled the blanket between her legs, finding the most comfortable position. Only then did she exhale a long breath, her face relaxed into a satisfied and tranquil expression, gradually drifting into dreams.
The moonlight still shone outside the window.
Although the young boys and girls didn’t call each other on such nights, they bathed under the same moonlight, thinking of each other at the same time.
…
…
The next morning, Hua Jie rushed to school in a hurry.
She thought she was early, but found that Shen Mo had arrived even earlier today.
He usually arrived at school just in time. Had he changed his ways today?
But this was perfect!
She almost jumped for joy, running to her seat with her brows dancing and a big smile, her hands excitedly propping herself up on the desk as she exclaimed:
“Shen Mo! Did you know?”
“I don’t know,” he interrupted her.
Hua Jie’s excitement was abruptly halted, her eyes wide with confusion as she stared at the languid boy who had interrupted her.
His interruption had broken her flow of emotion, leaving her unable to continue.
Seeing her silly look, Shen Mo couldn’t help but laugh.
Her run from the classroom door had been like a happy fool, and thankfully not many people were at school at this time.
Unable to bear seeing her struggling to regain her cheerful mood, he suddenly performed a trick like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, producing an entire cake from his desk drawer and placing it on her desk, asking:
“Have you had breakfast?”
“…” Now Hua Jie was completely unable to utter the words ‘I won second place at the Qingmei Biennale competition’. She stared at the super pretty cake in front of her, which looked very appetizing, and asked him in astonishment:
“Is it your birthday?”
What? Shen Mo is a down-to-earth yet low-key Capricorn?
That’s not right, she knows his birthday, and it’s not today.
“No.” He looked up at her with a smile.
“Then whose birthday is it?” she asked.
“Nobody’s. Just consider it breakfast,” he replied.
“???” She raised her eyebrows, who eats such a big cake for breakfast?
Can people be so whimsical just because they are wealthy?
“Here.” He handed her the plastic knife.
“…” Hua Jie took the knife, watching as the young man unhurriedly untied the ribbon and unwrapped the cake, then looked up and said to her:
“Cut it, I want the ‘Joy’ character.”
“…” She looked at the ‘Happy Birthday’ written on the cake and silently cut out ‘Joy.’
“You cut the ‘Happy,'” he suggested, “then together we can make ‘Happy Joy.'”
“Why don’t you eat ‘Happy’?” she asked.
“You don’t understand. Men can’t be ‘fast,'” he said solemnly.
“…” She was caught off guard by the abruptness, a strong sense of being pushed forward.
Hua Jie glanced at him sideways, never expecting Shen Mo, this god-like figure of an abstinent beauty, to say such things!
A boy eating cake so mysteriously early in the morning, indeed, he is different!
She muttered to herself while cutting out ‘Happy’ as he had told her.
Are we really going to eat this?
In the classroom, in front of the classmates who were gradually arriving?
She hadn’t done something like this in her two lifetimes.
Although it seems there’s nothing wrong with it, why does it feel so bizarre?
She scooped a piece with a plastic spoon, the sponge cake mingling with the cream, and popped it into her mouth.
The egg and flour sponge cake carried a milky and wheaty fragrance, not too sweet, but exceptionally soft and delicious.
The cream seemed to be high-quality dairy cream, not greasy at all, and particularly aromatic.
She sipped it lightly, savoring it delicately.
So tasty.
She squinted her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering slightly, displaying an especially happy and joyful expression.
In Shen Mo’s eyes, she looked like a little cat stealing a treat.
He suddenly spoke softly:
“Congratulations, national runner-up~”