The Healing Sunshine Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: An old friend has returned 1

一厘米的阳光， 第四章：故人已归来  (Part 1)

The Healing Sunshine Chapter Four: An old friend has returned (Part 1)

Two years after, Ji Yi and Nuannuan pa.s.sed the examination for an attached high school1 at the same time.

She was placed in the only experimental science stream cla.s.sroom. Nuannuan’s parents also used some contacts so that they once again became cla.s.smates. Zhao Xiaoying’s mother sought out so many contacts, to no avail, and ended up reaching out to Nuannuan’s mother, and paid forty thousand yuan, before she could enroll.

Forty thousand yuan’s worth of money, yet only a normal cla.s.sroom.

That year, tuition fees for higher education were completely harmonized. There was no longer to be any free universities.

However, the tuition fee for four years of college still would not add up to so much a sum. This forty thousand yuan was merely sponsorship money for enrolling into an attached high school. Zhao Xiaoying started to love to study more and more, yet the more she paid attention, the less she could understand. The pressure of an attached high school was so much that, after studying for only half a semester, she had gotten a big round thinner.

Ji Yi had never been able to describe such a feeling.

When she was young, in Beijing, fresh vegetables were scarce in winter. Every household all ate white cabbages and tomatoes that had been pickled in the summer. There were no computers, no mobile phones, no brand name cars. There were dragonflies and house geckoes; there were children gathering together to play with fire, roasting potatoes, roasting sweet potatoes, even building up a fire. Children who grew up during the years of uniform poverty would all long for those kinds of lives…

Back then, most people were happy.

Even if there were any troubles, it was not that all of them were caused by money.

Upon entering high school, Ji Yi chose to board at the school.

However, when winter came, she started to feel regrets. The school had organized for them the boarding students this morning run “welfare” program, while day students such as Nuannuan and Zhao Xiaoying were much more fortunate and did not have to endure such a torture.

That day, she woke up late again. When she finally ran out with Yin Jingjing who slept on the bunk bed above her, they had been left far behind by the large running crowd.

“Ji Yi, what are you doing?” Yin Jingjing unzipped her down jacket. It was so hot that she stuck out her tongue.   

Ji Yi was standing by the city moat. With her hand resting on the wall that had been built from layers of bricks and cement, she quietly said: “I am thinking of walking on the ice to the other side.” She felt that morning run in the winter was the scariest thing that could take away half of life.

“The ice can’t be solid…” Yin Jingjing shook with trepidation, leaning on the short wall and looking at the surface of the river.

There were several uncles wearing skates wandering about on the surface.

From the look of it, it should be quite safe?

Ji Yi was torn between “keep running” and “walk over the ice to the other side” for a moment, then resolutely chose the latter. Yin Jingjing was an obedient child. Though thoroughly jealous, only shouted “You be careful. I will wait for you at the stamping spot” as she ran off.

There were no stairs, just a steep slope. In the summer, it was filled with green gra.s.s; come winter, all had become withered.

Ji Yi jumped here and there, dodging the dirty piles of snow and broken ice, and ran up to the river bank. She stretched out her feet, feeling the frozen surface. After ascertaining its safety, she quickly ran to the other side. The uncles who were skating behind her kept calling out little lady run a little more slowly. She turned back, made funny faces, and did not forget to warn one of the uncles who almost slipped: “Uncle, you also be careful.”

She climbed up the slope on the other side of the river, hiding behind the pine trees, preparing for when her cla.s.smates had run past, to pretend to be breathing heavily and trailing behind with the end tail of the group. Just as she was happily planning, Ji Yi suddenly felt that her shoulder was patted by someone. She quickly deflated, “Teacher Zhao…I was wrong…”

Turning her head back, she put on a guilty look.

However… the guilt was frozen on her face.

“Xixi,” the man before her called out her name, “I am Ji Chengyang.”

“Um…I know…Little…Ji Chengyang.” She softly said his name.

He was the same as before, yet also not very much the same.

When she was young, when she looked at him, she could see that his skin was very fair, his eyes double-lidded, these very superficial characteristics. However, now, looking at him once again, she discovered that she instead noticed his calm and collected gaze, his stillness.

“Why did you get here over the ice?”

“I didn’t want to do the morning run,” Ji Yi was a little embarra.s.sed, “so I just got here by running over the ice.”

He was about ask something when Ji Yi suddenly made a shh sound, tugged on his shirt sleeve, and pulled him towards herself. Then she arched her back, hiding behind the cover made from him and the pine tree. She lightly lifted up Ji Chengyang’s arm. Looking through the gap, she saw the great “Go forth, good youth”  cla.s.s leader Yu Qing, who was leading the first group of their cla.s.s, already running over. 

Ji Chengyang turned his head back.

Ji Yi quickly pitifully begged for mercy.

He could only pretended to lean on the pine tree smoking, very deftly fished out a cigarette, lit it, and lightly breathed in the smoke. Such a familiar fragrance…For some reason, Ji Yi had always thought that that faint smell mingled with tobacco on his body was something no one could replicate. She lightly inhaled, feeling for a moment as if she had gone back to that summer break when junior high school was finished.

“It’s okay now.” His voice was like a deep well, cool and distant.

Unfortunately, it did not have any effect on her.

She breathed out, stood up tall, “When…did you come back?”

Ji Chengyang lightly raised his brows, “Why aren’t you calling me Little uncle Ji?”

“I am already grown up,” her eyes unfocused, continuing to look into the distance, “Also…you are not that old.”

Clearly should be called older brother.

He half-smiled, did not utter a word; with his hand, he pressed the cigarette on a branch of the pine tree to put it out, then tossed it on the ground.

Throwing it away after smoking two breaths? It did not seem like him at all.

Just as they were talking, another morning run group pa.s.sed by. Ji Yi conveniently used the old trick, pulling on Ji Chengyang to cover herself. However, this time was not as fortunate. Because of that cigarette just now, the dry gra.s.s beneath their feet had caught fire and was giving out black smoke. Ji Yi gave a surprised cry, seeing the fire on the withered gra.s.s which was growing under the morning wind, but did not know what to do.

Ji Chengyang speedily took off his short black-colored down jack and handed it to Ji Yi, then he quickly pull apart those withered gra.s.s which were connected together, and kicked the soil to separate the fire from the withered gra.s.s.

The fire grew smaller. In the end, there remained only fizzing sounds and meters long of ashes.

He stood there, his shirt cuffs rolled up, lightly exhaled a sigh.

Female students from her cla.s.s, as well as those from other cla.s.ses, who had already arrived, stood still as they looked on. The girls could not have know how the fire came about, they only saw a young man wearing a thin shirt in the midst of winter putting out the fire. Moreover, this man was so dashing he definitely was not one of the old uncles who came and go on the streets, nor one of those youths at the school who were either awkward and foolish or hot-blooded. In short, he simply seemed like a guy who have walked out of an idol drama!

Ai?

He turned his body to talk to a girl, isn’t that Ji Yi from the experimental cla.s.s?

The girls’ eyes were sparkling.

In a short moment, Ji Yi was stared at to the point of extreme discomfort. Handing the clothes over to Ji Chengyang, with her head lowered, said: “I’m going now, if not, the P.E. teacher will definitely mark that I have ran away.” So, in front of the the group of girls, she ran off in the distance. 

When it was time for the P.E. teacher to stamp the seal2, there were some doubts. Why did Ji Yi who had always walked all of a sudden picked up her speed? Fortunately, cla.s.s leader and the upper bunk bed sworn sisters variously covered up for her, so she finally got the seal stamp for today’s morning run.

Ji Yi had wanted to ask Nuannuan when her uncle had returned, but to her surprise, Nuannuan asked for sick leave today.

At lunch, when she was eating in the cla.s.sroom, cla.s.s leader Yu Qing surprisingly had gotten some food for her. Moreover, it was the food from the small window that only served to the ethnic Huis3 that he especially ran over to give her.

“I cannot finish so much food.” Yi Ji was somewhat astounded.

“That…” Cla.s.s leader who had always been serious and earnest suddenly stuttered as he spoke, “I just got them, I am a Hui anyway. Don’t you and Nuannuan both say that the dishes from the Hui window are tasty?

Just got them4?

Ji Yi took a bite, looking at cla.s.s leader.

“Why doesn’t Nuannuan come today?” Cla.s.s leader finally asked “casually”.

“Nuannuan?” Ji Yi was eating slowly, and only spoke until she had swallowed, “I don’t know, I stay at school, she stay at home; other than the weekends, we are not really together that often.”

…

Cla.s.s leader walked away.

She could sense that this cla.s.s leader whose family was poor, yet very desirous to do better, had some feelings for Nuannuan. Ji Yi continued to flip through the manga The Mysterious Play5 as she ate her lunch. All of these had been lent to her by the people in her dormitory. It seemed as if her childhood years were rather monotonous compared to others’; for example, these young love and hot-blooded j.a.panese manga that other people read in junior high school, she had only gotten to read when she was already in high school. 

  However, for some reason, the manga which was usually captivated by only leaves her distracted today.

   Only when it was almost time for cla.s.s to start did she put away the book and carried her lunch box as she walked out of the cla.s.sroom building.

At this time, all the wash basins inside the cla.s.sroom building were crowded with students washing their lunch boxes, but she knew a good place. There were very few people at the school’s Culture and Arts Center during lunch time, only in the afternoon after cla.s.ses finished would there be people from all sorts of traditional music bands, the orchestra, and dancing groups come and practice.

Who would have thought that, just as she had turned on the tap, she would be caught by the teacher in charge of the music groups, “Ji Yi, how many days has it been that you didn’t come practice?”

“… Teacher Lu, I will be having my final examinations soon.”

Done for, she could only turned off the tap again for the moment.

This was the orchestra’s teacher, why was she paying attention to her who was a member of the traditional music group…

Teacher Lu shook her head, beckoned to her. She walked over, and was caught by the shoulder by teacher Lu. “That can only be an excuse? I heard that you have been reading manga to the point that you forget to sleep and eat?”

“I haven’t,” Ji Yi shook her head, softly speaking, “That’s not true, teacher Lu, I have been wronged. My history teacher told me to compile a timeline of events, then copy and distribute to my cla.s.smates for revision…”

The teacher let out a smile.

They were standing at the entrance of the practice hall, before they continued, they suddenly heard the sound of a piano. Ji Yi was curious, who could be in the practice hall to practice at this time, when most people should already be inside their cla.s.srooms? She moved her head over to look, and found that there was a person sitting in front of the piano on the east of the practice hall. It was actually Ji Chengyang.

She was stunned.   

She could hear teacher Lu said: “The best student I have taught.”

“He…also used to be in the school’s music band? Isn’t it that the school orchestra doesn’t have a piano position?

Therefore, there were very few people who played that piano, only someone in the music band who had this interest would sometimes play.

“There used to be, but not anymore.”

From the distance, teacher Lu seemed to also want to continue to listen in, and did not quickly called out to him.

So Ji Yi stood beside the teacher, looking at him, listening to him play. After a short encounter in the morning, that anxious feeling and perturbation in the bottom of her heart had slowly dissipated…what made men who play the piano so captivating, perhaps, was their sitting upright posture, as well as that feeling that their fingers where jumping on the black and white keys, so unorthodox to any other types of musical performance. 

It would have been great if she had not given up on piano when she was young; perhaps, she could also be like him, sitting here, under the soft ray in a winter day, playing a song flawlessly as he did.

Reserved, not expressing neither happiness nor anger.

And also those feelings of being one hundred li6 removed from other people.

Not only the way he played the piano, but also his own person.

When the song ended, he seemed nostalgic as he felt around the piano. Standing up and turning back his head to find the teacher and Ji Yi. He was slightly surprised, but soon after realized that where Ji Yi was studying was in fact his own old high school. He walked over and just as he was speaking, the prepare bell7 suddenly sounded. Ji Yi widened her eyes, only one minute before the cla.s.s bell8!

“I’m going to cla.s.s now—” She turned her body and ran towards the cla.s.sroom building.

She climbed up to the fourth floor as quickly as if she was running a one-hundred meter race, so exhausted as if she was going to collapse, but still was late.

On the platform, the English teacher had already started to write down the lectures.

Therefore, she, carrying the unwashed lunchbox, in front of all the talented students of the experimental cla.s.s, lowered her head and arched her back as she quickly slipped in, pa.s.sing in front of the platform, and sat down. Yin Jingjing who sat behind her threw a little piece of paper to her with fire-quick speed: Where have you been?

She quickly wrote down: Went to wash the lunch box.

The piece of paper thrown back.

She still could not stop herself from looking through the window, towards the Culture and Arts Center to east of the cla.s.sroom building.

Finally feeling that everything was real.

He’s back, will he…leave again?

Notes:

附中 (fùzhōng): An attached or affiliated high school is a high school that is affiliated with a university. Students from such a high school do not get any favorable preferential treatments when it comes to university admissions, except for certain high schools which focus on sports or the arts. “Seal” in this case is a kind of stamp that is popularly used in East Asia. The school probably used a seal to stamp a record of the student’s attendance for the morning run. Cafeterias are divided to different part.i.tions where students can go up and order dishes through a window. “Hui” refers to a muslim ethnic group in China. They probably have special dietary requirements so the school allocated a separate part.i.tion where they can get particular dishes. The word used in the novel is “顺便” which means doing something just as you were doing something else anyway so it does not require any effort and was not difficult. Ji Yi is confused why all of a sudden cla.s.s leader would just get her the Hui dishes. 不可意的游戏, The Mysterious Play/The Curious Play (Fushigi Yugi), is a j.a.panese manga. Check out wikipedia for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fushigi_Y%C3%BBgi 里 （lǐ): Chinese unit of length, around one third of an English mile. 预备铃 (yùbèilǐng): The bell that signals for the students to prepare for cla.s.s. 上课铃 (shàngkèlǐng): The bell that signals the start of cla.s.ses.