Chapter 13: Everyday is a Blue Sky
In the past two to three weeks, He Luo’s entire family resolutely did not bring up the topic of Zhang Yuan, studying abroad, or her diary. Every single day, He Luo burned the midnight oil, holding a book sitting next to her parents in the study. “Your health will suffer if you continue like this.” They comforted their daughter, “As long as you have tried your best, we wouldn’t blame you.”
“We have an agreement. If I don’t do well on the test, I will blame myself.”
He Luo went to school everyday equipped with instant coffee. Each time before Chemistry cla.s.s, she would gulp down three cups of it, making her bright and alert. By the time Chinese and English cla.s.ses rolled around, if she really felt sleepy, she would arrange her books into a pile on her desk and rest behind it.
When she woke up, Teacher Qiu was instructing them on the instrument pipa. He Luo quietly asked her deskmate, “Where are we now?”
“‘We both are fallen people [degenerates] in the world; if we have met now, why bother if we have once known each other’ [proverb: Since we are already fated to meet now, why bother if we have known each other in the past],” Zhao Cheng Jie replied.
Teacher Qiu walked over. “What did you say?”
“I said, ‘We both are people fallen from world’,” he replied honestly.
“I think you have also fallen..” Teacher Qiu knocked on his desk. “I’m saying it on the stage, and you insist on repeating below the stage.”
“That… that…”
At recess, Zhang Yuan said, “Degenerate, let’s play basketball in the afternoon?”
“Kao! What degenerate!” Zhao Cheng Jie went over swinging his fist. “See if I don’t hit you!”
“Why hit me?”
“You know I don’t hit women!”
“You’re playing basketball in the afternoon? Didn’t you say you would tutor me?” He Luo asked.
“When you yawn, you open your mouth wider than a hippo’s,” Zhang Yuan teased. “Go and lie down for a while. You are wasting your youth like this.”
*
After the finals, He Luo became really ill; her fever refusing to subside. The doctor said it was excessive fatigue.
When Tian Xin phoned, she said, “You must be crazy to finish 17 sets of maths test papers in a week! But your results like this must be so much better than last time’s.”
“I can’t say it would be much better, but it will definitely be better,” He Luo replied. “That’s because it’s a very terrible limit. I can only be infinitely get closer to it but never reach.”
“You are truly obsessed! Let’s not talk about exams anymore!” Even across the line, He Luo can imagine Tian Xin rolling her eyes. “Once you get better, we’ll go the amus.e.m.e.nt park, okay?” She deliberately emphasised the word ‘we’.
“Who will be going?” He Luo asked.
“Hehe, whoever you want, you can have.” Tian Xin snickered. “So, will you be able to come?”
“I will try!”
As Mom had to leave for Tianjin for the elections, she was worried about leaving her daughter behind. Dad patted his chest and promised that he will care for He Luo properly.
“You can splurge and eat lavishly outside. But Luo Luo has to stay home and eat light meals,” Mom said.
“You’re really underestimating me.” Dad turned to his daughter. “Is your appet.i.te still that poor? I will cook cuc.u.mber and persimmon scrambled eggs. Is that okay?”
Mom and He Luo turned towards the three bowls of so-called noodles on the table and exchanged a look.
“Isn’t this glue?” He Luo asked.
“Didn’t you forget to filter the water?” Mom stirred the noodles with the chopsticks.
“Aiya, I was too busy skinning the cuc.u.mbers…” Dad said, “But you can still tell it is noodles, yes?”
“I lost my appet.i.te just looking at it.” Mom put down the chopsticks. “Sticky and murky.”
He Luo’s nose dripped from the burst of warmth coming from the bowls.
“Does it look like He Luo’s mucus?” Dad asked, making Mom laugh.
“You are still nevertheless a learned person. Pay attention to your image.” A helpless He Luo understood that this was her parents’ way of trying to ease the family mood.
*
Mom’s plane ticket had already been booked and cannot be refunded. After much consideration, she decided to send He Luo to her grandmother’s place. After being cooped up in her room for a few days, He Luo was just happy to leave home for some time to end her days of being a prisoner.
Although her parents did not expressly forbid her from being lovers with Zhang Yuan, neither of them dared to call each other often. She could only take advantage of the time Dad is in the office.
Even then, Dad would return home at lunch break to check on her. Being at Grandma’s place she was relatively freer. She could occasionally take a walk outside using the ultimate shield: “Ah, I have to go and buy Grandpa’s birds Red Arrow and Phoenix fleas.”
Sometimes at this point they would hear the gentle sound of birds chirping.. Grandpa was a little hard of hearing. He asked, “Sounds like our family’s Red Arrow! Did you open the birdcage again?”
“I don’t think so. Let me go and see.” He Luo ran to the balcony and waved at the people on the other side of the street. Under the shade of the lush weeping willow, Zhang Yuan was propped on his navy blue bike, supporting his weight on one leg. His shadow stretched his leg as long as they could go; in his acid-washed blue jeans , he seemed as laid-back as the summer afternoon sky.
The wind had gone still, leaving the million strips of green silk hanging. His slender fingers were tapping on the handle of the bike serenely. His whistling was crisp and subtle, like smoke rippling from the willow(?).
On the balcony, He Luo sighed and gestured OK. The bird song continued.
“You are sounding more and more like the real thing!” She giggled. “Be careful my Grandpa comes out one day and put you in a cage.”
“Even if you want to see me every day, you don’t have to get your grandfather capture me,” he retorted. Zhang Yuan got off his bike and pushed it next to him. “Let’s walk together.”
“We can only walk,” He Luo replied, disappointed. She had just watched the movie Comrades: Almost a Love Story and was envious of how Maggie Cheung leisurely swayed her legs, sitting on her side on the bike, humming Teresa Teng’s Sweet Honey: “Sweet honey, your smile is like sweet honey.” And he forcibly pedalled, a little crooked, carving out a path for happiness.
She glanced at Zhang Yuan’s precious bike: narrow tires, no backseat.
“Why don’t your racing bike have basket or a backseat? Where do you put your school bag and lunch box?”
“I carry my school bag. As for the lunch box, it’s wrapped so it can go into my bag.” Zhang Yuan grinned. “If there are so many burdens front and back, can I still show off my speed?”
“Oh.” She was even more disappointed. “Show off.”
*
It would be the parents-teacher meeting in another two days. Lin Shu Zhen had called a few of the active students to help out.
“We just had spring cleaning, now we have to clean again,” Tian Xin complained. “The weather is so hot, I want to go play in the riverside.”
Li Yun Wei interrupted her. “Stop whining. If Teacher hears that, she would say, ‘You have to clean your face every day. If you let your parents see such a dirty cla.s.sroom, even if you don’t feel like losing face, I will feel like losing face!’”
He Luo placed a mint she had just bought from the roadside stall into her mouth before pa.s.sing it to everyone else. She found Zhang Yuan in the hallway, who was dragging his feet.
“Help me take it [feed me],” he said. “My hands are dirty.”
“My hands are not clean either. I just washed the rag earlier, I didn’t clean my hands carefully after.”
“But you have already eaten one and you are still alive and well. It should not be toxic.” Zhang Yuan smiled. “Whoever died the earliest is the greediest!”
“You dare say that about me?” He Luo planted her palm on the back of his neck. “I’ll freeze you to death!”
“Why are your hands so cold?”
“Don’t you know our school uses underground water? It is cool even in summer.”
“It is really cold,” Zhang Yuan said, holding the tip of He Luo’s finger.
“Ah! I didn’t see anything, I didn’t see anything!” Tian Xian who has run out to the corridor immediately covered her eyes.
“Hey, you two better keep it down! Aren’t you scared of letting the parents see?” Li Yun Wei scolded. “They will be coming in awhile.”
Several sets of booklets have just arrived and needed to be moved from the office to the cla.s.sroom for the parents. Understanding that He Luo had just recovered, her cla.s.smates let her stay in the cla.s.sroom to hand out the reports.
Parents started arriving. He Luo asked for the child’s name and handed over the report card, school and cla.s.s ranking, as well as comments on conduct to every parent.
“Let me help you find the report cards,” Zhang Yuan offered, having just returned from moving the booklets. “There are more people now. Look at you being all fl.u.s.tered.” As he stood by her side, He Luo became embarra.s.sed and worried that her father would suddenly arrive.
“There is no need!” She avoided Zhang Yuan’s gaze and turned towards the next parent. “h.e.l.lo, auntie. Can you tell me your child’s name?”
Zhang Yuan repeated, “h.e.l.lo, auntie. Can you tell me your child’s name?” He purposely made his voice high-pitched to mimic hers.
“We are having a parent-teacher meeting. Don’t make trouble!” she whispered.
“Exactly! We are having a parent-teacher meeting and you are still making trouble!” The long-haired madam rolled the report card into a tube and smacked Zhang Yuan on the forehead. “Calling me auntie? I have wasted all these years raising you!”
It turned out to be Zhang Yuan’s mother!
He Luo’s tongue knotted and she was speechless.
“Look at you! Going crazy at school. Look at your shirt collar, one is inside out.” After Zhang Yuan’s mother tidied his collar, she said, “You are making a joke out of yourself in front of your cla.s.smate.” She turned to smile at He Luo. “Eh, you are…?”
“My name is He Luo. I am a transfer student from another cla.s.s.” He Luo sounded deferential. I have to be lively, but not overzealous! I have to smile, but not cackle! She reminded herself and then straightened her back. She did not dare to look Zhang Yuan’s mother in the eye, so she lowered her head.
“Ah, you are the girl who wants to be a diplomat!” Zhang Yuan’s mother smiled. “When I was an English teacher in junior high, Xiao Yuan once brought home your essay. It really was written well. I even told my students to read it out loud. You are really a smart child.”
“Truthfully I heard all those from my uncle who works in the Foreign Affairs ministry.” She was no longer sure of what she was saying. It was too late for her brain to process her words, All her concentration was used on controlling her lips and tongue so she would not stutter. “It is Zhang Yuan who is clever. He is especially good at Chemistry and he often helps me out with the questions.” Dear G.o.d, can she sound any more diplomatic? It sounded like she was praising the revolutionary friendship between students. Her back began to sweat.
“I know this child the best,” Zhang Yuan’s mother said, patting her son on the arm. “He is only a little street-smart, and never works hard on his grammar. His English essays are half-baked and a mess. He Luo, you have to help him.”
Zhang Yuan pushed his mother to sit in his seat but he didn’t forget to smile at He Luo before he left.
“Hurry up and go! Find a place to hide,” He Luo urged him. “My Dad is coming in a moment!”
“Ah, then I better go now. I am also very scared of him.” Thinking about b.u.mping into He Luo’s father made him tremble a little.
*
When Dad saw He Luo’s report card, he immediately smiled. She placed fourth in the cla.s.s, her science subjects improved drastically, and even scored 92 in maths.
Most of the time, parents would still think their child is good. Gold does not change silver; but parents were exception(?).
Teacher Lin was young but her tone was respectful. Without having to list them by surname, the parents have all obediently sat in their respective places. It was a gathering of a bunch of middle-aged people - the men were beginning to bald, the ladies were beginning to have to dye their white hair - but they still have to listen to a teacher’s surmon. Whoever whose child’s results were not ideal, they really want to complain.
Dad had been worrying that his daughter would not test well and end up as the teacher’s example of what puppy love does to students. But who knows she ended up scoring better than she has ever done. Of course, he was also aware that before the finals, He Luo burned through the night to earn her results. He had also checked Zhang Yuan’s score. No matter how difficult it was, his physics and chemistry scores were no less than 90; his maths score was close to perfect.
He couldn’t say if he was happy or unhappy.
After the meeting, Dad was going to send He Luo back to Grandma’s place but when he b.u.mped into Zhang Yuan’s mother, there was no choice but to small talk. They mainly complimented each other’s child.
Several students were waiting for their parents in the corridor. Tian Xin cannot help herself. Resting her head on Li Yun Wei’s shoulder, she giggled. “Look, look. Doesn’t that look like a marriage meeting?”
*
He Luo happily returned to her Grandma’s place. Before Dad left, he said, “You have done well this time. But don’t be complacent. Remember, it is easy to conquer the world, but to keep your dominance of the world is difficult. You have to keep this up. Remember our agreement.”
“As long as I don’t regress, I don’t have to keep progressing, right?” He Luo counted on her fingers. “There is still one year to graduation, there will be at least ten more mock exams. Tell me, how do I progress even further? Into the negative?”
“Why are you more and more challenging?” Dad frowned. But the corners of his mouth were still upturned. Evidently, the joy from the parent-teacher meeting had not worn off.
“Adults are sometimes even more vain,” He Luo snickered to herself.
The next day, when Grandpa was caring for the birds, they could still hear the sound of chirping outside the window. He Luo ran downstairs and saw Zhang Yuan with an old-fashioned bike.
“This bike is really old. Other than the bell, everything else clangs,” he said. “But it is still durable.”
Durable? It wasn’t like this was a b.u.mper car. He Luo laughed. “Who are you planning to run down?”
“This is actually my mom’s dowry” Zhang Yuan patted the brown seat, so worn there were cracks on the leather. “I move this out from the corridor with much difficulty. If a fat girl crush it, how do I go back and explain to my mom?”
“Hey…” He Luo pouted. “How can you call me fat.”
“You are not fat.” Zhang Yuan got onto the bike and leisurely circled around He Luo. “That’s why I didn’t say I would take you.”
“Then who are you taking?” He Luo giggled and held onto the bike’s basket.
Unable to move forward, Zhang Yuan planted his foot down. “Take your paws off. I am going to go pick up the fat girl.”
“No!”
“Then come up.”
“...”
“Fat girl, come on up!” Zhang Yuan grinned.
“The backseat is too high. I can’t jump.” If this meant she would acknowledge herself as a fat girl, then so be it. Her entire head was filed with the image of Maggie Cheung humming a song, two slender legs swinging from the backseat. She no longer bothered to argue.
“Then settle down properly.”
“Do you know how to ride with someone behind? You have always rode alone.”
“Nope. I will drop you in a ditch later.”
“Then… that’s okay.” He Luo retreated. “Safety first.”
“I really can’t stand you! Sigh. Big sister, where did so much nonsense come from?” Zhang Yuan laughed. “When I was in elementary school, I learned to ride using this bike. I would always ride with the neighbourhood’s little beauty around.”
“So I am not the first one!” He Luo grumbled and angrily sat down again.
“But you are the most ‘important’ [heavy] one.” Zhang Yuan emphasised the word. “Absolutely the heaviest.”
“You are full of nonsense.” She hit him on his back. “Let’s go.”
“You must sit securely!”
“Mm.”
“...” Zhang Yuan paused, then dragged his words. “You must hold on securely, or you will fall when we are riding down the hill.”
He Luo grabbed onto the part of the bag peeking from the basket in front. She kept her hands very still, not at all comfortable. She gingerly stretched out her right arm, brushing past Zhang Yuan’s shirt. He was slender, his shirt was blowing lightly in the wind and it brushed across her arm. It was a little itchy. But she was prim. Her arms bent in a large arc and did not touch him at all.
“I am going to go!” Zhang Yuan started pedalling. In that instant, He Luo jerked forward and instinctively tightened her arms around his waist.
Inertia? Inertia?
She was unsure what to say. Your waist is so small. She wondered if this would be considered a compliment to a boy but decided not to say it. She kept her arms apart and never once placed it on his waist.
Then she quietly placed her hands down.
Zhang Yuan suddenly burst out laughing. “Hey, what are you doing?”
“Ai…” Riding across the busy street, her embarra.s.sed face had gotten all red.
“Place your hands properly. Don’t tickle me.”
His clear voice resonated from the person in front, with subtle resonance.
He Luo raised her head. The leaves were transparent from the sunlight illumination; the summer sun left a warm feeling on her skin. Hot air were raising from the asphalt road. He Luo’s heart trembled as they went over every b.u.mp on the road; following the rhythm: Sweet honey, your smile is like sweet honey.
The sky was as clear as water, as blue as the ocean.
Every tree was dancing in the wind.
[artwork by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor]