Volume 7: The Boisterous Summer
Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Holiday
Summer.
What a romantic word for a man. Besides the sunlight piercing through the water and shattering into shimmering fragments, summer also brought the sight of girls in short sleeves, their skin glowing faintly, and the dazzling display of ivory-white legs on the streets. Those girls always wore sun hats or sunglasses, obscuring most of their faces, which paradoxically made them seem even more beautiful in men’s eyes. Lu Li’s favorite pastime used to be buying an old-fashioned popsicle wrapped in paper, sitting on the steps in the low-rent district, and counting how many pairs of hot pants walked by.
June 17th was the first day of summer vacation. He had two whole months ahead of him to spend. He had to think carefully about how to spend this holiday. In the past, Lu Li wouldn’t have had this problem. He would just ask Baili. But now, besides An Baili, there was also Chu Jingyi, and… Wen Hupo.
“Wen Hupo, why are you still living in our house?!” An Baili’s frantic voice pulled Lu Li back from his wandering thoughts. He glanced sideways at the little village girl, and then at the blonde woman sitting calmly on his bed.
Wen Hupo’s eyelids were half-closed, as if she were dozing off. She leaned against the wall listlessly and said, “I have nowhere else to go. Lu Li picked me up, so of course I’m staying here.”
An Baili was so angry at her nonchalant attitude that steam practically puffed out of her nostrils. “Go rent your own place!”
“No money.”
“Then go get a job!”
“I don’t know how to work.” Wen Hupo said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Then how long are you planning to stay?! You’ve already been here for two weeks! I see you occupying Lu Li’s bed every day!” An Baili gritted her teeth. Wen Hupo never said she would be staying at Lu Li’s place when she decided to stay.
“I’m not sleeping in the same bed with him.” Wen Hupo lifted her eyelids slightly, like a cat granting a fleeting moment of attention. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
It was true, they weren’t sleeping in the same bed. Lu Li was sleeping on the floor. Occasionally, when he wanted to sleep over at Baili’s place next door, Wen Hupo would stare at him with those deep eyes, as if she could read his mind, nipping all his inappropriate thoughts in the bud. Lu Li had also suggested letting Wen Hupo stay in his sister’s empty room next door, or letting her stay at Silly Goose’s big villa, but Wen Hupo always refused for one reason or another.
She was like a cat, keeping her distance yet always nearby, never getting too close, but unwilling to let Lu Li disappear from her sight.
Sometimes, when Lu Li was writing his script, he would look up and find Wen Hupo secretly watching him. When he asked what was wrong, she would just say she was watching TV.
Having Wen Hupo living with them seemed to have a significant impact on his life. For example, he couldn’t walk around the house in his underwear anymore. He had to knock before entering the bathroom, and even before entering his own apartment. The most baffling thing was that there were now four or five towels hanging on the hook in the bathroom, and he couldn’t figure out what each one was for. Oh, and the most torturous part was sweeping up hair every morning.
Lu Li glanced at Miss Lu in the corner. She was curled up lazily in the little nest Wen Hupo had prepared for her, listening contentedly to the two girls arguing, living a more comfortable life than Lu Li himself.
Since the day Wen Hupo moved in, this home seemed to have gained a bit more vitality. Although living with An Baili or Sister Yameng was happy, it always felt like everyone was carrying some burden, some unspoken pressure. Wen Hupo didn’t have these pressures. She would casually find a place to sit, cross her slender white legs, and start reading, not thinking about tomorrow, not thinking about the future. Perhaps for her, this kind of life was already the best future.
“You lazy bum! You’ll starve to death sooner or later!” An Baili shouted angrily. “Before the next semester starts, you have to move out!”
“Go to sleep early.” Wen Hupo glanced at the scorching sun outside and nodded lightly.
“You! You’re making me so mad!” An Baili ran over to Lu Li, who was spacing out, crying. “Li, she always looks down on me! Look at her eyes!”
“Okay, okay, don’t be angry, don’t be angry.” Lu Li hugged An Baili like a baby, and sure enough, she started smiling sweetly again. “Baili, I was thinking, should we go on a trip this holiday? I’ve already planned the route… Let’s go to Mulan, then to the capital…”
Wen Hupo interjected coldly, “I don’t want to go anywhere, it’s too sunny.”
An Baili seized the opportunity. “Who invited you? Hmph, stay home and ferment.”
“Hey, hey, listen to me…” Lu Li had a headache. Just as he was about to elaborate on his grand travel plans, he received a call from Silly Goose.
He left the two bickering girls and walked outside with his phone. “Yi Bao~”
His affectionate tone made the Class Monitor blush. She said softly, “Lower your voice… Mom heard you, she’s laughing at me… Don’t call me that next time.”
After composing herself, Chu Jingyi said, “Lu Li, actually, there’s something I need your help with—” The next second, a little girl’s shout came through the phone, “I’m stealing it!—”
“Hey! Give me back my phone!” Chu Jingyi’s voice suddenly became faint.
Long Jing snatched the phone and shouted into the receiver, “Brother-in-law! You owe me money! Brother-in-law! You owe me money!”
The brat’s voice was exceptionally clear and loud, almost deafening. Lu Li had to move the phone away from his ear. “Long Jing, you haven’t gone home yet?! Aren’t you going to school?!”
“None of your business!” she retorted, then abruptly hung up.
Lu Li waited for more than ten minutes, and sure enough, Chu Jingyi called back. The silly girl said angrily, “She’s so naughty…”
Lu Li chuckled. It was a good thing he didn’t send Wen Hupo to the Chu family’s house, otherwise Wen Hupo would have been driven back to her country by this little demon. “Um, Long Jing hasn’t left yet?”
A whole semester had passed, and that brat still hadn’t gone back to school? Had she dropped out?
“That’s the problem.” Chu Jingyi’s voice sounded a bit down. “Uncle Long has called many times, but Long Jing refuses to go back to school. If they force her, she cries and throws tantrums and even goes on hunger strike. It’s been dragging on until now. Lu Li, you’re good at handling Long Jing. Do you have any way to make her go back to school? Uncle Long’s family are all intellectuals, we can’t let Long Jing become illiterate, right?” Lu Li couldn’t help but chuckle at her worried tone.
Illiterate? Didn’t that fit Long Jing perfectly?
“Kids are all like that.”
“Long Jing isn’t a kid anymore.” Silly Goose said coquettishly. “We can’t treat her like a child anymore. Last time she even asked… asked…” Her voice trailed off.
“Asked what?”
“No-nothing.” Asked when sister and brother-in-law were getting married and having kids. Could she tell Lu Li that?
Lu Li thought for a moment and said, “How about this, I’ll come over to your place tomorrow and have a good talk with the little demon, oh, I mean, Long Jing.”
“Okay, okay, great, great.” Even through the phone, Lu Li could picture Silly Goose’s excited expression. “Then it’s settled, you have to come tomorrow.”
Just as Silly Goose was about to hang up, Lu Li suddenly said, “Yi Bao, girlfriends are supposed to blow a kiss through the phone when they hang up.”
There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by a faint sucking sound.
“Mwah~”
As if embarrassed, or perhaps savoring the lingering warmth of their affection, Silly Goose waited a few seconds before hanging up.
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