The rain outside the window still showed no sign of easing, pattering against the iron burglar bars on the balcony and splashing into tiny beads of water.
The room was dead silent.
Jiang Ciying changed into a white spaghetti-strap top, rubbed her damp hair as she came out of the bedroom, and immediately spotted Sang Yingli sitting on the sofa. She spoke to her back.
“My clothes won’t dry anytime soon. You can wear mine first, and I’ll send yours over once they’re dry.”
Sang Yingli slowly raised her head and stood in a daze for a moment. She didn’t turn around to look at Jiang Ciying, nor did she mean to refute; she simply nodded obediently.
“Got it.”
Watching her like this, Jiang Ciying always felt an indescribable strangeness about her. It seemed as if her entire being emanated a cold aloofness that did not belong to someone of her age.
Jiang Ciying stared blankly at Sang Yingli’s rib-defined back, slowly drifting off. In a trance, two figures overlapped and then separated, playing tricks on her mind.
Hearing no further movement, Sang Yingli turned her head and happened to meet Jiang Ciying’s gaze. After awkwardly looking away, a look finally appeared on her face that was different from usual.
Her face instantly snapped Jiang Ciying back to reality. Feigning relaxation, Jiang Ciying changed her posture and leaned against the wall, her gaze unconsciously drifting downward until she accidentally caught sight of the items by Sang Yingli’s side.
The sofa was piled high with blood-stained tissues, and the wound on Sang Yingli’s arm was still oozing blood, presenting a shocking and distressing sight.
“Stop wiping,” Jiang Ciying said, unable to bear it any longer. Frowning, she finally walked over. “I’ll help you bandage it.”
Sang Yingli’s hands paused. She snapped her head up to look at Jiang Ciying, her eyes following Jiang Ciying’s approach, filled with utter astonishment.
Without looking at her, Jiang Ciying fetched iodine and gauze from the medical kit, placed them beside her, and held out her hand.
“Hand me your arm.”
Sang Yingli didn’t move right away, unsure whether she hadn’t processed it or was simply hesitating.
Not wanting to wait, Jiang Ciying reached out decisively and pulled her injured arm over.
Though it didn’t hurt, Sang Yingli let out a soft gasp of surprise, instantly plunging the atmosphere back into awkwardness.
“Does it hurt?” Jiang Ciying frowned, looking into her eyes.
Sang Yingli maintained her guarded and timid expression, stiffly shaking her head.
Having gotten her answer, Jiang Ciying hesitated no longer. Under Sang Yingli’s watchful gaze, she skillfully disinfected, applied medicine, and bandaged the wound in one smooth, fluid motion.
Sang Yingli remained completely silent the entire time, quietly enduring even the pain, only occasionally lifting her gaze to steal a look at Jiang Ciying’s serious expression.
“All done.” Jiang Ciying clapped her hands together, appearing quite satisfied as she looked at Sang Yingli’s white, slender arm, now wrapped up like a zongzi.
She packed up her things and stood up. Just as she put the items back into the cabinet, Sang Yingli suddenly spoke up from behind her.
“Jiang Ciying.”
Jiang Ciying’s body stiffened, and she reined back the step she had just taken.
Unlike the previous few times, Sang Yingli’s voice carried a slight nasal tone along with an inexplicable grievance. “Thank you.”
With those words, the living room fell into a heavy stillness, and no one spoke for a long while.
Jiang Ciying wanted to turn back, but in the end, she held herself back, unwilling to face the expression on her face right now.
“Mm, you’re welcome.”
“The clothes are almost done washing, so I will go check.”
She forced out these words, then scrambled away in a panic, taking a flimsy excuse to hide herself in the bathroom.
The old washing machine was still rolling on and on, showing no signs of stopping.
The mirror on the wall was stained with water droplets, making it blurry and indistinct. She raised her head and dazedly caught sight of the reflection of a tiny young girl.
Leaning against the washing machine, Jiang Ciying tried hard to distract herself by looking out the window at the pouring rain. She only felt a dull, suffocating pain in her chest, flushing her face red while leaving her unable to catch her breath.
Suddenly, the sound of a door closing echoed from outside. Roused slightly by the noise, she pushed open the door and walked back out, only to find that Sang Yingli’s white shoes were gone from the doorway.
She had many questions she wanted to ask Sang Yingli, but after being stared at like that just now, she could not open her mouth.
The rain hadn’t stopped; instead, it was only growing heavier.
At the end of May, the sky remained overcast.
Jiang Ciying continued her usual routine of traveling back and forth between home and Likang Lane, except she had developed a fondness for taking detours, always finding herself intentionally or unintentionally walking along the road in front of Yanluo No. 3 Middle School.
Sang Yingli’s clothes had long since been washed, but because Jiang Ciying had a poor memory and kept forgetting, whenever she ran into Sang Yingli she could only say awkwardly, “I will return them to you next time we meet.”
The same excuse repeated over and over again, dragging on until it somehow became something worth looking forward to.
She strolled through the major streets and small alleys, wandering aimlessly as she always did. A small pebble by her foot caused her to stumble, prompting her to kick it several yards away.
When she suddenly raised her head, she caught sight of an exceptionally striking poster. Without a second thought, she tore it down and shoved it into her pocket.
Vibrant and colorful clothing styles popped into her mind unbidden. She curved the corners of her lips, and as she looked across the street in deep thought, trying to picture a model’s face, Sang Yingli’s face appeared in her mind first.
She instantly wiped away her smile, putting on an earnest expression. On her way forward, she didn’t forget to reach up and smooth down her wind-blown hair, but just a second before she reached Sang Yingli, she was abruptly blocked from behind by a middle-aged woman.
“Is it you? Did you hit my child?”
The woman’s voice had incredible penetrating power. As soon as she finished shouting, all the surrounding parents and students swarmed over in a tight circle.
Hearing the commotion, Jiang Ciying felt curious, but unable to squeeze through the crowd, she stood on her tiptoes to peer over several times without being able to see what was happening inside. Yet the more she couldn’t see, the more her curiosity itched.
“It wasn’t me!”
The next second, a girl’s voice rang out, carrying grievance and boundless fear.
Jiang Ciying paused. She suddenly found this voice incomparably familiar, and an ominous premonition instantly rose in her heart.
“If it wasn’t you, then who could it be? Such a sharp-tongued child, lacking good manners at such a young age, hitting people without a word and still daring to argue! Everyone, come look at what she did to my child!”
The woman grabbed the child’s shoulders and turned her around. Hearing the surrounding people suddenly erupt into a chorus of angry murmurs, onlookers quickly began echoing the woman’s words, joining her in condemning the girl standing in the center of the crowd.
The shouting and blaming grew louder and louder. Growing increasingly anxious, Jiang Ciying used all her strength to try and squeeze into the middle of the crowd. Despite several hard tries, she only managed to shuffle forward a few pitiful steps, still unable to see the girl’s face.
“Shut up, all of you!”
From the center of the crowd, an authoritative shout suddenly rang out, instantly shocking the previously clamoring onlookers into dead silence.
Shoving the person blocking her path so hard they staggered, Sang Yingli strolled leisurely toward the troublemaking woman. With a lollipop stick between her teeth, she looked the woman up and down with contempt, then let out a light laugh.
“I hit your kid.”
As soon as these words dropped, the surrounding area exploded into a frenzy of discussion.
Sang Yingli rolled her eyes at the woman in utter indifference, then turned around to hug the wronged girl, murmuring soft words of comfort into her ear.
Moments later, the girl was helped away by her friends, leaving only Sang Yingli standing face-to-face with the woman.
The next second, Sang Yingli suddenly lunged forward, grabbed the opposite student by the collar, and dealt a heavy, merciless punch straight to her cheek.
The crowd shrieked in terror. It took a good long time for anyone to react and pull away the still-unsatisfied Sang Yingli.
The woman’s face turned beet red with rage. She hurriedly hugged her wailing child, screaming freakishly and menacingly at Sang Yingli while making a move to strike back.
Brushing aside the bystanders who were holding her back, Sang Yingli beat the woman to the punch by grabbing her outstretched hand and giving it a hard push backward, sending the woman stumbling.
“Your kid is nothing more than a classmate-bullying, bully-fearing mongrel. She dares to bully other girls, but doesn’t dare report me. Not only did I hit her today, but the next time I see her, I’ll hit her just the same.”
Staring fiercely at the bully who had been frightened into a quail, Sang Yingli pressed forward step by step, loudly detailing the girl’s misdeeds for all to hear in broad daylight.
“You had the guts to use the pouring rain to corner her in an alleyway, extort her, and beat her up, but you didn’t have the guts to admit that I, Sang Yingli, beat you up on her behalf.”
With that, she raised her head and flashed a faint smile at the pale-faced woman. “Ma’am, your kid hasn’t bullied her classmates a small amount. Weren’t you aware of any of it?”
Red-faced and choking with fury, the woman couldn’t squeeze out a single word for the longest time. She could only glare at Sang Yingli with wide, terrifying eyes, waving her hands wildly in the air and displaying her ugly, vicious nature without reserve.
Too lazy to pay her any mind, Sang Yingli straightened her rumpled cuffs and turned away, walking off through the path cleared by the crowd.
Seeing her leave, Jiang Ciying stood stunned for a long while to digest all this information before hurrying after Sang Yingli.
Just as Sang Yingli was about to vanish into the crowd, Jiang Ciying grabbed her arm.
The instant they both felt each other’s body temperature, they stopped in their tracks simultaneously.
“Why are you here?”
Sang Yingli demanded with displeasure, pulling back her other hand which had been poised to counterattack.
Jiang Ciying didn’t answer, lowering her gaze to look into Sang Yingli’s eyes with a complex, unreadable expression.
As the surrounding crowd dispersed, only the two of them remained. Facing the sunset glow, they sat down together on the steps at the entrance of the small convenience store.
A lingering dampness hung heavily in the air. Jiang Ciying only felt a sense of oppression and stuffiness.
Dead silence, an unbreakable dead silence.
Suddenly, Sang Yingli’s arm shifted, catching Jiang Ciying’s attention.
“Here, there is eighty yuan. Count it.”
Her chest rising and falling, Jiang Ciying lowered her gaze to look at Sang Yingli’s hand, biting her lips with unsaid words hanging on the tip of her tongue.
“You are still thinking about money at a time like this?”
“Are you going to take it or not?”
When Jiang Ciying didn’t budge, Sang Yingli didn’t pamper her either. Reaching out on her own accord, she pulled open the pocket of Jiang Ciying’s jacket and stuffed the money inside.
“There is still a hundred and twenty left. I will figure something out and pay it back as soon as possible.”
Raising an eyebrow, Jiang Ciying quietly observed Sang Yingli’s expression without uttering a single word.
When Sang Yingli looked back at her, she looked away again, feigning composure.
A few seconds later, Jiang Ciying heard a soft sigh, followed by Sang Yingli’s voice.
“You saw it all.”
Sang Yingli spoke up abruptly, dragging Jiang Ciying’s thoughts back.
“Mm.”
“From now on, stay away from…”
“Does it hurt?”
Cut off mid-sentence, Sang Yingli raised her head in astonishment, meeting Jiang Ciying’s calm-as-water eyes.
Paying it no mind, Jiang Ciying slowly shifted her gaze down to the hand Sang Yingli had tucked behind her back.
“Your wound is not healed yet. Why did you use that hand to hit people?”
Lifting her gaze back to Sang Yingli, she only caught sight of Sang Yingli’s frantic, dodging eyes and downturned lips.
When Sang Yingli refused to answer, Jiang Ciying stopped pressing, letting out only a soft sigh.
As the sky grew late, Jiang Ciying glanced at the time on her wrist, then stood up and walked forward.
Seeing her leave, Sang Yingli secretly lifted her eyes, but made no move to follow.
Hearing no movement from the person behind her, Jiang Ciying initially thought to just walk away, but her heart softened once more.
“Are you coming or not?”
Feigning an innocent look, Sang Yingli nodded, stood up a beat slow, and cautiously followed behind her.
As the streetlights flickered on, Jiang Ciying lowered her head and caught sight of two slender, elongated shadows.
Acting like a different person entirely, Sang Yingli kept her head down and remained completely silent as she walked beside Jiang Ciying. As they walked, she crossed her arms over her chest, her mind drifting away unconsciously.
“Sang Yingli.”
When Jiang Ciying turned around to call her, she found that Sang Yingli didn’t seem to hear, her gaze hollow and lost in thought.
“Sang Yingli.”
Sang Yingli still didn’t respond.
Stopping in her tracks, Jiang Ciying slowly turned around and deliberately blocked Sang Yingli’s path.
Sure enough, Sang Yingli walked right into Jiang Ciying’s chest.
Finally jolted back to her senses, she hurriedly raised her head, only to find Jiang Ciying curving the corners of her lips.
“What are you thinking about, to be so focused?”
Taking a few steps back in a flurry, Sang Yingli remained silent, only giving a gentle shake of her head.
Instead of pressing her, Jiang Ciying took a proactive step closer.
“Let’s go, come home with me.”
The shadows beneath the streetlight closed the distance between them, occasionally blending together, stretching and shortening as they crossed one bustling intersection after another.
Jiang Ciying stopped right before Yanhe Bridge as she always did, took a deep, heavy breath, and turned to walk into the dim alleyway.
Staring blankly at Jiang Ciying’s retreating figure, Sang Yingli called out to her from the fork in the road.
“Home is just across the bridge. Where are you going?”
Stopping, Jiang Ciying looked back and gave her a smile. “This path gets us home just as well.”
“But walking that way is much further.”
Jiang Ciying’s expression stiffened, though she quickly recovered her calm.
“Then let’s walk a bit more. Are you willing to keep me company?”
Having already caught the fleeting flash of shattered emotion in Jiang Ciying’s eyes, Sang Yingli chose to follow despite her confusion.
The alleyway was dim, surrounded by the damp and sticky remnants of days of rain. Stepping down felt like stepping into a gross mixture of mud and sewage, making one’s skin crawl.
Though the path ahead was blurry and unclear, Jiang Ciying was intimately familiar with it; she could reach her destination even blindfolded.
Sang Yingli dazedly raised her head to look at her. Having lost her previous sharp edge, she brewed over her words for a long time before asking:
“Why don’t you take the bridge?”
With her hands shoved into her pockets, Jiang Ciying replied naturally, “I don’t like it.”
“Why?”
“No reason.”
Stumped on the spot, Sang Yingli finally shut her mouth.
Hearing no further probing questions, Jiang Ciying turned back around, forced a smile, and threw a question back at her:
“Do you want to know?”
Filled with bewilderment, Sang Yingli found this remark strange. It had clearly just been a casual mention, and yet somehow, it had turned into her fixating on a particular answer.
As Jiang Ciying continued walking forward step by step, glancing back through the darkness at Sang Yingli’s clear gaze, a forgotten emotion that hadn’t stirred since that year resurfaced in her heart.
With neither of them answering, Jiang Ciying merely smiled and blurted out an inexplicable question:
“Would you be willing to acknowledge me as your older sister?”