After wrapping up the small interlude in the morning, Mimi and I headed home together to pack our luggage. In truth, there wasn’t much that actually needed to be packed and taken away.
Rather than calling it packing luggage, it was more like retrieving my old laptop and a few student-era diaries from the bookshelf.
I hoped to explore my past through them.
On the way home, Mimi and I talked about a lot of things. I shared some fragments of memories that had recently surfaced in my mind, and she listened quietly, occasionally offering her own thoughts.
“Big Sis, if there are things in your past that you want to forget, would you still want to desperately try and remember them?” Mimi asked, pointing at the diary in my hand.
I nodded and said, “Whether good or bad, they are all a part of my life. These experiences are what made me who I am today. So no matter what, I want to remember them.”
Looking down at the diary in my hands, my heart was filled with anticipation. These journals were like a key, perhaps capable of unlocking the mysteries within my heart.
Once we got home, I opened an old, worn-out diary. The yellowed pages exuded the scent of time, and the handwriting upon them was very childish. The date was in 2007; after doing the math, I realized it was from my first year of middle school.
I read every single line carefully, struggling to piece together that distant memory.
October 22, Monday
School has been in session for over a month now. I don’t want to go.
……
Today after school, my desk-mate, Li Guangtian, followed behind me again and cursed at me. I wanted to shake him off, but I couldn’t. I’m so scared.
……
Will tomorrow be better?
October 25, Thursday
Today Li Guangtian called a bunch of other boys to follow behind me and hurl insults. I turned around and shouted at them, but they just cursed even worse.
……
Will tomorrow be better?
November 8, Thursday
Mom got off work early today. I told her about what’s been happening recently, and she said it’s just classmates playing around and told me to ignore them. Sigh, I knew it would turn out like this, Mom doesn’t understand me at all.
……
Tomorrow will not be better.
Clutching that yellowed diary, tears flowed continuously like a breached dike. I could vividly picture my naive and clueless self walking home alone down that small path after school.
I closed the diary, feeling heavy-hearted. Taking a deep breath, I tried to steady my emotions and opened the next journal. The date on this one was the beginning of 2008.
February 6, Wednesday, New Year’s Eve
Dad came back from the military base today. I told him what happened at school, and he was extremely shocked. He said he would handle it for me.
February 8, Friday, Second Day of the Lunar New Year
Today we went to my maternal grandmother’s house to pay our New Year’s greetings, and I ran into Li Guangtian. Dad talked with Li Guangtian’s parents for a long time. After we came back, he told me not to worry and reassured me that I could go to school with peace of mind.
I am so happy. Finally, I won’t be bullied by Li Guangtian anymore.
March 3, Monday
Today my good friend Mimi transferred into our class! I’m so happy; she’s a good friend I’ve known since kindergarten. We haven’t seen each other in a long time, and we talked about so much today.
She even wrote down her new landline number for me. Her number is $timestimestimestimestimestimestimes$.
……
Great, Li Guangtian didn’t follow behind me today!
Will tomorrow be better?
Tomorrow will be better!
I stroked the handwriting on the diary page, feeling a whirlwind of emotions. It turned out I had been through so much during my middle school years, all thanks to Dad stepping in to handle it.
I picked up my phone and sent a WeChat message to Dad:
“Dad, I miss you.”
I knew he might not be able to receive my message immediately while at the military base, but I hoped that as soon as his mission ended, he would see my message right away.
I walked out of the bedroom and sat down on the sofa.
Hearing the commotion, Mimi walked out. “Big Sis…” she called out softly.
I raised my head to look at Mimi, and suddenly my tears broke through, streaming down my face. “Big Sis, don’t be sad.” Mimi sat down beside me and gently hugged me.
I sobbed, “Mimi, I read my diary from the first semester of seventh grade.”
Mimi patted my back, comforting me. “What is it, Big Sis? Don’t be sad. Next semester, I’ll go keep you company.”
I wiped away my tears and took a deep breath. “Yeah! I saw the diary entry from the very first day of the next semester, and it wrote all about you transferring over.”
“I actually appeared in Big Sis’s diary on my very first day of transferring? What was I like in Big Sis’s diary?” Mimi asked curiously.
“A good friend I’ve known since kindergarten,” I replied.
“Not bad at all. I’m just happy to be able to appear in Big Sis’s diary,” Mimi said with satisfaction, before eagerly asking, “What else did Big Sis write about during the first semester?”
“I wrote about being bullied by my desk-mate,” I said in a low voice.
“You mean that Li Guangtian guy, right? Don’t worry, Big Sis, you get your payback later on he ended up being beaten so badly he was hospitalized,” Mimi said, her eyebrows furrowing, her lips puckered high in anger as she crossed her arms indignantly.
“Huh? Really? Then I have to go back and keep reading the rest of the diary!” I dropped my jaw in surprise.
Mimi grabbed my hand and pushed me back down onto the sofa, saying, “Big Sis, stop reading, I’ll tell you all about it! I remember everything. Look, your living diary is right here in front of you.”
“And then? What happened next?” I asked anxiously.
“And then Li Guangtian suspended his schooling. I heard he was too scared to even show up for class,” Mimi said, blinking.
Hearing that, I instantly felt a lot more relaxed inside.
“But Big Sis, why didn’t you tell me back during the first semester?” Mimi asked, suddenly looking at me seriously.
I shook my head and said, “Back then, we weren’t even in the same school, and plus, I didn’t seem to have your family’s number…”
Mimi let out a deep sigh, looking somewhat regretful. “If I had known, I should have transferred over during the first semester of seventh grade.”
Seeing her righteous indignation, I couldn’t help but chuckle. I reached out to gently pinch her tender cheek and said softly, “Thank you, Mimi.”
At that moment, Mimi glanced up at the clock on the wall, then turned to me and said, “Big Sis, the time for our dinner appointment with Chen Xingyu is almost here. I’ll go call Xiaoxiu, and then we can head out together.” With that, she stood up and knocked on Xiyuxiu’s bedroom door.
The bedroom door opened to reveal Xiaoxiu already dressed and fully prepared to leave.
“You little brat, weren’t you always dragging your feet every time we went out before?” Mimi asked with wide eyes, looking completely incredulous.
“I’m an adult now! I have a great sense of time!” Xiaoxiu retorted.
Watching the two sisters bicker, I smiled with a sense of warm contentment.
:: Easter Egg ::
(March 3, 2008, Alleyway Outside Liaocheng No. 1 Junior High School)
“That Yan Moyi from our class actually complained to my parents during Chinese New Year and got me lectured by my dad,” Li Guangtian said, leaning against the wall with a resentful look, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Through the swirling smoke, he gritted his teeth as he spoke to the punk standing in front of him.
“Brother Tian, let’s go stake out that alleyway after school today and teach her a lesson,” the punk stepped forward and flattered him with a suggestion.
“Alright, call the boss. Hasn’t he been drooling over that little $timestimes$ for ages? It’s the first day of school, let’s give him a big gift.” Li Guangtian flicked the cigarette butt onto the ground and stubbed it out fiercely with the tip of his shoe.
Xiyumi’s lips curled up into a faint, disdainful smile. She cast a contemptuous side-eye at the two individuals in the alleyway, walked to the very end of the path, and pulled her phone out of her schoolbag.
“Old Miss, do you have any instructions?”
Xiyumi’s voice was ice-cold and resolute: “Uncle Jiang, after school tonight, find some people to thoroughly teach Li Guangtian’s gang from Class 7-7 a lesson.”
The person on the other end was silent for a moment before replying, “Understood, Old Miss.”
Immediately afterward, Xiyumi paused in thought for a brief second and continued, “Also, help me arrange some manpower to secretly protect Yan Moyi every day when she goes to and from school.”
“No problem, Old Miss. I will immediately arrange appropriate personnel to handle this matter,” the voice on the other end of the phone responded respectfully.