Yan Sisi crouched down to help. She wasn’t sure about her father’s question. “I’ve never planted herbs before, so I don’t know if it’ll work, but we can try and see. Dad, can you get some medicinal seeds?”
She was still keeping a lot from them about the space, she hadn’t mentioned the spirit spring water or the ancient tree at all, planning instead to quietly mix a little into the household water later.
With all three of them working together, they quickly cleaned and organized the vegetables Yan Sisi had brought out. By the time they finished, it was already nine o’clock. Everyone washed up and went to their rooms.
Yan Sisi’s mother lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. So much had happened recently, her mind kept jumping from one thing to another. Finally, thinking about how her daughter had gone through so much without telling her immediately, she couldn’t help but sit up and tap her husband: “Old Yan, don’t sleep yet, I can’t.”
Yan Sisi’s father was already drifting off but woke up from the tap. Opening his blurry eyes and seeing his wife sitting up, he mumbled, “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
“I can’t sleep. Haven’t you noticed how our daughter has changed recently? She used to tell me immediately whenever something happened, but now she tells us only afterward. Have we not been paying enough attention to her?”
“I thought something was wrong, but this just shows she’s growing up. If she really encounters a problem she can’t solve, she still has us to help her. Don’t worry.” He grabbed his wife’s hand, pulled her down to lie beside him, and reassured her, “Besides, we can’t protect her forever. She needs to learn to grow on her own. Go to sleep, you have to get up early tomorrow.”
With that, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Yan Sisi’s mother looked at her husband, who was already peacefully asleep, and wrestled with her thoughts for a while before finally closing her eyes.
Back in her room, Yan Sisi saw her backpack on the desk and realized she hadn’t done her homework yet. She pulled out her textbooks and notebook and worked furiously, finishing only after 11 p.m.
Completing her homework completely drained her remaining energy. Rubbing her tired eyes, she stretched, put her textbooks and notebook back into her backpack, quickly crawled into bed, covered herself, and soon fell asleep.
The next morning, Yan Sisi was again awakened by her mother. She felt unusually clear-headed, remembering all the content she had studied and the homework she had written the night before, unlike before, when she could only recall about half of what she had read.
When had her memory become this sharp?
She glanced at her wrist. The biggest recent changes in her life were her dreams and the wooden bracelet on her wrist. The dreams certainly couldn’t improve her memory; perhaps the bracelet could, though she didn’t know if it was just her or if anyone who ate things grown in the space would experience the same effect.
If it was the latter, she didn’t dare even imagine it.
“Sisi, hurry! You’re going to be late!”
“Okay, I’m coming.” Yan Sisi snapped back to reality, grabbed her backpack from the desk, saw the clock had already reached 7:05, and in a flash, snatched a fried dough stick and her lunchbox before dashing toward school.
Yan Sisi’s mother saw her daughter rushing and hurried to the door, calling out, “I put some food in your lunchbox, don’t forget it!”
Yan Sisi just waved her hand at her mother’s shout and kept running, eating the fried dough stick in her hand as she went. Her legs felt a bit slow, so she thought she might stop by Mr. Li’s place later to see if his bicycle was really fixed.
By the time Yan Sisi arrived at the classroom, the bell was ringing. She was panting and out of breath, quickly placed her backpack in the drawer, and let out a long sigh to calm herself. After steadying her racing heart, she took out her textbook and joined the others for morning study.
When morning study ended, Yan Sisi took out the lunchbox her mother had prepared. As soon as she opened it, a mouthwatering aroma filled the air. Four corn cobs, roughly the same size, were neatly arranged inside.
She poked Jiang Siyue, who was sitting in front of her. When Jiang Siyue turned around, Yan Sisi handed over the lunchbox and asked, “Do you want some?”
Seeing the golden corn, Jiang Siyue immediately grabbed one and took a bite. After finishing it, she praised, “Delicious! Where did you get this corn? It’s so good! I’ll ask my mom to buy some too. One isn’t enough, give me another one.” She reached out for another.
Yan Sisi quickly batted her hand back. Usually, Wang Xiaohua, their classmate, was very considerate when it came to studies; they couldn’t just eat without sharing.
Yan Sisi looked into Jiang Siyue’s eyes and gestured first to her desk mate and then to the corn. Jiang Siyue immediately understood and reluctantly swallowed the corn in her mouth, shaking her head frantically and refusing to say anything despite Yan Sisi’s signals.
Seeing this, Yan Sisi had no choice but to act herself. She took a deep breath and lightly tapped Wang Xiaohua, who sat next to Jiang Siyue, asking nervously, “Xiaohua, do you want some corn?”
Wang Xiaohua glanced at her and politely replied, “No, thank you, Yan.”
Then she turned back to her studies.
Yan Sisi and Jiang Siyue exchanged a glance, not daring to disturb her while she studied. They remembered that shortly after enrollment, when they had been chatting a little too loudly, Wang Xiaohua had gone off on them, a full-on brainwashing session about studying hard, making progress every day, and not wasting time.
Ever since then, neither of them dared to speak loudly whenever Wang Xiaohua was around, afraid of interrupting her relentless dedication to studying.
Seeing Wang Xiaohua decline, Jiang Siyue quickly grabbed another cob from the lunchbox, smiled apologetically at Yan Sisi, and then began eating.
Yan Sisi looked at the two remaining cobs in the lunchbox and suddenly met the eyes of her desk mate, Wen Xuan. Tentatively, she asked, “Wen, do you want one?”
Wen Xuan smiled. “Sure.”
Yan Sisi had never expected her quiet male desk mate to actually want one, but the words were out now. She had no choice but to hand him the lunchbox under the watchful eyes of the class.
Wen Xuan gently picked up a cob from the box with his long fingers and ate it politely.
When Yan Sisi took back the lunchbox, she felt a piercing gaze on her. She looked up toward the source, but there was nothing to be seen.
Yan Sisi didn’t pay much attention and turned her gaze back to the last corn cob, nibbling at it slowly. The sweet aroma of the corn drew the attention of nearby classmates. Some of the older students, seeing how deliciously she was eating, felt too embarrassed to ask for some and could only endure their growing saliva, forcing themselves to focus on their textbooks.
Before long, the bell rang for class. Ever since news broke that the college entrance exams were being reinstated, the teachers at school seemed revitalized and taught much more seriously, hardly allowing anyone to daydream or be distracted in class.
To prepare for next year’s exams, the school had even converted all previous labor classes into academic lessons, determined not to waste a single moment of study time.
There were 45 students in Yan Sisi’s class, only 8 of them girls. The age gap among students was wide, with some over twenty still attending. Essentially, everyone was studying hard to prepare for the exams, so the class had an intense academic atmosphere.
After lunch, during break, students would discuss their textbooks, either reciting lessons or debating problems.
During the last class of the afternoon, the math teacher Lu Bin stood at the podium, speaking sternly as he assigned Sunday’s homework. When the bell rang, the assignments were done, and students quickly packed their bags, pairing up in twos or threes on the way home.
Yan Sisi’s apartment building only had five or six students attending this school, all in different grades and classes. This meant she almost always walked home alone.
This time, shortly after leaving school, she felt footsteps following her. When she turned to look, no one was there.
Frightened, Yan Sisi quickened her pace toward a crowded area, ears straining to hear the footsteps. These sounded lighter than the heavy steps from before. She couldn’t tell if it was the same person.
She ducked into the crowd, sneaking multiple glances behind her but still saw no one. After taking a long detour, she finally reached home, heart still racing. Just as she closed the door and turned around, a tall figure appeared, startling her.
Seeing her reaction, Yan Sisi’s father looked puzzled. “Am I really that scary? Did I frighten you this much?”
Yan Sisi patted her chest to calm her racing heart and told her father about being followed twice. Frowning, he said, “Starting next week, I’ll pick you up from school. I want to see who’s following my daughter.”
Yan Sisi wanted to catch whoever it was herself and agreed with her father to meet at the spot where she had heard the footsteps this Monday. They would catch the person and finally know who it was.
Seeing her still pale, clearly shaken, her father comforted her and led her to the kitchen to distract her with the seeds he had bought.
As soon as Yan Sisi entered the kitchen, she saw five or six bare sticks of varying sizes with dirt and roots at their ends on the floor. On the far right was a cloth bag. Turning to her father, who looked proud of himself, she hesitated and asked, “Dad, these are the fruit saplings you brought back?”
“Yes! How about that? Not bad, right? This one’s a grapevine, this one’s a fig tree, and this is a peach tree.” Her father pointed to each stick in turn, introducing their names.
Yan Sisi seriously doubted she wasn’t being tricked. Aren’t these just sticks? How could they possibly be fruit saplings?