Chapter 25 (1/2)
25
There was a big crowd. People shopping at the end of the year acted like they were dying to get rid of their money. The shops were filled with men, women, old and young, alike. Zhu Yun’s mother grumbled, “I told you to come home earlier, but you didn’t listen. Now everything’s been sold out.”
“How could everything be sold out?” Zhu Yun carried several bags as she stepped out of the elevator onto the third floor. Ladies’ apparel. “There’s a lot here.”
“But they’re leftovers from what others didn’t want.” Her mother was also carrying a handful of bags. “Why didn’t you bring more clothes home from school? Now we have to buy an entire new wardrobe for you.”
Zhu Yun quietly grimaced. She’d been in a rush that day. When she got back to her dorm, she’d only had time to pack up her laptop and books. Like she’d been in the right mind to worry about clothes.
Mother and daughter walked into a clothing boutique. While her mother picked out clothes, Zhu Yun followed behind, her mind wandering.
Today…
She checked her watch. Noon.
Was he prepared? Did he leave for the company yet?
Zhu Yun had sent Li Xun a text that morning, but he hadn’t responded. She didn’t dare to call him so hastily, worried that she might disturb him. She grew fretful.
“How’s this one?”
“Ugly.”
“……”
Zhu Yun coughed. She looked at the wide-eyed, gaping-mouthed store clerk and said, “No, I mean… It’s very nice.”
Her mother asked, “You didn’t sleep well yesterday? Why do you seem not yourself?”
Zhu Yun rubbed her nose. “I must be tired from hurrying home.”
Her mother expressed her understanding. To the clerk, she said, “All she knows is studying. The new year is right in front of her, but if I hadn’t mentioned it, she would still be at school. She’s completely uninterested in dressing up.”
The store clerk weighed those words, and then she admired, “That’s great. One look and I can see that our customer would be a great student. She seems extremely oustanding.”
Zhu Yun’s mother handed the dress over to her daughter. “Try this on. It’s very pretty.”
Zhu Yun carried the dress into the dressing room. Changing clothes in the winter was annoying. Zhu Yun took off her gla.s.ses, about to pull her sweater over her head. In the middle of this, her phone vibrated. At the phone’s vibration, she couldn’t be bothered with the state of her undress. Sweater around her neck, she pulled out a hand and checked her phone.
Li Xun responded. “I’m on the way. Tell you about it later.”
When was later?
Zhu Yun had a ton of things she wanted to say to him, but she felt she didn’t have the time right now. In the end, she just sent a short text. “Jiayou.”
There was no reply.
Zhu Yun changed her clothes and then walked out of the dressing room, her head low. The clerk smiled at her, about to give a compliment. But then she noticed a major problem. “Customer, your dress is on inside out.”
Zhu Yun looked at herself. “……”
Her mother had been choosing more clothes. She looked over and said, “Zhu Yun ah, what do you spend all your time thinking about?”
Without a word, Zhu Yun returned to the dressing room to adjust her clothes. She walked back out and the clerk finally exclaimed, “It looks wonderful! Customer, white really suits you. Your skin is so beautiful!” Zhu Yun had been about to put her gla.s.ses on when the clerk spoke again, “Customer, you look better without gla.s.ses.”
If I don’t wear my gla.s.ses, I can’t see a d.a.m.ned thing
All dressed, Zhu Yun looked at herself in the mirror. Needless to say, her mother’s taste was great. A white dress of good quality, the bottom hem embellished with flowery petals. A wide deerskin belt wrapped around her waist. Because it was winter wear, the dress also had a matching short, light colored fur jacket. Zhu Yun’s face looked especially small, hidden behind the fur.
“So pretty! This one is really pretty! It suits you so well!” the clerk made a strong recommendation.
Hearing the clerk’s praises, Zhu Yun’s mother asked her, “I chose well, didn’t I?” Zhu Yun nodded. Then her mother told the clerk, “We’ll take this one.”
They bought a few more outfits. By the time that Zhu Yun’s arms nearly lost circulation from all the bags she carried, her mother was finally satisfied. “This seems like enough,” her mother said. “Imagine what it would have been like if you’d visited your aunt and uncle for the new year, dressed in rags.”
On the way home, her mother went over their New Year’s itinerary. Zhu Yun listened absent-mindedly. When they arrived home, her mother started preparing dinner. Zhu Yun didn’t have much of an appet.i.te. She told her mother she had a.s.signments to do and headed up to her room.
“a.s.signments? The break has just started! You don’t even have the textbooks for your next semester yet!”
Zhu Yun called back, “I meant that I’m reviewing!”
Her mother put on her ap.r.o.n, and then she shouted upstairs, “You can’t stop for two days for the new year celebrations?!”
“Aiyo, if she wants to study, let her study.” Zhu Guangyi was drinking tea and reading the newspaper in the living room. “You get the most angry when she doesn’t study. When she does study, you get irritated. What exactly do you want her to do?” After tying her ap.r.o.n, Zhu Yun’s mother looked up the stairs without saying a word.
Zhu Yun plopped down onto her bed and started tossing and turning. She kept checking her watch, her phone, the internet. Why was time pa.s.sing by so slowly?
She tried studying and practicing coding, but she couldn’t focus. Her chest felt tight, like something was pressing on it. She was fretful, impatient.
When her mother called her to dinner, Zhu Yun simply had no appet.i.te. She gave lukewarm responses to her parents questions about studying abroad.
“What do you think of Xiao Yu?”
“He’s great.”
“There aren’t many opportunities to study abroad recently. Since there are fewer students, the conditions are really good. But I heard from your Auntie Jiang that when Xiao Yu had just started studying abroad, he had a rough time. There are still prejudices against us over there.”
Zhu Yun shrugged.
Her mother continued, “But if you’re really able to succeed, that’s a respectable thing. You can’t remain in your own little circle forever. You have to expand your horizon into their large society.”
Zhu Yun was entirely unconcerned by this matter. She glanced over at the window. “It’s snowing again,” she said.
“Again?” Her mother laughed. “This is the first snow of the year.”
Zhu Yun was taken aback.
So that day, it hadn’t snowed here. That snowfall had been theirs alone to see. A sense of comfort washed over her in that moment.
—
That night, at 2 in the morning, Li Xun’s reply came: “It’s all good.”
Zhu Yun took a long, deep breath. She walked over to her door and locked it. Then she climbed back into bed and pulled her blanket over her head. She called Li Xun.
“h.e.l.lo?”
“Li Xun…”
“Mmh. You’re still awake?” He seemed to be outside; she could hear the sound of the wind in the background.
Zhu Yun said, “I was watching TV with my family.”
He laughed, not at all convinced.
Zhu Yun bit her lip. “About that…”
“What?”
She heard the sound of a lighter. Zhu Yun didn’t want to talk in circles, so she asked directly, “Did you meet with the Languan representatives? What did they say? Why did it go on until so late?”