Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 12

“Auntie” “Xiao Wu”

The next day, on an autumn afternoon, Yan Qi¹ was preparing to return to the city. Yan Yinan² didn’t feel like driving, so he decided to hitch a ride with her.

As the two walked to the garage, Anzhi³ came trotting up from behind. Yan Yinan was a step back, so he spotted her first. He laughed. “Your daughter is here to see you off.”

“What is it?” Yan Qi squatted down to ask her.

Anzhi had woken up early that morning to find herself lying alone in Yan Qi’s blankets. She thought she must have moved around in her sleep, but Yan Qi hadn’t said anything about it.

Yan Qi’s hair was tied back casually. Her face was bare of makeup, revealing a long, fair neck, and the corners of her lips held a hidden smile.

Yan Yinan poked his head out of the car window. “Hey, Little Friend Anzhi, are you here to see me off?”

“Mm…” Anzhi hesitated shyly. “Third Uncle…”

Earlier that morning, Yan Yinan had teased Anzhi for a while, insisting she call him Uncle. She finally managed to get the words out.

“Ah, girls really are cuter than boys…” Yan Yinan laughed.

Yan Qi rolled her eyes at him, then asked Anzhi in a low voice, “Hm?”

“When are you coming back?” Anzhi asked.

“I can’t really say for sure…” Yan Qi sighed. She thought for a second or two. “How about I give you my phone number? Can you memorize it?”

Anzhi nodded.

“137*,” Yan Qi recited, then asked, “Can you remember it without a pen and paper?”

Anzhi nodded again. She was naturally sensitive to numbers. For an eleven-digit number, most people might memorize it as 3+3+3+2, but she remembered it as 3+4+4. That was how she remembered her grandpa’s phone number.

She recited the number aloud. Yan Qi patted her head, praised her, and said, “Remember to call me if anything happens.”

“Anything at all. There are landlines on every floor of the house, okay?” Yan Qi looked at her seriously.

Anzhi bobbed her head. Her honey-colored cheeks flushed pink. Her eyes were innocent, her expression reluctant to part.

Yan Qi wanted to lighten the mood. She smiled faintly. “You call my grandparents Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma now, and you call my third brother Third Uncle. So, what should you call me?”

Anzhi fidgeted with her small hands in embarrassment, her voice soft and sticky like refined sugar. “Auntie⁴… Auntie?”

The term “Auntie,” spoken in that milky voice by the little girl, was actually quite cute. Especially coming from Anzhi. She called Yan Qi’s eldest sister-in-law “Auntie Xiao⁵,” but called her “Auntie” directly, proving that in her heart, Yan Qi was much closer than the others. But like all girls in their early twenties, Yan Qi wasn’t actually used to being called “Auntie” yet. However, calling her “Jiejie” would get the generational hierarchy wrong.

She scratched her hair and laughed. “You should probably just call me by my name…”

Little Anzhi blinked, looking up at her. Suddenly, her dimples deepened. “Xiao Wu⁶?”

Yan Qi paused, then the corners of her eyes bloomed with amusement. She reached out and pinched the girl’s cheek. “No respect for your elders.”

Anzhi laughed.

As the car started moving, the small figure of Anzhi could be seen in the rearview mirror, waving her little hand.

Yan Yinan sat comfortably in the back seat, relaxed and idle. “I didn’t expect you to like kids so much.”

An old song by Zhang Yusheng⁷, The Fish That Swims All Day Long⁸, played slowly in the car: The fish that swims all day long, swimming without stop; the person who misses you all day long, loving without end…

Yan Qi’s gaze remained fixed on the road ahead. She whispered, “…Yeah… I don’t know either…”

A moment later, Yan Qi asked him, “By the way, is there an elementary school near my place?”

Yan Yinan shrugged. “How would I know? I was so small when Dad bought that house. But I think they bought it because they wanted you to go to school nearby, but then… well, we moved back to the Yan Family Old Residence⁹.”

Yan Qi nodded. There were too many things to do. What she lacked now was time, so she could only take it slowly.

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That night, Anzhi was alone in her room, organizing her treasures. Her little schoolbag, her photo album filled with pictures of her grandpa. Her wallet. Opening it, she found the loose change she used for the bus.

She was in the senior class of kindergarten. Most kids in her class didn’t recognize money yet. Fortunately, her grandpa had taken her to the wet market since she was small. Quiet little Anzhi would watch her grandpa buy vegetables, pay, and get change… unknowingly, she learned the value of currency.

During the month she lived in that house, her unreliable “Dad” had only appeared once. He stayed for half an hour, said a few words, and shoved ten red bills at her. At kindergarten, Anzhi asked the security guard grandpa at the gate to change them into smaller bills for her.

Anzhi organized the remaining money, counting it up… She suddenly stopped. Her small hand brushed over a few cyan and brown bills, some silver ones, and some purple ones.

Those were given to her by Yan Qi.

She had said, “Do you recognize these?” Then she explained them one by one, teaching her the values. They even played a shopping game. “I want to buy a bottle of water. If a bottle is 3 yuan, and I give you 5 yuan, how much change do you give back? What if I give you 10 yuan?”

Actually, Anzhi already knew how.

Yan Qi had said, “Here, take this. Go buy whatever you want, or treat your classmates to snacks?”

Anzhi secretly smiled; Yan Qi had no idea that other kindergarten kids didn’t carry money. She didn’t even know Anzhi already understood how to make change, yet she thoughtfully gave her a lot of small bills.

Anzhi hadn’t wanted to take it, but Yan Qi smiled and told her, “Then… just pay me back when you grow up.”

Grow up? How long would she have to wait for that…

Yan Qi said, “Hmm… when you’re about as tall as me.”

Anzhi felt so discouraged. How long would that take… In her eyes, Yan Qi was so tall, taller than many of the adults she saw.

Even Yan Da Pang and Yan Xiao Pang were taller than her…

That was why they wouldn’t call her “Jiejie.”

They even called her a shorty.

Well, they were little fatties!

Anzhi pouted. She picked up the rabbit toy Yan Qi had bought her and pulled the string. Dong, dong, dong, it started beating its drum. Anzhi’s dimples deepened; she was extremely happy.

She thought for a moment, then opened her door. Every floor of the Yan Family Old Residence had a large living room with a telephone by the sofa. Anzhi poked her head out to listen for movement.

Confirming no one was there, she trotted over, sprawled onto the soft armrest of the sofa, and pressed the numbers one by one. She held the receiver, listening to the beep-beep sound for a short while, before hearing Yan Qi’s clear, soft voice: “…Auntie Xin?”

Anzhi puffed out her cheeks. “…It’s me.”

The person on the other end paused for a split second, her voice now holding a hint of a smile. “Anzhi?”

The dimples on Anzhi’s cheeks danced.

“What’s up?”

“……” Anzhi hadn’t actually thought of a reason to call, so she froze for a moment before anxiously finding a sentence. “When… when are you coming back?”

“Ah…” There was some background noise on Yan Qi’s end, sounding like several people talking to her. “Taotao¹⁰… I might not be able to come home this week…”

“Oh…” Anzhi’s tiny finger twisted the telephone cord.

“…Did anything interesting happen at kindergarten?”

Anzhi just happened to think of something. “Our teacher told us to bring a fish to school for observation yesterday… Grandma Xin¹¹ gave me a little goldfish… and then one of our classmates brought the crucian carp his mom was going to cook for dinner! …”

“What? Haha…” Yan Qi laughed out loud.

Anzhi imagined the way Yan Qi looked when she laughed, the corners of her lips curving slightly, those smiling eyes filled with clear, brimming mirth.

When she started reading classical Chinese later and stumbled upon a line in Tang Dynasty writer Duan Chengshi’s¹² 《Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang》¹³: “In the spring night, the wind is clear and the moon is bright,” she would remember Yan Qi’s smile at this very moment.

“How did you know it was a crucian carp?” Yan Qi could barely stop laughing, her slightly breathless voice sounding right by Anzhi’s ear.

“Mm! I know. Grandpa used to take me fishing all the time! I recognize crucian carp, grass carp, and those small fish that look like loaches… and the fish that look like big loaches…”

“Pfft…” Yan Qi laughed again. She didn’t point out that “small fish that look like loaches” or “fish that look like big loaches” weren’t their real names. She sighed softly, “Anzhi is so smart…”

Anzhi wiggled her feet happily. “Teacher told a story today, but I’ve already heard it…”

“Oh? What story?” The background on Yan Qi’s side was a bit noisy; she seemed to walk a few steps until it got quieter.

“Mm… it’s about a little girl who met a talking rabbit and fell into a hole…”

“Oh, that story… Did the teacher tell you there’s a second story where she goes through a big mirror?”

“Really?! Teacher didn’t say that!”

Yan Qi laughed again. “Then how about I tell it to you next time?”

Anzhi’s eyes curved in delight, but then she pouted in disappointment. “But you’re not coming back this week…”

“Ah, I’m sorry…” Yan Qi coaxed her. “I’ll definitely try to come home next week, okay? …”

Anzhi held the receiver and nodded her little head vigorously. “Mm-hm, mm-hm!”

Yan Qi chuckled softly. “Is there anything you want to eat? I’ll buy it and bring it home…”

Anzhi was too shy to say.

Someone called Yan Qi’s name on the other end. She answered them, then asked softly, “Anzhi?”

Anzhi felt a bit dazed. It seemed that ever since her nightmare, Yan Qi had started using her nickname. Now she wasn’t using it.

Anzhi poked at the telephone cord and whispered, “…I want to eat peaches…”

“You want peaches, right? Okay, I’ll buy them for you next week.” Yan Qi said with a smile, “It’s getting late… You should go to sleep.”

Anzhi was already satisfied. She said obediently, “Okay.”

“Mm. Cover up well with your blanket. The temperature is dropping at night recently.”

“Okay.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Mm.”

Anzhi put down the phone. Yan Qi was right; it was much colder at night now. Her little feet were freezing. She ran back to her room as fast as she could, burrowed into her blankets, and stroked her little rabbit, filled with anticipation for next week.

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The author has something to say:

The fish observation gag comes from Weibo.

I only know how to say “small fish that look like loaches” in my mother tongue; I don’t know the scientific name.

The “fish that look like big loaches” are ricefield eels¹⁴; that’s just what I used to call them.

《Alice in Wonderland》 has a sequel called 《Alice Through the Looking Glass》. There are movies of the same name, which are pretty decent. The screenwriter for both movies is the same one who wrote 《Maleficent》.

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