Phone Call (Part 1)
As evening fell, the rain grew somewhat frightening, a torrential downpour. The sky looked as if it had been torn open, the streaks of lightning were like terrifying blood vessels embedded along the wound.
Thankfully, the power hadn’t gone out.
Anzhi saw on TV that traffic was snarled on many roads and floodwaters were pooling. Quite a few cars had been submerged, and many people had abandoned their sedans to take the subway. The police were struggling to carry out rescues in the heavy rain. She heard that some manhole covers had been forced open and people had been swept into the water in life-threatening situations.
The scenes were horrifying. Anzhi was immensely relieved that Yan Xi hadn’t driven home.
Auntie Xin was worried and made separate calls to the Yan brothers.
Anzhi volunteered to call Yan Xi herself.
After giving a few instructions, Auntie Xin walked away.
Anzhi asked Yan Xi if she’d reached her dorm yet.
She seemed to be walking, replying, “Not yet. Is it raining hard at home?”
Just as Anzhi was about to speak, a peal of thunder roared outside.
“Let’s not talk now. I’ll call you back when the thunder stops.”
“No, wait! Let’s talk a little more! The thunder isn’t that loud,” Anzhi wheedled, climbing the stairs. “It’s just Grandmother Xin at home. Great-grandfather and Great-grandmother went to the temple to escape the summer heat! There’s no one to talk to me! Grandmother Xin said Da Pang and Xiao Pang were dragged off by Auntie Xiao this morning, who knows where.”
Yan Xi made a sound of surprise, then chuckled softly. “They went to summer camp.”
“What summer camp?”
“A military training summer camp.1“
“Huh? Why so suddenly? Do they have to train like they’re in the army? Is it all closed-off?”
“Something like that. It’s at a military training base in the outskirts of Beicheng. No phones, no parent visits, and a strict schedule. They have to wake up early for training, no sleeping in, and it’s lights out for everyone at night.”
“Ah! Those two will never be able to handle it!”
“They’re still young, and it’s just a summer camp. It won’t be that strict. They’ll be back in ten days.”
Anzhi was puzzled. “How do you know so much about it?”
Yan Xi was silent for a few seconds.
“Huh? Hmm?” Anzhi tilted her head.
Yan Xi suddenly let out a pfft of laughter. Before she could answer, a massive thunderclap exploded across the sky. Anzhi cried out.
“I’ll call you back later.”
…I feel like that laugh was full of hidden meaning!
Don’t tell me this was Yan Xi’s idea!
Every time Da Pang and Xiao Pang bullied her, Yan Xi would always stand up for her. But they hadn’t done anything recently, besides that incident with the book.
She called her back. “Hey, was it you who sent Da Pang and Xiao Pang to summer camp?”
Yan Xi didn’t deny it. “Yes.”
“Why?”
Yan Xi seemed to have turned on her speakerphone; her voice was distant and hollow. She was probably walking around her room tidying up, accompanied by the swooshing sound of the rain.
“What did you do today? You got there at noon?”
“Yeah. I moved the flower pots. Good thing Grandmother Xin had Da Pang and Xiao Pang move the heavy ones yesterday.”
Yan Xi laughed. “With your little arms and legs, you can only carry the small ones.”
“As if you’re so strong!”
“Much stronger than you!” Yan Xi laughed.
“…”
Yan Xi continued with a smile, “My brothers and I have had to go to these summer camps since junior high2—sports camps, military training camps, all sorts. It was to build up our physical fitness.”
“…Everyone? Including Second Uncle3 and Third Uncle?4” Anzhi couldn’t imagine the scholarly Yan Yixi5 or the extremely skincare-conscious Yan Yinan6 going to one of those.
“Mhm. Because Second Brother, Third Brother, and I were all physically weak when we were young, Grandfather7 just wanted us to pick a sport and hopefully stick with it. One of them chose table tennis, and the other chose indoor yoga. Of course, they gave them up long ago.”
“Oh, so what was yours…”
“What about you?”
“I chose boxing.”
“?????!!!!!”
Yan Xi laughed on the other end. “Surprising, isn’t it?”
I know you like photography, I thought you were more of the artistic type. And now you’re telling me you used to box?
Yan Xi said, “I trained for six years, from junior high through high school. I also kept up with long-distance running for stamina. I stopped training in university, but I kept the running habit. After I started working, I just didn’t have the time anymore.”
What is with this deeply nostalgic tone of yours!!!!
Anzhi: …
“I remember there are a lot of photos, in my 13–18 years old album.”
She put her phone aside and went to flip through Yan Xi’s photo albums. There were several full albums, from Yan Xi’s childhood to the present. Anzhi had them too; since she came to live with Yan Xi, Yan Xi would often take photos of her. Anzhi had two thick albums of her own.
“They’re not here. I can’t find them.”
“Oh, maybe Grandfather and Grandmother8 took them. They sometimes take out our photos to look at. Go check on the second floor.”
Anzhi pattered downstairs but couldn’t find them after a search. Could the two elders have taken them to the temple? She ran back to the living room and finally found them on the bottom shelf of a coffee table on the second floor.
There were several albums: Yan Yixi’s, Yan Yinan’s, and Yan Xi’s. Anzhi glanced through them; they were all from the 13–18 age range. Grandfather Yan and Grandmother Yan must have wanted to make a compilation of them at the same age.
Anzhi gathered the compilation album and Yan Xi’s personal one in her arms and pattered back up to her room.
“Find them?”
“Mhm! And Second Uncle’s and Third Uncle’s too.”
Anzhi paused for a second and opened the compilation album first. She was surprised to find Yan Yidong’s9 photos as well. He was several years older than Yan Xi and the others. The photos showed a stern and serious10 teenager with sharp brows and bright eyes, his skin a bit tanner, dressed in a karate uniform. The color of the belt around his waist went from white to yellow, and then to red.
Anzhi told Yan Xi what she saw.
Yan Xi was a bit surprised, then said admiringly, “That’s Eldest Brother for you, he looks the part. As for Second Brother and Third Brother… especially Third Brother… it’s really hard to describe in one sentence!”
Anzhi flipped a few pages and burst out laughing. There was the fair and handsome Yan Yixi, wearing glasses, holding a ping-pong paddle with a deadpan expression, holding a ping-pong ball with a deadpan expression, and balancing the ping-pong ball with a deadpan expression.
And then… there was Yan Yinan in a flamboyant, colorful yoga outfit. His hair was quite long back then, tied up in the back, as he stretched on a yoga mat: leg pulls, leg presses, backbends, squatting with a lifted leg…
His figure was so supple and graceful, his movements so light and precise, that he blended in with the group of… girls, not looking out of place at all.
Anzhi laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes.
Yan Xi said, “Second Brother said table tennis wasn’t demanding on the venue, that he could even play in the lab. So he chose that, which is understandable. But Third Brother said he chose yoga to avoid getting a tan and to sculpt his body…”
Yan Xi continued, “I took those pictures. I almost called him Third Sister!11 He was such a sissy!12 So gay13… ahem.”
“It’s not nice to talk about your Third Uncle like that… pfft…”
Yan Xi recalled her grandfather mentioning that Yan Yinan had been obsessed with wearing skirts when he was eight or nine. He was also particularly diligent about his skincare during adolescence. In university and graduate school, even though his grades and practical scores were excellent in every subject, he insisted on choosing the cosmetic surgery department. Aside from some necessary trauma surgeries, most of his work was cosmetic, and his patients were mostly female, every single one of whom treated him as their male bestie.14
With so many signs, he didn’t really seem like a straight man. Was he really not gay? Liu Yiyi15 had gossiped16 with her about it before.
But it wasn’t right to gossip about her own brother, especially in front of a child.
Anzhi’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. “Isn’t Third Uncle dating someone? He’s probably not gay.”
Yan Xi thought to herself: True, kids these days aren’t too concerned about whether someone is gay or not.
But having a girlfriend doesn’t prove he isn’t gay!!!
With a sense of propriety, Yan Xi dropped the topic.
Anzhi didn’t think much of it. She spread the albums out on the floor, lying on her stomach with her phone on speaker.
She flipped another page in the compilation album and immediately let out a “Wow!”—it was a photo of Yan Xi practicing boxing.
The tall, slender girl was wearing a white T-shirt with the hem tied up, revealing a small sliver of flawless, fair skin. Her gloved fists were frozen mid-swing, seeming to carry an air-rending power.
Anzhi stared, stunned.
There was only one picture. Perhaps Grandfather Yan and Grandmother Yan hadn’t had time to select others for the album yet.
Anzhi opened Yan Xi’s personal album.
There were many, many photos. Her hair was in a high ponytail, or in a bun. She wore a tight-fitting tank top or a short T-shirt, bangs damp with sweat, her neck glistening with perspiration.
She was radiant, a magnetic presence that stole one’s gaze.
So cool!
So beautiful!
So… captivating.
She actually had a side like this?
Anzhi had seen Yan Xi on screen: poised and dignified, elegant and refined, with a beautiful light smile.17 She had seen her mischievous and cunning side when she played pranks on Da Pang and Xiao Pang. She had seen the patient and gentle way she smiled when coaxing her.
She felt that every version of her was captivating, every one a delightful surprise.
When she was a child, her understanding of Yan Xi had been hazy and indistinct, but now, it felt as if the image of her was becoming clearer and clearer.
The thunder outside seemed to have quieted, leaving only the sound of the pouring rain. Occasionally, a few persistent flashes of lightning tried to stage a comeback.18
Anzhi looked at Yan Xi’s photos for a long time.
The phone line remained connected. Yan Xi was busy on her end, seemingly turning on her computer and occasionally moving about.
Anzhi had been to her dorm before. It was in an older neighborhood, but it was quiet. Each person had their own room, about 30 square meters. A property like that in downtown Beicheng would cost several million. Since moving in with Anzhi, Yan Xi rarely went back there.
“Look at this rain. I probably won’t be able to come back tomorrow either,” Yan Xi said.
Anzhi stopped what she was doing, a wave of lingering fear washing over her as she recalled the images from the TV.
She nodded. “Mhm, you should stay there then. I’ll be fine here for a few days.”
Yan Xi smiled. “Good girl…”
Anzhi’s face grew inexplicably warm.
“Will you be okay on the third floor by yourself tonight? Should I have Grandmother Xin come sleep with you?”
Anzhi shook her head. “No need. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“Ah, what a good girl…”
What’s with this coddling tone? I’m not a kid anymore!
Unable to think of anything to say, Anzhi fell silent, a little embarrassed.
After a moment, Anzhi asked her, “Would you send me to that kind of summer camp? Or a fitness class?”
Yan Xi’s voice, tinged with a smile, came through without a moment’s hesitation. “Of course not.”
The author has something to say:
Everyone should have a good grasp of the characters now, right? In this book, I want to challenge myself by writing more detailed character descriptions, an ensemble cast,19 that sort of thing. There are still people who haven’t appeared yet, and I’ll also be writing about a few couples20 among the supporting cast. (For now, I have no plans to write a dedicated side-romance plot.)
The Yan Family
Grandfather Yan
Grandmother Yan
Yan Yidong (Eldest) – Profession: Government Official
Xiao Yutong (Eldest Sister-in-law) – Profession: Full-time Housewife
Yan Qi (Da Pang)
Yan Ji (Xiao Pang)
Yan Yixi (Second) – Profession: Theoretical Physicist
Liu Yiyi – Profession: Fashion Editor
Yan Yinan (Third) – Profession: Plastic Surgeon
(Character Not Yet Introduced) – Profession: Oncologist
Yan Xi – Profession: Host, Photographer
Tao Anzhi – Profession: (Secret)
There are still several characters who have yet to be introduced.
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