Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 35

Yang Mengmeng

No matter how reluctant she was, summer vacation was over in a flash. The scorching sun, bicycles, cold drinks, desserts, movies, downpours—these were Anzhi’s memories of this summer. But she was also looking forward to the new semester, when she would get to see her classmate Yang Mengmeng.

Yang Mengmeng was the first friend Anzhi ever made.

Junior high life was still not as interesting as Anzhi had imagined. The coursework in her first year was also extremely simple in her eyes. In major exams, minor quizzes, monthly exams, midterms, and finals, she was invariably first in her grade, never surpassed, at most tied.

She still hadn’t gained an advantage in height. Because she had skipped a grade, she was just turning twelve, and although 1.5 meters wasn’t short for her age, too many of her classmates were taller than her. Anzhi had never made any friends at school. In kindergarten and elementary school, she had found her classmates very childish. Now in junior high, her classmates were older and not as childish, but there always seemed to be a barrier between them.

The girls in junior high would gather in small groups and chatter about things like what clothes were pretty, who wore foundation that day, or which boy was cute. Little cliques blossomed in a profusion of purples and reds, a hundred flowers blooming.¹ But no one ever invited Anzhi to join.

In her heart, Anzhi found them quite boring.

Influenced by Yan Xi and Liu Yiyi, her standards for fashion were already a huge cut above her peers. While other girls were still pursuing lace and small floral prints, she already understood “less is more” and the golden rule² that “what suits you is most important, regardless of trends.” And a phrase often said by the beauty-obsessed plastic surgeon (Yan Yinan) was: “A beauty’s beauty is in the bones, in the charm, in the temperament, in the eyes. These are things that cannot be artificially created by surgery or simple makeup.”

But even though she wasn’t interested, Anzhi would sometimes envy these little groups. Especially in her first year of junior high, she had trouble adjusting and was a loner for a period of time. Besides attending class, she just did her homework. After school, she went home.

Yang Mengmeng transferred from another province during the second semester of their first year and was assigned by the homeroom teacher to be Anzhi’s deskmate. At first, Anzhi thought she was very introverted; they were deskmates for over two weeks without saying a word.

Until one time, when Anzhi was secretly texting Yan Xi on her phone during a break. She turned her head and saw an especially fervent light flash across Yang Mengmeng’s thick lenses.

Anzhi: ……

She isn’t going to tattle on me to the teacher, is she?

Yang Mengmeng stared at the phone with starry eyes. “Can you let me play with it for a bit?”

Anzhi: ……

The school didn’t allow phones, but that still couldn’t stop the students’ desire to secretly play on them. At that moment, Anzhi felt that if she didn’t give it to her, the phone would probably be set ablaze by Yang Mengmeng’s fiery gaze.

Yang Mengmeng took her phone and played with it for a while, and after that, they became acquainted.

On the outside, Yang Mengmeng was a very quiet girl with two small braids and thick glasses. She was also a fujoshi.³ Within her small, thin frame was a scorching passion for the drama of gay love. The topics she talked about were things Anzhi had never heard of!

She educated Anzhi on what was called danmei,⁴ “pure love,”⁵ Gintama,⁶ Kuroko’s Basketball,⁷ Ping/Xie,⁸ what gong and shou meant,⁹ and what 0 and 1 were.¹⁰

She also introduced her to a magical website—Jinjiang.¹¹

Yang Mengmeng’s grades were quite good. In the first monthly exam after she transferred, she placed third in the class and in the top nine of the grade. According to her, her parents were extremely strict about her grades. If her rank dropped, she wouldn’t get money to top up her account to read novels, and she wouldn’t be allowed to use her phone.

She looked like the kind of very obedient and quiet girl, but when she spoke of these things, the brilliant light bursting from her eyes seemed like it could shatter her lenses!

Anzhi found her very interesting.

Anzhi listened with the curiosity of someone who had discovered a new continent. This undoubtedly satisfied classmate Yang Mengmeng’s desire to share her knowledge, making her wish she could drag Anzhi into the fujoshi circle in one go and stuff all the “sugar” from her favorite CP¹² circles into her mouth.

Classmate Yang Mengmeng had a powerful skill for gathering information. On the second day she sat next to Anzhi as her deskmate, she already knew that her deskmate was a little study tyrant, a little beauty, a cool and aloof¹³ little study tyrant + beauty. Why the special emphasis on “little”? Because her deskmate was several years younger than them.

She was especially cool and aloof, but in a subtle way. Although she smiled at people, she never participated in the girls’ little cliques and factions. If you asked her a question about a problem, she would explain it to you in meticulous detail, but you could feel a sense of disdain for your IQ in her eyes.

But it wasn’t off-putting. First, because she was a genuine study tyrant. Second, because she was beautiful and cute, especially with a very deep dimple that would appear whenever she spoke. Many classmates would brave the pressure of her intellectual disdain to ask her questions just to see her dimple.

Cool and cute.¹⁴

In the boys’ hearts, she was still their little class belle.¹⁵

And although the girls wouldn’t admit she was the class belle, they surprisingly didn’t dislike or exclude her either.

Yang Mengmeng’s conclusion: Her little deskmate was incredible!!!

After they became friends, Yang Mengmeng did most of the talking, while Anzhi listened. Yang Mengmeng felt her little deskmate wasn’t aloof at all. With a pair of big, fawn-like eyes blinking at her, she was just too adorable. Moreover, Yang Mengmeng also really liked her guardian. She had seen Yan Xi several times. The first time was after school on a Friday, as she and Anzhi were chatting and walking toward the school gate.

Anzhi had been talking to her, but suddenly her eyes completely lit up as if she had spotted someone.

Yang Mengmeng followed her gaze and saw a tall woman with long, curly hair and sunglasses, wearing a white silk shirt paired with linen nine-tenths-length wide-leg pants. Her legs were long and straight! A hint of a smile played on her lips, which were colored with a dusty rose lipstick. She was waving at them.

She took them to eat eel rice and matcha ice cream.

Yang Mengmeng had originally thought she was her little deskmate’s mother and was thinking how young and beautiful she was. But after the woman took off her sunglasses, she realized she was even younger and more beautiful, not at all like a woman who had given birth to a child her deskmate’s age.

She also looked a little familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before.

Her little deskmate didn’t seem to have a very clear form of address for her. It sounded like she had called her ‘Yiyi,’ but Yang Mengmeng had an auntie herself, and their interaction didn’t seem like that.

Especially when her little deskmate very naturally scooped up a spoonful of ice cream and fed it to her, and the other woman ate it just as naturally.

With delicious food before her, Yang Mengmeng gave up on gossiping.

When she smiled and called her name, “Mengmeng, right? Thank you for taking care of Taotao.”

Her voice was so lovely.

Her smile was so beautiful.

Her aura was so wonderful.

Ah, this big sister is so likable…

Though she was roaring inside, Yang Mengmeng controlled herself and put on a quiet, shy smile. “You’re too kind. An’an and I are good friends!”

This big sister took them to eat, then went back to work. And she gave them money to go shopping! She even called their parents to explain the situation and had a driver from her home come wait to pick them up after they were done shopping!

What an amazing guardian!

Yang Mengmeng was moved to tears!

Envy, jealousy, and hatred!¹⁶

“I’m so envious of you!! The money my parents give me each month is just a tiny little bit! After I buy Jinjiang coins and snacks, it’s all gone!!”

“Ahhhhhhh! You know, my phone is my dad’s old Xiaomi, and they don’t even let me have it. I can only play on it after I finish my homework every day. Your Apple phone is so nice, and you have so many cases! Ah, I want an Apple phone too!”

“Your auntie is too good to you, right? Gosh, she spoils you like a little princess! And your family is so rich, you even have a driver!”

Yang Mengmeng saw her little deskmate first lower her head with a smile, seeming a bit shy about what she had said. But soon, her eyes dimmed, and even the liveliness in her dimples vanished.

“Actually…”

It was only then that Anzhi realized that she, too, had been looking forward to and envying her classmates. Envying their complete families, their little annoyances of getting along with their parents. The huge wound deep in her heart had, because of Yan Xi, gradually shrunk into a hard-to-notice little corner of inferiority.

She felt a craving to confide in her peers, a desire to share little snacks and secrets. When her peers talked about their parents, the people they relied on and admired, she wanted to join in too. She wanted to show off Yan Xi, wanted the whole world to know how amazing and wonderful Yan Xi was. It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried. Once, she had tried to speak up, but the other person had asked with a puzzled look, “Anzhi, what about your mom and dad? Why have we never seen your mom and dad?”

She was suddenly at a loss for what to say.

Perhaps there truly is a kind of yuanfen¹⁷ between people.

Anzhi felt that she could become good friends with Yang Mengmeng.

So she told her. About her maternal grandfather, her background, her mom and dad. She spoke haltingly, with long pauses in between.

This was the fact buried deep in her heart, an unchangeable truth, like a giant, terrifying monster from a fairy tale, hidden behind a heavy door. The young Anzhi was powerless to fight it alone, and she didn’t dare reveal it to the public.

Her strained and difficult narration already left the emotional and imaginative Yang Mengmeng astonished and heartbroken. She had never imagined that her cool, study-tyrant deskmate had such a family background.

Yang Mengmeng, whose family was happy and whole and who still complained about her parents being too controlling, couldn’t imagine it. She hugged Anzhi, her eyes brimming with tears, and they didn’t even go shopping anymore.

“Wuwuwu, An’an, An’an…..”

When Driver Uncle Wang came to pick them up, the two little girls got into the back seat, hugging each other with tear-filled, hazy eyes.

When she talked about Yan Xi, Anzhi’s words flowed much more smoothly. Her lips curled up, her dimples charming. Every single day of the past six years was worth recounting and sharing with someone.

It was around seven or eight in the evening, rush hour, and the city lights were like a sea. The young girls huddled together, whispering their innermost thoughts. Uncle Wang knew that this age was the best time for a carefree childhood, a time for growth. He smiled slightly, slowed the car, and had no intention of disturbing them.

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The author has something to say:

This lamp went through a minor tribulation. Now, I’m writing with a broken body but a strong will.

(It’s such a blessing to be able to read stories with doggies and meimeis. Though they always look down on my typing speed.)

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