Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Shi Tuo finished his shower, and An Jiujiu naturally went to the bathroom to wash up as well.

Afterward, she felt much better, looking refreshed. Turning around, she saw Shi Tuo in the fluorescent green cat-eared hoodie, cooking noodles in the kitchen. There were three red candles lit on the kitchen counter.

Now that he was clean, the abrasions on his body were much more visible. He had a scratch on his arm, and the edge of the jumpsuit near his knee was torn, looking as if he had fallen.

"You fell?" An Jiujiu carried the candles to the living room to find the first-aid kit.

"Yeah." Shi Tuo, expertly, opened a can of luncheon meat, sliced it, and coated it in egg before frying it. "There’s water buildup outside, and I tripped."

The rain had caused her phone to stop working. He had come over in such a rush that he didn’t notice the road.

Only then did An Jiujiu feel like looking out the window.

The rain hadn’t lessened; the area below had turned into a vast ocean. It didn’t seem like a typical downpour anymore.

She placed the first-aid kit on the dining table. "Shi Tuo, can I borrow your phone?"

The water for the noodles had already come to a boil, and Shi Tuo casually pointed towards the coffee table in the living room.

Her own wet phone, nearly ruined, was left on the dining table, wrapped in paper towels, looking pitiful.

An Jiujiu called Wang Shanshan to tell her that her phone had fallen into water, the building had lost power, and Shi Tuo was still at her place. But since he was soaked and had fallen, and with the rising water outside, it wasn’t safe for him to go back. She’d be sleeping in the small guest room where her uncle used to sleep, as the bedding had just been washed.

She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to mention that separately, maybe just to emphasize that they were above board, just like when Shi Tuo came in earlier.

It was annoying to be this grown-up. If only Shi Tuo were a girl.

Wang Shanshan was anxious. She had tried calling An Jiujiu after seeing the power outage notice in the neighborhood group but couldn’t get through. The news had been emphasizing how the rain was close to reaching the level of a torrential downpour, with parts of the city submerged, and the mountainous areas were already organizing evacuations.

She was frantically trying to find a ride back to Wangcheng, but unfortunately, the distance was too far, and with the rain, no one would be able to make the trip right now.

When An Jiujiu’s call came in, Wang Shanshan felt much more at ease. The remaining bit of worry, though, she didn’t quite know how to phrase.

After a pause, she said, "Given the situation today, don’t sleep too soundly tonight. If the community notifies you about rising water and evacuation, make sure you follow Shi Tuo."

An Jiujiu didn’t have a phone, the power was out, and the torrential rain made it impossible for her to ignore that Shi Tuo was a man.

But in the end, she still said, "Be safe, and lock your door when you sleep tonight."

Everyone knew what that meant. An Jiujiu felt the words were unnecessary, so she casually reassured Wang Shanshan that their home wasn’t flooding, and their neighborhood was on higher ground, so it was fine. After a few more reassurances, she ended the call.

Shi Tuo had finished cooking the noodles and was now busy disinfecting his cuts with the first-aid kit. After practicing free-fighting, he was used to having injuries, and he had become quite proficient in treating them.

The noodles were ready, steaming hot with a light broth, topped with three slices of luncheon meat and six pieces of leafy greens.

...

The worse his mood was, the lazier he became about controlling his little compulsions, which had evolved from sending messages to eating.

"Auntie, how is she?" An Jiujiu took a bite of her noodles. Shi Tuo cooked better than her, but she had lost her appetite from being too hungry, so she could only maintain her intake as a basic life function. She chewed the noodles a hundred times before swallowing.

"She's okay." Shi Tuo ate more casually than An Jiujiu, finishing his noodles in a few bites. "Her health check didn’t show any major issues, but the doctor said she has depression."

An Jiujiu froze for a moment as she chewed her noodles. "Is it serious?"

Shi Tuo set down his bowl and smiled. "She'll probably have to take medication for a while."He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "And I need to talk to Shi Dingbang."

The cost of long-term medication isn’t low, and he’s currently earning too little. So, he had no choice but to face his father, who, like An Huaimin, only provided for his birth but didn’t care for him.

An Jiujiu lowered her head and ate her noodles.

She wasn’t surprised to hear that Zhang Rou, Shi Tuo's mother, had depression.

In An Jiujiu’s impression, Zhang Rou was a very patient person. She spoke softly and gently, proud, and very slow to react. Even when Shi Tuo was at his most mischievous, she only raised her voice a little and said to him, “You can’t do that.”

Not "you can't," but “you can’t do that.”

Even An Jiujiu would become obedient after hearing her soft words, which effortlessly pierced through her rebellious skin.

That’s why Shi Tuo never really rebelled. He was raised by the gentle Zhang Rou, who educated him into a calm little old man.

But Zhang Rou was too proud. She never spoke of bad things to anyone. Shi Dingbang had been gone for almost half a year, and it was only when Wang Shanshan, who went grocery shopping with Zhang Rou every day, heard this from An Jiujiu—because An Jiujiu and Shi Tuo were in the same class in elementary school, and during one composition assignment titled "My Father," Shi Tuo had changed it to "My Mother." Only then did An Jiujiu find out about this.

She was too good at enduring, living an unhappy life while trying to make others happy, swallowing her tears in silence.

In the past two years, Zhang Rou had smiled less and less. Even though Shi Tuo tried hard to keep his grades in the top five of the class, it couldn’t make her any happier.

The atmosphere felt suffocating, and in the flickering candlelight, An Jiujiu almost felt like vomiting up the noodles she had just eaten.

She put down her chopsticks, stood up, and went to the fridge to grab two cans of beer, slamming them down onto the dining table with force.

The sound of them hitting the table was loud, almost like thunder against the sound of the pouring rain.

Shi Tuo looked at the cans of beer. They were probably from when her uncle came over. They were from a local brand in Wangcheng, and the packaging was so outdated that it was hard to describe. People around here usually only bought it when they were older.

"We’re still minors," Shi Tuo reminded her, opening his can first.

"Birthday presents are already given," An Jiujiu opened hers as well.

They clinked their cans together with a light ding.

No toasts, just tilting their heads back to gulp the beer down.

Beer was too bitter for kids, but both of them had stolen sips during festivals when they were younger out of curiosity, so they just frowned and grimaced.

"Do you think we both skipped our teenage years?" An Jiujiu swallowed the beer, her mouth feeling both bitter and astringent. "I was cooking for myself when I was twelve, and you were eleven."

The candlelight flickered. Shi Tuo sat opposite her, his face unclear, only his thin lips visible, stained by the alcohol.

"Other kids go out to play during summer and winter breaks, but you started taking game coaching gigs to make money in freshman year, and I started doing photo shoots to support my family in eighth grade."

"My most rebellious thing during my rebellious phase was probably taking winter underwater photos, catching a cold, and handing in blank papers for exams. Your most rebellious thing..."

An Jiujiu frowned, "Did you even have a rebellious phase?"

"I did," Shi Tuo said. "I secretly smoked."

An Jiujiu's eyes widened in the candlelight. "When?! Why didn’t you call me?!"

"Second year of high school," Shi Tuo took a sip of his beer. "Why would I call you for something like that?"

It wasn’t exactly a good thing.

"Why... smoke?" An Jiujiu asked after a long pause, not because she was shocked, but because the way Shi Tuo tilted his head back to drink just now...When did his Adam's apple get so big?

"Family matters." Shi Tuo didn’t elaborate. "I smoked half a cigarette, but the taste was so bad I just threw it away."

The only rebellious phase was smoking half a cigarette in a stinky bathroom.

"What did it feel like?" An Jiujiu asked.

Shi Tuo leaned back against his chair, his fingers tapping on the beer can, not answering her question.

An Jiujiu wasn’t really curious. After a few sips of beer, the effects of the alcohol took over, and the sound of the rain outside didn’t seem as frightening anymore.

"Actually, we did have a teenage phase." Shi Tuo said, a sarcastic curve lifting his thin lips, "If we were adults and independent, we wouldn’t be sitting here, just staring blankly like this."

Only in a powerless, useless adolescence could they be weighed down by these things, not knowing what to do next, or even what they could do.

They were still minors, legally protected children.

He took another swig of beer.

Maybe, as An Jiujiu said, he really was like a little old man. After drinking half a can of that bitter beer, it somehow started to have a lingering sweetness.

Life was far more bitter than beer.

An Jiujiu leaned forward in the flickering candlelight, her finger gently touching the Adam's apple of Shi Tuo, who had his head tilted back.

Shi Tuo froze.

An Jiujiu froze too.

Actually, the two of them were really sensible kids. They were already aware of the need to avoid suspicion when others secretly gossiped that An Jiujiu was Shi Tuo’s little wife. After all, they were growing up, and boys and girls were different.

So even when they occasionally teased each other, it was mostly through their clothes, with touches limited to shoulders, backs, wrists, or heads—those safe areas. They hadn’t had skin-to-skin contact in at least seven or eight years.

With the alcohol kicking in and the candlelight flickering, causing her eyes to hurt, An Jiujiu couldn’t help but touch the Adam's apple, surprised to discover how large it was.

The moment her fingertip touched it, Shi Tuo had just swallowed a mouthful of beer, so his Adam's apple moved up and down.

An Jiujiu: "…Ah."

It was as though a spell had been broken. Shi Tuo kept his head tilted back, his voice hoarse yet unfriendly: "…What the hell are you doing?"

An Jiujiu was still leaning over: "When did it get so big?"

Shi Tuo: "…Your shirt’s about to catch fire."

An Jiujiu: "…Ahhh!"

Panicking, she quickly retreated, but the hem of her T-shirt had already been singed black by the candle.

Neither of them mentioned what had just happened. They both silently took two more swigs of beer.

The rain outside showed no signs of stopping. Downstairs, an elderly man was shouting angrily, saying the water had already entered the corridor and that there weren’t enough sandbags on the street.

Shi Tuo picked up his phone to check messages.

The neighborhood they lived in was actually the highest point in Wangcheng, the kind of slope where you could lose weight while riding a bicycle home after school. If the water had reached the corridor of their building, it was probably even worse in other places.

"It’s confirmed, it’s a super-heavy rainfall." Shi Tuo reported to An Jiujiu while texting Zhang Rou and Wang Shanshan to check in. "Our district isn’t in the red danger zone, but it’s still forbidden to go outside.""The electricity might not come back on for a while."

"The school notified us, we're off tomorrow."

It was a bit dry, and An Jiujiu grabbed his phone to check the messages.

In the neighborhood group, local news outlets, as well as school and class groups, were all popping with red notifications. The heavy rain that night had caught everyone by surprise. The entire Wangcheng was wide awake, and in this blackout, they were isolated like an island.

Shi Tuo put down his phone.

"I'll go over your audition content with you," he said.

They needed something to do. If they kept drinking, he was afraid something might happen.

His situation wasn’t as stable as An Jiujiu thought. Just now, his fragile rationality almost snapped, and it was really thanks to the birthday gift An Jiujiu had bought him.

The fluorescent green cat-eared hat—when An Jiujiu had poked his Adam's apple, the hat had tugged at him.

It had tugged at his "steady as an old dog" persona.