The Healing Suns.h.i.+ne Chapter 1: The very beginning

That day, she was lying around in her grandfather’s study.

From when she woke up in the morning, she could already feel her throat hurt very badly, her head also muddled. It had been so long since the house was empty without anyone during the day that she had already gotten used to it, especially during the summer and winter breaks, such that she had learned to rely on herself to take care of all the problems.

But at the moment, the problem was that she felt she had gotten sick, needed to take some medicine.

Yet, it had been so long since she was sick, that she had already forgotten where the medicine box was.

Just after she had looked through several drawers, she finally found the medicine box.

Two anti-inflammatory tablets, two cold tablets, might she as well take another tablet of Huangjiedu1?  Seemed like when she had a fever last year, mother had her take it once. A tablet of this as well then.

Just as she had popped out each of the tablets from their tinfoil pack and poured some water, she heard the doorbell rang.

She put the tablets on some tissue paper, ran to main door, and tiptoed up to look through the cat’s eye.

The sunlight at the height of summer penetrated the gla.s.s onto every corner of the corridor; it seemed as if any trace of shadow had been banished. Under the glaring sunlight, she saw Ji Chengyang.

It was only afterwards that he told her that that was, in fact, their second encounter.

But in that moment, to her, he was a stranger she had never met before. Ji Yi, through the peephole, saw a young big brother, tall and thin. He was smoking with his head lowered. It did not seem as if he was one of those of her grand father’s students, who would be in military uniforms; he was simply wearing black knee-length pants and white short-sleeved T-s.h.i.+rt…

Because his head was lowered, his short hair slid down this forehead somewhat disorderly, blocking his eyes from view.

She did not utter a sound, as if watching a movie in slow motion. She saw him with one side of his palm placed on the snow-white wall, pressed the cigarette in his hand on the top of the metal trash can in the corridor. What was most interesting was that after he had put off the cigarette, he even used the cigarette to wipe off the grey stain before throwing it away through the side of the trash can.

After that, he lifted his head, a pair of clear, pitch-black eyes looked back to her side. Perhaps because there was no answer from the inside of the house, his brows knitted.

Then, the door bell was again rang by him.

She finally remembered that she had came out to answer the door, so she asked: “May I please know who you are?”

In this compound, in order to enter the family housing area, one must at least have pa.s.sed two sets of security guards. Entering this ridgepole even required a security pa.s.scode, outsiders would normally not have been permitted through. All the buildings inside the family housing area are four-story, one floor per family. All the families cannot be any more familiar with each other than they are now, but she found him so unfamiliar. Could it be that he is a big brother of one of the families who studied outside?

“Ji Yi, this is Ji Chengyang.”

With a cold, yet very warm voice, he told her who he was.

“Ji Chengyang. Ah…”, she thought back to the people in grandfather Ji’s family, that little uncle Ji whom it had been settled to take her to the recital.

Ji Nuannuan’s little uncle.

This was a name that came up very often.

Ji Chengyang, started learning the piano from the age of six, late compared to other children of his own age, but by the age of eight was already performing on stage. Skipped through primary school twice, he finished it in four years. At sixteen, he went to University of Pennsylvania…all of these had been repeated time and again by Ji Nuannuan whom she had grown up with.

He was one of those people who studied in U.S., U.S. Imperialism or something…that was what Ji Yi’s grandfather liked to say. She remembered when she was younger, when she wore a pair of pink leather shoes, she would always be teased by her grandfather “Quacking small leather shoes, the vile thoughts of the capitalists”2, so this little uncle from the Ji family who studied in a capitalist country from as early as the university level. As her grandfather often grumbled, with so many great local universities, why not study diligently in a local university, dedicate yourself in service of your country? Why insist on going abroad to study? etc, etc…

Thankfully it had gotten much better, all of grumbles had lessened.

Ji Yi opened the door, raised her head up to look at the person who was growing impatient a second earlier, and called out little uncle Ji. Then she opened the shoes cabinet and gave him a pair of slippers, not waiting for the guest to enter through the door before running back into the kitchen to wash her hands.

Ji Chengyang changed into the slippers and entered the house, he caught sight of her lifting up a clear dark green cold water jug and poured water into a gla.s.s, then, with her brows knitted, swallowed five tablets of medicine with one breath.

How bitter.

She drank several gulps of water, finally swallowed the biggest Huangjiedu tablet down, but because the tablet lingered in her mouth for too long, the bitterness overpowered her mouth. She wanted to say something, but was stop short by such bitterness that her brows knitted. She kept drinking more water before she discovered that Ji Chengyang was already in front of her, his body half crouching downward.

He leveled down to meet her eyes, speaking in the warmest, friendliest tone, “What are you eating?”

“Medicine,” she answered with a soft voice, then felt around her forehead, “I have a fever, my throat also hurts a lot.”

She tried gulping down her saliva, how sore.

Surprise flashed across his pitch-black eyes, “Why did you take so many?”

“Too few won’t work,” she told him the reasoning she had learned from experience, “I get a fever very often, before, it only took half a tablet to get better, then it took one whole tablet, now, I need to take two tablets.”

He knitted his brows, with arms extended, felt her forehead, “haven’t measured the temperature yet?”

Carrying with it a slight fragrance of tobacco, his palm felt a little cold.

She obediently stood still, curiously wondering how his body temperature in this season can still be so low, “There’s no…thermometer.”

Last time, she had broken the thermometer, up until now, she still had not had the courage to tell her grandfather…at the time, she was so foolish, tried to pick up those silver b.a.l.l.s, she could not grab a hold of them, so she took some tissue paper and wiped them all clean. The day after when she talked to Ji Nuannuan who shares the same desk, she was even more scared when she told her that the things are poisonous…luckily, she did not immediately picked up anything to eat after wiping.

While she was still reveling in the recollection that she did not get poisoning from the thermometer from last time,  the person in front of her already stood up, very quickly said”Don’t take more medicine now, let me go upstairs to get the thermometer,” then was gone. Before three minutes had pa.s.sed, this little uncle Ji did actually came back down with a thermometer in hand. He let her sit on the sofa, placing the thermometer beside her mouth, “come, open your mouth.”

She hold the thermometer inside her mouth, then suddenly thought of something. With a lowered voice she said: “Don’t they rub them clean with alcohol in hospitals?”

Before she finished mumbling, the thermometer inside her mouth was already yanked out. With a frightened expression, she looked at him. Chagrin was obvious on his face. After wiping the thermometer with tissue paper, he once again hand it back to her, “Let’s just press it between your arms.” She uttered an “umm”. As a girl who had learned early on to be aware of facial expressions and body languages, she discovered that this little uncle Ji had made a mistake…best not to expose him.

But…just now when she was holding the thermometer in her mouth, it wouldn’t make her even more sick, would it?

Ji Yi pressed the thermometer between her arm and her body, lifted up the remote controller, and turned on the television.

It was just as well the show time for Slam Dunk.

But… she stealthily looked at Ji Chengyang from the corner of her eyes, isn’t it not very good to have a guest watch a cartoon with her? So, acting as if nothing happened, she kept changing to other channel. With a conflicted heart, she finally stopped at a tv-radio broadcast3 news channel; however, Yukawa Kaede and Sakuragi Hanamichi4 were still racing through her mind… and it was obvious that Ji Chengyang did not need to watch the news, when he went upstairs to get the thermometer just now, he also brought down a book, which he was already browsing through leisurely, as if he was just patiently accompanying a small child like her.

Ji Yi considered for a moment, then quietly switched the channel back to Slam Dunk.

That evening, he first drove her to eat at the McDonald’s on w.a.n.gfujing Road5.

It was the first McDonald’s in Beijing, just opened for not long. So many of her cla.s.smates already went there. Although most of those who came back said that it tasted just ordinary, still, those who hadn’t been were envious. She still remembered Ji Nuannuan complaining that it wasn’t as tasty as it was abroad. Too bad she could only partake the experience of whether it’s tasty or not. n.o.body had had the time to take her there have a meal once.

In the beginning, she was still expectant, but later she no longer had any longing.

She never thought that after so many years, on this very evening, she would be brought here by Ji Chengyang. But because they were considerably delayed while she took the medicines and measured her temperature at home, Ji Chengyang could only buy french fries and hamburger back to the car, driving while watching her finish the meal.

That day was actually the recital for the cultural troupe, the young children show program was a part of was only there to add to the fun, or perhaps, to allow the elderly who had contributed to national services to happily enjoy the performance by their own grandchildren. Everyone in the Ji (Ji Yi’s) family was so busy they could rarely be seen around, so for the occasion, the son of an old friend, who at was making preparations to pursue advanced studies, at the moment staying at home unoccupied, was asked to take her to the recital.

“Don’t be nervous.” Ji Chengyang with his body lowered, told her softly.

After he finished, his hand patted softly at her back.

He, a twenty year old man, had not consoled any children before.

It was not her first time performing on stage, but it was the first time that there was someone like a “family member” accompanying her. At first, she was not anxious, because of these four clear and soft syllables, she was starting to feel nervous, to the point that as she was standing behind the scarlet curtain, her heart beat so fast that she could not see anything in front of her.

Of course, she made a mistake.

She performed this Tibetan dance with another boy. Because she had a fever, her head was muddled and heavy. When she was dropping her waist backwards, the headdress suddenly slipped down from the hair, a clank sounded on the stage. This was something she had not previously encountered. Her head suddenly turned white blank. She bent down to pick up the headdress, and looked up.

In that short moment, she could not think of anything.

Under the spotlight, she simply could not see any of the faces below the stage, and only made out the lines of people in the darkness.

She was without a doubt consumed by stage fright, could only feel her legs getting soft. There was only one thing on her mind, that is to not keep on dancing anymore. At last, she indeed turned her body and jumped off the stage, not even finis.h.i.+ng the performance which was only merely over ten seconds away from finis.h.i.+ng, leaving the little boy standing awkwardly alone on the stage…

Long afterwards, whenever someone mentioned the little lady of the Ji family, they still talked of this incident.

Most of them only smiled and laughed dismissively, saying the little lady was shy, she was probably too frightened then.

That evening, Ji Chengyang also thought that she was frightened. He could not come up with a way to console her, so he once again took her to McDonald’s which was already closing for the night, got off the car and bought her a cup of sundae, the strawberry flavor one. When he got on the car again, he handed her the plastic cup neatly wrapped with tissue paper. “It’s okay, you are now more experienced for next time.”

Ji Yi took the cup, opened it and had the first bite, really delicious.

For the moment, she felt that this little uncle Ji who from start to finish didn’t love to smile very much, didn’t love to talk very much, was quite affectionate.

“I think…there wouldn’t be any next time…” She took a few bites of the ice cream, wanted to say that she didn’t want to keep on dancing anymore, but did not have the courage to say it out.

“You danced very well, just now under the stage, I heard so many people admire you.”

She held on the white plastic spoon in her mouth, blinked her eyes, her lashes flapping lightly. Suddenly, she softly said to Ji Chengyang: “Little uncle Ji…Are you especially trying to console me?”

He was holding a unlit cigarette in his mouth, an almost indiscernible “um”, “What else would you like to eat?”

Ji Yi waved her head, smiled so widely that her eyes also curved up, then continue to eat the slowly eat the ice-cream. After finis.h.i.+ng half of it, she suddenly remembered. Gulping down her saliva, her throat was so sore she felt like it was no longer a part of her body. She looked up towards Ji Chengyang and asked: “Little uncle Ji, am I not sick right now, and so cannot eat ice-cream?

A looked at the ice-cream in her hand for a moment, the corners of his mouth finally lifted up, a helpless smile forming on his face.

Within a day, he had already made such simple mistakes, how unexpected.

From the whole afternoon until tonight, he finally exposed his warmth through that smile, then quickly got off the car to buy the little girl a cup of warm milk.

A series of street lamps, warm, pale yellow. It was already too late, the two small gates through which cars could pa.s.s in and out were already closed. The car could only enter in through the compound’s main gate. A soldier carrying a gun jumped down from the platform. Only when the soldier was inspecting the car’s entry permit did he realize that the little girl was already fast asleep, in her arms she was hugging the unfinished bottle of milk, the plastic bag was tied in a dead knot, as if to prevent any milk from spilling out…

Such a considerate little lady.

The soldier gave a salute, authorizing his entry. He stretched out his hand to feel her forehead, indeed already a high fever.

So…on his first time taking her outside, he already let her to get a high fever?

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