Heart Flutter

If asked about Tang Yan’s first impression of Ji Yuqing, she found her to be intellectual, beautiful, graceful, and elegant in speech and manner—a woman of great poise. At 35, Ji Yuqing’s skin was maintained as if she were 25, rivaling the stars on television. She was markedly different from the women in the village in their thirties who spent their days gossiping at the village entrance with their children.

“It was mealtime. I had bought a lot of groceries today,” Ji Yuqing said, bringing her hands together. “You could pack your belongings and walk around the house to familiarize yourself with the environment. I would go prepare dinner.”

“Okay…” Tang Yan responded softly.

After Aunt Ji left, Tang Yan looked around the room once more. She walked toward the pink-decorated single bed, subconsciously intending to sit at the foot of the bed but stopped in mid-air, not wanting to soil her clothes before bathing. She turned around and carefully smoothed the wrinkled sheets.

She lifted her arm gently to smell her own scent and slightly frowned. Having spent over twenty hours on the train, she found her own scent unpleasant due to the complex smells. However, Aunt Ji smelled nice, somewhat like gardenias—subtle and fresh.

After waiting quietly for a while, Tang Yan squatted to open her suitcase and began to unpack. When she was at her uncle’s house the day before yesterday, she had already packed up clothes that were too worn or had obvious holes. After carefully selecting, she found there were hardly any clothes she could take out. Tang Yan usually didn’t have extra money to buy clothes; all her clothes were bought by her mother in another city and sent to her uncle’s house. They were not her preferred style. One year, some clothes were two sizes too small because her mother did not consider that Tang Yan was still growing. She had to give the unworn new clothes to her neighbor’s younger sister.

The wardrobe had ready hangers. Tang Yan hung each piece of clothing one by one. She did not have makeup or know how to apply it; she only brought her toiletries. Besides these, she had her acceptance letter, identification documents, file folders, and a few of her favorite books.

She stacked them neatly on the bedside table so she could read before sleeping that night to help her fall asleep.

She took her phone out of her pocket. The shattered screen lit up, showing about 30% battery remaining. Tang Yan took out the charger and plugged it in. This phone’s battery drained very quickly. Even without using it, she had kept it on airplane mode during the train ride to conserve power.

A few days earlier, she had gone to the town’s service center and learned that replacing the battery would cost 100 yuan. Tang Yan was reluctant, and the service clerk had said it wasn’t worth replacing the battery on her broken phone; they might as well buy a new one. The clerk began to push the latest models, but Tang Yan had waved her hands and awkwardly left. She had no money to buy a new phone. She thought she would get a part-time job once she was at school and save up to buy a new phone.

Coming out of the room, to her left was a corridor, with two rooms at the end closed. On her right was a spacious living room, with several more rooms beyond. Tang Yan couldn’t help but speculate that Aunt Ji must have a large family; otherwise, how could she live alone in such a big house? It would have been too empty and lonely.

Ji Yuqing, who was placing dishes on the dining table, glanced up as Tang Yan came out of the room, smiled gently, and said, “Dinner will be ready soon.”

Tang Yan responded softly, feeling she should do something. But looking around, the house was almost spotless. It was hard to find anything to do.

Perhaps sensing the awkwardness, Ji Yuqing continued to stir-fry while chatting with her. “I still don’t know what major you applied for.”

“Computer Science… major,” Tang Yan stammered, lacking confidence.

Ji Yuqing was surprised for a moment, paused holding the spatula, then smiled and said, “There aren’t many girls studying this. But it’s not worse than boys. If you study well, you will have a bright future. Keep it up.”

“I will work hard…” Tang Yan stood straight like a student facing a teacher.

After plating the last dish, Ji Yuqing turned off the gas stove and said, “We can eat now.”

The dining table had exactly six dishes: steamed yellow croaker, spicy crab, corn with ham slices, tomato and eggs, stir-fried baby bok choy, and a plate of prawns.

Ji Yuqing distributed the bowls and chopsticks for both of them. Sitting across from each other, Tang Yan hesitated to start eating and asked a question she would later think was foolish.

“Ji Aunt’s husband hasn’t come back yet……”

Ji Yuqing paused for a second, then laughed, “I don’t have a husband,” and added, seeing Tang Yan’s surprised face, “I also don’t have children, I’m unmarried.” Ji Yuqing picked up her bowl and said calmly, “I don’t plan to get married in the future either.”

In Tang Yan’s view at eighteen, in her small hometown, women who were not married by twenty-five were gossiped about by the neighbors. Hearing Aunt Ji say this made her very surprised—but she respected the unique carefree attitude in Ji Yuqing’s words.

“Are you surprised?” Ji Yuqing looked at her.

Tang Yan quickly shook her head, then nodded uncertainly.

“Everyone has their own way of choosing their life path. Modern women don’t always need to rely on men to realize their own value,” Ji Yuqing said with a faint smile, lowered her head to pick up a bite of rice, “But you’re still young and might not fully understand my words… Try some, I haven’t cooked in a while and don’t know if my cooking skills have declined.”

Upon hearing her words, Tang Yan quickly picked up her chopsticks and tasted the rice. It was perfectly seasoned and cooked just right—in other words, it was delicious.

“Very delicious.”

Ji Yuqing smiled satisfactorily, “Then eat more.”

She didn’t know what this girl had gone through in the past ten years, but she could guess that she hadn’t had a very good life. Whenever she thought of these, Ji Yuqing felt a slight pang of heartache.

Just to entertain her alone, Aunt Ji had made so many dishes. Tang Yan was overwhelmed with gratitude. To not disappoint her kindness, Tang Yan ate two bowls of rice that night, feeling overly full.

Feeling guilty yet not wanting to eat and drink for nothing, Tang Yan took the initiative to help clean up the kitchen waste after dinner, which also helped her digest.

Ji Yuqing let her go do it and went to the study room holding her computer to finish some remaining work. There was a transparent sliding door between the study and the living room, so she didn’t close it, allowing her to watch the activities in the living room directly, and Tang Yan could also glance inside.

Halfway through her work, Ji Yuqing suddenly thought of something and picked up the phone on the table to call her assistant.

The call connected, and a very young girl with a sweet voice said, “Sis, good evening~”

“Pei Wen, do you have time to check the workstation laptop for me? I urgently need it these two days, and it needs to have high specifications.”

“Sis, do you need to reimburse the finance department?”

“No, it’s from my personal account, for personal use.”

“Okay, no problem, it’s on me.”

“Alright, that’s all. Hang up.” Ji Yuqing hung up the phone.

After everything was cleaned up, Tang Yan stood in the living room for a while looking a bit aimless. She took a quick glance to see that Aunt Ji seemed to be working, so not wanting to disturb her, she quietly went back to her room.

She pulled out a chair, sat at the desk, picked up the phone that was charging on the table, opened WeChat, clicked on her mother’s profile picture, then clicked to send a message. The chat window appeared.

Tang Yan began typing a message.

[I have arrived in Huadu, and I met Aunt Ji. I’m staying at her house now and have eaten a big table of delicious food, all cooked by Aunt Ji. Aunt Ji is very nice, I…] She deleted it halfway and started over.

[Mom, I have arrived in Huadu. Everything is fine, don’t worry about me. Aunt Ji is very kind to me and…] She deleted it again and edited a third time.

[I have arrived in Huadu.] With just five simple words, Tang Yan finally clicked send.

She wasn’t that close with her mother. Saying so many words felt a bit strange, so she chose a mechanical way to report, just to let her know.

After a while, her phone received a reply.

[Stay safe, listen to Aunt Ji.]

Tang Yan didn’t reply, turned off the screen, and put her phone back on the table.

Shortly after Tang Yan sent the message to her mother, Ji Yuqing received a phone call.

It was indeed Tang Yan’s mother, Tang Huiyi, who called.

“Yuqing, is Yan Yan behaving well at your place? I hope she’s not causing you any trouble.”

Ji Yuqing smiled, “Senior sister, I knew you would call. She is well-behaved and sensible. You can rest assured leaving her with me.”

“I’ve thought about it and still feel it’s too troublesome for you,” Tang Huiyi hesitated to speak.

“Senior sister, don’t say that… being able to help you makes me feel better, so please don’t say such things.”

Tang Huiyi sighed deeply on the other end, “All these years, I owe Yan Yan so much. She is a poor child, but fortunately, she works hard, which makes me feel gratified. I hope in the future she can establish herself in Huadu, have a decent and stable job, and not like her mother who made a single mistake and regretted it forever.”

“Senior sister, don’t worry, I will take good care of her studies and life these four years,” Ji Yuqing paused, then asked, “Do you know what major Tang Yan is studying?”

Tang Huiyi laughed self-mockingly, “Yan Yan never told me, and I’m too embarrassed to ask. I haven’t been a good enough mother.”

“It’s Computer Science,” Ji Yuqing said, her eyes shining, “I think she’s a girl with her own ideas. If nurtured well, she will become great in the future.”

Tang Huiyi smiled with satisfaction, “I will still need to trouble you a lot in the future. By the way, I have transferred Yan Yan’s tuition fees to your account, and I will also send you her living expenses every month. Please pass them on to her.”

“Senior sister, why are you being so polite? I don’t need the money now.”

“I know you don’t lack money, but you have to be clear-headed. Being able to take in Yan Yan has already helped me so much.” Tang Huiyi paused and added, “Yan Yan is with you, I’m relieved.”