Chapter 26: Life as It Used to Be

“Are you saying you don’t want to study anymore?” An Ling asked.

“No, no.” 

Li Yang waved his hands quickly. “I do want to study. I really do. It’s just…”

“I’ve just been sitting for too long and I’m a bit tired.” 

Li Yang rubbed his neck. “How about we take a break?”

An Ling checked the time. 

It was already past eleven.

“Alright, let’s take a break.”

Li Yang stood up with visible relief and stretched out his arms in a big yawn. 

His joints cracked loudly.

An Ling also stood up and walked over to the window, looking out at the street below.

The sunlight was bright. 

A few children were playing downstairs, and their laughter drifted up faintly.

“Want something to drink?” Li Yang asked. “I’ll go get it.”

“Anything is fine.”

Li Yang opened the door and thumped down the stairs.

While he was gone, An Ling took a proper look around Li Yang’s room. 

She pulled out a novel from the middle of the bookshelf—the one she had given him back then.

These used to be her little treasures. 

She had kept them in excellent condition, and they looked almost brand new when she gave them to him.

She looked at the book in her hands. 

The cover was pristine, protected by a thin layer of clear film that Li Yang must have put on himself.

She never expected it to be preserved so well. She had thought it would become wrinkled and worn not long after she gave it to him.

Holding the book, she continued wandering around the room.

Over the past few years, Li Yang had bought quite a few comics and novels himself. 

Many of them were titles she had never read.

The reading experience with physical books was still different from e-books. 

An Ling quite liked reading physical copies too.

Suddenly, An Ling noticed a photo frame on the desk.

She walked over and picked it up.

It was an old photo of two children standing under a scholar tree, both smiling so widely their eyes were narrowed into crescents.

The one on the left was Li Yang, around seven or eight years old, missing one of his front teeth. 

On the right was her, also seven or eight, holding a small kitten with her gray wolf ears standing straight up.

An Ling remembered that scholar tree.

It was the old one that used to stand outside Scholar Tree Lane—the one she never got to see again.

The kitten was a stray that Li Yang had picked up. They only kept it for less than a month before it ran away, and Li Yang was sad for days afterward.

An Ling stared at the photo for a long time.

The corners of her mouth unconsciously lifted into a small smile.

“What are you looking at?” 

Li Yang’s voice came from the doorway.

An Ling quickly put the photo frame back in place and turned around.

“Nothing.”

Li Yang walked in carrying two drinks—one glass of orange juice and one can of cola.

He handed the orange juice to An Ling and kept the cola for himself.

Li Yang noticed the comic book in An Ling’s hand.

“Oh, that’s the one you gave me back then. Pretty well preserved, right?”

“Mm.” An Ling responded and took a sip of the orange juice.

The two returned to the desk and sat down. 

An Ling continued explaining the problems to him.

This time Li Yang was more focused. 

At least he didn’t space out anymore. 

He listened carefully to each question she explained and even asked a few decent questions from time to time.

Time passed slowly as the sunlight outside grew stronger.

“An Ling, Li Yang, time for lunch!” 

Grandma Li’s voice called from downstairs.

“Coming!” Li Yang replied. He stood up. “Let’s go eat first.”

An Ling nodded and followed him downstairs.

Several dishes were laid out on the dining table: braised fish, sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried vegetables. 

They were steaming hot and smelled delicious.

“An Ling, eat more.” Grandma Li placed a piece of pork rib in her bowl. “Studying is tiring.”

“Thank you, Grandma,” An Ling said politely.

Li Yang had already started eating with gusto, his chopsticks flying between the different dishes.

“Slow down,” Grandma Li glared at him. “Look at you.”

“I’m hungry,” Li Yang mumbled with his mouth full.

After the meal, Grandma Li insisted that neither of them needed to clean up, saying they had worked hard studying and should rest.

An Ling didn’t argue. Grandma’s feelings were most important. 

She stayed beside Grandma and chatted with her while Li Yang cleared the table.

“An Ling, how is Li Yang doing with his studies? Can he keep up?”

“He’s doing okay,” An Ling said. 

“He just gets distracted easily in class. If he studies seriously, there shouldn’t be any problem.”

“That’s good.” Grandma Li sighed. 

“I never went to school, so I can’t help him much. I just hope he studies hard and makes something of himself in the future.”

An Ling’s ears twitched.

She knew that Li Yang’s parents had gone to work in another city when he was very young. 

They only came back once or twice a year.

It was Grandma Li who had raised him all by herself. 

Yet Li Yang always looked cheerful, so it was hard to tell.

“Li Yang is a good kid,” An Ling said. “He’s friendly and sensible.”

“Sensible?” 

Grandma Li laughed. 

“An Ling sounds like a little adult, praising someone for being sensible.”

When Li Yang finished wiping the table, he saw Grandma and An Ling chatting. 

Grandma was saying something while An Ling listened attentively, a small smile on her face.

“What are you saying about me?” he asked as he walked over.

“We’re talking about your bad habits,” Grandma Li shot him a look. 

“What? Can’t we?”

“Of course you can.” 

Li Yang quickly raised his hands in surrender. “Say whatever you want.”

In the afternoon, the two continued with homework.

An Ling explained all the remaining questions to Li Yang, then watched him solve them once to make sure he really understood before letting him off.

“Finally done.” 

Li Yang tossed his pen aside, leaned back, and let out a long breath. “I’m exhausted.”

“You’re exhausted?” 

An Ling looked at him. “I was the one explaining everything and I didn’t complain.”

“Of course you’re not tired. You only had to move your mouth.”

Li Yang said. “I had to actually write. That’s much more tiring.”

An Ling looked at him speechlessly. 

How did this guy always have so many excuses?

***

After finishing their homework, time seemed to suddenly slow down.

An Ling sat on the chair in Li Yang’s room, looking at the sunlight outside the window. 

Li Yang sprawled on his bed, scrolling through videos on his phone and letting out silly laughs from time to time.

“Idiot,” An Ling couldn’t help muttering.

“Look at this.” 

Li Yang turned his phone toward her. 

The video showed a wolf begging for food on a human highway.

The corner of An Ling’s mouth twitched. “What’s so funny about that?”

“It’s kind of interesting, but I’m actually laughing at the genius comments in the comment section.”

An Ling looked at the few comments Li Yang showed her. They were indeed quite funny.

Seeing Li Yang laughing so happily, An Ling looked away. “I should head back.”

“So early? Stay a little longer.”

“I still have to go to school at three-thirty this afternoon. I haven’t even checked my own homework yet,” An Ling said.

Li Yang glanced at the time on his phone. 

It was almost one-thirty. 

An Ling had already helped him for a very long time, even if he had used a little trick to get her to come over.

“Alright then. I’ll wait for you later so we can go to school together.”

“Mm.” 

An Ling stood up and gathered her things.

After Li Yang walked An Ling back to her house, he ran back home.