Chapter 26 Instant Letter

Wang Jiexiang finished writing the letter and put it into an envelope.

She’d need to go to the post office tomorrow, so she asked Grandma for money to buy stamps.

Since she went to bed later than usual tonight because of the letter, she fumbled around in the dark to fetch water and went out into the courtyard to brush her teeth and wash her face.

Her mom was outside hanging up laundry.

Wang Jiexiang went over to help, smoothing out the clothes and handing them to her one by one.

“Mom, can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Shameless,” her mom laughed. “The older you get, the thicker your skin. I can’t with you.”

“Hehe.” Wang Jiexiang knew that meant yes.

After washing up, she happily went to her parents’ room and carried her mom’s pillow and quilt back to her own little room.

Mom lay on the outer side of the bed, and Wang Jiexiang lay on the inner side.

She turned over and held her mom’s hand.

“Why is your hand so cold?”

“It got wet from the laundry. It’s nothing.”

Wang Jiexiang wrapped her smaller hand around her mom’s bigger one, slowly warming it up.

“You’re not in good health. Don’t touch cold water so much. I can do the laundry.”

Mom pulled her hand out and gently patted Jiexiang’s hand. “Your studies are what matter.”

“Mom…”

Wang Jiexiang closed her eyes, breathing in the nice smell of her mom’s hair, and started to feel sleepy.

“Jiang Bingbing said city people all have washing machines. When I go to the city to study and work, I’ll buy you a washing machine too.”

“Sounds great,” her mom chuckled softly. “Jiexiang is so thoughtful, my sweetest little darling.”

“Mm!” Wang Jiexiang grinned and called again, “Mom.”

“What is it?”

She mumbled, “Tomorrow, I want to sleep with you again. I want to sleep on the outer side.”

“Why?”

“I just don’t feel very secure. I’m afraid you’ll sneak off halfway through the night and disappear.”

“Silly girl, where would Mom run off to?”

Her mom tucked in the quilt edges for her and lay a little closer. “Go to sleep now.”

Cuddled up close to her mom, Wang Jiexiang slept soundly through the night.

The next day.

Wang Jiexiang got up early.

Before school, she packed her bag.

When she picked up the letter she wrote last night, she noticed the color had changed.

Her envelope had been yellow, but the one in her hand was white.

Looking closer, the handwriting wasn’t hers—it looked like the handwriting of “Dao” she’d seen before. The address was her own, and there was no stamp.

Puzzled, Wang Jiexiang opened the letter.

The very first line made her frown: “Thanks for your letter?”

She set the letter aside.

“What the heck? I wrote that letter just last night and haven’t even mailed it yet. How could I already have a reply?”

Wang Jiexiang opened the drawer, got down on the floor, and searched for the letter she’d written.

Her room was tiny, no bigger than a palm, and she searched every corner but couldn’t find a trace of it.

With no choice, Wang Jiexiang unfolded the letter on the desk and kept reading.

【Hello, I hope this letter finds you well

Thanks for your letter.

I’m a 17-year-old boy from the city. I’m happy to meet you and become your pen pal.

The city isn’t interesting. Even if I tried to use the rhetorical strategy of “first suppress then raise,” I can’t find anything “adorable” to work with. My city life is just school and cram school, back and forth. I’m about to enter my third year of high school, and like all the other students around me, I’m buried in textbooks all day long.

I don’t listen to music. I have no hobbies. I don’t have anything I want to do in the future.

Favorite food… I like spicy food. Does that count?

PS: Your essay was well written.

PPS: As for watermelon, maybe you should spend a little more time on math?

(Here he detailed the formula and solution for the ellipse-shaped math problem from last time.)

Best wishes for a happy life.

Your pen pal: Dao】

“You noticed my math sucks?” Wang Jiexiang rubbed her nose. “Dao, you’re something else.”

Still, based on his reply, her letter from last night really did reach him.

How magical, like some kind of sorcery!

She glanced at the clock on the wall—fifteen minutes until it was time to leave. She quickly uncapped her pen and hurried to write a reply.

【Hello, I hope this letter finds you well.

No need to thank me for the letter.

If your life is just school and cram school, you probably don’t have much time to go home, right? For me, it’s just school and home, and I still feel like I barely get to spend time at home. If I could get home earlier, I could help Mom cook and do the laundry every day, and help with the farm work too.

I really love being around my mom. But I also really love going to school.

I wish a day could have 48 hours.

You introduced yourself to me, so let me introduce myself too.

I’m a 16-year-old girl from the countryside. I love listening to sentimental music. My biggest hobbies are eating and sleeping. In the future, I want to be super rich. Once I become a millionaire, I’ll eat all kinds of delicious food every day and sleep when I’m full.

As for my favorite food… I don’t dislike anything!

PS: Your letter was written more seriously than before.

PPS: This time’s watermelon is rounder than the last one.

Best wishes for a happy life.

Your pen pal who hasn’t picked a name yet】

Putting down the pen, Wang Jiexiang scratched the back of her neck, then crossed out the line about her hobbies and changed it to: “My biggest hobby is gourmet appreciation and solo meditation.”

She had gotten too emotional while writing. Essays without depth wouldn’t score high marks.

It was time to leave for school. Her mom urged her out the door.

“Coming!” she replied, placing the letter back into the original envelope, crossed out the old address, and wrote “Dao’s” address instead.

“Hope it doesn’t disappear again?” she thought as she tucked the letter into the first page of her language textbook. After putting the book into her bag, she double-checked to make sure it was snug and couldn’t fall out.

Riding her bicycle, Wang Jiexiang pedaled fast, but still ended up a bit late picking up Jiang Bingbing.

“Wow,” Jiang Bingbing teased her, “the school keener’s actually late today?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll pedal faster—we won’t be late.”

Once Jiang Bingbing was seated securely, Wang Jiexiang set off right away.

Her little bicycle creaked under her effort as the school bus honked and passed them by.

The exhaust it belched out made Wang Jiexiang’s mind stall for a moment.

For some reason, she suddenly felt something was off.

“Bingbing,” she asked, “do you remember when our village started having buses?”

Jiang Bingbing answered vaguely, “Hmm. A few years now? Haven’t we always had buses?”

“Oh.”

Wang Jiexiang thought of another weird thing and casually asked.

“How’s your pen pal from yesterday? Did you write back yet?”

“Yeah. I drew a second-year high school girl. She was curious about the countryside and asked a ton of questions in her letter. I wrote her back at school yesterday. When you go to the post office, take me with you, okay?”

Jiang Bingbing’s pen pal and letter didn’t seem to have anything unusual about them.

Wang Jiexiang found it hard to say anything.

“You wrote your reply… and that letter, it didn’t get a reply yet, right?”

Jiang Bingbing didn’t understand the question, so Wang Jiexiang clarified.

“I mean, you need to mail the letter at the post office, right? With a stamp. Then it takes days to arrive. And the other person’s reply takes time too.”

“Well duh? Of course you need a stamp and the post office. What else? Mailing from here to the city takes like two weeks. A few days isn’t enough.”

Wang Jiexiang nodded blankly. “Okay then.”

Jiang Bingbing smelled gossip. “What did you do?”

Wang Jiexiang cleared her throat and buried her little secret.

“Nothing.”

But inside, she was jumping up and down, beating drums: Wow, I really ran into magic this time.