Diagnosis: Friend [Rebirth] - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On Saturday morning, Jiang Qing got up early. After dressing and washing, she fished an old-style “brick” phone from her wardrobe, stuffed it into her pocket, carried her backpack, and took the bus to the passenger station. After buying a ticket and waiting for about ten minutes, the vehicle started moving.

The air in the cabin was murky, accompanied by the pungent smell of gasoline. Jiang Qing opened the window and rested her head against the frame, feeling drowsy. After three transfers and three hours of travel, she finally arrived at Xiaoyang Village.

A few old women were standing at the village entrance cracking melon seeds. Seeing a young girl walking along the ridge from afar, they squinted their eyes for a while before shouting at the top of their lungs: “Eh? Isn’t this Jinbao’s eldest daughter? Back from school?”

Jiang Qing shouted back: “Auntie, I’m here to get a stamp at the village committee.”

The old women huddled and whispered for a moment, looking at the girl as she drew closer. Their shrill laughter startled a small black dog nearby, making it jump. “Where are you heading? Back to your dad’s house or to Ergou’s?”

They scrutinized Jiang Qing. “Your dad hasn’t paid them back yet!”

Jiang Qing froze. She squinted at the black dog; it stared back, baring its teeth and letting out a “woof,” which made the old woman beside it tremble. She promptly delivered a clean slap to the dog’s snout.

Jiang Qing was dazed, not knowing exactly what they were talking about, but sensing it wasn’t anything good. It had been too long; it wasn’t until she walked into the courtyard of the village committee that she remembered what incident they were referring to.

During the winter break after the first semester of her freshman year, Jiang Jinbao had “married” her off for a price of 100,000 yuan. At that time, Jiang Qing was sitting in her room doing homework when she heard a clamor of voices outside. She had called Jian Wenxin in tears.

That day, the police and Jian Wenxin arrived together. Later… later, not much happened. After all, Jiang Jinbao was her biological father, and they couldn’t convict him of human trafficking. The police and the village committee took turns criticizing and educating him, as well as the other family involved, and the “transaction” was stopped.

From then on, Jiang Qing never went home again.

Once the documents were stamped, Jiang Qing said her thanks. Just as she walked down the stairs, a red-and-white sleeve—looking like a school uniform—poked out from the corner. Then, a smiling little face popped out. “Jiang Qing, you actually came back?”

The girl had large eyes and thick black eyebrows that had been carefully groomed. Under her school uniform, she wore a knitted camisole, her collarbones distinct, adorned with a red string necklace that looked very pretty.

Jiang Qing looked at her for a long time before speaking: “Sun Ning?”

The girl seemed a bit annoyed and stepped forward to pat Jiang Qing’s arm. “Hey, Jiang Qing, are you okay? We just saw each other last month; why do you act like you don’t recognize me?” Rolling her eyes to the side, Sun Ning pouted unconsciously. “I was just saying I haven’t seen you in a while and wanted to talk. Fine, I see you’ve moved up in the world and forgotten old friends like me!”

“No, I was just thinking about something.” Jiang Qing hooked her arm and walked her out, tucking the stamped materials into her backpack as they went.

Sun Ning glanced at her movements and asked, “What are you getting stamped?”

Jiang Qing answered directly: “Poverty subsidy related.”

Sun Ning pursed her lips. “Must be nice being a top student, subsidies for this and that, basically going to school for free. Not like our school—we don’t even know these programs exist! They probably just keep the money for the teachers and a few students!”

Jiang Qing didn’t know how to respond, so she simply said, “I’ve finished the stamping, I have to go.”

Sun Ning uttered an “Ah.”

“It’s only Saturday; you’re going back already?”

Jiang Qing nodded.

Sun Ning looked down at the weeds by the road, then back at Jiang Qing, hesitating before finally saying, “Why don’t you go home… I heard my mom say that ever since you stopped coming back, Uncle Jiang gets dead drunk every day. It’s quite pitiful.”

Jiang Qing shrugged. “He always loved drinking. Even before that happened, he was always dead drunk.”

An abrupt, short “Beep—” startled them. Jiang Qing pulled Sun Ning to the side of the road as a tricycle creaked past them.

Sun Ning said, “Actually, Uncle Jiang hasn’t had it easy. His wife cheated on him, he raised his daughter alone, he didn’t let you starve all these years, and he let you go to high school, didn’t he? Although he was a bit hasty about that matter, it was only because of your schooling. If you weren’t in school, wouldn’t you have married early anyway…”

Seeing Jiang Qing looking down in silence, Sun Ning thought she was moved by the speech and couldn’t help but feel smug. “You haven’t been back for almost a year. Uncle Jiang misses you quite a bit. Why don’t you take this chance to back down a little? At least you could repair the father-daughter relationship.”

Jiang Qing gave a soft, light laugh.

That laugh was so faint, but in Sun Ning’s ears, it sounded like pure mockery. She exploded instantly, yanking her arm away from Jiang Qing. “What do you mean, Jiang Qing? I’m advising you as a friend out of the goodness of my heart, and you treat me like this!”

Jiang Qing stopped walking and looked up at the girl, her face devoid of any smile.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” Sun Ning felt a bit guilty, but remembering this was Xiaoyang Village, she was immediately filled with boundless courage. “You’re just too stubborn, that’s why your life is so miserable! Jiang Qing, no wonder you’ve had no friends since we were kids! You have a weird temper; you deserve to have no friends!”

Jiang Qing looked at her quietly, realizing that Sun Ning had been “sick” since this early on.

Now, just because she came back for a stamp, she had to endure a lecture for no reason; in the future, when Sun Ning finds out Jiang Qing won’t marry or have children, she will find Jiang Qing even more loathsome, sending long voice messages on WeChat urging her to marry and go on blind dates, and then cursing her out when rejected—calling her selfish, ungrateful, saying her old age will be miserable, and claiming she wasn’t even Chinese.

In her previous life, Jiang Qing thought it was the trivialities of domestic life after marriage that had ground her into that neurotic state. Now it seemed everything had a source much earlier.

But Sun Ning was right about one thing—Jiang Qing indeed had no friends.

“You… why aren’t you saying anything!” Sun Ning felt a bit spooked by Jiang Qing’s gaze.

Jiang Qing lowered her eyes, her tone calm: “I still have a book at your place. Return it to me tomorrow, and after that, let’s end our friendship.”

End friendship…?

Sun Ning blinked. “You’re insane, Jiang Qing!”

Jiang Qing looked up at her, her expression not looking like a joke.

“Who cares about your crappy book? If you want to end it, then fine!” Sun Ning’s eyes reddened. “I’m not delivering it. If you want it, come get it yourself!” After saying that, she ran off in a huff.

On Sunday, Jiang Qing didn’t wake up until eleven o’clock.

With a total of six hours of travel time yesterday, she hadn’t returned to the dorm until 8:00 PM. She was sleepy, tired, and hungry; she fished out two pieces of bread to line her stomach and fell asleep on her bed without washing up. Because she slept for so long, her back and shoulders ached when she woke up.

She did some homework in the dorm for a while, then changed into her school uniform and went out, taking the bus to Sun Ning’s school—Anhe No. 9 High School.

The high school Jiang Qing attended was Anhe No. 2 High School, where the city’s best teaching resources were concentrated. It had deep heritage and a rigorous atmosphere, making it the “dream school” of all parents. Anhe No. 9 High School was the complete opposite; people said “entering No. 9 means half a foot into a vocational college.” The school atmosphere was poor, students formed gangs and got into fights, and the teachers simply didn’t care.

Before being recognized by the Gu family, Gu Yining attended No. 9.

The gates of No. 9 were wide open. Rowdy noises came from the security booth, and the smell of alcohol drifted from the small window, making Jiang Qing—who was already feeling motion sick from the bus—nauseous again.

Following the route Sun Ning had described, Jiang Qing successfully reached the girls’ dormitory. No. 9 was much quieter on the weekend than No. 2; not a sound could be heard. Jiang Qing went up the stairs to the second floor and looked up at the room numbers of the nearest rooms.

She had to pass a few more doors. The corridor was concrete, with trash everywhere. Jiang Qing avoided puddles and walked carefully.

A sound of stifled sobbing seemed to come from inside. Jiang Qing looked up sharply toward the very end of the corridor—the public restroom. As far as Jiang Qing knew, the dorms at No. 9 did not have private bathrooms, and the corridors were open-air; the public restroom was located at the very end.

A damp, suffocating smell drifted out. Jiang Qing withdrew her gaze and stopped in front of a door, raised her hand, and knocked. There was movement inside as someone got out of bed to open the door. A few seconds later, the scarred wooden door opened. Before Jiang Qing could see the person clearly, she was choked by the smoke drifting into her face.

As the greyish-white smoke dissipated, she saw Sun Ning wearing a red camisole and a blue-grey denim skirt, leaning against the doorframe with a cigarette. “Come in.”

Jiang Qing followed Sun Ning inside. A damp, old smell filled the room, mixed with the scent of low-quality makeup and perfume. Jiang Qing felt her stomach churn. She turned and sprinted into the restroom, finding the nearest stall. She opened her mouth, and the contents of her stomach surged out.

The toilet was a pit latrine, and the stall was a mess of colors; the more Jiang Qing looked, the more she wanted to vomit. She threw up everything. The process was agonizing; she coughed and retched until tears streamed down. She leaned against the low wall between the stalls for a long time until she could no longer bring anything up. With residue still on her lips, she wanted to find some paper, only to realize she hadn’t brought any.

She straightened up, planning to go to the sink to clean up, when a slender, white hand suddenly entered her field of vision, holding a small pack of tissues. “Wipe yourself.”

Jiang Qing looked up at the person along the arm.

Short shoulder-length hair, with beautiful eyes beneath straight bangs. The girl was very fair and wore makeup, with a beauty mark beneath her eye. She curled her lips into a slight smile at Jiang Qing.

Jiang Qing took the tissues and said thank you. While wiping her lips, she looked at the girl out of the corner of her eye and noticed she was wearing a black-and-white dress that looked a bit Japanese-style. The dress reached her calves, and she wore a pair of small leather shoes. It was a very “good girl” outfit.

Three other girls stood beside her, all wearing ultra-short skirts and camisoles with small cardigans. Their auras were completely incompatible with the girl who had handed her the tissue.

Thinking of the crying she heard outside, Jiang Qing looked at the girl again. There was nothing unusual about her, and no strange marks on her face.

Four pairs of eyes landed on Jiang Qing. Her temples throbbed as she threw the tissue into the trash. Just as she was about to walk out of the restroom, a girl in a green camisole blocked her path.

“Did I say you could come in?” The girl tilted her head, looking at her mockingly. “And did I say you could leave?”

The short-haired girl glanced at her, then turned and walked out of the restroom, her leather shoes clicking on the floor.

“You’re not from our school.” The girl in green—Wang Qiaoqiao—scrutinized the girl before her, her gaze lingering on the blue-and-white school jacket. “You’re from No. 2.” She laughed, her parched skin clinging to her prominent cheekbones, making her look like a dried corpse. “What are you doing at our school? Stealing something?”

—Are you crazy? Why would anyone come to the restroom to steal? To steal poop? Jiang Qing really wanted to answer like that.

But in the end, she said, “A classmate borrowed my book; I’m here to get it.”

The three of them burst into laughter at once. Li Rong patted Wang Qiaoqiao. “A ‘good student’… this is No. 9, who here would read a book? Hahahahaha…”

Jiang Qing felt terrible and desperately needed to rinse her mouth, so she bypassed Wang Qiaoqiao and walked to the sinks outside. She turned the tap, and a stream of cold water ran over her fingertips. She took a mouthful of water and spat it out. After a few rinses, the taste in her mouth finally vanished.

Jiang Qing turned around to find the three girls surrounding her with grim faces. Her throat bobbed. “Excuse me, let me pass.”

The scent of perfume closed in. Just as Jiang Qing frowned, a crisp voice came from the doorway: “Qingqing, are you ready?”

Sun Ning walked in, seemed to pause for a second, then suddenly smiled and walked up. “Sister Rong, this is my friend. She felt sick from the bus ride and couldn’t help vomiting in the restroom.”

Sun Ning took Li Rong’s arm. Li Rong frowned and shoved her away, but Sun Ning took the chance to pull Jiang Qing out. “Sorry for the trouble. I’ll buy you all milk tea later. My friend is shy; I’ll take her away first.”

After leading her out with a smile, Sun Ning’s expression changed. She shoved a tattered book into Jiang Qing’s arms. “Go.”

Jiang Qing lowered her head and said thank you. A shout came from the corridor: “Sun Ning!”

“Coming!” Sun Ning’s face changed instantly, the corners of her eyes lifting as she jogged back toward the restroom.

Jiang Qing held the book, leaving with her back to Sun Ning. Just as she was about to go downstairs, a shrill voice came from the corridor:

“You, go and call that… yeah, that one named Gu Yining over here.”

Her footsteps came to an abrupt halt.