Mr. Lizard Outside the Window - Chapter 6
Chapter 6: There Are Such Good Things in This World?
When Banxia returned home on the late-night subway, Ying Jie was still engrossed in her mahjong game on the first floor. The door to the small room on the second-floor landing was open, and Ying Jie's daughter, Lele, was curled up on an old sofa by the doorway, reading a picture book.
Carrying her violin case and a bag of groceries bought at a discount just before the supermarket closed, Banxia tiptoed past, putting a finger to her lips to signal the little girl to be quiet.
Her pockets were empty, and she didn't know when she'd be able to pay the rent. She'd stall for as long as she could.
She lived in the small room at the end of the third-floor corridor and often played with Lele, who lived one floor below.
Lele blinked and nodded, deliberately raising her voice as she read:
"The princess got her golden ball back and ran straight back to her castle, quickly forgetting all about the poor frog."
"How foolish of the frog! How could a frog ever be friends with a human?"
"Oh, I was just saying that casually. I never thought it would actually climb out of the mud and come all this way to find me. And it even wanted to eat from a golden bowl with me and sleep in the same room!"
Under the cover of the child's voice, Banxia scurried upstairs and into her room, shutting the door on the fairy tale.
Listening carefully to the sounds downstairs, she took the lizard out of her pocket and held it in her hand, chuckling. "See? Ying Jie didn't notice."
Putting down her violin and backpack, Banxia took out the heating pad and thermostat she had bought at the vet, and following the instructions in the gecko care guide, plugged in the heating pad and set the temperature. Then, she found a leftover takeout container, cleaned it, lined it with paper towels, placed half of the container on the heating pad, and considered it a passable temporary terrarium.
"I'll get you a proper tank when I have money," Banxia said, carefully placing the little lizard inside. "The guide says to keep the temperature between 28 and 33 degrees. And there should be a warm side and a cool side. How does the temperature feel?"
Xiao Lian flicked his tail, circled the container, and settled down silently in a corner. Under the warm yellow light, he looked like a piece of black jade encased in glacial ice, his dark color deep and rich, his otherworldly eyes profound.
Banxia continued reading the guide while cleaning Xiao Lian's wounds with the medicine prescribed by the vet.
The gecko's silence didn't stop Banxia from chattering.
"How did you get these injuries? Who bullied you?"
"And how did you even get to my place? It's the third floor! You're so small, how did you climb up?"
"The guide says you can go for days without eating, but are you really not hungry?"
"I have instant noodles. And I bought some lean meat and eggs at the supermarket on my way back. Do you want some?"
After tending to Xiao Lian's wounds, Banxia counted her busking earnings. "191, 192… There's a 100-yuan bill! I'm so lucky today! I met a generous person. I wonder who gave it to me. I didn't even get to thank them properly."
She collapsed onto her bed, spreading out her limbs, feeling a wave of drowsiness wash over her. "A little more, and I'll be able to pay the rent. Once I pay the rent, I'll buy lots of groceries and treat myself to a good meal."
"I suddenly crave dumplings…the kind my grandma used to make…" Exhausted from a sleepless night and a busy day, Banxia drifted off to sleep, mumbling to herself.
Her sleep was restless, filled with bizarre and fragmented dreams.
In her dream, she was back in her childhood.
It was a summer afternoon.
The sunlight in the courtyard was dazzling, the cicadas buzzed incessantly.
Her grandmother was chopping dumpling filling inside the house. Her mother sat by the window, her hair neatly pinned up, writing a letter to someone.
A very young Banxia lay sleeping on a bamboo chair under the grape trellis, sweating slightly.
Piano music drifted from somewhere.
Ding, ding, dong, ding, ding, dong. The music spread across the sweltering earth like a winter spring carrying ice floes, flowing through the scorching summer. The refreshing coolness dispelled the stickiness and irritability in the air, bringing a sense of relief and delight.
Little Banxia opened her eyes, rubbed them, and shuffled over to the courtyard wall in her slippers, peering into the neighboring yard.
Bright sunlight was everywhere. Through the leaves of the grape trellis, she could see the familiar red brick house in Old Mr. Mu's courtyard, its windows open. Inside, a pair of small hands played the piano by the window.
The small, white fingers danced across the keys with extraordinary agility, like little elves from a storybook, playfully stepping on the black and white keys, creating a captivating melody.
The music was the color of deep blue, like a surging tide, sweeping Banxia off the wall and into the depths of the ocean. Immersed in the water, she looked up through the shimmering surface, watching the small silhouette playing the piano in a kaleidoscope of colors.
She strained her eyes, trying to see who it was. But the pianist's face was always shrouded in a white light, blurry and indistinct. She couldn't see their features, couldn't remember who they were.
At six o'clock in the morning, Banxia was jolted awake by her phone alarm.
Practice rooms at the school were hard to come by, and since she lived far away, she had to get up early to have any chance of securing one.
Dragging herself out of bed, she switched on the light and stumbled into the bathroom, half-asleep. Suddenly, she sniffed the air and detected the aroma of food.
Her stomach woke up before her brain did.
In the crisp morning air, on the small square table in her room, sat two plates and two pairs of chopsticks. One plate had been used, with a few scraps of food remaining. The other plate had a bowl placed upside down on it. Banxia lifted the bowl, and a delicious smell wafted out. Inside, lay a plate of golden, fragrant egg dumplings.
Hesitantly, she picked one up and took a bite. The egg skin was crispy and fragrant, the meat filling tender and juicy. It was so delicious she almost swallowed her tongue. The savory broth flowed down her throat, soothing her empty stomach.
It was the taste she had been craving, the familiar taste of her childhood!
No wonder she had dreamt of the sound of chopping dumpling filling all night. Someone had actually been making dumplings.
But who had made her this delicious hometown breakfast in the middle of the night?
As she ate, she looked around in confusion, finally remembering that she wasn't the only living creature in her apartment.
She looked down at the small terrarium, her eyes wide with disbelief. Xiao Lian, sleeping peacefully inside, opened his eyes and glanced at her.
His eyes, with their unusual marble-like patterns, formed a distinct vertical slit in bright light, mysterious and beautiful. When Banxia looked at him, he blinked and looked away, seemingly acknowledging his actions.
Banxia held her plate, her words slightly muffled by the food. "Did…did you make this for me?"
The black gecko opened his mouth slightly, let out a tiny burp, and finally spoke. "I ate some myself, too."
After the visit to the vet and a proper meal, his voice was no longer hoarse and weak, but had a unique, throaty quality.
Banxia, with her sensitive ears, perked up.
Not only did the little lizard she had taken in have a pleasant voice, but it could also cook and even thoughtfully leave her a portion of the breakfast it had made. Banxia felt like she had won the lottery.
Since starting university and working part-time, she had rarely had a proper breakfast.
Egg dumplings weren't easy to make. Not only did you have to chop the meat and season the filling, but you also had to skillfully create the perfect egg wrappers in a rounded spoon. It required a delicate touch.
And these tasted remarkably similar to the ones from her hometown.
Banxia happily finished her breakfast.
As she went downstairs with her backpack and violin case, she saw Lele, Ying Jie's daughter, awake and reading on the sofa on the landing. The little girl had woken up early, her hair a tangled mess, still in her pajamas, surrounded by a pile of picture books.
Banxia stopped, deftly braided Lele's hair, pinched her cheek playfully, and hummed a tune as she bounded down the stairs.
"What happened to Banxia Jie? She seems so happy," Lele murmured, her gaze returning to her picture book after watching Banxia leave.
The cover of the book featured a beautiful woman and a large snail.
"Once upon a time, there was a person who found a snail by the roadside. She kept the snail in a water tank, and from then on, every night, a beautiful woman would emerge from the tank and make delicious breakfast for the person. Are there really such good things in this world?" The little girl shook her head disapprovingly. "Fairy tales are all lies."
Her childish voice echoed in the quiet morning hallway, fading away before the closed door of the room at the end of the third-floor corridor.
Early in the morning, the girls' dormitory was a flurry of activity. Pan Xuemei, from the orchestral department, was polishing her flute. Shang Xiaoyue lay in bed, reading a score. Qiao Xin was on the phone with her mother.
"I don't want to eat. The cafeteria only has steamed buns and dumplings. They're so greasy. Who wants to eat that first thing in the morning?"
"But my Niuniu has to eat breakfast! Should I have Auntie make something and send it over to you?"
"No, no, it's fine, Mom. My classmates will laugh at me."
Shang Xiaoyue, on the upper bunk, thought for a moment, then called down to Pan Xuemei. "For the weekend academy selection competition, have you asked that girl if she's going?"
Pan Xuemei, cleaning her flute, shook her head. "She might not be free. Why don't you ask her yourself?"
Shang Xiaoyue snorted and turned away, refusing to answer.
Pan Xuemei knew that Shang Xiaoyue and her friend Banxia didn't get along. Shang Xiaoyue looked down on Banxia but also considered her a rival. Banxia, completely oblivious, often made things awkward.
These young ladies, who couldn't stomach the cafeteria food, probably couldn't understand someone like Banxia, who happily ate steamed buns by the roadside.
Music was an expensive major, and most of the students came from wealthy families.
Pan Xuemei's flute, for example, was handcrafted by a renowned flute maker in Paris and worth over $40,000. An ordinary family couldn't afford it.
Qiao Xin's family had even bought a villa in the nearby development zone and moved there after she was admitted to Rongyin's affiliated middle school, just so she could easily go home whenever she wanted.
Sometimes, Pan Xuemei wondered how she had become friends with Banxia. Banxia was different from everyone else in her circle. She was like a wild weed, resilient and tenacious, with a hint of hidden danger in her veins. She had a unique charm that Pan Xuemei found appealing.
But for the past few days, something seemed different. Banxia came to school every day with a cheerful bounce in her step, then hurried back home, looking even happier. Pan Xuemei smiled, thinking that perhaps she had earned some money again.
"Qiao Qiao, I heard that Senior Ling Dong lives in the same complex as you," Pan Xuemei said, remembering something as Qiao Xin hung up the phone. "I haven't seen him around school much this year. He even missed a few concerts. Do you know what's going on?"
"I don't know. We both live in the Jade Pool complex, but our families aren't close. And Ling Dong seems a bit unapproachable. Even if I see him on the street, I don't dare to greet him," Qiao Xin said. "Last year, right after he won the competition, his house was always bustling with visitors. But lately, it's been quiet."
"Speaking of Senior Ling Dong, I heard some gossip. Do you want to hear it?"
Even Shang Xiaoyue, on the upper bunk, leaned over, intrigued.
Pan Xuemei: "Tell us!"
"I heard that Ling Dong's parents died in an accident when he was very young, and his current family are just relatives who adopted him."
"No way?" Pan Xuemei stopped polishing her flute in surprise. "So, Senior Ling Dong is an orphan?"
Shang Xiaoyue was also surprised. "Really? I can't believe our Piano Prince has such a background."
Comments
Post a Comment