Chapter 197: Iron Box of Memories |
Xia Yuan impatiently pulled Mei Fang to take a look at these treasured memories from the past.
Mei Fang fiddled with the DVD player for a while before finally connecting it to the CRT TV in the ancestral house. The old tube TV in the ancestral house displayed the brand name of the DVD player.
“It should be ready to play now… Do you want to watch them all?”
“Of course… I want to watch as many as there are.”
With that, Mei Fang received a disc from Lin Youxi, which had been wiped clean, and then inserted it into the DVD player.
Squeak, squeak, squeak…
Throughout the disc-loading process, the DVD player made continuous crackling sounds, and the TV screen displayed scrambled images.
“These discs have been left for too long; they’re probably damaged…”
“Let’s try them all; there must be some that can still be played!”
The TV screen showed the living room of Mei Fang’s childhood home, with a cake on the coffee table, candles lit, and a little boy sitting right in front of the cake wearing a birthday hat.
“It’s little Ah Fang from elementary school! Is it your birthday? How old were you then?”
“Six years old. You can tell by the number of candles.” Just as Lin Youxi finished speaking, Mei Lijun’s voice came through the video.
“Mei Fang, look here, look at the camera! Give Dad a smile!”
The six-year-old Mei Fang looked towards the camera, and Xia Yuan, seeing his appearance at six years old, immediately held her cheeks and made an infatuated expression.
“He’s so, so cute! I really want to kiss and hug six-year-old Ah Fang!”
While Xia Yuan was still praising Mei Fang, the Mei Fang on the screen, with a stern expression, suddenly made a dirty finger gesture towards the camera.
Upon seeing this scene, Lin Youxi and Mei Fang couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing, while Xia Yuan shouted in surprise.
“Ah Fang, you’re so impolite! How can you make that kind of gesture towards your dad?”
Halfway through Xia Yuan’s scolding, a childish voice echoed from the video.
“Mei Fang, you’re also so impolite! How can you make that kind of gesture towards your dad?”
As Mei Lijun shifted the handheld camera, the screen showed a little girl with twin buns on her head, patting Mei Fang’s shoulder and scolding him.
“It’s me, it’s me! Wow, I was so cute back then too.”
“You said the same thing ten years ago and ten years later. That’s quite impressive.”
While little Xia Yuan was scolding little Mei Fang, she raised her head and looked in another direction outside the camera. “Lin Youxi, don’t sniff your snot back in, that’s like eating it, it’s so dirty! Use a tissue, be hygienic!”
Xia Yuan ran towards the messy-haired Lin Youxi, and the six-year-old Lin Youxi looked like a wild child picked up from a garbage dump, incredibly messy. Seeing this, Xia Yuan and Mei Fang couldn’t hold back their laughter and quickly held onto Lin Youxi, who was about to turn off the TV.
“This thing is not worth watching. Quick… turn it off…”
“No, no, no! I want to watch it! I almost forgot what Youxi was like when she was little!”
Mei Fang hugged Lin Youxi’s waist from behind, while Xia Yuan grabbed Lin Youxi’s arms. They all watched little Lin Youxi on the TV screen blowing her nose under little Xia Yuan’s guidance. Then Xia Yuan led her to the coffee table, where she stared at the cake while sucking her finger. Her snot slowly dripped down again, and Mei Lijun’s voice came from off-camera:
“Xia Yuan, Lin Youxi’s nose is running again. Help her wipe it.”
“Oh, okay.”
Little Xia Yuan always patiently wiped Lin Youxi’s nose.
“Pfft… Hahaha! Hahaha!”
Xia Yuan and Mei Fang laughed uncontrollably at the sight of young Lin Youxi looking like a wild child. Even the usually aloof Lin Youxi was now extremely embarrassed. She squirmed against Mei Fang’s hold, trying to make him let go, as the video neared its end.
“Come on, Mei Fang, make a wish!”
Little Xia Yuan reached out and put a birthday hat on little Mei Fang. “You have to remember, when making a wish, don’t say it out loud, or the wish won’t come true. Okay, now close your eyes, put your hands together, and make a wish…”
Little Mei Fang always obediently followed little Xia Yuan’s instructions. Xia Yuan also clapped her hands, and Mei Lijun turned off the lights.
In the bright candlelight, Xia Yuan started singing a birthday song.
“Happy birthday to you~~♪ Happy birthday to you~~♪”
Xia Yuan kept clapping her hands while singing the birthday song, while little Lin Youxi hummed along beside her, always looking up at Xia Yuan.
And then, the recorded video on the disc came to an end.
“This one is Ah Fang’s 6th birthday party, and it also contains Youxi’s dark history of eating snot in her childhood… I want to play it again.”
“There’s no need to play this again,” Lin Youxi said coldly. “Don’t you think things like this should be buried along with the memories?”
“I don’t want to. I really don’t want to.” Xia Yuan held onto the disc and refused to give it to the stubborn Lin Youxi. “This is our most beautiful memory, and I won’t let it be ruined!”
“If you keep going like this, I’ll really get angry.”
“Getting angry won’t help! Ah Fang… help me, please!”
Mei Fang took back the disc under Lin Youxi’s cold gaze.
“We won’t play it anymore, Youxi will get angry,” Mei Fang said and then looked at Lin Youxi. “But please don’t destroy it, okay? If we destroy this, we’ll never be able to find it again in the future. What do you say, Youxi?”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Lin Youxi nodded and said, “Let’s continue watching.”
“Youxi, you’ve finally realized? I don’t think there’s anything to be ashamed of in the past memories. All kids have moments like these. I was also——”
Before Xia Yuan could finish her sentence, Lin Youxi went up and changed the disc.
Unlike the other discs, this disc clearly has the date “June 1, 2004” written on it, immediately indicating that it contains a video recording of Children’s Day.
On the TV screen, there appeared a scene that made Xia Yuan feel uneasy.
“Now, please enjoy the song and dance performance Open the Door[1] by Xia Yuan, a student from Class 2 of the audio-visual class!”
On the simple stage, little Xia Yuan held a magic wand in one hand and stepped onto the stage wearing a hand-sewn magical girl costume.
Without any introductory music, she struck an anime-like pose and recited an extremely embarrassing line:
“Oh, key that hides the power of darkness, reveal your true power before me! Now, in the name of your master, Sakura, I command you—release the seal!”
“That’s enough! Don’t play it anymore!”
This time, it was Xia Yuan who had an emotional breakdown. She shouted to turn off the TV screen, but Lin Youxi, who was prepared for it, stopped her. Mei Fang, who was enjoying the spectacle while holding a glass of water, naturally didn’t let Xia Yuan off the hook. He hugged Xia Yuan tightly, just like he did with Lin Youxi, and didn’t give her a chance to struggle.
“Your outfit looks really nice. Did Teacher Yu personally sew it for you? I remember you choreographed this dance yourself. It’s quite impressive. But this makeup… It’s really tacky… Hahaha…”
Little Xia Yuan was wearing a cosplay outfit, with a blusher on her cheeks, a red heart on her forehead, green and golden eye shadow shimmering on her eyelids, and extremely long fake eyelashes.
Xia Yuan covered her face in embarrassment while wailing loudly in distress.
“I don’t think there’s anything to be ashamed of in past memories. All kids have moments like these. Don’t worry, Yuan Yuan…” Lin Youxi softly comforted Xia Yuan, using her own words against her.
This… You’re really hitting below the belt, Youxi…
“Ah Fang… What’s with Uncle Mei recording my performance?”
“Ah… well, that’s… um…”
After Xia Yuan’s cringe-worthy performance ended, the camera shifted to Mei Fang standing to the side.
“Are you done recording, Dad?”
“It’s done, it’s done. You little brat… You really like Xia Yuan, don’t you? You even asked me to record her performance for you.”
“In short, it’s quite interesting, isn’t it?” Little Mei Fang chuckled, “One day, I’ll make the grown-up Xia Yuan watch this, and she’ll definitely enjoy it.”
“You little rascal, you’ve got a twisted mind…”
The video abruptly ended at this point.
But the struggle in the real world was far from over.
“Mei——Fang——”
Blushing, Xia Yuan broke free from Lin Youxi’s grasp, turned her head and interrogated Mei Fang:
“Now you’ve seen it, you’ve seen the scene of my social death. You’ve waited seven or eight years for this, are you satisfied now? Huh?”
“I-I was just a kid back then… I didn’t know any better!”
“Having such wicked thoughts at such a young age, no wonder you turned out even worse when you grew up!”
Xia Yuan straddled Mei Fang and beat him up mercilessly before finally calming down.
Lin Youxi, while enjoying the joyful atmosphere of schadenfreude, inserted a new disc.
“Now, there’s nothing that would surprise me anymore.”
Xia Yuan sat on the floor, hugging her knees, and Mei Fang scratched his head and sat down beside her.
“Cheer up, the next one might just be my turn to feel embarrassed…”
“Yeah, you’re right… That’s true.”
As soon as Xia Yuan finished speaking, the TV screen switched again, but this time it wasn’t a video recording, but a news program from Baimei County TV.
For the first few minutes, they played normal news, to the point that Mei Fang and the others thought it was a mistake.
“Should we change the disc?”
“Uh… let’s wait a bit longer…”
Obviously, Mei Fang had an inkling about what was coming.
After a segment, the news anchor of Baimei County TV began to present the next news.
“June is the season of graduation. Whether they are kindergarteners or high schoolers, they all have mixed emotions about graduation. Now, let’s go to Class 2 at the Grain Kindergarten and see what the kids have to say!”
“Ah, it’s that…” Xia Yuan finally remembered the purpose of this recorded disc.
But this time, none of the three of them rushed to turn off the TV. Perhaps, after experiencing embarrassing moments once, they weren’t afraid anymore.
The TV screen once again showed the figure of the little angel Xia Yuan. She politely but awkwardly smiled at the reporter.
“Little friend, can you introduce yourself to the audience in front of the television?”
“Okay!”
Little Xia Yuan waved at the camera aimlessly, her gaze completely off.
“Hello, everyone! My name is Xia Yuan. I’m a student from Class 2 of Grain Kindergarten. I’m five years old this year, but I’ll be six in a month. My hobbies are playing piano, and my favorite game to play is playing house! And… I really like being a mom!”
“Pfft——”
“So I started liking being a mom when I was five years old.” Xia Yuan felt somewhat incredulous.
In this recorded video, the reporter asked Xia Yuan about her friends she couldn’t bear to part with, and little Xia Yuan listed many friends from her kindergarten days who she had a good relationship with but no longer kept in touch with at the current time.
Of course, Mei Fang and Lin Youxi were among them, clearly the most special ones.
“My favorite friend is Lin Youxi!”
“Why is it her?”
“Because… I think Lin Youxi is amazing! She can do many things that I dare not do, and… she’s also very cute. Ah… the most important thing is…” Xia Yuan said with a smile, “I’m sure she likes me the most too!”
“Hehe… So sweet.” Mei Fang made a sarcastic remark from the side, which prompted Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi to hit him together.
Then, in the video, the reporter also asked Lin Youxi, and then there was a scene of Lin Youxi whispering the answer to Mei Fang’s ear.
“Oh, Youxi was so adorable back then! I can’t handle it!”
“I really like that gesture…” Lin Youxi said, and she pressed herself against Mei Fang’s back, imitating her younger self from the video. She whispered softly into Mei Fang’s ear, “Does hearing this kind of voice make you excited?”
“Excited? Yeah, yeah, of course, it’s exciting… so stop teasing me already.”
“I won’t.”
While Xia Yuan was engrossed in watching the video, Lin Youxi forcefully leaned against Mei Fang and even reached into his collar with her hands.
At that moment, the reporter in the video asked Xia Yuan another question.
“Among the boys in your class, who do you have the best relationship with?”
The camera followed Xia Yuan’s direction and landed on Mei Fang.
Meanwhile, Lin Youxi had both hands resting on Mei Fang’s shoulders, looking nervous and trembling.
“It’s… Mei Fang!”
“Do you like Mei Fang?”
Xia Yuan’s answer was straightforward and innocent, “Yes, I do.”
Watching this scene, Xia Yuan stopped worrying about her embarrassing moment and felt a strange sense of nostalgia.
How could telling that you liked someone be so simple back then…
When the reporter asked for the reason, Xia Yuan confidently gave her answer on the TV program.
“Because… because… because my mom said that girls should be faithful in their feelings. If I like this boy, I can’t like other boys at the same time. I can only marry this boy and have a little baby with him.”
The camera deliberately captured Mei Fang’s surprised expression and Lin Youxi’s silent expression.
“Oh, I see. You’re very devoted to your feelings… So you must want to have a little baby with Mei Fang, right?”
Xia Yuan appeared somewhat embarrassed at this moment, “Yes… I do! I like girls a little more, so it would be nice to have a baby girl…”
At this point, the TV program was cut off, and the video froze with a radiant smile on Xia Yuan’s face as she said she wanted to have a daughter.
The three of them didn’t feel immediate embarrassment but instead looked down, feeling somewhat bashful.
“I… I forgot about all these things… It’s been almost ten years, hehe…”
“I remember a bit.”
Lin Youxi laughed and spoke up, “I remember you said you were very angry back then, saying that Ah Fang didn’t want to make a pinky promise to you and didn’t want to have a baby with you.”
“Did… that happen?” Mei Fang scratched his head, “I forgot.”
“Oh, I see…”
Mei Fang actually hadn’t forgotten.
“Childish infatuation is nothing but the innocent nature of children.” That was Mei Fang’s original reason for refusing to make a pinky promise to Xia Yuan back then.
He didn’t want to deceive a child’s feelings.
But now, ten years had passed.
He was still together with Xia Yuan.
After all they had been through, she still liked him.
They had even kissed yesterday.
Yet, he still couldn’t accept this kind of romantic relationship from Xia Yuan.
Because he couldn’t be the kind of boy the little Xia Yuan wanted to be, who was devoted to one relationship:
If you like a girl, you can’t like other girls at the same time. You can only marry this girl and have a little baby with her.
Mei Fang couldn’t do any of these right now.
As for what I can do right now…
At this moment, Lin Youxi suddenly clapped her hands and suggested, “We’ve almost finished looking at these things. I think we can take this DVD with us. There are also some books we can pack and take away. The rest, I think we can leave…”
“Wait… There should be another thing. I remember they were kept in a box.”
So, Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi followed Mei Fang into the room to search, and finally, Mei Fang dug out an iron box.
“What’s inside this?”
“It should be… the most beautiful memories of our childhood.”
Mei Fang gently rotated the combination lock of the iron box, opened it, and took everything out.
The things inside the iron box instantly immersed Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi in endless memories of the past.
There was a handmade orange tiger plush toy given by Xia Yuan, a small wallet given by Lin Youxi, a hairpin that Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi gave to Mei Fang as a farewell gift when they thought that Mei Fang was really leaving, a yellowed photo of the three of them as children, and even a note serving as an IOU from Mei Fang to Xia Yuan for borrowing 10 yuan that he hadn’t yet returned.
However, Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi both instinctively picked up an inconspicuous-looking item.
Two origami cranes.
The one Xia Yuan held was a delicate pink origami crane, while the one Lin Youxi held was a wrinkled light blue origami crane.
“I remember… I still remember…” Xia Yuan covered her face, filled with endless emotions, and soon, the two of them heard Xia Yuan’s choked sobbing.
Lin Youxi gently stroked Xia Yuan’s back, her voice full of tenderness.
“Yuan Yuan, as I’ve told you, Ah Fang is——”
He has decided to be with us forever…ever since he was a child.
Not just for the pure friendship of childhood, but for that lifelong promise.
Xia Yuan pressed her lips together and reached out her small hand, extending her finger to Mei Fang and Lin Youxi.
“Do you still remember our childhood promise?”
“So far, the three of us have done well keeping it,” Mei Fang answered.
Except for me and Youxi…
Of course, we reconciled later.
“But even so… I still want to update our promise, after all, the situation is different now. What do you think? Can we do that?”
Mei Fang and Lin Youxi smiled and nodded, extending their fingers to intertwine with Xia Yuan’s.
The little fingers of the three intertwined together.
“From now on, the three of us must not fight, must continue to stay together… we must be together forever and ever. Pinky promise——”
Mei Fang and Lin Youxi echoed Xia Yuan’s voice together.
“Pinky promise~ it’s a deal~ no change is allowed… for a hundred years.”
***
It’s an extra-long chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂
Translator's Notes:
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