My Mister Ostrich - Chapter 17

 Inconceivable
If you want to be fair, then let’s use paper scissors rock!

While Jin Ai’hua and Pang Shuisheng were watching TV, she asked him, “You really want to move?”

Pang Shuisheng looked over at her. “How can that be?”

“Then why did you submit an application?” Jin Ai’hua didn’t understand. “You even told Pang Qian. I think she’s taking it to be real, and she’s working pretty hard recently.”

Pang Shuisheng waved his hand in dismissal, “You still don’t understand our daughter? Considering her level and the fact that she loses interest easily, I’ll have to set off fireworks if she makes it into General High. Let alone Excellence!”

Jin Ai’hua didn’t like to hear that. “Qian Qian isn’t stupid. What if she really does make it in?”

Pang Shuisheng smiled and said, “If Qian Qian really does make it in, I’ll happily give up this house! You still have ten more years before you can retire, and I still have another 19 years. The factory is moving to the western side. If we have to take the shuttle bus to work every day, it will be tiring, so why not just live in the new housing? If we’re lucky, we’ll even be able to stay neighbors with Guoxiang and Ah Han.”

Jin Ai’hua was silent for a moment, then said, “I wouldn’t want to be neighbors with Guoxiang and Ah Han.”

“Why?” Pang Shuisheng asked in surprised. “Aren’t you and Ah Han just like sisters?”

“Because of Qian Qian.” Jin Ai’hua sighed and continued, “I keep thinking that Gu Mingxi likes our Qian Qian. Even when she messes with him, he doesn’t get angry. What if they start liking each other when they get older?”

Pang Shuisheng laughed out loud. “What are you talking about? You’re overthinking things, surely. How old are they to fall in love?”

“What are you laughing at?!” Jin Ai’hua poked at Pang Shuisheng’s arm. “I’m serious. If Qian Qian and Mingxi start dating later, then what do we do?”

Pang Shuisheng didn’t understand what she was worried about. “Let’s not talk about these things that are ten years away. Even if Qian Qian and Mingi did start dating, so what? Mingxi is a good kid. His family and ours know each other very well. I don’t think there’s any problem.”

Jin Ai’hua was incredulous. “Pang Shuisheng, are you crazy? Gu Mingxi doesn’t have arms! Even if he graduates from university, that doesn’t mean that he can get a job. And do you know, Ah Han told me that Mingxi has a lot of things he needs help doing in everyday life. When he’s out, he can’t even use the restroom on his own! Do you want our Qian Qian to marry him and become his nanny?! Look at how much Qian Qian does now. I don’t want her to marry Mingxi and live a life of difficulty.”

Then, their door was pushed open. A small head probed inside, and with a pleased voice, “Mom, I’m done with my homework. Can I watch TV? Just ten minutes is fine.”

Pang Shuisheng couldn’t help but laugh. He waved her in. “Come in. Oh, there’s a box of chocolate cones in the freezer. If you want to eat, you can take one.”

Pang Qian cheered, “Long live, Father!”

Elated, she went to get a cone. Pang Shuisheng said quietly to Jin Ai’hua, “Don’t think about those things. Look at how old our daughter is. Didn’t her that still not come yet? What are you even worried about? Our daughter is still a child.”

Jin Ai’hua was about to retort when Pang Qian walked in. She was licking her ice cream as she sat down next to Pang Shuisheng and started watching the TV show. Soon after, she started asking her dad about what had happened previously in the show.

Seeing Pang Qian’s face beaming with joy, Jin Ai’hua finally closed her mouth and didn’t say anything.

It was indeed true that Pang Qian hadn’t gotten her first period yet.

Her height and body type were average compared to other girls her age. Two small bumps had developed on her chest, though not to the extent of needing a bra. Jin Ai’hua had bought her a few white camisoles to wear as undergarments.

Summertime means thin clothes. The changes in her chest made Pang Qian a bit embarrassed, so she would walk with her chest slightly drawn in and her back erect. Jin Ai’hua would scold her. Once, she even urged her to pay more attention because she’d soon become a grownup.

But even until the end of the first year of junior high, Pang Qian’s period still hadn’t come. She didn’t pay any attention to this, since she was completely focused on the semester’s final exams. In the last month, Gu Mingxi helped Pang Qian cram. She tested into 26th place in the class, which was 11 spots higher than at the midterm. Her results in some subjects were better than her deskmate, Hu Tianli’s.

Pang Qian was elated. This time, no one said she cheated. But her results had become a strange phenomenon. In the four major exams during the first year of junior high, she had ranked 41st, then 23rd, then 37th, and back to 26th, jumping around greatly. It was really inconceivable.

On the way home, Pang Qian told Gu Mingxi excitedly, “Next semester, I’ll definitely make top 20!”

Gu Mingxi poured cold water on her, “If you want to get into Excellence High, you’ll have to make it into the class’ top 10 and then stay there.”

Pang Qian was speechless, but she knew that Gu Mingxi was right. She’d also heard the story from Pang Shuisheng, about Golden Compound’s Boy A and Boy B. She suddenly realized, getting into Excellence High wasn’t as easy as she thought.

“Gu Mingxi, if I don’t get into Excellence High, then what?” Pang Qian said discouraged, hanging her head. She and the boy beside her were currently riding their bikes home. The big sun shining above their heads made them sweat as if it were raining.

Pang Qian didn’t tell Gu Mingxi about her deal with Pang Shuisheng. It would be too much of a disgrace. How could she let him find out that she only wanted to get into Excellence High so that she could move houses with him?

Gu Mingxi also didn’t ask Pang Qian for a reason. This silly girl would never know that when Gu Mingxi heard that she wanted to get into Excellence High, he was thoroughly and completely happy.

Seeing how low Pang Qian’s confidence was, he comforted her, “There are still two years. Nothing’s set in stone yet. When the time comes, who knows, maybe you’re performance will be better than mine.”

Pang Qian was so happy, “Ah? Better than you? How could that be! I’m not Xie Yi!”

“What is there that’s impossible?” After hearing Xie Yi’s name, Gu Mingxi’s face reddened briefly. His lips twitched and then he said, “When I first lost my arms, they all said I couldn’t go to school, couldn’t take care of myself. Aren’t I doing well now?”

Pang Qian, “…”
—

Over summer vacation, when Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian’s parents had to work, they would stay at home along. They weren’t so small anymore, so their parents didn’t bother the grandparents to come watch them. The evening before, they would cook some food and leave it in the refrigerator so the kids could eat it the next day.

To make things more convenient, Pang Shuisheng and Li Han agreed that the families would alternate cooking each week and let the kids eat together. Because it wasn’t convenient for Gu Mingxi, heating up the food was Pang Qian’s responsibility.

So, every day of the summer break, except on the weekends, Pang Qian spent her time with Gu Mingxi. Even when her friends invited her out, she would have to decline, since she had to help Gu Mingxi with his meals.

That day, Pang Qian went to Gu Mingxi’s house to eat. It was really hot out, and the temperature hit 38 C (100 F) outside. Gu Mingxi turned on the air conditioning in his parents room and had Pang Qian bring the food to the small table inside. Then the two of them watched TV as they ate.

Gu Mingxi ate with his foot very naturally in front of Pang Qian. The toes on his right foot were very agile. Whether he was using chopsticks or a fork, he did it as well as others. Pang Qian had long ago gotten used to him eating this way. If the table was low enough, Gu Mingxi could also serve himself. Pang Qian laughed crazily as she watched Princess Returning Pearl (My Fair Princess), not needing to concern herself with him.

After they are, Pang Qian was too lazy to go home. Since her parents’ room was locked, if she went home, there wouldn’t even be air conditioning. It would be hot and boring.

Gu Mingxi didn’t have any concerns about Pang Qian staying over. The only thing was that Pang Qian would fight over what to watch on TV. Gu Mingxi wanted to watch the replay of the France World Cup match, but Pang Qian wanted to watch Princess Returning Pearl. Gu Mingxi couldn’t stop from saying, “You’ve already watched it twice! That’s not enough?”

“It’s not enough!” Pang Qian grabbed the remote control elatedly. Seeing how arrogant she was about it, Gu Mingxi suddenly stretched his leg out and grabbed the remote from her hand. Pang Qian swiftly moved her hand, smiling as she said, “If you want to be fair, then let’s use paper scissors rock!”

With just one sentence, Gu Mingxi became extremely angry.

He bent his knees and sat down without a sound, hunched shoulders and droopy eyes. Pang Qian knew that she had gone overboard. She secretly took a glance at him and then left the remote control at his feet. “Okay, I won’t watch. You can watch.”

Gu Mingxi didn’t like to put on airs with her, so he just lifted his head immediately and said, “Pang Pang, in the future, can you not joke about me not having arms?”

Pang Qian stared at him, unable to say anything.

Growing up with Gu Mingxi, she’d heard people making fun of him countless times because of his body. The mischievous kids in the compound even gave him some nicknames, “Little Cripple,” “Missing Arms Kid,” “Empty Sleeve Weirdo,” etc. Because Pang Qian fought with them about it, Gu Mingxi has never cried because of these things before.

She always thought he didn’t care because he really was amazing now. When she was around him, she rarely noticed that he was different from others. She was completely used to it all. But looking at things today, Gu Mingxi still seems to care about it…

As if knowing her thoughts, Gu Mingxi said lightly, “I don’t care what others say about me. I’d just like if you don’t talk about me like that. It’s really not worth talking about.”

Pang Qian nodded, “Oh, okay.”

Gu Mingxi smiled. Leaning back against the wall, he kicked at Pang Qian’s leg with his right foot. He said, “Oh yeah, I bought some new games. Do you want to play?”

“Sure,” Pang Qian answered.

Gu Mingxi walked up to the TV stand, pulled open the drawer with his right foot, and pulled out a few game cartridges. He asked Pang Qian, “Look, what do you want to play?

Pang Qian went over to look. They were all games she’d never heard of. She wasn’t that interested, so, “Let’s play Super Mario.”

“Hey…”

“Fortress 2 (BBTanks?) is also fine.”

“…”

Then Pang Qian saw a few disks next to the game cartridges. On the disk was printed the images of the main male and female from the manga “Fushigi Yugi.” She was super excited and said, “Hey! Gu Mingxi, you have this cartoon! I’ve always wanted to watch it!”

Gu Mingxi didn’t really have any memory of those disks. He thought for a moment then said, “I don’t know, I’ve never seen them…”

Pang Qian cried excitedly, “I want to watch it!”

When Gu Mingxi was connecting the VCD player, Pang Qian went to his freezer to pull out two sticks of ice cream.

She sat on the floor, licking her ice cream contentedly. After he pressed the play button, Gu Mingxi walked over and joined her. Pang Qian handed the other ice cream bar to him and he took it with his foot, twisted his leg around slowly and started eating.

The time on the VCD player was passing by, the seconds changing, but the screen was still dark. Occasionally, some sparks showed up on the screen. Pang Qian was getting impatient and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. ” Just as Gu Mingxi finished speaking, the screen lit up. Pang Qian’s eyes opened wide. She never would have expected that kind of scene to show up… It was really inconceivable.

In an ambiguous light, there were white bed sheets. While “mm mm ah ah” sounds played, the image of a male and female pressed together, without any mosaic to cover, appeared in front of Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian’s eyes. Pang Qian’s mouth was already half open in surprise, completely forgetting about the ice cream in her hand. Drop by drop, the cream dripped down. Gu Mingxi reacted much more quickly. Not caring about the ice cream in his foot, he just dropped it to the floor. He quickly got up and ran over to the TV. For a moment, he was confused about whether he should turn off the VCD player or just shut off the TV. In a panic, he just grabbed onto the power cord to the TV and pulled it out. The screen went dark, and the sound that would make people collapse also disappeared.

Head covered in sweat, he breathed out a sigh of relief before turning around. He saw Pang Qian sitting there stiffly, motionless. Her face had a burst of red against white. Gu Mingxi’s face was also burning. He even struggled to speak. “I-it was probably the d-disk was in th-the wrong place, d-don’t…”

“Gu Mingxi…” Pang Qian’s right hand held onto the ice cream that was still dripping. With her left hand, she pulled down the hem of her t-shirt. She interrupted him, also stuttering, “M-m-my th-that s-seems to have come.”

Gu Mingxi, “!!”