Early the next morning, under the simultaneous blaring of three alarm clocks, Liang Jiajia managed to sleep in until past 7 o'clock. She hurriedly got up, skipping breakfast, and grabbed the steamed buns her aunt had made. Squinting her eyes, she sat in her mother's car and headed to the sports center.
Although the distance wasn't far, she was already running late because she woke up late.
Liang Huaying never expected her daughter to actually have the determination to wake up. The alarm clock in the morning was so loud that she could hear it from the other room.
Meanwhile, Su Xiaoqi got up promptly at 5:30 am. She cooked the porridge and then went to freshen up.
After practicing calligraphy for forty minutes, she steamed the red bean paste buns that her aunt bought yesterday and added two eggs.
The eggs were from the chickens raised in Su Xiaoqi's home. Her mother would collect the eggs and when there was enough to fill a basket, she would either have Su Xiaoqi bring them or bring them herself.
Genuine farm eggs were quite expensive in the city. Some people were willing to pay two or three yuan per egg, and during peak times, they could be sold for five yuan.
Su Xiaoqi used to feel that the eggs from her home had more yolk. When she ate at her aunt's place, her parents would always bring whatever they had and could bring to her aunt's place since her aunt didn't charge her for meals.
By 6:40 am, Su Xiaoqi had prepared breakfast: plain rice porridge, dried radish, boiled eggs, and hot steamed red bean paste buns. She then called her aunt to come and have breakfast.
As she ate the rice porridge she cooked herself, it felt fragrant and sticky. The dried radish was made by her mother and was a bit salty, which paired well with the rice. As expected, the boiled eggs had a lot of yolk. However, because her mother would collect them for a while before bringing them, they weren't very fresh, and the shells were hard to peel. The red bean paste buns were bought from outside but were quite authentic, with a fragrant dough. However, they were not cheap, costing two yuan for a large red bean paste bun.
Previously, Su Xiaoqi could be satisfied with half a bun, but now her level of physical activity had increased, and she could eat a whole one.
When Su Limei saw her niece preparing breakfast, she was very pleased and found it refreshing.
The aunt and niece finished breakfast together, each having an egg, a red bean paste bun, half a plate of dried radish, and two bowls of porridge.
After eating, Su Limei urged Su Xiaoqi to hurry up and go swimming while she washed the dishes.
Su Xiaoqi didn't encounter the Lin Min family next door when she left. It seemed like she hadn't seen them for the past two days. She didn't think much of it and continued on her way.
Su Xiaoqi decided to walk to the sports center.
She arrived at the sports center at 7:20 am.
Coincidentally, she ran into her student Liang Jiajia, who was being handed breakfast by her mother.
Liang Huaying was furious. Her daughter was her biggest headache, always being irresponsible. She wanted to come swimming but didn't even have breakfast, yet she made her bring it along, and now she forgot to take it.
While she was scolding her daughter, she noticed Su Xiaoqi walking over, looking fresh and clean. The young girl was dressed simply, wearing the same clothes as before: a plain t-shirt and blue school pants with red trim. Her short hair was tied up, and she wore a small red cap. She wasn't wearing glasses and looked refreshing and neat. Liang Huaying couldn't help but think that it would be great if she were her own daughter.
She then glanced at her own daughter, who was always causing trouble and being forgetful.
"Xiaoqi, you're here!" Liang Jiajia exclaimed with delight upon seeing Su Xiaoqi, completely ignoring the solid smack on the back of her head from her mother.
Taking a quick glance at Mrs. Liang's car—a four-ringed Audi—Su Xiaoqi knew it was an expensive vehicle. She had heard from her roommate, Xia Zhen, that even among small cars, there were significant differences in quality, and Xia Zhen loved to show off about such things.
"Mrs. Liang, good morning," Su Xiaoqi greeted politely.
Upon seeing Su Xiaoqi, the smile on Liang Huaying's face instantly brightened, transforming her into an elegant mother figure.
However, Liang Jiajia was still causing trouble, "Mom, why did you pinch my arm? Couldn't I have brought the buns? If I eat them and accidentally fart in the swimming pool, it would be so embarrassing with all the bubbles."
Liang Huaying was both exasperated and amused by her daughter's antics.
It seemed like Liang Jiajia was making up for past lives' debts.
"Xiaoqi, I'm entrusting Jiajia to your care. Auntie bought a swimsuit for Jiajia yesterday and got one for you too. Jiajia brought it for you," Liang Huaying said politely to Su Xiaoqi after pinching her daughter's arm.
Su Xiaoqi hadn't expected the other party to be so polite. She felt a bit uneasy about accepting someone else's things, but now she had more confidence than before. She didn't feel particularly nervous or embarrassed, just a sense of impropriety.
When you're poor, your self-esteem becomes very strong. Sometimes, even when someone means well, you can't help but feel ashamed and inferior.
Since the other party had already bought it and wouldn't return it, and if it was meant for her, Jiajia probably wouldn't wear it anyway, so Su Xiaoqi decided to graciously accept it.
"Thank you, Auntie Liang. It's almost time, let's go in first."
Liang Huaying nodded.
She really liked the young girl's attitude—confident and poised.
For her, buying a swimsuit was just a small effort, something she liked to do.
Liang Jiajia followed Teacher Xiaoqi inside with excitement, not even glancing back at her mother. Helpless, Liang Huaying started the car and drove away.
"Teacher, have you had breakfast? My mom brought me a lot of buns. Have some, they're made by Auntie Wang, they're really delicious and they don't have any onions in them. I don't like the smell of onions," Liang Jiajia offered.
"I already had breakfast. You enjoy them yourself. After you finish, play by the shore for a while before getting into the water directly," Su Xiaoqi instructed.
The two of them entered the changing room. Liang Jiajia's swimsuit was a snowy white fluffy skirt design, which looked nice but might be a bit cumbersome for swimming. With her round face, she looked quite adorable in it.
Su Xiaoqi, on the other hand, had been given several sets of training swimsuits by Teacher Wu yesterday, so she wore one of those.
When Liang Jiajia finished changing into her swimsuit, holding a bunch of snacks and a towel, she looked as if she were going on an outing to the swimming pool. She was ecstatic when she saw her teacher, Su Xiaoqi, wearing a red one-piece swimsuit with the national flag emblem.
"Teacher, you look so beautiful in a swimsuit, especially without glasses," Liang Jiajia exclaimed, examining her teacher from head to toe. She finally noticed the difference and remarked, "No wonder you look even prettier today. It turns out you're not wearing glasses."
"Since my eyesight is not high, it's inconvenient for me to wear glasses while swimming, so I didn't wear them. Jiajia also needs to protect her eyes," Su Xiaoqi explained.
Liang Jiajia nodded in agreement, "My eyesight is very good, so I don't wear glasses. Wearing glasses looks ugly."
Su Xiaoqi, who used to wear glasses all the time: ...
The two of them entered the swimming pool. It was already 7:40, and Xiaoqi saw that Coach Wu was already swimming in the water, which impressed her.
She had tried to come early, but she ended up procrastinating until now. Coach Wu seemed to live in the gymnasium.
Xiaoqi walked over and said she wanted to swim, and Jiajia, who actually treated it as an outing, followed her.
Jiajia had been learning to swim since kindergarten. She could swim, but she was just an amateur. She didn't learn seriously and wasn't particularly interested. She was just an ordinary member of the swimming pool.
Wu Peirong only swam a lap or two before coming out of the water. She lived next to the gymnasium. Over the years, she had earned money from competitions and coaching to buy a small two-bedroom apartment. It was over 60 square meters and she lived alone. It was the building behind the gymnasium, and she could see the gymnasium's large playground when she opened the window. The view was good, but the downside was that it was quite noisy. Whenever there was a celebration, the loudspeakers wouldn't stop. There were also many square dancing teams at night. However, Wu Peirong was still young and didn't mind.
When she saw the students coming with a little follower, she came out of the water.
"Good morning, Coach. This is my student, Liang Jiajia. She came to play," Su Xiaoqi introduced.
Liang Jiajia nodded. She was just here to play and didn't plan to swim. She would go to the shallow water area later.
"Teacher, you can practice. I won't disturb you," Liang Jiajia promised sincerely.
Then she put a bunch of snacks in the back and after a while, she somehow borrowed a recliner from somewhere. The little girl looked round and cute. When she wanted to please someone, she had a sweet mouth. She even had someone move her recliner over and comfortably lay on it, eating breakfast, drinking soy milk, playing with her phone, and having a bunch of snacks.
Xiaoqi saw that she was enjoying herself and didn't bother her. She started her warm-up exercises and then got into the water.
Her recent goal was clear—to participate in a competition—so she didn't practice fancy swimming styles, just freestyle.
She might not be able to come every day within the next eighteen days, so every time she came, she took it seriously.
Meanwhile, Liang Jiajia, who was eating a bun, took a bite and exclaimed, "Oh my god!"
The surprised juice splattered on her white swimsuit, but when she saw Teacher Xiaoqi, who jumped into the water like a beautiful mermaid and quickly disappeared, Liang Jiajia deeply felt that she should also improve her Chinese language skills. Her mind was now full of expletives, and she didn't know how to praise. She didn't care about her dirty swimsuit anymore and quickly took out her phone...
