Once Upon in Nanjing-Chapter 2 - 1 Ban Xia

66 Muxuyuan Street, Meihua Villa, Zhongqin Garden, Qinhuai District.

This place is one of the few residential areas left in the city that are still livable, with aging but intact facilities. Years ago, the property prices here were over 30,000 per square meter, but now, no one buys them.

The young girl with her backpack walked through the entrance of the complex, vines wildly overtaking the walls of the residential buildings on either side, emerald leaves overlapping patches of pink marble paint that hadn't been tended to in years. A seagull flapped its wings and landed on a windowsill, tilting its head curiously.

She lived in unit 2 of building 11, turn left twenty meters after entering the complex.

Eighth floor, room 804.

The old building had no elevator, so one had to step up the stairs, and climbing them was quite tiring. The girl breathed heavily as she ascended to the fifth floor, then slowed down. Carrying a backpack and a heavy cloth bag, she dripped all the way up.

When she reached the seventh floor, she patted on door 703, calling out, "Old Mr. Huang! Old Huang! I'm back! Your old daughter Ban Xia is back!"

No response from inside; perhaps he was asleep and hadn't woken up yet.

Old Huang was always up at odd hours.

Ban Xia continued up panting, swinging the cloth bag which leaked bright red sticky liquid that soaked the fabric and dripped onto the steps.

Unaware, she just continued dripping all the way up.

The eighth floor was the top floor, two households per floor, doors facing each other. One door could be opened, the other was blocked with clutter. A rope stretched across the stairwell with damp clothes hanging on it; Ban Xia ducked under it from beneath her black jacket, patting her hair.

At her own door, she switched the bag to the other hand, fished out her keys and with a "creak", turned the key, entered, set down her things, and changed shoes.

"Mom and Dad, I'm back."

Her parents were sitting on the sofa. Ban Xia looked up and noticed some dust had settled over the day, so she dusted them off.

Some of the dust came from the open window from last night. There was even a bit of fresh bird droppings on the floor.

"I went to see my teacher, still as strict as ever. I talked to her about my learning progress today, but honestly, there hasn't been much. Self-study is really tough."

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Ban Xia cheerfully stripped off her coat and pants, leaving just a tank top and shorts, stretching her long arms and legs. Then, she flopped onto the sofa; the old couch immediately collapsed at the back making a squeaky sound, and the girl sprawled there for a moment, then suddenly hugged her father's shoulders, "Wish someone could teach me. Pray to God to grant me a guru, and better looking would be great."

God still ignored her request.

She had prayed many times. She stood on the rooftop shouting to the heavens: Oh dear God! Please send me a handsome guy! A handsome guy who could carry wild veggies for me—!

Unfortunately, God only granted her half of her wish.

No handsome guy.

Plenty of cattle and horses.

Who knows how many wild water buffalo, while defecating, passed in herds by the Muxuyuan Street in front of her home, slinging feces everywhere with their tails.

"There's a lot more deer droppings on Muxuyuan Street; I don't know what kind of deer, but there must be a big herd that came here. I'll check it out again tomorrow, don't know if it's the same herd from last time."

"The water in Crescent Lake is getting less, and the bottom is all silt. I think the lake will be dry soon. Today, as I passed by, I even saw a pile of iron cans in the mud at the bottom of the lake, thrown there by someone."

The girl massaged her parents' shoulders as she spoke.

Her parents sat motionlessly.

"Still didn't run into anyone today, can only try calling with the radio again tonight. Do you guys think someone will really hear it? Although we can't find anyone no matter how hard we look, the teacher said we must keep going. She said someone will definitely hear us. What's the date today again? September... September 5th? Ah no, it's September 6th."

"I'll go cook, there's one extra for dinner tonight, I brought the teacher back to eat with us." Ban Xia got up, dragged the cloth bag at the door into the kitchen, pulling out a dark red, nearly solidified trace. "Oops! It's leaking, made the floor dirty."

She hurriedly dragged the bag into the kitchen, then "bang," closed the kitchen door.

After a while, the sound of the cleaver forcefully chopping bones thudded from within the kitchen.

"It's tough to chop."

"Is it the spine or what?"

"Oops, the head dropped into the sink."

"Can't chop it, Dad! Mom! No objections to ribs for dinner right? If none, I'll cook the ribs!"

Soon, a strong meat aroma filled the house, and the soup pot in the kitchen burbled.

A rat slipped down from the ceiling, crawled across the floor onto the sofa, and then onto the shoulders of her parents, gnawing at their clothes.

Hearing the squeaking in the kitchen, Ban Xia peered out and saw the rat. She quickly grabbed a spoon and rushed over.

"Damn rat!"

She swung the spoon at it.

The rat squealed sharply and burrowed under the sofa, out of sight.

Rats are really annoying, and they're not afraid of people; they come out to cause trouble at night. Ban Xia could hear them holding a track meet on the floorboards at night, rustling around, so noisy that it kept her from sleeping.

If you fall asleep, they get even more uncontrollable. They'll crawl into your blankets, into your sleeves, into your hair. More than once Ban Xia woke up early to find something moving in her hair. She combed it, and a little rat fell out, squealing and twisting on the ground.

Well, there's breakfast sorted.

A few dozen minutes later, Ban Xia, face covered in oily sweat and drenched in perspiration, came out carrying a steaming aluminum pot, wrapping the handle in a rag, winding and hissing from the heat as she placed the pot on the coffee table.

The milky soup spilled over the edge of the pot, splashing onto the table.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot! So hot." The girl sucked on her fingers and stamped her feet as if stomping could speed up the cooling process. She stirred the soup in the pot with a spoon and then brought a stack of bowls from the kitchen, four in total.

She placed the four bowls on the table, saying as she did:

"This is Dad's."

"This is Mom's."

"This is mine."

She pushed the last bowl to an empty spot on the table's edge.

"This is the teacher's."

"The teacher is the guest, so the teacher goes first." Ban Xia chuckled, used chopsticks to fish out a soft, cooked small palm from the soup pot, and placed it in that bowl, "Here, it's cooked till tender, don't be shy."

Then, clasping her hands together, she took a deep breath:

"So Dad, Mom, Teacher, I'm starting the meal!"