Once Upon in Nanjing-Chapter 30 - 16 I am a Cold Star in the Sky

Ban Xia strung the salted fish together, one by one, on a rope. They were all slender blue-striped fish. To catch these fish, bait wasn't necessary, just the hook. They couldn't distinguish between a shiny hook and bait, biting when they saw the gleam. Sometimes, you could pull up four or five with a single cast. On the days Ban Xia went out to fish, she could enjoy two meals with fresh fish. After cleaning the blue-striped fish and drying them, they were fried in hot oil until golden, crispy on the outside and tender inside. The blue-striped fish were particularly fatty and tender this season, melting in the mouth with a fresh and sweet taste.

The rest of the fish would be salted and then hung out to dry on the balcony.

Facing the morning light, the girl's sweaty profile outlined soft curves in the sunlight, her fair skin nearly translucent under the sun, revealing the faint red blood vessels. When she tiptoed to hang the fish, stretching her arms, her spine and waist under the black short-sleeved shirt and shorts were like newly sprouted willow branches in early spring.

Truly a charming and delicate girl.

But in the next moment, with lightning speed, this delicate girl caught an American cockroach flying past and pinched it dead with her thumb and forefinger.

Ban Xia's Seventy-two Skills: Vajra Finger!

After drying the salted fish, the girl picked up the plastic basin from the floor and poured the bloody water into the kitchen drain.

In the living room, the old standing fan creaked and wobbled as if it might fall apart at any moment. No one knew how many years this fan had lasted, found from a pile of trash by the teacher, and surprisingly, it still worked somehow.

"Mom and Dad, I'll wash the clothes first, then make breakfast."

Wearing blue plastic slippers, Ban Xia walked into the bathroom with a patter of footsteps, grabbing the dirty clothes that were draped over the washstand to sniff them.

A strong, sour smell of sweat made Ban Xia frown and quickly push them away.

Even beautiful girls can have body odor.

"Where's the soap... where is it?"

She tiptoed around the bathroom, looking here and there with agile movements.

For washing clothes, she used a brown, solid soap – Ban Xia had stored plenty of it. But bath soap was harder to find, especially when kept for a long time in a humid environment, as it would easily spoil and grow moldy in the dampness.

"Mom—! Dad—! Have you seen the soap? The soap for washing clothes... Ah, I see it, I see it now."

She had a very durable wooden washboard.

Ban Xia first soaked the dirty clothes in water, then, sitting on a small stool, she began scrubbing the clothes.

"Mom and Dad, it's been three days since I last contacted him. Do you think he's ignoring me?"

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The girl looked down at the blue jeans in her hands, her gaze distant as foam and dirty water dribbled through her fingers.

"Will he come online tonight?"

"He said he lives in the year 2019. Mom, Dad, do you think that's true or false? Does the ICOM725 have that function? If not true, then he must live in Qinhuai District, but why haven't I come across him in all these years?"

In a world where human civilization was completely destroyed, time shifted from its original clear and minute cells to flowing river water. Ban Xia marked a stroke on paper for every day that passed, drawing a circle. She might be the last person in the universe keeping time, as the time of the whole universe was hers to dictate.

Ban Xia said, today is September 5, 2040.

Then, on this observable universe with a radius of 45 billion light-years, it is September 5, 2040.

Ban Xia used stacks of paper to keep track of time and planned to engrave it on walls, pillars, floors, tree trunks, and even the roads when the paper ran out.

Is there still a need to keep a calendar in a world with only one person left?

Ban Xia didn't know.

She just kept doing what her teacher did. After the teacher was gone, she continued the teacher's routine. This lonely girl kept moving forward, stretching the history of human existence bit by bit.

Ban Xia had a mechanical pocket watch that needed to be wound every day, but mechanical watches tend to become inaccurate over time. So she picked several watches to check against each other—though the most accurate reference was the Black Moon, which always appeared punctually on the horizon at 6:30 each evening, never late.

When checking the time, Ban Xia only needed to hold a watch and look at the Black Moon rising from the horizon to know if the watch was keeping accurate time.

The teacher said that since the black moon is so punctual, never off by even a minute each day, its orbit must be a perfect circle, and such a precise circular orbit means it's not a natural satellite.

Ban Xia, of course, knew it wasn't a natural satellite.

When she was born, there was only one moon in this world.

That was the white moon.

The girl washed her trousers clean, wrung them out with all her might, shook them out and strung them on a hanger, and hung them on the living room clothesline, patting them left and right.

"If only I could prove to him that I really am living in the year 2040."

"But besides myself, there isn't anyone else who can confirm what I'm saying."

"Dad, Mom, if only you could speak."

After breakfast, Ban Xia cleaned the house spotlessly.

A thorough cleaning had to be done once a week. First she moved her parents to the balcony, then wiped down the sofa and coffee table with a rag. The solid wood coffee table was heavy and hard to move; the original coffee table in the house was glass but had long been shattered, so the teacher replaced it with a wooden one. It was quite a struggle for the teacher and her to carry it up here.

"I am a cold star in the sky, quietly watching over you."

The girl hummed a song.

"You are a mystery that wanders the human world, stirring the vast heavens and earth..."

Ban Xia knew many songs, all taught by the teacher, who had a very pleasant singing voice.

During the years when the teacher was still alive, she and Ban Xia walked through the empty streets, warding off nearby wild beasts with their singing.

The girl wiped the sofa clean, then washed the rag in a bucket, wiped the sofa first and then the cabinets, even taking out the pistol from the cabinet to wipe it down. The major cleaning was a significant water-consuming task, but water wasn't something Ban Xia lacked. After cleaning the living room, Ban Xia went to the balcony to move her parents back, and finally wiped them clean as well.

She made the room clean and bright step by step. Each time after cleaning the house, Ban Xia felt her mood improve as well; seeing the sunlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, it seemed to shine into the depths of her heart. This was her home, her fortress.

The vast world, the whole city was hers, but all she wanted was this small corner.

She was a snail, and this was her shell.

Whenever the sun set and the twin moons rose, the girl would curl up on that small bed, clutching a chubby plastic lamp in her hand.

"Ask if you will know, my heart is responding to you..."

Ban Xia pulled out the magazine from the pistol, checked the bullets in it, and methodically ejected the 9mm steel-core bullets onto the coffee table, making a crisp clinking sound.

Eventually, she turned the pistol around, closed one eye and looked down the barrel.

She curled her index finger on the trigger, "click" went the sound, and the girl smiled.

"Ask if you have ever heard, what has touched my heart."

"Unknowingly you have already..."

Ban Xia hummed softly.

"Warmed my lonely life."