Once We Lived in Nanjing

Ban Xia scooped a ladle of clear water from the bucket, poured it into the basin, and then spread the towel out in the water, letting it soak thoroughly before picking it up to wring it dry, washing her face and hands.

She did so meticulously and methodically, washing her face clean and then tying up her hair before tilting her head back and taking a deep breath.

White daylight streamed in through the hole in the kitchen ceiling, falling onto the girl's face, forehead, and shoulders. She closed her eyes, remaining silent, at this moment she seemed to commune with the gods in the unknown. Then Ban Xia turned and stepped into the living room, starting from the kitchen, she walked a circle around the coffee table and sofa, each step the same length. She walked a 'C' shape in the living room before entering the bedroom.

After entering the bedroom and standing still by the door, Ban Xia faced the radio, motherboard, and monitor on the table, spread her arms wide, and with force, brought her hands together with a "clap!". She began to recite the spell:

"Heaven above, computer below, oh God of 1024, please hear my prayer!"

"I, Ban Xia, implore you from here: may you bless my code to run successfully without errors, and I will forever remember your mercy."

"Teacher, if you have a spirit in heaven, please find the God of 1024, persuade it to mercy, and if it will not, trouble yourself to help it to mercy."

"Amen."

"Allahu Akbar."

"Amitabha Buddha."

"Infinite Heavenly Venerable."

The incantation was completed.

Next was one bow, then a second, and a third.

After bowing, Ban Xia had received the blessing of the God of Programming; she felt an unceasing force surge up from within her heart. Indeed, programming was a form of occult practice, the pre-work prayer was necessary, and it was hard to imagine, before the world's destruction, those enormous Internet companies—BG4MXH said businesses specializing in programming were called Internet companies—those Internet companies with tens of thousands of employees, would they have a massive area to worship the God of Programming? The scene of tens of thousands of people bowing to computers—what a magnificent sight.

After the prayer, Ban Xia sat down on the chair, facing the blank monitor, with draft papers laden with all the code underneath the keyboard.

What she had to do was simple, input the code recorded on the paper into the motherboard, a task completed under the guidance of experts from China Telecom Jiangsu Branch. The experts didn't understand why she insisted on writing the code on paper, but Ban Xia clearly remained in the era of paper media; she was more accustomed to using a pen to clearly fix information on paper.

The girl suspended her hands and struck the first key.

With a "clap!" sound.

Bai Yang awoke.

Turns out it was He Leqin slapping his desk; class had ended, and it was time to leave.

Bai Yang had already dubbed He Leqin as the "Nineteenth Rank Imperial Front Penknife Guard and Handwashing Supervisor/Gatekeeper Eunuch", responsible for waking him up after school each day.

In the past few days, Bai Yang had been living a dazed and confused life at school; if not sleeping during classes, then daydreaming. Fortunately, the teachers did not disturb him, and Bai Yang's days had become excessively comfortable, causing He Leqin to be quite jealous. He Leqin couldn't understand how this guy managed to escape the teachers' vigilant monitoring while his academic performance took a rollercoaster dive—it seemed he was neither sick nor in pain, with his grades plummeting from Nanjing Aviation to Nanchang Aviation, and then further down to Southern Aviation Technical School. Why don't the teachers care?

But Bai Yang said nothing, only claiming he bore the heavy responsibility of saving the world; that the university entrance exam was mundane and shouldn't bother him.

He Leqin asked if he truly couldn't reveal a bit more?

Bai Yang lowered his voice and said that those who know too much must be silenced; do you still want to know?

He Leqin immediately showed a fearless readiness to die, saying, "If the Way can be heard by dawn, then to die by evening is enough. Just tell me, and at worst, I'll take you with me. If a sniper gets us, it won't just be me who dies."

"How is Your Majesty's dragon health?" He Leqin asked.

"I am quite well," Bai Yang rubbed his eyes, "Where shall we have lunch today?"

"There's a Lao Lu Noodle House on Zijin Road with a decent reputation," He Leqin said.

"Excellent, let's go to that one." Bai Yang packed up the textbooks and exam papers that he hadn't even managed to open on his desk and stuffed them into his drawer.

"Your majesty, don't forget you're treating today," He Leqin reminded, "as agreed yesterday."

"Was there such an agreement?" Bai Yang said.

"You gray-bearded scoundrel! White-haired gentleman! I will usurp your throne today..."

"Indeed, there was such an agreement," Bai Yang said.

"Your majesty is wise."

He Leqin dragged Bai Yang out of school. Brother Yan didn't come; he had something to discuss with a teacher at the office, and he told them both to go ahead for the meal. As they sauntered from under the city wall, they made their way onto Zijin Bridge. Suddenly, He Leqin yanked Bai Yang's arm, throwing it over his shoulder and pointing forward, "Hey hey hey, little white sheep! Little white sheep! Look!"

Bai Yang followed the direction of his finger and frowned, "Look at what?"

People bustled across the bridge, with a constant flow of vehicles.

"Look at that lady!" He Da Shao whispered, "The one in the black clothes, don't you feel she looks familiar?"

It was then that Bai Yang realized who He Leqin was talking about. This guy had sharp eyes. There was a tall and slender young woman standing on Zijin Bridge, cradling her arms and leaning casually against the marble balustrades, lazily gazing at the sparkling moat below as if she were a tourist admiring the view.

She wore a black turtleneck sweater, slim-fit royal blue jeans, white sneakers, and sported short black hair. Her eyes were cast downward as if she was resting them, exuding an air of tranquility and coolness. Another trait that surprised Bai was how tall she was - she must have been at least 1.75 meters tall.

"Do you feel she looks familiar?"

Bai Yang stared for quite a while before realizing that He Leqin was right, the more he looked the more familiar she became. He suddenly remembered where he had seen her.

She was the nimble waitress they had encountered two days ago while eating soup dumplings!

"Shall we go say hello?" He Leqin quietly asked, "After all, she did save our clothes from getting dirty."

Bai Yang hesitated, "I think we'd better not... She probably doesn't even remember us, and what if she thinks we're just hitting on her?"

Both quickly agreed to pretend they didn't know her and steeled themselves to walk past.

As they got closer, Bai Yang became increasingly aware of how tall the lady was, taller than himself. They passed by, pretending to be strangers, their gaze fixed forward and not looking at her directly, and the lady didn't spare them a second glance, contentedly watching the scenery on the moat.

It was only after they reached a place out of sight that Bai started whispering with He Leqin.

"She's really tall."

"She must be at least 1.75 meters, right?"

"She didn't follow us, did she?"

"It's my first time seeing a girl with such good martial skills; maybe she's trained in combat. And with her tall stature, I think she could punch me to death."

"Be confident, she could punch both of us to death."

"Though to run into her twice in two days, that's some fate we share."

Indeed, fate can't be blocked when it comes; in the following ten minutes, Bai and He Leqin deeply understood this as they found a place in the restaurant, called for the waiter, and started idle gossip while waiting. Soon, the waitress came over with a clear step—

"What would you two like to order?"

"Could we have a menu, please..." Bai Yang suddenly froze.

This waitress was really tall.

His eyes trailed up from the royal blue jeans and black turtleneck sweater, and he looked up at her face with a raised gaze, and then both were shocked to the point of nearly jumping out of their seats.

The short-haired girl held a menu in her hand, twirling a ballpoint pen in the other, a slight smile on her lips as she winked at Bai Yang.