First kiss

Many years later, his wife had gone to the United States with her family to await the birth of her child. Just then, days of torrential rain struck the south, trapping Qin An and An Shui in the little suburban house where they were packing their luggage...

The phone lines and internet were completely down, leaving them no way even to call for help. They could only wait for the waters to recede. In those days of wind and rain, whenever Qin An looked at An Shui, it was those same eyes, that same gaze, that calmed his restless heart...

An Shui looked at the boy before her. Beneath his calm, unhurried demeanor, he seemed to be suppressing some intense emotion. His eyes radiated a heartfelt familiarity, not the kind someone deliberately feigned to approach another person with some purpose in mind...

It came from deep within, the easy, natural closeness one felt only toward one's dearest family...

An Shui did not know why this boy, whom she had just met for the first time, would feel this way about her, but she did not dislike it...

"To me, Caigentan, supposedly a primer for children, was every bit as baffling as Nietzsche was when I first read him... I never expected to happen across a child here who could recite Caigentan..." An Shui said with a smile. Her smile was always faint, yet it blossomed at the corners of her lips, beside her nose, at the corners of her eyes, and along her brows...

"My grandpa is probably the only person around here who still uses Caigentan as a primer... You're Sister An Shui, aren't you? I heard my eldest uncle mention you..." Seeing her slight puzzlement, Qin An explained, "My grandpa is the old man looking after the ancestral house behind you... My name is Qin An..."

An Shui should have arrived in Qingshan Town on Saturday, and his eldest uncle visited the ancestral house every day. With that explanation, Qin An was not afraid she would check with his uncle about how he had known her name at their first meeting...

"So you're little brother Qin An. Are you going to see your grandpa? Qin Xiaotian will be delighted to see you. He's feeling bored and complaining that he doesn't even have anyone to play with here..." An Shui stood up. She was very tall, and at eighteen, her figure had already developed enough to display a woman's alluring curves to perfection. Even in flat, soft leather shoes, her legs beneath her long skirt were breathtakingly beautiful...

It was exactly as he remembered. His grandfather, Qin Jude, had stayed in Qingshan Town throughout the Cultural Revolution, while his brother Qin Huaide and his branch of the family had fled the mainland for Taiwan, returning to the mainland many years later as Taiwanese businessmen...

The visitor to Qingshan Town this time was Qin Huaide's eldest son, Qin Xiangshan. Qin Xiaotian was Qin Xiangshan's son, a typical Taiwanese boy who felt no affection for or sense of belonging to the mainland and rather looked down on mainland children. Qin An remembered that at their first meeting, Qin Xiaotian had pulled out his GBA to show off in front of him, going on and on about how wonderful Taipei was and how terrible the mainland was, until Qin An had become so angry that he gave him a thorough beating...

Hearing An Shui mention Qin Xiaotian, Qin An could hardly help laughing. He was absolutely unsuitable as Qin Xiaotian's playmate, whether back then or now...

The two walked along a gravel path, where bits of mud mingled with layers of fine black sand. The rice stalks cut in summer had been piled into an enormous pyramid. A figure suddenly rushed out from behind the stack and gave Qin An a hard shove...

Standing beside Qin An, An Shui had already seen clearly that the figure was Qin Xiaotian, as plump as a ball of flesh. Before she could say anything, she felt Qin An tumble toward her...

A fat boy's momentum was not so easily absorbed. Qin An flailed and grabbed An Shui's shoulders, and the two fell onto the stack of rice stalks...

Qin An lay on top of An Shui, their bodies pressed close together. In her fluster, An Shui folded her arms protectively across her chest, her lovely hair spilling over the golden stalks. There was alarm and suppressed amusement in her eyes. She was not someone who angered easily, especially with children; tolerating their mischief was also part of why she found them endearing...

The tall, slender girl's body beneath him was soft as cotton, giving off an enticing maidenly fragrance. Her scent enveloped Qin An completely. Her ever-beautiful face was inches from his, closer than it had ever been. Those lips, those brows, those eyes were as exquisite and delicate as porcelain that could not admit a single crack if it was to become the pinnacle of art...

In the sunlight, amid the golden stack of rice stalks, An Shui turned her head, suppressing a smile, only to discover that the boy on top of her showed not the slightest trace of panic. In his clear eyes rippled an affection that made her heart race, making it impossible not to overlook his still-boyish face and be drawn into those eyes, as though another soul had been poured into this body...

Qin An lowered his lips, gently touching An Shui's tender, water-soft lips, so soft they seemed about to melt...

It lasted only a brief instant. An Shui's eyes widened, and then she saw Qin An move off her. She scrambled to her feet, brushing aside the disheveled strands hanging before her eyes. She lightly bit the lips Qin An had just tasted, her slight embarrassment and reproach alluringly lovely. "You... what were you doing just now? How could you do something like that? How old are you? I... you were just calling me Sister An Shui so affectionately!"

"Sister An Shui, you looked so beautiful just now. I couldn't help myself..." Qin An gazed unwaveringly at An Shui, at the hesitation and bewilderment she was showing for the first time...

Even now, she still did not look as though she was about to get angry. Perhaps she was merely wondering how a boy in his teens had thought of kissing her...

"You..."

In the end, An Shui said nothing, feeling rather helpless. If an adult had done something like this to her, she could have taught him a harsh lesson, cried "Molester!" or called him a "pervert," but what could she do to Qin An?

"Pfft!" At last, An Shui could not help laughing, like a summer epiphyllum bursting into brilliant, dazzling bloom. Shaking her head, she sighed. "And just like that, Sister An Shui's first kiss is gone..."

"You didn't lose out. That was my first kiss too..." Qin An silently added, In this life...

"Hmph, hmph... You've got some nerve, taking advantage of my Sister An Shui!" The chubby Qin Xiaotian ran back and glared fiercely at Qin An...

Qin An sized Qin Xiaotian up. He still had those same little eyes and that fierce look, with all the flesh crowded onto his face. Most children his age would probably be intimidated by his appearance. If he still looked like this when he grew up, he would probably be the sort whose face bore a sign saying "Tough guy-do not disturb"...

"You have the nerve to say that!" Feigning anger, An Shui gave Qin Xiaotian a light smack. "Just wait until I tell Uncle Qin. If you're this naughty, I'll have him send you back to Taiwan..."

"I'd love to go back to Taiwan! There's nothing fun here at all. Good thing I brought my Game Boy..." Qin Xiaotian opened his little eyes amid the fat. Seeing Qin An looking him over, he pulled a Game Boy out of his back pocket...

"Have you ever played one of these? You don't have these things here..." Qin Xiaotian showed it off smugly...

Qin An laughed. Some things, and some people, would never change...