Wait Until I Grow Up

The era when one book could feed a person for a lifetime had passed. The title of "writer" was no longer so alluring, and books had shed that sacred glow. Yet the phrase "young writer" still sounded almost like a dreamlike legend...

Qin Huai knew his son's English was good, but that was a different matter from writing an English novel. When Qin Huai took that not-too-thick notebook from An Shui's hands and saw the dense, closely packed English letters, he felt it was especially heavy...

A Chinese person could speak Chinese fluently, but how many people could write a novel in Chinese? By the same reasoning, Qin Huai felt his son was doing something that would make everyone look at him with new eyes...

"All right... I don't know what kind of stories foreigners like, but that you can write one-Dad is already very happy..."

Qin Huai did not look carefully through the notebook before returning it to An Shui. The smile on his face piled wrinkles onto a visage that was entering middle age and carried a touch of life's weariness, full of joy...

Many years later, Qin Huai already owned a private school of no small scale. Standing on the top floor, overlooking his campus, his expression of complete satisfaction made Qin An laugh. He said: Do you think this is the peak of your career? Don't be so easily content...

"My career reached its peak more than twenty years ago, and in my whole life I can never surpass it..." Qin Huai gazed at his son, who was preparing to take over, put an arm around his shoulder, and continued surveying the broad campus. "So, I have long been content..."

Whenever he thought of this scene, Qin An's eyes grew a little moist. Looking at his father now-although in his father's mind he was just a mischievous little brat-so long as he achieved the slightest bit, the slightest something remarkable, he was his father's greatest joy, greatest achievement, a source of pride for a lifetime...

Qin An and An Shui walked into the room. An Shui looked at Qin An, who had fallen silent and shown that puzzlingly mature, serious expression. "You won't blame me for letting your parents know about this, will you? I think they'll be very happy. There's no need to hide a son's achievements from his parents..."

"How could I?" Qin An smiled. "Do you know who the person I admire most is?"

"Who?" An Shui was rather curious. For a clever, lively, and somewhat unruly child like this, what kind of legendary figure should the object of his admiration be?

Was it Italy's eighteenth-century legendary libertine Casanova, or Leonardo da Vinci-a genius in sculpture, invention, philosophy, music, biology, geography, architecture, and military affairs-or Nikola Tesla, the most controversial great scientist of modern times?

"My grandfather and my maternal grandfather..." Qin An gave the answer that surprised An Shui most...

"Let's start with my maternal grandfather. He had four sons and one daughter... During the Cultural Revolution he was the village party secretary. When the people from the revolutionary committee came to rebel against him, he guarded the doorway with a military sword seized from the Japanese devils, and not a single person dared step forward... Everyone was poor back then; it was hard enough just to eat one's fill. Grandfather insisted on putting my eldest uncle through secondary technical school, my mother through teachers' college, and his other three sons through university. In their village, Grandfather's children were not the richest, but Grandfather's backbone was the straightest, because his children were all educated people, scholars, people who understood reason and human feeling... It wasn't because his children had done well that he had such confidence; it was because of himself, because he had fulfilled a father's responsibility and raised his children into talented people. That satisfied him more than any great enterprise he could have built himself..."

Qin An paused. "As for my grandfather, he was about the same as my maternal grandfather. Of course, what was most admirable about him was that in our old house, he knew exactly how many roof tiles there were, how many beams, how many bricks in the courtyard..."

He turned his head and saw An Shui sitting at the head of the bed, chin propped on her elbow, watching him earnestly. "What, is there a flower on my face?"

"No, it's just that my little boyfriend looks very handsome like this..." An Shui said with a smile. Alone with Qin An, she was much more at ease. The relaxed beauty radiated a charm that was almost brazenly seductive...

"Then doesn't that make you want to give him a kiss?" Qin An jumped over and plopped down beside An Shui. The mattress bounced, nearly flinging the light-bodied An Shui off, frightening her into a shriek; she pressed a hand on the desk to steady herself...

"Still trying to take advantage of me!" An Shui scolded with mock anger, lightly rapping Qin An on the head...

"You said it yourself-you'd be my little girlfriend. When a little girlfriend sees her little boyfriend showing off, how can she not play along and give him a kiss?" Qin An said discontentedly. He seized every chance to take advantage; An Shui's advantages had to be taken now. Once he grew up, she most likely wouldn't allow it, and it wouldn't be convenient either...

"All right... close your eyes. It's not as if we haven't kissed before anyway..." An Shui waved a hand, feigning generosity as she pursed her lips...

Qin An closed his eyes in anticipation. After a long while with no movement, he couldn't help opening them, only to see An Shui covering her mouth, her brows curved, smiling faintly...

"If it really won't work... you're too young, yet you insist on acting mature and teasing a girl older than you. To kiss you with a straight face-I have a psychological block..." An Shui patted her forehead. "Better wait until you grow up. At least until you're taller than Sister An Shui, so that Sister An Shui feels you're truly a man, and then I'll kiss you..."

It seemed there was no hope of making An Shui offer a kiss voluntarily. Yet her appearance was so alluring. In the small room, a virgin's body fragrance filled the air; her slender beautiful legs posed temptingly in white tight pants; her hands were tucked between her legs; her well-developed breasts, pressed together, revealed a cleavage; and her camisole top fully bared the beauty from her shoulders down to the flesh of her breasts. Qin An knelt behind An Shui, his arms wrapped around hers and lifted, his chin resting on her shoulder, lightly kissing her cheek: "Sister An Shui, remember what you said today. Wait until I grow up..."

"All right, all right... you're making my cheek so ticklish. Don't blow into my ear... it tickles to death..." An Shui's very ear roots went soft. This little boyfriend really knew how to tease. He was clearly just a thirteen-year-old child, yet his words, matched with his tone and gentle movements, somehow carried a peculiar flavor-not so innocent, yet not annoying either; warm, tingly, and somewhat stirring...

"Time to eat!" Li Qin pushed open the door. Seeing this scene, she pulled Qin An away at once: "You brat, the moment you see Miss An looking pretty you get all clingy like this-wearing shoes and you dare climb onto the bed for me!"

An Shui's cheeks burned hot. How could she let Li Qin see her like this?

Qin An was dragged out, and with his back to Li Qin he made faces at An Shui. An Shui couldn't help but burst into a giggle. She really had been made all muddle-headed by him-he was only a thirteen-year-old child, so how could Li Qin think much of it? It was she herself who always forgot this point; that was a bit off...