Eleven Degrees

Content Summary: Play Cards

The day before, Wei Congying came back from the hospital very late, and remained asleep until now. In fact, a call from the insurance company was what woke him up.

It was fairly late when he saw Shi Yun’s message while still in the hospital yesterday. Thinking that she might be asleep, he didn’t reply to her.

After being woken up by the call from the insurance company, Wei Congying got up and called her after seeing that the time wasn’t too early.

He was currently making his first attempt at calling her. If the second call also went unanswered, he planned to contact her after rewaking in the afternoon.

In the end, she answered on the second call.

Shi Yun: “Hello.”

Wei Congying hadn’t gotten up yet, and the air conditioning in the room wasn’t turned up very high.

Nineteen degrees.¹[1] The temperature is in Celsius, in case anyone is confused.

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Tyzq sq bkp qynl oyp cwakle kd vbl iwkzv, y zsnj sq bkp byka vbyv pvwnj swv bye y ckv sq y nwaz vs kv, yde czwl pvwcczl bye yrrlyale sd bkp nbkd. Tlyakdt Fbk Zwd’p hsknl sd vbl svbla lde sq vbl rbsdl, bl rwv kv sd prlyjla yde rzynle kv dlmv vs bkp rkzzso. Tl prsjl okvb bkp lulp nzsple: “Tlu.”

Tkp hsknl pswdele y zkvvzl esodnypv, yp kq bl byed’v bye y tsse alpv.

Fbk Zwd ypjle bkx bso vbkdtp olal tskdt.

Tkp alrzu oyp vbyv vbkdtp olal tskdt qkdl.

Gp qsa oblvbla kv oyp vs nsxqsav bla, obs jdlo?

Gzvbswtb pbl oyp alyzzu pnyale yv vbl vkxl, pbl oyp hlau xshle vs blya vbyv bl vssj yzz vbl qywzvp sd bkxplzq. Jwv pbl oyp pvkzz alprsdpkczl qsa clyakdt vbl nsdpliwldnlp sq bla ynvksdp.

Fbk Zwd: “Tso kp vbl nsxrldpyvksd clkdt nyznwzyvle? Tso xwnb kp kv? R’zz plde kv vs usw.”

Gv vbl lde sq bla osaep, vblal oyp y ckv sq dskpl sd vbl svbla lde sq vbl rbsdl. Rv pswdele zkjl vbl pswde xyel cu vbl pbkqvkdt sq iwkzvp yde rkzzsop. Tl pllxle vs byhl vwadle shla. Gqvla y cwapv sq dskpl, bkp hsknl oyp nzlyala vbyd kv pswdele clqsal: “Pke Dkydt Fbysuwyd plde usw cynj vs pnbssz zypv dktbv?”

He bluntly changed the subject.

Shi Yun mentioned the matter of compensation in a serious manner, and he followed by asking her if Xiang Shaoyuan was fierce to her.

Shi Yun was a little angry, but she wasn’t the party with the right to be angry in this matter. After a few seconds of silence, she gave in and answered Wei Congying’s question.

In a very low voice, she answered: “Yeah.”

He smiled: “That’s the kind of person he is. Except for the girl he likes, he gives everyone else that scowling face. So it’s not worth it to take offense.”

Shi Yun was not at all offended because of this incident, and it didn’t matter much to her either. She sat on the backless chair in the dormitory, with both feet on the chair’s foot rest: “What about you? Are you this generous and tolerant of every girl?”

After speaking, there was a clear laugh heard from the other end of the phone.

Wei Congying sat up from the bed and reached for the remote control of the air conditioner that fell on the floor last night: “No, I am generous and tolerant to those who want to chase after me.”

Shi Yun’s heart was very clear.

She was also prepared to take the bait, but Shi Yun also had a bottom line, that was, the money must be paid back.

She listened to Wei Congying’s words. There was no shyness or joy on her face or in her eyes, but she controlled the one thing he could sense from her, her tone, to carry that characteristic girlish shyness: “I don’t want to owe those who I’m favorable²[2] A more direct translation of the words she uses are, “I don’t want to owe those who I have good feelings for either, which could also be taken to mean, “…those I like…,” but since she doesn’t directly state it, I figure the word, favorable, is a better fit here as it’s a little more ambiguous. to either.”

Wei Congying got up from the bed, picked up the cigarette on the bedside table while holding the phone in one hand, and walked to the window. As soon as the window was opened, the sweltering heat of July seeped in through the small holes of the window screen.

The air conditioner in the room was overwhelmed by the outside heat. He shook out a cigarette from the cigarette box with one hand. He then lowered his head, bit the longest one, and threw the cigarette box on the bed.

The sound of a lighter could be heard.

Then he spoke, and a brief laugh passed through his lips: “So, you like me?”

Shi Yun’s ears caught that laughter. She knew that people like Wei Congying laughed when hearing her words, not because they were happy, but because they felt that the chase was simple and the finish was just around the corner.

Shi Yun: “No, I like the delivery guy. I’m afraid you won’t give him enough compensation.”

After speaking, there was a bout of coughing from the other end of the phone.

Wei Congying had been smoking for so long, and he could hardly remember how long it had been since he last choked on smoke. But now it was like he was replaying the first time he smoked, he coughed until his throat hurt

After coughing for a long time, his words still came out intermittently: “…To think that, cough, cough…I was worried about you…cough…”

His words were broken up with coughs, and Shi Yun felt sorry for his lungs and throat when she heard it. As a medical student, she made an attempt to persuade him: “Why not smoke less.”

He pretended to be gloomy: “No one cares about me anymore, so who cares if I smoke.”

Shi Yun decided it was necessary to invite Wei Congying out. She needed to pay him back.

Following up on his words, she suggested: “Then I’ll treat you to dinner, okay?”

But before eating, Shi Yun wanted to visit the delivery guy who was injured by her driving mistake last night.

Shi Yun and Wei Congying made an appointment to go the afternoon of the next day, Wei Congying advised her not to go as he had already finished taking care of everything.

But Shi Yun felt that she had to apologize in person.

But when she was ready to be kicked out with slippers being thrown at her all the while, the husband and wife didn’t say anything.

They politely took the fruit basket that Shi Yun bought, and chatted with Shi Yun about the delivery guy’s condition. There was no mention of compensation during the whole process.

Wei Congying stood at the door, partially blocking the entrance, and did not enter the ward.

When watching her imitate a medical worker while looking at the X-rays and medical records hanging at the end of the bed, her expression was quite serious. She took the X-ray and walked to the window, facing it. The sun peeked into the high-rise room, and she was wearing a slightly see-through dress.

Wei Congying leaned against the door frame and looked at her.

Wei Congying didn’t hide his gaze which followed Shi Yun, watching her put down the medical records and X-rays, and then handing over an envelope stuffed with money.

The cell phone in his pocket rang, and he turned and went outside to answer the call.

The other party politely evaded the money Shi Yun gave. The husband and wife looked at each other, but they were a little embarrassed, and the caregiver was looking a little awkward: “Your boyfriend already paid it, and I haven’t apologized yet. Last night, I beat him indiscriminately, but he didn’t get angry, he paid the medical expenses, asked the director to see my husband, and the loss of work and nutrition compensation³[3] Usually used to buy extra nutrition food to help the injured party recover quickly. were also paid in excess.”

At the time, she was also impulsive, and was called to the hospital by the police who said her husband was involved in a car accident. As soon as she saw Wei Congying, who was sitting at the door and still smelled of alcohol, she thought he was the drunk driving perpetrator, so she hit Wei Congying with her bag and beat him.

The police officers had to pull her away and explain the situation to her.

Although they were polite, the two of them did not refuse the envelope given by Shi Yun: “We don’t blame you for this. I heard that you were afraid of driving to begin with. You had no choice but to drive the car that day. We didn’t take it to heart either, so don’t feel too guilty.”

Hearing those words, Shi Yun was taken aback.

She thought to herself, no wonder they didn’t kick her out with slippers today.

Shi Yun didn’t stay for long and was about to leave, but when she turned around, she didn’t see Wei Congying at the door.

The caregiver had seen that Wei Congying had gone out to answer the phone, and made a phone gesture while pointing to the door. After Shi Yun thanked her, she said goodbye.

It was Lin Fang who called him, inviting him to play cards.

Jiang Xuyang was late again.

It was again the excuse of leaving home and getting stuck on the East Ring Elevated Road.

Just as Wei Congying hung up the phone, Shi Yun came out of the ward. She looked around, but she didn’t see him. Wei Congying was just about to raise his hand, but after thinking about it, he put it down again, and stood there watching her look around for a second time before finding him.

Seeing that he was deliberately standing in a hidden place, and even stood behind an object, Shi Yun walked over and said one word: “Boring.”

He came out from behind the object, and he didn’t seem angry when he heard others say that he was boring. Instead, he told her about being invited to play cards.

It was at Haiyue Club again.

Shi Yun didn’t try the other drinks this time, and ordered a cup of Jin Junmei like everyone else.

The player before her was Lin Fang, the player after her was Wei Congying, and Xiang Shaoyuan sat opposite her.

It didn’t take long for Shi Yun to figure it out. Xiang Shaoyuan was impatient, and he would start to get anxious after not winning a few rounds. Lin Fang had a better temper and had no obvious negative emotions.

And Lin Fang took jokes more easily than Xiang Shaoyuan.

She didn’t know if Lin Fang heard about it from Wei Congying, but he knew that Shi Yun and his ex-girlfriend were from the same university.

As if flattering, he said with an exaggerated expression: “You are a talented student.”

It was too exaggerated, so Shi Yun was a little displeased.

Lin Fang told her: “I really admire people who can study, from the bottom of my heart. I’m not cut out for that kind of thing. If my dad didn’t say that following this development trend, I would be picking up trash. I wouldn’t even be able to count the recycling money. I honestly planned to quit after finishing primary school.”

It was like telling jokes. Lin Fang was easy to talk to, so Shi Yun would joke with him: “Then you can find a talented student when you fall in love, how about it?”

Lin Fang had his own love pattern⁴[4] A love pattern (a synonym is also a limiting belief in love) is a thesis that you unconsciously feel “as true” in love. This thesis is so “integrated” in you that you do not even question it or even realize it. -Sandy Kaufmann, and the type of person he fell in love with was not fixed. There were all kinds of girls, but one thing was fixed——he could make the other leave by offering a luxury good when breaking up.

Shi Yun thought of the FENDI shopping bag Wei Congying was carrying when she saw he helping Lin Fang breakup at her school in May.

The topic of Lin Fang’s ex-girlfriend didn’t last long. When Shi Yun was about to drink tea while the cards were being dealt, a hand came between her and the teacup.

Wei Congying was also using this time to look at his phone. He was obviously not concentrating on her chat with Lin Fang, but somehow he noticed that Shi Yun wanted to drink her tea.

He continued to cover it with his hand: “The water was just poured, it’s still hot.”

After saying this, he moved his hand away. Shi Yun saw the tea leaves unfurling in the water, and steam coming up from the mouth of the cup.

After a few decks, Shi Yun also learned that Wei Congying actually has a better relationship with Lin Fang, and the two families were friends, so the second character of their names both had a “wood” character on the side⁵[5] Chinese names start with the last name and the first name follows after it. So with a single character last name, the second character of the name will be the first character of the first name. Now for the wood part, many characters are made up of other characters which can help give clues on pronunciation and character meanings. On the right of the second character of each of their names, 枋(Fang) and 枞(Cong), there is a 木 which means wood. There are also two character last names but I’m not going to get into that for the sake of keeping this note, hopefully, easy to understand..

In Lin Fang’s generation, their names only had two characters.

So he didn’t have any other characters added after “Fang.”

He and Wei Congying went abroad to study after graduating from junior high school. It wasn’t because they worshiped foreigners, but mainly because the pressure of domestic competition was too great. Although the two of them were not stupid, they were not extremely smart either. Following their current trend, at best they would attend the most ordinary university, and then continue to spend money on good-looking academic qualifications.

After they finished high school, they applied to domestic universities, and their relative admission scores were a little lower than the minimum passing scores of students in the domestic college entrance examination.

Lin Fang looked at the cards in his hand, and continued: “Later, we graduated smoothly…”

Shi Yun let out a cry, and then threw out the last pair of twos in her hand: “I won.”

Lin Fang looked at the stack of cards in his hand: “I haven’t even played mine yet, my cards are so good, shoot, look, there aren’t any small or scattered cards.”

There was no use in having good cards if there was no opportunity to play them.

Lin Fang threw away the cards: “I’m not going to chat anymore. I have to concentrate on playing cards. If you want to know more then go ask Wei Congying yourself, later.”

The staff stood by and dealt the cards, and Shi Yun played one of the dealt cards: “I didn’t ask.”

Due to the deviation in the strength and angle of the staff’s dealing and throwing of the two cards, one of Shi Yun’s cards and one of Wei Congying’s cards were put together.

Shi Yun took away the card that was closest to her. It was a bad card that was utterly useless.

Wei Congying took the other card and was about to turn it over when he saw Shi Yun frowning with a disdainful expression on her face due to having gotten a bad card, and pushed the card towards her, jokingly asking, as if he didn’t know: “Do you want to switch?”

The author has something to say:

Believe me, they’ll be together soon.

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Translator Note:

So… the player get’s played? Is that what this is? Also, dear author, this doesn’t look as if they’re going to get together anytime soon to me.

Question to the readers here, did you like the paragraph chunks(Chapters 1-9) or do you prefer them broken up(Chapter 10-11) like they are now?

Leave a comment down below to tell me what you think!