She walked out of the fire escape with red eyes. Ji Yanli stood not far away holding her clothes and bag. He Sui and Ning Yanyi had already gone back.
The dinner was ruined. They came out of the mall and did not take a taxi. Instead, they went around to the back of the mall, which was the moat of the capital. The street lights that illuminated the health trail could not reach the moat. They could only see a piece of black lying in the riverbed.
The wind was a little strong tonight. Shi Yun and Ji Yanli walked slowly along the edge of the moat. The wind made Shi Yun’s nose and eyes red.
They didn’t hold hands. They just looked at the road below them, with only the fabric of their coats touching each other from time to time.
In the end, it was Ji Yanli who broke the silence between the two people. He opened his mouth and saw white smoke coming out of his mouth, just like he was smoking.
“I look a bit like your childhood friend.”
When Shi Yun heard his words, he paused. The person beside him continued to walk forward, and they went from walking side by side to walking one in front and one behind.
“Maybe, a little.”
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Kk Zydzk nzldnble bkp bydep kd bkp rsnjlvp y zkvvzl vktbvla: “Fs usw’al okvb xl clnywpl R zssj zkjl uswa nbkzebsse qaklde?”
Kk Zydzk vwadle yaswde yde zssjle yv Fbk Zwd obs oyp y qlo pvlrp clbkde bkx. Tl yeele, “Gdpola xl bsdlpvzu yde esd’v zkl. Gal usw okvb xl clnywpl usw altyae xl yp y pwcpvkvwvl qsa uswa nbkzebsse qaklde?”
Fbk Zwd zssjle yv bkx, yde pweeldzu y pdsoqzyjl qlzz kdvs bla pktbv.
Wasx sdl pdsoqzyjl vs xsal pdsoqzyjlp, pbl zssjle wr yv vbl dktbv pju, wdyczl vs pll oblal vbl pdsoqzyjlp nyxl qasx.
Fbl vkzvle bla blye cynj, yde pdsoqzyjlp qlzz sd vbl nsadlap sq bla lulp. Fbl czkdjle, cwv kv kaakvyvle bla lulp yde nywple vblx vs plnalvl rbupkszstknyz vlyap. Fbk Zwd xshle bla eau zkrp yde pyke, “Ls.”
Mbl ydpola oyp kd qynv, ‘ds’.
Mbl ekpclzklq ynnsxrydkle cu vbl pweeld pwatl sq zlqv Kk Zydzk shlafsule qsa y xsxldv.
Jwv vbl vsanb sq fsu eked’v zypv zsdt. Fbl lmvkdtwkpble vbl vsanb kd yd kdpvydv, cakdtkdt okvb bla okde yde aykd. Fbk Zwd’p lmralppksd yde xshlxldvp alxykdle wdnbydtle. Fbl nsdvkdwle, “Zsw yal xsal zkjl bkp casvbla vbyd zkjl bkx. Tkp casvbla kp xu qkapv zshl.”
–
Life has returned to its previous pattern, and Shi Yun was still either in the library or in the laboratory.
When she got tired of writing her thesis, she would go to the second floor to read poetry collections.
She liked the unique smell of ink and dust in the library. The cleaning lady kept her head down as if ignoring everything and mopped the floor.
Shi Yun leaned against a place where she would not disturb others from looking for books, nor disturb the auntie from cleaning, and casually flipped through Zhu Zhu’s1[1] He is a poet, critic and curator of art exhibitions and has published numerous volumes of poetry and prose. Source: Plume Poetry poetry collection. Suddenly, a hand patted her shoulder. Shi Yun turned around and saw that it was Fu Jing.
They went to the coffee shop in the library, and Shi Yun ordered two lattes. The two of them found an empty seat. Fu Jing came to see her out of the blue, so Shi Yun immediately guessed that it must be about Ji Yanli.
Fu Jing said that Ji Yanli called him last night and sounded very upset. Because Ji Yanli was not in a good state at the time, Fu Jing did not fully understand the how’s and why’s of the incident.
All he could hear was Ji Yanli saying something like Shi Yun used him as a substitute on the other end of the phone.
They were sitting by the window, and could see the artificial lake in the school. Next to the lake was a crooked weeping willow and a row of stone benches. In the early years, before the first renovation of the old campus, there were several dormitory buildings nearby, and students would often lay their quilts on those stone benches.
Later, because of the appearance of the campus, the school no longer allowed students to dry their quilts there.
Shi Yun looked at the cat napping under the willow tree. At the same time, the sunlight shined on her through the window.
Her pupils looked like transparent brown glass beads, and the fine hairs on her face turned into a golden glow outlining her features.
A small drop of water rolled down the wall of the iced latte cup. When she picked up the cup, she could see a small circle-shaped water stain on the table.
“Why do you think someone would need a substitute?” Shi Yun said, retracting her gaze from the window and turning to look at Fu Jing opposite him.
She was waiting for Fu Jing’s answer, but he shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know.
Shi Yun continued, “It’s because people can’t be made into specimens or cloned, because once they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Ji Yanli was not from the capital. He lived in the suburbs of Beijing. Although it bordered the capital, it took more than two hours to drive home.
Shi Yun made a trip to the Polytechnic University to find him before he went home for the New Year.
The door of the boys’ dormitory of their school was open, and the dormitory manager did not restrict anyone’s exit and entry. Fortunately, many students had gone home for the holiday at this time, so her walking around the boys’ dormitory did not cause a sensation.
Ji Yanli’s roommate was shocked when he saw Shi Yun. He recalled how Ji Yanli cried when he came back to the dormitory half a month ago. Because of that, he was not very nice to Shi Yun: “Ji Yanli went to an interview.”
Shi Yun noticed the other party’s attitude but didn’t say anything. After leaving the dormitory building, she waited at the door.
After waiting for an hour, she saw a familiar figure appear at the intersection from afar.
Because of the interview, Ji Yanli was dressed very formally. When he saw Shi Yun, he was very surprised.
Shi Yun came to apologize.
It had been more than half a month since they last met.
The two of them did not stand at the door of the dormitory. Ji Yanli took her to the stands of the playground not far away.
There weren’t many people on campus at this time, and many had already gone on vacation.
The basketball court and the stands were empty.
They sat on plastic chairs in the stands bleached from wind and sun, with several empty seats between them.
Over the past half month, his anger and sadness had gradually subsided. Facing Shi Yun’s apology, he did not feel any joy or relief.
Ji Yanli couldn’t say the three words, “It is okay” easily, but he didn’t want to torture himself and Shi Yun with that incident again.
He didn’t understand much about love. His mother had abandoned them because his father was disabled. Now Ji Yanli himself was cheated of love again, but when he thought about it, could it prove that love was also great? Otherwise, why could Shi Yun love someone to that extent?
It was too complicated.
Just like his feelings at the moment, it’s all a mess of confusion.
But the person next to him seemed to be waiting for his reply. Ji Yanli didn’t say anything. Perhaps he was exhausted by the interview in the morning. Under the double failure of the interview and his relationship, he could only feel tired of his own powerlessness.
Ji Yanli sighed and stood up: “Shi Yun, go. I forgive you. I will pray that the next time you fall in love, you fall in love with that person instead of your first love. Let’s not have another person like me, and have one less person like you.”
The author has something to say:
The outline of Wei Congying’s facial features is very similar to the white moonlight. Mr Unfortunate is just a bit similar in the upper half of his face. But if you disregard their facial features, Wei Congying doesn’t look like the white moonlight, and Mr. Unfortunate looks more like the white moonlight.
If you have read Second and Third Place2[2] This is one of the author’s other novels., you may know that Wu Tai3[3] He was referenced earlier in this chapter, in the news excerpt. also appears in a few episodes in that book. Anyway, he is the main villain.
Notes:
[1] He is a poet, critic and curator of art exhibitions and has published numerous volumes of poetry and prose. Source: Plume Poetry
[2] This is one of the author’s other novels.
[3] He was referenced earlier in this chapter, in the news excerpt.
Translator Corner:
Hmm, so I’m quite curious to know what relevance this Wu Tai has to her reaction and how it affected her decision to take him on the double date. The fact that the author specifically goes out of their way to comment about him seems very suspicious. So he must have some importance. ヾ(-᷅_-᷄)
Oh My God, we’re FINALLY getting to the part described in the summary!!!!! See you next chapter!
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