My dad and my mum stayed for three days, then returned to their old home upon despising that the apartment was truly very crammed. These few days, Jiang Chen upon getting off work obediently came to my house to help my mum do some chores of washing the vegetables and picking out the edible part of vegetables, and accompany my dad to watch sports matches and play chess, he looked hundred percent the part of a filial obedient child. Only when he saw me in private would he always give me attitude, most likely he was still angry about that matter of me chasing him home that day.
Early in the morning today, Fu Pei upon entering the office told us in high spirits that he had issued our salaries delayed from two months ago. Lately, the company always couldn't receive large orders, Situ Mo and I saw this clearly, yet we all didn't comment much, Situ Mo wasn't waiting for money to spend, I could endure and scrape by, so there was no need to make things difficult for the company. Words such as "the company is my home" were too pretentious, but the three of us really were the chief founding figures of this company, in other words, the scale of this company, had never expanded before too…… Forget it, in Situ Mo's words, our feelings towards this company were just as if it was our own child that we brought up, no matter how ugly they grew to be, we could only bear with it.
After getting off work, as I passed by the ATM, I wanted to check my pay in passing, but despite inserting in the card, the password was always wrong, seeing that the card was about to be swallowed again in a moment, I withdrew the card, only then did I realise that it was Jiang Chen's card. Hence, I inserted it back in again, inputted the last 6 digits of my mobile phone number, after that, I while still alive was so intimidated by the figure inside till I laid on my stomach on top of the ATM. I only hoped that the people passing by wouldn't think that I was molesting the ATM……
I searched out my mobile phone and called Jiang Chen, the tooting sounds rang for a very long time before it was answered, "What's this about?"
"Can't I not make a telephone call to you (even if) there's nothing?"
"What's the matter exactly? I'm very busy."
"It's nothing." I said unhappily.
"If there's nothing, I'm hanging up."
Hence, the call was cut off with a chirping sound, what a miser.
What had I wanted to ask him originally? Oh, ask him from when till when was the amount of wages in his credit card for, if it was for two to three months, I would immediately go back and puncture the condoms in our house, get pregnant with his son and marry him.
Unfortunately the phone had been hung up, I whose facial skin was as thin as prata, had better wait for ten minutes more before calling him again.
However, I had only walked for a few steps, when my mobile phone in my bag rang again. It was the individualised ringtone I had set for Jiang Chen, Mayday's* "Like Smoke", repeating those few lines - "That year when I was 7 years old, I grabbed hold of that cicada, and thought I could grab hold of summer, that year when I was 17 years old, I'd kissed his face, then thought I could be together with him forever, is there that sort of forever, where there will forever be no change, where the beauty that has been embraced before would never shatter……" (T/N: A famous Taiwanese band)
That year when I was 17 years old, I had kissed his face. When I had kissed his face, it was Senior Year 3, (I was) 18 years old.
That was a summer day that was the most sultry and jittery in my memory, as to why I said it was most sultry and jittery, perhaps it was because it was Senior Year 3, my emotions would amplify the weather.
That day, the sun was so fierce it seemed like it was going to broil the earth till it melted, a group of cicadas on the ends of the branches were howling as if it were a funeral, I lay on my stomach on the desk, bored to death, fixating my gaze on two large ceiling fans at the top of the classroom creaking and groaning as they turned. Someone walked past the entrance of the classroom, I aimed a look, it wasn't Jiang Chen. Back and forth, more than ten people walked by, only then did I see Jiang Chen walk past, he had a habit of looking straight ahead when he walked, and never looked around to his left and right. I randomly grabbed an exercise booklet , then dashed out from the back of the classroom, jumped in front of him and called loudly, "Hey!"
He took two steps back, and rolled his eyes, "Lame."
I followed behind him, beaming as I asked, "Jiang Chen Jiang Chen, I'll go to your classroom to study, okay?"
"Not okay."
I followed behind him, guaranteeing, "I'll definitely not disturb you, I also won't ask you about questions I don't know, really."
He snorted twice and continued to walk ahead, when we reached his class, I unexpectedly discovered that there was not a single person from his class, I asked in bafflement, "ee? Why is there no one in your class?"
"Our form teacher is moving dorm rooms, they've all gone to help," he said.
"Then why didn't you go?"
"What's it got to do with you?" He rummaged out a book of '38 Sets of English Gaokao Papers" and began doing questions.
I faced him as I sat in the seat in front of him, and said as I bit on the end of my pen, "It's also good if you don't go, I'm advantaged."
He lifted his eyes and glared at me, "Can you be anymore thick-skinned."
I curled my lip, lowered my head and flipped through my book, discovering that the exercise booklet I had grabbed randomly was a Mathematics one, this dammed thing that was like illegible writing……
The weather was outrageously hot, after I finished doing a question while chewing on the end of my pen, I raised my head to look at Jiang Chen, I didn't know when he had unexpectedly already leaned on the school desk and fallen asleep, there was a thin layer of sweat floating on the tip of his nose and his forehead, yet miraculously, it appeared to be especially cooling, just like a cup of ice water emitting cold vapour all around, causing one to cannot help but want to get close to draw in a trace of coolness. As if I was incited by demons and gods, I moved closer to him and gave him a peck on his cheek, my action so soft and my speed so quick that it was as if a gentle breeze had brushed past, but yet he opened his eyes, a pair of black and bright eyes were staring at me, motionless. I felt that the nerve endings on his face were really exceptionally sensitive.
He said, what are you doing.
I stared blankly and said, if I say I'm helping you wipe your sweat, would you believe it or not.
He furrowed his brows, his dark and thick eyelashes fluttered twice very quickly, his dimple shallowly floated into appearance on the side of his cheek. I guessed he most likely didn't believe it.
Underneath the table, my hand was wringing the lower hem of my school uniform, as I thought to myself, I'm doomed I'm doomed, will I become the first female student in the history of my school to be twisted and sent to the police station for molesting a male student……
He stared at me for a long time, then he rested his head on his arm and closed his eyes again.
I let out a breath, Jiang Chen suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Quit your bad habit of biting the end of your pen for me!"
My hand that was just subconsciously in the process of sending the pen to my mouth paused in mid-air, you say, this person's eyes suddenly opening and then suddenly closing again, what a pair of eyes that appeared and disappeared unpredictably……
"Chen Xiaoxi!" Following a bellow of utter exasperation, someone pulled on my ponytail from behind my back.
I turned my head, Jiang Chen was pulling on my braid with one hand while waving his mobile phone with the other, "What are you doing not answering my phone calls? Also, why are you standing in the middle of the road in a daze?"
"Why would you be here?" I covered the back of my head with my hand and said, "Don't pull my hair."
He said, "When you called me just a moment ago I was already in the vicinity of this area, tonight my university classmates are having a gathering, they all want me to bring you along."
"Then just a moment ago, why were you asking me so fiercely on the phone? And you even hung up on me?" I lifted the collar of his shirt and said, "This old woman* isn't willing to accompany you to the gathering." (T/N: referring to herself)
He sounded an "oh" to express that he had received (my message), moved away from my hand that was grabbing onto his collar, then turned around and was about to leave, I hurriedly grabbed hold of the sleeve of his shirt, "I'm joking, I'll go I'll go."
After I finished speaking, I even took the initiative to stuff my hand into his palm, "Let's go go go, who are the people who will go? Will Big Senior Apprentice Brother* go or not?" (T/N: 大师兄 (da shixiong)- Big/First Senior Male Fellow Student. 师兄 (shixiong) refers to a male who is older than you who is in the same school/apprenticing under the same master as you. From now on I'll just refer to him as Big Senior for short.)
Jiang Chen gave me a glare, "(Why do) you bother if he is going or not."
Big Senior was two cohorts above us, in those days he was in the same dorm room as Jiang Chen, his appearance if looked at in the present would definitely be a pretty flower boy with an awl-shaped face, but due to the fact that back in those days, our general populace's aesthetic tastes had yet to be aligned with that of Korea and Japan, this resulted in us all being unable to appreciate his beauty, thus we unanimously believed that he looked like a monkey with his pointed mouth and thin cheeks. We even chose a nice-sounding name called 'Beautiful Monkey King', but calling him 'Beautiful Monkey King', 'Beautiful Monkey King' all day long was insulting monkeys a little, so later on we all changed to calling him Big Senior Apprentice Brother*. (T/N: Monkey King also refers to Sun Wukong, the monkey with supernatural powers who is the main character in Journey to the West, one of the Four Classic Novels in Chinese literature. Sun Wukong is also called Big Senior Apprentice Brother, hence the name change.)
During university, my relationship with Big Senior was not bad, because his girlfriend during university was Wang Xiaojuan from our dorm, moreover it was also me who had matchmade them, I was very apologetic. Wang Xiaojuan was well-known for her temper that was like that of a daughter from a rich family, Big Senior was given a such a hard time till he whined incessantly for days, yet he still endured the hardship gladly. Every time he was tormented to a wretched state, he would come and find me to air his grievances, saying, Chen Xiaoxi, if I had known earlier, I would have chased after you, I'll snatch you over from Jiang Chen's hands. I said isn't it so, you're regretting aren't you, I too feel that it's a little wasteful to match myself to Jiang Chen. After that, we would laugh heartily at each other. This was called two poor persons reluctant to admit their mistakes flaunting their wealth.
Big Senior after graduating went to a middle school to be a school doctor, initially he would still return to school frequently to visit us, of course mainly to see Wang Xiaojuan, we heard him speak about how little children nowadays were so perverted, they could give birth to children in the toilet, they weren't even afraid of the child dropping into the hole or anything. Later on Wang Xiaojuan ran off with a Fuerdai*, hence he never appeared again after that. (T/N: Fuerdai - literally means 'rich second generation', a term referring to the children of the nouveau rich in China – Wikipedia)
I often recalled about Big Senior fondly in front of Jiang Chen, saying, why did Big Senior disappear, why doesn't Wang Xiaojuan know to cherish him properly, in the future should any female marry him, it's really that her ancestors have accumulated merit through virtuous actions. Once, I spoke till Jiang Chen said impatiently, Chen Xiaoxi, if you speak long-windedly of him again in the future, I'll throttle you to death.
The gathering was arranged at a KTV place, the moment the door was pushed open, music that could shake the heavens rolled out, quite a few sharp tearing voices were roaring wildly, "We must still love even if we die, it's not satisfactory until we've done it vividly and thoroughly*". Jiang Chen laughed bitterly as he shook his head, using his hands to cover my ears. His mouth was moving, I didn't know what he was saying. (T/N: Lyrics of a famous belting song 'Must still love even if we die" by Shin band, which is often belted out in KTV… often at the expense of others' ears. Listen to it (the chorus) and you'd probably know why. Apparently someone got a pneumothorax (getting air into the lung cavity) and almost died from singing this song and other belting songs before.)
My eyes were sharp, with one glimpse, I saw that one of the persons in "Must still love even if we die" was Big Senior, I pulled off Jiang Chen's hands and swayed them about, "Big Senior."
He gave me a look of disdain.
"Audience, take note, the husband and wife pair of our class monitor has arrived," The person holding the microphone suddenly said, everyone uniformly looked towards the entrance, at the same time, whistling sounds and cheering sounds sprung up from all around. I waved my hands and bellowed loudly, "Classmates, it's been hard on you, I've captured your class monitor again."
The entire room roared with laughter.
Jiang Chen seized my waist and pushed me to walk towards the interior (of the room), the sofas were already almost seated full of people, only after shifting left and right did they manage to pull out two spaces for us to sit down. I'd only just sat down when I was pulled into the embrace of someone beside me, who then kissed me on the forehead with a "pop" sound, "Xiaoxi, my beloved Xiaoxi."
I pushed the person away, then dredged up her face again, after that I hugged her again while calling loudly, "Snowman, snowman."
Jiang Chen pulled at my shirt collar to pull me away, "You're almost about to strangle Xue Jing* to death." (T/N: Xue, Xue Jing's surname, means 'snow', hence the nickname 'snowman'.)
My relations with Jiang Chen's fellow students in his class were especially good, so much so that they were even better than my relations with the students in my own class, and Xue Jing was with no doubt the person whom I had the best relations with, because she said I had worth that could be exploited…… Xue Jing was the nominal publicity committee member of their class, 'nominal' because should their class have any activities, the publicity prints and pamphlets were always done by me.
Xue Jing pinched my face as she scolded, "You still have the nerve to come? You won't even answer my calls after breaking up with Jiang Chen, is that right?"
My hand tugged at Jiang Chen behind me, "Save me, save me."
He swatted (my hand) away, "Serves you right."
Suddenly, a sharp ear-piercing electric current came through the sound system, most likely someone's microphone had paired with the speakers. With a bang, Big Senior who had originally been singing his songs elatedly and excitedly suddenly for who knows what reason tossed his microphone to the floor, and rushed towards the toilet urgently while swearing.
I looked at Xue Jing puzzledly, she sneered as she pointed at the direction Big Senior was running to and said, "Must still love even when we die, for this sort, they all will have to die even if they love."
I wanted to ask more closely, however Jiang Chen suddenly stooped to beside my ear and asked, "You haven't eaten dinner, I'll order a bowl of beef noodles for you?"
I covered my ears with my hands and turned my head to glare at him, "It's really ticklish, I want to add a lot of coriander."
He rapped my head once, "Are you treating this as ordering dishes in a restaurant?"
I turned my head back and continued asking, "What happened to Big Senior?"
Xue Jing was holding a cup full of beer and blowing at the alcoholic foam on top, she replied me absent-mindedly, "What else can it be for, dashing towards the toilet, he's releasing memory*." (T/N: referring to computer memory)
"Releasing memory?" I couldn't understand momentarily.
She gave me a look that said 'why are you so stupid', and said, "Aren't the excrement of humans equal to the memory of computers."
Having heard what had been said, the computer was choked with sobs.
Translator’s Corner:
Omo I’m so sorry guys that this update is late… I was suddenly swamped with things to do on Monday and Tuesday ): Please forgive me!
For anyone who’s curious, this is the song that Xiaoxi set as her individualised ringtone for Jiang Chen: ‘Like Smoke (如烟)' by Mayday 五月天
Most likely as a nod to this part of the novel, this song actually also features in the drama! Guess where?
Answer: It’s actually playing (silently) in the background during this scene in the KTV in episode 17, hehe. 🙂