Chapter 8

Chapter 8 A Good Morning

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Yu Dong worked in a radio station not far from the apartment complex she lived in. There was a night bus that directly took her there and was only a half hour’s drive.

A DJ’s working hours can be very flexible, and Yu Dong’s midnight program lasts from 12:00 to 2:00 a.m.

Everyday Yu Dong would leave at 11:00 p.m., take the bus to the radio station, host the program, then get home at around 3:00 a.m. afterward.

Xia Feng who had recently only worked the night shift didn’t know that Yu Dong would leave every night for work. He would come back early in the morning and simply figured she was still in bed. So with two people who had been sharing a home for so long, one didn’t deliberately explain, and the other didn’t deliberately ask. Xia Feng thought that Yu Dong was still looking for a job, as she was a recent graduate.

The night breeze was cool. When Yu Dong went to work this night, she put on her newly bought shawl. The bus appeared at the entrance of her apartment complex just on time.

Yu Dong’s driver smiled as she swiped her card to get on the bus.

“Girl, off to work again tonight?” Bus drivers travel long distances with different people every day. It’s actually a pretty lonely profession, so they like chatting with regulars.

“Yes.”

“Is it still at 2:00 at the gates of the radio station?”

“Yes, I won’t be late today.” Yu Dong smiled, took out a cup of hot coffee that she had brought and handed it to the driver, “Thank you for waiting for me yesterday.”

“Yesterday, Yu Dong came out of the station 2 minutes late. She thought she had missed the bus, but when she passed the gate, she saw the bus on the opposite side of the road, the driver waving at her. Yu Dong’s mood then was as warm as the hot coffee she was now holding.

“Coffee, just the thing to keep me from falling asleep!” The driver smiled brightly.

Yu Dong also laughed, and continued further into the bus, finding a seat.

The night bus was usually very fast. Sometimes when the driver sees nobody under the stop sign, he would just continue to drive without stopping. Occasionally, a few people working night shifts get on the bus.

After two stops, the bus opened its doors, and a middle-aged man wearing a suit came up. He swiped his card, footsteps staggering, and passed Yu Dong to sit on the chair behind her, emitting a strong smell of smoke and wine.

Yu Dong quietly opened her window, trying to disperse the strong smell of wine, but perhaps because he was sitting too close to her, the thick smell of smoke made her want to choke. After a few minutes, Yu Dong decided to sit in a different seat.

Moments later, as she attempted to stand, her clothes seemed to be pulled by something. Looking back, Yu Dong found the man, who was probably too tired and fell asleep, leaning on top of her shawl.

Yu Dong thought about it, but in the end didn’t wake the man, simply taking off her shawl and went to sit on the other side of the bus.

The neon lights outside the window seemed more gorgeous during the dark night, but the obvious fatigue of the people outside was too stark of a contrast. It made Yu Dong feel as if she had returned to 10 years ago, to the Yu Dong who went to work and stayed until 1 or 2 a.m., the Yu Dong who was like a cutthroat female general. The old Yu Dong who would fall asleep on the bus, how many times had she been woken by the bus driver at the terminal? When she had started making money, she began to drink Chinese medicine to regulate and nourish her stomach.

“The next stop is the radio station!”

Hearing the reminder, Yu Dong stood up, returned to her seat and patted the man gently on the shoulder.

The man opened his eyes and was somewhat confused as he looked up to Yu Dong. After a while, he finally realized that he was laying on top of other people’s clothes. He immediately blushed in embarrassment and apologized, “Excuse me! I didn’t mean to crush your clothes!”

Yu Dong took back her shawl and said softly, “Never mind! Where are you getting off? I can see how tired you look. Be careful when you leave the bus stop.”

“Chuansha Road!” The man laughed, “I can’t believe I had to think for half a year to remember this.”

Yu Dong nodded and walked to the front of the bus to get off. As the bus stopped, she glanced back to see the man had fallen asleep again. Yu Dong quietly said to the bus driver: “Sir, the gentleman at the back is getting off at Chuansha Road, can you please remind him?”

The driver looked back and nodded with a smile.

Yu Dong shrugged off her long-lost memories, smiled and pulled her shawl on, now smelling like wine. She entered the radio station.

“Here you are!” In addition to the building security, the only person in the station during this time was her co-worker Senior Yu, who was responsible for transferring audience calls. Senior Yu was a middle-aged man in his forties with a good temperament and has been working in this station for more than 10 years.

“Senior Yu, I brought you snacks.” Yu Dong smiled and placed the snacks she had bought downstairs on the other person’s table.

“Oh, this young girl treats me well.” Senior Yu happily accepted the snacks and started to eat.

Yu Dong laughed and said nothing else, she placed down her bag, tidied up a little, and went into the recording booth. She planned to start as soon as the airing program ended.

00:00:00

“Hello everyone, this is FM9666, welcome to Midnight Phantom, this is DJ Fish Jelly.” The program officially started, and after she had skillfully read the opening line, she began to broadcast a song.

(T/N her name can be directly translated into fish frozen, but her DJ name had different characters, despite having the same meaning. So I took the other meaning ‘jelly’ as it sounded nicer for a DJ name?)

“This song is for every person who’s still on their way home. May this song accompany you, so you no longer have to be alone.” A homey song was playing and was sent to every wireless platform tuning in to her program.

“Tonight, it seems that someone finally sent us a message to ask a question.” After a few clicks, the display in front of Yu Dong displayed the message, “This listener friend asked me ‘Why is this program called Midnight Phantom? the midnight phantom is a horror film, shouldn’t you be telling ghost stories?’ ”

Yu Dong smiled and said, “The name of this program has nothing to do with the movie Phantom of Midnight. This program, as its name implies, features a beautiful figure at midnight. Where’s this beautiful figure you might ask? your DJ Fish Jelly, a beautiful woman, is here ah…”

“Well, I don’t have much else to say, the time has come for any of our listener friends to call. Interested friends can call and chat with Fish Jelly. Any topic, even ghost stories, can be requested!” Yu Dong said, “Of course, I can continue to play songs. If there aren’t any friends in the audience, this  Fish will simply continue to send songs to everyone.”

After that, Yu Dong looked up towards Senior Yu. She thought that Senior Yu would shrug and shake his head like usual, indicating no calls, but unexpectedly the phone rang, and Senior Yu signaled at her.

Yu Dong turned around again: “OK, let’s now answer the phone call from our first listener friend.”

“Hello!”

“Good Sister Fish Jelly!” a crisp female voice came from the other end of the phone, and the voice indicated the caller couldn’t be older than a student.

“What’s the name of this Sister?”

“I…Can I not say my name?” This young girl sounded timid- as if she was afraid fish jelly would get angry.

“Certainly, but for the convenience’s sake, can I call you Beautiful?” Fish Jelly laughed and said, “Beautiful, are you still a student?”

“Yes, I’m in Grade One this year.”

“Freshman, why are you awake at such a late hour? Are you lovelorn?” Fish Jelly guessed.

As she looked down towards her screen, messages piled up, saying that Fish Jelly was irresponsible, butting in on some teenage puppy love.

Senior Yu frowned and waved his hand.

Fish Jelly saw this but ignored it.

“No, no!” Beautiful cried out.

“Ha, I’m joking. Then classmate Beautiful, are you troubled about something?” This was her first ever caller, so Fish Jelly was very patient.

“I… I’m about to transfer again.”

“Transfer? Not willing to part with former classmates?” Fish Jelly guesses.

“No…no!” Beautiful refuted, then burst into tears. “I don’t want to go to school. I transferred so many times already. Every time I come to a new school, my classmates end up bullying me. My parents helped me transfer when they found out, but every new school is the same. I don’t want to live like this…why do they bully me? wuu….”

The girl’s voice full of grievance spread throughout the small booth.

“Beauty! Miss Beautiful!” Fish Jelly had to call out to the little girl twice before she managed to stop crying. Fish Jelly then said, “Beautiful, do you want to know what kind of person isn’t easily bullied?”

“What kind?” The little girl’s voice was like a whisper.

“A person who laughs easily, who’s brave, optimistic, generous.” Fish Jelly said this with a calm voice and continued. “A person who scolds back when scolded, hits back when hit, and when called crazy, crazily runs to the teacher’s office. A person who doesn’t cry, doesn’t show weakness, a person who isn’t afraid of teachers.”

“……”

Numerous messages flooded the computer, some cursing Fish Jelly for teaching bad habits to children, but some were also saying that what she said was good.

“Never cry in front of those bullies, even when you feel sad or hurt.” Then Fish Jelly asked, “Can you be that person?”

“I… me? ”

“Yes?”

“I… I’ll try!

“Beautiful, put on your favorite clothes tomorrow, go to school with a smile, and make yourself queen from tomorrow onward. Noble, beautiful, powerful!” Fish Jelly said, “That’s how you’ll find your knight in shining armor!”

“I… can I?”

“You’re a queen!” Fish Jelly said with conviction.

“Yeah!” The little girl cried out and with confidence shouted: “I am a queen! I’m not transferring!”

After the call ends, Fish Jelly ignores all the other messages coming in and started another song.

When the program finished, Senior Yu rushed to Yu Dong and scolded, “How can you talk like that? This is radio, radio, your words are being broadcasted live. How can you teach bad things to children?”

“What bad things? I clearly taught her to resist school violence.” Yu Dong continued to say, “That little girl was in such a bad mental state that am I not a good person for doing such a good deed?”

“You…I know you meant well, but look at the things you said, this is your first job, so you probably don’t know the horror of public opinion…”

“Well, no matter, only a few people actually listen to our program! based on the messages, you could probably only count up to 100 listeners!” Yu Dong didn’t really care, “If we do get blowback, it just means that our program is on fire!”

“Yu Dong, ah…” Senior Yu wanted to continue lecturing but was interrupted.

“Gee, I’m going to miss my bus…” Yu Dong said this, picked up her bag and ran away.

Senior Yu could only shake his head and sigh.

The bus arrived just on time and when Yu Dong stepped into the bus found that it was carrying one of her listeners.

“I just listened to your show!” The bus driver laughed.

“Ah??”

“Aren’t you DJ Fish Jelly of Midnight Phantom?” The driver searched for the FM of her radio station during his break at the bus terminal. “I recognized your voice!”

Yu Dong nodded with a smile.

The things you said in your show was perfect. That person needs to be self-reliant and improve on her own so that she can stand up to bullies. Her parents transferring her only cured the symptoms and not the root cause.” The driver sighed.

“I thought so too!”

“Haha, from now on, I’ll be your loyal listener!” The bus driver uncle said happily.

“Do you want an autograph? When I become popular, you can sell it for good money!”

“Haha…”

Happily chatting during the whole ride, Yu Dong soon arrived at the entrance of her apartment complex.

Xia Feng was on the day shift today, but the hospital’s schedule was often irregular. During day shifts he would usually come home after 11:00 p.m., but it seemed that he had just arrived, as the lights were on when Yu Dong opened the front door.

“How come you were out?”

The apartment had two rooms and a living room, but the living room was very spacious, so Xia Feng created a small study space near the balcony, and was currently sitting behind his desk frowning when she came in.

“Why are you still awake when it’s so late?” Yu Dong was also surprised to see Xia Feng.

“Where did you go?” Xia Feng put down the file in his hand, and his voice was full of worry. “It’s not safe for a girl to be out so late.”

Yu Dong bent down to change slippers and answered, “I just got off work! I rode a direct bus, so it’s safe.”

“Got off work? What kind of job did you get, ending so late?”

Yu Dong finally remembered that she never talked with Xia Feng about her work, so she poured herself a glass of water, sat opposite Xia Feng and said, “I’ve totally forgotten to tell you. I studied broadcasting and hosting in university, and now I’m a DJ on the radio. I’m in charge of a midnight program, so I finish so late.”

“The downtown radio and television station?”

“Un.” Yu Dong nodded.

“It’s still unsafe for you to be out so late, you should take the car.” Xia Feng thought about it.

“That would be nice, but I don’t have a driver’s license!” Of course she had one in the past, but unfortunately, she hasn’t taken the test yet. “Rest assured, I’m friendly with the night bus driver, and riding a bus isn’t much different to a car.”

Xia Feng frowned, still worried, but didn’t know what else to say. In the end, he could only say: “Then go learn and get your driver’s license, and when you get it, you can drive to work.”

“What about you?”

“My dad has another car, I can just drive that one!” Xia Feng said.

Yu Dong nodded, finding that other people worrying about her felt quite good. Seeing Xia Feng look back down to his papers, she became curious: “You still have work tomorrow, why are you staying up so late?”

“I have a conference later in the afternoon. Since it’s been pretty hectic with mom being hospitalized, I never got around to sorting my documents.” Xia Feng explained while looking through his files. “You go ahead and sleep first.”

“Are you translating them?” Yu Dong sees the files in Xia Feng’s hands are in Chinese, but the printer next to him was printing out English text.

“Yes. There are a few experts from America coming tomorrow, and I wanted to translate some key information into English.” Xia Feng was busy and didn’t raise his head.

Seeing a dozen pages spread out, Yu Dong blinked and asked: “Do you want my help? My English is good, and I can sleep during the day.”

Xia Feng looked up at Yu Dong in surprise, while Yu Dong smiled and then went into her room to get her notebook. When she returned, she directly took 5 pages and started translating.

Xia Feng saw that Yu Dong truly wanted to help, and didn’t talk further. It was no problem just going through and rechecking the pages.

In the middle of translating, Yu Dong saw many medical terms she wasn’t familiar with and ended up asking Xia Feng about these words. He took a look and in the end handed Yu Dong a printed list of common nouns.

When morning dawned, they finally managed to finish translating all of Xia Feng’s documents. Yu Dong printed out her pages, handing it to Xia Feng and said, “Check them first, I’ll fix any problems you find.”

Xia Feng took a glance and found that Yu Dong translated the pages very well. He looked up to see her looking a little tired and couldn’t help but feel guilty: “It’s fine, go to sleep first, I can do the rest.”

After thinking about it, Yu Dong nodded, confident about her work and said, “I put the electronic version on my laptop. Just use it directly later, I’ll be going to bed first.”

“You’ve worked hard, and…thank you!”

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Yu Dong who had stood up with both hands on the table, found that their faces were quite close, the small desk between them only making the small distance.

At this moment, the sun was shining through the balcony, caressing Xia Feng’s temples as he looked up at her, and warming Yu Dong’s face.

Maybe it was the sunshine that dazzled her eyes, or Yu Dong was just too sleepy. She leaned down and kissed Xia Feng on the bridge of his nose, bidding him goodnight, and went back into her room to sleep.

Leaving a petrified Xia Feng to basking in the morning light.