A Love so Beautiful

A Love So Beautiful (致我們單純的小美好) Novel Translation – Excerpt

November 30, 2017

Excerpt:

Television and novels label us boys and girls who are friends, and live awfully close together since
young as “childhood sweethearts”, moreover, they generally divide it into two categories: One, the
“in love with each other” type. Two people who are close together like siblings, poking
honeycombs and getting stung by bees together, stealing sweet potatoes and getting beaten
together. By the time the two would look back, only then would they realize that the friendship
from long ago has slowly blossomed into love. The other one is the “sees and hates each other”
type. Two people who opposes the other with equal intensity, already itching to rush ahead to bite
the other when spotted from a distance. When they get the chance, they’d pull the tire valve of
each other’s bikes. But later on, when the two would grow up, they would suddenly realize — ah!
this is true love.

Unfortunately, Jiang Chen and I are neither of the above mentioned. In a very long time, me and
him were simply just neighbors who live across each other. Him playing his piano daily, me
watching Chibi Maruko-chan with gusto. Occasionally, when I forget the content in our
homework, I would press the doorbell of their house. He would always mock me, and impatiently
ask why I didn’t remember.

Probably, because I’m seeking out a favor, so I never bickered with him. Of course, it might also
be because I don’t like to argue with people since young. I’m someone calm and collected, a little
bit extraordinarily.

———————————
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 1
December 15, 2017

Old Chen, aka my dad, formally retired February of this year. After a lifetime of doing hard
labour, Old Chen spent half a month idling at home but couldn’t sit still. It so happened that the
Senior Citizen’s club in our town was recruiting members, so off he went. Once he got there, he
then found out that his 50-something age was considered the young backbone in the Senior
Citizen’s club where the average age is 70. Because of that, Old Chen’s passion from long ago was
ignited. Every day, he’d be pedalling his bike towards the club to organize their recreational
activities. This kind of passion, is the kind that has been burning for years.

It’s just that his passion also hasn’t been burning for quite some time, and had only given him an
initial show of strength for the first few years. This old man got on a stool to hang their activity
banner when his foot landed on air and fell down.

When I got a call from my mom, I was on the highway, looking out at the billboards. My entire
body broke out into a cold sweat though it was one sunny day. Even though I was always being
beaten by Old Chen when I was young, I was also thinking of beating him too as soon as I grew
up. But despite that, I really love him.

On the way to the hospital, I kept on crying while talking endlessly with the cab driver about how
good my dad is. The driver, a 7-feet tall sturdy-looking man, was moved by me and floored the
gas all the way. When I paid him, he offered to just dismiss the remaining fare, and told me,
“Young child, remember my plate number, XXXX, by all means, don’t flag down my cab again. I
have a blabbermouth wife and mom at home so when I listen to other people talking nonstop I
can’t help but tremble. Forgive me, I wish your father a speedy recovery.”　　

………

I rushed inside the hospital crying, when I got there my mom was peeling apples while scolding
my dad: “Your weary old body is still considered backbone? Fall one more time and I’ll push you
straight to cremation. Your backbone (gu gan) I’ll upgrade it into bone ash (gu hui).

I held unto the door frame in tears: “Mom, how’s dad?”

Mom looked up at me, “Oh, stop crying, what are you crying for, I’ve endured so much to raise
you just so your face won’t be covered in snot and tears.”

I held back my tears and went over to sympathize with the old man who has been oppressed for
such a long time: “Dad, are you alright?”

My dad looked helplessly at the apple mom was holding: “No, your mom already peeled three
apples, and didn’t even give me one to eat.”

I think there’s no way of knowing things from their mouth，I simply picked up the thermos and
said: “I’ll go get hot water.”

I went straight to the nurse’s station carrying the thermos and didn’t mind my mom who was
crying out behind me: “This damn child, the thermos is full!”

Probably because I looked too menacing, the nurse quickly got the doctor. The doctor described
my dad’s condition with a blank face, said the fall affected his lower back — the vertebra was
compressing the nerves. In other words, he needs to go through surgery, and made me prepare
30,000 bucks.

I asked the doctor a few specific questions but he gave me a pointed look, “If I tell you, you still
wouldn’t understand, just prepare the money alright? Leave the rest to us doctors.”　　

I asked again: “Then, when’s the surgery?”

He said impatiently: “Line up, when it reaches your turn then we’ll do it.”

I was itching to cough out a big mouthful of thick phlegm on his face, and then tell him, “Sorry, I
have tuberculosis.”

But I couldn’t, I could only fish out a few hundred bills from my pocket, and force it on him,
“Then, I can only bother you to take care of it……”

He glared at me and pushed away the money: “What are you doing! I understand your sentiments
as a family member but this is against the hospital regulations! You really don’t have to worry, I
will find time to give you a detailed explanation.”

I felt so ashamed. I thought that I indeed unfairly judged a noble person with my own narrow
mind. Some doctors were really just born with a bad temper. As I was deeply reflecting on my
own personality, the doctor then turned to leave, but before leaving, he raised his chin and gave
me a meaningful look. I pondered if he was having cramps or if he was implying something else
for quite a while. Until I imitated his action and raised my chin, only then did I understand. A
camera was mounted on the wall……

I was just about to ask the nurse where the doctor’s office was when my phone rang. I took it out
and looked at it. My heartbeat quickly went downhill at lightning speed as if stepping on an
accelerator that I’ve almost wanted to go to to the Cardiology department and check my pulse.

Jiang Chen, my ex-boyfriend.

I politely picked up the phone, shaking: “Hello?”

I’ve been saying hello for a very long time, but all I could hear was a bunch of random noise, it
seems like he just accidentally pressed the phone. I was gonna hang up the call but I heard a
delicate female voice saying, “Doc, I’m having chest pain.”

I just remembered how Jiang Chen as a doctor now, is said to have a bit of reputation. I hung up
the phone, confused for a while, my final decision, if I have to wallow in the darkness of our
motherland’s healthcare system, might as well be transferred to the hospital where Jiang Chen is.
During those days I’ve helped him peel around a thousand tea eggs so he has to consider that
somehow.

I went back to tell my mom regarding this matter, and she told me: “Jiang Chen, that kid whom
you were in a puppy love with back then?”

Uh……..your memory sure knows the more important parts.

Mom asked again: “If we go to the hospital he’s at, will he help us? I mean does both of you still
have mutual affection?”

Truly a “hit the nail on the head” question, I stammered: “He will help us that’s for sure, it’s just
that……..”

“Just what?”

“It’s only that, things are a bit like something ‘scissors can’t sever, and when sorted out, is tangled
again*.” (T/N: too complicated)

The old lady scoffed: “Stop using big words on me. Can’t cut with scissors then shave it all up!
You are going to contact him right now. Your dad must be transferred tomorrow. I can’t stand that
bastard doctor here anymore.　　

I was expecting for my mom to tell me lovingly that her child really has integrity, ex-boyfriends
and what not, we shouldn’t go bother, I really overestimated my mom.

Jiang Chen showed no hints of being surprised when he got my call that it makes me want to
become a doctor, so used to seeing strong winds and big waves*, even dead bodies and internal
organs don’t scare him, how can I, an ex-girlfriend, scare him. (T/N: difficulties, struggles)

I was stuttering when I explained the situation to him all the way through, and managed to tell
him: “Is it okay to transfer my dad to your hospital?”

“Okay.” He replied concisely that I was too ashamed to mention the thing about peeling tea eggs.

He added: “Get everything ready, I’ll find an ambulance to pick up your dad for the transfer.”
Finally, he was silent for a long time, and then asked me: “You okay?”

Okay.

After hanging up the phone, I clutched my chest and leaned against the wall of the lobby,
breathing heavily. A young nurse next to me helped me up: “Are you alright?”

I shook my head, although feeling very glad that I had long last seen the light of humanity in this
hospital.

She then went on: “Who did you just call? Seems like you’re going to be transferred, am I right?
Which hospital do you know the higher-ups? Introduce me okay? I only have a month before I
finish my internship yet I haven’t found a hospital who would hire me. Can you help me? My
grades are actually very good, it’s just that I don’t want to accompany hospital directors to bed.”

There’s really no other way but for me to be entangled with her, so without any better option I
said: “Actually, that person I called is a janitor in a hospital, I promised to accompany him to bed,
so he promised to help me ask around and see if I could transfer.

………

Three hours later, Jiang Chen, with an ambulance whizzed in front of me. I haven’t seen him in 3
years yet I didn’t dare look up to get a good look at him. I just kept on staring at what seems like a
quite expensive fountain pen in the pocket of his white coat. I don’t know if he already learnt how
to write the new characters used in medicine.

When I was at university, I’ve always been worried about Jiang Chen, for fear that his beautiful
penmanship’s small script would face difficulties in the medical profession. In order for him to
achieve a penmanship that would let him evade responsibility even if he prescribed the wrong
drug, I once forced him to copy my penmanship. It’s a pity that in the end, he failed to learn its
true essence.

Discharging procedures, admitting procedures, Jiang Chen arranged everything by himself. My

mom and I were terribly idle, just chatting near the hospital entrance, each with an apple.

Mom said: “This young man is indeed whom I looked after growing up, really good.”

She made it sound like she should be given credit for looking after him while growing up because
he turned out be a good young man, really shameless.

She added: “Such good thing, how did you miss it back then? You’ve almost succeeded.”

I took a bite out of the apple: “Dad is bored being alone in the ambulance, you go eat an apple and
make him watch.”

Mom heaved a sigh, then gladly and diligently went to where the ambulance was, yelling while
running: “Old man, your daughter made me eat an apple for you to watch.”

Jiang Chen was holding a large document and some small receipts when he chanced upon this
scene, he smiled and looked skeptically at me: “You’re really too filial.”

I looked up at him, he was slightly bent over in front of me, bowing his head to look at me. The
tips of his hair that was drooping over were glowing in the morning light. He smiled at me like
how he used to, his left cheek squeezing out a deep dimple, it was as though we just ate and
watched movies together yesterday.

I averted my gaze, this is a sinister dimple. Back then my little heart was drunk and fell in this
dimple. Now that I think about it, this pit in his face was a giant fraud.

Jiang Chen’s existence used to be just like one of those lamp post in the alley. He lives in the
house across ours, the mayor’s son, class monitor, looks good, plays the piano, writes calligraphy,
has good grades, and speaks nice Mandarin.　

Television and novels label us boys and girls who are friends, and live awfully close together since
young as “childhood sweethearts”, moreover, they generally divide it into two categories: one, the
“in love with each other” type. Two people who are close together like siblings, poking
honeycombs and getting stung by bees together, stealing sweet potatoes and getting beaten
together. By the time the two would look back, only then would they realize that the friendship
from long ago has slowly blossomed into love. The other one is the “sees and hates each other”
type. Two people who opposes the other with equal intensity, already itching to rush ahead to bite
the other when spotted from a distance. When they get the chance, they’d pull the tire valve of
each other’s bikes. But later on, when the two would grow up, they would suddenly realize — Ah!
This is true love.

Unfortunately, Jiang Chen and I are neither of the above mentioned. In a very long time, me and
him were simply just neighbours who live across each other. Him playing his piano daily, me
watching Chibi Maruko-chan with gusto. Occasionally, when I’d forget the content in our
homework, I would press the doorbell of their house. He would always mock me, and impatiently
ask why I didn’t remember. Probably, because I’m seeking out a favour, so I never bickered with
him. Of course, it might also be because I don’t like to argue with people since young. I’m
someone calm and collected, a bit extraordinarily.

Summer vacation of 2nd year middle school going 3rd year, our class secretly organized a picnic
after the exams. During the picnic, Jiang Chen and I was assigned to wash the sweet potatoes.
There were 40 people in our class but we bought 44 sweet potatoes. Jiang Chen just washed those
four extra sweet potatoes, and after that, played skipping stones with the boys on the side.
I was crouching at the lakeside, forced to keep my anger in check as I was washing the potatoes.
The more I wash, the more I get mad. By then a small slab of rock was dropped right in front of
me and splashed me on the face. As I looked up, Jiang Chen looked nonchalant as though nothing
has happened. He raised his hand, and a stone skipped across the water surface, piercing its
stillness in beautiful four successive skips, along with it were ripples of varying sizes, colliding
together and then dissolving.

It’s pretty logical that I should’ve scolded him, splashed water on him, pressed his head into the
water, or perhaps, pushed him into the lake to drown.

But I did nothing. I just stared at him with a silly look on my face.

The breeze lifted his loose, white school uniform. The sun casting a golden light on his lashes and
the tips of his hair. The slightly raised corner of his mouth was squeezing out a proud smile on his
left cheek.

Right then, time and space froze leaving only the thumping of my heart.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 2
December 16, 2017

After summer, we stepped into the busy year of Junior 3. I have always prioritized important
matters above everything else, hence things like immersing myself in romantic love were
promptly kicked to a side. Plus, Meteor Garden was airing fervently back then, so I changed to
being crazy about Dao Ming Si instead.

The event that caused me to confirm my resolution to have being infatuated/fangirling over Jiang
Chen as my life goal happened half a year later. The night before the mock exams, amidst my
mom’s beatings and scoldings of, “How did I raise up such a forgetful pig-headed daughter like
you?!”, I hurriedly rushed to the Xue You* Bookshop to buy the 2B pencils I needed to shade the
OAS for my mock exams the next day. (T/N: direct translation of Xue You – study friend)

Even though Xue You Bookstore claims to be a bookstore, but it sells a variety of things – from
books and stationery to stickers and toys, basically, whatever was trending among students, it
would sell. Later on after muddling through life in the outside world, I discovered that the two
words “Xue You” was a name that all non-franchise stationery shops and book shops in the
country liked to use. I didn’t know if this was because this name would cause numerous students
to feel a sense of familiarity akin to seeing a friend, or if it was because everyone was lazy to
come up with names. But if there was a day where I decide to give back to society, I would also
want to open a Xue You shop, on the surface it would sell books and stationery, but it would
actually be a centre of students to pay a fee and make friends, especially female students, though if
there were special requests, we could also sell male students at a high price.

I entered Xue You and grabbed a bunch of 2B pencils. At that point in time, using computers to
mark papers had just come into vogue. I thought that the 2B pencil would appreciate in price in
the near future, and I had to stock up. But the truth proved otherwise. While the price of pencils
did rise by ten cents, there were many pencils specially made for shading the OAS that were
produced. While everyone else was using mechanical pencils to shade their OAS, I still had to
pitifully use a knife to shave my pencils. Prophets are all lonely people.

As I clutched a bunch of pencils, about to pay, Jiang Chen entered through the door. Perhaps out
of a strange adolescent voyeuristic mentality, I subconsciously grabbed a book off the shelf, using
it to block my face as I secretly watched him.

Jiang Chen upon entering made an immediate beeline for the counter. The lady boss saw him, and
smilingly carried up a pile of books from under the counter. “The embroidered collector’s edition
of the Four Classic Novels of Chinese Literature* you wanted, I specially went into the city to
obtain its stock.” (T/N: namely Romance of Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, Water Margin
and Dream of Red Mansions)
Jiang Chen smiled and said, “Thank you Lady Boss, how much is it?”

“853 RMB, I’ll take 850 from you.” The lady boss took his money. “I’m not even counting in the
transport fees.”

Jiang Chen smilingly nodded his head. “Thank you Lady Boss.”

At that point in time our school fees were 200 RMB per semester, Jiang Chen was using money
worth two school years or four semesters to buy a few rotten books, if he had so much spare
money, he might as well… Actually I also didn’t know what he might as well have done, I’ve
never had so much money, so I was really didn’t understand. Previously, someone told me this
joke – a news reporter asked an old woman who lived deep in the mountains, “What would you do
if I gave you 100000 RMB?” She replied, “Eat vegetable steamed buns everyday.” He asked
again, “What if I gave you 200000 RMB?” She replied, “Eat meat steamed buns everyday.” Lastly
he asked, “What if I gave you 1000000 RMB?” She replied, “I would have a vegetable steamed
bun in one hand and a meat steamed bun in the other everyday.” I actually really empathized with
the old woman’s plight.

“Gege*, gege.” A child who had come out of nowhere was calling as he tugged on Jiang Chen’s
trousers. (T/N: meaning older brother)

Jiang Chen squatted down and caressed his head. Blinking, he asked him, “Little friend, are you a
boy or a girl?”

The little child sucked on his tiny thumb, and very seriously replied, “Boy.”

Jiang Chen was dissatisfied. “I don’t like boys.”

He was preparing to get up as he said that, the little child hurriedly tugged on his clothes. “I’m a
girl.”

Jiang Chen laughed. “So you’re actually a girl. Okay then, what did you call me for?”

The little child fished out a box of colour pencils and two crumpled ten-cent notes from the large
pocket of his overalls, lifting them high up to demonstrate how he couldn’t reach the counter. “I’m
buying this.”

Jiang Chen took the box and stood up to pass it to the lady boss. “Boss, how much is this?”

“Ten RMB.”

Jiang Chen fished out ten RMB. After paying the money, he then squatted back down to pass the
box to the little child. He patted his head and said, “Here, your color pencils.”
The little child chortled as he took the box. “Thank you gege.”

After saying “you’re welcome”, Jiang Chen prepared to stand up straight. The little child once
again pulled at his trouser bottoms, so he could only squat back down again. The little child
clumsily opened the box of colour pencils, and picking out a pink coloured one, said, “Drawing is
very pretty.”

“I don’t know how to draw.” Jiang Chen said as he smiled. “You keep it for yourself to draw.”

The little child shook his head, and pointing at the books in his hand, said, “No, I draw.”

Jiang Chen stared blankly for a moment, then his face broke into a smile. He took out “Romance
of the Three Kingdoms” and handed it over to the little child.

The little child held up the book and sat on the floor, lowering his head to draw something on it
very seriously, while muttering something to himself. At last he clapped his hands and said,
“Done.”

I tiptoed and stuck out my head to peep at it, that design looked like a rabbit at first glance, then
looked like a dog when you looked more closely, yet its poise and charm also somewhat
resembled a tiger.

Jiang Chen, taking back the book, looked at it very seriously, then said seriously, “The dog you
drew is very beautiful, thank you.”

The little child, fluttering his round eyes, said, “It’s a cat.”

Jiang Chen did a double take, then laughed. “So it’s actually a cat.”

I stared at his dimple, it seemed to have deepened somewhat, I really wanted to go up to him and
poke it.

What is known as “being stunned by beauty”, what is known as “being killed in a second”. Li Bi
Hua* once said – being stunned by beauty back at that time, was wholly because one had seen
little of the world. But this wasn’t the case for me, in the times to come, I would repeatedly
embellish these two scenes in my mind, just like the post-production editing for movies and
television. I would adjust the angle of the scene, add light and shadow variation, layer on sound
effects…… (T/N: a famous Chinese author/scriptwriter – she wrote Farewell My Concubine)

“How long are you going to squat at the hospital entrance for?”

“Ah?” With my great post-production editing project being interrupted, I was momentarily a little
lost. Gazing into Jiang Chen’s somewhat impatient-looking face, I again sounded, “Ah?”
“Get up.” He stretched out his hand and with one grab pulled me up from the floor, dragging me
towards the ambulance. In fact, I really wanted to ask him if he had forgotten to let go of my hand,
and also if he was in poor health lately, his hand was so sweaty…

When we got onto the ambulance, the driver and my mom simultaneously showed facial
expressions looking like they had just caught us in bed together. I helplessly rolled my eyes, and
peeped at Jiang Chen a little apprehensively. He on the other hand seemed to be totally unaffected
and sat by my side. “Little Li, start driving.”

After that, he turned his head around to tell my mom, “Auntie, I’ve already spoken to my
colleague in orthopedics, when we reach the hospital, we’ll take another x-ray, if there is no issue,
we’ll do the operation this afternoon. Please do not worry, my colleague is one of the very best
orthopedic surgeons in the industry.”

My mom hurriedly nodded her head incessantly, and gave a really motherly smile. “We’re really
troubling you.”

“It’s no trouble, it’s what I should do.” Jiang Chen was also really smiling like a filial son.

“So noisy!” My dad suddenly spoke up loudly.

Ever since my dad was informed that we were going to transfer hospitals with the help of Jiang
Chen, he had been throwing a tantrum. Later on, the moment my mom walked away, he gave me a
tongue-lashing, its contents being nothing else but one word – backbone! He felt that after how
Jiang Chen’s mother treated me back in the day, I should stay far, far away from him. It was best
that I spit him in the face with saliva when I saw him to express my disdain, but now I had gone as
far as to accept his favor!

Three years ago, I graduated from X University’s art design faculty. Jiang Chen was studying both
his bachelor’s and master’s degree consecutively in medical school and had to study for seven
years, but due to his excellent performance, he had already begun to intern at the various major
departments at X University’s subsidiary hospital by his fourth year.

Back then, Jiang Chen was really good to me, the moment he saw me receive my graduation
certificate, he said that he wanted to marry me. Of course, this was mainly because I was always
making baseless fabrications about a bunch of the so-called elite in society to scare him. For
example, the manager who helped me open the door every day (whose original form was the
security guard of our company, for I always forgot to bring my entrance card to tap in and out); the
director who was always giving me flowers (whose original form was the person who sold flowers
downstairs – when I was working overtime late into the night, I would always run into him
throwing away the spoilt flowers that couldn’t be sold while on my way home, with my fervent
hints, he would give the flowers to me); the client who treated me to watch a movie (whose
original form was indeed a client, and I did indeed watch a movie, it was just that I had to write a
publicity proposal report for them after watching it)…… An artistic creation requires an original
form.

Once Jiang Chen heard that I was so popular, he became anxious, he said that the four years’
worth of breakfasts he delivered in university must not be delivered in vain, we had better get
married.

I agreed with no sense of shame whatsoever. My thoughts were very simple, the faculty of
medicine in X University was ranked no. 1 in the entire country, and Jiang Chen was getting the
top-tier scholarship every year, there was basically no suspense that he was a stock with great
potential. I had to capture him as soon as possible, such that when he became a blue chip stock*, I
would be the grain-husk wife who had suffered trials and tribulations together with him, if he
dared to divorce me, I would dare to ask for a half of his assets……(T/N: aka stocks of financially
stable and well-known companies that have good returns)

Of course, actually the simplest thought was that I loved him very much, and I was afraid he
would be snatched away by someone else. One time, I went to the hospital he was interning at to
look for him, and within one hour I saw three patients giving him their business cards, with one of
them even being a guy. This society was too terrifying, and Jiang Chen’s charisma seemed to slay
both men and women.

It was just that back in the day, I was almost completely poisoned by television dramas and
novels, and I thought that my love was invincible. But Jiang Chen’s mother made me realise, once
my love experienced disturbances, it changed as it pleased.

One fine afternoon, Jiang Chen’s mother paid a visit to my mom. My mom’s status in my
household, being a professional housewife, was akin to that of Wu Ze Tian*, but for the first time,
I saw that plucky mother of mine being at such a complete loss of what to do, becoming meek
without herself even noticing. To be fair, Jiang Chen’s mother didn’t say any undue remark, and
she hadn’t fished out a cheque and said, “Leave my son, tell me how much money you want.” She
was calmly discussing with my mom some wedding customs, but it was just the condescending
attitude, like she was lowering herself to talk to my mom, that she exuded that caused my mom to
be filled with trepidation. Watching my mom from the side as she rubbed her hands, saying,
“We’ll cooperate, we’ll cooperate”, my heart was tart and painful, like it had been soaked in old
vinegar. (T/N: the only female emperor in the history of China)

Jiang Chen’s mother then sought me out one-to-one for a chat. She gave me a few pieces of paper
and told me to take a good look, and if I agreed, to give my signature. It was a prenuptial
agreement, with its contents roughly being something along the lines of how I was not marrying
Jiang Chen for his family’s money, and if we divorced, I wouldn’t be able to get any assets,
etcetera.

At that point in time, I was really bewildered. His dad was just the mayor of a small town, how
much money could he possibly have? Was there really a need to act like we were in a television
drama?
I’ve already forgotten what I was thinking at that time, perhaps it was some noble matters like
love and self-respect, but later I simply could not make up my mind, so I went to ask my dad. All I
can say is that, that was a historic mistake.

Jiang Chen’s dad was my dad’s indirect supervisor. My dad felt that he was already such a wimp,
being bullied and pushed around by these supervisors on a day-to-day basis, but for the family of
his supervisor to bully his own family members, this was a matter that he simply couldn’t stand.
Therefore he told me that if I dared sign, he would disown me as his daughter.

Thus, I again did yet another stupid thing, which was to give Jiang Chen the prenuptial agreement
for him to return it to his mother. Jiang Chen was really agitated and furious, and went home to
quarrel with his mother. Later on, his mother gave me a phone call, with the main idea being, if I
dared get married to Jiang Chen, she would dare to die at our wedding. Back then, I had little
experience in society, so I was immediately psyched out by her. I totally didn’t think of any other
ways to resolve the issue, for example to not hold a wedding ceremony, so that she wouldn’t have
a place to die……

The matter of marriage was hence left unsettled just like that, after that, I didn’t know why, but
perhaps work started to get busy, I was busy getting scolded by my manager, while Jiang Chen
was busy attending classes and interning. Plus, most likely I started bearing grudges in my heart, I
would incessantly nit-pick and needle him, and would provoke him over the most trivial and
inconsequential matters. I tested our love by testing his tolerance.

When I said, “Jiang Chen, let’s break up.”

He was silent for a long time before saying, “Don’t you regret it.” Then he slammed the door with
a bang and left.

I thought that for two people who loved each other to break up, there should at least be some
large-scale major event, for example, a third party; for example, suddenly discovering that I was
his father’s illegitimate daughter; for example, either him or I contracting a terminal illness……
But in fact, there was no need for that. Uneasiness, busyness and weariness were enough.

We split up just like that. It was quite amazing, two people who had originally agreed to be
together for a whole lifetime, now had absolutely nothing to do with each other in just a flash. For
a long period of time, I even suspected that perhaps someone had pressed the fast-forward button
for us, causing me to omit some plot circumstances that made the break-up an inevitability.

My dad was the happiest about my breakup with Jiang Chen. He most likely felt that this was one
victory he had in his confrontation with those of a supervisor social class. But towards a later
stage, my constant inability to find a boyfriend caused him to feel that the fruits of victory were
sometimes bitter as well.
So I guess my dad’s feelings towards Jiang Chen were complicated. On one hand, he hoped that
there would be someone who would take over the slow-moving product* that I was, yet on the
other hand, he also felt that he would much rather I be a slow-moving product than to sell me to
Jiang Chen. He was probably experiencing internal turmoil akin to that of the capitalists existing
during the Great Depression mentioned in our high school politics textbook who would rather
pour milk into the river than give it to the poor. (T/N: meaning a product that sells poorly)

What I didn’t tell my dad was that actually, that person wasn’t even intending to buy from you.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 3
December 20, 2017

My dad underwent the operation early in the morning the next day. Jiang Chen had recommended
a female doctor, her surname was Su, her beauty had an air of intelligence and intellect to it, and
standing next to Jiang Chen, together they were a talented man and beautiful woman.* (T/N: a
Chinese idiom referring to a very well-suited ideal couple).

Initially, my mom didn’t trust Doctor Su very much, she felt that all beautiful women were in
general, quite useless. Because of this stubborn notion she had, I used to think that my mom
considered me a beautiful woman in her heart for the longest time.

Doctor Su pointed out that she previously had, with bare hands, beaten up a gangster till his
shoulder joint dislocated, then once again with bare hands relocated the shoulder joint. We, one
after another, professed our utmost confidence in her medical expertise.

Jiang Chen accompanied us at the entrance of the surgical theatre. My mom clutched my hand
tightly, while I patted the back of her hand comfortingly.

After sitting for about ten minutes or so, my mom started to forget about her uneasiness. She first
looked at Jiang Chen and me, her eyes spinning back and forth between the two of us, then she
gave a motherly smile. “You see, back when you and Xiaoxi were dating, we didn’t have the time
to sit down and chat, instead now……” She paused, then gave a long sigh. “The heavens makes
fools of us all.”

I was basically in a frozen state, and I wanted to dig a hole and dive right into it.

Jiang Chen smiled, and said, “I wasn’t sensible back then, and didn’t know how to cherish
Xiaoxi.”

I couldn’t help but take a stealthy glance at Jiang Chen. Such a beautiful pleasantry.

My mom chuckled, “That’s not the case, it’s our Xiaoxi who doesn’t have the good fortune.”

Time passed quickly under their sham exchange of pleasantries. Perhaps because it wasn’t a
complicated surgery by far, or perhaps it was because of Doctor Su’s excellent medical skills, in
any case, the lights of the operating theatre dimmed and Doctor Su came out wearing a mask.

My mom suddenly grabbed my arm again. Her fingernails dug into me till I really wanted to send
greetings to my maternal grandmother. (T/N: basically Xiaoxi is cursing)

Doctor Su unhurriedly took off her mask, revealing her upturned corner of her mouth. “The
operation was successful.”

My mom let go of my hand and leapt onto her, looking like she wanted to hug and kiss her.
Thankfully, all she did was just hold and pull on Doctor Su’s hand, patting it repeatedly. “Thank
you so much, thank you so much.”

I was extremely moved and intoxicated by this display of how the miraculous hands of a healer
could move the heavens. Jiang Chen standing by my side used his elbow to gently bump against
me, and spoke softly, “If you don’t pull your mom away soon, Doctor Su’s hand is going to
become crippled.”

I took a look. Indeed, there was a large patch on the back of Doctor Su’s hand that had reddened.
My mom had lately been learning paisha* from the old Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor on
the Hunan channel and had achieved quite some success. There was one day when she couldn’t
find a knife to smash garlic, so she used her bare hands to smash the garlic into pieces on the
chopping board. ((T/N: a traditional Chinese medicine healing method where you hit the skin to
produce light bruising to release toxins in your body etc)

I hurriedly went over to pull my mom away. “Mom, you should hurry and see Dad.”

My mom struggled out of my hands and reproached me. “Your dad’s anesthesia hasn’t worn off
yet, what is there to look at? I need to thank Doctor Su properly.”

Doctor Su took two steps back and repeatedly waved her hands. “Auntie, don’t be so courteous,
this is what I ought to do. I still have a surgery later, I’ll head off first.”

Tch, a white-clothed person who fled when defeated.

My mom with great disappointment turned towards Jiang Chen. “Jiang Chen-ah, thank goodness
for you this time ‘round…”

Jiang Chen placed his two hands behind his back, leaned over till he was beside my ear and softly
said, “Save me.”

I couldn’t help but shrink my shoulders back. Suppressing a rush of emotion that made me want to
bite my tongue and commit suicide, I pushed my mom and said, “Hurry and go take a look at Dad,
Jiang Chen has outpatient clinic later on.”

Just at that moment, the nurse came out pushing my dad’s hospital bed, and so my mom followed
them away.

There was just me and Jiang Chen left. I swallowed my saliva, raised my head and smiled as I
said, “Thank you this time round.”
He nodded, “It’s nothing, I’ll head off first.”

The word escaped out of my mouth. “Huh?”

He smiled. “I have outpatient clinic.”

I watched Jiang Chen walk away, rubbing my ear and smiling stupidly.

It was the first year of university back then. Jiang Chen had gotten into X University’s medical
school, while I, as an arts exam candidate had scraped through and just made it into X University’s
art school. Jiang Chen’s faculty was having a welcome dinner for the freshman, and I had
shamelessly begged him to take me along as someone who had had a one-sided love for him for
many years with no results. This was mainly because I had heard that at the welcome dinner, the
seniors would foot the bill no matter how much you ate, and I was really pleased with this way of
doing things. Later on when I became the senior, whenever there were welcome dinners, I would
have a stomachache and be unable to attend them.

There were quite a lot of people that day, with eight tables reserved at the small restaurant at the
North entrance of the school. By the time Jiang Chen and I reached, there weren’t many seats left,
and him and I were thus separated to join two tables. I gazed at him from afar, thinking that this
was really great, for there was no one who would bother/manage me even if I ate too much.

After sufficient food and alcohol, the seniors brought the juniors over to the field to play games.
There was a game which had originated from God-knows-what random place and then became a
trend all around the world called “truth or dare.”

That beer bottle spun and spun till it stopped in front of a girl. Given that the student before her
who had chosen to do a dare had had to pull at a stranger and say, “You see, this is my left liver
lobe, this is a gallbladder sac, this is the right lung lobe, this is the kidney, here, there is a straight
tube called the ureter……”, the girl therefore chose truth.

A male senior who was like a big grey wolf guided the questioning in a skillful and methodical
manner, saying, “Junior, do you have a boyfriend? Or someone you like? Who is it?

I thought to myself that this question was too kind, for he should at least ask the color of her
underwear or something along those lines. Then when that girl blushed and nodded, her eyes were
flickering uncertainly towards Jiang Chen, I suddenly felt that this question was too hard-
hitting……

Everyone started to hoot and cheer and wanted Jiang Chen to declare his stand. Jiang Chen who
all along had been standing behind my back suddenly leaned down and spoke beside my ear,
“Save me.”
I was momentarily dazed, feeling his breath from those two words tickling my neck causing it to
itch. After scratching my neck, I grew some wits in the midst of anxiety and said, “My……
My…… stomach hurts.”

Behind me, Jiang Chen gave a long sigh, put his hands on my shoulders to support me, and said,
“Everyone, sorry, my girlfriend’s stomach hurts, I’ll send her to the school hospital.”

I was dragged along by Jiang Chen for a few steps before I came out of my reverie and realised
that what he had said just now was “girlfriend”, so I asked him while trembling, “I that….
That……just now, I seem to have…… Heard you say ‘girlfriend’……”

I seemed to see his face redden strangely, before he spoke boldly and with conviction*, “That’s
right, what about it?” (T/N: referring to being assured when you think you are on on the side of
reason)

My heart rate sped up instantaneously, and I almost vomited. Stammering, I said, “Nothing, about
that… Welcome you.”

Every time I reminisced about the past, I was able to not feel regretful about wasting my years
away, and not feel ashamed for not having much achievements. But I really wanted to die for
saying something similar to the welcoming words of those in the female special services industry*
at such a crucial moment. (T/N: referring to prostitution)

At night, I stayed in the hospital to take care of my dad, and made my mom go back to my place to
rest. That old lady refused to initially, later on after I told her a few of the hospital’s ghost horror
stories, she said that she suddenly felt utterly exhausted physically and mentally, and that she had
better go back to rest, so that she could have sufficient vitality to take care of my dad tomorrow.

Tonight, Doctor Su was on shift duty, after doing her ward rounds twice, she just settled herself
down in my dad’s ward, and insisted on pulling me to chat.

Taking into consideration her status as a benefactor, I could only strive to prop up my eyelids and
accompany her to chat.

She asked, “How did you and Doctor Jiang know each other?”

I answered, “Schoolmates.”

She muttered to herself, “I thought you were a couple, but seeing as how he didn’t stay behind to
accompany you tonight, I guessed that too.”

After she had finished talking to herself, she asked again, “What kind of schoolmates?”
I answered, “Kindergarten, primary school, middle school, high school, university.”

She thought this merited much astonishment, and also pointed out that this was a fate that was
hard to come by, she said, “Yo yo yo, childhood sweethearts, growing up looking at each other’s
reproductive organs since young, you are really fated.”

I was so taken aback that my mouth that was open from yawning only closed itself after a long
time. I wiped away the tears squeezed out during my yawn, and was just about to say something,
when Doctor Su yet again asked a question. “Does he have a girlfriend or not?”

I replied honestly. “I don’t know.”

She enigmatically moved close to my ear. “I’ll tell you something, you can’t tell Doctor Jiang.”

I nodded.

She smiled with the air of a gossip monger*, “We all suspect that Doctor Jiang is gay.” (T/N: the
original term literally means three-eight, often used to describe a woman being improper,
frivolous, talking behind someone’s back)

I stared at her in astonishment, she then explained, “He never appears bringing a woman, plus he
maintains his distance from all female doctors, female nurses and female patients. But it’s not
surprising for people in our line to have such a problem, once you understand the female body too
well, it loses its sense of mystery.”

I hesitated for a moment, and then asked still, “It seems like this industry of yours also
understands the male body very well, right?”

She thought for a while dazedly, then clapped a hand to her head, suddenly enlightened and said,
“That’s also true.”

Thus, both of us separately pondered for a few minutes. During these few minutes, the whole time
I was pondering how exactly could I send her away to leave, I was really sleepy. Regretfully,
Doctor Su asked again, “You’ve known him for so long, have you ever seen him have a girlfriend
before?”

My sleepiness dissipated in an instant, I gave two forced laughs. “I have.”

“Ya, that’s such a pity.” She sighed in disappointment.

I gingerly probed. “What’s a pity? You like him?”

She laughed bashfully. “No, I have a partner. My partner is doing his PHD at X University, he’s
studying psychology, the direction of his topic for his graduating thesis is the analysis of the
psychology of homosexuals, mainly to research into the psychology of homosexuals belonging to
the elite class in society. He was just vexing about being unable to find research subjects……”

After thinking for a bit, I suggested, “Why not you go online and find some novels for him to
read? Aren’t danmei* novels in trend currently? Those male leads inside are CEOs, doctors,
lawyers and military men, there’s every single elite industry. Art originates from real life, let your
boyfriend see if he can find anything useful.” (T/N: boy-love novels)

She waved her hand and said, “I thought of that long ago, and I’ve researched into it before, I
think it’s not reliable, those novels are almost all written by females. In the minds of females, men
are animals who think with the lower halves of their bodies, and when two animals who think with
their lower halves of their bodies gather together, if they are not using their lower halves of their
bodies, they are using their lower halves of their bodies frequently and excessively. It’s not helpful
for academic research.”

I thought for a bit, and felt that that made quite a bit of sense, so I made an “oh” sound to assent.

She then said, “Do you think Doctor Jiang has any tendencies towards homosexuality? I saw that
those novels all say that you can make a man who isn’t gay become gay, what’s the scientific
name for it again? Oh, it’s called “breaking crooked*”, why not I break him crooked, how about
that?” (T/N: common phrase online, given that in Chinese, being straight is also called 直 which
literally means straight so to break someone crooked is to become gay.)

I opened and shut my mouth repeatedly, and stammered as I said, “That’s… Not very good…”

She patted my shoulder. “Don’t be nervous, I was joking with you, you don’t get my humor.”

……

“Oh right, you make a guess as to why I chose to study medicine? And also why I chose
orthopedics?” She requested suddenly with great excitement.

I hadn’t yet recovered from her previous display of humor, and said feebly, “Your family members
are all doctors?”

She shook her head.

I guessed again. “You saw someone who suffered greatly because they had a bone disease when
you were younger?”

She was still shaking her head.

I became serious. “You resolved to hang your gourd bottle and save the world?* You and your
boyfriend agreed to try for medicine? You accidentally filled in the wrong college application
choices during the time of the national college entrance examinations?” (T/N: in olden China,
doctors would hang a gourd outside their shops to signify that this was a clinic. This idiom means
to practise medicine to rescue the people of the world from their suffering)

“All of them are not,” she said triumphantly, “My family sells pork, I would feel very excited
every time I saw my dad chopping pork.”

……

The corners of my mouth quirked. “Hehe, influenced by what you see and hear.”

She once again hit my shoulder hard. “You believed it again, you really don’t get my humor. All of
my family members except for my younger brother are doctors.”
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 4
December 25, 2017

Last night Dr. Su and I had a long, intimate talk until 5 in the morning, after which she high-
spiritedly patted my ass and said, “I’ll go prepare the endorsement for the next shift, I’m off-duty
today.”

By the time I hit the hay, I didn’t know if I was asleep or awake. In my drowsy state, there seems
to be a person standing right in front of me, I even asked him if he was a ghost. It also seems as
though I’ve explained to him about the karmic relationship of involving third parties when settling
things.

This kind of sleep akin to being in a trance is the worst, my brain is running rapidly with past
memories, not even neglecting the smallest of details. I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or
remembering the past. Many people would say there’s no worth looking back at the past, but my
past is very worthy. It’s the most proactive, lively, cheerful, morale booster, inspiring, reverse
pursuit in history, and can be called the “The Successful Story of a Bright Girl*”. (T/N: referring
to Jang Nara’s 2002 drama)

I had a crush on Jiang Chen that time. It was after one week of careful deliberations that I
combined information from novels, manhwa, and dramas, and was able to come up with three
plans: a love letter, by passing it on, and a direct confession. It took yet another week of
conducting a comprehensive analyses of these three plans. The disadvantage of letters: first, I’m
not good with words, and second, Jiang Chen often receives letters but he almost never reads
them. The disadvantage of passing it on: first it’s easy to pass on the wrong message, and second,
from what I’ve gathered in the numerous love conspiracies in novels and dramas, I found out that
the person who would pass on the message will end up with the protagonist; so in the end, I was
left with only this road to confession.

We always think that there are countless possibilities in life, afraid of this, afraid of that, in the end
there would still be only one remaining possibility.

I flipped through the Yellow Calendar*, and picked an auspicious burial date to confess to Jiang
Chen. He was on student duty at that time, so I was following him from behind and then I called
him. He turned around, along with the broom he was holding, giving me a mouthful of dust from
the action. (T/N: a special calendar which gives information whether a particular day is propitious)

I said: “Jiang Chen, I like you, puh, puh, puh.”

At first, he gave me a blank stare, and then furrowed his brows saying: “puh, what?”

I was very vexed and hurriedly explained: “I’m not puh-ing at you, I just ate a mouthful of dust, I
said I like you.”

He continued the act of furrowing his brows, two creases were scrunched in between his brows,
really good-looking.

He said: “I don’t like you.”

It was an era where everyone loves to engage in ambiguous relationships, and also at that time,
there wasn’t a song that tells about the grievances suffered by people involved in such, so even
though it’s not really what they feel, most of the people would still say: “I’m not suitable for you,
you deserve someone better.” or, “We’re still too young, we should study well and enter a good
university first.”, and such nonsense. Jiang Chen’s chop the nail and slice the iron* rejection made
me think that his ruthlessness really stands out from the rest. Hence I’ve decided to become even
more determined in liking him. (T/N: firm and resolute)

So Jiang Chen was pestered by me. Every day, I’d wait very early in the morning in the mouth of
the alley between our houses. When Jiang Chen comes out, I’d put on a bright smile with the
radiance of spring, and say, “What a coincidence, I’m on my way to school too.” I’d pack my
things as well before the dismissal bell would start ringing, so when it rings I’d rush to the stairs,
wait for Jiang Chen to walk past me, and then I’d say, “What a coincidence, I’m also leaving
school.”

I was so muddleheaded that I choked on my own saliva, I woke up, blinked at the ceiling a few
times, and began to get in a trance again. I saw myself on the stairs, smiling at Jiang Chen. In a
blink of an eye I was pulling on Jiang Chen’s bag, pleading. “Wait for me for ten minutes, okay?
I’m going to hand over my work to our English teacher.”

He pulled back his bag: “What were you doing in class? Li Wei is waiting for me downstairs.”
After a pause, he added: “We’re going to buy some things for the class meeting.”

Maybe, my heart made a little rebound because I’ve been disguising as someone virtuous and
submissive for a long time. Maybe, I was just mad with anger. In short, I aimed for his shins and
gave him a kick: “Go find your Li Wei!”

He probably didn’t expect it, and yelled while hopping on one foot: “Chen Xiaoxi you lunatic!”
I leaned on the railings afterwards, watching Jiang Chen and Li Wei walk towards the school
gates. It was nearly dusk, an orange sheet was draped in between heaven and earth looking as if
someone knocked over a bottle of Sunkist in their hurry, and dyed everything in orange.

I was only 16 years old at the time — the first time in my life when I felt utterly sad.

The scenes in my dream were switching over very casually. This time, I’m standing on the
classroom door blocking Jiang Chen, “I have something to say to you.”

He gave me a quick glance with his arms folded across his chest: “Speak.”

After kicking him on his leg, his responses to me were less than before. I let love and pride battle
it out for a few days. Later on, Love annihilated pride. So I came over to apologize.

I bowed my head and said softly like a whisper: “I shouldn’t have kicked you that day, I’m sorry.”

He didn’t give me an answer for a long while, so I looked up and saw him looking absentmindedly
at the basketball court downstairs. I got angry again and shouted loudly: “Jiang Chen!”

He lowered his head to look at me, “I’m not yet deaf, you said sorry right? It’s nothing.

After saying that, he turned around and walked away.

I was looking at his back, my heart was suddenly filled with a deep sadness, like how my mom
burnt the braised chicken wings, with the thick smoke irritating my nose leaving it with a tingling
sensation.

I subconsciously rubbed my nose and called him: “Jiang Chen.”

He looked back.

I said with a bitter laugh: “Hehe. Do you think, I like to be unlucky?

He stared dazedly at me for a moment, and replied: “I just wanna go down to play ball.”

I said nothing, there’s a deep sadness in my heart that it would be better for this heart to die from
such sadness.

He seemed to stand in front of me a long time, and finally said with a slight anxiousness: “I really
didn’t mean any of that, our team is losing very quickly.”

I nodded in understanding, “Go quickly, jiayou! (T/N: lit. add oil, it’s the equivalent of hwaiting in
Korea and ganbatte in Japan)

He turned around and ran, after running a few steps, he suddenly stopped and called me: “Chen
Xiaoxi.”

“Why?”

“Help me go to the corner store and buy a bottle of water.” He said with a smile, his dimple was
filled with the rays of the setting sun.

Before I could respond, he took three steps and then two steps*, and ran down the stairs. (T/N:
means walking hurriedly lit. describing the manner of walking where three worth of strides
becomes two)

I still went to the corner store, torn between Yi Li water and Nongfu Spring water for quite a while
but eventually picked Nongfu Spring as it is 50 cents cheaper.

There were a lot of girls at the sides of the basketball court, I even saw Li Wei. She was holding a
bottle of Mai Dong which is more expensive than my Nongfu Spring by two and a half bucks.

During halftime, Li Wei called Jiang Chen so that she could hand over her drink, I blankly
followed her from behind, sighed as she was walking at lightning speed, scurrying like she’s about
to fly.

Jiang Chen didn’t accept her drink, instead, he gave me a quick glance and said a bit awkwardly,
“I already told Chen Xiaoxi to bring me water.”

“I bought a sports drink with added electrolytes. If not you then who else would be able to drink it,
quite wasteful.” Then she smiled softly and tenderly.

I thought I couldn’t let her be this embarrassed, so I placed the Nongfu Spring on Jiang Chen’s
hands and gave them a squeeze, snatched the Mai Dong from Li Wei’s hand, twisted the lid open,
took one big gulp, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand saying: “Not wasted, not
wasted. I just ran over from the corner store and sweated a lot, thank you very much.”

She bowed her head in shame, like Xu Zhimo’s writing about that very shy lotus flower and so on.
I like reading that poem, it’s truly a masterpiece.

“Xiaoxi, Xiaoxi, Xiaoxi!” My mom’s continuous shouts roused me from my shy lotus flower
dream. I rubbed my eyes and yawned. “Mom, making loud noises is prohibited in the hospital.”

My mom gave me a sideways glance, “Just now you were talking about losing face in your sleep.”
“What did I say?” I asked her while removing the eye gunk at the corner of my eyes.

“Lotus, shy or something.” She replied.

“‘The tenderness when you bend your head low, is like a lotus flower too shy to stand the cool
blow.’ A poem* by Xu Zhimo. Indeed, our Xiaoxi is like me, possesses the sentiments of a poet.”
My dad gave his input while lying on the hospital bed, looking immensely proud.

I turned to look at him, and talked nonsense: “I dreamed of my language & literature teacher in
high school, she asked me to recite ‘Second Farewell to Cambridge’.”

My dad’s face suddenly turned black, “This is not ‘Second Farewell to Cambridge’! This is
‘Sayonara’!” (T/N: Both are poems by Xu Zhimo)

My mom chimed in, “Jang Nara right? I know her! A Korean, bangzi, bangzi*.

(T/N: The pinyin for Jang Nara is Zhang Na La while Sayonara is Sha Yang Na La so her mom
misheard. Bangzi lit. means long, sturdy stick in Chinese, a term referring to Koreans, in the olden
days during the Japanese invasion in China, they give Koreans stick instead of guns to beat the
Chinese with, hence the origin of the term.)

I looked at my mom in a different light, she puffed out her old chest, “Ever since our home has
been installed with the internet, the housewife has become liberated.”

As a member of the lurking club for a long time, I was prompted by a sudden impulse and logged
in to Tianya Club. I discovered that I actually replied to a lot of forum posts, not only that, most of
them were about handsome guys. I thought that I was honestly confronting my inner desires while
sleepwalking, only to find out later on that I accidentally enabled our home computer to
automatically log in to Tianya. The saddest thing in the world that nothing can surpass is to have a
Tianya Club mom. (T/N: Lurking means someone who reads forum posts but never replies or
comments. Tianya Club or End Of The World Club in English is a popular internet forum site.)

After eating lunch, my Tianya Club mom shoved on my arms a bag of fruit my dad’s colleague
brought over this morning, and forced me to look for Jiang Chen to express gratitude. I think that
by sentiments and by logic, I ought to earnestly and seriously thank Jiang Chen, so I went out and
carried the large bag of fruits.

When I got to the doctor’s office, only then did I begin to get a bit nervous. This is Jiang Chen and
I’s exclusive and first official meeting after not seeing each other in over the last 3 years.

I knocked on the door, the reply coming from the inside was, “Please come in.” I pushed the door
open and found Jiang Chen buried in his desk writing on something, he also raised his head to
give me a quick look, and said dully, “Find a chair to sit on.”
As an ex-girlfriend, in the face of such a generous* ex-boyfriend, I feel immense pressure. (T/N:
idiom used is not literally about being generous but to describe someone’s open-mindedness,
natural and carefree manner not being the slight cautious.)

I placed the bag of fruits on the table, pulled a chair to sit face-to-face from him across the table,
and pleasantly said, “My mom asked me to bring some fruits for you.”

He looked at the bag of fruits and said, “Thank auntie for me. I went to take a look at Uncle Chen
this morning, his condition is very stable. I reckon that he can be discharged in two or three days.
He can come back after a week to get his stitches removed.”

When he was done talking, he bowed his head down to write some things with an “I am very
busy.” look. I awkwardly sat for around two minutes and then got up to leave, and also to
conveniently express my gratefulness to him. In the end, I hypocritically and politely said the
lines, “Thank you for your help this time, I really don’t know how to repay you.”

He actually stopped twirling his pen, smiled at me and said, “Introduce me to a girlfriend.”

I carefully observed his expression, he really wasn’t joking. I feel depressed. This action of asking
an ex-girlfriend to introduce a new girlfriend is a bit inhumane. Like when you’re fired, your boss
would still write you a recommendation letter; or when cheating, your teacher would give you the
answers; or when remarrying, you’d ask your ex-wife to be one of the bridesmaids……

All sorts of feelings were welling up in my heart, like in his mind, just how great does he think my
personality really is…….

I heaved a deep sigh, and gave him a hollow laugh, “What kind of girlfriend do you want?”

He sized me up for a while, my heart was caught in my throat as countless lines were flashing
through my mind like, “Someone who is just like you would be good.” Otherwise, “Actually, I’ve
never forgotten you…..”

“A little taller, and thinner than you would be good enough.” He said.

My unrequited, little precious heart quickly resumed its normal beating, I smiled stiffly, “Your
requirement isn’t very high, I’ll help you look around.”

The pen on his hand was twirled beautifully between his fingers as he said, “Then, I’ll thank you
in advance.”
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 5
December 25, 2017

It’s a double update! Happy holidays everyone, and Happy Birthday to Hu Yitian!

—————————————————————-

My dad was discharged after two days, and the operation wound was healing well. As it was too
cumbersome to travel back and forth, my dad removed his stitches at a local hospital. According to
my mom, right after the day his stitches were removed, my dad went straight back to the Senior
Citizen’s club. I praised my dad’s warrior-like spirit over the phone.

When I woke up this morning, half of my pajamas are wet. I quickly changed and rushed to the
train station. Once I entered the train, while the air-conditioning was blowing, I realized that my
clothes were again half drenched in sweat. As I was wearing a white top, it became a little see-
through. I looked around, there were quite a few men who looked wretched. But none of them
seemed to have intentions of looking at me. I decided not to admit that I am the one without
charisma. But instead, it was due to the hot weather that the indecent looking uncles are too lazy to
be indecent.

Fu Pei* came up to me the moment I entered the office. (T/N: Xiao Xi’s Boss)

“Chen Xiaoxi, why don’t you go and take photos for the product catalogue today. Don’t you love
to take photos?”

I looked out at the skies outside, starting to feel a little miserable, I stated, “My dad mentioned that
this name which I have symbolizes that there is always hope in life. No matter how big or small, it
will always be good. But he didn’t expect that 20 years later there is a young man called Chen
Guan Xi*. He also didn’t expect that said young man is a film lover and an arts lover, and even
more so, a young man who gained fame from a work, kickstarting a series of “rated*” trend. This
means that there are always unexpected things in life. So please do not think that because I am
called Chen Xiao Xi, means that I love photography.” (T/N: Chen Guan Xi = Edison Chen, an
actor. For “rated”, the original word used in the novel translates to “door”. I did a bit of research
and found out that Edison Chen had abit of scandal on nudes and stuff. So I decided to use “rated”
instead.)

Fu Pei took out his calculator from the drawer, “Talking back to boss minus 2% salary, took leave
minus 3%, late minus 1%…..”

I nodded, “Sure, just deduct it, but give me my salary for last month first.”

He set aside his calculator slowly… “Miss Xiaoxi, please rest. I’ll take care of the product
catalogue instead.”

I nodded again, and went to sit below the air-conditioner.

I’ve been with this company for over two years. When I broke up with Jiang Chen, I quickly
found a new apartment and a new job. I’m not afraid of him finding me, but afraid of him not
finding me. I’m as low as a human can get.

The company has a total of 3 persons: the boss, Fu Pei, accountant, Situ Mo. I’m in charge of
designing. We are a small enterprise, and count largely on Fu Pei to take in orders to continue our
business. We have decent reputation. But ever since Fu Pei dated and broke up with an ex-
customer, she went to spread bad rumors about the company and caused our sales to drop badly.
We even encouraged Fu Pei to sell his body to snatch projects, but he refused. We do not
understand why, as from our understanding of his viewpoint in love, this is a double win for him.

Fu Pei has left the office. Situ Mo has been away for almost a week as her kid is running a fever.
As such, I’m left alone in the office. I brewed a cup of tea and strolled to my computer. I drank my
tea and waited for the computer to auto-login applications such as QQ, MSN, SKYPE. All
messenger apps. There are more and more messenger systems but less and less things to talk.
The first thing to pop up on MSN is Zhuang Dong Na, a customer. Last year end, our company
designed a gift hamper for her company. There are gift cards, cups, calendar, etcetera. It was a
pleasant deal, and we can be counted as an acquaintance. I introduced her to Jiang Chen last week.
She’s a decent woman. Taller, prettier, slimmer, had better temper and more successful in career
than me. The only thing that she cannot compare is that my feet is smaller than hers.

I heard that they are getting along pretty well. Jiang Chen even initiated a few dates with her.
According to my experience, this doesn’t come by easy. It was a little depressing to hear about it. I
even felt like tearing them apart, but I controlled myself.

I opened the chat with Zhuang Dong Na, she repeatedly sent a few “Are you there”. I realized she
didn’t put question marks. What a disappointment to our punctuation marks.

I slowly typed, “I’m here now.”

I specially used red for the full stop* and increased it by one size. Hopefully she will feel
ashamed. (T/N: The period for Chinese is a full stop.)

Zhuang Dong Na says, (10:16): Help me with something?

I saw the question mark and felt pleased. Hence I quickly replied: “Tell me about it.”

Zhuang Dong Na says, (10:20): Jiang Chen has a patient who is holding a banquet to celebrate his
full recovery tonight. He has a bring-a-date along to the banquet, but I have to go Shanghai for a
business trip tomorrow afternoon. Can you go with him on my behalf?

I hesitated for a while and typed, “I don’t think that’s a good idea..”

Zhuang Dong Na says, (10:24): Why not? I already told Jiang Chen, and he agreed. Also, it is
better to bring along a date in this kind of occasion. I heard that the patient is a big shot, and wants
to matchmake Jiang Chen. You don’t wish for us to end our relationship when we just started
right..

I’m speechless from looking at her reply. When I introduced her to Jiang Chen I already told her
that we used to date. She doesn’t mind. Even if she doesn’t mind, at least respect the ex-girlfriend.
There’s a saying, ‘Kindness is when someone is hungry, I don’t munch loudly when eating meat.’
Not only are you munching loudly, but you are even asking me to take tissue to wipe your mouth.
That’s so uncivilized..

Zhuang Dong Na says, (10:25): Xiaoxi please please please please I beg you I beg you I beg you

Look at this person. Once anxious she forgets about punctuation. Have you ever thought of the
punctuations marks’ feelings.
I sighed, and replied, “All right, since you guys don’t mind.”

Zhuang Dong Na says, (10:28): Xiaoxi I love you so much, thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks
thanks. Jiang Chen will pick you up tonight and bring you to buy a cocktail dress. He’ll pay.

I drank a huge mouth of tea and typed, “Okay.”

I pressed the enter key and thought, “My whole life is messed up due to my kindheartedness.”
When I was young, I still remember my form teacher during primary school whom everyone hated
fell sick. Nobody wanted to visit her, but I did. She was elated. She gave me all the fruits and eggs
and whatever from her ward. I was so full I couldn’t walk properly. All because I was too kind.

My day passed by absentmindedly. When Fu Pei came back, he took two pictures of me sitting at
my desk. He uploaded it to the computer for me to see. It was taken pretty well, like an elderly
with dementia who has lost her way.

I was in the squatting toilet when my phone rang. I have a problem of needing to use the toilet
whenever I am anxious. I always spent the last 15 minutes before national examinations in the
toilet.

I lifted my pants, and took out my phone. Indeed, it was Jiang Chen. I took a deep breath and
realized this isn’t the best place to be doing so. Instead, I pinched my nose and said, “Hello?”

“It’s me.”

“I know.”

“Why are you speaking in a low muffled voice?”

I walked out of the toilet, released my nose and said, “I’m not.”

“Were you in the toilet?” Jiang Chen chuckled while saying.

I looked around in shocked.

“How do you know?”

“Guessed. Have you knocked off (from work)?”

“If you’re so good at guessing you can continue guessing then.” I replied curtly.

“I’m under your office. Just come down when you’re done.”
I packed up and walked down. I looked around but didn’t see him. I was thinking if this is his idea
of revenge for all the times I was late for our dates 3 years ago.

After sneaking around for a while, a car stopped in front of me and honked a few times. I bent
down to take a look but was unable to see through the tinted window. When I wanted to take a
closer look, there was honking again. I backed a few steps away in shock. I was enraged and
wanted to start scolding, but the window winded down slowly and Jiang Chen instructed, “Get
on.”

I opened the door and went in. He frowned and asked, “Why are you so slow, I thought you knock
off at 5:30 PM? Put on your seat belt.”

I put on a face and mumbled to myself, “Chen Xiaoxi, you just ended work? Sorry to trouble you
tonight, and thanks.”

Jiang Chen gave me a look, “You’re welcome.”

I twitched my lips, “So polite.”

I secretly looked at him. He was wearing a black suit with a sapphire blue tie. So handsome.

He suddenly leaned towards me. I quickly pulled and fastened my seat belt and said, “I already
fastened it.”

He opened the compartment in front of my seat and took out a bottle of water. He passed me the
bottle and snorted.

I felt like dying when I took the bottle over. If I die, Jiang Chen will probably write the death
cause as ‘thinking too much’ or ‘died from shame’.

When we were on the road. I drank the water in small sips. I’m actually not thirsty, but my throat’s
a little dry.

It was eerily quiet in the car. I started to tear the bottle label in boredom. I didn’t know where to
throw it after I tore it out. So I asked him where to throw it.

He turned his head to look at me, “That compartment I opened just now.”

I opened the compartment and threw in the wrapper. Feeling a little guilty, I asked, “You are still
drinking Nongfu Spring water?”

I always see him drinking Nongfu Spring water ever since I bought him that for the first time. At
that time I was quite contented with myself. Even though I bought Nongfu Spring because I
wanted to save 50 cents, I didn’t expect to buy what he would’ve come to love. It really is like
sowing fruits even when you didn’t plan to plant, two hearts beating as one.

But he simply replied, “Hospital gave it for the festivities, there’s still a box of it at the back seat.”

I turned my head and saw the carton of Nongfu Spring. Casually praising his hospital, “Your
hospital is not bad! Giving out gifts during festivals. Unlike my company, there’s only overtime
during festival seasons.”

He was driving attentively and didn’t reply.

Seeing how he has no intention in responding to me, I stopped talking. As I grow older, I stopped
doing things like being excessively passionate to a cold shoulder*. This coldness from him is
nothing to me. I used to do it regardless of his reaction, but not anymore. (T/N: stick hot face on
cold buttocks)

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 6

December 27, 2017
Jiang Chen’s car stopped in front of the LV flagship store, I jumped in shock, basically I only ever
saw this brand in a certain famous author’s books, in real life, I was still more familiar with AV*
instead. (T/N: referring to p*rn videos)

The central control of the car doors unlocked with a knocking sound. Jiang Chen said, “You get
down and wait for me, I’ll go and park the car.”

I got off the car and loitered at the same place waiting for him to return, sneaking wily peeks at the
LV store through the glass windows from time to time. Perhaps it was a figment of my
imagination, but I just felt that the orange coloured lights appeared to be especially opulent and
luxurious.

“Let’s go.” Jiang Chen was standing behind me since who-knows-when.

I jumped in shock and stammered, “It’s better we don’t, it’s really expensive, plus it seems like all
they sell inside are bags, I didn’t see any formal clothes at all.”

He followed my line of sight and took a look, “Did you think I was going to bring you to enter
LV?”

“Were you not?”

He looked at me like how he would a lunatic. “You’re not my wife, why would I buy LV for you!”

……

He led me to make a detour around LV. We entered an alley and came to the entrance of a clothing
store. I raised my head and looked; this store’s name was too honest – “Can’t afford to buy LV”.

I pointed at the signboard and told Jiang Chen, “Look, it’s mocking you.”

He lifted his head to take a glance, “It’s mocking you.”

I curled my lip, “Wait till I become wealthy, I will go to each and every famous brands’ stores, and
just tell the shop assistant, ‘I don’t want this item, I don’t want this item, wrap everything else
up.’”

He shook his head and said, “You might as well say, ‘Wrap this item and this item up, wrap
everything else up and mail them to the Red Cross Society.’”

His skills* were more profound than mine…… (T/N: referring to skills/abilities that are built up
through religious practice – a Buddhist concept)
The shop owner was a young lad, his looks were not bad. Looking at him, I kept on thinking that
he looked familiar, most likely in my subconscious, I wanted to get familiar with all handsome
men.

The young lad came forward to welcome us. “Doctor Jiang, bringing your girlfriend to buy
clothes?”

Jiang Chen pushed me forward and said, “Help her coordinate a set of clothes that she can attend a
banquet in.”

The young lad’s eyes swept over me from head to toe, he said, “Will do, the beautiful lady’s aura
is especially matching of my shop’s clothes, I will immediately coordinate several sets for you to
choose.”

Indeed, my aura is an aura of not being able to afford to buy LV……

While the shop owner was picking out clothes, I asked Jiang Chen, “You know him?”

Jiang Chen nodded. “He is Doctor Su’s younger brother.”

Younger Brother Su’s ears were working especially well, and he joined in our conversation. “I am
called Su Rui, my sister might come over in a while.”

I lowered my head to look at him. He was squatting on the floor choosing shoes, and his butt was
sticking high up in the air. His low-waisted jeans caused a large part of his waist to be exposed, it
was quite slim.

“Chen Xiaoxi.” Jiang Chen suddenly called me.

“Ah?” I took back my gaze that was fixated on that slim waist, and turned my head back to look at
him.

He pointed at my foot. Lowering my head, I saw some green creature that was similar to a lizard
stopping beside my foot, its long tail swaying slightly. On reflex, I used the tips of my toes to kick
it away at lightning speed, then hid behind Jiang Chen’s back while shrieking at a high frequency.

The green creature rolled once on the floor, flipping over to reveal a belly that was somewhat
light-coloured, it’s four legs treading disorderly in mid-air.

Su Rui straightened his body and walked over, beamingly picking up the green organism. Placing
and displaying it on his arm, he told me, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, this is the lizard that I
am rearing.”

I stuck my head out from behind Jiang Chen’s back. “Is it poisonous or not, will it bite humans?”
“It won’t, it won’t, it is very obedient.” Su Rui extended his arm out, and invited me with great
enthusiasm, “Touch it and see.”

I had difficulty rejecting such great hospitality, and stretched out my trembling hand. Just as my
hand reached in front of the lizard, it suddenly stuck out a fleshy forked tongue with a hiss. I was
so scared that I rapidly pulled back my hand, and went back to hide behind Jiang Chen once again.

Su Rui laughed heartily. “Xiaoxi, do not scare jiejie*, she didn’t kick you on purpose just now.”
(T/N: jiejie: means older sister, can be used to refer to women older than you.)

“Xiaoxi?” Jiang Chen repeated it once, and began laughing too. (T/N: Xiao 小 – means small. Our
main character’s name is 小希, where the ‘xi’ means hope – i.e. her name means Little Hope. Su
Rui’s lizard is called 小蜥, where the ‘xi’ means lizard – i.e. its name means Little Lizard.)

I impetuously replied him before I realised, and was considerably indignant. “It’s also called
Xiaoxi?”

“Also?” Su Rui was very excited. “Who else is called Xiaoxi? This really is a good name.”

I, who had a good name, raised my hand up slowly. “Me, Chen Xiaoxi……”

“Too fated!” Su Rui moved around till he was behind Jiang Chen and stopped in front of me.

Stroking the lizard’s head, he said, “Su Xiaoxi, this jiejie has the same name as you, you two are
too fated, greet jiejie, come and give jiejie a kiss.”

With a forced laugh, I moved ’round till I was in front of Jiang Chen, stuck out my head and
waved my hand. “Hello, hello, there should be no direct contact between men and women, there’s
no need to kiss, no need to kiss.“ (T/N: there is some wordplay here, the idiom makes use of the
word 亲, which in the context of the idiom means “personal” – i.e. no personal contact between
men and women (this is a Confucianism concept). But 亲 also means kiss, so Xiaoxi is playing on
the double meaning here.)

Su Rui gave an appearance of being insulted. “Xiaoxi is a girl.”

Jiang Chen pulled me away from hiding in front of his chest. “Go and change your clothes.”

Only then did Su Rui put Su Xiaoxi down and took several pieces of clothing from the clothes
rack to pass to me. “Try them first, what shoe size do you wear?”

Basically, my feet were abnormally small, being asked my shoe size was humiliating for me……

Hence, I said, “35.”

Jiang Chen slanted his head and looked at me, saying, “Size 33 and a half, 34 with a semi-insole is
also okay.”

……

Su Rui scratched his head and told me, “I need to search and see if there are shoes that are size 34,
you can go in and change your clothes first.”

I clasped the clothes and went in to change, but met with trouble when changing into the first set.
The zipper at the back was entangled with my hair, and it got stuck halfway, I couldn’t pull it up
nor could I pull it down. Helpless, I could only give a cry for help towards the outside, “Su Rui,
the zipper is stuck, it doesn’t move when I pull it.”

The curtains were lifted open, but instead it was Jiang Chen who came in. I stared at him blankly.
He didn’t say anything, and directly moved round to behind my back. He drew up my hair and
lifted it high up with one hand, while using the other hand to pull up the zipper in one swift
motion. After he pulled the zipper up, he walked away abruptly. I was in deep admiration of his
craftsmanship.

I changed into quite a few sets of clothes, and finally Su Rui helped me choose a light green
muslin evening gown. It was light as a feather when I wore it on myself, causing me to have a
sense of panic that I wasn’t wearing any clothes.

Su Rui with great difficult managed to search and produce a pair of light yellow high heels that
were size 34, after adding a semi-insole, I could, just barely, wear them and maintain my stability.

Su Rui praised my new manner of dressing till I was an extraordinary beauty of the celestial and
mortal worlds. Even though I couldn’t find a slightest sliver of the stunning/breathtaking
appearance that he was talking about when I looked into the mirror, but I felt that what he said was
indeed too true, I sincerely wanted to befriend him.

Su Xiaoxi tried to approach me a few times, but was always scared off by me giving her a look
that said, “If you dare come over I will use my high heels to grind and kill you.”

Jiang Chen sat on the sofa inside the shop, lazily sizing me up with a few glances from time to
time. Of course, I didn’t dare hope that he would be like what normally appeared in television
shows or novels, where he would hold his breath and be blown away by my beauty, but at the very
least, he shouldn’t appear like he was watching the news broadcast.

“Are you done?” He stood up from the sofa.

“I’m done, you can pay the cash.” I lowered my head and studied the collar of my gown, the edge
of the V-necked collar was folded into very pretty looking little pleats, like green waves of wheat*.
(T/N: referring to the waves of wheat in the field that appear when the wind blows and causes the
wheat to move up and down)

Su Rui announced noisily. “Forget it, forget it, they have too much fate, just regard it as a gift from
Xiaoxi to Xiaoxi on their first meeting. 800 in total, the gown is 500, the shoes are 300.”

I glared at him, this was a ripoff, similar clothes could be obtained on Taobao* with 80RMB,
shipping included. (T/N: online shopping website)

Su Rui smiled at me. “Don’t give me a look as if you regard me as an evil unscrupulous
businessman. These clothes of mine are not the kind that can be found all over the street, they are
all personally designed and made by me, there’s only one piece of each.”

Jiang Chen, contrariwise, didn’t say anything, after paying the money, he said “Thank you” and
pulled me to leave.

I put on my makeup in the moving car with great difficulty. Fortunately the road conditions were
not bad, on the whole, after finishing putting on makeup, my facial features were still normal.

While waiting for the red light, Jiang Chen suddenly started laughing, his eyes filled with
mischief, and said, “Your makeup skills have improved considerably.”

I gave him a disdainful look, I knew what he was laughing about.

At that point in time, it was Senior Year 3. We were battling the national college entrance
examinations day and night. In faraway places, there were a few fellow people similarly battling
the national college entrance examinations who couldn’t withstand the pressure and ended their
own lives. This news was passed around the various major departments, and after being passed
around for a long time, only then did it trickle down to this school of ours in a faraway small town.
The school principal urgently called for a meeting, and after that, one month before the entrance
examinations, the teachers decided to organise an evening party for us children deep in the abyss
of suffering. The evening party’s name was “Heading towards tomorrow”. I personally felt this
name was very meaningless, unless you died, everyone had to head towards tomorrow. The
programme items were prepared by the Senior Year 1 and 2 students, recitals, chorus singing and
so on, in short, programme items that would cause people to not want to live till tomorrow at all
when they watched it.

Before the evening party took place, the teachers were stumped by a matter. The students were to
go on stage, and had to put on makeup. There were only a few teachers in the school who knew
how to apply makeup. Just applying makeup for one choral group, it would be daylight by the
time they were done. Hence the school at the last minute decided to let the students in the arts
class share part of the large responsibility of applying makeup. As the leading student in the arts
class, I thought to myself that everything was within my control, but I didn’t anticipate that it
would turn out that a human face was quite different from a canvas. Every girl that had me apply
makeup for them cried after looking at themselves in the mirror, and further expressed that if they
had to go on stage looking like this, they would choose to bid farewell to tomorrow. And at that
point in time, Jiang Chen just so happened to walk past that classroom. I was surrounded by a
group of crying junior girls, at a loss of what to do, while he stood outside the classroom laughing
till his hands were dancing and his feet were stamping*. The junior girls, on account of being
jeered at by an influential figure, cried themselves hoarse even more distraughtly. (T/N: meaning
to be really animated (dancing, gesticulating, etc) with joy)

Even though it had been many years since then, but the moment I recalled this incident, my
temples still pulsated and throbbed, and it was like the undulating cadence of weeping sounds
were still lingering on by my ears again.

“Reached,” Jiang Chen said, and the car slowly came to a halt as he pulled over.

I rubbed my temples, gave a sigh and grumbled, “Next time, don’t make me recall these sorts of
incidents that I can’t bear to recollect.”

The car had stopped for quite a while at the same place, yet he did not open the car doors at all. I
turned to look at him, puzzled. His eyebrows were creased tightly, his eyes gazing out into a
distance, his jaw was braced tautly, and his two hands clenched the steering wheel, with his
knuckles turning white.

I knew he was being angry, but I was a little unable to make sense of his sudden onset of anger.

I asked him in a low voice, “What’s the matter?”

He seemed to take a deep breath, and he slowly let go of the steering wheel, turning his head
around to smile at me. Perhaps I shouldn’t call it a smile, he was only pursing his lips together into
a line, squeezing out a deep dimple on his left cheek. He said, “It’s nothing, my stomach hurts.”

“Ah? That what should we do?” Once I become nervous, I become a little incoherent and
confused. “Why would your stomach hurt? Did you not eat anything? Do you have medicine or
not? Let’s go to the hospital…”

“I’m alright,” he said.

“How could you be alright? Do you know that if your stomach hurts, it could be a hemorrhage of
your stomach, or a stomach ulcer, or a stomach perforation, or stomach cancer……”

He looked at me, smiling. “What else?”

I said uncertainly. “Your stomach tearing apart?”

I said with emphasis, “No matter what, let’s go to the hospital quickly, you could possibly die in
the next second!”

He suddenly stretched out his hand and pushed my forehead, smilingly saying, “Are you the
doctor or am I the doctor?”

I was puzzled and perplexed by his sudden good spirits, only repeatedly verifying with him that
his stomach would not tear apart. He also repeatedly guaranteed me that he was already alright,
and finally, with great helplessness expressed that if any unforeseen misfortune were to happen to
his stomach, I would be the one operating the surgical knife during the surgery.

Hearing that he was willing to die in my hands, I then set my mind at rest.

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 7

December 27, 2017

Another double update! Enjoy.

Before entering the banquet hall, Jiang Chen who had been walking ahead of me suddenly stopped
and walked a few paces back to stand by my side. He bent his elbow and looked at me as though
he was offering it.

I looked back at him suspiciously, “Do we have to strike a pose? Who’s taking the pictures for
us?”

He glared at me so I quickly laughed it out, squinting my eyes, “I’m just joking with you.”

After I was done talking, I slipped my hand into the crook of his arm, and lightly held unto it,
“There’s a thing in the movies where everyone has to be arm-in-arm when making an entrance.”

I looked at my hand that was clutching on his black suit when all of a sudden, a knot seems to be
forming in my chest, I couldn’t help but grasp his arm firmly. He bent his head to look down at
me, and said softly as if trying to gently calm me, “Go look around as if you’re watching a
movie.”

I looked around the banquet hall. A large crystal chandelier was hanging from the ceiling,
twinkling in a multitude of brilliant lights and vibrant colors. Under the chandelier were
wandering men and women with wine glasses all lively. Long tables were covered in tablecloths
the colour of champagne, and filled with food that it makes one’s mouth water. This is definitely a
movie about gourmet.

“Chen Xiaoxi, don’t just look at the food, smile.” Jiang Chen suddenly bent over and whispered
quite close to my ear, his hot breath tickling it. I couldn’t help but shot him a glare.

“Smile.” He said once again.

I followed his line of sight — a group of people were slowly walking towards us, crowding around
a small, familiar-looking old man.

Jiang Chen half dragged me towards them. I asked him through the forced smile plastered on my
face, “Which one is your patient?”

“That old man in the middle.”

When I looked at said man though, he was beaming in the pink of health, and doesn’t look like
someone who just recovered from a serious illness so I inquired, “What’s his illness?”

“Heart disease.”

Jiang Chen was just about done with his reply when we’ve finally reached them.
They greeted each other with a simple handshake, I heard Jiang Chen calling him Secretary
Zhang* and it dawned on me where the feeling of familiarity came from — I saw him in the local
news and not only that, I saw him lots of times. The fact that I watch the local news no more than
ten times an entire year, his appearance in them is certainly very high then. It will be good if we’re
introduced ， after all, he’s a very sought-after member of the ruling class* of society. (T/N:
secretary means a chief official of a branch of a socialist or communist party. The ruling class
refers to the elite, upper echelons of society)

Secretary Zhang was all smiles, looking at me, “Is this Little Jiang’s girlfriend?”

I shot a quick look at Jiang Chen and thought to myself if I should send the Buddha to the furthest
of West*, I put on a smile and nodded, “Hello, my name is Chen Xiaoxi.” (T/N: Sending Buddha
to the West is a proverb meaning if you’re helping someone then help them till the end, not giving
up halfway.)

Secretary Zhang also nodded. Men of this age are rather kind, when he smiles his appearance
looks like that of a mere mortal who finally achieved immortality through cultivation, “Miss Chen
looks really beautiful, indeed a talented man and a beautiful woman*. I was actually thinking of
introducing my granddaughter to Little Jiang, it seems like my granddaughter doesn’t have enough
luck.” (T/N: means ideal couple)

I didn’t know how to answer to that, so I just smiled apologetically. Jiang Chen decided to take on
the subject himself, “Secretary Zhang’s favor and high regards, I dare not make presumptions*.”
(T/N: lit. dare not pull myself up high, a humble phrase of someone not daring to make friends or
settle as relatives with people in a higher status than themselves.)

Secretary Zhang laughed and suddenly announced in a clear, distinct voice, “Ladies and
gentlemen.”

His voice wasn’t particularly loud, however, there’s a strange summoning force to it. The hall
packed with people went silent and seemingly turned their heads towards our general direction.
My hand that was pulling Jiang Chen’s arm subconsciously tightened, he extended his other hand
and gently patted the back of my hand.

Secretary Zhang raised the wine glass in his hand, “This is my benefactor, Doctor Jiang. I’m
asking everyone to help me thank Doctor Jiang and his girlfriend with a glass of wine. Thank
you!”

When he was done with his toast, we were then handed a glass of wine each.

Jiang Chen also made a toast to him, “I’m simply doing my job.”

Honestly speaking, I was really terrified, I’ve never meet the people of this kind. In my memory,
the biggest crowd I’ve ever faced was when I joined a choir competition during grade school. At
that time I was right in the middle of a group of children singing with our mouth wide open. My
legs on the other hand, were trembling as that of someone with infantile paralysis.

Now, a bunch of people were looking our way in unison, moreover, every single one of them is an
elite — tycoons, influential officials and such. I wanted to say I’m just an ordinary person who
just came over to watch a movie so please don’t look at me.

Fortunately, the limelight was on us for only a short while. When everyone was done drinking,
they quickly resumed to where they had left off, only then did I also notice that in my
nervousness, I spilled wine on my hand.

It was only Secretary Zhang who seems as though he has no intentions of letting us go and toasted
us another glass of wine again.

“Little Jiang, when you get married, remember to send me an invitation.”

“We will surely send out an invitation but you mustn’t drink anymore wine, your heart can’t stand
it.” Jiang Chen said smiling, in a tone laced with strong authority unique to that of doctors.

Secretary Zhang actually let out a smile and put the glass down. I was thinking about how to
escape unharmed, and looked down languidly at the skirt I was wearing, analyzing where I should
wipe my dirty hand so as the stain wouldn’t be too obvious.

“Chen Xiaoxi, go to the restroom.” Jiang Chen said before he was whisked away by Secretary
Zhang.

After I was done washing my hands, I spotted Jiang Chen and Secretary Zhang from a distance,
surrounded by a group of people. I hesitated for a moment, I think it’s more fun to stay right
beside the long table and stuff myself. Anyway, I’ve already shown my ability of blocking the
Secretary’s granddaughter, now I can finally show the ability of my stomach.

I stood right beside the table, observing it for a moment. I found out that the food looked the same
when they were taken out, as the few people who went to table stayed there for no more than ten
seconds. So I felt reassured and took a big plate, prepared to eat everything from the beginning of
the table right till the end, and to satisfy my desire to exploit the ruling class.

I was only able to eat four dishes when I encountered an obstacle. Of course it’s not about being
full, I’m very confident about my stomach.

In front of me was a group of women. They were chatting by the table, and are naturally dressed
for the banquet with brands that I obviously can’t afford. It’s hard to say if they look beautiful, as
their makeup was done by someone with the hands of the gods. Indeed, the true features of the
human race already cease to exist.
As the table was pushed right against the wall, and by the looks of it, these women are going to
stand there forever, I probably wouldn’t be able to try every food there is before the banquet is
over. Just by the thought of it, I’m already itching to set this group of women on fire.

I silently walked past them, intending to eat the dishes placed at far end of the table. When I
passed by their side, I was called over by a woman, “Hello, Doctor Jiang’s girlfriend.”

I turned around, the girl who spoke to me looked beautiful, even though she was also dress to the
nines and wearing thick makeup, she was able to look amorous and refined. She looked quite a bit
like the Cleopatra in my middle school’s World History textbook, and also amazingly tall wearing
a pair of high heels which I reckon, is more than ten centimeters — a look that can’t be put
together without breaking through the roof of the banquet hall.

I smiled at her, “Hi.”

She came close to me and pulled my hand, “My grandfather being able to recover this time was
truly thanks to Doctor Jiang. I was in the hospital looking after our old man when he got sick and I
can say that Doctor Jiang is really dedicated to his patients. For around half a month, I hardly ever
seen him leave the hospital. It’s fortunate that he has a girlfriend like you who is understanding of
such things.”

I know that I’m quite sensible, but this really has nothing to do with me…….

I was still holding the big plate on one hand, the other was pulled by her. I had no choice but to
stare at her hand that was holding mine, so soft as if there’s no bones, her fingers long and slender
like pared scallions, her nails coated with a layer of pale pink, looking like the layer of brine sauce
dripping from a first-rate Hong Kong-style chicken feet.

Perhaps she noticed my awkwardness and loosen her hold on my hand. “I think Doctor Jiang is
still being dragged around by my grandpa. Being alone you’ll get bored, come and join our chat.”

I had to put my plate down, assume an air of enthusiasm and listen to them talk. I’ve managed to
catch bits of their topic, Ivy League schools abroad, holiday resorts, famous brands……I really
don’t understand these things, so I wasn’t interested.

Now they’re talking about whose rich family was raising a dog with a very long breed name,
whose rich family was rearing a foal, etcetera……..This animal topic soon switched to food.

A woman with a ferocious mouth of a beast* said, “The French truffles that XX restaurant air-
freighted arrived. I just went to eat yesterday, it was pretty good.” (T/N: means someone who
looks very covetous or greedy)

“Really? I’ll have my boyfriend take me there tomorrow.”

“I heard that the blackfin tuna in YY restaurant is good too. ”

“Really? Then we’ll go there in another day. But I still prefer Kobe beef. ”

……..

“If I want to eat truffles, I’ll fly to either France or Italy, French black truffle is pretty good, Italian
white truffle is alright too. I don’t eat blackfin tuna. Kobe beef is something I have no choice but
to eat when going to Japan. However, I’d rather eat caviar and only the freshest. If the globules
look plump and smooth, then without any seasoning or other food, I’d use a spoon made from
ivory and eat a spoonful from a chilled glass bowl.” A sweet and charming voice strangely made
this group of rich, young misses miraculously turn silent.

I look at the woman who just spoke, she was leaning lazily against the table, smiling yet not
smiling, and is very beautiful. Her beauty is not that of a goddess from the heavens who doesn’t
eat worldly food*, her beauty is aggressive, you can even say flashy. It’s the kind that when a man
sees her, they couldn’t help but indulge in their own fantasies, and when a woman does, they
couldn’t help but want to throw sulfuric acid on her beautiful face. (T/N: According to folklore,
the Daoists believed that celestial beings never ate cooked food. Later on, this phrase was used to
describe a person who has otherworldly qualities similar to that of celestial beings – a pure
beauty.)

She was wearing a customized greenish coloured qipao* embroidered with red flowers. The dress
doesn’t have exaggerated slits or a plunging neckline but only clung to her curves like a glove. For
the first time in my life I finally saw someone look tempting in clothes that’s actually
conservative. (T/N: a close-fitting Chinese dress with a mandarin collar and slits)

I also noticed that when she spoke, the women around showed a look of disdain, so much that
some even whispered “vixen” under their breaths.

When I heard the word “vixen”, I felt completely relieved, that’s right, growing into such a bad
vixen is truly a waste of talent.

Perhaps because the conversation has gone stale, the granddaughter of the host, Miss Zhang,
suddenly turned to me with a smile and asked, “What does Miss Chen usually like to eat?”

I was caught off guard by her question, don’t know if she was trying to save the show or trying to
embarrass me, so I replied evasively, “I don’t have something I particularly like to eat, I usually
just eat at random.”

“I saw Miss Chen eating a lot of stuff just now, surely you’ve done quite a research on food, don’t
keep your secret so selfishly.”
“It’s like this.” I rubbed the back of neck, a bit distressed. “I think Nissin’s egg instant noodles is
quite delicious. Master Kong is alright too. I also like mine a bit soggy. And then the eggs, it’s best
to have two; crack one and mix it with the noodles, the other one is poached at the side. When it
has come to a boil, only then will you add the seasoning, don’t add any more than that, just that bit
to make it palatable, a lil’ salt, and some soy sauce. Truly delicious.”

……..　　

There was silence as though the Grim Reaper came.

See? Why must you let me share my expertise? I really didn’t want to.

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 8

December 29, 2017
After receiving a valuable lesson on instant noodles from me, the group of ladies suddenly had no
more interest in chatting. They were all looking for excuses to leave. I think this is a bad gesture, a
gesture of tearing down the bridge after crossing the river.* (T/N: Partly to “abandon” the person
who helped you after achieving your goals. She probably meant imparting her instant noodles
knowledge to them.)

When I was preparing to lift up my plate to continue eating every dish on the long table, I realized
the vixen is still leaning on the table. Unsure of when she had another glass of red wine on her
hand, she gently swirled her wine and asked, “What is your name?”

I looked left and right to make sure that she was talking to me and answered, “Chen Xiaoxi, the
‘Xi’ from hope.”

She raised her glass towards me and bottoms up-ed the wine. She then said, “Hu Ran Ran, the
“Ran” from having affair with people.” (T/N: To have an affair with people (plural sense) is 跟人
有染 (Gen Ren You Ran). The same ‘Ran’ in Hu Ran Ran’s name.)

I looked around, unable to find any glass of wine to return her toast. So I lifted my plate of sushi
to return her the toast instead. I ate the sushi in one mouth, almost choking to death. Finally I
rubbed the tear off the corner of the eye and said, “Nice meeting you.”

“You don’t have to cry from feeling moved.” She said as she passed a tissue to me. I was quite
shocked from the fact that she didn’t seem to have any clutch or bag on her. Her dress was stuck
onto her like a second layer of skin that will burst upon breathing. I don’t think that she can stuff
any tissue in that.

I took the tissue and said thanks.

She just leaned on the table while looking at me walking back and forth the table and eating
happily, she asked if it’s delicious.

“Its delicious! Do you want some?” I pointed at the cakes in my plate. Only then did I think of her
caviar analogy and felt that it was unnecessary.

She pointed at her qipao that she was wearing and said, “It will burst if I eat.”

I nodded and open my palm to show her the tissue that she passed to me and said, “Your dress is
too scary. Where did you put the tissue?”

She pointed in between her legs and said, “Stuck it against my inner thighs, together with my
phone.”
I looked her at smooth legs that were not donning any stockings. I twitched my mouth and looked
at the tissue on my palm. It didn’t feel right to be holding or throwing it away. I’m having mixed
feelings knowing that it was taken out of her inner thighs.

Hu Ran Ran laughed out loud and said, “I’m just joking! How cute. I took it from the table.”

I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck and laughed along, “I only have eyes for food.”

I finished eating 58 dishes with her looking at me. I took a piece of serviette and imitated her by
leaning sultrily on the table and wiped my mouth.

Hu Ran Ran turned her head to looked at me and asked, “Are you the doctor’s girlfriend?”

I touched my nose and replied, “Sort of.”

Also secretly adding a “used to” in my heart.

She tucked her hair behind her ears and said, “Zhang Qian Rong will snatch from you.”

“Ah? Who?” I asked while trying to stop myself from staring at her dark brown wavy hair.

Her hairstyle is my favorite big, wavy, hairstyle. I wanted to do it when I was in university. But
Jiang Chen said I looked refreshing and natural in short hair. That was how I donned a mushroom
bob hair for four years. It was only until we broke up that I grew out my long hair. Now that I
think of it, how is refreshing and natural a compliment? It’s more like a line in an air freshener
commercial.

“Zhang Qian Rong, Old Zhang’s granddaughter. There, she’s currently walking towards your
boyfriend.” Hu Ran Ran said while pointing with her chin.

I followed her line of sight and saw Zhang Qian Rong walking towards Jiang Chen and Secretary
Zhang. Swaying her hips like she was performing a ribbon dance.* (T/N: A traditional Chinese
dance.)

“Old Zhang is really old.” Sighed Hu Ran Ran. “The most a few more years to live.”

I looked at her in surprise. She laughed and said, “If I said I’m his mistress would you believe?”

I forced out a laugh not knowing what to reply.

She continued, “I used to be a nanny in their house.”

I couldn’t control myself and went, “Ho..w…?”

I wasn’t able to find the right words to phrase my question. Thankfully she continued it for me.

“How was I able to climb onto Old Zhang’s bed? Whenever he is the only one left at home, I’ll
mop the floor wearing a low-cut nightgown.”

“I see…” I dragged my words as I am not sure what to reply. I can’t be praising her for that,
neither can I wish for her to succeed. Even more impossible for me to be calling her shameless.
Ah, what a difficult situation I’m in.

She was laughing and seemed to be enjoying my embarrassment.

I’m glad to be of amusement to you.

“Your boyfriend’s coming.” She said while covering her mouth.

“Ah?” I looked up, and Jiang Chen was already standing in front of me. I couldn’t help but praise
him saying, “You sure walk fast.”

Jiang Chen politely nodded to acknowledge Hu Ran Ran’s presence. Then he looked at me and
said, “Let’s go.”

He walked off right after finishing his sentence. I waved goodbye to Hu Ran Ran and ran in small
steps to catch up to him while asking, “We can leave? But the banquet hasn’t ended yet.”

He stopped walking until I’m beside him. We walked out side by side as he answered, “We’re
going back. I still have an operation tomorrow.”

“Oh,” I followed him out.

He went to get his car while I waited outside the hotel. Suddenly remembering that he didn’t seem
to have eaten anything. Moreover, he had gastric pain before coming. Hence I decided to
discreetly return to the banquet to get some food for Jiang Chen. I only took two steps before
hearing a honk. I turned back to open the door and propped half my body in to say, “Aren’t you
having gastric pain? I see that you didn’t eat anything just now, I’ll go take some food for you.
Will be back soon.”

Just as I turned to walk back in right after finishing my sentence. Jiang Chen repeatedly shouted
my name behind me. I had no choice but to walk back and said, “Don’t worry. The food’s really
great inside. There’s nobody eating it anyways. No one will mind even if I were to take some.”

“Get on.” He said while tapping the steering wheel impatiently.

I came to a sudden realization that ever since we met again, he has been strangely losing his
patience with me often. I’ll give you an analogy. It’s like you when only raised a dog with the
intention of slaughtering it to eat. However, not only won’t the dog grow any meat, but he thinks
that he is a beloved pet, always trying to get attention from you. Don’t you think it’s annoying?

I entered the car silently, closed the door and put on my seat belt.

“I live at XX neighbourhood XX street. If it’s not convenient you can just drop me off at any bus
stop. I can take bus back.”

He stared at me for quite some time. They say the eyes are the windows to one’s soul. Hence I
stared at his windows for a while, only to think that his dark circles are quite severe. However say
the saying goes, “Even if you walk a cow to Beijing it is still a cow.”* Even when a handsome guy
grows dark circles, he is still a handsome guy but with dark circles. (T/N: this is translated
literally.)

In the end I was still unable to see anything from his eyes. Eyes are indeed the windows to one’s
soul. However, some people’s eyes are anti-theft windows. Those without enough skills can only
feel distraught.

Nonetheless, Jiang Chen still drove me to my house. I thanked him for sending me home, but he
didn’t seem to have any gratitude towards me accompanying him for the night. But I decided not
to fuss about it.

I got out of the car and prepared to close the door. While I was closing I couldn’t help but peek a
look at him. This is the after-effect of being in a one-sided love for too long. Even during the four
years that we were together, I still peek at him subconsciously. To the point where when he was
taking ophthalmology he suspected that I had suffered from strabismus.

His right hand was on the steering wheel and left arm pressed on his stomach. He was frowning as
though he was waiting for the sound of the door to close.

In the end, I didn’t close the door. I stick my body in and asked him like a plea, “Why not you
come to my house? I’ll cooked noodles for you. Will be fast, I can do it in ten minutes.”

He shook his head, “It’s okay, I’ll be fine after taking medicine.”

I went in the car fully and sat down with my arms crossed. “Up to my house for noodles! If not, I
won’t get out of your car.”

Jiang Chen turned to look at me and sighed, “Let’s go.”

I smiled and hopped out of the car. Bringing him up four storeys of stairs to my rented apartment.

I poured him a cup of water and went to the kitchen. Thinking that since instant noodles isn’t very
healthy, I cooked vermicelli and added two eggs for him instead. When I came out with the
noodles, he was already asleep while leaning against the sofa’s armrest.

I placed the bowl on the table, squatted in front of him thinking whether I should wake him up or
not. I even contemplated for a long time whether I should secretly kiss him like how it is in the
movies. Or should I used my finger to outline his features? Or should I just silently watch him
sleep while I cry.

In the end I just tapped on his shoulder and said, “Jiang Chen, the noodle’s ready.”

Some things are like being in a competition. Since you decided to withdraw from the match, you
have no rights to compete again. You can only watch in agony. That’s why, Liu Xiang, I
understand your pain in withdrawing from the Olympics.

Jiang Chen’s eyelids fluttered a little, opening slightly to look at me, and shut it again.

Hence, I pushed him again, “Wake up, the noodle’s getting soggy.”

He made a “tch” sound and pushed my hand off with his eyes closed. “Stop fooling around, I’m
very tired.”

Perhaps he sounded as though it was meant to be, I thought it felt a bit intimate..

I hugged my knees while seated on the floor, looking at him absentmindedly, or at a corner.
Suddenly I felt like I’m really pitiful until I entered a dimension with no one else.* (T/N: I’m
guessing she fell asleep.)

After I was done feeling miserable, I looked up and saw Jiang Chen eating the noodles and
watching television. The volume’s very low, but he was watching it attentively.

I turned to look at the television, it’s currently airing a basketball match. A black man’s head
slammed onto the armpit of a white man who was shooting. The white man fell to the ground and
tossed around in agony.

If I’m the black guy I would have reported the white man. Armpits vs Head, this is obviously
racism.

Jiang Chen finished the noodles, asked for a tissue to wipe his mouth and said that he will be
going.

Since there aren’t any excuses to make him stay longer, I can only tell him to drive back safely.

When he walked to the door, he turned back to look at me, as though he was hinting something. I
had no choice but to stand up and walked towards him saying, “I will just send you to the door. I
wore heels for the entire night and my legs are breaking. If I were to send you down I still have to
climb back up four storeys again.”

Jiang Chen leaned on the door waiting for me to walk in front of me. He suddenly said, “Chen
Xiaoxi, have you never, ever felt that you have done me wrong?”

This is a classic reverse questioning. An obvious answer hidden within the question to prove a
point. After a short breakdown of the question I decided, that Jiang Chen probably thinks that I
should and must feel that I have done him wrong. The only thing that I’m not sure, is that whether
this question is meant for the breakup three years ago, or it’s for my laziness in not wanting to
walk him down the apartment.

I thought for a while. No matter what he is referring to, I will still be the one in the wrong. It’s not
that I can’t apologize. Therefore, I put my legs together, arms by my side and decidedly to
apologise sincerely in an army position. But Jiang Chen didn’t even wait for me to finish my
series of actions. He gave me one last look and went down the stairs.

This time round I understood his expression. Nothing but dislike, detest, disgust, etcetera. I could
understand that, as I felt disgusted by myself too.

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 9

January 2, 2018
T/N: Everything in bold are written as is in English.

Happy New Year! I wish you all will be happier, healthier, wealthier this year!

After a few days, Zhuang Dong Na who had returned from her business trip made a phone call to
express her gratitude, the general idea being that she had come to know that Jiang Chen did not
properly express his thankfulness towards me, and she felt that her family’s* Jiang Chen was too
unthoughtful. Her original words were, “You know this, our family’s Jiang Chen doesn’t really
care for the ways of the world*, but this is also his strong point, I kinda like it, hehe.” (T/N: “our
family’s” is kind of an intimate way to refer to someone, meaning something like “our”) (T/N:
“ways of the world” – i.e. how to be diplomatic, how to establish relationships and connections,
how to conduct yourself in society etc)

Zhuang Dong Na graduated majoring in English, she always liked to intersperse her speech with
English, in the past, she also loved to mix English in when she chatted online, for example, “I’m
going for a business trip this weekend, we’ll have a meeting when I’m back”, she will type, “I’m
going for a business trip this weekend, we’ll have a meeting when I’m back.”

Later on there was once when Situ Mo said that she simply could not stand it any longer, so she
innocently and guiltlessly asked Zhuang Dong Na, “You are always switching between input
methods, are you not tired?” Zhuang Dong Na readily accepted good advice and corrected this
foible of input methods, Situ Mo was deeply gratified about this.

Zhuang Dong Na suggested that to express their gratitude and to make amends, they would like to
treat me to a meal. I rebuffed the offer tactfully, but perhaps I was too tactful, to such an extent
that she was totally unable to understand my unwillingness. In short, she self-involvedly
announced the time and place and then hung up the phone at once.

As I was going to be forced into being treated a meal, I was therefore in a very bad mood. Hence
Fu Pei and Situ Mo being my colleagues were unfathomably insulted by me quite a few times,
causing Situ Mo to be so angry that she said that she wanted to resign and go home and have her
husband support her. I keyed in to this matter of her moving out her husband as a backer and
reviled her once again, and finally forced her to admit that she herself was unworthy of the
cultivation/training/education that our motherland gave her, and that she was a parasite utterly
devoid of a heart and a conscience. Only then did my mood grudgingly improve.

Before I got off work, I received a phone call from Su Rui. After the banquet, we somehow
inconceivably became friends.

I had thrown the dress for that banquet into the washing machine, and after it came out, no matter
how I looked, I felt that it looked like a mass of rotten vegetable leaves, hence I carried the dress
to go and find Su Rui. He used a machine that looked like a vacuum cleaner to iron the dress back
into its original light-green floaty appearance. He told me that that machine was called a garment
steamer, I told him that in my mind that was a vacuum cleaner. After that, we then got into an
argument, he said I wasn’t respecting him, I said he was making a mountain out of a molehill. We
argued till it was time to eat, and as such he then brought me out to eat. After we finished eating I
paid the cash, he then announced that we had now become friends through fighting*. (T/N: the
original phrase is 不 打 不 相 识 which literally means if you don’t fight, you won’t become
friends.)

Su Rui said that he was running errands near our office, and asked if I wanted to eat together after
I got off work. I told him that I was going to have a meal with Jiang Chen and Jiang Chen’s
girlfriend. He expressed his sympathy towards me, and volunteered to accompany me there. He
said that he wanted to go to help me boost my courage, I felt that he wanted to go to scrounge a
free meal.

I considered it for a while, and thought that it was really a little desolate to go and meet the
‘husband and wife’ pair of my ex-boyfriend all alone by myself, so I brought Su Rui along.

When the two of us reached the restaurant, they had not yet arrived. We chatted for a while till we
discovered that we couldn’t see eye to eye and nearly ended up in a fight. Hence Su Rui then
borrowed two pens from the waiter, we both separately unfolded paper napkins to draw designs,
he drew costume designs, I drew illustrations. After we finished drawing, Jiang Chen and co still
hadn’t arrived, therefore as such we then exchanged our drawings for evaluation. Su Rui said my
illustrations were childish, and were for little children to see; I said his clothes were ugly, and
weren’t for mankind to wear…… Thankfully Jiang Chen and Zhuang Dong Na arrived before we
broke out into a terrible fight.

“You guys have come at long last.” I smiled as I reproached, forcing myself to move my eyes
away from those five claws that she had tucked into Jiang Chen’s arm. “If you were any slower
you would be just in time to collect my dead body.”

Zhuang Dong Na laughed as she explained, “I said we were to come here separately, but he
insisted on making a detour to the office to pick up me, so we went on a longer roundabout route,
sorry.” After she finished speaking she paused, looked to Su Rui and asked, “This person is?”

“I am Su Rui, Xiaoxi’s friend, my older sister and Doctor Jiang are colleagues too. I originally
wanted to arrange to have a meal with Xiaoxi today, she said she had already made arrangements
with someone else, I then shamelessly followed along to come and scrounge a meal, you guys
don’t mind, right?” Su Rui fought to reply before I did.

“Of course no, it’s more lively when there are more people,” Zhuang Dong Na replied and turned
her head back to smile sweetly at Jiang Chen who was in the process of helping her to pull out her
chair.

After we all were seated and had finished ordering our food, suddenly nobody opened their
mouths to speak again, the scene solidified/condensed for a moment. I looked towards the two
persons opposite me, it seemed like they didn’t have any intent to rescue the situation. As someone
whose back would turn numb when faced with awkward silences, I could only look at Su Rui
pleadingly for help.

Su Rui easily grabbed the paper napkin on the table top and passed it to Zhuang Dong Na, saying,
“This is the drawing of the design I customised for Xiaoxi according to her measurements.”

Zhuang Dong Na took it, looked at it in detail for a while and praised, “You are so talented, this
dress is very beautiful and fits Xiaoxi very well.” After she finished speaking, she even pushed it
till it was in front of Jiang Chen and said, “What do you think.”

Jiang Chen’s gaze swept over it indifferently. He nodded and said, “Mm, not bad.”

As someone who had just insulted this dress a few minutes ago saying that it was not for mankind
to wear, in the face of such compliments, I could only tearfully give a hollow laugh and echo in
agreement.

Su Rui rubbed his head and laughed bashfully, “I drew this at random. I don’t know why, but
Xiaoxi is really suited to the fashion style that I design, I discovered this already the last time
when Doctor Jiang brought her to my place to buy clothes. However back then I thought that they
were a couple.”

I hurriedly explained to Zhuang Dong Na, “That was the time when you had me accompany him
to the banquet on your behalf.”

Zhuang Dong Na smiled and didn’t answer, instead it was Jiang Chen who lifted his head and
swept his gaze over me. This was the first time he had looked at me directly since he came in till
now, probably I was accustomed to being bullied by him for many years, for the moment I saw
him look at me, I hastily gave a fawning smile. After my smile was returned with his apathetic
gaze, I then thought, why was I so f***ing subservient……

The dish that Jiang Chen ordered was the very first to be served. The medium-well steak sizzled
on the slate plate. He took a fork to prick and break open the poached egg that was still undulating
by the side. The egg yolk slowly flowed into the plate that was giving off smoke, and the hot oil
spurted once and crackled and splattered all over. Jiang Chen smoothly picked up the paper napkin
beside his hand to block the splattering drops of oil, and after it was all over he even used the
napkin to wipe the edge of the plate all around.

I knew that that paper napkin was Su Rui’s design drawing, seeing Jiang Chen conveniently knead
that paper into a wad, I inexplicably felt a sense of satisfaction in my heart.

Su Rui and Zhuang Dong Na were chatting about everything under the sun, I would also join in
and say a few sentences from time to time. On the other hand, Jiang Chen was practically silent,
even if the topic of conversation shifted to be about him, he would also flatly divert the topic of
conversation away.

However, eating this meal was still incomparably depressing* for me. Even though Jiang Chen
didn’t talk, yet Zhuang Dong Na from time to time would lean beside his ear to whisper privately,
as she did so her eyes would spinningly gaze at me and it seemed like she was smiling yet not
smiling at the same time. (T/N: original phrase is 堵 心 which literally translates into
stifled/suffocated heart)

Su Rui was so upset he couldn’t stand it, and imitated her by leaning beside my ear to speak softly,
“It’s obvious she’s provoking you. She really has no moral character.”

I pushed him away with a slap. “Don’t speak while leaning into my ear, it’s disgusting.”

Su Rui laughed good-naturedly. “Don’t tell me that you even know how to be embarrassed?”

I held up the corn puree. “You can give it a try and see if my shame will turn into anger*.” (T/N:
original idiom refers to when one is so humiliated and embarrassed they fly into a rage)

Su Rui hastily waved his hands. “I was wrong, okay?”

I arranged the bowl back to its original position, satisfied. Only then did I discover that Zhuang
Dong Na was just watching us attentively, smiling with a face full of interest. I cast a glance at
Jiang Chen out of the corner of my eye, he was cutting up his steak nonchalantly. Silent, skilled,
graceful.

His expression suddenly made me recall how back during our university times, I often
accompanied him at the hostel as he used pig skin and pig intestine to practise suturing and tying
knots. That silent and serious energy he had always made me feel like I was watching a movie
about a perverted surgeon murderer or something along those lines.

“Xiaoxi, I feel that Su Rui is quite good to you,” Zhuang Dong Na smilingly said, and she even
turned her head to ask Jiang Chen as if she was seeking assistance, “Isn’t that right?”

Jiang Chen ran his eyes over us once with a look of examining a patient, and flatly spat out a
word, “Right.”

Su Rui didn’t know to have the slightest degree of shame at all, and he parroted while
gesticulating joyfully, “Chen Xiaoxi, you see, they all say that I am good, you are the only person
who isn’t discerning.”

I don’t know why I suddenly lost interest in bickering with him, I replied him dispiritedly, “I also
think that you are really good.”

I don’t know if it was that my tone of voice had warped as it transmitted through the air, or if the
obstructive items such as earwax in Su Rui’s ears were too numerous causing distortion of sound.
In short, he seemed to have taken it seriously, he first stared blankly, then he suddenly gazed at me
with both eyes soft and gentle like water. He smiled at me bashfully, his face unreasonably
reddening all over.

I was so shocked that my four limbs went cold, I rubbed my neck and said, “Why are you blushing
for no reason, don’t smile at me, it’s ridiculous, the way you are smiling.”

Su Rui smilingly watched me be at a complete loss of what to do. I watched as the red flush on his
face mystically disappeared in a flash just like the ebbing tide, and asked suspiciously, “You’re
playing with me, right?”

He glanced at me, not saying a word, lowered his head and began eating the seafood paella
quietly.

His sudden shyness made me feel uneasy from head to toe, it was like a crowd of ants climbing
slowly in military formation from the soles of my feet up my body, climbing to my scalp……

I practically wolfed down the remaining pasta in swallows, and even nearly choked while doing
so. Su Rui very kindly patted on my back and said, “You be careful, don’t be choked to death.”

I was just about to say, “Is that the way to talk?”, when Jiang Chen suddenly opened his mouth.
“Don’t worry, she won’t die, even when noodles spout out of her nose, she still won’t die.”

I waved aside Su Rui’s hand and glared at Jiang Chen viciously.

He was talking about something that happened during our first official date. At that time, we had
gone to the only Western restaurant near our school. Back then, I was feeling especially nervous in
my heart. There were feelings of luckiness that the pie pasty that dropped from the heavens* had
just so happened to be picked up by me, and there also was apprehension due to fear that that
person who had thrown the pie pasty into the mortal realm would regret and come and ask me to
return it to them. (T/N: reference to a Chinese idiom referring to one enjoying readily available
things without putting in effort for it – to reap where one has not sown. The idiom alludes to
Exodus in the Bible where God provided manna for the Israelites)

Lost in thought, I ordered a plate of pasta, and after that just kept on engrossing myself in eating
the pasta. Just as my eating was in full swing, Jiang Chen who was sitting opposite me abruptly
said a sentence – “Chen Xiaoxi, accompany me tonight.” Excessive fright caused me to choke till
my tears and mucus overflowed, and most frightfully, a violent cough resulting in me spouting out
the noodles in my mouth from my nose……

I looked at the strand of noodle that was wobbling on the edge of the drinking glass, every hope in
my heart turning into dust, and begged Jiang Chen to break up with me as I wept, further
promising that I would never pester him ever again in the future.
Jiang Chen used a paper napkin to help me wipe my tears and mucus while he comforted me,
saying, “I didn’t see anything, I really didn’t see anything……”

I cried and collapsed into his embrace. We forsook holding hands, laying hands on each other’s
shoulders, holding waists and such other incremental steps to directly leap into hugging each other
on the first date, this could also be considered as a gain.

Later, Jiang Chen said that he had merely wanted me to accompany him to the overnight
classroom to study, because they were very soon to sit for one of the “Four Famous Resits” of the
study of medicine – the Pathology examination. This matter was always used for a very long
period of time after as evidence for Jiang Chen to accuse me of having dirty thoughts.

I glared at Jiang Chen fiercely, Jiang Chen glanced at me coldly, it was as if there were flames in
the air crackling as they burned.

“I’m sorry, our family’s Jiang Chen is joking.” Seeing that the atmosphere was amiss, Zhuang
Dong Na hurriedly came out to smooth things over.

“No worries, our family’s Xiaoxi won’t mind.” Su Rui said, seemingly to help me strive to
vindicate myself.

…… The corners of my eyes spasmed. There, even becoming one family.

I suppose, there was only one patriotic song that was popular when we were young that could
explain the degrees of familiarity and distance in this section of conversation of theirs – “We all
have one family, its name is China…… Our large China, one really big family……*” (T/N: Lyrics
of a patriotic song “Large China”/ 《 大 中 国 》 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=nPkOUfhUHMY)
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 10
January 8, 2018

Triple updates ahead! Brace yourselves.

After dinner, Zhuang Dong Na, in order to assume the role of a generous and polite hostess,
offered to have Jiang Chen send us home. Taking into account the location and time, as well as the
cost of taking a cab, Su Rui and I graciously and shamelessly accepted this blessing.

I thought Zhuang Dong Na would accompany us throughout the trip, but I didn’t expect that Jiang
Chen, with a doctor’s practical and realistic way of handling things efficiently, would plan the
most convenient route according to the geographical location of our addresses. Hence, Su Rui
alighted the car ten minutes later, Zhuang Dong Na also got home, but not before throwing me an
intense look as she got off which I interpreted as that of, “You better stay away from my
boyfriend. You’re an unwanted third party who caused me not to kiss my boyfriend goodbye!”

When it was only me and Jiang Chen left inside the car, in order to avoid swords being drawn and
crossbows being bent*, I had to close my eyes and pretend to be asleep. Only that I have no idea
why, but the car suddenly came to a stop at the roadside and the engine was slow in turning over,
making my little act of pretending to be asleep very hard to perform. (T/N: Swords drawn,
crossbows bent means be in mutual hostility)

Just when I was struggling whether to carry through the act till the end or to wake up to know
what was happening, Jiang Chen’s voice suddenly reached my ears, “Chen Xiaoxi, stop playing
dead in front of me. The car stalled, get off and give it a push.”

As I am certain that I could never afford even a single tyre in this lifetime, I only have the most
superficial, and the most literal understanding of a car’s brand and structure. For example, BMW
is the most expensive of all cars, because its name has the word “treasure”. Mercedes-Benz is the
fastest of all cars, because it is called “run fast”. Shanghai Volkswagen is the most
common/popular car, because its name is very familiar, and besides, all the cabs in the city are
Shanghai Volkswagen. The rest of the car brands are just there to buy soy sauce*. (T/N: BMW is
“Bao Ma” in Chinese with the word “bao” meaning treasure. Mercedes-Benz is “Ben Chi” with
“ben” meaning to run and “chi” meaning fast therefore run fast. Shanghai Volkswagen is
“Shanghai Da Zhong” with “da” meaning big and “zhong” meaning crowd, therefore big crowd/
masses, also “popular” when put together. “Buy soy sauce” is a buzzword meaning irrelevant (in
this context) or to express disinterest. It was popularized when a passerby was asked his opinion
regarding Edison Chen’s scandal and his reply was “I don’t give a sh*t. I’m just out buying soy
sauce.)

Jiang Chen’s car is a soy sauce car.

In the TVs, cars also frequently stall, hence I just calmly accepted the fact that Jiang Chen’s soy
sauce car broke down.

I don’t know if it was that I was as strong as an ox or if a soy sauce car stalls its engine in a “soy
sauce” way, in short I just casually gave it a push, and it lurched forward. I even got a sense of
achievement which I find embarrassing to have.

I set off at a quick trot after the car to pull the car door open, only to find out that Jiang Chen had
locked the car door which infuriated me instantly. Using a lowly person’s mind, I guessed Jiang
Chen’s little act of making me get off the car was just to play with me. Hence I turned on my heel,
and walked away at an exceptionally slow pace. My walking away was just to show I can still
walk away with my head held high with my ego intact. I really don’t intend to leave him as it’s a
terrible location to hail a cab.

Fortunately, Jiang Chen reversed his car and was keeping up with me, I figured that since he isn’t
my boyfriend now, it’s rare that he’s still willing to lend me a hand out of an embarrassing
situation, as such, “When there are steps for you to descend, do not hesitate to descend. Do not
wait till there are no more steps and you can only stomp your feet in vain*.” So I hurriedly opened
the car door, but it was still locked……(T/N: Giving someone steps to descend” is a Chinese way
of describing allowing someone the chance to save face. The sentences here are a play on a poem
from the Tang dynasty “Golden Thread Robes” where the original subject matter of these two
lines were about flowers – “Do not hesitate to pick the twigs when flowers are in bloom, do not
wait till the flowers wither and picking the twigs will be in vain.)

I couldn’t help but scold him, “Jiang Chen, you can’t insult me like this, if you don’t want to send
me home then say it outright, you, not opening the car door, what are you trying to get at!”

The window of the front door slowly rolled down, and Jiang Chen stuck his head out, “Chen
Xiaoxi, you’re freaking sick ah. Come take the front seat!”
…….

I fiddled with the handle, and embarrassedly opened the front door, after I got in and put on the
seatbelt, I sincerely and earnestly told Jiang Chen, “I was, of course, only joking with you just
now, but it was wrong for you to swear.”

Jiang Chen ignored me, one foot was stepping on the gas pedal to its maximum extent. I burst with
joy when I felt the seatbelt on me. Fortunately I’ve fastened it right away, otherwise, I would have
long flown through the windshield, and ten minutes later, the police officer uncle would have
arrived to outline my corpse with a chalk.

Jiang Chen whizzed through the road. Perhaps he started to contemplate how truly precious one’s
life is, and slowed down little by little. I felt relieved — put away my look as though I was greedy
for life and afraid of death, and switched it to a tranquil face as though I was accustomed to seeing
strong winds and big waves.

The entire drive to my place went in silence, Jiang Chen finally stepped on the brakes and said,
“We’ve reached.”

As I was undoing my seatbelt, I thanked him as well, “Thank you for the dinner and for sending
me back.”

To this he nodded faintly, there was no sign of wanting to initiate small talk with me. I opened the
car door preparing to get off, my feet haven’t even stepped on the ground when my phone rang.
Hence, I was fishing for my phone inside my bag while getting off the car, only when I got on the
ground did I manage to find my phone, it was Su Rui.

“Hey.”

“Chen Xiaoxi, did you got home?” Su Rui’s voice was indistinct.

“Just arrived.” I turned around and closed the car door. Just as I was about to lean on the car
window to wave Jiang Chen goodbye, the car lurched forward like a shooting arrow, leaving a
cloud of dust on its wake.

“……conspicuous.” A bunch of indistinct words from Su Rui went through my ears, I put down
my hand that was hanging mid-air with a wry smile, “Speak properly, I can’t hear you clearly.”

Su Rui said, “I’m eating ice cream, I said I was afraid Doctor Jiang giving you a lift was to destroy
your corpse not leaving any marks. After all, when doctors kill, they’re the most inconspicuous.

I replied with a snigger, “You’re such a girl, actually eating ice cream.”

“Who said eating ice cream is girly!” Su Rui yelled, “My dad also eats ice cream!”
I laughed heartily, “It only proves that your dad also has feminine qualities.”

“Hey, when it comes to my dad, I only feel sad.” I could detect from Su Rui’s voice that he was
laughing. “I’ve always suspected that him marrying my mom, and giving birth to jie jie & I were
just a pretense. I also made my brother-in-law take away my dad for his research. It’s a pity he did
not dare do so.”

“It’s better to have given birth to a piece of barbecued pork* than you.” I replied while almost
turning my bag upside down, looking for the building key. “Hey, is there anything else? I can’t
find my key, I have to concentrate in looking for it.” (T/N: a popular, wacky expression more
popular among the Cantonese speaking regions used to voice a mother’s disappointment over a
misbehaving child (implying a piece of char siu is much more appealing than their child at this
point, lol.)

“Nevermind, you’re so heartless, bye.” Su Rui’s words were indistinct. I reckon he ate ice cream
again.

“Bye.” I threw my phone into my bag, and was rummaging through it under the faint light emitted
by the lamp post when suddenly, a car was approaching with its headlights glaring. I
subconsciously grabbed my bag to block my eyes with. I thought the car was just going to pass by
quickly, but it came to a stop not far away, its headlights were not turned off and seemingly looked
brighter and more dazzling. I tried hard to adjust my sight on the strong light and slowly lowered
my bag, looking at the person in the strong light beam walking unhurriedly towards me.

Jiang Chen.

The Jiang Chen that accompanied me through my most pure, most beautiful years. The Jiang Chen
who is my favorite, looking as though he just crossed over the merciless times, the prehistoric
universe, and was suddenly standing in front of me again.

I bit my lower lip with a wry smile. It’s no wonder that in action movies, cops love to use bright
lights when interrogating criminals, it turns out that it could help make people want to instantly
pour out and reveal some things buried in the depths of one’s mind.

“Chen Xiaoxi.” Jiang Chen called out my name whilst looking at me.

I lifted my gaze to meet his, put on a strong act, and smiled at him with such calmness, “Why did
you turn around back here?”

I desperately tried to suppress the surging from deep inside my heart, I desperately tried to ignore
the voice in my heart that continuously clamored at me to chase back this stupid guy who wants to
take my life.
He reached out his hand to me, and opened his palm, “You dropped your keys in my car.”

“It probably fell out when I was looking for my phone.” I picked up the keys from his palm.
“Thank you.”

In the movies, those travel-worn male leads who are on their way home, would never return just to
hand over a key. I really am not fated to become the female lead.

Jiang Chen, however, didn’t turn away like what I have imagined, he was just standing there
looking at me, which made me strongly doubt if I ought to give him a bow or kneel in front of him
in order to express my gratitude.

I also don’t know how long it took before he said, “Chen Xiaoxi, I’m very busy, I have a lot of
things to do, do you understand?”

I smiled apologetically, “I understand, I’m sorry for troubling you to make another trip.”

He still did not budge, “You know I’m not talking about this.”

I shook my head, “I don’t know.”

His face suddenly looked angry, “Do you have to make me explain it to you clearly?”

I nodded, “Explain clearly.”　

He’s really angry, because when he gets angry he would squeeze his mouth tight which would
make a dimple slightly deeper than that of when he smiles, appear. I zeroed in on the dimple
which looks darker than the rest of his face in this backlit state when my heart suddenly had a
strange impulse. Before I could react, I’ve long reached my hand out to poke his dimple twice
with my index finger.

He certainly did not expect me to suddenly do such an action because I also didn’t see that coming
too.

What both of us didn’t expect made us very shocked, so he was looking at me, and I was looking
at him, in mutual silence.

Finally, he let out a cough twice, “What do you mean?”

I casted him a sincere look, “I really don’t know.”

Jiang Chen gave a long sigh, and grudgingly said, “Why do you not know anything at all?”

I bit my lips and replied, “Since you know everything, you tell me.”　　
He stared at me for a moment with a complex expression, looking as though he had made up his
mind on something and is determined, like he’s about to smash an already cracked pot to pieces*,
he said with a deep voice, “Apologize to me.” (T/N: it means writing oneself off as hopeless in the
midst of a setback so they act recklessly, and let things unfold on its own for the worst.)　

I froze for a moment, “What?”　　

“Apologize to me.” He repeated with his deep voice.　

I found it a bit unbelievable, using such calm and collected, mature voice for a childish request
like this, acting as if it’s the rightful thing to do, what’s up with him?　　

“Apologize.” He urged impatiently.

When it comes to Jiang Chen, I always have this indescribable feeling of being small, this feeling
makes me involuntarily take his every word, so I squeezed the key tightly in my hand and uttered
in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”　　

He breathed a sigh of relief, “There won’t be a next time. Got it?”

I nodded, with a vague feeling that we don’t seem to be talking about the same thing, as a matter
of fact, we’re really not talking about the same thing as Jiang Chen suddenly gave me the most
gentle smile, and said, “Come over here.”　　

I didn’t know I’ve already taken two steps towards him, he leaned over, and kissed me.

It’s a quite a long kiss, if I have to describe it, I think it’s like I swallowed roughly around a can of
cola of Jiang Chen’s saliva.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 11
January 8, 2018

After experiencing a series of what feels like I’ve been struck by lightning, naturally I don’t
remember how I went back home to wash up and lie on my bed.

After lying on my bed for about half an hour, only then did I slowly start to regain back my
composure. I started thinking if this is me dreaming at night about what I was thinking in the day*,
or there’s something wrong with Jiang Chen’s brain; or did I fantasize too much, or was Jiang
Chen possessed by a ghost. No matter what I thought off, I still couldn’t think of a reasonable
answer. Hence, I could only tell myself to treat it as though I got bitten by a dog. (T/N: a Chinese
idiom that describes if someone is continuous thinking about something in the daytime, you will
end up dreaming about it at night. It’s quite true. Happens to me quite a lot!)

I slowly fell asleep while recollecting the flavour of been bitten by a dog.

When I woke up the next day my cheek muscles were hurting badly. Probably because last night I
was dreaming endlessly. In the dream it was all about the kiss with Jiang Chen. Because of that
kiss, we constantly overused our lips and tongues. I think this is not good, I am a little shy.

While on the way to work on the train, my phone rang. I stared at the 3 words that were flashing
on my phone screen – Zhuang Dong Na. I was so scared I shuddered. At this moment I really
admire the mistresses in our community. How strong are they psychologically to be able to
withstand that guilt when facing the legal wife?

I swallowed my saliva and answered the call, “hello.”

“Hey it’s me. How was last night?” Zhuang Dong Na said with a happy tone to it.
I almost bit my tongue the moment I opened my mouth, “Dong Na… I…. That…”

“Which?” She asked.

I wanted to apologize to her, but I also felt that I was quite innocent. Therefore, I couldn’t finish
what I wanted to say. Instead I quickly said, “I am on my way to work, the train is too crowded. I
will call you back later.”

I hung up straight away. There is actually not much people this morning. The mere six or seven
people in the cabin all looked at me when I dropped the call. The looks on their faces seem to be
saying: “Look at you blatantly telling a lie, your face just looks like a mistress face, you won’t die
a good death…”

The me who won’t die a good death gloomily hid to a corner of the cabin and call Situ Mo. I
briefly explained to her about what happened and sought her advice as a person’s wife – whether I
deserve a death penalty or not.

Situ Mo comforted me and said, “You don’t have to be scared. Woman like Zhuang Dong Na will
the most grab your hair and bang you into the wall for revenge. She won’t find people to gang
rape you.”

She also told me to call Fu Pei since she thinks that he, as a role model of someone who toyed
with countless of girls but has yet to be thrown to jail, he should be able to tell me how to handle
such situation.

Fu Pei was dismissive after hearing my description of what happened, which I avoided the
important points but harped on the insignificant. He said, “You called early in the morning to
disturb my sleep just for this small thing? Obviously, the guy should be the one to solve this
problem. What are you worried for?”

As expected of a player, his words woke me up.

I hung up my call with Fu Pei and called Jiang Chen. In order to give me enough confidence, the
moment the line engaged I started to ramble on, “Jiang Chen you listen, I don’t care about why
you kissed me last night, but a kiss is a kiss, I have to point out that your action is extremely
wrong, you have a girlfriend now, you kissing me means you are forcing me to walk a road of
being a mistress. My mom said, a mistress who destroys other couple’s relationship will have bad
karma. That’s right, I still love you, but you should stop looking down on people, I will definitely
not be a mistress……”

I stopped to take a breath, realized that the other side of the line was quiet and thought that Jiang
Chen was reflecting, I decided to take advantage and fired again, “I mean, if you think that you
were acting on impulse last night, I can act as if nothing happened. If you say you still have
feelings for me, then lets take it step by step. You settle with Zhuang Dong Na first, then you have
to woo me…… Why are you not talking?”

“Er…. I’m Doctor Su.” A female voice came through the line, “Doctor Jiang is not around, I saw
that his phone was ringing for quite long, and the screen shows your name, so I helped to answer.”

For that moment it was like a bolt from the blue. The thought that those shameless words I said
just now had gone to her ear, I felt like killing myself by swallowing my phone.

I gritted my teeth and grumbled, “Why didn’t you say anything when you picked up the phone?”

“You spoke too fast, I wasn’t in time to make a sound.” She replied.

I thought that wasn’t right and continued, “But I clearly stopped in between to take a breath.”

She answered, “Oh, at that time I got addicted to what you were saying, felt that it was too
exciting so I didn’t have the heart to make a sound.”

…….

I really don’t want to use vulgarities to greet our benefactor, so I can only restrain my anger and
said, “Alright, please get Jiang Chen to return a call to me.”

“Wait, wait, If you really like Doctor Jiang, then what about my brother?” Doctor Su asked
worriedly.

I’m confused. “What’s it got to do with Su Rui?”

She said, “My brother likes you ah*. How about I give you an idea. You shouldn’t be a mistress
that eats back from the same pasture**. It’s lack of moral. You should just be with my brother. In a
few more years he will be legal to marry and you two can just register for marriage.” (*T/N: ah is
like an exclamation.)(**T/N: There is a Chinese idiom that goes, “a good horse doesn’t come back
to eat the same pasture”, meaning that one should not go back to one’s past experiences in any
circumstances.)

I didn’t quite understand. “What do you mean? How old is Su Rui this year?”

She said, “17. He didn’t want to attend the national college entrance examinations last year, said
that he wants to start his own business, so he opened a shop. The clothes in his shop are all
designed by him. I feel that my brother is a genius, he has a lot of potential. You should just be
with him, our family won’t mind that you are old.”

17 ah…. Why does this kid look so old?

I said without strength, “You should stop joking, I will be sent to jail for seducing a minor.”
She continued to advise, “Furthermore, I think an older woman and younger man relationship is
pretty good, you can use my brother’s yang to replenish your yin*, you won’t seem old easily that
way too.” (T/N: The idiom used in the novel is 采阳补阴 “take yang replenish yin”, though the
correct idiom should be 采阴补阳 “take yin replenish yang”. It is believed that yin is female and
yang is male. In ancient times, a male will borrow a female’s yin to strengthen himself through
sleeping with her. Dr. Su exchanges Xiaoxi and Su Rui’s roles here, that’s why the yin and yang
words are switched in the novel version.)

….I sincerely feel that, the Su siblings were sent from the heavens to catch me for spreading
happiness in the human world.

Therefore I moved my phone a little further from me, my voice drifting away from the phone,
“What… ah… the sig..nal… in train… not good… I need to work….. Bye….”

I kept my phone and heaved a sigh of relief. I looked up and saw at all the people in the cabin are
staring at me, with despise in their eyes. I opened my mouth in an attempt to explain something,
but ultimately decided to turn around and face the cabin’s wall.

Behind me came voices of people in conversation, “Ay, young people these days, can’t even lie
properly, working on a weekend?”

“It’s you who can’t keep up with times, some careers will only have good business on weekends
and night time.”

“Seducing minor ah.. Should be shot to death.”

“Ay this you do not understand. There is no gender, age, height differences in love.”

“Then why not we don’t categorize at all, we can date chicken, duck, cow, sheep, or dog.”

……

I escaped the train at the next stop and took the opposite train back home. Why did I forget that
today is a weekend….?

It took me about 1 hour plus for me to finally reach home. At this time, I am also too tired and lazy
to care about the tangled and complicated feelings anymore. I decided to make use of this
beautiful holiday to take a long nap. I even specially turned off my phone. Even a soul-stirring
romance cannot go against the carefree-ness of being able to sleep without any trouble.

I switched off my phone, changed into my pajamas, tossed around in my bed but was unable to
find peace. In my head is all the stares and looks from the people in the train. I have this feeling
that if I don’t do anything, I will definitely go to hell when I die.
Therefore, I got up and took my phone and prepared to call Zhuang Dong Na. My finger hovered
above the call button for a few seconds, but was unable to find the courage to. In the end I only
sent out a short message: Jiang Chen kissed me last night, I swear I didn’t seduce him, sorry.

As I expected, the phone rang almost immediately. Zhuang Dong Na told me a shocking news, she
said that she and Jiang Chen had never dated, she was only asked by Jiang Chen to play along
with him. The remuneration is that she can receive family-like-care when if needs to go to the
hospital to see the doctor. I am not sure what to reply, I can only express my shock about this deal.
After all, the remuneration is also not very auspicious….
Lastly, Zhuang Dong Na asked if I can introduce her to Su Rui whom we had dinner with together
last night, I told her that he is only 17 years old. She used a single word starting with ‘F’ to end
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 12
January 8, 2018

Thank you for patiently waiting! Let’s welcome Wu Bosong.

Hanging up the phone, I felt that there was a need for me to sort out my own state of emotions
properly. Hence I clasped a cup of tea and sat by the window, constructing an artistic mood of me
being deep in thought.

Having broken up for three years, I really wasn’t waiting for Jiang Chen. I wanted to find a
person, perhaps his eyes would resemble his, perhaps his dimples would resemble his, perhaps he
would like to drink Nongfu Spring just like him, and yet perhaps he wouldn’t resemble him in any
way…… Then we would have a romance, get married, and rely on each other for a long time. I
would love him, just like how I loved Jiang Chen, not in the least holding back.

Yet that Jiang Chen whom I was not waiting for, mistakenly via a combination of unexpected
random factors, had returned in front of me again. Furthermore, it seemed like he was unlike me,
he was waiting for me. If he wasn’t, I also decided to continue misunderstanding it as such, for
who asked him to find a shill*? In television drama serials, the male and female leads’ shills were
all used to stir up the other party’s jealousy, even though the remuneration he offered Zhuang
Dong Na made me suspect that it was more probable that he was actually helping the hospital to
solicit customers. (T/N: shill – “an accomplice of a confidence trickster or swindler who poses as
a genuine customer to entice or encourage others” [Definition from Oxford Dictionaries])

In my heart, I silently fashioned Jiang Chen into a person who was painfully awaiting my return
and who would stop at nothing for me, moreover feeling that upon analysis, this matter was quite
entertaining. For a while, I also didn’t know how I ought to evaluate Jiang Chen’s IQ for doing
such a childish thing. But Jiang Chen’s IQ when it came to relationships had always not been very
high, I had profound experience in this aspect.
For example, our first kiss.

At that time, Jiang Chen and I had been dating for the greater part of a month, our progress had
always stopped at the kind of superficial stage such as holding hands to exchange the perspiration
on our hands. Occasionally Jiang Chen’s male hormones would be in excess, and he would kiss
my cheek, it was very pure and of small beauty.

However, after Lin Xiao from our dorm who had ample experience in romance pointed out that
such progress was severely lagging when compared to the general romances of young men and
women, I was very vexed. I thought that it was because I myself had insufficient charm that was
not enough to cause Jiang Chen to generate towards me the urges that young men ought to have.
For this reason, I called the entire dorm over to inspect my shortcomings together, and finally the
conclusion of the inspection that we arrived at was that I was not feminine enough. And for us,
this group of humankind who had never left our ivory towers, femininity equalled wearing a dress,
and it had better be a low-cut one.

Actually, this was a prejudice, femininity really had no relation to whether you were revealing
your two bare legs or the two pieces of flesh in front of your chest.

My omnipotent roommates helped me find a dress that revealed my chest, I twirled around a few
times showing it off in the dorm, one after another, they expressed that they did feel my feminine
fragrance assail their nostrils. (T/N: in Chinese, femininity translates directly to “woman smell”,
hence assailing nostrils)

After that, I went off alluringly to go on a date with Jiang Chen. As we sat on a long bench beside
the sports field, Jiang Chen indeed appeared to have a heart of a monkey and the mind of a horse*,
I felt very accomplished, hence I also pulled the hem of my skirt up, only to see a few red bumps
that came from mosquito bites lying side by side on my thigh. I could only pull the hem of my
skirt back down. （ T/N: idiom describing someone with disorderly messy thoughts that are as
uncontrollable as monkeys/horses, means something like being frisky/capricious etc）

Jiang Chen told me about the interesting anecdotes of their medical faculty. He said that there
were a few senior guys in the cohort before his who stole a sheep leg after finishing their
experiments to bring back to the dorm and cook hotpot, after they were done eating the entire
dorm drowsily slept for two days, it turned out that that sheep had been injected with a great
amount of anesthesia; he also told me about a time when their faculty’s dorm caught a thief, the
whole group of them surrounded the thief and beat him up wildly, the thief really couldn’t endure
it any longer and hence pretended to be dead, someone produced a stethoscope from their dorm
and diagnosed that this person’s heartbeat was strong and powerful, hence everyone beat him up
even more happily; he also said……

In short, Jiang Chen suddenly became a chatterbox, and being his girlfriend, I could only laugh
with him, moreover, I laughed till I was like a blossoming sprig trembling disorderly*, if not it
appeared like I wasn’t giving him face*. (T/N: a Chinese idiom describing the physical movement
of a beautiful/wanton woman laughing heartily) (T/N: ‘giving face’ is a phrase that is a direct
English translation from Cantonese which means showing someone respect and honour. This
whole concept of ‘giving face’ is really important in Chinese culture – e.g. if your employer says
something wrong, even when you correct him, you have to be tactful and ensure you are ‘giving
face’ to him at the same time.)

He talked and talked, then he suddenly asked me, “Did you spray perfume?”

I didn’t, so I firmly shook my head.

He looked at me suspiciously, took a deep breath and said, “I definitely smelled something.”

I with great exertion took a few breaths, then with a sudden epiphany said, “Oh, you are talking
about this? This is the smell of eau de toilette, my thigh was bitten fiercely by mosquitoes.”

He skeptically said, “It doesn’t smell like eau de toilette.”

I took a moment to recall, scratched my head and said, “Eau de toilette wasn’t cooling enough, I
applied some medicated oil as well.”

……

He didn’t say anything more. I also didn’t know what I had said wrongly, but I roughly guessed
that he did not like the smell on myself at all, hence I quietly shifted myself to the furthest end on
the bench. Half my butt was hanging in the air.

Just like this, we remained in a deadlock on a stone bench beside the sports field.

Finally, he suddenly said angrily, “Chen Xiaoxi, come over here.”

I thought, “He isn’t going to beat me up, is he?” I had heard of a type of boyfriend who derived
enjoyment from beating his girlfriend. However, I still shifted my butt horizontally across while
asking him, “Whatever for?”

“Give me a kiss,” he answered.

I turned rigid at the one-third position of the bench, not knowing what to do. Even though it was
my final goal to have him put forward this request, but I still failed to live up to expectations and
was scared out of my wits. I most likely am that sort of people they talk about who has the heart of
a thief* yet has no guts of a thief. (T/N: meaning evil intentions)

“Hurry up,” he urged.

“Oh.” I subconsciously shifted to his side quickly. The stone bench was a little ice-cold at the
region by his side, I rigidly sat up straight, it was like there was a slab of stone vertically erected
on top of a slab of stone.

Jiang Chen turned my shoulders over with immense strength, causing me to have to sound out an
“Aiya!” to remind him to not wring and dislocate my shoulders.

He said, “What are you saying “Aiya” for, why are you so unromantic*?” (T/N: the original
Chinese idiom means to not understand when the other party has romantic intentions towards you,
to be unromantic/insensitive)

As soon as he finished speaking, his lips came over and pasted against mine, I thought, “You can’t
do this, you can’t not give me time to defend myself after criticising me and just block my mouth,
it’s not like you are paying me hush money over here.”

Later on, I asked him if he was attracted by my swaying, elegant appearance when I wore a dress,
he said, “No, your calves are quite thick,”; I then asked him if it could be that he was attracted by
the smell of eau de toilette combined with medicated oil, he said “No, it smells like Formalin,”; I
refused to drop the matter and asked if it could be that the calling sounds of the insects at the
sports field had awakened his animalistic side, he said, “Are you nuts?”; I said, “Then what is it
exactly?”, he said that he just wanted to kiss and see if the tactile sensation of the skin tissue of the
lips was any different from that of normal skin.

……

That flower-petal like romantic dream about my first kiss of mine was ruthlessly defiled by him
just like that, I might as well have given my first kiss to someone else……

Just as I was vexing about not having given my first kiss to a stranger back in the day and
recalling the most handsome stranger I had seen in my life, the doorbell rang. My heart dropped as
it thumped a few times, like the feeling of weightlessness you get in a descending elevator. I took
a deep breath, and prepared to deal with Jiang Chen with the face of a cold stepmother*, perhaps I
could get a few pleading cries in exchange from him, to make up for the many years of hardship
chasing him when I was young.

It was just that I was too happy, my hand as I reached out to wring to door handle was trembling
as if I was holding a cheque for 20 million RMB.

I tremblingly opened the door, before I saw clearly who had arrived, I was almost strangled to
death by a bear hug. I thought that it was Jiang Chen erupting with passion, and gratifyingly patted
his shoulder and said, “Don’t be emotional, don’t be emotional.”

Just as I finished speaking, I smelled a strong scent of Eau de Cologne, hence I with great force
pushed away the person who was hugging me.
The person who was standing before my eyes had slender eyes, the outer corners of his eyes were
slanting up, he was giving a lopsided smile, from the corners of his mouth were two arcs, it was
really devilish with a hint of uninhibition.

He was Wu Bosong.

I have to admit, I have never been a brave or persistent person, in my entire life, the most brave
and persistent thing I have done was to chase after Jiang Chen, but even with regards to this
matter, the evaluation that Jiang Chen gave of it was not good. He said, “You are like a cat who
has only ever eaten cat kibble, when you see a rat, you only know how to pursue it based on
natural instinct, but if you see a fish, you would also be enticed away very quickly by it.” In this
inspired and masterful analogy of his, I was the cat and he was the rat, and Wu Bosong was – that
fish.

In other words, Wu Bosong was a brief interlude in the thorny road of me having unrequited love
for Jiang Chen, I described this brief interlude as another small beauty I picked up enroute of not
being able to obtain love. Jiang Chen’s description was more direct and hard-hitting, he used two
idioms involving plants to describe it, he said, “Temperament like water, like a poplar tree*; the
red apricot tree growing over the garden wall*.” I felt that he truly was mistaken. (T/N: the first
idiom describes a woman who is fickle minded and frivolous and who is not single-minded in
love) (T/N: the second idiom describes a wife who is having an affair/illicit lover)

Wu Bosong transferred to our class in the second semester of Senior Year 3 from another part of
the country. Carrying his schoolbag on his back, he entered the door following behind the form
teacher’s back. With our creepy/wretched form teacher whose forehead was balding and who
foamed at the corners of his mouth when speaking serving as a foil, the transfer student’s
appearance with a thick head of chestnut hair that grew past his ears, smiling with the corner of his
mouth slanted was very stunning, just like a celestial being.

He smiled as he nodded, saying, “Hello everyone, I’m called Wu Bosong.”

The moment he lowered his head, I felt like there was a ray of light flashing, only then did I
realize that there was a shiny reflective object on his earlobe, it was most likely a stud earring.

Towards a transfer student of unknown origin, everyone’s hearts were all surging with curiosity,
and towards a transfer student of unknown origin who was wearing a stud earring on one ear and
yet was not forced by the teacher to chop off his ear, everyone’s curiosity was surging even more
turbulently to the maximum possible limit.

As the head of the “Curiosity Sect”, I was pushed forward by the flowery, elegant words of
everyone who was shameless and had placed all their hopes and expectations on me to have a chat
with the transfer student.

Hence, my opening words were, “Classmate who has just arrived, let’s have a chat.”
He was in the process of shoving books into the belly of the school desk, when he heard my
words, his hands paused for a moment, and he lifted his head to take a look at me. “Chat about
what? Handing in protection fees?”

I scratched my head and asked unknowingly, “What protection fees?”

He stuffed the last stack of books in his hands into the desk, straightened his body, and laughed
while crooking the corner of his mouth, “I’m joking, I’m called Wu Bosong, what about you?”

I could clearly hear a few sounds of people sucking in breaths from behind my back, and noises of
“Chen Guanxi”…… The more I heard, the more angry I was, I turned around , put my hands on
my waist and shouted at the female classmates behind me, “What Chen Guanxi! I’m called Chen
Xiaoxi, how many times must I tell you guys, this is not funny, not funny not funny not funny!”

Even though back then Edison Chen’s great and noble pioneering work of the “gate” series* had
not yet happened, but there were still quite a few senseless people who liked to repeatedly use our
names to make jokes, I was often pressured by this till it drove me mad, it wasn’t funny, it wasn’t
funny, what exactly was so funny about this…… (T/N: mentioned in an earlier chapter was
Edison’s photo scandals, because it was so far-reaching and so widely publicised, it’s often called
the “Gaudy Photos Gate” in Chinese media, like how scandals are often labelled with the -gate
suffix)

A group of classmates were baffled by me shouting at them, only after quite a while did someone
faintly say, “We were saying that he looks like Edison Chen when he smiles, you are too
sensitive……”

……

I, that… I don’t want to live.

Wu Bosong behind me laughed as he asked, “You’re called Chen Xiaoxi?”

With my back facing him, I nodded. “Yes, welcome to our class.”

After I finished speaking, I escaped back to my seat without looking back, leaned forward and laid
down on the desk pretending to be dead. Just as I was pretending to the point of perfection, till
even I myself thought that I had really died, something poked me from the back. I turned my head
around weakly, Jiang Chen who was sitting at the desk behind mine was dangling a ballpoint pen
that was sandwiched between his thumb and index finger. “Your pen dropped.”

I took it easily. “Oh.”

“Meddling in other people’s business, right.” Jiang Chen’s whole face was rejoicing in my
misfortune. “Edison Chen is staring at you and smiling.”

I inclined my head and took a look at Wu Bosong, indeed he was looking at me while smiling, I
could only squeeze out a smile reluctantly in response. Turning my body around, I collapsed my
upper body on Jiang Chen’s desk and wailed in anguish, “It’s so embarrassing, I’m not going to
live.”

He used the practice book in his hand to tap me on the head. “Serves you right, if you think it’s
embarrassing, in the future, don’t go and join in the fun blindly.”

I had since long ago trained my entire body to be completely impervious to Jiang Chen’s blows, I
could even shamelessly ask him, “If I were to look for him to play*, would you be jealous?” (T/N:
meaning to hang out)

He looked askance at me. “I’ll thank him.”

……
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 13
January 13, 2018

Wu Bosong’s arrival instilled a new force into the male students of our remotely located school.
For a point in time, the female students were also falling over each other in their eagerness to
spread the news: Class 6 of first year high school came out with a fresh good whose style was
considerably unconventional, and a smile which resembled that of Chen Guanxi’s.

Wu Bosong’s limelight has overshadowed Jiang Chen for a short while, I’ve endlessly felt so sorry
for Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen on the other hand, only commented that there was something wrong
with my brain.

In order to express my support for Jiang Chen occupying the number one male position in the
entire campus. I kept on showing my disdain towards Wu Bosong’s appearance, and on more than
one occasion, has publicly made high criticisms with regards to his look. Included among these,
was his brown hair which countless of girls have beautified as that of a Japanese hairstyle,
together with his Western-style stud earring — I said a yellowish hair was naturally due to
malnutrition, and that wearing stud earrings, was naturally effeminate. I’ve also said, he made
himself look like a bad boy, his performance in school must be very poor, and that surely he isn’t a
good person, a delinquent, and perhaps is someone who takes drugs and kills people.

I don’t know why the younger me must have to shamelessly slander Wu Bosong this way, perhaps
all the exam-oriented education was wrong. If at that time I committed murder and arson, perhaps
it’s also the mistake of this education. In short, a thousand mistakes, were all my mistakes.　　

However, Wu Bosong in my unflagging efforts of slandering him, showed magnanimity that was
rare within people of our age. Whenever our gazes would meet, he would give me a faint smile,
his eyes filled with mirth, as that of a father watching a mischievous son.

With regards to this matter, it was Jiang Chen’s behavior which surprised me. There was a time
when he suddenly called me over to a dusky corner, I was thinking that he either wanted to
confess his love, or collude in scheming with me. Hence, my heart was anxious from too much
excitement.

It turned out that, he only gravely and seriously gave me a warning, “Chen Xiaoxi, I don’t want to
hear you speak ill against Wu Bosong again.”

I tried to suppress my frustration and asked him, “Why?”

“Making rumors is wrong.” He simply said so.

I could only nod like pounding garlic* and express regret for my past deeds. (T/N: The expression
pounding garlic refers to nodding one’s head (also commonly kowtowing) lots of times as though
one’s head looks like a pestle pounding a garlic.)

At that time, I had some kind of a very inexplicable tendency to worship Jiang Chen. Even if he’d
say that the sky is green, the clouds are blue, the color of poop is that of a rainbow, I would only
nod and say, ‘Yes, you are right.’

Of course, I’m also quite fortunate that I’ve worshipped such a person during my moronic phase.
He’d point out to me some things that were wrong, and indeed those things were wrong.

So as to convince Jiang Chen that I’ve sincerely repented and mended my mistaken ways, I ripped
a page from my desk mate’s notebook which has a photo of F4 at the very top, and wrote a very
touching apology towards Wu Bosong on this tiny slip of paper during our Math class.

I’ve long forgotten what I wrote word per word, but I remember receiving his reply which was
written on a scrap paper, “It’s alright, but my name is Wu Bosong, not Wu Songbai.

(T/N: The characters for Wu Bosong’s name is 吴柏松 with 柏 ‘bo’ being an identical character to
‘bai’ which means cypress, and 松 ‘song’ meaning pines individually, but when interchanged will
become 松柏 ‘songbai’ which is a collective word for ‘pines and cypress’ in Chinese.)

His correction has made me realize that his name was extremely confusing. This reminded me of a
topic in my homework during the summer vacation of grade school: ‘Write down words that have
similar configuration* as the following words ‘bee ( 蜜蜂 mifeng) – honey (蜂蜜 fengmi)’. And
the reason why this was so deeply ingrained in my memory was because my answer made Old
Chen give me a ruthless beating – flow downwards (流下 liuxia) – vulgar/ obscene (下流 xialiu).

(T/N: The question was to come up with words that can be reversed and still come up with a word
that is closely related to the original word, another example would be cow ( 奶牛 nainiu) – milk
(牛奶 niunai) but of course Xiaoxi’s mind doesn’t work like that.)

After this matter has passed through, my favorable impression towards Wu Bosong has naturally
increased significantly, I felt that he was truly a virtuous man who requite evil with goodness,
furthermore I thought that the stud earring on his ear was truly sparkling, especially attracting
affection.

But strangely enough, Wu Bosong was surprisingly so good to me. He would buy me all sorts of
snacks from the corner store. He would teach me English and Math ( I guessed it right, his grades
were indeed very poor, besides English and Math of which he is unexpectedly ranked first in the
entire school, his scores on the other subjects were of single digit.) He would give me his jacket
when it suddenly gets cold……There was once I was left behind after dismissal to update the
bulletin board, he even cooked instant noodles for me and carried it over to the classroom ( he’s
the only student in school who stays at the teacher’s quarters), and that bowl of noodles even
comes with an egg. The steam from the noodles made my eyes sting, I was slurping noodles while
asking Wu Bosong who was helping me color on the bulletin board, “Why are you so nice to me?”

I’d drawn a girl on the bulletin board, the girl was virtuously holding a book with both hands, at
that time, Wu Bosong was coloring the cover of the book yellow, he said that it was called ‘a girl
looking at a yellow* book’. (T/N: Porn is literally yellow book in Chinese.)

Wu Bosong didn’t turn his head when he replied, “There are plenty of reasons why.”

I gave it a thought, this guy shouldn’t have taken a liking to me, right? But I believe that it might
also be possible, after all, he isn’t blind…….Actually, my self-confidence had long been spooked
away by Jiang Chen, leaving it to scatter into pieces, that I reckoned a senior monk who has
already achieved the Dao could never beckon it to come back.

Hence, I just simply ate the noodles while he continued coloring, with chalk dust flying about.
Occasionally, I would also ask him a question or two, “Where did you study before? Why did you
transfer to our school?”

He was already coloring the girl’s skirt pink, “X province, my dad wants me to study second year
high school abroad. He has already contacted the school and planned everything, so I said I
wanted to go back to grandfather’s hometown to have one last look.”

“Ah? Then aren’t you leaving soon?” I suddenly felt quite disappointed that he was going to leave.
Who’s going to fill up my stomach which has just been going through puberty in the future?

He threw away the chalk, and turned around to sit on the desk facing me, “Why? You can’t bear to
part with me?”

I reached out my hand and patted his legs that were shaking in front of me, “Stop shaking, it’s
making me dizzy, it’s just that I’ll go through starvation when you’re gone.”

He didn’t say anything, just looked pensively out the window, I also foolishly followed suit, and
saw Jiang Chen standing by the window. Shrouded by the faint light of the coming evening, he
was using his extraordinary temperament to aptly convey the ghost part in ‘A Chinese Ghost
Story’.

I don’t know why, but watching him, because he was situated in a poorly lit area, as well as his
sorry lump of a figure, I suddenly had a feeling of being caught, like a maiden guilty of being
defiled on the bed. As I was holding the bowl of steaming noodles with both of my hands, I was
itching to knock my head unto it.

Jiang Chen raised his knuckles and knocked on the glass window, “Chen Xiaoxi, I bumped into
Uncle Chen at the alley just now, he asked me to call you home for dinner.”

After he was done saying it, he left without another word.

I placed the bowl on the desk and hurriedly ran out. Wu Bosong was calling me from behind, a
few words and ‘Chen Xiaoxi’. When I made it to the door, I heard him say, “You haven’t finished
eating yet.”

I replied in one breath, “You can throw it, I’ll eat at home.”

I ran out, but I couldn’t find Jiang Chen, obviously because his legs were surely a lot longer than
mine.

I spent a few minutes idling in the playground, and returned to the classroom to retrieve my bag. I
stood in front of the classroom door watching from afar, Wu Bosong was still coloring the girl’s
skirt, the golden hue of the twilight was pouring forth to the room, from the windows, the door, as
well as all the little gaps, the chalk dust was dancing in magical flurry as the light catches them,
the hot steam visible in the light was rising slowly from the bowl of noodles. I thought that the
back view of a person, surrounded by the fluttering chalk dust, and the hot steam looked really
nice.

I walked over to where he was, “I forgot my bag, and I also haven’t eaten the egg in my noodles.”

He turned around and smiled, showing a perfectly eye-catching set of pearly whites, “I’ve eaten
the egg.”

I was astonished, “You’re really too fast.”

He grumbled with much grievance, “You told me to throw it away ah, an egg is wasting an extra
50 cents.”

He wasn’t done talking but I’ve long seen the poached egg lying on top of the noodles, so I rolled
my eyes and said, “You’re too bored.”

He shrugged and turned around to continue coloring, I took the chopsticks and poked through the
egg with it, when I was holding it to stand upright it looked like an umbrella, so I very excitedly
told him to take a look at it, “Hey, do you think this looks like an umbrella?”

He glanced sideways with a very scornful look, “If you won’t eat it then I’ll eat it.”

He suddenly went silent, and then the egg that was skewered on the chopstick was snatched away
by him using his mouth. I was holding my now empty chopstick, stunned. He must have been
trained to snatch things with his mouth, right…..

Perhaps, that day when Jiang Chen left hurriedly, it has briefly took away my infatuation for him,
and perhaps knowing that Wu Bosong was going to leave so soon, it made me cherish the
friendship between us even more. In short, I no longer hovered around Jiang Chen all day long,
and instead suddenly became very close to Wu Songbai, as though he was an old friend of many
years. But in the eyes of our schoolmates, we already looked like young sweethearts. I also don’t
know if we thought it was something not worth doing, or just because we wanted to uphold the
principle of ‘a clean hand needs no washing*’ but we didn’t do so much as explain ourselves.
Anyway, things like ‘feeling like old friends at first meeting*’ was something too profound that
these brats who only got into high school would never understand. (T/N: The entire saying is 清者
自 清 ， 浊 者 自 浊 literally ‘one who is pure is naturally pure, one who is impure is naturally
impure’ which means no matter how much an innocent person is implicated, they’re still innocent.
And no matter how much a vile person denies their wrongdoing, they’re still vile, as such that they
are both innocent then it will show, or in this case, let the truth speak for itself.)(T/N: Means they
clicked/ hit it off right away.)

He only studied in our school for one semester, and went abroad summer vacation of first year
high school. He had to ride the sleeping bus to go to the city, and then transfer on a train for X
province, and from X province he would fly to New Zealand. I sent him off to the bus station,
tugging on the strap of his backpack with reddened eyes, “You must remember to send me snacks
back from New Zealand……”

He patted my head, cupped his fist with the other hand, and then winked at me, “I’m sure we’ll
meet again someday.”

When the bus started moving, I waved my hand as hard as I could, he opened the window and
stuck his head out, “I’ll send you snacks from New Zealand.”

I tearfully tried my hardest to nod, “You have to send the most expensive and delicious. Also, we
will always be best friends.”

He smiled and then shouted, “Alright.”

I remember running into Jiang Chen at the mouth of the alley on my way home, his back was
against me, standing in front of the electric meter box of their house. He was using a screwdriver
to pick the wires, the back of his white t-shirt was soaked in sweat, and the cottony material was
softly clinging to his back, showing a faint skin colour.

I couldn’t help but be curious and ask him, “What are you doing?”

He inclined his head towards me, and said a bit distracted, ‘You cried?”

I rubbed my eyes and replied, “Wu Bosong left.”

He let out a grunt, and faintly said he also knew, and then whipped his head back to pick on those
red, yellow, white, and green wires.

I asked again, “But what really are you doing?”

Jiang Chen suddenly thrusted the screwdriver into the pocket of his jeans, and snapped at me,
“Counting the wires, couldn’t I?

I was confronted by such temper which was a bit ridiculous so I yelled, “Alright! I just thought
you were repairing the fuse or whatnot.”

His face became livid and then blanched, it took him a long while before he softly mumbled, “I’m
crazy.” After which he turned around and went inside their house.

I closed the electric meter box that was opened widely for him. In fact, I also thought that his
action of counting wires really did make him look a little bit crazy.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 14
January 14, 2018

"Chen Xiaoxi , don’t you think letting your guest wait at the door is a very ill-mannered thing to
do?” Wu Bosong knocked on the opened wide metal gate, creating a clanging sound.

I leaned on one side to let him in, he sat on the sofa and laughed at me. I was still too immersed in
memories and shock to snap out of it, I blinked and blinked my eyes, he was still there.

I fixed my eyes on him, from his ocean blue striped polo-tee to his Nike track shoes, then to his
youthful 17~18 years old looking face. Su Rui should really learn to take care of his skin from Wu
Bosong.

He suddenly took something out of his pocket and held it out in a fist towards me, “The New
Zealand snacks that I owe you.”

I spread out my palm doubtfully, he shifted this fist above my palm and let go of a packet of long
green sweet. That packaging, that outlook, that is quite an international sweet – Wrigley’s
Doublemint Chewing Gum.

He is still smiling at me. I turned my head, having a sudden urge of wanting to cry. It’s not that I
want to be pretentious, but he’s the friend that treated me the best during my youth, and he just
suddenly disappeared, and suddenly appeared again, as though he had never missed a part of my
life.

Furthermore, he still looked so young. Time didn’t bear to slash his face but hacked mine into
pieces. How can I not be sad? How can I not cry?

Wo Bosong was caught off guard, “Why are you crying?”

I stomped my feet and roared at him, “Where have you been all these years? When I fought with
my boyfriend I couldn’t find you, when I fell out of love I couldn’t find you, when I lost my job I
couldn’t find you, when I was hungry I couldn’t find you too….”

He laughed while watching me make a fuss and pulled me down to sit on the sofa to say, “Calm
down, I’m not your Chen Shi Mei*, it’s not good to cry like that.” (T/N: Chen Shi Mei was a
heartless man who abandoned his wife and child for riches and politics influences in the Qing
dynasty. Since then his name is used to represent a heartless man.)

I glared at him tearfully. I was crying like a pear blossom*, I was so pitiful, I was paying respect
to our long-lost youth, crying for our incomprehensible friendship, stop putting gold to your own
face**.(*T/N: Originally used to describe Yang Gui Fei crying. She was one of the four beauties
of ancient China. Now it is used to describe how loving/delicate a girl looks when crying.)(**T/N:
self-praise)

After that we sat cross legged on the floor before the sofa, drank plain water and talked about our
past.

Wu Bosong said, “After I reached New Zealand for half a month, when things were finally all
settled down, my father called me to tell me that his company had declared bankruptcy.”

I have never experienced bankruptcy, neither does my family’s financial ability have the
qualifications to declare bankrupt. The most we can only declare that we have no money.
Therefore I was not able to understand the seriousness of that. But I didn’t want to appear as
ignorant, so I said in great sympathy and sadness, “Ah! How can that be…..”

Heavens and earth know that my words were euphemistic terms of expressing comfort, its to
lament the state of the universe and pity the fate of mankind. However, Wu Bosong still explained
in detail about how his father trusted the wrong person, how the business went downhill, how
there were cash flow problems. He explained till my eyes, expressions were lifeless. Finally he
said, “Even if I tell you too much you also won’t understand.”

After saying that I wouldn’t understand, he carried on as though I understood. He explained more
on the terms of bankruptcy law, and I had to act as though I was very sad even though I couldn’t
understand anything. At last I couldn’t take it anymore. I interrupted him and said, “Stop talking, I
am too sad. If you continue to talk I will even feel like donating money to you.”

Wu Bosong looked into my eyes very seriously, “You don’t understand, right?”

I shrugged, “I think I don’t understand. Why not you start talking from why you disappeared?”

He laughed bitterly. “Sister, I went from being a young master* to having to work night and day to
survive at a foreign country. You say where do I have the time to show concern about you?” (T/N:
Young master is like Korean equivalent of a chaebol. Meaning a kid from a well to do and rich
family.)
I nodded my head to show my understanding, “So, you returned with a successful business?”

He glared at me, “Don’t you think that you should show care for the me who had suffered so much
the past years?”

I said, “I will. But the level of care will depend on how successful you are.”

Wu Bosong acted like he wanted to pour the cup of water on his hand on me, “These few years
that we didn’t see each other, you’ve become wittier.”

I was feeling smug, “Our ancestral land’s education is good.”

What he continued saying was basically about how a man strived in a foreign land. Working part-
time, applying for scholarship, entering a multinational corporation…. Anyways it was pretty
positive and inspirational. I listened till my blood was boiling with passion, making me want to
strive for the best.

I asked him, “So your company sent you back here?”

Wu Bosong nodded, “That’s right, just came back and I still can’t acclimatize. Have been having
diarrhea for three days, and I met Jiang Chen in the hospital.”

“Jiang Chen told you I am here?” Only then did I remember my issue with Jiang Chen, so I told
him what happened while adding oil and vinegar*. (T/N: adding other things or exaggerating on
certain things that might have/ did not happen.)

Wu Bosong sighed, “I have to say, Jiang Chen is really unlucky to have met* you.” (T/N: original
word used here is 摊上. Usually used with negative things or trouble that one might have gotten
into.)

I got really angry hearing it, I jumped up and threatened to use a broom to sweep him out.

He stood on the floor as though he was the ocean-quieting needle* , and said very calmly, “Have
you ever thought about it, you finally managed to catch him after chasing after him so
shamelessly. You then unreasonably broke up with him, but you still hope that he will one cry, two
make a fuss, three hang himself** to plead to you. Aren’t you making things too difficult for
him?” (*T/N: Referencing from Journey to the West, lit. translation of 定 海 神 针 , which is a
loooooong and huge pole that stands on the Dragon King of the East Sea’s palace that no one
could move until Sun Wu Kong came along. This same pillar later became his Ruyi Jingu Bang.)
(**T/N: lit trans of 一 哭 二 闹 三 上 吊 . Which just means to make a big hoo-ha if the person
doesn’t get what s/he wants.)

I said, “You can’t be like this. We have to have principles. You are a friend on my side. Your
principle is to back me up. If I were to kill someone, then you must destroy the corpse for me, this
is principle.”

Wu Bosong drank a mouth of water, “I didn’t contact you even after leaving for so long, that is
because I believe even without my care you can still live very well, Jiang Chen will take care of
you well.”

I said, “You are too much. You abandoned our friendship and made it sound so dignified,
everything is correct from your point of view, you think you are a parent?”

Wu Bosong spoke again, “Do you know during the times we were always together, I could always
feel Jiang Chen’s faint gaze. His feelings towards you is definitely not lesser than your feelings
towards him.”

I said, “Wu Bosong you really have no shame. You can use a faint gaze to determine Jiang Chen’s
feelings towards me. So why can’t you see from my faint gaze that I am going mad from your
lecture? You should just return to New Zealand and sleep together with the koalas on the tree.”

Wu Bosong continued, “You think that it is impossible for you guys to be together, that his Mother
will not agree. Don’t you like to watch romance, like to watch idol dramas? Wouldn’t true love
triumph over everything else? If true love doesn’t triumph over everything why would it be
freaking called true love. Also, koala belongs to the Australians*, not New Zealand. (T/N: not sure
why the author used Australians here instead of Australia.)

I think we can’t come to a consensus even if we were to talk half a day, so I solemnly suggested,
“Forget it forget it, let’s not talk about it, let’s talk about something serious.”

Wu Bosong said, “What serious thing?”

I said, “You just came back from overseas, you should have some imported goods, right?
Anything to eat, wear or use, or even if it’s just plastic bag, give me one. I really look up to
foreign things.”

Wu Bosong sighed again, “I just hope you correct your attitude, stop faking, I thought you are
some kind of invincible youth or pretty girl.”

I said, “It’s wrong of you to say that. Speak properly. What kind of hero are you to attack people’s
age? Furthermore, I was also 15 ten years ago.”

Lastly, he threw a bomb, “Jiang Chen got me to tell you that he has a big surgery this afternoon,
and he will be on duty at night. He has no time to eat dinner, asked you to deliver it to him.”

I said, I am not his maid, not delivering not delivering I am not delivering.

He shrugged, “We shall see you will deliver or not.”

Wu Bosong really just stayed at my house and refused to go. He laid on my sofa and tormented
my 10 years old antique TV. Speaking of which, products nowadays are really getting from bad to
worse, this 10 years old antique TV’s remote control batteries can last for a year. My (parents)
house recently bought a new LCD TV. The remote control’s batteries have to be replaced once
every month. Every end of the month when I call back home my mother will always scold about
the LCD TV’s controller running out of battery again, it’s all your dad’s fault, insisted on changing
a good solid TV to an LCD one.

It was time to eat. I really could not endure it anymore, so I took my bag and said to him, “Wu
Bosong, treat me to a dinner, I’ll give you a feast to welcome you back.”

He stopped for a while, and frowned, “Your logic is quite shameless.”

I accepted his praise modestly. Insisted on cheating him to the highest class and the most
luxurious, a restaurant that I can usually only look at from afar. He held on to the taxi’s door and
said he refused to leave the car no matter what. He said, “I can tell from one look that the
ingredients in this restaurant are all like me, they just got shipped over from overseas. Even if you
want to build up Jiang Chen’s health you also shouldn’t use my money to do it. My money is hard-
earned money. My dad’s bankrupt.”

The taxi driver looked at the meter fare that is increasing. The evil black smile on his face is as
equally heartwarming as a melted chocolate. He said, “Aiya* you two young couple stop fighting,
talk nicely, I’m not in a rush, young couples are all like that.” (T/N: A form of exclamation.)

I felt very helpless about our citizens who are in the transportation line and their love to pair up
boys and girls. Actually that’s not correct, all of our homeland’s citizens in every trade like to pair
up boys and girls that they see. Their pairing logic is also often immoral. There was once me and
my dad went to a department store to buy shoes. The sales lady persistently praised the leather
shoes that me and my dad were trying on. “Miss your taste is amazing, the shoes you picked really
suits your boyfriend…..”

We ultimately ended up at a good quality but affordable restaurant. I don’t know why, the
restaurant that I suddenly felt like eating at was near the hospital. I guess this is fate.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 15
January 15, 2018

After we finished eating dinner, Wu Bosong suggested that we hang around at that unlucky
restaurant to drink the instant milk tea which we could have unlimited refills of. He originally
suggested drinking the instant coffee that similarly had unlimited refills, but I thought that this act
was very shameless, and furthermore, was shameless in a very bourgeois way, so we changed to
drinking milk tea.

However, after the fifth time that we got the waiter to help us refill our milk tea, we both didn’t
dare to drink it, for we kept on suspecting that that waiter who looked very sour-faced had spat
saliva into it.

I watched the sky outside the window darkening slowly, felt for my mobile phone in my pocket,
and interrupted Wu Bosong who was vividly describing just how fresh, tender and succulent the
lamb chops in New Zealand were. “I think you must be tired, you had better go back home and get
over your jet lag.”

He cast a glance at me. “I’ve returned for a week, what jet lag is there to get over?”

I spoke again, “Didn’t you say that you hadn’t yet acclimatised and had diarrhoea? This proves
that though you think you have gotten over the jet lag, the jet lag is not letting you off.”

Wu Bosong snorted. “You want to go and deliver food right, I’ll go together with you, I can
conveniently go to the hospital for a return checkup at the same time.”

This person sure was shameless, he had the nerve to go for a return checkup for diarrhoea, this
type of illness that had never seen the world*, he truly was wasting our homeland’s medical
resources. (T/N: “seeing the world” – a phrase usually used to refer to people undergoing
experiences, getting familiar with the ways of the world, enriching themselves with life
experiences etc)

I swept at my hair, held up the milk tea and drank one mouthful, then recalled how this milk tea
possibly had been spat at with saliva, immediately I felt incomparably indignant. “Who said I was
going to deliver food! Do I not have dignity*, do I!” (T/N: the original phrase ‘ 犯 贱 ’ is a
slang/modern phrase which refers to when someone insists on doing something while knowing
that they will get hurt/it is not right/it will take away their dignity; stooping to a new low, bringing
on himself humiliation, cheapening themselves)

He nodded his head, and expressed appeasement, “If you’re not delivering, then don’t deliver,
what are you getting so stirred up for? He won’t die by not eating one meal.”

A hundred claws were scratching at my heart as I watched the sky darken little by little. One
moment I was fantasising about Jiang Chen getting a stomach haemorrhage and collapsing on the
operating table; the next I fantasised about him getting so hungry till he gnawed on his own
fingernails to satiate his hunger; then I fantasised about his stomach being so painful till he turned
mad, and used the surgical knife to cut open his own stomach……

In my brain dwelt a horror movie director, I was suitable to dwell in a mental hospital.

I gazed at Wu Bosong sitting opposite me who was unperturbedly and calmly watching me be
brassy and restless, and suddenly came to a realisation. If I were to be looked at like a laughing
stock, this old woman* would also reserve (herself) for Jiang Chen to look at, staying on here to
amuse this chap who was now being sold domestically despite being initially produced for
exports*, just how severely ill was I exactly? (T/N: colloquial slang which can refer to yourself)
(T/N: a Chinese business term, referring to products that were meant to be sold overseas, but now
are sold domestically [these products can’t be sold in the international market for whatever reason,
and hence must be sold domestically to minimise losses on the businessmen’s end])

Hence I slapped the table and shouted, “Waiter!”

The waiter feebly strolled over, he was even clutching a glass pot of milk tea in his hands. With
waning enthusiasm, he asked me, “Refill the milk tea, right?”

“One seafood baked rice, one chicken soup, takeaway.” I glared at Wu Bosong as I spoke.

He whistled loud and clear, and teasingly said, “You are still able to eat?”

I watched as he lifted that cup of milk tea that was plausibly spat at with saliva and drank a
mouthful. I said, beaming, “I’m delivering food to go and give to Jiang Chen.”

He put down the cup and smiled. “That’s more like it, all who make life difficult for themselves
are fools.”
His smile inexplicably caused me to sense a trace of sorrow, it was as if he had experienced the
impermanence of time*. (T/N: original phrase – 沧 桑 – short form of the idiom “ 沧 海 桑 田 ”
which literally means “blue seas, mulberry fields” – how over time, the blue sea turned into
cropland for mulberry trees, and how the cropland for mulberry trees turned into sea. The idiom
refers to great changes, how things of the world are fickle and change easily, etc)

I stretched my hand over to pat the back of his hand. “If you love me, you have to let me know,
only then can I reject you.”

He glared at me, and slowly spat out two words*. “Get lost.” (T/N: Okay tbh in the original text it
is one word, I’m adapting it to English :P)

I ignored him, and continued speaking, “Really, some people are like me, comparatively more
stupid and comparatively having a greater inferiority complex. If you don’t make it clear, she
won’t know.”

Wu Bosong turned his hand over to pat my hand. “Not everyone is as lucky as you are, to have the
opportunity to start afresh.”

After he finished speaking, he smiled bitterly. His gaze seemed to have penetrated through me,
and was looking at a faraway place.

People like me who aren’t often melancholy and moody are very scared of these sort of scenes
which require sighing and lamenting. Often I would be at a loss of what to do, and often I didn’t
know how to comfort people. Thankfully we were very good friends, even if our separation had
caused us to no longer be familiar with each other’s stories, but we weren’t scared of this type of
awkwardness.

I carried the bento box and walked towards the hospital, Wu Bosong stood across the road waving
his hand at me, looking like the lucky cat* in a display window. (T/N: for those not in Asia (?),
this is referring to the Japanese lucky cat (a cat figurine which has a paw that moves back and
forth) that is often placed at the display windows of shops and restaurants in Asia, meant to bring
about good fortune)

I still remembered the location of Jiang Chen’s office. Even though I’d only been there once, and
even though I was a person who a poor sense of direction, but I could just remember it, I knew I
had to turn left, turn right, go up the stairs, and see a fire hydrant.

It was just that I stood at the entrance, fixing my gaze on “Doctor Jiang” on the door plate for a
really long time., so long till a sanitation worker auntie came up to use a wet rag to wipe the door
plate and even said, “You aren’t sent here by the supervisors to inspect hygiene, are you? I
actually wipe these door plates everyday.”

I thought that I couldn’t let the auntie be overly terrified, so I could only hurriedly smile at her,
and say, “No, no, I’m here to find Doctor Jiang.”

The auntie let out a breath and said, “I’ve dwelled in this hospital for so long, I haven’t yet seen
anyone who goes through the back door by bringing a bento box.”

I said, “No, no, my bento box is actually all filled with hundred-dollar notes.”

She said, “Your bento box is only that big, how much money can you pack in? Nowadays, other
people are all giving credit cards, you truly don’t know to keep up with the times.”

I still wanted to say something when the door opened. Jiang Chen expressionlessly said to me,
“Come in.”

The moment I entered the door, he seized over the bento box in my hands. He said, “Do you want
to starve me to death.”

Jiang Chen swept out a little corner of his office table and placed the bento box on the table, and
then began to eat self-absorbedly. I was left hanging at the side. I watched as he wrinkled his brow,
picking out the onions in the rice. He said, “Chen Xiaoxi, why did you order a meal with onions!”

I wanted to say, “How can you be so shameless, I bought food for you and you’re still despising
it,” I wanted to say, “Go on being arrogant, see if I’ll still bring food for you next time……”

But I did not, I thought about how very long ago, when we were still attending university, I
brought his clothes and blanket back to my dorm to wash and dry. In the hostel, washing and
drying kept me fully busy for almost three days, yet when I went back, he told me, “Chen Xiaoxi,
you got dye onto my clothes.” Back then I already said, “How can you be so shameless, where
else can you go to find such a considerate girlfriend, don’t think that just because it was I who
chased after you, you can take advantage of me.”

He said, “Are you nuts, I’m using the standards of my future wife to make requests of you, if
you’re not willing, then forget it.”

I pasted myself onto him and shook his arm, saying, “No, no, where is it dyed? You tell me, I’ll
change the next time round.”

Huh, that time.

******

“Chen Xiaoxi.” Jiang Chen brandished the chopsticks, waving it a few times in front of me. “What
are you in a daze about?”

I shook my head, and said laughingly, “I thought of that shameless mouth and face of yours,
always despising this and that when I helped you wash your clothes in the past.”

He picked up a piece of squid and stuffed it into his mouth, and said unclearly, “How can I
compare to you in terms of shamelessness.”

I stared blankly at him, yes, how could he compare to me in terms of shamelessness, coming as
soon as I said I would come, leaving as soon as I said I would leave, and actually daring to look
back despite being like this.

Jiang Chen suddenly lifted his head, and fixed his gaze on me while saying, “I’m talking about
that matter of the library.”

Oh, so it’s actually about that, caused me to deprecate myself for a moment there. (T/N: if this
sentence is unclear, basically Xiaoxi thought Jiang Chen calling her shameless was about her
breaking up with him after being the one to chase after him, so she was self-deprecating herself,
but turns out that he was just talking about something else.)

That seemed to have been the winter of our third year in university, everyday I was accompanying
Jiang Chen as he studied in the library. Libraries in southern schools had no such thing as central
heating, I was scared of the cold, but yet I also wanted to keep him company by his side, so I
could only dress myself slightly thicker.

My basic outfit was one thermal underwear, one hoodie, two woollen sweaters, one jacket, one
thermal pants, one pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, one pair of ankle-length boots, one scarf and
one pair of gloves. I remember that when I wore all these clothes on myself, my wardrobe
appeared very much to be completely empty.

This slightly thick outfit of mine caused my movements to appear somewhat inconvenient, and the
most prominent manifestation of this inconvenience was on the issue of reading novels. That thick
woollen gloves caused my fingers to be extremely clumsy, I always could not accurately rub out
one piece of thin paper such that I could then advance into the action of turning the page.

And I don’t know if fellow student Jiang Chen was frozen to the point of foolishness or frozen to
the point of stupidity or frozen to the point of enlightenment, in any case, after he discovered that
that I had been staring blankly at the same page of the novel for ten minutes, he took the initiative
to help me flip that page over. After that, we slowly built up a strange rapport – I would quietly
read my book by his side, and when I read till the point that I needed to flip the page I would then
use my arm to bump against him, he would then, without even lifting his head, stretch out his arm
to help me flip the page of the book.

This matter actually was not shameless at all, and basically could even be considered as warm.
The shamelessness was an accident that extended from this warmth.

As we were conducting this daily activity of “bumping and flipping” in the library everyday, a
certain reporter from our school paper was just sun tanning idly on the lawn outside the library.
Through the large glass window of the library that reached the ground, she unintentionally
discovered the interactions between Jiang Chen and I, and furthermore believed that this
interaction was extremely suitable for a theme that she was going to plan out next – “The little
beauties in the school campus”. Hence, she laid in wait for us in the library for many days, and
with complete disregard for our rights of publicity carried out a 360 degree omni-directional secret
photo-taking of us. What was shameless was that, after she finished taking the photos, she had to
do post-production editing of the photos, upon hearing that I was from the arts faculty, she directly
called on me, and what was even more shameless was that, under her continual and persistent
persuasion of how we shouldn’t leave blank spaces in our youth, I gladly agreed to do post-
production editing with Photoshop and the like for this set of photos at no cost. Moreover, I edited
it such that the resulting effect was extremely dreamy and aesthetically-pleasing, extremely like a
storybook couple of immortals, extremely like a pair of birds flying together*, extremely like a
pair of mandarin ducks frolicking in the water*…… (T/N: “A pair of birds flying together” –
refers to a couple that is very loving, that accompanies each other and doesn’t leave) (T/N: In
Chinese language/culture, mandarin ducks are a symbol for a couple as the mandarin ducks often
stick together as a pair when you see them in ponds. Mandarin ducks are often used in
songs/poetry/etc to describe/be analogies for beautiful romantic love.)

That series of photos caused a very huge sensation after it was published on the school paper, the
school paper and school forum took advantage of this to act together and launch a comparative
evaluation of “school campus lovers”, Jiang Chen was chosen to be one of the top three
contestants. Competing side by side with him was a certain dear friend from the Chinese faculty
who jumped into a river to fish out a ring for his girlfriend and another dear friend from the
History faculty who personally made a set of hanfu* for his girlfriend. Compared to them, Jiang
Chen’s performance seemed to be comparatively more insignificant, but it was worth mentioning
that the dear friend from the Chinese faculty looked like Tao Yuanming* in our Chinese language
textbooks, and the dear friend from the history faculty had looks that were very much
characteristic of academia – he looked like the restored sculpture of the Peking ape-man*. Hence,
fellow student Jiang Chen from the medical faculty who didn’t look at all like a medical specimen
bravely seized first place with a poll count that remained high throughout, and was honoured with
the title of “School Campus Lover”. This result tells us that you need to depend on looks to make
a living in society. (T/N: hanfu – traditional Han Chinese costume/dress) (T/N: Tao Yuanming – a
famous and great writer and poet from the Jin dynasty) (T/N: Peking ape-man/Peking man –
Homo erectus pekinensis, of human lineage, his fossils were discovered near Beijing in the 1920s)

I felt that as the only science student in this competition, Jiang Chen had really gained honour on
behalf of science students.

So I didn’t know why Jiang Chen upon knowing the entire sequence of events of this matter was
so angry that he nearly whirled me to go hit the wall.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 16
January 18, 2018

Jiang Chen emptied the bento box in less than ten minutes, after which, he even bossed me to
throw it out when he was done. As I was outside, carrying the plastic bag with me, I happened to
chance upon the sanitation worker auntie again while she was taking out the trash, she greeted me
kindly, “Little girl, has your ‘gift’ been sent out?

Her voice calling me little girl made my heart feel very comfortable with her, hence I replied
truthfully, “Actually, I didn’t come here to give him a ‘gift’, I’m just delivering his meal.”

She insisted, “Did Doctor Jiang give you a scolding? Don’t be scared, no family has one member,
no matter young or old, who isn’t suffering from an ailment, give something to the doctor so your
heart would feel at ease, I’ve been working in this hospital for quite a few decades, I’ve seen this
scenario countless times, rest assured I will not run my mouth.”

I gave it a thought, if I didn’t explain things clearly, it would surely tarnish Jiang Chen’s medical
ethics, something I really don’t care about, what I couldn’t take was how this auntie indirectly
cursed my family, so I said with my whole chest, “Actually, it’s like this, Doctor Jiang and I used
to be a couple, and until now there’s still a bit of affectionate ties.”

The auntie looked at me, clearly a little bit taken aback, and then sized me up meticulously for
quite a long time. In the end, she let out a sigh and wheeled the trash away. Right before leaving,
she mumbled under her breath, “So young, it turns out it was to get her mental illness looked at.”

……

When I returned to Jiang Chen’s office, he was engrossed in writing something, I walked over and
knocked on the table hence he looked up.

I told him, “There’s nothing for me to do, I’m going home.”　　

Jiang Chen’s right hand was holding the pen, scribbling on his notepad, his other hand was used to
turn over its leaves, he said with nonchalance, “Chen Xiaoxi, if you walk out that door right now,
we’re over.”

I thought that the content of his words sounded very intense, it should have been expressed with
feelings likened to waves surging forth, yet he said it so flatly like stagnant water, all was said in
one breathe without any slight pauses, one can seriously consider this as a talent.

I was standing. He was sitting. But even though I was towering over him, I also felt like my
imposing aura was rather losing ground a little bit. I was looking at him. He was also looking at
me. But even though we were so close, I couldn’t even guess what’s going through his mind.

I said, “There’s no need to put it so seriously, I just saw that you were quite busy, didn’t want to
disturb you.”　　

Jiang Chen’s fountain pen was twirling between his fingers, he said, “Doctor Su told me, you
called me this morning to clear the air, so I’ll make myself clear right now as well, and you can
leave when you’re done listening.　　

I swallowed a lump in my throat, and let out an “en” to indicate that I was fine with it.

He asked, “Three years ago, it was you who suggested of breaking up, right?”　　

I replied yes.　　

He added, “The reason of our breaking up was because of my mom, is that right?”　　

I replied yes, but immediately took it back and said it also doesn’t seem to be it, and that actually I
wasn’t too sure of what I’ve said.　　
He threw the pen on the table with a thump, and my heart tightened all of a sudden, that’s
probably a very expensive Parker pen.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, and said with a hint of weariness, “Chen Xiaoxi, tell me, have
you ever thought about me in the past three years?　　

This conversation was fast becoming emotional, I wanted to speak, yet it seems like I was choking
on something. 　　

The first week after I broke up with Jiang Chen, almost every night, I would suddenly rouse from
my deep sleep, strands of hair sticking on my moist cheek and neck, when I’d touch my pillow,
and the chest area of my duvet with my hand, it would feel wet.　　

It was too painful for me to bear, I really wanted to go back and beg him, say it’s all my fault, and
that I’ve changed, I’ve changed……..

As a matter of fact, I really went over to see him. One morning, I stood across the hospital, around
lunch time, I’ve seen him with his colleagues chatting and laughing until they arrived at a small
restaurant nearby to have their meal. I looked at his smiling face from afar, I could even see his
dimple, filled with such radiance. I felt hatred, I felt bitterly disappointed, I felt so foolish, I
thought I should have rushed to the middle of the road and get run over by a car, I don’t believe
that he would still be able to continue eating his meal right next to my blood.

At that time, lots of thoughts flashed through my mind, but in the end, I chose to return home – I
wanted to buy a pineapple bun at the bakery downstairs but probably because I was crying so hard
which astounded the world*, it frightened the kind-hearted lady boss who gave me three instead,
and even told me how there’s no difficulties in life that one couldn’t overcome. If I could act well
enough, I’d go there every single day to cheat her on those bread. (T/N: Used when a person’s
words and/or actions are unusual that most people are shocked.)　　

Longing for someone can tear one’s heart as well as rip one’s lungs. So much that some people
dare not touch these words — longing for someone. I’ve always said I was never a brave person,
I’m afraid of pain, I’m afraid of sadness, I’ve put my longing towards him in a box, and affixed a
seal, “If you dare open this you will suffer in pain to death, serves you right.”　　

It was truly effective, hence, I haven’t thought about him.　　

Jiang Chen hit the table impatiently, the tone of his voice was harder, “Is the question really so
difficult.”　　

I was suddenly filled with hate that could topple the mountains and overturn the seas, I doubled
my fist, clenched my teeth very fiercely, and spat out a word, “Difficult.”　

He sneered, “Chen Xiaoxi, why really are you so bold with your convictions?　　
Sneering, are you? Who didn’t know how to do that, once I bare my teeth I become the Emperor
of Sneering they talk about!

I “humph”-ed a few times as I sneered, and asked in reply, “What about you? Why didn’t you look
for me? Why didn’t you coax me? Why did you really break up with me when I suggested to
break up? Why did you ask me if I was thinking of you or not? Why are you sitting while I’m
standing…..”

Jiang Chen was a bit confused by my series of questions, so it took him a moment before he stood
up slowly. When I saw him standing up, I panicked. I took a few steps back and said, “Why are
you standing up?”

But he instead, suddenly smiled, reached out his hand to grab my wrist, dragged me forcibly,
pushed me to sit on his chair, and then said, “Now, you’re the one sitting while I’m standing,
happy?

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, I think Doctor Jiang’s sense of humor came off a bit
awkward, even though I was known for having a rather odd ‘haha point’ but I really couldn’t
laugh at it no matter what. (T/N: haha point means the threshold of which one can laugh like how
having a low haha point means someone is easily amused.)

With his hands propped on both armrest, I was caged between him and the chair. This action is
rather nice, very ambiguous, like a set for when an ordinary male lead wants to act like a rogue
towards the female lead.

He smiled and leaned close to my face, stopping at a distance where I could feel his hot breath
fanning my face, “You were the one who suggested about breaking up, why should I lower my
voice and stifle my anger in order to coax you?

I shrunk down in my seat, “You’re a man, shouldn’t you coax me?”

He was gazing at me calmly, “At that time, I felt very tired.”

I’ve also calmed down a lot, “You were tired for a long time.”

Those words sounded very sarcastic, but there’s really nothing much to it, it just slipped from my
mouth, that’s all.

He let out a sigh, “I actually looked all over for you.”　　

I was shocked when I heard it, and worked hard to rack my brain for my memories of those days
for fear that at which intersection which male friend have I hugged or held hands with or blew the
dust off my eyes, by which resulted to a misunderstanding, but there was none. Those days, I was
wandering around like a spirit. Unless they’re fans of the movie ‘Ghosts’, men would never want
to be near me, so I retorted with confidence, “You’re talking nonsense, where did you try to look
for me?　

He was about to say something when his phone that was placed on the desk suddenly let out a ring
so he turned around to look at who was calling. And then in a blink of an eye, I found him facing
me while he leaned his body over me. I held my breath. Here it comes, here it comes, the time to
act as a rogue has come. His hand went pass my shoulder and my heart gave a vicious contraction.
But in fact, he was only trying to pull out his white coat that was hanging from the back of his
chair. He was donning on his white coat while explaining to me, “Emergency room’s number.”

The phone on the desk with it most simple ringtone started ringing again, Jiang Chen grabbed the
phone and answered it while walking outside, knocking the door open and then knocking it shut.
I’m alone in a room filled with loneliness, I think the timing that was picked for when the phone
would ring just now was too good, was there a director who yelled action somewhere?　　

I was thinking he won’t be back for quite a while, so I boringly pushed my feet against the floor,
driving on the wheels attached under his working chair, and sliding it all across the room, but my
last slide came off a bit too hard, and I suddenly heard a clicking sound — the chair went out of
balance and I befriended the floor, followed by the chair, with my forehead hitting first.

It was truly a pretty strong hit, if one would capture a shot of it from a distance, it would be sort of
how a fish would look like, right when the chef is about to kill it, placing it on the chopping board
while it flips everywhere, and then giving it one clean smash to make it lose consciousness.　　

I held unto the chair on the ground for a while, in a daze, it took me a long time before I was able
to handle it. When I slowly stood up, I thought I have to go to the emergency room to look for
Jiang Chen, I’m in an emergency too, if undetermined intracranial hemorrhage from cerebral
concussion was deemed as one.　

I followed the hospital signage, and was moving slowly, feeling the wall with my hand. Deep
inside I was really scared, this cerebral concussion and intracranial bleeding have something to do
with body fluids and so on. If I walk rapidly, perhaps these brains or blood would slosh
tremendously making it gush out.　　

With great difficulty, I’ve managed to arrive right at the door of the emergency room, I supported
myself with the wall, and whimpered for the inside, “Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen. Come out quickly,
I’m Chen Xiaoxi.”

Jiang Chen didn’t come out, instead it was a nurse, she yelled at me with a scowl on her face,
“This is a hospital! A hospital! Why are you so loud!”　　

I dare not say that she yelled louder than I did, I’m afraid she’d quickly yell even louder that the
sound waves emitted would go through my eardrum, and send vibrations to my brain. Also, my
head feels very fragile at that moment.　　

So I said slowly, “Can you please help me call Doctor Jiang Chen?”　

She casted a glance at me, “Doctor Jiang went to the restroom.”　　

I wasn’t expecting this answer, I thought that when he went out in a hurry just now, there must be
something like a fractured head with blood gushing out, the intestines eviscerated from the
abdomen which needed prompt treatment. I can’t believe he still has time to empty his bladder…..

The nurse went back inside the emergency room, I leaned against the wall, waiting for Jiang Chen
to return.　　

The hospital’s incandescent lights were glaringly pale as always, but I believe that my complexion
was perhaps even paler, because Jiang Chen started running a hundred meter dash towards me. I
thought it was very romantic, just like how Yi Ping* ran towards Shu Huan at the train station. We
were just swapping roles. (T/N: She’s referring to the ending scene of Romance In The Rain, a
2001 drama starring Zhao Wei as Yi Ping and Leo Ku as Shu Huan.)

I seem to softly collapse into the arms of Jiang Chen, he was supporting my head with one hand,
the other was trying to pry open my eyelids. His hands shaking like that, I was, however, scared
that he was going to poke my eyes blind.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 17
January 21, 2018

After quite some time of chaos, it turned out that all I had was just a mild cerebral concussion.
Those symptoms where I was giddy and my head was spinning were all just me scaring myself till
I became ill, and by association Jiang Chen was also frightened quite terribly. Here, I must
criticise Jiang Chen’s psychological strength for a bit, as a doctor who had spent countless years in
the foul wind and bloody rain*, he really appeared like he had never seen the world before. (T/N:
referring to a ruthless, treacherous atmosphere/environment of an insane massacre.)

According to the statement of the eyewitness – the sour-faced little nurse, Doctor Jiang Chen had
cradled my head while displaying his lion roar towards the emergency room, “PENLIGHT!
STETHOSCOPE!”

The little nurse staggered out holding a penlight and a stethoscope. While Jiang Chen was
tremblingly flipping over my eyelids to use the penlight to shine and look at my pupils, she,
carrying an attitude of “there is no harm in trying”, used strength distinctive of nurses to pinch my
renzhong* once, immediately I shrieked and bounced awake. (T/N: Renzhong: the “human centre”
acupuncture point – you can feel it by feeling the area beneath your nose where there is a
depression. It is a key acupuncture point to press when restoring consciousness of someone after
they faint)

Seeing me become awake, Jiang Chen’s complexion was not very good, he probably thought that
the nurse had stolen the limelight from him as the doctor.

He used the tiny penlight to shine at my pupils and looked at them carefully for a while, only then
did he keep the tiny penlight in the pocket of his white coat and ask me, “What happened to you?”

I pulled myself up by holding on to the arm that he had looped around me and sat up straight, “I
fell down and hit my head.”
He wrinkled his brow and felt the back of my head with his hand. His fingers passed through my
hair, carefully pressing on my scalp. He pressed till I made a “chi” sound expressing pain before
he stopped, after which he then pulled my hand to feel that area of scalp, “Look, a bump has risen
up here.”

The way he spoke was calm like a gentle breeze and a floating wisp of cloud, as if the bump on
my head was caused by a mosquito sting.

I pressed on that projecting lump, it was about as big as a quail egg. Pressing on it, it was softer
than an egg with its shell intact, yet it was harder than an egg with its shell peeled, its hardness
was just nice.

Jiang Chen pushed aside my fringe and asked me, “Is there anywhere else that got hurt when you
fell?”

I shook my head and said that there wasn’t, he clutched my neck, “Don’t move your head! Where
did you fall?”

“Your room.” I patted his hand as I spoke.

He held me by the arm as we stood up, “Why didn’t you give me a phone call to ask me to go
over?”

I glimpsed at him, feeling aggrieved. “I forgot to.”

I supported myself by holding on to his shoulder, and followed him, walking slowly towards the
emergency room. That nurse followed behind us, expressing her delayed concern, “Hey, if I had
known earlier that you were Doctor Jiang’s friend, I would have let you come in to sit.”

Jiang Chen made me lie down on the hospital bed in the emergency room, “I’ll go get
medication.”

The little nurse dragged a chair over to sit by my hospital bedside, and asked me beamingly, “Are
you Doctor Jiang’s girlfriend?”

I didn’t feel like replying her, I was busy pressing that bump on the back of my brain. Just
applying a slight force immediately caused a sort of numbing pain to spread from my forehead to
my toes, it was very satisfying.

The little nurse waited for quite a long time and didn’t manage to wait for my reply. Knowing
herself that it was meaningless, she dragged her chair away and went to sit in front of a tiny
window.
Jiang Chen returned holding a steel tray, on it was a cup of water, a medicine jar, a few cotton
buds and a few white pills.

He picked up the pills and placed it on his palm, I then picked up the pills from his palm and threw
them into my mouth, then I flooded (my mouth) with water to send them down.

After I finished eating the medicine, he made me sit cross-legged on the bed with my back facing
him. He wanted to help me apply medication, that little nurse tried a few times to come over and
help, and every time was always sent away by my fierce glare.

Jiang Chen first flipped over my hair. As my back was facing him and I couldn’t see his
expression, I hence automatically fitted him in my mind with a facial expression of him lightly
creasing his brow, with a tender and pained* gaze. However, very quickly, I soon overthrew this
gentle expression ruthlessly in my mind, for he had used the cotton bud to, while exerting all his
strength, fiercely and crazedly jab at that bump on the back of my head. (T/N: “pained” – the
original expression is “ 心疼” which literally means “pained heart”, usually refers to when your
heart hurts/you feel sorry for someone you love dearly who is going through a hard time)

Immediately, hot tears filled my eyes, I turned my head upwards and backwards to look at him.
“Be gentler, don’t jab out my brains.”

With his hand, he supported my head till it was straight, and said, “Got it.”

After that, he threw away the cotton bud, what then next plastered on (the back of my head) was
his fingers. His fingers were warm, mixing together with the cooling ointment as he slowly
kneaded my scalp.

I suddenly felt a burst of tartness and limpness in my heart. I slowly leaned back, lightly leaning
on his body. His fingers paused momentarily, before he once again dug out a lump of ointment and
smeared it on my scalp.

The little nurse had originally been sneaking peeks craftily from the side, but for some reason, she
suddenly gave two forced chuckles towards us, and with an air of sternness and righteousness,
proposed that she was going to go out and conduct a ward round. With regards to her abrupt
transformation into someone so industrious, hardworking and dedicated to her work, we can only
term it as a moment of enlightenment.

Jiang Chen allowed her moment of enlightenment, she then went out to conduct ward rounds,
looking back three times for every step she took*. (T/N: literal translation, meaning to be
reluctant)

Just like that, I leaned on Jiang Chen’s third, fourth and fith ribs. He silently kneaded my head,
kneading kneading kneading kneading, he was kneading for too long a time, I then felt spooked
and scared, thinking if he wanted to knead my skull and scalp till it became thin so that it would
be easy for him to poke a straw in with a “pop” sound to suck up my brains……

Thankfully Jiang Chen did stop. He used that hand of his covered in ointment to encircle my
shoulder from behind my back.

He said, “I have been waiting for you to regret all along, waiting for you to come back and plead
with me. I would definitely have to mock you properly, then make you face the surgical knife and
vow that you would be hacked to pieces if you ever dared to say the two words – ‘break up’ – in
the future.”

I wanted to turn my head over and tell him, “This mentality of yours is too unhealthy, plus how
can you say such gory words to me when I am such an adorable girl? I’m very cowardly, I will be
scared.”

But Jiang Chen was holding my shoulder bone with a death grip, with a manner quite like he was
going to crush me to pieces any moment, therefore I didn’t say a word.

He spoke again. “But you unexpectedly never came.”

I thought to myself, that’s you not seeing it, I even saw you ordering a meal of char siu* rice in the
restaurant. (T/N: char siu – a particular way of preparing barbequed pork in Cantonese cuisine that
is sweet and savoury)

He said that he went to look for me after more than a month, he said that it was the first time he
had watched helplessly as a person died in his hands, he said that the situation back then was truly
out of the ordinary and his emotional state was truly fragile, he needed a girlfriend to give him
support and encouragement, so he decided to make the first move and forgive me. Hence, he went
to look for me, but downstairs from my house, he saw me directing a few huge men to move my
luggage downstairs, after which he then returned to the hospital in a fit of pique.

I sighed, the heavens ought not to be so merciless and cruel, making trouble without reason.

This matter was like this, at that time, after I finished saying the words “break up”, Jiang Chen
threw down a sentence – “Don’t you regret it” – and following that swung the door and left. After
he swung the door, that old, feeble, diseased and spoilt door gave up on barely maintaining its
existence while being on its last legs, and breathed its last without turning back.

And coincidentally, the next day was the day that that balding landlord of mine dropped in to
collect rental fees. He looked at that door on the verge of collapse*, and most likely he thought of
those strands of hair of his on the verge of dropping out*, so he was furious. (T/N: in the original
text, the words used to describe the door and the hair are exactly the same, I changed the
translations in each situation a little to fit both contexts)

He faced the spoilt door, reviling me. My landlord’s educational level was very high, he reportedly
was a postgraduate student from ancient times. He escalated this matter to the high degree of how
university students in the present age generally had no cultivation, furthermore insisting on his
belief that the financial crises, droughts, earthquakes, floods and even bird flu were all the fault of
university students. I did attempt to explain that it wasn’t my fault that droughts occurred, because
I only washed my clothes once a week, but he didn’t listen, he insisted on me paying a thousand
RMB for the cost to replace the door.

Even though I appear to be dim-witted, I wasn’t stupid. This lousy wooden door was at most
worth 200 RMB, with one turnover he raised the price by 5 times, this was even more dishonestly
profitable and more shameless than real estate. Of course, a few years later, I discovered that I was
wrong, nothing could be more dishonestly profitable and more shameless than real estate.

Due to the matter of this door, the relationship between my landlord and I completely broke down.
He was determined to ask for compensation of one thousand RMB, I was determined to
compensate five hundred. Stuck in this deadlock, he made me get out from his apartment, I hence
got out. And the day that Jiang Chen came, I was doing the preparatory actions to get out.

I mournfully told Jiang Chen the story of me being bullied in every possible way by that landlord,
after Jiang Chen had finished hearing it, he gave a deep sigh and said, “Then let’s reconcile.”

I was extremely perplexed, look at how he said these words, so in his mind, these three years of
ours was just an endless quarrel?

Perhaps I was silent for too long, Jiang Chen spoke again, he said, “Chen Xiaoxi, I am a doctor.
I’ve gotten used to the sight of life and death, struggles and suffering. According to your logic, my
life ought to have transcended worldliness greatly, why must I be intertwined and entangled up
with you? The moment I turn around there is a pretty nurse, the moment I nod my head I can have
a new life, why should I keep thinking about you.”

I listened, this wasn’t right, these words were completely different from that request to reconcile,
could it be that that brief silence of mine was thought by him to be me putting on airs, and he had
decided to no longer entertain me?

I turned around and hugged his waist, “Okay, let’s reconcile.”

He didn’t speak for a long time, I got anxious, saying while wringing his clothes with my fingers,
“You can’t play this sort of love games with me where you welcome me while desiring to reject
me, I’m already old enough to marry and have children.”

Jiang Chen patted my back, “I got it.”

I let go of his waist, and raised my head to look at him. “What do you mean?”

He lowered his head and leaned in close, I covered my mouth with lightning speed, and spoke
with a smothered voice, “Are we reconciling or not after all, if you don’t make it clear I won’t let
you kiss me.”

He tilted his head looking at me, and smiled. “Okay, we’ll reconcile.”

After he finished speaking, he pushed aside my hand, and kissed me.

As our lips and tongues rolled and turned, I tried hard to stay clear-headed and reflect on a
question. Initially it was him who asked to reconcile, why was it that in the end it again became
me who begged him to reconcile? Furthermore, I even had to stoop to seducing him to ask for
reconciliation?

But my clear-headedness only lasted for about three seconds, after which my long-neglected lips
then ruled over that mind of mine that didn’t have much of its own opinion.

Really, our embrace and kiss were very romantic – the disinfectant smell that was specific to
hospitals, the minty smell emanating from the ointment on my head, the medicinal smell and soap
smell on Jiang Chen’s body, along with the faint taste of Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum in
his mouth, these various flavours mingled together, it was very beautiful. If time could be like a
DVD player, I wanted to press “pause”, and freeze the frame at this second.

Unfortunately, even if time was a DVD player, I also didn’t have a remote control in my hand.

That head of mine that had just suffered serious trauma suddenly experienced a burst of pain under
a state of a great increase in blood flow. It was so painful that I wrung at Jiang Chen’s back with
tears gleaming in my eyes, “My…… head hurts.”

He let go of me and crouched down to look at me levelly, I held on to his shoulder and took deep
breaths with great effort.

He fished out the little penlight from his pocket, and then stretched his hand out to flip my eyelids,
even using the little penlight to shine at my eyes. That ray of light shone at me till I really wanted
to shed tears.

Finally Jiang Chen let out a breath and supported me to lie down. After that he used the stern tone
of voice distinctive of doctors and reproached, “There’s no problem, lie down and rest for a while,
you can’t be overly excited when you have a cerebral concussion.”

Speechless, I gazed at the gleaming white ceiling, who exactly was the one who had caused me to
be excited……
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 18
January 23, 2018

I slept for a little in the emergency room, in which I was woken up twice. The first was when
Jiang Chen shifted a green folding screen from God knows where to separate the beds. The screen
probably was not maintained for years, it created loud cracking sounds like a firecracker when
pulled. I think I glared at him resentfully, then turned back to sleep. The second time is now, the
other side of the screen came low groaning sounds of a man, the sound went “ah, ya, ah, ya”, it
was very ambiguous.

I sat up, and wanted to peep, but was startled by the valiant words of the nurse.

She said, “Can you not yell so disgustingly, we are not even giving you a colonoscopy.”

In my heart I was calculating the distance between the large intestine and the entrance of a
colonoscopy, I couldn’t help but laugh.

The person the other side already transitioned from a yell to a high-pitched scream. I heard Jiang
Chen reprimanded, “Keep your mouth shut, don’t disturb other patients.”

I detoured past the privacy screen, then I regretted on why I even did that.
The person was probably a young chap, I said probably is because I determined from his hair
which was like a bunch of exploded straw. As for now, I am unable to determine his age from his
face as it was stained with fresh red blood. There were even green pieces of glass stuck into him, it
looked like those from a beer bottle. Amongst the pieces were two which were stuck onto each
side of his cheeks, and it even came with the brand logo. I squinted my eyes for a better look, one
probably had the word “纯” and the other, “生”*. (T/N: 纯 – Purified. 生 – Live. It is a standalone
word by itself but when put together, it is a type of beer that is non-pasteurised, only filtered to
remove the yeast.)

I really wanted to take a camera to capture his face and upload it to a forum with the title – X
College Art Student’s Bloody Graduation Project, Appeal for Society’s Concern on , *, , , etc of
the Never-Ending Beauty of a Human Being. The Caption has to be Long. (T/N: 1st life is life as
we are living, and the 2nd life is a human life.)

Trust me, any form of art that is anomalous will become viral.

Jiang Chen was the first to see me come out. He pointed at me with the tweezers he was holding
and said, “Go in. Why did you come out for?”

I have yet to speak, the Glass Face person scolded rudely, “F*ck, what the heck are you looking at,
ah…F*CK!”

His last “ah…F*CK!” came abruptly as a loud piercing scream. I stumbled backwards from shock
and stared blankly at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen threw the piece of glass with the word “Live” to the plate on the push cart beside him,
“This is a hospital, speak more cleanly.”

When he said that, that was no other expression on his face, even his tone was dull without any
intonation. But I feel that he was very handsome/cool.

The Glass Face person used that face of his to express a ‘dare to show but dare not speak’
expression. He also spoke very modestly, “I got it, doctor can you be gentler.”

Jiang Chen agreed to him and looked at me to say, “You, go in.”

I went back behind the screen and sat cross legged on the bed to day dream.

I heard Glass Face using a fawning tone to say, “Doctor, your girlfriend? She’s pretty.”

Jiang Chen seemed to acknowledge by making a sound. Then Glass Face continued, “Doctor,
bringing your girlfriend on the hospital bed, exciting ohhh.”
As expected, Glass Face screamed for his mother again. You see, this kind of pain only deserves
two words – served you right*. (T/N: served you right is 活 该 in Chinese. That’s why its two
words.)

Not sure how long have past, I started to doze off while sitting cross-legged. When I regained my
consciousness, I realised my legs were numb to the point I didn’t dare to touch it.

“Chen Xiaoxi, are you meditating?” Jiang Chen stood beside my bed while removing the white
rubber gloves off his hands.

I wriggled my toes, a tingling pain of numbness climbed through my cells up my entire body, I
made a crying face and replied him, “Jiang Chen, my legs are so numb they are going to be
crippled.”

He threw the gloves to the dustbin at the corner, walked over to the bed and sat down. He
stretched out his index finger to poke on my leg, I screamed, “Don’t, it’s really numb.”

Jiang Chen suddenly extended his arm to push me, I was like a spoilt roly-poly. I swayed futilely
and stayed in my cross-legged position while I fell sideways onto the bed.

My left thigh was then crushed under my right thigh, I was so numb I cried out loud.

Jiang Chen seemed really happy. He crossed his arms and turned his head to look at the me who
was slanted on the bed and laughed endlessly. He laughed till his dimple looked like it was going
to fly off.

Then he gently entangled my left and right legs, laid them straight and patted on my calves.

Every hit of his palm on my legs, I felt like my blood was circulating back to my two legs, I was
numb, I was in pain, I was numb to pain.

After about five to six minutes, my legs finally went back to normal. I gave Jiang Chen a kick, to
indicate that my legs are good enough to be able to kick someone. I also indicated that I was very
unhappy when he took advantage of when I was unable to move freely and treated me like a roly-
poly.

Actually, I wasn’t very brutal with that kick, but Jiang Chen fell back onto the bed from my kick.
He held onto his stomach and said, “Chen Xiaoxi, are you a female wrestler?”

I gave him another kick, “Are you an Academy Award Best Actor?”

Jiang Chen was still clutching on his stomach and not moving. I was even starting to feel that he
was starting to perspire on his forehead. I started to feel that something was wrong. It can’t be that
this numbness caused my legs to become a Shadowless kick* leg. A gentle kick can take a
person’s life? (T/N: A type of martial arts kicking technique made by a famous Chinese folk hero
– Wong Fei Hung.)

I climbed over to pat his back, “Are you okay? You okay? Don’t scare me.”

He suddenly turned to hug me, “Are you an idiot, I am clutching onto my stomach why are you
patting my back!”

He hugged really tightly, as though he was putting his entire weight on me, I was a bit breathless. I
said, “What’s wrong? Don’t suffocate me.”

He said he’s fine, and that he has a bit of gastric pain, and asked to let him hug for a while.

I gently patted on his shoulder and said, “Are you hungry? How about I buy some food for you?
Or where’s your medication? I will take it for you. Why are you always having gastric pain?
That’s not good, you have to take good care of yourself.”

He rested his head on my shoulder and said, “Chen Xiaoxi, I can’t take care of myself well.”

My maternal instincts as a female overflowed as I heard that line, I stroked his head and said,
“Jiang Chen, I’ll take care of you then.”

“Okay.” He said.

After Jiang Chen handed over his duty to the next shift, he listed a series of clauses on how to take
care of him while he was driving back me home. Most of these clauses were no stranger to me as
he gave me a list before when we were in university. For example, he was in charge of delivering
breakfast to me, and I delivered him his lunch and dinner. Another example, if he were to eat any
type of food with shell, I would have to remove the shell for him, this was mainly meant for tea
eggs. Or another example, every week I have to wash his worn clothes (for the week) and
beddings for him.

I sat at the passenger seat and flipped back and forth noisily on the two pages of medical
prescription form that was given to me. However, he remained unmoved. I finally could not take it
anymore and waved the two pages of paper in front of him and said, “Why do I have to deliver
you dinner?”

He said, “That was based on the list from our university days.”

I protested, “University was nearby ah! It was convenient. Furthermore, you delivered me
breakfast during university.”

He said, “That was because I had to wake up early to read, so it was convenient. Also, didn’t I
remove the clause on having to deliver lunch?”

I was lost for words, “But.. but I still don’t want to deliver dinner to you.”

He side-glanced me, “Who said she wanted to take care of me?”

There was nothing for me to say, I could only give in and analyze the clauses. On the 6th clause,
Jiang Chen wrote: ‘Have to clean up my house every 3 days.’

I shook the paper and said, “Look at the 6th clause. We didn’t have that in university.”

He tapped on the steering wheel while waiting for the red light. He leaned his head towards me
and said, “We lived in dorm during university. I can’t let others take advantage.”

…….

Alright, I was wrong. It was me whom in the 3 years of memories, beautified him too much. As
such, I was only able to remember his good, and totally forgotten about his bullying. The reason
why memories are so beautiful, is because no one is able to go back.

Actually, during this long time I have known Jiang Chen, hidden under his gentleness was a heart
of absolute unrestrained tyrannical abuse towards me. For example, the library incident, what
everyone saw the him flipping my book for me. In actual fact, it was so cold that day, how I
wished I could just snuggle in my bed in the dorm. However, he insisted on forcing me to
accompany him to the library. He said a student should be diligent in studying, he even said that
when he thought about him studying so hard in the library and all I will be doing is sleeping so
hard in my dorm, he felt very uncomfortable, and psychologically unbalanced. He is a medicine
student who has to study diligently everyday so as to prevent misdiagnosing and killing someone.
However, I study arts. If you force me to go to the library every day, that’s murdering my freedom
of creativity. So the reason why I could not become Vincent van Gogh, or Picasso, was actually all
caused by Jiang Chen.

“We’re here.” Jiang Chen patted on my head. I looked out and said distractedly, “You went to the
wrong place, this isn’t my house.”

He released his seatbelt, “I know this isn’t your house. This is my house, come up and cook me
something to eat. At the same time, you can tidy the place a bit.”

…..
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 19
January 25, 2018

In the end, I wasn’t able to go inside Jiang Chen’s house — his house was on the 9th floor, when
the elevator that we were in arrived at the 2nd floor, he got a call telling him that something came
up with his patient, he pressed open the elevator door for the 3rd floor, then threw a bunch of keys
at me, and instructed, “903, find something to eat first, and then sleep.”

I watched him turn around and hurriedly run for the stairs as the doors of the elevator slowly
closed.

I took the elevator up the 9th floor, and stood in front of the door of Jiang Chen’s house for a
while, deciding if I had better not go inside. One, my good upbringing doesn’t allow me to
willfully enter someone’s house in the absence of the owner. Two, I am afraid that without the
owner watching me attentively, if I went in and saw something valuable, I might not help but take
it with me. Oh! My excellent upbringing!

So I took the elevator again and went at the breakfast shop downstairs to buy wonton and tea eggs
for breakfast, and then flagged down a cab to return to the hospital.

How silly a woman is, how silly am I being.

At the entryway of the hospital parked a long row of luxury sedans. I already said I have no
knowledge when it comes to cars, but those cars all looked polished, I also wanted to know
whether they’re really that nice. This principle is the same as that of clothes, if it’s only a few ten
bucks worth of clothes, and soy sauce was poured on it, I won’t bat an eyelash, if it got dirty then
throw it away. But if it’s a few hundred bucks worth of clothes, if I spot a soy sauce even from a
distance, I would quickly run away, if it got dirty then I’d kneel on the ground, and rub every little
part clean.

……

I have not walked through the hospital doors when two men in black suits wearing sunglasses
barred me from entering and asked me in unison, “What are you doing here?”　

I lifted my head and read the ‘hospital’ sign, too lazy to explain myself so I just casually replied,
“To go see a doctor.”

Suit Man A, glanced at his wristwatch and countered, “The hospital is still close, what do you
want to seek consultation for!”

I replied, “I’m going to register myself in the emergency room?”

Suit Man A countered once more, “Which part does it look like you need registering in the
emergency room? Say it, which TV station are you from?　　

I blanked for a moment, then bashfully scratched my head, and humbly replied, “Hehe, I’m not
working in any TV station, although many people have commented that I would look great on
TV.”　　

Suit Man A and B looked at each other, and callously asked in unison, “Cut the crap, which
publication* are you from?”　

I shook my head, “I came here by myself in a cab, you also saw it just now, where would someone
be able to carry* me, besides, I’m not lacking in arms and legs, why must someone have to ‘carry’
me?”

(T/N: I think Xiaoxi was a dumb dumb and mistook 报 bào (newspaper/ publication) with 抱 bào
(carry) that’s why her reply doesn’t make any sense.)　　

They don’t seem to feel my sincerity because there was a knot on their facial expression as though
they’ve been suffering from constipation for several days.

As I felt that there was no way around it, I was left with no choice but to lift my hand that was
carrying our breakfast and reasoned again, “Actually, I am a doctor in this hospital, I came to
work.”
Before I was done speaking, someone patted me on the shoulder making me turn my head towards
them — it was Doctor Su looking at me with a huge grin, “When did you become a doctor in our
hospital?”

I let out a sigh, this time, in the minds of these men in suit, my identity is even more confusing. I
looked at them, their eyes has a certain alertness to them as though I was a terrorist armed with a
bomb and they’re ready to pull out their guns from their pockets and fill my body with holes at
any given time.

I said helplessly, “If I’d say my boyfriend works here as a doctor, and I’m here to give him his
breakfast, would you believe me?

Suit Man A retorted, “Cut the crap, are you a journalist? What are you going to do inside the
hospital. I’m telling you, this is a private matter, you can’t report it!”

I pushed Doctor Su in front of the two men in suit, “I’m really not a journalist, she is Doctor Su, a
doctor in this hospital, she can testify, I’m really here to look for my boyfriend.”

Doctor Su nodded foolishly, “I’m a doctor in this hospital. I know her boyfriend.”

Suit Man A said, “How can you prove to us that you’re a doctor in this hospital?”

Doctor Su looked clueless, and hesitantly replied, “I……..I’ll perform surgery?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and made a suggestion, “I think your license is more convincing.”

Doctor Su felt the pockets of her trousers, then slipped her hands inside them, and naively
declared it outright, “I left my license inside the hospital.”

Even I myself wouldn’t be convinced that this damn, stupid looking girl is actually a doctor.　　

Hence, ten minutes later, Doctor Su and I were crouched right outside the big doors of the hospital
peeling tea eggs.

I passed an already peeled tea egg to Doctor Su, “How could this happen? Who are they? What
should we do if we can’t get in?”

Doctor Su bit a mouthful of tea egg and surmised, “It’s probably some bigshot celebrity coming to
get their rotten disease examined. What are you worrying for? You don’t even work here.

I think so, too. Anyway, it’s almost time for the hospital to open, I’d be free to go inside so I very
kindly helped worry for Doctor Su’s stead, I said, “What to do if you’re late?”
She waved a hand dismissively and said, “No worries, my dad is the chairman.”

I swallowed down my surprise inwardly and nodded my head in understanding, “No wonder your
medical skills are superb, it turns out it’s in your blood.”

My mind was like: Her father is the chairman of this hospital, Jiang Chen is a doctor of this
hospital, so I’d curry favor from the chairman’s daughter. I really envy Jiang Chen for having such
a good wife.　　

Doctor Su furrowed her brows and asked in reply, “What do you mean? My dad runs a veterinary
hospital.　　

I tried to explain, “No, you said you’re not worried because your dad is the chairman, so just now
I said……said, ai, don’t misunderstand.”

She let out a ‘humph’ and said, “I wasn’t worried because if worst comes to worst and I lose my
job I can always go back home to help my dad run the veterinary hospital.　　

I replied, “Hehe, so it’s like that. Going back to help run a veterinary hospital is also very good.

Her expression darkened, “What are you saying ‘is also very good’? You think that being a
chairman of a veterinary hospital isn’t high-ranking enough?”

I hurriedly shook my head, the more I speak, the more mistakes I make, I had better shut up.

Doctor Su with a straight face, quietly finished eating that piece of tea egg, after which her
expression changed again and said, “Actually, I’m just joking with you. My dad is really the
chairman of this hospital.”　　

I, who has not yet swallowed the egg that was in my mouth, after hearing her say so, choked at
once — in order to not spray onto the beloved chairman’s daughter, I forcibly swallowed it down
which had me choked up in tears.　　

The chairman’s daughter humbled herself to be one with us common folks to help pat my back,
she let out a sigh, “When are you going to finally get my humour, my dad really runs a veterinary
hospital.”

…….

I totally don’t understand this person anymore, hence I gave out a big, hearty laugh, “Hey, you
think you’re funny, I was also joking with you, I knew it from the start.”

Actually, I don’t know anything at all. I’m still not sure whether her father is a doctor for humans
or a doctor for animals, but it’s okay, she doesn’t know whether I knew, or didn’t know, or knew
but was feigning to not know.　　

Doctor Su looked at me suspiciously, but after a long time, she smiled, “I appreciate your
humour.”

…….

We were crouched in front of the hospital door, eating a breakfast for three people. I’ve prepared
two sets to give to Jiang Chen, I originally thought I’d share a set with Doctor Su, at least leave a
set for Jiang Chen, but I didn’t expect that Doctor Su would eat so much. To sum up she ate a total
of four tea eggs, two servings of dry wonton, and one steamed dumpling.　　

I stood up to throw the plastic bag in the garbage bin. When the men in suit that were standing at
the doorway saw me get up, their right foot took a step back in a lunge position. I waved my hand
back and forth, gesturing to them that I was just a weak woman, and would not charge towards
them.

After I threw away the trash, I told Doctor Su, “I’ll go buy breakfast again.”

Doctor Su gave me a brief nod and said. “I also think that I’m not yet full, buy another steamed
dumpling for me please.”

………

When I got back from buying breakfast again, Doctor Su was already laughing and talking with
those two men in suit, when she saw me, she beckoned me over, “Let’s go in.”　

We were already inside the hospital while the two men in suit were looking at us with a smile on
their faces so I asked her, “How did you manage to convince them?”　　

She replied, “I gave each of them a hundred bucks.”

“Ah?!” I could not help but exclaim in surprise.　　

She patted me on the shoulder and said, “Kidding! I called the security office and had someone
come out to prove it.”

I huffed, “Why didn’t you call earlier?”　　

She said, “Wasn’t I eating breakfast just now.”

I’ve long given up carrying a conversation with her using the logic of a normal human being,
hence I replied, “That’s right, eating breakfast is the most important, not eating breakfast is not
good for the brain.”　　
As I was done speaking, the nurse who was walking our way was pulled by Doctor Su, “What’s
going on? How come there’s two people standing at the entrance?”　　

The nurse replied, “That high ranking official who underwent operation in our hospital before had
gotten a heart attack again.”　

Doctor Su asked, “Which one? Cardiology department? Doctor Jiang’s patient?　　

The nurse replied, “En, Doctor Jiang is now in the operation room to save him.” She then looked
around before whispering, “I heard he had a heart attack on a woman’s bed.”　　

Wow.

We were making rustling noises, gossiping for a while. The content was all about how intense a
‘bed exercise’ was to have given someone a heart attack. As medical professionals, they’ve offered
a lot of professional insight, among them were an elevated blood pressure, increased pulse rate,
body secretions……..when I heard these two words, my cheeks flamed up in embarrassment
which made both of them look at me with disdain, “Hey, what’s with that vulgar expression on
your face, we were only referring to sweating.”

As I am thin-skinned, and found it embarrassing to continue the ‘discussion’ with them, I excused
myself saying I’ll be in Jiang Chen’s office to wait for him.　　

Jiang Chen’s office wasn’t locked, I swept a corner of his working desk to place the breakfast, and
swept another corner to doze off.　　

It’s just that, my ability to sleep on the table back when I was still studying seemed to have
deteriorated — I couldn’t fall asleep. Hence, I had no choice but to lean over the table in a daze,
my fingers were fumbling on the hideous mess on his desk that was his files. He left urgently
leaving the things on his desk in a disarray so I arranged it for him.　　

Jiang Chen sat behind me during high school, you would find it hard to imagine that he was such
an outstanding student, his desk was always a mess, reference textbooks for examinations were
left lying around. But he is amazing, whenever I ask him for something, it would only take him a
moment and he would be able to fish out exactly what I was looking for from his pile of things.
The most ridiculous was that one instance when I borrowed his test papers from Chemistry, his
gaze was fixed at around 20 test papers, and muttered, “Chen Xiaoxi, are you here to compare
answers?” Then he pulled out a test paper from somewhere in the middle, and asked me if it was
the test paper that I was asking for. I’ve always felt that his supernatural abilities and the common
folks’ skill of ‘feeling the bones*’ have different melodies* but are played with equal skill. (T/N:
[1] Feeling the bones is a technique by fortune tellers to determine things (personality, luck, etc.)
depending on the appearance of a person’s bones. [2] A metaphor for having various approach but
the outcome is the same.)
Sometimes, he would also allow me to help him tidy up his desk, but every time I’m tidying up his
things, he would always lean back on his chair with both of his arms folded across his chest,
looking meticulously at me. I’d ask him what he was looking at and he would tell me he was
looking at where I was putting his things, it made me feel like I was actually causing him such
inconvenience, but I just continued to relentlessly inconvenience him further.

Jiang Chen’s desk right now looked much better than before, only those medical charts that were
stacked were a bit in a clutter. I picked them all up to stack them neatly but didn’t expect that that
the door would suddenly swing open which scared me and made me let go, sending the medical
charts crashing to the floor.

Jiang Chen said, “What are you doing here?” Then he looked at the heap of medical charts on the
ground and continued, “Did my medical charts offend you?”

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 20

January 27, 2018

I squatted down to pick up the medical charts and said, “I was afraid you might have gotten gastric
pain again from being over hungry, so I brought you breakfast.”

Jiang Chen squatted down to help pick up the medical charts, “Hospital’s cafeteria has breakfast.”
I looked up at him, “So have you eaten?”

He took the medical charts from me and threw them on the table, “Too tired, no appetite.”

Indeed, his face was a face of weariness, a slight greenish color on his lower eyelids, face and lips
were slightly pale.

I said, “I bought you tea eggs.”

He removed his coat and said, “I will eat if you peel it.”

I took over his coat, dragged him to a chair and sat him down, beamed and him and said, “Doctor,
you need more protein for supplement. I will peel an egg for you right now.”

He looked and me, shook his head and laughed. I stretched out my hand and poked his dimple and
laughed along with him.

I held out the peeled egg to his mouth side and asked carefully, “How was the surgery?”

“Successful.” He took one bite off the egg, “Help me take a bottle of water, it is at the lowest
compartment of the document drawer.”

I opened the lowest compartment of his drawer, it was filled with at least thirty to forty Nongfu
Spring water. I took one out, opened it and passed it to him, “Why does your hospital only give
out Nongfu Spring?”

“How would I know?”

Jiang Chen reluctantly ate two tea eggs, and leaned back on his chair, and said, “I don’t want to eat
anymore.”

I tore apart a disposable chopstick and persuaded him, “Eat a few more dumplings.”

He very unwillingly swallowed down a few dumplings, I saw that he was really tired, so I didn’t
persuade him anymore, I only said, “You didn’t sleep the whole night, and you had a surgery, you
should go home and rest.”

He shook his head, “The patient’s anesthesia has yet to wear off, we still need to do close
monitoring. I can’t leave the hospital.”

I felt a little distressed for him and gave a pat on his head, “It’s been hard on you.”
He dodged my hand, “Your hands just peeled tea eggs.”

I was angry, “Your hands have touched dead people!”

He said gravely, “I washed my hands.”

…..

I said, “You can rest your head on the table and take a little nap, or I can ask Doctor Su if there’s
any empty ward for you to sleep for a while?”

He didn’t answer me, he only stood up and walked behind a shelf and dragged out a foldable bed.

I exclaimed, “Well equipped ah.”

He opened up the foldable bed against the wall, then he threw himself on the bed with a ‘thump’
sound, just like a corpse.

I stared blankly at his tightly shut eyes, thinking if I should leave or stay and wait for him to wake
up? Shouldn’t he at least warn me before sleeping…

I stared at him for a while and sighed. I squatted down to remove his shoes for him.

I placed the shoes under the bed and cleared the egg shells on the table. Just as I was about to
leave the room to throw the rubbish, Jiang Chen said, “Chen Xiaoxi, where are you going?”

I turned back, he didn’t even open his eyes. I said I was going to throw rubbish.

He asked if I will be coming back.

I said I will be.

He then said, “Okay, then you go.”

I thought in my heart that I didn’t even asked for your permission, why do you flatter yourself?

After I returned from throwing rubbish, Jiang Chen suddenly opened his eyes while I was closing
the door. I got a shock, it was actually very scary. Just imagine, being in a gloomy dark room, the
person whom you thought were asleep suddenly opened his eyes and looked at you. Basically, all
you want to do is to rush towards him and stick an amulet on him.

I asked him frightenedly, “Why are you not asleep?”

He said, “Nope, I fell asleep, it was just a light sleep.”

I thought about it and didn’t know what to reply, so I could only parrot his last line, “That was a
really light sleep.”

Jiang Chen closed his eyes again, I stood in the middle of the room at a loss of what to do. Just as
I was thinking If I should leave first and come back in the afternoon, Jiang Chen opened his eyes
and said, “Why are you still standing there? Come here and accompany me to sleep.”

I was really taken aback. However, I usually express my feelings wrongly in front Jiang Chen
which ended up being awkward or creepy, I concluded that the indecent sleeping I was thinking
about is not the pure sleeping he was talking about. So, I calmly walked to his bed side and said,
“You move in a bit.”

He moved in, and I lied down after removing my shoes.

Then I asked him, “Do you have pillows?”

He said he doesn’t.

After a while he suggested, “Why not you rest your head on my arm?”

I think a surgeon’s hand is very costly. If I slept till it became numb, and after it went numb it
would become crippled, then I would have committed a big offense. Therefore, I rejected him.

We slept with our backs against each other for quite some time, I asked him, “Are you asleep?”

He said, “No.”

I said, “Is it too squeezy?”

He replied, “No.”

I said, “Then why can’t you fall asleep?”

He said, “I want to hug you to sleep. But I recalled that you stayed in the hospital for the entire
time since last night and didn’t bathe.”

I turned over and said angrily, “You also didn’t bathe, I didn’t even avoid you!”

I squinted his panda eyes and was immersed in his thoughts, after a while he said, “You are right.”

After that he extended his arms and pulled me into a hug, he then patted on my head and said,
“Alright, it’s no longer squeezy. We can sleep now.”
I rested on the hollowness between his shoulder and chest. It was not too hard nor was it too soft,
it was pretty comfortable. But I kept having the feeling as though I was being fooled. In order to
show my disdain, I said, “You have a disinfectant smell on you.”

He made an agreeing sound then proceeded to ignore me, so I said again, “You have too many
bones, it’s killing me.”

Only then did he open his eyes, “We have the same number of bones, 206 pieces.”

As he brought the conversation onto a professional level, my qualities could no longer keep up. I
could only think of ways to change the topic, and I thought of Doctor Su. I said, “Oh, do you
know what Doctor Su’s dad do for a living?”

He embraced me tightly and said, “Her dad is our faculty’s dean, Old Man Su. Why do you ask?”

This is Old Man Su, that is also Old Man Su*, this person loves to joke, despite how lame the joke
is, he thinks that it is very funny. It makes everyone limp and numb, this person, is Old Man Su.
(T/N: 2 different types of Su were used here namely, 酥 and 苏 respectively. There is no meaning
to it, just a different word used for the surname.)

Old Man Su and I had a chance encounter that was like a thunderstruck. It was a day where leaves
were swirling in the air. I waited for Jiang Chen (whose class was delayed) to end class at the
corridor. While I was leaning on the railing looking at the people who were walking on the school
ground, an old man came to me and asked, “Miss, what class is inside? Why are they not
dismissed yet?”

I said, “I also have no idea, I am just waiting for my boyfriend.”

I smiled at me and said, “Which one is your boyfriend? Can you point to me?”

At that time I was still naïve, so I pointed inside proudly. However, the elder before me suddenly
gave a very solemn look. “Student Jiang? No wonder he seemed really inattentive in my class
recently, so it was because he is dating. I say you kids these days, being young is the best time to
absorb knowledge nutrients, but you all choose to waste it on boy girl relationships. That is too
insensible. Looks like I will have to re-discuss with his class tutor on the scholarship nominees.”

I quickly kept the pride on my face, I was shocked till I was a little unstable, I quickly used my
about-to-cry tone to explain to him, “Teacher, it is not like that. Actually, student Jiang Chen
doesn’t like me, it was me who shamelessly stuck myself to him, it has nothing to do with him.”

He made a ‘hmph’ sound and said, “You need two hands to clap.”

I clenched my teeth and said, “Teacher, I will tell you the truth. I am a mythomania. I am always
fantasizing on having an extraordinary relationship with each and every boy in the medicine
school. The day before yesterday was student Lee. Yesterday it was student Zhang. Today it is
student Jiang. According to your professional medical perspective, do you think there is a cure for
this kind of illness?”

Old Man Su stared at me with his eyes enlarged, he then slowly asked after a while, “Which
faculty are you from?”

“Arts.”

I muttered to himself, “Arts students are all crazy people. You only fantasize yourself with the
medicine school male students? How about the medicine school male teachers?”

I suspect that his question has a smell of self-recommendation. With the mindset to protect Jiang
Chen, I went all out. I fumbled on my shirt edge and looked at him with eyes full of tender
feelings, “Actually… actually I do too.”

Old Man Su held onto his arms and stumbled backwards. He said, “This student, actually I was
just joking with you just now.”

I asked blankly, “Which one was a joke?”

He said, “The scholarship nominee. Also, I don’t teach his class, I only know him.”

My only thought at that time was, “Is it a crime to hit teachers? Or is it better to hit him in a
rucksack? Or should I hire someone to assassinate him?”

He saw that I was silent, he continued, “This student, I have a wife, we have very deep feelings for
each other.”

I shook off my idea, and said to him coldly and dismally, “It’s okay, I will just look at you from a
distance then.”

I even looked down to wipe tears off my eyes after I finished talking. From my peripheral view I
saw Old Man Su walked backwards a few more steps. I think I shouldn’t scare the elderly too
much, just as I was about to look up to tell him I was joking, an arm came from behind my back
and held on my shoulder, “Chen Xiaoxi, why is your head down? Did Old man Su bully you?”

Old Man Su came to a sudden realization, he pointed at me with trembling hand and stumbled half
a step and said, “You…. You are too much!”

…..

Jiang Chen whispered to my ears, “Lets go quick, his acting addiction is starting again.”
Doctor Su and Old Man Su, they are really from one family.

I looked up, Jiang Chen already fell into a deep slumber, I rested on his chest while smelling the
weird disinfectant smell on him as I too, fell into a faraway dream land.

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 21

January 29, 2018

When I woke up, Jiang Chen had already disappeared. He left a note at the bedside, asking me to
return home after I woke up.

I searched out my phone and looked, it was already past eleven o’clock, I could eat lunch.
Thinking that Jiang Chen hadn’t really eaten much in the morning, I wanted to buy some food for
him to eat before leaving.

Hence, I swept and parted my hair for a little while before leaving the room. Upon leaving the
room, I so happened to run into that sanitation worker auntie, I very happily went up and asked
her, “Auntie, where is the hospital canteen?”

She looked at me, then looked at the door of Jiang Chen’s office, and said, “I don’t know.”

Her tone of voice was very harsh, as if I was scum.

I said again, “Haven’t you been working in the hospital for a few decades, how can you not know
where the canteen is?”

She used a gaze of looking at faeces to size me up from head to toe, and said with revulsion,
“Even if I know, I won’t tell you.”

I was shocked by her frankness, and felt that she really was an honest person who made a clear
difference between what she loved and what she hated, and who really poured out her whole heart
and soul* to tell it as it was. (T/N: original idiom directly translated means to fish out your heart
and your lungs (掏心掏肺), meaning to devote yourself entirely to a matter)

After she finished speaking, she then walked onwards pushing the rubbish bin, before she turned
round the corner she even loudly lamented, “People nowadays deliver gifts till they deliver on the
bed, really disgusting.”

Facing the glass window of the corridor, I took measure of myself, my clothes were a little
wrinkled, my hair was a little messy, but it didn’t appear like I had been ravaged too. I felt grieved
that I was always being misunderstood, at the same time I also felt grieved for this auntie’s
humanity. She would rather believe that I was a nutcase or that I was on the casting couch*, yet
she was unwilling to believe that we were only a couple that loved each other. Of course, this
could also be because I had a face that didn’t look like an innocent woman, but it was also more
possible that Jiang Chen always had extremely terrible rumours and comments about him, causing
the masses of society to lose faith in his conduct. (T/N: “casting couch” referring to the practise
where actresses must trade sexual favours to be casted in roles)

In order not to encounter such a cold countenance like that of the sanitation worker auntie again, I
decided to depend on my own strength to search for the mysterious whereabouts of that canteen.
Just as I was wandering about in the hospital, Jiang Chen called.

He said, “Have you woken up?”

I said, “Just woke up.”

He said, “Then be more careful on your way back.”

I went silent for a little while, before speaking, “Have you eaten?”

He said, “Mm, I’m eating with the family members of a patient.”

I spoke, “Okay, I got it, I’ll go back.”

Nowadays, even doctors had to accompany their clients for meals. And I didn’t know why I was a
little disappointed, perhaps it was that I was hungry and yet he didn’t invite me to freeload a meal
together. What is known as “going into battle, it’s best to have father and son as soldiers*”,
freeloading meals, it’s best to have a couple doing so, he really wasn’t sensible. (T/N: a line from a
proverb meaning that in times of life and death, family members are the most dependable people
to work with)

I took a shower when I got home, then changed into a set of comfortable clothes and sat on the
bed lost in thought. This weekend was endlessly long, fragmented into bits and pieces such that it
wasn’t real at all. One moment my heart would swell till it was full, the next moment it would be
sucked out till it was empty. Hesitatingly, I curled my legs up in front of my chest and hugged
them, this pose was to match with the current apprehension and worries about loss and gain* in
my heart. The pose in addition to my mentality, I felt that I really was a flower-petal-like young
woman. (T/N: a Chinese idiom meaning to worry that you can’t obtain something, yet worrying
that you will lose it once you do obtain it)

I took up my telephone and made a call to Wu Bosong, the phone only rang twice before it was
picked up, proving that he was very idle.

Wu Bosong said, “Chen Xiaoxi, child, have you and your lover reconciled yet?”

I said, “We’ve reconciled.”

He said, “Aiyaya, why does your voice sound so downcast?”

I went silent.

His tone of voice started to become serious. “It’s not that after you reconciled with him, only then
did you discover that the person you love most is me, right?”

I rolled my eyes, “Screw you.”

He laughed twice, before saying indifferently, “Speak, what’s up?”

I first gave a long, long sigh to express that I really was very distressed, after which I then
recounted once through to him the process of us reconciling according to how it really happened.
Finally, I asked him, “Would you think that this sort of situation of ours is very absurd?”

He asked, “Why would it be absurd?”

I said, “It was very flippant, how can we inexplicably break up and inexplicably get back together,
this makes me appear like I’m very wanton.”

He said, “Give me a break, I thought that once Jiang Chen beckons you over with his finger, you
will fly over and throw yourself (at him).”

……

I spoke again, “But they all say that girls who chase guys won’t be cherished, this actually has
been a hidden worry in my heart all this while.”

He said, “Then you can go and look for someone else, let someone else chase you, let someone
else cherish you.”

I said, “What are you being so angry for, can’t you just talk me around nicely? You say, it’s been
three years already, why am I such a loser?”

He said, “Alright then, I thought what you needed now was a wake-up call*, I didn’t expect that
what you want now is a caring older brother. Since this is so, I’ll be a little more tactful, you’re
simply idiotic plus infatuated, once you mention Jiang Chen you will smile nauseatingly, once you
see Jiang Chen your two eyes will light up just like how a fly does when it sees poop. Don’t speak
of three years, even if it were thirty years, you also can’t escape from Jiang Chen’s palm.” (T/N:
original idiom is 当头棒喝 – literally meaning a blow and a shout to one’s head. Alludes to the
Buddhist practice where the master would just randomly club a novice’s head or shout at a novice
to demand an answer for no reason, to test the novice’s progress in comprehending Buddhist
concepts. The idiom refers to methods to make one wake up to reality, or to give someone a severe
warning)

…… Your definition of ‘tactful’ is very unique.

I believed that what he said wasn’t wrong, in this world, there really existed matter which
“reinforced each other and subdued each other*”, for example, Sister Furong* was the bane of
Tsinghua University, Sister Feng* was the bane of the plastic surgery industry, and Jiang Chen
was the bane of my life. Uh, it seems like this analogy isn’t very elegant. Let’s put it this way,
there are some people who just are that calamity* in your life, no matter if you love it or hate it,
nothing can compare to one sentence of his. (T/N: The original phrase – 相生相克, refers to the
five phases of Chinese philosophy – wood, fire, earth, metal, water. Each phase
reinforces/develops another phase, and each phase subdues another phase too. To give an example:
fire gives rise to earth, because after fire burns things, the matter will turn to ashes, which
becomes earth, but fire subdues metal, because fire can melt metal.) (T/N: Sister Furong/Furong
Jiejie is a woman who is notorious on the internet and is an internet celebrity. She initially gained
notoriety for her posts on the Internet forums of Tsinghua University and Peking University after
she tried a few times but failed to get a place in these schools for postgraduate studies. [Btw,
Tsinghua and Peking are the top two universities in Beijing/China]) (T/N: Sister Feng is another
internet celebrity who became famous due to a lot of outlandish comments/things she did. In 2010,
she announced that she was going to do plastic surgery, saying that she was going to do plastic
surgery till she looked like Fan Bing Bing/Shu Qi etc, and apparently her doing plastic surgery
(among many other things) caused a nationwide sensation) (T/N: an ancient Taoist macroscopic
concept relating to time, referring to bad luck, adversity, catastrophes that are destined to happen
in your life.)

I said, “Then Jiang Chen’s mother doesn’t like me, and my dad also doesn’t like Jiang Chen, we
still don’t have a future.”

Wu Bosong said, “This way, I’ll tell you a story.”

He told me a story about a young man and woman, this story could almost reach the top and take
the number one position among all the ridiculous stories I have ever heard.

The boy and the girl loved each other, and after that they wanted to get married. The paternal
grandmother of the boy didn’t approve of it, because the girl was born in the year of the dog*, and
the grandmother had been bitten before by a dog when she was small. This signified that if the girl
married into the family, she would clash with the grandmother’s good fortune, so the grandmother
refused to let the two get married for the life of her. You see how ridiculous this was, to me, being
born in the year of the dog at most symbolised that after the girl married into the family, whenever
she found the grandmother unfavourable, she would have an excuse to bite her only. Later on, that
boy couldn’t bear to be disobedient to his grandmother, and hence left. Before he left, he promised
that he would definitely return to marry the girl. Many years later, the boy returned, the girl
became his father’s mistress, and even gave birth to a big fat baby for his father in the year of the
dog. And just when his father was in the midst of seeking a divorce from his mother in order to
give this girl a status, his grandmother was made so angry by her new grandson born in the year of
the dog that she was hospitalised. You see, this girl’s method of seeking revenge wasn’t only just
ridiculous, it was also quite sinister – if I can’t become your wife I’ll become your mother, if I
can’t marry your grandson I’ll marry your son, you don’t want a granddaughter-in-law that’s born
in the year of the dog, I’ll give birth to a grandson born in the year of the dog for you. (T/N: The
Chinese zodiac calendar operates in cycles of 12 lunar years, with an animal representing each
year in the cycle. Being born in a certain year represented by a certain animal is often thought to
influence your personality and your fortune.)

After I finished listening, I sounded an “ah” in astonishment, and asked him, “Is this your story?”

He said, “It’s not.”

I said, “If it’s not, what are you telling it to me for, don’t tell me that you want me to go and
seduce Jiang Chen’s dad?”

He said, “I just want to tell you that there are some people in this world who are very ridiculous,
they like to interfere in other people’s lives boldly and with conviction, yet you totally can ignore
them. For example, the boy and the girl in this story, they totally could have gone to register their
marriage themselves or make an agreement with each other to elope, if that was really out of the
question, waiting till the old woman died would have resolved it, there was no need to ruin each
other’s and other people’s lives.”

I said, “So you mean for me and Jiang Chen to elope?”

He said, “What elope, you are so stupid, where can you elope off to.”

I said, “Then what exactly do you mean?”

He said, “Actually there’s also not much meaning, I just suddenly wanted to tell you a story.”

I said, “That’s not it, this really is your story right, if you are afraid of me knowing why did you
need to tell me?”

He said, “This really isn’t my story, this is the story of my mother and my older brother. I’m just
telling you about my confusing life history to let you feel more balanced in your heart.”

Once again, he succeeded in making me sound an “ah” in astonishment.

We then chatted randomly and blindly about some trivial rubbish, after hanging up the phone I
suddenly was filled with confidence in the future of Jiang Chen and I, because I felt that since I
was born in the year of the dragon, and this sort of creature that the dragon was was comparatively
more mythological and imaginary, it wasn’t too possible that I would be able to bite Jiang Chen’s
family members, so in any case I wouldn’t be reduced to the same state that Wu Bosong’s mother
was in.
You see, us humans are always like this, we need an even more miserable story to decorate our
own misery, we use other people’s sorrows to balance out our own sorrows. How did that
powerful sentence go again – when I was complaining about how I didn’t have shoes to wear, I
discovered that there were people who didn’t have legs. I had legs, I also wasn’t born in the year
of the dog, how blessed was I.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 22
February 1, 2018

The end of the weekend seemed to signify that Jiang Chen and I have also ended contact. I’ve
been working for three days and only then did I got a call from Jiang Chen. He simply called me
to explain that he was very busy and didn’t say anything else. I still insisted and gave him three
calls, two of which went through but nobody answered, and one went through with us giving
hurried greetings to each other, he’s still able to eat much rice*. (T/N: It means to do something
deliberately to show people the state of things.)

Situ Mo would often taunt me, saying, “Why does your boyfriend seems to be there but not there,
and seems to be hidden but also visible ah.”

I cursed her saying her husband and the female scientist in the laboratory would make a test-tube
baby or something.

Early morning of Thursday, I was in the office doing a ‘case’ which was the design on the box for
a certain brand of blow dryer. It’s actually very easy, put a photo of the product, put the logo of the
brand, put a brief info regarding the product’s function, put the lines needed for promotion, and
it’s over. I don’t like this kind of job but I like my co-workers here, because I’m someone who
can’t handle complex human relationships, and my two co-workers, Fu Pei and Situ Mo, are both
relatively simple people.

But I was exceptionally irritable at work today, I hit the table and told Situ Mo. “What’s the point
in living like this, doing these pointless things every day, I can’t see any future.”

Situ Mo fished out a lollipop from her bag and threw it at me, “I’m giving you my son’s candy,
don’t say such childish words again.”
Don’t say such childish words again. But day after day, we are all moving forward in uncertainty,
just like walking in the dark, no one knows what our every footfall would step on, or what kind of
future it would take us.

I said solemnly, “I ate your son’s candy, I’ll dedicate my body and soul to him, okay.”

Situ Mo said, “Get lost you pedophile.”

Speaking of pedophilia, I can’t help but think of Su Rui, he called me last night, saying his life
was dull. Design? Empty. Business? Miserable. The final conclusion was that he was lacking a
muse that would lead him through his chaotic life with zero inspirations, and under his
considerations, I vaguely think I was probably ‘that’ muse.

I said I reconciled with Jiang Chen. He said, “It is said that in the great affairs of the world under
the heavens, that which is long divided must unite, and that which is long united must divide*.”

(T/N: This quote originated from the Chinese historical novel, The Romance of the Three
Kingdoms which concerns contention, initiated by a sovereign power, Shu, against another, Wei,
by colluding with the third sovereign power, Wu, wherein Shu and Wu would often breach their
agreements in the then China of 220-280. Now, it is used to describe how things are constantly
changing.)

I said, “How about I introduce you to a possible girlfriend? I guarantee that she is more mature,
stylish, and beautiful than I am, and will satisfy all your fantasies of a love between an older
woman and a younger man.” He said, “Falling for you only proves that I don’t want someone
mature, stylish, and beautiful.”

I felt unbearably angry so I just hung up the phone, holding myself back from quickly giving
Doctor Su a call to rat him out. This ‘tell one’s parent to sue the teacher’ behavior is really
shameless, I didn’t do it when I was a kid, it’s impossible to grow up when you break a precept.

But I didn’t think that just because I didn’t do it, doesn’t mean Su Rui also wouldn’t do it. I got a
call from Doctor Su around lunch time, more or less the content was about how her younger
brother no longer thinks about drinking tea and eating rice* because of me, and that if I don’t want
her to go to Jiang Chen and directly tell him that I was a fickle woman, I would have to carefully
think of a way to fix it. In the end, she told me seriously, that her threat about telling Jiang Chen
was just a joke. Damn, her black humor. (T/N: Denotes losing the ability to function from the loss
of a very important thing or an obsession about a certain thing to the point of neglecting basic
necessities.)

I gave Su Rui a call, he said he was still cocooned in his blanket, also, a girl’s voice and laughter
went through the phone, “Little buddy, your jie jie asked me to talk to you.”
He said, “Who is your little buddy, what do I have to talk to you about?”

The completely awkward 17-18 year old tone of his voice was really cute

I said, “Okay then, forget about it, just don’t let the grown-ups worry for you, bye.”

I was done talking, about to hang up the phone when he let out a shout that made my head swim,
“Chen Xiaoxi, you dare hang up on me again!”

Why wouldn’t I dare hang up, I fear nothing in heaven or earth, besides Jiang Chen’s phone call
which I dare not hung up.

Two seconds later, Su Rui roared and yelled, “Chen Xiaoxi, you are too much, I really like you.”

I said, “Thanks, but I already like someone else.”

He said, “You always like only him, only one person, don’t you feel that your life is very boring?”

I said, “A little bit, so I advise you to quickly go out and like a few more.”

Su Rui furiously threw his phone, breaking it. He unexpectedly reminded me of something, and
made me decide to visit the man who made my life boring after I knock off work. When I came up
with such a thought, I felt that I was so stupid before — he’s busy while I’m the one who’s free,
and I still had to wait for him to find time to look for me, what is wrong with me!

When I got to the hospital, it was already past 6 o’clock, I couldn’t find Jiang Chen everywhere,
so I gave him a call, “Where are you?”

“Hospital.”

“Where in the hospital?”

“In a ward, are you here?”

“En. Which floor? Which room number? I’ll go find you.”

“No need. Just go to the lobby and wait for me. I’ll go downstairs to find you.”

I picked a conspicuous place among the many rows of benches in the lobby and sat down, even at
this hour, there were still a lot of people sitting, standing up, walking back and forth all around the
lobby, their faces looked more or less worried. But I was too busy to observe them, I was busy
staring at every single entrance. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I was suddenly so nervous
about seeing him, like back in our student days, every time I’d hear his name, even when I was
just chatting with my classmates, my heart would secretly skip a beat.
“What are you doing?” Someone poked the back of my head, I was, of course, leaning forward,
craning my head to look at the corridors, I was laxed, so when I was poked, I almost face-planted
on the floor but the person held me back. I turned my head, Jiang Chen was looking helplessly at
me, “Why are you sitting unsteadily?”

I looked cluelessly at him and smiled, “Why didn’t I see you coming?”

He pointed at the staircase behind me, “I came down from upstairs.”

I chuckled, skipped over to his side, held unto his arm, and said, “I’m asking you out for a meal.”

He said, “What are you so happy about?”

I said, “I’m just happy to see you.”

He gave me a sideways glance, like a joke and also like a request, he said, “If you’re happy, then
come here every day.”

I nodded frenetically, “I think that you’re so busy, in the future, I’ll just frequently come here to
keep you company okay.”

He smiled and patted my head, saying, “I’m not used to you being so considerate like this.”

I think the words he spoke wasn’t said in the commanding heights of reality, faced with him, in
fact I’m very considerate most of the time.

He looked at his watch, and said, “What do you want to eat? I can’t walk too far off from the
hospital.”

I said, “Then which one around here is the most expensive to eat at? My invitation, but you’ll be
the one paying.”

Jiang Chen said with a laugh, “You’re very shameless.”

“Exactly.” I am very proud, “My principle in life is, ‘After eating, wipe my mouth, and wipe my
ass, then leave.”

My voice fell, I myself was stunned, Jiang Chen hesitated for two seconds, then he burst into peals
of laughter, a doctor in white, paying no heed to his image and laughing heartily in the hospital
lobby. This unkind and unsympathetic behavior, even though his laugh is very nice to look at, he
ought to be dragged out to get 30 beatings from a huge plank.

Jiang Chen led me out the back door of the hospital, he said he was going to take me to a very
good hotpot place.

I said, “You’re taking me to eat hotpot in summer?”

He said, “That place is open all year round, they have a ‘lovers’ pot’ and I heard that it’s very
delicious, I’ve been wanting to take you there for a long time now, I can’t wait for winter.”　

I’ve been wanting to take you there for a long time.　

I stopped walking. I could feel my nose tingling the way it does when I’m about to cry.

Jiang Chen turned his head to look at me and wondered, “What happened?”

I stretched out my hand at him and said, “You take me.”

He looked left and right, let out a sigh, and held my hand, “Why are you still so childish.”

I watched him, his dimple was slowly showing on his left cheek, tch, aren’t you childish yourself.

The steam from the hotpot soon filled in between Jiang Chen and I. Besides being covered in the
steam, I had the smell sticking all over me with sweat seeping through my pores making me feel
very filthy, and also because I’ve told Jiang Chen about the thing with Su Rui, my filthy heart was
looking forward that he best eat ‘a little’ vinegar, scratch that, eat ‘a lot’ of vinegar. It doesn’t
matter if he’d flip this hotpot table over, as long as the boiling hot soup doesn’t pour on the both of
us. (T/N: Eating vinegar means being jealous to a rival in love)

However, Jiang Chen just picked a slice of lamb meat and threw it in my bowl, “Stop being so
conceited.”

Ai, my conceitedness was spoken with tact, but he’s still able to see clearly the downy feather* of
autumn. (T/N: A Chinese idiom meaning to notice the minutest details in everything.)

I said, “Su Rui asked me, if it isn’t boring to like only one person for a lifetime. What do you
think?”　　

He said, “It might be a bit boring? I haven’t tried.”

I was stunned, mulled over it for a long time before I came to understand, tapping the edge of my
bowl, I asked, “Can you say that again?”

He threw another piece of lamb meat into my bowl, “My grandma said, ‘Tap your bowl and you’ll
become a beggar.” (T/N: It is poor table etiquette to tap on your bowl with your chopsticks as
beggars make this kind of noise to attract attention.)
I neither overlooked nor spared* things and pressed on, “Who else did you like?” (T/N: Treat
something seriously without listening to excuses.)

He turned his eyes upwards in contemplation, and said after a long while, “Anyway, I’m not
bored.”

I was watching that dead look on his face, and said in bitter anger, “Okay, I also don’t want to
resign myself to being the only one who likes you for a lifetime anyway.”

Jiang Chen also tapped on the edge of his bowl and said, “I actually think it’s nice to just like only
one person for a lifetime, just like performing surgery, only paying attention to speed and
accuracy.”

Those three phrases, not leaving out one’s profession……

When our discussion regarding the serious, ‘mountain collapsing, earth splitting’ topic about ‘one
true love’ has come to an end, Jiang Chen seemed to remember something and asked me, “Have
you been going to my place recently?”

“Ah?” My brain couldn’t get a grasp on it. “Go to your place?”

He glared at me, “Isn’t my key there still with you?”

“I had a sudden epiphany but a little puzzled, “I forgot, your key is still here with me. You haven’t
been home these past few days?”

He said, “Wasn’t able to, the patient I operated last Sunday is very influential, the higher-ups
wanted me to be on call for 24 hours.”

“Who?” I placed my bag on my lap, on one hand, preoccupied with rummaging my bag to look for
the key, on the other hand, asking things casually.

“That Secretary Zhang whose banquet I took you last time. I have a spare key in my office.”

I scratched my head, “Why are you leaving your key with me?”

Could it be, he wants me to sneak up on him in the middle of the night? The nerve of this
guy……..

He threw another piece of lamb meat into my bowl. “To let you clean up my house, you’re acting
like you have amnesia. Your bowl’s already full, are you going to eat or not?”

I have no idea when I piled up so much meat in my bowl, I could only praise on how really fast
Jiang Chen was.
This was probably the fastest hotpot I’ve ever had, it only took us about an hour from ordering to
being done with eating. After eating, we looked at each other, the image was as if we were
walking past each other under the rain, but what we were really thinking was that we’re very
smelly.

Back in the hospital, Jiang Chen went to their quarters to take a shower, I stayed in his office
waiting for him to come back, to come back and give me a week’s worth of smelly clothes to wash
and dry under the sun.

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 23

February 3, 2018
I carried a big bag of clothes while walking along the hospital corridor. An enchanting woman
came walking towards me. She first shot me a glance, then she nodded her head while smiling at
me, “Hello, Chen Xiaoxi.”

I too, nodded while smiling, “Hu Ran Ran, hello.”

To be honest, I recognized her from afar, that strong sinister aura she has, even if she was burnt to
her ashes, her aura can still choke me. It’s just that I didn’t dare to greet her first, in case she
looked at me without guilt and say to me, “I’m sorry, you are?”

To act acquainted, that is the most embarrassing thing.

Hu Ran Ran wrinkled her nose and smelled, she pointed to the big, black plastic bag that I was
holding and blinked her eyes asking, “You killed your boyfriend, and mutilated him?”

I remembered what the nurse said, that the person had a heart attack on a woman’s bed. The
woman was most probably Hu Ran Ran, I think her method of murder is of the highest class.

I said, “These are his laundry, the foul smell you smelled is probably mine because I sweated too
much.”

She pouted her red lips and whistled, “Virtuous ah.”

I looked down and smiled lightly, modestly expressing that I am indeed more virtuous than most
people.

As I was about to leave after exchanging a few words, Hu Ran Ran said, “Can you accompany me
for a smoke?”

I was thinking, she doesn’t even mind my company even when I smell like a decomposed corpse,
that is a friendship that is very precious. It doesn’t seem right if I were to reject her, so I nodded. I
followed her left and right to a secluded staircase.

She passed one cigarette to me, and I held it between my fingers and examined. It’s white and
slim, the cigarette butt even has a pretty red heart engraved on it.

She first lighted up her own cigarette, then came out to help me with it. I was a little awkward, so I
could only hard-headedly move forward to her lighter. Only when I moved forward did I realize
that she has really good skin. I originally thought that it was the flawless canvas of a thick
makeup, little did I know she wasn’t wearing much, alright, she was born beautiful.

Hu Ran Ran very quickly took a puff of cigarette and blew out smoke, which slowly dispersed
around her. She looks like those demon vixens that appears while swaying their hips in Journey to
the West.

I stared at the cigarette between my fingers. I felt like those bad girls who were brought to the
staircase in those movies, it was pretty cool. I prepared my heart and brought the cigarette to my
mouth, bite it with my teeth, and took a deep breath. The smoke went straight to my throat, choked
me till I couldn’t stop coughing, there were tears in my eyes.

Hu Ran Ran laughed at me, and puffed out another ring of smoke, “Chen Xiaoxi, aren’t you quite
useless.”

I hit on my chest to circulate the air, and answered her, “I… *cough cough*…. Never smoked
before.”

After coughing, my mouth tastes like mint, I asked, “Are cigarettes all mint flavoured?”

She shook her head, “No, this is for woman who put on an act.”

I sincerely felt ashamed, I couldn’t even put on an act properly.

I leaned on the staircase railings with Hu Ran Ran, I tried to conquer the cigarette again, but I only
looked at it burning slowly, why did she ask me here?

She finished her cigarette, and threw the cigarette butt down the stairs and said, “Zhang Qian
Rong is seducing your man in the hospital every day.”

I shook off a long stretch of ashes, “Secretary Zhang’s daughter?”

“Granddaughter,” she corrected me, “Have you forgotten that the old man is so old that he can just
die already?”

This kind of question feels like a trap to me, I was afraid that if I agreed, there will suddenly be
people dressed in black attacking me from all directions and capture me, so I didn’t make a sound.

Hu Ran Ran said, “I just wanted to warn you, don’t let her get her way.”

I thought, sister, your care about my marriage is more than my parents’.

I said, “Won’t, I am quite reassured about him.”

Hu Ran Ran suddenly became very agitated. She single-handedly banged her hand on the wooden
staircase till it rattled. She said, “You are reassured? You actually trust men?”

I thought, to trust men isn’t a big sin, why are you so agitated…
She continued banging the staircase, “You are too naïve, no one gets into a relationship like you
do!”

I thought, she sounded as though she experienced my relationship…

As my relationship belongs to the failed-but-subsequently-reconciled category, so I very modestly

sought her guidance on how a relationship should be like. She was caught off guard, shook her
head and confessed, “I have never gotten into a relationship, my strength is on being a mistress.”

……

We were speechless for a while, and she lighted up another cigarette and said, “Whatever the case
is, you better ask your man to distance himself from that family, the further the better, I won’t
harm you.”

I do believe that she won’t harm me. After all, there is no benefit in harming me. I am also not
challenging. As the saying goes, don’t use a knife meant for beef to kill a chicken*. (T/N: aka
don’t use a sledgehammer on a nut.)

I thought about it, and said, “Okay, I will let him know, thank you, I will go home first.”

She waved her hand and said bye.

And so, I left. After about 2 to 3 mins, I realized I couldn’t find my way out. I have a shortcoming,
and that is I can only memorize route by the symbol/mark. For example, the colour of the road
signage, the colour of the dustbin, or whether on the wall was it written “Peeing and Defecating
Prohibited”. When I followed her, I forgot to take note of it, and so now I have no idea how to get
out.

I could only return back to the staircase, she was still leaning there, using her sobs to smoke
lonelily. (T/N: Is lonelily even a word? LOL.)

I originally didn’t want to disturb her desolated back view that can cause tears, but I really have no
choice, so I coughed two times to get her attention. I said, “Uh… I couldn’t find my way out…”

The beauty of her sobs was interrupted by me, she threw away the cigarette on hand and said,
“Follow me.”

I extended my leg and stepped on the cigarette to extinguish it, and followed her back to the
original corridor.

From where we are, we saw a crying Zhang Qian Rong sitting on the long bench of the corridor.
In order to correspond with the scientific law of romance, the person sitting beside her is Jiang
Chen.
Hu Ran Ran turned to look at me, “See, she’s gotten herself on him.”

I got worried hearing it, I couldn’t see well as I have mild nearsightedness. I hurriedly asked her,
“On where? On where?*”

Hu Ran Ran asked distracted, “What ‘on where’?”

I said, “Didn’t you say they’re touching? Where did Jiang Chen put his hand on her? I can’t see
properly, I’m nearsighted.”

Hu Ran Ran rolled a snow-white eye. “I said she has hooked up on him.”

I heaved a sigh of relieve, “You should have said it earlier, you gave me a scare…”

She frowned and mumbled to herself, “Why do I feel that to hook up is more serious..”

We probably attracted attention because we were standing in the middle of the corridor, we were
spotted after a short while. Jiang Chen looked at me suspiciously and waved at me to go to him.

The moment I took a step, Hu Ran Ran pulled me back and said loudly, “Let him come here, why
should you go there!”

I looked at Jiang Chen for help, he frowned, but still stood up to walk towards us.

“Why are you still in the hospital?” He pulled me away from Hu Ran Ran’s grasp.

“Uh, I was about to go.”

Hu Ran Ran gave a cold laugh, “Why are you in such a hurry to chase your girlfriend away?”

I lifted my head to look at Jiang Chen and gave him a awkward bitter smile, indicating that I also
have no idea what wrong medication did this madam take.

Jiang Chen was about to say something, but Zhang Qian Rong also came over suddenly. She
stretched out her hand to hold onto mine, looked down, and droplets of tears dripped down onto
the back of my palm. She said, “Please do not misunderstand Doctor Jiang, I was only… only too
depressed, he’s just consoling me.”

I forced a smile and retrieve back my hands, I said, “No no no, I understand, I didn’t
misunderstand.”

At the same time, I was secretly moving my hands to the back of Jiang Chen, and wiped off the
tears on the back of my palm on his coat.
Jiang Chen casted me a look.

“Hng, console, I think it seems more like comforting*.” Hu Ran Ran gave a cold laugh again.
(T/N: This comfort is the comfort from ‘comfort women’.)

I was shocked by her talent. This (console) and (comfort) is obviously much more outrageous than
the (flow downwards) and (vulgar) that I wrote years ago in my workbook. (T/N: please refer to
chapter 13! Console and Comfort are written as 安慰 and 慰安, so they are written the other way.
However, both console and comfort can still mean 安慰.)

“You… Nonsense!” Zhang Qian Rong stomped her feet, then proceeded to cover her mouth and
started acting out a ‘wronged till she was choked with emotions’ episode. She looks really pitiful
like this.

I spoke in an almost silent volume and asked Jiang Chen, “What to you? Why not you console her
a bit? If not comfort her a little?”

Jiang Chen didn’t bother about me, he said to Hu Ran Ran, “Miss Hu, Mr. Zhang was looking for
you just now when he woke up.”

After that he patted my head and said, “It’s so late, it will be better if I send you home.”

He then pulled me along.

He pulled me till I was taking one step and staggering the other, I kept looking back, but I only
saw them standing in the middle of the corridor staring down at each other. Just as Jiang Chen
took a turn, a slap came from behind us.

I got a shock. I wanted to look back but Jiang Chen dragged me away by my head.

I was very curious, wondering who was the one who slapped the other? In the ordinary course of
events, Hu Ran Ran is very valiant, it is possible that she will hit someone. However, her status is
a mistress, so it is possible for her to be beaten as well. This is such a hard to solve mystery, its too
difficult to understand. For my IQ, this is a tough question. However, if I were to visit the hospital
tomorrow, and just ask any nurse, there will be immediate detailed and polished answers to my
question. Perhaps, there might even be an HQ video recording. This shows that to be people-
oriented, to rely on technology, any problem will be solved in a jiffy.

Jiang Chen dragged me to the entrance of the hospital, I said, “Don’t you have to stay in the
hospital to standby?”

He took off his coat and passed it to me, “Bring this back to wash too, it’s full of her perfume
smell, it’s too smelly.”
I squeezed the coat into the plastic bag, “Are you going to send me back?”

He contemplated for a moment and said, “Can you go back on your own?”

I nodded, “Yes.”

He said, “Alright, you take care on the way back, call me once you have reached home.”

I nodded once again, “Ok.”

He turned his back and walk away completely contented.

I scratched my head and sighed, at least watch me flag down a taxi before going right…

I stood at the road side for a long time, I was ignored for the 3 times I tried to flag down a taxi. I
decided that one day I will take revenge on Jiang Chen’s unromantic-ness and insensitivity. For
example, when he is fixing his gaze on me with deep feelings, I will tell him that he has gum in
his eyes; if he holds my hand, I will say he has sweaty palms; if he kisses me, I will tell him that
he has a smelly breath. If I am ruthless enough, I will definitely say he has vegetable stuck
between his teeth.

A car slowly came and stopped in front of me, this car is a little familiar. A head popped out from
within, this head is very familiar, he said, “Get on, I will send you back home.”

I said, “Then.. what about standing by?”

He said, “There are other doctors.”

I said, “Is there really no problem?”

He said, “If there is a problem I wouldn’t bother about you, talk lesser, are you coming in or not, if
not I will go back.”

I hugged the plastic bag and entered the car, smiling the entire way back, I couldn’t stop myself
from humming a few songs. I only stopped when Jiang Chen turned up the car’s audio to the max
volume.

In the end Jiang Chen couldn’t take it anymore, he said, “Why are you smiling so disgustingly
for?”

Dazzled, I said, “No, I am just happy that you came back to fetch me.”

I am so thankful that you can come back, and we can return together.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 24
February 5, 2018

We drove the car till we reached downstairs of my house. The car headlights shone, there was a
person standing below the electric pole by the roadside, he was reclining against the electric pole
with the pose of a male lead from an idol drama, there even was a cigarette stick sandwiched
between his fingers. The red beam of light glittered and gleamed.

A minor smoking, this was certainly bad, I had previously seen the warnings on some cigarette
boxes in Hongkong – smoking can cause impotence! Young person don’t be impulsive, being
impulsive will have its penalty.

Jiang Chen asked me, “Why would he be here?”

I shook my head and said, “Don’t know.”

He spoke again, “You really don’t know?”

I said, “I really don’t know, but if you carry out cruel punishment and question me under torture, I
will then confess that I actually invited him over to have an affair.”

Jiang Chen glanced over horizontally at me, and said, “Get off the car for me and handle it well,
I’ll watch you in the car.”

I said, “Why not you drive the car directly over, and crush him flat against the electric pole, I once
watched a movie called ‘The electric pole has a ghost’* when I was young, it was very
interesting.” (T/N: A 1995 Hongkong comedy – it’s English name is ‘Love in the Time of
Twilight’)

He said, “You get off the car, I’ll hit you too, it’ll be called ‘The electric pole has a pair of
ghosts’.”

Embarrassed, I got off the car. I’d only taken two steps when Su Rui dashed in front of me. He
pointed at the car and interrogated, “Why are you together with him?”

I dragged out my words, saying, “Let me think – oh – if I remember correctly, he is my

boyfriend.”

Su Rui stared blankly for a moment, I saw a flash of sorrow in his eyes. My heart softened a little,
I shouldn’t have made a judgement that his feelings were just a joke because he was young. When
I liked Jiang Chen back in the day, I was even younger than he was.

I aimed a quick look at the cigarette in his hand, my tone of voice softened considerably,
“Smoking is bad for your body.”

He threw the cigarette down and used his foot to step on it and put it out. “I’ll quit smoking, can
you……”

“I can’t,” I rushed to speak, “Don’t be like this, I don’t like you.”

He rubbed his nose, “But I really do like you very much.”

I nodded my head, “Mm, I know.”

He said, “I will never like someone else like how I like you again.”

No, you will.

I attempted to relieve the atmosphere, “Hey, don’t be like this, wait till you take a fancy to a 15-
year-old beautiful lady, you will then doubt your current taste.”

Silent, he slowly squatted down, lowered his head and hugged his knees. I stared blankly for a
moment, turned my head back to look at Jiang Chen’s car, then turned back again and lowered my
head to look at him, at a loss of what to do. “What happened to you?”

I didn’t get a reply for a long time, I could only squat down too, and pat his shoulder, “What
happened? Where are you not feeling well?”

His muffled voice travelled over, “I’m fine, don’t care about me.”

I said, “Are you not feeling well somewhere, why not let Jiang Chen help you take a look?”

He suddenly raised his head and bellowed, “Go away, don’t bother me!”

I jumped in fright, not because of his bellowing, but rather because of his tears.

My nose tingled a little. He was only 17 years old, perhaps I was the first setback he had
experienced in his life apart from examinations, just like me back then, (I) liked Jiang Chen, Jiang
Chen didn’t like me. The person you like not liking you, how deserving of sorrow this matter was.

“You can go, your boyfriend is waiting for you in the car.” He seemed to have calmed down
considerably.

I made a gesture of “you go back first” towards Jiang Chen’s car. He sent a text to my mobile
phone, he said, “Then I’ll go back to the hospital first, after you are done handling (the matter)
give me a phone call.”

Just like that, I accompanied Su Rui in squatting by the roadside. I didn’t speak, mainly because I
didn’t know what to say, plus he also was busy crying. The street light stretched us into two long
shadows.

Just as I was thinking that we would have to continue squatting down for a boundless infinite time
period, a primary school student carrying a backpack, wearing her school uniform with goat-horn
braids walked past. She fished out a handful of money from the pocket of the skirt of her school
uniform, the money was brightly-coloured and was of quite a large amount. She picked out a one-
dollar note from inside and passed it to me, she said, “Auntie, buy an ice-cream for Gege* with
this one dollar, coax Gege to not cry.” (T/N: Gege = older brother)
I watched the primary school student trample on my shadow with an innocent and guiltless face. I
bared my fangs, “This! Little! Friend! For what reason is he an older brother and I am an auntie!”

The primary school student gripped on to the one dollar note and walked away crying.

Only then did Su Rui open his mouth to speak, he said, “Leave the money behind before you
leave……”

I laughed and shoved at him, “Hey—”

He wiped his face, sighed and said, “F***, truly humiliating.”

I comforted him, “I’m the one who’s humiliated, that child called me auntie.”

He also comforted me, “She’s jealous of your maturity and allure.”

After he finished speaking, he stood up, and easily pulled me up as well.

He said, “I’m all right now, you can go back home.”

I said, “Are you really all right?”

He said, “Probably, it depends on whether I’ll still use you as inspiration for designing clothes in
the future.”

“Ah! Speaking of clothes……” I suddenly recalled, and clapped my head, “I left behind that bag
of clothes in Jiang Chen’s car.”

He pretended to be dissatisfied, “What clothes? You bought clothes without coming to my shop?
Not letting your friends earn money when you have money, this is too much.”

I glared at him, “That’s Jiang Chen’s clothes, I’m bringing them back to wash.”

Su Rui curled his lip, “He let you help him wash his clothes? So inconsiderate?”

I said, “Su Rui, child, sowing discord is useless.”

“I’m not sowing discord, if it were me, I definitely wouldn’t let you do these things.” He was
unhesitating, “My older sister said, women are to be loved dearly.”

I nodded my head and said perfunctorily, “Your older sister has taught you well.”

He spoke again, “Yes, my older sister also taught me, if you refused to yield, to force myself on
you.”

On my guard, I took two steps back. “This is a joke, right?”

He patted my shoulder and praised, “It seems that you have done quite some research into Su-type
humour.”

……

Modestly, I kept my face blank, “I’ve looked into it cursorily, I’ve looked into it cursorily.”

Su Rui made me leave first, he said he would leave once he saw me go upstairs. I refused
unyieldingly, I said, “It’s better that I watch you leave, so as to avoid you taking advantage of me
turning around and going upstairs to fish out a gun to shoot me dead.”

Unexpectedly, he also wasn’t angry, he said, “Don’t worry, even if one were to die it would be me
dying, not you.”

I thought about it for a moment, and still insisted on him leaving first, I said, “I have to watch you
walk far away, if you want to die you have to die far away, if you die here you will affect the
property prices in our vicinity.”

He was disdainful, “Isn’t it better if the property prices here fall, only then can you afford to buy.”

“Wrong wrong wrong.” I shook my index finger, clicked my tongue and said, “Even if they fall I
also can’t afford it, my one year salary is roughly enough to buy one toilet brick, so I hope that the
property prices in the vicinity don’t fall by all means, if I can’t afford it everyone also shouldn’t be
able to afford it together, just like 2012, if one were to die everyone should die together, it’s fair.”

He rolled his eyes and rushed off in anger.

I watched his shadow lengthen and shorten and shorten and lengthen under the street lamps. I
merely hoped that when he remembered this again, what he remembered would be he himself
leaving with his head high and chest sticking out, and not him sorrowfully following with his eyes
the view of my back that didn’t turn around at all.

Of course, it was also possible that I was oversensitive, perhaps what he would recall when he
thought back would only be my short carrot legs climbing the stairs with difficulty……

I returned home and switched on the lights. The moment the lights went on my mobile phone
rang, I was startled, and subconsciously looked to the left and the right before fishing my mobile
phone out, it was Jiang Chen.

I answered the call, “Hello, are you downstairs?”

“No, why?”

I said, “The moment the lights in my house lit up your phone call came through, the timing is too
accurate, it’s like the plot of a horror movie.”

He laughed in a low voice on the other end, “You watch too many trashy movies.”

I retorted, “In the past, who was it who kept on tricking me to go to his dorm to accompany him to
watch horror movies?”

He said, “Then who was it again who kept on making noise, saying that she wanted to watch but
didn’t dare to watch alone?”

I brought up old scores, “But there was one time you made me watch your educational video! That
was even more frightening than a horror movie!”

Jiang Chen said, “I don’t think that was frightening in any way.”

I started shouting, “How was it not frightening, that knife was cutting a U-shape on the scalp like
it was slicing tofu, then it tore open, then a hole was drilled into the skull, then that round piece of
skull bone was taken away, and a tweezer was used to stir here and there inside that bank of
bloody things.”

He said, “Not bad, you remember the surgical procedure really clearly.”

“How can it not be clear?” I wailed mournfully, “When they were tearing the scalp open I turned
my head and saw you smiling strangely by the side while your hands were imitating that
movement and slowly tearing at my sketchbook! I was so scared that my eyes didn’t dare leave the
screen after that, I was afraid of again seeing you do some perverted actions once more.”

I felt that the most frightening horror story was someone by your side turning into a ghost…… or
a monster…… or a pervert…… or an enemy.

Because harm suffered when you didn’t set up defences hurt the most.

Jiang Chen went silent for quite some time before he said, “If I remember correctly, at that time I
was looking at the drawings in your sketchbook, if I remember correctly, there were many
character portraits that I felt all seemed very familiar, furthermore their actions were rather
terrible, for example me kneeling on the ground crying etcetera.”

……

It was now my turn to go silent. I had a stack of sketchbooks, their outer covers were all about the
same, but a few of them in that stack were specifically for me to draw to vent and gratify myself
when I argued with Jiang Chen. I had drawn many cartoons pledging female sovereignty inside:
for example, Jiang Chen kneeling on the ground, streams of tears as thick as noodles flowing
down as he begged me for forgiveness, saying that everything was his fault, saying that he was
worse than a beast; also for example, Jiang Chen crawling on the floor as I high-and-mightily
threw a whip towards him to thrash him; also for example, him kneeling as he scrubbed the floor
while I lay on the sofa pressing the remote control, I said, “Pour a glass of water for me“, his
actions were a little slow, I kicked him in the butt, he fell to the ground and rolled around, then
stood up and bowed, saying thank you……

Hence I changed the topic of conversation and said, “You must have called to ask me about how
the matter of Su Rui was handled right?”

Thankfully he was willing to cooperate, he said, “Then how are things?”

I said, “Currently both parties’ emotions are stable, the female has no intention of cheating, the
male has no intention of coming out of the closet, or lying across the railway tracks*.” (T/N:
meaning to commit suicide)

He said, “If you can’t handle it, hand it over to me, don’t forget that in your mind I am a perverted
doctor.”

I chuckled and gave two forced laughs, and said, “How can that be, how can that be.”

He then said, “Oh right, that bag of clothes for you to wash was left behind in my car, I will leave
it for you to wash. Oh right, tonight you can draw me kneeling on the washboard in the balcony.”

……

When it came to the matter of him mercilessly mocking me, deriding me, and attacking me, he
really enjoyed it and never tired of it, taking advantage of every single opportunity to do so.

Translator’s Corner:

Been seeing lots of comments saying that Jiang Chen is colder ahahaha ouch my heart breaks </3
As someone who likes novel Jiangchen as much as drama Jiangchen (in some ways I like novel
Jiangchen more too) just want to encourage you guys to hold out and wait~~ After all, we only see
novel Jiangchen from Xiaoxi’s pov and we don’t have the benefit of 3rd party omniscience like we
do in the drama
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 25
February 8, 2018

Fu Pei was in his office, venting out his spleen*, the reason being he purchased a new
photocopying machine a while back but it has never been used. Situ Mo was holding a cup of tea,
humming a tune in her seat, watching with glee as Fu Pei blows his top off, this kind of scenario
has always been especially delightful to her. (T/N: In China, the spleen is counted as the seat of
one’s temperament, hence ‘venting one’s spleen’ has become an expression to ‘getting angry’.)

The business has been slow these days, we were idling as our everyday work only revolved
around killing time, but to show consideration for our Boss Fu Pei’s self-esteem, we would often
assume an air of being very busy, this truly makes a person physically and emotionally exhausted.

There was a banging sound as Fu Pei was done wrestling that thing, afterwards, he told us he’ll be
heading out to talk business, as he was walking out, Situ Mo slid her chair next to me wearing a
filthy smile, “Who was that handsome little fella yesterday?”

“Who?”

Situ Mo said, “When I knocked off work yesterday, I was stopped downstairs by that handsome
little fella. At first I thought he took a fancy on my beauty and wanted to coerce me into doing
it…..okay, get rid of that look in your face, my husband always think I’m as pretty as a flower.
Yesterday, that handsome fella asked me for your address, did he go look for your afterwards?”

I put away my expression of restraining myself from throwing up, and said indignantly, “You
don’t know him yet you gave him my address, what if he was perverted?”

“Stop fussing over nothing, from his mouth, he called me ‘little beauty’, not only did I gave your
address to him, he asked for my help to drug you and I agreed.”

I said, “The thing you’re mainly happy about was the word ‘little’ before ‘beauty’.”　　

Situ Mo laughed mischievously, “You’re really clever, so who is he?”

“The younger brother of Jiang Chen’s colleague.”

I gave her a brief run-through regarding our situation, but as Situ Mo has always felt like her
charming points have reduced a lot from being a married woman, hence I, in order to not get on
the ‘jealous, envious, and hateful*’ nerves of a married woman, have to especially belittle myself.
I said, “I feel strange, I am such an average person, I don’t understand what our motherland’s
flower boys have really seen in me. (T/N: In 2009 Zhang Weiping posted a blog post concerning
criticism of Zhang Yimou’s recent film “A Simple Noodle Story”. He wrote on his blog, “You
guys are just jealous, envious, and hateful.” It has became an internet meme afterwards.)

She comforted me saying, “You don’t have to unduly humble yourself, the younger a person is,
the harder it is to pin down their thoughts, even my son thinks that the prettiest female in the world
is Mei Yang Yang.” (T/N: The Chinese character for beautiful/pretty is ‘mei’, Mei Yang Yang or
Tibbie is a cartoon character, a whole goat lol.)

Why do I feel like her words are indirectly implying something else………

She added, “Actually, I think he’s not bad, ‘an old cow eating tender grass*’, good for the teeth.”
(TN: This proverb fiddles with the phenomenon of one partner being significantly older than the
other — in English, a craddle robber.)

I glared at her, “Go to hell.”

She said, “It’s better than you looking at your phone 10-20 times a day, always waiting for your
man’s phone call that never comes.”

I fished my phone out again and made sure it was working, “I’m willing.”

She looked askance at me, then suddenly uttered in all seriousness, “I was thinking about
something. Right! When you get married, can my son become your page boy, that way I don’t
have to prepare a red packet?
Would you look at this woman, whenever she opens and closes her mouth, it’s always about
money, I feel lonely, we don’t have a common topic to talk about.

My righteous words indignantly rebuke her, “Even if your husband turns out to be my groom, you
would still not want to hand out that red packet.”

Fu Pei never came back till afternoon, hence an hour before getting off work, Situ Mo and I made
our stealth escape. For fear of Fu Pei checking up on us the last minute, we’ve let all office calls
go through our phones, even though we don’t look like we’re adept in escaping from work,
actually we really…….very often escape from work.

Before, every time I’d escape from work early, I used to sit around the subway station near my
home. After arriving in my station, I’d be sitting on the waiting chairs, listening to my MP3 as I
watch the peak hours of the subway, get packed with ever-changing office workers knocking off
work, just like a conveyor belt in a factory, transporting somewhat a can of human beings to
various places.

It brings me pleasure to watch while I sit at one corner. I was thinking that I really got a deal by
escaping the office crowd.

But now that I’m somebody with a boyfriend, I have to abandon this lowlife hobby, when I get off
work early, I have to go to the hospital to rub my ear against his shoulders*. (T/N: An idiom
meaning ‘act intimate’ describing exactly how close one is to the other in proximity. )

Since I’ve been wasting 3 years in this matter with my virgin boyfriend, so my heart generally
feels a little guilty, this tiny guilt is probably a part of being in a business I’m unfamiliar with.

When I was finally at the hospital’s lobby, I gave Jiang Chen a call, when the call went through
but of us spoke simultaneously, “Where are you?”

I said, “I’m in the hospital lobby.”

He said, “I’m on my way to your office.”

I said, “Ah! Then what should we do?”

He said, “If you turn right after you get out of the hospital, you can find a drink shop, you can
drink something there while waiting for me.”

I thought about it for a moment and told him, “I’ll just wait for you in the lobby.”

Mainly because Fu Pei already delayed two months worth of my salary, and also, the consumption
around the hospital were certainly more expensive than in other places, the last time I bought tea
eggs around here, they were 50 cents pricier than anywhere else……look at my state of
poverty……

“Then you stay in the lobby, and don’t run around. I’ll be there soon.” Jiang Chen said. “Okay,
drive carefully.”

Half an hour later, when Jiang Chen found me near the hospital entrance, I sat trembling under the
shade of a tree by the roadside.

To be born, to grow old, to get sick, and to die. This world is very unpredictable, the occurrence of
incidence in the hospital is also unpredictable, I was in the hospital lobby for thirty minutes, and
already encountered an unpredictable moment in time.

Half an hour back, I hung up my call with Jiang Chen, with a nauseating smile on my face
distinctive to that of people who were in love, I looked for a place to sit down.

About ten minutes later, there was suddenly a woman’s scream from upstairs, accompanied by
banging, messy, and hurrying footsteps, then before I could react, a woman with disheveled hair
came tumbling down from the second floor, and landed heavily in front of me, just about five
paces away.

I looked at her frightened eyes, filled with tears.

I looked at her twitch like a dying fish on the ground, and then became still.

I looked at the foam, slowly coming out from the corner of her mouth.

I looked at a group of doctors and nurses who were rushing downstairs, yelling, “Quick! Give her
a sedative.”

I looked at the thick needle, going into her arm.

I wanted to say, “Are you guys f*cking crazy?! She’s already not moving yet you still want to
shoot her with some sedative! Why do you f*cking love to give injections so much?! You’re
f*cking doctors not wasps!”

However, forgive me for not being able to say a single word.

“Chen Xiaoxi? Chen Xiaoxi?” Jiang Chen crouched right in front of me. He was waving his hand
before my eyes, he looked deeply worried, “What’s wrong with you? What happened?”

I looked at him in horror, opening my mouth to speak, yet nothing would come out.

Jiang Chen reached out his hand to grab mine, then looked me in the eye, his voice was unusually
calm, “Xiaoxi, look into my eyes, don’t be scared. I’m now going to ask you questions, just nod or
shake your head. Got it?”

I nodded.

He said, “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head.

He squeezed my hand, “You saw something which really scared you?”

I nodded.

He paused for a moment, and asked softly, “A car accident?”

I shook my head.

Then he said, “That person…….”

He delayed asking me. He simply hugged me, and gently patted my back saying, “This is a
hospital, no matter what you see, don’t be scared, they just get sick, or get injuries, or…..”

Or their time is up.

In the scorching summer of July, Jiang Chen hugged me so tightly, when added together, it
actually made me feel very hot.

He hugged me for a while, and probably also felt hot, he pulled me up from the ground, and led
me to sit inside his car, he said, “I’m going outside to make a phone call, I’ll be back soon.”

I gave him a brief nod, I’ve actually calmed down a lot, it’s just that I looked scared out of my
wits in front of him a while ago, if I suddenly return to normal, it’s going to be a bit embarrassing,
so I had to continue putting on a delicate front of being terrified.

When Jiang Chen came back, his complexion looked a lot more relaxed, he said, “I know what
happened, that patient is fine, just suffered a fracture and concussion, not life-threatening.”

I let out a sigh, I think that a doctor’s life is really tranquil, so long as no one dies, it’s no big deal.

I nodded my head in understanding.

Jiang Chen didn’t start the car, he sat sideways and looked at me, “Still scared?”

I shook my head, I’m a bit hooked in this kind of silent communication.

He reached out to ruffle my hair, “She was in a break-up, she attempted suicide in front of her ex-
boyfriend by swallowing laundry detergent, the ex-boyfriend sent her to the hospital to have her
stomach pumped, she refused to be saved, her struggling caused her to tumble down from
upstairs.”

Jian Chen knows me too well, he knows that I love gossip, so he used gossip to pique my
curiosity, to distract me, and to somewhat lessen my fear.

I blinked my eyes, and said, “Then, what was her ex-boyfriend’s reaction?”

Jiang Chen pinched my cheeks, “How should I know? You can talk now ah.”

“I really was scared before.” Then, somewhat carrying a tone of a spoiled child, I said, “Who
asked you to leave me alone in the hospital.”

He didn’t argue that, ‘I told you to go out but you insisted to stay inside the hospital.’ He just said,
“No more next time, also, I will take you along to visit that patient in two days.”

I said, “I don’t want to be near the hospital anytime soon.”

Jiang Chen said, “It’s not a good habit to run away from your fear.”

I wanted to demonstrate my infamous ‘brat stomp’’, but because of the inconvenience of sitting
down, I could only pout and say, “But I really dare not.”

Jiang Chen said, “In the future, don’t also come as you wish.”

My face sank, my heart felt aggrieved and indignant, he has always been like this. Back when we
were on our third year in high school, he tutored me in Math, I got 9 and a half answers wrong in a
10-item test, the other correct half was for a quadratic equation in one variable which has
considerably the easiest solution. There was a time when I was writing and got angry, I threw my
pen away and said, “I won’t write.” My Math teacher said, “It’s not good to make multiple choice
and fill in the blanks questions in Math.”

Jiang Chen said, “Do as you wish, but later on, don’t say anything about testing for the same
university with me, our grades are different.”

He spoke words that were so hurtful when my heart was so immature, of course I had to bury my
head on my desk and cry. When I thought I have cried enough, I lifted my head, Jiang Chen was
still next to me, so absorbed in correcting my test paper.

I moved closer and craned my head to get a look — the little writings were densely packed and
multi-colored, black for the correct solution, blue for the rationale behind the solution, red for the
formula, words in yellow highlight was added to understand the method of 1st solution, 2nd
solution, 3rd solution……….

I wiped away my tears and said, “What do you see my test paper for by scrawling unto it to this
state. There are too many solutions, I can’t remember.”

Later on, a lot of students have been borrowing every single one of my Math test papers to get it
photocopied, I found it precious. I was then considering charging the people who kept on
borrowing from me, and at the same time, was also considering how to best repay Jiang Chen. In
the end, I drew a woman with a goddess-like beauty on his Math textbook. On the first page, the
beauty was wearing a cotton-padded jacket, in every flip of the page, she would take off one
clothing item, from hair accessories, jewelries, clothes, shoes, socks, finally, taking into account
the standard problem, I covered her chest and gave her hot pants. And in order to prove that I’m
doing something meaningful, I would occasionally combine it with teaching content, for instance,
next to the Pythagorean Theorem, I would draw the beauty exposing her butt crack…….I think
this thing reflects that I’m a person who returns a favor when helped, in this world where people
would usually bite the hand that fed them, this wasn’t likely.

Jiang Chen started the car, I was sulking on the side, I wanted to quarrel with him, I wanted to
curse him ‘son of a b*tch’, but I dare not……….

I’m a coward.

Translator’s Corner:

Even though Jiang Chen’s words are sharp, but he just wanted Xiaoxi to become better, right?
Right? Anyways we have good news and bad news for you. GOOD NEWS = We’re halfway
through the novel *shakes booty* but BAD NEWS = We’re skipping a week’s worth of updates
starting Monday next week because of Chinese New Year *stops shaking my booty*. So yeah!
That is all folks
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 26
February 10, 2018

I am very scared of Jiang Chen getting angry. In fact, I’m afraid of anyone who is angry at me, but
Jiang Chen isn’t just anyone. I’m scared of him more than anyone, or should I say, no one makes
me as flustered as he does when he gets mad. That is because I often have no idea when he’s
angry, and if I have no idea whether he is angry, how do I know whether I should be scared or not?
So, I get scared of not knowing whether I should be afraid or not…. Seeing that I am already
spouting nonsense like this, I guess you somehow will understand.

Therefore, I secretly observed Jiang Chen the entire ride. The more I see, the more I feel that he is
angry. As for the reason, I have no idea. Honestly, I didn’t see any spider’s thread and horse
track*, but if I say that he is angry, then he is angry, if not, you can bite me. (T/N: lit. translation, it
means like traces/hints/clues.)

I reached out to tug his shirt’s cuff, my finger even stroked his arm twice, “I am hungry.”

He glanced at me sideways, “Mmm.”

“Mmm what?” I flirtatiously stroked his arm with my finger once more, “Bring me to eat
something nice…”

He shook his arm to cast my hand off, “Driving, stop it.”

I pouted and obediently sat back on my seat.

After 10 seconds, I said, “Would it be good if I get myself a driving’s license?”

“Not good.”

“Why?”

“You can’t afford a car.”

…..

“I think I can afford a Chery QQ.”

“You will definitely hit someone if you drive, it will add burden to the medical transportation
services.”

Excuse me…. Isn’t this curse a bit too evil?

I could only change topic, “Then do you think it’s good if I perm my hair?”

He took a glance at the rear-view mirror, “Not good.”

“Why?”

He leaned to look at me, “Ugly.”

Endure.

I gave an obsequious smile, “Would it be good if I cut my hair short then?”

“Not good.”

I protested, “Didn’t you say you like me in short hair in the past! You even said I looked very
refreshing and natural!”

He turned his head and looked as though he was seriously sizing me up, then he said, “Did I? I
probably said it without thinking it through.”

…..

That’s it, I completely gave up on engaging in a friendly conversation with him.

Hence, I roared at him in an exceptionally imposing manner, “JIANG! CHEN!”

“Hmm?” He remained calm and collected, and didn’t even look here.

I clenched my teeth, with ample guts I told him, “I will still find you at the hospital to eat together
tomorrow!”

He was a little bit startled, “You don’t have to.”

I was startled too, I didn’t think that even after backing down to this level, he can still put on airs.

Jiang Chen suddenly smiled, “I am on leave tomorrow.”

I made an “oh” sound and said, “Then I will go the day after tomorrow.”

He repeated another time, “I am on leave tomorrow.”

I looked at him strangely, something tells me that he seems to be waiting for me to say something,
however, my IQ is not enough, so I could only honestly ask him, “So what if you are on leave?”

He didn’t answer me question, he only emphasized that, “I am rarely on leave.”

I have no other choice, so I could only show that I am as elated as he is, and said while beaming,
“It’s good that you are on leave, that’s very rare, congratulations!”

He got annoyed, and glared at me for a few times, till I was so guilty. I was thinking, does he want
me to celebrate for him by fasting* three days, to bathe and change clothes*? (T/N: This actually
implies more on when ancient Chinese are preparing to offer sacrifice and pray to ancestor/God,
they are required to fast (as in abstain from wine/meat) and make sure that they are clean before
proceeding with the prayers.)

He continued cruising slowly, and he went back to what seems to be an angry composure. I feel
that I managed to make him happy with great difficulty, he just suddenly decided not to be happy
anymore. He is really capricious.

Therefore, I became silent too. I took out my phone to play a game, and vented my anger on the
keyboard. I repeatedly striked the snake till its ashes scattered and smoke dispersed*, I felt really
happy. Look, Jiang Chen bullies me, I bully the snake, is this how fair the world is. (T/N: Think
she’s playing slither.io, but I don’t think that game is available in China. So she might be playing
the classic snake game instead, but kills the snake instead of eating the apple. Also, that is lit.
translation for annihilating something so bad its ashes scattered and smoke dispersed.)

The car suddenly stopped moving, I thought we were waiting for the red light, so I didn’t pay
attention. I continued to attentively kill the snake. After a long time, when I have killed about ten
snakes, the car still didn’t move. I looked out, not sure when the car pulled over at the side of the
road. I turned back to look at Jiang Chen, to my surprise, he was staring at me.

I asked him, “What happened?”

He said, “Call your boss, take a leave tomorrow.”

I didn’t get it, “Ah? Why? My pay would have to be deducted.”

He said with strong conviction, “Just take it as I asked you to.”

I looked at him in a daze, he avoided my eye and looked a little awkward. I blinked my eyes and
came to a sudden realization….

I called Fu Pei, “Hello, Boss Fu ah?”

“Darling, I’m the real boss, not the deputy boss,” said Fu Pei. (T/N: a deputy boss is called 副老板
(fu lao ban). Xiaoxi asked for 傅老板 (fu lao ban) Which is Fu Pei’s surname name + designation.
That’s why he said he is the real boss and not the deputy boss.)

I rolled my eyes: “Not funny, I have to take a leave tomorrow.”

“Take a leave for what?”

I said, “My boyfriend is on leave tomorrow, he wants to me take a leave to accompany him.”

I looked over at Jiang Chen with my peripheral vision and saw that his expressions turned rigid.

After I took my leave, I bit my lips to stop myself from laughing, “I have taken my leave.”

He gave an uncomfortable cough and said, “Nng.”

“HAHAHAHAHA….” I couldn’t control in the end, “I…. haha….. you… haha…. why so cute….
hahaha… if you want me to accompany you… you can… haha… just say it straight… haha”

“Shut up!” Jiang Chen glared at me, and started the car.

Someone’s flying into a rage out of humiliation oh.

Jiang Chen drove the car to the basement carpark of a supermarket, I asked oddly, “What do you
want to buy?”

He said, “Food.”

I mumbled, “Can’t we eat first then buy, I’m about to die from hunger.”

He removed his seat belt and leaned over to release mine, “Buy to cook at home.”

“Ah?” I said, “I have no idea how to cook, I only know how to make noodles.”
He said, “Then we will make noodles.”

Jiang Chen lied to me, the food in the trolley was piling up, there’s even a chicken, a whole
complete chicken, with head, with leg, with butt.

I looked scaredly at the chicken as though I saw an extinct dinosaur, “Why did you buy this for?”

Jiang Chen said, “To stew soup.”

I said, “You know how?

“I don’t.” He said matter of factly.

I thought, if you weren’t my boyfriend, I would have whacked you.

For the entire shopping process, my only contribution was a packet of cream-flavoured melon
seeds, but this wasn’t enough to make me feel useless, as my skin is thick enough.

Jiang Chen carried the big and small bags, I offered to help him share the load, so he gave me a
bag of vegetables.

I said I can carry two more bags, he told me to save my strength to ponder on how to cook, I
wanted to cry but there were no tears.

I stood once again in front of Jiang Chen’s house, I leaned on the wall to wait for him to find his
keys, he glared at me and said, “Open the door!”

Only then did I remember that his keys were with me, I buried my head in my bag for a very long
time just to find a bunch of foreign keys and said, “Which key opens which lock?”

Finally, I entered Jiang Chen’s house, it is neither big nor small, two rooms, two halls, not much
decorations, and looks like a specimen lab. I stood at the door to look around, he walked past me
to enter and took the bag of vegetables that I was holding along with him as well.

I hurriedly followed behind him, “Did you rent or buy this place?”

He turned back to stare at me, eyes deep with mystery, “Why? Want to marry me?”

I replied honestly, “Not that, but I just feel that if it’s rented, then its too wasteful to have an empty
room.”

Only after I finished my reply did I realise something, I didn’t move, only made a crying face and
said, “Did you just propose to me? If that’s so, can I reply again?”
He said, “No, cannot.”

I pouted, he should have removed the pause between the two words. (T/N: His answer can also
actually be vaguely translated to: Not that, you cannot. So if the pause/breakage is removed
between his 1st and 2nd phrase, it would mean not that you cannot (reply me again).)

“Why are you still standing there, come here to help.”

“Oh.”

After 3 minutes, we looked at each other and looked at the kitchen counter that was full of
vegetables.

I said, “What should we make first?”

Jiang Chen frowned and said, “Soup, we might have to stew the soup for a long time.”

I said, “Then, let’s do it, how do we stew it?”

He said, “Chop it up and throw it into the pot to boil.”

I said, “Then you can do the chopping, you are a doctor, you are used to holding a knife.”

He said, “That’s a scalpel.”

I said, “Then do you have a scalpel in here?”

He thought about it, “I do, it’s at the drawer under the TV.”

I ran out to grab two scalpel and passed it to him “There, your knife that you are used to.”

He held onto the scalpel and cut across the chicken lightly, the skin tore and the flesh was
exposed.

I couldn’t help but made a “wah”

Jiang Chen turned back to look at me and said, “Now you know, put down the scalpel, lives might
be at risk.”

I swiftly put down the scalpel I was holding on onto the kitchen counter, “I’m going to wash the
vegetables.”

The water was splashing down and I took a peek at Jiang Chen’s progress, I couldn’t help but ask,
“What are you doing?”

He said, “I’m removing the skin and retrieving the meat.”

I said, “Do we need to remove the skin and retrieve the meat to stew a soup?”

He said, “Do we not? Then why did you give me a scalpel? A scalpel can’t chop bones.”

….

After 10 minutes, I asked, “How do we cook the cauliflower that I just washed?”

Jiang Chen said, “Chop it up, throw it in the pot.”

After another 10 minutes.

I asked again, “What about the ribs?”

Jiang Chen Said, “Chop it up, throw it in the pot.”

After another ten minutes.

I want to try for a last resort, “How about we go out to eat, we can buy two recipe books back
along the way, and we will research on how to cook next time.”

The hand that was chopping the ribs stopped, he held up the chopper and looked at me gloomily,
“If we can’t finish making the dishes today, then we shall never eat again.”

…..

Darling, must we put on such a strong front?

Because every dish is done by chopping it up and throwing it into the pot to cook, we finished it
pretty fast. It took less than an hour for every dish to be on the dining table. My favourite pastime
was to sneak up silently, to eat on sly when my mother puts the dishes on the table. My mother
would chase me behind my butt and whack me with a pan. However, Jiang Chen is here, so I’ve
completely given up on this interest. I rather be a boring person.

We sat at the dining table, I looked at him and he looked at me, none of us dared to touch our
chopsticks.

Jiang Chen picked up a cauliflower and brought it to my mouth, he said while smiling, “I think I
have never given you a flower before, come, this flower is for you.”
I couldn’t dodge it in time, and could only eat it. It tasted normal, just like boiled vegetable, as
long as it is not overcooked, it won’t be too bad.

Jiang Chen saw that I didn’t have any bad expression, so he took one to eat as well. After
swallowing he frowned and said, “Chen Xiaoxi, did you forget to add salt?”

I was expressionless, “You were the one in charge of salt.”

He shrugged, “Too much salt will cause high blood pressure.”

I bit my chopsticks and asked Jiang Chen, “Then where shall we go tomorrow?”

He took my bowl to ladle out some soup, “We are not going anywhere, we’ll just stay home to
watch films.”

I said, “What film?”

He suddenly looked at me and smiled sinisterly, “A film*.” (T/N: Porn.)

In terms of being vulgar and obscene, I usually refuse to do worse than others, I held onto my chin
and threw flirtatious glances at him, “Little dimple, you are so naughty and lecherous.”

He trembled, and spilled his soup

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 27
February 19, 2018

After I finished eating my food, I obediently went to wash the dishes. When I was washing the
dishes, Jiang Chen came into the kitchen to pour himself water once, at that point in time my mind
was in the process of fantasising about that most trite tableau – me washing the dishes, Jiang Chen
encircling and hugging my waist from behind my back.

So when Jiang Chen entered I was very nervous, in order for this hug to achieve the best state, I
specially took in a deep breath with great force to suck in my underbelly.

But Jiang Chen only paused for two seconds behind my back, and said a sentence, “You’ve put too
much dishwashing liquid.”

After that, he then walked out, I exhaled a large breath, and unwillingly let my underbelly off.

As I was walking towards the living room while flinging and shaking off the water on my hands,
Jiang Chen who was lying horizontally on the sofa shouted, “Help me check if the water has
boiled or not.”

I saw that there was an electric kettle plugged in on the dining table, the kettle was emitting hot
vapour. I really didn’t know which tooth of the gears turning around in my brain had gotten
wedged in the wrong position, I was ruminating on whether the water had boiled or not, then I
readily stuck my hand onto the kettle, only to hear a sizzling sound. I shrieked in shock, but what
flashed through my mind was first steak teppanyaki, after that pain then flashed through.

Jiang Chen rushed over and grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the kitchen. The way he was
dragging was a little boorish, as if he was dragging a dead dog, but I forgave him for he was
simply too anxious.

Water rushed onto my hands with a crashing sound, I felt that it was scorchingly painful, in order
to divert my attention, I said, “I’ve confirmed, your water probably has boiled.”

Jiang Chen’s face was very sour, he let go of my hand and walked out, “Continue flushing, I’ll be
right back.”

He came back holding an ice cube tray. He flexed (the tray) to produce a handful of ice cubes and
stuffed it into my palm, saying, “Hold them.”

After holding for a while, I felt that it was so icy that I was turning numb, only then did I relax my
hand, Jiang Chen again held a handful of ice and pressed them on my palm.

He helped me ice (my hand) for roughly ten minutes, only then did he ask me while furrowing his
brows, “Is it still painful or not?”

I was afraid that he would continue to ice me, so I promptly shook my head and said it wasn’t
painful.

He pulled my hand till it was before his eyes and carefully examined it for a while, only then did
he put it down and say, “Not bad, it’s rare*.” (T/N: rare as in how a steak is rare.)

Very rarely could I encounter Jiang Chen’s humour, so I seemed to be overwhelmed by this favour
shown. To express that I had thoroughly comprehended his humour, I said, “Reporting, I’ll strive
to achieve medium-well next time.”

His face clouded over, and he began to carry out a segment of criticism towards me that extended
for ten minutes, its contents being nothing else but: “Do you think your hand is a thermometer?”,
“Why don’t you simply stick your head in too to boil?” and other similar friendly comments and
suggestions.

I quietly appreciated the way he blew his top, sincerely feeling that his facial features were truly
pretty and good-looking, his temper was truly irritable, everything was truly very good.

He flipped out for a while, then discovered that I was very self-confident and believed that I was
in the right, so he ran to the living room to sit on the sofa, panting with rage. Have pity on me, a
scalded person, I dragged my unsteady footsteps and walked towards the living room, to evoke his
sympathy, I even staged a scene of weakness where I stumbled with every three steps I took.

Jiang Chen watched me coldly, and said, “Did you scald your hand or scald your foot?”

Embarrassed, I walked over, just as I sat down, I heard my phone ring in my bag. I fished it out
and took a look, it was my old mother.

I connected the phone call, and miserably said, “Hello, mum……”

“Xiaoxi ya, why does your voice sound like it’s dying?”

“My hand was scalded.”

“Aiya, how so? Are you okay now? Is it serious or not?” My mother started to make a huge fuss.
Indeed the song “In this world, only Mum is great”* wasn’t without basis. (T/N: A classic Chinese
children’s song)

I placated her, “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s already been handled properly.”

She said, “How did it get scalded?”

“Uh… I used my own hand to touch the boiling water kettle.”

There was silence for a good few seconds on the phone, after which a word faintly travelled over:
“Moron*.” (T/N: The informal phrase for “moron” in Chinese is 脑残 which directly translated
means disabled brain.)

I was stunned, having your own mother use such an insightful word to evaluate you, was really a
wonderful experience.

My mother suddenly softened her voice and said, “Oh right, mama has something to tell you.”

The bottom of my heart couldn’t help but quiver, every time my mother benevolently called
herself “mama”, there would always be some matter ominous to me that would occur……

“That, mama’s good friend has a son, he lives in the same city as you, he’s a good-looking man,
and has had success in his career……”

I sighed helplessly, “Mum, get to the main point.”

“The main point is, her son heard that you are also in the same city, and wants to get to know you,
and share about his desolation in a foreign land.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, “Do you guys nowadays all talk about blind dates in such an
indirect manner?”

Jiang Chen turned his head to glance at me, I returned him a bitter smile.

My mum became tough, “Then how is it now? Are you going or not going?”

I raised my head that would rather die than submit, “Not going!”

“Say that one more time?”

“Not going!”

I was just getting stirred up, when my palm suddenly went cold. Lowering my head, I saw Jiang
Chen in the process of applying medication on my palm.
My mother raised her volume and said, “Don’t think that you are still a Lolita because you are a
moron! You are his mother’s* leftover woman, leftover woman*.” (T/N: “his mother’s” is Chinese
profanity which normally would be translated to f***ing) (T/N: ‘Leftover woman’ is Chinese
slang for a woman who has been “left on the shelf”, i.e. of a certain age and yet still not
married/single.)

I said, “This madam, I’m not going to lie to you, my mother is you, also, can I bother you to go
and mop the floor or play mahjong if you have nothing to do, don’t go onto Tianya* anymore!”
(T/N: Tianya is one of the biggest public Internet forums in China)

“I don’t care, even if you don’t go, you still have to go!”

“I won’t go since I said I won’t go, if you have the guts, beat me to death and drag me there!”

“Don’t think that I wouldn’t dare to, I’ll break your leg, and let him go to the hospital to visit
you.”

“Do you think I’m scared of you? You come then.”

“I’ll go and buy train tickets right away, I’ll break your leg.”

“You come then, I’ll wait for you.” “You just wait, I’ll come at once.”

“You come then, I’ll wait for you.” “You just wait, I’ll come at once.”

……

This repeated for more than ten times, Jiang Chen suddenly snatched the phone over, went straight
for it and said, “Hello Auntie, I am Little Jiang.”

I was startled, and subconsciously wanted to jump up and snatch the phone. Jiang Chen single-
handedly grabbed both of my wrists and held them tight, after which he then continued to chat
with my mother as if nothing had happened, “Yes, the Little Jiang from across, Jiang Chen.”

“Mum……” I said anxiously, Jiang Chen lowered his head and glared at me fiercely, I withered at
once.

“Mm, that’s right, Xiaoxi and I are together now, okay, no no, it’s me who’s in the wrong, I didn’t
take note of it, I will definitely go and pay a visit to you both, yes, okay, I got it……”

Finally Jiang Chen said, “Auntie, then can Xiaoxi not go for the blind date?”

I heard two of my mum’s signature forced laughs coming through the phone, after which they then
mutually said their goodbyes.

Jiang Chen threw the phone to me, “Settled.”

I pinched my mobile phone, wanting to cry but not having any tears*, how was I going to face that
father of mine that hated the rich following this…… (T/N: A phrase that describes one having
complex emotion that they cannot describe/being anxious etc)

I held my mobile phone and lifted it in front of my chest, thinking of a countermeasure for a very
long time with the appearance of a young lady praying, for example, telling my dad that Jiang
Chen can’t not have me, I can’t not have Jiang Chen; our need for each other was just like fish and
water, water and fish, the people and the Chinese yuan*…… (T/N: The Chinese name for the yuan
is renminbi, which directly translated means the people’s currency)

Just as I was lost in deep thought, the clock struck ten times with a “ding dong” sound, I became
aware of the fact that there was an even more pressing matter that I had to resolve, which was –
should I propose to go home already?

I personally believed, the time at which you suggest to your boyfriend to go home is very
important, and will affect the extent of harmony in the relationship between you two. The timing
can’t be too early, because he would suspect that you feel like a day drags past like a year when
you spend time with him, and you want to escape early on; the timing also cannot be too late,
because he would think that you aren’t reserved enough, and are too clingy……

And based on my many years of putting it into practice and research, the most perfect time ought
to be – I too didn’t know, so at random, since the clock struck at ten o’clock, this was also
considered to be fate, let it be ten o’clock then.

Hence I told Jiang Chen, “It’s getting late too, I want to go home.”

He was just carrying two cups of water, “Let’s talk about this again after you finish drinking this?”

“What’s that?” I stretched out my head to look.

“Iced lemon tea.”

“Oh, oh.” I took it, and cracked a joke without thinking, “You wouldn’t have drugged it, would
you?”

He drank a mouthful, tilted his head, looked at me and smiled, “I can execute you on the spot any
time.”

I laughed hollowly, “Hehe, I was joking.”

He smiled and said, “I was joking too.”

That shameless joke of mine caused me to sink into an uncomfortable circumstance as if I was
sitting on pins and needles, yet Jiang Chen had an appearance of being calm and unruffled,
drinking the tea and smiling eerily at me. That dimple especially, it was sinister and cunning and
so deep and unmeasurable that it was like a wine cellar*. (T/N: this analogy was given because
dimple in Chinese is 酒窝 which literally means “wine pit”)

I raised my hands and surrendered, “I was wrong, I shouldn’t have cracked jokes randomly, I
shouldn’t have used a joke to probe into your ethics and moral conduct, I’m vulgar.”

He nodded his head to express his agreement, and still persisted unflaggingly in looking at me
while smiling.

In the past, I liked his smile so much, yet currently I was itching to tear out his smile, or…… tear
my own clothes, lie down and say, “Come on, the earlier I die the earlier I’ll be
reincarnated*……” (T/N: a commonly used phrase which means ‘get it over and done with’)

Of course I didn’t do that, that would make me appear to be not reserved, and being reserved was
one of my life rules, so I suggested again, “I’ve finished drinking my tea, send me home.”

Jiang Chen said indifferently, “If not, stay here tonight.”

I swallowed my saliva, not knowing how to reply for a moment. I could only hold my breath,
wanting to hold my breath till my face turned red to express that I was extremely shy.

Jiang Chen also appeared to be a little uncomfortable, he coughed and explained, “I’m saying this
so as to avoid fetching you back here tomorrow, in any case I have two rooms over here.”

I let out a radiating “ah” and said, “Two rooms ah……”

He said, “You’re very disappointed?”

His judgement of my tone of voice was very accurate, but I was afraid that he would become
proud because of this. Our education has told us since we were young, pride causes people to fall
behind. In order to not let him fall behind, I could only fervently deny it, I said, “How can that be,
you’re talking nonsense, I, that…… is because I didn’t bring clothes to wash up and change into.”

I saw that he didn’t really seem to believe me, so I rushed to explain again, “Really, I’ve already
slept together with you in the hospital, even if I had any devious intentions I would have carried it
out long ago, so I really don’t care about sleeping together with you.”

This great country has a great common saying, called “the more you describe, the darker it gets*”,
I currently was deeply afflicted by this. (T/N: this saying means that the more you try to explain
something, the more suspicious you appear)

In this moment, Jiang Chen appeared to be especially magnanimous, he said, “I understand.”

In this moment, it was already no longer good for me to investigate what exactly he had
understood, so I stubbornly pretended to be open and candid and said, “Then look for a set of
pajamas for me, I want to wash up and sleep.”

My thoughts were like this – being open and candid was the most effective strategy to conceal my
guilty conscience.

Jiang Chen was even more open and candid than I was, he sized me up, and said, “You are so
short, I can give you a t-shirt and it would be able to cover you up completely.”

……
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 28
February 22, 2018

As I don’t have a pair of long, slender legs, I couldn’t pull off that kind of subtle, natural sexiness
when wearing men’s clothes, so I just wore Jiang Chen’s basketball shorts, they were just short
shorts for him, yet were capri pants when I was the one wearing them. When I came out of the
bathroom, Jiang Chen looked at me and quickly smiled, saying, “Are you going to perform in an
opera? I used to think that you were just short, but now, I just noticed that you really are ‘that’
short.”　　

I lifted my ‘pants’ and was going to beat him. I just don’t understand how we ended up being
lumped together when I was only giving him a beating. Probably because couples are akin to two
pieces of magnets with north and south poles, when they’ve been parted and then got too close
with each other, they’d impatiently, hungrily and thirstily stick together.　　

Jiang Chen tackled me to the ground, his gaze pinned me for around two, three seconds, or rather
two, three minutes. Anyway, I swallowed past the lump in my throat three times, but I wasn’t able
to take a good swallow on the third time as he quickly covered my mouth with his, it was a lemon-
scented kiss. At the start, I felt like I was kissing an air freshener, but afterwards he bit my lower
lip making me feel relieved — air fresheners don’t bite people.

His kisses contained an unprecedented passion, burning every inch of my skin where they touch
making my temperature rise rapidly, especially when he’d caress my waist with his slightly
callused fingers. I think the temperature of that part of my waist has already surpassed the
temperature limit a human being could tolerate. It’s rapidly burning fat. I expect my waist is likely
to melt under his touch, slim it down, and ultimately snap me into half……

When Jiang Chen was about to lift my top, he especially asked me, “Scared?”

I obstinately replied, “Not scared.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.” I lifted my head and kissed him on the mouth.　　

He took it seriously, and peeled my top off in a blink of an eye…..　　

Hence two seconds later, my act of screaming so suddenly made him feel very puzzled. His hand
which was working on the lock of my undergarment stopped, and he asked, “What’s wrong?”　　
I said, “Can I……..not do it?”　　

He froze for a moment, and then asked me, “Aren’t you not scared?”

I pathetically let out a hollow laugh, I thought that this handsome lad already knew that fickleness
is a woman’s privilege.　　

He looked at me viciously for quite a while, a sigh washed over me, then he lay down on his side
and took a deep breath.　　

I covered my chest with clothes in a flurry, and had wanted to quickly look for a place to hide so I
got up, but then I had second thoughts, so I assumed a look of being timid and asked, “Are you
angry?”

Jiang Chen turned his back on me, “Nonsense, as if you wouldn’t be angry if it were you!

I poked his back, “Then which room do I sleep in?”

“Which one would you like to sleep in?”　　

“Oh.” I took two steps and couldn’t help but say, “Then what about you?”

“I’ll give you a suggestion, if you don’t want to help me resolve it then just shut up, enter the
room, and lock the door.” His voice sounded like it was cracking, with traces of his anger.

I mulled over it for a moment and said, “Do I really have to lock the door? I don’t seem to be
convinced by you. Or say, do you actually have the key? If you do have the key, then whether I
lock it or not, there’s essentially no difference, can we not do this formality?”

“Chen! Xiao! Xi!” He sat up, fuming with rage between gritted teeth.

I said, “I’ll give you a suggestion, it’ll be more useful to call Chen Guanxi, he has more expertise
in this field.” (T/N: Yes, the Chen Guanxi/ Edison Chen with sex scandals. He appears so
prominently in this novel, like half of the chapters we’ve translated features him lol)　　

After I was done talking, I quickly fled into one of the rooms, closed the door shut and locked it,
then I heard the slippers swishing in the air, hitting the door, sliding, then falling down the floor.

What a pleasant night.　　

I looked around and found out that the room I casually rushed into was actually the room Jiang
Chen usually sleeps in as there were few pieces of his clothes strewn on the bed, as a matter of
fact, I’ve described it quite modestly, his clothes and books were actually piled up on his bed.　　
I tidied out a corner, sat cross-legged, and casually fished out clothes folding them neatly in a pile.
The room is filled with the flavor of Jiang Chen, I’ve been familiar with this flavor since I was 16
years old, I’m just hoping that this flavor would also fill my life.

A knocking sound came from the door twice, and then Jiang Chen’s voice followed, “Open the
door.”

“What are you doing?” I held a piece of clothing in front of my chest out of reflex, and realising
that I was being ridiculous, I folded it with a grin on my face.

“Getting a change of clothes for shower.” He said.

“Really?”

“Fake.” He snapped.

I went to open the door, I was wondering that once I open the door, would he throw me on the bed,
and then do this to me, and that, this and that. Aiyo, I’m really sorry.

To be quite frank, I look forward to this kind of embrace and yet I wanted to act all reserved, let
me think of a not so elegant saying — to erect a monument*. (T/N: The entire saying is “To lead
the life of a whore but still want to erect a monument for one’s chastity which means harboring ill
intentions but still want a good reputation.)

Unfortunately, Jiang Chen must have lost his focus, he thought I really wanted a good reputation,
hence he waltzed in, took his clothes, and walked out, he didn’t even spare me a glance, and I even
walked him to the door……

I just simply finished in tidying up Jiang Chen’s room, and was about to go to bed when another
knock came from the door, my heart went up my throat.

Jiang Chen said, “Hey, I’m going to sleep. Good night.”

“Good night.”

The heart which I’ve mentioned slowly lowered down. Doctor Jiang, don’t bring such loneliness
to your girlfriend’s heart.

When I entered the world of dreams with a sweet smile, my overwhelming happiness must have
made the Duke of Zhou, that old man, think I’m unpleasant to look at, he arranged a segment of
that girl jumping off from the second floor and replayed it countless times like it was on a video
casette tape until I screamed and woke up from that dream. (T/N: Duke of Zhou is also known as
the “God of Dreams” – in legend, he lets people know via dreams when something important is
going to happen to them.)

Look, even if he’s a god, he’s also ‘envious, jealous, and hateful’.

I felt around to switch on the lamp, then hugged a pillow in a daze.

There were two knocks at the door, I hugged the pillow tightly, and shrunk at the bedside.

“Xiaoxi? It’s me. Are you okay?” Jiang Chen’s voice can be heard from the other side of the door.
I heaved a sigh of relief, living alone for a long time made me forget that there were two people in
this house tonight.

“Can I come in?” He knocked on the door twice again.

“Well, the door isn’t locked.” I said.

The door opened, Jiang Chen came in holding a glass filled with white liquid, if I’m not mistaken,
it’s probably milk, if it’s something else, I can only say that he broke free of conventional
thinking, in English it’s called, Thinking out of the box.

I suddenly felt like a princess trapped in a tower and my prince came to rescue me with his sword,
I truly didn’t grow out of my childish innocence.

Jiang Chen handed the glass to me, “Had a nightmare?”

I drank a mouthful, it really is milk which proves that Jiang Chen doesn’t have an innovative
spirit.

“I dreamt of that girl who jumped off the second floor today.” I drank another mouthful of milk,
he didn’t put any sugar in it so it was really hard to drink.

He sat down at the edge of the bed, and patted me on the head, “Don’t be scared.”

I placed the glass on the bedside table, and moved over to lean on his shoulder, I squinted my eyes
and asked, “What time is it now?”

“Around three o’clock.”

Leaning on his shoulders gave me so heavily drowsy and I let out a yawn, “I’m sleepy.”　

“Then go to sleep.” He held my head upright, “Lie down and sleep well, I’ll go out once you’re
asleep.”

I lay down on one side of the bed, and patted the other side saying, “Let’s sleep together.”
I must stress that my mind is clouded, whether it being scared or being sleepy, I must insist that
my mind is clouded. If not, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for this act of taking the initiative
to invite a man to sleep together with me. This is not in line with the rich image of me being
tormented by the ideologies of the remnants of feudalism.

Jiang Chen hesitated for a moment, but eventually reached out to switch off the lamp and laid
down.

I also hesitated for a moment, but eventually rolled over and hugged his waist from behind, and
buried my face between his shoulder blades, closing my eyes to sleep.

He froze, afterwards he covered my hands that were wounded around his waist with his.

In the dark, I could hear the frantic beatings of his heart which then slowly calmed down, I asked,
“Are you asleep?”

“No.”　　

As my ears were stuck on his back, his voice sounded muffled as though it came from a distant
place.

I said, “Jiang Chen, I forgot that I’ve never told you, I love you.”

He turned silent for quite a while, I heard his heart which was beating like a drum. When I was
about to fall asleep, he turned his body around and hugged me, then he kissed my forehead, “Let’s
sleep, if you talk once more I won’t be courteous to you anymore.”　　

There’s something wrong with me, I call it the “sudden talk back illness”. The worst manifestation
of this illness occurs when my consciousness is muddled, for instance, I remember once in the
History of Western Art class. I was dozing off and was caught by the teacher who made me stand
up to answer a question, “Why did Verocchio let Leonardo Da Vinci draw an egg?” From the lack
of sleep, I turned impatient at being thrown an idiotic question which has already appeared in my
grade school textbook, I replied, “Because he likes to eat eggs.” At this, the teacher was angered to
death,and with a big sigh, lamented that I could never be as great as Leonardo Da Vinci. I
tactlessly retorted him, “Of course, that’s because you’re no Verrochio either.”………I’m not
going to conceal this, even though this class was just an elective, but I had to take remedial exams
no less than five times, it broke our faculty’s record of remedial exams taken, I can be regarded as
a historical figure.

Now, my illness has suddenly flared up, when Jiang Chen said, ‘if you talk once more I won’t be
courteous to you anymore’, I subconsciously retorted a sentence, “Who asked you to be
courteous?”
Jiang Chen replied, “What you said, don’t regret it.”

I retorted once again, “Who’s regretting? Tch ——-”　

Two seconds later, Jiang Chen was above me, he probably realised that if he were to drag this one
again, it would be like asking a repeat of the previous time’s disaster, hence before he regained his
clear consciousness, he quickly and mercilessly removed all the clothing barrier on the both of us.

I said, “Wait…..oh…..”　　

My mouth was covered by his mouth.　　

I think that since the both of us already don’t have the so-called fig leaf, then you can figure it out.
From this you can tell that my attitude towards life is that however it may be, take the rough with
the smooth.

When Jiang Chen’s kisses trailed down to my collarbone, I entered a state of trance, this kind of
trance was akin to being seasick, like how the undulating waves would make one feel dizzy, I
don’t know how long this trance lasted. In a word, Jiang Chen guided me to learn some things that
schools wouldn’t teach. I want to insist again on practicing this several times, and then we’ll
become self-taught geniuses.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 29
February 24, 2018

The second day’s breakfast was prepared by Jiang Chen. While he was making the breakfast, I
went to the bathroom while wrapping myself up with the blanket. I asked him why he set the
entire house’s air-conditioning to such a low temperature, he said it was so that I can sleep in a bit
later. After I’m done going to the bathroom, I walked into the kitchen along the way and wrapped
my arms around his waist from his back, leaned my face on his back and took a nap. It felt really
comforting, but he asked me instead, “Did you wash your hands after going to the bathroom?”

…..

I rubbed and eyes and went back to the room to sleep.

Not long after, he scooped me out of bed, he said it’s time to eat breakfast, and I said that I never
had the habit of eating breakfast, then I crashed back on the bed.

He scooped me back up again and said, “You are not going to eat the breakfast I prepared?”

I remembered that his apartment has scalpels, so I could only get up and force a very energized
look, “Go go go, lets eat breakfast!”

It’s just that my energy couldn’t last me till I get out of bed. While I was on the edge of the bed
searching for my slippers with my feet, I couldn’t help but close my eyes. Jiang Chen laughed. I
said while yawning, “Don’t laugh, help me find my slippers.”

He squatted down to put on my slippers for me, but just as my feet were about to touched the
ground, he princess-carried me. I laid my head on his shoulder and instructed him, “Walk slower,
let me sleep for another two seconds.”

Jiang Chen didn’t let me sit on the chair, but on his lap instead. And so, we started our sweet-
feeding process. I felt overwhelmed by his favor with this arrangement. I used to beg him to do
this in the university’s cafeteria, but he rejected every time with, “do I look like a crazy person?”
or “just kill me” or “just how thick is your skin”.

I ate half a sunny side up that he had forgotten to add salt to, and said, “Hey, I’m full, carry me
back to sleep.”
Jiang Chen pinched on my cheeks and said, “You are instructing me like it’s all meant to be huh.”

I agreed, “I’m shameless.”

He could only shift me back to the bed in the room, so I tucked myself in and fell asleep.

By the time I woke up, it was noon. I laid on the bed and screamed, “Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen.”

Jiang Chen came in wearing spectacles, like a refined rascal. I pointed at his spectacles and asked
surprised, “When did you get myopia?”

“When you weren’t around.”

I coughed, “Why don’t I see you wearing spectacles usually?”

“Contacts are much more convenient. Why did you call me in?” (T/N: HOW ARE CONTACT
LENSES MORE CONVENIENT??? Takes me years to put one on.)

I said, “I just wanted to notify you that I’m awake, and that I’m hungry, and carry me out to wash
up.”

Jiang Chen took off his specs, pinched his nose, and put back on his specs, “Have you gotten
addicted to ordering me around?”

I scratched my head and said shamefully, “I think a little.”

He shook his head, and turned to leave. My eyes were sharp and hands were fast enough to pull
him by his shirt. I dragged on his shirt and refused to let go, after we pulled and dragged for a
while, he finally turned back helplessly and said, “The most I’ll piggyback you to the hall.”

I cheered and climbed onto his back, “Lets go~”

I cooked noodles for lunch. After I finished and cleaned up, it was already 1 in the afternoon. I
asked him, “What were you doing in the morning?”

“Reading.” he said.

I sighed, “You’re reading even on leave?”

He said, “Someone took leave to accompany me, but slept like a dead pig, what can I do?”

I answered back sarcastically, “That was because you made me really tired.”

After saying that, my face turned red rapidly, how shameless must a person be, to be able to say
such words…

Jiang Chen was startled, his face also turned red.

In order to hide my own face, I pointed at his face and laughed out loud, “What are you blushing
for? Aren’t you a doctor? Shouldn’t you be very familiar with a human’s body structure? What
strong wind and big waves* have you not seen, why are you even blushing?” (T/N: difficult
situations)

Jiang Chen pointed out, “You yourself have also drawn so many art models, why are you
blushing?”

I thought about it and it makes sense, but I had to persevere, “You have seen more than me.”

He probably was too vexed over my mockery, he said coolly, “The ones I’ve seen are mostly
specimens.”

…..

I shivered from the cold, and decided to end this conversation. I said, “What are we doing in the
afternoon? Didn’t you say we are going to the movies?”

He said, “What do you want to watch? How about we rent one to watch?”

“Forget it, I don’t feel like watching anything.” I said disinterestedly.

He pushed up his glasses, “Then what do you feel like doing?”

I muttered to myself for a moment, and suggested excitedly, “How about I lay motionlessly on the
floor, and let you kick me around?”

Jiang Chen’s astonished face lingered for a long time.

Only after a while did he continue, “Chen Xiaoxi, your mental level is always exceeding my
imagination.”

I replied modestly, “You’re too kind, you’re too kind.”

In the end we still went out to rent a movie – one which the store owner strongly recommended
saying that it’s the best product for couples to watch together.

The best product had rolling captions for the first 5 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of pure music,
followed by a bunch of expressionless people walking around for 5 minutes. In this 15 minutes,
Jiang Chen leaned on me and fell asleep.
His hair was on my neck and cheek, and I turned my head to watch his sleeping face. His brown
hair was in a mess, long eyelashes were perked against the lens of the spectacles. With a slight
smile, the dimple of his left cheeks was slightly peeking through.

I gently removed his spectacles and tidied up his hair. I sighed from my heart, the person I love
has the cutest sleeping face in the whole wide world. Why should I stare at at this freckled woman
in the TV and listen to her endless chatter?

My head was propped against Jiang Chen’s head, I slowly closed my eyes. I can hear the traffic
and noises from outside, but I can also hear the sunshine and breeze. This moment seems tranquil
and beautiful because I am with him.

The best product solitarily, lonelily, played finish. The final of the finale, was that the best product
is an original French movie, hence I could not even remember its title.

Not sure after how long, Jiang Chen pushed me awake. He used his thumb to wipe away the drool
off the corner of my lips and asked, “What was the movie about?”

I looked at the blue screen on the TV, shook my head sleepily, “I’m not sure, there was a woman
who was talking nonstop, then I fell asleep. Let’s return this to prevent him from collecting
another day’s worth of rental if we were to leave it till tomorrow.”

Therefore, we walked hand in hand and returned the film. The owner enthusiastically asked for
our opinions on the film, as I didn’t bare to hurt his feelings, I could only face him and bullshit my
way through. I said that I felt that the movie has a strong artsy feel to it, and it was very cinematic.
The actors and actresses had amazing acting skills and the story’s climax was incredible. The main
point is that this movie was able to dissect the underlying emotions of a human being in another
point of view.

The owner was so emotionally touched that he couldn’t control himself. The hand that was
holding onto the film was shaking wildly.

“You are so right, what a great explanation, you are my best friend, I don’t need the rental fee for
this film anymore, I can’t have it, if I were to collect it then I am not a human!”

In order to let him continue his status as a human, we had to bite the bullet and leave without
paying.

We then went to a bookstore, with thoughts of buying a few recipe books back to make dinner.
Jiang Chen took a lot of books and asked me, “Can you use your tricks on the owner just now to
trick this owner into giving us these books for free?”

I looked at the bookstore owner, indicated that as the owner is a female, it was not under my
purview.

Therefore, Jiang Chen went over to pay. He showcased his dimple, and the lady boss
automatically gave him a 20% discount.

On the way home, we were both extremely proud of each other’s charisma. Alright, I was actually
just extremely proud of saving those ten over dollars. Forgive this commoner’s 3 customs* heart.
(T/N: 3 customs, aka 三俗 is for, being vulgar, having low taste, and to pander to one’s vulgar
taste.)

Jiang Chen is really a good material for studying. After flipping through a few recipes, the entire
aura became really strong. Yesterday he was still hand busy and leg messy* in the kitchen, today
he looks just like a reputable chef, planning strategies neatly and orderly. (T/N: struggling)

Innate knowledge changes one’s outer appearance, the him yesterday, is no longer the him today.

I sat cross-legged at the dining table, took the chopsticks and knocked onto the bowl, as I knocked,
I hurried him, “Chef Jiang, I am hungry, Chef Jiang, I am hungry….”

Chef Jiang was furious in the kitchen, “Chen Xiaoxi, you get in here and help out.”

I popped my head into the kitchen, “Aren’t you handling a butcher’s cleaver with ease yourself?”

He picked up a garlic and threw it at me. The garlic knocked onto my forehead and bounced out.

I picked up the garlic and placed it on the counter, I went over to look at him doing up the dish —
stir fry beef with broccoli. The pot over at the other side was stewing chicken soup. Seems like he
was determined to turn over the plate for yesterday’s dinner. I secretly took a sip of the soup, Jiang
Chen was cursing at the side, “Scald die you.”

I blew on the soup and drank, my eyes were watery, “Jiang Chen, lets not be doctor, lets open a
small eatery instead, you are so talented.”

This soup really, that kick of freshness, as though once you finish drinking there will be a flock of
chicken appearing and dancing with you. You will be turning and spinning in chicken feathers that
fill the sky, steeped in pure happiness and smiles – alright, I will admit I’m just copying the scene
from Stephen Chow’s “The God of Cookery”.

I was moved to tears by every dish that Jiang Chen made. I finished every dish till the plate was
showing. If not for Jiang Chen stopping me from aside, I would have licked every plate once
more.

After eating I spontaneously went to wash the plates, Jiang Chen also came to help out, but I’m
guessing he only came to supervise me so that I won’t lick his plates.
I washed the plates and he wiped the plates. Exchanged a few sentences, but he suddenly said,
“Do you want to move in and stay with me?”

I was holding a plate in my hands. I contemplated if I should drop the plate to indicate that I was
shocked by his suggestion. However, as I contemplated too long, I missed the right moment to do
so. I could only silently pass the plate over to him.

He took it over to wipe, and asked another time, “Do you want to?”

“Uh….. I think…. not?” I said.

“Oh.” He paused for two seconds, then asked, “Why?”

“Uh… I snore when I sleep.”

He said, “You don’t.”

….

I actually couldn’t come up with any reasons, I rubbed my neck and said, “I just think that it’s not
a good idea.”

He didn’t ask anymore questions, he nodded and said, “If you think it’s not good then we won’t.”

I asked him carefully, “Will you be unhappy?”

He gave me a gentle peck on my lips, “I won’t.”

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 30
February 26, 2018

Lovers always have conversations about this and that to chat about between them, especially if
one of them is a chatterbox. When I questioned Jiang Chen closely for the twelfth time why did he
like me back in those days or when did he discover that he liked me, he took up the car keys and
said, “We have to go to work tomorrow, I’ll send you home.”

I sighed in disappointment, this doubt had existed from that day we got together, no matter how I
threatened and bribed him or pulled down my clothes to reveal my delectable shoulder to seduce
him, Jiang Chen didn’t speak, which was a pity for there was actually also a youthful and
sprouting heart underneath my prattling exterior.

As I was being squeezed into the car, I was still thinking of ways to make him what I wanted to
hear, I said, “Do you know, back then I felt that if I continued to like you like this, but you
continued to not like me, my youth would be gone.”

“Oh, so it’s actually like this.” He said.

I glared at him, “You are really very horrid.”

He simply couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to me, he was paying attention to the road
condition very seriously.

I often thought, even if two people are very intimate, it is entirely impossible to know each other’s
thoughts. Even if there is the occasional telepathy between two hearts linked as one, for example
him knowing that you want to pour a glass of water to drink when you stand up, him knowing that
you are in a bad mood when you look outside of the window not speaking…… These also are all
only accumulated cognition from living habits. You are eternally unable to know whether the
person in front of you loves you or not after all, you can only depend on trust.

When I had finished expressing that paragraph of opinion above, Jiang Chen said, “What exactly
are do you want to express?”

I said, “You see, I stayed for ten months in my mother’s stomach, I still don’t understand what
pleasure she derives as a married old madam from going onto Tianya every day to look at young
handsome boys, you say, if she had an “uncle complex”, I would still be able to comprehend it
slightly better. So we need to communicate, you have to tell me why exactly do you like me, to
strengthen my trust.”
Jiang Chen said, “You are really very bothersome, how many times must I say “I don’t know” for
you to believe me, I know how to cut open a person’s chest, I know how to do a heart bypass
surgery, I know how to change a heart valve, but I really don’t know why I like you.”

I’ve said it before, when the dialogue ascends into a professional plane, I am unable to understand
what I hear……

Sometimes, the more my hopes are dampened, the braver I become, so I said, “Then you tell me,
when you felt that you liked me.”

He took a deep sigh, and turned the steering wheel with great force, the car went around a corner,
“I don’t remember, why are you so insistent on being hung up on this?”

The things that women want to be hung up on are plentiful, our face, our skin, our hairstyles, our
figure, money, housing, who loves whom, who doesn’t love whom…… Too bad, I’m also a
woman.

Unable to get the answer I wanted from the beginning till now, I felt very dejected, so I was
prepared to not say anything anymore, whoever resented the oppressive atmosphere could open
his mouth first. Unfortunately, Jiang Chen didn’t resent the oppressive atmosphere for the entire
journey, I concede, it was very possible that he had even slept in the mortuary before, this little bit
of oppression was really nothing.

The car reached downstairs of my house, as I opened the car door I said, “I’m going back.”

“Let’s have a goodbye kiss.” Jiang Chen pressed the horn lightly, the horn let out a short cry that
sounded like a fart.

I said, “Don’t want.”

He said, “I won’t despise your bad technique.”

If this could be tolerated, what couldn’t be tolerated? I stuck up my adorable middle finger at him.

He stared blankly for two seconds, then said sinisterly, “Chen Xiaoxi, if you don’t want to go to
Doctor Su for emergency treatment, put away your finger, come over here and give me a kiss.”

I dragged my footsteps and moved around to the car window on his side, he rolled down the car
window and stuck out his large head. He smiled as he hummed, “You and I kiss goodbye, on a
street with nobody around……*” (T/N: Lyrics of very classic and famous Mandopop song
“Goodbye Kiss” by Jacky Cheung in 1993, one of the “Four Heavenly Kings” of Cantopop)

He had a good voice, that I’d always known, moreover, a handsome face like this, unhurriedly
humming while smiling like this, was indeed very deserving of a kiss.

I cupped his face, moved close to him and gave him a big kiss, then I rubbed my nose against his,
and kissed him again. His lips were soft and warm, his smell was mild and familiar, I believed I
could kiss for a very long time, as long as he didn’t resent his neck hurting.

He didn’t resent his neck hurting, but on the contrary it was me who resented not having enough
air. Pushing him away, I panted heavily and said, “It’s not counted as having bad technique this
time round, I didn’t take a deep breath beforehand.”

Jiang Chen covered with his hand his head that had struck the car window frame when pushed by
me and said, “I recommend that you go and learn first aid, including a course on CPR.”

I stuck up two fingers and wanted to pierce his eyes, he laughed and pulled away. “I really don’t
remember, though I do remember that there was one time you roared and shouted at me on the
sports field.”

After he finished speaking, he drove off with his car whizzing away, I stayed on the spot covering
my skirt which had almost been blown at and lifted up, only after a long time did I realise that he
was replying my previous question.

Sports field? Roaring and shouting? Honestly speaking, the times I did such things during that
valiant student era were numerous, you really have to let me think properly, let me think properly.

It was when I was showering that I suddenly remembered, I was so stirred up that I almost slipped
and fell head first into the toilet bowl. Thankfully I pulled on the shower tubing, though pitifully I
had to change to a new tube the next day.

That was the level-wide basketball competition in the second semester of Senior Year 2. In the
aspect of sports, us arts students were destined to be looked down upon, so our entire class all
didn’t really set our hearts on it, on the other end, Jiang Chen was in Sciences Class 3, which
reportedly could have a show-down to determine who was male and female* with the sports class,
uh, that’s not right, they were all males, a show-down to determine life and death, a show-down to
determine life and death. (T/N: “a show-down to determine who was male and female” – a
Chinese idiom with its origins from ‘Records of the Great Historian’, which means a show-down
to determine who is the victor and who is the loser. In this case, “male and female” is an analogy
for “victory or defeat” (in the context of where the idiom came from, it was Xiang Yu challenging
Liu Bang to a battle to determine victory and defeat)

The first match was our class versus Jiang Chen’s class, of course I had to watch, actually I went
to watch every match of my Jiang Chen’s class.

That match was really the most crappy competition I had ever seen, our class with great difficulty
had pooled together a basketball team. Forgetting about the fact that they played ball like they
were taking a stroll, our class monitor hugged the basketball that had come into his hands and
stood on the spot as if he was hugging his child that he had been separated from for many years
and refused to let go, all that was lacking in the end was him lifting up his shirt to feed milk. I
really wanted to pretend that I didn’t know them.

Jiang Chen was different, his dribbling skills surpassed others, his three-pointer, his three-step
layup, so handsome, the peak of perfection throughout the ages.

Our class only participated in two rounds before we were kept far away from the basketball post,
while Jiang Chen’s class under his leadership raided all the way into the finals, and finally was to
have a showdown with the sports class.

That was a wan winter day, our form teacher insisted on extending class beyond the bell to talk
about some matters that he thought were very important, for example, the blackboard not being
wiped clean, there were too many paper bits on the floor, puppy love…… I looked out of the
window at the masses of people gathering together and moving around on the sports field,
worrying helplessly, if he loved occupying time so much why didn’t he occupy lesson time?

With great difficulty, I endured till the old man was willing to release us, when I dashed to the
sports field I heard a long whistle, the competition had ended. I randomly pulled at a stranger and
asked, he said that Sciences Class 3 had suffered a crushing defeat. I thought, at such a time, how
could Jiang Chen not have me by his side, hence I again dashed all the way to the classroom of
Sciences Class 3.

My sound of “Jiang Chen” was choked at my mouth, there were only two people left in such a big
classroom – Jiang Chen and Li Wei, they were facing each other as they sat with a table in
between them. Their heads were very close to each other as they were in the process of talking
about something, at that time four words flashed through my mind – “adulterous man, wanton
woman*”. (T/N: meaning an adulterous couple)

The two of them looked at me uniformly, Jiang Chen’s complexion wasn’t very good, after giving
me a glare, he didn’t speak.

I thought for a while and (decided that) I had better explain, “Our lesson extended past the bell.”

Jiang Chen didn’t reply, the atmosphere was momentarily a little awkward. Li Wei smilingly said,
“Chen Xiaoxi, thankfully I still helped Jiang Chen prepare water today.”

I forced myself to smile. “Thanks to you.” I paused, then couldn’t help but ask Jiang Chen, “How
was that competition of yours?”

Jiang Chen turned a deaf ear to me, his face was expressionless and I also didn’t know where his
line of sight was falling on.
Li Wei said, “Today our class didn’t have a very good display.”

“Oh, it’s like this.” I fished around in the trouser pocket of my school uniform, wanting to return
the rest of the money to Jiang Chen, only then did I discover that I had placed the money in my
schoolbag and had forgotten to take it, I could only say, “Uh… that, I just wanted to come over
and take a look, I’ll go off first.”

Jiang Chen didn’t spare another glance at me, he didn’t even take the trouble to snort a word from
his nose to send me off.

I teared and ran off the moment I turned around, the heart of a seventeen/eighteen-year-old girl
was not to be used for attacking like this.

Later, I returned to my classroom to take my schoolbag, when I came out, I surprisingly met Jiang
Chen at the sports field. After hesitating for a moment, I still went over and said, “So coincidental,
do you want to leave together?”

I don’t know why he was suddenly very impatient, he said, “Can you not always follow after me.”

As a matter of fact, ever since we went into separate classes, I had very little opportunities to
follow after him, moreover this time it really wasn’t that I wanted to follow after him. This sort of
situation was called a “chance encounter” in the explanation in the Xinhua dictionary, but I didn’t
point out the unreasonable nature of these words of his, I was busy being broken-hearted and sad.

Afterwards, he probably again said some unpleasant words, I most likely also rebutted him with
some words, these are all a little vague, but I remember him saying, “Did I ask you to like me?”

After that, I cried loudly on the sports field, fishing out wad after wad of money from my school
bag to throw onto the ground with great force. Liking a person was such a careful affair, even
though I was so sad, I also didn’t dare to smash the money onto his body.

I remember me saying, “I won’t pay attention to you anymore in the future, a lifetime is so long, I
will definitely not only like you alone!”

What a pity, until now, I still only like him alone, this proves that when conducting yourself, one
shouldn’t speak too soon, there will be retribution. I let out a sigh, even though this was all water
under the bridge, thinking about it now still made me feel very sad.

I gave Jiang Chen a phone call while drying my hair. “Have you reached home?”

“I’ve reached.”

I said, “I’ve recalled it, that time on the sports field.”

He laughed on that end of the mobile phone, “You were crying really wretchedly.”

I said, “Then?”

“Then I felt that I had better not cause you to cry so wretchedly in the future.”

I rubbed my tingly nose and said, “I want to ask you a question now, you must reply me honestly,
don’t deceive me just because you want to save face.”

He said okay.

I spoke, “Then after that, did you go back to the sports field to pick up the money and leave or
not?”

…… That end of the phone sunk into an abnormal silence.

I questioned closely, “Did you or not? Hello? Did you hear me?”

“I didn’t.” The pronunciations of the two words was very articulate.

I sighed in disappointment, “Good for the student on duty that day.”

“Don’t tell me that you would still go back later to pick up those few dollars after you cried till
you were in that state!” Jiang Chen’s tone of voice was sinister.

“How is it a few dollars, there was at least fifty or sixty dollars left.” I explained, “After I left I felt
that you being this sort of person with an eccentric temperament would surely not pick the money
up, so I returned again to pick them, but not a single cent was left.”

I originally thought that if I returned to pick them, the money I picked up would be considered to
belong to me……
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 31
March 1, 2018

I paced back and forth at the hospital entrance three times, Jiang Chen made me come over today
to visit that girl who sacrificed herself in the name of love. He said I have to see that she’s still
alive in the flesh so I wouldn’t get anymore nightmares later on. Every time I am confronted by
Jiang Chen’s request, I’d always feel like there’s only two options left for me to choose from,
either do what I was told or to scram. I expressed the matter to Jiang Chen and he told me, “No,
you have a third option, you can choose to kill me.” Thus, at this point, I think that Jiang Chen is
probably like me — already a nutcase.

I braced* myself and rushed inside the hospital, past the part of the lobby where her body heavily
landed. Jiang Chen was waiting for me on that very second floor, he told me he has a 7-hour
surgery coming up hence I have no other choice but to let Doctor Su take me to see that girl. (T/N:
The idiom used was “the fighting strength is at the highest at the first roll of the drums” which
means to get something done in one valiant effort.)

I tugged his fingers and said, “7 hours? So long ah?”

“That’s right, so you should go back home after you’ve visited that person, I’ll go see you when
I’m done with the surgery.” He grasped my hand, turned towards Doctor Su, and said, “I’ll have to
trouble you with Xiaoxi.”

Doctor Su seemed to be beaming radiantly as she replied, “No problem, just hand her over to me.”

My suspicion was that she’s seriously sick in the head, I totally felt that the underlying meaning
behind her words were.“ I’ve finally got you in my hands.”

As soon as Jiang Chen walked away, Doctor Su told me, “That girl has mental illness.”

“Ah?” I took a step back, “I’d better go next time together with Jiang Chen.”
“What are you afraid of? You have me, I’m her chief attending doctor.” She pulled my hand,
looking very intimate.

I was dragged two steps by her when I realised something was amiss, I resisted her pull and stood
right there, “Aren’t you an orthopedic? How can you be the chief attendant of someone mentally-
ill?”

“I’m attending to her fractured ribs, as for having mental illness, I’ve diagnosed it myself. Without
mental illness, can one jump down for a man?” She said still dragging me to move forward.

“Can a doctor talk about such things behind the patient’s back?”

She looked at me like I’ve grown two heads and said, “Why can’t I?”

“Aren’t you being mean?”

Doctor Su patted me on the shoulder, her words meaningful and heartfelt, “A doctor is also a
human being, and a human being has shortcomings, my shortcomings are my love for being mean
to others and my lack of conscience.”

She said it with such confidence and conviction that I was left with no choice but to be subdued by
her.

As we went inside, the woman was lying motionless on the hospital bed. As I looked closer, she
was actually crying silently, staining the white pillow beneath her head with a puddle of tears. I
carefully sized her up, she looks nothing like the woman I’ve seen the last time, however, I think
that if an average person falls down from the second floor, they would definitely look different
than how they usually were when they hit the ground. So from the bottom of my heart, I forgive
her inconsistent before and after looks.

Doctor Su said, “Miss Li, how are you feeling today?”

Miss Li remained motionless, tears were still trickling down her face, she raised her lips faintly,
and managed to spit out three words, “Let me die.”

Seriously, her request sounded so sincere that it makes one feel that if her request isn’t fulfilled, it
would be a matter of heaven and earth being witnesses to your conscience*. However, Doctor Su
said that her shortcoming is that she lacks conscience, hence she readily refused her, “You’re
boyfriend hasn’t come, if you wish to die, wait for him to arrive then attempt one more time.”
(T/N: Meaning heaven knows of what you did.)

I pulled back Doctor Su and said in a whisper, “Stop talking nonsense, if she complained about
you what should we do?”
Doctor Su very comfortingly patted the back of my hand, “I’m used to it.”

Miss Li no longer shed tears silently, she wailed and got up, “I’m already like this but he still
didn’t come to visit me, I wuwuwu……..”

“Could you please stop being noisy, it gives this jie a headache.” Doctor Su said while holding her
head, “Come, I’ll introduce you to someone, this is the person you nearly landed unto when you
jumped down from upstairs that day. She came to visit you.”

I was somehow pushed to the front by Doctor Su, without any better option, I awkwardly forced a
smile, “Ah, hello.”

Miss Li spared me a quick glance, and said while sobbing, “Why did you come to see me?”

I guess I can’t really say I’m only here to confirm that you haven’t died, so I could sleep without
getting nightmares. Hence, I could only reply, “I’m just here to see how well you’ve recovered.”

“Is it any of your business?” She sobbed, “Are you here to watch a good show?”

To be thrown at by such question, I was a little bit embarrassed and at a complete loss, I could
only look at Doctor Su with a cry for help.

Doctor Su let out a yawn, “Why wouldn’t it be any of her business? If there was a slight deviation
to the parabolic curve of when you dropped, she could’ve been lying in bed with you today. Let
me just say something, if you want to kill yourself, just please, pick somewhere environmental
friendly, okay? If you really want to jump, place a sign downstairs, write ‘This place has already
been expropriated as a jumping area, if you cherish your life please take a detour.’ and so on, don’t
accidentally injure a passer-by.”

I tried to cut her off in a hurry, “Don’t provoke her, out of a doctor’s goodness.” (T/N: The literal
translation for the phrase used was ‘a doctor’s parental heart’)

Doctor Su waved his hands dismissively, “A parental heart also has ill tendencies, just look at the
news and you’ll see, you just have to bear with mine, besides, she’s tough as nails, I won’t be able
to provoke her.”

In the end who’s really the one tougher than nails…….

Miss Li is unexpectedly this incredible, no matter how Doctor Su would push her buttons, she can
still find methods to go after me and asked, “I did not die, did that disappoint you?”

I hurriedly waved my hand, “No, no. I just thought there were so many people downstairs, yet you
fell in front of me. It could be considered fate, so I came to see you, that’s all.”
Miss Li probably felt that it was also fate, hence she no longer persistently interrogate me. She
kept on mumbling endlessly to herself, the content was — ‘I love him so much, I’m willing to die
for him’.”

I hate being at the side, watching others spit out malicious curses, mainly because I’ve watched
too many TV dramas growing up, and it has caused a lot of residual effects on me. I was scared
that I wouldn’t be able to stop my conditioned reflexes from rushing over to cover up her mouth
then say, “I will not allow you to curse yourself like this!”

Hence, I pulled Doctor Su and told her we were leaving, Doctor Su said, “I haven’t given her a
check-up yet.” I turned around and watched as she put on a weird and incomprehensible look and
then said, “Forget it, let’s leave. Just by looking at her, it gives this jie a headache. I’m not in the
mood to joke around anymore.”

I already said that I felt that there was really something fishy about her today, it turns out that she
hasn’t bombarded me with her ‘humor’ yet.

When we were out of the patient’s room, Doctor Su told me, “Right, my younger brother is
leaving the country.”

“Ah?”

“No matter how hard we try to persuade him, he wouldn’t listen. Our mom has cried herself to
death, scared that he’d suffer hardship for being alone in a foreign country.”

I don’t get it, “Going abroad is quite good, he’d learn things, and be able to broaden his horizons.”

“The point is, he’s going abroad with emotional wounds, what if he’d recklessly* commit suicide
when no one’s there to watch him attentively?” (T/N: The idiom used was “the mountains are
high, the emperor is far away” meaning it’s difficult to enforce the emperor’s law on remote areas
as they’re far. In this case, Su Rui is free to do whatever pleases him without fear of interference
as he is abroad.)

I shrunk down on my neck, “I’m sorry.”

Doctor Su said, “It’s alright, I’m just telling you ahead that my mom might look for a chance to
have a chat with you these coming days.”

“What?” I was so shocked that I kept on repeating every monosyllable that comes out of my
mouth, “This…..this….no….no….okay…..okay…..I guess.”

Asking the family head to do something ah, telling the mom ah, this sort of thing is really very
shameless, but it truly is…….my Achilles’ heel.
Droplets of cold sweat rolled down my back towards the waistline of my pants. The moist traces
both created curve lines. I deluded myself into thinking that I really have nice curves.

Doctor Su smiled a cunning smile, “I’m just joking with you, my mom is very busy.”

……

I didn’t know how to react.

She added, “Moreover, my brother is also not going abroad, he said he’s just going to find a
young, pretty woman to make you angry.”

I often think the so-called law is nothing else but human sentiment. For people such as Doctor Su,
if I couldn’t help myself but exterminate her, the law ought to confer me a medal or something.

But my major is art and not law, so I couldn’t guarantee for certain whether I’d be sentenced to
prison once I kill her, I could only wave my hands goodbye as I go out of the hospital to take the
bus.

I went home, forgetting about time for a moment. Jiang Chen would probably be able to come
home at 1 in the morning.

Hence, I cooked instant noodles, carried it over and stayed five steps away from the computer as I
watched an American series. Ever since I’ve knocked over a bowl of mung bean soup on the
keyboard, I’ve completely understood when people say that liquids is the weight that a computer’s
life couldn’t bear.

I’ve only eaten three mouthful of noodles, and the American series had only played its preview
when my phone rang. I looked at it — it’s Wu Bosong who vanished without a trace for a short
while. Alright, as compared to him, I’m the one who vanished without a trace. When I’m in a
relationship I only have eyes for the opposite gender and no heart for human nature. You can take
reference as to how pathetic I am to have made zero good friends during my four years in
university.

On the phone, Wu Bosong excitedly told me that he has fell in love with a woman, a real woman
in that sense, different from me, a yellow-haired girl* type of woman. (T/N: A chit of a girl, one
who likes to banter.)

To be honest, the probability of me being called a yellow-haired girl has already declined
compared to a few years ago. So, I decided to ignore this misconception of him thinking that I’m
not a woman in that sense.

I said, “You’re going to be dating somebody eh? Then, who’s going to take me out to eat when I
get hungry in the future?
He said, “Your family’s man.” (T/N: “possessive pronoun + family’s” is kind of an intimate way
to refer to someone.)

“But he’s very busy.”

Wu Bosong laughed and said, “Then, you should curry favor with my family’s woman, so that she
won’t eat your vinegar.”

I said, “I really hate this ‘my family’s man or woman’ expression the most, so disgusting.”

He said, “Then how should we address them?”

“My family’s husband, your family’s wife; my family’s honey, your family’s sweetheart.”

He was laughing his head off from the other side of the phone, I think the thing I like most about
him is that he would laugh at every single one of my jokes even though they aren’t funny.

I could hear the doorbell ringing over his laughter, I said, “Your doorbell is ringing.”

He paused for a moment then said, “It’s your doorbell.”

I listened carefully, sure enough, it really is my doorbell. Forgive my outdated home, my doorbell
would often fluctuate it’s ringing, sounding near and also sounding far, it’s like being with a now
hot, then now cold lover.

I took my phone and went to open the door. While I was about to open the door, we joked around,
“It’s unlikely that you’d be standing outside, preparing to kneel down and propose to me as soon
as I open the door.” “When you open the door, it’s not a person standing there.” I opened the door
— it was Jiang Chen. I was thinking that at least, it’s a person. Then I waited for two seconds to
see if he would propose to me.

He didn’t. He looked very dejected. So I decided to hang up Wu Bosong’s call to tend to Jiang
Chen. I firmly believe that Classmate Wu would be able to understand, he would put two and two
together.

The 7-hour surgery was finished in just 2 hours. Even though I’m just a layman, I could roughly
guess what has happened.

I thought that this time, a cup of tea of and a hug would be able to make me look like a good wife
and a loving mother, hence I really did so, but I forgot to consider the environmental factors. For
example, let’s say, it’s hot like a crazy summer night. For another example, let’s say, my landlord
who is a turtle’s egg (bastard) didn’t provide air-conditioning. And for another example, let’s say,
that I’m dripping in sweat right now……….in short, the route to being a ‘good wife and loving
mother’ doesn’t suit me.

Jiang Chen took my neck like he was holding an octopus to pull me away from his body. He also
prevented me from almost using hot tea to help him bathe. In the end, he held me down on both
shoulders and said, “Can you stay still!”

“But I want to help you.”

He let go of me, and laid me down on the couch, “Just stand there and don’t move, you don’t have
to do anything.”

He crossed his hands at the back of his head, his eyes were just staring at me without blinking.

I was thinking, ‘Classmate Jiang, stop looking at people like that. In any case, our relationship has
already became ‘adult’. Staring at me with such a simple, meaningful glance yet I feel like my
mouth is dry and my tongue is parched from desire, and the heat is burning my body, I truly feel
so impure.’
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 32
March 4, 2018

I stood still letting Jiang Chen stare at me for as long as 10 minutes. During this period, I brought
up, “Should I change to a better pose?”, “Should I change to a sexier piece of clothing?”, “Can I
charge you money for looking at me for so long?”, etc. But he ignored all.

In the end I could not take it anymore, I stomped on my feet saying, “Just what are you looking
at?”

He said, “Looking at you.”

“What is there to look?”

To be honest, the moment I said that line I regretted. There are plenty of things to look at…

Jiang Chen said, “That’s exactly what I am doing, trying to figure out what’s there good of you to
look at.”

I pondered on his words. I feel that there’s a hidden meaning behind his words. Hence, I decided I
should never ponder on his words ever again. So that his words won’t have a chance to affect me.

He continued, “In the past when I was really tired or dispirited, I would always think, if only Chen
Xiaoxi is here. She is so dumb, if I were to look at her I would probably think that life is just like
this, there’s nothing extraordinary.”

I thought to myself, I just decided not to ponder on his words, but if I don’t think about what he
said, I won’t really know if he is complimenting me or insulting me…

So, I asked him honestly, “Are you complimenting me or insulting me?”

He said, “What do you think?”

I flew over to push him and pressed him down, “You also know how to say lovey dovey stuff!”
I heard him groan from being pushed over, so I took it as he has just received a burden of
happiness. He put his hand on my neck with efforts to push me off him, I hooped my arms around
his neck saying that I won’t let go I won’t let go. I won in this match of strength, I felt at ease.

I leaned on his chest and said, “Wow that I’m in front of you, does seeing me makes you full of
energy? Having me around you isn’t that bad right?”

His voice came from the top of my head, “Nope, I think it’s so-so.”

“Ah!” I jumped up and strangled him, “I will strangle you to death today.”

He pried away my fingers and said, “Take a pillow from the bedroom, suffocating someone using
a pillow uses lesser strength.”

I took a big bite on his neck, he turned and said while laughing, “Bite a little more to the side, the
main artery is here.”

…..

Jiang Chen only told me that the surgery was not successful. He didn’t share with me how to face
seeing a life pass away, how to face the tears of the family of the patient.

Life and tears, to me who is someone outside the medical field, is the hardest thing to confront in
this world. However, he is doing it every day, perhaps he has already gotten used to it, it’s just that
I will still feel heart pain for him. I just think that it will be more relaxing for us to go back home
and sell sweet potato.

Jiang Chen said that he will stay overnight at my place tonight. But I said I don’t have clothes for
him.

He said he has them in his car, and told me to get it.

So, I obediently went to take his clothes for him. When I got back, Jiang Chen had already
finished bathing. He wrapped himself up with my towel, sat in front of my computer eating my
instant noodles, and was watching my American series.

I stared at the towel that was draped loosely around this particular body part, I contemplated if I
should be nose bleeding or to grieve for my new towel that cost me 43RMB.

I stood with arms akimbo, rampantly asking, “How could you touch my things without asking for
permission first!”

He looked at me side-eyed, “If your eyes can refrain itself from staring at my towel, then your
lecture can be more persuasive.”

You see, hormones can mess with a person’s pupil movement. Therefore, affecting the area where
it’s looking at, hence, I am innocent.

Since I couldn’t win him with words, I went to bathe instead. While I was bathing, I turned up the
water temperature a little higher. I looked at the mirror while walking out of the bathroom, felt that
my entire body pink from freshness, and looked delicious. I have to explain myself here, I am not
a narcissist. Everyone says that if the female lead looks at herself in the mirror and talks about her
own beauty, then that’s being narcissistic. However, I am not like that. I solely think that the red
me, as compared to the white me, looks more delicious, plump, and tender. Actually, this is easy to
explain, for more details, please refer to fresh prawns and cooked prawns.

I walked into the room in my ‘I’m very delicious’ mindset, Jiang Chen was still wearing that
towel. Just that this time round, he was lying on my bed, flipping through my comics.

I coughed and said, “Didn’t I bring your clothes in for you? Why aren’t you wearing them?”

He flipped a page, and said nonchalantly, “It’s gonna be taken off anyway, why should I wear it?”
(T/N: HALP.)

Why? How would I know why? So that when you are taking off my clothes I can also take off
your clothes, and I won’t look like I have nothing to do.

So, so, so, so, I am actually really shy. Just that it’s not that obvious that I’m shy. Furthermore, I
have a bad habit of faking up a strong front. So I acted as though nothing happened and took a pair
of shorts out from his clothes and threw it to him saying, “If you don’t wear clothes, don’t lie on
my bed.”

After that, I walked back to my computer, and started watching my American series on the
original timing from which I stopped. I then acted as though I was watching it with great interest.
Actually, what are they acting, God knows.

Jiang Chen flipped the pages loudly on my bed, my palms started sweating.

China’s history has a way of dying, called death by a thousand cuts. How it works is that you kill
someone by slicing them one cut at a time. Later it advanced into a higher level, and that is to
wrap someone up with fish net, and use knife to slice the parts that comes out through the holes.
The highest record holds at around more than 3000 cuts. The reason why I mentioned this, is to
illustrate just how cruel and human beings be. It’s not to prove how creative our ancestors are in
their ways of murder. Instead, it’s used to show how Jiang Chen flipping the page one by page, is
exerting the same pressure as slicing the person up one cut by one cut. I’d rather he just fly over to
press me down, do this do that. (T/N: I almost died translating this my hands have no strength.)
Bao Feng Player* is at around one-third timestamp when Jiang Chen said, “Chen Xiaoxi.” (T/N:
Think it’s a kind of player like Tencent QQ.)

I trembled for a bit, to describe it in a more romantic language it would be “my delicate body
shook.”

I clicked paused, turned to look at him. He had his head propped on one hand and leaned sideways
from me.

I said, “What?”

“Come and sleep,” he waved his hands while saying.

I glared at him. He returned the stare, smiling slightly which showed his dimple ever so slightly.

Demon!

I swallowed my saliva, said, “Urm… I’ll sleep after this episode. If you’re tired you can sleep
first.”

Jiang Chen didn’t say anything, he only remained in that position to look at me while smiling. His
eyes sparkling with resentment.

I have no idea where he went to learn that expression from. It’s making my heart beat like crazy
nonstop.

I shut down my computer, took out a new pillow from my wardrobe and threw it at him. “It’s
new.”

This pillow is a free gift. In order to get this free gift, I had to buy a large amount of detergent that
was enough to bury me.

Jiang Chen stuffed the pillow behind his head, I scratched my neck and said, “Then I’ll turn off
the lights?”

“Mmm.”

Darkness.

I fumbled onto my bed, while I was lying down I heard Jiang Chen muttering something under his
breath. I didn’t hear properly, so I asked, “what?”

“It’s very hot, don’t you have air-conditioning or fan?”

I climbed out of bed to turn on the lights, I dug out one palm leaf fan that I got from a trip to
Yunnan from my wardrobe. “I only have this, there’s no air-conditioning, and my fan is broken.”

Save electricity, save the earth.

The me in the darkness is hearing sounds of the fanning fan, the rhythm is hypnotic. Just as my
eyelids were about to close, a sudden cold wind came from behind my neck, I shivered awake.

I have no idea when Jiang Chen came so close to me, to the point where his head was already on
my pillow.

I moved around, “Why are you sleeping on my pillow?”

“Too hot, I can’t sleep.”

“If you sleep so close isn’t it hotter?”

His arms wrapped over my waist, the heat from his arm transitioned to my waist. He gently kissed
down my neck and back, like feather, like a gently breeze of wind, it tickles. I can’t help but close
my eyes, he then stopped around my neck and licked gently. I writhed. Suddenly my neck felt a
jolt of pain from being bitten, I cried out in alarm, “HECK, ZOMBIE!!”

His hands seized the opportunity to travel in and under my pajamas top. Like it was conducting
current, it burnt me till I was shuddering. I squirmed around but was still trapped in his embrace. I
can’t hide, I can’t defend.

He forcefully removed my shirt over my head. When it was removed I cried no tears, I tried
explaining, “My top is an open front shirt, there are buttons, there are buttons…”

No use, I can hear at least two buttons hitting the floor.

I was woken up by my hunger past midnight. Only then did I recall that my dinner, that instant
noodle, ended up in Jiang Chen’s stomach. I wanted to take out my anger by kicking the Jiang
Chen that was sleeping. Little did I know the shock that I had when I opened my eyes slightly. His
face was so close, a small pout and I will be able to kiss him kind of distance.

Actually, the part that shocked me wasn’t his zoomed in face, but rather, even though he seemed to
be in a condition of being asleep, his hands were still in midair, holding on to the fan, fanning me.
I looked at him without moving, I want to know if he is sleeping walking or awake.

After about 5 minutes, he passed the fan from his left hand to his right hand. He continued to fan it
above my head. Therefore, the wind moved from my back to my head. No wonder in my dreams
my back was cold for a moment, and my head was cold the next moment, like a horror film.

He finished that process with his eyes closed. Perhaps it was something like closing one’s eyes to
rest one’s mind.

I made a sound, and acted like I just woke up, I called, “Jiang Chen.”

His hand stopped, opened his eyes and asked, “Why?”

“I didn’t eat dinner, I’m hungry.” I said coquettishly, “You ate my dinner, you’re a bastard with
heart of wolf and lungs of dog*.” (T/N: lit translation, a bad person with no heart.)

I said the word ‘bastard’ with the legendary baby voice, but as my skills were not up to standards,
I could only say it with a nasal sound.

The Jiang Chen in the darkness clearly twitched his lips, “Speak properly! If you’re hungry, go
cook something.”

“You cook for me…. You ate my food and you don’t even want to cook for me….” I pouted my
lips hard, dragging every syllable, I wanted to propose my suggestion but at the same time, test
Jiang Chen’s level of resisting disgust.

His level of resisting disgust was weaker than I thought, because he kicked me off the bed. Not
like how the male and female lead flirts while pursuing the ‘you’re bad, I’m bad, you’re bad, I’m
bad’ kind of kick. Instead, he did it with such repulsion, emotion and colors, like he wants to kick
me to the Pacific Ocean.

He said, “Go and cook noodles! Cook a bowl for me too.”

I rubbed on my buttocks, flattened my lips and limped out to cook noodles. I comforted myself
continuously. Unknowing gentle care is the most touching, unknowing gentle care is the most
touching*. (T/N: I’m not sure what’s the best way to put this across, but she meant care that is
displayed like naturally is the best kind of care.)

Even so, can’t he give a bit of deliberate care…

A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 33
March 6, 2018

The next day, in order to satisfy the good intentions of Jiang Chen who had, in high spirits, said
that he wanted to send me to work, I had no alternative but to wake up an hour earlier than I
normally did, this was the price of love.

Last night, towards the latter half of the night we kept on discussing the issue of pillows, Jiang
Chen insisted on sleeping on my pillow, saying that the new pillow had a smell of washing
powder. I proposed switching pillows with him, yet he said that this wasn’t good, it would make it
seem like he wasn’t considerate of his girlfriend.

I said, you have never been considerate before, besides there aren’t outsiders here, if I don’t say
and you don’t say, just be inconsiderate then.

He said, with this mouth of yours, who knows, you might go onto some forum and publish a post,
or write a novel or draw a cartoon to praise me, then once the sofas and benches* come and twist
the forum thread, you would then begin to write boldly and with conviction ‘My Awful Boyfriend
doesn’t even give me a pillow to sleep’. (T/N: sofas/benches – Chinese internetspeak, often used
when replying to the original forum post. The first replier often says ‘sofa’ (meaning they got to sit
on the sofa), while the people who reply after that say ‘bench’ (since the sofa already has someone
sitting on it, they can only sit on benches after that))

I said, it’s really unfair for you to put it this way, if I do post on a forum, write a novel or draw a
cartoon, what I depend on are my two hands, it’s got nothing to do with my mouth, you can’t
malign a good body organ.

Afterwards, we slept till daybreak with our two large heads crammed on one pillow. I supposed
snatching pillows was a type of illness, it ought to be treated.

“Hey, I’ll buy an air conditioner and put it at your place, alright?” Jiang Chen suddenly said while
stopping at the traffic light.

I was distracted for a moment, what a familiar phrase.

“Hey, I’ll give you a set of drawing tools, alright? Hey, I’ll give you that set of manga that you’ve
wanted for a long time for your birthday, alright? Hey, I’ll treat you to a meal today, alright? Hey,
I’ll place my allowance for living expenses at your end, okay……” These were all things that
Jiang Chen had said to me during university every time he wanted to provide material assistance.

I asked him, “Is ‘alright?’ a fixed sentence pattern of yours?”

He obviously didn’t get it, he thought for a long time before saying, “Back then, we had a saying,
those in the arts faculty are all being kept*, back then I was afraid that you would think that I was
keeping you, and would think that I wasn’t respecting you enough, after that it became a habit.”
(T/N: ‘kept’ as in how a man keeps a mistress and provides her with financial and material
support)

I was silent for a very long time, finally I really couldn’t help but say, “How are you respecting
me……”

“Why?”

“Keeping me is only worth a set of drawing tools, a set of manga and what not, it should at least
be a diamond as big as my fist.”

Jiang Chen’s complexion suddenly darkened, it felt like our friendly conversation had inexplicably
broke down.

When the car had arrived downstairs of our company, I asked him cautiously, “Are you being
angry?”

He said, “That’s right.”

I said, “Why?”

He said, “It’s rare that I want to respect you for once, yet you’ve made it out into a joke.”

I scratched my head and asked, “Then how long are you preparing to be angry for?”

Jiang Chen parked the car by the side, turned around in his seat and glared at me, “Must you
infuriate me to the point of death?”

“No.” I explained, “I’m afraid that if you are angry for too long, you’ll forget about buying the air
conditioner for me, the weather is so hot…… Plus you love to sleep on the same pillow as
me…… Or is it that even though you are being angry, there will still be an air conditioner set to
my house in the afternoon? I’ll give my house keys to you?”
……

Jiang Chen glared at me for the duration of a century, finally he gave a long sigh and said, “Indeed
I worried too much back in the day, what do you have that is worth respecting.”

Nah, this big brother, it’s really rude of you to speak this way.

At noon, Jiang Chen gave me a call during my lunch break, saying that the air conditioner had
already been installed properly. I vigorously praised his efficiency at getting things done, then
proposed that I would reward him well tonight, on that end of the phone, he “ee”-ed and “oh”-ed,
and laughed really erotically, I felt really wronged, what I meant was that I would buy delicious
food for him……

I got off work first, I bought a large pile of delicious things and ran to the hospital to meet Jiang
Chen when he got off work.

This pile of delicious things included two cups of ice-cream, but till the point when the ice-cream
melted into two cups of muddy liquid, I still did not manage to have Jiang Chen and I feeding each
other bite after bite like I had envisioned. This was because, at the hospital entrance, I ran into Wu
Bosong and that girlfriend of his who was the purest woman in the world – Hu Ranran.

My mouth was open so wide it could at least cram in a fist.

Wu Bosong came over and clapped my shoulder, “Why, are you astonished by your sister-in-law’s
good looks?”

I closed my mouth slowly, and was dragged by him to face Hu Ranran, he said, “Ranran, this is
my best friend Chen Xiaoxi. Xiaoxi, Ranran, my girlfriend.”

Hu Ranran’s complexion was as white as paper, she moved the corners of her mouth a few times
to try and break out into a smile, but she didn’t succeed.

I stared at her, I guessed my expression currently was one of alarm.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Wu Bosong clapped me again, “Do you know each other?”

“We don’t know each other.” Hu Ranran rushed to speak, the expression in her eyes was that of
total pleading as she looked at me.

Wu Bosong looked at me puzzledly, I forced a smile, “I thought she looked a little familiar, it’s
possibly because she’s too pretty.”

Wu Bosong asked, “You came to find Jiang Chen?”

I nodded my head, my eyes fixed on Hu Ranran, “How about you guys? Why would you arrange
to meet at the hospital entrance? Does Miss Hu have a friend who is ill?”

Hu Ranran avoided my gaze, “I don’t, we just arranged to meet here.”

“Oh, then that’s great,” I said, but even I could tell that my tone of voice was rather peculiar.

Wu Bosong appeared to be thinking about something, but he too didn’t pursue the matter, he only
crooked his finger and tapped my head, “Did you sprain your tongue, be more courteous to my
wife.”

I curled my lip, “Fine, you want your wife and don’t want your friends.”

Wu Bosong ignored me, and held Hu Ranran’s hand. He used a tone of voice that was so intimate
til I wanted to vomit and said, “Let’s ask Xiaoxi and her boyfriend to eat with us, okay?”

Hu Ranran’s face continued to be pale, but she gently and agreeably nodded her head, “Okay.”

Tut…… This old woman and this old woman’s husband might not necessarily be willing to eat
with you guys.

Jiang Chen started when he saw Hu Ranran, and looked at me in puzzlement, I shook my head, he
smiled and sat down.

Wu Bosong introduced the two of them again, Jiang Chen smiled and nodded his head and said,
“Hello.”

Hu Ranran lowered her head and also said, “Hello.”

This meal progressed in a strange atmosphere, the only one who was comparatively more at ease
was Jiang Chen, the evidence was that old man ate his own portion and still ate half of mine, he
even insisted on taking that two ice creams in my plastic bag that had melted into liquid to throw
away, even though I kept on emphasising that once I put it back into the fridge, it would become a
good lad again after one hour.

Just before we separated, I specially exchanged phone numbers with Hu Ranran, saying that if we
were free, we should exchange our insights into being someone else’s girlfriend.

The moment I got onto Jiang Chen’s car, I began to pitter-patter and say malicious words about Hu
Ranran, Jiang Chen also didn’t respond, only till I was tired of talking did he say, “What are you
being so stirred up for?”

“She and that Secretary Zhang! They…… Aye, I’m so angry I could die!”
“What’s it got to do with you?” He said.

He had a point, but we often believed that we had the right to criticise others, and I had this
shortcoming.

I said, “Before this, I didn’t have any opinion of Hu Ranran, but she’s together with Wu Bosong!
Wu Bosong! How can I turn a blind eye to this?”

Jiang Chen glanced at me coldly, “Why can’t you?”

I didn’t know how to explain it to him, I could only repeatedly emphasis, “He is Wu Bosong! He
is Wu Bosong! Plus, he doesn’t know anything, he is Wu Bosong! Wu Bosong!”

I believed that if anyone heard me, they would definitely think that Wu Bosong was the new
leader of the country who had just taken office.

Jiang Chen suddenly pressed the brakes violently.

With all my might, I steadied my body that had almost flown out, then slowly turned around to
look at him, “You had better tell me that there was a dog or a ghost that had appeared in front of us
or something, if not I’m going to strangle you to death.”

Jiang Chen ignored me, his face darkened as he said, “Must you have such a big reaction to Wu
Bosong dating?”

I explained and said, “The main point is not that he is dating, it’s who he is dating, you don’t
know, Wu Bosong’s family has quite a complicated story, I feel that he is more suited to have a
simpler relationship.”

Jiang Chen sneered, “What relationship is simple? One with you?”

Ah? Ah!

I first stared blankly, after that I was suddenly enlightened. I pointed at him and said
disbelievingly, “You, you can’t possibly be jealous…… You weren’t jealous of Su Rui…… You’re
jealous of Wu Bosong…… Are you out of your mind?”

Jiang Chen pulled a long face and didn’t answer me, I too didn’t bother about it, mainly because
the shock I had received was too great. You think about it, normally Jiang Chen exhibited a face of
‘I am an adult, I never get randomly jealous’, so I as his girlfriend, though I undoubtedly wanted
to be unreasonably jealous when I saw the granddaughter of that Secretary Zhang, when I saw that
expression on his face that was so open and candid that he could act as a People’s Liberation Army
uncle, together with that image of his that was forever magnanimous and forever reasonable, I was
too embarrassed to do so.
The car stopped at the side of the road for a good ten minutes, I reminded him, “That, let’s go
home before being jealous, okay?”

Jiang Chen lifted his hand up, I suspected that he wanted to point his middle finger at me, but he
didn’t, he only started the car.

I attempted to explain him as the car advanced en route, “Wu Bosong wouldn’t like me, if he did
like me we would have gotten together in high school, so don’t let your imagination run wild.”

His face became even more sour, that’s right…… That’s exactly the effect I wanted.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 34
March 10, 2018

I got home. I let out at a giggle as I lifted my head to look at the shiny, brand-new air conditioner.
Air conditioner is literally one of the greatest invention by mankind, as well as the computer, the
television, the washing machine, the water heater, the car, the airplane……..and so on. In other
words, humans are simply amazing.

Jiang Chen was still seething on the couch, watching the television that was cranked up in an
unusually very loud volume. It made me wonder whether there was something wrong with the
TV’s audio, or that there was something wrong with Jiang Chen’s ears. I guess it’s the latter. When
someone is seeing red, they have the tendency to hurt their bodies the most.

After I was done giggling at the air conditioner in the living room, I ran inside the bedroom and
giggled at yet another air conditioner. Afterwards, I went out and patted Jiang Chen on the
shoulder and said, “I’m sorry for making you spend money, actually, buying one for the bedroom
was already enough, you could have left out this one in the living room.”

He continued staring at the television and didn’t even spare me a look. He casually picked up the
remote control on the coffee table, and turned on the air conditioner. With a quick eye and a deft
hand, I snatched the remote control from him, “Go take a shower, I’ll turn on the air conditioner in
my room. Just go inside after you’ve showered.”

You see, the space of the bedroom is a lot smaller than the living room, hence cooling it utilizes a
lot less electricity. Even though I didn’t like studying as a kid, however I firmly remember a
certain sentence in a certain piece of writing in my grade school literature and language textbook
— ‘A refrigerator is affordable, but we can’t afford the electricity.’ Alright, I admit that the things
which my mind usually chooses to remember are quite weird. Naturally after years of keeping the
good and getting rid of the bad, this piece of writing must have already been removed from the
grade school textbooks as it doesn’t conform with the harmonious development of society. (T/N: It
really does exist in 3rd grade literature and language textbooks, the title is “What’s Still Missing
In Our House?”)

Jiang Chen looked at me with a wooden expression on his face, “I’m not in the mood to take a
shower.”

I didn’t understand what he was saying, “What mood do you want to have for you to shower?”
He reached out for the remote control, so I hid it behind my back, “Take a shower, take a shower.”

He casted me a look, “Is this supposed to be a hint?”

I froze, my subconscious mind was throwing the remote control that I was holding at him,
“Who’s hinting at you, you…….you’re shameless!”

Jiang Chen probably has never been called shameless all his life, so he simply grabbed the remote
control and threw an unfathomable look my way. I showed him my most beautiful smile and then
broke into a run.

I quickly slammed the door shut with a bang, and locked it.

Outside, Jiang Chen was rapping on the door, “If you have the guts, show yourself to me!”

“I don’t have the guts.” I flatly declared.

I picked up the remote control on the computer desk and turned on the air conditioner, then in high
spirits, threw myself on the bed and pulled out a manga from under the pillow.

Lying down on my stomach, I was reading it while singing a song, and moving my legs about.

Until there was a sound of the door being unlocked, I was alerted and turned my head around,
Jiang Chen was leaning against the door frame, a bunch of keys were twirling on his index finger,
with a smile plastered on his face which was directed at me, “I’m shameless right?”

I think that when his dimple looks the sweetest, he’s about to bare his fangs…..

I shrieked, “Didn’t you already return the keys to me?”

“I had them duplicated.”

“How could you duplicate my keys without my consent!” I was so angry that I suddenly jumped,
standing right up on the bed.

He slowly walked towards me, “Because I’m shameless.”　　

……

I also took a few steps backwards. As I was standing on the bed, and the opportunity to tower over
him was hard to come by, I tried assuming an imposing air, only that when I opened my mouth,
my voice somehow came out weak, “Don’t come over here…….”
Jiang Chen grabbed hold of my ankle, dragging me with a firm grip. I fell head first on the bed,
luckily, the mattress was really soft.

His entirety immediately hung all over me. I narrowed my eyes at him, but wore a smile of
someone attempting to curry favor, “That, it was just a slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue.”　　

He leaned in closer and closer, until the tip of his nose was already touching mine, “Really?”

Only one word and his breath fanned all over my face, “Really, really! You have face, no one has
more face than you.” (T/N: you are shameless = you have no face)　

He rubbed his nose randomly on my face, this made me think of that pig I saw when I was a kid,
digging on a pile of bok choy with its snout.

As we were smilingly, and noisily about to take off our clothes to delve into a business justifying
social harmony, my phone suddenly rang.

I peeled off Jiang Chen from me, and crawled towards the bedside table enough to reach out for
my phone. Jiang Chen dragged me back by my ankle. I was begging at the same time stretching
my hand further to grab my phone. When I managed to take hold of it, I put it right before my
eyes to read, and said in a hurry, “Quit messing around, it’s Hu Ranran.”

Jiang Chen’s hands stopped, and I quickly picked up the call, my voice also sounded very perky,
“Hello.”

It was silent on the other end of the line, and then someone spoke, “It’s me, Hu Ranran.”

“En, I know.” I replied in a calm voice.

Silence. If the enemy doesn’t move, I would also not move.

After a long while, she said, begging me, “Would you please not tell him about that thing?”

Actually, I really wanted to tell her with a freezing irony and a scorching satire, “About what? Tell
what to whom?” But in the end, I still wasn’t able to say it. Jiang Chen had taught me very well, I
shouldn’t be a mean person, and at the very least, I should not be mean in front of others, hence I
just said, “He and I are good friends.”

She said, “I know, I……..”

She fell into silence, she probably didn’t know where to start.

I was holding the phone and glanced at Jiang Chen. He was using my thighs as a pillow, flipping
through the manga I was reading just now.
A deep sigh came from the other end, “I was only 15 when I became their housekeeper, just a
child from the countryside going to the city to work. The people in that residence were very nice
to me, I was also contented with what I have. But as I slowly grew up, I did not expect that the
more I grew, the more beautiful I became, I didn’t expect to get the attention of that damn old
man………”

There was a pregnant pause, and then she laughed hysterically to herself, “Hahaha, the more I
grew, the more beautiful I became…..haha………”

Her laughter, it sounded very miserable to me.

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and said, “Uhm, you finish the story first.”

“What I told you wasn’t really what happened. That time, there was no one at home. I was
mopping the floor when the old man came back. He sat on the couch, reading a newspaper. He
made me pour a glass of water for him, afterwards he pressed me on the couch. After that event,
he told me that he would be nice to me if I would be well-behaved and do what I was told. If I
won’t obey him, he would just have someone deal with my parents, he’d also make sure that I
wouldn’t find a job. What could I possibly do? I was only a 16-year old then.”

I was holding my phone, and had no idea what to give to her as a reply. My hand that was on my
hip was suddenly gripped by Jiang Chen. I looked down at him, he covered his face with the book,
and looked like he was already sleeping.　　

I tried to pull my hand free from his grip and said, “I can promise you I won’t tell him, but I hope
that you would handle it well. Don’t let him get hurt, he is a very important friend.”

“Thank you.”

I gave it another thought, and threatened her again, “If you hurt him, I will not let you get away
with it.”

After I was done saying it, I immediately regretted it, what line from which TV drama was I
talking about ah…..

Luckily, Hu Ranran didn’t jump on the opportunity to laugh at me, she just said, “I know, don’t
worry.”

She’s relatively kind on one hand.

After I hung up the phone, I was just about to look at Jiang Chen to have a chat with him, only to
find out that he already let go of my hand without me knowing. He was curled up in a ball and
have rolled to one corner of the bed, looking sullen.
I crawled over to him and tapped him, “What are you doing?”

“Don’t mind me.” He jerked his shoulders, shaking my hand off.

I was confused, “What’s wrong with you?”

He didn’t say anything, I froze there for a long time. As I felt that I couldn’t make head or tail with
his actions, I just turned around to prepare my change of clothes.　　

When I was rummaging through my drawers to look for a nicer-looking and newer underwear, my
mind has also been continuously calculating how costly it is to have a boyfriend. For instance, if I
were to be thick-skinned, I think I honestly need to get a new set of underwear. And for another
instance, I have a premonition that my electricity bill this month will go up and up……　　

“If he is your most important friend, then what am I?” Jiang Chen asked.　　

“Underwear.” I replied.

…….　　

Ah! I have to explain this. Just now, I was calculating in my head the maximum amount of
electricity an air conditioner can consume in an entire night — how much electricity would it cost
if it’s used once, how much would it cost if it’s the entire night, how much is the equivalent of one
month, because I suck in Math, hence I got into a trance when I was calculating. It reached to an
extent that when Jiang Chen spoke, I only caught the word ‘what’ and subconsciously transformed
this ‘what’ into the most plausible, ‘what are you looking for?’, that’s why the dialogue above
happened.

A quiet and strange atmosphere permeated the room, I had no choice but to arduously rewind back
to the sentence he was asking, after which, I wanted to strangle myself using the straps of my bra.
A Love So Beautiful (致我们单纯的小美好) – Chapter 35
March 12, 2018

Jiang Chen silently stood up, and walked out of the room. I followed behind him, explaining,
“You are my boyfriend, I misheard just now, I thought you were asking me what I was searching
for.”

He waved his hand and said, “I got it, you don’t need to say it.”

Basically, as someone who had just been likened to underwear, his reaction was overly
unperturbed, this made me very uneasy, because if someone compared me to underwear, my
reaction would at least be…… be more…… vulgar.

I watched Jiang Chen drag a suitcase from beside the sofa, dragging it into the room. I was very
amazed, when I entered the door I was only focused on exclaiming about the air conditioner, I
unexpectedly didn’t discover that there was such a large suitcase next to the sofa.

I followed behind his back foolishly, “Why is there a suitcase? Are you going on a business trip
tomorrow?”

“Go help me pour a glass of water.” He said.

“Oh.” I happily and diligently ran out to help him pour water.

Jiang Chen searched out a bottle of medicine from the suitcase, he poured out two pieces, then
swallowed them down together with the water, I couldn’t help but grab the bottle to have a look –
Vitamin U Aluminium Hydroxide and Magnesium Trisilicate Tablets, suitable for the following
diseases: Used for stomach, duodenal ulcerations, chronic gastritis, gastric hyperacidity, gastric
cramps etcetera.

I asked him, “Your stomach hurts?”

“Mm.” He sat by the bedside with his hand covering his stomach.

“You ate too much at dinner, you even ate my portion.” I took a pillow and passed it over to him.
“Use this to cover your stomach, it’ll be a little more comfortable.”

Jiang Chen pressed the pillow to his stomach, and said while furrowing his brows, “Clear out a
layer of your wardrobe, and help me put the clothes in the suitcase in.”

“Okay, I’ll put them now, why not you lie down and sleep for a while.” Looking at him with his
creased eyebrows and wan complexion, I felt that my heart hurt exceedingly. There will always be
that one person whom you would be willing to suffer in their place when you saw them in pain.
Don’t talk about keeping away clothes, even if it was collecting a dead body, I’d do it without
hesitation.

I took down the clothes in the topmost layer of my wardrobe, that layer was used for me to put
some clothes that I didn’t normally wear, anyway Jiang Chen was tall, in that case it was good for
me to put his clothes on top.

Till my clothes were all shifted into a bag, and his clothes were mostly in the wardrobe, I suddenly
felt that something was wrong somewhere, I turned around to look at Jiang Chen, he was lying on
my bed and flipping through a manga book idly.

I blinked my eyes slowly, and said, “Why do you want to place so many clothes at my place?”

He lowered the manga book, revealing two eyes, “This way, I wouldn’t have to bring clothes to
wash up and change into every time I come.”

He did have a point, he wasn’t wrong……

“Could you have brought too many clothes?” I tiptoed as I piled the clothes up.

“You’re really short.” He said, “Throw some clothes to me, I’m going to take a shower.”

“You’re still going to stay at my place tonight?” I turned around to ask him.

He threw the manga book aside easily, walked over, picked two pieces of clothing from the clothes
I was carrying and said, “Pack the clothes nicely, I’m going to take a shower.”

After he finished speaking, he patted my head, slung the clothes over his shoulder, and took large
steps akin to that of an uncle as he walked out of my room.

I felt a sort of bewilderment that he wasn’t answering all my questions, was this a misconception
of mine……
When Jiang Chen finished showering and came out, he had only put on a blue checkered pair of
trousers, his hair was dripping with water, the water droplets splashed onto his shoulder with
pattering sounds, then slid down his shoulder towards his sturdy chest, then rolled towards his
well-defined abdomen.

I swallowed my saliva, “That, the air conditioner is switched on, you had better wear your top.”

“I’ll wear it after I wipe myself dry.” He lifted his hand and wiped at the water on his face, “Help
me buy two towels tomorrow.”

“I have a new one in my cupboard, I’ll take it for you.” I searched out the towel from my cupboard
and passed it to him very excitedly, “I’ve already rinsed it with water, it’s very clean, you can use
it now.”

“Darlie Toothpaste? Can you give me articles for daily use that are not freebies?” He pointed at
the little black person’s head that was embroidered on (the towel) and asked.

I said, “Can’t you just regard it as embroidery? It’s just that the design is a little more special.
What’s more, freebies from an economical point of view are the most cost-effective.”

He scoffed disdainfully, “You had better know economics.”

I nodded my head solemnly, “At least I know how to talk nonsense.”

Jiang Chen shook his head helplessly, sat down at the bedside, and said, “Help me dry my hair.”

I climbed onto the bed, moved around to go behind his body and helped him dry his hair, his hair
was very soft, and was somewhat brown, I used the towel to rub lightly, other than him giving me
a glare when I couldn’t help but pluck out a strand of hair that was partially golden in colour, the
atmosphere was overall still considered to be not a bad one.

After I finished drying his hair, I leaned forward to rest on his shoulders, the act of drying one’s
hair sure was tiring.

During the night, I was sleeping in a half-conscious state, I vaguely sensed something brushing
lightly at my neck area, when I sent a slap across I heard a soft bellow, “Chen Xiaoxi, are you a
female boxer!”

I turned around dazedly to hug him, “What are you doing, not sleeping in the depth of the night?”

“I can’t sleep.”
“Why can’t you?” As I spoke, my eyelids were about to close again.

Then, I felt a pain of my face being pulled, Jiang Chen was pinching my face as he said, “My
stomach hurts.”

A lack of sleep easily causes one to birth evil thoughts in their heart, for example, currently I
wanted to say, if your stomach hurts, go to the side and continue hurting, if you harass me again
I’ll let you never have a chance to have a stomach ache again in your lifetime……

Thankfully, that humane part of me deep down in my heart kept on calling out, only then could I
reluctantly prop my eyes open and say to him, “I’ll go pour water and search for your medications
for you.”

As I spoke, I was about to climb up, he held me by the waist to stall me, “No need, accompany me
to chat to distract me.”

Having a heart-to-heart talk in the middle of the night was really, really bothersome.

But since I was mainly promoting my being kind and understanding in my identity as a girlfriend,
so I could only raise my spirits to deal with him, “What do you want to chat about?”

He said, “Chat about anything at random.”

Nah, you must be reasonable when you conduct yourself, you can’t say that you yourself want to
chat yet make me search for a topic of conversation, this sort of behaviour was extremely
irresponsible, extremely outrageous, he deserved to be dragged out and shot dead a hundred times.

I, being such a modern and resounding female, naturally would not look for a topic of
conversation of my own accord, so I said, “Did you do any surgeries today?”

“I didn’t, I was doing outpatient consultations all day today.”

“Oh.” I thought for a while, then said again, “Do you think Hu Ran Ran is pretty?”

“Pretty.”

“How pretty?”

“Prettier than you.”

I pinched the flesh on his waist and wrung it around, “I’m the female lead in your story, be more
courteous when you speak!”
He hugged me tightly with great force, it was the kind of tightness as if he was going to crush me
to pieces, forcing me to have no choice but to let go of my hand that was pinching at his flesh.

I said, “Do you think that her beauty is enough to have a man forgive her past?”

I felt that if a woman was pretty enough to a certain degree, it would form an inevitable magic
power, this sort of magic power would cause people to can’t help but forgive her for all the wrongs
she did. For example, Hu Ran Ran was so beautiful that she had the appearance of a vixen, so the
fact that she was really a vixen was actually classified as an innate skill and a human right, if you
didn’t forgive her, then you would really be too petty.

Jiang Chen was silent for a while, then said, “To me, it’s not enough.”

I said, “Then do you think Wu Bosong will break up with her?”

He said, “What’s it got to do with you if they break up.”

Look at how he said that, in this day and age, the cost of housing, the cost of oil, the cost of meat,
the cost of garlic, the cost of green beans, toxic milk powder*, toxic vaccines*, toxic
shampoos*…… they were all claimed to have nothing to do with me, but my good friend going
through a break-up was bound to have something to do with me, right, if not I’ll really have no
contributions to society. (T/N: If I’m not wrong, these are all infamous scandals in China. E.g.
toxic milk powder – a scandal in 2008 where formula milk powder was found to be contaminated
with melamine)

I said, “Of course it’s got something to do with me, if they break up, I have to go and comfort a
hurt Wu Bosong.”

That’s right, you didn’t misjudge, I too didn’t say anything wrong, I did have a cheap mouth, I did
like to provoke Jiang Chen till he was really angry…… But most likely my behaviour was too
obvious, Jiang Chen totally didn’t have the reaction that a normal crafty ‘black-bellied’* male lead
ought to have, not only did he not push me down and use his mouth to block my mouth, he too
didn’t rip my clothes apart and carry out a forced round of circles and crosses*. (T/N: ‘black-
bellied’/腹黑 – referring to a personality trope of male lead in Chinese romance novels/dramas
where the guy is secretly sly/manipulative/a bully [not really a negative connotation], you guys
can google it for a better explanation…) (T/N: ‘circles and crosses’ – *coughs* it refers to exactly
what you are thinking, I probably don’t have to spell it out……)

He said, “Chen Xiaoxi, next time, be a little less obvious, it’ll be easier to infuriate me.”

It wasn’t good for one to be too clever, life would lose a lot of fun.

Since I couldn’t tease him, I might as well seriously investigate this with him, “You really think
they will break up?”
“Not necessarily.”

“Why?”

“Because I am not Wu Bosong.”

……

If someone told you that they wanted to chat with you, but his answers to every single one of your
questions all pushed you to a situation where your cold sweat flowed directly (as you thought)
“what can I reply after this?”, would you want to kill him, slaughter him, or shoot him dead?

I sighed and started out afresh, “Then if it was me, would you forgive me?”

Don’t blame me for being tacky, the majority of women all liked to compare, if they asked you
whether you thought this person was pretty, their next line would be, then am I prettier or is she
prettier.

Jiang Chen was silent for as long as a century, then he said, “I would.”

I was caught off guard, because I had originally already prepared myself to receive his harsh
words, such as, “Of course I wouldn’t! I will slaughter you! I hope that you will die of AIDS!” and
so on. With such a word bursting forth from him suddenly, I was truly at a loss of what to do, I
could only mumble and question closely like a fool, “Why? Didn’t you say I’m not as pretty as she
is? Why?”

He kissed my forehead, “Because (I) love (you) enough.”

I don’t know how much romantic words other people can hear when they date, in any case, I’ve
never heard a single line, so when I heard that, I first doubted my ears, then I chewed on and
considered these four words repeatedly and carefully, finally I was certain that this was a romantic
line, only then did I begin to be touched after a delay, there was a large expanse of rumbling blank
space left in my brain, I only felt that the stomach ache, the middle of the night, romantic words
fished out from the hearts and the lungs*, these were truly too awesome! (T/N: ‘fished out from
the heart and the lungs’ – meaning wholeheartedly, devotedly)

Just as I was immersing myself in the pink bubbly world constructed by those romantic words, I
suddenly felt my pyjamas being lifted up.

My pink bubble was punctured with a pop, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, “Fellow student Jiang
Chen, can your hand not touch me randomly?”

“I’m not.”
I slapped his hand that was plastered on my stomach, “Then what is this?”

His tone of voice was very solemn and serious, “I’m not touching randomly, I’m touching very
purposefully.”

I rolled my eyes again, “Your stomach doesn’t hurt anymore?”

“It still hurts, chatting was ineffective, let’s do some other things for distraction.”

THE END.
I still can't get over.

Edited by:Art O. Merin(iammhjng_yíshu)