Chapter 97
Yellow Diamonds
The mountain trails were all carefully constructed with a gentle incline, perfect for taking a walk. Now and then, there were also pavilions along the path, both large and small, no two the same. Packaged food and water were left thoughtfully on the stone tables inside.
Shi Jin and Lian Jun walked slowly, holding hands, chatting about everyday things. In order not to put too much strain on Lian Jun’s legs, Shi Jin asked for a break every time they pa.s.sed a pavilion. By the third one, he finally noticed something wasn’t right—the food left in each pavilion was different. The first two pavilions held some ready-made snacks, nothing out of the ordinary, but when they arrived at the third one, what waited inside was a food box.
Shi Jin could no longer deceive himself and pretend that this was something the resort provided for the guests. He looked at Lian Jun. “Did you prepare all of these?”
“Yeah, I was afraid you’d get hungry. We’re climbing up a mountain, after all, it’s physical work,” Lian Jun replied, taking a plate of sweet-scented osmanthus cake from the insulated food box on the table and putting it in front of Shi Jin. “This was made from the first batch of osmanthus flowers blooming this year, have a taste.”
The mountain breeze caressed their faces, bringing with it the refreshing touch of the early morning, and a burst of the light fragrance of rice wine.
Shi Jin eyed the food box with a keen gaze.
“You really have a dog’s nose, you sniffed it out.” Lian Jun smiled and took out a bowl of glutinous rice dumplings in sweet fermented rice soup, saying, “You’re only allowed to drink a little—eating too much during exercise will give you a stomach ache.”
“Then why did you prepare so much food…” Shi Jin muttered, but obediently restrained himself to two pieces of osmanthus cake and a few mouthfuls of the soup. Once he was done, he patted his belly and sighed with satisfaction. “…Ah, it was delicious!”
The smile on Lian Jun’s face deepened, and he reached out to pinch the younger man’s face. “Your acting is too exaggerated.”
“What acting? I really do think this is delicious. Did a cook at the resort make these? When we leave, can I get some packed to take away?” Shi Jin asked, dead earnest, pulling his hand down and holding it.
Lian Jun returned his hold and nodded. “Of course.”
Shi Jin leaned over and gave him a thank-you kiss, then got up. They continued up the mountain, still holding each other’s hands.
Since they kept a slow pace and took frequent breaks, they didn’t reach the top of the mountain until after 10 o’clock. At that hour, the sun was already quite high in the sky, but fortunately, they were at a high enough alt.i.tude that they didn’t feel the heat.
There was also a pavilion on the terrace at the top of the mountain. As usual, there was a food box inside.
This time, Shi Jin didn’t rush to see what delicious things awaited him inside the box. Instead, as soon as they arrived, he helped Lian Jun to sit on the bench and squatted down to touch his legs.
“It’s okay, it really doesn’t hurt.” Lian Jun bent down to grab his hands.
Shi Jin looked at him with a frown. “Your forehead is covered with sweat, I don’t believe you.”
“I’m hot,” Lian Jun justified himself.
“The temperature up here isn’t that high—I’m not hot so why would you be this hot?” Shi Jin wasn’t that easy to fool. He rolled up his lover’s trouser legs and began to carefully knead his calves and knees. When he found that they were trembling, his expression instantly turned ugly.
“It’s just normal trembling after exercise, nothing more. It will be fine after a while,” Lian Jun hastily explained.
“I know,” Shi Jin replied, getting up and sitting on a stool next to Lian Jun. He put one of his legs on his lap and ma.s.saged it as he continued, “In the beginning, your whole leg used to tremble, but now it’s only your lower legs. It’s much better than before.”
Lian Jun looked at his lowered head and reached out to give it a gentle touch, calling out, “Shi Jin.”
“I was negligent, I shouldn’t have let you walk so far. This is a bit too much of a workout for one day.” Shi Jin adjusted his mood and raised his head to look at him. “You’re not allowed to do this in the future, no more bravado. If you’re uncomfortable, tell me right away—our goal is to make your body strong enough for treatment. We mustn’t be careless.”
When Lian Jun saw him like that, he couldn’t say anything other than, “I’m sorry, I was wrong. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Empty talk,” Shi Jin snorted coldly, motioning for him to change legs.
Lian Jun complied, obedient, then leaned over to take the food box from the table. “It’s not empty talk, I am prepared.”
“I’m not hungry at all, trying to coax me with food is useless,” Shi Jin firmly refused to be bribed.
Lian Jun smiled and reached into the food box. He took something out of it and offered it to his lover.
Shi Jin reluctantly shifted his gaze to glance over.
Resting on the palm of Lian Jun’s outspread hand, there lay a beautifully cut, dark blue diamond, scattering a brilliant pale blue halo in the sunlight.
Shi Jin’s hands paused in their kneading of Lian Jun’s leg, and he looked up at Lian Jun in a daze.
“This diamond was supposed to be set in the engagement ring I gave you.” Lian Jun rolled the small stone around the hollow of his hand, and he poked a dimple in Shi Jin’s face with a smile. “But then I hesitated, thinking what if you don’t like this color, or what if you don’t like diamonds? So I asked you in a roundabout way, and you said that gold looks best.” He gave Shi Jin a helpless look.
Shi Jin was immediately embarra.s.sed as he remembered the moment Lian Jun made his oblique inquiry, and he also remembered the way he answered.
At the time, he and Lian Jun were playing mahjong together. Out of the blue, Lian Jun asked him what kind of accessory Shi Jin would like on the hands of their avatars in-game, because he wanted to change their couple’s skin. Back then, he didn’t make the connection and wasn’t even a little bit suspicious—in the game, the hands were particularly visible because they appeared on the screen touching tiles when the player made a move, so it was normal to ask something like that.
And so, he gave a straightforward reply: Naturally, a big gold ring was the best! Gold was better than diamonds and jade because it straight out represented wealth! The auspicious symbol for the win!
…It turned out that that was Lian Jun feeling out his preference for rings.
He looked at the food box in Lian Jun’s hand in silence, his heart giving rise to a sudden ominous premonition.
Lian Jun glanced at him with a smile, stuffed the blue diamond into his hand, and pulled something else out of the food box, presenting it to him.
Shi Jin swallowed his saliva stiffly.
This time, it was a large gold ring lying on that pale palm, meticulously customized to look like the one that the character in the mahjong game wore. It looked very expensive and ostentatious, enough to make people cringe at the break through the fourth wall.
“You, you actually really…” Shi Jin took a breath, then gritted his teeth and reached for the ring. “It’s very good, I like it. And, my answer is yes.” He chose this engagement ring himself, so he would own up to it and wear it!
Lian Jun had a rare moment of being stunned, then chuckled. He put down the leg that had been resting on Shi Jin’s lap and reached out to pull him into a hug, sighing through his smile, “Didn’t you agree too easily?” There were no flowers, no candlelight dinner, no beautiful ring, and even the wedding proposal was like a casual interlude during their walk. How could this man be unbothered by all of that and just agree so simply?
Shi Jin looked at him, his eyes serious. “What do you mean, too easily? I was just being frank and honest. With the kind of relationship that we have, why would I put on any kind of act?”
“Yes, frank and honest, my mistake.” Lian Jun smiled contentedly and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Pulling back all of a sudden, he took the big gold ring from his hand. With a slight twist, it clicked and split into two, a delicate chain tumbling from the inside—it turned out to be hollow. Lian Jun grabbed the chain and pulled, and a simple, elegant, platinum ring set with yellow diamonds fell out.
Shi Jin’s eyes widened.
“This is the actual engagement ring. I was just trying to tease you with that first one, but who could have known you would agree so easily; it didn’t even faze you.” Lian Jun took the ring off the chain and slipped it onto Shi Jin’s finger, finding it a perfect fit. He admired it for a moment, unable to resist pressing a kiss to his lover’s fingers. “Do you like it?” he asked. “It’s not gold, but when the diamonds are set in a circle like this, it looks like gold from a distance. It was made according to my instructions.”
Where did it look like gold? It was much more beautiful than that!
Lian Jun’s real engagement ring was simple and slim. It was inlaid with small, flawless diamonds, superbly cut—despite being bright yellow, once they were set next to each other, the halo reflecting off the diamonds made the ring seem much softer, completely different from the shine of gold.
Stunned, Shi Jin touched the ring and asked, “Did you design it yourself?”
“Not completely, I also consulted several master jewelers,” Lian Jun replied, then asked again, “Do you like it?”
How could Shi Jin not like it? His beloved put so much thought into it, he would’ve loved it no matter how it looked.
Shi Jin answered with actions rather than words. Hugging Lian Jun, he pulled him into a kiss, closing his eyes. Lian Jun smiled as he returned the hold, and kissed back, full of tenderness.
Out of nowhere, a small metal crate slid down a zipline and stopped over the pavilion, opening with a bang to release countless rose petals. By some lucky coincidence, the mountain breeze blew just at that moment, making them dance in the air and flutter into the pavilion.
Startled by the sound, Shi Jin let go of Lian Jun and looked up, only to be shocked by the exaggerated scene of the petals floating everywhere. “What the heck is this?” he asked, utterly unromantic. There were so many petals they almost blotted out the sky, it looked odd and scary.
“The flowers I’m giving you—how could there be a proposal without flowers? But it doesn’t seem like you like them very much,” Lian Jun explained, holding out a hand to catch a petal as it came fluttering down. He soon discovered that Shi Jin was not pleasantly surprised, but instead he had ‘so inside, you’re actually… this kind of person’ written all over his face. He looked like he wanted to say he liked them but just couldn’t force himself to do so.
Inside his mind, Lian Jun immediately put a big black mark next to Gua Two’s name, the one to come up with the idea. He bent over to roll down his trouser legs, trying to ignore the omnipresent petals, then rose and took out a small fabric bag from the food box, putting it into Shi Jin’s hand. “It’s getting late, let’s take the cable car down the mountain,” he said.
Shi Jin was finally rescued from the awkwardness of wanting to praise the beauty of the petal rain but not being able to. He took the small bag and stuffed it straight into his pocket, asking, “There’s a cable car here?”
“Yes, it’s for guests who don’t want to climb the mountain but want to see the scenery. It’s on the other side of the mountain—we’ll reach it if we follow this road for a short while.” Lian Jun pointed to the right, where the path through the forest forked off.
Shi Jin felt it was a bit of a pity. “Eh, and here I was going to carry you down the mountain, that would be so romantic…”
Lian Jun didn’t think it would be romantic to be carried down the mountain by a lover eight years younger than him. He gave Shi Jin a deep look, took his hand, and decisively tugged him towards the fork in the path.
Shi Jin refused to give up. “Then why don’t I at least carry you to the cable car, your legs…”
“I’m fine, I’ve had enough rest and it’s not far,” Lian Jun hurried to interrupt him.
Acknowledging his refusal, Shi Jin let himself be led to the side path, sighing with regret.
If you’re seeing this notice, you’re reading this chapter on pirate site – the original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.
The cable car station was indeed close by—they only needed to walk for a few minutes, and there was already a staff member waiting for them when they arrived. They bent down to get into a very s.p.a.cious cable car… and a table filled with food appeared in front of Shi Jin.
He was stunned once more.
“Naturally, a proposal should be accompanied by a sumptuous meal,” Lian Jun said, ushering him into a seat and buckling his seat belt. He sat opposite him, buckled himself in as well, and motioned to the staff member outside to start the cable car.
Immediately, the cable car began to glide steadily along the ropeway, and soon rose over the mountain and hung in the mid-air. Outside, the stunning vista of the mountains, the sky, and the distant city came into view, the scenery enough to relax anybody in an instant.
Shi Jin stared without even realizing it, mesmerized.
In order to maintain stability, the cable car moved at a snail’s pace. It took a long time to reach the place with the most spectacular view, where it came to a gentle stop.
Lian Jun leaned forward and touched Shi Jin. “Are you scared?” he asked softly.
Shi Jin returned to himself and shook his head, looking away from the scenery outside. “No!” Eating while they were hanging between the green mountains and white clouds was a really exciting experience. He loved it!
“Then next time we come here, let’s go stargazing like this.” Lian Jun arranged the tableware for him, then poured him some wine and himself fruit juice. Raising his gla.s.s, he said, “Next time, I’ll drink with you.”
Shi Jin looked at his lover’s tender smile full of affection, and his heart flooded with warmth. He picked up his gla.s.s with a smile and clinked it against Lian Jun’s. “Okay.”
It was past noon before they reached the lower station of the cable car. After they got off, Shi Jin, who had drunk a little, asked to borrow an electric sightseeing car from the resort staff. Then he let Lian Jun sit next to him and took him for a drive around the resort.
“You’re drunk-driving,” Lian Jun accused him, mock-serious.
Shi Jin snorted with disdain. He put one arm around his lover’s waist and held the steering wheel with only one hand, and said proudly, “So what? With a beauty in my arms, even if I die in the next second, I’ll die without regrets.”
Lian Jun slapped his hand off and gave him a warning look.
Realizing he’d said the wrong thing, Shi Jin s.n.a.t.c.hed back his hand and slapped his mouth, then gave Lian Jun a fawning smile. After that, he behaved and kept both of his hands on the steering wheel, happily driving towards their villa.
From the side of the road, Gua Nine caught a glance of a wretched drunk cruising by with a beauty—oops, his boss in his arms. His eyebrows twitched, then he resolutely pretended he hadn’t seen anything. Rubbing his eyes which seemed to hurt for some reason, he went down a side path, heading to his own residence.
No one sleeps like a drunk does. When Shi Jin, who had only laid down to take a nap with Lian Jun, opened his eyes again, he found that it was already dark, and he was half-lying in a car heading back to the club, held in Lian Jun’s arms.
“Why are we going back? We haven’t met up with Aunt Lu yet,” he asked, confused. He didn’t realize at all that seeing Lu Shan had just been an excuse.
Gua Two, who was sitting in the pa.s.senger seat, turned around and looked at him like he was an idiot.
Lian Jun just smiled without replying, touching the ring on Shi Jin’s finger with a contented expression.
Two days later, Lian Jun specially made time to accompany Shi Jin to the orphanage to meet Jian Chenghua. It was only then that Shi Jin had the belated realisation that the trip to the resort was actually a date Lian Jun had planned out—or, to be more precise, a proposal date.
He was so embarra.s.sed that he wanted to kill his fool self, and madly poked Xiao Si in his mind: “Why didn’t you remind me?! My reaction to the whole date was so dull, wasn’t Lian Jun disappointed?”
Xiao Si stammered out, < Actually, I, I didn’t realize it either… But never mind! Your reaction was perfect, Darling was very happy, he absolutely wasn’t disappointed! Believe me! >
Recalling that the system was abnormally silent throughout the course of Lian Jun’s proposal, Shi Jin immediately became suspicious. “You knew about Lian Jun’s plan already, didn’t you?” he asked. “It was weird for you to be so quiet back then.”
Xiao Si’s voice instantly rose: < N-no, I didn’t! I didn’t eavesdrop on the phone call between Darling and Gua Two, and I haven’t deliberately trained myself to hold back my voice because I wanted to watch! I’m-I’m being unjustly accused! >
The lady doth protest too much. Angry, Shi Jin mercilessly closed Xiao Si in the “small black room” for three minutes. Ignoring its crying, he looked at Lian Jun sitting beside him.
Lian Jun was dressed more somber and low-key today, in a simple and elegant black robe without any patterns, a white brooch pinned to his chest. Shi Jin glanced at his own white shirt and black trousers, and his expression turned solemn.
This time, the main purpose of the trip was to visit Jian Jinwen’s grave. Before they left, he made a call to Jian Chenghua and briefly told him about his family and life experience, without concealing anything.
They picked up Jian Chenghua, who’d been waiting at the gate of the orphanage, and went to their destination together.
After he’d gotten in the car, Jian Chenghua kept looking at Shi Jin with a hesitant expression, letting out the occasional sigh.
Shi Jin smiled at him and said comfortingly, “The past is the past. I don’t resent my origins—the future is more important. And I’m doing very well now, and things will become even better in the future, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
Since Shi Jin took the initiative to bring the subject up on his own, Jian Chenghua couldn’t hold back any longer. Sighing, he said, “I just think… No, never mind, it’s good that you look at it like that. I was worried that you’d have the same personality as Jinwen, too sensitive and considerate. Yes, people should look forward to the future. Since you’re doing well, I can rest easy as well.”
Shi Jin nodded and smiled, offering a few more soothing words before he mentioned his studies, immediately drawing the old man’s attention away from the previous topic.
The atmosphere in the car relaxed. As Jian Chenghua let go of the weight on his mind, he regarded Lian Jun, who had kept silent beside Shi Jin the whole time, and said politely, “I’m sorry for my negligence, may I ask who…”
“My boyfriend,” Shi Jin replied with pride. Gesturing towards his ring finger, he smiled and added, “Or I should say, fiancé now.”
Lian Jun’s lips curled upon hearing this, and he greeted the old man politely.
Jian Chenghua was stunned. He looked back and forth between the two of them and said a few words of congratulations in a daze.
Shi Jin thanked him with a smile, then took Lian Jun’s hand and squeezed it gently. He was a little excited—this could be considered introducing Lian Jun to his family, right? It felt cool.
Lian Jun turned his head to glance at him, squeezing his hand back.
The interaction between the two was completely natural and almost too sweet. After recovering from his initial surprise, Jian Chenghua observed them carefully. When they looked at each other, their expressions would unconsciously soften and turn gentle—it was apparent they were truly fond of each other, and it wasn’t that Shi Jin was being coerced or anything like that. His poor Jinwen left too early and hadn’t managed to meet the right person, but fortunately, Shi Jin had already found someone to spend his life with, good, good.
The three arrived at the cemetery, each of them preoccupied with their own thoughts. When they got off and Jian Chenghua saw that Lian Jun needed to use a wheelchair, he was visibly shocked for a moment. Eyebrows wrinkling, he glanced at Shi Jin with distress.
Lian Jun noticed the change in the old man’s eyes and his hands, which were resting on the wheelchair’s armrests, lowered to fold over his abdomen.
Shi Jin pushed Lian Jun and followed Jian Chenghua to a grave under a tree.
Jian Jinwen’s tomb was very simple—just a small, four-sided structure with a plain gravestone, without even a picture.
“Jinwen said he wanted things to be kept simple after he died. I didn’t want him to be unhappy in the afterlife because he didn’t like his grave, so I did everything according to his wishes,” Jiang Chenghua explained, crouching down to wipe the tombstone.
Shi Jin hurried to help. Together with Jian Chenghua, he carefully swept the tomb, repainted the inscription on the tombstone, burned joss paper, and finally, solemnly lit a stick of incense.
Jian Chenghua kept on talking to the tombstone, just as if he was chatting with Jian Jinwen. He introduced Shi Jin and Lian Jun, and gave a general account of Shi Jin’s life experience; he intentionally avoided talking about the issue with Shi Xingrui, for fear that hearing it would make Jian Jinwen upset.
When the visit was almost finished, Shi Jin, under Jian Chenghua’s hopeful but embarra.s.sed gaze, faced the tombstone and called out “Uncle” to Jian Jinwen. The old man’s eyes went red at once; he wiped them and stuffed Shi Jin with a red envelope in Jian Jinwen’s stead, saying it was a gift from an uncle to a nephew upon their first meeting.
Shi Jin didn’t refuse but accepted it solemnly, and asked if he could call Jian Chenghua “grandfather”.
Jian Chenghua was taken by surprise and couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. He hugged Shi Jin and cried as he agreed, babbling in some native dialect that Shi Jin didn’t understand. Shi Jin consoled the old man carefully, letting out a soft sigh in his heart.
If this could bring some comfort to the old man who had been suffering for a lifetime, he was willing to shoulder the duty of the younger generation.
If you’re seeing this notice, you’re reading this chapter on pirate site – the original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.
In the end, Shi Jin returned to the club with two red envelopes and an ancestral jade bracelet.
Putting on a serious expression, Shi Jin held up the bracelet and said, “Grandpa told me that this is an heirloom of the Jian family. Every generation, a son will receive this bracelet from his mother and put it on his wife’s hand upon their marriage.”
Lian Jun raised his head and eyed him, then continued to look through the doc.u.ments.
Refusing to give up on the mischief-making, Shi Jin leaned over and touched the hand that was turning the pages.
Lian Jun let him do whatever he wanted.
Overjoyed, Shi Jin proceeded to try to put the bracelet on his wrist. However, after trying for a while, he was shocked to find that the bracelet was too small for Lian Jun to wear, and wilted like a week-old lettuce leaf under the blow of this discovery.
“This bracelet is obviously made to fit a girl. Although I’m thin, I still have a man’s frame.” Lian Jun took back his hand and patted Shi Jin on the head, saying, “Study more.”
You mean, I’m stupid so I should study more?
Shi Jin gave him an expressionless look, shook his head to throw off his hand, and left with the bracelet.
Lian Jun watched him leave. As he glanced at the calendar on the desk, his warm expression drew in a little and his lips tightened—tomorrow, Shi Jin was leaving for school. He wouldn’t be back for at least two months, until the military training finished.
It’s too long. I don’t want Shi Jin to leave.