Chapter 28.2
Chapter 28.2
Translated by Minodayz
Edited by MissBookie, Yecats, Maripaz
Proofread by Librismuse
When Li Erqin returned to the hostel, Su Zi simply stuffed a hand warmer (aka heat pack) into her hands and asked, “Everything’s alright?”
“Yup.” She took out a hand to ma.s.sage her frozen face. “It’s freezing!”
“Just now, the hostel warden mentioned that the weather will dip even more tomorrow.”
Stunned, Li Erqin could not accept this news and stood in place.
“Are you that scared of the cold?”
“Yes.”
A fellow hostel mate was walking by with her mouth rinsing cup and both girls (Su Zi & Li Erqin) stepped aside to let her pa.s.s. Su Zi then carried on, “What did Ruan Mingxian want with you?”
Li Erqin had removed and was in the process of hanging her outer coat into the wardrobe when she replied, “Nothing much. He wanted to apologise about the whole emcee thing.”
Su Zi nodded.
The hostel mate who had walked into the bathroom before was now coming out, and Su Zi asked her, “Is the water warm?”
She replied, “It’s rather warm. I suggest you hurry along and wash up.”
Su Zi asked Li Erqin, “Should we go wash up together?”
“Ok.”
© 2017 Meraki
tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All translations on this blog are for non-commercial purposes. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, except linking and excerpts with due credit to the translators and tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom, is strictly prohibited.
Both of them were squeezed together in front of a wash basin brushing their teeth. This was when Li Erqin was able to get over Ruan Mingxian’s confession to recall that Su Zi had been in tears earlier in the evening.
“Why were you crying this evening?” she asked.
Su Zi had just rinsed out the toothpaste foam from her mouth. “You really want to know?”
“Yup.”
Su Zi stopped everything and carefully observed Li Erqin’s expression before continuing, “I’ve come to realise that Rong Si has a crush on someone.”
“Yes …”
A surprised Su Zi asked, “You knew?”
“No, not really ..….”
Su Zi was confused.
“So you cried because Rong Si has a crush on someone?” Li Erqin brought the conversation back to the beginning.
Su Zi nodded. Then realizing that Li Erqin was still eyeing her, she sighed, “When the person I like likes someone else, it made me rather sad.”
“Oh.”
Li Erqin lowered her head.
She looked as if she was also feeling sad.
That night, Li Erqin had a dream. In that dream, there were flowers and trees with a wide expanse of the sea. Red flowers and green trees were growing from the vast blue sea.
In the middle of this bizarre world was an omnipresent tree of great height, almost touching the sky. Below the tree was a familiar figure, wearing a pure white shirt. When the wind blew past him, it lifted the hem of his shirt.
Li Erqin wasn’t able to clearly see his face, but she knew who he was.
(MissBookie: Ohhhhh…. Our Li Erqin is already having naughty dreams about Rong Si!!! )
It was Rong Si.
She felt a sense of urgency, a desperate wanting to run to his side. However, she found that she was surrounded by some strange cotton flowers and was unable to move her feet.
She struggled and persevered until her whole body had broken out in sweat, but there was nothing to show for her efforts.
As she lifted her head to gaze towards Rong Si, she saw a girl with long black hair emerge from behind the tree and jump onto his back. Rong Si bent over slightly from the unexpected weight but recovered his posture quickly. Then, smiling, he turned his head to speak to the girl on his back.
Li Erqin felt as if all the blood in her had frozen. Moreover, she felt like she wanted to cry but not a single teardrop would fall. An overwhelming sense of grief seemed to continuously billow and roil in her heart, and yet she could find no means of release. She was not even capable of screaming.
Over on the other side, the sun was shining brightly, but on her side, darkness was moving in quickly. It enveloped her and shrouded her head like last night’s sky before the moon had risen.
It was unbearable. Truly unbearable.
With a start, she opened her eyes only to find herself lying on her bed. The rest of the hostel roommates were still sound asleep. She rolled over and took her cell phone out from under her pillow to check the time – 05:40 AM.
There was still some time left to sleep, but no matter how hard she tried, sleep continued to elude her. She decided that she might as well get up and wash up. Silently, she left Su Zi a note before creeping out, closing the door behind her.
© 2017 Meraki
tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All translations on this blog are for non-commercial purposes. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, except linking and excerpts with due credit to the translators and tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom, is strictly prohibited.
It had rained the previous night, and since the sun had not risen yet, the sports field was enveloped in fog. With every breath she took, it felt as if she was inhaling wet mist.
Tranquility. The whole world seemed to be asleep.
Li Erqin felt as if she could hear the echoes of her own footsteps.
She removed her outer coat and found a dry spot to deposit it. She did some warm up exercises before slowly running onto the track for her jog. The fog was thick and thus visibility was only around ten metres. Li Erqin ran aimlessly and before long, tendrils of her hair, her eyelashes and brows were wet from the mist.
If she was to select her weakest subject from all the educational options, then Physical Education would be it. In first form (first year of middle school), Li Erqin took 5 minutes and 52 seconds to run the 800 metres. By the time she arrived panting at the finish line, the other students had already completed two rounds of cooling down exercises.
The PE teacher put down his stopwatch and smiled as he asked, “Why don’t you just hurry up and give up?”
Li Erqin was still trying to regain her breath when she looked at the teacher with a cool expression. “What is the meaning of give up?”
(Minodayz: ＼(＞０＜)／ 加油 atta girl LEQ!!! FIGHTING!!!)
After that, there was a long period of time where she would run alone in the silent mornings. In the third form, when she had to complete her final fitness test, Li Erqin had given the PE teacher a look for triumph and accomplishment when she had ran past the finishing line, achieving a pa.s.sing grade.
Although it was not the same teacher from the first form, she couldn’t help feeling proud of herself for making the mark.
— How many rounds have I run?
Li Erqin asked herself.
— I don’t know.
She replied immediately.
— I’m so tired. Am I about to be out of breath?
— Probably……
— Should I stop running?
— Just run for a bit longer ……
— No can do .….. I can’t run any further ..….
Just as Li Erqin was slowing down her pace to come to a stop, a familiar figure appeared by her side.
At the same time, she heard a beautiful voice flit by her ears, “Come on, *don’t give up.”
*(T/N: typical Chinese term – literally means add oil – adding fuel to fire I suppose.)
Li Erqin picked up her slackened pace as she saw the same figure in her dream running in front of her.
So close, she could almost reach out and grab him.
Those feelings she had suppressed all morning in the pit of her stomach seemed to dissipate as she gazed at his back profile. Instead, she felt an indescribable joy leap up and an insuppressible throbbing begin.
Inexplicably, she ran another round following behind Rong Si before she completely ran out of breath and had to slow down to a stop.
Once again, there was only a single, lone figure left on the race track.
© 2017 Meraki
tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. All translations on this blog are for non-commercial purposes. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, except linking and excerpts with due credit to the translators and tranzgeekDOTwordpressDOTcom, is strictly prohibited.
The temperature that morning was close to zero degrees, and Li Erqin had on two thin layers of clothings. However, she didn’t feel cold at all. Rather, she felt that her back was covered in a sheen of perspiration.
Rong Si had significantly picked up his pace from before, finished a lap and was starting another lap.
She could only stare in awe.
So, just then, he was running slowly just to look out for her?
As she thought about this, the honey sweet feelings she felt in her heart became even more p.r.o.nounced.
After Rong Si had completed his daily number of runs, he realised an idiot was looking at him, waiting where he had left her.
Helplessly he asked, “How come you’re still here?”
Li Erqin replied matter-of-factly, “Waiting for you.”
Rong Si let out a laugh. “Why are you waiting for me?”
“To have breakfast together.”
“Hurry up and put on your jacket.” With a tilt of his chin, he indicated the spot where she had left her jacket.
Li Erqin obediently went and put her jacket on.
Rong Si trailed behind her and waited until she had b.u.t.toned up every single b.u.t.ton on her jacket before saying, “I’ll walk you back to your hostel.”
“Aren’t we having breakfast first?”
Rong Si lowered his eyes to look at her. Her eyes were beaming like the rays of the morning sunrise.
He had to exert his willpower to turn her down. “I need to head back and shower.”
(Minodayz: ohhhhh RS, I can just see you wanting to give in to all her request ~ why you big softie too where LEQ is concern!!! melts! ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ))
(MissBookie: I think this is where we start serenading again! I’m going to keep doing this until… Well, until he kisses the girl!! Whose with me!?!?)
Li Erqin seemed to grasp the situation; she too had been perspiring. “Ok then. We will have breakfast after our showers.”
“Ok.”
She lifted her head and smiled.