You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 61 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



You’re Beautiful When You Smile
Chapter 61 Part 4

“How do we not match? Our looks? Intelligence? Family background? Or our height?” Su Luo laughed and used her chin to point at a couple in front of a bar not far away: “Even they can be together.”

Lu Sicheng turned to take a look. He saw a big, tall man pick up a girl that only went up to his armpits onto a motorcycle. The girl was still wearing a high school uniform and the man only wore a tank top, showing his muscular arms and the tattoos on them. He ruffled her head and took out a helmet to put on the girl’s head……

The girl smiled, reached her arms around his neck and pulled his head down so she could kiss him on his lips. Afterwards, she put on the helmet.

Su Luo: “That girl could be his daughter.”

Lu Sicheng turned his eyes back: What’s wrong with that?”

Su Luo was lost for words for a while, then gave Lu Sicheng a strange glance.

Su Luo: “What kind of person do you like exactly?”

Lu Sicheng: “......Someone who plays better games than me.”

Su Luo chuckled: “Wasn’t that just a publicity stunt?”

Lu Sicheng: “No, it’s not.”

Su Luo: “But does that person really exist? I heard that you’re very good at games. No one is better than you.”

“I never said it has to be the League of Legends. It can be someone who plays Tetris better than me. However, if it’s League of Legends, I would marry her without a second thought.” Lu Sicheng said with an expressionless face: “Good bye.”

Su Luo: “......”

Su Luo finally left. She couldn’t change Lu Sicheng’s mind in the end. She apologized and he said she didn’t have to. She said she would work hard to get use to his profession and he told her it was unnecessary. She suggested that they matched very well from head to toe but he had made no comment-- --

He was as stubborn as a stone that even lightning couldn’t split open.

Su Luo drove away, annoyed.  When she passed the gate she had just left, she could see Lu Sicheng was still standing there. She lowered the car window and was about to wave him goodbye. Suddenly, the man turned around and looked straight into the community-- --

Su Luo paused for a moment. Her intuition told her that he was looking at someone back there.

But her car had passed the gate and in the end, she didn’t see anything.

……

Under the dim lights, Lu Sicheng could see a figure getting closer. Finally, she stopped in front of him out of breath, huffing and puffing…...Lu Sicheng moved his lips and looked down at the person who only came up to his shoulder. As he was about to speak, she gestured for him to shut up.

Then she bent over with hands on her knees and took a few deep breaths.

“Did you pass your high school PE class?”

“A girl who can play games well, looks cute, and has a good personality is already hard to find. Now she has to pass PE class as well.” Tong Yao pulled the collar of her shirt up to wipe the sweat on her chin. “Don’t push it.”

“Which one of the series of requirements you just listed has anything to do with you, except the ‘play games well’ part?”

“......”

“What are you out here for?”

“Little Fatty said he’s hungry.” Tong Yao straightened up: “He sent me to get you to buy the crayfish.”

“You can’t make a phone call?”

“My phone is dead.” Tong Yao checked behind Lu Sicheng: “Where’s your blind date?”

“She’s gone.” Lu Sicheng took out his car key from his pocket and pat the person next to him on the head: “Let’s go, go buy the crayfish.”

“We have to walk back!”

“No one asked you to come out here.”

Lu Sicheng turned as he was speaking. After a few steps, he noticed that Tong Yao wasn’t following him. He stopped to look back and found her standing at the same place looking a short distance away-- --Lu Sicheng looked over and saw the high school girl and the man with arm tattoos were still at the same place, speaking intimately to each other. Something made the man so excited that he picked the girl up like a toy from the motocycle……


Tong Yao looked at them for a while before turning her head to see Lu Sicheng there. Both of her eyes were shining as if they said: “So cute.”

“......” Lu Sicheng sneered: “That’s cute to you?”

Tong Yao turned around and jogged to catch up with Lu Sicheng: “Aren’t they good together?”

“What’s so good about it?”

“You don’t understand anything.”

“Oh.”

Inside the community, the light from the street lamps elongated their shadows on the ground…...When Tong Yao fell behind Lu Sicheng, his shadow totally covered hers.

She looked up at the broad shoulders in front of her with unfinished words visible in her eyes.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 47 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Those Sweet Times
Chapter 47 Part 3

Xiang Nuan pulled on Lin Chuyan’s arm to see the exchange between Oblivion and Lin Chuyan. She was anxious but afraid to speak aloud, even her face was turning slightly red from trying to suppress her eagerness to know: “When did you two hook up together? Why don’t I know about it?”

Lin Chuyan laughed: “You look as if you’ve caught us in bed.” The last two words were delivered with the slow exhalation of his breath.

Xiang Nuan grew uncomfortable: “Hey……”

Lin Chuyan lightly patted the back of Xiang Nuan’s hand and said: “I think he’s quite a nice person.”

Xiang Nuan was speechless. She couldn’t get over the fact that she had met both Chen Yinghu and Oblivion first, then they all became good friends with Lin Chuyan.

To vent her displeasure, Xiang Nuan changed her remark on Lin Chuyan’s WeChat account to “social butterfly.”

Not to be outdone, Lin Chuyan also changed his remark for her to “little silly.”

They even rhymed……

Xiang Nuan couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Finally, after some negotiation, both of them changed the remarks back.

-- --

Lin Chuyan became sleepy right after midnight, yawning constantly. Xiang Nuan offered him a can of coffee but he refused.

Xiang Nuan thought he was going to overcome the drowsiness with just will power. She didn’t expect he would simply fall asleep on the desk.

It didn’t seem like he was concerned about the final exam at all.

Though neither of them were diligent students, Xiang Nuan still despised him.

With Lin Chuyan sleeping next to her, she felt even drowsier than before. If she couldn’t find something exciting to do, she’d soon fall asleep too.

She came up with a good idea. She was exhilarated from just thinking about it and accidentally chuckled aloud.

Shen Zemu took a glance at her.

Xiang Nuan took out several colored highlighters and one black marker. She painted Lin Chuyan’s face as if it were a drawing board. She painted with great vigor, laughing as she put colors on his face.

Shen Zemu shook his head, concern for the retard in his eyes.

To tell the truth, he was starting to doubt his own aesthetic taste.

After drawing for a while, Xiang Nuan took pictures of his face from different angles and felt quite refreshed.

……

After napping for a little over an hour, Lin Chuyan’s arms grew numb and he woke up in a daze.

He saw Xiang Nuan was sleeping, with two jackets on her; one was her own jacket and the other was Shen Zemu’s.

Lin Chuyan, with a straight face, lifted Shen Zemu’s jacket and put it on himself then put his own jacket onto Xiang Nuan’s body.

Shen Zemu was stupefied: “......” Did this person know the word shame??

“I especially want to wear Xuezhang’s jacket.” Lin Chuyan told him with a face full of scrawls and doodles.

Probably because it was so late into the night, Shen Zemu finally lost his self-control: “Get lost.”

He at least knew what shame was as he was too embarrassed to take the jacket off Lin Chuyan.

Lin Chuyan heedlessly left for the bathroom wearing Shen Zemu’s jacket.

There were always a multitude of ghost stories about bathrooms after midnight. There was a student relieving himself when Lin Chuyan walked in. The student heard him enter and turned to take a look. Under the dim white light, he saw someone walking with a ghostly face.

“Ah! ! !” The student screamed, directing his stream towards the wall.

Lin Chuyan was confused at how he could frighten a man so much: “Am I a ghost?”

“Yes, yes!”

Lin Chuyan sensed that something wasn’t right. He hurriedly went in front of the mirror and saw his face. He squinted and gritted his teeth: “Xiang - Nuan.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 34 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 34 Part 2

There were a few makeup artists and actors whom Ye Qiao didn’t recognize inside. Xu Yinshan’s assistant was sitting at the seat where Ye Qiao had set her bag. Ye Qiao asked her whether she had seen her bag. The assistant acted as if she was surprised and pretended to look around for her: “I haven’t seen it. Keep looking. Are you sure it’s not somewhere else in the room?”
Ye Qiao patiently told her that the bag was missing. Zhao Mo came over to help her search the room and asked Ye Qiao: “You went to the bathroom earlier, is it possible that you left it there?”

Ye Qiao thought about it for a second and turned to go to the bathroom.
Jars and bottles were strewn over the countertop in the bathroom, some having fallen to the floor. Ye Qiao’s white bag was wide open and flopped over in the corner of the counter. Everything inside the bag had been emptied out. Ye Qiao threw all the scattered lipsticks, moisturizers, makeup kits, and pens into the trash can. Then she checked the money, id cards, and credit cards inside her wallet. They were all there and still intact. She stuffed them all into her pocket and also threw the wallet into the trash can.
After she finished cleaning the items outside of her bag, she checked the inside. There was nothing left inside except an envelope.

Ye Qiao walked out of the bathroom, tearing off the seal on the envelope.
Inside the envelope was a stack of photographs. With each step she made with her high heels on the shining floor, she switched to another picture. There were pictures of her and Zhou Tingsheng in the garage of the airport, on the highway, coming and going into their apartments…… The angle of each picture seemed to be purposely making the situation as suggestive as possible. She could almost see the sensational headlines on the tabloids.
Who would take these pictures intentionally? Xu Yinshan?
Halfway through the hallway, she’d already gone through all the photos. Ye Qiao threw them into a nearby trash can.
The pictures dropped to the bottom of the trash can with a thud. Ye Qiao looked up and saw the male figure in all of the pictures standing in the hallway.

Ye Qiao paused for a moment. She thought he would at least stay in the audition room till the end of all the auditions, even if he was just pretending. She expected that he’d at least show some superficial interest.

Zhou Tingsheng glanced at the trash can: “What did you just throw away?”
“It’s nothing.” She prepared to move forward.
Zhou Tingsheng blocked her way: “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
Ye Qiao stood still: “I lost my phone.”
Zhou Tingsheng was relieved: “Stolen?”
She smiled: “Thrown away.”
He frowned again: “Why?”
Ye Qiao pushed him aside and walked forward, eyebrows raised: “Not because of you.”

Though her tone wasn’t friendly, her answer was a positive one. That still didn’t make Zhou Tingsheng happy. He seemed to believe at the bottom of his heart that he had to be the reason for Ye Qiao’s happiness or sadness. Even if she got angry to the point that she threw her cell phone away, it had to be because of him, not someone else. Zhou Tingsheng followed her into the elevator and pushed the floor for the underground parking lot. Ye Qiao gave him a look and pushed floor 11 instead.

The tips of Zhou Tingsheng’s eyebrows moved ever slightly: “Are you really this heartless?”
Ye Qiao had both of her hands in her pockets and amusedly asked: “It’s the Mid Autumn Festival. Doesn’t Mr. Zhou have family to go back to for the celebration?”
Zhou Tingsheng immediately replied: “No.” Then he smiled at her: “I just have one moon to chase after.”
Ye Qiao couldn’t hold it anymore and burst out chuckling. Then she changed her tone of voice: “Too bad that I have family that I have to be with.”
That was an irrefutable excuse. Zhou Tingsheng gathered his eyebrows: “To be with whom?” He remembered that Ye Qiao didn’t have a good relationship with her family.
Ye Qiao couldn’t help but giggle: “My grandma.” She was actually still debating whether to go or not, but the words just came out of her mouth. So now she planned to spend the night at her grandmother’s.

The elevator reached the lobby. Ye Qiao stepped out with one foot when she was suddenly lifted into the air as an arm circled her waist from behind and pulled her back into the elevator. There were several people waiting for the elevator outside. Zhou Tingsheng tightly held Ye Qiao right next to him despite the surprised gazes of the people outside. Only a female janitor entered the elevator, pushing a water tank, and stood face to face with both of them. They had limited space inside the elevator now. Ye Qiao was afraid to get her windbreaker dirty by touching the dirty water if she tried to struggle to break free. She angrily said: “This is kidnapping.”

Zhou Tingsheng treated the accusation as a compliment. Soon the elevator reached the underground garage. He carried Ye Qiao out of the elevator under the suspicious eyes of the janitor. He turned to the  janitor and said: “I’m just playing along with her.” Ye Qiao heard him, let him carry her to the car, and fasten the seat belt for her. Then she gazed at him gloomily.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 34 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 34 Part 1

There were no spotlight in the temporary audition room. The room was surrounded by dark black curtains with white lights shining on each person’s face, amplifying every blemish on each face.

Ye Qiao was like a pure narcissus. With saddened face and deep voice, she slowly delivered the last sentence of the audition script without making the tiniest mistake. It was an extremely heartrending confession, written in the classical style prose. Ye Qiao was superb at delivering lines which was rather rare amongst the younger generation of actors. Even without a voice over in post production, her enunciation and emotion while delivering her lines were always precise. Her performance at the audition brought everyone present into a world of fantasy set in ancient times.

Towards the end of her last line, Ye Qiao was secretly fuming inside.
The role she was auditioning for was an orphan, Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan had a rough life growing up, becoming an assassin as an adult. There was an abundance of internal emotions for an actress to show off her acting skill for this character. Instead, the selections she had received for the audition were mostly sections about love and romance.
She believed that it must have something to do with the person who was sitting off stage watching her audition.

Zhou Tingsheng flicked his thumb and his gold lighter lit up, the bright orange flame reflected deep inside his dark pupils. The sound of Ye Qiao’s voice quieted down in his ears, followed by Wang Qingming’s applause with compliments: “Director Lai’s favorite, a well-deserved reputation.” Ye Qiao modestly expressed that she was flattered. She saw, from the corners of her eyes, the flickering flame on Zhou Tingsheng’s hand and the smile on her face slightly stiffened. Zhou Tingsheng on the other hand lowered his head and smiled. Wang Qingming was a well seasoned man and the subtle interactions between Ye Qiao and Zhou Tingsheng didn’t escape his attention.

Before Ye Qiao left the room, the satisfied middle-aged director had started to compare the strengths and weaknesses of Ye Qiao and Pei Xindan with the people sitting next to him. He even asked Zhou Tingsheng’s opinion: “Mr. Zhou, what do you think?”
Zhou Tingsheng was dialing Ye Qiao’s number on his phone and absent-mindedly replied: “Everything is up to Director Wang to decide.” On his phone, it showed that the number didn’t connect.
It had been two days that he couldn’t get through Ye Qiao’s cell phone. Zhou Tingsheng suspected that she might have blocked his number.

Xu Yinshan who had waited there for half a day came in to the audition room quickly afterwards. She was displeased at the fact that Ye Qiao came later but had gotten to audition ahead of her. Before she entered the room, her eyes were full of insidious resentment. But when she stood on the stage and raised her eyes again, her eyes were all smiles. Zhou Tingsheng captured the subtle changes on her face and sneered. Without waiting for Xu Yinshan to start, he made an excuse to leave after saying goodbye to the director and the other representatives from the movie company.

He was in the room no more than twenty minutes, as if he was there specifically to see Ye Qiao’s performance. Wang Qingming had an idea of the underlying implications and exchanged an understanding look with the other partners. He had seen actresses who brought funding with them into a project, or investors willing to spend recklessly, but he rarely saw anyone who would do it so obviously.

In the hallway, Ye Qiao looked out the window and saw banners celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival flying in the wind at the businesses across the street. The advertisement on the digital screens were showing various attractively packaged moon cakes. She lifted up her wrist to look at her watch; today was the Mid-Autumn Festival.

For the past few years, her uncle would send her a message around this time, reminding her to visit her grandma’s house and have dinner together. This year she had no cell phone and it seemed that all her social connections had been severed. The world became abnormally quiet.
It was too bad that the sky was overcast. It seemed like it might rain. The best view of the moon was impossible to see.

Ye Qiao turned into the makeup room and discovered that her bag was nowhere to be found.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 61 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



You’re Beautiful When You Smile
Chapter 61 Part 3

Tong Yao went back to her own room and laid down on her bed. Before she fell asleep, she checked Tieba which was full of discussion about her duel with Lu Sicheng. Most of the people thought that Lu Sicheng had lost the match on purpose, only a small group of people believed otherwise. Their reason was quite straightforward; why would Lu Sicheng let her win?

Only a very few noticed Lu Sicheng’s mishap and complimented Tong Yao on her excellent play. However, comments like these were lost in the heated discussion.

Tong Yao grew bored of reading the posts after a while and threw her cell phone down to go to sleep.

A few hours later, Tong Yao was awoken by Little Fatty’s incoming text message. She confusedly opened her eyes and discovered that it was already dark outside. Little Fatty informed her: That woman’s here.

Tong Yao jumped up with a start to sit up on her bed, but fell back down on the bed again because the sudden movement made her dizzy after sleeping for so long…… Three seconds later, she remembered that the front door of the base was right under her window. She struggled to get up again and sneakily opened the window to look down. Just as expected, that long legged woman was standing right outside the base. Lu Sicheng stood in front of her with his back to the base, they were talking to each other.

All Tong Yao could see was the lit tip of the cigarette between Lu Sicheng’s fingers-- --

As far as she could remember, he hadn’t smoked for quite a while now.

After watching for a while next to the window, Tong Yao saw the two in front of the base were turning to head out. She almost called out to ask them where they were going. She stopped herself since she had realized it wasn’t her business to butt in. She pressed her lips tightly against each other and closed the window.

……

In the front yard of the base, Lu Sicheng had made it clear to the person in front of him that they weren’t a good match for each other. He suggested that it was getting late and he could see her home…...Su Luo sensed that Lu Sicheng had no intention to continue with the conversation and had to inform him that she had driven herself here. She had parked her car outside the residential community. Lu Sicheng thought about it and then said: “Then I’ll see you to the gate.”

Su Luo was quite irritated: This man was perfect inside out. How could he not be hers?

Su Luo realized that the distance between the ZGDX base to the parking lot outside the gate would be her last chance to try to change his mind.

“Lu Sicheng, is it because I made a too high-profile appearance when I went to see your competition last time and you’re unhappy about it?” Su Luo said: “I truly wasn’t doing it on purpose. I just answered the people who asked me questions. I had no idea that you’re this famous and those people would analyse what I said……”

“......” Lu Sicheng paused a bit: “It has nothing to do with that.”

“Your fans have made a big fuss about it. I’m really sorry about it.” Su Luo said with a frown: “They even located my Weibo account and some of them left really ugly messages saying that I’m shameless pretending to be your girlfriend-- --”

“Sorry.”

“Why are you saying sorry. It’s not your fault, it’s your fans……” Su Luo stopped for a while then continued: “I don’t quite understand the things in your esports circle. But if we have the chance to move forward, I’m willing to learn-- --”

“It has nothing to do with that.” Lu Sicheng extinguished the cigarette. Actually, he had only smoked a few puffs this whole time. Now, he just tossed it into the trash bin. “I don’t know whether Lu Yue had said some silly things to you, like the rules of this circle. But you don’t have to pay attention to what he said. The fact is that if I really want to develop a relationship with someone, I would take good care to protect her. She doesn’t have to learn anything.”

Lu Sicheng paused: “Therefore it has nothing to do with any of that.”

“Then, is it because you’re afraid to hurt your fans’ feelings?”

“This isn’t the entertainment circle. I’m just a game player, not a monk entering a monastery.”

“Then what exactly-- --”

“We’re not a good match.” Lu Sicheng simply replied.

The two had already reached the outside of the gate, probably because they were both tall and had long legs…...It was a busy street outside the gate and they could hear the music coming from bars. Under the street lights, Su Luo turned to look at the man who was only half a head taller than her. Half of his face was hidden in the shadow with stubble on his face. But it didn’t hide the fact that he was a handsome man-- --

The matter of fact tone when he said “she doesn’t have to learn anything” made her heart skip a beat.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 47 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Those Sweet Times
Chapter 47 Part 2

With Lin Chuyan playing a game next to her, Xiang Nuan had lost all interest in her math problems. She would periodically check his progress and sighed with regret when he died.

Shen Zemu couldn’t stand it anymore. He didn’t know whether it was his own misconceptions, but he truly felt that whenever Lin Chuyan was around Xiang Nuan, she didn’t act her normal.

He wanted to remind Xiang Nuan to concentrate on her studies. But before he opened his mouth, the longing look on her face amused him and hit the soft spot in his heart.

Shen Zemu switched his phone to silent mode, logged on to the game page, and handed the phone to Xiang Nuan: “Go play.”

Xiang Nuan was too embarrassed to take the phone.

Shen Zemu: “Only one match.”

“Thank you, Xuezhang!” Xiang Nuan hurriedly grabbed the phone.

Lin Chuyan: “Xiang Nuan, don’t play yet. I’m almost finished with this match. Let’s play duos for the next one.

Xiang Nuan: “Alright.”

Shen Zemu…...really regretted being soft-hearted.

Lin Chuyan finished the match in no time and formed a team with Xiang Nuan. He noticed that Oblivion was online as well and asked him to join the team.

Xiang Nuan thought, with a skilled player like Oblivion on board, they could win this match easily!

But the match didn’t go as she had anticipated.

During the match, all three of them played rather lacklusterly. One of the reasons was because Xiang Nuan, with Oblivion on her side, had chosen a champion which was very pretty but she was unfamiliar with. The other reason was because Oblivion was playing Luna rather poorly, committing numerous mistakes when moving and reacting very slowly.

They lost the match in the end. Xiang Nuan was disappointed and sulkily returned the phone to Shen Zemu. She really wanted to play one more match.

Shen Zemu however was unwavering, one match was one match.

Xiang Nuan thought about how Oblivion was acting so strangely today and leaned over to talk to Lin Chuyan about it. Lin Chuyan pulled his earbuds out and got closer to listen to her.

Xiang Nuan: “That Luna couldn’t be the real Oblivion. Do you think that’s his girlfriend?”

“No, Oblivion doesn’t have a girlfriend.” Lin Chuyan replied.

Xiang Nuan thought Lin Chuyan seemed to know a bit too much about Oblivion……

Lin Chuyan turned his face sideways to whisper in her ear: “Oblivion has frostbite on his hands. That’s why he moved so slowly.”

Xiang Nuan understood: “No wonder……” Then she shook her head and looked at Lin Chuyan in surprise: “How do you know about this?”

“He said so himself.”

“Why hasn’t he told me.” Xiang Nuan was feeling a little sad, she was the one who knew Oblivion first.

“You haven’t been on the game for several days. How could he tell you.”

Xiang Nuan accepted it since it was true.

As they spoke, Lin Chuyan got a WeChat notification on his cell phone. With her keen eyes, Xiang Nuan noticed that the message was from Oblivion. She asked with some bitterness: “What did Oblivion say to you?”

Lin Chuyan tapped the notification and found a voice message.

Oblivion was slow at typing, thus his messages were usually voice recordings. But when they were playing games, he wouldn’t get on a voice chat since his cell phone didn’t have enough memory to play the game and maintain the voice chat.

Lin Chuyan put one of the earbuds into Xiang Nuan’s ear. As he did so, his fingertips touched her skin.

He suppressed the tingling sensation in his heart and clicked on the voice message.

Xiang Nuan got to hear Oblivion’s voice. It was deep and full, yet his tone of speech was a little bashful: “Chuyan, the frostbite cream you recommended is very effective. Thanks.”

Lin Chuyan replied to Oblivion under Xiang Nuan’s surprised gaze: You’re welcome.

Oblivion: “What are you doing now?”

Lin Chuyan: I’m at the study room. Have a final tomorrow.

Oblivion: “Then go study. I’m going to sleep now. I have to work tomorrow.”

Lin Chuyan: Alright.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 61 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



You’re Beautiful When You Smile
Chapter 61 Part 2

[Good Luck Come Good Luck: …...Cheng Ge, did you deliberately lose the 1v1 this morning?]

[......: Why would I want to lose deliberately?]

[Good Luck Come Good Luck: Yang god said so.]

[Good Luck Come Good Luck: If not, then how could you have lost!]

[......:You want me to analyze the reason why I lost? Do you also want me to write an 800 word essay of self-criticism and confess to all my mistakes?]

[Good Luck Come Good Luck: Come on, you’re not being fair. The whole world thinks that you’ve lost the match on purpose!]

[......: I didn’t.]

[......: I miscalculated the distance to the minion lane and she grabbed the chance.]

[Good Luck Come Good Luck: It doesn’t look like the kind of mistake you would make.]

[......: I’m not a supernatural being that doesn’t make mistakes. Besides, why would I lose to her on purpose?]

[Good Luck Come Good Luck: ……………………..I don’t know about you, but I would only be this gentle when I fall for a girl anyway.]

[......: Our Mid wouldn’t understand a profound trick like this. After she won, I figure all she’s thinking about now is how to replace me as the team captain. To be gentle to her would be merciless to me.]

Tong Yao: “......”

The chat stopped there.

A peaceful male voice sounded right behind Tong Yao: “Have you seen enough?”

Tong Yao shivered and dropped Lu Sicheng’s mouse. She bounced back onto her chair and sat up straight. With her back leaning against one of the arms on her chair, she spoke incoherently: “Xiao Rui let me send a file to him, the one for salary deduction. He said it’s on your computer, he let me send it……”

Tong Yao watched Lu Sicheng bending over and holding the mouse to minimize the chat window. Then he located the file on his computer…...While he was doing all that, Tong Yao was silent at first, then asked: “So did you lose to me on purpose this morning?”

Lu Sicheng pulled out the file and started sending it to Xiao Rui. He turned his head and asked in a flat tone: “What do you think?”

Tong Yao thought about it: “I don’t think so.”

Lu Sicheng: “En. You aren’t a little girl who needs to be coaxed.”

Tong Yao: “Oh.” Then she lowered her head, pulling her hair behind her ears-- --At the same time, the corners of her lips couldn’t stop from curving upwards.

Lu Sicheng: “As if you would understand this kind of trick. To you, it would be just like casting pearls before swine.”

Tong Yao: “......”

Her curved lips twitched a little, then flattened again.

Tong Yao: “I can understand it. I have a girlish heart.”

Lu Sicheng: “Like hell you do.”

Tong Yao: “......”

Tong Yao started to play a ranked match. She played two matches. In each of the matches, she would imagine every Mid champion she faced had Lu Sicheng’s face. Then she would easily smash the enemy no matter how high their level was…...After two rounds, she was squarely ranked at Masters on the Korean servers. She pushed away the keyboard and stood up to stretch. She decided to go take an afternoon nap.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 47 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Those Sweet Times
Chapter 47 Part 1

As if there was an unspoken understanding between the two, Shen Zemu and Lin Chuyan both sat down beside Xiang Nuan.

Lin Chuyan actually preferred to have sat between Shen Zemu and Xiang Nuan, nonetheless, Shen Zemu wouldn’t ever let him have his way.

Xiang Nuan wasn’t in the mood to notice the implicit struggle between the two men. What she was focusing on at the present was studying, especially the very fascinating calculus.

Lin Chuyan saw Xiang Nuan’s calculus textbook and said to her: “You can ask me if you have questions.”

It was very quiet in the room. He had spoken in a very low voice in order not to disturb other students. Xiang Nuan felt like teasing him for his arrogance, yet his low voice sounded more appealing and Xiang Nuan simply hmphed as a reply without saying anything else.

With Xiang Nuan sitting in the middle, Shen Zemu couldn’t hear what Lin Chuyan was saying. All he could tell was that Xiang Nuan and Lin Chuyan were whispering to each other. He turned sideways to glance at Xiang Nuan and noticed her aspirational expression on her face.

She always was full of self confidence.

Xiang Nuan studied the textbook and worked on the problems on her own. It went smoothly in the beginning but before long, she started to frown, twisting the cap of her pen, then crossed off all the mathematical equations she had written on the paper. She tore off the page and tried the problem again from the beginning.

Lin Chuyan picked up the crumpled paper that Xiang Nuan had discarded. He smoothed out the paper and took a look, then he pointed at one of the lines: “You made a mistake here.”

“Hmm, hmm.” She found it difficult to ask for help from Lin Chuyan.

Lin Chuyan held back the impulse to laugh and moved closer to her.

Without waiting for her response, Lin Chuyan took the pen from Xiang Nuan and started to do the math equation on the blank paper. He explained to her in a tiny voice while working on the problem step by step.

Lin Chuyan’s handwriting was as uninhibited as his person. He rapidly wrote down equations with a clear train of thought and would stop from time to time to explain to her patiently. He slowed down when speaking to her so she could follow him. Afterwards, he would ask: “Understand? En?” The tail sound of the ‘en’ would rise up like a teasing finger lightly tickling her eardrums.

Xiang Nuan almost got drunk off his voice: “Understood. I got it.”

Lin Chuyan curved up the corner of his lips and continued with his explanation of the problem.

Though she felt quite lucky to be able to listen to Lin Chuyan explaining the math problem for her, somehow she just couldn’t maintain her concentration. Her mind would wander off after listening for a while. In the end, Lin Chuyan asked her whether she knew how to solve the problem or not, she could only nod.

Xiang Nuan decided she couldn’t continue like this.

After a while, Xiang Nuan had trouble with another problem. She was too afraid to ask Lin Chuyan, but moved closer to Shen Zemu: “Xuezhang, do you know how to solve this problem?”

Lin Chuyan: “......” It was like a slap to his face.

Shen Zemu was an automation major and had learned calculus long ago. Besides, he had to constantly use it for his classes. There was no problem in Xiang Nuan’s textbook which he couldn’t solve..

He started to explain to Xiang Nuan expertly.

The calculus for management majors was comparatively easier. Xiang Nuan could understand most of them and only needed extra help at some key points and the application of them. However, the thought that she had to deal with calculus the whole night became rather unbearable.

She took out a bottle of spray from her backpack and sprayed her face. The fresh feeling cleared her head.

“What’s that?” Lin Chuyan asked.

“Moisture replenishment. You want it?”

Lin Chuyan closed his eyes.

Xiang Nuan sprayed some on his face and discovered that Lin Chuyan had very good skin as she was doing so. With his eyes closed and mouth quiet, he was such a pleasure to look at, just like a painting.

It was just too bad that such a face belonged to such an eccentric person.

After spraying, Xiang Nuan continued studying calculus while Lin Chuyan pulled out his cell phone and logged onto Kings of Glory.

Xiang Nuan happened to look up and saw it.

She hadn’t played the game for a few days and it felt particularly satisfying seeing the game’s home page.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Announcement: Updates to You're Beautiful When You Smile

Hello all,

We noticed that the original raws we were using for a few chapters for You're Beautiful When You Smile was missing lines of dialogue.  We've updated the existing chapters with the missing parts:

• Chapter 53-2
• Chapter 54-1
• Chapter 54-6
• Chapter 55-1

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 33 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.




Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 33 Part 3

It seemed that adversaries were bound to cross paths. Xu Yinshan was supposed have her audition earlier, but at the scheduled time, there was an empty seat next to the director and the representative from Hengshan Pictures. The staff explained to her that the investor side also wanted to be present at the audition, but the representative for the investor had just arrived at Yang City this morning and was now stuck in traffic on the way to the studio. Xu Yinshan was asked to wait a bit longer.

If it wasn’t for the delay, she wouldn’t be in the makeup room at the same time with Ye Qiao.

Xu Yinshan was indignant, it was obvious that she had been treated unfairly. The actress who auditioned before her was Pei Xindan, currently the most popular actress in the country. When Pei Xindan did the audition, the investor side hadn’t shown up and she only showed her face there then left. She was obviously the designated female lead for the film. She was there only to let the director see how the character would look inside the camera and to confirm the casting. Pei Xindan had been in many popular TV dramas every year in the past few years. She had also acted in major movies and had won lead actress awards for both TV dramas and movies. She was at the height of her career; she was even more capable at raking in big bucks in the box office than Cheng Jiang. There wasn’t a second thought that she should be the lead in <Innocent City.>

With Pei Xindan being one of the two female leads, Xu Yinshan had to get the other female role in order to be a lead in this film. She had always been cast as the second female lead throughout her career. There were only so many years for an actress to be cast as a lead. She’d often had the bad luck despite acting in popular films, no one seemed to notice her performance in them. She had made up her mind that she had to strive for the role. Besides, she believed she had built a solid network in the business and a good image in front of the media. There was no reason why she couldn’t work with Pei Xindan side by side.

Ye Qiao went to the audition room directly and shook hands with Director Wang and the others present there. Director Wang Qingming knew Director Lai well. It was Director Lai’s recommendation that Ye Qiao got a chance to audition. Director Wang smiled and spoke in a heavy Hong Kong accent: “I hope you won’t disappoint me.” Ye Qiao was flattered and humbly said that she would do her best.

As she was leaving the room to prepare for the audition, she overheard a conversation amongst some of the new actors.

-- -- “I saw the investor just as I came in here. He’s the kind that you would ask to get on his casting couch.”

-- -- “You’re exaggerating?”

-- -- “Go take a look yourself…...he looks a bit like Lu Qing. But Lu Qing is getting old, he needs makeup to look good on camera! This one is much younger, just a little too aloof.”

When Ye Qiao pushed the door to the makeup room, Xu Yinshan was throwing a fit at her assistant with a dark face. She raised her eyelids and coldly glanced at Ye Qiao. As if she was afraid that Ye Qiao didn’t see her expression, she also sneered at Ye Qiao. There was a maelstrom of emotions in Xu Yinshan’s eyes when she looked at Ye Qiao, spite and disdain, as if to say-- --So this is all you amount to.

Ye Qiao knew that Xu Yinshan had connected with a famous producer lately through Cheng Jiang and had grown even more conceited. However, she didn’t know what she had done lately to make Xu Yinshang this annoyed at her.

She found it out when she heard the sound of the arriving elevator and turned to take a look before she pushed the door open. Two staff members accompanying a familiar figure appeared in the hallway. He towered over the others and conversed with the people next to him with downcast eyes. Ye Qiao saw him from afar and finally understood what had been going on behind the scenes.

Ye Qiao was wearing a pair of white boots with the same colored suit, only a small bit of her knee caps were exposed. She stood in the hallway, so pure that the viewer wanted to add some color to her. When Zhou Tingsheng looked up, Ye Qiao happened to look his way as if she was waiting there for him to come closer.

Ye Qiao watched him for a while, the corners of her lips moved a bit. Then she turned to go into the rest room without much expression. She seemed to mock his childish trick and taunt at his clumsiness after she had seen through it. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel happiness swelling from the bottom of her heart, something she had been waiting for, for a long time now.
Before she could step into the room, Zhou Tingsheng grabbed her thin arm and slightly raised his long eyebrows: “Aren’t you here for the audition? Aren’t you going into the wrong room?”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 33 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 33 Part 2

Zhao Mo bashfully replied: “I’m going to Yang City for an audition this time. It’s the new picture <Innocent City> that’s being produced by Hengshan Pictures and will be directed by Wang Qingming. There’s a rumor online saying that Director Wang has contacted your agency and would like you to play one of the two main female leads. Is it true?” In reality, she already knew the answer as she was asking. Ye Qiao was flying to Yang City at this time, obviously the rumor was basically accurate.

Ye Qiao frowned. From her understanding, she still wasn’t sure that she would get the part in <Innocent City>. The rumor circulating online couldn’t possibly have been leaked by the producer or her own agency through official channels. An actress who spread the news that she had gotten the lead without having been officially confirmed as part of the cast would run the risk of being seen as a self-promoter in the eyes of the director. Who would deliberately spread such a rumor?

She couldn’t hide the fact that she was going for an audition for the film. Ye Qiao casually explained: “I’m only going for an audition. There’s no guarantee of the final result. You’ve done quite a few films now, you should know very well how the non-disclosure agreement is written.”
Zhao Mo realized that she had asked something she shouldn’t have. Fortunately, the speaker announced that it was boarding time and thus ended the awkwardness.

After they got off the plane, they went to the same hotel, on different floors.
Ye Qiao’s room was arranged by the production company and it was a VIP suite. Since Shen Ting was still on vacation, Ye Qiao came by herself without much luggage. She let Zhao Mo check in first. Zhao Mo held her boyfriend’s hand tightly and forced a smile at Ye Qiao before going ahead to the elevator. She had a lot of luggage and it took some effort, with the help of Shen Yi, to get everything into the elevator. Right before the doors closed, Zhao Mo glanced at Ye Qiao, now in front of the check-in counter with only a few items, and quietly bit her lower lip.

Shen Yi was talking about the plan for the next two days: “Tomorrow, I’ll go talk to the advertisement company about my modeling job while you’re doing the audition. Afterwards, we can go eat at Arts Street. After we’re done with our business, we can tour Yang City for a couple of days. How is that?”
Zhao Mo’s mind was elsewhere: “En? What?”
Shen Yi was a little annoyed: “What’s wrong with you today? You’ve been distracted ever since we were in the airport……”

That night, Ye Qiao fell into a bout of endless insomnia again.
In the city where she had grown up, she experienced 13 years of vicissitudes in life. All the memories floated into her head. It was a short 13 years in her life while she was only a child, yet she felt like she had experienced the cycle of birth, old age, sickness and death with all the joy and sorrow, good and evil in life.

The moonlight came into the room through the lace curtains on the window. Ye Qiao inadvertently remembered lines from an ancient poem: Who was the first one to see the moon along the river bank? When did the moon first start to shine on the river?
Only the moon would keep a person company year after year regardless of the joy and sorrow in her life, gently yet heartlessly.
Conflicting feelings occupied Ye Qiao’s mind; she had to take a Diazepam tablet to go to sleep.

The next day, Ye Qiao went to the location for the audition and met Zhao Mo again.
The movie studio was located at a remote part of Yang City. The air there was much fresher than inside the city.  Ye Qiao took off her face mask and went to the restroom to wash her hands. Zhao Mo was in the restroom touching up her makeup. They insipidly greeted each other. Zhao Mo watched Ye Qiao pump out liquid soap and slowly washed out the bubbles between her fingers. Ye Qiao’s fair skin face reflected in the same mirror as hers, yet Ye Qiao’s was even more gleaming and natural than her delicately made up face. Zhao Mo suddenly put down her foundation case and said: “Yesterday…...thank you.”
Ye Qiao looked up: “En?”

Ye Qiao’s indifferent attitude made Zhao Mo’s concern seem unnecessary. Zhao Mo had made up her mind to clarify everything with Ye Qiao: “Shen Yi and I…...are going to get married in the future.”
Ye Qiao recalled the person with the name Shen Yi and those two gentle dimples came to mind. She smiled: “Congratulations.” She didn’t say anything more.
When she turned around to leave, Zhao Mo called out to her again. She wanted to make it all clear to Ye Qiao but didn’t know how it could be “clear.” How could she make something that was unclear in the beginning “clear” now.”

Ye Qaio turned to see Zhao Mo’s uneasy expression. She understood what Zhao Mo was trying to convey to her: “For many things, it’s not important whether other people remember it or not, or tell others or not. The important thing is not to give the chance for people to remember or tell someone. Since you’re planning to marry him, then you should remind yourself what you should do and not do, whenever the many “opportunities” arise in the future. Aren’t these things already clear to yourself?”
Ye Qiao suddenly gathered her eyebrows and said: “I’ve seen your performance in <The Watcher>, you have talent and work very hard. I hope you don’t dwell on the past too much. We will probably work on the same film again. If you’re going to have a wedding, I’ll send you a gift.”

There was nothing else that Ye Qiao could say. She left the restroom and went to the makeup room to set her bag down. Xu Yinshan happened to be in there.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 61 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



You’re Beautiful When You Smile
Chapter 61 Part 1

“......Is the cat gripping your sleeve with its teeth or held onto your leg to prevent you from leaving?” Xiao Rui was at a loss.

“All of the above.” Lu Sicheng briefly replied, then added after giving it some thought: “If that Su Luo wants to come to the base, then just let her come. It’s good if I can make it clear to her in front of the base so I don’t have to drive. I just washed my car. It’s too much trouble to drive.”

“En. There’s no love affairs in esports.” Xiao Rui nodded: “Our goal is the championship.”

Lu Sicheng gave him a look and mumbled: “What does that have anything to do with this.” He then stood up from the sofa. As Xiao Rui continued to make a fuss, “Yo, what do you mean by that, Captain? Are you planning to have some sort of pink relationship with someone?” he had already returned to his computer-- --That was also the moment Dabing grew impatient being held on top of Tong Yao’s face and struggled to free itself. Its paws stepped over Tong Yao’s face and the cat ran off towards Xiao Rui. Xiao Rui had been feeding Dabing canned cat food lately, so now Dabing had started to treat him as its new daddy.

Xiao Rui picked up Dabing and was about to open another can.

“Don’t feed it canned food all the time. Dabing has become a picky eater now. When we go home for vacation, I’ll ask club to reimburse us for all canned food expenses-- --You’re committing a crime.”

Tong Yao sat up on the sofa and wiped her face. Her voice was still unsteady. She sneaked a peak at Lu Sicheng’s direction while speaking-- --He was looking down at his computer, either playing some games or replying to someone's message……

Tong Yao looked back at Xiao Rui.

“Speaking of committing a crime. I saw your Dabing committing a crime one day at midnight.” Xiao Rui came closer and whispered to Tong Yao: “That night, as the captain went to the bathroom, your cat jumped onto his desk and started to scoop the fish. It was a mess, water everywhere on the desk and cat fur floating in the fish bowl. When the captain came back, I thought he would kill the cat and was already on my phone ready to call the police. Who knew he’d just simply picked up Dabing to set it on the floor, then quietly went to change the water in the fish bowl and wipe his desk clean…...and never said anything about it.”

Tong Yao: “......”

Tong Yao was deeply alarmed by the story, she grabbed the cat’s paw and forcefully slapped on it a few times.

Dabing squealed as if it had been unfairly treated by Tong Yao.

Tong Yao said with a frightened look on her face: “I haven’t wronged you! You’re almost dead!”

“One time Little Fatty fed the fish too much fish food and two of the fish died from overeating. During the training sessions for that week, Cheng Ge refused to use heal (*a Summoner’s skill that ADC carry which recovers health to allied champions nearby, possibly saving their life)......He just watched his support die then turned around to walk away. It was so painful to watch that.” Xiao Rui suddenly paused: “What do you think suddenly changed Cheng Ge into such a loving person?”

Tong Yao dropped Dabing’s paw and looked up: “What?”

Xiao Rui: “About Dabing, Cheng Ge is especially patient with Dabing.”

Tong Yao paused for a while: “Really? Maybe it’s because our Dabing’s good looking.”

Xiao Rui: “Gook looking or not, didn’t he keep calling Dabing the little furry beast…...Hmph, Bing Baby, when have you become so popular?”

Dabing sneezed.

Tong Yao: “......”

While Xiao Rui was holding Dabing up and rubbing his face against Dabing’s, Tong Yao stood up from the sofa, rubbed her burning earlobes, and went back to her computer. She logged on to the game and planned to play a couple of ranked matches to calm herself down-- --Seeing Tong Yao sit down next to him, Lu Sicheng stood up to go to the bathroom……

Xiao Rui called out to Tong Yao from the living room: “Tong Yao, send the file of this month’s rank statistics on Cheng Ge’s computer to me. It’s the exciting time each month to calculate the salary deduction.”

“Oh.” Tong Yao answered, then leaned over to grab Lu Sicheng’s mouse. Before she could reach it, she looked up at the computer screen and discovered that Lu Sicheng was chatting with CK’s Top-- --

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 46 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Those Sweet Times
Chapter 46 Part 4

Lin Chuyan sent out a message to his friend circle: Is there anyone who plans to pull an all-nighter?

He had set permissions for his friend circle; so only Xiang Nuan could see this post.

After sending the message, Lin Chuyan pretended to send out a reply: Don’t need to talk dirty if you don’t want to go.

The reply in Xiang Nuan’s eyes meant that Lin Chuyan had asked someone to go study with him and got turned down……

She could feel his struggle even through the screen.

Being a student who didn’t study through the semester like Lin Chuyan, Xiang Nuan could feel his pain. She liked his post and comforted him: Go for it!

Lin Chuyan replied: Thanks. I only wanted to find someone who could watch over me. Otherwise, it’s too easy to fall asleep.

Xiang Nuan was reminded how she had fallen asleep inside the study room and related to his situation even more.

After a while, Lin Chuyan asked Xiang Nuan: You aren’t going to stay up all night, are you?

Xiang Nuan: Hmph, I am.

Lin Chuyan: Then why don’t we study together to keep an eye on each other. That would be much more efficient.

Xiang Nuan: But we aren’t at the same campus.

Lin Chuyan: That’s simple. I’ll catch a cab and be there in half an hour.

Xiang Nuan: Wouldn’t it be too troublesome for you?

Lin Chuyan: What trouble? I’ll be riding inside a car, not carrying the car on my back. Besides, it’s hard to get a seat here in our study rooms.

Xiang Nuan: Oh, really? Then come over, we’ll study together.

……

After dinner that night, Shen Zemu went to the all nighter room to get seats as usual. Two people arrived instead of one.

Lin Chuyan: “Xuezhang, you’re here to study the whole night?”

Shen Zemu: “En.”

One of the men had a spurious smile on his face, the other remained unperturbed. However, both of them were thinking “hehe” inside their minds.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 60 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



You’re Beautiful When You Smile
Chapter 60 Part 2

Tong Yao wanted to sarcastically ask how he’d be losing face. Before she opened her mouth, she suddenly realized what he meant as her eyes fixed on that expressionless face-- --

He didn’t want to lose face?

So he was shy?

Tong Yao: “....................................................................”

All the blood in her body seemed to have rushed into her head, her cheeks were so hot that they could toast bread-- --

Tong Yao: “I was just saying that I was just afraid that you’d lose your concentration while playing. See, all your teammates wish that you can lead us to win the summer competition, the summer championship, the cup. Oh, right, the champion skin-- --”

Lu Sicheng watched her in silence.

She couldn’t continue.

She couldn’t make up excuses anymore.

Tong Yao sniffled then violently raised the cat in her arms up to cover her face. With the momentum, Dabin hugged her head with its legs!

Lu Sicheng sighed and stood up to walk over to the other end of the sofa. He bent down trying to pick up the cat by holding the back of the cat’s neck. But the one holding the cat tightly wouldn’t let go of the cat-- --As the two of them were having a tug of war, Xiao Rui happened to turned his head and was struck dumb by the scene: “What are you two doing?”

Lu Sicheng let go of the cat.

Tong Yao lost her balance and fell back onto the sofa with the fat cat. A round, feline tummy pressed down against her face-- --

“Are you going to have the cat on your face for the rest of your life?”

Lu Sicheng stretched out his hand to shake her.

Tong Yao reacted swiftly; she reached out to slap his hand away, then turned to face the back of the sofa, huddled up. From Lu Sicheng’s angle, he could faintly see, under the cover of the cat fur, her pinkish neck and reddish cheek.

Lu Sicheng: “......”

Xiao Rui: “Lu Sicheng, are you going to go out or not?”

Lu Sicheng: “I’m not. How many times do you want me to tell you?”

Xiao Rui: “Why aren’t you going?”

Lu Sicheng flicked Dabing’s head, then straightened up to reply flatly: “This cat doesn’t want me to go.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 46 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Those Sweet Times
Chapter 46 Part 3

Xiang Nuan struggled to stay awake till 2 am until she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. She laid her head down on the desk and instantly fell asleep.

Shen Zemu wasn’t very sleepy since he had other things on his mind.

After Xiang Nuan had fallen asleep, he turned his head over to look at her without fear of being detected.

Her head rested on her folded arms on the desk, slightly turned to the side. Her temple was on the back of her hand, showing only half of her face. The white lights inside the classroom shone through her thick and curly eyelashes and landed her cheek. A strand of hair fell down, like a small black waterfall, along her soft and fair skinned face, reaching the top of her lips. The strand of hair quivered slightly with each breath she took.

She moved in her sleep and the down jacket on her fell down. Shen Zemu immediately picked it up and put it back on her.

Then he put his own jacket on her as well.

His jacket was way too big for her, almost burying her.

Xiang Nuan made an inaudible sound and shifted positions, but continued sleeping.

As Shen Zemu watched her, he was struck by some mixed feelings.

He had always been clear headed. He knew exactly what he was doing each step he took and he could clearly see deep in his heart the reason why he love or hate.

Why was he attracted by her? The reason was very simple.

-- --In this world, interest started from curiosity. This time, Shen Zemu wasn’t an exemption.

* *

Even during the rush of finals week, students still had the energy for gossip. In those few days, the news that Shen Zemu and Xiang Nuan were together went viral on the forums. Many people swore by it and many more said they had witnessed it.

Lin Chuyan registered an alternate id and commented on the discussion: Spreading rumors is punishable by jail time.

He was mocked by the crowd.

Lin Chuyan was quite angry.

Zheng Dongkai comforted him: “Don’t worry, I’ve gotten confirmation that they just happened to meet each other at the study room.” He waved his cell phone while talking: “Angela said so.”

Lin Chuyan breathed out a sigh of relief.

Zheng Dongkai added: “Oh, they were pulling an all-nighter.”

Lin Chuyan: “......” His relief went out of the window.

Zheng Dongkai found Lin Chuyan’s reaction amusing.

He was enjoying seeing Lin Chuyan deflate. He wasn’t in a hurry to help as he wanted to savor this as much as he could.

Maomaoqiu and Dayu seemed to feel similarly.

Lin Chuyan’s high-handed treatment of his roommates had now backfired, though he had not yet realized it.

All he could think of at the moment was how to get rid of Shen Zemu.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 33 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 33 Part 1

After hanging up on Qianxi, Ye Qiao called Shen Ting to confirm her schedule before returning the phone back to its owner. She had borrowed the phone from a simply dressed, nice looking male college student who smiled with two shallow dimples. He took the phone back and even thanked her.

Ye Qiao would normally be the one doing the thanking. Ye Qiao smiled at his kindness and took out a small velvet box from her purse and said: “I made some long distance calls. They’ll probably cost you some money. This small gift is your compensation.”
The male student bashfully refused: “There’s no need for that. It’s no trouble at all.”

A girl carrying a bulging handbag in the distance came towards them while calling someone: “Shen Yi.”
The college student hurriedly went to help carry the bag and asked: “Why did you arrive so late?”
The girl was almost out of breath: “I brought with me too many things and it took a while to check in the luggage. Have you been waiting long?” She apologetically stood up on her toes to straighten the stocking cap on his head. As she raised her head, she saw Ye Qiao right behind him.

Ye Qiao had already recognized her. She greeted her with a smile: “Zhao Mo.”
Zhao Mo was startled. Seeing Shen Yi’s bag right next to Ye Qiao’s seat, she realized that they had coincidentally sat next to each other. Ye Qiao could easily read the concern in Zhao Mo’s eyes. However, Ye Qiao thought the concern was unnecessary. She tried to smooth things over: “What a coincidence. Is this your boyfriend?”
Zhao Mo still had an awkward smile, but nodded: “En. He’s one year lower than me. He’s still a student at the film school.” She turned to her boyfriend and introduced Ye Qiao: “This is Ye Qiao Shijie…...You came to school late and probably haven’t heard about her. She was the most popular person at school a few years earlier.”

Shen Yi gladly stretched out his hand, showing his two dimples: “How are you, Shijie. I sort of thought that you looked familiar earlier. I didn’t expect that we’re from the same school.”
Ye Qiao lightly shook hands with him and said: “I just worked with Zhao Mo on a film and it’s serendipitous for us to meet again here.” She handed the small box over once again: “Since we know each other, you take this and give it to your girlfriend.” She gave Zhao Mo a meaningful glance to show her goodwill.
Zhao Mo breathed out a sigh of relief and said: “You don’t have to do that……”

“He just helped me a lot. I should show my appreciation.” Zhao Mo and her boyfriend exchanged a look after hearing what Ye Qiao had said and accepted the box. They opened the box and saw a pair of exquisite silver earrings inside the box. Zhao Mo sat down and whispered to Shen Yi: “What did you do for Shijie?” Shen Yi innocently whispered back: “I just lent my cell phone to her to make a few phone calls. She seemed to have lost her phone. Shijie is a nice person.” Zhao Mo felt it was a bit excessive to receive such a gift from Ye Qiao for such a small favor. She looked at Ye Qiao apologetically. Ye Qiao slightly shook her head to ease Zhao Mo’s mind.

Zhao Mo put her arm in her boyfriend’s arm and chatted with him in a low voice for a while. Then she turned around to chat with Ye Qiao: “Qiao Jie, were visiting the city?”
“No, I’m just here for an auction.” Actually, she had changed her airline ticket to go to another city before the auction’s official opening. Ye Qiao thought it was quite ironic and laughed: “I got that pair of earrings there.”
Zhao Mo hastily returned the box back to Ye Qiao: “This is too expensive for us to take.”
“You misunderstood me.” Ye Qiao gently smiled: “It’s not from the auction. Don’t worry. Usually a reputable auction house will have a company under it produce its own products. Ferra has its own jewelry brand. It’s just an ordinary piece I bought from there. It was originally for my cousin.” What she didn’t say was that she had decided against giving the earrings to Qianxi as the punishment for arranging her to meet Wen Shaoqian.

Zhao Mo said: “Then, thank you, Qiao Jie.” She was thinking to herself: Isn’t the spokesperson for Ferra’s jewelry brand Cheng Jiang? Was Ye Qiao really this bighearted or did she not know about it?
Zhao Mo’s mind wandered off in the middle of their conversation. Ye Qiao was a bit offended by it and spoke to interrupt her train of thought: “What did you two come here for?”
Zhao Mo regained her composure and slightly blushed: “Shen Yi and I are both from here. We came back this time to meet each other’s parents……”
Ye Qiao: “That’s nice.” Then she added: “You have to leave after visiting only for a few days. You’re working hard.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 32 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 32 Part 4

By the time Ye Qiao left the ship, the storm of emotions inside her had yet to calm down. When she stepped onto the pier, she received bank transaction request on her cell phone. She took a look. It wasn’t from Wen Shaoqian.

It was from Gu Jin, who had indeed transferred a million RMB to her. Ye Qiao counted the number of zeros and flew into a rage, throwing the cell phone into the water.
The dark blue sea water slowly swallowed her cell phone. Before the screen died, it seemed to flash from an incoming phone call.

At the auction the next day, Liang Ziruo didn’t see Wen Shaoqian nor Ye Qiao. Zhou Tingsheng was nowhere to be found either. She angrily called him: “Didn’t you say that you’d be at my service the whole month?”
He lightly replied: “Times have changed.”
Liang Ziruo was furious: “Don’t talk glibly in front of me! Just tell me, are you coming back or not?”
Zhou Tingsheng replied with the usual indifferent tone: “I learned it from someone.” Then he added lightly: “I’m not coming back.”

He was driving at full speed on the freeway. He had just discovered how far it was from the port city to G City. What exactly was wrong with him earlier, that he’d drive the whole night to get here?
His cell phone on top of the dashboard showed that his call hadn’t gone through again. Zhou Tingsheng slightly frowned and watched the cell phone automatically dial the number again.

Trees quickly passed by the window along the road, like a scroll painting being opened. He couldn’t wait till the scroll was fully opened and to see someone’s seal at the end of the scroll.

Ye Qiao, meanwhile, was sitting at the gate waiting to board an airplane to go to another city. She had borrowed a cell phone to call Qianxi.
Qianxi had been waiting for this moment for several days. She excitedly tried to poke for some details: “How’s Shaoqian Ge? Isn’t he talented and gentle?”
“En.” Ye Qiao half-heartedly answered, trying to move to the next topic quickly.

Though she wasn’t too happy about Qianxi arranging the meeting with Wen Shaoqian behind her back, she knew it had been out of goodwill. Qianxi was a naive girl; she would cry “I’ll never believe in love anymore” whenever news broke about the latest celebrity divorce. If she found out what Wen Shaoqian was really like, her outlook of life would probably be destroyed.

Ye Qiao attributed the incident as her own bad luck and didn’t want to bother talking about it anymore. But Qianxi was still asking as excitedly as ever. Ye Qiao impatiently interrupted her: “Stop asking.” To make it more persuasive, she looked up and spoke with some difficulty: “I have found someone I like.”

Qianxi called out: “Damn, it can’t be? You have a  new love interest this quickly? I feel so sorry for my Shaoqian Gege……” She mourned for a moment, then remembered that it was more important to get to the bottom of this new love affair. She started her inquiry like a matchmaker: “Who is he? How does he look? What does his family do?”
There were too many questions. Ye Qiao picked the last one to answer: “I don’t know.”
Qianxi said: “Ah. Then what does he do?”
Ye Qiao thought about the question and found that she wasn’t really clear about what he did for a living. She was honest: “I’m not sure.”
Qianxi couldn’t believe what she had heard so far, but she wasn’t giving up: “Then does he like you? You should know that at least?”

She was sure that he liked her in the past. But after last night, both sides were somewhat disappointed in the other. Though Ye Qiao was frank as she could possibly be in the end, she wasn’t sure whether he had gotten the message or not. Ye Qiao told Qianxi: “I haven’t asked him yet.”
Qianxi was about to cry at the other end of the phone: “Cousin, are you for real? You’re not trying to fool me? You don’t know, it’s not clear, you haven’t asked…...A few days ago, grandma asked me how you were doing. I told her that your standards are too high and you didn’t want to look for a boyfriend right now. Who knew that it was this easy to win over a goddess’s heart. I’m going on Weibo and ask your fans to protest about it!”

Ye Qiao’s replied like always: “Go ahead, I’m hanging up.”

Qianxi squeaked and begged her not to: “Last question! Only one last question!”
Ye Qiao patiently said: “Alright.”
Qianxi sounded quite serious, but only had a very short question: “Is he handsome?”
Ye Qiao chuckled: “......I guess so.”
Qianxi laughed like an evil king from a cartoon and indignantly said: “So, this is really a world where looks matter!”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 60 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



You’re Beautiful When You Smile
Chapter 60 Part 1

By five o’clock in the afternoon, Lu Sicheng was still slouching in front of the computer, unshavened, with no intention to move. He was checking the news, watching some dramas, but wasn’t playing games nor streaming.

…...It looked like he was sitting there absent minded.

At 5:10, Xiao Rui returned to the base and was surprised to see Lu Sicheng still sitting in front of his computer. He teased Lu Sicheng: “Yo, didn’t your blind date ask to meet you for the last time? Why haven’t you tidied yourself up and dress up by this hour?”

Lu Sicheng looked up at the clock on the wall, paused for a moment, stretched, then got up from his seat. He slowly moved from his desk to the sofa, then sat down again with no intention to move again.

Xiao Rui: “? ? ? ? ?”

At the other end of the sofa, Tong Yao was holding her cat while watching an American TV drama on her cell phone. She could feel the opposite side of the sofa sink down. She looked up from her cell phone and glanced at the man on the other side. He was half lying on the sofa with eyes closed. His soft hair fell back, the sunlight from the window illuminated his upper body.

Tong Yao put down her cell phone, stroked Dabin’s head, then turned to look at their team manager who had turned his attention to Lu Yue, who was playing poorly in a match-- --

Tong Yao hesitated for a while, then lifted her leg and carefully kicked Lu Sicheng. She whispered: “You aren’t getting ready to go out yet?”

“......” The man was quiet. Tong Yao thought he didn’t hear her, but he suddenly moved and answered with an “en” from deep within his throat.

“You aren’t going?” Tong Yao asked again. Her eyes shone with mild delight without even realizing it.

Lu Sicheng opened his eyes.

Then he sat up straight.

He looked at the person who was sitting at the other end of the sofa, paused for a second, then cast his eyes down and vaguely said: “Isn’t there someone who doesn’t want me to go?”

Tong Yao: “?”

Without much thought, Tong Yao retorted out of reflex: “Who would interfere with your business this much?” Afterwards, she seemed to sense that there was something wrong with her statement. She gave a cry, stopped talking, and abruptly jumped up, her cheeks turning slightly red under the warm sunlight. Under the gaze of Lu Sicheng’s dark brown pupils, she hastily sat back down. With quivering lips, she almost lost the ability to speak: “...................................You heard it.”

“I’m not deaf.”

“Then why were you pretending to be earlier-- --”

“I didn’t want to lose face.”

“? ? ? ? ? ? ?”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 46 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Those Sweet Times
Chapter 46 Part 2

Doing calculations always made Xiang Nuan sleepy. After studying for a short while, she started to yawn.

Shen Zemu checked the time on his watch. It was a bit too early to get sleepy.

Xiang Nuan took out a can of coffee from her supply bag. Noticing that Shen Zemu was looking at her, as if he wanted to have a sip but was too embarrassed to ask. She passed the can to him.

She was glad that she had bought several cans.

Shen Zemu took the coffee and opened it. The pull tab was sometimes hard to use on these kind of cans.

Then Shen Zemu returned the can back to her.

Xiang Nuan realized he had misunderstood her intention. Though she didn’t really need to be pampered like this, she was still impressed by his gentlemanly conduct. She pushed the coffee to him with a smile: “Drink it. I have more.”

“I’m not sleepy.”

“If you get sleepy later, be sure to let me know. I have a lot more of these.”

“Alright.”

As Xiang Nuan lifted the can up to drink it, Shen Zemu suddenly stopped her: “Wait.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t it too cold?” He pointed at the metal can, remembering the chill when he held it.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m healthy.” Shen Zemu pulled the can out of her hand while she was still talking.

He put the can in a mug, then went out to get some hot water.

The coffee quickly warmed up after being immersed in hot water for a short time.

Xiang Nuan wiped off the water on the can and then held it between her hands. The warmth spread from her palm into her heart.

She smiled at him: “Thank you, Xuezhang.” Her bright eyes reflected the lights inside the classroom, making them shine even brighter.

Shen Zemu lowered his head: “En.” He flipped his textbook as if nothing had happened, though it seemed that he was flipping the pages way too fast.

After drinking one can of coffee, Xiang Nuan didn’t feel any boost to her energy. She got up to go outside to get some fresh air. She believed that the reason for her drowsiness was from lack of oxygen since there were too many people in the same room.

Though Shen Zemu was looking down at his book, his attention was elsewhere.

After Xiang Nuan left the room, a male student walked over, looking rather suspicious. He walked over to Xiang Nuan’s seat and swiftly stuffed a note into her book.

Shen Zemu was fully aware of the whole incident.

After the student left, Shen Zemu took out the note from the book and gave it a glance.

…...Hehe, young men nowadays, it was going to be finals soon and they still didn’t miss the opportunity to pick up girls. They deserved to fail their finals.

Shen Zemu tore the note into four pieces with a stone face, then put the torn pieces into his pocket. There was no hesitation or shame in his actions, as if what he had done was nothing but righteous.

A female student came by with her books in arms and bashfully asked Shen Zemu: “Shen Xuezhang, could, could I sit next to you?”

…...Hehe, young women nowadays, finals were coming up and they still didn’t miss a chance to pick up boys. They deserved to fail their finals.

Shen Zemu kept his expressionless face and shook his head: “I’m afraid not.”

The girl appeared to be saddened by the rejection. She took a look at Xiang Nuan’s seat and asked Shen Zemu: “Shen Xuezhang, are you really going out with Xiang Nuan now?”

Shen Zemu pursed his lips, neither admitting it nor denying it.

The girl understood and left with a broken heart.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 59 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



You’re Beautiful When You Smile
Chapter 59 Part 4

Just that moment, the cell phone next to Lu Sicheng’s hand began to ring. Tong Yao let go of his wrist as he checked his phone. It was an unfamiliar number. He answered the phone, then the relaxed expression in his eyes started to change-- --

Tong Yao waved goodbye to the fans at the camera and turned off the stream. She turned to look at Lu Sicheng afterwards and noticed something was off from his reaction: “Who was it?”

“Su Luo.” Lu Sicheng hung up the phone. “She wants to meet me for the last time, to have dinner together. Then she won’t bother me anymore.”

Surprised by the news, Tong Yao’s excitement from the win quickly subsided. After thinking for a while, she asked: “Oh! You have to go?”

Lu Sicheng gave her a glance: “She said if I don’t go, she’ll come to the base.”

Tong Yao only replied with another “oh.”

Lu Sicheng clicked his tongue and irritatedly put on his earphones randomly selecting his music app…...The onlookers had already begun to dissipate and the room quickly quieted down.

“Cheng Ge.”

Tong Yao called out to him.

Lu Sicheng didn’t respond. His eyes were fixed on his computer screen, concentrated on a new article about the patch for League of Legends.

“Cheng Ge.”

Tong Yao called again.  There was still no response from Lu Sicheng.

Tong Yao turned to look at him and asked: “Can you hear me?” Then she mumbled: “Are you not afraid of going deaf when you turn the volume up so high?” She bent down to pick up her cat from her chair and turned around to leave. After a few steps, she suddenly turned and walked back.

She stood behind Lu Sicheng’s chair, paused for a moment, then spoke in a calm voice: “I don’t want you to go.”

After saying those words, she tightened her hold of the cat, turned around again, and went upstairs to go to her room.

Lu Sicheng was still watching the news with his earphones on, without moving even a bit.

……

One minute later, Little Fatty came out of his room and skipped down the stairs. He asked in his normal tone of voice: “Cheng Ge, we want to eat the crayfish from XX restaurant. The most expensive kind…...and 30 pounds!”

“......................I got it.”

Lu Sicheng pulled one of his earphones out as he looked up from his computer and lazily replied.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 46 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Those Sweet Times
Chapter 46 Part 1

Sitting inside the study room, Xiang Nuan suddenly had one thought.

“Xuezhang, don’t you receive a scholarship every year? Why are you here in the all-nighter study room?”

“To make sure I’ll get the scholarship.” Shen Zemu answered without delay.

It seemed that it wasn’t easy being a high achiever.

Xiang Nuan was going to have her accounting final the next day. When she opened her book, Shen Zemu was being blinded by all the multi-colored highlight streaks on her textbook.

The colorful highlights at least proved that Xiang Nuan was quite serious with her studies. Then why did she come to pull an all nighter?

Shen Zemu was confused.

He soon found his answer.

Xiang Nuan’s diligence didn’t last long. As she turned the pages, the highlights on the book became less and less and more and more doodles showed up on the margins of the pages. The doodles included some of champions from Kings of Glory, such as Zhuang Zhou, Daji, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, etc……

Shen Zemu was reminded of the message posted by Xiang Nuan in her friend circle, “garbage game, destroys my youth.” Based on what he had observed so far, that message was truly her heartfelt feelings.

There wasn’t too much material that needed to be memorized for accounting. However, there were many formulas to remember and she found calculating the answers to be somewhat troublesome. Xiang Nuan wasn’t very sensitive with numbers. When she was choosing her major after passing the college entrance examination, she didn’t really know what she should study and just picked one of the more popular majors. She didn’t have much passion for nor ill feelings against business management. She approached all her studies following the rules of being a “good student”-- --just like when she was in high school.

In reality, she had gradually forgotten her “good student” attitude about a month after she got into university.

Xiang Nuan figured that it must be because she had met Lin Chuyan. Some of his attributes must’ve rubbed off onto her since she played games everyday with him. She had turned into the same kind of person who ignored studying.

Lin Chuyan who was at the other campus this moment didn’t know Xiang Nuan was mentally bad mouthing him. He felt rather bored while playing because Xiang Nuan wasn’t there. In fact, to him, he enjoyed playing the game only because he had played it with interesting people, otherwise the game wasn’t fun for him at all……

Bored, Lin Chuyan also picked up his backpack to go study with his roommates at the library. Zheng Dongkai and Maomaoqiu had gotten into an argument over the solution to one problem. Lin Chuyan leaned over to listen out of curiosity. He was able to solve the dispute in a few words.

Maomaoqiu sighed.

“I was wrong?” Lin Chuyan asked.

Maomaoqiu shook his head: “No. I’m just thinking that heaven’s given you such talent, why don’t you cherish it?”

“I’ve always cherished it.”

“How have you cherished it? You’re so lazy, if you just worked a little harder……”

“You’re missing the point.” Lin Chuyan argued: “Heaven is compassionate. It gives me some talent so I don’t have to work too hard. If I try harder, be more diligent, I won’t have an easy life then I’ll have failed to live up to heaven’s goodwill.”

Maomaoqiu was so shocked to hear the twist in Lin Chuyan’s argument that he could only mumble: “Mom, I think I’ve run into some sort of cult.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 32 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 32 Part 3

Ye Qiao was fully aware of how deliberately pretentious she sounded. But she didn’t want to stop there. Her arm aiming at the pasta swiftly changed direction and took away his salad. She raised her eyelid: “Aren’t you seeing me as being frivolous? Dissolute? And what else, playing dumb?” She paused and said in a slightly indignant tone: “So what about it? Was my acting good? Wasn’t my entire face written with the words ‘I’m throwing myself at him’?”

Zhou Tingsheng was uneasy hearing Ye Qiao bring up last night. He had realized that anyone with a reasonable mind could see how flustered and helpless she was last night, not the state of someone who just had an intimate interaction with someone else. He tightened his eyebrows: “I didn’t……”
“That’s enough.” Ye Qiao’s face fell, not wanting to hear anything about last night. She was about to leave with the plate of salad.
Zhou Tingsheng stopped her. Some of the things that he had lost the desire to say suddenly  returned to him. He subconsciously wanted to grab the chance and looked her in the eyes: “Ye Qiao, let’s talk it over.”

Ye Qiao calmed down and also looked at his eyes. The area around his eyes were slightly bluish, making him look somewhat haggard. Ye Qiao let out a long breath and took a quick glance at the woman behind who was about to reach the table: “I really want to sit down and talk, but it seems that you have your ‘Netherlandish altarpieces” coming. Come look for me after you finish talking to this one.”

Zhou Tingsheng didn’t have time to say anything before Ye Qiao left his table. Whenever it seemed that they had parted ways, Ye Qiao always had the ability to intrigue him before she walked away. He watched her walk away while the woman sat back down across from him. 

The woman put down a plate of king mushrooms with sesame sauce in front of him: “There’s only this thing left at the salad station. It might taste funny, I hope you don’t mind.” She noticed that Zhou Tingsheng wasn’t paying attention to her words but trying to dial a number on his cell phone. She understood tacitly: “Isn’t that…...Ye Qiao who was just here?”

Zhou Tingsheng was startled by the mention of her name. He looked up and said: “......I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize.” She indifferently smiled: “Ziruo Jie had told me about your ‘past.’ ”
Zhou Tingsheng raised his eyebrows: “Past? You mean her?” He showed Ye Qiao’s name on his contact list.
“Isn’t she?”
Zhou Tingsheng lit up a cigarette and blew out a smoke with smile: “No.” When he thought about it, it seemed a shame that she couldn’t even count as one of his ‘past’ though he had been suffering from bouts of mood swings because of her. The smoke was blown away by the sea breeze: “It’s not the past yet.”

The woman pondered the meaning of ‘not yet’ and carefully asked: “You two had a fight?”
“No.” It seemed they were incapable of having a fight.
“The silent treatment?”
“No.” It seemed like she would give him the silent treatment, but she broke the silence on her own initiative.
“Then why are you two acting so strangely?”
The fingers that were playing with the lighter abruptly stopped. The answer didn’t come out of Zhou Tingsheng’s throat for a while. He said with a grin: “Because she’s not interested in me.”
“How can that be possible-- --” The woman snickered as if she had heard the most ridiculous thing: “No woman would be jealous about a man she’s not interested. The way she acted just now, very green……”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 32 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 32 Part 2

The tip of Zhou Tingsheng’s nose was only a few millimeters away from the now shut door. His dull eyes refocused as he recovered from the loud slam.
He quickly turned on the knob, but found it locked. Zhou Tingsheng used both palms and repeatedly pounding on the door. “Ye Qiao, Ye Qiao, open the door.”

The rooms on the ship had poor soundproofing. The tiniest of movement could be clearly heard. Despite that, Zhou Tingsheng couldn’t hear a single sound from inside her room. He was afraid that something bad might have happened to her. The force of the pounding increased and the vibrations made Ye Qiao’s body shake. She felt like a machine composed of multiple components. She had no doubt that he would take her apart in the next minute.

The cramp in her leg finally lessened and Ye Qiao lifted her foot and struck the door with her heel.
The pounding of the door finally stopped.
There were sluggish footsteps inside the room. Ye Qiao took out her cell phone charger from her suitcase and plugged it in. Zhou Tingsheng could hear the notification sound on her cell phone and eventually stopped trying to get the door open. The sudden burst of anger had burned any patience he had left, but before it fully burned out, the anger always diminished at the last minute.
He faced the closed door. A casual act of womanizing had turned him into a stranger to himself.

After it became quiet in the hallway, Ye Qiao waited a while longer before she opened her door. There was no one outside her door, only the extinguished cigarette butt flatly laying on the  ground. She almost cursed in her mind.

Ye Qiao lay on the narrow bed listening to the waves. It was already the early morning, but she still couldn’t fall asleep on an unfamiliar bed and her stomach was rumbling. She kept cursing Zhou Tingsheng over and over in her mind. Though the one who caused her current predicament was Wen Shaoqian, the one who was being cursed was Zhou Tingsheng for unknown reasons. She had already banished the name Wen Shaoqian from her mind, but was focused on Zhou Tingsheng’s foolishness and fickleness. As for whether she was also at fault-- --Well, was it inexcusable if she was a little at fault?

She unreasonably cursed him the entire night. When she closed her eyes, his eyes seemed to float in front of her. The look in his eyes unsettled her.

The next day, when she walked out of her room to get some food, she saw that pair of eyes again.

He was sitting at a corner of the restaurant on the ship, accompanied by the comfortable sea breeze and a beautiful woman. Ye Qiao past them by, holding her plate from the buffet table, and heard the woman chatting with him about Netherlandish paintings and altarpieces using a rather proper tone of voice. Ye Qiao couldn’t help but sneer.

Zhou Tingsheng had been smoking the whole night at the bow trying to stop his endless fretting. Finally in the morning he had calmed down enough to go get breakfast, though everything tasted rather bland. The woman who Liang Ziruo had introduced to him had come by to greet him. He ate with her but couldn’t figure out which of the women in his sister’s email this woman was.
Half way through his breakfast, he suddenly heard a disdainful laugh.
Ye Qiao noticed that he had heard her and realized her blunder. She greeted him with an apologetic tone: “Good morning.”

Zhou Tingsheng couldn’t pretend as if nothing had happened. He, with a darkened face, used the fork to stir the salad which his female companion had fetched for him.
The woman looked at them and asked: “Do you know each other?”
Ye Qiao didn’t respond to her but quietly looked at his fork, then she thoughtfully said: “If I’m not mistaken, is that thin slices of raw beef with vegetables? You’re not a picky eater now? Not only do you eat meat now, but raw as well?”
The silver fork was abruptly put down on the table. The woman startled and got up: “I’m sorry. Are you a vegetarian? I’ll go get another plate of salad for you.”
The woman got up and left, Ye Qiao also was ready to go back to her seat with her plate.

Zhou Tingsheng took her plate away before she could leave.
Ye Qiao watched her pasta being taken away and smiled good naturedly: “You like cream mushroom pasta? You can ask your little beauty to get some for you. She’ll be very happy to do so.” She reached for her plate.
Zhou Tingsheng leaned against the table facing her and mockingly lifted the corner of his mouth: “What are you getting at?”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.