You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 28 Part 3

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 28 Part 3

Shen Mingying replied right away after Ruan Yu’s urgent messages: [What’s all the fuss for? Is Xu Huaisong going to confess to you?]

Soft Jade: [Probably so!]

Or to be exact, he had already confessed?

Shen Mingying: [......]

Shen Mingying: [I was just saying that. Really?]

Shen Mingying: [Do you need Suxiao Jiuxin Wan[1] now?]

Ruan Yu touched her chest where her heart was racing like a wild horse: [I can hang in there.]

Shen Mingying: [Then what do you plan to do?]

If she knew, would she have to hide in the kitchen?

Shen Mingying: [Has he seriously asked to date you or only expressed his fondness of you?]

Soft Jade: [The latter.]

Shen Mingying: [Then what’s your feelings towards him?]

Soft Jade: [I don’t know how to say it with you asking me so suddenly……]

She had actually given up on him. But ever since that night when Xu Huaisong suddenly changed his attitude, she couldn’t stop her mind from trying to figure out his intentions.

Since it seemed quite inconceivable, she didn’t indulge herself in pondering on what she would have liked his intentions to be.

It seemed that she could only understand whether she was hoping for the front or the back side of the coin when the coin actually landed on the ground. The moment she saw the answer: “B”, she realized that she was hoping for “A” as the answer.

Yet, she couldn’t tell whether the expectation was from “the rekindling of an old crush” or “simply a force of habit.”

For her, Xu Huaisong seemed like a changed person, unlike the person she had known from before. To judge him based on her old feelings towards him made her feel like she had a split personality.

Shen Mingying sent a new message: [Alright, don’t worry about what your feelings are right now. After so many years, a chance has finally appeared. You just try to take him down. Worse comes to worse, you can dump him if you find that he’s no good. Then you can at least start your own new life afterwards. If you try to avoid him or turn him down right now, I guarantee, you won’t be able to get over him for the rest of your life.]

Soft Jade: [Take him down?]

Shen Mingying: [Yes, take him down, don’t let him take you. I mean like you’re on top of him when you’re doing certain exercises.]

Soft Jade: [......]

After Ruan Yu finished her discussion with Shen Mingying, she took her time to boil the water.

After the water boiled, she poured a glass of water, breathed in and out to calm herself down, then pulled open the door.

Xu Huaisong, on the couch, stared at her.

Ruan Yu cast her eyes down, reminded herself of Shen Mingying’s instructions, then quietly asked: “Who used your WeChat to reply to my message?”

Xu Huaisong didn’t want to hide anything: “My colleague whom you’ve met.”

“Ah, Ms. Lu.” She put down the water glass on the coffee table in front of him, then spoke no more words.

Just as Xu Huaisong thought she would keep inquiring about it, she abruptly stopped asking.

He felt like he swung but missed the ball. He had used force yet when he looked down, the ball was comfortably sunbathing on the grass.

After a while, she finally uttered some more words but what she said was: “She looks like a quite capable co-worker.”

“......”

Capable of what?

Xu Huaisong opened his mouth then closed again; he felt no matter what he said it would be wrong.

They were both silent for a while, then he said: “She’s my college classmate and colleague at the law firm. Other than that I don’t have any other relationship with her. As for this matter, it’ll be alright however you want to handle it.”

“Handle what?” Ruan Yu asked back.

Xu Huaisong felt like he had missed the swing once again.

But he couldn’t back down anymore.

He asked: “Aren’t you angry about it?”

“You’re the one who’s more angry.” Ruan Yu smiled. She took a look at her cell phone: “It’s five o’clock already.”

Xu Huaisong looked up: “So?”

She kept in heart the importance of taking the “home court advantage” and postured to take the initiative by asking: “Let’s go get dinner?”

[1]: 速效救心丸 (sùxiào jiùxīn wán), a Chinese herbal pill, that literally means quick-acting heart saving pill.

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 28 Part 2

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 28 Part 2

Xu Huaisong’s voice sounded rather calm outside the door; Ruan Yu could no longer hear the exasperation that she had heard in his voice over the phone earlier.

Ruan Yu felt more comfortable now opening the door for him.

But the very next second, Ruan Yu was pulled by a tremendous force forward and fell into the arms which she had dreamt of many times.

However, the embrace wasn’t as gentle as she had imagined– –Xu Huaisong was holding her with all his might as if he wanted to crush her.

Ruan Yu couldn’t even scream since the air had been squeezed out of her. All she could feel was his scorching breath near her shoulder. The burning sensation traveled down her nerves, seeping deeper into her skin inch by inch.

Ruan Yu’s brain went blank for five seconds, then she tried to back out of the embrace.

Xu Huaisong immediately released her.

But his eyes were still fixated on her face.

Ruan Yu looked up at him. At that instant, she saw in his eyes mighty waves beating against the shore, the moon rising and falling, and a waterfall flying down a cliff with splashing water beads. She saw all the vastness and grandness of this world and then she saw herself.

She only saw herself.

Some people say that human eyes can speak.

At that very moment, he didn’t say anything but she seemed to have understood what had been left unsaid between them.

Though Ruan Yu was still confused about why Xu Huaisong would suddenly have such emotions for her, it was as if he had suppressed it for a long time.

After the shock, Ruan Yu opened her mouth several times and finally asked: “What’s going on with you……”

Xu Huaisong, acting like a child who wouldn’t give up until he got the candy he wanted, repeated: “I want to know what exactly you’ve deleted.”

Though he used the word “exactly”, Ruan Yu felt that the tone of his voice wasn't tough at all.

It was more like he was hurt.

Once Ruan Yu found out that he didn’t see the message after all, she would never willingly admit exactly what she had sent him originally. Yet, at this moment, being startled by what had happened, Ruan Yu did something she couldn’t comprehend herself– –She handed over her own cell phone to Xu Huaisong.

The screen on her cell phone showed the chat box between her and Shen Mingying.

The newest reply from Shen Mingying was: [Who asked you this question, or is this a survey for your writing? I think, aren’t both A and B the same answers?]

A and B both were the same answers. What would follow “I’ll introduce one to you” would be “how about me”.

Ruan Yu fidgetly waited for Xu Huaisong’s reaction. Then she saw him move his eyes away from the cell phone screen to fix on her eyes: “En, aren’t both A and B the same answers?”

His reaction was unusually calm.

Ruan Yu’s brain, however, was instantly blasted by white lights.

Human beings, when under extreme stress, would react with great calmness. Just like Ruan Yu at the present time, despite not knowing where her hands and feet were, she remained still.

After a long while, she finally reacted: “Hehe, geesh, silly me, how can I let you stand here for so long……” As she was speaking, she gestured for him to come in: “I just finished putting away some of my stuff. I didn’t have time to clean the house yet. You can come in with your shoes on.”

When she finished talking, she turned her head and found Xu Huaisong still standing at the door.

Ruan Yu didn’t know what to do again. After a long while, she opened her mouth again: “Aren’t you going to come in?”

Xu Huaisong finally walked into the house.

Ruan Yu asked him to sit on the couch: “I’ll make some tea for you!” She turned to go to the kitchen but turned back after walking away only a couple of steps. She pointed at the cell phone in his hand: “Hehe, how forgetful. I forgot my cell phone. Let me have it?”

Then she hurriedly went into the kitchen. She closed the door and almost fell to the floor with wobbly legs.

Ruan Yu patted her chest to calm herself down. Then she leaned against the door and took out the cell phone and began typing.

[SOS! SOS! Calling Shen Mingying!]

[Urgent, plea for assistance!]

[This isn’t an exercise!]

[Repeat, this isn’t an exercise!]

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 28 Part 1

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 28 Part 1

Xu Huaisong took medicine for his cramping stomach. He opened the bedroom door to make sure Lu Shenglan had left the suite already and went to lie down in his bed under the blanket.

He felt that he was probably behaving somewhat abnormally.

After Ruan Yu had spent the night on his bed that night, he had told the hotel not to change the blanket.

He took out his cell phone to take a look and was surprised.

The first thing shown on his WeChat chat history indicated that he had just sent a message to Ruan Yu.

But when he clicked on that message, he saw that before his account sent a “B” out to her, she had already deleted her message to him.

Three seconds later, he realized something and got out of bed to go into the living room. He checked his computer.

In the WeChat on his computer the chat box with Ruan Yu had been deleted. It was blank.

Out of professional habit, he was very keen on the importance of timelines. He didn’t let Lu Shenglan hang in his suite for too long. Only a minute had passed from when he hastily went into the bedroom from the pain of his cramping stomach until he heard the suite door being closed.

The time indicated on his cell phone indicated that the message was sent exactly within that one minute.

It was obvious what had happened in that one minute.

Lu Shenglan grew up in the US and wasn’t familiar with WeChat which was more popular among Chinese people. She thought if she deleted the record on the computer then no one would find out. She didn’t realize that it would leave a record on his cell phone.

Everything happened in such a short time, evidently Lu Shenglan was acting on impulse when she saw Ruan Yu’s message and didn’t have time to find out what it actually meant.

Xu Huaisong took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, then typed on his cell phone: [What did you delete?]

There was no reply for a long time. It was so long that Xu Huaisong was preparing to call her instead, but then Ruan Yu got back to him: [I deleted it because I had sent it by mistake. Sorry about it, Mr. Xu.]

Xu Huaisong believed that she had indeed sent it by mistake and Lu Shenglan probably also realized that by the fact that Ruan Yu had deleted it right away. Lu Shenglan must believe that since it was a mistake, Ruan Yu wouldn’t mention it ever again and that was why Lu Shenglan had dared to do it.

The reasoning made Xu Huaisong believe that that message from Ruan Yu must’ve been rather crucial.

But as of now, Ruan Yu probably had misunderstood his question of “what did you delete” as “why did you delete it” instead of “what was in the message you deleted.”

Xu Huaisong lost his patience trying to make his point across and dialed Ruan Yu’s number instead.

It took a long time for Ruan Yu to pick up the phone, she probably was wrestling with something.

But to Xu Huaisong, there was no room for him to wrestle with anymore.

All of his blood seemed to have frozen the moment he saw the “B”. Now he was gripped by an unknown panic to the point that he couldn’t even notice the pain from his stomach.

He was straightforward when Ruan Yu answered the phone: “What I meant is that I haven’t seen your message. What’s the message you deleted?”

“Ah?” Ruan Yu obviously was quite surprised as well: “Then, why did you reply to me?”

Xu Huaisong gripped his teeth: “It’s not me who replied to you.” He asked again: “What did you delete?”

Ruan Yu quieted down. After a while, she said: “It doesn’t matter…… I sent it out by mistake anyway……”

Xu Huaisong turned to pick up his car key and got ready to leave his room: “Are you at your new apartment?”

Half an hour later, Ruan Yu heard her doorbell ringing.

When Ruan Yu received the “B” answer from Xu Huaisong, Ruan Yu suspected that he was going in a roundabout way to tell her not to flatter herself. Then she received his phone call and could clearly sense his intolerable impatience and exasperation. Within the half an hour between the phone call and the doorbell ringing, Ruan Yu kept trying to figure out what would happen next. She would dismiss one possibility, figure out another one, dismiss that one, and then figure out a new one– –She felt like she was riding on a roller coaster, up and down.

When the doorbell rang, Ruan Yu was suddenly afraid to open the door.

She walked to the door and made sure who was outside through the peephole. Then with the door in between them, she asked: “You…… why are you here?”

“Open the door.”

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 27 Part 2

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 27 Part 2

Ruan Yu unpacked her stuff in her new apartment, which had two bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. When she finished unpacking, it was already two o’clock in the afternoon. She realized that she hadn’t had lunch yet and went down to buy some food.

As she was leaving the building, she happened to see the young lady who had been trapped in the elevator with her and Xu Huaisong a few days ago.

The young lady didn’t have any makeup on today and looked much prettier without the makeup.

Sun Miaohan was surprised to see Ruan Yu: “It’s you, jiejie. Do you also live in this building?”

Ruan Yu was about to tell her that she had just moved in but Sun Miaohan held Ruan Yu’s hands tightly and said as if she had met an old friend: “You and your boyfriend are truly my lucky stars!”

Since she emphasized the “lucky stars”, Ruan Yu, before she was able to explain that Xu Huaisong wasn’t her boyfriend, first questioned: “Lucky stars?”

“Remember? I went to Global Filming for an audition that day? After I got there, I found out that my makeup was smeared and had to remove it before I could redo it. But I didn’t get to redo it before being called for the audition, so I had to go in barefaced……”

Ruan Yu guessed the result: “You got it?”

Sun Miaohan kept nodding her head: “I found out after I got the part that they’re looking for someone who would show up bare-faced.”

Ruan Yu laughed and said “congratulations.” Then she added: “What’s yours will always be yours. What does that have anything to do with me and my friend?”

“Hum?” Sun Miaohan blinked: “He’s just a friend?”

Ruan Yu confusedly nodded: “What else?”

“Even though you told me that day that you never had a boyfriend before, I thought after you two went through a moment of risis like that, that he should have confessed to you already!”

Ruan Yu laughed and was about to explain that it didn’t happen that way, but suddenly paused.

She recalled two conversations at different times.

– – “Little sister, don’t cry. Actually, I never have a boyfriend either and I’m already 26……”

– – “Do you want to have one?”

Could it be that “one” means “boyfriend?”

Then, would the next question that follows  “do you want to have a boyfriend” be “how about me” or “I’ll introduce one to you”?

The sudden realization shook Ruan Yu and left her standing in the same spot, lost in thought. She didn’t come back to herself until she heard Sun Miaohan asking: “Jiejie, what's wrong with you?”

She regained her composure and shook her head: “Not…… nothing.” Then she went out the door in a daze.

Fifteen minutes later, she found herself returning to the apartment building again but there was no food in her hands.

At this time, Xu Huaisong was working in the living room of his hotel suite with Lu Shenglan.

Lu Shenglan was handling a case about disputes stemming from overseas investments and needed to do some investigation in China for the case. She had thus returned to China with Xu Huaisong. She had encountered some difficulty and was now asking Xu Huaisong how she could get a breakthrough.

Xu Huaisong didn’t say anything after listening to her. He opened his laptop and started typing. Five minutes later, he turned the laptop to face Lu Shenglan: “Contact this person. You should be able to get the chance to do some investigation.”

Lu Shenglan nodded: “Thanks.”

“It’s alright.”

Xu Huaisong was very business-like as usual, distant and indifferent. But Lu Shenglan somehow sensed that there was something unusual. She took a look at the unhealthy color of his face and asked: “Are you having a stomach ache again? Haven’t you eaten lunch?”

He hadn't.

After driving Ruan Yu to her new apartment, it was close to lunch time. Ruan Yu wanted to buy him lunch to thank him for his help, but he was quite disturbed by the discovery of the USB at the time and told her “next time.”

After he came back to the hotel, he had forgotten about lunch altogether.

Indeed, his stomach was cramping right now.

Without waiting for his answer, Lu Shenglan stood up: “Where’s your medicine? In the bedroom? I’ll go get it for you.”

“No need.” Xu Huaisong stood up as the cramp relaxed a bit: “You go take care of your case. I’ll go get it myself.” He turned to go into the bathroom in the bedroom. He stood there using his hands to hold onto the washstand to support himself as he began to break out in a cold sweat.

Ruan Yu at the same time was also hungry, having missed lunch. She sat in front of the computer, repeatedly opening and closing the chat box with Xu Huaisong. In the end, she sent a message to Shen Mingying: [Tell me, when a man asks a woman “do you want to have a boyfriend,” does he mean “A. how about me” or “B. I’ll introduce one to you”?]

She sent the message but didn’t receive an answer right away. She absent-mindedly right clicked that message and clicked share. She was planning to ask another friend the same question.

It might be because she had kept clicking Xu Huaisong’s chat box earlier, as when she was choosing who to share, her brain short-circuited, and she clicked his name which was second on the list of contacts.

The moment she clicked “confirm”, she immediately came to her senses. She hurriedly deleted the message. The moment she saw “you’ve deleted a message”, she breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, she saw the other side had sent back a message: B.

Ruan Yu stared blankly at the computer.

In Xu Huaisong’s hotel suite, Lu Shenglan quickly deleted the messages after she typed “B” on Xu Huaisong’s computer, then she called in the direction of the bedroom: “I’ll get going. Take care of yourself.”

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 27 Part 1

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 27 Part 1

Ruan Yu recovered from her shock at seeing the USB. She opened the door and showed Xu Huaisong the USB in her palm: “The USB which has my novel outlines wasn’t lost. What does this mean?”

Xu Huaisong looked down at it and couldn’t move his eyes off it.

For a short moment, he was thinking of taking off his mask with his own hands.

Actually, this wasn’t the only moment he had considered it. He had thought about it when he asked on purpose how she would know he was from Su City and the time when he deliberately read out the segment about the “dream” in her novel in front of her.

He thought if she finally couldn’t act as if she didn’t know him any longer, he would give up acting as well.

But Ruan Yu kept up the act, concealing the fact that she knew him, and his lies were like snowballs, gradually growing bigger and bigger. Whenever he thought about revealing himself, he would also think about the frightened expression Ruan Yu would have once she knew the truth and his almost morbid, coldly calculated actions.

In Xu Huaisong’s silence, Ruan Yu continued to search for any possible answer herself.

She asked: “Is it possible that some hacker had hacked into my computer without me knowing it?”

“In theory, it’s possible.”

“But, in reality?”

Xu Huaiong didn’t want to make up more lies, so he decided to be honest: “Who would bother to do that?”

“Cen Sisi would.” Ruan Yu didn’t take Xu Huaisong’s rhetorical question as a negative answer. She could only think about how Cen Sisi was able to dig up her address and even stream her own suicide to strike back at her. If she was willing to do that, then anything could be possible.

Xu Huaisong swallowed back the confession he was ready to utter.

No wonder she couldn’t guess the truth.

Who would be able to connect the dots so easily when this whole incident was so absurdly coincidental?

Xu Huaisong lost the opportunity to speak his mind again.

The hands resting next to his body clenched tightly, then relaxed, then clenched again. Eventually, he turned around and walked back to the living room.

Ruan Yu didn’t notice his odd behavior, still immersed in the scenario she had created herself.

If the outline was stolen by Cen Sisi, then what role did the author of “Her Eyes Can Smile” play in this whole incident?

If the author, Poem Writer, was an accomplice to Cen Sisi, then why would she provide the information to Liu Mao on her own?

Ruan Yu couldn’t figure out the reason for the contradiction. After she had packed her stuff and taken it to her new apartment, she called Li Shican after Xu Huaisong left.

Li Shican had called her the day before and mentioned the progress of his team’s PR damage control. He told Ruan Yu that since streaming one’s own suicide was too controversial and had been quickly blocked, the after effect wasn’t too serious to handle. His damage control efforts had gone along smoothly and his team had basically taken care of everything by now.

Ruan Yu was truly grateful to him this time and asked him on the phone if there was anything she could do.

Li Shican said that it was unnecessary for her to do anything. She could just buy him dinner as pay back for the favor.

Ruan Yu felt the favor Li Shican had done for her was more than a dinner could pay back. There certainly wasn’t any reason to turn him down. She promised that she would buy him dinner as soon as he wasn’t busy with his upcoming concert.

But before she had the chance to buy him dinner, she had to trouble him again for another favor.

After Li Shican picked up Ruan Yu’s call, Ruan Yu asked straightforwardly: “Xuedi, is it convenient for you to give me Cen Sisi’s father’s contact information?” 

Cen Sisi’s father, Cen Rong Shen, didn’t leave his phone number to Ruan Yu that night. Ruan Yu received a sum of money as compensation yesterday. The money was wired into the account she had provided to the defendant before and so she didn’t have any direct contact with the Cen family.

Li Shican asked before he answered her question: “Is there anything wrong?”

“He said a couple days ago that he would find out if there were any more threats to me from his daughter. I want to get an update on it.” She would also like to find out at the same time whether Cen Sisi had contracted anyone to hack into her computer.

Li Shican said: “I have a rough idea about it. Uncle Cen hasn’t found out any problem as they've checked the records of her outside contacts. But he’s a cautious person, so he hasn’t given you a definite answer yet. He’s planning to hire a hypnotherapist in a foreign country to have a conversation with Cen Sisi under hypnosis about her past activities in order to confirm his findings. But Cen Sisi isn’t in a good physical condition to go out of the country to receive treatment. That’s why he’s late in giving you an answer.”

In the end, Li Shican still gave Ruan Yu Cen Rongshen’s phone number. After understanding the situation, Ruan Yu was no longer in a hurry to contact him anymore. She decided to wait. She could understand that as a father, Cen Rongshen must be in a distressed state and had done all he could as the liable person in this incident.

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 26 Part 4

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 26 Part 4

Ruan Yu showed the chat log she had with Xu Huaisong to Shen Mingying as she was washing clothes: “What does he mean?”

“He means that he’ll help you move. Don’t get flustered over nothing. You’re still being threatened by the defendant, in other words you’re still his client. He’s just being responsible.”

In the end, Ruan Yu decided to enjoy being his client one more time since she had to admit that Xu Huaisong was rather trustworthy in handling various situations and she was truly worried that she was still in danger: “Then I’ll have to trouble you again tomorrow. What time would be convenient for you?”

Xu Huaisong: “Eight thirty.”

Ruan Yu came down from Shen Mingying’s place at eight thirty the next morning.

Shen Mingying wanted to go along and help, but was stopped by Ruan Yu.

Ruan Yu was afraid that Shen Mingying would carelessly expose her or Xu Huaisong might recognize Shen Mingying was someone from his high school.

As Xu Huaisong was waiting for Ruan Yu to come down, he kept playing in his head what Liu Mao had told him a couple days ago: “Do you remember how she tactfully kept her distance from me in the beginning? Just because she detected my interest early on, she deliberately wore very plain clothes, didn’t sit in the front seat when riding in my car, and even lied to me that she had solved the plagiarism problem…… If you don’t want to become the next me, you better take it easy. Don’t scare her away.”

Xu Huaisong at the time only smiled at Liu Mao’s advice. But as he was waiting to meet Ruan Yu again, he couldn’t help but carefully review what Liu Mao had told him.

Then he saw Ruan Yu coming from afar. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, dressed rather plainly.

Xu Huaisong immediately locked the back door of the car. When Ruan Yu was near the car, he pointed at the seat at the passenger side.

Fortunately, Ruan Yu only hesitated a bit but didn’t refuse him.

They greeted each other after she got in the car. Then they drove to her old apartment. To be on the safe side, Xu Huaisong accompanied her up and sat in her living room, waiting for her to finish packing.

Ruan Yu poured a glass of water for him before heading into the bedroom. She decided to start packing all her clothes.

Since she stayed at home most of the time, she didn’t have a lot of clothes. The larger items were her winter coats which would need to be packed with vacuum bags.

She took out all her heavier clothes from the closet and set them on the bed. As she was about to go get the vacuum bags, her knees scraped against the edge of the bed and an overcoat dropped to the floor.

With a rattling sound, something fell out from the overcoat’s pocket.

Ruan Yu looked down at the item and did a double take.

It was a white USB.

It was the USB which had all the outlines of her novel and the one she thought she had lost in the coffee shop.

Dumbfounded, she bent over to pick it up. She put the USB in her palm, but couldn’t take her eyes off it.

Then she recalled what had happened.

That day when she went to meet Shen Mingying, it was raining and unusually cold in Hang City. She had put the overcoat on before going out the door.

Then her mother suddenly came to visit her and she had to leave the coffee shop in a hurry. She must’ve placed the USB into her coat pocket in a fluster.

After that day, the weather got warmer and she had stuffed the coat into the closet. She hadn’t worn it since that day.

It had been five months since she had been accused of plagiarizing. She hadn’t thought about searching the pocket of that coat all this time and had mistakenly thought that the USB was lost.

In other words, the outline of her story had never been stolen.

Ruan Yu stood at the same spot, shocked. Then she heard knocking on the bedroom door.

Xu Huaisong asked from outside: “What’s wrong?”

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 26 Part 3

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 26 Part 3

The phone call was from Lawyer Xu.

Ruan Yu had forgotten about him again!

She hurriedly answered the phone and quickly said: “I’m here, I’m here! I forgot to tell you……”

“Then, I’ll get going.”

So he hadn’t left yet?

Surprised, Ruan Yu rushed into Shen Mingying’s home, opened the window on the balcony to look down, and met Xu Huaisong’s eyes which were looking up her way.

He had come out of the car and looked up at the building. It looked like he was planning on heading up since he hadn’t heard from her.

Ruan Yu heard over the phone: “Don’t reach out too much.”

Ruan Yu drew her head back in.

Shen Mingying, out of curiosity, stuck her head out to take a look and met Xu Huaisong’s eyes.

Ruan Yu was afraid that Shen Mingying would cry out Xu Huaisong’s name and cut the phone call without saying a word.

The next second, Shen Mingying did cry out: “Ahhh.” She looked down downstairs in a daze until the Porsche Cayenne disappeared from view. She then turned her head back and said: “May I swear?”

Ruan Yu knew Shen Mingying was too surprised to contain herself. She puckered her mouth and said: “Go on……”

“Shit! The one who stayed in the same room with you was Xu Huaisong!”

Ruan Yu started a half an hour long confession on the couch at Shen Mingying’s home.

After hearing Ruan Yu’s detailed description, Shen Mingying was lost in thought. Then she said slowly: “The aloof male god suddenly walked off his altar overnight, for what?”

Ruan Yu, hugging a pillow, got closer and said: “If I’m flattering myself, could it be……”

Shen Mingying crossed her hands to repudiate Ruan Yu’s hypothesis: “Nothing happened between you two back in the three years of high school and the past month or so. Now, all of a sudden, without any reason he falls for you? Could it be possible?”

Ruan Yu tightened her eyebrows: “Right, it’s not possible. If I wrote something like this in the novel, the readers would definitely criticize me for writing the transition too awkwardly.”

“Stop. I think it’s because you've written too many novels that you get obsessed with your own imagination.”

“But, why was it for?” Ruan Yu touched her own shoulder and couldn’t stop wondering: “He even held onto my shoulder……”

“It’s simple, let me analyze it for you.” Shen Mingying cleared her throat: “See, within the past 12 hours on all the occasions where he acted weirdly, weren’t you all in a vulnerable situation?”

Ruan Yu nodded: “Right.” She was, no matter whether it was Cen Sisi’s suicide, or her running a fever, or the elevator malfunctioning.

“Then, we have the answer now. When a capable man sees a woman, especially a beautiful woman, in trouble and being vulnerable, wouldn’t he become more protective? Besides, he’s also a lawyer who has dedicated his life to saving people from distress.”

Ruan Yu answered with a long “ohhhh.” Shen Mingying continued: “To prove this point, we’ll just wait and see when you aren’t in a vulnerable situation and see how he acts then.”

Ruan Yu thought Shen Mingying was spot on with her analysis and quickly stopped mulling over this matter. Instead, she focused on looking for other apartments. But in the following two days, she didn’t find another place more suitable than the apartment in that 20-story building.

She thought the elevator malfunction wasn’t a big problem. Since it broke down once, the property management would probably pay special attention to it from now on and it should be even more safe than before.

That afternoon, Ruan Yu sent a message to Xu Huaisong: [Mr. Xu, I’ve decided to move but haven’t received any news from Mr. Cen. You think it’s safe for me to go back to my apartment to pack?]

Xu Huaisong: [I have time tomorrow morning.]

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 26 Part 2

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 26 Part 2

Xu Huaisong felt as if his eardrums were going to be pierced by the screams. After a while, he raised his hand trying to push the alarm button again and the young lady stopped him: “You can’t do that! We’ll all fall to death!” She rushed near the doors: “It’s better if we pry open the doors!”

“Miss.” Xu Huaisong tried to be patient: “In theory, the possibility of the elevator falling all the way to the bottom is only slightly higher than a person winning a five-million yuan lottery. Prying open the door, on the other hand, can easily cause a person’s body to be separated in half.”

Ruan Yu shuddered and cleared her throat: “Don’t scare her……”

The young lady started to wail again.

Out of concern that Xu Huaisong would be irritated by the noise, Ruan Yu hurriedly comforted the young lady: “Little sister, don’t cry. Actually, I never have a boyfriend either and I’m already 26……”

“Really?” The young lady took a look at Xu Huaisong’s hand which was circling around Ruan Yu’s shoulder and started wailing and screaming again: “But you at least have someone who’s chasing after you, wu wa…….”

Chase?

Ruan Yu almost choked. Before she had the time to figure out what the word meant exactly, the elevator door slowly opened up. The lights from outside beamed into the elevator. The property management people outside breathed out a sigh of relief. They walked up and asked: “Mister and two ladies, are you all alright?”

Xu Huaisong took a look at the young lady behind him whose legs were shaking: “We’re alright, but this lady might have some problems.” He led Ruan Yu out of the elevator after he finished speaking.

In fact, Ruan Yu’s legs were wobbly as well. Fortunately there was another person who was even more scared than her so, in comparison, she didn’t embarrass herself in front of Xu Huaisong.

Once they were out in a brightly lit area, Ruan Yu stepped away from Xu Huaisong’s arm. She lowered her head so Xu Huaisong could only see the top of her head and said: “Thank…… Thank you.”

Xu Huaisong didn’t reply. The property management people then started to speak with him and Xu Huaisong explained what had happened to the maintenance people.

Ruan Yu was thinking of comforting the young lady. She looked back and happened to see the young lady suddenly clap her hands as if she had remembered something: “Aiya, oh no, I’m supposed to go for an audition at Global Filming!” She wiped her face with the back of her hand as she was saying and started to run with the mascara smudged all over the back of her hand.

“Ai……!” Ruan Yu ran after her to remind her that her makeup was smeared. She wasn’t able to catch up with her and had to give up chasing after her.

The episode was over quickly and the two of them went back to the car. Neither of them said anything more about what had happened inside the elevator.

Xu Huaisong drove her downstairs to Shen Mingying’s place.

As Ruan Yu was about to get out of the car, she asked Xu Huaisong: “Do you have an Alipay account?”

“What for?”

“To pay you back for the room.”

Xu Huaisong paused before saying: “Keep my cell phone number first. I’ll go apply for one later on.”

“You’ve got a Chinese cell phone number?”

“En.”

Ruan Yu saved his number and marked it as “Lawyer Xu.” As she was opening the car door to get out of the car, she suddenly heard him asking: “Do you want to have one?”

“Ah?” Ruan Yu stopped with confusion: “Have what?”

Hadn’t she already gotten his cell phone number?

Xu Huaisong kept quiet for a moment, then shook his head to mean it’s nothing: “Send me a message after you’re inside.”

Ruan Yu replied in a low voice: “Oh.” On her way up to Shen Mingying’s place, Raun Yu kept wondering what he meant by “do you want to have one”. As soon as Shen Mingying opened her door, Ruan Yu grabbed her shoulder immediately: “Mingying, do you want to have one?”

Shen Mingying had question marks written all over her face: “I don’t plan to have any kids. What’s wrong?”

“Ah!” Ruan Yu called out in surprise then murmured to herself: “Is that what it meant? But, why would he ask me whether I want to have kids?”

Shen Mingying’s eyeballs almost rolled out of her eyesuckets: “He asked you that in bed last night?”

Ruan Yu shook her head with a serious look: “No, it was just now in the car.”

“My goodness, you two are already so intense now?” Shen Mingying held onto Ruan Yu’s shoulders and sized her from top to bottom: “He didn’t have a condom on?”

“......”

Ruan Yu almost choked, but her phone rang before she had the chance to clarify.

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 26 Part 1

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 26 Part 1

Xu Huaisong’s face instantly darkened when she heard Ruan Yu’s question.

Ruan Yu quickly waved her hands: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…... that was rude of me.” Then she shamefully turned her back to face Xu Huaisong.

Xu Huaisong silently sighed behind her back.

Actually he didn’t know what the term “possessed”[1] meant when used in the Chinese genre. It was after he started reading Ruan Yu’s works that he learned the meaning from one of her stories. And because he now knew what exactly the term meant, it was especially discouraging.

Xu Huaisong adjusted his breathing and said: “Get in the car. Let’s go see the next one.”

Ruan Yu turned around and carefully glanced at him: “Oh.”

Xu Huaisong drove to the next apartment building.

This one was a 20-story high building. It was located right across a major street from Ruan Yu’s original apartment. Geographically, Ruan Yu felt good about the location already. In addition, this building’s security was much better than the older community she was staying in right now. 

After checking out the apartment, Ruan Yu paid special attention to the landlord couple. The couple lived right next to the apartment and had a daughter of elementary school age. The wife was warm and gentle and the husband seemed aloof and talked very little. She didn’t have any problems with them.

Xu Huaisong checked the apartment inside and out. Then he asked the couple to show their certificate of property ownership.

The wife didn’t mind his cautiousness and willingly took it out to show them.

Xu Huaisong thanked her and told her that they would think it over. Then he called Ruan Yu to leave again.

When they were waiting for the elevator, Ruan Yu asked in a small voice: “This one seems fine?”

He nodded: “We’ll take this one into consideration. We can still look around others.”

Ruan Yu replied “en” and followed him into the elevator.

There was a young lady inside the elevator who was coming from the upper floors. She had heavy make up and once the elevator door closed, a strong perfume smell filled the elevator.

The smell was quite irritating and Ruan Yu couldn’t help but sneeze.

Xu Huaisong turned his body slightly sideways to block the source of the smell from coming to Ruan Yu directly, though the action didn’t really work.

Ruan Yu gave him a grateful glance. Since the smell was too much for her, she fixed her eyes on the flashing lights on the floor number panel of the elevator.

11. 

10.

9.

8.

8.

8.

“Yi?” As she voiced her doubt, Xu Huaisong also noticed there was something not quite right and subconsciously reached over with his hand to put on Ruan Yu’s shoulder.

The next moment, the elevator jolted, the light on the ceiling of the elevator went out, and the narrow space inside the elevator became dead quiet.

The young lady started to scream: “Ah. What…… what the hell!”

Ruan Yu was about to scream as well but now she couldn’t make a sound.

The shock from the hand on her shoulder was much more than that of the malfunctioning elevator. She felt that her brain was suffering from a lack of oxygen. She had a hard time breathing and her hands and legs were trembling.

Xu Huaisong thought her reaction was out of fear and tightened his hand on her shoulder more. In the meantime, he used his other hand to calmly push the alarm button with the help of the emergency lighting.

The elevator suddenly slid down some more.

Now, both the young lady and Ruan Yu screamed.

Xu Huaisong was about to tell them “it’s alright,” but the young lady started to cry. She wailed while tightly holding onto the railing: “Wu wu, gosh, I haven’t even fallen in love yet. I’m going to die without even holding hands with a man or being kissed. I’m always the third wheel even when I’m about to die. Waa!”

Ruan Yu: “......”

Ruan Yu was thinking whether it would make the young lady feel better if she explained to her that she wasn’t the third wheel here.

[1]: When she says “possessed” what she’s saying in Chinese is 魂穿 (hún chuān) which literally translates to “soul pass through.” More specifically it’s the term commonly used in a genre of popular Chinese novels where the character’s soul is sent into the body of someone from the past. (the concept is somewhat similar to isekai/transmigration). Essentially, a person in the past has their body possessed by someone from the future.

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