You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 41 Part 2

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 41 Part 2

Ruan Yu was pan-frying eggs inside the kitchen. She turned her head and was surprised to see Xu Huaisong: “You’re up? Weren’t you going to sleep……”

Xu Huaisong immediately interrupted her with a gesture and raised the cell phone in his hand to show her. He mouthed: Your dad.

Ruan Yu widened her eyes in shock and also mouthed back: Why did you answer it?

Xu Huaisong: By mistake.

Ruan Yu hurriedly turned off the burner and rushed over to get the phone off his hand: “Hello, dad.”

The rustling sound on the other end stopped abruptly. Ruan Chengru cleared his throat and spoke as if nothing had ever happened: “Oh, Yuyu, where are you at?”

Ruan Yu looked up at the ceiling and replied honestly: “At home……”

“Your own place?”

“Right……”

Ruan Chengru pensively replied with an “oh.”

It became awkwardly silent.

Ruan Yu poked Xu Huaisong’s shoulder with an index finger. Then she heard her mother’s voice on the other end: “Yuyu, your dad called you to ask about what’s going to happen to Zhou Jun now?”

“He’s being detained here in Hang City. I’m not too clear about the details either.” Ruan Yu took a look at Xu Huaisong and figured that her parents must have guessed that the two of them had spent the night together. She decided to give up on hiding since the cat was out of the bag: “I’ll let Huaisong talk to you about it.”

“Hum, alright.”

Ruan Yu handed the cell phone to Xu Huaisong with a puckered mouth.

Xu Huaisong cleared his throat and answered Qu Lan: “Ms. Qu, a lawyer in my law firm has already taken over the case. He made a request to meet Zhou Jun the day before yesterday. At the very least, he should be able to see Zhou Jun today before noon to discuss the case.”

“So he won’t be released?”

“Right. The police are still investigating. Even if there’s no further discovery, in his case, it’s impossible for him to get released on bail. He’s going to be held till the end of the court proceedings and then we’ll see what the result will be.”

“Then, how soon will the court take his case?”

“It’s hard to say. In the best scenario, it’ll probably be in four to five months.”

A sigh came from the other side of the phone: “Poor kid; I just don’t think he’s capable of doing such a thing……”

Xu Huaisong continued: “Don't worry too much about it. I’ll keep an eye on the case. Later, my colleagues from the law firm may come to visit you and Mr. Ruan as part of their investigation to understand what happened a few days ago.”

After finishing the call, as Xu Huaisong was about to return the phone to Ruan Yu, the phone began vibrating again.

Xu Huaisong looked down and discovered that this time the caller id was: Li Shican.

Xu Huaisong gritted his teeth.

It would have been perfect if these two phone calls had come in reverse order.

Ruan Yu was also surprised to see that it was Li Shican calling: “He usually won’t call me unless there’s something going on.” She tried to reach for her phone from Xu Huaisong’s hand.

Xu Huaisong grasped the phone tightly and silently resisted with an indifferent look in his eyes.

Ruan Yu was speechless: “What are you doing? I’ll use the speaker phone, alright!”

Xu Huaisong let go of the phone.

Ruan Yu answered the phone and Li Shican’s voice came through the speaker: “Xuejie, there’s an urgent thing that I have to tell you.”

“What happened?”

“I probably got photographed.” Li Shican sounded like he was apologetic: “On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, after you left with the police, I took Lawyer Xu’s sister back to the hotel.”

Both Ruan Yu and Xu Huaisong gasped.

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 41 Part 1

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 41 Part 1

Ruan Yu opened her eyes on the right side of the bed.

The sun was already up. Ruan Yu’s eyes were open but she hadn’t completely woken up. Her body felt as light as a feather. All she remembered was the kiss last night and after the kiss, Xu Huaisong’s explosive heartbeats next to her ear.

She stayed in his arms last night for a long while, chatting with him. They talked about things back in high school and Ruan Yu didn’t know when she had fallen asleep.

Ruan Yu forgot to pull both layers of the curtain up and so the early morning sunlight shone through the semi-transparent sheer curtain, creating an illusionary feel in the whole room. It took a while for Ruan Yu to come back to herself. She slowly turned her head to see the person who was at the left side of the bed.

Xu Huaisong, with his back leaning against the pillow, eyes closed, looked like he had fallen asleep. He didn’t lie down to go under the covers, but sat on top of the covers with shirt and trousers and had kept a proper distance from her.

Ruan Yu remembered that she had asked him out of curiosity how he had noticed her in the very beginning.

Xu Huaisong gave a perfunctory answer, not the kind that Ruan Yu had expected. He only told her the truth after she persistently asked the question.

It all started with a casual chat in the boy’s dormitory during their mandatory month of military education and drills back in high school. The boy in Xu Huaisong’s lower bunk bed mentioned: “The daughter of our classroom teacher is very cute. Are any of you interested in the challenge of ‘turning the teacher into your father-in-law’?”

There was no thrilling romantic encounter. It was just a playful banter among adolescent boys.

It was indeed very mundane.

Yet, it was just like any morning when the sun rises as usual, mundane but beautiful.

Ruan Yu watched Xu Huaisong for a while, then she cautiously got out of the covers. She wanted to pull Xu Huaisong down so he could lie flat in a more comfortable position. Her hands just touched his shoulder and he abruptly opened his eyes.

Startled, Ruan Yu took her hands off him: “The way you woke up is really frightening……”

Xu Huaisong smiled with sleepy eyes. He lightly lifted her chin: “What are you doing?”

“To get you to lie down to sleep. I’m getting up.”

It was time for her to get up. But for him, he didn’t feel sleepy until dawn since he had sat up on the bed for most of the night.

He said: “En. Then I’ll sleep for a while.” He lied down afterwards.

Ruan Yu got off the bed, pulled on the curtain, then went to wash up.

Xu Huaisong didn’t get to sleep for long. He was awoken by the vibrating noise of a cell phone soon after he had dozed off.

He reached over to locate the cell phone on the nightstand with closed eyes. It took him a while to get the phone. He answered the phone with half closed eyes and in a low voice: “Hello.”

It went dead silent on the other side of the phone. After the short pause, there was a voice in surprise: “Ai? Wrong number?”

Xu Huaisong abruptly opened his eyes. He quickly sat up on bed and moved the cell phone away from his ear to take a quick glance at it.

The screen showed “dad.”

But this wasn’t from his dad.

This was Ruan Yu’s cell phone.

It wasn’t that Ruan Chengru had dialed the wrong number. It was Xu Huaisong who had answered the wrong phone.

Then he heard the voice in the phone questioning: “It isn’t the wrong number……”

Xu Huaisong took a deep breath. He had made all the preparations to visit Ruan Yu’s parents during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, but was interrupted by his own father’s sudden illness. Now he was faced with the challenge of “turning the teacher to a father-in-law” at the most unexpected time.

It wasn’t a good omen to be face to face with her father so early in the morning before he hadn’t had the chance to visit her parents formally.

Xu Huaisong hesitated for a moment before deciding to face her father directly. He moved the cell phone closer and lightly cleared his throat: “Mr. Ruan, you didn’t get the wrong number. This is Huaisong. Please wait a moment.”

The other side of the phone went dead silent even longer now. After a while, there was rustling noise on the other side as if Ruan Chengru and Qu Lan were having an emergency meeting of some sort.

Xu Huaisong held the phone in hand and cautiously walked out of the bedroom as if he was holding a bomb. He opened the door to the kitchen.

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 40 Part 3

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 40 Part 3

Xu Huaisong got on Ruan Yu’s bed and moved closer to her: “Alright, I was the one who wanted to come to keep you company. Come out of the covers.”

“If you ever mention this again, you can’t even stay in the living room!”

Xu Huaisong gave in: “I won’t mention it again. Come out, it isn’t good to sleep inside the covers.”

The reason why Ruan Yu continued hiding inside the covers wasn’t because she was irritated, rather it was because her face was blood red and she couldn’t show her face.

Xu Huaisong was not aware of this and kept pulling on her covers.

“Aiya, what are you doing!” Ruan Yu firmly grasped the covers so he couldn’t pull it down. After some struggling, Ruan Yu was pulled out from under the covers. She smoothed her hair while panting and glared at him.

Xu Huaisong laughed: “I said nothing when all my 300 plus drafts and all the tricks I pulled were exposed.”

“You deserved it! How you enjoyed reading the novel and forced me to read……” Ruan Yu abruptly stopped talking.

She quickly realized that it was a subject she shouldn’t have brought up.

The very next second, Xu Huaisong feigned ignorance about the topic she was talking about: “Gee, what did I force you to read?”

Ruan Yu turned around and was going to lie down again: “Nothing. I’m going to sleep.”

Xu Huaisong held on to her arm: “Sleep after answering my question.”

Ruan Yu was silent for a moment, then she thought she should clarify the whole thing. She raised one hand in the air: “Let me seriously clarify that I’ve made up that section simply to please my readers. I’ve never ever dreamt that kind……that kind of……”

Xu Huaisong lowered his head and smiled. He said with a tiny voice which even he couldn’t hear clearly himself: “But I had.”

“What did you say?”

He looked up and smiled: “I said, you’re good at making up stories. You haven’t even had any experience of falling in love, yet you were able to write such realistic kissing scenes?”

Ruan Yu stroked her bangs, straightened up her back, and said in a pretentious manner: “Of course. To be a writer, how could we not have some knowledge about everything? I might not have eaten pork before, but how could I have not seen a pig……”

As she was talking, she watched Xu Huaisong take off his glasses and move closer.

Baffled, Ruan Yu looked at the man getting closer to her and said: “You, what are you doing?”

Xu Huaisong blinked and smiled: “I want to feed you some pork.”

“?”

Before Ruan Yu reacted, something soft and coolish touched her lips. – – Xu Huaisong leaned against the bed, one hand on the pillow to support himself and the other hand cupped Ruan Yu’s face to kiss her.

Something flashed in Ruan Yu’s brain. Her heartbeats became irregular. She was so dumbfounded by what was happening that she subconsciously backed away a little.

Xu Huaisong didn’t move forward. Their lips touched and parted right afterwards, but the tips of their noses were still touching each other.

Both of them held their breaths being at such close proximity to each other.

Ruan Yu grasped the bed sheet, gradually tightening her grip, and held her breath to the point that her face started turning red.

Xu Huaisong’s mouth curved up slightly. He touched his nose to hers, then moved away, slightly tilted his head, and looked quite pleased with himself.

He looked so content, just like eight years ago when he lied about “holding the wrong hand”, he didn’t seem to be uncomfortable at all.

Ruan Yu, on the other hand, was far from calm. The light kiss and the look in his eyes made her dizzy, as if a colorful firework show was exploding right in front of her eyes. She turned to the other side and tried to get off the bed.

Xu Huaisong grabbed her from behind and pulled her into his arms. Ruan Yu’s left ear rested on his heart.

Ruan Yu was surprised by the sudden act. After a short while, she heard his laughter on top of her head: “You can’t tell anything from my expression. Listen to my heart; it’s exploding even more than a firework show.”

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 40 Part 2

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 40 Part 2

At first, Xu Huaisong’s heart sank a little, wondering whether Ruan Yu’s condition had worsened and he would have to take her to get a diagnosis. Then he noticed something in the room that seemed a little unusual.

Ruan Yu didn’t turn on the ceiling light. Only the lamp on the nightstand was lit, giving a warm-toned glow. The position of the lamp shade seemed to have been moved to a particular angle so all the glow was focused on Ruan Yu, giving her face a perfect soft glow effect.

It made Ruan Yu look especially good.

Xu Huaisong was a little startled at first, then suddenly lowered his head and chuckled.

It was his turn to be tricked.

Ruan Yu coughed once: “I said I can’t fall asleep, why are you laughing?”

Xu Huaisong didn’t reply. He walked back to turn off the floor lamp in the living room instead. When he came back to Ruan Yu’s room, he said: “You can fall asleep if I sleep with you?”

He closed the bedroom door behind him. Seeing the meaningful smile on his face, Ruan Yu suddenly lost the ability to speak. She felt like she had let a wolf into the house.

It was just like what Shen Mingying had said. When he acted coldly, she was unhappy about it. When she tricked him to come into her room, she became apprehensive.

She was acting like the typical high maintenance person in a relationship.

However, none of the things she dreaded happened.

Xu Huaisong simply sat down at the edge of her bed: “Alright, I’ll just sit here. You can sleep with peace of mind now. Lie down, give me your cell phone.”

Sometimes, a person will obey a gentle command more than stern words.

Ruan Yu obediently handed over the cell phone and lied down under the covers.

The air condition in the room was set at a comfortable 28 degrees Celsius. Xu Huaisong’s body blocked the light, dimming the room. Ruan Yu closed her eyes and felt like she was swimming in a spring breeze.

Ruan Yu pinched the corner of the cover and snickered with pursed lips.

She felt like she had found the perfect way of interacting with him.

She was satisfied with how they were close to each other yet not overly intimate.

Xu Huaisong glanced at her curved lips. He reached over with one hand to pull the bang on Ruan Yu’s forehead to the side and used the other hand to send a message to his psychologist friend: [If she’s in the mood of tricking her boyfriend into her room, she shouldn’t be that traumatized now?]

Zhu Lei: [Do you have to send PDA in the middle of night while consulting with me? Your girlfriend might not be traumatized, but I’m traumatized now, understood?]

Xu Huaisong smiled at the cell phone. Then he had a chill go down his spine.

He turned his head to the side and saw Ruan Yu look at him with wide open eyes.

Subconsciously, Xu Huaisong locked the cell phone screen. He heard her ask in a low voice: “Who were you sending message to in the middle of the night?”

“A male classmate, from high school.” Xu Huaisong answered immediately.

“But, why do you have the look of a young boy in love……”

Xu Huaisong was speechless for a moment, then started laughing: “Because we were talking about you.”

Ruan Yu got interested: “Talk about what about me?”

“You wouldn’t want to know.”

Ruan Yu frowned and sat up on bed: “Were you bad-mouthing me?”

Xu Huaisong shook his head: “No.”

Ruan Yu gave him a glance: “So be it if you don’t want to tell me.”

“Alright.” Xu Huaisong smiled and cleared his throat: “We were talking about how I had been tricked into going into my girlfriend’s room.”

“......”

Looking at Ruan Yu’s shocked expression, Xu Huaisong lowered his voice to add with an innocent look in his eyes: “I told you that you wouldn’t want to know.”

Ruan Yu’s face instantly blushed. She took a deep breath, pulled the covers up, turned her back to him to get under the covers. She said with a muffled sound: “Xu Huaisong, you can go out now.”

Xu Huaisong leaned over while laughing: “Are you upset? If you didn’t insist on getting to the bottom of it, I wouldn’t have laid bare your scheme.”

Ruan Yu covered her ears, refusing to listen to him.

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 40 Part 1

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 40 Part 1

Ruan Yu was lying face up when she saw Shen Mingying’s question, her hand trembled and her cell phone fell flat on her face.

She gave a cry and finally, there was movement outside of her door. Xu Huaisong knocked three times on her door and asked: “What’s going on?”

Ruan Yu covered her head with her hands and curved up like a cooked shrimp from the pain. She raised her voice with a grimace: “Nothing much. My cell phone fell on my face……”

It went quiet outside the door for a while before she heard Xu Huaisong’s voice again: “Go to sleep.”

His words were followed by the noise of his footsteps moving further and further away from the door.

Ruan Yu, unbothered by the pain, immediately picked up her cell phone and started typing: [He didn’t even come in to show his concern when my cell phone fell on my face!]

Shen Mingying: [Why did your cell phone fall on your face?]

Soft Jade: [Why didn’t he come in to show his concerns?]

Shen Mingying: [Aiyo, you young ladies who have just fallen in love, when the man is acting gentlemanly, you complain that he’s being too cold and wonder if he’s not interested in you at all. If the man really did something with you, then you probably would cry and say that you’ve just started dating, how could he be all over me. Hum, it’s not easy to be a man.]

Shen Mingying went to bed right after she sent the reply, leaving Ruan Yu curled up under the cover with the cell phone in hand, biting her lip.

Outside the bedroom door, Xu Huaisong was looking at his laptop with tightly knit eyebrows. From time to time, he would use his finger to move up or down on the touchpad of his laptop. On screen were psychological research papers in both English and Chinese.

Though Lu Shenglan only brought the topic up out of concern and believed that there shouldn’t be any problem, Xu Huaisong nonetheless still took the time on his way back to China to consult with a high school classmate who was a psychologist now about Ruan Yu’s condition.

The psychologist told him that there’s always lingering fear after a frightening event, like most people after watching a horror movie. What Ruan Yu had experienced in the past few days wasn’t enough to indicate that there were any psychological problems. He suggested that Xu Huaisong observe for a couple more days, if her condition didn’t improve or was getting even worse, then he should consider having her get a diagnosis.

As a way to determine if her situation was improving, the psychologist had suggested to see whether Ruan Yu could fall asleep normally without hearing Xu Huaisong’s voice.

Xu Huaisong was supposed to let Ruan Yu stay at home by herself and cut off the voice chat with her without letting her know that it was only a test. But he was too worried about her to do it and had ended up with the current situation.

He let her stay in her room by herself while he was on standby outside her room.

Since he didn’t want to disturb her sleep, Xu Huaisong didn’t turn on the ceiling light in the living room but only kept a floor lamp on. The light from the laptop screen seemed especially bright. After fixing his eyes on the screen for a while, Xu Huaisong’s eyes hurt from the bright light.

After he finished reading the tenth research paper, Xu Huaisong took off his glasses and pinched between his eyebrows. Suddenly, he heard his cell phone vibrate.

A post from a Weibo account he followed.

Wenxiang: [Up to 1000 points. (super happy)]

A picture of the scores of “Tiao Yi Tiao”, a WeChat mini game, was attached.

“......”

Xu Huaisong was staring at the computer to research her psychological condition while she was playing games in her room as if he was nonexistent and even showing off her score to her fans?

Xu Huaisong tried to calm himself down, but he failed to do so. He put his glasses back on and got up to knock on the door again.

There were rustling noises coming from inside with Ruan Yu’s voice: “What’s wrong?”

“Open the door.”

Ruan Yu quickly pulled off the cover, sat up to tidy up her hair and pajamas, turned on the lamp on the nightstand, tilted the lamp shade, then said: “I didn’t lock the door.”

Xu Huaisong opened the door and said with a serious face standing at the door: “It’s half past midnight and you’re still playing games?”

Ruan Yu blinked her eyes as she sat on the bed: “How would you know it so fast, are you following my Weibo?”

It was a rhetorical question.

Xu Huaisong was straightforward this time: “Of course.”

Ruan Yu: “Hehe. I just played a few rounds since I can’t fall asleep.”

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 39 Part 3

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 39 Part 3

Xu Huaisong laughed: “I’m going to stay here but I’m not going to sleep. My daily routine has been all messed up lately.” He continued to explain: “Haven’t you been having trouble falling asleep? I flew back because of that. You want me to go to the hotel and voice chat with you again?”

Ruan Yu replied in a low voice: “Oh. Then, you go ahead.” After Xu Huaisong left her home, she hurriedly took out her cell phone to message Shen Mingying for help.

Shen Mingying: [There’s no need to get the guest room ready. There’s a 50% chance that when a couple in the early stage of their relationship would be inclined to be more reserved in terms of living arrangement. For example, they would book a standard hotel room with two beds.

But, reality shows that late at night, the two beds become one bed. The result is that the two of them would end up crowded on a tiny bed. Then they wonder why they didn’t book a room with a big bed instead in the beginning.

Therefore, if you get the guest room ready now, you’ll regret wasting all the effort in the end for sure.]

Ruan Yu pondered after reading Shen Mingying’s advice based on her own experience. She wasn’t able to figure out anything when Xu Huaisong came back.

Seeing Ruan Yu sitting at the same spot without moving, Xu Huaisong came over and gave her a meaningful look.

With that look, Ruan Yu belatedly realized that Shen Mingying had set her up.

No matter how things develop later on, getting the guest room ready would be a way to show her attitude towards it. If she didn’t even bother to get the room ready, wouldn’t it be the same as inviting him to sleep in her own room?

Wow, that’s not good.

Ruan Yu abruptly stood up and turned around to rush into the guest room.

Xu Huaisong stopped her by lightly pinching the collar at the back of her neck: “Why all the fuss now? It’s very late, go take a shower.”

Ruan Yu shrank her head and looked back: “Hehe. Why don’t you go shower first?”

Xu Huaisong thought it made sense since he could wash his own dirty clothes while Ruan Yu’s taking the shower so he didn’t have to trouble her for that later on.

He nodded: “I’ll be quick.” He then took his own stuff to the bathroom. Before he closed the bathroom door, he added: “I slept on the plane for 8 hours. I’m really not going to sleep tonight. Don’t bother with the guest room.”

Ruan Yu: “Oh.” Then she started to feel like she was on pins and needles.

When Xu Huaisong came out of the bathroom, he saw Ruan Yu pacing back and forth with tightly knit eyebrows. Her right hand was in a fist and kept hitting the palm of her left hand, as if she was pondering some major national issues.

When Ruan Yu heard the bathroom open, she turned around to look and found Xu Huaisong was still wearing a shirt and trousers. The only difference was that, since he was wearing slippers, he had rolled up the trouser legs a little, showing his bare ankles.

They were a pair of good looking ankles.

Ruan Yu hurriedly moved her eyes away, gathered her clothes, and walked into the bathroom without saying a word. She kept her ears open as she took a shower.

When she was done and came out of the bathroom, she saw Xu Huaisong was looking for a clothes pole at the balcony to hang his clothes.

While she was restlessly listening to any movement outside the bathroom, he wasn’t anxious at all but was calmly washing his clothes instead?

Though his behavior was quite reassuring, yet, was that the normal reaction a man should have when he was facing a woman he likes?

It was totally different from what she would read in a novel.

Xu Huaisong turned to take a look at Ruan Yu when he heard her coming out of the bathroom: “Why are you standing there? Go sleep, I’ll be working in the living room.”

That’s…… it?

Ruan Yu confusedly said: “Oh.” She turned to go into her own room. She lied on the bed for ten minutes and couldn’t hear a sound outside the room. She took out her cell phone and messaged Shen Mingying again.

Shen Mingying: [......]

Sheng Mingying: [Nothing happened?]

Sheng Mingying: [Is he feeling tired lately?]

Soft Jade: [Probably. He said that his routine has been all messed up lately. Doesn't it mean that he’s tired?]

Shen Mingying: [Can’t get hard.]

“......”

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 39 Part 2

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 39 Part 2

A piano prince suddenly turned into the hot pot boy, there was more than just a little disillusionment.

Ruan Yu disgustedly gave Xu Huaisong a look.

Xu Huaisong frustratedly said: “You were the one who wanted to reacquaint each other.”

“What if someone came by when you guys were having hot pot?”

“I would provide cover by playing the piano.”

“......”

So all the piano pieces she eavesdropped over those years were all tainted with the smell of hot pot?

Ruan Yu sighed with a smile: “I want to go back to being 16 again.”

“What for?” To warn her 16 year old self to sharpen her eyes and see that Xu Huaisong wasn’t a male idol at all?

But Ruan Yu’s reply was: “To hang out with you.” She giggled as she took a glance at him: “My high school days were too boring, no fun at all. If I were with you, I would have had fried chicken and hot pot, it would be fun.”

Xu Huaisong gave the thought a serious consideration: “It would be fun if we don’t get killed by your father.”

They both broke into laughter.

After a short while, Ruan Yu continued with the topic: “If my parents weren’t teachers of our school, I might really……”

She stopped in mid sentence, yet Xu Huaisong understood what she wanted to say.

What she wanted to say was that she wouldn’t be so well-behaved and she might’ve someday mustered enough courage to confess to him before graduation.

It became quiet in the kitchen.

Both of them seemed to start imagining that “if.”

Xu Huaisong felt that he could leave the country when he didn’t know about her feelings towards him. But if she had confessed to him, could he still walk away just like that?

He shouldn’t be able to do that.

The sizzling sound of the heated oil interrupted Ruan Yu’s imagination. She turned on the exhaust fan, prepared to fry the chicken wings, and told Xu Huaisong to stay away.

Xu Huaisong didn’t move away. By the time Ruan Yu had finished frying all the chicken wings, his shirt was saturated with the smell of grease.

At first, they didn’t notice it. It was after they finished their night snack, when all the fried chicken wings were gone but the smell of fried chicken wings remained in the room.  The cat, Xu Pipi, who was supposed to be sleeping, started to constantly rub itself on Xu Huaisong’s body. Ruan Yu knew then what the problem was.

She sat across from him and watched the orange cat trying to “eat” him. She said: “Now, that’s truly what the aroma of cooking is all about.” 

Xu Huaisong smiled while holding the cat in his arms: “Then, invite me to take a shower here.”

Ruan Yu was a little taken aback and suddenly realized something: “You were purposely just now……” She paused half way through.

She was sure that it must be one of Xu Huaisong’s schemes to get the smell of fried chicken all over him. But, once she exposed his intention, she was actually the one who got nervous about it.

Based on common sense, taking a shower here means he’s going to stay here for the night?

Ruan Yu became anxious and stammered to say: “You, you don’t have any change of clothes with you……”

“I have.”

Ruan Yu looked around. It couldn’t be true; she clearly remembered that when he hugged her, he didn’t have anything in his hands.

“In my car downstairs.” Xu Huaisong explained.

So he actually had two plans; if she accepted him, he could go down to get his clothes any time, on the other hand, if she didn’t, it wouldn’t make him look like he was too rash either.

Something flickered in Ruan Yu’s eyes.

Seeing that Ruan Yu didn’t turn it down directly, Xu Huaisong put down the cat and got up to walk towards the door: “I’ll go get them.”

“Hum……” Ruan Yu tugged on his sleeve when he walked by her. She looked up and said in a muffled voice: “Does this mean that…… you’re going to stay for the night?”

Xu Huaisong lifted up his other hand which was free to move and put the index and middle fingers together and lightly flicked Ruan Yu’s forehead: “What are you thinking about?”

“No, nothing.” She straightened up her body: “If you’re going to stay for the night, I’ll have to get the guest room ready.”

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 39 Part 1

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 39 Part 1

Ruan Yu believed that Xu Huaisong must have asked the question deliberately.

Through reading all 327 messages, Ruan Yu had concluded that Xu Huaisong was a man who was actually much gentler at heart than how he presented himself outwardly, but he was also much cunning than how he looked.

70% gentleman and 30% rogue, the perfect combination to steal the heart of any young lady.

Ruan Yu wondered what details he had in mind at this point? Were they going to discuss how they should embrace each other in such a way that was more fitting for the shape of the human body, then practice it over and over?

She twitched her nose at Xu Huaisong and purposely avoided the question. Instead, she said: “There is a detail which I can’t figure out that we need to discuss.” She turned to pick up the outdated cell phone on the table: “I’m curious, before it was rediscovered, how it could’ve survived for eight years with the battery inside without corroding?”

Since he had tricked her so many times before, when she asked the question, there was obvious doubt in her eyes, as if she was suspicious that he was still hiding something from her.

Xu Huaisong gave a frustrated smile: “It certainly is because I removed the battery eight years ago.”

No cell phone could survive for eight years with the battery left inside of it. Before he left for the US, he took the battery out of it and put it into a box.

“Then where did this battery come from?” Ruan Yu didn’t understand.

“When the old house was scheduled to be demolished, my mom removed the house phone. Then, one day, when my grandma was packing up the remaining stuff in the old house, she found that her cell phone wasn’t working and couldn’t get ahold of my mom. She found my old phone and put the battery from her phone into mine to see whether the old phone was still working.”

Since his grandma’s phone was also an old phone model, the battery worked in his old phone with no problem.

“Don’t tell me that your grandma then bought a new phone and just left the battery in this old phone. Then, Huaishi found it while packing up things in the old house.” Ruan Yu said with amazement.

Xu Huaisong nodded.

The reason that he rushed back that time wasn’t just because of the secret inscriptions on the wall of piano room 301, it was more for the unbelievable odds of anything like this to happen. It seemed that it was their destiny.

Such a miracle was too wild to seem believable.

After getting over her amazement, she felt a wave of relief and laughed.

They indeed had encountered a miracle.

The City leaders who issued the order to demolish the old neighborhood; Grandma Xu whose cell phone broke down; Xu Huaishi who rewrote the drafts into a novel; and Cen Sisi who made havoc in the plagiarism incident; all of them played indispensable roles for this miracle to happen.

But what was the start of this miracle?

The start of this miracle was the fact that Xu Huaisong had taken the battery out before he stored it. It saved the cell phone. Subconsciously, he must’ve subconsciously kept a sliver of hope about her when he was about to leave the country.

The start of the miracle was that he didn’t let her go.

Ruan Yu stood silent at the same spot for a long while. In the end, she decided not to fixate her attention on it anymore. She pointed at his stomach: “Aren’t you hungry after talking so much?”

She then turned to go into the kitchen.

Xu Huaisong followed her with a smile: “I had eaten on the plane.”

“Then, I don’t have to do the night snack?” She lifted the plate to show him; the plate was filled with chicken wings which were well battered and coated with bread crumbs.

Xu Huaisong for a short moment was lost for words. Knowing what she was going to cook for him, he smiled and said: “Do it, I’ll eat.”

Ruan Yu put on her apron, and sighed, holding back a laugh: “There were more than 20 drafts among the three hundred plus that mentioned fried chicken. Why was it all you can think of back in high school?”

Xu Huaisong lightly coughed: “It’s because the food at the school cafeteria was really bad.”

“Wasn’t the fried chicken a little too greasy when you had too much of it?”

“That’s why we would also get some hot pot takeout.”

Surprised, Ruan Yu asked as she washed her hands: “Where did you eat it?”

“At the Arts building.”

Ruan Yu was amazed that they would choose such a sacred place and contaminate it with such a worldly smell. No wonder Xu Huaisong tried so hard to prevent her from knowing his true self.

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

You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 38 Part 3

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 38 Part 3

Ruan Yu should have blamed him for keeping her in the dark for so long, for keeping silent for so long.

But after she had finished reading the three hundred plus messages, crying and laughing like an idiot all the while, it no longer seemed to matter to her.

Being deceived or set up, everything was in the past. Nothing was more important than the fact that “he is coming back now.”

He was coming back. She didn’t have to live in tomorrows that he couldn’t see.

That was the most important thing to her now.

Ruan Yu circled around her home and finally made up her mind to call Xu Huaisong on the phone.

Then, a ringtone sounded in a place quite nearby.

Startled by the sound, she subconsciously disconnected the call.

The next second, someone knocked on her door. Xu Huaisong’s voice mixed with the sound of knocking: “What’s wrong?”

“......”

Ruan Yu went to open the door while patting her chest. She spoke with a grimace: “You scared me to death. Why aren’t you making any sound while you’re at the door, are you shooting a horror movie……”

The unexpected episode eased the weird atmosphere between the two.

But Xu Huaisong’s quietness very quickly pulled Ruan Yu back to a feeling of apprehension.

The two of them, one inside the door and the other outside, looked at each other and didn’t know what to say.

After half a minute had passed, Xu Huaisong opened his mouth: “Sorr……”

“Xu Huaisong.” Ruan Yu abruptly interrupted him and said after a short pause: “Let’s reacquaint ourselves with each other.”

Let’s stop acting.

He didn’t have to be overly cautious while wearing a mask and she didn’t have to play tricks in order to be the one who took the initiative.

They should reacquaint each other with their real, frank faces and reveal all of themselves.

Xu Huaisong didn’t quite get what Ruan Yu meant at the moment and didn’t know how to respond.

Ruan Yu briefly closed her eyes, then after mustering the courage she had tried to build up the whole day, she stretched her hand out and said: “How are you, I’m Ruan Yu, who graduated from Room 9, 12th grade of Su City First High School. I used to like you very much and now……”

“Wait.” Xu Huaisong interrupted her.

Ruan Yu was a little taken aback.

Then she saw that he had relaxed his tense expression and smiled suddenly: “I should be the one to say those things first.” As he was talking, he stretched out his hand: “How are you, I’m Xu Huaisong who graduated from Room 10, 12th grade of Su City First High School. I used to like you very much, and now, I like you more than before.”

Ruan Yu felt the lump coming back to her throat again. She stood there with a pouting mouth without moving.

Xu Huaisong looked down at his hand in the mid air and asked: “Are we going to shake or not?”

Ruan Yu was about to say “yes,” but heard Xu Huaisong continue: “If not, let me hug you.” After saying that, he held Ruan Yu’s hand and pulled her into his arms.

Ruan Yu gave a cry of surprise. The next moment, they heard a thud from the corner of the staircase. It sounded like someone had bumped their head on the wall.

The two of them turned their heads to take a look at the same time while still embracing each other.

From the corner, the young lady who had screamed and cried when they were stuck in the elevator with them stretched her upper body into view: “So sorry. I came back from my night exercise and I heard you two rehearsing as I was coming up the stairs and became curious. Sorry, sorry for intruding……”

Xu Huaisong, Ruan Yu: “......”

Ruan Yu’s body stiffened and slowly released herself from Xu Huaisong’s arms. She tidied up her clothes, smoothed her hair, and smiled at Sun Miaohan: “We’re rehearsing for a play. We’ve just finished and are going inside to discuss the details of it.” As she was talking, she grabbed Xu Huaisong’s sleeve and pulled him through the doorway.

She couldn’t blame Sun Miaohan for eavesdropping on them since it was at a public place.

After closing the door, Ruan Yu covered her face with her face pointing upwards: “It’s so embarrassing……”

Xu Huaisong came closer from behind and asked earnestly: “We’re inside, what details are we going to discuss?”

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