Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.
You’re My Belated Happiness
Chapter 69 Side Story 2 Part 1
With her back against the wall, Xu Huaishi stood there holding the cell phone without moving for a long time until she faintly heard Xu Huaisong’s voice outside the restroom: “I’ll wait for you out here. It’s dark, watch out for the steps.”
Then it was Ruan Yu’s voice: “Got it. I know my way around here.”
Xu Huaishi straightened up and saw Ruan Yu enter with a bag. Xu Huaishi waved at her: “Sister-in-law, sorry to trouble you.”
“Your brother is the truly troublesome one.” Ruan Yu lowered her voice and handed over the sanitary pads: “I told him that I’ll go buy some stuff at the school store and I won’t leave the campus. But he insisted on going with me.”
Xu Huaishi laughed and also replied in a low voice: “Is my classmate still out there?”
“You mean Zhao Yi? He’s chatting with your brother.”
“Um, you see, he's trouble too.”
Ruan Yu paused and sensed something unusual by Xu Huaishi’s tone of voice. She was about to ask but Xu Huaishi gestured at her: “Sister-in-law, let me have your hand.”
Ruan Yu stuck out her hand and Xu Huaishi pinched her thumb, trying to use it to unlock the phone in her hand.
It failed to unlock the phone.
Xu Huaishi used her own thumb to try again and it successfully unlocked it.
Xu Huaishi: “Geez, childish.” She handed over the cell phone to Ruan Yu, then went into the stall.
Ruan Yu held the cell phone and tried to put the pieces together. After a while, she walked to the stall where Xu Huaishi was in: “Huaishi, you……”
“I don’t have any puppy love.”[1] Xu Huaishi blurted out. She opened the door of the stall and emphasized again: “I don’t do puppy love……”
Ruan Yu smiled at her and returned the phone to her: “Then, let’s go.”
Xu Huaishi nodded and followed Ruan Yu to go out, but she stopped before opening the restroom door: “Sister-in-law, I’m not going to be an extra. It doesn’t matter to them whether I’m there or not. You don’t have anything you need to do over there, right? If you’re free, go with me to the school store to have some oden.”
Ruan Yu agreed and went out to persuade Xu Huaisong and Zhao Yi to leave without them. Then she went with Xu Huaishi to the commissary by themselves.
Xu Huaishi was quiet on their way over until they were near the school store: “Sister-in-law, actually I’ve already guessed it long ago.”
Ruan Yu looked over: “Guessed what?”
“That Zhao Yi likes me.” She looked down and blew at her palms, rubbing her hand together: “We see each other everyday. It’s unlike when you and my brother hardly spoke in three years. It’s impossible for me not to see that he likes me.”
Zhao Yi was the kind of person who wouldn’t even touch the broom and usually would turn on the electric fan to blow away the trash. If he didn’t like her, why would he help her clean the blackboard when she was the student on duty and say “what brand is this chalk, doesn’t taste that bad” when he had chalk dust in his mouth.
Zhao Yi usually wouldn’t bother doing any homework, even when others offered to let him copy. If he didn’t like her, why would he beg for answers from others when he learned that she had forgotten to do her English practice tests. He even said: “That girl must have a crush on me. She forced me to have these answers, I couldn’t stop her.”
Zhao Yi was the potential first place high-jumper in the school sports meet. If he didn’t like her, why would he, after finding out that her event of 1500 meter race was in conflict with his high-jump event, give up his own event and come over to accompany her in the run. He even said: “That judge hates me. He’s not asking me to jump high but to jump for my life. I give up, I give up.”
[1]: 早恋 (zǎoliàn) is roughly translated to puppy love, but it’s specifically used for very young love when one is a teen. And it is generally frowned upon because parents expect their children to focus on their studies and not love when they’re teenagers.
Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.
What a sweet boy
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