You're My Belated Happiness - Chapter 70 Side Story 3 Part 1

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

You’re My Belated Happiness

Chapter 70 Side Story 3 Part 1

Zhao Yi was caught by surprise. After a short pause he gave a wide grin, flashing his white teeth: “You want to? You need a bodyguard?”

He was still playing dumb.

Xu Huaishi, who had mustered all of her courage to say what she would never normally express, was irritated. She picked up the stack of practice tests on the table and began stuffing them into her bag as she said: “Yes, I need a bodyguard, and you’re numbskull!”

She got up to leave and pushed the milk tea shop door open. She shivered as the chilly air blew right into her face. She was two steps away from the door when her arm was suddenly pulled back by someone from behind. A wide and thick palm wrapped around her wrist. She recognized the feeling of the touch. His hand wasn’t as rough as she liked to say it was. On the contrary, the touch felt warm while she was encompassed by the chilly wind.

Xu Huaishi stopped. Then she heard the man behind her say slowly: “I want to. I want to get into the same college as you.”

His voice was like a feather fan over her ear. It was light, but since it was very close to her ear, it created a huge impact on her sense of hearing.

He wasn’t saying “I like you,” nor “I want to be with you.” What he said was “I want to get into the same college as you.”

It was a short sentence, yet it was the most precious pledge that someone at their age could offer.

Xu Huaishi didn’t turn her head. At that moment, everything she saw in front of her seemed to zoom in closer.

People were coming and going in a hurry on the street. The girl in red dress across the street who was waiting for someone at the newspaper stand. The route 19 bus which was driving down the street towards her and finally stopped at the bus stop not far from her.

In addition, a white flake slowly floated down right in front of her eyes and landed on the tip of her shoe.

She looked down at the floating white snowflake and watched it melt into water instantly. She said something which had nothing to do with what had just happened between them: “It’s snowing.”

“Mhm.” Zhao Yi looked up at the whiteness which was drifting profusely down on their heads: “It’s snowing.”

After the New Year’s break, all the teachers of the senior classes had heard that the boy in room 7 who would neither learn nor study had transformed into a different person.

At first, the news was leaked by the dormitory manager.

One night the manager was patrolling the dorm after lights out and heard voices coming from the balcony of the boys dormitory on the second floor. The manager angrily dashed over and saw Zhao Yi, with dark circles under his eyes, was reciting “peaceful reunification, one country two systems” with a flashlight in hand.

Next day, the manager was so moved by Zhao Yi’s diligence that she went to see the homeroom teacher of room 7.

The homeroom teacher was amazed when he heard the story but upon learning the name of the student, his face immediately darkened: “Don’t be fooled by that brat. He must have hid a random book inside the politics textbook.” Then the teacher called Zhao Yi to the teacher’s office to educate him.

Zhao Yi didn’t bother to explain. He listened to the teacher’s lecture while silently memorizing historic facts. He kept saying “en, en, hum, hum” the entire time the teacher spoke. When it all finished, he left the room and bumped into the history teacher at the door. Suddenly, he blurted out a question: “Teacher, when was the first automobile in the world invented?”

The history teacher was caught by surprise but answered: “1885.”

Zhao Yi made a fist with his right hand and hit his left palm: “Right, it’s ‘ni ba ba wo’[1] when the automobile was invented……”

All the teachers inside the office were looking at each other. The history teacher slowly turned his head to look at the back view of Zhao Yi who was briskly walking away. The teacher pulled his glasses up a little in disbelief.

An episode like this might just be a coincidence. But when more and more of Zhao Yi’s “glorious deeds” were heard in the office, even the homeroom teacher had to believe it.

A few days before finals, the math teacher walked into the classroom five minutes before the class. The teacher heard Zhao Yi, who was dozing off on the desk, yell in his dream: “Bull shit! Ulaanbaatar clearly has a temperate continental climate!”

[1]: He is saying 你爸爸我 (nǐ bàba wǒ) or very literally “You dad me”. It looks like he’s just using it as a mnemonic device to memorize 1885 which sounds very similar if you read out each digit in Chinese (yī bā bā wǔ).

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