Those Sweet Times - Chapter 19 Part 2

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

Those Sweet Times

Chapter 19 Part 2

Tonight was particularly windy and cold. Xiang Nuan pulled her sweater
tighter around her body and wished she could put her hands into the
pockets, but she had to carry her notebook.

Lin Chuyan noticed and took her notebook to place it in the pocket of his
windbreaker. He could still fit his hand into the same pocket. Xiang Nuan
felt that his pocket was like a small book bag.

The two of them walked to the convenience store against the chilly wind.
Xiang Nuan got her favorite oden and corn. Lin Chuyan ordered a bowl of
seaweed and fish ball soup and a big bun with spinach and shrimp filling.

At the register, the clerk said: “Today’s Singles Day, couples can get half
price.”

Xiang Nuan protested: “It’s Singles Day, why do couples get a discount
and singles can’t? It’s not fair.”

“Well, the world is quite unfriendly towards singles.”

“Alright, actually, we’re couples.” She pointed at herself and Lin Chuyan.
“Give us the discount.”

“I’ll believe it if you kiss each other.”

Xiang Nuan looked over at Lin Chuyan, who was also looking at her. They
looked at each other for a few seconds, Xiang Nuan felt that handing over
her first kiss just for a 50% discount on a late night snack was…...not inline
with core Socialist values.

She waved her hand. “Alright, we aren’t couples. How much is it?”

At the corner of the convenience store, there was a L shaped counter next
to the window for people to eat their food. The two sat on the stools, ready
to eat.  The corn was steaming hot, she put it down on the counter and blew
on it to cool it down faster.

After a while, she noticed that Lin Chuyan was flipping through her notebook.
He commented as he flipped the pages: “You have pretty handwriting.”

Compared with her contemporaries, Xiang Nuan was quite good at calligraphy,
both with brush and stiff pen. After all, her father was an artist of Chinese painting,
which demanded a very high skill in calligraphy. People would roll their eyes if
they saw a pretty painting with terrible inscriptions.

Xiang Nuan was focusing on her corn and only casually thanked him. But after
a moment, she finally realized something and went to grab her notebook. “Hey,
don’t look!”

But it was too late. He had seen everything.

-- --There were a few pieces of drawings stuck in between the pages of the
notebook. There were all drawings of Shen Zemu.

Lin Chuyan closed the notebook and raised it high above him. His arm was
much longer than hers.

“Give it back!” Xiang Nuan urgently said.

“What’s the hurry, I already know about it.” Lin Chuyan returned the notebook
to her.

Xiang Nuan blushed.

Lin Chuyan: “If he sees your notebook, then he would know that you have a
crush on him.”

“Don’t say it out loud……” Xiang Nuan muttered, her face got even redder.
She added: “He won’t see it.”

“What if he does?”

“Then, what should I do, should I tear them up?”

Lin Chuyan comforted her: “No need. I have a solution. It’ll be ok even if he
sees them.”

“What solution?”

“Close your eyes, count for 10 seconds.”

Xiang Nuan closed her eyes and started counting.

Lin Chuyan grabbed the pen which was clipped on the notebook. His hand
moved swiftly, taking less than ten seconds to add a pig’s nose to each drawing
of Shen Zemu.

Xiang Nuan counted to ten and opened her eyes. She saw a pig nose on her
god’s handsome face.

Ahhhhh!

She couldn’t believe her eyes and started to flip through all of the drawings,
five of them altogether. They were all altered. All the Shen Zemus now had
pig nose. What speedy hands he has? ! !

Xiang Nuan almost went mad. “LIN, CHU, YAN.”

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