Starlight Has No Past - Chapter 41 Part 3

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



Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 41 Part 3

Zhou Tingsheng checked the wound on Ye Qiao’s arm. “Burns normally leave scars. If you eat darker sauce now, won’t you regret it later?”[1]
When Ye Qiao jumped to protect Jiang Yu, her left arm was closer to the flames and suffered some burns. The skin around the burned area was still swollen and reddish. Reminded by Zhou Tingsheng, Ye Qiao dejectly said: “How can you stick to a vegetarian diet for so many years? Don’t you feel your intestines turning green when all you eat are green things everyday?”
“Meat doesn’t taste good to me and don’t feel bad not eating it.”
Ye Qiao was curious: “You didn’t like to eat meat since you’re little?”
Zhou Tingsheng hesitated, some unknown emotion flickered in his eyes, but he told the truth: “I liked it when I was little, but not later on.”
Ye Qiao couldn’t understand how a man’s taste of food could drastically change like that. Zhou Tingsheng, however, tried to quickly end the topic. His phone rang and he went out to the balcony to answer it.

The phone call was from Wuzi. Zhou Tingsheng lit a cigarette and quietly listened to Wuzi’s complaints: “What’s going on? That Ruan girl wants to come to my place to work and asked me to take her in. If she needs money, why hasn’t she asked you? Why is she coming to me for help?”
Zhou Tingsheng took a deep puff and asked: “When?”
“A couple of days ago. I’ve heard your girlfriend had an accident and I didn’t want to bother you then. Oh, right, how’s she now?”
“Pretty good.”
“That’s good, then……” Wuzi suddenly remembered something and shouted: “Oh, Yeah! I heard from my buddies in G City a few days ago that Ruan Feiyan seems to have gotten involved with some gang members. Think about it, she’s so young and even came to my place to find work. Who knows why she needs money so badly?”
“Ok, I got it.” Zhou Tingsheng hung up the phone and quietly finished smoking the cigarette before going back into the room.

Ye Qiao had just taken her medicine and had fallen asleep. Her long eyelashes quivered ever slightly from the breeze when Zhou Tingsheng opened the door. Zhou Tingsheng sat next to the bed, watching her. It was the first time in his life that he felt that a mistake in the past could produce something good.

The memories that he had long buried began to resurface; the vicious gangster, the bloody red dagger, the sound of liquid oozing out when the blade pierced the man’s body, the scream from Aunty Ruan who couldn’t stop it in time……
If he didn’t fly into a rage in the fight and cut that horrid man to pieces, then it would have prevented everything that happened afterwards. Aunty Ruan, though in poor health, would’ve still lived for a few more years if she didn’t take the blame in his place. Then the consent form to be an organ donor she had signed would have just been a useless paper and wouldn’t have saved the person lying in bed right in front of him.
Zhou Tingsheng felt that destiny was still treating him too kindly. He thought he would never come out of the nightmare, but in the end, the nightmare eventually became a blessing.

Ye Qiao seemed to sense the change of light in front of her eyes and began to wake up. She asked in a sleepy voice: “You’re done with your phone call?”
“En.” Zhou Tingsheng replied especially quiet.

The blank expression when he was blanking out earlier remained on his face. Ye Qiao felt like he was back to the person when she first met him. She couldn’t tell whether he was scared or sad; there was only loneliness. It was like he had been through death and came back.
This man would direct all his compassion at her, but wouldn’t let her in his nightmares.

Ye Qiao suddenly felt hollow in her heart and needed a hug to fill it. She raised her arms and Zhou Tingsheng immediately know what she wanted and bent over. Ye Qiao circled around his neck and  rubbed her cheek against the warm skin on the back of his neck. She whispered in his ear: “I just dreamt about you……”
Zhou Tingsheng smiled: “What did you dream?”
Ye Qiao quietly told him: “I dreamt I died. My soul floated up and quietly watched you…...You were sitting next to my bed. I could only see your back and couldn’t see your face no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to open my eyes to see you and then I woke up.”
“What a messed-up dream.” Zhou Tingsheng’s eyebrows gathered together.
Ye Qiao turned to face him and touched her nose tip to his.. She asked in a small voice: “Are you afraid?”


[1]: Chinese folk medicine believes that dark sauces will cause wounds to heal with dark scars (due to eating darker sauces)

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