Starlight Has No Past
Chapter 48 Part 2
In a similar hospital room in Yang City, the TV in the single room was showing the award ceremony. Ye Qiao lowered her head, the once youthful face was now more mature, but just as attractive.
She smiled shallowly: “There’s one person I especially want to thank.”
The audience was silent. Ye Qiao looked up; she couldn’t clearly make out the people in the audience because of the spotlights. She seemed to look past the crowd, towards the viewer on the other side of the screen-- --
“He’s my father.”
“I thank him for giving me life.”
Cheng Su quietly turned around to check the pale and fatigued middle aged man in the hospital bed. His gentlemanly face looked much older than his actual age. The light from the LCD screen reflected in his eyes.
His eyes were glued to the screen even though the camera had already switched back to the master of ceremony. That was his most cherished daughter, his only flesh and blood.
He had watched her birth with ecstasy and carefully watched her as she grew up.
In the end, he had exchanged all of his innocence and pride to give her a second life.
Ye Qiao went backstage and took off her heavy tassel earrings.
She looked up at the mirror and the face she saw was very reminiscent of Xu Zang. Ever since she was a little girl, no one asked her whether she looked like her mom or her dad. There wasn’t any need, as anyone could tell from just a glance that she was an exact replica of her father.
As expected, her acceptance speech didn’t cause much of a stir. It looked like she was only reading out a typical acceptance speech.
But her thumping heart was as real as the sound of the fireworks exploding in the air.
-- --No matter what, she thanked her father for giving her a second life.
Because his flight was delayed, Zhou Tingsheng didn’t arrive at the hotel until late into the night.
When he knocked on Ye Qiao’s door, she had just come out of shower and opened the door still in her bathrobe. Zhou Tingsheng threw his bag into the room and gave her a passionate kiss.
Ye Qiao struggled to close the door and breath: “I’m having my period……”
Zhou Tingsheng cursed, irritated that Ye Qiao would think that he’d come all this way just because he wanted to get into bed with her. He released his hold on her and noticed that Ye Qiao’s face was pale and her eyes had trouble focusing. No longer angry at her, he asked: “You’re not feeling well?”
Ye Qiao grimaced: “It hurts a bit…...It’s never hurt before. But today I wore that gown outside on the red carpet in the chilly wind for a while. My arms, legs, back, and chest were all bare; it was freezing cold no matter how many hand warmers I had on.” She used her arms to circle around his neck. Zhou Tingsheng wished she would always look at him with such longing.
Without thinking, he murmured in a small voice: “It’s been so long, why hasn’t there been a sign of good news.”
Though his voice was low, Ye Qiao still caught it. She harrumphed: “That’s your problem……”
“I had to fly over half of China to see you. Whose problem is that?” Zhou Tingsheng wasn’t too happy about it and annoyingly said: “Why are you still standing there.”
“Hrm?”
Zhou Tingsheng irritatedly picked Ye Qiao up, flipped the bed covers over, and put her down on the bed. He touched her calves under the bathrobe: “So cold, no wonder it hurts.”
He used his palms to warm up her icy cold skin. The warmth from his hands began to travel up and down her legs.
“I just came out of the shower when you knocked, who would have time to put clothes on.”
He put the cover over her and asked: “Where are your clothes?”
Ye Qiao kicked her foot towards a desk.
Zhou Tingsheng went over and pulled out a set of cashmere pajamas. After putting the pajamas on, Ye Qiao was still cold and clung to Zhou Tingsheng’s arm with a frown. Zhou Tingsheng had planned to go out and buy some painkillers for her, but now couldn’t move with Ye Qiao attached to him: “Painkillers will only mask the problem. If I take one now, the pain will just come back later and it’ll be even more painful then.” Zhou Tingsheng was speechless: “Where did you hear this nonsense?” Ye Qiao argumentatively replied: “<Huangdi Neijing>.[1] When it’s not clogged, it won’t hurt; pain means it’s clogged…...it’s no use blocking the pain.”
Even Ye Qiao felt like she was being irrational.
Zhou Tingsheng then suggested the only other thing he knew about the monthly female cycle: “Then, what do we do? I can get you some hot black sugar water?”
Ye Qiao, now bear hugging him, twitched her nose: “That tastes bad.”
“All good medicine tastes bad.”
“It’s still bad.”
[1]: 黄帝内经/The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor. An ancient Chinese medical text that was foundational to Chinese medicine.
Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.
Thank youuuu..
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