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Twenty-Third Period (1)
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Jiang Huihui was already inside. Zhou Jinwei poured her a cup of warm water.
She held it in hand with her head down, thanking him. Her voice still carried a very heavy tearful tone.
Her fingers lightly caressed the cup. She finally raised her head and said, “You also moved over?”
“No, I’m just here to help.”
His attention was still on her lips. It had already stopped bleeding, but the chip remained. Jiang Huihui said that it didn’t hurt; it already didn’t hurt anymore.
It was indeed a minor cut, especially even on the lip, an position awkward, not suitable to apply medicine.
But it was hard to ignore.
Zhou Jinwei turned and went into the bathroom, using hot water to soak a towel and wringing out the excess water, before taking it out and handing it to her.
“Put this over it for a while, it’ll feel a bit better.” He added, “The towel is clean, hasn’t been used before.”
Jiang Huihui reached out to take it. She still had her head down, not daring to look at him.
Zhou Jinwei sat down, his tone calm, “Am I that scary?”
“Huh?” She was holding the towel, about to put it on her lip. Hearing his words, she blanked for a moment, “What?”
“Scared to look at me?”
“N-no.” It wasn’t that he was scary.
Although she was indeed a bit scared of him inside, her fear right now was different from her fear of him in the past.
But as for what exactly was different about it, she couldn’t quite put it into words.
She saw Zhou Jinwei looking down at his watch on his wrist. Probably because of feeling that it was getting late and recalling how Zhou Jinwei said that he just came to help out, she said, “Then….do you still need to go back later?”
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Unknown as to why, the thought of him leaving soon suddenly made her feel a bit dejected.
As someone who wasn’t good at hiding her emotions, all her micro-expressions were written on her face, including her disappointment at this very moment.
Zhou Jinwei glanced at her.
He gave in and said, “I’ll head back tomorrow.”
Jiang Huihui’s disappointment gradually faded. She strangely felt relieved.
–
Because they’d just moved over, there were still a lot of things that needed to be sorted out. While Jiang Huihui was showering, she could hear the voices outside.
Zhou Yanli said, “I want put a basketball hoop here.”
Zhou Jinwei restrained his tone, reminding him in a deep voice, “You’re not the only one living in this building.”
“Oh. Then I’ll install a skylight. That way, I can enjoy the night view.”
“Why don’t you go get your brain checked at the hospital first?”
“Damn it, Zhou Jinwei, do you just feel uncomfortable all over if you don’t make jabs at me for a day?”
Jiang Huihui even subconsciously had the shower turned off halfway, reducing the sound of the water, so that she can hear the sound outside more clearly.
The two of them, one was easily ignited, while the other was as cold as ice, surprisingly complementing one another.
Listening to the occasional squabbles outside, Jiang Huihui’s bad mood slowly went away.
She didn’t bring clothes with her when she came out, so Zhou Yanli found a few of his own clothes to give her.
Wearing his clothes, Jiang Huihui was just like a child in adult clothes. She could only have the overly long sleeves and pant legs rolled up, so that at the very least her movements won’t be hindered.
Zhou Yanli was currently using the measuring tape to measure the room’s dimensions. Looks like, he’d triumphed in the end.
Seeing that Jiang Huihui finished showering, he let her come over to help support the ladder.
Jiang Huihui walked over and firmly held the folding ladder with two hands, “Are you really going to cut open a skylight here?”
“Of course. Otherwise, what…..” Halfway through his words, he looked down at her, nonchalantly asking, “What, you weren’t showering inside, instead secretly eavesdropping on us?”
Knowing that he was deliberately teasing her, Jiang Huihui pouted, softly grumbling, “Wasn’t eavesdropping.”
She was openly listening.
Zhou Yanli came down from the ladder, gathered everything up, and set them in a corner. Jiang Huihui noticed that there was numbers marked on the ladder, most likely borrowed from the moving company and would need to be returned tomorrow.
She was somewhat curious, “How come you moved to this side, and even together with Zhou Jinwei?”
“If he doesn’t come, who will be paying?” He pressed his shoulders and stretched his arms. Seeing Jiang Huihui still motionlessly standing there, he lifted his chin at the clock hanging on the wall, “It’s late.”
Which means she should go rest.
Jiang Huihui lowered her head and stared at her feet. The slippers were also Zhou Yanli’s. Wearing them on her feet, they were as big as a boat.
She didn’t speak. Zhou Yanli knew what she was thinking about.
She wasn’t like him, without a care in the world. In the past, even if he got grounded by his dad, he similarly can sleep peacefully at night.
Zhou Yanli was suddenly somewhat frustrated with himself for having practically zero experience interacting with girls, else he wouldn’t be at a loss for what to say at times like this.
This unit’s layout wasn’t the same as Jiang Huihui’s place, clearly a lot bigger. The direction it was facing was also better. When opening the window, what one saw wasn’t the neighboring building but the scenery outside. The view was expansive, the sky and the lake forming into a thin line.
“In another year and a half, I’ll be able to walk out of this place.”
She looked at the expansive scenery outside, as if contemplating, as if consoling herself.
Hearing her words, Zhou Yanli paused for a moment. He turned to look at her, discovering that she was looking out the window. The sadness in her eyes had vanished without a trace. There was only endless longing towards the future and the world outside left.
Pingjiang was a small place. Although twenty years later it will barely manage to squeeze into the ranks of the second-tier cities, for now, it was both poor and backwater. The residents here have impoverished minds. That’s why, there were that many cases of bullying the weak and favoring boys over girls.
In a small place like this, the most vulnerable were just the young girls with no background, no temper, and also attractive.
Jiang Huihui was pretty, her temperament also soft and timid, so she naturally became the easiest target.
But she seemed to have never given up before, never given up on leaving this impoverished and backwater place.
Zhou Yanli, who’d come from the future, very much wanted to tell her, you succeeded. You successfully walked out of this place on your own.
But what good would it do to say it?
She spent eighteen years of her life trying to walk out of this place, yet only spent five years outside before her life thoroughly came to an end, ending abruptly.
Zhou Yanli lowered his head and started playing with a lighter.
Jiang Huihui saw and curiously asked, “Haven’t seen you smoking lately.”
She remembered that he smoked. She’d even seen him a few times before.
Zhou Yanli snapped the lighter shut, randomly shoving it into his pocket, “I quit.”
“It’s good that you quit. Smoking is bad for your health.”
Zhou Yanli hooked the corner of his lips. Just it was too stiff, purely tugging his muscle. There wasn’t the slightest smile on his face and in his eyes.
He smilingly nodded, “Yeah, smoking is bad.”
Jiang Huihui sensed that there was something wrong, “You’re not in a very good mood?”
He returned to his usual devil-may-care self, lifting his hand and rubbing her head, “This young master is in a great mood.”
He got up and walked off with one hand in his pocket. Without even turning back, he waved over his shoulder, “Getting sleepy, goodnight.”
All the way until he walked into the room to the side and closed the door did Jiang Huihui finally retract her gaze in confusion.
Was it her imagination? How come when he got up, his eyes seemed a bit red.
Shortly after, Zhou Jinwei came in after finishing his call. Seeing her still sitting there, he asked, “Not sleepy?”
Jiang Huihui pursed her lips, both nodding her head and shaking her head, seemingly very busy, yet didn’t really answer anything.
Zhou Yanli put down his coat and sat down, “Thinking about what happened earlier?”
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