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Twenty-Ninth 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 had packed her things in ahead of time. It was the everyday essentials and clothes she will need for the next seven days.
Zhou Yanli got her a protective charm from somewhere, letting her take it with her, “I heard those people say that this thing will keep you safe, don’t know if it works or not.”
The talisman was very small, like a folded piece of yellow paper, but it was also a bit stiffer than paper.
Placing it in her palm, it wasn’t even a third of her palm.
Jiang Huihui said, “I’m going to take a test, not going to war, why would I need a protective charm?”
Although saying this, she still obediently hung it on her backpack’s zipper.
Zhou Yanli stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the door, not standing properly, casually saying, “Take it with you, better than nothing.”
Although just gone for a week, Jiang Huihui was still a bit worried about Zhou Yanli. After pondering for a long while, she softly reminded him, “Don’t get into fights. Be good these next few days.”
Zhou Yanli shrugged with an innocent look, “How long has it been since I last beat up someone?”
That time at the ball court the other day didn’t count.
That idiot not only sucked at playing ball, his mouth was also dirty. Zhou Yanli couldn’t take it anymore, directly slamming the basketball at his face. Then, he went over, pinned the person on the ground and had him beaten up.
Afterwards, whenever that guy goes to the basketball court, he will always avoid him, afraid of running into him again.
Of course, this matter, Jiang Huihui wasn’t aware of, and he was also scared of letting her know.
Later that night, when Jiang Huihui was in bed, her phone received a message.
It was a group message from ‘One Big Loving Family’.
The washing machine had a spin-dry function that Zhou Yanli didn’t know how to use.
Although this thing was the current latest model and also the most expensive one, this was still twenty years ago. For him, it was just a brand new relic.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
He @ Zhou Jinwei: [How do you use this thing?]
A few days after Zhou Jinwei left the group chat, he got pulled back in again by Zhou Yanli.
This time, he was too lazy to bother, or perhaps simply didn’t notice.
Jiang Huihui didn’t see him appear in the group chat before.
She stared at her phone screen for a while, wanting to help but unable to. The washing machine in her home was the most basic model. It didn’t have a spin-dry function. After it finishes washing, they need to manually wring out the water by hand. That why, she also didn’t know how his machine should be used.
The light in her room was off. She was scared of her mom discovering her playing on her phone, so she could only hide under the covers.
The hot air she breathed out very quickly covered the ice-cold phone screen with a layer of condensation. She used her finger to lightly wipe, the condensation forming into water droplets.
A new message appeared on screen: [Left one, press twice.]
[Oh, and then?]
This time, it was another very long silence.
[—-Wait.]
Zhou Yanli sent a voice message. Jiang Huihui accidentally tapped on it, forgetting that her speakers were on.
Zhou Yanli’s voice came from her phone, frustrated and annoyed, “Will it kill you to say a few more words?”
Jiang Huihui frantically covered her phone, fearing that her mom will hear.
But it was still too late. Her mom knocked on the door outside and said in a displeased tone, “It’s already this late, why haven’t you gone to sleep yet?”
She lied with a stammer, “There’s….there’s a problem I don’t know how to solve, so was asking…..our class monitor.”
Hearing that it was related to studying, her mom’s voice softened a little, but she still reminded her, “Go to bed early. Don’t stay up too late. You still have to wake up early tomorrow.”
“En.” She’d just come out from under the covers, so a bit nasally, her voice soft, “I know, mom.”
After replying with this, she held her breath and waited, until she heard the sound of footsteps leaving outside the door. She finally pressed her chest and relaxed a breath.
When she ducked her head back under the covers again, she discovered that she’d accidentally pressed the voice-message function without knowing it.
That 60 second voice message already got sent.
She blanked for a moment, hesitantly tapping on it. Inside was her own flustered, stammering voice, “There’s….there’s a problem I don’t know how to solve, so was asking…..our class monitor.”
She instantly felt her cheeks heating up. Without even looking, she just knew that her face was thoroughly red.
Of all things, it just had to be that lie that got recorded.
Perhaps worried that the notification sound from the phone would cause another round of suspicions, they both silently decided to stop sending messages.
Until Jiang Huihui broke the silence.
[Sorry, I pressed it by accident just now.]
She even followed it with a crying emoji.
Zhou Yanli sent a message. Even through the text, she could sense his teasing.
[Yo, Little Huihui has even learned to lie.]
Jiang Huihui remained silent, inwardly grumbling about him making fun of her.
Her phone vibrated again. This time, it wasn’t a group message, but a private message from Zhou Jinwei.
[Zhou Jinwei: Going to Suhe tomorrow?]
Jiang Huihui was surprised, how did he know?
[Jiang Huihui: En, need to stay over there for a week.]
He didn’t continue asking more.
[Zhou Jinwei: Good luck on the exam.]
Jiang Huihui re-read those five words over and over again several times. In the end, she replied with a polite ‘thank you’.
The conversation came to an end.
The first impression Zhou Jinwei gave Jiang Huihui was just hard to read.
Sometimes, he feels very close, but other times, he feels very distant.
Probably because of his personality, compared to ‘aloof’, it was more like ‘on guard’.
He had a kind of ‘guard’ and ‘wariness’ towards everyone, keeping everyone at a distance.
–
Early in the morning, Jiang Huihui went to the designated meeting spot. They were departing at six. In order to see her off, Zhou Yanli had even specially set several alarms, afraid that he won’t be able to wake himself up.
After seeing her get on the bus, he lazily leaned against the bus stop sign and waved at her, endlessly yawning.
Jiang Huihui didn’t know what time he went to sleep yesterday, or perhaps simply didn’t sleep at all?
The sky above Pingjiang at six wasn’t very bright, the entire city still asleep.
Riding the bus to Suhe takes about five hours.
The lodging was relatively average. She heard that they’d previously been rented out to students coming here to do life-sketching.
Everyone got a small single room, while the bathrooms and showers were shared.
Aside from Jiang Huihui, there were two other guys and two other girls that came. They weren’t from the same class as her, and they’d never spoken before.
Jiang Huihui originally was very timid, always by herself when attending class and eating, until they voluntarily came over to ask her how to solve that last problem on that test today.
Jiang Huihui blanked for a long while. She never expected that they would come talk to her, feeling somewhat flustered by the sudden attention.
She lowered her head and slowly explained that problem in a soft voice.
The problem-solving process was very thorough, and she wasn’t the least bit impatient. Towards the questions they would raise in the middle, she would also explain for them one by one.
Jiang Huihui was very gentle by nature. It can be said that she didn’t have any temper.
Like standing deep in the mountains watching the slow stream flow past by your feet, warm in winter, cool in summer.
The problem that had troubled them all night finally got resolved. They smilingly thanked her, “Always saw you alone, doing things by yourself before, so thought that you’d be hard to get along with.”
Jiang Huihui somewhat awkwardly clutched her pen, her breathing gradually becoming heavy because of nervousness.
She didn’t know what to say.
“Next time when we go eat, can we ask you to come with us? There’d be three of us, so we can order a few more dishes.”
“Y-yes!” She seriously nodded.
She had Zhou Yanli’s words kept in mind at all times——erecting the middle finger was a sign of friendship.
She was tempted to try several times, but still didn’t have the courage.
Forget it, next time.
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