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Thirty-First Period (2)
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!
No sound came from beside her for a long while. Jiang Huihui nervously clutched her sleeve. She felt that she had no right to give him these advices. He certainly would feel that she was being meddlesome.
But she was still worried about him. She couldn’t explain the reason. She just wanted him to be happy.
Hoped that Zhou Jinwei can be happy.
Lost in random thoughts, she clutched her sleeve even tighter.
When she was about to apologize to him, she felt weight falling on her shoulder. It was Zhou Jinwei gently leaning his head against her shoulder.
She was very petite, her bone structure also slender, so her shoulders were narrow as well.
But leaning against it, he actually felt an unprecedented sense of peace.
Under such circumstances, he slowly closed his eyes.
However, this sudden move left Jiang Huihui frozen in place.
“What….what are you doing.”
He soundlessly hooked his lips, his voice languid, “Listening to your advice and stopping for a rest.”
She nervously clenched her fist, her heart drumming.
There was something called—–what was it again? Oh, bone conduction.
Zhou Jinwei looked up and quietly stared at her for a while with his deep, dark eyes.
And then he said, “Jiang Huihui, your heart is beating really fast.”
Jiang Huihui’s face instantly turned red. That embarrassment of getting found out, as well as that overwhelming feeling of shame, made her start to stammer, “Is..is it?”
The corners of his lips lightly hooked, and a low hum escaped this throat.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
He closed his eyes, “Mine is also very fast.”
–
Zhou Yanli was squatting outside playing video games, even considerately putting on his headphones. There were a few times in between where he wanted to curse but held back.
He’d actually returned ten minutes ago. Seeing the scene inside, he didn’t want to go in and disturb them.
After finishing a match, the two inside still hadn’t separated. Zhou Jinwei was seemingly asleep on her shoulder. Jiang Huihui carefully picked up the jacket nearby and put it over him, worrying that he will catch a cold.
Zhou Yanli leaned against the doorframe like this for a while, feeling that the scene before him was even quite serene and idyllic.
Zhou Jinwei was someone who has always been highly on guard and wary of others. In addition to him being prideful by nature, he was thus very hard to approach.
Now, this thousand year-old iceberg seemed to have gotten warmed by Jiang Huihui, this slow simmering flame.
Zhou Yanli turned to leave. When looking down, he saw an ID by his foot. Jiang Huihui had most likely dropped it when she came.
He bent down to pick it up.
The picture seemed to have been taken in middle school. At the time, she still had a bob cut with straight bangs. Her face was also rounder back then.
She was cute and delicate like those dolls in the toy store that were placed in the display windows to attract customers.
She was staring into the camera with a slightly surprised look. Most likely, before she even realized it, the shutter had already clicked.
He hooked his lips and softly chuckled.
This picture, he’d seen before in his dad’s wallet, visible the moment it was opened.
In another year, she will update her ID. The photo on the new ID will become her future funeral portrait.
In the photo, she was quietly looking into the camera, her eyes still holding the innocence of a young eighteen year-old girl and a hint of anticipation for the future.
There were actually videos of her at home. Zhou Yanli frequently watched them.
The twenty year-old Jiang Huihui was sitting in the yard brushing a puppy. Her hair was casually tied behind her head. She wore a light apricot dress.
She wasn’t too different from now, still a slow and unhurried nature, yet now carried a confidence nurtured and protected by love.
The sunlight that day was very beautiful. She brushed particularly diligently, so much so that she didn’t notice the camera nearby.
A man’s gentle voice sounded off camera, calling her name, “Jiang Huihui, look over here.”
She was startled for a moment, then looked toward the camera.
She instinctively wanted to cover her face, her smile bashful, “I’m a bit ugly right now.”
The deep male voice was also laughing, “Not at all, you’re very beautiful.”
As he approached, the camera’s view also closed in. Afterwards, it pointed at the grass by their feet.
They seemingly were kissing.
The video just stopped there.
There were many videos of her at home from before she fell ill. The recorder was none other than Zhou Jinwei.
They say the camera has a way of expressing love. The Jiang Huihui under his lens was always gentle and beautiful.
She placed her hand over her pregnant belly, her eyes slightly curved into a smile, “He’s such a good boy, never kicking me.”
The voice behind the camera carried a doting laugh, “Xiao Li is also caring for his mom.”
His name had long been decided. Before even knowing whether it was a boy or a girl, they’d settled on the character Li(礼）.
Because Jiang Huihui said, she’d dreamed of this name. In the dream, she was calling out Xiao Li.
It was a very surreal dream. But when she suggested, “How about we call him Xiao Li?”
Zhou Jinwei very quickly agreed.
There was a silk-cotton tree[1] in the yard. It was planted the day her pregnancy was confirmed.
Jiang Huihui said: “Hope this tree can grow up alongside Xiao Li.”
He always liked calling her by her full name, “Jiang Huihui.”
Every time Zhou Yanli watched these recordings, he would always feel, at the time, they were probably in love.
At the very least, he’d only ever seen his father smile in those videos.
That man was always imposing and never smiling.
Even he, who feared nothing between the heaven and earth, when facing him, had a kind of fear that came from the inside, spreading throughout his body, making him tremble.
But in the videos, he was gentle and affectionate, smilingly tidying her messy hair for her.
He was building a swing for her in the yard. The camera was shaking, probably because she was laughing so much that she couldn’t steady the camera.
She said: “Zhou Jinwei, you’re so dumb.”
When they’d recorded these tidbits of their lives back then, they probably had never imagined that these would become the last images she’d leave behind in the world.
It was like flipping through a memoir of death. The further you turned the pages, the closer you got to her death.
The last part was shot at the funeral. Don’t know who’d set the rules.
Not only recording the wedding, even the funeral needed to be recorded as well.
The hue was gloomy, the cemetery shrouded in dense fog.
At the time, Zhou Yanli was still very small, not understanding what was going on. He was asleep in his dad’s arms. That man was dressed in a black suit, a white mourning band tied around his arm, and a white flower pinned to his chest.
He silently stood before the grave, standing there for a very long time.
There was light rain at the time. His hair had gotten wet, his shoulders also wet.
But Zhou Yanli, who was held in his arms, was covered very well.
The camera angle was from behind. The cameraman was probably standing together with the mourners.
From the footage, Zhou Yanli couldn’t make out his dad’s expression. He just knew that it was his first time seeing his father like that.
That man who was always calm and composed no matter when.
Yet, at this time, he was slightly hunched, as if unable to bear the weight.
He had his head down, his shoulders seemingly shaking at a degree invisible to the naked eye.
And because it was invisible to the naked eye, Zhou Yanli more than once suspected that he’d seen wrong.
Was he crying? Or was it just because the temperature was too cold that day?
In the previous clip, he was still gently kissing her forehead, their child lying in the crib. Outside the window, the sunlight was soft, the light breeze rustling the tree branches, its shadows fluttering.
He said: “Jiang Huihui, we will forever be together.”
But in the next clip….
He stood before her gravestone, holding their child, and kissed the gravestone.
Jiang Huihui, see you in the next life.
[1] See below, it’s specifically a red silk-cotton tree (木棉树).
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