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Eighth 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!
Zhou Jinwei’s words successfully made Jiang Huihui momentarily fall into a daze.
What will happen prior to having a child, the teacher had explained before in biology class.
She uncontrollably started imagining that scene, her entire face turning red.
How could…..how could she do that kind of thing with Zhou Jinwei!
No way, no way.
She covered her face with both her hands, shaking her head with all her might, wanting to have that absurd scene shaken out of her mind.
Zhou Jinwei saw her face turn red, not knowing what she was thinking, to be this absorbed.
Even when the bus arrived at the stop, she was still unaware.
He glanced at the bus stop sign outside the window.
Qiushui Street.
He had seen before; her home address was written on the financial aid application.
The driver stopped by the road and opened the door. Zhou Jinwei patted her shoulder, wanting to remind her that the bus had arrived.
However, like getting shocked by electricity, she pushed him away.
Glancing at his hand that got flung aside, he felt puzzled.
Jiang Huihui returned to her senses, apologizing for her action just now, “So….sorry.”
“Let’s get off the bus first.”
He very naturally picked up her backpack that was on her lap.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
After getting off the bus, Zhou Jinwei saw the puddles of dirty water all over the ground, as well as garbage that could be seen everywhere.
The buildings were built very close to one another, thus causing the sky to also appear like a narrow strip when looking up.
He, who was elegant like the clear moon, greatly stood out from the environment here.
In fact, even the mice were able to openly look for manholes everywhere to hide in.
Zhou Jinwei’s gaze followed it for a while, probably finding it unbelievable.
But his expression was still indifferent as usual, so Jiang Huihui couldn’t figure out from his expression what he was looking at.
She curiously asked him, “What are you looking at?”
He withdrew his gaze, his words simple but shocking, “A mouse.”
Compared to Zhou Jinwei, who was visiting this kind of place for the first time yet still this calm, Jiang Huihui, who was a long-term resident here, instead turned pale from fright, hiding into his arms, seemingly wanting to seek shelter.
“Wh…..where?” Her whole body trembled.
Zhou Jinwei momentarily blanked when the soft sensation fell into his arms.
A moment later, he reached out to hold her, patting her back to calm her, “Don’t worry, it’s already gone.”
Even if having lived here for a very long time, Jiang Huihui was still unable to get along harmoniously with the mice here.
She trembled in his arms for a while.
He continued to hold her.
All the way until Jiang Huihui came to realization and retreated from his embrace, stammeringly apologizing to him.
She didn’t dare to lift her head to look at him, her eyes aimlessly darting around.
“S-sorry, I got startled just now. That’s why……..”
He indulgently shook his head, saying it was fine.
However, his fingers hanging by his side repeatedly caressed itself, as if reminiscing.
Reminiscing that sensation just now.
She appeared skinny, but her body was very soft.
Even if Jiang Huihui said that she didn’t need him to send her back, and that she can go in by herself, Zhou Jinwei still insisted, “It’s too late. It’s not safe for a girl to be alone.”
His tone was calm, but it always gave people a kind of firmness that didn’t allow others to refuse.
This firmness probably came from his presence——that kind of indescribable pressure.
Jiang Huihui who has always remained passive could only nod her head.
After walking for a while, Zhou Jinwei asked her, “Every day when coming back, do you get scared?”
She said, “It’s alright. It’s actually quite lively.”
Lively?
Zhou Jinwei glanced at the people arguing by the roadside ahead, his expression complicated.
It was indeed quite lively.
Jiang Huihui was somewhat flustered, even feeling that letting him come to this kind of place was a kind of insult towards him.
Right at this time, a kid rode by beside them on a bike, but she wasn’t paying attention.
Zhou Jinwei reached out to have her shielded by his side, the dirty water splashing all over him, staining that very expensive-looking sweater of his.
The boy on the bike stopped, calling out in confusion, “Sis?”
Jiang Huihui made out the other party’s face, “Xiao Man?”
Although curious as to why he came home this late today, what she was cared about right now wasn’t this.
She let him apologize to Zhou Jinwei.
However, as soon as Jiang Man saw Zhou Jinwei’s face, he practically lost his soul in fright, forgetting to even ride his bike, just pushing it as he ran off.
As if he was some flood beast, and if he were to get caught by him, he would lose his little life.
Most likely, because it was dark, and he didn’t look carefully, so mistook Zhou Jinwei for Zhou Yanli.
Jiang Huihui explained to him, “He must have mistook you for Zhou Yanli.”
Her words successfully made him react, “He’s been to your place before?”
His focus was actually on this?
“He…..came over last time when he walked me home.”
She looked at the mud stains on his sweater, feeling incredibly guilty, “Sorry, that was my younger brother just now. How about you take off your clothes? I’ll wash it and return it to you?”
Zhou Jinwei lifted his brow, “Take it off here?”
Jiang Huihui got stumped by his question. A while later, she finally reacted.
“Then, how about……you bring it to school on Monday? When time comes, I go get it?”
“No need.” He calmly refused.
He glanced at the stains on his sweater, clearly unbearable, but he didn’t say anything.
He obviously appeared to be someone obsessed with cleanliness.
Everything here was very dirty, let alone the dirty water on the ground.
Jiang Huihui felt increasingly guilty, “I’ll properly scold him when I go back, letting him come apologize to you.”
“No need.” It was still this line.
Whether it was being tolerant or overly indifferent, Jiang Huihui couldn’t tell.
She didn’t know what to say. When facing Zhou Jinwei, she always had a kind of nervousness that came from reverence and fear.
Given his background, once you offend him, never mind the school, you might not even be able to stay in Pingjiang City anymore.
As if a god that ruled over everything, those rules and regulations were unable to restrain him. In fact, he was the one that set the rules to restrain others.
This kind of person doesn’t belong in Pingjiang City. He will eventually leave one day.
Returning to the world he belonged to……
After returning home, Jiang Huihui saw Jiang Man sitting in the living room watching TV, “You shouldn’t have acted like that today.”
He held the snacks in hand and made a face at her, “And you’re just better than me? Wanna bet, I’ll tell mom that you’re dating? Last time, you brought a male classmate back home, and this time, you let a male classmate send you back home.”
She explained, “I’m not dating, they’re just…….”
Forget it, what’s the point of telling him these things. He was just a child, what does he know.
She changed her shoes and asked him, “Did mom call home today? How’s little aunt’s body?”
He found Jiang Huihui annoying, getting in the way of him watching TV, so used the remote to turn up the volume to the highest, “In any case, still haven’t died.”
Jiang Huihui frowned.
–
While lying in bed that night, she suddenly sat up in alarm.
Zhou Jinwei’s coat, she forgot to give it back to him!
She got up and went to the bathroom, seeing the coat that got put into the washing machine together with her clothes.
That black jacket and her own fuzzy coat were piled together.
One was high-quality with a sleek texture, while the other was rough and fuzzy.
Even his clothes felt as if it didn’t belong to the same world as hers.
Jiang Huihui pursed her lips, having it taken out, hand-washing it. Afterwards, she carefully smoothed it out, and then hung it out to dry on the balcony.
She glanced at the other clothes drying on the balcony. Thinking for a moment, she used the drying rod to have them pushed aside.
Letting them avoid touching Zhou Jinwei’s coat as much as possible.
The next day, she woke up early, having gotten woken up by Jiang Man. He was banging on the door outside, saying he was hungry, letting her get up to cook for him.
Jiang Huihui cooked congee for him and then made two simple dishes. After finishing all this, she didn’t have enough time to eat. She went to change, preparing to go out, letting him remember to wash the dishes.
Jiang Man ignored her. He wasn’t going to wash the dishes.
Jiang Huihui was helpless, letting out a sigh.
Forget it, she’ll just wash them when she comes back at night.
Today was even colder than yesterday. Before going out, she went to the balcony to check the coat she washed last night. Having gotten hung outside for a night in the freezing winter, the water that hadn’t been wrung out got frozen solid, forming a layer of ice.
She inwardly prayed to herself, hoping that the jacket won’t get damaged. She couldn’t afford to compensate it.
–
The place where she’d agreed to meet up with Zhou Yanli at yesterday was the bus stop. It was very close to her home, just needing to walk for five minutes.
Across the street, she already spotted Zhou Yanli dozing off on the long bench by the bus stop.
He was wearing a black coat, the zipper unzipped, just left wide open like that, revealing the dark gray hoodie inside. Clearly already wearing a baseball hat, yet he still had the hood of the hoodie pulled over his head.
His entire person appeared lazy and nonchalant, not having any proper posture.
Zhou Yanli although looked like Zhou Jinwei, their style and temperament were completely different.
If Zhou Jinwei was the icy frost in winter, cold and unapproachable, then Zhou Yanli was the scorching hot summer.
Bold and unrestrained, like a wantonly growing wild grass.
There were girls secretly glancing at him to the side. Some even took out their phones and pretended to casually take a selfie, but in reality, the camera was entirely focused on him.
Jiang Huihui watched from across the street. Unknown as to why, seeing him this popular, she actually felt…….
Relieved and proud?
Strange.
Really strange.
She rubbed her face with both of her hands, attempting to let herself sober up a little. Exactly what was she randomly thinking about? Zhou Yanli being popular, what’s there for her to be proud of?
The crosswalk signal turned green. She crossed the street and walked before Zhou Yanli.
When the latter saw her, he slowly straightened up. His height, in Pingjiang City, where the average height wasn’t that tall, practically was an existence that could look down on everything. The only one able to compare with him was Zhou Jinwei who also wasn’t a local of Pingjiang. He’d come from the capital.
Born in the capital and grew up in the capital, in the future, he will also return to the capital.
Zhou Yanli, just sitting there, was already almost as tall as Jiang Huihui standing.
Seeing him still sleepy, Jiang Huihui asked him, “How come you came this early?”
“Don’t have a phone, so came early. Scared that if I come late, you’ll end up waiting.” He yawned, pressing his shoulder and stretching his neck. At the same time, he took her backpack from her shoulders, weighing it in hand, still quite heavy, “Going to work yet still carrying a backpack? What, there’s a treasure inside?”
Jiang Huihui’s ears heated up from his words, explaining, “There’s homework inside that’s due on Monday.”
She asked him, “Have you finished yours?”
He was unexpectedly guilty for once, “……No.”
Jiang Huihui reminded him with a serious look, “You’ll be a third-year soon.”
“Being a third-year is also useless. I’m simply not made for studying.”
He still had a pretty clear understanding of himself.
His grade from the quiz this time was still pasted on the wall of shame at the back of the classroom.
That bright red 8 points of his was at the top of the board.
The homeroom teacher sarcastically remarked, “Everyone has their own fate, even if both having the Zhou surname, one got a perfect score, while the other just 8 points.”
At the time, Zhou Yanli very much wanted to retort, this 8 points was even given birth to by that perfect score.
Jiang Huihui still wanted to say something, but the bus just happened to arrive at this time, interrupting all of this.
At this hour, there were a lot of people. There was just one seat left on the bus. Zhou Yanli let Jiang Huihui go over to sit.
She originally wanted to politely refuse.
But, instead, she got forcibly pressed down by Zhou Yanli, “Sit still.”
She softly murmured an ‘oh’, obediently listening to him.
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