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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!
Zhou Yanli didn’t expect that Pingjiang City would be this underdeveloped twenty years ago.
This, for a rich young master who was born in the capital and raised in the capital, was practically like getting sent to the countryside to participate in a rural reform show[1].
The two of them walked forward for another ten minutes, arriving at 23 Xiping Road.
This place was practically a slice of heaven in Pingjiang City. The private garden was even bigger than Central Park. When driving in with the car, one even needed to use the GPS navigation to avoid getting lost.
The stone fountain at the very center, only when personally seeing it with one’s own eyes was one able to truly perceive the strong visual impact it had.
In the nearby garden, there were several gardeners removing weed and eliminating pests for the plants. Just from looking, Jiang Huihui’s jaw was nearly about to drop from astonishment.
Zhou Yanli smilingly reminded her, “Wipe your drool.”
She touched around her mouth——–Where was there drool, messing with her again.
She glanced at him, like soundlessly reproaching, but this kind of look coming from her didn’t have the slightest intimidating effect. Zhou Yanli walked in front of her, ruffling her head as he passed by.
He had the iron gate pushed open, letting her go in first.
Jiang Huihui looked around as she walked, like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden[2].
Compared to her, Zhou Yanli appeared completely unfazed as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Hanging on his shoulder was that pink backpack that clearly didn’t match his vibe, and in his hands were a few shopping bags containing women’s clothing.
He was tall, with broad shoulders and long legs, walking in front of her, carrying a nonchalant air with a hint of unruliness.
Because of the bright noon sun, that black baseball cap over his head covered half his face, with only his tall nose bridge and his sharp jawline visible.
Jiang Huihui and him just needed to water those plants on the left side today. Although it sounded easy, because the area was too big, even if it’s the two of them together, it would still take at least half a day.
Before starting, she went to use the bathroom. Her stomach had suddenly started hurting.
Zhou Yanli waited for her outside. However, he got bored waiting, so started randomly wandering around.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Can’t believe after this many years, this place would mostly remain the same.
Because his maternal grandfather was heavily ill, his dad temporarily had him brought over from the capital, wanting to let him accompany his maternal grandfather in his last moments.
His dad had cut ties with his own family, seemingly having no regard for family, but towards his mom’s side of the family, he still treated them very well.
As soon as his little aunt graduated from middle school, he just had her brought to the capital, because the educational resources there were better.
He even arranged for her to study overseas, her future job position having been arranged as well.
Also his maternal grandfather, because of his poor health, he specially hired a caregiver to look after him. The entire set of medical systems at home just served him alone.
But in Zhou Yanli’s eyes, his dad has always been a decisive and merciless person.
With great power and means, there was no need for excessive compassion. Those were all burdens.
Clearly, his dad didn’t need these burdens.
–
With both hands in his pockets, Zhou Yanli aimlessly wandered around, finally stopping by a manmade lake.
He lifted his head and looked up.
Behind that giant floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor, the curtains weren’t drawn.
There were plants in the room and also an aquarium.
Zhou Yanli knew, this was the study.
He often played games in there.
Currently inside the study, a furious-looking middle-aged man had a stack of papers in his hand ruthlessly slammed onto the face of the boy standing before him.
The latter was completely unmoved, his expression cold and indifferent.
Unknown as to what the man said, the boy coldly sneered and slowly had those papers torn up. Afterwards, he turned and left.
The man pointed in the direction he left in and angrily shouted.
Even if separated by the glass window, Zhou Yanli could still vaguely hear a little, “You only exist because of me, if you don’t listen to me, then who will you listen to?”
Zhou Yanli slowly blinked.
In his memory, his grandfather was refined and humorous, and also very doting towards him. He has never shown such a ruthless side before.
Zhou Yanli has always known that his father didn’t get along with his family. Back then, when he left home, he didn’t ask for anything, only taking Zhou Yanli who had just turned one with him.
Until this moment, Zhou Yanli personally witnessed this scene.
Turns out, his father, that man who was so powerful that there was nothing he couldn’t do, didn’t always have things go his way.
Zhou Yanli went to the pond in the back. Sure enough, he saw Zhou Jinwei there, feeding the fish.
He suddenly thought of that phrase. How did it go again?
Right, none knows the son better than the father.
He stood there, smoking the cigarette, his gaze coldly watching the koi gather by the edge of the water competing for fish food.
Like a god that dictated their lives.
In his condescending eyes, there was only indifference, not having the slightest compassion for life.
Zhou Yanli walked over and extended his hand towards him, “Give me one.”
The other party lowered his eyes, his gaze stopping on him for three seconds before shifting away.
Zhou Yanli was annoyed, “You can’t be this stingy? It’s just a cigarette.”
“Who taught you to smoke?” He flicked the cigarette ashes as he asked him in a deep voice.
This person before him was still young. He was seventeen years old, not thirty-nine.
Although his presence was imposing, it was nothing compared to the overwhelming intimidation and pressure twenty years from now, where a single glance from him can completely silence him.
Moreover, according to the timeline, this while, his mom and dad still haven’t given birth to him yet, so he wasn’t considered his son.
“When I was fifteen, learned it on my own.” He nonchalantly answered him, without the slightest care, even having a bit of cocky pride.
Zhou Jinwei had a dark expression.
Unknown as to why, just the thought of him smoking made him feel irritated for no reason.
Zhou Yanli coldly sneered, “What, only allow the officials to set fire but don’t allow the people to light lanterns[3]?”
The cigarette was placed right there on the table. Seeing it, he went over to take one.
Twenty years from now, he won’t have the guts to go against his dad, but at present, it was different. Currently, they were the same age.
Just, as soon as that cigarette was lit, Jiang Huihui’s voice came through, “What are you doing here? I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Zhou Yanli’s complexion instantly changed.
“F#$%!” His expression instantly went from cocky to sheer panic.
Panicking like a headless fly.
He looked left and right, but couldn’t find the ashtray. In the end, he directly had that cigarette shoved into Zhou Jinwei’s hand.
The latter slightly frowned, lowering his eyes to look at him.
Jiang Huihui already came over, smelling the cigarette smoke.
She blanked for a moment, lowering her head and seeing the source of the smoke.
The wisps of light gray smoke rose up into the air before slowly vanishing.
Two cigarettes.
She stared at the two cigarettes of different lengths held between Zhou Jinwei’s fingers. One had clearly just been lit, while the other had already been smoked more than halfway.
Zhou Yanli still had the cold sweat on his face from getting startled by her sudden appearance, yet he still pretended to be calm, standing to the side and clapping his hands, “Impressive, impressive, first time seeing someone smoking two cigarettes at once.”
Zhou Jinwei: “……”
Jiang Huihui’s gaze towards him gradually became complicated.
She reached out and lightly tugged Zhou Yanli’s sleeve, “Come….come on, let’s go water the plants.”
Zhou Yanli obediently nodded and left with her.
Their departing figures gradually disappeared into the distance, their voices also gradually fading.
“Don’t learn from him, understand? Smoking is wrong, and smoking two cigarettes…..is even more wrong.”
He shamelessly said, “I know, I don’t even know how to smoke, simply never touched that thing before.”
[1] 变形记 – This was a reality tv show that first aired in China back in 2006. The english name for the show was called X-Change. It ran for quite long, all the way until 2019. The premise of the show was two people who live in completely different environments exchanging lives for a week. The highlight of the show was typically a rebellious rich teen from the city going to a less privileged family in the countryside and getting reformed.
[2] This is an expression from ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ by Cao Xueqin, one of the four great classics of Chinese literature. Grandma Liu is a character from the countryside that visits the Jia Manor, named the Grand View Garden. In the novel, through her perspective of the Jia Manor, we see the disparity between the life of a commoner and the nobles. The expression has the meaning of someone with a limited world view coming in contact with a new and complicated environment for the first time.
[3] This is a very common idiom. I’ll just paste what I’d written in the historical notes page.
‘Just allowing the prefecture official to set the fire, but not allowing the commoners to light the lanterns.’ The general meaning of this line is pretty much criticizing officials for being hypocrites. This line originates from the Southern Song dynasty, from a story about the Chang prefectural governor called Tian Deng. He’s your typical tyrannical corrupt official, but the story the line comes from is pretty much a funny pun story. I won’t go into detail on it, but basically, he has this law where words that sound similar to his name ‘deng’ are banned in his prefecture, punishment for violating this taboo was going to prison or getting a beating. So a young official who was drafting an announcement for the Lantern Festival, needed to write an announcement telling the commoners that they will light the colored lanterns for three days as celebration. But the problem was that the word for lantern in chinese is pronounced ‘deng’. So this genius young official used the word ‘fire’ in place of ‘lantern’ to avoid offending the governor, which ended up causing mass panic and confusion, because the commoners all thought the officials were going to set fire to the prefecture for three days.’
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