PatPat-Chap99

After the Voice Festival was over, Xiang Wan changed her clothes and the four of them went out for dinner. Su Chang generously reserved a French restaurant by the river ahead of time. Yu Zhou gave her a sideways glance, thinking it was too extravagant. The festival was just regular award distribution, yet Su Chang made it like they had just won a best actress award.

Fortunately, the French restaurant wasn’t very big and it didn’t seem too luxurious, so it should not be too expensive, she thought as she walked in, assessing the quality of the décor and making calculations in her heart at the same time.

Well, as a proprietress, having a headache is inevitable. Hahahaha.

Actually, there were just four of them, so there was no need to book the whole restaurant, but Su Chang had a bad habit. After experiencing a particularly noisy event, she would want to quickly find some quietude, preferably without anyone to disturb her.

If not for her laziness in cleaning up, she might have suggested having dinner at home.

A private room would have sufficed, but she also wanted to enjoy the breeze on the riverfront patio, feeling invigorated. However, the patio had only scattered tables and chairs, without any screens or barriers, so she chose to rent the whole place.

Yu Zhou couldn’t sit still for a long time, she leaned against the railing, holding her champagne glass while watching the passing boats. She didn’t enjoy watching the big ones, but focused on the small boats dredging the river.

From a distance, they looked like exiled lanterns.

A familiar shadow loomed next to her, and Xiang Wan stood half a step away, also gazing at the scenery across the river.

Yu Zhou found it amusing, as if they had returned to their initial phase, when she would do something and Xiang Wan would follow suit, closely mimicking her every step.

“Today, your speech was exceptionally good, Wanwan. You made me cry,” she turned to look at her, curiously asking, “Did you memorize the lines?”

Xiang Wan laughed and admitted, “I did.”

“I knew it! It sounded like structured text, advancing step by step.”

“But,” Yu Zhou leaned back against the railing, “it was really good, indeed.”

“You’re smarter and more generous than I imagined, and you have a greater sense of the big picture. I used to think you were a weepy little girl,” Yu Zhou laughed, “Did you know, when Su Chang and I just got together again, I was afraid to tell you for fear of breaking your heart? But then you came back and gave me a bracelet, and you mentioned it first. At that time, I realized that I was not really like your older sister. You were much more mature.”

Xiang Wan intertwined her fingers before resting them on the railing, her lips curling into a slight smile, “I was once heartbroken.”

“Ah?”

“Because it wasn’t until today that you spoke these words to me, and so I too, harbored a lingering regret.”

“This…” Yu Zhou was at a loss for words.

Xiang Wan looked at her calmly, saying with her sweet voice, “Make a funny face.”

“What?”

“Make a funny face, and I’ll forgive you.”

Yu Zhou was taken aback, remembering the previous time when she and Xiang Wan were at home. After Xiang Wan got into trouble, she had pulled Xiang Wan’s cheeks, saying that she would forgive her if she made a funny face. Suddenly, her eyes welled up with tears, feeling that it was like a lifetime ago.

However, when she looked at the elegant Xiang Wan before her, she felt that the present moment was also quite good. So, she handed her champagne glass to Xiang Wan, propped her nose with her index finger, pulled her eyes with her other hand and stuck out her tongue making funny sounds. Xiang Wan looked at her in surprise, and then Yu Zhou quickly put her hands down, raising her eyebrow, “Now you know? That’s what a funny face is.”

Xiang Wan covered her mouth and laughed.

Yu Zhou touched her cheeks a couple of times, rubbing and relaxing the muscles from just a moment ago, and then looked at Night River along with Xiang Wan.

Xiang Wan took a sip of her champagne before asking Yu Zhou, “Your another audio drama will be online soon. What’s next for you? Writing novels?”

“Yes,” Yu Zhou nodded. “I’m thinking of writing a story about love.”

Xiang Wan tilted her head and smiled, “Aren’t all your stories about love?”

“No,” Yu Zhou denied.

“What I used to write were about romances.”

“Do you know? I’ve discovered something. Nowadays, people say they don’t believe in love anymore, but in reality, they only believe in romance; it seems that the trust between two people in life and death, and the mutual understanding that comes with it, can only be considered as romance. During this time, I’ve looked through a lot of materials and read a lot of historical anecdotes, like the story of ‘Orphan of Zhao,’ ‘Weisheng Holds Pillar,’ and ‘Boya Breaks the String.’ If these stories were to happen in modern times, I doubt anyone would believe them, right?”

“Some people don’t believe in friendship; they don’t believe in ‘the scholar would die for who truly knows them,’ they don’t believe in the bond between those without any blood relations. They think that only romance can be the sole motivation for sacrificing everything, and that romance is the supreme emotion that can explain everything.”

“And there are those who will say, ‘what’s the point of writing such stories? If these two people don’t love each other, then what’s the point of their feelings?'”

“But I don’t feel that way, Wanwan.” She said, looking at Xiang Wan.

“I don’t think so either,” said Xiang Wan.

In fact, some feelings may not be inferior to romance at all.

“That’s great, then I will have at least one reader,” Yu Zhou said with a smile as she turned her head away.

“Maybe there will be four?” Xiang Wan laughed.

“Ah? With all of you, there are only three.”

“Won’t you collect it yourself?”

Uh… she was discovered. Every time, the first person to collect her story was herself.

Xiang Wan looked at her relieved smile and suddenly said, “Can you stretch out your hand?”

“Ah? You’re not going to hold my hand again, are you? Although I am a bit charming when I talk about reason.” Yu Zhou made a pained face. This was not very appropriate.

Xiang Wan stared at her leisurely.

Yu Zhou didn’t know what she was up to, but hesitated and stretched out her hand. Xiang Wan raised her hand and gently patted her palm.

Romance is a handshake and love is a pat.

Xiang Wan pursed her lips and smiled, then turned her head to enjoy the cool breeze gifted to her this evening.

Three or four months passed in a flash, and it was New Year again.

This holiday season, Su Chang went home with Yu Zhou. Xiang Wan thought that since the two of them had reconciled and went back home for the first time, she would not join in the excitement. So she used the excuse of being busy at work to decline Ms. Zhao’s invitation. Under Ms. Zhao’s strong request, she showed her the New Year’s Eve dinner she had made through video chat, promising to visit her after she was done with her work, before hanging up the phone to watch the Spring Festival Gala on TV.

New Year in Jiang City is not the same as in Yu Zhou’s hometown. There’s no crackling sounds of firecrackers, and the atmosphere is much colder and more indifferent.

However, this kind of indifference can actually be considered protection. Too many people were striving to make a living in Jiang City without the time to go home, and could only spend their New Year in a foreign land. For the huge “Jiang Drifter” community, the indifferent holiday season did not differ too much from ordinary days, so the homesickness was not as strong.

Xiang Wan’s phone was lively enough this year, with a large number of private messages and comments wishing her a Happy New Year. Many listeners whom she had never met before took her as their close sister and talked about their difficulties and grievances in private messages – grievances that they had never expressed before.

Xiang Wan usually acts as a “tree hole” that wouldn’t reply, fearing that if she came to life, it might scare off their confessions.

But these vivid emotions in her private messages also made her feel less lonely.

Her friends from the circle would occasionally send her messages to chat. The notoriously aloof Chao Xin also sent her New Year’s wishes.

She politely thanked her, “Thank you, Ms. Chao.”

Usually, there would be no more replies, but Chao Xin replied, “You’re welcome.”

So they chatted for a while about the feedback from the airing of the series – the topic was fresh and the audience’s response was quite good, especially since Chao Xin’s girlish voice was a pleasant surprise, and Xiang Wan’s mature female voice was also very pleasing.

“Happy New Year, Miss Xiang.”

Chao Xin sent her a voice message, which sounded like a little girl in her teens. Xiang Wan immediately understood and smiled, then replied softly with her own voice message, “Little girl, happy New Year.”

Putting down her phone, she didn’t even have time for the screen to go black when a call vibrated in.

Xiang Wan was a bit surprised – it was actually Peng Xiangzhi.

“Wanwan!” She laughed on the phone.

“What’s up?”

“Come down! At the entrance of the neighborhood, I’ll take you out for a spin.”

Peng Xiangzhi was a local and spent her holidays in Jiang City all the time. Her family had always been there, so she didn’t feel much sentiment towards the holiday season. During the Spring Festival, she would go out, attending gatherings with old classmates and friends. Afraid that Xiang Wan would be too lonely this Spring Festival, she informed her family and came over.

Xiang Wan wrapped herself in a scarf and went downstairs, only to be surprised to see Peng Xiangzhi leaning against a heavy motorcycle, holding a helmet with an impish smile on her face.

If it were anyone else doing that, they may appear a bit sleazy, but for Peng Xiangzhi, it was fine – after all, she had fiery red lips, full of charm and allure.

“How did you come?” Xiang Wan rubbed her hands, exhaling warm breath.

“I’ll take you to the temple fair, and we’ll visit it at night. It’s so much fun!” Peng Xiangzhi threw a helmet to her.

“But…” Riding a motorcycle in the winter sounds too cold, the biting air felt like being scraped by a knife.

“I must help you overcome your fear of two wheels. Get on and hold me.”

Xiang Wan sat cautiously behind Peng Xiangzhi, embracing her waist. The roar of the motorcycle’s engine reminded her of the thunder on the day she traveled to this place.

“Tomorrow’s the first day of the new year, and there’s also a temple fair. Wanna go?” Peng Xiangzhi asked her.

“Yes.”

Peng Xiangzhi laughed, thinking that she needed to keep a close eye on Xiang Wan. Chao Xin was also a local, so she had to guard against her making a move while she was vulnerable. Their darling Xiang Wan, the little vegetable that they watched grow, couldn’t be snatched away by a pig just like that.

…This was not to say that Mr. Chao was necessarily a pig.

Xiang Wan had many pursuers, after all; she could afford to be choosy, right?

Peng Xiangzhi nodded to herself in self-affirmation.

On the other side, in a small villa in Qian City, an entire day of noisy fireworks had finally come to a close after leaving everyone exhausted.

Yu Zhou was troubled; she felt like her ears were ringing. Even after taking a shower, the buzzing in her head persisted, making it so that she could not even hear Ms. Zhao’s naggy voice.

As she walked into the bedroom while wiping her face, Su Chang stood by the window, flipping through a workbook in the dim light from the desk lamp.

“You go through it every year,” Yu Zhou remarked with amusement. “What’s so interesting about it?”

“The essays you wrote in the past were quite interesting,” Su Chang said.

“Really?” Yu Zhou leaned over.

She then urged Su Chang to take a shower, “Why don’t you go take a bath first, let me come and appreciate my young talents.”

Su Chang didn’t move, Yu Zhou said again, “I’ve just warmed up the bathroom for you. You know the heating in our place isn’t very strong. If you don’t go now, you might freeze later.”

Su Chang laughed, gently pinched her face before turning to get her pajamas.

Yu Zhou, with a smile, looked down at the notebook Su Chang had left open. It was from elementary school, filled with essays about her ideals, her mother, her teachers – where was the interest in that?

Perhaps the interest lay in the fact that both “My Mother” and “My Teacher” began with the same sentence: “There is a woman in the world who is the greatest and whom I love the most – my…”

Yu Zhou burst out laughing.

Such a cliché.

She closed the elementary school notebook and opened the one below it. At that time, she had just entered junior high and received a fancy blue-cover essay notebook from school. It looked like a book.

Back then, she thought if she could write an amazing essay, one day she would have her own book. What would she name it? Perhaps, “Yu Xiao-Zhou’s Collection of Essays.”

Her dream of becoming a writer began with this unfinished essay notebook.

She opened the first page and read it carefully, suddenly pausing.

There were only three or four lines, an incomplete story – to be precise, just an idea and character setting.

It was her first attempt at writing a novel; she recorded her inspiration, but failed to continue and finish the story.

The essay notebook read:

Today in class, the teacher talked about the Li Dynasty. Their clothes were so beautiful. I want to write a story about a girl from the Li Dynasty who time-travels to our world and becomes my close friend…

Yu Zhou’s breath caught her throat. The fireworks from outside cast their light on her face, like a loophole left behind when space and time interlaced.

Suddenly, she recalled her first encounter with Xiang Wan, who had sat in her living room utterly clueless and helpless.

Yu Zhou looked at her fearfully, “Did…did you go to the wrong place?”

“I suppose…yes, I did.”

But no, Xiang Wan didn’t go to the wrong place.

She came bearing the wishes of 13-year-old Yu Zhou, to meet 25-year-old Yu Zhou, showing the latter the very first spark of her ambitions when she was 13.

And the girl from the Li Dynasty who was supposed to die at the age of 18, came to the modern world to live a new life, thanks to Yu Zhou’s dream many years later.

Yu Zhou closed her essay notebook, her eyes warm with a smile.

In her cellphone, Xiang Wan had just replied to her: “Happy New Year, Zhouzhou.”

After taking a bath, Su Chang came out and found that Yu Zhou seemed to have fallen asleep already, lying quietly on the bed without making a sound.

Tiptoeing over, Su Chang lifted the blanket and had barely laid down when Yu Zhou leaned over, embracing her like a warm little cat.

Gently caressing her soft long hair, Su Chang whispered, “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking that since I’ve moved in with you now, I should rent out my old place,”

Yu Zhou replied as she snuggled into Su Chang’s embrace.

“Huh?” It took Su Chang a couple of seconds to process her words.

Yu Zhou meant she wouldn’t keep a separate home for herself anymore; she wanted to live together with Su Chang for a long, long time. Even if they argued and wanted to run away from home, they would have to think it through calmly and there wouldn’t be an easy way out.

With a warm smile, Su Chang looked at Yu Zhou and drew her hand closer to hug her tighter.

“Can you say something I want to hear right now?”

“What is it?”

“Promise to be with me for a lifetime.”

Yu Zhou found it a bit amusing as she guessed Su Chang to be someone who would never believe in eternity since she was quite practical. Besides, didn’t they agree before that no one could predict the future?

Biting her lip, Yu Zhou gazed at Su Chang softly and said, “But…”

“You can lie to me,” Su Chang interjected.

Yu Zhou’s eyes flickered, reminded of the time when Su Chang told her not to lie anymore.

But today, Su Chang said ‘you can lie to me’.

Wrapping her arms around Su Chang’s neck, Yu Zhou shook her head earnestly, “I won’t lie to you.”

I won’t lie to you again; I want to be with you for a lifetime.

She knew it sounded silly and cliché, not something that could be written in a story, but she still wanted to use this line as the last exchange of words between her and Su Chang in 2023.

As for the first line in 2024…

“Happy New Year,” Yu Zhou closed her eyes comfortably, whispering softly into Su Chang’s heart.

Wishing you true happiness.

(The End)

---

Translator: zhufree

Editor & Proofreader: Iori Qurarei

Hit Chap99, only 10 extras left! #帮我拍拍 #PatMePlease
source: https://t.co/47QPoAJ4Wi
artist: weibo@Tai_iT https://t.co/O2rMwv4hX5
授权转载#SuZhou #SuChang #YuZhou
read here: https://t.co/E3blfg9XdF pic.twitter.com/CzuUqUuzMP

— 许幼鸢-退休 (@zhufree) June 28, 2023