Edited by Cschick911
Years passed as flowers bloomed and fell repeatedly.
Now, children of the neighborhood were capable of running and jumping around as they went to school with backpacks on their backs. In the blink of an eye, the child-like braids of the girl next door had been replaced with a fat, healthy baby in her arms.
This year, the upper authorities finally proposed a plan to advance this old and secluded village.
They paved roads and took down buildings, many people from the village left and went elsewhere. The reason for most of those who stayed was because they couldn’t bear to say goodbye to this place. But as for the ones who left, they never came back.
On an old street in the village, one restaurant had a thriving business. Words of their chef’s top-notch skills spread around, and people spoke of how he produced peerless local delicacies; especially the braised pig trotter dish on their menu. Its fame resulted in all the travelers passing by to check it out. As for anyone who’s had a taste of it, they all complimented it to no end.
There was no vacant seat available in the restaurant by lunchtime. The woman taking orders wiped her sweat as she nagged the kitchen for orders, “Ah-Can, hurry up! Two more orders are coming from the large table!”
“Alright!”
A surprisingly young voice rang out from the kitchen. In the kitchen with just three people cooking, he was the youngest one with a tall figure. He had a striking complexion with a towel wrapped around his neck; food stains that couldn’t be washed off his uniform were everywhere. Beads of sweat seeped out the head of his nose as he held the spatula in one hand while the other fried the ingredients nimbly. A few plates were filled by the delicious, steaming dishes for the waitress to serve quickly.
After a whole afternoon of no rest, the number of customers finally died down around three o’clock. The woman at the counter checked the amount of money made throughout the morning and noon as she went on to talk about the new market buying out stores with her husband. The married couple laughed loudly, the sound traveling back to the kitchen. There, the employees had their meal around a small table as they made small talk. Only the youth named Ah-Can was squatting outside. He poured the left-overs and little dried fishes onto the ground, smiling while he watched the few kittens eat without a care.
He had good-looking features and dimples on his face. His palm marred with burn-marks and scars was petting a kitten’s head with care until there was a call for him.
“Ah-Can, someone’s here for you──”
He stood up to see a woman who looked to be around twenty-five to twenty-six standing at the door. She had heavy, flashy make-up on parts of her face and wore a red dress where the skirt only barely covered her butt as she carried a white umbrella in her hand for some reason.
The young male quickly wiped his hands before jogging over in broad strides under the other co-worker’s mischievous smiles.
“Jing Jing, you’re off work?”
“Mn.” The girl smiled reservedly. She took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off the young male’s forehead. The young male lowered his head, wanting to avoid it with his slightly flushed face, yet he also felt awkward to do so.
His aunt came over to give the young male a push and showed a wide smile. “Aiyo, Jing Jing’s here. Ah-Can, quick, go get changed. It’ll be fine as long as you come back before dinner service—go, go.”
After sending the two away, the aunt went back to the counter while the uncle came over, curiously stretching his neck out.
The aunt didn’t show mercy as she pulled onto his ear. “What are you looking at?! Ah?!”
“Owowowow, soft, softer…! Wi, wife, I’m wondering, our Ah-Can…could he really be…”
“Ai, who cares if it’s for real or not. When the old man died, all he asked was to find him a wife. Say, don’t you think the old man was thinking nonsense? He’s an idiot—which family’s proper and nice girl would be willing to marry him?
“But, that Jing Jing…”
“Tch, you don’t need to worry about it! What does an idiot know?”
The aunt waved her hand, spat, and crooked her lips to smile in disdain. “An idiot paired with a prostitute—neither dislikes the other: a match made in heaven.”
Under the white umbrella, the male and female pair walked together, the swaying shades of trees covered up their shadows as light winds blew past them.
If the girl asked something, then the young male would answer; it was as if they were brothers and sisters. Once they were done conversing, the two walked in silence. Jing Jing looked to the side quietly, her hand with vividly-colored nail polish touched the young male’s large hand, but he retracted it a little, hesitating for a long while before slowly holding her hand back.
They both held each other’s hand carefully, but the hearts of their palms were isolated by the cramped air.
“Ah-Can, walk me home.”
“Ah, oh…”
He nodded with a reddened face, he didn’t dare look at her even at the end. Jing Jing sighed lightly. She didn’t dislike him; instead, she actually felt a bit bad for him.
He brought her to the ground floor of her apartment then she took him to a corner. They were very close to each other. This was an old building. There was a hint of a bad smell of rotting there. It was mixed together with the thick cheap fragrance on the woman’s body, wrapping around his nose.
Her red lips inched close. Just as it was about to touch him, he backed away and turned his body, dodging her affection.
“Ah-Can…” The woman called softly. She carefully went into his embrace with her soft and light body. This time, he finally endured enough to not push her away.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Gb sbe vlrilxf wf?”
“Gbc’a vlrilxf.” Ktf sbecu wjif rtbbx tlr tfjv ilxf j qfiifa vgew, rtjxlcu rb mfgajlcis.
“Ktfc vb sbe ilxf wf?”
Lf ibkfgfv tlr tfjv. Glv tf ilxf tfg? Lf vlvc’a ecvfgrajcv lo atja kjr ilxf. Lf ilxfv ab ilrafc ab Alcu Alcu ajix. Alcu Alcu kbeivc’a ijeut ja tlw ilxf atf batfgr, cbg kbeiv rtf mjii tlw j gfajgv yftlcv tlr yjmx. Lf jirb ilxfv ab wjxf obbv obg Alcu Alcu jcv yflcu abufatfg klat Alcu Alcu…yea, vlv tf ilxf tfg? Po la kjr ilxf, atfc ktja xlcv bo ilxf?
A retard couldn’t understand such a deep question, but in his brain, a face slowly emerged.
It’d already been a long time. He almost couldn’t remember what that face looked like, but once he remembered, his chest would hurt and even his nose would become itchy…
He looked at Jing Jing. After a while, he nodded.
The woman smiled kindly. She said, “Don’t be scared Ah-Can. This feels really good.”
The red lips that stuck against his carried a thick fragrance of powder. It was completely different from the one in his memory. He still remembered that a long, long time ago, what also seemed like yesterday’s event, he sat on the backseat of the bike with his two hands holding Ah-Jiang’s waist tightly. Ah-Jiang had wide shoulders, but his waist was very thin. His two arms were just the right size to wrap around it.
After school that day, he was bringing him back home like usual. Suddenly, the sky darkened so they could only go under a wooden pavilion to avoid the rain. The rain was harsh as the droplets crashed on their bodies like beans.
The pavilion was very small. Ah-Jiang was hugging him, and even though his whole body was wet, he still raised his arm to help block the rain for him.
When lighting struck, he lifted his head to look at Ah-Jiang. Ah-Jiang was really pretty. He was better looking than those people on televisions or magazines. Then, the pretty face came closer and closer – so close that he could easily count the lashes on his eyes.
When his lips stuck against his, it was both chilly and cold. It felt like a soft feather sticking to his mouth, but it also felt delicious like cotton candy.
That memory was so beautiful that he would even wake up from the dream with a smile.
But, he opened his eyes.
The young male kept his two hands behind his head as he turned in his bed──two years ago, his aunt’s family moved out when their new house finished its construction. It was both large and comfortable. The little old house left by grandpa became the retard’s alone.
Late at night, it rained outside, he turned on his bed. There were marks drawn from chalk on his wall, one, two…
When he couldn’t sleep, he would start counting them: one hundred, five hundred, one thousand, one thousand fifty, two thousand…
There were three hundred and sixty-five days in a year. Did Ah-Jiang need that long to take his test?
He didn’t understand before, but he seemed to understand now.
Grandpa had told him before, Ah-Jiang was like mom—he won’t come back anymore.
Grandpa wouldn’t lie to him. He turned again to lie face down on the bed, covering up his red eyes—was it because he was a retard that Ah-Jiang lied to him…?
In the blink of an eye, two months passed. The weather was getting colder and colder.
Construction in the village started. The everyday noise of construction made it hard for people to sleep.
Shi Tou still stood underneath the old building. The restaurant was on a break today, and he agreed to go out and play with Jing Jing. He waited for a long time. It was almost noon then, yet, Jing Jing still hadn’t come downstairs. He went through his phone—it was given to him by Jing Jing on his birthday. A three hundred yuan priced old cellular phone. It was very similar to the one Ah-Jiang used before. Jing Jing even asked him why he picked such an old model and if it was because he felt embarrassed spending her money.
He did feel embarrassed, but there was another reason—it reminded him of Ah-Jiang. The phone number Ah-Jiang left for him hadn’t worked in a long time—it was always a dead number.
Shi Tou was a bit worried. He contemplated for a bit then went upstairs. He usually never entered Jing Jing’s house. Grandpa had told him before, a man can’t just go in a woman’s room so casually; that would be very rude. So no matter how Jing Jing invited him, he never went in.
The metal door wasn’t locked. It was opened slightly.
He pushed it open carefully. “Jing Jing…” he called out.
There was no sound. The house was a bit messy with clothes thrown everywhere.
“Jing Jing──” He raised his voice.
A sound finally came from the room. It was an uncomfortable moan. He quickly ran over. Jing Jing had her palm against her forehead as she got up in her bed. Her face was pale white.
“Jing Jing, what happened?” He squatted down, but Jing Jing covered her mouth. She suddenly got up, pushed him aside, and staggered as she ran to the bathroom.
Sounds of continuous vomiting came from the bathroom. It made him very worried.
Jing Jing couldn’t even stand still from vomiting, so he had to carry her back to her bed to rest. Then he went and made porridge in the kitchen and helped clean her house up. After he finished cleaning the house, he fed her the watery porridge bite by bite.
Jing Jing was very weak. She didn’t have make-up on today. She was only in her twenties, yet her bare face looked to be very vicissitudes. Aside from the unerasable wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, there were slight tear stains as well.
When Shi Tou stood up and was about to leave, the woman suddenly got up from the bed. She hugged the young male’s waist from behind.
“I have a child.”
Shi Tou was still for a bit. He knew what a child was. Little children were very cute, he really liked them.
“I wanna give birth to them,” Jing Jing said in a certain tone.
“Mn.”
Jing Jing lifted her head to look at him. Her voice was trembling, “I don’t want the baby to not have a dad…”
“Mn.”
“Ah-Can…” She used a beseeching voice, “Be the baby’s dad, will you?”
Will you…
Their wedding got planned very quickly, from the bride price to visiting guardians, to reserving a wedding reception, to decorating the newlyweds’ house and such. Shi Tou was so busy that he didn’t have time to think of other stuff.
Even though Jing Jing said that just a wedding feast would be enough, Shi Tou remembered that a young girl who worked with him before once said a wedding was the most important thing to happen in life for any girl out there—it can not be treated sloppily at all.
He didn’t understand such things, but good thing his uncle and the neighbors were willing to help. Shi Tou had also saved some money these years. Adding up with the money his grandpa secretly left for him, there was actually twenty to thirty thousand yuan altogether. His uncle also gave him a few thousand yuan worth of red pocket in secret, telling him to not let his aunt know.
A month quickly passed with all those events. Jing Jing’s nausea and vomiting became worse; she would have to go get a check-up at the doctor’s every few days. But it was good that the kid was still healthy and there wasn’t anything crucial. Thinking of the kid, Shi Tou hid away all the cigarettes and alcohol Jing Jing bought. Sometimes Jing Jing would secretly smoke a little, but when she saw Shi Tou acting all angry, she couldn’t help but laugh while coughing, then she actually listened to him. For the kid, she stopped smoking.
Today, people from the furniture store came with new furniture. Shi Tou took a half-day break to get everything organized. Aside from the new bed, table, and chairs, he also bought a crib and other stuff. He touched those stuff, suddenly thinking he was about to be a dad. Then what about Ah-Jiang?
Could Ah-Jiang also be getting married? Or maybe he already had a child?
When he thought of that, he didn’t know why, but he felt very calm, as if he’d already been hurt so much that he was numb now.
Shi Tou walked without a goal. He came to the riverside without knowing. Just like when he was young, he squatted down, reached his hand into the river water, and played with it softly.
“Little Rock.”
Shi Tou’s ears twitched. Wind blew by. He felt like he heard Ah-Jiang’s voice. How weird.
“Little Rock──”
The young male lifted his head. The day was about to get dark. The setting sun was pulling its red curtain, covering the whole world. He stood up, turning with a bit of hesitation.
The road going toward the village had already been paved again. The asphalt smell was both thick and heavy. At a higher ground, not too far away from him, was a parked black car. A person stood outside the car. He wore a black windbreaker, outlining his straight and tall figure. His skin tone was still the same as before, white and clear, as if he hadn’t stood under the sun for a long time.
That face wasn’t as meticulous as the one in his memory, but it was more contoured and mature. The outlines of his face were even more stunning. For anyone who saw it, they wouldn’t be able to help but stop in their tracks for that handsomeness.
The young male stood still. His eyes didn’t even blink. His whole body froze.
The other person moved first. He came down the incline. His steps were rushing unlike the aura he posed. His eyes continued to look at him, as if in the whole entire world, there was no one else besides him.
Then, at a few steps of distance, he stopped.
“…Little Rock.”
Shi Tou’s eyebrows moved. There was only one person in this world who would call him like this. His lips quivered, calling out, “Ah-Jiang…?”
Ah-Jiang swayed a bit. He replied with a “mn” then walked over. His shoulder blades became even wider and he was taller than before. Shi Tou had also grown but there was still half a head difference between them.
When he smelled the strange yet familiar cologne fragrance, Shi Tou trembled. When he came back to his senses, Ah-Jiang was already hugging him. It started off very soft then it slowly got tighter. In the end, he felt like the arms that wrapped around himself were like metal bars, secure and inescapable.
Was it a dream?
Shi Tou blinked. He heard Ah-Jiang’s voice speaking next to his ear──
“Little Rock, I’m back.”
“I’m back, Little Rock…”
He took Ah-Jiang to the restaurant. With his car parked outside the restaurant, everyone who walked passed by couldn’t help but stop to look, even the employees were whispering to each other.
“Hey hey, what brand is this? Mercedes? Or…”
“No no, are you dumb? That’s Rolls Royce! Apparently you can’t even get these cars with just money!”
With this kind of customer at the little restaurant, even the village head was alerted. He ended up coming to meet him in fear but was blocked out by Ah-Jiang’s secretary.
“Deputy Director Jiang* came to see and eat with his old friend. It is obvious that he doesn’t want to be meeting about anything business-related. He isn’t willing to see any outsiders.”
Shi Tou went to the kitchen and brought out all of his best skills. Ah-Jiang didn’t wait outside; instead, he stood in the kitchen, watching Shi Tou busying over here and there.
“Ah-Jiang, go out. The fume’s heavy here.”
No matter what, Deputy Director Jiang* wouldn’t leave. He would rather stand there and allow others to admire him than allow Shi Tou to be out of his sight for even a single moment. No one realized how greedy the look in his eyes was, his stares never left the young male’s body even a little.
Under the excitement, Shi Tou made over ten dishes in one go and rented the whole restaurant. He carried the dishes to Ah-Jiang, and at a corner turn, he was stopped by his aunt and uncle asking him a bunch of questions. Shi Tou scratched his head, stuttering, not knowing what to say.
It seemed like Ah-Jiang had been starving for a long time—his chopsticks never stopped. Shi Tou sat across from him, looking at him dumbly. Ah-Jiang was Ah-Jiang after all. He even looked better than other people eating.
Deputy Director Jiang* showed a lot of appreciation. He ate quite a bit from every dish. The limited offered braised pig trotters were all gnawed down to the bones by him. The ones left in the pot were packed as take-outs.
After the meal and a few shots of alcohol, he had his secretary drive the car back to the hotel while he walked Shi Tou back home.
The night was very quiet. Cold wind blew thinly. They walked with their shoulders against each other, just like when they were kids.
Ah-Jiang didn’t say what he did these past few years or why he left for so long. They chit-chatted without any stable topic, but they were both looking at each other discreetly. Shi Tou realized Ah-Jiang changed a bit──he seemed to have gotten more quiet, more mature; the dark shadows in his eyes have become darker. Every time he lifted his head, he would find Ah-Jiang watching him.
“What about Ah-Jiang? Were you doing good?”
Ah-Jiang rubbed the hairline behind his head, not answering.
Ah-Jiang’s fingers were very long, very cold. As they brushed the end of Shi Tou’s hair, they slightly touched the back of his head. Shi Tou shuddered and dodged it.
Lights seemed to have flashed in Ah-Jiang’s eyes. He looked at Shi Tou, as if he had hundreds and thousands of words (questions?), but didn’t know where to start.
Shi Tou walked faster and faster, his head getting lower and lower. His palm sweated. An indescribable emotion raised in his heart. He suddenly felt both very nervous and frightened. He didn’t know what he was scared of──
He really wanted to ask Ah-Jiang why he did not come back until now.
But he couldn’t ask. He somehow felt like he couldn’t ask anymore.
The walk back home had never felt this short. They fell into an awkward silence. When they saw Shi Tou’s house, Ah-Jiang suddenly reached out his hand, wanting to grab the hand that avoided him.
Yet, before he could do it, a woman poked her head up outside of Shi Tou’s house’s door from afar. Her crisp voice called, “Ah-Can.”
Shi Tou lifted his head. He and Ah-Jiang looked over almost at the same exact time.
Ah-Jiang saw it. An unfamiliar woman was standing in front of the door to Shi Tou’s home.
Of course, he also saw that on the old wooden door, there stuck an eye-piercing Double Happiness ornament.
Aih yah!!!~~~~ what to do now!! Are they gonna kill off Jing Jing with some illness later on in the story or how is Ah-Jiang going to cope with this new development? Thank you for the translation!! Your fan awaits you!
I really love this story. AJ and ST their love over stretch span of time, even though ST had lost his qui/chi therefore he’s born over over again till he recovers all his Qui/chi… AJ is there to help him. I hope this time they’re staying for good together…😍👍😍🤗
Thank you for update!
Damm
Ah-Jiang, you came too late（Ω Д Ω）
What’s gonna happen?!!!!!
Thx for the chappy
this chapter really made me burst into tears!!!! WHY ARE YOU SO FREAKIN’ LATE AH-JIANG!!!!!! thank u for the chapter~
Ahhhhhh!!! Noooo! Ahhhhh! I am scared! What will they do now!? Ahhhh!
Thanks for the chapter! ♥️
NOT AGAIN!!!