Green Plum IslandCh24 - You’re Too Small

I lunge towards Yan Kongshan, who staggers backwards a few steps, knocking over a stack of books piled near the entrance before regaining his balance.

“Yu Mian, you’ve been drinking?” He holds onto me, trying to make me stand upright, but it’s like my spine is made of jello; my legs keep bending. DjCU2S

“Just… a little.” I raise my hand and spread my fingers a centimetre apart as evidence that I didn’t drink so much.

He stares at me, then sighs helplessly, guiding me towards the living room. “Who made you drink?” It’s not easy, even for a 190 cm tall man, to maneuver a drunk person. Especially one like me, constantly grappling and clinging at Yan Kongshan like a jellyfish.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Sun Rui.” I start laughing.

This is why they say not to reason with the drunk. They’re unreasonable to begin with. I have no idea why I’m laughing. fvaLAc

“She made you drink so you drank? Why were you so obedient? Sit on the couch, I’ll get you a glass of water.” Yan Kongshan half drags me onto the couch.

I don’t behave and keep trying to get off the couch, so he keeps bending down to push me down by the shoulders and make sure I’m lying down.

“I don’t want to go to school.” I grab his arm so he can’t leave. “They all hate me.”

“Who hates you?”

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“A lot…” My brows bunch together. “Fu Wei liked me at first… I saw it, he turned pink… but why did he start hating me after I told him so? I- I have no idea… everyone is so hard to understand…”

My words come out a jumbled, incoherent mess. Yan Kongshan listens quietly, then yanks free from my grasp and goes off to the kitchen.

In a bit, he returns with a glass of water. The process of drinking water is also a complicated one. He helps me up and I lean against his chest. I take a sip of water, but refuse to drink any more.

“I don’t want to.” I turn back to look at him, then start admonishing him: “Why are you making me drink something so disgusting?” vX0rZe

I’m too drunk to figure out whether I start crying or not–all I feel is tremendous upset over this.

Yan Kongshan stares at me. “This is water,” he says rather calmly.

“No it’s not, it’s… poison!” Suddenly, and catching both of us off guard, I’m angry. I shove him, he falls over on the couch.

“Yu Mian!” He tilts awkwardly to keep the glass of water in his hand from spilling, his back against the armrest and half his body hanging off the couch. UF 35s

As he struggles to regain his balance, I decide I’ve not had enough and pounce on top of him, preventing him from getting back up.

“Why… Why won’t you turn pink for me?” My anger vanishes as quickly as it comes. I clutch the edges of his shirt, once again feeling upset in a matter of seconds. “I want you to turn pink…”

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.

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My body jerks around like a fish on land. All at once, there’s a muffled sound beneath me and the next thing I know, the grip around me waist tightens and the world spins upside down. Yan Kongshan and I both roll off the couch and fall onto the hardwood floor. The glass of water finally succumbs to its inevitable fate and shatters into tiny pieces all over the floor.

I lie with my back on the ground, gazing up at the man right over me. Thanks to his quick reflexes, Yan Kongshan used his hands to prop him up as he fell so he didn’t crush me.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Stop messing around.” His brows are knit tightly together. He seems to be mad. “Are you heartbroken or something? Why did you drink so much?”

“Because liking someone is way too hard… how come you aren’t into me?” I place a palm on his face, using my thumb to trace his eyebrow. “I really like you.” ysU6eC

Yan Kongshan pulls my hand down. “You’ve got the wrong person, Yu Mian.”

I shake my head from side to side, perplexed. The wrong person? No, definitely not. This face, this voice, how could I possibly mistake him for someone else?

“No I haven’t,” I protest, unhappy that he’s treating me so unjustly. “You’re… you’re…”

The rest of the sentence comes out as a mumble, and the only memories I have of the rest of the night are just simply flashes of short moments–such as, Yan Kongshan pulling up the boneless pile of human mass that is me from the floor, holding me up the stairs, letting me sleep on his bed; or waking up in the middle of the night dying of thirst, finding a glass of ice cold water next to the bed and downing it, which is how I wake up the following morning, urgently needing to pee. 1R90ZJ

I sit up with a hand against my forehead for a good ten seconds, my mind completely blank. It’s like I’m suffering from amnesia; I have no idea where I am, what year it is, or what I’m doing.

Ten seconds later, everything comes back to me. I remember all of yesterday’s shenanigans, and everything clouds before my eyes. I bury my head beneath the blankets and start screaming soundlessly–suffocating myself to death suddenly doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

What is wrong with you, Yu Mian?! What is your problem? How could you come over here drunk off your arse and confess like that? Why did you drink? Why did you confess? Why?!

Unparalleled amounts of regret fills me. After sitting in Yan Kongshan’s bedroom self-reflecting for half an hour, I finally creep down the stairs on tiptoes like a burglar. 0RSWpt

Yan Kongshan’s tall body is curled awkwardly on the couch, covered by a thin blanket. He’s squished so tightly that he looks like he’s about to fall off.

Why didn’t he just let me sleep on the sofa…

I stand a ways off from him, unsure whether to wake him or not. If I leave like this, will he just think of yesterday night as a dream? Watching him, I immediately shoot down my own ridiculously wishful thinking. Of course that’s not possible… what am I even thinking?

Suddenly, I notice that there’s a bandage wrapped around Yan Kongshan’s left hand. I think hard. I’m pretty sure that before I barged into his house last night, his hand was perfectly fine. rlIZzw

I must have… I think I knocked over a glass of water in my drunken stupor. Did he hurt himself then?

Concerned, I rush over to the sofa without minding my footsteps, and inspect his wound. Thankfully, it doesn’t look too bad…

Humans are capable of sensing when someone is observing them–Yan Kongshan’s eyelashes shift slightly, and then his eyes slowly slide open. He notices me standing next to him, and for a second, looks confused.

Because of the entire sequence of events of last night, feelings of awkwardness, shyness, and I-fucked-up-ness swirl simultaneously within me; I look away instantly the second our eyes meet. XFlB1z

Eventually, it’s Yan Kongshan who speaks first. “Did you sleep well?”

I feel even more awkward now. After all, I slept in his bed while he got relegated to the couch; it was classic usurping.

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“I’m sorry for causing so much trouble yesterday!” I kneel next to the sofa, stammering, “I-I drank too much, I don’t know what I was doing, I’m so sorry!”

Yan Kongshan sits up. He must have not slept well last night, there are dark circles under his eyes and he looks fatigued. He rubs his face, then asks, “Do you still remember the things you said last night?” d7rUgD

“I…” I feel like there’s a fish bone stuck in my throat.

There aren’t any particular amorous emotions in Yan Kongshan’s eyes as he looks at me. If I admit that everything I said yesterday was true, then without a doubt, there’d be nothing waiting for me but brutal rejection. And our relationship would turn awkward.

“I… I forgot. And I was so drunk, I don’t even know what I was saying.” For the sake of the moment, I decide that it’s better to hide my feelings, hide my love, so that at least we can continue being friends.

I lower my head, hands curled into tight fists on my knees, so nervous that I’m sweating. Hopefully he doesn’t bring up last night’s events, and doesn’t mention that laughable confession of mine. kBdDT0

“Really?” he asks calmly. “You seemed to have mistook me for someone else.”

“…” I look up, stunned. “Huh?”

I mistook him for someone else? Wait, so the name I spoke wasn’t his name? What the hell? Whose name did I say? Don’t tell me it was Grandpa?

“Oh-Oh really? Then… did I do anything stupid?” I ask, pursing my lips. jXq k1

“Not much, you just thought I was trying to poison you and such.” He moves the blanket and puts his feet on the ground.

I get up hurriedly and ask him about his hand.

“Oh,” he replies nonchalantly, bending his fingers back and forth, “yesterday a glass was knocked over and I hurt myself picking up the pieces.”

Liar. Who cuts their palm when picking up glass shards? jp1WKc

I apologise profusely and promise never to get so drunk again. He doesn’t seem to be angry at me, just simply urges me to go home and shower, and asks if I want to take the day off.

I haven’t gone into the bookstore for days. If I keep going like this, Xiao Tian might as well just replace me for good, so I shake my head vehemently and tell him that I’m fine.

When I get home, Grandpa is making breakfast. He stares at me, shocked that I seem to be returning from outside. “Where did you come from? I thought you were asleep in your room.”

I scratch my nose, randomly coming up with a lie. “I went on a morning run.” ktKjqP

Grandpa accepts my lie easily, not doubting me for a second. “You’ve finally decided to start exercising.” He turns back to stir the porridge. “That’s great. Young people need to exercise more, otherwise when you get old, you won’t be agile enough to move even if you want to.”

I fly up to my room to shower and change. When I check the battery on my phone, I discover a text from Sun Rui: [Little Mian Mian, whether you like men or women, I’ll always support you. Don’t worry, Yan Kongshan might be a hard bone to chew, but I have plenty of man-chasing strategies. Sisters of one mind always hit a pot of gold! We’re gonna make sure this bone comes home to you!]

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“…” Sisters, my arse. I almost forgot that I’d come out of the closet to her yesterday…

I pocket my phone and head downstairs, thoroughly miffed at myself. fbLsli

***

The four seasons are indiscernible on the island, but summer has its own specialty–typhoons. Come July and August, several typhoons that start out at sea always make their way to Green Plum Island. However, perhaps thanks to the sky maiden’s protection, rarely are the storms of massive proportion. They’re usually quite small by the time they hit the island. The sun rises as per usual after a night of rain, and there aren’t any casualties besides a few extra leaves and branches on the ground.

Despite that, each year everyone still makes sure they’re prepared for the typhoons. During typhoon season, Nanpu Street’s shops close and helpers are sent to duct tape the windows and doors as hazard prevention.

The weather service has been tracking a typhoon the past couple days, and they predict that it will hit the island tomorrow. Although it hasn’t started raining yet, the clouds have gathered into a dense layer and strong winds have started up. FE chI

Tomorrow, the shops will be closed and the preschool will be shut down as well. Yan Wanqiu takes full advantage of this holiday sent down from the heavens and makes me spend all night gaming with her. At ten, Yan Kongshan calls her repeatedly to go to bed, and nearly whips out her full name before she finally listens and goes to sleep.

Seeing as we’re off work tomorrow, I hesitate over whether to stay a bit longer or not, but Yan Kongshan takes a cigarette and heads outside.

I gaze at his back, then decide to follow him out.

The way he looks as he smokes, leaning against the doorframe with his long legs and tall figure, is incredibly sexy. I lick my dry lips and approach him slowly. “Bro, what does smoke taste like?” 7iFv5H

I had never smoked a cigarette in my eighteen years of life.

He stops moving, his cigarette suspended in the air, and looks at me. After a momentary pause, he replies, “Not much.”

“Can you… teach me?” I move in closer to him. The wind blows in my direction, carrying with it a pungent, biting scent.

Yan Kongshan shakes his head in amusement, apparently not finding this to be a good idea. “You’re too small.” IndU7O

I hate it when he calls me “small”; rebellion rises in me and I retort, “I’m not small, I know a lot!”

He looks at me with hooded lids, his eyes serene and somewhat distant. “Yu Mian, you’re too young.”

It sounds like he’s talking about smoking, but it also sounds like he’s talking about something else.

k2Stqb