Green Plum IslandCh25 - Accident

Eventually, the typhoon comes, but it at least seems to take into account that this was my first time being the sky maiden, because the wind isn’t too strong and the rain isn’t heavy. With the windows closed, you can’t hear the storm outside.

Yan Kongshan must be sleeping right now. r2Kbqw

I flip over in the dark, staring at the hazy outlines of the furniture in my bedroom. I can’t sleep, my insides feeling like they’re stuffed up.

So did he mean that I’m too young to smoke, or too young to date him? In the end, I never asked him. My gut instincts told me it was better not to.

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He must know by now that I like him.

That nonsense he spewed about me taking him for someone else, that lie was about as logical as the lie I told him about not remembering a thing. I must have said his name, and that must be why he asked me the next morning whether I remembered what I said. But whether I remembered or not, he had already planned on pretending that nothing happened. 68Etb3

Like the fact that I’m afraid of being rejected by him and want to keep being his friend, so I pretended not to remember; he’s probably considering my feelings so he wants to preserve the surface peace between us and doesn’t want to have everything out in the open. So all he can do is go about it from another angle.

I’m too young, my thoughts are too childish, I’m not mature enough, I’m only eighteen… and the most important thing that he didn’t say directly but what I suspect — We’re the same sex.

He only turned yellow for me a few times, which isn’t enough to indicate that he’s into the same sex. Fu Wei even turned pink for me, but that sure as hell wasn’t indicative of the fact that he wanted to date me.

In other words, he had gently turned me down…

UpRyP0

I flip over again, burying my face into my pillow. “It’s not my fault I’m younger!” I scream out my frustrations into the pillow. “And how is it a bad thing if I am? I’m just eighteen! A person is only eighteen once in their life!”

Regardless of all my vexations, the sun rises the next day as it does every day. After the typhoon, the streets are littered with wayward flower stems and tree branches, with small accumulations of water here and there. But as the temperature rises, all the water evaporates by noontime.

Somehow, the non-rejection I received feels worse than if it came brutally and harshly. It’s like being strangled without a sound.

At least if I confessed outright and got rejected, I’d have a love to mourn, and in the far future, I’d be able to think back on it as an old crush. But my love doesn’t even have a coffin. It suffocates while it’s alive and dies in a heroically tragic manner. BqoMJD

“Yu Mian!” Sun Rui leans over the cash register, waving a hand in front of my face trying to get my attention.

Everyone must still be lounging at home after the typhoon, because the streets are empty and there aren’t too many customers in the store. Sun Rui and I haven’t seen each other since the drinking incident; it feels like a century has passed since then.

“What are you doing here?” It’s a rare slow morning, so I walk around to the front of the counter and start conversing with Sun Rui and Wen Ying.

“I came to see Little Wen Wen.” Sun Rui puts her head in her hands, propping her elbows on the counter. She gazes at Wen Ying sweetly. NUvuyr

I think Wen Ying grimaces for a second. “Don’t call me Little Wen Wen.”

Sun Rui blinks shyly at him. “I love it when you act all serious.”

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.

Me: “…”

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At least Yan Kongshan turned yellow for me before; Wen Ying is like a Buddhist disciple, with no mind-in-the-gutter intentions towards Sun Rui whatsoever, and she thinks she’s going to date him?

Chrysanthemum Garden.

To think she meant to teach me how to chase men… I feel as if I should be the one teaching her.

As we chat, Sun Rui mentions wanting to go hiking over the weekend, and asks if either of us are interested. I’m not, but she kicks me and I smile instead, saying, “What perfect timing! I planned on doing the same thing!” CKrpUi

Wen Ying checks our shift board and says he’s off on Saturday.

“Saturday then!” Sun Rui exclaims cheerfully. “Let’s climb Mt. Yuanyang ! There’s a temple at the peak, it’s super good at bringing lovers together.”

Mt. Yuanyang is at the northernmost end of Green Plum Island. It’s not the tallest mountain nor the shortest, but because of the efficacious lovers temple at its peak, it sees the most tourists.

Thanks to the addition of Xiao Tian on the team, our shifts at the bookstore are distributed more evenly, allowing both me and Wen Ying a day off on Saturday. But if Yan Kongshan and Xiao Tian have to take over on Saturday, it means that unless he finds a babysitter for Yan Wanqiu, she has to stay in the break room the entire day. yWN2zY

She’s an obedient girl, and even if she’s all by herself, she’s perfectly fine spending the time sitting quietly on the sofa playing Rubik’s cubes or reading comics. If this were before, I wouldn’t think anything of that, but after getting to know her over the past month, I know that she’s different from other kids. And by that, I don’t mean her disability, but her intelligence.

She’s too smart and too mature for her age, completely unlike a five year old child. She never throws temper tantrums, and the way she speaks and does things is so well-conditioned. Her ability to understand the motives of others is even more startling.

It’s almost as if the heavens took her leg and repaid her with an extraordinary mind. There’s a word I often hear all over the media but that I’ve never felt suitable to use on anyone — but if I had to label Yan Wanqiu with one word, that’s the one I would use: “Genius.”

I imagine one day she’ll grow up into someone extraordinary. tQedw8

Regardless, I’m already privy to other people’s emotions and moods. A five year old child is hardly the most astonishing thing in my life.

She’s always so endlessly curious about everything, so full of energy, that I can’t help but think it would be a pity to keep her cooped up in a room all day. So after some thinking, I run over to Yan Kongshan’s house to inquire whether she can come hiking with us.

“Hiking?” He’s bent down, cleaning up the gaming controllers on the floor. He pauses at my question and looks over at me.

“It’s not a very tall mountain, just 200 metres or so. I’ll keep an eye on her, if she gets tired, I’ll piggyback her up.” JqdGWH

Yan Kongshan ponders this for a second, then seems to think it’s a good idea. “I’ll leave her to you, then.”

I smile at him. “It’s no trouble,” I say.

Actually, I still hope for a chance — it’s a faint hope, but I hope that after the holidays are over, after I leave the island to go to school, he’ll give me the opportunity to confess to him out loud.

Sun Rui and Wen Ying don’t mind the addition of the little girl to our expedition; at nine a.m. on Saturday, Wen Ying drives to each of our houses to pick us up, and then we head off to Mt. Yuanyang. aTL5uh

Sun Rui has a bunch of bags with her and a plethora of snacks, including her family’s homegrown fruits. It’s like she’s about to go traveling.

“Becoming a son-in-law of the Sun family is a very worthwhile decision.” Hiking up a mountain carrying a bunch of snacks on her back isn’t enough to keep her quiet.

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Wen Ying doesn’t respond, completely blind to her prompting.

I sigh, then follow up with, “Why?” rAp0dO

Sun Rui turns around and shoots me an approving look. “Because if you’re the Sun family’s son-in-law, you never have to buy fruit again. Don’t you think that’s worth it?”

For a hot minute, I can’t think of anything to follow that with.

“That’s so true, you can save so much money,” a childish voice chirps from beside me.

I look down at Yan Wanqiu, who has her hand in mine. She happens to be looking up at me too, and shoots me an adorable smile. btjsHX

Little genius. I exchange a secretive smile with her.

Halfway up the mountain, there’s a wooden suspension bridge about a metre wide and ten metres long, built over a turbulent river.

Sun Rui and Wen Ying walk ahead while I follow them with Yan Wanqiu in my arms.

“Sun-jiejie likes Wen Ying, doesn’t she?” Yan Wanqiu asks me quietly. w4kKC8

“Why do you know everything?”

“Because I’m smart.” She turns her face up slightly, looking proud of herself.

I feel like she can start using that line as her motto at this point. “Congrats, you’re right. Can you tell if Wen Ying likes her back?”

“He doesn’t not like her.” wUGXfu

“Oh?” My interest is peaked at her response. Can she read him better than I can even though I’m the one with synesthesia?

“If he doesn’t like her, why would he agree to come hiking with her?” Yan Wanqiu darts an impatient look at me, her eyes seeming to say, Are you stupid?

When we get to the middle of the bridge, Sun Rui suddenly yells, “Wow guys, look over there! That waterfall is so pretty!”

Humidity hangs in the air in the mountains due to the typhoon, and water gushes down the cataract at full speed, making a thunderous sound. 1vdOg7

There are quite a few people stopped on the bridge taking photos, creating traffic jams in front of and behind us so that we can’t move either way. A few tourists in the back start getting impatient, trying to push their way forward.

“Come on, move! Stop blocking the way!”

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The suspension bridge starts wobbling.

Yan Wanqiu grabs onto my arm tightly. “Gege, I can’t swim.” She peers down at the rolling waters beneath us and gulps. 8OU5gi

I’m about to tell her that it’s alright because I can swim, but the minute I open my mouth to speak, I feel a sudden weightlessness and all of a sudden, everyone on the bridge tumbles into the roaring river below us like dumplings into soup.

Icy water splashes past my chest and neck, going up my nose. It all happens so suddenly that for a second, I’m too dazed to feel the cold.

The river is only about 180 centimetres deep and it isn’t difficult for adults to find their footing, but it’s a dangerous place for a child.

Wait… FB9yRd

I freeze suddenly, my heart pounding in my chest. I feel like my brain has completely stopped functioning.

Where is Yan Wanqiu?

She was clinging onto my neck just a second ago, where is she?

I float on the surface of the water, searching frantically high and low among the chaos of the river, but she’s nowhere to be seen. udCTe0

Sun Rui and Wen Ying are also treading in the waters. Sun Rui is good in the water and she’s busy going around helping the people who can’t swim, dragging them up to the surface by their armpits.

“Qiuqiu… Qiuqiu is gone!” I yell at the two of them. I don’t bother checking whether they hear me or not. With a huge gulp of fresh air, I plunge back underwater.

I can hardly see anything in the water because of how many people are stirring the sand up from the riverbed, making everything murky. I stay down, searching until my chest starts hurting from the desire for oxygen and I’m forced to go back to the surface for more air.

After a few more times of doing this, I suddenly catch sight of part of a pink dress floating serenely near the bottom of the river and start kicking like mad towards it. When I reach out to grab the corner of the dress, I feel Yan Wanqiu’s prosthetic leg. 97MxQF

I drag her up to the surface — by now, Wen Ying has already made his way over, and the two of us carry her on shore.

Yan Wanqiu lies on the sandy rocks, unmoving, drenched from the river water. Her face is so pale, as if there’s no blood flowing through her veins. I scramble around checking her nose and listening for the sound of a heartbeat on her chest.

At long last, with absolute desolation, I discover nothing. Absolutely nothing. I… don’t hear anything.

CE9D 3

Translator's Note

AKA Mt. Lovebird; Mandarin duck pairs are called yuan(male)yang(female), they’re believed to mate for life.

Leave a Comment

29 comments

  1. WHO THE F*CK WOBBLED THE BRIDGE AND HURT QIUQIU!? Ahhhhhh I’m so sad now 😩. Please be okay.

    Thanks for the chapter!

  2. UHMM?? EXCUSE ME??!!! Oh shit oh shit. It’s gotta be fine right?? Oh my god. Will Yan Kongshan blame our Mianmian??? I- This is so stressfull—

    Translator-samaaa please reassure us a bittt😭😭🥺🥺🥺

    Thank you for the chapter💜💜💜😭😭

  3. Instead of just sitting there being hopeless, start CPR it might save her on time. Furthermore turn her onto the side so that the water can be forced out and pat her back. You don’t exactly have to be incredibly medically knowledgeable to start all types of efforts to save someone. Human instinct in a time of crisis people! Also don’t crowed her so that she gets air while someone call for an ambulance…..aish my training took over.

    I just hate people who wallow in helplessness when a second-minute difference could mean life or death🙆

  4. well, if something happens to her, Ah Shan will definitely stop believing in love.

    thanks for the cliffhanger nervously shifts <3

  5. Thanks for your hard work!

    Uhhh, why are you doing this to us author-sama?? I don’t want this kind of angst!

  6. Omg the night before I feel also we reading the previous chapter and had a dream that Qiuqiu died!!! Like actually die!!!! Literally everyone was so upset and sad in my dream so can u understand how shock I was when the next chapter I read actually depict her kind of drowning????😢 Good thing she’s not actually died compared to my dream phew

    But I also dreamed of Yu mian asking sun rui to meet him somewhere because he want to officially come out of closet to her since they’re best friends and I guess that also somewhat came true just not the way how it was depict in my dream sighss and here I thought I was gonna be a full fledge prophet… well excluding qiuqiu dying in my dream then yes