Green Plum IslandCh40 - Point Deductions

Ever since becoming Yan Kongshan’s probationary boyfriend, I haven’t seen his mood index once.

It’s a bittersweet frustration that I haven’t figured out how to resolve. Add to that the fact that Yan Kongshan is someone who is incredibly keen on making out — during this probationary period, he catches me in the bookstore warehouse, in the break room, in the restroom, shuffling me into random corners so the two of us can partake in an “intimate exchange of tongues.” It adds an extra layer of difficulty to this issue. IYxZ4e

The alley behind the bookstore is quiet and deep, and smells vaguely unpleasant. In summer, external units of air conditioners stick out from the walls. For these reasons, it’s an alley that sees very few visitors. But even so, it’s still broad daylight, which makes our sneaking around all that more thrilling.

Not that Yan Kongshan and I are doing anything scandalous.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

I clutch at his clothing, all the while thinking, how come it feels like he’s bolder than I am? If news of the two of us gets out, we’d make headlines.

Then again, he’s so tall that if you don’t look closely, it’s hard to tell what my gender is and I’m sure a passerby would just assume it’s just another couple making out in a dark corner. NWp1B2

I’ve been distracted for too long — Yan Kongshan seems to feel that my mind is somewhere else, and nips the tip of my tongue in dissatisfaction.

“You get points deducted for that, little friend.” He releases me, putting his forehead against mine.

Guilty, I start apologising profusely. “Sorry.”

He doesn’t continue, just straigtens up, his breaths still coming in light pants, and ruffles my hair. “Alright, let’s go back in.”

ZEjNCL

My brain is still in the clouds, my limbs like jelly. I follow his commands one by one, and turn around to go back into the store. After a few steps, I realise he hasn’t followed, so I go back to where he is, puzzled. “Aren’t you going too?” I inquire, head cocked.

He’s still standing in the alley, in the middle of grabbing a cigarette from a packet. He puts the cigarette in his mouth and says, “I’ll go in after this smoke.” As he speaks, he clicks his lighter and lights the cigarette.

I stare at him, the way he smokes. He looks so handsome and cool. “When will you teach me to smoke?” I can’t help asking.

Before, he said I was too young. He can’t still use that excuse when I’m already his boyfriend, right? EUtq3I

“I won’t.” He turns me down easily.

I blink. “Why not?”

He blows out a puff of smoke. “I don’t like it when my boyfriend smokes.”

What the heck? Filled with frustration, I open my mouth to speak, but he seems to sense my irritation because he tosses a look over at me, his lips curved in a tiny smirk. “Yeah, I’m a hypocrite.” nbsPm

“…”

His point-blank attitude completely stupefies me and for the moment, I’m unable to come up with a sound, logical retort to shoot back at him, so I can only accept defeat and back down.

“I was just looking for you, where did you go?”

Back in the store, I discover that Sun Rui has come. Ever since she started dating Wen Ying, she’s been stopping by the store most afternoons so that she can go out with him after he finishes his shift. REI6Ff

“I was looking for something in the warehouse.” I turn away, not daring to meet her eyes.

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.

She zeroes in on a section of my shoulder and reaches out to give it a pat. “Why is there dust on your back? Did you get it on you in the warehouse? It’s too dirty in there!”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Pa wera tjnf mbwf ogbw atf jiifs kjii…

Dfrlvf er, Qfc Tlcu qlqfr lc, “Pa’r atf kjgftberf, sbe xcbk, jii atbrf biv ybbxr. Gera lr ecjnblvjyif. Qf tjnf gjar tfgf abb.” 4d6sgp

“Eja qblrbc vbfrc’a kbgx?” Vec Eel jrxr lc vlruera.

“Qf’nf aglfv fnfgsatlcu. Rbcf bo la kbgxr, atf gjar jgf abb rwjga.”

“You guys should get a cat.”

Sun Rui’s suggestion sparks an idea in me. If we were to get a cat for the store, wouldn’t it be perfect for it to be Dabai and Erbai’s home? Keeping them in the store would mean that Yan Wanqiu could come visit them anytime she wanted, and I wouldn’t have to worry about what kind of owner they were getting adopted by. It’s a brilliant plan. 74gIHY

I decide to speak about it with Yan Kongshan some time; if I get Yan Wanqiu to persuade him with me, I think the likelihood of success will be higher…

“Yu Mian, are you still living at the spinster house?”

“No, I’m staying at Ah Shan’s.”

All at once, it gets silent around me. Belatedly, I raise my head and find Wen Ying and Sun Rui both staring at me in shock — especially Sun Rui, whose eyes are literally popping out of her head. XYGj5Z

I get easily distracted, which often leads to me answering questions straightforwardly without even thinking. Quickly, I add, “I sleep on the couch.”

Their expressions become even more complex, particularly Sun Rui, who looks like she wants to speak but doesn’t know where to begin.

“Oh-Oh… that’s great,” Wen Ying says. “If my house wasn’t too small, I’d totally welcome you over, haha.”

Shit, I’d said too much. Never mind Wen Ying; Sun Rui definitely knows that something is up. PDh3xR

“I’m going to go organise our stock shelves…” I turn around and leave, but tenacious as ever, Sun Rui follows me.

“What’s going on?” she asks in a low voice. “You’re sleeping at his house, and you’re calling him ‘Ah Shan’?”

I stuff a book a customer left laying outside back onto the shelf. “Because we’re dating,” I answer casually.

My reply is met with silence, so I look over. She has a hand over her chest and her mouth hangs wide open. She looks like she’s gasping for air. TAbF24

“Holy shit, you really did it!” She grabs my hand, so excited she starts cussing. “You’re amazing, you’re a god! Please teach me, oh teach this inferior meimei! Tell me how you caught him! Maybe you should write a book?”

She honestly seems more ecstatic than I am…

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I swat her hand away and continue organising the shelves. “You have a boyfriend, what else do you need to learn?”

“No, no,” she says, placing both her hands on her chest. “One must always prepare for a rainy day. Of course it’s good that I’m with Wen Ying, but breakups are normal. If I break up with him, naturally, I still need to find someone else.” pxB1KE

I think about it, but I don’t seem to have any particular tactic to teach her. The only thing that seems to really work with Yan Kongshan seems to be–

“I’m easy to kiss, I think.”

Sun Rui looks at me, brows raised. “What kind of kiss?”

What other kind of kissing is there? ZQUj s

“K-I-S-S.”

Sun Rui: “…”

She darts a glance at my lips, then looks back up. Eyes squinting, she asks, “Were you two just…”

I turn away, faking nonchalance. “No.” rdNfOj

“Yu Mian, look in my eyes and say that again! You’re blushing!”

I ignore her and get back to work.

After a while, she still hasn’t left — rather, she sneaks up to my ear. “Yu Mian, have you two done it?” she asks in a conspiratorial tone.

Confused, I ask, “What?” nR6dml

“Like, have you slept together?” In case I don’t understand, she explains with her hands, slapping them together, making a papapa sound.

“… No.”

“Then you should get a move on.” A second ago she was calling me a god, and now she seems dissatisfied with my performance. “The night is long, dreams are aplenty~”

I get her point, but I’m still on probation and I still don’t have the privilege… Not to mention, even though I’m not an idiot and know how sex works, I’m not so great when it comes to actually using my hands and getting down to business. So I imagine that even if things were to proceed to that point, it would just be me standing there, staring at Yan Kongshan with wide eyes like a fool. cBJDqn

For now, I think it’s best to steadily pass my probation period first.

After the bookstore closes, Wen Ying and Sun Rui go off to watch a movie, and Yan Kongshan and I go pick Yan Wanqiu up from preschool. After dinner, Yan Kongshan washes dishes alone as usual while Yan Wanqiu pulls me into the living room. She retrieves an A4-sized paper from her backpack and asks me to do homework with her.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Which surprises me, because homework? Haven’t I already graduated from high school? What homework would I have?

Yan Wanqiu places the paper flat on the table, then pulls a box of watercolours and two paintbrushes from her bag. “The teacher gave us an art project today,” she says. “We have to make a painting with our parents and we’re supposed to use things from nature too. Leaves and flower petals and stuff. I picked a bunch of leaves from school already, I’ll tell you what to do and you cut them for me.” qktEBh

So this is the homework.

Kneeling next to her, I follow her instructions and slowly cut the leaves into insect wing shapes, which she takes and sticks onto the paper with glue. Soon, green butterflies and dragonflies come alive on the page.

After the leaves are done, she hands me a paint brush and makes me paint with her.

I pretty much haven’t painted a thing since primary school, and surprisingly, I find the activity novel and nostalgic. Every once in a while, Yan Kongshan comes over to check on our work, eventually commenting that the painting as a whole is too “green.” FewA3H

Yan Wanqiu huffs indignantly and retorts, “Well, I like green.”

I also find his criticism a little anal retentive; the painting is fine, who cares if it’s a little green? Green is good for the eyes.

“Ah Shan doesn’t understand art, let’s ignore him,” I say supportively to Yan Wanqiu.

Seeing that neither of us are open to his criticism and that any further opinion would be futile, he goes off to watch television nearby. mebEcv

By the time we finish, it’s already 9 PM. Thanks to our diligent efforts, there’s a lot going on in the painting and we have to be careful when filling in the colours. I massage my aching shoulders. Evidently, I’m no longer the Yu Mian that’s capable of pulling all-nighters working on exam revision.

Yan Wanqiu too is exhausted and yawning despite her usual childish energy — mid-yawn, she tells Yan Kongshan that she wants to go to bed. He gets up, picking her up from the floor. Before leaving however, he turns and sticks a hand out to me and says, “Let’s go to sleep too.”

“Let’s”… He said “Let’s,”… inside, I’m jumping with glee. I don’t know when I became someone who freaks out over the simplest words. It sounds so exceptionally intimate.

Yan Kongshan is right, I’m a child. An easily satisfied child. Just a simple, casual phrase from him is enough to make me happy for half a day. 4zAT39

He takes Yan Wanqiu to her bedroom, telling me to shower first. By the time I finish, he’s already back. He looks as if he wants to use the restroom, so I step aside to let him through. He slips his body through, but instead of walking in, he looms over me until I’m pressed up against the doorframe. I instinctively put a hand up to stop him, but naturally, it doesn’t.

“Weren’t you ignoring me?”

It takes me a few seconds to comprehend his words. He’s coming after me for Yan Wanqiu and me teaming up against him earlier.

“I-I was just kidding.” QzGxYL

“But I took it seriously.”

“So… sorry?”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Are things okay if a boyfriend simply says ‘Sorry’?”

“…” twjM1f

I scour my mind for what my fellow male members of our species would do in such situations, and then choose a solution. “What do you want? I’ll buy anything for you,” I say carefully.

Yan Kongshan looks at me, suddenly at a loss for words. After a very long time, he comments, “How come sometimes you resemble a straight man more than I do?”

His unexpectedly profound question stumps me; I don’t know how to respond.

He sighs, accepting that he’s not getting an answer, and decides to handle things on his own. “You see, you get points deducted for that too.” He leans in close, stopping just before my lips. When he speaks, our breaths become one. “I’ll teach you this time, next time you’re on your own…” lJ3rhf

The rest of his sentence disappears between our lips. And then Yan Kongshan demonstrates to me the proper way for a boyfriend to make apologies.

After the demonstration is over, my mind is completely blank. And then, I get it. That’s the point, right? Making the other person’s mind blank so they don’t even remember why they’re mad at all.

I take mental note. Who knows, maybe after my probation is over, I’ll be tested.

  EbD2xU

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27 comments

  1. once again, yu mian the terrible coaxer and yan kongshan the petulant little miss, strikes again LOL

    thanks for the chapter!

  2. Yu Mian is really good at showing us the age and experience difference…

    but I like Ah Shan, as long as he doesn’t hurt Mianmian and –more importantly– keeps the cats.

    thanks for the chapter! <3

  3. And then, I get it. That’s the point, right? Making the other person’s mind blank so they don’t even remember why they’re mad at all.

    chachacha so exciting

    • „Making the other person’s mind blank so they don’t even remember why they’re mad at all.“ thanks for the advise Mian Mian. Now I know what I need to do when the situation arise 😂

  4. haha YKS seems to be enjoying this probation period more than Yu Mian.

    Also, YKS saying ” How come sometimes you resemble a straight man more than I do?” LOL

    thanks for translating!

  5. Don’t worry Yu Mian, his mood color is most definitely yellow 😂. Also, love that little YWQ considers YM as a parent 😭. I was like, did I read that wrong…? But no, he’s her family now!

  6. Thanks for the update but i just wanted to ask, are the notifications broken? Because i haven’t been getting them for the past 2 days even though there were new chapters uploaded… oh well, maybe it

    s just mine. Thanks for your hard work 🙂

  7. I know its fiction but, when you realize that you and MC are the same age and unlike yo, he has a “job” and a “boyfriend” 😃

  8. Like, have you slept together?” In case I don’t understand, she explains with her hands, slapping them together, making a papapa sound.

    The unnecessarily demonstrative friend is just what we alll need