[Hottie, let’s watch a movie this weekend.]
This is the WeChat message Zhang Jing saw after he finished his night shower. His first reaction was to formulate an excuse to reject the invitation, but he couldn’t think of any viable excuses, so he threw his phone to the side and turned on his laptop to play a few games before responding.
He typed in his college group chat: [Anyone league? I’ll mid and carry all of you.]
Doggo: [Working overtime right now, I’ll pass.]
Lincoln: [Yes, 111111111]
Six Six: [Then I’ll bot, but I’ll be online in half an hour.]
There are around ten people in this group chat—ten people who got along well during college and happened to live in the same city after graduation. The main function of this group chat is to game together or to schedule meetups, or sometimes to gossip.
Finally, they gathered a full party of five, yet they ended up losing three in a row.
Zhang Jing, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, unmuted himself, “Shit I didn’t carry, I inted again. You guys play, I’m getting off.”
Lincoln: [Damn.]
Zhang Jing: [Smirk.gif]
Then he exited the game and stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray. Usually he doesn’t smoke—he quit a while ago. However, acting out of desperation, he resumed smoking these two days, since he felt constant emptiness or irritation, or whatever this indescribable feeling is called.
Right after he closed League of Legends, he received a WeChat message from Lincoln.
Lincoln: [Jing.]
Zhang Jing: [???]
Lincoln: [How have you been recently? We haven’t gone out for a drink in a long time.]
Zhang Jing: [Sure, some time this weekend?]
Lincoln: [Sure.]
Lincoln: [Oh, I have a question.]
Zhang Jing: [What is it?]
Lincoln: [Are you still single?]
Zhang Jing: [……]
Zhang Jing: [Why? You’re gonna find someone for me? Or you want to be my boyfriend? I refuse, you’re too short, and I don’t really like the so-called “cutest height difference between couples.”]
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.
Lincoln: [Shut up. I’m being serious right now.]
Zhang Jing: [Yes, I’m single.]
Lincoln: [Are you… Are you still not over that dude?]
Obbxlcu ja atja wfrrjuf, Itjcu Alcu gfjmtfv obg jcbatfg mlujgfaaf bc atf ajyif jcv qea la lc tlr wbeat. Lf vlvc’a iluta la; tf pera ilutais yla bc atf mlujgfaaf oliafg.
Zhang Jing: [What dude?]
Lincoln: [You can’t play dumb with me, who else would I be referring to? I’m just wondering if you still think about him. If you’re determined to demand an explanation, then I’ll tell you something. However, if you’ve decided to forget about the past and lead a new life, then pretend I never asked you this.] Zhang Jing squinted his eyes due to his frown, squatted on his chair, and glanced outside the window. In the opposite building, one family is shutting the curtains, another household is watching the television, and another is playing the piano.
He turned back to his phone, and arduously punched out one word: [Oh.] Zhang Jing stared at the “Lincoln is typing…” notification. He actually doesn’t know how to truthfully and genuinely respond to this question.
Lincoln: [Ji Dongxun is back, I saw him earlier. He changed drastically, so I almost didn’t recognize him. When he saw me, he called my name and asked if I still keep in touch with you. To that I responded yes.] Zhang Jing reached for the lighter and tilted his head to light the cigarette in his mouth.
[And then?]
Lincoln: [That’s it.]
Zhang Jing: [Ah.]
Lincoln: [I just thought you should know. If you’re still dwelling over what happened, just go interrogate him until you’re satisfied. You guys may end unhappily or end up reconciling with each other, but at least there’s a conclusion to this relationship. Of course, if you’re over him, then forget all this and let’s go for a drink this week.]
Zhang Jing: [Thanks bro, I moved on. Let’s drink this week.]
Lincoln: [Ok.gif]
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The passionate and intense love that drained all of their energy. Even if he attempts to forget, there are always remnants of their past relationship haunting and distressing him.
He remembered the past Zhang Jing that proudly held out his hand for that person to kiss. He said, “Ji Dongxun, this is my badge. This is proof that I loved you.”
That person grabbed his hand and pecked his fingers. He used to believe that love could last forever, and that one promise would last an entire lifespan.
Zhang Jing sat up straight; his eyes were slightly red because he squinted his eyes for a long duration. He searched for his phone and replied to Josh: [Okay.] It’s been many years since he went to a movie theater; he rarely visited these formal, literary places—he preferred alcohol and motorcycle racing.
Leather jacket, jeans, along with motorcycle boots. Wherever Zhang Jing goes, he’s always attention-grabbing.
When Josh saw Zhang Jing locking his vehicle and holding his helmet, Josh’s eyes lit up. Zhang Jing greeted, “What do you want to watch? I’ll buy the tickets. I’m not up to date with the recent movies.”
Josh brought out six tickets from his pocket, “I bought the tickets already, but I’m not sure which type you enjoy. Melodrama or Hollywood blockbusters?”
Zhang Jing randomly pointed at one, “This one.”
Josh glanced at the time. “There’s still half an hour; do you want to grab a coffee?”
Zhang Jing shook his head, “I’m indifferent, do you wanna? I can go buy it for you.”
Josh chuckled, “Then let’s go. You’re really attractive, so I want to walk with you more—I feel proud walking next to you.”
Zhang Jing smiled in response and didn’t say anything.
The movie was quite compelling since Hollywood blockbusters meant guaranteed quality, so Zhang Jing was focused on the plot the entire time. Sometime during the movie, when he placed his hand on the armrest, Josh also moved his hand there and touched Zhang Jing’s. He lifted his finger instinctively, but he soon forced himself to not withdraw his hand from Josh’s touch. But maybe Josh accidentally moved his hand, since the touch didn’t happen again.
Towards the middle, Zhang Jing was completely engrossed in the movie: he nearly forgot what world he was in.
Then the movie ended and the lights turned on. Zhang Jing turned his head but was stunned to see Josh there. At that moment he couldn’t distinguish what was real, so he thought the person next to him was wrong.
He shouldn’t be Josh.
His heart sank a little.
Josh asked, “What happened?”
“Nothing.” He stood up, “I was too engaged in the movie.”
He smiled, “What should we eat later?”
Zhang Jing said an American restaurant’s name.
He froze when he blurted out the name. In the past, whenever they finished a movie, they would always eat at that restaurant. Zhang Jing loved their desserts and their fried fish. One plate of fried fish only had three finger-length fish, so a person would always comment that he looked like a cat when he ate the small fish.
Josh asked, “I’m not sure where that is. You can be the guide.”
“Okay.”
Zhang Jing didn’t ride his motorcycle; instead, he brought along his helmet and rode in Josh’s car. He was afraid that Josh would ask to ride the motorcycle together again—merely picturing Josh hugging him tightly made him extremely uncomfortable.
When the server came to take their order, Zhang Jing handed the menu to Josh. Zhang Jing ordered two desserts, a sirloin steak, and asked the server, “And also the fried fish.”
The server blinked a few times to express his confusion. “Sir, are you referring to the honey-garlic glazed salmon? Sorry sir, but we’re out of salmon. You can look at the menu for other options, or you can try our new dishes.”
Zhang Jing frowned, “Not salmon, it’s fried fish. A really small fish.”
He shook his head cluelessly.
Zhang Jing sipped on his water, and then gave up. “Nevermind.”
Sometimes things are destined to turn out a certain way. He had not visited this restaurant in four years, yet today he randomly blurted this restaurant’s name after the movie. Afterwards, he came here with a not-so-close friend to order his favorite fried fish.
As he absent-mindedly ate his sirloin, he suddenly heard a voice from afar asking, “Hello, I’d like to order a fried fish.”
This time it was a different server, but he was also confused. “Do you mean our honey-garlic glazed salmon?”
Zhang Jing became too nervous to continue eavesdropping—his heart was racing.
So he asked Josh, “Has Bai Qi been like this ever since high school?”
Josh smiled and responded, “Been like what?”
Zhang Jing replied, “Mild on the outside but wild on the inside.”
He laughed immediately, “Haha yes, he was like that in high school too.”
In reality, Zhang Jing only wanted to say something so that his voice could cover the voice from behind.
From then on, Zhang Jing felt as if a cat was inside him. Its paws constantly scratched his heart, and occasionally it scratched too aggressively, causing his heart to flip over.
But if they were destined to eat at this restaurant on the same day at the same time, there was no reason to not make them interact.
When Zhang Jing and Josh headed out, Zhang Jing immediately spotted a Ji Dongxun approaching him.
Ji Dongxun first looked at him, then at the person next to him, and impassively said, “What a coincidence.”
Zhang Jing nodded, “Yeah, what a coincidence.”
Ji Dongxun queried, “Your boyfriend?”
The cat in Zhang Jing’s heart scratched him forcefully, and blood started dripping.
Pain.
Zhang Jing lowered his head to take a deep breath. “Yes.”
Ji Dongxun reached his hand out to Josh and said with his calm and powerful voice, “Ji Dongxun.”
Josh shook his hand, “Hello, I’m Josh.”
Josh turned to Zhang Jing, “He is?”
Ji Dongxun stared fixedly at Zhang Jing, and he briefly glanced back at him. As their four eyes fixated on each other, Zhang Jing saw the inexplicable emotion in Ji Dongxun’s eyes—his deep, dark pupils that were as gorgeous as usual.
Zhang Jing pursed his lips and said, “An old friend.”
Ji Dongxun’s lips twitched, and he very very faintly smiled.
When he walked away, Zhang Jing was too afraid to look up.
The heart under his chest was scratched into bloodstained shambles by the cat, with the blood silently dripping. Drip, drop, drip, drop.
Ah, damn. I could almost feel his pain. I just finished reading a happy story before this and now I’m just sad. Next time I should read this first and then go read some fluffy stories afterwards to recover. For now, I’ll just sulk here in my bed 🫠
Thank you so much for the update. I will hold on until we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Have a wonderful day, Izzy!
There will be fluff in the near future, I promise 😭 I hope you have an amazing week too!
Josh sounds swell lol o can see him being our Mc’s friend later on
Thanks for the chapter ♡♡♡♡♡
💕💕
Great, more misunderstanding~ 🙂 aahh waiting for fluffs 🙏
Urck my heart. I think the cat scratched it too 😭
Thank you for the chapter >< 💓
My heart is dripping too 😭😭
Am I the only one that badly wants to skip any scene that Josh appears with Zhang Jing?
No you are not… Maybe we can just pretend that he-who-shall-not-be-named doesn’t exist?
👍
Can somebody please give those poor men some tiny fishes? And maybe a band aid or two…
Thank you for the chapters, Translator-老师