It was already late, so they went to eat hot pot. There weren’t many people in the restaurant at that moment. They occupied a semi-open round table which resembled a birdcage. The table had a fence around it, just enough to gather people Inside, leaving only a gap for serving.
Ji Yuan sat in the middle, and Duan Zhi and Ji Shuyan faced each other.
Ji Shuyan had eaten an anpan before coming to the show. He wasn’t particularly hungry, so he kept helping Duan Zhi and Ji Yuan cook meat. He listened to their chats about school competitions, annoying dormitory wardens, and sponsorship from the student council with great interest.
He had been away from university for many years. When he was in university, he was indifferent. So except for a few people in the dormitory, he wasn’t very familiar with anyone in his class. Naturally, his college life wasn’t as rich as that of Ji Yuan and Duan Zhi. Duan Zhi and Ji Yuan were talking about how the department wanted to hold a dance party, and were asking for opinions from the students. When they looked up, they saw Ji Shuyan with one hand propping his head, looking at them softly.
Truth be told, Ji Yuan didn’t like to participate in such activities, but he and Duan Zhi were in the student council, so he had to go. He turned his head and asked Ji Shuyan, “Uncle, when you were in college, was the university so keen on organising balls? Our department insisted on being a matchmaker and came up with various activities every few days.”
Fortunately, it was all voluntary and the participation was optional.
Ji Shuyan thought for a while, “They really were, both freshman and senior year. But I had just entered the university at that time and didn’t know anyone well, so I just sat through most of them.”
Ji Yuan looked at his uncle curiously, “You didn’t even dance once, shouldn’t everyone be rushing to dance with you?”
In Ji Yuan’s heart, his uncle was the most popular male god ceiling, how could anyone not like him.
“It’s not that I haven’t danced at all,” Ji Shuyan recalled. “A girl once invited me when the ball was about to end, but I couldn’t dance well and always stepped on her feet.”
Ji Yuan chuckled, and asked nosily, “Was she good-looking? Was she your later girlfriend?”
Duan Zhi also raised his eyes.
“No, I can’t even remember what she looked like. After all, it was more than ten years ago.” Ji Shuyan shook his head, his eyes were a little distant, “All I remember is that she wore a goose yellow dress and had very long hair.”
At that time, he was only nineteen years old, a little younger than Duan Zhi and Ji Yuan now. He didn’t like to talk at all, and spent time in the library with books in his arms all day long.
He noticed that Duan Zhi had been looking at him, and tilted his head to ask, “What’s wrong, do I have something on my face?”
Duan Zhi withdrew his gaze, “No.”
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.
He cooked half a plate of shrimp paste balls in the hot pot, watched them float up one by one, and said in a low voice, “I was just thinking about how you looked when you were nineteen.”
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Ji Shuyan, however, lacked interest, “What’s there to think about? I looked the same then, with one nose, two eyes, and one mouth.”
With this description, Duan Zhi couldn’t help but laugh.
Ji Yuan, who was next to him, slapped his thigh, “If you want to see it, I have it with me. I saved an old photo.”
He ate a beef meatball, leaned over and started to flip through the photos for Duan Zhi, “Because that photo was so beautiful, I saved it online.”
It didn’t take long for him to find it and show it to Duan Zhi.
As it was from a long time ago, the pixels of the photo weren’t very clear. Ji Shuyan in the photo was less than 20 years old. He was wearing a black suit. He looked a lot younger than now, with a fair face, black hair and red lips, sitting in a well-behaved manner under a flowering tree in bloom. The person who took the photo was probably standing opposite him, he gently raised his eyes to face the person. It was spring, the flowers were blooming and birds were singing but Ji Shuyan who was wrapped in the spring breeze was far more intoxicating than the spring.
Ji Shuyan also swept a glance at it. It took him a long time to remember when it was taken. He said to Ji Yuan, “This seems to be shot on my school visit day. Your mother came to take pictures for me.”
Ji Yuan was startled, then smiled, “I know.”
His mother loved taking pictures. Most of the photos kept at home were taken when his mother was around.
Duan Zhi was reluctant to move his eyes away from the photo.
So this was how the nineteen-year-old Ji Shuyan actually looked like.
This was the teenage Ji Shuyan that he had never been involved with, the one he didn’t even have a chance to meet.
He forced himself to avert his eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” he whispered, “Just a bit colder than he appears to be now.”
After showing off his uncle, Ji Yuan put the photo away contentedly, “That’s right, do you know what is the definition of an Iceberg school grass, it is my uncle.”
Ji Shuyan was speechless, what kind of cheesy name was this, he stuffed a shrimp ball into Ji Yuan’s mouth, “Shut up and eat your food.”
.
An hour later, the dinner was over and the restaurant delivered a scoop of ice cream to each person. There were three different flavours. What Ji Shuyan got was cranberry, which he didn’t like very much. Suddenly, without any explanation, a hand took his ice cream away.
Duan Zhi shoved his macadamia nut flavour to Ji Shuyan, “I’ll trade it with you.”
Ji Shuyan was quite surprised, “You don’t like it?”
Duan Zhi said “Yes”, and slid a spoonful of cranberry ice cream into his mouth. Ji Shuyan didn’t suspect anything, and ate the macadamia nut ice cream in a good mood. This was his favourite flavour.
Only Ji Yuan who sat next to him felt that something was wrong. Doesn’t Duan Zhi dislike dried fruits?
But his attention was soon diverted. Ji Shuyan asked them about the National Day holidays. For this year’s National Day, he was rarely able to take a holiday, and wanted to take Ji Yuan out for a long-deserved trip.
“There is still seven days,” Ji Yuan said with his mouth full of ice cream, his teeth froze, and his speech was a bit vague, “We’ll only be let off on the 30th.”
Ji Shuyan nodded. He started his vacation on the 2nd.
He casually asked Duan Zhi, “What about you? Will you go home during the holidays?”
He remembered that Duan Zhi’s house was quite close to theirs, and he had gone back home for the National Day last year.
Duan Zhi, however, shook his head, “I won’t be going back.”
“Then are you going out to play as well?”
“No.” Duan Zhi shook his head, but he didn’t want to talk too much, so he smiled at Ji Shuyan, “I might be doing my part-time job in the dormitory. Recently, I’ve been rushing to develop a social app.”
Ji Shuyan felt a little strange, and wanted to ask something, but Ji Yuan secretly squeezed his hand.
He was taken aback for a moment, and then stopped talking with understanding.
.
After dinner, Ji Shuyan first sent Duan Zhi back to the university before bringing Ji Yuan home.
Duan Zhi stood at the entrance of the university and waved at them. Then, he turned around and started walking towards the campus.
Ji Shuyan looked at Duan Zhi’s back, walking all alone under the dim light. His silhouette was stretched tall and thin by the street lights, and he looked a little lonely.
Although he knew it was just an illusion.
He had actually just invited Duan Zhi to come and stay at his house with Ji Yuan, but Duan Zhi refused with a smile.
Duan Zhi said, “I can’t come bother you every time. I also need to be more sensible.”
This was true. Ji Shuyan had always believed that people should leave a bit of proportion and leeway in their interactions with others, but he was not quite accustomed to Duan Zhi being so “knowledgeable about the general situation”.
On the way back, Ji Yuan privately told him, “Uncle, don’t ask Brother Duan about his family next time.”
Ji Shuyan asked as he drove, “What’s wrong?”
“Brother Duan seems to have had a serious quarrel with his family.” Ji Yuan wrinkled his face, feeling a little distressed, “We don’t know what exactly happened, we didn’t dare to ask. Brother Duan used to have a good relationship with his family but once I heard him on the phone, and his family seemed like they wanted to sever ties with him.”
Ji Shuyan frowned. As a parent who loved his child, he really couldn’t think of what had to happen for him to cut ties with his child.
But he also knew that everyone’s family was different.
Ji Yuan went on to say, “Anyway, brother Duan hasn’t been in a good mood since he came back to school. Although he’s still cheeky with all of us and takes care of us, he’s someone who just keeps things bottled up in his heart and never puts them on the surface.”
Ji Yuan sighed. If you were to ask him, Duan Zhi had a typical lion character. He behaved calmly when it came to big things, he handled everything by himself. Even if others asked him for help, he would lend a helping hand, which let people have a sense of security and dependence on him. So, although he seemed to be undisciplined and licentious, the girls who liked him continue to pursue him.
Ji Shuyan said “Hmm, got it.”
His eyes floated back to the time when he was eating just now, when he had mentioned going home for the National Day, although Duan Zhi was smiling, there was a flash of loneliness and despondency in his eyes, but he had quickly covered it up.
Poor duan zhi 😢
😟😟
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
So sad((( But sometimes separate from your family is a good thing. We’ll know later about it
Thank you for your translation 💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟
Тhank you for the update!
Poor DZ :< Hope everything will be alright for him soon!
Thank You for the new chapter ♡ฅ(ᐤˊ꒳ฅˋᐤ)