Chapter 17 Part2 (2/2)
He suddenly gave a low chuckle. ”What?”
Such a quiet s.p.a.ce. And it just had to be her own room, too. This evocative atmosphere that was so out of place here made her heart race a little.
Her ragged breathing was due to that body with which she was too familiar. As if there was a balance scale in her heart that was incessantly swaying back and forth, she wavered and struggled. But finally, when he pressed his lips against hers in the most tantalizing way, she closed her eyes and, submitting to this fate, mourned that after all these years, her virtue was now tainted.
A very long, very deep kiss.
”Honey.” The voice by her ear was extremely low and also contained a sense of doting. ”Hurry and go to bed.”
Huh?
Jia He opened her eyes to look up at him, staring at her own reflection within those deep-black eyes of his. In this quietness, dazedly she gazed at him. Quite some time pa.s.sed. And then a flush surged into her cheeks. Scampering off the bed, she made a rapid escape from the scene of the ”crime.”
The entire way as she pa.s.sed through the still living room and darted into the guest bedroom, the colour did not fade from her face and, in fact, became an even deeper shade of red.
That was on purpose! He absolutely did that on purpose!
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only
She slept until her mouth and tongue felt parched before she finally opened her eyes. The sun was already high in the sky. Yet again she had slept until noon. Blearily crawling out of bed, she was about to go knock on Yi Wenze's bedroom door, but her mom, in the kitchen cooking, was already informing her, ”He's long gone. Just look at how diligent he is. He was already up at just a little past five in the morning and then left. Now look at you. Oh dear. Sure enough, it's the early bird who catches the worm. No wonder he became famous so early.”
Jia He paused briefly in surprise before remembering that he had to go to Shanghai today for some promotional work. At this, her heart was set at ease. ”Our professions are different. Your daughter is very diligent, too.”
Her mom trained a long, ruminative look on her. When Jia He was starting to get the w.i.l.l.i.e.s from it, she at last let out a slow sigh, remarking, ”You say, with this huge difference in your rest and wake schedules, what are you two going to do in the future when you want to have babies?”
Jia He had a toothbrush clamped between her teeth at this moment, about to send off a text message, but when she heard this sentence, she immediately whipped her head around. Gaping at this extremely worried mom of hers, she could only utterly concede defeat to her.
<>Your support by reading this translation only at hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com would be greatly appreciated by the translator. Thank you.
After an hour of intense interrogation from her mom, Jia He pretended to take a phone call and thus was finally able to free herself from there.
Getting into the taxi, she untied her scarf and took a deep inhale. The driver asked her for an address, and after she told him, he gave her an approving look. ”That's a good piece of real estate there.” Smiling, Jia He was about to speak, but then she heard the entertainment news report on the radio mention Tian Chu and her whirlwind engagement. The other party was a certain wealthy family's son who had never appeared before in the public eye. Such news stories were very commonplace these last several years, but because she was Yi Wenze's ex-wife, it was inevitable that his name was also brought up.
The DJ's report was vivacious and colourful. Jia He, though, did not really listen with much attention, offhandedly sending a text to Yi Wenze instead: Have you arrived yet?
Very soon, he texted back: Arrived already. In a meeting. Are you home yet?
Jia He sent off another text in reply. When she put away her mobile phone, the driver casually commented, ”These last couple of years have been the years of marriage for the entertainment circle. Ones who are up in age, women who previously hadn't been able to marry themselves out, and also this one here who's going for her second marriage—they're all rus.h.i.+ng to marry themselves off before 2012.” Jia He gave some arbitrary words of agreement. The driver carried on, ”This Tian Chu sure has had a lot of news about her over these last two days. The other day, I drove a customer who claimed to know the inside scoop.”
Jia He gave a very obliging ”Oh!” Seriously, nowadays everyone was claiming the t.i.tle of King of Inside Scoops!
”You don't know just how good the celebrity effect is. A lot of business tyc.o.o.ns in our country will just directly state a price and have the talent agency provide a female celebrity to be their girlfriend. It's not so he can be her sugar daddy, though; it's purely for creating the hype in the media that he has this girlfriend. That's even more useful than actual advertising. The exposure he gets from that is not just 'average' or 'above average.' This Tian Chu was hyped up so much when she had her divorce, so now she commands the highest price when it comes to dating her.”
Jia He kept her silence. What, was this considered a new age and new way of endors.e.m.e.nt? After this, the driver launched into full swing on this topic, growing more and more exuberant as he spoke.
<>The translator would sincerely appreciate it if you would support this translation by only reading it at hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, its actual site of posting. Thank you.
When Jia He was nearing her and Yi Wenze's home, she unexpectedly received a phone call from an unfamiliar number. To her surprise, it was someone from Yi Wenze's production company. This person seemed to be waiting for her downstairs of the home but would not tell her for what reason. After she got off the taxi, a boy standing outside of the stairwell, so cold he was hopping up and down, spotted her and grinningly jogged over. ”Dear Boss's Wife, if you had taken any longer to show up, I would have frozen to death.”
Feeling bad, Jia He fished out the key card. ”We'll go up to talk.”
”No need, no need. I'm just delivering something.” The boy stuffed a box into her hands. ”I've completed my a.s.signment from Boss ahead of schedule!” Once he finished saying this, he ran off, so fast he seemed like he was flying.
Jia He carried that box upstairs and opened it as she walked in the door. Inside were a dozen or so photo frames. With one glance, she could tell that they were the type for creating a photo wall. Closing the door behind her, she pulled them out, one at a time, until before long they covered the entire couch. Big ones, small ones, they were all photographs of her taken throughout the years, from her childhood onward…
Sitting on the carpet, she leaned back against the couch and slowly looked through them.
The photos had all been specially edited, and in the warm lighting, there was a sense from them that the pa.s.sage of time had left its traces. The feeling they gave, though, was a very warm one.
While she was staring at them, absorbed, her mobile phone on the coffee table suddenly began vibrating. Surprisingly, it was Mumu. On the other end of the call, Mumu was completely fired up as she rambled over and over, ”Stay calm, stay calm.”
Jia He was not sure whether she should laugh or be annoyed. ”Hey, did you accidentally dial the wrong number? Why do you just keep talking to yourself?”
”Big Sis, I need to calm down.” In utter seriousness, Mumu told her, ”You won't be able to watch it on TV anymore. Hurry up and get online to Tudou, Youku[4], or whatever. As long as it's a video-sharing website, you'll definitely be able to download it—my brother-in-law's interview on that talk show.”
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only
[1]In traditional Chinese medicine, there is the concept of ”internal heat.” If a person has excessive internal heat, it can result in various symptoms, for example, rashes, sore throat, coughing, acne, etc. The idea of lowering internal heat is to do this from the inside out.
[2]少年宫”shao nian gong.” Children's Palace locations in China are facilities where children may go to take part and receive training in extracurricular activities, such as music, arts, sports, etc. Jingshan Park is directly north of the Forbidden City in Beijing and was once an imperial park. The Beijing Children's Palace occupied 寿皇殿 Hall of Imperial Longevity (Shouhuang Dian) within Jingshan Park from 1956 until December 2013, when it relocated out of the park.
Note: The Hall of Imperial Longevity was built during the Ming dynasty. Historically, it was for the emperor to wors.h.i.+p his ancestors and contained portraits of past emperors.
The Hall of Imperial Longevity (Shouhuang Dian) in Jingshan Park and also the site of the Beijing Children's Palace until 2013. In this photograph, the sign over the door reads ”Beijing Children's Palace.” (Image credit: )
[3]水袖. Water sleeves, in Chinese cla.s.sical dance, are long sleeves of silk that significantly extend past the sleeve cuff. In the dance, these long sleeves are incorporated, their flowing, ribbon-like movements used as a form of expression.
[4]In 2011 (the current time in the story), the Chinese video-sharing websites, Tudou and Youku, were both still completely separate ent.i.ties. In 2012, Youku acquired Tudou, merging the two to become Youku Tudou. The two individual sites were still retained, however.
This story was translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only. All forms of reproduction, redistribution, or re-posting are not authorized. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the copy is unauthorized and has been taken without consent of the translator.
Completed:
1 of 1 Prologue
50 of 58 Chapter segments
0 of 7 Epilogue segments (4 epilogues in total)
Post navigation
<script>