Chapter 9.3 (1/2)

With this update, we have now caught up to the radio drama for Beautiful Bones. For anyone who can understand Mandarin, have a listen. (Here is and ) The CV for Zhousheng Chen is one of my absolute favourites and is Peanut’s CV love. Yeah, I know Zhousheng Chen’s voice is supposed to be ordinary as well, but I’m willing to forgo that piece to listen to Xuan Zone’s dreamy voice as Zhousheng Chen.

By the way, loved reading the discussions, thoughts, and predictions from all of you for the last chapter. I translate because I want to discuss my favourite novels. This Bremen trip keeps getting more and more interesting… and eventful.

Chapter 9.3 – How Can Love be Unraveled? (3)

“I need to leave to go back tomorrow,” he said. “The flight is tomorrow morning.”

She set the ring down on the table. “I should go back, too.”

Zhousheng Chen had already told her before that he would only be staying one week in Bremen this time, and it was only the he exact date and flight of his departure that she had not known. Therefore, when she heard him say this, she was not surprised, only somewhat sad to have to part from him.

s.h.i.+ Yi had never once tried to hide her attachment to him.

He could see it as well. “The conference has ended already. Shortly from now, I need to step out to take care of some personal matters but will be back around dinnertime.”

“How about we go together?” she asked. “I won’t disturb you when you are doing your things.”

She was simply trying to, as much as possible, spend more time with him, even if it was sitting in the car waiting for him.

He considered her suggestion for a moment. “Alright. Tell Uncle Lin what books you would like to read, and I will have him prepare some for you in the car.”

She thought this was a good idea. Reaching for a sheet of notepaper on the desk, she scribbled down several t.i.tles with a pencil. They were all books that she had wanted to read but had not been able to buy. Her penmans.h.i.+p was very beautiful and could even be said that it was bold and had its own unique style. Zhousheng Chen picked up the paper and, seeming rather surprised, he carefully studied it for some time. “Your calligraphy should be held in no less regard than Uncle Chen’s.” He was referring to that uncle who had inscribed the poem on her painting that time she had painted before everyone.

She gave a smile, not denying this.

After all, she had learned from him of the past, and there was pride in this.

He called for Uncle Lin and then handed him the notepaper, instructing him to ready these books for s.h.i.+ Yi to read that afternoon. After Uncle Lin had left the room, Zhousheng Chen looked at her with a serious expression. “s.h.i.+ Yi, my great apologies. Although we are already married, I do not even know your handwriting. After this matter has completely concluded, I will set aside a long period of time to allow us to learn more about and understand one another.”

This person always seemed to be so serious over the most unexpected things.

She smiled, then glanced at the redundant ring that was on the table.

Zhousheng Chen followed her gaze with his eyes. Pulling out his wallet from the inner pocket of his jacket, he placed the ring inside it. “This sort of situation will not occur again.”

The two of them rested briefly and then left the hotel.

Sure enough, the books she liked had been readied and placed inside the vehicle. When Zhousheng Chen arrived at his intended destination, before stepping out of the car, he inquired her opinion on whether she wanted to stay in the vehicle to wait for him or go up with him and find a place she could rest. Leaning her side up against the seat, she thought for a moment and asked, “Will you be gone for long?”

“No.” Zhousheng Chen removed his jacket and placed it beside her hand. “At most half an hour.”

He was keenly sensitive to time, and if he said it would be half an hour, then he would absolutely not exceed that.

“I’ll wait for you in the car, then.” She wagged the book that was in her hand. “I can have half an hour of reading. Otherwise, if I go up with you, it will all be people I don’t know…… I actually really don’t like meeting strangers.”

“I noticed.” He chuckled and leaned over toward her to whisper, “You will blush.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really.”

He was smiling as he stepped out of the car and left her with Uncle Lin.

However, after Zhousheng Chen had departed, Uncle Lin also got out of the driver’s seat and stood beside the vehicle near its front.

This particular highrise building’s parking garage was on the third level and provided a wide field of view. Her eyes swept around. She surmised that Uncle Lin had taken into consideration who she was and her status and hence did not stay in the same vehicle with her. She lowered her head and continued to browse through this book, “Strange Tales in Unofficial History,” of stories that had been pa.s.sed down for hundreds and thousands of years. The author’s writing was quite good. The tragic parts would touch the heart while the parts about pa.s.sions and fervor would cause an upsurge in emotions.

Words and sentences unfolded before her, and as they did, decades and decades pa.s.sed by.

Until his name appeared.

It was simple white paper with typeset words and little more than a dozen lines of text. She however, fixed her eyes on them for a full seven or eight minutes, not daring to read any further.

Her heart pounded against her chest with a heavy, nervous thumping that could be heard in her ears.

It was not that she had never searched for information on those memories that seemed as if they had come from a half-dreamlike, half-awake state, but most of what she had found only mentioned him in pa.s.sing with a few sentences. As a traitor of his country, no one would choose to write books or essays about him. His life of magnificence and accomplishments had not left any presence in the several thousand years of recorded history.

She leaned back against the seat. After a long time, she finally, word by word, phrase by phrase, finished reading this section of unofficial history.

Writers and historians from later generations were, for the most part, more ruthless with their pen.

The author described him as a self-seeking, fawning official who had held control of an army at a young age and whose power was second to none in the imperial court. The words were firm and written like absolutes, as if what he had written were the true historical facts. s.h.i.+ Yi was silent for a moment. Then, she tore out that page, ripped it up into tiny pieces, and placed them into her pant pocket.

She had lost her desire to read.

As she set the book down beside her hand, she noticed the jacket he had taken off before he left the car. Her hand unconsciously stretched out and stroked it, her finger following the curve of the sleeve’s edge to gently draw out a circle. This simple action already caused her cheeks to burn, as if she had touched his wrist.

He once “never forsook the world,” but in the end, everything had been buried in time.

And now, what he desired to do today would perhaps, several hundred or several thousand years later, not even have a record of it.

His aspirations, his compa.s.sion, his every action and deed –– how many people truly understood these?

Her mind felt rather jumbled, and she forced herself to close her eyes to rest and allow herself to calm down.

In that moment when her eyelids closed and darkness descended with them, the piercing sound of gunshots suddenly rang out in violent succession. s.h.i.+ Yi’s eyes flew open and she stared disbelievingly out the window where she saw four people, who had not bothered at all to conceal their faces. Their arms were stretched forward and firing. Their target was not in her direction, but the loud crack of gunfire had shattered windows and the accompanying noise echoing through the body of the car was entirely real.

“Miss s.h.i.+ Yi.” Behind her, Uncle Lin had already swiftly yanked open the car door. “Do not move. Remain within the car.”

She was unable to react. Four vehicles had already screeched to a halt in front of the car she was in, blocking her view.

The people who stepped out one after another all stood there silently, forming a protective s.h.i.+eld in front of s.h.i.+ Yi’s vehicle. The firing gunshots and running and screaming people in the distance all seemed disa.s.sociated from where she was.

Gunfire still sounded, but she no longer could see the scene.

Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and she forceful clutched his jacket that was beside her.

She was completely incapable of thinking. She could only remember Uncle Lin’s words: do not move.

Soon, the gunshots died out.

The people and the cars protecting her, however, still did not move. She did not dare even to blink. Even though she could not see anything, she still stared fixedly in that direction where she witnessed that scene. She told herself slowly, s.h.i.+ Yi, you need to stay calm, stay calm…

All of a sudden, the car door was pulled open.

She immediately clutched his jacket to her chest, staring in terror at the door.

“s.h.i.+ Yi.”

Zhousheng Chen was calling her.

She wanted to answer. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.

“s.h.i.+ Yi.” He called her again in a soft voice as he sat into the car. “It’s nothing. It’s nothing at all. Don’t be scared. There is absolutely no danger at all.” This was the first time he had ever lost all form of order or logical flow when speaking, and he just chose things to say that would most comfort her. Sentence after sentence, he told her that she was not in any danger.

In a deliberately gentle voice, he consoled her.

Zhousheng Chen covered her hand with his own as he took his jacket from her. Then, he clasped both of her hands in his palms. “Say something to me, s.h.i.+ Yi. Say my name.”

“Zhousheng Chen…” She listened to him and finally said her first words.

“Keep saying my name.”

“Zhousheng Chen…”