Chapter 10.2 (2/2)

Zhousheng Chen talked with her for a long time until gradually, the sounds disappeared. s.h.i.+ Yi slept until past nine o’clock, when she was awakened by Hong Xiaoyu to go to breakfast together. When she asked Hong Xiaoyu whether she had heard any strange noises the previous night, Hong Xiaoyu replied with surprise that she had not and also turned to look at Du Feng, who was beside her, asking him if he had heard anything.

Du Feng merely picked up some food with his chopsticks and shook his head.

Seeing their responses, s.h.i.+ Yi felt even more fearful after the fact, and before the afternoon’s final rounds, she quietly told Mei Lin that she wanted to change rooms. Gnawing on her pen cap, Mei Lin laughed gleefully, “Even if I change it for you, you’re still going to be scared. How about these next two days, you come stay in the same room as me?” s.h.i.+ Yi, of course, gladly accepted the offer.

Mei Lin asked her why she had not called her when she was up in the middle of the night from fear of ghosts. s.h.i.+ Yi thought about that telephone call that had accompanied her the whole time until the sky had started to brighten with the light of dawn, and a veiled little smile touched her lips. Her head was slightly lowered, and even Mei Lin, who was the same gender as her, was unable to take her eyes off of her because of this smile. She murmured to herself, “I’m willing to bet that you can make a man have the urge to give up everything for you.”

s.h.i.+ Yi reached over and gave her a nudge, signaling to her that the compet.i.tion was beginning.

The two of them then sat up in a proper manner and watched the performance of the finalists.

Zhousheng Chen’s call promptly arrived at noon, and he asked her what her arrangements were for the night. Hearing that she was going to be staying in the same room as Mei Lin, he felt rea.s.sured. Some time past three o’clock, when the compet.i.tion’s program had been completed for the day, she suddenly received a phone call – – a very unexpected phone call.

It was Zhousheng Ren.

She recalled, the way this adopted brother of Zhousheng Chen had treated her could be considered very friendly and he had been even more affection to her than Zhousheng Chen’s actual brother by blood, Zhou Wenchuan. The boy had told her on the phone that he happened to be free these next several days and wanted to spend some time with her, his future sister-in-law. Although s.h.i.+ Yi found this rather peculiar, she did not turn down his request.

In regards to this form of address where he called her “future sister-in-law,” she had mentally prepared herself very early on.

So long as Zhousheng Chen’s mother did not recognize this marriage, even Uncle Lin, who was always by Zhousheng Chen’s side, would have to continue addressing her as “Miss s.h.i.+ Yi.” Perhaps this was one of the rules in that large family clan. She and Zhousheng Chen cleary lived in present day society and were legally recognized as husband and wife, but within that family, it was not acknowledged.

Regarding this, when s.h.i.+ Yi thought about it, she would sometimes feel aggrieved.

However, she would only indulge briefly in this mood and then she would let it die out. To her, there was nothing more important than Zhousheng Chen. From the moment he asked her to marry him, she had set herself on being with him for the rest of this life.

The status and recognition by others were not important.

Zhousheng Ren arrived around dinnertime. Apart from two young girls, the people accompanying him were all men. Unlike the time they had met in Zhenjiang, this time he was out on personal business, and he was much more casual, wearing simply a pair of light blue jeans and a white, short-sleeved t-s.h.i.+rt. He looked like an ordinary boy who had just graduated from middle school.

s.h.i.+ YI was beside a little stone bridge that was relatively close to the entrance of this scenic area and was standing in a shady area as she waited for him.

She had not expected that he would be striding in in such a conspicuous manner. Walking right up to s.h.i.+ Yi, the corner of his lips turned upward in a smile as he addressed her as “Big Sister s.h.i.+ Yi.”

“You walked straight in?” She found this somewhat unusual.

After all, this scenic area was not open to the public yet and was only allowing in those, like her, who were part of this contest as well as the media.

Zhousheng Ren nodded. “Mother had worried that there might be some problems, so she purposely arranged for people to prepare the way for me.”

He said this with all seriousness and seemed rather like a shadow of Zhousheng Chen.

s.h.i.+ Yi laughed, “When you talk to me like that, it makes me think I’m looking at your big brother.” Reaching out one of her hands, she gently touched the boy’s forehead. “You’re sweating? Are you really hot?”

The boy was growing fast. He was nearly as tall as her.

Perhaps because none of girls of the same generation in the family would dare do that to him, he seemed to be dazed for a short moment, but very quickly, he smiled and nodded.

She had seen Xiao Ren a few times prior and knew that he did not enjoy speaking, so she did not say much either.

Sure enough, the Zhou family had made preparations. The person managing this scenic area had beforehand readied the place that Xiao Ren and his entourage would be staying in. When s.h.i.+ Yi went with him to his loft suite, the two girls had already speedily organized everything and had even changed out the entire tea set.

Xiao Ren seemed to not have a habit of drinking tea. After the two young girls had left the room, he pulled out two cans of cola from the small refrigerator within the room, opened them up, and poured s.h.i.+ Yi one gla.s.s. “I heard the people of the Mei family mention that Big Sister s.h.i.+ Yi is very skilled at making tea?”

s.h.i.+ Yi took the gla.s.s from him. “I’m not bad at it, I guess. It’s just a little hobby of mine.”

“Big sister, you seem like… someone who was born to marry into our family.”

“You think so?” s.h.i.+ Yi laughed.

“You think not?” Xiao Ren lay on his back on the wicker chair and examined s.h.i.+ Yi with a serious expression.

She knew Xiao Ren was referring to her abilities in the traditional arts of qin, chess, calligraphy and painting as well as her love for cla.s.sical literature. “Maybe it’s because I have a preference for cla.s.sical literature…”

Shaking his head, Xiao Ren interrupted her, “It’s not simply that. I heard about what happened to you guys in Germany… Big Sister, were you scared? If you see gun fights, bleeding, people dying, and… many other extremely ruthless things, would you be scared?”

The boy’s voice was very clear and resonant, yet he was asking such questions.

For a moment, s.h.i.+ Yi could not respond. As she thought again about what had happened in Germany, her heart still quivered in fear. “Yes, I would.”

Zhousheng Ren held the drink gla.s.s in his hand, continuing to observe her.

His eyes possessed a calm that a fourteen-year-old teenager should not have.

After some time, his lips pressed together and turned upward in a smile, and he comforted s.h.i.+ Yi, “Those things I just said were only to scare you, Big Sister.”

李 [李白] “Li Bai.” Li Bai is sometimes heralded as the greatest Chinese poet of all time. He was born in the Tang dynasty and is known as the “Immortal Poet.”

杜 [杜甫] “Du Fu.” A well-known poet of the Tang dynasty and also a friend of Li Bai. He is also known as one of the greatest Chinese poets.

Referring to the pale skin tone of the maidens, which was viewed as a beautiful trait.

倾国倾城 “qing guo qing cheng.” Yet another note on this idiom. My faithful readers should be very familiar with this idiom, which usually describes such beauty that it brings the downfall/ruin of a country or a city. More literally, Mei Lin has said, s.h.i.+ Yi’s beauty is so great that she is willing to bet someone would even have the urge to “bring the ruin of his country and city” for her. I tie this back to the very end of chapter 9.3, when Zhousheng Chen said that prior to meeting s.h.i.+ Yi s.h.i.+ Yi, he had not believed that “the beauty trap” could work. After knowing her, though he understood that someone could fall for a woman so much that he was willing to give up everything, to even bring about the ruin of his country and city, for that woman.

Additional Comments:

There was an interesting discussion going on in the comments a few posts back. Does s.h.i.+ Yi truly love present day Zhousheng Chen or is she merely transferring her love for Xiao Nanchen prince over to him? The request for him to recite the tea names for her reminded me of the discussion. If you guys read through comments, you might have read my terribly long reply on that topic, but I’d like to leave some of my thoughts down here as well (you can read more of it in the comments in chapter 9.1).

Xiao Nanchen Prince provided for Eleven the familial love that she rarely had, a sense of warmth and comfort. However, while I’m sure those feelings played into her love for him, I am also convinced that the greatest reason she loved him was because of the man she knew him to be, the man who placed the greater good of the people above everything else — the beautiful bones that were widely sung about during his time.

s.h.i.+ Yi’s initial attraction to present day Zhousheng Chen is strictly because he is the reincarnation of the man she had once loved. Did she love this Zhousheng Chen? She loved the him that he reminded her of, but probably not the man in the airport or the scientist in his lab coat or even the man behind the voice on the telephone asking her to be his fiancee. But as she got to know him, she realized that the core of who this man is, his character, morals and values  — his beautiful bones — has not changed. Just as those beautiful bones were a part of Xiao Nanchen Prince, so are they a part of Zhousheng Chen in this life. She is not transferring her love. He is not a subst.i.tute, someone similar doing things that reminds her of the man she loved. He *is* the man she has always loved, his appearance changed, his personality maybe a little different, his interests also different, but the character, morals, and values — the beautiful bones — never changed.

And so, I do not consider her request to him to recite the tea names as trying to create a shadow of the past, to transfer any feelings. She is asking this man to do what he had once done for her, and although he doesn’t remember it, he still is able to give her the *same* feelings, not a shadow, that he had once given her. Those feelings were from a time that may not have been simpler but perhaps, more innocent. Why do we feel like s.h.i.+ Yi views that past as something so beautiful, that sometimes, you believe she wishes she could just go back there? A time when she had not learned of or experienced treachery, deceit, separation, loneliness and searching. A time when her heart was still whole and had not been hurt by the cruelties of people and life. Just as someone who married her university sweetheart and is still with him now but still reminisces about and sometimes wishes they could go back to their schooldays romance period, not because she does not treasure the times they have now together but because it was more innocent. To s.h.i.+ Yi, back then, it was just him and her, and although they were only as teacher and disciple, the feelings she had felt were still deep, beautiful, and pure to her and will forever be something she treasures, especially because they had been taken away so abruptly from her.

Of course, these are merely my thoughts, and I would love to hear other interpretations.

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