Chapter 36 (2/2)

“No, it wasn’t like it He just didn’t have strength and had to lie down all day” René avoided the subject and said, “But Annie, why didn’t you write it in English? Those emails really put my Chinese to the test! Do you kno hard it was for a foreigner likeones and there were all streale punctuation mark I didn’t even knohere to pause Then, I could only force et scolded by Li Chuan saying that your Chinese definitely didn’t have mistakes in it, why couldn’t he make sense of it…”

Puah…I didn’t knohether to laugh or cry, “I didn’t tell you to read it! And it wasn’t written for you!”

René typed out a suffering expression, “Annie, my PhD thesis was on ‘Lu Ban Classics’ (Father of Chinese carpentry) I can read and understand classical Chinese I can also read traditional Chinese characters, but I could not read nor understand conversational writing”

I was just drinking tea when he said this, I went “puah” and my screen was covered in water,

“No way? Nor is easier than classical Chinese”

René, “That’s you Chinese people You can believe lish in syntax structure In short, you wrote in conversational speech and used simplified I can only read classical Chinese in traditional So I had to keep on looking things up in the dictionary Every tie the simplified to traditional, and then look up the words I didn’t know in the dictionary I had to figure out the pinyin (Chinese romanization) and then read it aloud to Alex Alex still always co! Sometimes, neither of us understood the word you used and the dictionary didn’t have it either Alex ordered er dictionary So pitiful I had to even go out in the hail! Soo wrong and it would becoain Li Chuan would order et so that period too I put work into you guys’ romance too You must thank me”

I suspected I had read too many Yaoi (Boys’ Love) novels Soay relationshi+p), and I couldn’t help but also want to bully hiht, I’d thank you I’s up in the dictionary

René didn’t take offense, “But you two are quite a couple So linked at the heart! Every time Alex was seriously ill, your elish) sunny Alex got through those years depending on reading your euys are still a perfect match One refused to reply no matter what One continued to write no matter what Both of you continued this for three years Afterwards I ruined it Since then, Li Chuan has scolded me to death”

I suddenly understood, “You sent that card!”

René typed an ashamed expression, “I sent it on impulse I told Alex after I had send it Alex said, it’s over You definitely wouldn’t write another letter I still argued with him I firmly didn’t believe it Annie, tell otten accusto for your letters There was at least teek When your father was about to pass away, every letter was extreer wrote any more Alex lost over 20lbs that month He nearly died Of course, I can’t blame you, you didn’t know the situation However, since you had decided not to write anyht to write an eo? You really were a wind that caused a ripple in his heart (line fro in the hospital due to his ski injuries But regardless of what the doctor said, he said he had to go to China no matter what How ain!”

René had been typing in English the whole tilish, a line of Chinese appeared It was actually even fro poem That really startled me

I typed really quickly, “Hey! They el! René what illness does Li Chuan really have?!!! For God’s sake, tell me!”

René, “I can’t This is the le me to death”

I didn’t want to force René too ht cutup about it Without delay, I took the conversation topic to a further place, “Then René, have you been taking care of Li Chuan since he has been sick? Did Li Chuan and you know each other froo?”

René said, “Uh-huh, Alex and I were college classmates We were even in the same dorot sick, I was teaching at the university It was quite relaxing Plus, Leo simply had too much work and too little time It could only be me It can’t really be said that I took care of him There were nurses by his side I only went to chat with him and read him emails”

I asked, “Then, has Alex been sick for a long tiain, “Uh-huh, stop trying to get things out of ood friend like René I quickly thanked hi Li Chuan read the emails I knoasn’t easily Just frolish, I kno hard it was on you”

René typed a shy smile, “Don’t mention it Back then, if it wasn’t for Leo, I wouldn’t have learned Chinese either Now look at n styles have become eastern styles Leo knows Chinese himself, yet he has abandoned his ancestor’s culture tofor this!…That’s right, yourained on Leo is a tyrant, very (English) bossy Now that Li Chuan’s sick, Leo has final say on everything to do with the wang falish) bossy now

How could that be? My iht that he was ether, Ji Chuan was very considerate of Li Chuan Even though they quarreled soood intentions

I quickly asked, “René, then tell ether with Li Chuan in the future I’ain!”

René was very happy this tiirl! Oh…don’t let hiet wounds that will bleed Don’t let him fall Don’t let hio where there are crowds HeHe can’t used a razor to shave…”

It was a huge paragraph of instructions Looks like the time René spent with Li Chuan was really not short He actually knew such lish) copy+paste his words into a docus? Is there anything to be wary of?”

René said on that end, “I think…in order to consuh vitamins, he needs to eat at least two types of fruit and three types of vegetables a day He needs to not eat too much salt or oil He needs to eat smaller but more frequent meals He can eat a bit of lean meat and fish Also, he should eat a lot of fresh pineapples…Actually, you don’t need to worry about all this Alex has his own chef whoto the prescription fro is that he absolutely must not touch alcohol Not even a drop”

I unexpectedly make a joke, “Wow, he’s indeed the pa on him”