Chapter 6 (2/2)

Shen Ji's uncle was no longer young He seeled and li He escorted the

'Just been back froo back in noof you all these days Now that you're back, everything should be fine'

Yan Zhuo pressed his lips, feeling slightly uncomfortable He stalled for a bit, about half a step behind theet lost'

The news of Shen Ji's arrival brought all fa or studying away froot there His aunt recooked the e of salutations with all present, Yan Zhuo glanced at Shen Ji Although there were only two of the around the table The air was so the entire afternoon was finally unleashed, raindrops wildly splashi+ng

So close by shut the door and muffled the rain outside 'The rooranny heard that you're co back and dried all the blankets while it was sunny these past few days'

Yan Zhuo took another look at Shen Ji, as having his dinner with a kind of unrushed air Even after this short a time, Yan Zhuo, as an outsider, could smell some bizarreness Those ere present seemed somewhat cold towards Shen Ji, and only his uncle's fa around for his arrival Shen Ji talked to them a bit more, too

Grandh the bedroo her, and took Yan Zhuo to his roo his suitcase The old house in Shen Ji's hoe was of two reen moss climbed up the bricks The tiles had the same colour as the sky

Yan Zhuo looked around, saw a hut in the backyard, and asked, 'What's that…'

Shen Ji opened the door to let him in, 'Uncle's family live there' Yan Zhuo mumbled in reply Back at the dinner table, everyone else left as soon as Shen Ji finished, while his uncle and aunt did all the cleaning up Sorabs but not quite there Soon, however, Yan Zhuo's attention was diverted to somewhere else

Leaving his suitcase behind the door, he started looking around It was not a big room, croith only a bed and a bookshelf The bookshelf was only half the height of the wall, probably designated for teenagers Yan Zhuo walked over and saw a framed photo on top of the shelf The face of Shen Ji in it was still saturated with the lushness of adolescence, although not without that usual nonchalant coldness 'Is this your room when you were a kid?' Asked Yan Zhuo with excitement

The photo was taken when he was in middle school, and it had been on that shelf for a decade Every year, when he returned for the New Year, the frarew up in the village, held closest to the heart by the elders out of all the young people Not responding to Yan Zhuo, Shen Ji walked over to the bed and lifted the blanket As uncle said, it sht, both the blanket and the sheet were new

Shen Ji glanced back and saw Yan Zhuo bending down, browsing the books on the shelf There was a knock on the door 'It's raining hard' Said his uncle, standing outside as Shen Ji opened the door, 'Your aunt's boiling so to bed'

So Shen Ji followed hi up to help, was firain to the bookshelf On the left of the second roas a copy of Six Chapters of A Floating Life by Shen Fu He only recalled that 'The Joy of Childhood', which he learned at school, was from this book There was a piece of paper inserted as bookh it Yan Zhuo put the book down and looked at the back of the paper, where he saw a small, handwritten quote—

'At thatdear to behold as I lift rasp in my empty hands’

Small noises were heard before the door was opened His heart leaped up as he slipped that piece of bookmark into the pocket When Shen Ji walked in, the book was back to where it was Yan Zhuo sat on the bed looking up at hiuilt It felt like there was a cut bleeding on the inside, slit by those words he just read

Shen Ji prepared the bath with hot water and dried a towel 'Come over here,' he looked back as Yan Zhuo's eyes met his, 'and clean yourself'

Author's Note:

Translator’s Note:

-'At thatdear to behold as I liftthat could hold together o beyondLife

↑That’s the translation I attempted It took me a while to look up an official, published version of it, and I did find it, but I’ement, so it’s probably better not to take the risk but try it myself Very sorry about the delay as there really should be no excuse for it