Chapter 7.2: Arm’s Length

Chapter 7.2: Arm’s Length

(translated by peanuts and edited by lidge)

When he was seeing client, he did not bring his mobile phone along so there were two missed calls. One of the call was from another client. Yi Chen called back immediately, talked for a few minutes and hung up. There was another call…… he pressed the green call button.

The other side immediately answered the call. “Yi Chen.”

“What is the matter?” His voice was a bit cold.

“Nothing.” The other side seemed to be discouraged by his indifference, paused before saying, “Yi Chen, I cannot find my keys.”

0.31: Mo Sheng had a bag on her shoulder and waited for him across the road. She wore a sweater with a big collar and her head was down, counting the grids on the ground.

The traffic light was red so he halted his footsteps and looked at her from a distance.

There were a lot of things that did not change. She still liked to wear sweaters. She was already about twenty six or twenty seven years old but still dressed like a student. When waiting for people, she still liked to count the number of grids on the ground.

At that time, he always made her wait.

Once, she waited for a long time and lost her temper at him: “I have already counted to nine hundred and ninety-nine, now you only come! Next time, if I count to a thousand, I will no longer bother about you!”

As a result, once again, he was asked to go to a meeting at the last minute. After the lengthy meeting finally finished, he rushed there. Unexpectedly, she was still there. This time, she waited until she no longer had any temper. She merely looked at him full of grievance and said: “Yi Chen, I have counted many nine hundred and ninety-nines.”

In these seven years, how many times had he counted to nine hundred and ninety-nine?

It was not that he never thought about giving up, but he just could not make himself count to a thousand.

1.38: He hurriedly walked along the sidewalk and did not know when a chubby foreigner walked up to Mo Sheng, beaming and talking about something to her. Yi Chen slowed down his footsteps, slowly approached them and vaguely heard that foreigner said: “……. Your spoken English is perfect.”

“Thanks, I’ve been living in the US for seven years.”

She spoke very fluent English easily without much thinking, like it was her native language. Yi Chen unconsciously clenched his hand in his pocket.

Coincidentally, when she turned her head, she saw him and smiled at him. Then, she spoke to the foreigner: “My husband is coming. Maybe he knows how to go there.”

She asked him: “Yi Chen, do you know how to get to XX road?”

He nodded and told the foreigner directly. That chubby foreigner kept thanking him before walking away.

Now, only the two of them remained so suddenly Mo Sheng felt hesitant as she did not know what to say to him. Hence, it was Yi Chen who spoke up: “Where are your keys?”

“Uh …… I probably lost them.” She lowered her head uneasily and avoided looking into his eyes, “or …… I did not bring them with me this morning.”

Yi Chen’s sharp eyes looked at her unnatural expression, and he did now know what kind of feeling was slowly rising in his heart.

If he did not notice her guilty conscience, he was really wasted as a lawyer. Miss Zhao, if you committed any crime later, it would be best for you to remain silent or you would certainly reveal the whole truth in a few words.

“Come on.” Suddenly, he took a step forward and walked in front, trying to suppress the secret happiness in his heart. She had called him “my husband” to the foreigner.

“Where are we going?” Mo Sheng chased him from behind and asked. That direction was not the way back to his home, ah.

“To eat.”

To eat? Mo Sheng had to run to catch up with his fast paces: ” …… Can we go home to eat? There is still time so we can go to the supermarket to buy groceries first.”

When did she learn how to cook? And for whom?

Yi Chen soured, and his voice suddenly became colder by ten degrees: “No need.”

Okay, no need, but …… could you not walk so fast?

3.08: “Yi Chen, please slow down.” Mo Sheng said that slightly out of breath, and her hand naturally pulled his sleeve. She did not realize that such action was very intimate.

Suddenly, Yi Chen’s heart beat rapidly. When he lowered his head, he saw her fair fingers sinking into his iron-gray suit sleeve.

He did not say anything but slowed down.

They turned right and left and finally entered a very ordinary small restaurant in a small alley. Mo Sheng curiously looked around the small shop but could not see anything special. Anyhow, often the more unremarkable a place, the more likely there would be delicious food. Yi Chen brought her all the way here so it must certainly be pretty good.

The boss came and greeted them warmly: “Mr. He, long time you did not come.”

Mo Sheng was very surprised that he spoke Y City dialect.

“Quite busy lately.” Yi Chen replied back in the same dialect.

The boss looked curiously at Mo Sheng: “Mr. He, is this young lady your girlfriend? This is the first time I’ve seen you bring your girlfriend along, very beautiful oh.”

Yi Chen smiled: “This is my wife.”

“Wife? Mr. He is married? ”

The boss shouted and exclaimed twice, then turned to Mo Sheng and said: “Mrs. He, you are so fortunate to marry a person like Mr. He. Mrs. He, where do you come from? ”

“I am also from Y City.” Mo Sheng could understand but could not speak the dialect because her mother came from another city so the family spoke Mandarin at home.

While chatting, the boss handed out the menu. Yi Chen motioned Mo Sheng to order the dishes so she flipped through the menu. She noticed that the shop’s signature dishes included bamboo shoots such as bamboo shoots chicken, fresh bamboo shoots shredded pork, fresh bamboo shoots fried sauerkraut …… This was not surprising because Y city produces bamboo shoots, and it was the season now.

She loved to eat bamboo shoots but …… better not order them.

After she ticked the dishes on the list, she handed it to the boss. He looked at it and complained surprisingly: “Mrs. He, since you are also from Y City, why don’t you eat bamboo shoots?”

Would not eating bamboo shoots be very strange? Yi Chen did not eat them. Previously, when they had meals together, he always said the bamboo shoots had a strange taste so no matter how she tried to trick him, he always refused to eat even one bite.

” …… Mr. He orders them every time he comes here.”

When the dishes were served, Yi Chen’s chopsticks never touched the bamboo shoots.

Mo Sheng asked: “Why aren’t you eating? The boss said …..” Suddenly, she could not continue.

Why would every time he came, he also ordered them, ah?

Yi Chen kept quiet, then a long time later, he said briefly: “Difficult to decline magnificent hospitality.”

Coincidentally, she was chewing a piece of bamboo shoot in her mouth, but she could no longer taste the freshness and sweetness. After she swallowed it, like Yi Chen said, it had a strange taste.

She saw the boss speaking in Y City dialect and warmly greeting the guests who just came in. He bragged in a loud voice how delicious the shop’s signature dishes were.

Really.

5.38: Difficult to decline magnificent hospitality.

“Aren’t you going home?” They walked out the small restaurant. Mo Sheng, who was holding the keys Yi Chen gave her, asked hesitantly.

“I am going back to the law firm because I still need to deal with some matters.” Yi Chen said dismissively.

“Oh.” Mo Sheng clutched the keys tightly in her hand, “Then what time are you coming back?”

Yi Chen looked at her, his eyes gleaming with strange light: “You want to wait for me?”

“…… Yes.” Mo Sheng nodded, then explained why, “Your keys are with me.”

“There is a set of spare keys in the office so you do not need to wait for me.” He averted his eyes from her, not clear if it was because he was disappointed or because of something else. His tone was even colder and sounded a bit mocking, “I’m also not used to people waiting for me.”

The house was cold, when leaving, when returning.

6.19: It was eleven o‘clock again.

After opening the door, Yi Chen habitually pressed on the switch button on the wall, but when he was about to press it, he stopped.

The lights were on.

He dropped his hand, looked around the house and noticed the TV was still on, but nobody was watching.

When he walked over to turn off the TV, he walked pass the sofa and glanced at the person curled up asleep there. Suddenly, he stopped.

Yi Chen stared at that sleeping face because he really wanted to shake her awake and scold her.

Such a cold day, and she slept on the sofa. Did she have a brain?

Obviously, he was annoyed and mad, but he still bent down and carefully picked her up from the sofa.

Her soft body filled the emptiness of his embrace. Her warm and light breathing fell on his ice-cold suit.

All these years, he never dared to dream of such a day, where she could once again be within reach. When he held out his hand, when he lowered his head, Mo Sheng completely belonged to him.

He lowered his head slightly so his cheek rubbed her soft cheek. She slept outside for so long, yet the cheek was still warm.

Suddenly, Mo Sheng, who was in his embrace, moved to escape his touch. Yi Chen held his breath, had she waken up?

Actually she found a more comfortable position by burying her head in his arm. She was sleeping even more deeply, completely unaware that someone’s heart was fluttering wildly because of her very small movements.

She …… Ai, Yi Chen sighed in his heart. He could no longer control that more and more good mood.

He opened the bedroom door and put her on the bed. She was wearing a buttoned up wool sweater outside her nightgown. Yi Chen hesitated for a while but nevertheless helped her take it off. One by one, the buttons were undone, making his breathing a little more difficult.

He gently held her up and slipped the sweater off her arms. Even though she was wearing a nightgown, he could still feel the soft skin on her back, making him unable to control his rapid heartbeat.

Yi Chen pulled the quilt to help her to cover properly, quickly got up and walked out.

If he stayed any longer, he could not guarantee he would not use a certain method to wake her up.

7.57: After Yi Chen washed in the bathroom, he headed to the guest room. When he walked pass the master bedroom, he stopped in his track. Suddenly, he remembered something so he opened the door and looked at the direction of the bed.

Sure enough!

Only half of the quilt was on her body, whereas the other half was dangling on the ground and one of her foot openly exposed.

Merely more than ten minutes, she was able to sleep in such a way. Apparently, when she mentioned before that her sleeping posture was just “a little poor,” it was truly an understatement.

He knew her sleeping posture was poor due to the only winter they spent together. Mo Sheng repeatedly caught a cold. In two months time, she actually caught a cold five times. When he asked her the reason, initially she refused to say. Afterwards, she said in embarrassment: “My sleeping posture at night is a little poor, just a little poor only as I always kick away the quilt. When my father came home late, he would cover me back with the quilt, but there is no one here to do that. I always kick away the quilt in the middle of the night so you can’t blame me for catching a cold.” This sounded like the justification for catching a cold and through no fault of her own.

It now appeared that her sleeping posture was more than a little poor.

Yi Chen picked up the half hanging quilt at the bottom of the bed and helped her to cover back properly again. The moment he pulled away his hand, she turned over, and the quilt fell on the other side of the bed.

What strange sleeping habit!

Yi Chen held out his hand to pull the quilt and once again covered her tightly. He stared angrily at Mo Sheng, who was sleeping soundly.

If she dared to kick the quilt one more time, he did not mind spending the whole night to correct her ‘sleeping posture’.

What a pity, Mo Sheng continued to sleep obediently and did not even move an inch. In the end, she was afraid of the cold so she even buried deeper into the quilt.

At this time, even though Mo Sheng was sleeping, she also knew to be sensible to adapt to circumstances.

9.40: What was the time? Day or night? How come she was sleeping on the bed?

She sat up on the bed, but she was not really awake yet. Mo Sheng’s sleepy eyes looked at the floor, but she could not find her slippers.

Eh, where have they gone?

Yi Chen came out from the kitchen to see Mo Sheng in her nightgown hopping around in the living room. He couldn’t help but frowned: “What are you doing?”

“My slippers ……” She could see them near the sofa. Just one jump, and she successfully landed on the slippers.

After she put on her slippers, she looked up and saw Yi Chen staring at her with disapproval in his eyes.

“Uh, I was looking for my slippers ……” She felt guilty for no reason.

“Go and change your clothes.” He said stiffly and turned around.

Mo Sheng blushed when she noticed that she was still wearing her nightgown. She had forgotten, there was another person in this house……

When she came out after changing her clothes, Yi Chen was already eating his breakfast. Mo Sheng hesitated for a moment, then sat down next to him. She looked at the congee and some small side dishes on the table, the breakfast she would be having together with Yi Chen ……

10.44: Seeing that she did not touch the breakfast, Yi Chen raised his eyes: “Not used to having Chinese breakfast?”

“Ah? No.” When she recovered her concentration after being lost in thought, she quickly bowed her head and drank a mouthful of congee. Oh, it was actually pretty good.

“Yi Chen …… ”

Yi Chen seemed to know what she wanted to ask so without lifting his eyes, he said in a flat tone: “I bought the congee nearby.”

” …… It tastes pretty good.”

“Okay la.” Yi Chen replied absentmindedly.

Mo Sheng had nothing more to say so she just drank her congee. Then, her eyes caught a glimpse of some files on the coffee table.

“Do you also need to go to the law firm today?”

“Yes.”

“Very busy?”

“Okay.” In fact, very busy because someone caused his feelings to be in turmoil recently so he did not get much work done.

“Oh.”

At last, her low intonation caught his attention. Seeing the way she was drinking the congee, her hair almost going to droop into it.

They seemed to be newly married.

“How good is your English?” With his eyes widened, Yi Chen casually asked.

English? Why did he suddenly ask this?

“Okay ah, but …… I did not pass test four.” Before she went to USA, she took test four for the first time. Her glorious achievement — fifty-nine.

She had the nerves to mention it.

“Come with me.” Yi Chen said.

“Uh?” Mo Sheng raised her head and looked at him in surprise, “Go where?”

“To the law firm to help me translate some information.”