CH 9

Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, she had a nightmare and became afraid again.

The phone at the bedside rang and rang, the time frozen at 1:05. In her dream, she looked at it with cold eyes, indifferent.

The scene shifted back to her childhood.

When she was a small child, this man took her away from her mother’s wedding. He held the steering wheel with one hand and tried to keep her from opening the door and jumping out with the other as the car sped through a thicket of reeds. Finally, the car crashed into the reeds and he carried her out of the car. His eyes were red as he asked: ‘I’m your father, don’t you remember me?’

Only then did she realize that her father was a person who often appeared on television.

He was also a person her mother didn’t want to mention.

His world was glamorous and dazzling, but her mother had only herself. Even their marriage was for the purpose of finding a “qualified father” for her. So when this person appeared again and again, at the corner of the school gate, in the shadows below the apartment, and even on the plane when she went abroad for a competition, her instinct was to refuse and keep her distance.

Suddenly she found herself in another scene.

There was a man crawling on the ground, struggling in the darkness. Behind him, there were scenes of blood and the cries of crows. He crawled inch by inch, stretching out his hand but never able to reach it. He opened his mouth, silent but audible, and repeated over and over: ‘Why didn’t you answer? Why didn’t you save me?’

Why did you do this to me? Why did you watch me die?

It was like an accusation, but also like a curse, binding her with a thousand layers of regret and reluctance. It suffocated her and dragged her to hell.

“I’m sorry, I… didn’t know…”

“Ye Zhen, wake up, don’t cry, it’s okay. It’s okay Ye Zhen, I’m here.”

Ye Zhen suddenly opened her eyes, grabbed her chest and gasped for air. Her throat felt sore and painful, as if someone was strangling her, making it impossible for her to even retch.

“Are you feeling unwell? Here, drink some water.” Someone helped her to sit up and handed her a glass of warm water. Ye Zhen instinctively grabbed the person’s hand and slowly glanced over, realizing after a moment that it was Rongcheng Jue.

“Mint water,” he said thoughtfully, “drink some. It won’t hurt your throat.”

Ye Zhen took the water and drank it in small sips. Rongcheng Jue saw that she was fine and breathed a sigh of relief. He said ruefully, “Did you have a nightmare because of what happened during the day? I’m sorry, it’s all my fault for being too arrogant. I will be more careful next time.”

Ye Zhen shook her head, indicating that it had nothing to do with him.

Rongcheng Jue thought that Ye Zhen didn’t want to talk to him anymore. He slumped his shoulders and looked at her for a while. Suddenly, he asked earnestly, “Do you think that I am a very casual and sticky person, just like those in president novels, for no reason?

Um, can she say that it’s true to some extent?

As if he understood the look in Ye Zhen’s eyes, Rongcheng Jue said indignantly, “I’m not like that at all. I’ve said before that I hate those things, how could I be like that? It’s clearly because—”

Hmm? Ye Zhen raised her eyebrows and looked at him.

“—Because Professor Lin entrusted me with looking after you!”

“…..”

Rongcheng Jue continued seriously, “My father is a good friend of your mentor, Professor Lin. So we can be considered senior brothers and sisters. Since you came to Rongcheng to study, of course I should take care of you as a senior.”

Senior and junior siblings? Suddenly, Ye Zhen understood what Rongcheng Jue was trying to hide.

Rongcheng Jue’s father and Professor Lin are indeed good friends, and Ye Zhen knew about it six or seven years ago. The reason was that Professor Lin was once asked by Rong Chengyu’s father to take care of a student who was not on the staff and help him with maths.

It was quite amusing that Professor Lin, who is one of the world’s leading mathematicians, was asked to help a student with maths. What was even more amusing was that when he realized that the student couldn’t keep up with his level of teaching, he promptly dumped him on Ye Zhen, who had just joined the maths department, and asked her to give him some basic remedial courses online.

This student was none other than Rongcheng Jue.

At that time, Rongcheng Jue had just returned from studying at a top university in the UK, but his maths skills were at most at the middle school level. Ye Zhen, as a master of mathematics, was also overqualified for the job. But fortunately, this student was very polite and always called her “jie” (sister) online, which made up for Ye Zhen’s discomfort about being a young student – she was only sixteen or seventeen years old at the time and, although she was pursuing a master’s degree, no one at Hua University was willing to call her jie.

Just for the sake of this jie, Ye Zhen taught him with extra care.

However, since she and Rongcheng Jue had never met in person, she had always assumed that Rongcheng Jue didn’t know who she was. She didn’t come to Rongcheng company for fame or fortune, so of course she didn’t need to hug his thigh, so she pretended not to know him.

Unexpectedly, it turns out that Rongcheng Jue knew about it.

It seems that he is still holding on to this learning experience.

But she didn’t know if he was showing such “concern” for her because he was grateful for her guidance, or if he wanted to reclaim some benefits she might have taken from him…

With a faint smile on her face, Ye Zhen looked at Rongcheng Jue, making him feel uneasy. He thought she might have found out something, but he thought it was impossible. So he asked tentatively, “What are you laughing at? Do you think I am lying to you?”

Ye Zhen was happy to pretend to be confused with him, so she shook her head and pointed at her throat, reminding him that she couldn’t speak.

“Oh,” Rongcheng Jue said, feeling relieved that he hadn’t revealed anything. He watched as Ye Zhen finished drinking her water and lay back down on the bed. But his gaze always remained on the lamp, so he asked, “Don’t you want to turn off the light and go to sleep?”

Ye Zhen hesitated for a while and then nodded at him.

“Don’t be afraid,” Rongcheng Jue said as he clasped his hands and recited a Buddhist mantra, “‘Eliminating demons and upholding justice’, this senior brother is a professional.”

“Pfft—”

“Really, when I was ten years old, I really went to the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts. I went with actor Ye Yi when he was filming ‘Shaoshi Mountain’”.

Ye Zhen’s smile faded, and she lifted her head to look at him.

Rongcheng Jue thought she wouldn’t believe it, so he just meditated on the spot and said, “The Buddha said that all mantras can subdue demons and drive out ghosts. All the heavenly dragons and guardians bow down in reverence, and all the demons and ghosts submit. Don’t be afraid, junior sister. This senior brother will now recite a passage from the ‘Heart Sutra’* for you. Listen carefully.

‘Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, while practicing profound Prajna Paramita’—”

—Realize that all five skandhas are empty, and transcend all afflictions and sufferings.

She can actually recite it too.

The Buddha said, “To speak of all dharma (phenomena), it is never apart from the two words of cause and condition.”*

[TL/N: Means that everything has a cause and an effect and everything is interconnected.]

Mathematicians say that with over 6 billion people in the world and an average life expectancy of 30,000 days, the probability of two strangers meeting is 0.00487.

If you keep meeting someone, there must be a necessary condition between you that isn’t coincidental, even if you didn’t know about it before.

Usually, we call it fate.

TL: The ‘Heart Sutra’ is one of the most widely recited and studied texts in Mahayana Buddhism.

Translator ramblings^^

ooofff I wish I had something as dramatic as all those ao3 authors (￣▽￣*)ゞ But, mine is just me procrastinating my schoolwork and scrambling to finish it to not fail my classes. So, that’s why I had to put my translating on hold to concentrate on that… I didn’t even know how to update it to you guys, cause this was so sudden. Can anybody tell me what I should do or make in order to communicate more easily with yal ( ◡‿◡ *)

Well what happened has happened, but I will try to be more consistent guys… (i hope so).

Also I figured that yall would not be that interested in buddhist scriptures, so I didn’t explain those phrases. But, if you want to learn about it just search the ‘Heart Sutra’^^

see u next time, bye<3