CH 28

“What do you want to give me?” Yan Mu asked, puzzled.

Yu Yuan touched his sleeve and took out the thing he’d been weaving just now.

It turned out to be a beautifully woven five-colored cord. Each colour of silk thread was finely twisted into strands, and each strand twisted around each other, woven into one in an extremely delicate and beautiful way.

It looked like a lot of thought and effort had gone into making it.

Yan Mu’s eyes widened and she sighed from the bottom of her heart as she said, “It’s nicely done.” She knew about the custom of wearing five-coloured cords at the Dragon Boat Festival, but had never worn one before.

“Is this what you were weaving this morning?” Yan Mu asked.

“I only just learned how, so I didn’t weave it that well.” Yu Yuan’s body tensed slightly, but his mouth said the opposite, “If you don’t like it, just throw it away.”

“I won’t throw it away, this is what Yu Yuan gave me.” Yan Mu smiled brightly, feeling extremely warm inside.

Mbl zlyhlp awpvzle yp vbl callgl czlo vbaswtb vbl vallvsrp, yp kq vbl vallp olal pkdtkdt sa pvkqzkdt zywtbvla. Mbl nsadlap sq vbl vlldytla’p xswvb zkqvle, cwv bl iwknjzu pwrralpple vblx yde ralvldele vs cl nyzx.

Zyd Yw qwxczle yaswde okvb kv qsa y obkzl, cwv pbl pvkzz nswzed’v rwv kv sd. Fs pbl pkxrzu blze swv bla byde nsdqkeldvzu yde pyke vs Zw Zwyd, “Tlzr xl vkl kv.”

Nssjkdt yv vbyv elzknyvl yde obkvl oakpv, Zw Zwyd oyp pvwddle yde eked’v xshl qsa y zsdt vkxl.

“Zw Zwyd?” Rv oypd’v wdvkz Zyd Yw’p hsknl aydt swv vbyv Zw Zwyd pdyrrle cynj swv sq bkp vbswtbvp.

Tl lmralppksdzlppzu vssj vbl nsae yde vkle kv qsa vbl tkaz. Mbl pjkd sd vbl kddla oakpv oyp vbl xspv elzknyvl, yde Zw Zwyd’p pzktbvzu aswtb qkdtlavkrp cawpble ynaspp bla pdsou pjkd, nywpkdt y vkdtzkdt kvnb.

Nkjl y rlynb czsppsx qzwvvlakdt kd vbl okde, vbl tkaz nswzed’v pvsr zywtbkdt.

“Rv vknjzlp,” Fbl psqvzu yde nwvlzu obkdle, bla cseu pbyjkdt okvb zywtbvla.

“Psd’v xshl.” Zw Zwyd blze bla obkvl oakpv, bkp lulp olal yp eyaj yp dktbv, yde lhld bkp hsknl oyp y zkvvzl bsyapl.

The girl’s skin was delicate and could be easily broken, touching it was like touching a piece of fine mutton fat jade1羊脂玉 (yáng zhī yù) – also known as white jade, one of the top-quality jade among nephrite

Image of it:

.

Yu Yuan lowered his head and carefully tied the coloured cord for the girl. His fingers grazed over her skin, tainted with her faintly sweet scent.

After Yu Yuan tied the cord, he calmly hid that hand behind his back. The slippery sensation still remained on his fingertips, and he only felt as if his hand was on fire.

The fire burned and burned, like the raging forest fire in the mountains, burning all the way to his heart. Yu Yuan pursed his lips, trying to extinguish this strange feeling.

“Yu Yuan, let me weave one for you too.” The more Yan Mu looked at the colourful cord on her wrist, the more she loved it.

Hearing her words, Yu Yuan looked at it too.

The colourful cord brought out the snowy white of Yan Mu’s skin even more. It was as if he was a leaf in the very centre of a vortex, his eyes couldn’t help but be attracted to that section of her wrist.

He retracted his gaze somewhat pathetically, and trying his best to pretend to be calm, he said, “Okay.”

The colourful threads were bought by Yu Yuan when they went to the market before. He didn’t buy much, so the remaining materials were just enough to make one more.

As Yan Mu twisted the strands together, her expression was serious enough to make people laugh. But even when she did her best, the finished product was still too horrible to look at.

“Forget it, I don’t want to weave anymore.” Yan Mu was discouraged and picked up the colored cord, wanting to throw it away, “Such an ugly cord, other people will laugh at you if you wear it.”

Yu Yuan hurriedly took the colored cord and hid it in his sleeve. He looked at Yan Mu and stubbornly didn’t speak.

“……You want it?” Yan Mu asked in stunned disbelief. She didn’t expect that Yu Yuan would want it. After all, this cord was so ugly that even she couldn’t look at it any longer.

Yu Yuan’s gaze softened a little and he slightly nodded. He tied it on his wrist like it was a treasure.

Yu Yuan’s complexion was naturally pale. What differentiated his wrist from Yan Mu’s was the teenager’s distinct wrist bones, bringing a novel sense of beauty. This kind of beauty made the terribly ugly colored cord look a lot more pleasing to the eye.

Father Yan came out from the kitchen and saw that the two children each had their own colourful cords. He scratched his head and asked naturally, “Daughter, where’s mine?”

“……”

At his words, both of them were stunned.

“Why?” Father Yan was stunned too, “Both of you never thought of me?”

The room fell into silence and for a moment, no one spoke. Father Yan then came to realise that he was left out.

“Hey daughter, you’re not even married yet! Once you’re married, you might not even return to your natal home2娘家 (niángjia) – home of a married woman’s parents,” Father Yan simpered and said.

Because of her poor health, Yan Mu had no playmates since she was young. Now that she had a better relationship with Yu Yuan, Father Yan was actually quite happy inside, so he didn’t take this small matter to heart.

On the contrary, hearing the word ‘marry’, Yu Yuan’s eyes flickered. He looked down and caressed the colourful cord on his wrist, lost in thought.

**************

The Dragon Boat Festival holiday soon ended and Yan Mu sat back in the classroom, feeling like it was a dream. 

“This must be the so-called post-holiday blues.” Yan Mu sighed. As soon as Yu Yuan arrived at the private school, he went to find Teacher to ask questions while she stayed quite bored in the classroom.

While Teacher still hadn’t arrived yet, Yan Mu simply plopped herself on the table and slept. She closed her eyes, yet the chatter around her couldn’t help but reach her ears.

“Have you all heard?” The person who was talking was Zhou Er3二 (èr) – two/second Pang4胖 (pàng) – fat/stout/plump. He mysteriously lowered his voice and soon attracted the attention of the other students.

“What is it? What is it?” Another student joined into the conversation in excitement.

“I heard that Zhang Goudan’s father recently smoked himself into a stupor with a new kind of cigarette5醉生梦死 (zuìshēng-mèngsǐ) – as if drunk or entranced (idiom); in a drunken stupor, and he can’t even go hunting anymore!” Zhou Er Pang gossiped and said, “Zhang Family is so poor now6揭不开锅 (jiēbukāi//guō) – have nothing in the pot/very poor/go hungry that they can’t afford to buy food.”

Zhang Goudan’s father? Wasn’t that Hunter Zhang?

As soon as Yan Mu heard that Hunter Zhang family’s situation was bad, she suddenly felt energetic. She stopped sleeping and pricked up her ears to listen to the gossip.

Seeing that Yan Mu, who usually ignored people, was also looking at him, Zhou Er Pang suddenly felt even prouder in his heart. He acted coy and stalled for some time before saying, “Didn’t Hunter Zhang have a very strong smoking addiction? He couldn’t afford tobacco leaves, so he smoked pumpkin leaves. Later, he heard others say that adding something to the smoking pipe can make people drunk. He was addicted as soon as he smoked it and he’s really done for now.”

“If that thing is really good to smoke, it must be hard to find, right? How did Hunter Zhang find it?” A student asked in confusion.

“This is really a coincidence,” Zhou Er Pang joyfully said. “It just so happens that there’s a few trees growing behind his house that no one noticed. That day, this thing happened to bloom and it was said to be very beautiful, so it was quickly discovered by Hunter Zhang.”

“That’s such a coincidence……”

“Right, we usually pass by the back of Hunter Zhang’s house, why didn’t we find it?”

For a while, there were all sorts of speculations7议论纷纷 (yìlùn-fēnfēn) – to discuss spiritedly (idiom); widespread comment/wagging tongues going around the classroom.

Highly addictive with a very pretty flower? Could it be…… 

Yan Mu carefully pondered and asked, “Is the flower red in colour?”

Zhou Er Pang was also stunned, and was about to question how Yan Mu knew. But after all, he had the mentality of a teenager, plus Yan Mu was always with Yu Yuan, so he suddenly felt like it would be a little humiliating to say so.

Seeing the colourful cord on Yan Mu’s wrist was somewhat novel, so he casually said, “If you give me that cord, I’ll tell you.”

Yan Mu’s neck shrunk back and she angrily said, “In your dreams!”

Her small face was puffed with anger, looking like a little goldfish. Her cute look stunned Zhou Er Pang. 

Yan Mu seemed to look better and better. Zhou Er Pang only came to realise it now.

Suddenly, he was a little regretful for offending Yan Mu and treating her lightly. Zhou Er Pang softly coughed and quietly moved to her side. Just as he was about to talk, he suddenly heard a gloomy voice ring out behind him.

“What are you doing?” The teenager’s voice was hoarse and filled with an imperceptible hint of hatred.

Yan Mu’s eyes lit up and she waved happily towards the back of Zhou Er Pang, then said, “Yu Yuan, you’re here!”