Epilogue 1.1: Yi i’s Chapter – A Person’s Flower Blood
(translated by peanuts & edited by lidge)
When I was nine years old, brother Yi Chen, who lived next door, beca my brother.
I was very happy and leaning in my mother’s arm, I asked her: “Mum, is brother Yi Chen going to live in our house and not go back in the future?”
Mum hugged and said: ” Yes, does Yi i like it or not?”
“I like it.” I nodded energetically to express my joy, but I didn’t understand why my mother seed so sad.
Having a brother such as Yi Chen was a very impressive thing, as the classmates would be envious and sotis the teacher would treat you favorably. When I entered junior high school, the teacher looked at the attendance rollbook and asked : “Do you know He Yi Chen?”
I nodded: “He is my brother.”
“Oh, I taught him when he was in his first year in junior high school. I am rather fated with both of you siblings.” The teacher chuckled, “Since the school’s new term has just started, you will be the class monitor for the ti being. The older brother was so competent, the sister should not be bad.”
Gradually among the students, they knew that I am “He Yi Chen’s” sister. Slowly, so female students began to make indirect, discreet inquiries: “He Yi i, did your brother ntion any girls in front of you?”
“No.” I always gave this reply.
“Oh, did you know that Yin Li Min from Class 3 likes your brother ……”
Girls of this age seed to be particularly interested in this kind of thing of “who likes who.” There were already several girls who told “which girls like your brother.” This kind of secret and every ti the persons who liked my brother were different.
There seed to be a lot of girls in school who really liked Yi Chen, but he seed not to feel anything at all.
Once, when I asked him so questions, I pretended to casually ask: “Brother, do you have a girl you like? There are many girls in my class who like you.”
“No.” He replied, without a care in the world. Then, he lowered his head to concentrate on helping to solve so questions, not even a bit curious as to which girls liked him.
That afternoon, I looked at his elegant and handso profile, my heart suddenly felt a kind of happiness I could not understand.
When I finished high school, Yi Chen passed his university entrance exam for C University and went away to A City, which is very far away for at that ti.
I was not used to having one less person at ho, suddenly it seed empty. During dinner, my mother reflexively filled four bowls of rice, then rembered Yi Chen was not there and poured it back.
My heart felt unsettled and I vowed at the dinner table: “I also want to pass the university entrance exam to study in C University.”
My dad started to laugh: “Good, Yi i is so ambitious.”
But what was the use of just being ambitious? My grades were reasonably good but not good enough to be admitted to C University in spite of working hard for a year. In the end, when I filled in my aspiration, I applied for N University.
When Yi Chen found out on the phone that I applied for N University, he was startled and said, “Yi i, you can apply for a better university.”
But none closer to you, I quietly thought in my heart.
However, when I attended university in September, I ca to understand that God’s plans supersede one’s best laid plans: no matter how much one plans things out, life always intervenes. To my surprise, my faculty was located on the outskirt of the campus, about two hours drive from C University, which is in the city center.
Consequently, we could only et during winter and sumr vacations like before.
During the winter vacation when I was a freshman, I t Zhao Mo Sheng.
I still rembered that day, I went with Yi Chen together to buy things needed for Lunar New Year.
Lunar New Year was approaching so the streets were filled with many people and it was noisy. I clearly heard soone calling Yi Chen’s na so I turned around to see a girl running from across the road.
That was the first ti I saw Zhao Mo Sheng. This person who later would entangle with Yi Chen for a lifeti.
At that ti, my first impression of her was fluffiness.
A fluffy girl.
A white wool hat, wrapped in a thick wool scarf around the white shag line, leaving only a pair of dark eyes visible, her eye twinkling with flowing light and overflowing color, looking very pleasant and cute.
Oh, there were also the furry paws, holding onto Yi Chen’s arm. She cheerfully and lightheartedly said: “Yi Chen, I knew I would see you here. I knew it!”
She was holding onto Yi Chen’s arm and chatted excitedly for a while before noticing I was standing by the side. She appeared a little puzzled, looked at , then looked at Yi Chen.
Then, I heard Yi Chen imdiately explain: “This is my sister, He Yi i.”
I recalled I also ran into Yi Chen’s female classmates before when we went shopping together. Sotis, those female students would also be overly enthusiastic in approaching us, then looked at dubiously and said: “Hey, Yi Chen, this can’t be your girlfriend, right?”
Yi Chen’s eyes would reveal his displeasure, then those female classmates would tactfully not make this kind of joke anymore.
He had never explained so anxiously before.
After she heard what was said, she imdiately smiled, looked a little pleased at and said: “Hello! My na is Zhao Mo Sheng, your brother’s girlfriend!”
For a split second, my train of thought went blank, and I completely did not know how to react, I could only stare blankly at her.
She seed to be scared by my reaction and did not know what to do so she imdiately turned around and looked at Yi Chen.
Yi Chen pulled away her hand and reprimanded her: “You dashed around madly just now, didn’t you see the red light?”
“Oh.” After experiencing a setback, her mood imdiately beca downcast. She lowered her head and kicked at the paving slabs, “I was too happy because I did not really expect to see you. You refused to give your ho phone number so I’ve no options but to walk around on the streets to try my luck. I have already been wandering on the streets for several days ……”
The more she talked, the lower her voice. All of a sudden, she ruthlessly stepped on Yi Chen’s foot, turned around and ran away: “I’m leaving.”
Yi Chen was probably stunned by her stamping as he stood still without moving so I pulled at him: “Let’s go.”
After taking two steps, he turned his head around so I also followed his gaze to look backward. That girl was looking at us from a distant. When she saw us looking at her, she seed to panic for a mont. Then, she pretended to be calm, turned around and walked away.
I clearly felt Yi Chen was a bit stiff, a kind of mood I’ve never seen before flashed in his eyes. Then, he put down the bag he was holding.
“Yi i, you wait for for a while.” He did not wait for to answer but took a step to chase after her.
It seed I’ve only waited for about ten minutes, but every second felt very long.
When he ca back, I casually asked him: “Yi Chen, didn’t you say before that you don’t intend to find a girlfriend in university?”
“Ah.”
“But ……” Just a mont ago, the way you acted obviously conveyed your tacit acknowledgent.
“It’s because I……” He sighed, “She is extrely clingy.”
Previously, there were also a lot of girls who took the initiative so maybe this one was especially clingy. With such a thought, I seed to find an excuse to justify my bad impression of that girl.
Many years later when I recalled this scene, only then would I rembered the things that I’ve deliberately ignored such as when saying those words, Yi Chen’s eyes had a faint smile.
I felt unhappy celebrating this Lunar New Year. After the Lunar New Year, when university started, I was given a pleasant surprise. This happened after I knew Yi Chen had a girlfriend so I was not sure if this could still be considered a nice surprise.
Finally, our entire business school moved to the main campus, which was separated from C University by only a street.
Zhao Mo Sheng and I beca so-called “good friends” according to her.
While walking in C University, she often held my hand with one hand and clasped Yi Chen’s arm with her other hand: “Yi Chen, you walk a little slower since Yi i can’t keep up.”
Yi Chen probably couldn’t take it anymore: “If you don’t hold onto her, she will be able to walk quicker.”
She turned to look at with grievance: “Yi i, you are so gentle and soft, but why is your brother so fierce? Both of you, brother and sister have very different personality and also look different. Is it because one takes after the father and the other is like the mother?”
I looked doubtfully at Yi Chen and caught sight of his unnatural look for a split second, which imdiately returned to normal.
Yi Chen had never ntioned personal stuff to her! I imdiately made this judgent, my mood inexplicably improved.
I was the only one who knew this secret.
I did not know what I was thinking, but gradually, we beca closer. She also started to enjoy dragging to go shopping with her and called to say so things which “Yi Chen would be too slow-witted to understand.”
When it was my birthday, she wanted to give a birthday cake. Hence, she took to the cake shop and asked what flavor I liked. I said: “Chocolate.”
Her face imdiately had a big smile and she happily held my hand: “I also like chocolate. Yi i, we’ve similar taste.”
What similar taste, I rely saw her looking covertly at the chocolate cake a few tis.
How she treated , it could be considered very good.
Most of the ti, I was her life-saver.
For example, like right now.
“Yi i, I am in big trouble because I only got 59 marks on my English test.” The voice over the phone was very dispirited.
I comforted her, but my heart felt very upset. So many girls who were very good in English and who were very good in their studies liked Yi Chen, but why did he choose Mo Sheng?
“I am dead at, as Yi Chen will certainly scold .” She said in a very depressed mood.
Should just dump you!
Such a notion flashed through my mind like lightning. I was frightened by such train of thought, as how could I have such an evil thought?
“How many marks did you get?” She asked .
“87 marks.”
“So aweso to get such outstanding result. Yi i, you are too amazing.” She said excitedly, “Oh, that’s right, Yi Chen also achieved outstanding result in Level 6 English. Let’s have dinner together tonight to celebrate both of you scoring so high, two out of three, we won!” Her voice didn’t sound upset over her poor marks anymore.
During dinner, Yi Chen really didn’t look good, not even a bit happy for achieving such outstanding result in Level 6 English. I could more or less understand his feelings. He was the one who tutored Zhao Mo Sheng in English, but she did so poorly now. My brother, who always is a perfectionist, probably felt more of a failure than Zhao Mo Sheng.
I naturally helped Zhao Mo Sheng to say a few good words such as this was the first ti she took the test and so on, in spite of my disapproval.
After Yi Chen looked a little more at ease, she only dared to complain in a low voice: “I really dislike English, the rules are not in order. Anyway, I don’t need to go abroad in the future, so learn this for what……”
Several years later when recalling Mo Sheng’s words, it seems life can be so unpredictable that it’s hard to say what would happen later.
After dinner and strolling for a while, I felt like going ho. When I was walking pass C University gate, I only rembered the reference materials Yi Chen had helped to borrow were put into Mo Sheng’s bag for convenient sake.
The materials were needed for class tomorrow, so I decided to go back to get them.
In order to be quicker, I took a shortcut via a quiet garden to get there.
The quiet garden was C University’s well-known couple garden. Although I was ntally prepared I might run into a few lovebirds, I was nevertheless shocked to see a couple who was so engrossed in kissing to be oblivious to their surrounding.
I felt embarrassed, so I walked at the side and turned the corner into a bypath to avoid them.
This route was more quiet. I already started to feel a little regret for taking the shortcut and rely wanted to bow my head and pass through the quiet garden quickly. However, while I was walking past a few big rocks, my footsteps inexplicably stopped. As if being driven by sothing, I turned my head and looked over at the rocks.
Under the dim and faint moonlight, he was hugging her, she was sitting on his lap and he was kissing her.
That night, I dread of Yi Chen.
So confusing and disjointed scenarios. A bridge archway we used to pass when we returned from school as kids, Yi Chen and I sheltering from the rain under the bridge archway, then suddenly we were at ho. That breezy afternoon, he was listening to the English language lessons with his eyes closed. Initially I wanted to ask him so questions, but I ended up standing at the doorway for a long ti, staring in a daze at him ……
Finally, I stood in the alley in the quiet garden again, looking at her snuggled up to him, her head resting against his chest, she grabbed and played with his fingers, he let her indulged in it and they were so quiet around each other, not even a sound. A mont later, he was a little impatient and turned his hands to grab her into his arms, lowered his head and kissed her gently once again.
……
Thus, for the first ti, I realized that you could actually feel heartache in a dream and it could be so painful to the extent of waking you up.
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