Translator: dounai
Editor: mantou
96
After sending Ji Xiaobei off, Chen Zhuo felt desolated when he returned home. Holding the phone in his hands, he became an Amah Rock while anxiously waiting for a phone call.
At last, his phone rang, and Ji Xiaobei’s voice sounded from the other end, “I’ve arrived, hanging up!”
Chen Zhuo, “???”
Such a cool guy; Chen Zhuo’s call could not get through after that, and he was connected to a busy tone instead.
Chen Zhuo held onto his phone, seconds passing like years, and after eight hundred years passed, his phone rang again. His mother’s voice sounded from the other end, “We’ve picked him, hanging up!”
Chen Zhuo, “???”
Feeling gloomy, he cooked himself two packets of mushroom and chicken noodles, and ate them slowly. After finishing his agonizing meal, his phone finally rang again. He waited on it on purpose before picking it up, “Hello, who is this?”
Ji Xiaobei, “Handsome, it’s your partner?”
Chen Zhuo, “What partner?”
Ji Xiaobei, “Your boyfriend.”
Chen Zhuo, “What boyfriend?”
Ji Xiaobei, “Your husband.”
Chen Zhuo “What husband?”
Ji XIaobei, “Hm, why are you so difficult to pacify.”
Chen Zhuo, “I’m still in your thoughts among hundreds of people, how amazing.”
Ji Xiaobei, “It’s mum’s fault for being so warm and passionate, I didn’t have a chance to give you a call!”
After that, the boy started using eight hundred words to describe what he had on the plane – dan dan noodles, corn skewers, beef rice, mao cai, jasmine tea… and he burped at the end, “I even packed a serving of dan dan noodles for mum! But it was too spicy, and I could only have it myself!”
“What a silly boy..” Chen Zhuo wished he could snuggle the boy in his embrace and stroke his fur.
97
Four days later, Chen Zhuo received a call for help from Father Chen, asking him to make a trip home to eat some eggs.
Chen Zhuo, “Ah? What eggs?”
Father Chen, “Go and ask your wife, in any way, I don’t have the guts to ask my wife.”
Chen Zhuo, “…”
That night, when he was on the phone with Ji Xiaobei, he tried sounding it out to him, “Did you braise tea eggs at home?”
Ji Xiaobei, “Wow how did you know that! Are you craving for tea eggs!”
There were many elderlies who resided in the neighbourhood where Chen Zhuo’s parents lived, and there would often be people setting up tents to sell fitness equipment and health supplements.
Ji Xiaobei, “Mum said that when she was alone in the past, she could only carry a tray of eggs. Now that she brought me along, we are two people and can carry two trays of eggs!”
Chen Zhuo felt a big headache incoming, “That’s not it, what did you guys buy from there, is it from a legal factory? Does it have qualifications? Did it pass the quality testing? Is it safe? Ask mum to take a picture of it for me.”
Ji Xiaobei shook his head, “Our mum said that we are only getting eggs, not buying anything else!”
Chen Zhuo, “…” Alright, fine.
98
One day after a meal, Chen Zhuo was alone in the balcony, fiddling with something.
Ji Xiaobei followed the noise, and heard the sounds of potting soil, “Chen Zhuo, are you planting flowers?”
Chen Zhuo didn’t agree, nor did he deny, “Do you want to plant them?”
Ji Xiaobei nodded his head and plopped himself in front of Chen Zhuo, right into his embrace. While grabbing a shovel, Chen Zhuo held onto his hand and the pair dug a hole in the pot.
Chen Zhuo buried the seed, and covered it with soil.
Ji Xiaobei, “What plant is this? How long does it take to bloom? What colour will it be? Is it big? Does it smell nice? Is it pretty?”
Chen Zhuo, “I’m not sure too, we’ll have to wait for it to bloom before finding out.”
Ji Xiaobei was very meticulous about this pot of flower, watering and fertilizing it, and even bringing it downstairs everyday for a soak in the sun.
After much waiting and hoping, the little flower was finally budding. He felt for the first leaf that sprouted from the soil, not daring to use too much strength, just gently touching it.
This plant grew pretty quickly, and it was growing taller as the days passed. Excited, Ji Xiaobei would ask a few times every day, “Why are the flowers not blooming yet? When is it going to bloom?”
During a video call with Mother Chen one day, he couldn’t help but show off the flower he raised, and hugged the pot in front of the phone for her to see.
Mother Chen said, “This garlic is growing really well. Baobei, Mum’s giving you a thumbs up!”
99
Ji Xiaobei had a physique which easily attracted mosquitoes, while Chen Zhuo was one who mosquitoes would ignore even if he was thrown into a mosquito nest.
When summer arrived, so does Ji Xiaobei’s tough days. The number of mosquito bites on his body were more than the strawberries planted by Chen Zhuo.
He would vent his anger on Chen Zhuo whenever he was feeling frustrated. “It was the mosquitoes that bit you, not me. Bite the mosquitoes back if you have the abilities to!” Chen Zhuo said.
Ji Xiaobei, “It’s all your fault for not helping me share the burden of body heat!”
Ji Xiaobei was woken up by the bites of mosquitoes, and he gave Chen Zhuo a slap to wake him up from his slumber.
Chen Zhuo was confused, “Ah? What’s wrong?”
Ji Xiaobei mumbled, half-awake, “There’s buzzing…”
Chen Zhuo sat up, “There’s a what?”
“Aiya, just go and plug in the electric mosquito repellent!” Ji Xiaobei whined.
Chen Zhuo climbed out of bed and did as he was told, feeling wide awake after the commotion. When he returned, he took Ji Xiaobei into his embrace and shook him, before letting out a silly laugh.
Ji Xiaobei, “What?
Chen Zhuo, “Do you remember that colleague of mine, Old Zhao, his wife birthed a second child.”
Ji Xiaobei, “Ah… and then?”
Chen Zhuo, “Then he told me, each time his wife woke up in the middle of the night for feeding, she would give him a slap to wake him up, and kick him off the bed to turn on the lights.”
Ji Xiaobei, “… What are you implying?”
Chen Zhuo, “I just wanted to say, this seems familiar; she was feeding her son, and you were feeding mosquitoes.”
Ji Xiaobei, “Chen! Zhuo!”
100
Ever since Ji Xiaobei secretly ate three ice-cream bars the entire afternoon while Chen Zhuo wasn’t at home and got sent to the hospital that night, the latter strictly controlled his ice lolly intakes.
Iced desserts were never stocked at home since, and he was only allowed to have them once a week; buying and eating them on the spot.
That day, they bought a Guang Ming ice cream cube from the supermarket and upon reaching home, Ji Xiaobei was eager to have them without wasting a second more.
Chen Zhuo unwrapped the ice cream and placed it in a glass bowl, pairing it with a tiny coffee spoon, its portion the size of a fingernail.
He handed the bowl to Ji Xiaobei, “Eat.”
Ji Xiaobei scooped a spoonful, “When am I going to finish this?! It’s going to melt in no time!”
Chen Zhuo, “If you’re going to finish this in three mouthfuls again, you’ll definitely get a tummy ache later.”
After Chen Zhuo returned home from clearing the trash, he spotted Ji Xiaobei burying his head in the bowl and munching away. Hearing the door open, Ji Xiaobei raised his head, revealing his nose and lips which were covered in white.
Chen Zhuo took a picture and when he saved it to his computer, he saved its name as: There were crows drinking water in the past, and Xiao Ji is having ice-cream in the present.
1Amah Rock: 望妻石 (wàng qī shí) in the text is derived from 望夫石 wàng fū shí), a popular naturally-carved stone which looks like a woman “gazing out for her husband”. The text changed from husband to wife. You can read more about it’s legend here, and a picture reference here.
2A type of instant noodles.
3Maocai: A stew-like dish.
4Guang Ming ice cream cube: A block of vanilla ice-cream.
5Crow drinking water: 乌鸦喝水 (wū yā hē shuǐ) is a Chinese fable which tells a story of a crow and it’s attempts to drink water from a deep pot. You can read it’s story here.
icedlattenoice 