Song in the Peach Blossoms Chapter 1 (Part 2)

Inner Residence arc ー Chapter 1 (Part 2): The story goes like this

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I spoke incoherently, “Just now…it was too hot, till it made me confused.……”

Zhang Ziyue smiled, “Minmin, why are you so nervous? I only passed by after work to take some flu medicine and walk you home.”

He was gentle and elegant, as per usual. I didn’t notice any clues after scrutinizing carefully and was a little relieved.

“Who has caught the flu at home?” I asked as I packed the medicine bag proficiently. Zhang Ziyue looked at my actions and asked, “Minmin, after you graduate next time, will you be inheriting this clinic?”

“I probably will,” I said. Actually, within my maiden fantasy, I inherited this clinic while Zhang Ziyue became my husband. I will diagnose patients in the morning and at night I will gaze at the stars together with him on the balcony. We are not very wealthy but this kind of life is very warm and comforting.
　　
However, Zhang Ziyue is going to be another person’s husband, my mirage has collapsed and my future path has once again become ambiguous.

Maybe I’ll apply to be a research student. When a girl has no other paths she can only go to study, there has to be a path by studying.

The clinic is close to the house and the two of us walked slowly. The street lights came on and stretched our shadows into very very long figures. The world is so big and we are just like two kids. At that moment, I really wished that time and space would just continue extending endlessly, until the end of the world.

Zhang Ziyue opened his mouth, “It seems like you recently have something weighing on your mind, you’re often lost in thought.”

I hate it the most when guys ask this. A lot of the time if they just think about it a little,they will know that the other party is heartbroken because of  them. But their brains just don’t turn around that bend. I ask him, “Has your wedding date been fixed?” He only reacted after a while and smiled, “The banquet is set to be on September 19.”

“That’s a very auspicious number. Have you furnished your new home?”

Zhang Ziyue nodded his head, “Everything’s done. Will you be coming?”

The muscles in my face had already gone stiff, I only managed to squeeze out one sentence after quite a while, “School has already started, I’m afraid I can’t come……”

Zhang Ziyue’s face revealed a disappointed expression. This expression of his was really beautiful, I suddenly felt that my absence  during his wedding ceremony will be a big regret to him and almost decided that even if floods and typhoon come I must be there . However, my remaining sense of reason sealed my mouth in time.

Even if I could make it in time, I also wouldn’t purposely want to run to see my sweetheart marrying his wife, seeing them being very sweet to each other there while I’m drinking bitter wine alone here is finding too much uneasiness for myself.

We entered the lift. Zhang Ziyue lives below my house but he only pressed the floor number to my house. I assumed  he wanted to send me home first. He is always attentive and considerate. The more I think about his merits, the more I was envious of Li Yan’s good fortune. There was only the two of us inside the lift and an awkward silence suffused the air. I turned my head and saw that his collar had been drenched by sweat and his front also had a patch of dark coloured water stain in the shape of a ‘v’. His square-shaped chin carried a hue of green and underneath the sleeves he folded up were robust arms. There’s also the broad shoulders and chest. This everything and everything was going to belong to another woman. They were going to live in a beautiful garden with me being cut off outside.

I sighed dejectedly.

Beneath my feet was a sudden sway, some lights were on while some were fused. The lift stopped by with a ‘clank’ sound. Zhang Ziyue and I looked at each other in dismay. Lift breakdown?

Zhang Ziyue was experienced and immediately pressed the buttons of all the stories. After that, he pressed the alarm to seek help.

“We are at Block B4, the second unit, the lift rose halfway and got stuck, please come here quickly to take a look.”

I estimated a bit, the lift should be trapped between the 13th and 14th floor now. Admittedly it’s good to move up, but if it falls down, I’m afraid that Zhang Ziyue and I will not be able to keep our small lives.

To all the various gods, it doesn’t seem like I have wished to die with Mr Zhang in the same year, same month and same day* right? Zhang Ziyue comforted me, “Minmin, don’t be scared, someone will come to rescue us very soon.” I was instead not scared, after all I did have my beloved as company. However, it was different for him, since he was going to become a groom soon with the painting scroll of his beautiful and glamorous married life just starting to unfold. Concluding it like this, is unavoidably too rash. Hence I joked and regulated the current anxious atmosphere, “Ziyue-ge**, who is the one you miss the most now?”

*T/n: Lovers or brothers may often use this phrase to declare the depth of their relationship with each other. They do not request to be born in the same year, same month and same day but ask to die in the same year, same month and same day.

**T/n: An affectionate term which females use to call males who they are close to.

Zhang Ziyue didn’t expect that I’ll ask his question and was stared blankly, “Miss? The people who are coming to rescue us.”

What’s with this? “You should say, the one you miss the most is Miss Li Yan.”

Zhang Ziyue laughed, “How is me missing her useful to us being trapped in the lift?”

I said, “You’re really not romantic, which point of you did she fall for?”

He said, “How do I know. Only girls like to ask this question.” I mustered up my courage and asked, “Why were you determined to get married back then?”

Zhang Ziyue thought for a bit and said, “I wasn’t young any more and hoped to start a family.”

“Just like that?”

“What else do you want then?”

“You should say that you fell madly in love with Miss Li Yan, you won’t marry anyone else other than her, that you’re willing to spend this life with her and that you will never ever be separated until the ends of the earth.”

“You actually helped me solved the issue of what I’m going to say during the toast.” Zhang Ziyue smiled and looked at me. The love in my mind is so unrealistic in his perspective. Moreover, even if I become old until my face resembles a chrysanthemum, he will still treat me as the little bum beetle with nasal mucus.

Zhang Ziyue suddenly asked me, “What about you, Minmin? You’re almost in your third year of university, it’s also about time that you find a boyfriend.”

My face blushed red and became uncomfortable, “I still don’t wish to now.”

“Why? Could it be that you already have someone you like?” I shook my head, then thinking that it wasn’t correct, I nodded my head again, once again thinking that it wasn’t correct, I shook my head again.

Zhang Ziyue laughed, “Why is it so complicated? Have means have, don’t have means don’t have.”

I said, “The person I like doesn’t like me.” Probably because my voice was too soft, Zhang Ziyue didn’t hear clearly, “What did you say?”

I felt suffocated and finally shouted out with no care for anything, “I like a person, I liked him since young, it has already been many years. But he doesn’t like me, he only treats me as a younger sister, right now he’s getting married to another person.”

After I finished shouting, it felt as if I had depleted all my strength. I sat on the floor, hung my head down and didn’t know what expression I should use to face him. It was hot and stuffy inside the lift, yet my heart felt relieved, as if I have let go of a thousand-kilogram big rock, my breath and heartbeat all seemed to have become more unobstructed.

Zhang Ziyue didn’t say anything for a very long time and the suffocating silence permeated the lift. Of course, he should know that the person I said was him. He was only pondering over how he should reject me so that he won’t hurt my feelings.

My feelings? Even I myself feel that my love is a blasphemy to his refined air and loftiness.

“Hey! Hey!” The intercom suddenly sounded with a man’s voice, startling the both of us. “How many people are there inside? Is everything okay?”

Zhang Ziyue cleared his throat and spoke, “There are two people here, everything is still okay at the moment.”

I was making a noise at one side, “Quickly get us out of here, I’m dying from the heat!”
“Wait! The device is spoiled, we are attempting to repair it in a rush.”

This is going to be the death of me, it spoilt at such a time. If we follow the norm, after a girl finishes confessing, she should cover her face in embarrassment and run away at the speed of light, leaving the other party hanging at the original location to realize the intent properly. But now that I chose to confess in the broken lift, I’m trapped such that I can’t go up or go down and have nowhere to escape. I was so embarrassed to the point of instead becoming not embarrassed, so I might as well just risk it all.

“Ziyue-ge, I began liking you since I was in junior high. I know that I am not attractive, not smart and don’t match up with you, that’s why I have never said it. Don’t laugh at me, in any case since you’re already going to get married, it doesn’t matter even if I say it. Saying it out makes me feel much better. You also don’t need to give me any reply, I just wanted to let you know. Ziyue-ge, I call you ‘ge (older brother)’, so you will forever be my older brother. I hope that you will possess the happiness you long for.”

After I finished speaking, I met his eyes and smiled at him, Of course that wasn’t a smile which resembled the dawn in spring. Zhang Ziyue’s eyes flickered with a glint I didn’t understand, I didn’t know which part of my confession moved him emotionally. He deliberated for quite a while, gradually smoothing  out the creases of his eyebrows and said, “Minmin, actually……”

The lift abruptly plunged down. I tumbled on the floor with a grunt, and my heart exclaimed that things were far from reassuring. “Hey, hey……” I spoke to the intercom two times. The lift’s plunge stopped for a split second, then plunged straight down again.

While it was rapidly falling, I could only feel Zhang Ziyue grasping my hand tightly.

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Editor: Luxe

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Translator corner:
Alright, one chapter done! Please let me know if you all think this is worth continuing. Thanks! 🙂

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