ATLAS TRANSLATES

Tao Zhi looked shocked: “Why do I have to memorize everything before I can get back — my phone?”

She specifically emphasized the word “my.”

“Didn’t you ask me to help highlight the important points?” Jiang Qi Huai said.

Tao Zhi’s mind went blank. She had absolutely no memory of asking Jiang Qi Huai to highlight these points for her.

“My tutoring fee is very expensive,” Jiang Qi Huai continued, “though you can pay in cash instead.”

Tao Zhi couldn’t be bothered to engage with him and jumped up to reach for the phone in his hand.

Jiang Qi Huai effortlessly lifted his arm slightly higher, and Tao Zhi grabbed at empty air again.

The dismissal bell rang, and students started streaming out of the classrooms. People were coming down from upstairs too, while the young man held his arm high, playfully dangling the phone between his fingers.

Tao Zhi glanced around and noticed quite a few people curiously looking their way.

She pulled him downstairs by his uniform sleeve: “Your Highness, could you please be a bit more reasonable? There’s this much content in Chinese and English combined,” she dragged out her words, “and it’s Friday, I’ll definitely memorize it when I go home for the weekend, right?”

Jiang Qi Huai looked down at her: “Will you actually study when there’s no one watching you at home?”

Tao Zhi nervously puffed up her cheeks, refusing to answer this question directly: “Well, I can’t go a whole weekend without my phone! It’s very inconvenient.”

Jiang Qi Huai let her pull him downstairs without saying anything.

Tao Zhi glanced at him, thinking he seemed to be wavering, and continued with her logical argument: “Besides, if I have any questions I don’t understand, I won’t be able to ask you without my phone.”

They followed the flow of people out of the teaching building. Second year had just started and evening self-study hadn’t begun yet. The night was approaching but hadn’t quite fallen, with thin clouds in a highly saturated bluish-purple sky.

The street lamps along the campus walkway cast intricate tree shadows. Jiang Qi Huai stepped on the scattered shadows and thought for a moment before saying flatly: “Then finish memorizing tonight, it’s just this much content.”

Tao Zhi: “…”

Just this much content.

Annoying top student.

Seven-thirty in the evening.

The downtown streets were woven with traffic, especially lively on Friday night. Street lights flickered over crowds of people, with endless sounds of laughter and chatter.

Tao Zhi sat in an armchair in the corner of the coffee shop with her earphones in. On the table in front of her was a cup of coffee and several books.

Her notebook lay open before her, filled with hastily copied ancient poems and English vocabulary, the handwriting messy.

Next to it sat an MP3 player.

Tao Zhi had been reciting for a while and her neck was getting sore. She lifted her head to massage it and looked around.

The shop was quite busy. At the next table, a man was typing away on his laptop, and at another table, two young girls were also studying with their books spread out.

Tao Zhi never imagined she’d one day be studying in a coffee shop, becoming an honorary member of the coffee shop atmosphere crew.

The music in her earphones blocked out the surrounding noise. She lowered her eyes to look at the small, square, black and white screened device beside her hand.

She also never expected that Jiang Qi Huai would actually carry an MP3 player with him.

She glanced at the young man brewing coffee beans behind the counter, suddenly unsure why she had come to study at Jiang Qi Huai’s workplace.

But if she had questions and couldn’t ask him through phone, asking him directly here seemed reasonable enough.

Tao Zhi hadn’t expected that when she logically argued “the shop is too noisy and I need a quiet environment so I need my phone to listen to music,” he would pull an MP3 player out of his backpack to give her.

It’s 8080 already, and someone still uses something like an MP3 player.

And it was the oldest model too.

Quite retro.

She removed one earbud and rubbed her ear. Immediately, the laughter from a group of girls at the table in front came through. They were chatting and laughing while occasionally glancing towards Jiang Qi Huai at the counter.

The young man wore a dark brown uniform. With his broad but slim shoulders, this type of fitted shirt looked neat and attractive on him, showing less of his schoolboy air and more of a crisp maturity.

Tao Zhi watched for a while, and when she caught Jiang Qi Huai looking up, she raised her hand and waved lazily.

Jiang Qi Huai looked at her while holding a coffee cup, said something to another server beside him, put down the cup and walked over: “What is it?”

Tao Zhi propped her head up, swinging her crossed legs: “When do you get off work?”

“We close at ten, and after cleaning up it’s about eleven,” Jiang Qi Huai stood by the table, gathering up her messily spread menus and other items, tapping them against the table to align them.

Tao Zhi nodded, put down her pen, and slumped back in the armchair: “I’ve used my brain too much, I need sugar replenishment.”

Jiang Qi Huai lowered his head to look at her messily marked notebook: “How many words have you memorized?”

“Eight,” Tao Zhi lifted her head proudly.

“…”

Jiang Qi Huai sighed.

“What’s with that reaction?” Tao Zhi was dissatisfied again, “Are you top students looking down on others? It hasn’t been that long, eight words is already my limit, I need a piece of cheesecake to replenish my brain power and energy.”

Jiang Qi Huai said nothing and took away the tidied menus.

Tao Zhi: “…??”

What’s wrong with ordering a piece of cheesecake!

It’s not like I’m not paying you!

Tao Zhi watched him walk away, picked up her pen again, drew a line after the word she had just memorized, and put her earphones back in.

Soon after, a girl in a server’s uniform came over with a small plate of cheesecake and quietly placed it on the table.

Tao Zhi looked up.

The creamy yellow cheese looked smooth and soft with a thin caramel-colored base. Tao Zhi picked up the small fork beside it, cut off a small piece and put it in her mouth, happily narrowing her eyes and swaying.

When in a good mood and absorbed in something, efficiency can actually be quite high.

Although Tao Zhi said she was slow at memorizing things, she knew in her heart that she wasn’t stupid. If she really put her mind to something, she could do it well.

Jiang Qi Huai probably didn’t really think she could finish all this material in one day. Tao Zhi didn’t know what kind of stubborn competition she was having with him, but by the time she finished all the highlighted ancient poems and English vocabulary and took off her earphones, the coffee shop had already quieted down.

Only a few tables were left with people chatting quietly. Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, night had fallen, and Jiang Qi Huai was talking to another server who looked about his age.

Tao Zhi rested her elbow on the table, propping up her head as she watched him.

He was leaning against the coffee machine counter, head lowered as he listened to the other boy talking enthusiastically about something, a faint smile on his lips as he occasionally responded with a few words, his whole demeanor looking relaxed and casual.

The coffee shop’s warm yellow lights were soft and cozy, a vinyl player in the corner slowly playing melodious instrumental music, the whole store immersed in a quiet and gentle atmosphere.

Seeming to notice her gaze, Jiang Qi Huai suddenly looked up at her.

The young man’s light brown peach blossom eyes curved up at the corners, and in that moment, his cold gaze gave an incongruous impression of softness and ambiguity.

Tao Zhi felt like she’d been shocked by something and hurriedly looked away, flustered.

She pretended to be casual as she turned to look out the window, catching from the corner of her eye that Jiang Qi Huai had finally remembered her existence and was walking over.

He came to the table and looked down: “Finished memorizing?”

“No,” Tao Zhi didn’t even turn her head, the words coming out almost without thought.

After she said this, Jiang Qi Huai had no particular reaction, appearing unsurprised as if he’d expected this, but Tao Zhi herself was stunned.

She didn’t know why she had said that.

Just a few hours ago, she had desperately wished for a Doraemon who could give her some memory bread, letting her instantly memorize all this stuff. Then she could get her phone back and go home to lie on the couch watching movies and playing games, instead of sitting here as part of the coffee shop atmosphere looking at these annoying books.

But right now, maybe it was because the cheesecake tasted so good, or maybe it was because of that momentary illusion of gentleness in the young man’s eyes when he had looked over while leaning against the coffee machine.

As if bewitched, she suddenly felt a tiny bit reluctant to leave.

During this brief moment, the last couple in the coffee shop had packed up their things and left. The boy who had been chatting with Jiang Qi Huai called out to him, and Jiang Qi Huai went over to start cleaning up the counter.

After thinking for a while without reaching any conclusion, Tao Zhi simply gave up. She had never liked dwelling on these things too much.

She pushed back her chair and stood up to stretch, then took the empty cheesecake plate and coffee cup over, peering across the counter: “Are you getting off work?”

Jiang Qi Huai made a sound of agreement without looking up.

Tao Zhi raised her hand, scratching her nose with her fingertip, then cleared her throat: “Then, should I wait for you a bit?”

Jiang Qi Huai paused his movements and looked up at her.

That expression looked like he was about to coldly say two words — “No need.”

That look from earlier must have been her imagination after all.

Tao Zhi didn’t wait for him to speak, turning around and bouncing back to the spot where she’d sat all evening.

She listlessly flipped through her books for a while, slowly packing up the books and notebooks that had covered the table. By then, Jiang Qi Huai was also finishing up.

He pushed open a small door to the side to go to the back room, changed his clothes, and came back out.

Tao Zhi stood up with her bag hanging from her shoulder and pointed at the main door.

Jiang Qi Huai stepped out first.

As soon as the door opened, the cold air outside hit their faces, in stark contrast to the warm indoor air conditioning. Tao Zhi pulled her coat up higher and looked down as she hopped down the short steps one by one.

The night crowd interweaved in the city center. Jiang Qi Huai stood at the brightly lit coffee shop entrance waiting for her to slowly hop down, not saying anything.

At this hour there probably weren’t any more buses or subway trains running. Tao Zhi jumped down the last step and looked up: “How are you getting back?”

“Night bus.”

Tao Zhi blinked: “Does it run all night?”

“Mm,” Jiang Qi Huai walked forward, “until four in the morning.”

Tao Zhi’s eyes blinked rapidly, her intention very obvious.

Jiang Qi Huai turned his head: “Want to ride?”

“I’ve never taken one!” Tao Zhi said immediately, “Is it different from daytime buses? Are there double-deckers? I want to sit on the second floor!”

“There’s no difference, and no second floor,” Jiang Qi Huai mercilessly shattered the girl’s fantasy, “Where do you live?”

Tao Zhi followed his every step: “Just where we met at the convenience store last time. Is there a bus stop there?”

Something as ordinary as this had the girl as excited as if she’d discovered a new world. Jiang Qi Huai found it somewhat amusing: “There is.”

“Then let’s go, quick!” Tao Zhi urged him, eagerly walking ahead, “Is the bus stop up ahead?”

They barely had to wait — the bus arrived just as they reached the stop.

Tao Zhi chose a window seat, with Jiang Qi Huai sitting behind her.

It had been quite a while since she last remembered taking a bus. Later, after Tao Xiu Ping got a driver, Tao Zhi had someone to pick her up and drop her off for school, and when she went out with Song Jiang and others they would always take taxis.

The night bus was different from daytime buses. The carriage was brightly lit but had only a few passengers, moving unhurriedly through the streets as the city’s brilliant night scenery unfolded before their eyes.

Tao Zhi had been peering out the window for quite a while when the person in the back seat knocked his knuckles on the window twice: “You get off at the next stop.”

Tao Zhi came back to her senses and turned around to peer at him over the back of the seat.

Jiang Qi Huai raised an eyebrow.

“That, that that,” Tao Zhi blinked her eyes and said.

“Which that?” Jiang Qi Huai asked, clearly knowing what she meant.

“My phone!” Tao Zhi patted the plastic seat back, “Aren’t you going to return it to me?”

Jiang Qi Huai: “Did you finish memorizing?”

I did finish!!!

Tao Zhi was stuck.

She had said that earlier only because she didn’t want to leave at that moment, the words coming out before she even realized it herself, naturally without considering the phone situation.

Tao Zhi was in a difficult position now, not knowing what to say.

She couldn’t exactly admit she had been lying earlier.

“Is the result what’s important? The process is what matters, and didn’t I try hard to memorize?” Tao Zhi said indignantly, “Even kindergarten teachers teach little kids about the importance of effort.”

The bus stopped at a red light, then slowly moved forward when the green light came on. As the scenery outside the window started looking familiar, Jiang Qi Huai still hadn’t responded.

Tao Zhi was getting a bit angry and whipped her head back around: “Fine then.”

She could just buy a new one!!!

But her mahjong account was a guest login!!!

She had lost five hundred thousand joy beans!!!

That’s a whole ten yuan!!!

Tao Zhi pressed her forehead against the window glass, listening to the gentle female voice in the bus broadcast announcing the stop name, reminding passengers to move towards the rear door.

Just as Tao Zhi was about to stand up, the person behind her reached forward, holding out a silver phone between his fingers. The bus lights flowed like water across his pale white hand, the bones of his palm sharp, his fingers long and clean.

Tao Zhi was stunned for a moment and turned around.

Seeing she didn’t react, Jiang Qi Huai waved the phone slightly, urging her to take it.

Tao Zhi pouted and, imitating his annoying cold tone from earlier, sulkily said: “I haven’t finished memorizing yet.”

While she was being childishly princess-like, Jiang Qi Huai made as if to withdraw his hand: “Then don’t take it.”

Tao Zhi quickly snatched the phone back from his hand.

With her five hundred thousand joy beans back home, Tao Zhi’s earlier petulance completely vanished. She happily turned on her beloved phone while saying: “Why are you so moody? Did you read that public account article I sent? This is also a sign of antisocial personality disorder with hermit tendencies.”

Typical case of taking advantage and still acting smug.

Jiang Qi Huai watched her lowering her head to fiddle with her phone, happy as a little fool nodding and swaying her head, and pressed down his smile as he said: “A child who has tried their best deserves a little reward.”