ATLAS TRANSLATES

Tao Zhi jumped off the bus, stood at the bus stop for a moment, then walked along the street.

The night bus brushed past her as it continued forward. Two 24-hour convenience stores on either side of the street had their lights on, illuminating the dim road.

Back when her grades were good — she could barely remember when that was now — she probably received praise. Gradually, it seemed to become something taken for granted.

But when Ji Fan occasionally passed a test, Ji Jin would be very happy.

No one had ever told Tao Zhi that just trying hard, even without getting results, was worthy of reward.

For her, everything in reality told her that results were always more important than the process.

Tao Zhi never thought she would get a different answer from Jiang Qi Huai one day.

She also never thought that one day, she would receive a small bit of affirmation for something like this, in this way.

Her heart was still racing in her chest. She placed her hand over it, gently patting as if to comfort a panicked little monster.

Jiang Qi Huai had merely continued with her comment about “how kindergarten teachers teach children the importance of trying hard” — she didn’t know why she felt so flustered.

Just at that moment, that instant, when his clear eyes like colored glass looked at her, her heart beat very fast.

The cold wind swept in to cool her heated thoughts. Tao Zhi took a deep breath of cool air, raised her hand to rub her cheeks again, and her lips uncontrollably curved up bit by bit.

She hummed a tune, skipping home in a good mood.

When she entered the house, Ji Fan was sitting cross-legged on the living room carpet, hugging his phone and calling 110 for the police.

The door lock clicked, and Tao Zhi opened the door and walked in, just hearing Ji Fan’s serious and solemn voice: “Yes, yes, sixteen years old, a girl, it’s been four or five hours since school ended. I suspect she’s been assassinated.”

“What do you mean I’m scaring myself? Absolutely not, Officer. She’s quite annoying usually and has made quite a few enemies.”

Tao Zhi put on her slippers, craning her neck to look into the living room.

Ji Fan’s voice paused as he stared straight at her: “—Sorry Officer, she’s back now. It was a misunderstanding. Thank you for your trouble, wish you success in your career.”

Ji Fan hung up the phone, tossed it aside, and looked at Tao Zhi expressionlessly.

Tao Zhi also looked at him expressionlessly: “What are you doing?”

“Calling the police,” Ji Fan said, “Telling the officers that my sister has been missing for four or five hours, don’t know if she’s still alive.”

Tao Zhi: “…?”

“During this time, no response on WeChat, no reaction on QQ, and when I called, the phone was turned off.” Ji Fan continued.

The young man looked at her with a straight face, though his voice was quite calm.

“Well, my phone was confiscated by Teacher Wang earlier and has been off since then,” Tao Zhi couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. She threw her backpack on the other sofa and reached for the coconut milk on the coffee table. “Besides, I told Uncle Gu after school that I was going to study with a classmate and would come back later.”

“I know,” Ji Fan collapsed onto the sofa, “Uncle Gu said it was a boy.”

Tao Zhi’s motion of pulling the can’s tab paused briefly.

Ji Fan crawled over again, looking at her vigilantly: “Did you get another new boyfriend?”

Tao Zhi almost spat out her coconut milk.

“What do you mean ‘another new boyfriend’?” Tao Zhi raised her finger, poked the young man’s forehead pushing him back, shoving him back into the sofa. “I really went to study. You think I’m like you? Not doing anything proper while surrounded by flowers and grass everywhere.”

“Well, I transferred schools and lost everything anyway,” Ji Fan struggled to get up again, suddenly looking at her seriously, “Zhi Zhi, don’t like men anymore, men are all no good.”

Tao Zhi: “…”

Tao Zhi didn’t know what had gotten into her brother suddenly.

“The best man I’ve ever seen in my life was Comrade Tao, and didn’t he just up and separate from mom?” Ji Fan said carelessly, “Men always have something more important than love in their hearts.”

This was the first time Ji Fan had mentioned this matter.

He’d been back for a week but hadn’t asked about Tao Xiu Ping, and Tao Zhi hadn’t mentioned Ji Jin either.

Twins probably do have some telepathy between them, although her rapport with Ji Fan had always been embarrassingly low since childhood. The young man glanced at her and said, “Mom’s doing well now. She said she’s been a bit busy lately but will find time to come see you in a few days.”

Come see you in a few days.

It sounded like something you’d say politely to a relative’s child.

Tao Zhi’s fingers holding the coconut milk can tightened slightly, then she put the can on the coffee table, lowered her eyes and stood up, grabbing her backpack: “Tired, got up too early today,” Tao Zhi yawned lazily and said, “Go to bed early, and stop torturing the police for no reason. What you did is called making a false police report, you’ll get arrested for educational correction.”

Ji Fan lay on the sofa making exaggerated faces at her. Tao Zhi pretended not to notice, went upstairs to her bedroom, and closed the door.

She threw her backpack carelessly on the ground, walked to the small sofa at the foot of her bed, and collapsed onto it spread-eagle.

She hadn’t felt it much while busy outside earlier, but now lying quietly alone, she felt tired.

Tao Zhi felt this day had really been full of ups and downs.

She hugged a cushion and took out her phone, opened it to admire her newly recovered 500,000 game tokens, then opened WeChat and sent Jiang Qi Huai a message.

[Zhi Zhi Grape]: Beep beep.

Tao Zhi held her phone up high with both arms, watched the screen light up for a while, then fade to black.

She tossed her phone aside, rolled over, and buried her head in the soft sofa back.

Her mood, inexplicably, seemed a bit better than before.

Tao Zhi was woken up by her alarm.

Soft music faintly came from underneath her body. Tao Zhi, eyes half-closed, groggily reached around for quite a while before pulling her phone out from under her bottom and turning off the alarm.

She tossed the phone aside and was about to go back to sleep.

The weekend morning was completely quiet. Tao Zhi’s throat hurt from sleeping, and her whole body ached. She propped herself up slightly before realizing she had slept on the sofa all night without a blanket.

She hadn’t even changed her clothes.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up, took a moment to recover, then walked barefoot into the bathroom.

The cold marble floor cleared away her sleepiness. She took a shower, changed into loungewear, and walked downstairs feeling somewhat light-headed.

Auntie Zhang was vacuuming. She usually slept in on weekends and hadn’t prepared breakfast yet. Seeing Tao Zhi come down, Auntie Zhang was surprised: “Zhi Zhi, you’re up so early.”

Tao Zhi made an “mm” sound, her voice frighteningly hoarse. Auntie Zhang quickly came over: “What’s wrong, Zhi Zhi, did you catch a cold?”

“Seems like it,” Tao Zhi said nasally.

“Then wait a bit, auntie will make you some porridge, and you can take some medicine after eating.”

She nodded, sniffled, walked to the kitchen, took out a carton of milk from the refrigerator, poured it into a glass and put it in the microwave.

While waiting for the milk, Ji Fan came downstairs swaying.

The young man entered the kitchen with dark circles under his eyes to get water, looking quite energetic: “Why are you up so early?”

Tao Zhi glanced at him, her throat too sore to want to talk.

Ji Fan looked at her curiously: “You look so tired, did you also stay up all night gaming?”

The microwave dinged, and Tao Zhi turned around, took the milk and went upstairs.

Completely ignored, Ji Fan yawned and looked at Auntie Zhang who had walked into the kitchen: “What’s wrong with her?”

“She has a bit of a cold,” Auntie Zhang said while washing the pot, “I’ll make some porridge and medicine for her later and bring it up. We’ll eat lighter food these days.”

Ji Fan nodded and raised his hand: “I’ll take it to her.”

Tao Zhi’s illness lasted several days.

She’d thought it was just from the seasonal change and sleeping without a blanket, but the next evening she developed a high fever.

Uncle Gu took her to the hospital late at night and found a family doctor to give her an IV drip before her temperature finally came down.

She rested at home for several days, with Ji Fan acting as her servant during that time.

In the bedroom, Tao Zhi curled up weakly under the blanket, looking disgustedly at the bowl of white porridge on the small tray: “It’s too hot.”

Ji Fan scooped up a spoonful and blew on it for her.

“It’s cold now,” Tao Zhi complained, “Why don’t you put it in the fridge and then give it to me to drink?”

Ji Fan: “…”

“Right now I only have eight words in my mind — endure humiliation and return kindness with virtue,” Ji Fan put down the spoon and said, “Do you remember when I had a high fever as a child, how did you treat me?”

Tao Zhi said hoarsely: “I took care of you attentively?”

“You were afraid I’d infect you and made me wear five masks,” Ji Fan said while scooping porridge, “Almost suffocated your young master to death.”

“…”

Tao Zhi wanted to laugh a little: “Well, I was young then. Did you ask for leave from school for me?”

“Yes,” Ji Fan said, “Teacher Wang Wrinkles didn’t believe me and called Old Tao to confirm. This school is too weird, why do they care even about those who don’t study? Now that Teacher Wang Two can’t catch you, he’s started torturing me, making me go to the blackboard to solve problems every day.”

Ji Fan sighed resentfully: “Can you get better in these two days? Come back quickly and help me share some of the fire.”

Tao Zhi didn’t speak, just looked at him.

The young man was talking nonsense while carefully stirring the porridge with a spoon, his eyelashes lowered behind the steamy mist, looking unusually quiet.

“Ji Fan,” Tao Zhi suddenly called out to him.

Ji Fan didn’t look up: “Mm?”

Tao Zhi asked him: “Will you leave again this time?”

Ji Fan paused, looked up, and smiled somewhat mockingly: “Who knows, is it up to me?”

“Don’t go,” Tao Zhi said softly with half her face hidden in the blanket, “Sister wants to watch our A Fan grow up.”

She had never said such things before. The young man’s ears instantly turned bright red. He put the porridge bowl back on the tray and looked away awkwardly: “Someone who’s only a few dozen minutes older than me shouldn’t act like an adult. Hurry up and drink your porridge! Otherwise I really will put it in the fridge!”

Tao Zhi lay at home for several more days before fully recovering, then went to school with Ji Fan on Friday.

First Experimental High School’s first monthly exam was scheduled for the last two days before the National Day holiday. Tao Zhi had missed a week of classes, and when she returned to school, the exam seating arrangements were already posted.

The exam rooms were assigned based on last semester’s final exam scores. Class One students were mostly in the front exam rooms. Tao Zhi had basically slept through last semester’s exams and was in the last exam room. Jiang Qi Huai and Ji Fan were transfer students without scores, so they were in the same exam room.

Only three people from their entire class were in the last exam room, which seemed quite out of place in this environment full of good students.

Li Shuang Jiang opened his arms wide as soon as he saw her: “Boss! Long time no see, you’ve gotten even prettier.”

Tao Zhi raised her hand and slapped his back hard.

Li Shuang Jiang lurched forward a step from the impact, clutching his chest and coughing: “Our boss is still so energetic, I’m relieved. You don’t know how Fan brother has been tortured by the Wang twins while you were gone this week.”

Ji Fan sat in the back, waving his hand weakly: “I get tortured at school by them and then go home to be tortured by this patient. Our Zhi Zhi gets a fever and becomes a princess — if she wanted a star, your young master would have to climb up to heaven to get it for her.”

Hearing this, Li Shuang Jiang ran to the last row to give Ji Fan a hug, offering heartfelt comfort from a good brother.

Li Shuang Jiang: “Fan brother, you’re a real man.”

Ji Fan: “Old Li, only you understand me.”

The two boys hugged emotionally while next to them sat a natural freezer, not even glancing their way, releasing cold air completely unaffected.

Tao Zhi looked at him once.

Her last conversation with Jiang Qi Huai had ended with that succinct “1”. While she was at home, she hadn’t been idle, chatting enthusiastically with Li Shuang Jiang and Fu Xi Ling in the Pretty Girl Justice League, but he hadn’t said a word in there.

After hugging and grossing each other out for a while, Li Shuang Jiang finally let go and asked Jiang Qi Huai: “By the way, Brother Huai, you’re not coming for the monthly exam tomorrow?”

Jiang Qi Huai responded with a sound: “Mm.”

Tao Zhi was stunned: “You can skip exams so openly?”

“Brother Huai has that competition, right? The times conflict. Teacher Wang Wrinkles said to let him come to school in the evening to make up the morning exam, I think,” Li Shuang Jiang said.

Tao Zhi was somewhat incredulous.

There would actually be someone who could escape an exam but deliberately wouldn’t, insisting on coming back in the evening to make it up.

Just had to show off like this.

This must also be part of being a top student.

Ji Fan, who had lost to Jiang Qi Huai in a fight hundreds of years ago, would become particularly petty when it came to matters involving him, not missing any opportunity to pick fights. He said from the side, though it wasn’t clear who he was mocking: “You think everyone’s like you, who would stop at 300 points when they could get 301. Top students have to fight for every single point, understand?”

Tao Zhi rolled her eyes: “If you could openly skip an exam, would you skip it?”

“That’s different,” Ji Fan said matter-of-factly, “Of course I would skip it.”

Tao Zhi: “…”

After splitting into arts and science tracks, monthly exams only took one day. The morning was Chinese and English, the afternoon was math and science comprehensive. The exam start time was later than usual school time, beginning at eight o’clock.

Tao Zhi and Ji Fan arrived at the classroom early. The atmosphere in the last exam room was similar in any school. After being tortured for half a month in Class One’s harsh environment, Ji Fan was finally back in familiar territory, chatting animatedly with the poor students in front, behind, and beside him.

Tao Zhi looked around according to the seat numbers. Her seat was in the second to last row near the middle, with Ji Fan several people behind her, and an empty desk behind Ji Fan that should be Jiang Qi Huai’s seat.

Before exam time, half the seats in the classroom were empty, with many people not yet arrived.

One proctor sat in front playing with their phone, the other hadn’t arrived yet. Tao Zhi took out a pen and answer sheet marker from her empty backpack, then pulled out a blank piece of paper.

“Students who are here, don’t make loud noise. Those who need to hand in their phones, hand them in. That boy in the back, stop chatting. I’ve been watching you jumping around talking all morning, are you a social butterfly?”

Tao Zhi took out her phone from her school uniform pocket and unlocked it. Just as she was about to turn it off, she thought for a moment and opened WeChat first, planning to send some precious well-wishes to someone who had rewarded her before.

[Zhi Zhi Grape]: I’m worried yesterday’s wishes were too early, and encouragement after the bell rings would be too late. Since the proctor will confiscate phones, I’m sending you my most sincere wishes just before that moment arrives. May your competition results stand out like a golden rooster, towering above the rest.

Jiang Qi Huai’s competition probably hadn’t started either. Within two minutes, Tao Zhi’s phone vibrated once.

[Pretty Boy Boss Jiang Qi Huai]: Look at the idioms you’re using, then worry about your own Chinese exam.

Still as harsh as ever.

Tao Zhi pouted and continued typing.

[Zhi Zhi Grape]: Worry about yourself, Your Highness. This princess is naturally well-prepared.

After sending that line, she remembered the previous misunderstanding caused by this form of address. Her mind went blank, not knowing exactly what she was feeling nervous about, and quickly rushed to explain.

[Zhi Zhi Grape]: When I say “this princess,” I mean it as an actual princess! That’s how princesses refer to themselves! I hope your thoughts aren’t so shallow.

She was about to educate him that actually, “Your Highness” could also refer to a princess. Her previous matter about Concubine Li Su was just her mind wandering.

Actually, we’re just good sisters from different parents.

I absolutely have no other improper intentions.

Yes, that makes perfect sense.

Tao Zhi’s fingertip tapped her phone screen, lighting it up. Just as she was about to continue typing, her phone vibrated gently in her hand again, interrupting her action.

Tao Zhi’s gaze moved upward to look.

[Pretty Boy Boss Jiang Qi Huai]: Mm, then do well on your exam, Princess.