ATLAS TRANSLATES

Tao Zhi let out all the air she’d been holding in her puffed cheeks, somewhat stunned.

She thought she had been direct enough, but didn’t expect Jiang Qi Huai to be even more straightforward, asking without any beating around the bush.

Though she had been quite obvious lately.

But his direct question still caught her off guard.

Tao Zhi held her breath, suddenly lifting her lowered head to look at him under the streetlight.

The next second, she jumped like the cat that had just scurried away from the corner, taking two steps back until her back pressed against the cold wall, her dark eyes wide as she stared at him.

Jiang Qi Huai hadn’t asked “Do you want to be my girlfriend?” but rather “Do you like me?”

It was a question she could answer in two ways.

If she said yes, then Jiang Qi Huai also had two possible responses.

Either “I like you too” or “I don’t like you, please don’t trouble me and stop liking me.”

Tao Zhi already had a rough idea which answer was more likely, but she didn’t particularly want to admit she might be rejected.

But she also didn’t want to deny that she liked him.

At least for now, she really liked this person in her heart, and even if it was just saying it out loud to deceive someone, Tao Zhi didn’t want to deny this fact.

Liking someone was just liking someone.

She frowned as she looked at him, wracking her brain for a long time before finally speaking with difficulty: “That’s hard to say.”

“…”

Jiang Qi Huai’s voice was calm: “How is it hard to say?”

“It just is, hard to say,” Tao Zhi’s finger pressed against the wall, anxiously picking at the paint as she stammered, “I need to think about it, I’ll give you an answer in a few days.”

Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

One simple question, and she had instantly turned the tables. The emotions he’d been holding in were pushed back by her deflection. Jiang Qi Huai felt both annoyed and amused. He calmly took a slow step forward: “Whether you like me or not is something you need to think about?”

Tao Zhi watched him, nervously licking her lips.

He took another step forward: “You only start considering it when I ask?”

The alley was already narrow, just wide enough for two or three people. Tao Zhi pressed against the wall, watching him approach step by step, his long shadow completely enveloping her.

Jiang Qi Huai trapped her between the wall and his body, leaning down to look at her, his breath surrounding her: “What did you come here for today? To show off your senior tutor to me?”

The young man’s breath was warm, forming a stark contrast with the cold air outside. At such close distance, his voice was right by her ear, warm breaths falling on her earlobe. Tao Zhi’s breathing became uneven, her fingertips tingling as her brain started to short-circuit.

No.

I came for a hug.

Tao Zhi lowered her eyelids, her heart beating fast and hard, so loud she could hear it pounding in her ears. Suddenly, she moved, taking half a step forward.

Jiang Qi Huai was still maintaining his position of leaning down towards her when Tao Zhi suddenly raised her arms, wrapping them around his neck as she moved closer.

Her soft body pressed against him through their coats, her forehead resting on his shoulder as she gave him a gentle hug.

The sweet scent of shampoo from her hair lingered at his nose.

Jiang Qi Huai froze in place.

Tao Zhi nuzzled her head against his shoulder, burying her face there as she said softly: “This is what I came for.”

After saying this, she instantly released her arms to create distance again, slipping through the gap between him and the wall to bounce away, running off without looking back.

One end of the alley was dim yellow, the other end was brightly lit night.

Her silhouette cut through the darkness, like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight, hurriedly fleeing against the light.

Jiang Qi Huai stood there for a long time, until Tao Zhi’s shadow had completely disappeared from view.

He raised his arm, fingers touching the bare skin of his nape where her fingers had been, gently rubbing the spot.

Her fingers had just been there, ice-cold, with a gentle pressure that had seeped through his skin and lingered in his body.

When Tao Zhi fled home, her family had just finished dinner. Tao Xiu Ping sat on the couch with his laptop handling work emails, while Ji Fan lay sprawled on the couch reading a manga.

Tao Zhi took off her bag and coat, tossing them aside before walking into the living room in her slippers. As soon as she looked up, she saw both father and son staring at her.

Ji Fan’s eyes peeked over his manga, while Tao Xiu Ping looked at her over the top of his gold-rimmed glasses, head slightly lowered.

Ji Fan: “Where did you go?”

Tao Xiu Ping: “Not even coming home for dinner?”

“…”

Tao Zhi scratched her nose somewhat guiltily, casually saying: “I went to eat with Ji Shi Yu.”

“Oh, that’s fine then.” Ji Fan relaxed and went back to reading his manga.

Tao Xiu Ping could tell at a glance she was lying but didn’t say anything, just pushed up his glasses and continued working.

Tao Zhi sighed in relief, walked over to throw her schoolbag on the couch, and sat down next to Ji Fan, pulling out a practice book.

She bent her legs to rest on the couch, placing the practice book on her legs to read.

Tao Xiu Ping typed away, not looking up as he asked casually: “That boy you like, what was his name again?”

Ji Fan’s eyes stayed on his manga as he flipped a page, lazily saying: “Little beast.”

Tao Zhi raised her hand and slapped his head.

Ji Fan yelped “Ow!” and covered his head: “Jiang Qi Huai! There, happy now?”

Tao Xiu Ping nodded approvingly: “Surname Jiang? Not a bad name.”

“Mainly because his dad had a good surname,” Ji Fan pursed his lips and said, “Look at our family here, with a fruit for a surname.”

Tao Zhi’s writing pen paused as his words reminded her of what happened in the kitchen that afternoon.

Jiang Qi Huai was allergic to peaches.

And her surname was Tao (peach).

It was as if fate had determined they weren’t meant to be compatible.

Why did she have to have the surname Tao?

Couldn’t she have had a surname like Li (pear) or Xing (apricot) or even Putao (grape)?

Tao Zhi frowned, feeling unhappy. She looked up at Tao Xiu Ping: “Dad.”

Tao Xiu Ping looked up: “Hmm?”

“I don’t want to be called Tao Zhi anymore.” Tao Zhi looked at him seriously.

“What do you want to be called?” Tao Xiu Ping respected her wishes and asked, “Tao Xiao Zhi? Tao Mei Mei? How about Tao Da Pang? You were quite chubby when you were little.”

“The name doesn’t matter, anything will do,” Tao Zhi sighed somewhat melancholically, “I mainly just don’t want the surname Tao.”

Tao Xiu Ping nodded: “You mainly just don’t want the surname Tao, I see you want to reach for the sky.”

“You can take the surname Ji and be called Ji Shang Tian (Reaching Sky),” Ji Fan said, “We can isolate old Tao.”

“Alright, you two, never ending is it?” Tao Xiu Ping glanced at him, then looked at Tao Zhi, “Tell Dad, why suddenly don’t want this name? Did someone say your name wasn’t nice?”

“No one said anything,” Tao Zhi didn’t want to admit it was for such a childish reason, “I just suddenly don’t want the surname Tao.”

“She just suddenly wants to reach for the sky.” Ji Fan said excitedly.

Tao Zhi grabbed a sofa cushion and shoved it in his face.

Ji Fan struggled to pull the cushion away.

Tao Xiu Ping put his laptop aside and bent to pick up his teacup from the coffee table, taking a sip: “Our princess has had many interesting ideas lately.”

“Girls in unrequited love are like this, can’t help it.” Ji Fan said, hugging the cushion.

Tao Xiu Ping sighed: “In a few days, Dad won’t be the most handsome man in the world anymore.”

Ji Fan: “Soon she’ll start favoring outsiders over family.”

“A grown daughter can’t be kept.” Tao Xiu Ping said.

“Can’t keep her even if you try.” Ji Fan said languidly.

“…”

Tao Zhi didn’t want to listen to these two performing their back-and-forth routine. Her mind was also in chaos and she couldn’t focus on studying, so she took her practice book upstairs to her room.

The bedroom was quiet. Tao Zhi stood by the bed holding her practice book, then fell forward stiffly with a muffled thud onto the bed.

She buried her head in the blanket, hugging the corner and nuzzling it.

Tao Zhi suddenly felt some regret that she had been too cowardly earlier, missing a great opportunity to confess to Jiang Qi Huai.

But Tao Zhi also didn’t want to confess so rashly and then be rejected.

She needed to think of a way to make it so that even if Jiang Qi Huai didn’t agree, he wouldn’t be able to say the words of rejection.

For several days in a row, Tao Zhi didn’t bring up this matter.

Zhao Ming Qi had been particularly active lately. Usually when he went out to play, chat, or play ball, it was considered slacking off and only knowing how to play, but with the sports meet approaching, he now had reasons for everything he did. Playing ball was for building strength and preparing for upcoming sports events, chatting was for earnestly persuading classmates to sign up for competitions.

Class 1 students all had impressive academic achievements, but were generally mediocre when it came to sports and various extracurricular activities. Except for a few boys, everyone else showed little interest. Zhao Ming Qi had to use both treats and persuasion, finally managing to gather enough people for all events and submit the registration form to the PE teacher.

Tao Zhi also signed up for two events under his persistent coaxing.

The sports meet was in mid-November. Because the school’s outdoor stadium was being expanded, they temporarily borrowed the venue from the neighboring Capital Second Medical University.

The day before, Tao Zhi checked the map and found that this university wasn’t far from Jiang Qi Huai’s home. If she came from her house, she could pass by his place.

The next day, she got up early, finished washing up and directly woke up Ji Fan and Tao Xiu Ping, leaving half an hour earlier than usual.

Father and son yawned one after another, while she sat in the back energetically, her bag full of snacks, nervously pressing her lips together.

The car drove onto the street where Jiang Qi Huai lived.

Tao Zhi’s eyes brightened as she sat up straight, patting the driver’s seat: “Dad, stop the car.”

Tao Xiu Ping smoothly pulled over to the side and stopped, turning his head: “What’s wrong? Forgot something?”

“No, I’m going to find my classmate,” Tao Zhi opened the car door and got out, then turned back, “You guys go ahead, I’ll go with my classmate later!”

Before Tao Xiu Ping could say anything, the little girl had already run to the sidewalk ahead with her small backpack. The light was green, and she bounced across the road, then ran straight ahead until she disappeared from sight.

Tao Xiu Ping turned back to look at Ji Fan: “What’s up with this kid?”

Ji Fan yawned, making faces as he said: “What else could it be? Gone to find you-know-who.”

The early morning of late autumn was heavy with frost and dew, the weather gloomy with clouds covering the sun.

Tao Zhi ran all the way to the alley in front of Jiang Qi Huai’s house, stopped, bent over with hands on her knees, catching her breath in small gasps.

Her heart was beating fast, whether from running all that way or for some other reason.

Tao Zhi stood at the entrance of the alley, straightened up and leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath to regulate her breathing.

The street had lost its nighttime bustle, the entire street empty, with daylight pouring over the alley, illuminating the dim, long path.

Tao Zhi rubbed her cold, stiff fingers and stood inside waiting for a while.

After about ten minutes, a figure emerged from the end.

He walked forward wrapped in mist, until they were separated by several meters, when his footsteps paused.

Tao Zhi raised her head to look, through the morning mist, she gazed at his shadowy figure.

Jiang Qi Huai walked forward slowly.

Tao Zhi stood in place, watching him come closer and closer, her heart starting to race again, her salivary glands suddenly becoming active, until he walked right up to her.

He seemed to have just showered, his hair tips slightly damp from not being fully dried, carrying a faint trace of shower gel.

Tao Zhi swallowed, looked up at him once, then lowered her head: “I’ve thought about it, I like you.”

“I really like you.”

Her voice collided with the cold air as it reached his ears.

Tao Zhi’s toes scuffed the cement ground, her fingers tightly gripping her coat sleeves, whether from cold or nervousness, she felt even her voice was trembling.

He was such an outstanding person.

Good grades, seemingly good at sports too, and the best looking in the whole world.

His only flaw was that his personality was a bit sharp.

But that was okay, she had a good personality, she could make up for this minor imperfection of his, the only problem was—

Tao Zhi kept her eyes down, suddenly feeling a bit of unprecedented self-doubt welling up in her heart. She felt stifled, her mood like the weather, unable to see the sun.

She said very quietly: “But I can’t score 700 points right now.”

Jiang Qi Huai looked at her.

The little girl’s nose was red, her long eyelashes lowered and trembling, looking both dejected and sad.

Making one want to pat her head again.

He stood with his hands down, not moving, only asking: “So?”

“So,” Tao Zhi licked her lips, gathering courage to raise her head and look at him, blinking as she tentatively said, “can you let me take the test a few more times?”