ATLAS TRANSLATES

I cried like a fool, hiding in Fu Junyan’s arms. On my left ring finger was a large diamond. I stared blankly at the rouge box in Fu Junyan’s hand as he hugged me back to the hotel in a daze.

When we opened the door, the room was different from when I left. From the hallway, pink and red roses formed a path on the floor. At the bedroom door, rose petals were arranged in a heart shape, with a bouquet of roses and a cake in the center. Looking up, the ceiling was full of light blue, white, and pink heart-shaped balloons. It was romantic and warm, like a dream world.

I stood there looking dumb, laughing and crying. I don’t know what expectations others have for their love and marriage. But for me, Fu Junyan is all my dreams and hopes. He’s too good, too perfect. I think everything he does is right, and I’m willing to believe in him. Most importantly, this trust isn’t because I blindly love him, but because of his inherent purity. Even his occasional childishness feels like a blessing to me.

Our progression from meeting to understanding, from understanding to dating, and from dating to loving each other was so natural. I love him not because of his stunning looks or steady temperament. Perhaps it’s because someone like him can ignore others’ views and play with An’an and Xiao Qi in the slide. Or maybe it’s because early on, when An’an looked at him expectantly with his chubby little face and said, “Big brother, I want to roll on you,” this calm and refined man simply nodded without hesitation and lay on the carpet, letting An’an and Xiao Qi play all over him. Or perhaps it’s just his gentle and sincere gaze, how he first reached out to me so warmly.

By now, my face was covered in tears. I never imagined Fu Junyan would propose to me like this. It seemed so natural that I always thought if he just said, “Darling, let’s get married,” I would happily follow him with my ID. We both knew that Gu Baobei’s person and heart belonged to Fu Junyan, so he didn’t need to make such a fuss. But he did it anyway. He gave me a perfect proposal, a surprise. He considered my dreams as a woman, that part of vanity that can never be forgotten…

I choked up as I looked at Fu Junyan, who was still holding me and wiping my tears. I said, “Fu Junyan, let me be for a moment. I just want to cry…” He looked at me helplessly, glancing around the romantic room. He moved his lips but didn’t speak, just patted my head and led me to sit on the sofa. Then he got his computer and documents from the room and quietly worked beside me, breathing silently.

I tried to calm myself down and finally brought out my own laptop from the room. For the first time in a long while, I bravely opened my computer to check my news. As I read, my tumultuous emotions actually settled down a bit.

Occasionally, when I saw some ridiculous reports about Fu Junyan and me, I couldn’t help but laugh. At these times, there were still tears in my eyes, but I was smiling. Fu Junyan would pause his work to pat my back, shaking his head and lamenting, “Oh no, my darling has gone crazy with excitement…”

I elbowed him and wrinkled my nose disdainfully, saying, “Go away… I’m not over it yet!” Fu Junyan sighed helplessly, his gaze falling on the ring on my right ring finger, his eyes full of satisfaction and joy. He just shrugged casually.

Modern technology has advanced to the point where everyone has the potential to be a paparazzi. There was an article titled: “Fu Junyan and Gu Baobei’s Romance Surfaces, Young Master Tenderly Protects His Flower at the Airport.” It included a photo of me sleeping curled up in a blanket, with Fu Junyan turning his face to gaze at me tenderly, overflowing with affection. Even I thought it looked like we were having an affair… The news revealed that according to a flight attendant on that day’s flight, Baobei slept tiredly the whole way, while the young master was gentle and attentive, feeding her and covering her with a blanket, winning the goddess’s heart. Baobei also leaned close to the young master the entire time, like a little bird depending on him…

There was also “Fu Junyan and Gu Baobei: Collaboration or Romance?” The conclusion was that Fu Junyan and I were just work partners, purely big brother love for a little sister. When I saw which newspaper published it, I was embarrassed – it was clearly a newspaper acquired by the Xiao Group. After arriving in Suzhou, Fu Junyan and I were in the headlines almost every day. But whenever news or rumors about us came out, denials would appear, followed by numerous “insiders” muddying the waters… And the newspapers that kept publishing denials and clarifications were all under the Xiao Group, as well as newspapers under the Mo Group. I was stunned – turns out the “insiders” were my father and cousin! And my father still talked to Fu Junyan on the phone every day? How sneaky!

After carefully reading all the reports about us, the one that caught my attention most was a news article titled “Fu Junyan and Gu Baobei’s Sweet Tour of Pingjiang Road”. Because below this news item was written “Shocking: Ji Jie’er Travels to Thailand with N Rich Men”.

So I was embarrassed and pushed Fu Junyan beside me, bringing the laptop over and pointing at the two news items above and below, asking, “Doesn’t this make us look weak? They’re touring foreign countries, while we…” I raised my eyebrows at him knowingly.

But Fu Junyan looked and completely ignored the gossip about Ji Jie’er. Instead, he opened the news about us on Pingjiang Road, casually browsing the photos of us that were secretly taken, occasionally right-clicking to save a few. Then he said almost nonchalantly, “We’re patriotic.”

I couldn’t help but retort, “Why don’t you say we’re tirelessly promoting Suzhou?”

Fu Junyan heard this and actually looked at me silently for a moment, then nodded seriously and smiled, warm as the sun. He said, “That’s true too.” I pouted and silently hugged my computer back…

Then I heard Fu Junyan pick up his documents again, flipping through them quickly while turning his face slightly to say softly to me, “Darling, save the good photos you see. We’ll print them out another day.”

I was dumbfounded. Then I saw him glance at the photos of us taken by paparazzi or passersby in the report, saying gently, “Look how nice, there’s always someone to preserve our memories for us.” As he spoke, he signed his name stylishly on the document in his hand, the sound of the pen smooth and pleasant.

But I couldn’t help thinking, how smart is this man? In the entertainment industry, which celebrity doesn’t find paparazzi annoying? Which celebrity doesn’t get angry when secretly photographed? Only he would teach me to live life with a normal mindset. He would tell me, ‘Don’t pretend, don’t hide. People who live life earnestly will only receive tolerance and care.’ And now he’s even extracting surplus value!! Can you imagine all the people on the street taking photos of us with their phones and cameras are our free photographers? I’m going crazy!

Following Fu Junyan’s words, I actually found many candid photos of us that were taken very well. Among them was a photo that I think must have been taken when I first met Fu Junyan. It was on a small hill outside the “Regretful Love” film set. I was holding An’an in my arms, the little dumpling hugging my neck, both of us looking ahead with big eyes. In front of us, Xiao Qi’s tongue was out, its white fur blown by the wind covering one eye as it ran energetically towards us. Fu Junyan was walking beside Xiao Qi, holding a bottle of milk he had just prepared for An’an. He was looking in our direction, slowly walking towards us, and on his exquisite face, his smile was sincere and warm, as warm as spring sunshine.

I saw a comment below from the photographer ‘FatTeapot’ saying: “At that time I was traveling in Italy, and they hadn’t officially debuted yet. I happened to see this scene and thought it was just a family, feeling it was so warm and beautiful that I took a photo. Later when they debuted, I recognized them at once. Since then, I’ve only had one wish – I hope they can become a couple, I hope Fu Junyan and Gu Baobei can end up together.”

Reading this, I was once again moved to tears, and also recalled many things. I remembered the first time Fu Junyan and I parted after meeting, when I couldn’t find a way to contact him and realized how good this man was. And I, without realizing it, had started to depend on him, to miss him. So, having no other option, I could only write on Weibo “An’an says he misses Xiao Qi… So, does Xiao Qi miss An’an?”

Afterwards, he actually updated his Weibo too, attaching a photo of Xiao Qi and replying to me: “Xiao Qi misses An’an very much…”

Finally, I looked at the large diamond on my ring finger. I thought for a moment, and finally logged into my Weibo. After our relationship was exposed, I posted on Weibo for the first time. I @-ed Fu Junyan and wrote a poem:

“Willing to entrust spring feelings to falling flowers, Following the wind gently flying to the ends of the earth. If you can decipher the phoenix’s words, The woman should return to sell wine at home.”

Then I took a breath and elbowed the seriously working Fu Junyan beside me. I said shyly, “Fu Junyan, can you stop for a moment and go on Weibo?”

He turned his face to look at me quizzically, putting down his documents and reaching out to take my computer. But I shook my head, hugging the laptop protectively and shaking my head, pouting, “Use your own…”

Seeing my mysterious look, Fu Junyan really withdrew his hand. He just chuckled and pinched my cheek, good-naturedly not saying much as he got up to fetch his computer that he had set aside. Soon, Fu Junyan came back with his computer. He sat down cross-legged like me, the sofa sinking slightly under his weight. I secretly peeked at him starting up his computer, my heart beginning to pound.

My fans were already in an uproar. Sea Treasure complained: “Goddess, we want to know the truth! How can you be so into character, posting ancient poems to stimulate us in broad daylight! We can’t understand…”

“Our pufferfish princess, let’s not talk literature. Tell us what’s going on between you and the young master. I’ve been anxious every day…”

“Pufferfish, if you’re with the young master, what about our Master Dingyue? Protest! Protest!”

“We demand the truth!”

“Same here, same here!”

“Goddess, if you accept Junyan, what about us? We don’t want the truth! Don’t want the truth…”

“Pufferfish, aren’t you a couple with Brother Shuang?” I rubbed my nose, thinking how diverse people’s tastes are…

I heard Fu Junyan typing on the keyboard, his breath so close, but I buried my face and didn’t dare look at him. Soon, there was a crisp ding. I opened the page and saw Fu Junyan’s reply to me. He replied with a poem, saying: “The beautiful Wenjun at the wine shop, Not failing the zither’s heart, rushing to the ends of the earth. Carrying books everywhere to seek a kindred spirit, You must pity that I still have no home.”

I smiled, finally turning to look at his solemn expression as he stared at the screen. At this moment, his body was ramrod straight, and he still hadn’t turned to look at me. Finding it a bit funny, I put the laptop aside and reached out to cup his face, saying, “Fu Junyan, you weren’t this nervous when you proposed today. Why do you seem more nervous now? Is your reaction time even longer than mine?”

He nuzzled my palm with his face, sighed and said a bit pitifully, “Because my silly darling only cried and didn’t tell me she was willing…”

I pinched his ear and pretended to be angry, saying, “You knew I would go with you no matter what, why did you make it so easy to cry? Hmph!”

“Silly child, this is my responsibility. I need to tell everyone that I will be responsible for you, that I will be responsible for you.” He smiled, also cupping my face and gently pinching it, saying, “Mm, finally not crying. Now answer me quickly, say you’ll marry me, that you’re willing to marry me.” As he spoke, he looked at me very innocently, his eyes clear and bright, his long dense eyelashes blinking.

I turned my head and gently bit his slender finger, smiling and saying, “Mm, you’ll marry me, you’re willing to marry me.”

Fu Junyan sighed helplessly, chuckling as he ruffled my hair, muttering, “Mm, how did my silly pufferfish get so clever?”

“No I haven’t! I’m not clever at all!” I puffed out my cheeks and shook my head, shaking Fu Junyan’s arm coquettishly.

“Mm, my silly pufferfish is the silliest…” he laughed softly, pinching my nose.

I smiled, nodding with puffed cheeks. I let go of his face and tugged at him, lying down on his lap. Finding a comfortable position, I hugged his waist and gently tugged at the hem of his shirt, saying, “Fu Junyan, listen carefully! I say, I’m willing to marry you.”

He made an “Mm” sound, looking down at me, his long eyelashes and eyes as bright as an eternal night, his aura as noble as jade. He slowly said in a gentle voice, “I know, I just wanted to hear you say it yourself.” Then he smiled at me slowly, so radiant it could outshine the spring sunshine.

A few minutes later, sharp-eyed netizens noticed something odd about my and Fu Junyan’s Weibo posts. They discovered that the poem I sent to Fu Junyan was an acrostic poem, saying: “Willing to go with you.” And Fu Junyan’s reply to me was: “Will not fail you.” The fans exploded, and in the end, they all unified in posting just three words: “We demand truth!”

Then Fu Junyan took out his phone. He took a photo of our hands clasped together and uploaded it to Weibo. Below it he wrote: “I proposed to her, she said yes.” Ten simple words revealed everything. In an instant, those two Weibo posts of ours were reposted over 2 million times within two minutes. According to Fu Junyan, ‘With so many people witnessing, darling, you can’t run away now…’

And I secretly laughed in my heart, because I had never thought of running away…

When Wan Qing received the offer from Director Huai’an at that time, she was so excited that she got the date of the “Ice Dance Miracle” finals wrong. So according to the original plan, after wrapping up the promotional video, Fu Junyan and I were supposed to fly directly from Suzhou to XJ together. But now due to the schedule conflict with the competition, I could only delay joining the crew by a week. Director Huai’an’s side didn’t say much, they were also understanding, but he told me that while the crew could wait, he hoped there wouldn’t be a next time. After the competition ended, I must join the crew on the agreed date.

But somehow Fu Junyan managed to delay his start date as well, so we really were becoming a couple’s shop…

In “Ice Dance Miracle”, Shuang was undoubtedly the best ice dancer. After not seeing each other for some days, as soon as Shuang saw me while waiting backstage, she came running over. She called out my name right away: “Gu Baobei! Gu Baobei!” Then she hurriedly pulled me into an empty makeup room and immediately shouted: “You, Gu Baobei! You don’t answer my calls, you don’t reply when I @ you on Weibo. You’re dating, not committing a crime, what are you hiding for? Don’t you know my Weibo gets bombarded every day? Do you know what they’re asking for?”

I shook my head, completely unable to handle her. Shuang also shook her head, crossing her arms. She pulled me to sit down in a chair before saying: “They’re complaining! Saying I take so many photos of you, how come I haven’t captured any behind-the-scenes shots! Where am I supposed to get photos of you and Fu Junyan together?”

I was stunned by her outburst, rubbing my nose and saying softly, “He’ll come pick me up after the competition, you can take photos then.”

When she heard this, she grinned, showing all her white teeth, and tugged my braid saying, “Such a good girl! Gu Pufferfish!”

I glared at her, and she kept smiling. Then she put on a serious face and asked me, “Tell me! I can understand if you’re too scared to go online, but why didn’t you answer my calls?”

I shook my head and sighed, answering, “Haven’t you seen the news? It was on TV and in the newspapers too! How did they put it… ‘SZ citizens rush to Pingjiang River to salvage treasure.’”

As soon as I said this, Shuang burst out laughing. She grinned and asked me, “So the gossip in the Apple Daily was true?”

I nodded, answering very conflicted, “Yes, they finally got something right for once. My phone fell into the Pingjiang River while we were on a boat ride, and Fu Junyan and I just left without trying to rescue it. The boatman probably told some fans who had noticed us on Pingjiang Road, and when the fans heard their favorite celebrity’s phone had fallen into the river, of course they were interested and started trying to salvage it. As they kept trying, word spread, and it turned into a story about treasure in the Pingjiang River, causing a commotion. Fu Junyan said, isn’t this just how people are? If one person stands at a street corner looking up at the sky, later people will all think there’s something in the sky and start looking up too. Actually, they don’t know what the first person was looking at, they’re just blindly following the trend… Then as they keep looking, everyone imagines countless reasons, not knowing that the first person was just stretching their neck because it hurt…”

Shuang roared with laughter after hearing this. After a while, she asked, “How come you didn’t even try to get the phone back before leaving?”

Remembering Fu Junyan’s words about ‘marking the boat to find a sword’, I felt embarrassed and obediently answered, “Fu Junyan said, not to mention how difficult it would be, even if we fished out the phone it would most likely be ruined anyway. So, we should just let it go when we need to let go.”

Shuang pondered this and nodded, then pointed at her own phone and asked me, “Then how do I contact you?”

I held up my handbag, smiling as I said, “I bought a new phone as soon as we got off the plane. My number hasn’t changed.”

She nodded when she heard this, patting my shoulder briskly and saying, “Good luck!” After thinking for a moment, she added, “Ruo Fan couldn’t reach you either. She’s filming a new movie and can’t make it, so she asked me to cheer you on for her. Also, to tell you that her mom is very, very happy and wants you to bring Fu Junyan over for dinner when you have time.”

I covered my mouth and laughed when I heard this, pointing at the phone and saying, “Sister Ruo Fan bombarded me with lots of text messages. I saw them as soon as I turned on my phone…” Shuang shrugged and said, “Delete them if you want to…” I nodded and smiled when I heard this.

Because Fu Junyan and I had officially announced our relationship on Weibo, my popularity had skyrocketed recently. The young master’s fans even came to the competition venue with huge support banners. The white balloons representing the young master’s fans merged with the blue balloons of my Sea Treasures, like the sky and ocean, almost filling all the spectator seats. It was a magnificent and moving sight.

For the sake of fairness, the show’s production team canceled online and text voting for the final round, deciding that the judges would select the gold, silver, and bronze winners. This change caused a big backlash among the fans. When we arrived, reporters were crowding at the entrance. Fu Junyan couldn’t even drive into the parking lot and had to park on the roadside, then escort me all the way into the TV station.

Midway, we were surrounded by cameras and couldn’t move. Fu Junyan simply stopped and smiled gently at the reporters. When we stopped among the group of reporters, Fu Junyan extended his arm that was around my shoulders to shield my forehead from the cameras, his movements gentle and meticulous. Then I heard him say kindly, “I’d appreciate it if you all could make way. Xiao’ai has a competition today. I’ll send her in first, then come back out to take your interviews, is that alright?”

The reporters hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened up a path.

Later, in the makeup room, I saw the live broadcast of Fu Junyan being interviewed in front of the TV station entrance. He stood steadily before the waiting reporters, nodding slightly to everyone with a faint smile. Then he spoke distantly yet warmly, “Since this isn’t a press conference, Junyan will only answer three questions today. I hope everyone can cooperate.”

Then a reporter eagerly asked, “Young Master, what do you think about the last-minute change in the competition rules?”

Fu Junyan pondered for a moment, then answered clearly, “I think it’s good to make changes for the sake of fairness.”

“Does the Young Master hope for Xiao’ai to win the championship?” someone else asked.

He chuckled when he heard this question, his expression becoming relaxed and warm. He shook his head and said, “I don’t hope for that. I only hope she doesn’t fall. If she falls, I hope you won’t laugh at her.”

“Young Master, since you’re here, why aren’t you watching your fiancée compete in person?”

He smiled softly, his features picturesque. I heard him say, “If I’m there, she’ll get shy…”

I smiled, uncontrollably touching my reddened eyes…

The champion of “Ice Dance Miracle” was undoubtedly Shuang, the runner-up was a male comedian, and I, Pufferfish, did well and got third place after a final push.

In the post-competition interview, I smiled holding the third-place trophy and said, “Getting third place is really unexpected and I’m very happy. It’s great.”

A reporter seized the opportunity to ask me, “Is Xiao’ai more at ease and open-minded now that you have found your home?”

“It’s not really like that,” I shook my head. Perhaps because I was in such a good mood and the world seemed so beautiful, I didn’t avoid the question. I lowered my head slightly and smiled gently, saying, “Or maybe it is. Lately I always feel that with him, I want for nothing…”