ATLAS TRANSLATES

After sending Xie Ci back to his hospital room, Xu You returned home alone.

During dinner, Xu Zhihua suddenly asked, “What have you been doing during your break, running out all the time?”

Chen Xiuyun paused while eating.

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Xu You’s back. She gripped her chopsticks tightly, but before she could think of how to answer, her father had already moved on to the next topic, “By the way, are your monthly test results out yet? What’s your grade ranking?”

“The results haven’t been posted yet, I don’t know.”

He then asked several more questions about school and studying, which Xu You answered one by one.

Chen Xiuyun, sitting to the side, suddenly spoke up, “Oh right, didn’t you say the project payment came through a few days ago? Where’s the money?”

Xu Zhiping slammed the table, “Why are you always fixated on these things? Can’t we talk about it later?”

Chen Xiuyun didn’t want to argue in front of Xu You, so she forcibly swallowed her frustration before speaking calmly, “My mother hasn’t been well recently, she’s in the hospital…”

“Your mother is already so old, no matter how you treat—”

“Dad!” Xu You suddenly raised her voice after quickly swallowing several mouthfuls of rice, interrupting Xu Zhiping, “Please don’t say things like that anymore.”

Xu Zhiping’s expression changed, “What do you mean don’t say things like that? You’re just a child, what do you understand!”

Chen Xiuyun said nothing more, got up to clear the bowls and chopsticks, then walked straight back to her room.

—

Winter always came particularly early in northern cities. After several rounds of rain, the temperature dropped sharply.

Unable to go out, Xie Ci could only stay at home to recover. Due to the cold, his unhealed wounds often throbbed with pain, making him even more irritable.

Being restless by nature, when the housemaid went out to buy groceries, he took the chance to sneak out and wander the streets.

After walking around for a while, unable to think of anyone to hang out with, he went directly to First High School’s gate. Most of the shop owners around knew Xie Ci. He randomly picked a milk tea shop to sit down and called Song Yifan to skip class and keep him company.

Not having seen Xie Ci for a long time, Song Yifan was also excited, and the two chatted aimlessly for quite a while.

“Oh right, Brother Ci! Let me tell you some good news!” Song Yifan suddenly remembered something and slapped his thigh.

Xie Ci was listless, frowning as he smacked Song Yifan’s head, “Don’t call me that nonsense, what Brother Ci.”

It sounded awful.

“Tch, I’m telling you something important!” Song Yifan pulled out a medical examination form from his pocket, slapped it open and handed it to Xie Ci, “Take a look.”

“What’s this?”

Song Yifan said proudly, “Did you know your buddy here is going to be a pilot? A fighter pilot, how cool is that?”

Xie Ci flipped through the form, staring at Song Yifan in disbelief, “Damn, you’ve got skills.”

“You bet.” Song Yifan rolled his eyes, holding up two fingers, “Only two from our school.”

When pilots came to recruit at schools each year, the physical examination was the strictest. Song Yifan had never had such a complete set of examinations in his life. During the first round of preliminary selection, as soon as he went in, he was asked to strip completely naked, standing there openly for people to examine. Good thing he had thick skin and didn’t mind.

Although Song Yifan liked to cause trouble in high school, fortunately he followed Xie Ci, and like him, developed a delicate habit:

—They rarely fought personally unless someone really provoked them. When group fights broke out, both would stand far away, afraid of getting hurt, which is why they didn’t have any scars on their bodies. Otherwise, they would have been eliminated in the first round.

“You don’t know, now those teachers in class nag me every day, telling me to study hard and not waste this good opportunity. They’ve almost scared me, and they keep telling everyone in class to supervise me, telling me not to fight or get myself hurt. It’s so funny, they say it dozens of times a day. In their previous class, there was a student who passed the pilot physical examination, but then he went to play football, broke a bone, and ended up—”

Song Yifan, who was typically talkative, got more and more excited as he spoke, until he suddenly realized something. He carefully watched Xie Ci’s expression, afraid of accidentally touching a sore spot, “Ci, why aren’t you saying anything? Look at me talking all by myself, it’s kind of awkward, isn’t it?”

Xie Ci rested his head on one hand, tapping the glass with his finger, “Keep talking, I’m listening.”

“I’m done talking.” Song Yifan rubbed his head, “You seem a bit off.”

Since Xie Ci left the hospital, Song Yifan felt he was becoming harder to understand. He couldn’t say if he was happy or unhappy, his emotions seemed to always be in some kind of blank state.

“What about Xu You, have you seen her recently?” Xie Ci asked.

“Yeah! We’ve run into each other several times, and she often asks me about how you’re doing. Tsk tsk tsk, I used to say you were too clingy, but now looking at it, she really does care about you.”

“She’s my girlfriend, who else would she care about if not me?” Xie Ci finally smiled a bit, stirring the water in his cup with a spoon. After a while, he said casually, “What do you mean I was clingy? Xu You just shows her love in a more reserved way, what would you guys who’ve never experienced it know?”

“…” Song Yifan was stumped, “Fine fine fine, whatever you say, as long as you’re happy, okay?”

—

The last class was Biology, and the teacher habitually ran overtime. In the last minute before the bell, she took out test papers, saying she wanted to explain a genetics problem.

Although the students were unhappy, at this critical time, no one complained out loud.

But there was definitely no shortage of resentment in their hearts. Xu You accompanied Yu Yi to the bicycle shed to get her bicycle, and all the way to the school gate, she listened to her complain non-stop: “Don’t you think the biology teacher is too calculating? She clearly knows it’s almost time to leave, but she always delays. I’ve calculated it all – there’s a traffic light at the school gate that takes 80 seconds, and if she runs overtime, I can’t follow my normal schedule of going home to eat, do practice questions, and take a nap…”

Xu You said: “Every teacher is pressed for time now, they teach whatever they can.”

Yu Yi suddenly asked Xu You: “How many sets of practice questions have you finished?”

Xu You concentrated on watching the road, and after hearing the question, thought for a few seconds before answering honestly: “I haven’t been in good form lately, haven’t done many extra practice questions, I don’t remember the previous ones.”

Yu Yi said in a low voice, as if sharing a secret, “You know, Xu Xingchun sits next to me, and I’ve noticed he basically never does practice questions, doesn’t have any extra materials, just listens in class and does the homework teachers assign.”

Xu You didn’t answer, so she continued, “Yet he still ranks first in our grade every time. How can someone be so amazing? Although he seems a bit aloof, whenever you ask him questions, he can always help you understand them really quickly and accurately, getting right to the point.”

Xu You knew Yu Yi wasn’t jealous, but rather admired this type of clever academic genius, so she said nothing and quietly listened, being a good listener.

Girls always had a strong desire to confide, just like her former roommate Chen Xiao.

But Chen Xiao liked to tell her gossip, like who was pursuing whom today, who got together with whom, which senior liked which junior girl.

Chen Xiao didn’t think much of boys in their grade, and looked down on weak bookworm scholars. She always had an inexplicable fondness and admiration for seniors, and always believed that ‘girls don’t love nice guys’ was an absolute truth.

However, no matter which type, Xu You found it boring to listen to, so she just pondered life philosophy in her mind.

Perhaps all females, regardless of age or personality, would subconsciously admire and look up to men with authority and power.

“Xu You, you don’t talk much, do you?” Yu Yi held Xu You’s hand, “Every time we’re together, it seems like I’m always the one talking, I hardly ever hear you speak.”

“Really?” Xu You said softly, “I don’t know what to say, and I don’t have anything interesting to share.”

Actually, Xu You wasn’t particularly shy, but that’s just how people had always perceived her. To classmates and others, she had always been introverted and quiet. So girls of this type, even mischievous boys wouldn’t easily tease them. But at the same time, they wouldn’t have very good relationships with other girls either.

So Xu You had no idea how to have deep conversations with friends or share interesting life stories.

Until she transferred here and met Xie Ci.

Xu You suddenly thought of him.

It seemed that whenever she was with Xie Ci, she would get so annoyed by him that she would unconsciously talk a lot, sometimes even speaking without thinking.

“Look over there, someone seems to be calling you.” While Xu You was lost in thought, Yu Yi nudged her arm.

Xu You made a sound of surprise and looked in the direction she pointed.

Indeed, speak of the devil.

By a flower bed near the school gate, several boys and girls were standing and talking. Their style of dress showed a maturity beyond their age, and they were all some of the ‘famous’ people in their grade. Standing together in a group, they were quite eye-catching.

Xu You immediately spotted Xie Ci leaning against the railing.

Although the sun was out, it was still winter, and his outfit looked cold.

He was tall and thin, with black short hair, still wearing a jacket in the cold weather with a blue t-shirt underneath.

People beside him were talking to him, but he had his hands in his pockets, head lowered absent-mindedly, occasionally looking up at the school gate.

“Hey, that looks like Xie Ci and his group, haven’t seen him at school in a long time.” Yu Yi said quietly, not wanting others to hear.

Words can bring trouble, so it’s better to be careful when discussing others.

Especially this group who liked to smoke and fight, hanging out outside, troublemakers that ordinary people couldn’t mess with.

Although the incident between First High and Second High had caused quite a stir, as time passed, not many people talked about it anymore.

It seemed like everyone in their grade knew Xie Ci, including good students like Yu Yi who were immersed in studying.

Xu You looked at Xie Ci a few more times, and he finally noticed her, immediately pushing through the people around him and walking towards them.

Those people also stopped talking, their gazes following Xie Ci, deliberately or not, looking this way.

Xie Ci casually put his arm around Xu You’s shoulders, looked down at her, then smiled at Yu Yi, “Your friend?”

He asked softly.

“Mm.” Xu You removed his hand from her shoulder and looked up to ask, “Why are you here?”

“Xu-Xu You, I need to hurry back, so I’ll go first.”

Seemingly frightened by this sudden situation, Yu Yi stared at him in shock. After saying goodbye, she hurriedly left with her bike. Her steps got faster and faster, as if escaping.

Xie Ci sighed, “Your friend is afraid of me?”

“……”

The people waiting over there now gradually walked over, and a senior boy’s gaze lingered on Xu You for a moment before moving to Xie Ci, “Ci, is this your girlfriend?”

“Yeah.” Xie Ci raised his eyebrows, curled his lips in a smile, looking proud, just short of directly saying, “Isn’t my girlfriend pretty?”

The senior boy raised an eyebrow, “You’ve always been good at getting girls.”

“Get lost.” Xie Ci cursed with a laugh.

After exchanging greetings with his friends, Xie Ci put his arm around Xu You’s shoulders again, “I’ll walk her home, see you guys.”

After his friends had gone far away, Xu You finally asked, “Why did you come?”

“Just happened to be walking around here.”

A group of uniformed students rode past them on bikes, yelling and shouting – it was dismissal time, and the road was too crowded. They took a side road home, where there were basically no people, just the occasional stray dog running past.

After walking a bit, he found the position uncomfortable and changed to holding her hand instead.

“You’re not well yet, why are you wearing so little?” Xu You let him hold her hand.

“It’s fine.” Xie Ci squeezed her hand and smiled, “Aren’t you happy to see me? Give me a smile.”

He was always like this, smiling carelessly about everything, and using that to brush things off.

Xu You pulled her hand away from his, unwrapped the woolen scarf from her neck loop by loop, and stood on tiptoe to wrap it around Xie Ci.

“Your hands are freezing me to death, yet you say you’re not cold.”

Xie Ci said seriously, “You’re suddenly being so nice to me, I’m flattered.”

Xu You silently glared at him.

“No, I have to reward you.” Xie Ci took advantage of his height, pulled Xu You’s neck closer, and gave her lips a quick kiss.

His kiss moved from her lips to her cheek, and he took a light sniff, “What did you put on this morning?”

Xu You turned away from him, and Xie Ci smiled but didn’t follow up like he used to.

“I used Frog Prince lotion, aloe scent.” Xu You glanced at him intentionally.

Xie Ci lowered his eyes, casually kicking aside a stone on the path, the cold wind whistling through his soft black hair.

“Lotion?” Hearing her answer, he turned to look at Xu You, moving closer, “What’s lotion?”

“Lotion…” Xu You frowned in frustration, “It’s face cream, don’t you understand that?”

They both consciously slowed their pace as they walked. After passing a barbershop, they would have to part ways.

“Another hometown word.” Xie Ci thought of something, “Your dialect is quite cute. Do you have a nickname? How about I call you Xiang Xiang from now on?”

“No way, that’s too rustic.”

“How about baby?” Xie Ci was most skilled at teasing her, the words coming naturally.

“……”

“Then what should I call you?”

“Xu You.”

“That’s too formal.” Xie Ci suddenly reached out and put his cold hand on her warm neck, “If you don’t tell me, I’ll call you Xiang Xiang from now on.”

“Xie Ci!” Xu You exclaimed, dodging his hand, “That’s freezing!”

“Xiang Xiang, you were just worried about me wearing too little, your face changes so quickly? Women’s hearts really are unfathomable.”

“……”

Xie Ci watched her expression and casually asked with a smile, “Right, Xiang Xiang?”

“You’re the Xiang Xiang!” Xu You was furious, raised her elbow to push Xie Ci away, and hit him a few more times for good measure.

Xie Ci dodged while laughing, coughed once, and let her punch him randomly, “Okay okay, I’m Xiang Xiang, I was wrong. So tell me your nickname?”

Why does this person always have new ideas!

After being speechless for a long time, Xu You finally compromised and said in a very small voice, “The relatives in our hometown usually call me Ah Chai.”

“What Chai?”

“The ‘chai’ in ‘take apart’.”

Hearing this name, Xie Ci repeated it softly, shifting his gaze, “Oh… Ah Chai.”

Noticing his serious gaze at her, Xu You couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat.