ATLAS TRANSLATES

Ever since she first saw that four-digit price tag sweatshirt, Chu Zhi felt that Lu Jiaheng had “I’m rich,” “I’m super rich,” and “I’m made of money” written all over him. Not only that, but he was wasteful and extravagantly lavish – clearly someone who had never experienced financial pressure since childhood.

On Christmas Eve, Chu Zhi carried a bag of red apples and pulled Lu Jiaheng to the school gate. She took out another cloth bag from her pocket, spread it on the ground, and carefully arranged the apples one by one in neat rows.

Lu Jiaheng crouched down beside her and watched her arrange the apples. “What are you doing?”

“Selling them, of course.”

Lu Jiaheng let out a long sigh. He propped himself up with one hand, leaned back, and laughed in exasperation. “I bought these for you.”

After arranging the last apple from the bag, Chu Zhi turned to look at him seriously and started lecturing him: “Lu Jiaheng, money doesn’t grow on trees. Waste is shameful.”

Lu Jiaheng: “…”

Lu Jiaheng nodded and compromised. “Fine, let’s sell them then.”

Chu Zhi reached out to tug at his sleeve, pulling him forward. “You have to sell them with me.”

“…”

The young master was shocked – he had never imagined he would end up being a street vendor one day.

Young Master Lu, in all his years, was experiencing what it felt like to set up a street stall for the first time.

And selling apples, no less.

If it were anyone else, Lu Jiaheng might have just tossed them into a flower bed, covered them with soil, and maybe stuck a flower on top for good measure.

But this wasn’t just anyone.

This was Chu Zhi.

Somehow, without him realizing it, she had already claimed so many of his firsts, becoming the biggest surprise and exception in Lu Jiaheng’s life.

The worst part was that he was completely willing, even relishing it.

Lu Jiaheng crouched by the roadside, resting his arm on his knee, covering one eye with his hand, and smiled helplessly while licking his lips. “Alright, tell me how you want to sell them.”

This was Chu Zhi’s first time doing this too. She was a bit excited and eager to try: “Should we set a price first? How about three yuan each?”

Lu Jiaheng lazily propped up his head and looked at her, laughing. “I bought them for thirty yuan each.”

Chu Zhi looked very troubled. “But if we sell them for thirty yuan each, wouldn’t that be ripping people off?”

She was getting tired of crouching, so she looked back, gently brushed off a thin layer of snow from the flower bed’s ceramic tiles, and sat down.

Lu Jiaheng turned his head, straightened up, took off his scarf from his neck, and patted her leg. “Get up.”

Chu Zhi thought he wanted to sit too, so she scooted over.

Without saying much, he stood up, folded the scarf several times into a pad, bent down, and placed it on the ceramic tile where she had been sitting. After placing it, he jerked his chin. “Sit on this.”

Chu Zhi was stunned for a moment and quickly waved her hands. “No need, you wear it. It’s so cold tonight.”

Lu Jiaheng crouched down again and curved his lips meaningfully. “I’m not cold. I’m actually quite hot right now.”

Chu Zhi completely missed his underlying meaning and insisted, “You’ll catch a cold again.”

Lu Jiaheng wanted to say that his body was very healthy – he had only gotten a fever of 38 degrees after soaking in cold water for half an hour and standing naked in the cold wind for another half hour.

He raised an eyebrow. “Then how about I hold you while sitting?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the young girl’s face turned red, and she quickly stood up and sat down on his scarf with a plop.

The soft wool scarf was folded thick, still carrying his warmth, making it both warm and comfortable to sit on.

Chu Zhi propped her elbows on her knees, cupping her cheeks as she looked at him. “So how much should we sell them for?”

Lu Jiaheng crouched in front of her, reached out to adjust the apples on the cloth bag. “Let’s go with three yuan then.”

Chu Zhi’s delicate eyebrows furrowed in concern, not wanting to overcharge but also not wanting him to lose so much money. “How about five yuan?”

Lu Jiaheng chuckled softly. “Alright, five yuan it is.”

Chu Zhi nodded and slowly pulled out a piece of white paper from her down jacket pocket.

The white paper was folded neatly, and she clumsily unfolded it wearing gloves, smoothing out the creases. She then took out a black marker from her pocket and wrote carefully: “Peace Apples—”

The thin white paper was placed directly on her leg, making it uneven, and the characters came out crooked and a bit ugly.

Chu Zhi frowned and looked up at Lu Jiaheng. “Turn around.”

He silently turned around, his back facing her.

Chu Zhi lifted the white paper and placed it on his back, leaning forward to write.

Lu Jiaheng slightly turned his head.

The young girl was gently leaning on his back writing, the marker making soft scratching sounds. Her head was slightly lowered, her profile peaceful, with wispy bangs falling down, and long eyelashes casting shadows.

The slight pressure on his back seemed to penetrate through his spine directly to his heart.

Chu Zhi finished writing, capped the pen, and poked her chin while admiring her work, not entirely satisfied.

Given the difficult conditions, the writing wasn’t very pretty.

Lu Jiaheng turned his head slightly and suddenly said, “Write a bit longer.”

Chu Zhi was focusing entirely on the paper in her hands and hadn’t paid attention to what he said. She looked up with her mouth slightly open. “Hm? What?”

“Nothing,” Lu Jiaheng turned his head back. “Are you done?”

Chu Zhi put the pen back in her down jacket pocket, stood up, and placed the written paper in front of the pile of apples, using one apple to hold it down.

She stood in front with her hands on her hips, admiring it for a while – a pile of apples on the street stall, with a handsome guy crouching behind, black clothes, black hair, fair skin, long eyes, thin lips, and a smile on his lips.

Under the streetlight, his whole body seemed to be wrapped in a layer of golden light, like a handsome god who had mistakenly wandered into the mortal world.

Chu Zhi was quite satisfied. She bounced back around to the back, sat down, and eagerly waited for customers with her hands propping up her cheeks.

On Christmas Eve, it was the time when the campus had the most foot traffic. Couples and friends passed by in groups. Perhaps because of the good-looking person standing in front, or perhaps because their peace apples were really cheap, before long, there were only a few apples left.

Chu Zhi was extremely excited, collecting five yuan after five yuan, her small hands holding a neat stack of bills. She bounced over to Lu Jiaheng and crouched down, her eyes bright, showing off like a treasure: “We earned so much money!”

Lu Jiaheng laughed softly, couldn’t help but reach out to pat her head, his voice soft and gentle: “Chu Chu is amazing.”

Chu Zhi was happily counting money when she suddenly paused, slightly stunned.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Across from their streetlight stall, girls had gathered in twos and threes, secretly looking their way while whispering among themselves.

Seeing this scene, a few finally couldn’t resist coming over.

Four girls who looked like they were from the same dormitory, one of them wearing a fluffy pink and white coat, with a round face and big eyes, crouched down and picked up an apple, her voice soft and tender: “Excuse me, is this five yuan each?”

Chu Zhi came back to her senses and turned her head, smiling at her: “Yes, but since we only have a few left, I can sell it to you for three yuan!” She made a gesture to her, looking very serious about doing business, quite like a little boss lady.

Even offering discounts.

Lu Jiaheng crouched there, watching her animated expression, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, silently laughing.

The girl let out an “ah” and decisively took out a five-yuan note, taking an apple: “Five yuan is already very cheap! It’s fine, I’ll pay five!”

Chu Zhi thought this girl was just too nice, excitedly accepted the money, and just as she was about to thank her, she heard the girl ask: “Um, are you two a couple?”

Chu Zhi was stunned and looked up.

The girl secretly glanced at Lu Jiaheng who was crouching in the back, her cheeks showing a slight unnatural blush.

Chu Zhi’s fingers tightened around the handful of change she was holding, and she quickly shook her head: “No, we’re not.”

The other girls who came with her and were standing there waiting let out some teasing laughs. The girl also seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She blushed and looked at Lu Jiaheng, mustering up her courage to carefully ask: “Then, may I exchange phone numbers with you?”

Chu Zhi blinked and lowered her eyes.

She was wearing woolen gloves with a fluffy little bear sewn on the pink gloves. She held the stack of scattered bills in her hand, counting them absent-mindedly one by one.

How many had she counted?

Chu Zhi buried her head deeply and frowned.

This was really annoying.

Extremely annoying.

She really wanted to return this five-yuan bill to her, snatch back the apple in her hand, and shout loudly “I don’t want to sell to you! Even if you give me another five yuan, I won’t sell! Go away quickly!!!”

She sullenly waited for Lu Jiaheng to give out his number, while also feeling a slight bit of anticipation in her heart.

Chu Zhi didn’t even know what exactly she was anticipating.

They had been outside for quite a while, and in the cold weather, Chu Zhi’s nose had turned red and was stuffed up from the cold.

She sniffled, quietly keeping her head down without saying anything.

Lu Jiaheng was quiet for a moment. Chu Zhi could only hear the laughter and whispers of the few girls in front of her.

“No,” she heard him say.

Chu Zhi’s fingers paused while counting money.

Lu Jiaheng paused for a moment, lowered his eyes to look at the little girl’s deeply buried head, and slowly spoke: “I’m sorry, but I already have a girl I like. It’s one-sided, and I’m pursuing her right now.”

Chu Zhi was stunned and raised her head to look at him.

She hadn’t quite processed it, her long curled eyelashes lifting as she looked at him, her eyes wide open, looking a bit silly.

Her nose was red from the cold, her black eyes looking wet and dewy, with a thin layer of frost hanging on her eyelashes.

Lu Jiaheng slightly curved his lips, his gaze shifting slightly, casually falling on that girl: “Although she’s a bit hard to pursue, I like her terribly. It has to be her, so I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can give you my number.”

His voice was soft and carried a smile, seemingly casual, but his beautiful peach blossom eyes were dark and bright, his tone seven parts lazy but his gaze full of sincerity.

Chu Zhi’s long eyelashes trembled, and a feather that had been floating lightly in the air in her heart suddenly fell heavily.

Like a ship returning to harbor, like something finally settling into place.

Chu Zhi didn’t know what exactly she had been anticipating earlier.

Thinking about it now, she was probably waiting for him to say these words.