ATLAS TRANSLATES

Shu He was truly saddened to give up the coffee shop’s current location.

It had been so difficult to find a good spot, and changing locations now might cause them to lose some customers.

But there was no choice. By the end of the month, the coffee shop must close. These past few days, Jing Yi had been accompanying her everywhere to look at new shops. The only good news was that Qin Tao had contacted Shu He, saying she was willing to continue as the store manager.

This allowed her exhausted heart to settle a little.

To be honest, the previous shop was somewhat small. This time, they might as well choose a larger space. The two of them had been working non-stop for two weeks and finally decided on a shop near the city library.

After signing all the contract paperwork, Shu He asked the landlord if she could recommend any reliable renovation companies.

After these days of communication, the landlord had observed that she was a straightforward yet meticulous young woman. She recommended some renovation companies she knew, but left the final choice up to Shu He.

After speaking, she couldn’t help glancing at the silent man beside her. He was very handsome, just quiet as a clam, offering no opinions and agreeing to whatever Shu He asked.

She had seen plenty of couples who ran shops together bickering endlessly, but this was the first time she’d seen such an obedient man.

She couldn’t help but smile as she handed the keys to Shu He, teasing: “Men who listen to their girlfriends are blessed. Young man, your good fortune is still to come!”

Jing Yi had been pondering whether to make sweet and sour ribs or lotus root pork rib soup for dinner when he suddenly heard this comment. He froze for a second, then looked at Shu He. She had a slight smile at the corner of her lips, with clear eyes sparkling with amusement.

Jing Yi’s heart fluttered with joy. He had just made a sound of agreement when the landlord, being experienced, added another reminder, “But it’s not good if your girlfriend does all the work alone. Young man, you can’t just stay uninvolved with everything.”

“……”

Shu He hadn’t paid much attention to the landlord’s words. After leaving the shop, they went to the supermarket. It wasn’t until they returned home that she noticed the unusual silence of the person beside her.

Something was definitely off.

By now she had forgotten what the landlord had said and thought his leg might be uncomfortable, so she urged him to go rest.

Jing Yi had just finished washing the ribs. Hearing her words, his movements paused imperceptibly, his eyelashes lowered as he muttered, “I’m fine.”

Shu He wanted to say something more, but he looked up and said, “You go rest. I can still manage to cook a meal.”

“…..”

She belatedly realized something, but instead of leaving, she washed some fruit and fed it to him.

When he reflexively bit into the fruit from her hand, his brow furrowed slightly. He ate with a bland expression, yet somehow looked strangely dejected.

Shu He sighed inwardly but didn’t say anything more.

During dinner, she took a bite of the ribs and generously praised: “So delicious! I’m doomed—you’ve spoiled my taste buds.”

Unless in special circumstances, he always cooked when they ate together.

After her praise, his expression visibly relaxed, but he kept putting food into her bowl, as if wanting to stuff everything into it.

Shu He looked at the mountain of ribs in her bowl and silently sighed, but still ate it all.

As a result, half an hour after dinner, she still felt stuffed.

“Want to go for a walk?”

She suddenly suggested. Jing Yi agreed without much thought.

They went to stroll around the Litang University track. At this hour, many freshmen were heading to classrooms for evening self-study. There were many people along the way, and the two of them blended into the crowd without feeling out of place—or perhaps others simply didn’t notice them.

“I never thought I’d be walking around the track at a time like this.”

During university, she had been busy with part-time jobs. Except for physical tests or PE classes, she had basically never been to the track, let alone strolling leisurely like this.

Jing Yi made a sound of agreement. Back then, he was the same—always going to find her whenever he had free time.

The evening breeze wasn’t cold this time of year. Many couples were walking hand in hand around the track, some were jogging, and groups of students were chatting on the bleachers.

“Are you unhappy today?”

She pondered for a moment and avoided using “again,” her tone unconsciously carrying a hint of coaxing.

She turned to look at the person beside her. The dim lights of the track reflected on his chiseled profile. Though his expression was neutral, she could sense a gloomy feeling.

“No.”

He denied it, but noticing her gaze, he immediately lowered his eyes in frustration: “I don’t know how I can help you.”

Although Shu He had vaguely guessed, hearing him say it himself made her unconsciously sigh with relief.

He had originally just wanted to be obedient. After all, being with Shu He meant she was more important.

But the landlord’s casual remark had become a knot in his heart.

He knew she had been very busy these days. He had thought carefully about how he could help her… but couldn’t think of anything. He didn’t know how to do anything.

Finding a shop, finding renovators—he didn’t know how to help her with any of it.

He longed for her to spoil and love him more, yet he also felt self-conscious, thinking he was useless.

The only thing he could do was spend money.

Or hold her when she was tired, give her massages.

And make foods she liked every day.

… Besides these, he couldn’t think of anything else he could do for her.

While Shu He seemed to know how to do everything…

“Who says I know how to do everything?”

The evening breeze had messed up her hair a bit. She raised one hand to tidy it, while her other hand was still intertwined with his. Her clear eyes remained beautiful even in the dim light: “I don’t know how to comfort my boyfriend.”

His footsteps paused, their gazes meeting. Something seemed to be breaking through his awkward insecurity bit by bit.

“You know, I always felt I was an unqualified partner before.”

Her words brought a hint of confusion to his eyes, but he didn’t speak, just quietly listened to her.

“I never knew how to be good to someone, or how to return someone’s kindness.”

So in college, she had learned to be good to him by copying how Jing Yi treated her.

But her love seemed to be covered by a protective glass dome. With him, she still held back somewhat. She also didn’t want to owe him, so back then when Jing Yi wanted to do something for her, she always resisted.

Because deep down, she felt that no one would stay for you forever. Love was the most untrustworthy thing—who knew when she might be left alone in the snow again someday.

So she kept an umbrella for herself.

But after he left, she discovered that umbrella was useless.

Jing Yi was her umbrella.

And after reuniting, she realized she was also Jing Yi’s umbrella.

This umbrella didn’t need to be beautiful or particularly strong.

She would instinctively tilt her umbrella toward him, and he would do the same.

The balance and protective shell she had stubbornly valued seemed unimportant now. There was no fixed standard to judge what made a qualified partner.

Strictly speaking, Jing Yi was her standard. He was her only lover. Whatever he could or couldn’t do, he was still her lover.

She knew he was still insecure. He always felt that unless he did something for her, he wasn’t worthy of her, and he would feel useless.

But she wanted to say—

“Jing Yi, I don’t need a perfect, all-capable intelligent genius. The word ‘lover’ only appeared in my life because of you.”

Jing Yi’s heart was warming. He knew he was being oversensitive, always uncontrollably thinking about these things, always worrying he wasn’t good enough.

But hearing her say this, he still pathetically… felt a lump in his throat.

She was so gentle.

Perhaps it was because of her gentleness, because she spoiled him so much, smoothing over all his insecurities, making him increasingly attached to her, unwilling to part from her, loving her.

How could she be so good to him?

He was so sensitive, yet she was willing to comfort him.

But she had said before that she would only comfort him.

Jing Yi felt an uncontrollable tightness in his throat. He blinked back tears and awkwardly changed the subject: “Did you like the ribs today?”

Shu He had heard this choked voice countless times, but she still politely pretended not to notice. She nodded: “Delicious, but I really ate too much.”

She patted her stomach. These days she’d been eating so well but hadn’t exercised much. She began to worry: “I think I might have gained weight.”

Jing Yi’s hand, which had been holding hers, had somehow moved to her slender waist. Hearing her words, he instinctively felt it.

“You’re not fat.”

Shu He glanced at him. “You’re just biased toward me.”

Jing Yi frowned, saying sincerely: “Really, not fat at all.”

As he spoke, he looked at her legs.

These days they had been running around everywhere. Occasionally she would unconsciously massage her legs. He also recalled that since they got back together, she hadn’t let him carry her.

Before, he had loved holding her most, letting her legs wrap around his waist.

“Are you tired? Want me to carry you on my back?”

Shu He shook her head, not catching his meaning: “I’m fine. Are you tired? Should we head back?”

“I’m not tired,”

He replied instinctively. Shu He lazily yawned: “Let’s go back, I’m sleepy.”

On their way back, they passed many students riding bicycles while shaking their phones, probably completing some campus running task.

Shu He remembered something and giggled.

Jing Yi looked at her questioningly. Shu He gestured at them: “We used to do this too, remember?”

“……”

He slowly recalled.

Back then, Shu He had multiple jobs, including helping lazy classmates complete their running tasks.

The campus running app had a bug—you could complete it by riding a bicycle while shaking your phone.

Shu He would wake up at six every morning to ride a bicycle. Though tired, she treated it as exercise, plus she could make money.

After Jing Yi found out, he joined her every day, but… he couldn’t ride a bicycle.

On the first day, Shu He rode her bicycle while he ran alongside her.

The young man had steady breathing. Shu He deliberately sped up a bit to make him give up, but he kept up.

After riding for an hour, when they finished, he was drenched in sweat but still looked at her with bright eyes: “Senior, are you coming tomorrow?”

“…..”

Shu He had never seen someone so persistent and somewhat foolish. But perhaps because she had deliberately tried to wear him out while cycling, she felt strangely guilty and unconsciously nodded.

The young man immediately smiled.

When he appeared the next day, Shu He discovered he could already ride a bicycle.

Noticing her puzzled look, he voluntarily explained: “I practiced for a while last night.”

Shu He made a sound, “What does that have to do with me?”

He smiled: “Nothing, I just wanted to learn.”

“…..”

But thinking back now, Shu He felt a twinge of guilt. She hadn’t known about his leg problems then, yet had let him run for so long.

This person was so silly, running alongside her bicycle for an hour.

Jing Yi didn’t feel anything special about it. His leg had indeed hurt a lot that month, but he hadn’t planned to tell her.

Back home, Shu He showered first.

Afterward, she lazily curled up in the recliner scrolling through her phone, still not having dried her hair by the time he finished his shower.

Jing Yi automatically took the hair dryer to dry her hair, but his gaze unintentionally caught her screen.

She had liked a post from a male classmate.

The name seemed familiar.

He narrowed his eyes thinking about it, his thoughts wandering, until Shu He made a slight hissing sound, and he came back to himself with regret.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Shu He giggled and turned to look at him: “Why so nervous? It doesn’t hurt.”

He massaged her scalp, honestly saying: “…I was distracted.”

“What’s wrong?”

The recliner wasn’t spacious enough, making the two of them sit cramped, even with her sitting on his lap.

“Are you close with this senior?”

He mentioned a name. Shu He blinked. She remembered—she had just liked his social media post.

“Not particularly. Why?”

Jing Yi recalled how, at the beginning of freshman year, she had smiled especially brightly at that senior, bright enough to be dazzling.

Back then, he thought she liked that type.

Shu He was speechless for a moment. She said helplessly: “What are you talking about?”

Back then, everyone in the department had assignments. She had delivered the last registration form and could leave early. When she handed a stack of materials to the department head, she was simply happy because she was getting off work.

Who wouldn’t be happy about getting off work?

“……”

Jing Yi’s lips parted slightly, clearly not expecting this explanation.

Shu He held back her laughter. “I liked his post just now because he seems to have won some push-up competition, and the trophy looked handmade. I thought it was interesting, so I liked it. What did you think it was for?”

“…..”

But clearly, Jing Yi’s train of thought was very different.

He keenly caught her mention of the push-up award, and recalled how she treated him like a glass princess, worried that he might not be capable in various ways.

His expression suddenly became serious: “Do you want to see me do push-ups?”

Shu He: “?”

She didn’t understand how the topic had shifted to push-ups.

Not only that, he enthusiastically invited her to do push-ups with him.

…Soon, sitting on his lower back, Shu He’s heart trembled with each of his movements.

Though she honestly felt his muscles without temptation, she was still concerned: “Are you tired? Should we stop?”

“……”

Because of these six words, Jing Yi, who had originally planned to do just one more and finish, silently added six more.