ATLAS TRANSLATES

After tearing it up, he felt much better in his heart.

The small green sticky note lay torn to pieces in his palm. Jiang Wen casually closed his hand and nonchalantly put the scarf and chocolate in his drawer before standing up from his chair.

The Arts Committee member was standing at the podium directing several male students to move tables and chairs, clearing space for the New Year’s Eve party.

Zhao Binlin finished talking to someone else and turned around to find Jiang Wen’s seat empty. He looked around but couldn’t see him, so he sent him a WeChat message:

[“?” Where did you go?]

“Throwing away trash.”

For some reason, even though the car was moving very slowly, the return journey seemed particularly short.

When they reached their destination, Meng Taoyu almost didn’t recognize Qide’s main gate. The driver honked his horn, which snapped her back to reality.

She struggled somewhat to hold onto two plastic bags. Just as she closed the car door, her hands suddenly felt lighter. She turned her head.

Meng Hanmo had taken the large bag of items. He stood casually, being over 180cm tall, while she, even in her thick snow boots, barely reached his shoulder.

Meng Taoyu blinked and thanked him in a soft voice.

They walked side by side, and she could smell the faint scent of cigarettes on him. Since it was New Year’s Day, there was no security check at the school gate, and Meng Hanmo walked straight in.

Just as they reached the building, some boys from Class Nine passed by. They glanced sideways at the two of them, stopped their steps, and said in a rather loud voice: “Meng Taoyu, who’s this? Your boyfriend?!”

The word “boyfriend” suddenly jumping out made her already tangled heart even more confused.

“No!” Meng Taoyu hurriedly explained, “He’s not my boyfriend, don’t make things up…”

Meng Hanmo remained calm and said in a low voice: “They’re already gone.”

Meng Taoyu made a sound of surprise, looked at him for two seconds, then came to her senses, “Oh, oh.”

She was focused on staring at the tassels on her shoes when suddenly someone grabbed her arm.

His grip was strong, with rough knuckles and thick calluses on his middle and index fingers. Meng Taoyu looked up in surprise to find a stone pillar right in front of her.

He released his hand, “Watch where you’re going.”

Frustration welled up inside her. Meng Taoyu felt extremely dejected, not knowing why she kept making a fool of herself today. In front of him, she was so flustered she couldn’t even speak properly.

Through several layers of clothing, she could still feel the lingering sensation on her arm. Meng Taoyu suddenly lost her sense of reality.

Everything that happened today felt like a dream.

From a distance, Jiang Wen saw Feng Ning standing at the classroom door.

His steps faltered.

Her ankle wasn’t completely healed yet, and like some landlady, she had brazenly placed a chair in the hallway and was sitting there, looking up and talking to a man about something.

He recognized Meng Hanmo the instant he saw him.

When Jiang Wen passed by, she was talking excitedly, with a silly smile on her face, not even giving him a proper glance.

She looks ugly when she’s happy, Jiang Wen thought expressionlessly.

Feng Ning had heard about what happened on East Street today and cursed, “Damn, what a black-hearted taxi driver, just because Changzheng is far from here, deliberately taking the long way, thinking they can take advantage of you being a student.”

She had Meng Taoyu’s large bag of snacks on her knee, and Feng Ning casually picked out several small packages of preserved plums and stuffed them into Meng Hanmo’s hands, “Here, for you.”

After giving them, she tilted her neck and craftily looked around, quietly asking Meng Taoyu, “This doesn’t count as misusing class funds, right?”

“It’s fine.” Meng Taoyu also looked around, “Your… brother likes to eat these?”

Feng Ning nodded vigorously: “Yes, these are his favorite!”

Hearing her say this, Meng Taoyu quickly grabbed a handful from her down jacket pocket, “I have more.” She held them out with both hands to Meng Hanmo, “For you.”

Feng Ning squinted her eyes and smiled: “Little Meng, what’s going on? If you give everything to my brother, what will the class eat?”

“No, no.” Meng Taoyu hurried to explain, “This… I really like these too, these are ones I bought with my own money.”

Surprisingly, Meng Hanmo didn’t refuse, casually picking two from her hand, “Thank you.”

“You don’t want the rest?” She seemed a bit disappointed.

Meng Hanmo seemed to smile slightly, “I don’t compete with kids for snacks.” His features were cold and hard, and even his smile seemed emotionless.

“Okay.” Meng Taoyu felt embarrassed by his words.

He checked his phone and put it away: “I need to go, you two have fun.”

Feng Ning made a couple of agreeing sounds and waved to him: “Be careful on your way!”

“—Wait!”

Meng Taoyu suddenly called out.

Meng Hanmo turned to look at her first, then at the hand clutching his clothes.

Then Feng Ning looked at her too.

His side profile was handsome, and Meng Taoyu’s expression instantly became unnatural. As if shocked by electricity, she immediately let go, “Um, can you… can you wait two minutes? I have something to give you.”

She ran into the classroom, searched at her desk for a moment, then hurried back out, actually taking less than a minute.

In her hand was a New Year’s card, one she had written a week ago. She had actually written one for Christmas too, originally planning to have Feng Ning deliver it, but after much hesitation, felt it would be too abrupt no matter how she went about it.

“Thank you…” Meng Taoyu took a small breath and handed the card to Meng Hanmo. She paused, not sure how to address him, “Thank you for helping me today.”

While waiting for the bus at the roadside, when reaching into his pocket for a lighter, he touched the hard paper card. Meng Hanmo pulled out that greeting card.

Opening it carefully, he saw the young girl’s neat handwriting, each character written with extreme care, without any connected strokes.

Meng Hanmo recalled her face, then looked at the three characters “Meng Taoyu” written stroke by stroke in the bottom right corner, and he smiled.

If Feng Ning couldn’t see what was going on here, that would really be strange.

Meng Taoyu was still lost in thought, staring out the window, when a leisurely voice came from beside her, “Little Meng.”

“Hmm?”

“Come back to earth.”

She didn’t say anything, but Meng Taoyu understood, looking like someone whose thoughts had been exposed, not knowing where to put her hands.

Feng Ning asked: “Do you know how old my brother is?”

“How old…”

“23? Almost 24.”

Meng Taoyu tried to keep her expression natural: “That old… does he have a girlfriend?”

“A sister-in-law?” Feng Ning made a thoughtful expression, “I don’t think my brother has a girlfriend, but he has several friends with benefits.”

“Friends with benefits?” Meng Taoyu was confused.

Feng Ning deliberately teased her, “You know, friends for bedroom activities.”

Meng Taoyu took two seconds to react, and after understanding the meaning, her face first turned red, then pale, “Oh… oh, several…” she stammered, “Several?”

Seeing Meng Taoyu could barely speak properly, Feng Ning laughed so hard she bent over, and stopped teasing her, “How do you believe everything I say? I was just joking.”

The New Year’s Eve party host began announcing. The fluorescent lights above were turned off, and the classroom became dim, actually creating quite an atmosphere. Feng Ning ate sunflower seeds while watching with great interest for a while.

She suddenly remembered something and pulled out a notebook from her bag. Limping over mountains and crossing seas, she sat down in the spot next to Jiang Wen.

At this busy moment, no one paid attention to the movement here. Jiang Wen was watching videos with his earphones on.

Feng Ning tapped Jiang Wen, waiting for him to look over, then pointed to her ear, gesturing for him to take off his earphones.

Zhao Binlin saw her and asked: “Hey, Feng Ning, who was that person talking to you at the door earlier?”

“My brother.” Feng Ning casually flipped through the little fatty’s notebook, which was written quite carefully, with crooked notes at the bottom of each chapter indicating which page in the book it was from, making her laugh, her lips curling up.

Jiang Wen’s hand stopped midway while removing his earphones, “Isn’t he your boyfriend?”

Closing the notebook, Feng Ning glanced at his serious little face: “When did I ever say I had a boyfriend?” She handed the notebook to Jiang Wen: “By the way, this was written by Zhao Fanyu, take it home to your sister, tell her to study along with the book for now, and there’s homework too.”

He only heard the first half of what she said.

Jiang Wen took it, pausing imperceptibly. His heart couldn’t help but feel a bit of joy. He thought himself pathetic, so he forcefully suppressed this bittersweet emotion.

But another thought immediately popped up.

“Then who is the person she likes?”

Jiang Wen would never ask this out loud, asking would just make her laugh at him. He had to control himself. So he said calmly and emotionlessly: “Then I’m sorry, I misunderstood you.”

He was referring to when he previously said she was fickle.

Feng Ning magnanimously said: “It’s okay, I forgive you.”

The next program was playing New Year’s greetings recorded by Class Nine students. The class monitor bent down to click on the video file on the computer desktop.

After showing about a dozen people, suddenly there was a loud commotion in the class. Jiang Wen casually glanced at the projector, and with just that one look, he nearly exploded.

The video background was at the Jiang family banquet, showing Jiang Wen when he was only about four or five years old, like a white jade dumpling, with a red dot painted on his brow, round and soft, being teased by someone, saying in a baby voice: “Happy New Year.”

Everyone’s gaze swept over and stopped on Jiang Wen’s face. Some people held back their laughter, while others couldn’t contain themselves and burst out laughing.

Zhao Binlin and Xi Gaoyuan exchanged glances, both hugging themselves and howling with earth-shattering laughter, almost jumping up.

“What are you playing at?” These words were practically forced out through Jiang Wen’s gritted teeth.

This was really fucking annoying.

Jiang Wen, who usually didn’t show much emotion in front of others, now couldn’t quite manage his expression, his handsome features almost twisted together in anger.

Xi Gaoyuan laughed while pounding his thigh: “We got it from Sister Yun, isn’t this perfect for the New Year celebration!”

Feng Ning took photos with her phone, laughing while shooting, “Hahaha oh my god!!”

Zhao Binlin came over to tease him, and Jiang Wen turned and gave him a heavy elbow. Zhao Binlin clutched his stomach in pain, “Top student, you’re destroying beauty!”

Jiang Wen stepped on his limited edition AJs, even grinding his foot a bit, “Are you sick?”

“Fuck, you bastard, that’s too much!” Zhao Binlin loved his shoes like life itself and immediately jumped up excitedly. His leg pressed against Jiang Wen, and the two started wrestling, with Xi Gaoyuan joining in the commotion.

The three tussled for a while before Jiang Wen pushed them both off, panting, his hair messed up, looking both disheveled and somewhat cute.

The interlude passed, and the next program quickly began.

The PE representative started singing “Old Boys” by the Chopsticks Brothers in his duck-like voice, with people below making fun of him.

In the midst of all the humor and joy, Feng Ning stood up.

Everyone was immersed in the PE representative’s performance, and no one paid attention to where she was going.

But Jiang Wen wasn’t focused on the performance.

His ears were filled with his classmates’ cheers and the PE representative’s shouting of “Youth is like a rushing river.”

He hadn’t heard a single word.

Her feet stepped on the unmelted snow, making crisp crunching sounds.

The campus was immersed in the night, with very few students wandering outside, and no extra sounds around.

Feng Ning sat on a bench with a tree behind her, smoking casually while blowing out pale white smoke, counting the stars in the sky.

He stood not far away.

She skillfully inhaled and exhaled smoke, flicking ash, and Jiang Wen’s mind flashed back to that night. Feng Ning, with a worldly and uninhibited attitude, stood coolly in front of them, drinking bottle after bottle.

His heart suddenly felt a real, solid pain.

Jiang Wen didn’t know why he had followed her out here, still standing there. She didn’t acknowledge him, and he didn’t leave, like an idiot.

Or maybe a pervert.

After a moment of silence, Feng Ning suddenly turned her head, using her usual joking tone, with a hint of coolness, “What are you standing there for?”

“I’m going to the bathroom, just passing by.”

She smiled slightly, leaning back on her hands, eyes looking up, lightly teasing: “Then go ahead, did my smoking scare you from using the bathroom, little kid?”

When she talked like this, it made him angry.

After a long silence, Jiang Wen took away her cigarette.

Feng Ning didn’t mind, “Why did you come looking for me?”

“Delete…” Jiang Wen quickly thought of an excuse, “Delete my photo.”

“What photo?”

“The one you just took.”

After pausing for two seconds, seemingly finding it amusing, Feng Ning looked at him and actually took out her phone, operated it for a while, “Deleted.”

Jiang Wen held out his hand, “Give it to me.”

“What now?”

He wanted to check if she had deleted it completely.

The lighting was very dim here, and Jiang Wen squinted his eyes to adjust to the bright phone screen. On the main gallery interface was a short video of Zhao Binlin performing Michael Jackson’s moonwalk at the New Year’s Eve party.

Flipping forward a few more photos, they were all from the New Year’s Eve party. He searched among these photos and finally found one with him in it, taken when he was wrestling with Zhao Binlin and the others.

Jiang Wen was annoyed, what kind of terrible phone did she have, how could it take such an ugly picture of him.

He deleted it without hesitation.

Looking through someone else’s phone gallery like this was actually extremely rude and uncouth, and normally, Jiang Wen would never do such a thing. But at this moment, he was possessed by some dark obsession and couldn’t stop.

After nearly two minutes, Feng Ning said lazily, “Done looking?”

“Almost.” Jiang Wen had finished checking. He was about to turn off the phone when his finger habitually slid to the side, and suddenly an out-of-place photo popped up.

—It was a bare back.

The white and thin shoulder blades protruded, wet black hair cascading over shoulders and neck, Feng Ning wrapped in a towel, her face slightly turned toward the camera.

His brain took 0.1 seconds to process this image. His heart was pounding heavily in his chest, and his eyes felt like they were on fire.

Just then, Feng Ning leaned over, saying: “You’re still not done checking…”

Jiang Wen couldn’t stop in time, and in his panic tried to press the lock screen button but hit the volume button instead.

Feng Ning’s words cut off halfway as she quickly snatched back the phone, accusing: “What are you doing?! I was wondering why you were looking for so long!”

Jiang Wen immediately denied: “I wasn’t looking at that.”

Feng Ning shouted: “Luckily I discovered it in time, otherwise you would have seen all my private photos!” Feng Ning yelled.

“I… wasn’t…” Jiang Wen’s mind went blank.

“What weren’t you doing?” Feng Ning’s voice echoed in the quiet campus: “You little pervert!!!!”