ATLAS TRANSLATES

Before dinner, the first thing Feng Ning did when she got home was excitedly check on her cherry tomatoes in the yard. Crouching beside the flower pot, she carefully observed them for a while, pleased to find they were growing well.

She nodded with satisfaction, picked a few, washed them clean in the sink, and popped them into her mouth. The juice burst with a sweet and sour taste of summer.

As for why Jiang Wen randomly came to mock her, Feng Ning thought about it but couldn’t figure it out, so she just dismissed it—she didn’t have time to waste on such nonsense.

Qi Lan had already prepared a table full of dishes waiting for her, calling from inside, “Go get Zhao Weichen and Yao Yao to eat with us.”

Feng Ning mumbled in protest, “Forget it, Shuang Yao just got home today too, doesn’t she need to eat with her parents?”

Qi Lan grew anxious, “Just go when I tell you to. If you don’t go, I’ll call them myself. I made so much food.”

Ah, as proud as Feng Ning was, the only person who could handle her was her mother. Unable to argue, she had no choice but to dutifully go door to door calling people.

Tonight there were many stars, with a bright moon hanging in the sky. The yellow dog occasionally darted around her feet, and Feng Ning threw a few bones into its mouth. Under the yellow light bulb above the dining table, the children gathered to eat and laugh together creating a warm atmosphere. Qi Lan fanned herself with a palm leaf fan while asking about their school situation.

Zhao Weichen had never been as quick-witted as Shuang Yao and Feng Ning since childhood. His reactions were slow and his studying rather rigid. Thanks to Feng Ning’s tutoring, his middle school exam scores were passable, and he ended up choosing a high school not far from home. Though the teaching quality couldn’t compare to Qide, it was still considered upper tier in South City.

Shuang Yao, mouth full of egg, chewed and swallowed before thinking and saying, “Nothing much lately, except our homeroom teacher said we’ll have monthly exams soon, like start-of-term assessment tests to check students’ general level.”

“Is that so? Well, you all need to study hard at school. Education is very important, high school isn’t like middle school, the competition is fierce. You can’t be careless.”

Feng Ning made a few sounds of agreement. “Have I ever made you worry about my studies from childhood? Besides, would you even understand what to worry about? Mom, go ahead with your business, we’ll wash the dishes after we eat.”

The mahjong parlor’s night session usually started at seven. Qi Lan looked at the clock, saw it was almost time, and sighed as she got up, “Alright, I’ll go then.”

Feng Ning had recently been studying some Western baking books and developed a strong interest in it. After eating their fill, she dragged her two followers to the kitchen, determined to make a cake base.

Shuang Yao sighed helplessly, “Don’t be so impulsive, you don’t even have an egg white beater at home.”

Feng Ning was always persistent until she achieved her goal. After pondering for a while, she rolled up her sleeves and declared defiantly, “Watch me”—then started beating the egg whites in a bowl by hand, stirring hundreds of times for nearly an hour until her arm nearly flew off.

Zhao Weichen sat on a small stool nearby, admiring, “Sister Ning, you truly deserve the title of strongest arm in Yujiang Lane.”

Feng Ning caught her breath and glared at him, “Hiss, why does that not sound like a compliment?”

“Hehe, it is a compliment.” Zhao Weichen scratched his head.

While grinding her teeth and wrestling with the egg whites, Feng Ning lectured him, “You need to speak more artfully, don’t be so crude, it’s really annoying.”

In the end, Feng Ning managed to make a semi-finished product that actually tasted pretty good. They each took a portion and went to Shuang Yao’s house to watch movies on the projector. They played until midnight before going home, sleeping until the next afternoon.

Feng Ning snuck over to Shuang Yao’s house to put on makeup, saw she was running late, and hurriedly changed clothes. “I have to go to work. I told my mom I’m sleeping at your place tonight, don’t let it slip.”

Due to Qi Lan’s health issues, the family had spent a lot of savings on medical treatment and owed relatives some money. Feng Ning felt for her mother and had been secretly working outside to earn money since middle school. Fortunately, she had always been wild, running around outside all day, and with Shuang Yao and others helping cover for her, Qi Lan never found out.

In her second year of middle school, she suddenly grew to 165cm, and with some makeup and mature clothing, she didn’t look like a middle school student. Since she still had to balance her studies, Feng Ning could only find part-time work at places like bubble tea shops.

She was sweet-talking and street-smart, understanding social graces. Later, the bubble tea shop owner introduced her to work as a server at a friend’s bar.

As it happened, the bar owner was a distant relative of Zhao Weichen. Last year, after successful marketing during the cultural festival, the bar’s popularity soared, becoming an internet-famous spot where many young people liked to hang out.

In such a crowded and lively bar, selling drinks brought big profits and commission from sales performance. Feng Ning was clever and likeable, occasionally stirring up the atmosphere by singing on stage. She eventually became Simple Sugar (the bar’s name) living billboard, jokingly called their soul figure.

Over the weekend at home, Xi Gaoyuan and others called several times, asking what Jiang Wen was doing and wanting him to come out. He had no interest and rejected them all.

In the evening, guests came to the house for dinner—old war comrades of Grandfather Jiang. At the dinner table, the elderly spoke a few words to Jiang Wen, but he answered absent-mindedly.

“Xiao Wen, mind your manners.”

After receiving two consecutive looks from his sister, Jiang Wen reluctantly roused himself and added a greeting.

The guest chuckled, “This boy looks much quieter than before. I remember he was quite mischievous as a child.”

The Jiang family originated from Chongxi, part of the Jiangzuo merchant group. Jiang Zhouguo was busy with business and in less than ten years had firmly established “Maohang” in South City, essentially becoming a local “emperor.” Although he was particularly strict with his younger son, he had many factories and workers to manage, so his personal supervision periods weren’t frequent.

Elder sister Jiang Yuyun was over ten years older than Jiang Wen. After graduating high school, she didn’t continue studying but helped her father manage the family shops. Jiang Yuyun always spoiled her brother, so the wildly growing young Master Jiang had gathered a group of childhood friends since young, acting like tyrants in South City.

Just after graduating elementary school, Xi Gaoyuan met a street thug. They were young and didn’t know better, particularly crazy, and following others almost caused a death. This angered Old Master Jiang so much that he insisted on sending Jiang Wen to a private military training base, making it final with no room for objection.

After this experience, Jiang Wen’s temperament became much more restrained.

After dinner, he went upstairs.

Jiang Wen played video games alone, getting lost in thought until a blood-red “GAME OVER” appeared on screen. Coming back to his senses, he threw down the controller and cursed.

Damn it.

The two-day holiday passed in the blink of an eye.

Monday morning, Feng Ning dropped “When Nietzsche Wept” on Zhao Binlin’s desk.

He was surprised, picking it up to look at both sides, “What’s this?”

Feng Ning sat down at her seat, laying on the desk feeling a bit tired, “Your birthday present.”

“Huh?? This is your big gift??”

“Yes, and I’m giving you an assignment. After you read this, think about the value of existence.” Feng Ning, like some mystic, very seriously fooled him, “I’ll give you one conclusion first: the value of existence is suffering. You go ponder that yourself.”

Zhao Binlin’s family was in the coal mining business, with older brothers running the business, his parents had very low expectations and didn’t really manage him.

Growing up, he had never seriously read a book. He felt he might be somewhat word-blind, at most reading magazines or game guides. Simply put, his world revolved around the class beauty, the next class’s beauty, cars, basketball, games, and bros.

For the first time in his life, Zhao Binlin actually encountered philosophical reading material, feeling both amazed and incredulous.

So Zhao Binlin seriously used it as bedtime reading for several days, and actually figured something out. Feeling particularly cultured, he would turn around whenever free, enthusiastically pulling Feng Ning into discussions about Nietzsche.

Since that time Jiang Wen confronted Feng Ning, she no longer teased him deliberately, following what Jiang Wen said—don’t try to attract his attention, maintain a considerable distance.

Compared to Jiang Wen’s deliberate coldness, Feng Ning seemed much more casual. It wasn’t playing hard to get; she just had many other things to do.

So Feng Ning also stopped initiating conversation.

It was as if her previous enthusiasm towards him had been Jiang Wen’s imagination.

Someone as thick-skulled as Zhao Binlin hadn’t noticed Jiang Wen’s constant bad mood. That day after playing basketball, walking out of the gym, Zhao Binlin told his bros about a girl who told him ‘the value of existence is suffering.’ As he spoke, others found it interesting too, “What, you like her? When are you going to introduce us?”

“Don’t always drag things down to such vulgar matters.” Zhao Binlin clicked his tongue, gossiping: “She seemed interested in our top guy before.”

Everyone hooted and teased Jiang Wen, but he acted like he hadn’t heard, his expression remaining indifferent.

Pei Shurong’s brows furrowed imperceptibly before she smiled gently, “Interested how?”

So Zhao Binlin told the story of the toad and the swan.

Jiang Wen was the only one not excited. While others were still making noise, he left alone.

Qide arranged the start-of-term assessment tests very quickly, finishing them in two or three days. The Iron Lady took these tests very seriously, emphasizing several times before the exam, asking them to work hard and start their high school career well, considering it a good omen.

Feng Ning always just finished exams without bothering to check answers. She sat in her seat chatting with Meng Taoyu when a female voice behind said, “Meng Taoyu, come out for a bit.”

Feng Ning looked up.

The girl lost patience and kicked her chair, “Didn’t you hear? Move aside.”

Feng Ning glanced at her sideways, then returned to drinking water. She recognized her as the bob-cut girl from the opening ceremony.

Meng Taoyu stood up anxiously, saying softly she’d go out. Feng Ning acted like she hadn’t heard and grabbed her wrist, “Sit down.”

Bob-cut girl grew very impatient, her upturned eyes and sharp lips raising her volume, “Hey, I told you to move, are you deaf?”

Feng Ning remained unmoved, sitting steadily in her seat, one corner of her mouth lifting up.

Seemingly sensing her contempt, bob-cut girl’s eyes widened, angered by this smile, looking incredulous as she came to pull at her, “What the…”

Half-spoken, her voice suddenly disappeared.

—Feng Ning had raised her hand and thrown the entire cup of water in her face.

The whole classroom fell silent as if empty. Jiang Wen heard the commotion and turned his head.

Bob-cut girl was stunned for several seconds, her mind like it had been hit with a time bomb. When she came to her senses, she was shaking with anger, biting her lower lip as she raised her hand high.

As it fell, Jiang Wen caught her wrist. But Feng Ning had already grabbed her hair from behind, laughing, “Hey, you’re so awesome, which row do you sit in at the National People’s Congress?”