ATLAS TRANSLATES

“How do you know I’m not ‘Big Fish’?” The man looked at the young woman before him with interest.

She had a small face with light makeup, fair and delicate skin, fine features, and large expressive eyes. Her shoulder-length hair was dyed dark brown, making her quite beautiful.

She was quite tall, wearing a pink-purple chunky knit sweater with dark camel wool pants and black work shoes. Though neither the sweater nor pants were form-fitting, one could still see her graceful figure.

Zhan Xi answered, “You definitely aren’t.”

She couldn’t explain exactly why, but from the moment she received the phone call and saw this man, she was certain he wasn’t Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu wouldn’t have that kind of look in his eyes, nor would he smile like that. Though she had never met Xiao Yu, she just knew!

“Why not?” The man seemed puzzled. “Couldn’t I just be pretending not to know you when I called?”

Seeing Zhan Xi’s expression grow colder, the man stopped teasing her: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m really not ‘Big Fish.’ My name is Fang Xu, the ‘xu’ from ‘rising sun.’ Actually, we’ve chatted before – I’m the one from the Q website.”

So he was that boss who always started conversations with “dear.”

“Oh, then… why didn’t ‘Big Fish’ come?” This was all Zhan Xi cared about.

Fang Xu said, “Xiao Yu had something urgent come up. He asked me to apologize to you on his behalf.”

Zhan Xi asked, “Why didn’t he tell me in advance? Why didn’t he come to tell me himself?”

“Well…” Fang Xu scratched his head, “I don’t know about that.”

Zhan Xi lowered her eyes, her lips pursed. Fang Xu felt awkward and pointed to the flower arrangement on the coffee table, asking, “Um… Miss Zhan, please take a look. Is there anything wrong with the flowers? If there are issues, we can still adjust the design. If not, please sign for receipt.”

Zhan Xi’s gaze fell on the flowers and she said coldly, “No problems. It’s fine.”

“This is more than just fine!” Fang Xu felt the other party was truly an outsider. “This is a masterpiece! You can tell Xiao Yu put in a lot of effort! When your boss gives this as a gift, the recipient will definitely love it. These flowers can be preserved forever!”

Zhan Xi responded listlessly, “Oh, thank you.”

Fang Xu glanced at her and continued, “These flowers need proper care. Remember not to get them wet because they have dye that will run if wet. All the petals and leaves have a protective film from the setting liquid. If they get dusty, either blow the dust off or use a small brush. When not on display, you can store them in a cabinet or box.”

Zhan Xi nodded, “I understand.”

Seeing her lack of enthusiasm, Fang Xu hesitated before saying, “If everything looks okay, please pay the remaining balance.”

“Alright.” Zhan Xi took out her phone and paid the balance on the spot.

Fang Xu received the payment and picked up a large sealed paper bag from the sofa, handing it to Zhan Xi: “Miss Zhan, Xiao Yu asked me to give this to you.”

Zhan Xi took the bag, feeling its surprising weight, not knowing what was inside. She said softly, “Thank you.”

She was also holding a paper bag, and after some thought, handed it to Fang Xu: “This is for Xiao Yu. Please give it to him for me.”

Fang Xu: “???”

He thought, what’s going on here? Luo Xiao Yu is such a smooth operator! After making flowers for a week, they’re already at the stage of exchanging gifts? In all his years in this business, how come he never had the luck to meet such an adorable and beautiful client?

Fang Xu took the paper bag: “Sure, I’ll give it to him right away.”

With nothing else to discuss, Zhan Xi bent down to pick up the flower arrangement and prepared to go upstairs: “Thank you for coming. I’m heading up now, goodbye.”

“Goodbye, hope to work together again.” Fang Xu smiled at her and watched as she entered the elevator.

Zhan Xi carried the flowers back to the company and went straight to Wen Qin’s office. Along the way, her colleagues saw the flowers in her arms. Yuan Sichen called out, “Wow, so beautiful! Is this the gift for that Japanese person?”

“Good Fortune” was placed on Wen Qin’s desk, and several HR girls came in to admire it. Wen Qin examined the flowers up and down, exclaiming, “It’s really beautiful! Looks just like real flowers. How did they make this?”

She touched the lily petals: “They’re hard!”

“They’re made of fabric, heat-pressed and set, that’s why they’re a bit hard,” Zhan Xi explained.

“Really nice!” Wen Qin was very satisfied. She picked up the flower container and said to her subordinates, “Stop looking, stop looking. I’m taking this to Director Sun. Xiao Zhan, you’ve completed this task very well! This gift is very classy!”

Zhan Xi smiled: “I hope Director Sun likes it too.”

After telling Wen Qin about the flower care instructions, everyone dispersed. Zhan Xi returned to her desk and finally opened the paper bag.

Inside the paper bag was a small box. Opening the lid, she found a heat-pressed flower brooch.

Zhan Xi had seen this brooch design in “Xiao Yu Yu’s Heat-Pressed Flowers” online shop. Blue forget-me-nots paired with light green hydrangeas, surrounded by lustrous white freshwater pearls – elegant and sophisticated, priced at over five hundred yuan.

Closing the box lid, Zhan Xi took out a larger black box from the bag. When she opened it, she was stunned.

Inside was a familiar glass bottle with a silver ribbon tied around it. In the bottle was a casablanca lily with a small lily bud of the same color beside it.

Zhan Xi pulled out a palm-sized card from the bottom of the box. It read: Teacher Egg: Wishing you good health and constant smiles. —Xiao Yu

His handwriting wasn’t particularly beautiful, but it wasn’t ugly either. Each character was written neatly, reminding Zhan Xi of an adorable elementary school student. Next to “Xiao Yu,” he had drawn a cartoon whale spouting water.

Zhan Xi looked at the lily again. This was her first heat-pressed flower, and the knot in her heart loosened a bit, but she still wasn’t very happy.

Looking at her phone, “Big Fish” still hadn’t sent any messages. Zhan Xi had wanted to thank him, but now changed her mind.

He was the one who was wrong first, so why should she speak first? She wouldn’t respond to him, hmph!

—

At this time, Luo Jingyu was sound asleep wrapped in his blanket.

The previous night, he had tossed and turned until dawn without sleeping. In the morning, he faced the flower arrangement with dark circles under his eyes, engaged in an internal struggle for several hours, and finally chickened out. At noon, he texted Fang Xu to come over.

When Fang Xu arrived, he had many questions. Why wouldn’t Luo Jingyu deliver it himself when he lived so close by? Why make him drive all the way from the city to deliver it?

Luo Jingyu typed on his phone to show him: [It’s raining, heat-pressed flowers can’t get wet.]

That made sense, so Fang Xu accepted it and picked up the flowers to leave.

However, Luo Jingyu grabbed his arm, pressed his lips together, and handed him a bag of items. He typed another message to show him: [Please give this to Miss Zhan, help me apologize to her, but don’t tell her I can’t hear. Please.]

After reading the message on the phone and looking up at Luo Jingyu, Fang Xu discovered that this twenty-six-year-old young man was actually blushing.

Something’s going on!

“I understand, don’t worry,” Fang Xu spoke clearly for Luo Jingyu to read his lips, then left his house.

After Fang Xu left, Luo Jingyu’s tense nerves finally relaxed a bit. The sleepiness from a night without rest finally came rushing in. He crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep.

While sleeping deeply, a light suddenly illuminated the dark room. Luo Jingyu opened his eyes alertly to find a small light bulb on the wall beside his bed was lit.

This was his special “doorbell” – every room in his house had one of these small light bulbs. Whenever someone rang the doorbell, all the bulbs would light up, so no matter which room Luo Jingyu was in, he would notice.

He put on his house robe and went to open the door, his hair sticking up messily, wondering who could be visiting at this time.

Fang Xu had said he would go straight back after delivering the flowers, so Luo Jingyu was quite surprised to see him return.

“I won’t come in,” Fang Xu handed him the paper bag. “Miss Zhan asked me to give this to you. I didn’t look inside, don’t know what it is.”

Luo Jingyu: “…”

He dazedly accepted the bag. Fang Xu said, “She accepted the flowers and was very satisfied, but seemed unhappy when she saw it wasn’t you delivering them.”

Luo Jingyu read his lips and his heart skipped a beat.

Fang Xu waved his hand: “Well, I’ll be going now.”

Just as he was about to turn around, Luo Jingyu grabbed his arm again. Fang Xu turned back in surprise. Luo Jingyu was so anxious he almost started signing, then remembered Fang Xu couldn’t understand sign language. He gestured for him to wait, went to get his phone from the bedroom, and typed: [What does she look like?]

“Huh?” Fang Xu almost laughed, asking back, “You don’t know what she looks like?”

Luo Jingyu shook his head, his lips still pressed tightly together.

Fang Xu was quite playful and thought since he was helping Luo Jingyu hide his deafness, maybe he should also help hide something about Miss Zhan – that would be fair!

He smiled and said, “Just a very ordinary woman, probably in her thirties, not very tall, common face.”

Luo Jingyu stared intently at his lips, afraid to miss a single word. After “hearing” everything, his expression was so neutral that Fang Xu couldn’t read it.

Fang Xu teased, “What? Disappointed?”

Luo Jingyu hadn’t caught that clearly and frowned, typing: [What?]

“Are. You. Disappointed?” Fang Xu enunciated each word very clearly, asking again.

Luo Jingyu understood now but was confused, typing: [Disappointed about what?]

“Did you think she was a beauty? Hahahahaha…” Fang Xu finally burst out laughing, it had been so hard holding it in. “Young man, stop daydreaming and focus on making money! You spent a week making flowers, the shop’s almost out of stock. Get back to work!”

He patted Luo Jingyu’s arm and left.

The phrase “daydreaming” was too difficult for Luo Jingyu to understand from lip-reading. In his mind, he thought of “being foolish” – was Fang Xu telling him not to be foolish, right?

He felt Fang Xu might have misunderstood something. What foolishness had he committed? And he wasn’t disappointed! He already knew what kind of person Teacher Egg was. He just envied Fang Xu for being able to meet Teacher Egg in person and talk with her. He wondered what her voice sounded like – someone so patient must have a gentle voice too. What a pity he couldn’t hear it.

Closing the door, Luo Jingyu sat down at his workstation and took out the contents of the paper bag.

It was a L’Occitane Christmas gift set of hand creams!

He opened the gift box and took out all four hand creams to examine them. He found there was also a card in the bag that read:

Xiao Yu: The weather is dry in winter, remember to use hand cream. Thank you for making “Good Fortune,” and I wish you health, happiness, and continued good luck. —Egg Pudding ^_^ December 6, 201X

Her handwriting was so beautiful, elegant and refined. Luo Jingyu thought of his own chicken scratch writing and felt even more embarrassed.

He opened a yellow-cased hand cream and squeezed a bit onto his hand, bringing it to his nose to smell – it had a light lemony fragrance. He spread the cream evenly, finding it wasn’t sticky at all, and smelled his hands again – now both hands were fragrant.

Luo Jingyu blinked a few times, feeling guilty.

How coincidental was this? They had both prepared gifts for each other and written little cards. Did Teacher Egg really look forward to meeting him? She even prepared a gift! How could she be so nice!

Then, since he didn’t go, would she be angry?

Luo Jingyu opened his phone. “Egg Pudding” hadn’t sent any new messages. The last one was still from 10:30 the previous night, right after they had finished chatting for over an hour—

[Egg Pudding]: Xiao Yu, good night, see you tomorrow [moon]

Looking at these words, Luo Jingyu’s fingers were already uncontrollably pressing the screen.

[Big Fish]: Teacher Egg.

He waited five minutes, but there was no reply.

[Big Fish]: Teacher Egg, I’m sorry I didn’t come to deliver the flowers today. Thank you for your gift, I really like it. I just tried some, it smells nice.

Ten minutes passed, still no reply.

[Big Fish]: Teacher Egg, are you angry? I want to apologize, I’m sorry, I was wrong.

An hour later, still no reply.

Luo Jingyu felt terrible.

Ahhhh! It’s over! Teacher Egg is angry! She’s ignoring him!