ATLAS TRANSLATES

The living room’s air conditioner had been installed for over a year and heated well. After half an hour, the room was much warmer.

Luo Jingyu washed his hands and took his bag of groceries to the kitchen to sort out. He had bought a box of vegetarian chicken, some greens, a few winter bamboo shoots, but no meat since there was already some at home.

Zhan Xi followed him closely. Luo Jingyu thought for a moment and took out his phone to ask her: [Do you have any meat?]

“…” Zhan Xi shook her head, her eyes innocent.

Luo Jingyu asked again: [Eggs?]

Zhan Xi shook her head again. Luo Jingyu was very surprised, wondering how she could not even have eggs.

He looked around the kitchen. On the counter sat a brand new rice cooker in pink, next to it a kettle and a thermos, an extremely clean cutting board standing upright, and a knife holder with a kitchen knife. There was nothing else.

He had a guess and typed: [Rice?]

“Yes! Yes yes yes, I have rice!” Zhan Xi exclaimed excitedly like an elementary school student who finally got an answer right, pulling out an unopened 5kg bag of rice from the cabinet.

Luo Jingyu: “…”

Well, his guess was right – Teacher Egg had never cooked since moving in.

Zhan Xi then took out a wok, cooking oil and several bags of seasonings from the cabinet. The wok had been used, but the oil and seasonings were all unopened.

Luo Jingyu felt helpless. He went to the living room to check the refrigerator – the fridge compartment had nothing but a few bottles of yogurt, milk and some chocolate bars.

Zhan Xi wished she could dig a hole and crawl in. How embarrassing! Little Fish must think she was lazy, stupid, and greedy!

Luo Jingyu opened the freezer and saw several bags of frozen food – dumplings, wontons and vegetable buns. He turned to look at Zhan Xi, his eyes troubled.

Zhan Xi tried to explain futilely: “I’ll learn to cook, I just moved in…”

Luo Jingyu wasn’t trying to make fun of her, he just felt they couldn’t do without meat. Teacher Egg was too thin – was it because she couldn’t cook? Eating takeout every day wasn’t healthy. Thinking this, he decided to go upstairs to get some ingredients. He typed: [I’ll go home to get meat, you start cooking rice.]

Zhan Xi looked at him blankly. Luo Jingyu pointed at the rice cooker and typed with disbelieving wide eyes: [Cook rice with rice grains, can you do that?]

“Yes! Yes!” Zhan Xi nodded repeatedly like a pecking chick, “Wash rice and cook it, I can do that!”

Reassured, Luo Jingyu took his keys from his hanging coat and went out to go upstairs.

Zhan Xi wanted to tell him not to trouble himself, that they could just eat whatever, but looking at all the vegetables and tofu products on the kitchen counter, she felt that even if she could handle a vegetarian meal, Little Fish probably wouldn’t like it. Boys all loved meat dishes – Zhan Jie was the king of meat, and Wei Wei was the same, feeling like he hadn’t eaten if he didn’t have meat in a meal.

About fifteen minutes later, Luo Jingyu returned. Zhan Xi opened the door for him and was surprised to see him carrying a pressure cooker.

What kind of setup was this? What dish needed a pressure cooker?

Besides the pressure cooker, Luo Jingyu also brought an eco-friendly bag. Zhan Xi followed him into the kitchen and watched as he magically pulled things out of the bag.

A whole dark soy sauce duck, a piece of lean pork, a bag of preserved vegetables, several eggs, two tomatoes, a pickled vegetable…

Zhan Xi: “…”

She couldn’t help but tug at Luo Jingyu’s sleeve. He turned to look at her, and Zhan Xi asked, “How many dishes are you planning to make?”

Luo Jingyu looked up at the ceiling, his fingers moving as if counting, then held up five fingers on his right hand.

“Five dishes?!” Zhan Xi was stunned, “That’s too much! There’s only two of us!”

Luo Jingyu smiled and waved his hand, suggesting it wasn’t too much at all.

It was almost seven o’clock. Zhan Xi thought, how long would it take to make five dishes? But since she was just eating and not cooking, and the cook had no complaints, Zhan Xi tugged his sleeve again. When he looked over, she asked, “Is there anything I can help with?”

Luo Jingyu thought for a moment, then handed her the eggs and tomatoes. He first made an egg-beating gesture, then mimicked cutting vegetables. Zhan Xi asked, “Tomato and eggs stir-fry?”

Luo Jingyu shook his head.

Zhan Xi asked again, “Tomato egg drop soup?”

Luo Jingyu smiled and clapped once, making a “V” sign. He knew Teacher Egg was very smart.

Zhan Xi obediently went to beat the eggs. Seeing the rice was already cooking in the rice cooker, Luo Jingyu rolled up his sleeves, washed the cutting board and knife, and first cut half the soy sauce duck. As he lifted the other half with the string attached, his hands were oily so he could only nudge Zhan Xi’s arm with his elbow.

Zhan Xi looked at him. He lifted the duck with his left hand, pointed to the ceiling with his right, and Zhan Xi understood: “Hang it up?”

Luo Jingyu nodded.

Zhan Xi was quite surprised: “Take it back home to eat, you don’t need to give it to me.”

Luo Jingyu smiled and shook his head, lifted the duck again, pointed to it, then his mouth, and finally gave a thumbs up.

“It’s very tasty?” Zhan Xi felt bad, “I should have been treating you to dinner, but now you brought the ingredients and you’re cooking too. How can I take more things from you?”

The sentence was too long and Luo Jingyu had trouble reading her lips, but seeing Zhan Xi’s expression, he could basically guess her meaning. He shook his hands repeatedly, still insisting on giving her half the duck.

“Thank you, I won’t be polite then.” Zhan Xi stopped refusing, took the duck and hung it on the balcony. When she came back, she saw Luo Jingyu had already put the cut half of the duck in the pressure cooker, turned on the range hood, and started steaming it on the stove.

With the range hood and gas stove on, the kitchen was filled with rumbling sounds. Zhan Xi saw Luo Jingyu about to cut the vegetarian chicken and quickly brought him something wrapped in plastic.

Luo Jingyu unwrapped it – it was a pink apron with white cartoon cats on the front. Zhan Xi made a wearing motion: “Put it on, don’t get your clothes dirty.”

Seeing Luo Jingyu obediently put on the apron, Zhan Xi went behind him and naturally helped tie the strings. Luo Jingyu looked down at the cat pattern on his chest, finding it amusing – Teacher Egg was very well-equipped! Just didn’t know how to use anything, which was quite remarkable.

After that, Luo Jingyu concentrated on cooking. After Zhan Xi finished beating the eggs, he had already cut the vegetarian chicken. He let Zhan Xi use the cutting board while he heated oil in the wok and started frying the vegetarian chicken pieces with chopsticks.

After cutting the tomatoes, Zhan Xi didn’t know what to do next. Luo Jingyu turned to glance at her, put the pork on the cutting board, his eyes questioning. Zhan Xi stared at the raw pork for a while and said very honestly: “I… don’t really know how to cut meat.”

“Pat!” Luo Jingyu hit his forehead with the back of his hand, his whole body shaking with laughter. He pointed to the sink, made a hand-washing motion, then pointed to the living room. Zhan Xi knew he thought she was in the way.

Zhan Xi pouted, resigned to her fate. After washing her hands, she tilted her body wanting to say something to Luo Jingyu, but he nervously extended his arm to block her, pointing at the oil and shaking his head. Zhan Xi asked, “Are you worried about oil splashing on me?”

Seeing him nod, Zhan Xi thought he was very considerate, so she stood further away and said: “Little Fish, thank you for cooking for me. I’ll go out first.”

Luo Jingyu waved his hand at her dismissively, looking exasperated. Zhan Xi couldn’t argue back and decided to take back her praise of him, slipping out of the kitchen with a pout.

Left alone in the kitchen, Luo Jingyu finished frying the vegetarian chicken, then opened all the cabinets to look inside. Finding the empty seasoning jars Zhan Xi had bought, he washed them and filled them with salt, sugar, MSG and other seasonings, then opened the soy sauce and vinegar bottles. With everything ready, he officially began cooking.

The pressure cooker made hissing sounds, and bursts of stir-frying sounds came from the wok. Zhan Xi couldn’t sit still in the living room and would peek into the kitchen doorway every now and then to watch Luo Jingyu busy at work.

His movements were methodical, as if everything was under control, making even cooking look elegant.

However, the pink apron he wore was slightly out of character. Zhan Xi leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, watching this tall man cutting vegetables on the cutting board. Somehow, she couldn’t stop her lips from curving upward.

On a cold winter night, in a rented apartment with the warm air conditioning on, having a young man in a soft sweater cooking for her – this was something unimaginable before.

Zhan Jie had reminded her to be careful about safety, not to let strangers into her home, but this person was Little Fish!

Little Fish wasn’t a stranger. Although they hadn’t known each other long, they chatted every day, and Zhan Xi unilaterally considered him a very reliable person, not dangerous at all.

The pressure cooker’s flame was off, and on the counter sat a plate of braised vegetarian chicken and a plate of preserved vegetables with winter bamboo shoots and pork strips. Luo Jingyu started stir-frying the greens, with fragrant aromas wafting out of the kitchen. Zhan Xi patted her stomach and swallowed, hungry and craving the food. She couldn’t wait to start eating.

After boiling water for soup, Luo Jingyu opened the pressure cooker, transferred the soy sauce duck to the cutting board to slice into small pieces and plate it. Turning around, he saw Zhan Xi waiting by the door like a little cat waiting to be fed, so he waved her in.

Zhan Xi walked to his side, and Luo Jingyu put a duck leg in a bowl and handed her the bowl and chopsticks, making an eating gesture with his right hand.

“You want me to try it?” Zhan Xi happily took the bowl and chopsticks, picked up the duck leg and took a bite. The duck was steamed until tender, with perfect saltiness and sweetness – it was super delicious!

“Mmm! So good!” Zhan Xi’s eyes lit up, “Where did you buy this? This soy sauce duck isn’t salty at all.”

Luo Jingyu wiped his hands and took out his phone to type: [My father made it, it’s old duck.]

Zhan Xi happily gnawed on the duck leg, eating and talking: “Your father is amazing! It’s really delicious!”

She was talking while chewing, which Luo Jingyu actually couldn’t understand, but seeing her expression he knew she was praising the duck. He pointed to the finished dishes, made a plate-carrying motion, then an eating gesture. Zhan Xi happily exclaimed: “Time to eat?”

Luo Jingyu nodded. After finishing the duck leg, Zhan Xi carried the dishes one by one to the dining table. Soon after, Luo Jingyu brought out the tomato egg drop soup. The table was set with four dishes and one soup, two meat dishes and three vegetable dishes, with red, yellow and green colors beautifully coordinated.

Zhan Xi had never felt that eating could be such a happy thing. She almost bounced as she went to get bowls and chopsticks to serve rice. Luo Jingyu watched her back, thinking he had been a bit slow – Teacher Egg seemed to have been starved.

After serving the rice, they sat down facing each other. Zhan Xi suddenly remembered something – she had a cold, she absolutely couldn’t infect Little Fish! So she brought out a pair of serving chopsticks. Luo Jingyu thought this was her dining habit and reached for serving chopsticks when getting food, but Zhan Xi quickly blocked his hand, saying: “You don’t need to, I’m using them because I have a cold. You can just use your chopsticks directly.”

Seeing Luo Jingyu didn’t seem to understand, Zhan Xi pointed to her nose and pretended to cough. Luo Jingyu understood – she was sick?

Actually, earlier he had noticed Zhan Xi’s red nose tip. Now confirming she had a cold, his brows furrowed, his eyes showing question and concern.

Zhan Xi thought of waiting for fish on Tuesday night and wanted to complain: “It’s because I waited for you in the complex that day, waited for over an hour, it was so cold!”

Luo Jingyu: “???”

He widened his eyes, as if not understanding what happened. Zhan Xi continued: “I posted about it on Moments yesterday, didn’t you see?”

Moments? What Moments?

Teacher Egg’s Moments had always been private!

Luo Jingyu lost all interest in eating and immediately wanted to check his phone, but Zhan Xi stopped him again: “What’s the rush? Eat first, you can look later, I won’t delete it.”

When she spoke to him, her speed was always slightly slower and her pronunciation clearer than usual. But Zhan Xi felt this was fine – compared to typing on the phone, it was already surprising that Little Fish could understand her speech.

She wondered how he learned to read lips so well. Zhan Xi had originally thought meeting Little Fish again would be awkward like Tuesday night, but now she felt the atmosphere was quite nice and natural. Looking at Little Fish, he seemed quite relaxed too.

His inability to hear or speak didn’t prevent them from being good friends.

Luo Jingyu stopped rushing to check his phone and picked up his rice bowl to start eating. Honestly, he was really hungry and ate in big bites. Seeing Zhan Xi across the table seemed to have a good appetite too, trying every dish while smiling at him and giving him thumbs up.

Little Fish’s cooking was really delicious, every dish was good – he hadn’t been bragging at all! Zhan Xi ate contentedly, thinking how unexpected it was that the first meal in her new home was cooked by Little Fish, eaten with Little Fish, and was so abundant and delicious! Ah… happiness!

Eating always went faster than cooking. Luo Jingyu ate two bowls of rice, and even Zhan Xi had one and a half. After finishing, she patted her stomach and couldn’t help letting out a satisfied burp, her face turning red. Seeing Luo Jingyu lowering his head to drink soup, she finally felt relieved.

She had already embarrassed herself several times that evening. If he caught another embarrassing moment, she might as well debut as a comedian.

After they both finished eating, Zhan Xi cleared the bowls and plates to wash them in the kitchen while Luo Jingyu continued assembling the shoe cabinet in the living room. By the time Zhan Xi finished washing dishes, he had finished assembling the shoe cabinet.

Luo Jingyu pulled the cabinet’s flip doors to demonstrate to Zhan Xi – the three-tier shoe cabinet had three flip doors, each tier able to hold two rows of shoes. Zhan Xi clapped enthusiastically, giving sincere praise: “Little Fish, you’re really amazing! If I tried to assemble it, I wouldn’t finish even by dawn!”

Luo Jingyu didn’t know how to react to her praise. He pointed to the remaining side cabinet, indicating he would continue assembling. Zhan Xi walked to his side and tugged his sleeve. Luo Jingyu looked down at her, and Zhan Xi looked into his eyes, shaking her head saying: “Don’t do anymore, it’s too late today. How about… you come help me assemble it tomorrow.”

Saying these words, Zhan Xi felt she was being very thick-skinned. She had kept him busy all evening, both assembling furniture and cooking, even the ingredients were from him, plus she got half a soy sauce duck, and now she dared to openly ask for another day of free labor.

But she had a feeling that Little Fish would agree.

Sure enough, Luo Jingyu agreed, nodding before taking out his phone to type: [Tomorrow, I’ll cook again. What do you want to eat?]

“Ah…” Zhan Xi’s mouth opened slightly, immediately shaking her head, “No no no, no need to cook, I’ll… I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Luo Jingyu frowned slightly and showed her his phone: [Takeout?]

Zhan Xi: “…”

Seeing her mouth drooping, Luo Jingyu smiled happily and typed another line: [Really, I’ll cook. You’re Teacher Egg, what do you want to eat? Tell me during the day, I’ll go buy ingredients.]

Zhan Xi’s face turned red, feeling like she was some landlady, not only getting free labor but also making the worker pay for ingredients.

Looking at her conflicted expression, Luo Jingyu wanted to pat her head and tell her not to worry, but he held back and typed: [It’s late, I’m heading home.]

“Oh, okay, thank you so much for today.” Zhan Xi said softly, her lips moving with small motions. Luo Jingyu couldn’t read her lips and tilted his head, showing a confused expression.

“I said, thank you for today!” Zhan Xi said loudly, then added, “Little Fish, meeting you made me very happy, really very happy!”

Luo Jingyu understood this time, his heart starting to beat fast again. He lowered his head to type: [I’m happy too, very happy!]

He ended with an exclamation mark, hoping Zhan Xi would understand his indescribable feelings.

As Luo Jingyu put on his coat and opened the door to leave, Zhan Xi handed him his pressure cooker, then remembered something and went to get the untouched bowl of strawberries from the coffee table, insisting on giving it to him: “Take it home to eat, return the bowl to me tomorrow.”

Unable to refuse, Luo Jingyu placed the strawberry bowl on top of the pressure cooker. His right hand made a fist with the thumb up, bending the thumb twice.

Zhan Xi copied his motion, making a fist and bending her thumb, asking: “Is this… ‘thank you’?”

Luo Jingyu pressed his lips together and nodded, doing it once more.

Zhan Xi asked curiously: “Then how do you say ‘you’re welcome’?”

Luo Jingyu looked down at the pot in his arms, his expression troubled. Zhan Xi understood: “You need both hands?”

Luo Jingyu nodded, and Zhan Xi smiled saying: “No worries, you can teach me tomorrow then.”

Can’t dawdle anymore, Luo Jingyu thought, how are they still chatting at the doorway? He was holding a pot and a bowl of strawberries, quite comical.

He didn’t make the “goodbye” gesture to Zhan Xi. With one hand holding the pot and the other holding the bowl, he only looked at her gently with his eyes. Zhan Xi leaned against the doorframe, waving at him: “Little Fish, see you tomorrow.”

Luo Jingyu turned toward the elevator. Until he entered the car and turned around, he saw Zhan Xi still standing there, smiling sweetly at him.

That night, Luo Jingyu was destined for another sleepless night.

He crouched on the balcony to find liquid fertilizer, diluted it according to the ratio, and watered several plants that needed fertilizing. He loosened the soil and pruned and watered a few plants that caught his eye.

After finishing, he took a shower. Looking at the time, Zhan Xi should be asleep by now.

He curled up in his chair with the bowl of strawberries, almost reverently opening WeChat to find Zhan Xi’s Moments. As he looked through them, he bit into a strawberry.

The strawberries were sweet, the juice cool and fresh.

And the Zhan Xi in the photos smiled even sweeter than the strawberries.

She had set her Moments to be visible for six months. Luo Jingyu scrolled to the bottom, looking through each post from earliest to latest.

The earliest was from mid-June when Zhan Xi hadn’t graduated from university yet, showing her having dinner with roommates. It was summer then, she wore a white sleeveless dress with a ponytail, her arms thin, the whole person like a fresh white garden lily.

Then came graduation ceremony photos, Zhan Xi in her graduation gown holding her diploma, taking various photos with classmates.

There were graduation trips, graduation dinners, groups of twenty-two or twenty-three-year-old boys and girls crowded together laughing. Zhan Xi never squeezed into the middle, always smiling from the edge or even the corner, but Luo Jingyu could still pick her out from the crowd at a glance.

These were all experiences Luo Jingyu had never had. Although he didn’t regret not going to university, seeing Zhan Xi looking so spirited with her classmates still made him feel emotional.

The distance between him and Teacher Egg was really so far.

Zhan Xi would share her life on Moments, posting food photos, movie tickets, even summer’s burning clouds. Sometimes she would share articles with her own comments.

Later, she started working, and her Moments posts noticeably decreased. She posted about her cat mug – the one Luo Jingyu had seen; posted about the company cafeteria lunch, saying the meat pie and steamed egg were delicious; also complained about how far the company was, saying she lost a layer of skin every day squeezing onto the subway.

In September, her company organized an activity that looked like team building. Zhan Xi wore camouflage clothes, making a “V” sign at the camera, looking quite valiant.

But in the next photo she looked quite miserable, face pale, features contorted, hair wet and sticking to her forehead. Luo Jingyu only understood after reading the text – she was afraid of heights and had just walked a high-wire course, nearly scared half to death.

During National Day, Zhan Xi seemed to have gone home, taking a photo hugging a smiling old lady with the caption: Grandma must live to be a hundred!

November 11th was her twenty-third birthday. She didn’t post a photo of herself, just a birthday cake with candles, adorned with cat designs. The caption was just two words: Keep going!

In December, she was already wearing a down jacket. Just last Sunday, she went to watch a movie and have dinner with two girls. The three took selfies together – Luo Jingyu recognized the two girls as Zhan Xi’s university roommates.

The last Moments post was from yesterday.

In the photo, Zhan Xi made a suffering face, her big eyes watery, nose bright red, looking pitiful as she said: Got another cold!

Luo Jingyu lowered his eyes looking at the person in the photo, thinking of how just hours ago, she had stood before him, always tilting her head when talking to him, smiling at him, even her expression when she plopped down on the floor was so cute.

His hand reached into the bowl but found nothing. Looking over, he realized he had already eaten all the strawberries.