ATLAS TRANSLATES

Luo Jingyu was organizing the groceries Zhan Xi bought in the kitchen: a bag of chopped ribs, two white radishes, one sweet corn, and a handful of spinach.

How should he cook them? He pondered while opening the fridge to check his inventory. He had barely cooked in the past two weeks, so there weren’t many fresh ingredients – just a few eggs, some sausages, and some dried seafood.

While thinking, someone suddenly hugged him from behind, arms around his waist, body pressed against his back, head resting on his right shoulder.

She used to sneak into the kitchen to startle him before, but now she’d gotten worse, taking advantage of his deafness to get “handsy.”

Luo Jingyu stood straight, closed the fridge door, lowered his head, and placed his hands over hers, his right index finger starting to move.

Zhan Xi contentedly hugged the man’s warm body, not noticing anything at first, but then felt something strange on her hand. She closed her eyes to focus – ah! Little Fish was writing on her hand with his finger!

He wrote several times – what was he writing?

The back of the hand wasn’t as sensitive as the palm. Since blindly guessing would be too broad, Zhan Xi made a few assumptions first before matching them to what Little Fish was writing.

“I like you”? No.

The first character seemed to be “you,” “Teacher Egg”? No, not that either.

She got it on the third try – the two characters were the same. Little Fish was writing: Huanhuan.

Huanhuan, Huanhuan, Huanhuan…

He wrote her nickname repeatedly, and when he finished another round, Zhan Xi placed her hand over his, her index finger also writing on the back of his right hand: Little Fish, Little Fish, Little Fish.

He didn’t need to guess – he could look down and see it, and after seeing it clearly, he understood that Zhan Xi had figured out what he was writing.

Luo Jingyu finally turned around. Zhan Xi still held his waist, looking up at him with a proud smile. Luo Jingyu’s lips curved up too as he reached to pinch her cheek.

Zhan Xi said, “You haven’t taught me yet – how do you sign ‘Huanhuan’?”

Luo Jingyu thought for a moment. “Huanhuan” wasn’t a single word. To express it in sign language, he could only use finger spelling – “huan” needed four gestures to form h-u-a-n, and he only needed to sign it once, not silly enough to do it twice.

He demonstrated each sign for Zhan Xi to see. Coincidentally, in that morning’s sign language class, Zhan Xi had just learned finger spelling, though she hadn’t memorized everything yet. But when she saw Luo Jingyu extend his index and middle fingers together, with the rest positioned like scissors, she knew this was “h” and naturally guessed what the following gestures would be. Especially “a” – it was the easiest to recognize, just a raised thumb.

“It’s pinyin,” Zhan Xi asked knowingly, “the pinyin for ‘huan’, right?”

She secretly delighted in her mind, thinking she must be using cheat codes today – surely Little Fish would think she was clever again!

Indeed, Luo Jingyu was quite surprised – Teacher Egg was so smart, he hadn’t even explained yet!

He smiled and nodded, demonstrating “h-u-a-n” again. Zhan Xi copied it, then pouted and said, “I think it’s too complicated. If you want to call me, you’d have to make all these gestures. Why don’t we agree on one gesture that lets me know you’re calling me?”

Luo Jingyu thought Zhan Xi’s suggestion was good, but what gesture should they use? Egg?

While he was thinking, Zhan Xi said, “‘Like’ – how about using ‘like’? ‘Like’ is a word, it must have a sign, right?”

Like? Her name was Zhan Xi, nickname Huanhuan – using ‘like’ was perfect, it contained both her names!

So, Luo Jingyu curved his right thumb and index finger slightly, curling the other three fingers into his palm to make a small ‘C’, then touched his thumb and index fingertips to his chin, nodding slightly – this meant “like.”

It really was just one gesture! Zhan Xi practiced it once, and Luo Jingyu smiled, giving her a thumbs up.

Zhan Xi immediately improvised, pointing to herself, then signing ‘like’, and finally poking her index finger directly at Luo Jingyu’s left chest. Though the force was gentle, it made him sway back until his back hit the fridge.

Luo Jingyu truly felt dizzy after seeing Zhan Xi use sign language to say “I like you.”

This was the first time she had told him “I like you” in his native language, more impactful than when she spoke it and he read her lips.

Such a direct “I like you” that needed no translation or thought – seeing her sign it so naturally made him deeply touched.

He liked her so much too! Very, very much, and wanted to tell her ‘I like you’ in her native language, Mandarin Chinese, using his mouth, just those four syllables – if only he could say them.

But he couldn’t, couldn’t pronounce a single word, not even “I.”

Luo Jingyu even began to envy Chen Liang – Chen Liang could hear a little sound, so he definitely knew how to say these words, no matter how well he said them, at least he knew how to say them. Unlike himself, who could only open his mouth futilely, with no idea how to begin.

Compared to normal people, his mouth was only good for eating, drinking, and breathing. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t speak… it was so frustrating – his vocal cords were fine, yet he couldn’t speak.

If he couldn’t speak, only good for eating, drinking, and breathing, did his mouth have any other use?

Ah, yes! There was another use, something he’d just learned last night.

Zhan Xi’s finger was still pressed against his left chest, her big eyes sparkling as she looked at him. Luo Jingyu’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he lowered his head to kiss her lips.

Her mouth tasted like cherries, sweet, just like his. He’d just washed a bowl for her earlier, and she had fed him a few.

Luo Jingyu’s kiss was very gentle and lingering, unlike last night’s stormy passion. He seemed to want to savor this taste properly – after all, in his twenty-six years of life, he was only now getting his first experience.

The two were being affectionate in the kitchen for quite a while when Zhan Xi suddenly felt a gaze examining them. She made a soft sound and pushed Luo Jingyu. The man reluctantly released her lips and opened his eyes to look at her.

At such close distance, Zhan Xi could see his distinct eyelashes, his eyes black and bright. She blushed and turned her head to see Gift crouched in the kitchen doorway, watching them motionlessly.

“You peeping tom,” Zhan Xi made a face at Gift, who turned and ran away.

Luo Jingyu had also seen the cat, and looked down at Zhan Xi again – she was so beautiful, so lovable, however he looked at her, he loved her! How could such a wonderful girl like him too? How could he be so lucky? Was it the good luck brought by that “Good Fortune” arrangement?

Zhan Xi left Luo Jingyu’s embrace and saw the ingredients laid out on the counter. She pointed and asked, “What are you planning to cook?”

Luo Jingyu pointed to the ribs, then to a red seasoning jar. Zhan Xi said, “Braised ribs!”

Correct.

Luo Jingyu then picked up the radish and corn, shaking them. Zhan Xi said, “Radish and corn soup?”

Ah, correct again! This must be what they call chemistry!

No need to guess the rest – just stir-fry the spinach. Huanhuan likes eggs, so he could also boil some tea eggs for her to snack on.

Luo Jingyu pushed Zhan Xi out of the kitchen, his right hand’s back pressed under his chin. Zhan Xi knew he was telling her to go play by herself until dinner was ready. She nodded with a grin, then made a sign that surprised Luo Jingyu – her right thumb touched her pinky tip, middle three fingers curled into her palm, then her hand moved in a wave-like motion like a fish tail, finally pointing at Luo Jingyu.

“Little Fish, right? This is what I’ll call you from now on,” Zhan Xi said while demonstrating again, “Little Fish, Little Fish, it’s so fun! You never taught me this.”

She had learned it from the sign language book, the first word she looked up after getting home was how to sign “Little Fish.”

Luo Jingyu naturally didn’t know where she learned it from, thinking probably from the internet. He smiled, ruffled Zhan Xi’s hair, then touched his thumb to his pinky, waved his hand, made the fish tail motion, and finally gave a thumbs up.

Zhan Xi immediately understood: “Oh! When calling you, I don’t need to sign ‘Little’? Just ‘Fish’ is enough? You’ll know I’m calling you?”

Luo Jingyu nodded.

Zhan Xi made a complete sentence in sign language, keeping her mouth closed without speaking: [I understand, Little Fish, I am Huanhuan, I am your girlfriend, I like you, please take care of me from now on.]

Luo Jingyu: “…”

His eyes grew hot, almost crying, but he held back and smiled, waving at Zhan Xi before turning back to the kitchen.

Zhan Xi heard the sound of running water from the kitchen and thought, she had just properly confessed in sign language, how could he have no reaction? Sigh… men really don’t understand romance.

After dinner, Zhan Xi wouldn’t let Luo Jingyu wash dishes anymore – his left hand was injured so badly that if their cooking skills weren’t so different, she wouldn’t even let him cook.

After cleaning up the kitchen, Zhan Xi went to the living room to find Luo Jingyu already working at his workbench.

He set his daily plan every morning, making peonies in batches according to their type and color. The peonies for hair combs were definitely different from those for hairpins, with colors in pink, purple, and blue, plus a pink-to-warm-orange gradient that fewer people bought because it cost extra.

Right now, Luo Jingyu was working on a batch of blue peony hairpins. The dyeing was done before dinner, and now that they were dry, it was time to create wrinkles with gauze. Zhan Xi finally saw how the wounds on Luo Jingyu’s left hand were made.

The gauze wrapped around the petals, pressed down with his left hand on the table, right hand pulling hard. After finishing, Zhan Xi saw dense wrinkles appear on the petals.

She looked at Luo Jingyu’s left hand – sure enough, after several rounds of friction, that spot on his left palm was already red. A few more pulls and it would break skin again, yet the scabs nearby hadn’t even healed!

Zhan Xi declared that from now on, peonies would be her most hated flower, no competition!

“Oh my goodness…” she felt heartbroken, grabbing Luo Jingyu’s hand and saying, “How about I help press them down, and you just pull? Your left hand doesn’t have a single healthy spot left.”

But how could Luo Jingyu agree? He shook his hand and patted her head, telling her not to worry.

Zhan Xi had no choice but to stay on the sofa, not disturbing him.

The living room became quiet except for the intermittent sounds of Luo Jingyu working. Gift was curled up comfortably napping in the third-level space pod of the cat tree.

Here, it had a cat bed, litter box, food and water bowls, and several cat toys. The place was spacious and warm – compared to apartment 802, it was like a five-star hotel versus a hostel.

Zhan Xi chose a variety show to watch. Although she could play it out loud, she was still used to wearing earphones. She lay back on the sofa watching absent-mindedly, occasionally going to the bathroom or getting water, checking what Luo Jingyu was doing.

When he was using the iron to press flowers, Zhan Xi didn’t dare disturb him, just watched carefully. When he was adjusting and assembling petals, she would sit beside him, resting her head on his shoulder.

Luo Jingyu would sometimes look over at the sofa, finding it amazing that his home now had a girl and a cat, everyone doing their own thing, yet somehow not boring at all.

Zhan Xi fell asleep at some point and was woken by Luo Jingyu. She had a thin blanket covering her, and he was kneeling by the sofa, elbow propped on the cushion, palm supporting his chin as he watched her.

“What time is it?” Zhan Xi checked her phone – past 10, not too late.

Luo Jingyu pulled her up, pointing at the front door for her to go home to sleep.

Zhan Xi rubbed her eyes and asked, “Where’s Gift?”

Luo Jingyu pulled her arm toward the bedroom. Gift was already asleep on his big bed, even purring contentedly.

Zhan Xi: “…”

Luo Jingyu typed on his phone: [I’m home every day now, I’ll take care of Gift, you go home to sleep.]

Seeing her pout, he typed again: [I finish work on the 4th, next weekend, we can go out? Date.]

Zhan Xi suddenly looked up at him. Luo Jingyu pressed his lips together in a smile, looking very shy. Zhan Xi felt shy too and said, “Okay, next Saturday then, I have class Sunday morning.”

Luo Jingyu nodded, then led her to the living room, handed her her coat, and walked her back to the eighth floor.

After returning home, Zhan Xi didn’t immediately shower but took out the sign language textbook Zhou Lian had given her and her notes, reviewing the morning’s lesson content.

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, speaking while signing. Zhou Lian said learning sign language required lots of practice, just like memorizing English vocabulary – speak more, listen more. Zhan Xi set a plan for herself: practice at least one hour every day, and she could also preview independently with the textbook since it had illustrations. Start with simple words and phrases, and gradually try to understand Teacher Zhou’s longer sentences.

“a, b, c, d… zh, ch, sh…”

After practicing finger spelling many times, Zhan Xi pointed at toothpaste: “y-a, g-a-o.” After completing five gestures from memory, she pointed at hand soap: “x-i, sh-o-u, y-e.” Hmm, that was seven gestures.

Looking at various daily items and practicing with finger spelling, Zhan Xi got a bit tired.

Chinese had to be converted to pinyin, pinyin had to be broken down, then converted to finger spelling. Although Little Fish didn’t use Chinese finger spelling much, Zhan Xi understood the hardships of the hearing-impaired community.

Like Little Fish – he knew how to spell her nickname but couldn’t pronounce it at all, he just memorized it.

Zhan Xi looked at herself in the mirror, moving her lips to speak but making no sound.

She wondered, was this what Little Fish’s world was like? Was this how she looked when speaking to him?

Now she was watching herself speak, so of course she knew what she was saying, but if someone else was speaking, she definitely couldn’t understand lip reading – Little Fish could understand almost everything. When she spoke to him, sometimes she even forgot he couldn’t hear, feeling like he understood everything she said, he just couldn’t speak.

The truth was, he couldn’t hear anything at all.

Zhan Xi covered her ears with both hands, and a “whoosh” sensation appeared. She stamped her foot, released and covered her ears again, stamped her foot, released and covered again… no matter how tightly she covered them, she could still hear her footsteps.

But Little Fish couldn’t hear anything.

How could it be like this?

Her Little Fish had lived in a silent world for twenty-six years.

—

On Wednesday noon, Fang Xu came to Luo Jingyu’s home on time to take away the last batch of hair accessories.

Luo Jingyu had just pulled an all-nighter and was too tired to shower after Fang Xu left, rolling straight into bed to sleep.

These past few days, Zhan Xi came to have dinner with him every day. Monday he cooked, Tuesday he was rushing the final deadline and Zhan Xi volunteered to cook – it was really quite unpalatable, they both had to grit their teeth to finish the food, and Zhan Xi herself was quite embarrassed.

She said she wouldn’t come for dinner on Wednesday, letting Luo Jingyu get a good sleep and rest. The night before, she had thoughtfully taken Gift with her so it wouldn’t disturb dad’s deadline rush.

At work, Zhan Xi showed no unusual behavior.

She had thought things through carefully. Given that her mom had the precedent of calling Wen Qin, she absolutely couldn’t let Wen Qin know about her relationship.

Yuan Sichen and Qian Yun had met Little Fish. Zhan Xi spoke to them separately, asking them not to tell anyone about Little Fish, absolutely anyone.

She didn’t say she and Little Fish were dating, only that they were good friends, and she didn’t want him bothered by gossip. Both colleagues agreed.

Yuan Sichen chatted with Zhan Xi for a bit, asking if that young man was deaf and mute. Zhan Xi said yes. Yuan Sichen then asked if she liked him. Zhan Xi gave an ambiguous answer: “I do have feelings for him, we’re still getting to know each other, nothing’s certain.”

Yuan Sichen didn’t ask further, just thinking that while Zhan Xi appeared gentle and introverted, she was really doing something earth-shattering.

Qian Yun thought differently, privately discussing with Yuan Sichen, saying she couldn’t understand what Zhan Xi was thinking – a perfectly healthy girl, why get involved with a deaf-mute person? Obviously it wouldn’t work out. How was Lin Yan inferior to him?

Yuan Sichen advised her to mind her own business, though she internally agreed with Qian Yun’s words.