ATLAS TRANSLATES

When Zhan Xi woke up, she was in the hospital.

Her head was still throbbing with pain. She really didn’t want to open her eyes, but knew she had to – otherwise, that person would worry.

Who was that person? For a moment, she actually couldn’t remember.

Was this what memory loss felt like? So people really could lose their memories, it wasn’t just something made up in novels.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw him sitting by the hospital bed. Looking at his worried expression, all her memories came flooding back at once.

How could she ever forget him?

Her Little Fish was the most adorable and gentle boy in the world.

Though he looked quite terrible right now, not handsome at all.

Luo Jingyu and Luo Xinran both saw Zhan Xi open her eyes. Luo Xinran let out a sigh of relief and said to Luo Jingyu: “Big brother, she’s awake. Please eat something. If you pass out too, I really won’t be able to take care of both of you.”

Earlier, when Luo Xinran returned to the complex with takeout, she was shocked to find that after all this time, they hadn’t gone upstairs and Zhan Jie was nowhere to be seen. Luo Jingyu was sitting by the building entrance holding an unconscious Zhan Xi, surrounded by concerned neighbors offering advice.

Luo Xinran thought Zhan Xi had low blood sugar. She had Luo Jingyu carry her out of the complex and they took a taxi to the nearest hospital.

At the hospital, they discovered that Zhan Xi had actually suffered a mild concussion from Chi Guilan’s blow. Fortunately, the doctor said she just needed a few days of rest to recover, and put her on a glucose drip to replenish her energy.

Zhan Xi knew Luo Jingyu hadn’t eaten anything. She tried to speak but found her lips were stiff. She tried to sign instead, but had barely lifted her left hand when Luo Jingyu reached over and stopped her.

She had an IV needle in the back of her hand. Luo Jingyu nodded at her, pointed to himself with his left hand, then made an eating gesture, indicating he would eat.

“Just eat something, don’t hold out. Hurting yourself only lets the bad guys win,” Luo Xinran opened a box of food for Luo Jingyu. He took it with his left hand, but couldn’t use chopsticks with his right hand. He could only put the box on the bedside table and slowly eat with a spoon in his left hand.

Zhan Xi turned to watch him, reaching over to touch the bandage on his right hand. Luo Jingyu shook his head at her. Zhan Xi moved her lips, whispering: “Idiot.”

Luo Xinran had been busy all day from morning till night. Luo Jingyu felt bad and told her to go home and rest. Luo Xinran asked him: “Can you take care of her by yourself?”

Luo Jingyu nodded. Luo Xinran then asked Zhan Xi: “Are you really okay? Does your head still hurt?”

Zhan Xi said softly: “I’m fine. You go home, Little Fish is here. Thank you for all your help today.”

“This is what friends are for.” Luo Xinran smiled and stroked her hair. “Your Little Fish is injured too now. You two are really something, ending up in the hospital one after another. How about this – I’ll go home to shower and get some sleep, then come check on you tomorrow morning and bring food. The doctor said you just need to stay overnight for observation and can be discharged tomorrow. Get some good rest, and if you need help, we can get a nurse.”

Zhan Xi nodded once, then noticed Luo Jingyu giving her an odd look. She asked: “What’s wrong?”

Luo Jingyu hesitated for a moment, then put his hands up by his head like two ears.

Zhan Xi immediately understood and said to Luo Xinran: “Xinran, I’ll give you my key. Could you please go back to 1504 one more time? Our cat has no water or food. Could you help take care of it, just add some water and cat food?”

Luo Xinran smiled: “No problem, I’ll handle it, don’t worry.”

After Luo Xinran left, only Luo Jingyu remained by the hospital bed. In the other bed was an older woman whose family was watching TV, not paying attention to them.

Luo Jingyu held Zhan Xi’s right hand with his left. They gazed at each other, not needing words, able to understand each other’s feelings just through their eyes.

One was saying: I’m fine, don’t worry.

The other was also saying: I’m fine, don’t worry.

Luo Jingyu gently covered Zhan Xi’s eyes with his left hand, then made a sleeping gesture with one hand. Zhan Xi knew he wanted her to rest, so she obediently nodded and closed her eyes.

She really did want to sleep. Her head hurt badly, and the best thing right now would be to sleep without thinking about anything. But when she actually closed her eyes, her mind was in chaos.

The situation still wasn’t resolved. The path through Fang Xu was completely blocked.

Her mother now knew about Little Fish, knew he was deaf, and disapproved of their relationship.

Fang Xu knew they had no evidence and who knew what he would do next.

If they couldn’t prove their innocence, would Little Fish have to face Shanshan’s lawsuit? Would he still be able to continue his pressed flower work?

How would they get past her mother’s objections? Would her father and brother still support them?

…

Zhan Xi drifted off to sleep at some point, then woke up feeling nauseous.

Luo Jingyu sat by the hospital bed holding a trash can, supporting her as she dry heaved in his arms while he patted her back.

The doctor said this was normal and just needed observation, it would get better in a couple days. Luo Jingyu’s heart ached terribly. He now knew that the old woman from before was Huanhuan’s mother. She had hit hard – that blow was actually meant for him, but Huanhuan had shielded him.

Her mother didn’t accept him, which he had expected. Few parents of healthy girls would accept their daughter dating a deaf man. And now with his current situation, what little advantage he had – his career, his craft – all seemed to be in danger.

He would become someone with nothing – deaf, mute, poorly educated, unemployed, broke, accused of plagiarism. Oh, and he had gotten into a fight too, ending up at the police station, which even Huanhuan’s family knew about.

Could there be anyone worse than him in this world?

Luo Jingyu barely slept all night, at most dozing off briefly while leaning on Zhan Xi’s bed, constantly alert to her condition. He kept holding her right hand, worried that because he couldn’t hear, he might not notice if she called for him.

Zhan Xi threw up twice during the night and had to go to the bathroom several times with Luo Jingyu’s help.

Her head was very dizzy and she was unsteady on her feet. When she went to the bathroom, Luo Jingyu didn’t leave – he helped hold her IV bag and just turned slightly away as a gesture of privacy. Zhan Xi didn’t feel embarrassed at all, as if there was nothing she needed to hide from this person.

After a long night, Luo Xinran and Pipi Xia arrived in the morning bringing breakfast. Zhan Xi’s spirits had improved somewhat. The doctor prescribed medication and advised her to rest quietly at home for a few days.

After breakfast, Luo Xinran helped Zhan Xi with the discharge procedures while Pipi Xia drove her and Luo Jingyu home.

In the car, Luo Xinran seemed to want to say something several times but held back. Pipi Xia couldn’t stand it anymore and said: “Just tell them, how long can you keep it hidden? Zhan Xi will definitely see it anyway.”

Zhan Xi looked at Luo Xinran and asked: “Did they… make another move?”

“Yes.” Luo Xinran nodded. “You should check Weibo. It’s better to know sooner rather than later. Don’t get too upset though, the doctor said you need to stay calm.”

Zhan Xi smiled: “Don’t worry, I’m too tired for that.”

Before opening Weibo, Zhan Xi first made an agreement with Luo Jingyu – no getting angry, no getting upset, no more acting rashly on his own. If he had any thoughts, he should tell her, not keep them bottled up inside.

Luo Jingyu agreed. He didn’t regret hitting Fang Xu, but he regretted that his impulsiveness had affected so many people.

Zhan Xi opened Weibo. Luo Jingyu leaned in to look with her, finally learning what else had happened.

Early that morning around 8am, [rrmft0429] had posted a new long Weibo, retelling everything with many photos attached.

This time though, besides tagging Shanshan and Xiyu, she also tagged many people in the pressed flower community, including Xu Qingyan, Sister Shao, Sister Xiao Zhu and others. She specifically pointed out that Teacher Luo was Xu Qingyan’s student and demanded to know from Xu Qingyan how her prized student could plagiarize the work of a small pressed flower enthusiast like herself, going two days without admitting it or apologizing – how should this be resolved?

Additionally, [rrmft0429] reposted this Weibo, this time tagging all the well-known hanfu brands, studios and communities.

Some people in the community who didn’t know the situation casually reposted it, and things quickly escalated. The comments under Xiyu Pressed Flowers’ Weibo were unbearable to read – a small portion were waiting to see what happened, but most were cursing them out.

[rrmft0429] had posted screenshots of Zhan Xi’s private messages to her. Focusing on this point, many people demanded that Xiyu Pressed Flowers provide evidence.

[User 1]: You confidently accuse others of plagiarism but can’t provide evidence that your draft came first. Everything’s just based on what you say? Are you bullying them because they’re new?

[User 2]: Ahhhhhh my world is shattered!! Teacher Luo from Xiyu was actually the teacher at Little Fish Fish Pressed Flowers!! I’d recognize his handiwork even if it was turned to ashes!!

[User 3]: Damn, I just ordered a hairpin from your shop, rushing to get a refund. Plagiarizers get lost!

[User 4]: I have a question – if Xiyu really had an earlier draft, wouldn’t that mean the victim copied Xiyu? But the victim would have had to see Xiyu’s draft first. I don’t believe in coincidental inspiration. If they saw it, where did Xiyu leak the draft? The evidence should be easy to provide. If they can’t provide it, doesn’t that mean Xiyu is lying? There was never any draft?

…

In their Taobao shop, refund requests were piling up.

All these accessories had already been made by Luo Jingyu, originally planned to ship out at the end of the month.

Zhan Xi turned off her phone and said: “Well, that’s about what I expected. They’re making a big fuss, getting everyone in the pressed flower and hanfu communities involved. This is all they’re capable of.”

Those comments – Luo Jingyu had seen them too. He sat there motionless, his expression becoming vacant again.

Zhan Xi sighed. Luo Xinran asked: “What do you plan to do?”

“Haven’t figured it out yet,” Zhan Xi said. “Little Fish told me last night that Fang Xu admitted he did it. Since they’re so brazen now, we can’t keep avoiding it. We definitely need to respond – I need to think about how to write it. And we need to try to find evidence again. Sigh… when people want to frame you, every step is planned. Their advantage is that we didn’t keep records, which was based on their understanding of Little Fish’s work habits. We were too busy then and never thought about keeping records. When Fang Xu told Little Fish he wanted to split up, that person’s Weibo was already posted.”

Luo Xinran asked: “Do you know who that person is?”

“Most likely it’s Guan Rujie, Fang Xu’s new partner. She studied a different school of pressed flower art that not many people in China practice,” Zhan Xi analyzed. “The hairpin Little Fish designed isn’t simple – a newcomer couldn’t make something like that. If it was someone from Teacher Xu’s school, they would have shown some respect for Teacher Xu’s reputation and not done something so underhanded. If we had kept records and Teacher Xu found out who did it, how could they continue in this circle?”

“That makes sense,” Luo Xinran thought for a moment. “But where can we find this evidence? Do you have any ideas?”

Zhan Xi shook her head: “Not yet, but I feel like there are some small details I missed. My head is too dizzy right now, it hurts when I think too hard.”

She smacked Luo Jingyu’s leg hard and said angrily, “Our Fish here is just too stupid. He should have told me earlier he was going to find Fang Xu – I could have tied a voice recorder to his underwear. Fang Xu would be wary of me but not him. See, sure enough he admitted it. What a waste of a good opportunity.”

Luo Xinran and Pipi Xia both laughed. Luo Jingyu hadn’t seen Zhan Xi’s lip movements and didn’t know what they were laughing at. He rubbed his leg and pouted.

Zhan Xi would never truly be angry with him. Little Fish was suffering the most right now – she didn’t have the heart to scold him. The urgent matter was figuring out how to resolve this crisis. Compared to that, her mother’s issue wasn’t even worth mentioning. Fortunately her brother was there to help hold her off for a while.

The four of them returned to apartment 1504. Zhan Xi had to lie down again – she really couldn’t sit up, only lying down gave her some relief, and she still felt nauseous occasionally.

Because of his injured hand, Luo Jingyu couldn’t cook anymore. Luo Xinran wouldn’t let him clean the cat’s litter box. She and Pipi Xia took care of Gift, then Pipi Xia ordered takeout and the three of them ate lunch in the living room.

Luo Jingyu ate quickly. After finishing, he brought a bowl of vegetable porridge with egg to the bedroom. Zhan Xi had slept for a while and was now awake. Luo Jingyu patted her arm to get her to sit up and drink some porridge.

His face was still colorful with bruises, somehow even more swollen after a night. Zhan Xi touched his left cheek and Luo Jingyu flinched away in pain.

“No wonder my mom wanted to hit you,” Zhan Xi leaned against the headboard, still able to joke with him. “If I saw your face suddenly like that, I’d want to hit you too. So ugly.”

Luo Jingyu had looked in the mirror and knew his face was indeed terrible. Appearing before Huanhuan’s mother looking like this – thinking back, it was a total disaster. He didn’t know what to do going forward.

He lowered his eyes and put the porridge bowl on the bedside table. With his left hand he scooped up some porridge, blew on it, and brought it to Zhan Xi’s lips. She opened her mouth and drank it.

He fed her about half the bowl before Zhan Xi shook her head saying she couldn’t eat anymore.

Luo Jingyu didn’t force her. The doctor said if her appetite was poor she should eat small amounts more frequently. He thought about making porridge or noodles for Huanhuan tonight – with one hand, he could still manage porridge.

“Little Fish.” Zhan Xi grabbed Luo Jingyu’s left hand. He gripped her fingers back, looking into her eyes. Zhan Xi smiled gently. “This will pass. Things will get better. Trust me, good people get good returns. I’m here with you, don’t be afraid. Most importantly, don’t give up.”

Luo Jingyu’s eyes turned red. He blinked quickly several times to hold back tears.

“Promise me you won’t give up.” Zhan Xi’s voice was soft, lacking strength but very firm in tone. “I need you to promise me.”

After a long moment, Luo Jingyu nodded.

That afternoon, after taking her medicine, Zhan Xi slept again. When she woke up her headache had eased considerably. Luo Xinran and Pipi Xia hadn’t left yet. Luo Jingyu asked Pipi Xia to help buy some groceries and noodles, planning to make dinner for Zhan Xi himself, and maybe some late-night snacks too.

The three of them had takeout for dinner again. After eating, Luo Xinran took care of Gift one more time before leaving with Pipi Xia.

Luo Jingyu had sent Zhan Jie a WeChat message the night before, telling him Zhan Xi had gotten a concussion from being hit and spent a night in the hospital. He asked Zhan Jie and their mother not to come disturb her rest for the next few days, since the doctor said she couldn’t get excited or upset.

He typed these messages laboriously, but managed to explain the situation clearly. Zhan Jie said he understood and told them both to focus on recovering – one from illness, one from injury. He would handle their mother, who didn’t know which apartment they lived in anyway, so even if she came looking it would be useless.

[Big Brother-in-law Zhan Jie]: You idiot, running off to fight people, think you’re so manly? Happy about paying those fines? How can I trust my sister with you when you’re so impulsive? If it weren’t for you taking that hit to protect my sister yesterday, I wouldn’t even bother dealing with you! Also, figure out how to resolve your situation quickly. How can someone your age still get framed like this? If this doesn’t get resolved, there’s no way to explain it to my mom. My dad and I can’t cover for you! Understand?

[One Big Fish]: I understand, thank you, brother.

[Big Brother-in-law Zhan Jie]: Don’t call me brother! Call me Brother Zhan.

[One Big Fish]: Thank you, Brother Zhan.

Zhan Xi received inquiry messages from Sister Shao and others on WeChat. She simply created a small group with Sister Shao, Sister Xiao Zhu and Sister Xiao Ding, not daring to add Xu Qingyan, and explained the whole situation in the group.

After she finished explaining, the three sisters were stunned.

[Sister Shao]: To be honest, I believe in Little Fish. I’ve known him for many years and although we’re not super close, he’s really someone without schemes. When I saw the news on Weibo I didn’t believe it at all.

[Sister Xiao Zhu]: Can’t you tell those draft designs are totally Little Fish’s style? Anyone familiar with his work can see it.

[Sister Xiao Ding]: But regular internet users can’t tell! They want evidence!

[Sister Shao]: This whole thing is so frustrating, getting photographed [dizzy]. You two could have just taken pictures and sent them to him yourselves, how could you be so stupid?

[Egg Pudding]: Stop scolding us, Sister Shao! We were so busy with the Maker Fair then, we really didn’t think anything of it. Besides it was just a draft, and Fang Xu was the one who took the order – who knew he would use it against us?!

[Sister Xiao Ding]: I’ll just… ignore my Weibo for now. I’ve been busy making flowers, need to watch my kid during summer break, and still have lots of Hanfu Festival orders to complete. But Xiao Zhan, I have to tell you – I can’t publicly support Little Fish right now. This is too sensitive, and Teacher Xu still hasn’t responded.

[Egg Pudding]: It’s okay Sister Ding, I understand. You don’t need to speak up for Little Fish. I’m already very grateful if you just don’t repost that person’s Weibo. I’ll post an explanation tonight.

[Sister Xiao Zhu]: Post one first and see how people react. Write out everything clearly – sometimes even without evidence, if your logic makes sense, some people will understand.

[Egg Pudding]: Mm-hmm, I’ll write it carefully.

They definitely needed to respond. After eating a bowl of chicken and vegetable porridge that Luo Jingyu made, Zhan Xi insisted on getting up and sitting at the work desk, opening her laptop.

She first organized their chat records, including the design requirements Fang Xu sent to Luo Jingyu on July 3rd after taking the order, and Luo Jingyu’s response.

There was one point in their favor – Fang Xu probably deliberately didn’t ask when it would be done, but Luo Jingyu was very principled and proactively asked about the deadline. Fang Xu gave an ambiguous “no rush” response, then came the highlight – Luo Jingyu said:

[One Big Fish]: I’m very busy lately, can finish the drawing in 10 days, can give it to you by the 13th.

[Fang Xu]: No rush, take your time.

After that, they had no more chat records about this order.

Zhan Xi also had chat records with Su Su, asking if Fang Xu had ever shown her the design drafts. Su Su said no. Zhan Xi asked if she could share these chat records, but Su Su said to just post them and see – they only got in contact in August anyway, so they weren’t really useful.

After organizing all the images, Zhan Xi made side-by-side comparisons of Luo Jingyu’s draft and [rrmft0429]’s supposed designs – four images, two hairpins and two hand flowers, almost identical.

She started writing. Luo Jingyu sat beside her the whole time watching her work. Zhan Xi would occasionally ask his opinion, but Luo Jingyu couldn’t offer much.

The situation was clearly unfavorable to them. They didn’t care about the Hanfu Festival anymore – they had discussed it and agreed to just process refunds. If customers didn’t want to buy anymore, how could they force them? The urgent matter was explaining everything clearly. They had no evidence, this was just how things were. If internet users didn’t believe them, they couldn’t think of any other solutions for now.

While writing, Zhan Xi threw up again, bringing up all the porridge she had eaten for dinner. Her head still hurt, dizzy and painful, but she couldn’t lie down. She couldn’t delay anymore – she had to finish writing even if she had to grit her teeth through it.

Luo Jingyu felt terribly guilty. He went to reheat the remaining porridge in the rice cooker, planning to have Zhan Xi eat a bit more after she finished writing. If she ate and then went to sleep, she probably wouldn’t throw up again.

Around 11pm, Zhan Xi finally posted her long Weibo.

The story began from late June when Teacher Luo was preparing for the Maker Fair, talking about his four years partnering with Fang X to run “Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers”, then registering “Xiyu Pressed Flowers” because of the Maker Fair…

Zhan Xi wrote only facts, laying them out plainly without emotion, just objective narration.

At times like this, writing couldn’t be emotional – they needed to let internet users judge for themselves. She attached all the images she had, and concluded with a statement:

Teacher Luo did not plagiarize. He completed the initial draft on July 9th, which was photographed by Fang X, the operator of “Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers”, on July 11th, leading to the design being leaked.

Xiyu Pressed Flowers would work with Shanshan Hanfu to reserve the right to pursue legal action against the rumor-spreaders.

What would happen after the design draft was leaked? Zhan Xi didn’t write it out. Look at those drafts! Anyone with eyes could see this wasn’t coincidental inspiration – this was plagiarism! But who copied whom? Why copy? Who benefits from exposing this?

She couldn’t say it outright. Let everyone analyze it themselves.

After finishing and posting it, Zhan Xi could barely hold on anymore.

She couldn’t even shower – she felt like she might faint at any moment. Luo Jingyu helped her to the master bedroom’s large bed. Only after lying down did she feel a bit better.

Luo Jingyu made an eating gesture with his left hand, asking if she wanted to eat something.

Zhan Xi shook her head: “I want to sleep for a bit.”

Luo Jingyu nodded. Zhan Xi held his hand and said: “Take a shower later, but don’t get your right hand wet. The doctor said it can’t get wet.”

Luo Jingyu smiled slightly and flicked her nose, nodding again.

Zhan Xi said: “Sleep with me tonight, Little Fish. Your bed is big enough.”

Luo Jingyu didn’t refuse. They had slept together before, and besides, he wasn’t comfortable leaving Huanhuan to sleep alone.

He bent down to kiss her forehead. She touched his face and complained: “You smell like medicine.”

Luo Jingyu pressed his lips together. He had medicine on his face and thought it smelled bad himself.

“Go shower, don’t look at your phone anymore. Go to sleep after showering,” Zhan Xi tugged his hand. “You didn’t sleep at all last night, how did you manage?”

Luo Jingyu pinched her cheek and went to the bathroom with clean clothes.

That night, they slept together. Zhan Xi slept restlessly, breaking into a sweat. In the middle of the night her head hurt so much she started whimpering.

In her foggy state she realized Luo Jingyu couldn’t hear her, so she didn’t hold back, letting out soft “ow ow ow” sounds, though her body barely moved.

Somehow Luo Jingyu noticed. He moved closer and pulled her into his arms, not daring to rub her head, only gently stroking her back.

His presence was like a strong sedative. Zhan Xi’s heart gradually settled, her head didn’t hurt as much, and she peacefully closed her eyes in his embrace.

However, things didn’t develop in a positive direction. After “Xiyu Pressed Flowers” posted their clarification Weibo, the long-dormant “Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers” account suddenly sprang into action.

Fang Xu used the same style as [rrmft0429], tagging lots of people in the community. He directly admitted he was “Fang X” but firmly denied ever photographing Teacher Luo’s design draft, saying his July 11th visit to Teacher Luo’s home was just a casual drop-by – he never saw any draft! He didn’t know what Xiyu Pressed Flowers’ intentions were, trying to make him take the blame when this had nothing to do with him!

Fang Xu also said this order wasn’t urgent, he had told Teacher Luo there was no rush and would never chase for the draft. Shanshan hadn’t pressed him for it either! It was actually him who proactively told Shanshan on July 22nd that Teacher Luo had gone independent and registered Xiyu Pressed Flowers, telling them to go directly to Xiyu. Before that, if Shanshan had ever asked about the draft, show the chat records!

Well, now it had turned into a Rashomon situation, even dragging “Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers” into it.

“Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers” was actually quite mysterious. Over four years, they had built an excellent reputation in the hanfu accessories circle, but their designer and creator had always remained secretive and never shown their face. Only now was “Teacher Luo’s” existence revealed, and in such a strange way.

Old fans of “Little Fish Fish” were bewildered, asking what about this year’s Hanfu Festival items? Who actually made them? They didn’t want to buy flowers made by a plagiarist!

Fang Xu jumped out again, grandly introducing [Miss Rujie]!

He hinted that because he felt Teacher Luo’s character was questionable, he ended their partnership and invited Miss Rujie, a beautiful teacher who had studied pressed flower art in Russia, to co-operate “Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers”, promising to repay fans with even more perfect works.

Zhan Xi: “…”

[rrmft0429] kept jumping around every day, demanding explanations from Xu Qingyan and Shanshan Hanfu, crying that Xiyu was turning things around – was she implying that she had plagiarized? She hadn’t plagiarized at all, this was just inspiration from her own field research. Teacher Luo must have seen her Weibo before drawing those designs, bullying her for being a newcomer. Sure, Teacher Luo’s drawing skills were better than hers, but copying so blatantly was just too low!

Zhan Xi: “…”

It had to be said that because “Xiyu” had no evidence, and because “Little Fish Fish” was a well-established shop with a good reputation that had never caused drama before, and because [rrmft0429]’s logic seemed flawless, the vast majority of Weibo users sided with [rrmft0429], believing Teacher Luo from Xiyu had plagiarized.

[User 1]: Just because they didn’t plagiarize before doesn’t mean they won’t now. Maybe they just ran out of inspiration after going independent?

[User 2]: The victim has been very clear. If it’s not plagiarism, why would the victim keep demanding justice? If it’s not plagiarism is the victim framing them? Watched too many TV dramas…

[User 3]: I believe in Little Fish Fish anyway. I’ve bought several flowers from them, so beautiful! Not sure who actually made them now, bit annoying, but I’ll continue supporting Teacher Rujie!

[User 4]: Why hasn’t Teacher Xu said anything yet? Still waiting for her response!

[User 5]: Never knew what pressed flowers were before… seeing all this drama has been eye-opening. Guess there’s plagiarism in every circle!

…

Zhan Xi: “…”

What moved her was that a small portion of internet users believed her explanation, mostly very dedicated “Little Fish Fish” fans who were familiar with Luo Jingyu’s design style and left comments supporting them.

There were also a few customers they had served in person at the Maker Fair who said they had met Teacher Luo and thought he was a very gentle and good person – then they got viciously attacked by other internet users until their own mothers wouldn’t recognize them.

Most of their Taobao orders were refunded. They were left with over a hundred Hanfu Festival accessories that might never find homes.

After three days of rest, Zhan Xi’s concussion symptoms had mostly disappeared. Her spirits improved and her appetite returned. Zhan Jie told her their mother had stayed in Qiantang for two nights before going home, furious and threatening to cut off relations with her children.

“I told her everything I knew, and made up stuff for what I didn’t know,” Zhan Jie sighed on the phone. “I really talked up Little Luo’s work, praised him a lot, tried to make Mom a bit more accepting, though of course she wouldn’t admit it. She lost so much face that day, especially with Auntie there, and Little Luo looking like that – terrible first impression! Mom asked me why he got beaten up like that and I made up a story about him being a good Samaritan! Huanhuan, your brother really helped you this time, right? I don’t even know why I’m making up stories to help him, he’s not that great!”

Zhan Xi said: “Brother, stop pretending. You know he’s a good person.”

“…” Zhan Jie asked, “Has his situation been resolved?”

“No,” Zhan Xi answered. “The hanfu studio we’re working with is about to lose it. They gave us a final deadline – five days. If we can’t explain things in five days, they want Little Fish to apologize on Weibo and admit to plagiarism.”

Zhan Jie was shocked: “They can do that? What if you refuse?”

Zhan Xi said: “If we refuse they’ll sue us. We signed contracts – if they sue, we’ll definitely lose and still have to apologize.”

Zhan Jie asked: “Will you agree?”

“Absolutely not,” Zhan Xi said calmly. “Making Little Fish admit to plagiarism – never in this life!”

“Maybe if he admits it, apologizes, he could keep working in the industry? Wouldn’t losing a lawsuit and quitting the circle be worse? Maybe he should swallow his pride?” Zhan Jie probed.

Zhan Xi laughed: “Brother, we might lose the lawsuit, and whether we quit the industry is another matter, but admitting to plagiarism is absolutely impossible! If Luo Jingyu agreed to that, I would have misjudged him. I believe he would never agree – he would rather quit than admit to false charges.”

“You’re right,” Zhan Jie said. “If he did that, I wouldn’t respect him either.”

This call was originally about their mother, but somehow turned to discussing Little Fish.

Zhan Xi knew Little Fish’s situation was indeed more serious and concerned her more, also because Little Fish’s recent state really worried her.

He acted like nothing was wrong, taking care of the cat every day, tending to plants, buying groceries and cooking, still trying to do housework with one injured hand. When Zhan Xi called him, he would still smile at her.

But Zhan Xi knew something wasn’t right.

She had caught him several times sitting at his work desk staring blankly at his pressed flower tools.

She had also found pressing irons he’d thrown in the trash that weren’t even broken, and had secretly retrieved them.

He had trouble sleeping at night. Zhan Xi had been sleeping with him these days, the two of them “watching” each other. When she woke up at night, she would pretend to be asleep, secretly opening her eyes a crack to look at him, and several times found Luo Jingyu lying there staring at the ceiling in the dark.

If she moved even slightly, he would immediately close his eyes and pretend to be asleep.

Zhan Xi felt so helpless. Little Fish was truly foolish – he didn’t know that people’s breathing was different when they were pretending versus really sleeping, didn’t know that he would let out soft little snores when deeply asleep. He had no idea what snoring was, stayed completely silent when pretending to sleep, and thought she wouldn’t notice?

His mental pressure was truly immense.

Zhan Xi knew this, and would comfort him, but it didn’t help much.

She tried very hard to understand Luo Jingyu’s feelings, to imagine how difficult it must be for him, but knew she could only grasp the surface – just as she was a hearing person who could never truly understand what it was like for him to live in a silent world.

He didn’t have many friends and wasn’t used to confiding in others, preferring to keep things to himself. He had told Zhan Xi that Chen Liang was probably his best friend, but their personalities were different – Chen Liang was more outgoing with lots of friends.

Before, he would tell his troubles to Luo Xiaomei, but after his sister got married they saw each other less. Because he wasn’t good at online chat, communication between the siblings also gradually decreased.

After getting together with Zhan Xi, Luo Jingyu had told her he was incredibly happy that he could share his feelings with someone he liked, feeling less lonely.

But now, what was he thinking? Zhan Xi had no way of knowing.

Every time she tried to talk with him about it, he would find reasons to refuse.

No one knew how much pain and confusion Luo Jingyu was experiencing now. Zhan Xi even felt that if she hadn’t been constantly by his side, Little Fish might have already broken down, maybe even tried to take Fang Xu down with him.

He was already trying so hard to control himself. The gentlest, most pure-hearted person in the world had been pushed to this point – maybe he wanted to destroy everything?

On the last day of summer vacation, Luo Jingyu received a WeChat message from Luo Xiaomei asking him to come home for dinner.

The injuries on his face weren’t fully healed yet. Worried about making his parents concerned, he replied saying he was busy with work and couldn’t go. But Luo Xiaomei said she had something to tell him and insisted he make time to visit.

Zhan Xi was worried. Luo Jingyu showed her his phone. Zhan Xi hugged his waist and said: “If your family asks about your face, don’t hide it from them anymore. You’ve been through something big – tell your mom, dad and sister. They can help you process it, okay?”

Luo Jingyu nodded and went to his parents’ home after lunch.

Luo Xiaomei and Gao Yuan were already there. Seeing his face covered in injuries, the whole family was shocked and asked what had happened. But Luo Jingyu didn’t follow Zhan Xi’s advice – he lied saying he had just tripped and fallen, hurting his face. Luo Xiaomei clearly didn’t believe him, but no matter how much she asked, Luo Jingyu stuck to his story about falling.

Since he refused to admit the truth, Luo Xiaomei had no choice. With her big pregnant belly, she sat her brother down in a chair. All five family members gathered around the table as Luo Xiaomei told Luo Jingyu something.

Luo Jingyu never imagined that Luo Xiaomei had called him home for a family meeting.

The reason was that her genetic test results from two weeks ago had come back, showing that her unborn child also had heterozygous mutations in the GJB2 gene position – meaning that, barring any surprises, this child would also be born with congenital hearing loss.

Luo Mingsheng and Yan Yajuan had already known about this and both looked very serious. Luo Jingyu was the last to know. He stared at his sister blankly for a very long time before signing: [Are you going to terminate the pregnancy?]

Luo Xiaomei and Gao Yuan looked at each other and held hands. She shook her head at her brother, raising her hands to answer: [No, your brother-in-law and I have decided to have this baby.]

The straw that breaks the camel’s back – or perhaps in this case, breaks a fish – might be just one sentence.

The moment Luo Xiaomei’s hands stopped moving, Luo Jingyu broke down.