ATLAS TRANSLATES

Fu Xueli hid in the bathroom and opened a small mirror. In the dim light, she saw her smudged makeup.

Her eyes felt swollen and uncomfortable, probably from crying so much recently.

She took out makeup remover, turned on the faucet, and washed her face with cold water. Letting out a long sigh, she dug out some cotton pads from her bag and carefully wiped off the remaining dirt on her face.

There was a small noise behind her as the door was pushed half-open. Someone asked in a soft, old, and hoarse voice, “Is anyone in here?”

Fu Xueli turned around to see an elderly woman. She looked quite old, hunched over with silver hair, but had a kind face.

Fu Xueli vaguely remembered seeing this grandmother in Xu Xingchun’s hospital room earlier. She was probably a relative of one of the patients. Fu Xueli went to open the door fully and said politely, “I’m about to leave. Please come in.”

The old woman carried a plastic basin and turned on the faucet to fill it with water. There were only two people in the bathroom. Not knowing the woman in front of her was a celebrity, the grandmother casually started chatting. Her wrinkled face full of smiles, she asked, “You look about the same age as my granddaughter. Coming here so late, are you the girlfriend of that young man in the next bed?”

“…” Fu Xueli didn’t respond, nor did she seem shy or embarrassed.

“I heard the doctor say he was just moved out of intensive care this morning. He’s a police officer, right? I saw several officers come to visit him this afternoon. Ah, being a police officer is such a dangerous job, it really makes people worry.”

Fu Xueli made a sound of agreement, finding the old lady quite friendly. “Are you here alone?”

The grandmother smiled kindly, “No, my son came during the day. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving the old man to sleep alone at night, so I’m staying at the hospital with him.”

“I saw you were crying earlier. Is something bothering you?” The grandmother reached out to turn off the running faucet. It was old and a bit difficult to operate.

Seeing this, Fu Xueli went to help. “Let me do it.” She paused, then said, “It’s nothing. I’ve just been working overtime lately, with a lot on my mind. I’m feeling very stressed.”

“I see.” The grandmother shook her head sympathetically and patted Fu Xueli’s shoulder. “Young lady, you’re still so young. Try to be happier. When you get to our age, you’ll realize that with most things, you can just let them go with a sigh. Who knows, maybe when you wake up from your nap tomorrow, today’s sorrows won’t seem like much at all.”

Fu Xueli responded with a quiet “Mm.”

Returning to the hospital room.

“I’m… leaving… now.” The patient in the next bed was already asleep, so she leaned down and silently mouthed the words to Xu Xingchun.

The main light in the room was off, with only a small yellow emergency light on. Fu Xueli had just removed her makeup, her face looking fresh and natural, softening her usual charm and allure. She looked like a crabapple flower blooming in the mist of a quiet night.

He had just woken up and was still groggy. After a delay, he slowly nodded.

He opened his mouth, swallowing with effort. His voice was very hoarse, “Be careful on your way.”

“Mm.”

She turned around reluctantly, and as she lifted the curtain, Fu Xueli suddenly felt an inexplicable tightness in her nose.

Her heart was very conflicted.

After breaking up with him, she had heard very little news about Xu Xingchun. But she knew his father had passed away early on, and he didn’t have many family or friends. At this late hour, no one would be coming to visit him.

In the lonely night, he would wake up alone and fall asleep alone. Without a single person to keep him company.

Thinking this, she stopped at the doorway. Fu Xueli suddenly felt drained of all energy. She touched the door handle but couldn’t bring herself to push it open.

After who knows how long, she walked back step by step. After hesitating, she quietly lifted a corner of the curtain.

Xu Xingchun hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

In the shadows, hearing footsteps, he slowly opened his eyes. In the dim yellow light, he saw her, his eyelashes black, his eyes quiet.

Neither of them spoke first.

He didn’t say anything, but Fu Xueli felt he had said everything.

Fu Xueli looked to the side, slowly inching forward a step. Her lips moved as she said softly, “I’ll stay here with you tonight.”

No one forced her, no one demanded it. She came back of her own accord. Fu Xueli found a low stool.

In this narrow, quiet space, though they didn’t speak, she could feel Xu Xingchun turning his head slightly, constantly watching her.

His expression was calm, his gaze focused. But somehow distant, like unmelted snow.

Suddenly she felt a bit uncomfortable.

Fu Xueli suddenly leaned forward, gently raising her hand to cover Xu Xingchun’s eyes. She could feel the slight tickle of his eyelashes on her palm, and his eyeballs seemed to be moving.

Fu Xueli asked quietly, “Are you afraid I’ll leave?”

Without waiting for his answer, Fu Xueli said with a softness she didn’t even notice herself, “I’ll just sit here. I won’t leave. You can sleep peacefully.”

She slowly removed her hand—

Xu Xingchun had obediently closed his eyes.

She let out a slow sigh. They were very close, and she hadn’t moved away yet, so she could clearly see Xu Xingchun’s face.

Her gaze was momentarily fixed.

The warm yellow light was soft. He lay quietly, looking frail and vulnerable, without any ability to resist. Although pale from blood loss, it couldn’t hide his extremely handsome face.

She stared for a while, her mind wandering, and suddenly had a strange thought.

This angle and position would be quite suitable for kissing…

It would probably feel quite nice…

Snapping back to reality, Fu Xueli immediately jumped back.

Damn?!! Fu Xueli, are you a beast or a pervert?!!

At a time like this, you’re still… still coveting his good looks??!!!

Fu Xueli sat back on the small stool, silently cursing herself, still shaken.

She was really shocked by the fleeting but intense thought she just had—

She had actually wanted to lean in and forcefully kiss Xu Xingchun?!

Forcefully kiss… Xu Xingchun?!

He’s almost at death’s door, and she’s thinking about taking advantage of him?!

Fu Xueli felt very conflicted… She didn’t think she was the type of person to be so easily swayed by good looks.

That was too indecent.

With a blank stare, she took out her phone from her bag and opened WeChat. Tang Xin had sent over a dozen messages.

[Going to Xiangshan to film next week] [Xixi said you disappeared again? Where are you, why did you vanish again?!] [I’m telling you, don’t run off and get into trouble again, or I’ll quit being your manager right away, haha] [Did you go to the hospital again?!! Be on time at 7:30 tomorrow morning to shoot the Adidas photos! Don’t forget about the Star Night event in the evening either.] [Reply to me!! Reply to my messages!! Reply as soon as you see this!] ……

Fu Xueli checked the time and guiltily replied: [The Xiangshan filming was postponed? I’m just making a cameo appearance anyway. What should I do, I haven’t rested enough yet…]

Tang Xin immediately replied: [What do you mean what should you do?! This is a big production with a great team, do you know who the lead actor is?! It’s already good that you can get some exposure, we can’t leave the show hanging, can you please give me a break]

Fu Xueli: [Alright :)]

She thought for a moment.

The period drama in Xiangshan… the male lead is Jiang Zhixing.

The female lead… the main actress should be Ji Qinqin?

But hasn’t Jiang Zhixing not been doing TV dramas for the past few years? How did he get involved in this…

As she was thinking, Fu Xueli fell asleep from exhaustion. In her hazy dream, she thought:

Actually, from the very beginning, she had always seemed to have no resistance to Xu Xingchun’s looks. Except for being too controlling of her, Xu Xingchun was quite to her liking in other aspects.

Not noisy or troublesome, quietly and elegantly focused on his studies, he was quite attractive.

They were desk mates during the transition from spring to summer.

During boring Chinese classes in middle school, she liked to sleep on her desk. Her drawer was full of junk food and expired test papers, with the teacher’s voice faintly audible.

Occasionally when she woke up, she would doodle on scrap paper, often unconsciously ending up drawing Xu Xingchun’s profile.

Once during self-study, while stretching and yawning, Fu Xueli reached around Xu Xingchun’s back and tapped his right shoulder.

Xu Xingchun turned his head, and she quickly withdrew her hand.

The boy behind looked innocent. A few seconds later, Xu Xingchun turned back to continue his homework. Fu Xueli tried the same trick again, tapping once and quickly pulling her hand back. She lowered her head, biting her lip to suppress her laughter.

After laughing enough, she then secretly peeked at Xu Xingchun’s reaction.

As soon as their eyes met, Xu Xingchun stopped writing and looked at her without saying anything.

Fu Xueli’s triumphant smile froze as she watched Xu Xingchun silently take out a class duty log from his drawer and open it.

She lunged forward, sprawling across Xu Xingchun’s desk to cover the log. He steadied the desk that almost tipped over and looked down at her.

But Fu Xueli was stunned. With her sharp eyes, from this angle she suddenly saw—

The drawing she had crumpled and carelessly thrown on the ground earlier was lying safely in Xu Xingchun’s unzipped schoolbag.

Shouldn’t its destination have been the trash can?!

“You…” Fu Xueli paused, suddenly at a loss for words. “Why were you digging through the trash?”

Although Xu Xingchun’s face looked calm, he coughed softly, saying somewhat awkwardly, “I didn’t go through the trash. You wrote my name on the paper ball.”

So what??!

Fu Xueli squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth, “Go on.”

Xu Xingchun calmly pointed out, “You drew me.”

“……”

He asked abruptly, “Fu Xueli, do you like me?”

Fu Xueli was dumbfounded: ……

It wasn’t that bad.

How did Xu Xingchun become so narcissistic?

The classroom was noisy, something must have happened at the front. The smell of ink and books permeated the entire room. A gentle breeze blew in through the window. Xu Xingchun still looked very calm, though he was gripping his pen quite tightly.

Sweat broke out on Fu Xueli’s body, her heartbeat becoming erratic and uncontrollable.

He lowered his gaze and after a moment of silence, said, “If you like me… I can be with you.”