In a good time with beautiful scenery, whose courtyard hosts enjoyable events?
Lu Zizheng looked at Jiang Huaixi, her eyes unable to hide her joy and emotion. They shared a gaze for a moment, and Lu Zizheng bent her eyebrows and eyes, slightly tiptoed, and gently pressed a soft kiss on Jiang Huaixi’s cheek: “Huaixi, happy one-month anniversary.”
Jiang Huaixi’s eyes brightened, a smile appearing, as she lowered her head and kissed Lu Zizheng’s forehead, saying: “Go see if you like the gift.”
Lu Zizheng, with a mix of anticipation and excitement, held Jiang Huaixi’s hand as they moved forward, puzzled by the paper pieces fluttering in the wind, hung from colored strings tied to the boardwalk’s railing. She turned her head, blinking and pointing, smiling as she asked: “Uh, what is this?”
Jiang Huaixi released Lu Zizheng’s hand, with a faint smile, gently pushed her shoulder to move forward, answering: “Go see, and you’ll know.”
So Lu Zizheng, like a child, lightly skipped to the railing, squatted down, and reached out to grab the small paper piece fluttering in the wind, tied under the colored string. By the light from the railing, she saw that it was elegantly written in black pen: “Just going to Japan, still need to take a photo to show you’ve been here? Childish.”
Lu Zizheng couldn’t help but let out a “puchi” sound of laughter, gently flipping the paper over, wanting to see what exactly on the front could make Jiang Huaixi complain like that.
However, she did not expect the photo on the back of the paper to be so familiar. Lu Zizheng looked at the photo showing the tatami in a Tokyo hotel and a big V-shaped gesture under the camera, and was involuntarily stunned.
This was the photo she sent to her mother after her first business trip to Japan with her boss, telling her that she had arrived safely so she wouldn’t worry. Lu Zizheng’s nose felt somewhat sour, and in the blink of an eye, it was already a matter from six or seven years ago; things have changed, and her mother is no longer here… She turned her head, puzzled, and looked toward Jiang Huaixi, silently asking with her eyes how she could have this photo.
Jiang Huaixi just stood in the play of light and shadow, a faint smile on her lips, watching her gently, and signaled her to continue looking.
Lu Zizheng pursed her lips, took down the first photo clipped with a clip, turned her head back, squatted, moved a few steps forward, and grabbed the second paper fluttering in the night wind. This time, she first saw the front of the photo, which showed a tree full of brilliantly blooming cherry blossoms. Lu Zizheng recognized it as the cherry blossoms Jiang Huaixi was painting when she returned from her business trip to Japan and went to the dormitory to find Jiang Huaixi.
Lu Zizheng’s heart trembled slightly, as she bit her lip and flipped over the photo. On the back was Jiang Huaixi’s familiar beautiful handwriting: “What are you doing? Have you gone to see the cherry blossoms?”
Lu Zizheng’s eyes gradually became blurred by mist, but the smile on her lips couldn’t help but widen. She took down the second photo and eagerly moved on to the third.
The third photo showed a commercial street in City B, with a V-shaped gesture in front of the city’s landmark building, the tallest building in the area. This was the photo Lu Zizheng sent to Mother Lu during her second business trip out of town.
She flipped the photo over and saw that Jiang Huaixi had written on the back: “The view is ugly, the person is ugly, I don’t want to go at all. The wrist seems too empty, not at all knowing how to dress herself.” Lu Zizheng couldn’t help but snicker, as this was exactly the kind of thing Jiang Huaixi would have said to her back then.
However, when she saw the fourth photo, Lu Zizheng’s smile slowly froze.
The fourth photo was almost exactly the same as the third photo, with the background still being the tallest building in City B and the same V-shaped gesture. However, the difference was that this photo showed a slender wrist adorned with a silver-white thin bracelet. The date at the bottom of the photo was three months after she had been there.
With trembling hands, Lu Zizheng flipped the photo to its back and saw written: “Zizheng, I still couldn’t help it, and I came here too.”
At that moment, Lu Zizheng’s fingers holding the photo gradually tightened, feeling hot tears about to overflow from her eyes.
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The fifth photo showed a night view of City C taken from a high altitude, and on this photo, Lu Zizheng’s wrist bore a thin, delicate bracelet exactly like the one on Jiang Huaixi’s wrist, a New Year gift from Jiang Huaixi. On the back, Jiang Huaixi wrote: “Even more fitting for you than I imagined.”
Thus, the sixth photo, Lu Zizheng could hardly tell the difference from the fifth photo, with the same night view, the same gesture, and the same bracelet on the wrist. The only difference was that the date at the bottom was a month after she had been there.
Lu Zizheng stopped in her tracks, holding the photos in both hands, staring blankly, her lips tightly pursed, as the mist in her eyes lingered and her thoughts were a whirlwind. Jiang Huaixi, who had somehow already followed her over, squatted down and gently hugged Lu Zizheng from behind, laughing softly into her ear: “Sorry, I never told you that those are couple bracelets. I only secretly wore it when you couldn’t see.”
In an instant, Lu Zizheng couldn’t help but laugh through her tears, letting her weight rest against Jiang Huaixi behind her, leaning into her embrace. Her voice was low and hoarse from the earlier suppressed sobbing, and she playfully chided: “How are you so cunning…”
Jiang Huaixi smiled slyly and said: “I’d rather you ask me ‘How am I so lucky that you treat me so well’?”
Lu Zizheng laughed softly, leaving Jiang Huaixi’s embrace, moving forward while both crying and laughing, retorting: “You simply couldn’t be more narcissistic.”
Jiang Huaixi squatted in place, smiling as she watched Lu Zizheng’s retreating figure. The night wind lifted her dark hair, and her face was hazy yet gentle in the night.
The seventh photo, the eighth photo, the ninth photo… all the following photos were uniformly of scenery with a V-shaped gesture. The only difference between the photos was the shooting time noted at the bottom. Jiang Huaixi’s photos were always taken a bit later than Lu Zizheng’s. Over seven years, the scenery Lu Zizheng and Jiang Huaixi had walked through left photos that almost filled the long railing of the wooden boardwalk.
Lu Zizheng saw that the last photo was taken a month ago when Jiang Huaixi had asked someone on the beach to help take it. In the photo, Jiang Huaixi reached from behind to hug Lu Zizheng, resting her chin on Lu Zizheng’s shoulder, and they both made a large V-shape gesture facing the camera, smiling brilliantly, which was rare. The background of the photo showed the long footprints they had left together on the beach, step by step. At that time, Lu Zizheng walked leisurely in front, leaving a long string of footprints, with Jiang Huaixi stepping slowly in her footprints, following her, until finally, they stood in the same place, and Jiang Huaixi reached out to hug Lu Zizheng. At that time, when Lu Zizheng asked what she was doing, Jiang Huaixi just smiled without speaking.
Today, Lu Zizheng flipped over this photo and saw the clear, elegant handwriting, and in that moment understood the answer, tears bursting from her eyes.
Jiang Huaixi wrote: “Secretly followed you all over China, today, finally, caught up with you, and we appear in the same frame.”
Jiang Huaixi sat on the ground behind Lu Zizheng, reached out to hug Lu Zizheng, and Lu Zizheng then let go of all her strength, sitting into Jiang Huaixi’s embrace. She lowered her head, smiling gently at Lu Zizheng, and reached out to gently wipe away the tears from Lu Zizheng’s cheek, teasingly said: “It seems, you really are this sentimental, liking such a gift.”
Hearing this, Lu Zizheng felt both shy and annoyed, sniffing her nose, she turned her face and bit Jiang Huaixi’s finger that was wiping her tears, her voice still hoarse from crying: “Jiang Huaixi, you stalker, you actually secretly followed me for so many years.”
Jiang Huaixi blinked, a faint smile on her lips, as she rubbed Lu Zizheng’s forehead hair with her chin, her voice consistently clear and cool, yet gently teasing: “Then tell me, do you like this kind of stalker?”
Lu Zizheng bit her lip and lowered her head, not looking at Jiang Huaixi. After a long time, she replied to Jiang Huaixi in a barely audible voice: “Like…”
Jiang Huaixi’s eyes curved with satisfaction as she smiled. She bent slightly, leaning close to Lu Zizheng’s ear, her warm breath gently tickling Lu Zizheng. Lu Zizheng heard her softly say into her ear: “Zizheng, all my life, I’ve been most unwilling to admit defeat, but for you, I’m willing to make an exception, to admit it once. They say in the game of love, the one who falls in love first loses. Although I once was very unwilling to admit it, many years later today, I must confess, Zizheng, I lost, lost utterly.
So, I must thank you, thank you for letting me catch up with you, thank you for being willing to take me along to see the next scenery of your life, thank you for letting my pursuit of love finally turn inevitable defeat into a double victory.”
Lu Zizheng leaned into Jiang Huaixi’s embrace, listening to her gentle whispers, her heart softened. Though she had thousands of words she wanted to tell Jiang Huaixi, in the end, she only softened her voice and asked Jiang Huaixi: “Huaixi, did you secretly eat some honey today?”
Jiang Huaixi sighed and laughed lightly: “Silly, then you should take advantage of me having eaten honey and coax me to say a few more sweet things to you. Like ‘Huaixi, say I love you’ or something like that.”
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Lu Zizheng shook her head seriously in her embrace: “I definitely won’t say such things.”
Jiang Huaixi teased her: “What? Say what kind of things?”
Lu Zizheng wouldn’t be fooled, pretending to seriously flip through the thick stack of photos in her hands, silently.
Jiang Huaixi’s eyes sparkled, and she smiled slyly, saying: “Alright, if you won’t say it, then I will. But I want to say something new, teach me how to say ‘I love you’ in Japanese.”
Lu Zizheng was startled, as she had indeed never heard Jiang Huaixi speak Japanese before. She raised her head to look at Jiang Huaixi’s gentle and serious expression, realizing she was tricked, hesitated slightly, then blurted out: “大好きです.”
Jiang Huaixi’s thin lips slightly pursed, the smile in her eyes deepened, and she lowered her head to gently kiss Lu Zizheng’s forehead, laughing as she said: “Very good, say it once more, okay?”
It was then that Lu Zizheng realized she had been fooled, and in a moment of shyness and annoyance, she sat up, reaching out to tickle Jiang Huaixi: “You tricked me…”
Jiang Huaixi joined in the playful struggle, smiling as she dodged, until finally, both of them were exhausted from playing around and quieted down again.
Jiang Huaixi and Lu Zizheng sat shoulder to shoulder, feeling the sea breeze gently caressing their faces. Jiang Huaixi gazed at Lu Zizheng’s serene and beautiful profile for a long time and then slowly leaned closer, whispering in her ear, “Zizheng, 大好きです，大好きです.” Her voice was unexpectedly warm and soft, unlike when she spoke Chinese.
Lu Zizheng’s eyes opened wide in surprise, filled with joy and sweetness, and she couldn’t help but wonder how Jiang Huaixi knew Japanese.
Jiang Huaixi seemed to understand, smiled slyly, and said: “これは秘密です (It’s a secret).” As she spoke, she took a recorder from her pocket and handed it to Lu Zizheng. Then, she gently placed the earphones into Lu Zizheng’s small ears, softly saying: “Zizheng, this is for you.”
A clear, pleasant female voice traveled through the long earphone wire into Lu Zizheng’s ears. Lu Zizheng leaned her head on Jiang Huaixi’s shoulder and heard Jiang Huaixi softly singing in her ear: “Your love is worth trusting, your heart rests beside me. As long as you are here, I have many dreams, as long as you are here, I have more strength. Darling, how lucky I am to meet you in the sea of people. Darling, how I long to share all my feelings with you from this moment on. Darling, how lucky I am to meet you in the sea of people…”
As Lu Zizheng listened, her eyes gradually reddened again. She rubbed her nose, bit Jiang Huaixi’s ear, and with the music from the recorder, hoarsely sang in Jiang Huaixi’s ear: “Darling, how lucky I am to meet you in the sea of people… Huaixi, this is also what I want to say.”
The light and shadow on the wooden boardwalk gently elongated their shoulder-to-shoulder, head-to-head silhouettes, gradually merging them into one…
Jiang Huaixi’s voice, carried by the sea breeze, was softly ethereal as she asked: “Zizheng, in a few days, we will be leaving here. Many years from now, when you think of our days in Ji’an, what will you remember?”
Lu Zizheng gazed distantly toward the pitch-black horizon, her face slowly revealing a sweet, open-hearted smile.
Jiang Huaixi’s gaze was like water, deeply looking at Lu Zizheng, and the corners of her lips also gradually held a gentle smile.
Zizheng, you must always, always keep smiling like this.
I want to leave you a happy memory like a landmark in your recollections, in every place where we have left our footprints, so that when you think of it, you want to smile.
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I do not know how much time I have in this life to accompany you like this, but I hope that during the time I can be with you, I can give you plenty of happiness. If, one day, I have to leave, Zizheng, please don’t blame me, don’t resent me, and don’t regret it, okay?
That night, at around 4AM, Jiang Huaixi suddenly woke up, feeling a dull pain in her chest and an itch in her throat, as if something was blocking it.
She endured the pain at her side waist, gently got up barefoot, and went into the bathroom, bending over the toilet and coughing as quietly as possible.
After a while, the blockage in her throat seemed to finally come out, and Jiang Huaixi weakly straightened up, holding her chest uncomfortably.
In the moment she reached out to press the flush button, she caught sight, out of the corner of her eye, of a few strands of bright red blood floating in the clear water of the toilet.
Jiang Huaixi felt a chill instantly rise from her bare feet, reaching straight to her heart. Holding her chest, she felt the continuous dull pain at her side waist, watched those strands of bright red in the water, and listened to the ticking sound of the watch Lu Zizheng had taken off on the sink, as her gaze gradually dimmed…
LP: Why not just let them be happy, author? (╥_╥)
Re-translated on September 29, 2024