Troublesome – Chapter 98

Sorrowful Sobbing

Every sound a cry of blood¹, tearing the heart and splitting the lungs².

He Jinmei sat beside Lu Zhenqiu, muttering: “So clumsy-handed and clumsy-footed, yo³, she burned down the kitchen before and even said she would never go in again. You tell me, is she not ‘think one scene, is one scene’⁴?”

A buzzing sound rang in Lu Zhenqiu’s ears. Her thoughts were chaotic. The hypothesis at the bottom of her heart was already no longer a hypothesis, but an increasingly certain result. Jin Shuilan, how could she be like this.

The rims of Lu Zhenqiu’s eyes instantly turned completely red, her eye sockets burning hot. The tip of her nose soured. Beside her, He Jinmei was still talking. Afraid that she would see something was amiss, Lu Zhenqiu conceal-ingly lowered her head to drink the rock sugar pear water. The cloyingly sweet taste choked her, making her cough continuously, tears streaming down her face. He Jinmei patted her back: “If you can’t drink it down, then don’t drink it. Have some pork rib soup to warm your stomach.”

“En.” Lu Zhenqiu’s voice was choked, “Okay, thank you, Auntie.”

He Jinmei passed the pork rib soup to her. Lu Zhenqiu used a facial tissue to wipe her face and, lowering her head, silently drank a bowl of soup. She stood up and said: “Auntie, I’m going to make a trip to the bathroom.”

She hastily fled into the bathroom. Her ears were still buzzing, and her whole person was in great chaos. Not knowing if it was because of the cold, her reactions were very slow.

Lu Zhenqiu sat on the toilet, took out her phone, and found Jin Shuilan’s name. She wanted to press the call button several times, but never pressed it down. Instead, she returned to the chat page and read every sentence Jin Shuilan had sent over several times.

Tears blurred her vision. Biting her hand, she cried with her head down in a muffled way. Her eyes were both swollen and painful. Even the touch of her tears hurt down to her heart’s core. Every breath took all her effort.

She was in pain, an especially, especially deep pain.

This kind of indescribable feeling, a drowning assault, came. Lu Zhenqiu was somewhat unable to withstand it. Her figure swayed, and a wave of dizziness spread before her eyes. After a long while, she filled the sink with a pool of cool water and washed her face before going out. He Jinmei had already finished tidying up the kitchen. She looked at Lu Zhenqiu and said: “Qiuqiu ah, it’s frozen outside. Auntie sees that your cold still isn’t better. I won’t leave tonight. I’ll stay in Lanlan’s room, is that okay?”

This was Jin Shuilan’s home, Jin Shuilan’s house, but He Jinmei still asked for her opinion, giving her the greatest respect and gentleness. Lu Zhenqiu wanted to cry again. She choked out: “You can.”

He Jinmei smiled: “Then you should rest early. I see your cold is quite serious. Do you want to take some medicine?”

Lu Zhenqiu was in a daze: “No need. I’ll be fine after a sleep.”

“Go to sleep, then.” He Jinmei said as she walked to her doorway and opened the door for Lu Zhenqiu. Maomao had been following by Lu Zhenqiu’s side the whole time, circling her left and right, as if afraid she would fall down at any moment. Lu Zhenqiu smiled at He Jinmei, but it was very forced. He Jinmei didn’t ask much either, only saying: “Rest well. Tomorrow is a new day again.”

Lu Zhenqiu glanced at her, nodded, her nose souring: “En, thank you, Auntie.”

“Go on, then.” He Jinmei smiled and helped her close the room door. Lu Zhenqiu lay in the room, on the bed. Maomao squeezed over and lay prone beside her, its breath sprinkling on her face. Lu Zhenqiu reached out her hands to hug Maomao, burying her face in Maomao’s long fur, not moving at all.

So tired, especially tired. All the bones in her body were clamoring, on strike. Lu Zhenqiu’s eyes were so sore and painful she couldn’t open them. One moment she felt her body was surprisingly hot, the next moment she felt especially cold. She took the blanket and covered herself with it, gazing at the crystal lamp on the ceiling. The room was very dark, with only a little light penetrating through the window, falling on the edge of the crystal lamp, seeming to sway nonstop. Lu Zhenqiu felt even dizzier.

Outside the door, He Jinmei watched TV for a little while. She picked up her phone to call Jin Shuilan. She called three times in a row before someone answered. He Jinmei asked: “Still not off work?”

Jin Shuilan shifted her body: “I was just in a meeting. What’s wrong?”

Someone came in and asked: “Teacher Jin, do you want me to bring you a cup of coffee?”

Jin Shuilan nodded: “Bring a cup, then.”

He Jinmei frowned: “Still drinking coffee this late? Are you not going to sleep?”

Jin Shuilan was speechless. Only after several seconds did she say: “I might have to pull an all-nighter tonight.”

“Isn’t it just revising the script? You’re that busy? Why does it need to be revised for so long, even requiring an all-nighter?” He Jinmei really could not understand. Jin Shuilan also had no way to explain to her. What they were revising was all content that needed to be filmed tomorrow. With changes to the later plot, many of the earlier plot points had to be overturned. And filming had already started, so they could only revise while filming. However, she originally could have rested tonight. She had already gone three or four consecutive days without a peaceful sleep. Today, the director had told her to go back and rest, but she still felt it was better to finish revising before resting. She could rest again tomorrow during filming, so as not to delay the shoot.

He Jinmei had nothing to say: “You are just too serious⁵!”

“Mom.” Jin Shuilan said: “This isn’t being too serious. I am just being responsible for my own work.”

She thought, Lu Zhenqiu would definitely understand.

Jin Shuilan asked: “Did you go see Qiuqiu today?”

“I saw her.” He Jinmei said: “I’m still here, you know.”

Jin Shuilan: “You didn’t go back, huh?”

“I did not.” He Jinmei explained: “Qiuqiu has a bit of a cold. I see the situation isn’t clear yet, so I’m preparing to stay the night to see. In case there’s anything she needs, there’s no one here at your place.”

Jin Shuilan’s brows twisted together: “A cold?”

He Jinmei said: “Yes, ah. You all, really, not a single one of you knows how to take care of yourselves.”

Jin Shuilan’s voice was somewhat anxious: “How is she? What’s her situation now? Is it serious? Has she been to the hospital? Has she taken medicine?”

He Jinmei was helpless: “Can’t you just ask one by one?”

Jin Shuilan pressed her lips together.

He Jinmei said: “She said it’s nothing, and I can’t tell either. She’s just coughing severely. I boiled her some rock sugar pear water.”

“Boil her a bowl of ginger tea, then.” Jin Shuilan said: “She likes to drink this when she has a cold.”

“Oh.” He Jinmei understood. “So it turns out, when you wanted to learn how to boil ginger tea two years ago, it was precisely because of this, ah.”

The side of Jin Shuilan’s face grew hot: “I…” Afterwards, she was surprised: “How did you know?”

“I am your mom, what don’t I know.” He Jinmei said: “It was Zibo who told me.”

She even told her the entire cause and effect. After listening, He Jinmei laughed out of exasperation. How could there still be such a silly person? If Ji Zibo hadn’t said it, she would absolutely not have believed that Jin Shuilan would do this kind of thing where a good person does not leave their name⁶.

She was certainly not Jin Shuilan.

Jin Shuilan fell silent. On that end, someone shouted: “Teacher Jin, the director wants you to come over for a moment.”

He Jinmei said: “Go and be busy, then. I’m here watching over things, there’s no problem.”

Jin Shuilan still didn’t feel at ease. She hung up the phone and called Lu Zhenqiu. No one answered after several tries. She sent a message, but there was no reply. She was somewhat unsettled even during her meeting, her heart constantly hung up on Lu Zhenqiu.

Lu Zhenqiu was not sleeping very soundly. One moment she was very hot, the next she was very cold. She curled up her body. Suddenly, she heard her phone’s ringtone. It rang several times before she picked it up. Someone on the other end of the call said: “Qiuqiu, the recording is at seven-thirty in the morning. Don’t forget the time.”

She smiled: “I won’t. I remember it all, you know.”

The main hall was spacious and bright. Lu Zhenqiu stood at the entrance to the hall, waiting for people. After a short while, a colleague from the recording came out and called to her: “Qiuqiu, let’s go.”

Lu Zhenqiu followed her colleague towards the recording studio. Halfway there, the colleague asked: “Have you been in a pretty good mood recently?”

Her face turned red: “No, ah.”

The colleague smiled: “Still trying to argue? Look how good your complexion is. Are you in a relationship?”

Lu Zhenqiu immediately retorted: “I am not!”

Another colleague said with a grin: “She’s not in a relationship, but someone is eagerly showing attentiveness, you know. Do you all know that Qiuqiu has ginger tea to drink every morning?”

A colleague was puzzled: “Ginger tea?”

Lu Zhenqiu nodded: “My constitution isn’t good. As soon as the seasons change, I catch a cold, so my mom would boil ginger tea for me in advance to prevent it.”

The colleague was still dazed. Another colleague poked her arm: “How can you be so stupid, you know? Someone knows about this preference of Qiuqiu’s and boils ginger tea every day, you know!”

“Oh—” The final sound was drawn out, appearing very ambiguous. The colleague looked at her meaningfully: “Who is it, ah? Who is it, ah?”

Lu Zhenqiu shook her head: “I don’t know either.”

The colleague snorted lightly: “Confess honestly, resistance from strictness⁷!”

Lu Zhenqiu couldn’t help but laugh: “I really don’t know.”

She really did not know who prepared ginger tea for her every day, but from the bottom of her heart, she felt warmed by this gesture. After leaving home, she had never again felt the warmth of home. A cup of ginger tea made her think of her mother, think of those years when she and her mother depended on each other for survival. She was especially moved. Every time she drank the ginger tea from the cup, what it warmed was not her stomach, but her entire heart.

But she really didn’t know who it was. She asked friends and colleagues, and they also said they hadn’t seen anyone. That person seemed to understand their schedule extremely well. A colleague even made the absurd guess that it might be the voice-acting director, as only the director would know their specific work and rest times. Lu Zhenqiu shook her head at all of it.

For several days in a row, she would receive ginger tea. A cup would be placed on her desk in the morning, with no signature, only a small label with her name stuck on it. Lu Zhenqiu felt that she was about to form a tacit understanding with this person whose name she did not know. From the very beginning when she would just smell it, not daring to drink, it got to the point where she began to look forward to the appearance of that cup of ginger tea.

But even with this kind of protection, she still couldn’t escape the fate of catching a cold. In the later stages of recording, she still caught a cold. Luckily, her recording part was almost finished, with only some re-recordings⁸ left, so the director let her rest first.

After finishing her meal in the morning, there was, as usual, a cup of ginger tea. After drinking it, she left the restaurant, leaving the thermos cup on the table. When she was returning to her room, she discovered she had forgotten to take her door card. When she went back to get the room card, she bumped into a person. That person was holding a cup in her hand. Upon seeing her gaze, she immediately hid the cup behind her back, her face slightly red.

She stood dryly on the spot, her four eyes meeting the four eyes of the person in front of her. Neither of them made a sound. Lu Zhenqiu said: “I didn’t take my key.”

The person opposite her said “oh” and moved her body aside. Lu Zhenqiu brushed past her, but couldn’t hold back from turning her head: “Was it you who left the ginger tea?”

“I…” The person in front of her hadn’t even spoken, and her face was already red. It didn’t match her usual high and cold⁹, arrogant expression at all. The young face still didn’t know how to hide its thoughts; the panic in the bottom of her eyes was very obvious. Lu Zhenqiu hadn’t expected to see this side of her. Actually, she had seen the person in front of her before and had also heard colleagues talk about her. When they mentioned her, it was with admiration, an admiration from the bottom of their hearts. Lu Zhenqiu also admired her.

The person in front of her said: “It was me.”

Her body tensed. Lu Zhenqiu saw that the knuckles of her hand holding the cup had turned white from gripping it so forcefully. Lu Zhenqiu had originally been very nervous, but seeing her like this, she suddenly wasn’t nervous anymore. She couldn’t hold it in and let out a light laugh. The person in front of her watched her laugh and also laughed unexpectedly.

“What are you laughing at?”

the person in front of her asked.

Lu Zhenqiu didn’t answer but asked back: “Then what are you laughing at?”

The person in front of her didn’t speak, just watched her and smiled.

Lu Zhenqiu said: “How come you delivered the ginger tea without ever telling me…”

“I did.” The side of the person’s face in front of her turned red, her eyes very bright. She opened her mouth: “I did say it.”

Lu Zhenqiu didn’t believe it: “When did you say it?”

“Now.” The person in front of her extended her hand. Lu Zhenqiu saw that her palm was very moist, full of nervous sweat. She lowered her head and introduced herself: “Hello, my name is Jin Shuilan.”

“The Shui of ‘between mountains and water,’ the Lan with the three-dots-water radical on the side¹⁰.”

Lu Zhenqiu raised her head and looked at her for several seconds, then couldn’t hold it in and just kept laughing.

Laughing and laughing, Lu Zhenqiu woke up. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling, at the crystal lamp, at the swaying residual light and shadows, mottled with light and dark. Her hand felt for her phone. She saw several missed calls, and also messages sent from Jin Shuilan.

After she finished reading, her hand had no strength, and the phone fell onto the thin blanket. Lu Zhenqiu just raised her head and looked at the light and shadows before her. Tears overflowed from the corners of her eyes. Thinking of the dream she just had, she couldn’t help but bury her face in the pillow, crying fiercely and suppress-edly.

Inside the room, whimpering sorrowful sobs sounded, hiding a pain that could not be spoken, every sound a cry of blood, tearing the heart and splitting the lungs.

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The author has something to say:

Thirty red envelopes, memeda.

Jin Shuilan: Hello, my name is Jin Shuilan.

Lu Zhenqiu: I am not well¹¹.

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