Chapter 6

Chen Man sat at Jiang Xichu’s side, once again watching television. But because of that sentence that Jiang Xichu had said, now Chen Man couldn’t watch anymore; the pure and gentle, pleasant younger sister immediately turned into the head demon of a villain; this had originally been a suspense drama, and now, knowing who the worst person was, she naturally couldn’t watch it any longer. Turning off the television, Chen Man began to ponder; should she get that quilt for Jiang Xichu, or should she carry Jiang Xichu to bed to sleep? Considering it for a few moments, Chen Man made her decision; she may as well get the quilt—although Jiang Xichu was very thin, she couldn’t move her herself. Chen Man left, and only after five minutes did she come out of her own room, holding a quilt in hand; although the down quilt was light, it was very fluffy, and as Chen Man brought it over, her line of sight was entirely covered by the quilt, and she truly couldn’t see the surroundings before her eyes; only by the time she got to Jiang Xichu’s side did she realise she’d already woken, and was sitting upright, drinking water.

Chen Man didn’t have anything to say; she first attentively looked at Jiang Xichu’s expression, and then said, probingly, “Jiang Xichu, how do you feel?”

Jiang Xichu unhurriedly raised her eyelids, and said, “What are you asking me that for? Is it that you think I should be a certain way?”

Chen Man was silent: “...” Very good, she was still that clear-headed Secretary Jiang. Chen Man tossed the quilt onto her, and said, “You’re awake, so return to the room to sleep; remember to adjust the temperature before you sleep—right now it’s night and still quite cold.” Chen Man’s home was allocated for heating, and every room’s temperature was different; having finished saying this, Chen Man turned her head and left, saying, “Never mind, I’ll adjust it for you; with this clumsiness of yours, it’s not certain that you won’t wake yourself up in the middle of the night due to the heat.”

Jiang Xichu called out to her, “Come back.”

Chen Man paused in her steps, looking over at her enquiringly, and said, “What is it?”

Jiang Xichu put the cup of water down, and expressionlessly patted the spot next to her, and said, “Sit here; let’s talk, the two of us.”

Chen Man: “...” Why did Jiang Xichu look this frightening? And still saying “talk”, talk about what?!

When Chen Man was young and being taught by her father, her father liked to use the wording of “talking”, and it made it so that now, those two characters were suspicious to her; Chen Man went over suspiciously, and she sat down nervously, saying, “Talk…talk about what?”

Jiang Xichu felt that her inebriated mind was a bit confused, and very tired, and she supported her head, slowly saying, “Some questions; recently, I’ve been quite perplexed, and thought of asking you.”

Was this because of difficulties in life, so she thought of coming to her leader to solve them? Thinking of this, Chen Man was quite happy, and she put up her legs, no longer anxious, and said frankly, “Alright, go ahead and ask; what questions?”

Jiang Xichu glanced at her eyes, “It’s…do you have someone you like?”

Chen Man’s spine stiffened in a flash, but she quickly recovered her normalcy, saying to her with a natural expression, “There isn’t; don’t you know as well, that currently the most important thing in my life is my career? I don’t think about individual matters.”

As for this answer, Jiang Xichu didn’t find it at all unexpected; she wasn’t someone who was stupid about sentiment, but neither in death nor life had she seen Chen Man have any other thoughts towards her, and could only say that this girl’s ability to conceal was quite deep. More than that, Jiang Xichu didn’t understand why she needed to conceal it so deeply, as if she was committing thievery, afraid of being found out by her—was this necessary?

Jiang Xichu had originally been leaning on the sofa, and now she sat up, and moved a little closer to Chen Man, and took on the appearance of someone sharing gossip, and said, “Let me tell you about something—something you can’t tell others.”

Chen Man was startled, and nodded her head. “Go ahead and say it, I won’t spread it around.”

Jiang Xichu smiled gratefully, and then asked in a very strange tone, “I’ve discovered, there’s someone who liked me, who seems to have liked me for a long time, and I haven’t told her that I already know, because I can’t figure it out; what do you say—since she likes me, why would she still not tell me?”

Having just heard this utterance, Chen Man assumed that her own secret love had been discovered, and even her breaths became rigid for many moments; only after a long while did she hear her own voice say, “Who’s that person?”

Jiang Xichu smiled shallowly, and said, “You aren’t acquainted; just help me analyse it—what sort of mentality is this?”

Her misgivings were dispelled, but Chen Man’s heart felt even more awkward; there was someone who liked Jiang Xichu, but she didn’t know; since Jiang Xichu didn’t know, then nevermind; Jiang Xichu also seemed to really be interested in that person. She was silent for a moment, and then Chen Man moodily and without joy said, “Ah, there’s a lot of reasons; maybe it’s that his appearance is really ugly.”

Jiang Xichu firmly shook her head, and said, “Not possible, she’s beautiful, extremely beautiful; it’s definitely not for this reason.“

……

Chen Man’s heart began to be enveloped in acid. “Then, it might be that he doesn’t like you like that, and it’s only that you think that he likes you; maybe it’s just that he has a good impression of you.

That was even less possible; Jiang Xichu shook her head once again, and said, “That’s not right, I’m incredibly certain that she likes me.”

Chen Man was even more unhappy; her lips curled, and she said, “Then there’s only one other option; he’s a coward, and his courage is too small, and he doesn’t dare to make a declaration to you, fearing that he would lose face, or that you wouldn’t associate with him again.”

Having said these words, Chen Man’s gaze dropped, her pupils covered for a few moments with a sense of loss. Jiang Xichu looked at her thoughtfully, and said, “Is that so; so it’s in fact that way.”

Chen Man, hearing her voice, swiftly raised her head, and with an utmost attempt to discredit this romantic potential romantic rival, said, “Jiang Xichu, let me tell you; if one person likes another person, it’s something that can’t be helped; there will definitely be spider’s threads and horse tracks visible.^[1] Although this person likes you, he has never told you, so it’s definitely that he doesn’t like you that much, or that he has some sort of unmentionable illness, and doesn’t dare to pursue you.”

Jiang Xichu let out an “oh”, not making much of a comment. She was still pondering deeply, when Chen Man shifted slightly towards her, calm and collected on the surface, but in reality, her heart was so apprehensive she could die; she assumed an air of light, phoenix-like airiness, and said, “Yoh, Miss Jiang, it can’t be that you like that person, is it?”

Jiang Xichu blinked, not saying anything. Chen Man felt as if dropped into an ice cave, and she was struck stupid, throat tightening, as she said, “You really like someone else?” This sentence was an impulsive one that hadn’t passed through her mind; if Jiang Xichu didn’t know her feelings towards her, then hearing this sentence would probably raise her suspicions.

Jiang Xichu, mood pretty good, smiled, and said, “I don’t know, but I want to try. Although I’ve never touched this sort of matter before, if it was with her, I think…well, it would be pretty good.” Once she finished speaking, the smile on Jiang Xichu’s lips deepened, and she said, “As both my superior and my close friend, do you have any thoughts you want to give on the matter?”

She did. Get far far away from this person!

Chen Man’s heart was squeezed into a ball; she really couldn’t say any words of suggestion or blessing; right now, her entire mind was muddled, and she absolutely didn’t know what sort of reaction she was supposed to give; Jiang Xichu, having seen enough of her sorry figure, finally let go of her, and said the other matter, making her attention shift back: “I’m preparing to move.”

Only after taking a long time to respond, Chen Man asked, startled, “Moving? Didn’t you just rent that apartment? Where are you thinking of moving to?”

Jiang Xichu rubbed her temples; after drinking, her temples would start swelling. She said, “I haven’t decided, in any case, I don’t want to keep living in that place; before I find somewhere, I’ll stay with you, and wait until I find a suitable place to move again.” This sentence was absolutely not an inquiry or a matter to talk over, but a notice. Secretary Yang and Secretary Li both saying Jiang Xichu’s status was higher than Chen Man’s, it was because it was a fact.

Chen Man didn’t have any objection, and said, “Then tomorrow, I’ll help you put your luggage in order?”

“En, how about you come help me move; that car of mine’s space is too small, and a lot of things won’t fit; you drive that SUV over, and if we strive, we can move it all.”

Chen Man agreed, and Jiang Xichu stood up, getting ready to return to the room to sleep; she was almost out of the living room when Chen Man thought of an important issue: “No! You still haven’t said why you want to move; is the apartment not right?”

The apartment was indeed quite good, and she had originally signed a two-year lease with the landlord; now, only having lived there for two months, it was quite a shame, but Jiang Xichu didn’t have any other options; as they say, the pavilion closest to the water enjoys the moonlight first; her moving over would both allow her to protect Chen Man, and she could take advantage of the distance to get started earlier, so it would all be better than living that far away. To compensate the landlord, she didn’t ask the landlord for the deposit back. Hearing Chen Man’s question, Jiang Xichu replied vaguely, “Yes, that apartment wasn’t clean.”

Chen Man blinked, and then in a flash opened her eyes wide, and said, “There are cockroaches?!”

Jiang Xichu was silent: “...”

She gazed at Chen Man silently, and the two stared at each other for half the day, and only then Chen Man understood the true meaning of “not clean”, and she immediately said, exasperated, “Please, that’s a feudalistic superstition; just because of that…was it because someone said something to you?”

Jiang Xichu hadn’t discussed the relevant issue with her, and hearing what was said, she raised a brow, and said, “What, you don’t believe there’s supernatural beings in this world?”

Chen Man sneered, and then haughtily raised her head, saying, “I don’t; I’m an atheist, I only believe in science.”

Jiang Xichu gazed at her, and then suddenly laughed. This laugh was a bit complicated, as if feeling it was fascinating, but also as if jeering at Chen Man’s nonsense.

Chen Man was unwilling to concede; she’d received a socialist education for this many years, and what she liked the least was hearing about the supernatural; she rubbed her hands along her sleeves and came over, preparing to carry out a long speech on scientific knowledge, but before she could open her mouth, Jiang Xichu asked her, “Then, how about I listen to you, and don’t move, and tomorrow you don’t need to move my things over, and I’ll live there for a while longer, and learn to believe in science.”

Chen Man’s sleeves stopped moving for a moment, and then she nonchalantly let go of her sleeves, looking earnestly at Jiang Xichu, and said, “The old saying says it best: it’s better to believe something’s true or real than to believe it’s false or nonexistent; tomorrow I’ll give you half a day off, and the two of us can first go get you moved, and then we can go to the office.”

-

< LAST | HOME | NEXT >

 -

Translator's notes:

[1]: 蛛丝马迹 (zhusi maji), tiny hints of a secret.