After Mo Lan who looked somewhat at loss followed Gu Ye Mi back to the table, she caught a glimpse of a handsome and smart boy, a boy who wore a green T-shirt, a smile on his face, in the centre of attention bantering with everyone.
Mo Lan 囧 for a moment, and felt that there was absolutely no point in guessing as she was certained that this person must be Bai Yu Luo Bo.
As she was thinking, the boy had already looked up towards their way, Mo Lan was just wondering if she should introduced herself to the other party, in the endt the other party’s expression completely did not have her in his sights, rather he smiled sunnily and splendidly at Gu Ye Mi who was beside her: “Ah Mi Ah Mi, you’re here!” He stopped, looked Mo Lan up and down, and asked a little puzzledly, “Who’s the girl next to you?”
Once he opened his mouth, a clear bright sunshine-y youthful voice, it brought a hint of softness and silkiness, it was undoubtedly Bai Yu Luo Bo.
Mo Lan couldn’t help but turned her head to glanced at Gu Ye Mi who was standing beside her, and saw the other party’s showing a hint of miffed distinct aloof smile, his picturesque appearance, all manner of sophistication.
Then he replied softly: “She’s Ye Lanshan.”
Indolent, gentle, it brought to some degree a smiling expression.
Mo Lan stood next to him distractedly, unexpectedly there was a sense of restlessness where she didn’t know where to put her hands or feet.
“Ye Lanshan?” Bai Yu Luo Bo’s eyes widened, with a little surprised feeling, he looked at Mo Lan ever more carefully, then he once again put on his bright and sunny smile and took the initiative to greet her: “Hello sister, I’m Bai Yu Luo Bo, you can just call me Xiangyang.”
Hearing the other person’s introduction, Mo Lan also replied: “Hello, well, my name is Mo Lan.”
“Mo Lan? Which Lan?” Bai Yu Luo Bo asked with a smile.
Gu Ye Mi had already reached the table, while putting down the tray in the hand, he casually added: “The Lan from Lánshān.”
As a result, the whole table quieten down.
Mo Lan, who had just sat down, was also quiet.
After a moment of silence, Tasseled Pendant cleared her throat and broke the silence: “I say, what’s actually going on with this abnormal powerful CP feeling?”
Bai Yu Luo Bo also inserted: “Ah Mi, I still want to ask again, you really didn’t know each other before?”
After Mo Lan, who was a little embarrassed by the atmosphere, heard him asked this question, she quickly denied: “We really didn’t know each other before.”
“En.” Gu Ye Mi immediately responded indifferently, his line of sight cross passed the two people sitting next to him, then glanced into Mo Lan’s eyes, in a low voice, somewhat tender, “Your candied taro seedlings.”
Engrossed in the other person’s tender voice, Mo Lan lifted her head, and looked at him in a daze. Gu Ye Mi’s eyes were very beautiful, evidently black and white, a lift at the outer corner of his eyes, a deep dark expression in his eyes, but after staring for too long, you’ll feel that the inside of his eyes appeared a misty shade of peach blossom, faintly, yet so alluring that it nearly made Mo Lan muddled up day and night.
Shui Shui Ruo Er, who was sitting next to Mo Lan, smiled and poked her shoulder, and teasingly reminded her: “Sister, your candied taro seedlings.”
As soon as her voice fell, the next second, Ran Ran added the following sentence: “No, it’s your candied taro seedlings.”
The people at the table suddenly burst into laughter, the atmosphere became more lively.
Mo Lan finally remembered and reached out for the bowl of still steaming hot candied taro seedlings, her fingertips unconsciously brushed against the back of the other party’s hand, she got a fright and Mo Lan’s movement slowed down. But Gu Yemi seemed to have felt nothing, and steadily placed the bowl in her hands, he looked calm and at peace.
After she took the bowl of candied taro seedlings, Mo Lan lowered her head, stirred the dessert, and dare not looked, at this very moment, at the expressions of Shui Shui Ruo Er and Honey Lemon who were sitting next to her.
Su Shen and Qingshang who had left for quite a while, finally returned with two bottles of beer in their hands.
When Ran Ran saw the beer, her spirit was instantly invigorated: “Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary, these few bottles isn’t enough!”
Su Shen couldn’t helped laughing, his tone was very calm: “Everybody can just have some as a gesture, what would it look like being completely drunk in broad daylight.”
Bai Yu Luo Bo instantly had on a bitter face, and grumbled a little bit: “How did this type of practice to drink for the anniversary came about… I’m allergic to alcohol you know!”
“Then drink less, in short, don’t even think about not drinking at all.” Qingshang said as he walked over, nimbly using the bottle opener to first open the two bottles of beer.
Not long after that, everyone at the table had an extra full glass of beer in front of them.
Mo Lan stared at the glass of beer in front of herself and couldn’t help but sighed in her heart for the 108th time.
Anything to do with alochol, she was really not used to it, first of all, she had a low tolerance for alcohol, basically the standard three glasses, secondly, her face turns red after a few glasses.
But seeing Su Shen took the lead in raising his glass, with a hint of nostalgia in his tone: “In the blink of an eye, Ninth Heavens have already been established for seven years, everyone have been walking this extra path for the sake of this dubbing hobby, how do I put it, it wasn’t easy. In short, I am really happy and fortunate to have met all of you, Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary, cheers! “
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
…
Apparently influenced by the sense of reminiscence in Su Shen’s tone, everyone, one after another immediately followed and raised their glass, regardless of whether one knew how to drink, or whether one could drink, they raised their glasses with both hands, all of them grandly and passionately with ten thousand fathoms* drained their glass in one gulp.
(万丈 wàn zhàng – fig. extremely high)
Mo Lan also raised her glass with everyone and just as she was about to raised her head to drink, she couldn’t help but turned her head.
In the blink of an eye, she saw Gu Ye Mi at once.
Gu Ye Mi was holding his glass in his hand, his obvious black and white eyes was dark and deep, when he saw Mo Lan looked towards him, his lips curled at once, his distinct and aloof appearance instantly turned warm and energetic.
Little by little, a hint of peach blossom colour appeared in his eyes, he looked at Mo Lan, his posture graceful, and raised his glass from a distance.
It was as if all the people that surrounded him disappeared, there was only her in his eyes.
Mo Lan clearly saw, his lips opened and closed, he said to her, cheers.
Enticed by the other’s party meaningful glance, she was unable to restrain her emotions, Mo Lan pursed her lips and gently smiled.
She lifted her head and drained the cup in one gulp.
A fierce tingling sensation went down her throat, Mo Lan closed her eyes, in front of her eyes was the picture of Gu Ye Mi chuckling and raising a glass towards her from just before.
“I say, Flower Burial goddess is not here today sigh, does anybody know what’s going on?”
“It seemed that at the last minute her company requested her to work overtime, forced to suffer.”
“I suddenly have a good suggestion, how about getting Xiao Luo Bo to sing《The Young Charming Fox》for the 7th Anniversary Celebration?”
“Agreed, agreed!”
“Hey hey, why in the world do you want me to sing? A song like《The Young Charming Fox》clearly shows that Momo would be more suitable all right!”
“… it has nothing to do with me, I certainly didn’t say anything.”
“If Su Qingmo Dada was the one singing, that picture would just be too beautiful and I really won’t dare to watch it.”
In the large party, it was noisy, everyone was very excited, all chattered continuously and in full swing, although a few of them met for the first time in the 3D world, however there wasn’t a bit of awkwardness or unfamiliarity.
As Mo Lan silently ate the crystal cake from her plate, she suddenly saw Ran Ran took her empty glass and refilled it to the brim again, taking the full glass from Ran Ran, under the enthusiastic invitation of the other party, then Mo Lan who was uncommonly muddled once again drank a few more glasses.
After the getting-people-to-drink part was over, everybody had almost eaten their fill, and started talking about family life.
The topic went all the way from the 2D world to educating children.
If somebody took the initiative to talk to Mo Lan, then she would continue with just a few words. For most of the remaining time, she just lowered her head in silence, and bit by bit tried to finished her bowl of candied taro seedlings.
In fact, it had actually already cooled down a bit, but she just wanted to eat it.
Out of the whole table, the person who hardly spoke, apart from her, was probably Gu Ye Mi.
Mo Lan couldn’t help but secretly glanced at Gu Ye Mi, she saw that the other party indifferently poured himself a glass of beer, his face was distinctly aloof and elegant, indescribably made people felt somewhat faintly discernible.
He lowered his head and played with his mobile phone, as if everything he listened to was going in, and yet it seemed that nothing went in.
Just as she wanted to shake herself awake, her phone rang suddenly, Mo Lan bowed her head, the next second, she was a little surprised to find that it was a WeChat message from Gu Ye Mi.
GYM: Eat more, you’re too thin.
Mo Lan looked at the text message on the phone screen and habitually bit her lower lip, her face which could be the result of the few glasses of beer, had already gradually heated up.
She even felt that her palms which was against the metal back of the phone also burnt slightly, Mo Lan lowered her head not daring to look at the other party’s facial expression, her trembling fingers typed a reply.
Momo: I probably drank too much just now, and now I can’t eat anymore, 囧.
After sending out the message, Mo Lan softly exhaled.
The weather was still very cold, even with the heatpump switched on. But in her heart, it seemed that there were one hundred rabbits simultaneously nonstop violently jumping up and down, even her earlobe was burning bit by bit.
GYM: Go for a walk?
Mo Lan looked at this line of words from the other party in astonishment, she wasn’t sure if she was tipsy and have read it wrongly, or was it true.
The next second, she saw that Gu Ye Mi had already stood up.
The tall figure suddenly stood up, all at once grabbing everyone’s attention.
But he was still indifferent, he opened his mouth, his voice was as elegant as the river, flowing like jade, indescribably appealing: “It’s not early, and I still have something on tonight, can I go first?”
As soon as he spoke, he instantly reminded many people.
In A Flash Rosy Cheeks Becomes Old suddenly realised that and extended her wrist to look at the time, after she looked, she was immediately agitated: “Dang, it’s actually 4pm, my son finishes kindergarten in a bit, I still need to go home and cook, and pick him up later.”
Tasseled Pendant who also drank quite a bit had an agonised expression: “Rosy Cheeks sister, I drank a bit too much, since we’re both going the same way, drop me home please.”
The scene was chaotic, the girls were taking their bags all getting ready to leave, Qingshang who was tipsy clearly hadn’t had enough to drink, in a short while his expression was not satisfied: “Hey hey, this is but Ninth Heaven’s meetup, I haven’t even said anything, why are all of you leaving one by one?” After speaking, all of sudden he thought of something, he jokingly continued to add, “For those of you who said you want to go, how about each person gets punished to drink three glasses?”
“That’s right that’s right!” Because Bai Yu Luo Bo was allergic to alcohol, so he gave up after drinking the first cup, at present he very clear-headedly agreed with Qingshang, joining in the excitement.
Su Shen also laughed, did not speak, just beckoned and asked for two more bottles of beer.
Gu Ye Mi smiled softly, he had magnificently did his best.
Even though everyone have already heard his voice countless of times, they couldn’t help but stared blankly for a bit.
And he spoke with a sloppy tone: “I have no objection.”
Gu Ye Mi lowered his head and poured himself three full glasses.
“Congratulations on Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary.” He toasted wtih a smile. Then opened his mouth and drained it all in one gulp.
With all three glasses, his eyebrows didn’t even wrinkled.
The people next to him looked at him in awe, even the always silent Su Shen also spoke up: “Xiao Mi, you can actually drink? I was truly fooled by you.”
“Requirement of my job, I generally don’t drink.” Gu Ye Mi put the glass down, his appearance indolent, his tone even brought a hint of satisfaction.
Bai Yu Luo Bo saw that he couldn’t teased him, couldn’t help but sighed a little disappointedly. He turned his head, and saw that surrounding him were the other people who just said they were leaving, once again his mood lifted up considerably: “In other words, Ah Mi has already drank, shouldn’t you all do it too?”
Everyone stopped talking.
Tasseled Pendant wailed and grumbled with a sorrowful face: “Dear brothers and sisters, I’ve already drank a lot, if I continue drinking, when I get home I’m afraid that my dad would beat me to death then hang my corpse up by the wall.”
“Then don’t go first, continue chatting.” Su Shen waved his hand, he looked very relaxed.
“… all right.” Tasseled Pendant was somewhat resigned and continued to sit down, planned to once more foolishly and idly chat for a while.
Suddenly, Gu Ye Mi turned his eyes towards Mo Lan and spoke softly: “Give me the glass.”
Totally no reaction whatsover, Mo Lan, who was bewildered by his voice, without thinking, she reached out and handed over her empty glass which faced her.
Gu Ye Mi lowered his head, he looked at peace, and used Mo Lan’s glass to filled it up to the brim, then raised his head and drank it.
First glass, second glass, third glass.
He put down the glass, there was still not even a bit of change to his facial expression, it was as if he had just drank a few glasses of plain boiled water.
Mo Lan felt her face was even more red.
He used… her own glass.
Everybody stopped their actions, watched Gu Ye Mi’s consistent expression, all were amazed and shocked.
“Xiao Mi, why did you drink so much?” Su Shen said thoroughly flabbergasted.
Gu Ye Mi didn’t care, he looked up and vaguely smiled: “These three glasses, I drank on behalf of Mo Lan, you all continue.”
“… where there’s the opposite sex, there’s no humanity*!” Bai Yu Luo Bo could not help but grumbled.
(有異性沒人性 yǒu yì xìng méi rén xìng. It rhymes beautifully in Chinese. My interpretation is where there’s a girl involved, he forgets himself/his friends. I translated it literally.)
Gu Ye Mi laughed and picked up his phone from the table: “We’ll get together again next time, you guys don’t drink too much either.”
After he finished, he disregarded everybody’s dissatisfaction and turned his head, his clearly black and white eyes looked at Mo Lan tenderly, the corner of his lips curled up, all smiles in the corners of his eyes down to the tip of his eyebrows: “Momo, let’s go.”
This kind of unbelievable beautiful voice… regardless of who it was spoken to, one would surely not refused.
Mo Lan followed his voice closely, left her seat to stand up, her actions so quick that her brain haven’t caught up.
The people next to her couldn’t helped laughing.
Ran Ran spoke, a little envious: “Lanshan sister, is this you sweeping up Mi Da as soon as you’ve met? And you’re also leaving together…”
Su Shen laughed, swallowed the last drop in the glass, and waved towards them: “Go go, give you a chance to be alone together.”
Mo Lan’s mind was heavy, she blushed beyond recognition, the wine that she drank just before had started taking effect, her train of thought all chaotic.
Ignoring the teasing laughter behind her, Mo Lan followed Gu Ye Mi from behind and walked out still in a trance.
At the doorway, the waiter in ancient costume enthusiastically saw them out.
Walking out of Nanjing Impressions’ front door, the biting cold wind blast through, Mo Lan finally felt that her mind cleared up a bit, but the cold was also turbulent, her body couldn’t help but curled up slightly.
The two of them walked a few steps, Gu Ye Mi suddenly stopped, he looked back at Mo Lan, his tone was very gentle: “Don’t move, wait for me here.”
“Ah, okay.” Mo Lan blankly agreed, nodded.
After about three to four minutes, Gu Ye Mi returned, in his hand, there was an extra steaming hot paper cup.
He walked over and placed the paper cup into Mo Lan’s hand: “Take it to warm your hands.”
Mo Lan encircled the paper cup with both of her hands, a burst of lemon fragrance circulated from the mouth of the cup, it turned out to be lemon tea.
She couldn’t helped it and raised her head to look at Gu Ye Mi, Mo Lan had some misgivings, it shouldn’t be… he saw that she was feeling a little cold?
Gu Ye Mi looked at her somewhat stunned expression, and suddenly laughed softly, his distinct and aloof face instantly softened and glowed.
The two walked side by side down the winter streets of Nanjing, the maple branches and leaves on both sides of the road had already withered, and occasionally a few random dried up yellow maple leaves circled and fell.
Obviously this was Mo Lan’s favorite winter scene, but she didn’t have any mood to enjoy it now, because she was standing next to Gu Ye Mi.
Her 4 years favourite from the Internet Voice Circle, Secretly Captivated.
The atmosphere was very still.
Not saying anything, would it be a bit too awkward… But, even if she wanted to say something, what topic would be better? Mo Lan held the piping hot lemon tea in her hands, and drank it in small sips, her thoughts all tangled up a thousand times in her head.
Occasionally, a passer-by would cast a stunned look at Gu Ye Mi, and Mo Lan would inexplicably felt a little proud.
Perhaps it was because her tipsiness hasn’t scattered, Mo Lan’s courage grew a little bigger, she nipped her lip, and summoned up her courage to asked, “Gu Ye Mi, your profession… is an anesthesiologist?”
“En, you heard it that night?” Gu Ye Mi responded in a low voice, his voice indolent.
Mo Lan nodded, then, hesitated a bit, “Being an anesthesiologist… is very hard?”
“It’s okay.” Gu Yemi gave a short answer, after finished speaking, he gave a low chuckle, his voice was so low that Mo Lan almost couldn’t hear it.
Mo Lan listened to his voice, but suddenly sighed and opened her mouth, she couldn’t help but asked: “Because of other people’s fault, it now has negatively changed the public opinion of the entire anesthesiologist industry, for you, isn’t it very unfair?”
Gu Ye Mi stopped, he turned to look at Mo Lan, his appearance picturesque, distinct and aloof as well as clean.
He spoke leisurely, you can’t figure out his mood, “Momo, there has never been justice in this world, regardless of the profession, it’s surely hard work. It’s just like hitting a bottleneck when you write, to be an anesthesiologist, one needs to learn to bear society’s gossip and the passerby’s coloured lenses.”
He looked very earnest when he spoke, his temperament was distinct, aloof and clean. His tone was obviously soft, but very firm.
It inexplicably made Mo Lan felt that this kind of tone was one she knew well.
The two continued to walk forward, neither fast nor slow, Mo Lan looked down at the paper cup in her hand and spoke softly: “In university, I majored in ancient literature, at that time almost everyone said that my major was useless, that I simply wouldn’t be able to find a job after graduation. In fact, I was quite confused during that short period, I was also quite negative towards life. Later there was one day, I watched your interview, I remembered that the host asked you a question, the main idea being if you’ve had any regret towards any decision you’ve made, would you have chosen to turn back?”
Up until here, Mo Lan paused, then, she turned to look at Gu Ye Mi and asked softly, “Gu Ye Mi, do you still remember… your answer at that time?”
Her voice, inaudibly carried a bit of hope.
“Remembered.”
Gu Ye Mi spoke in a low voice, charming and gentle as well as touching. He looked down towards Mo Lan, his eyes dark and deep, little by little, the peach blossom colour faintly appeared in his eyes, “I said, I don’t need to turn back because it made no sense.”
Because the decision has been made, therefore, no matter how challenging or difficult it was, one still had to move forward, to turn back, there wasn’t the slightest degree of sense.
“Right.” Mo Lan couldn’t help but pursed her lips, and showed a smile as clear as the mountains in Mingshui, “Because of your words, I told myself that I can’t change my decision, I would learn to accept it. Later, I once again picked up the guzheng that I haven’t touched for so many years, hoping to become an even more outstanding person.”
The two talked, and in a blink of an eye, they’ve arrived in Mo Lan’s neighbourhood.
Despite some reluctance, Mo Lan still halted: “Umm… we’ve reached my house. Thanks for sending me back.”
“No problem.” Gu Ye Mi also stopped, bending down to look at her, with a sloppy and indolent tone. “Speaking of guzheng, the next time we meet again, play《Senbon Sakura》for me yea.”
The next time we meet again…
He meant… there’s going to be a next time?
Mo Lan looked up, her eyes shined, and looked at him in disbelief.
She saw Gu Ye Mi’s lips curled up and smiled, even his eyes somewhat smiled too: “Momo, good night.”
Word by word, gentle and affectionate, so moved that Mo Lan didn’t dare breathe.
“Good night.”
As she was saying good night to the other party, with half of her mind somewhere else, she turned around, then step by step she entered her neigbourhood.
Mo Lan didn’t know how many steps she had taken, she merely felt that she should have already walked quite far. Mo Lan came back to her senses, stopped, cautiously and solemnly looked behind her. The next second, she was somewhat surprised to see, that tall and thin figure was still motionless standing where she left him.
Mo Lan stood transfixed, suddenly she didn’t know how to take another step.
Her phone vibrated, Mo Lan lowered her head, and somewhat flusteredly took the phone out of her pocket, opened, it was a WeChat message from Gu Ye Mi:
GYM: It’s very cold outside, go home.
When she raised her head again, she saw that tall and thin figure waved at her, then turned around, and gradually walked away from her.
She couldn’t help holding tight to the paper cup with lemon tea in her hands, the little warmth that remained in the cup, seemed to be quietly reminding her, that everything that happened today, was all real.
Unfathomably…. real.
After Mo Lan who looked somewhat at loss followed Gu Ye Mi back to the table, she caught a glimpse of a handsome and smart boy, a boy who wore a green T-shirt, a smile on his face, in the centre of attention bantering with everyone.
Mo Lan 囧 for a moment, and felt that there was absolutely no point in guessing as she was certained that this person must be Bai Yu Luo Bo.
As she was thinking, the boy had already looked up towards their way, Mo Lan was just wondering if she should introduced herself to the other party, in the endt the other party’s expression completely did not have her in his sights, rather he smiled sunnily and splendidly at Gu Ye Mi who was beside her: “Ah Mi Ah Mi, you’re here!” He stopped, looked Mo Lan up and down, and asked a little puzzledly, “Who’s the girl next to you?”
Once he opened his mouth, a clear bright sunshine-y youthful voice, it brought a hint of softness and silkiness, it was undoubtedly Bai Yu Luo Bo.
Mo Lan couldn’t help but turned her head to glanced at Gu Ye Mi who was standing beside her, and saw the other party’s showing a hint of miffed distinct aloof smile, his picturesque appearance, all manner of sophistication.
Then he replied softly: “She’s Ye Lanshan.”
Indolent, gentle, it brought to some degree a smiling expression.
Mo Lan stood next to him distractedly, unexpectedly there was a sense of restlessness where she didn’t know where to put her hands or feet.
“Ye Lanshan?” Bai Yu Luo Bo’s eyes widened, with a little surprised feeling, he looked at Mo Lan ever more carefully, then he once again put on his bright and sunny smile and took the initiative to greet her: “Hello sister, I’m Bai Yu Luo Bo, you can just call me Xiangyang.”
Hearing the other person’s introduction, Mo Lan also replied: “Hello, well, my name is Mo Lan.”
“Mo Lan? Which Lan?” Bai Yu Luo Bo asked with a smile.
Gu Ye Mi had already reached the table, while putting down the tray in the hand, he casually added: “The Lan from Lánshān.”
As a result, the whole table quieten down.
Mo Lan, who had just sat down, was also quiet.
After a moment of silence, Tasseled Pendant cleared her throat and broke the silence: “I say, what’s actually going on with this abnormal powerful CP feeling?”
Bai Yu Luo Bo also inserted: “Ah Mi, I still want to ask again, you really didn’t know each other before?”
After Mo Lan, who was a little embarrassed by the atmosphere, heard him asked this question, she quickly denied: “We really didn’t know each other before.”
“En.” Gu Ye Mi immediately responded indifferently, his line of sight cross passed the two people sitting next to him, then glanced into Mo Lan’s eyes, in a low voice, somewhat tender, “Your candied taro seedlings.”
Engrossed in the other person’s tender voice, Mo Lan lifted her head, and looked at him in a daze. Gu Ye Mi’s eyes were very beautiful, evidently black and white, a lift at the outer corner of his eyes, a deep dark expression in his eyes, but after staring for too long, you’ll feel that the inside of his eyes appeared a misty shade of peach blossom, faintly, yet so alluring that it nearly made Mo Lan muddled up day and night.
Shui Shui Ruo Er, who was sitting next to Mo Lan, smiled and poked her shoulder, and teasingly reminded her: “Sister, your candied taro seedlings.”
As soon as her voice fell, the next second, Ran Ran added the following sentence: “No, it’s your candied taro seedlings.”
The people at the table suddenly burst into laughter, the atmosphere became more lively.
Mo Lan finally remembered and reached out for the bowl of still steaming hot candied taro seedlings, her fingertips unconsciously brushed against the back of the other party’s hand, she got a fright and Mo Lan’s movement slowed down. But Gu Yemi seemed to have felt nothing, and steadily placed the bowl in her hands, he looked calm and at peace.
After she took the bowl of candied taro seedlings, Mo Lan lowered her head, stirred the dessert, and dare not looked, at this very moment, at the expressions of Shui Shui Ruo Er and Honey Lemon who were sitting next to her.
Su Shen and Qingshang who had left for quite a while, finally returned with two bottles of beer in their hands.
When Ran Ran saw the beer, her spirit was instantly invigorated: “Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary, these few bottles isn’t enough!”
Su Shen couldn’t helped laughing, his tone was very calm: “Everybody can just have some as a gesture, what would it look like being completely drunk in broad daylight.”
Bai Yu Luo Bo instantly had on a bitter face, and grumbled a little bit: “How did this type of practice to drink for the anniversary came about… I’m allergic to alcohol you know!”
“Then drink less, in short, don’t even think about not drinking at all.” Qingshang said as he walked over, nimbly using the bottle opener to first open the two bottles of beer.
Not long after that, everyone at the table had an extra full glass of beer in front of them.
Mo Lan stared at the glass of beer in front of herself and couldn’t help but sighed in her heart for the 108th time.
Anything to do with alochol, she was really not used to it, first of all, she had a low tolerance for alcohol, basically the standard three glasses, secondly, her face turns red after a few glasses.
But seeing Su Shen took the lead in raising his glass, with a hint of nostalgia in his tone: “In the blink of an eye, Ninth Heavens have already been established for seven years, everyone have been walking this extra path for the sake of this dubbing hobby, how do I put it, it wasn’t easy. In short, I am really happy and fortunate to have met all of you, Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary, cheers! “
“Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
…
Apparently influenced by the sense of reminiscence in Su Shen’s tone, everyone, one after another immediately followed and raised their glass, regardless of whether one knew how to drink, or whether one could drink, they raised their glasses with both hands, all of them grandly and passionately with ten thousand fathoms* drained their glass in one gulp.
(万丈 wàn zhàng – fig. extremely high)
Mo Lan also raised her glass with everyone and just as she was about to raised her head to drink, she couldn’t help but turned her head.
In the blink of an eye, she saw Gu Ye Mi at once.
Gu Ye Mi was holding his glass in his hand, his obvious black and white eyes was dark and deep, when he saw Mo Lan looked towards him, his lips curled at once, his distinct and aloof appearance instantly turned warm and energetic.
Little by little, a hint of peach blossom colour appeared in his eyes, he looked at Mo Lan, his posture graceful, and raised his glass from a distance.
It was as if all the people that surrounded him disappeared, there was only her in his eyes.
Mo Lan clearly saw, his lips opened and closed, he said to her, cheers.
Enticed by the other’s party meaningful glance, she was unable to restrain her emotions, Mo Lan pursed her lips and gently smiled.
She lifted her head and drained the cup in one gulp.
A fierce tingling sensation went down her throat, Mo Lan closed her eyes, in front of her eyes was the picture of Gu Ye Mi chuckling and raising a glass towards her from just before.
“I say, Flower Burial goddess is not here today sigh, does anybody know what’s going on?”
“It seemed that at the last minute her company requested her to work overtime, forced to suffer.”
“I suddenly have a good suggestion, how about getting Xiao Luo Bo to sing《The Young Charming Fox》for the 7th Anniversary Celebration?”
“Agreed, agreed!”
“Hey hey, why in the world do you want me to sing? A song like《The Young Charming Fox》clearly shows that Momo would be more suitable all right!”
“… it has nothing to do with me, I certainly didn’t say anything.”
“If Su Qingmo Dada was the one singing, that picture would just be too beautiful and I really won’t dare to watch it.”
In the large party, it was noisy, everyone was very excited, all chattered continuously and in full swing, although a few of them met for the first time in the 3D world, however there wasn’t a bit of awkwardness or unfamiliarity.
As Mo Lan silently ate the crystal cake from her plate, she suddenly saw Ran Ran took her empty glass and refilled it to the brim again, taking the full glass from Ran Ran, under the enthusiastic invitation of the other party, then Mo Lan who was uncommonly muddled once again drank a few more glasses.
After the getting-people-to-drink part was over, everybody had almost eaten their fill, and started talking about family life.
The topic went all the way from the 2D world to educating children.
If somebody took the initiative to talk to Mo Lan, then she would continue with just a few words. For most of the remaining time, she just lowered her head in silence, and bit by bit tried to finished her bowl of candied taro seedlings.
In fact, it had actually already cooled down a bit, but she just wanted to eat it.
Out of the whole table, the person who hardly spoke, apart from her, was probably Gu Ye Mi.
Mo Lan couldn’t help but secretly glanced at Gu Ye Mi, she saw that the other party indifferently poured himself a glass of beer, his face was distinctly aloof and elegant, indescribably made people felt somewhat faintly discernible.
He lowered his head and played with his mobile phone, as if everything he listened to was going in, and yet it seemed that nothing went in.
Just as she wanted to shake herself awake, her phone rang suddenly, Mo Lan bowed her head, the next second, she was a little surprised to find that it was a WeChat message from Gu Ye Mi.
GYM: Eat more, you’re too thin.
Mo Lan looked at the text message on the phone screen and habitually bit her lower lip, her face which could be the result of the few glasses of beer, had already gradually heated up.
She even felt that her palms which was against the metal back of the phone also burnt slightly, Mo Lan lowered her head not daring to look at the other party’s facial expression, her trembling fingers typed a reply.
Momo: I probably drank too much just now, and now I can’t eat anymore, 囧.
After sending out the message, Mo Lan softly exhaled.
The weather was still very cold, even with the heatpump switched on. But in her heart, it seemed that there were one hundred rabbits simultaneously nonstop violently jumping up and down, even her earlobe was burning bit by bit.
GYM: Go for a walk?
Mo Lan looked at this line of words from the other party in astonishment, she wasn’t sure if she was tipsy and have read it wrongly, or was it true.
The next second, she saw that Gu Ye Mi had already stood up.
The tall figure suddenly stood up, all at once grabbing everyone’s attention.
But he was still indifferent, he opened his mouth, his voice was as elegant as the river, flowing like jade, indescribably appealing: “It’s not early, and I still have something on tonight, can I go first?”
As soon as he spoke, he instantly reminded many people.
In A Flash Rosy Cheeks Becomes Old suddenly realised that and extended her wrist to look at the time, after she looked, she was immediately agitated: “Dang, it’s actually 4pm, my son finishes kindergarten in a bit, I still need to go home and cook, and pick him up later.”
Tasseled Pendant who also drank quite a bit had an agonised expression: “Rosy Cheeks sister, I drank a bit too much, since we’re both going the same way, drop me home please.”
The scene was chaotic, the girls were taking their bags all getting ready to leave, Qingshang who was tipsy clearly hadn’t had enough to drink, in a short while his expression was not satisfied: “Hey hey, this is but Ninth Heaven’s meetup, I haven’t even said anything, why are all of you leaving one by one?” After speaking, all of sudden he thought of something, he jokingly continued to add, “For those of you who said you want to go, how about each person gets punished to drink three glasses?”
“That’s right that’s right!” Because Bai Yu Luo Bo was allergic to alcohol, so he gave up after drinking the first cup, at present he very clear-headedly agreed with Qingshang, joining in the excitement.
Su Shen also laughed, did not speak, just beckoned and asked for two more bottles of beer.
Gu Ye Mi smiled softly, he had magnificently did his best.
Even though everyone have already heard his voice countless of times, they couldn’t help but stared blankly for a bit.
And he spoke with a sloppy tone: “I have no objection.”
Gu Ye Mi lowered his head and poured himself three full glasses.
“Congratulations on Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary.” He toasted wtih a smile. Then opened his mouth and drained it all in one gulp.
With all three glasses, his eyebrows didn’t even wrinkled.
The people next to him looked at him in awe, even the always silent Su Shen also spoke up: “Xiao Mi, you can actually drink? I was truly fooled by you.”
“Requirement of my job, I generally don’t drink.” Gu Ye Mi put the glass down, his appearance indolent, his tone even brought a hint of satisfaction.
Bai Yu Luo Bo saw that he couldn’t teased him, couldn’t help but sighed a little disappointedly. He turned his head, and saw that surrounding him were the other people who just said they were leaving, once again his mood lifted up considerably: “In other words, Ah Mi has already drank, shouldn’t you all do it too?”
Everyone stopped talking.
Tasseled Pendant wailed and grumbled with a sorrowful face: “Dear brothers and sisters, I’ve already drank a lot, if I continue drinking, when I get home I’m afraid that my dad would beat me to death then hang my corpse up by the wall.”
“Then don’t go first, continue chatting.” Su Shen waved his hand, he looked very relaxed.
“… all right.” Tasseled Pendant was somewhat resigned and continued to sit down, planned to once more foolishly and idly chat for a while.
Suddenly, Gu Ye Mi turned his eyes towards Mo Lan and spoke softly: “Give me the glass.”
Totally no reaction whatsover, Mo Lan, who was bewildered by his voice, without thinking, she reached out and handed over her empty glass which faced her.
Gu Ye Mi lowered his head, he looked at peace, and used Mo Lan’s glass to filled it up to the brim, then raised his head and drank it.
First glass, second glass, third glass.
He put down the glass, there was still not even a bit of change to his facial expression, it was as if he had just drank a few glasses of plain boiled water.
Mo Lan felt her face was even more red.
He used… her own glass.
Everybody stopped their actions, watched Gu Ye Mi’s consistent expression, all were amazed and shocked.
“Xiao Mi, why did you drink so much?” Su Shen said thoroughly flabbergasted.
Gu Ye Mi didn’t care, he looked up and vaguely smiled: “These three glasses, I drank on behalf of Mo Lan, you all continue.”
“… where there’s the opposite sex, there’s no humanity*!” Bai Yu Luo Bo could not help but grumbled.
(有異性沒人性 yǒu yì xìng méi rén xìng. It rhymes beautifully in Chinese. My interpretation is where there’s a girl involved, he forgets himself/his friends. I translated it literally.)
Gu Ye Mi laughed and picked up his phone from the table: “We’ll get together again next time, you guys don’t drink too much either.”
After he finished, he disregarded everybody’s dissatisfaction and turned his head, his clearly black and white eyes looked at Mo Lan tenderly, the corner of his lips curled up, all smiles in the corners of his eyes down to the tip of his eyebrows: “Momo, let’s go.”
This kind of unbelievable beautiful voice… regardless of who it was spoken to, one would surely not refused.
Mo Lan followed his voice closely, left her seat to stand up, her actions so quick that her brain haven’t caught up.
The people next to her couldn’t helped laughing.
Ran Ran spoke, a little envious: “Lanshan sister, is this you sweeping up Mi Da as soon as you’ve met? And you’re also leaving together…”
Su Shen laughed, swallowed the last drop in the glass, and waved towards them: “Go go, give you a chance to be alone together.”
Mo Lan’s mind was heavy, she blushed beyond recognition, the wine that she drank just before had started taking effect, her train of thought all chaotic.
Ignoring the teasing laughter behind her, Mo Lan followed Gu Ye Mi from behind and walked out still in a trance.
At the doorway, the waiter in ancient costume enthusiastically saw them out.
Walking out of Nanjing Impressions’ front door, the biting cold wind blast through, Mo Lan finally felt that her mind cleared up a bit, but the cold was also turbulent, her body couldn’t help but curled up slightly.
The two of them walked a few steps, Gu Ye Mi suddenly stopped, he looked back at Mo Lan, his tone was very gentle: “Don’t move, wait for me here.”
“Ah, okay.” Mo Lan blankly agreed, nodded.
After about three to four minutes, Gu Ye Mi returned, in his hand, there was an extra steaming hot paper cup.
He walked over and placed the paper cup into Mo Lan’s hand: “Take it to warm your hands.”
Mo Lan encircled the paper cup with both of her hands, a burst of lemon fragrance circulated from the mouth of the cup, it turned out to be lemon tea.
She couldn’t helped it and raised her head to look at Gu Ye Mi, Mo Lan had some misgivings, it shouldn’t be… he saw that she was feeling a little cold?
Gu Ye Mi looked at her somewhat stunned expression, and suddenly laughed softly, his distinct and aloof face instantly softened and glowed.
The two walked side by side down the winter streets of Nanjing, the maple branches and leaves on both sides of the road had already withered, and occasionally a few random dried up yellow maple leaves circled and fell.
Obviously this was Mo Lan’s favorite winter scene, but she didn’t have any mood to enjoy it now, because she was standing next to Gu Ye Mi.
Her 4 years favourite from the Internet Voice Circle, Secretly Captivated.
The atmosphere was very still.
Not saying anything, would it be a bit too awkward… But, even if she wanted to say something, what topic would be better? Mo Lan held the piping hot lemon tea in her hands, and drank it in small sips, her thoughts all tangled up a thousand times in her head.
Occasionally, a passer-by would cast a stunned look at Gu Ye Mi, and Mo Lan would inexplicably felt a little proud.
Perhaps it was because her tipsiness hasn’t scattered, Mo Lan’s courage grew a little bigger, she nipped her lip, and summoned up her courage to asked, “Gu Ye Mi, your profession… is an anesthesiologist?”
“En, you heard it that night?” Gu Ye Mi responded in a low voice, his voice indolent.
Mo Lan nodded, then, hesitated a bit, “Being an anesthesiologist… is very hard?”
“It’s okay.” Gu Yemi gave a short answer, after finished speaking, he gave a low chuckle, his voice was so low that Mo Lan almost couldn’t hear it.
Mo Lan listened to his voice, but suddenly sighed and opened her mouth, she couldn’t help but asked: “Because of other people’s fault, it now has negatively changed the public opinion of the entire anesthesiologist industry, for you, isn’t it very unfair?”
Gu Ye Mi stopped, he turned to look at Mo Lan, his appearance picturesque, distinct and aloof as well as clean.
He spoke leisurely, you can’t figure out his mood, “Momo, there has never been justice in this world, regardless of the profession, it’s surely hard work. It’s just like hitting a bottleneck when you write, to be an anesthesiologist, one needs to learn to bear society’s gossip and the passerby’s coloured lenses.”
He looked very earnest when he spoke, his temperament was distinct, aloof and clean. His tone was obviously soft, but very firm.
It inexplicably made Mo Lan felt that this kind of tone was one she knew well.
The two continued to walk forward, neither fast nor slow, Mo Lan looked down at the paper cup in her hand and spoke softly: “In university, I majored in ancient literature, at that time almost everyone said that my major was useless, that I simply wouldn’t be able to find a job after graduation. In fact, I was quite confused during that short period, I was also quite negative towards life. Later there was one day, I watched your interview, I remembered that the host asked you a question, the main idea being if you’ve had any regret towards any decision you’ve made, would you have chosen to turn back?”
Up until here, Mo Lan paused, then, she turned to look at Gu Ye Mi and asked softly, “Gu Ye Mi, do you still remember… your answer at that time?”
Her voice, inaudibly carried a bit of hope.
“Remembered.”
Gu Ye Mi spoke in a low voice, charming and gentle as well as touching. He looked down towards Mo Lan, his eyes dark and deep, little by little, the peach blossom colour faintly appeared in his eyes, “I said, I don’t need to turn back because it made no sense.”
Because the decision has been made, therefore, no matter how challenging or difficult it was, one still had to move forward, to turn back, there wasn’t the slightest degree of sense.
“Right.” Mo Lan couldn’t help but pursed her lips, and showed a smile as clear as the mountains in Mingshui, “Because of your words, I told myself that I can’t change my decision, I would learn to accept it. Later, I once again picked up the guzheng that I haven’t touched for so many years, hoping to become an even more outstanding person.”
The two talked, and in a blink of an eye, they’ve arrived in Mo Lan’s neighbourhood.
Despite some reluctance, Mo Lan still halted: “Umm… we’ve reached my house. Thanks for sending me back.”
“No problem.” Gu Ye Mi also stopped, bending down to look at her, with a sloppy and indolent tone. “Speaking of guzheng, the next time we meet again, play《Senbon Sakura》for me yea.”
The next time we meet again…
He meant… there’s going to be a next time?
Mo Lan looked up, her eyes shined, and looked at him in disbelief.
She saw Gu Ye Mi’s lips curled up and smiled, even his eyes somewhat smiled too: “Momo, good night.”
Word by word, gentle and affectionate, so moved that Mo Lan didn’t dare breathe.
“Good night.”
As she was saying good night to the other party, with half of her mind somewhere else, she turned around, then step by step she entered her neigbourhood.
Mo Lan didn’t know how many steps she had taken, she merely felt that she should have already walked quite far. Mo Lan came back to her senses, stopped, cautiously and solemnly looked behind her. The next second, she was somewhat surprised to see, that tall and thin figure was still motionless standing where she left him.
Mo Lan stood transfixed, suddenly she didn’t know how to take another step.
Her phone vibrated, Mo Lan lowered her head, and somewhat flusteredly took the phone out of her pocket, opened, it was a WeChat message from Gu Ye Mi:
GYM: It’s very cold outside, go home.
When she raised her head again, she saw that tall and thin figure waved at her, then turned around, and gradually walked away from her.
She couldn’t help holding tight to the paper cup with lemon tea in her hands, the little warmth that remained in the cup, seemed to be quietly reminding her, that everything that happened today, was all real.
Unfathomably…. real.
