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The Healing Sunshine - Chapter 25.3

Published at 5th of October 2018 10:02:23 PM


Chapter 25.3

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Chapter 25.3 — Joined Pulses (3)

 

After lunch, she brought the information that He Feifei needed over to the Domestic News and Editing Department.

“I heard your team director recommended you for foreign assignment. Hey, doing pretty good, Jǐ Yi. Where are you planning on going?” He Feifei flipped through the information, then tossed it onto her document sorting rack and grabbed Jǐ Yi’s hand. “Just don’t go to Syria.”

“I turned it down,” Jǐ Yi stated. “Don’t want to go abroad.”

“Oh, oh.” He Feifei instantly comprehended. “This is a sign that happy wedding news is just around the corner.”

The words were spoken so lightly, but people nearby still heard them. These were all people with whom Jǐ Yi was well acquainted from her internship term, and immediately, they moved in closer and pressed her with more questions. Jǐ Yi was embarrassed with all their queries, but alas, He Feifei just had to feel that she was Jǐ Yi and Jì Chengyang’s matchmaker, and every time this matter was brought up, she was especially enthused. Several times Jǐ Yi tried to stop her, but they were all to no avail.

That foreign correspondent speaker series that the newspaper had organized had been very well received. Moreover, everyone had used all their various connections in order to contact those guest speakers, and they had chosen the list of speakers together. Naturally, then, they could not be any more familiar with Jì Chengyang’s background and curriculum vitae. Now when they heard it was him, they were all extremely surprised. And so, amidst all sorts of nosy grilling and cross-examination from everyone, Jǐ Yi hurriedly fled from there.

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

Leaving the Domestic News and Editing Department, she followed the wooden staircase all the way downstairs. Suddenly, her footsteps halted.

That figure not far away, clad in a suit and tie and leather shoes, with his back facing her…

She had never seen him dressed in a suit before and almost thought she had mistaken someone else for him.

Jì Chengyang stood there, conversing with three of her colleagues from the newspaper agency. English, French, Spanish, Cantonese, and other languages were all intermixed in this conversation. These four people were in the midst of enthusiastic discussion, the rhythm of the dialogue fast-moving, and there were absolutely no barriers in communication between them at all.

She had chatted before with the foreign-nationality co-worker in her own department. Jǐ Yi’s major in her studies was English while Spanish was her minor, but the other party’s mother tongue was French and his English was very weak. He did know a few phrases of Chinese, though, and hence, when the two of them communicated, all different languages would be randomly interspersed throughout the exchange. A simple conversation between them seemed like a second-rate quarrel that was frustratingly stifling…

In this aspect, she, as a language major, was actually not even as good as the one with a doctorate in philosophy.

Jǐ Yi wrinkled the end of her nose, not feeling abashed about this in the least.

Standing on the stairs, she secretly observed him for a while, but he detected her. Jì Chengyang called her over and introduced her to those several people. Although they all worked in the same workplace, their newspaper’s Beijing head office alone had eleven administrative departments and ten news editing and publishing departments, as well as several thousand employees. It was not feasible for even people in the human resources department to be familiar with the faces of every single person.

It was only after Jì Chengyang made the introductions that everyone learned that this young girl was also their colleague here at the newspaper agency. As a result, after only just escaping from the Domestic News and Editing Department’s besiegement, pursuit, and attempts to cut off her way, she was here being “surrounded and spectated” once more.

Fortunately, Jì Chengyang’s original intention had been to come here to pick her up, so they did not linger.

“I’ll bring you to see the Disaster Relief Fundraiser Gala.” Seeing that it was about time, he told her, “Can you leave a few minutes early? We should still have time to eat dinner.” Nodding, she left with him.

In Jì Chengyang’s earlier working years, he had come here many times and was very familiar with the location of each department. Jǐ Yi had been terribly well-behaved in her internship term and had never randomly wandered around, so she actually was not as familiar with this place as he was. As they walked along, he would tell her which path would lead to which place, which location was good for catching a taxi, and which exit’s little eateries had better food.

With her lips pursed in a smile, Jǐ Yi would nod and then nod some more.

This picture was just too similar to the start of a school year, where the parents of a student boarding at the school would first one by one learn everything, no matter how big or trivial, beginning with how to get food from the dining hall and buy meal tickets, to finally, how to take showers, wash clothes, etc., and then carefully, one at a time, explain each thing to their child.

All the while, she would every so often sneak glimpses at him beside her, this very different Jì Chengyang.

She was accustomed to his lightweight, casual dress and had never imagined he would dress in formal attire. Jì Chengyang could sense her gaze the entire time and was rather amused with it, but he did not expose her. Only after they had finished dinner, when the two were retrieving the vehicle from the underground parking garage and he was leaned over her, helping her fasten her seatbelt, did he finally ask in a very light voice by her ear, “Why do you keep looking at me?”

“I’m not looking at you; I’m looking at your clothes,” Jǐ Yi mumbled. She touched the collar of his suit with her fingers, then moved them to the knot of his necktie. How was this tied? She would need to look it up online when she went home and then practice. “Did you tie your tie yourself?”

“No.”

No?

“I bought several and then gave them all in one go to Nuannuan’s mom to help me tie them.” Laughing, he even felt that this approach of his had been exceptionally good, where a one-time effort had gotten everything done once and for all. “I’ve never untied them, and when I need to use one, I’ll just put it straight on.”

She gave an “oh,” her puzzlement completely dissipating. Her fingers were still touching his suit collar.

There was no purpose to this type of action; it simply carried slightly an element of cute poutiness to it. He took pleasure in this clinginess to him that she was showing. This was what it felt like to be loved. In the past, regardless of whether it was, during his adolescent student era, the love letters and gifts that he received or the girls who had waited outside the concert hall or rehearsal hall for a long time and would not leave, or in his adulthood, the women he had encountered who would reservedly or directly express their intention of trying to get close and spend time with him, he had only felt that they were bothersome and even resisted them. But when it was Jǐ Yi doing it… from the very beginning, he had never felt any sort of repulsion.

“You like it when I wear dress shirts and suits?”

“Mm-hmm.” She let out a little giggle.

“In the future, I’ll wear them at home for you to see.” Jì Chengyang’s elbow rested on the back of her seat. As he looked down at the one who was right under his nose, his gaze falling on her red lips, some untimely images rose into his mind, and hence the content of his words carried a suggestive air in it.

“Wear them at home?”

“I’ll wear them just for you to see.”

Watching her lips that were opening and closing ever so slightly, Jì Chengyang began considering whether this particular parking spot was sufficiently hidden from view. The car’s location was in the northeast corner of the parking garage, which was furthest from the exit, so very few cars drove over here. After verifying that the risk of being seen by prying eyes was very low, he sat up straight and patted his leg, indicating that she should come over to sit. Jǐ Yi was a little worried, but he told her, “My right leg is fine. The left leg is the one that was broken.” Using her hands and feet together, she somewhat arduously climbed over, found a relatively comfortable position on his leg, and sat.

Playing in the car was the CD that she had put in prior to their trip to Sichuan, and on it were all classic, English oldies.

The one playing now was called “Right Here Waiting,” and its translated Chinese title meant, “This love is worth waiting for.” When the song slowly moved into its chorus, she gave a light tug on his arm. “Hurry and listen to this, hurry and listen.” Jì Chengyang was somewhat perplexed. To be honest, though these songs were all very old and anyone from the seventies would undoubtedly have heard them before, as a man, he was not the type that was so attentive and detail-minded that he would listen carefully to the lyrics of each song.

Now, this was his first time, at her prompting, actually paying attention to the song’s chorus.

He listened for a while, then hit the “repeat song” button.

Jǐ Yi self-consciously shifted her eyes to look elsewhere.

While they waited, he, with very natural motions, brought his face down and kissed her slowly. In this quiet, confined space, the two were not rushed either. And so, as they listened again to this song, they unhurriedly kissed one another. The entire time, his eyes were open, gazing at her and also, in passing, taking note of whether there were people passing by.

The song gradually moved into its chorus. At last, he finally heard what he had been waiting for, what she wanted him to listen to.

Wherever you go,
Whatever you do, 
I will be right her waiting for you.
Whatever it takes, 
Or how my heart breaks,
I will be right here waiting for you.

 

The way his little lady expressed her love had always been very subtle. Back when he was in Iraq and she had played the song “Angel” on the piano, it had also been like this. Jì Chengyang’s eyes grew extremely tender. Through the window, he saw a car passing by outside, seemingly searching for a parking space, but he did not alert her to it.

Jǐ Yi had not seen it and was still nestled in his arms, her face tilted upwards as she aimlessly exchanged kisses back and forth with him.

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

That evening’s Disaster Relief Fundraiser Gala was being held in Studio No. 1 of the television station.

Jì Chengyang parked his car outside of the station and walked with her into the main building through the west entrance. Along the way, they passed through a number of security screenings by security staff before winding their way through the station into the studio hall. By now, there was less than half an hour to the start of the gala event, and the studio hall was filled with staff members preparing for it. The two stepped inside and had not even found some seats to sit down in and have a rest when a woman came striding directly towards them.

“I remember you.” After exchanging a few words with Jì Chengyang, the woman turned to look at Jǐ Yi. “Do you still remember me?”

Jǐ Yi nodded somewhat shyly.

The first time Jì Chengyang brought her here to the television station, he had asked this newscaster to take care of her. At the time, this newscaster had told her the story behind how Jì Chengyang was selected as the “belle of the station,” as well as the account of how, during the 1998 floods, Jì Chengyang had made a name for himself for throwing his life on the line for work.

“I remember, that time, you were still wearing Fuzhong High School’s uniform. You were such a tiny little girl. Oh, my, I’m old now, just old.” The woman was terribly disheartened, feeling suddenly that her age was up there now. She gave Jì Chengyang a pat on the shoulder. “Ol’ Jì, we’re both old.”

The woman seemed to have endless words to say, just as before, and she only finally rose and left when the event was nearly about to begin.

The lights dimmed.

As Jǐ Yi gazed after her backside, which had already moved off into the distance, she actually thought of another person. Putting on an offhanded air, she asked, “I haven’t see Liu Wanxia tonight? She’s not coming?”

Jì Chengyang could not hold back a chuckle. “She should be here.”

“Why didn’t she come say hi to you if she’s here?” In the dark setting, she asked this quietly.

“Don’t know.” His eyes were so black they glistened, and hints of mirth were in them. “I reckon she probably saw that you’re here, so she didn’t come over.”

She gave an “oh,” then muttered, “Why wouldn’t she come over once she saw me?”

This question, one that was asked despite knowing the answer, very obviously was classified as jealously.

These little moods of hers were clear as daylight to him. He purposely did not answer her. A little bit of jealousy can spice up a relationship; this was something he knew without anyone’s teaching. As expected, a few minutes later, Jǐ Yi was unable to hold herself in any longer, and she moved closer to him. “At any rate… you can’t let her come to our home anymore.”

So, it turned out she still was not finished with being jealous about Liu Wanxia’s late-night visit several years back.

He chuckled, still not speaking.

Jǐ Yi then gave a tug on his shirt sleeve.

Tilting his head to the side, he said by her ear in a low voice, “She got married a month ago. Does that set you at ease now?”

Married?

She instantly was dumbstruck, feeling that her behaviour just now had been so very embarrassing. Sitting herself up straight, she unblinkingly fixed her eyes forward. Only now did Jì Chengyang turn his gaze to her. Taking in the chagrin in her eyes, he very much wanted to tell her, in this world, there was only ever one woman who could discard all consideration of pragmatic criteria for selecting a spouse, who could understand everything he did and thought, who, even after being hurt, could still so resolutely start the relationship over again, and who could be so forgiving of and wait for a man named Jì Chengyang.

These were not things that could be done by simply talking about them with the mouth or thinking about them in the head.

Other people were unable to do it—and also would never have the chance to do it.

And hence, she was so very important.

 

Marguerite Duras once said, love, to her, is not physical and sexual intimacy; it is not a dish or a meal. It is a type of undying desire, a heroic dream amidst one’s exhausting daily life[1].

But for him, the explanation of love was much simpler:

Love was Jǐ Yi.

 

[1]爱之于她,不是肌肤之亲,不是一蔬一饭,它是一种不死的欲望,是颓败生活中的英雄梦想。This line is often credited to be the translation of a quote from French author Marguerite Duras, taken from her book, The Lover (French: L’Amant). However, it appears that this exact quote actually cannot be found within the book, and it appears no one knows where it came from. Therefore, I am unable to provide an exact quote for you and can only give my translation of the Chinese version of this line.





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