CH 16

Translator’s Note: This is a really short update with the second half of the conversation from before. This was another one of those weird places where the original long chapter was broken up right in the middle of a scene. I thought about putting these together in one post but that makes it a little harder for me to keep track of where I am in the novel and it’s easier to be motivated to translate short parts than to work endlessly on one giant chapter–but in the future I’ll try to at least post these at the same so you aren’t starting in the middle of a conversation.

For context, Yuan Shuai is having a secret conversation with Jiang Jun on the phone while she’s in her bedroom after she finally smoothed things over with her family, and as usual, she’s clueless when it comes to YS’s feelings.

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Jiang Jun was made even more nervous by Yuan Shuai’s behavior, looking uneasily at the closed door of her room and giving an “mhm.”

Yuan Shuai laughed loudly all of a sudden. “Silly girl, even a bomb wouldn’t get through your family’s house.”

“Just be more annoying, why don’t you.”

“Were you punished?”

“Almost, they insisted that the two of us get married.”

“You agreed?”

“How could I? You know how stubborn I am, I’m not willing to die. For the sake of our freedom, I cried, begged, and threw a tantrum. Grandpa finally said, let’s not talk about it for now. I’m pretty awesome, right?”

The phone seemed to have a bad signal and after Jiang Jun called for a long time, Yuan Shuai finally spoke. “You’ve always been awesome.”

“Why is your voice hoarse?”

“I was just smoking and choked.” Then Yuan Shuai asked, “Do you miss me?”

Jiang Jun turned over and buried her face in the pillow.

“Jun’er, I really miss you, do you miss me?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Jun also missed him; she missed him very, very much.

“How about you sneak out? I’m right in front of your house.”

This was a really tempting proposal that Jiang Jun couldn’t resist. She put on her clothes, tiptoed downstairs like a thief, and persuaded the guard on duty to open the door for her.

It was cold outside, and Jiang Jun ran fast in the cold night, both her body and heart yearning for that man’s love, so much so that she was on the verge of being lovesick in the darkness.

Yuan Shuai’s car was parked next to the exit of the garden, avoiding the street lights and quietly lurking in the shadows.

Jiang Jun opened the car door and got in. Yuan Shuai was concealed behind the steering wheel, his head turned to one side, so she couldn’t see his expression or eyes. Before Jiang Jun could say anything, he kissed her.

The car sped along as he seized every opportunity to caress her. They stopped in front of an apartment building in the city and Yuan Shuai carried Jiang Jun up on his shoulders, striding into the room that belonged to them. They knelt on the bed, tearing and stripping off each other’s clothes, and licking each other’s naked bodies like wild animals.

“Call my name.”

“Yuan Shuai.”

“Say it again.”

“Yuan Shuai!” Jiang Jun clung hard to him, her nails digging into his skin and their limbs tightly entwined. They were meant to be one, and they had always been. This was fate, a mutual dependence on each other for life.

In their fiery passion, neither cared whether the curtains were closed. Fortunately, Yuan Shuai’s apartment was on the top floor and there were no taller buildings nearby, so naturally there was no danger of being exposed.

Moonlight spilled into the room, faintly revealing the silhouettes of two people. Jiang Jun had gone to sleep. Yuan Shuai put both hands behind his head, looking out of the window. He admitted to himself that his actions were rather unscrupulous. Who wouldn’t be anxious when their daughter was abducted in the middle of the night? Jiang Jun’s family was probably in an uproar right now. His own old man knew about this apartment and it was easy to find.

He lowered his head and sniffed Jiang Jun’s hair, smelling only the scent of both of them. Yuan Shuai smiled contentedly, lay down on his side, wrapped his arms around her waist and also closed his eyes.

The moon was beautiful, his light smile was indistinct, his affection was very real, and his love was very deep.

That year, when Yuan Shuai received the email from Jiang Jun telling him that Yin Zhe had become her boyfriend, he had rushed to the airport like he was crazy and bought the next flight back to China. Just before he boarded the plane, he changed his mind, remembering the picture that Jiang Jun had shown him. The woman in the picture was named Qiao Na, and in the past, she had always taken the initiative to be friendly with him. Qiao Na had the same innocent appearance as little sister Lin, but Yuan Shuai could clearly see this woman’s ambition, and her eyes were full of desire.

Just on the basis of his one dance with her at a party, which he had only offered out of courtesy, Qiao Na dumped Yin Zhe, confidently thinking that she could catch this big fish Master Yuan. She wanted to be Yuan Shuai’s woman and to become a total phoenix.* For her own desire, she destroyed the dream that Yuan Shuai had had for many years. [T/N In Chinese weddings, the dragon represents the groom and the phoenix represents the bride]

Yuan Shuai had a terrible plan in his mind, and the first thing to do was Qiao Na. If this woman wanted to be a phoenix, then Yuan Shuai would help her succeed, but before flying up, one had to first descend to purgatory.

Qiao Na was overjoyed by Yuan Shuai’s response and began to pretend to be his girlfriend, using various methods to drive away the women around him. He neither denied nor admitted that Qiao Na was his woman, and he still dated and chatted with different female friends in private.

Qiao Na pretended to be sick and said that her room was too cold, so Yuan Shuai let her move into his own apartment. She wore a see-through nightgown and pretended to be sleeping in the living room. Yuan Shuai looked at her body and thought of the young woman on the other side of the ocean. Was that delicate little flower nestled in the arms of that guy named Yin now, happily dreaming? He submitted to his own desire and made love to Qiao Na in the living room, but the physical pleasure still couldn’t make up for the pain in his heart, and after venting, his loneliness only doubled. He numbly went back to the bedroom alone to take a shower and sleep, feeling that the best part of his heart had been trampled into bits and pieces by that girl named Jiang Jun.

Whenever Yuan Shuai was in the shower or had gone out, Qiao Na took advantage and answered his private calls, telling his family that she was his girlfriend. When his parents asked about it, Yuan Shuai said that she was just a vulgar woman who clung to him and told his family not to believe it.

Yuan Shuai knew that Qiao Na was becoming more and more interested in the baobei* in his bedroom. While he was out, she had already searched through every corner of the house except for his bedroom. He deliberately put the photos and letters of him and Jiang Jun into the drawer of his bedside table, and then he accidentally dropped the key next to the dining chair on purpose. [T/N baobei is lit. treasure, but also used as term of endearment to refer to a loved one, like precious or darling, I think I translated it previously as his “precious” girl but I think it’s a term used enough that I’ll just keep it as Chinese]

Qiao Na asked, “Do you love me, Yuan Shuai?

Before his eyes, Yuan Shuai saw the scene in which Zhong Jiang Jun shyly said “I love you” to Yin Zhe, did she even know what love was? Yuan Shuai smiled tenderly and said, “What a little fool.”

Qiao Na gave up on her still unfinished thesis and returned to China with him. At the airport, Qiao Na said to the woman that he loved, “Hi, I’m Qiao Na, your brother’s girlfriend.”

Yuan Shuai watched with satisfaction as shock and fear filled Jiang Jun’s eyes, and the pleasure of revenge instantly tore his heart apart.

He told Qiao Na that Jiang Jun was his unrelated sister, who had grown up with his family ever since they were young, and that she was the princess their entire family held in the palm of their hands. No one could bully Jiang Jun.

Qiao Na asked coquettishly, “If I quarrel with her, who would you protect?”

“Jiang Jun,” he answered without hesitation.

Yuan Shuai was aware of the darkness in Qiao Na and her eyes were full of jealousy and resentment towards reality. He gifted Qiao Na a Chanel black evening dress and took her to and from major private clubs. Qiao Na’s bright red lips trembled with excitement under the extravagant lights.

People could become addicted to more than just drugs; they could also become addicted to luxury.

Yuan Shuai directed the inadvertent reunion of Qiao Na and Yin Zhe, two old lovers. Greedy people never give up any benefit to themselves, including feelings, and he expected that this woman, who was overwhelmed by desire, would do something big to turn the world upside down. When the time was right, Yuan Shuai confronted her with the pictures of her and Yin Zhe’s private meetings, as well as the records of their text messages. Qiao Na cried and knelt before him, begging him.

Yuan Shuai showed his cards to her: either she could take the money and return to Yin Zhe’s side, knocking Jiang Jun out of the game, or she could have nothing and go back to square one.

Qiao Na chose the former without even having to think about it. She was a realist and her strategies would normally have been sufficient, it was too bad that her opponent was Jiang Jun, a little girl who was so stubborn that she was almost silly.

When he saw Jiang Jun’s tears, Yuan Shuai hesitated, still unable to bear seeing her cry. When Jiang Jun suffered, he hurt even more than she did.

The person that Jiang Jun loved didn’t love her, yet she was willing to be hurt by him.

Yuan Shuai loved Jiang Jun, yet deliberately schemed to hurt her. Everything was for love.

They were both the odd one out, clutching at their red threads* in despair and helplessness, and following along behind the person they love. They were on the same track, but unable to travel together, only stumbling in loneliness and wandering alone on the edge of love. There was no end, no relief.

When he was hesitant, Jiang Jun’s family made their move. Those who have won in the bloody carnage of political struggle could never tolerate marriage with a profiteering family.

Up until now, Yuan Shuai still had some lingering fears. What if Yin Zhe had been born into a family of intellectuals, what if Yin Zhe had had a more mature judgment towards right and wrong, what if Yin Zhe could have truly and sincerely loved Jiang Jun, then would Jiang Jun still be his?

He was secretly glad that there were no what ifs and there never would be.

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T/N: So now we find out a bit more about what exactly YS did in the past and why he feels guilty for manipulating JJ’s life. Also there is a reference above to red threads and we were close enough to the end notes that I didn’t want to add another note in the middle. The Lunar god in charge of marriage ties lovers together with a red string, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_thread_of_fate

I found a post on NovelUpdates about WordPress plugins that will allow readers to click and teleport to translator’s notes and then to also return to where they were, but I just don’t have time to be figuring it out right now. Eventually I’ll try to work on it, so for those of you who find the inline notes annoying, please bear with me. If anyone has read anything where the translator used that on WordPress, please link me so I can see how it works!

The other thing is, I don’t really have time to figure out where I should link this translation so that people can find it. I don’t think it even comes up on the first page of Google results if you search “Love is Sweet English translation” so I should probably put it on translation index sites like Shusheng Bar or Novel Updates. Problem is that the process to add translations seems automated and Idk how to explain that my translation is totally different and independent of the one by Illabooks because we aren’t even working off the same source material/edition of the book. I’ve actually never come across a case like that where the translations differ because the original source differs, except in cases of censorship on R rated scenes. So tbh I’m not sure how to add my blog to those places so readers can actually find it but I’m trying to keep up the momentum on translating Love is Sweet because I know once 2HA finally airs, it will suck up a lot of my free time!