CH 18

Translator’s Note: Sorry for the longer wait than usual, work has been crazy and I did lots of overtime, plus some family stuff came up. Don’t worry, I’ll always still come back to work on this no matter how stressful everything else gets, it’s actually a nice break from everything else! This is the longest part that I’ve translated yet, so at least there’s more to read to make up for the long wait.

YS and JJ are still in the middle of their conversation from Ch 17. If you find it a little confusing, it’s because the author doesn’t always make it clear who is speaking to whom. As usual, I kept it as close to the original as possible, but I fixed some punctuation and added a few dialogue tags to make it easier to follow along.

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Yuan Shuai seemed to have found a relatively quiet place. “I’m still busy, how about you come over?”

“I can’t leave, are you coming back this weekend? I can go buy groceries.”

“I’ll try my best. Have you eaten yet?” he asked.

“No, I’ve been waiting for you so we can eat together,” Jiang Jun said.

“Hey you…who are you being all sweet to, hiding over there?”

A woman’s voice suddenly could be heard over the phone and Jiang Jun subconsciously looked at the magazine.

“My wife, I’ll go over later. First go and eat a proper meal, I’ll call you again later.”

Jiang Jun threw the phone away and squatted down by the magazine with her noodle bowl to look at their photos.

“Who are you being all sweet to, hiding over there?” She pitched her voice in imitation of the other woman. She dripped some oil on the woman’s face while she was at it, and fiercely said, “Sweet, huh, I’m so mad at you!” She watched as the blotch gradually spread, having lost her appetite.

After she waited all night, Yuan Shuai finally called Jiang Jun back the next morning. Jiang Jun didn’t question him about anything and only asked when he could come home.

Yuan Shuai said, “I have plans for tonight, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Jiang Jun flipped through his schedule book. “You don’t have to rush, you can go about your business. I’m also working overtime this weekend.”

After hanging up, Jiang Jun asked her secretary to come in and book her a flight. If the mountain wouldn’t come to her, she will go to the mountain instead. After all, she had to go and see what tricks this guy Yuan Shuai was up to.

It was almost midnight by the time she walked out of the airport, and Jiang Jun received a call not long after she turned her phone back on.

“What’s wrong with you, why did you turn it off?” Yuan Shuai said in a bad tone.

Jiang Jun didn’t say anything, pulling her luggage along as she waited in line for a taxi.

“What are you doing? It’s so noisy, you’re still out?”

Jiang Jun deliberately provoked him. “I’m chatting with friends.”

“Where exactly are you?”

“Mister, Chaoyang Park South Road,” Jiang Jun said to the driver when she got in the car.

Yuan Shuai laughed loudly. “You silly girl, hurry up and come find me! The address is…”

Jiang Jun hung up the phone, looked down at her unread text messages, and saw that she had received more than a dozen messages from him checking up on her, which made her feel elated.

“Why are you wearing so little?” Yuan Shuai was already there greeting her before the car even stopped. He took out his wallet to pay the fare even as he grumbled, “What month is it now huh, don’t you know that it’s cold at night? You only know to show off your good looks, let’s go, hurry up and go in!”

As soon as Jiang Jun entered, she was immediately recognized. “Hi, Juno, it’s been a long time!”

Jiang Jun was full of smiles and exchanged pleasantries, “Yes, it turns out you guys have all been coming here to hide out and be free.”

Yuan Shuai took her to a secret bar, where there were quite a few of their colleagues.

“It’s really still Zeus who has the great reputation, he can even get Juno to come,” the executive director of LK Bank said half drunkenly.

“It’s you guys who haven’t invited me.”

“All right, let me introduce a friend to you.” Yuan Shuai half embraced Jiang Jun, pointing at the woman next to him, and said, “This is Liu Dan, the beautiful leader of the People’s Bank of China.”

The other woman smiled and playfully shoved Yuan Shuai’s shoulder. Jiang Jun quickly sized up Liu Dan; she looked better in person than in the magazine.

“Liu Dan, this is Jiang Jun, the Juno that they always mentioned.”

“Hello.” Jiang Jun reached out but the other party just touched her fingertips haughtily and then turned her face away to drink.

Jiang Jun thought to herself: If you don’t give me face, I’ll hit your sweetheart. She clenched her fist and punched Yuan Shuai hard. Yuan Shuai, who was unaware of the situation, choked on his sip of alcohol from the punch and coughed for ages before he recovered. Jiang Jun ignored him and said with a fake smile, “It’s a good thing I came now, if I came any later I wouldn’t even have any soup left to drink.”

Everyone was chatting happily when Liu Dan suddenly said, “Yuan Shuai, go order another fruit platter.” This voice was really familiar.

Jiang Jun took a sip of alcohol. Why did they add so much lemon? It was so sour. She felt a little sad and found an excuse to sneak to the bathroom to smoke. Someone knocked on the bathroom door but did not speak, so Jiang Jun opened the door. Yuan Shuai smirked at her, then turned and walked to the emergency exit diagonally opposite from the restroom door.

She swayed her hips as she walked over, then grabbed Yuan Shuai’s chin and bit him, saying, “You big hooligan!”

“You hooligan woman.” Yuan Shuai kissed her and dragged her into the stairwell, kicking the door of the emergency exit with his foot.

“Miss me to death?” He sucked Jiang Jun’s tongue and put his hand under her skirt.

The love is strong, the passion is high, and in that moment of being together, the soul flies to the sky.

Just as Jiang Jun returned after touching up her makeup, she heard Liu Dan ask Yuan Shuai, “Why don’t we ever see your wife come here?”

Yuan Shuai replied carelessly, “She’s in Hong Kong.”

“Isn’t she afraid that you’ll run away? Is she that self confident?” Liu Dan seemed to have drunk too much.

Jiang Jun’s expression was incredulous as she walked to Yuan Shuai’s side. “No way, is it just because people say that you two are like Beauty and the Beast? They’re still bothering about this even after this long of a time?”

Yuan Shuai put his hand on Jiang Jun’s shoulder, his stance like that of a good elder brother, and looked sidelong at Liu Dan. “It’s more like, I’m afraid that if I bring her out here, the ladies that are present will suffer too hard of a hit to their confidence.”

“Oh come on!” Jiang Jun pushed him away. “You’re just afraid that she’ll ditch you.”

“As if she would dare!” Yuan Shuai bared his white teeth and reached his hand out for a match, his arm brushing heavily across Jiang Jun’s chest. He turned his head toward her again and shot her a smile.

~

Jiang Jun took the earliest flight back to Hong Kong on Monday and went directly to work with her luggage still in hand. She wore the lavender high-necked dress that Yuan Shuai had bought for her. In order to match the dress, Jiang Jun even intentionally wore her hair in a loose bun. Naturally, she was late to the morning meeting again. As soon as she entered the conference room, she regretted dressing up. Other than Du, who maintained his usual calm, everyone else more or less looked at her with surprise.

Jiang Jun tried to act as natural and relaxed as possible as she walked to Du’s side and sat down.

“Are you all right?” Sally asked in a low voice.

“What’s the matter?” Jiang Jun subconsciously went to cover her neck.

“You look too charming today, last night were you very happy?”

“Don’t be crazy, make sure you take good notes.” Jiang Jun blushed slightly and thought to herself that she should go buy a few more high-collared shirts after work.

Sally reminded her, “All the new hires are here, waiting in front of your office.”

“I know, thanks for the hard work.”

After the meeting, Du called Jiang Jun into his office. After closing the door, he whistled at her, while Jiang Jun cooperated by spinning around in a circle and posing.

“It’s beautiful, but don’t come to the office dressed like that in the future, it’ll distract me.” Du pointed to the chair and motioned her to sit down. “Speaking of business, take a look at this.”

Jiang Jun took the documents and quickly flipped through them. “This Jay Yin’s qualifications aren’t bad.”

“He’s my younger brother, a half brother. As in, same father but different mothers, there’s pretty much been no contact, I…” Du coughed twice.

“I see.” Jiang Jun didn’t look up. “You’re keeping the goods within the family.*” [T/N: a proverb, lit. don’t let one’s fertile water flow into other people’s fields]

Du let out a sigh and cheerfully said, “We’ll have dinner together at noon. You talk with him for a bit, I’ve prepared for him to go work in Beijing. Oh yeah, he’s also your alumnus.”

“Are you helping arrange a date for me?” Jiang Jun braced her chin and interrupted him. “Your treat then, Outside the City Gate,* at 12:15.” [T/N *JJ and YS’s restaurant from previous chapters]

Since they were going to show favoritism, then everyone should join together, and keep the goods within the family.

At lunch time, Jiang Jun was nearly late for half an hour because she had to deal with an emergency. By the time she arrived at the private room, Du had already started ordering.

She hadn’t eaten breakfast, so she was bleary-eyed and dizzy with hunger. Looking around and seeing no one else, she asked Du, “Where’s your little brother*?”

Du’s hand paused from flipping through the menu and he raised his head to look at her before laughing softly. [T/N *“little brother” 小弟弟 is also slang for penis]

Jiang Jun froze for a moment, immediately started blushing, and turned around to leave.

“All right, I won’t laugh anymore.” Du grabbed Jiang Jun’s wrist and supported the small of her back. “You’re the one who doesn’t speak carefully, but you still want to blame me.”

“Sir, this way.” The waiter opened the door.

They both looked at the people coming in at the same time. Jiang Jun’s hot face instantly turned cold and she almost blurted out, “Why are there familiar faces everywhere?”

The person who came in wasn’t a stranger. It was none other than the ex-boyfriend who had left Jiang Jun heartbroken—Yin Zhe. Yin Zhe was still the same as before, an upright and dignified good boy.

“Since when did you start smoking?” Yin Zhe asked Jiang Jun with a frown.

Du looked at Yin Zhe and slowly helped Jiang Jun light her cigarette, flames dancing in his pupils. “Do I still need to introduce you?”

“You’d better still give an introduction.” Jiang Jun exhaled the smoke. “I know him, he doesn’t necessarily recognize me.”

“OK. Jay, this is my best partner, Juno.”

With a light flick of Jiang Jun’s fingers, a section of cigarette ash broke off into the ashtray. She held out her hand, “Hello.”

“Hello, Jiang Jun, I’m Yin Zhe.” Yin Zhe gripped her hand hard, with so much force that Jiang Jun frowned.

“Juno will be your boss.” Du glanced at Jiang Jun. “He can start as an analyst?”

Jiang Jun smiled noncommittally. He only remembered now that he needed to discuss this with her.

“I’m only short of a project manager.”

“No problem, I can do it,” Yin Zhe replied firmly.

When she saw Yin Zhe again, Jiang Jun didn’t feel much. She neither resented him nor liked him any more, he was just a complete stranger. However, Jiang Jun’s intuition told her that Yin Zhe’s appearance would bring a lot of trouble into her future life, so she should make some arrangements early on.

After the meal, Du asked Yin Zhe to go to the company and then, without bothering with courtesies, got into the passenger seat of Jiang Jun’s car himself.

Jiang Jun knew what he wanted to ask, so she gave a direct explanation. “I chased after your brother before, but he liked someone else. That’s all I can say, I don’t want to bring up the mistakes I made when I was young.”

Du laughed lightly. “I understand, but I still need you to look after him, I don’t trust anyone else to do it.”

“Whatever you want.” Jiang Jun really didn’t care.

“It’s okay, right?”

“How did you get involved with him? What a small world.” Jiang Jun couldn’t bear her curiosity.

“Around thirty or forty years ago, my mother couldn’t go with my grandfather to the United States. My biological father was a little gang leader and had secretly saved her life. Later, my mother stayed with him and even gave birth to me in secret. Years later, they got married, but when my mother became pregnant again, she found out that her husband cheated on her, and the other woman was also pregnant. My mother, who was always proud and arrogant, aborted the baby and divorced him, then took me to the U.S. just as the government policy was relaxed. My grandfather took in his own daughter, but he didn’t like me very much, and my mother sent me to boarding school as soon as she remarried.”

Having never heard Du talk about his family background, Jiang Jun took advantage of the situation and continued to pry, “I heard that your family is very, very rich and wealthy, just how rich are you?”

Du smiled and said, “Why don’t you come back to America with me to find out?”

“Forget it, you’re not favored and you probably don’t have much money, just a fake wealthy family.

“If I said that after my grandfather passes away, I will inherit everything, would you marry me right away?”

“Your family’s jewelry store is so famous, you’d at the very least have to give me a hundred carat diamond ring before I can consider it.”

“Don’t try to back out.”

Jiang Jun was curious. “Is there really such a big one?”

“Would you like to go see it? We can go there this weekend, I’ll tell them to arrange it.” Du took out his cell and prepared to make a call.

“No, don’t, I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold back and I’ll rob you.” Jiang Jun sighed, “Tell me, what is a rich man like you doing out here, working so hard?”

“At first, it was just an impetuous choice and I didn’t want them to look down on me, but later on I found this business quite interesting.”

“Speaking of young masters, Ding Shixiang asked me a few days ago if there are any suitable positions open in MH. He said that because of his father, everyone at Skyway now knows that he’s the young master of the Ding family. I think that Skyway and his father are going to collaborate more, so we might as well pull up our nets in advance.”

Du said, “There’s no need to hurry, I received news that the Ding family business has some problems. We can kill two birds with one stone. His family’s plots of land in Southeast Asia are still very profitable. By the way, is Ding Shixiang chasing after you?”

“If he’s chasing, he’s also chasing after you.” Jiang Jun smiled and parked the car in the parking space, “Get out of the car, boss.”

Yin Zhe had already been waiting outside Jiang Jun’s office for a long time. When Jiang Jun let him in, he sat on the chair very properly, like a child in a kindergarten waiting for candy. He always acted like a child. Jiang Jun leaned back in her chair, looked at him, and wondered what exactly had been wrong with her back then, for her to fall for him.

“I only found out last year that you were working here.” After a while, he broke the silence, “Qiao Na told me that you were here.”

Jiang Jun didn’t want to talk nonsense with him. “The things that happened in the past are in the past and there is no point in bringing it up again. There are only two things you need to remember: first, I’m Juno, your boss; second, if you do well, there will be rewards and promotions, but if you don’t do well, I will fire you right away. Understand?”

Yin Zhe looked at her hesitantly for a moment, then nodded and said, “I understand.”

“In a little while, Sally will explain what you should be doing. You can come to me if you have a problem, but I prefer to see you resolve it yourself, OK? Any more questions?”

“No.”

“You can leave.”

Their love had come to an end, or more precisely, it had always been Jiang Jun’s love alone.

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T/N: The next two parts are mainly a flashback to the past again and we finally see what exactly led up to Jiang Jun finally leaving Yin Zhe and how she ended up bleeding in the snow. Yuan Shuai, of course, is involved up to his eyeballs the whole time, despite JJ’s obliviousness. Unlike the drama, which was mostly sweetness, the novel title of ‘half sweetness, half hurt’ actually applies!

On a sad note, I mentioned before that I started translated Love is Sweet partly because I am a huge fan of Luo Yun Xi (and also Bai Lu but that’s besides the point) and I was bored while waiting for his drama Immortality, which is based on the novel The Husky and his White Cat Shizun. It was supposed to be released mid-April, but now it doesn’t look like the drama will actually be released at all this year. Hopefully it’s not because of issues with the government censors, but no one knows. Anyway, I guess that just means I have even more time to work on this translation…