CH 27

Translator’s Note: Sorry for the very long wait, I didn’t think I would be taking an extended break from translating, but this dropped off my to-do list. I’ll try to get back on schedule with updating every week! I’ve also gone back to edit Ch 26. Still hoping to finish this translation sooner rather than later…

I will be adding this to the main index too, but you can find the novel in traditional HERE . There’s some censorship with the R rated parts on this website, but as always I am translating the full text from Houhaiwang, which is sometimes R rated and definitely so in this chapter, so read with your own comfort levels in mind.

You might have noticed that I have fewer notes explaining idioms now. The author still uses a lot, but I’ve gotten better at translation (in my opinion anyway LOL) as I’ve gone along and I realized it’s not really necessary or beneficial for readers to have the actual phrase explained all the time. The story flows more naturally if I just convey the meaning directly. I still have a few intrusive notes within the text when I feel it’s necessary or when it’s referencing something interesting enough to justify the interruption, but I’ve cut back a lot.

Hopefully everything reads more smoothly since I’m not quite so rigidly trying to translate exact phrasing and punctuation anymore – while my goal has always been to stay as faithful to the original as possible, I think I overdid it early on and ended up with some really awkward sentences that would never normally be written like that in English. Once I’m fully done with the translation, I’ll go back to edit and clean up my notes. I’ve recently been reading other English translations of Chinese novels and have learned a lot more about common translation choices when it comes to how to handle language differences.

Just a reminder that this is a continuation of the last scene in Ch 26, which was the backstory of how rookie Jiang Jun fought against Linda and took her down. This flashback is taking place while Yuan Shuai is driving himself and Jiang Jun home, and she had just asked him if he had met with Yin Zhe.

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Considering Linda’s years of investment banking experience, and moreover, her extreme dedication to helping Du conquer the business world, how can Du not help her? But if Du gets involved and helps Linda, then Jiang Jun, who is able to take charge of her own side, will immediately resign.

Although Jiang Jun’s aptitude was good, her personality was too stubborn, and this kind of person cannot be easily manipulated.

Based on Yuan Shuai’s understanding of Du, he will definitely choose Linda. It is not an easy task to foster up a trusted aide. Every move on their chessboard was only made after careful consideration and any piece that cannot be controlled must be disposed of completely. Du had already understood this principle long before Yuan Shuai did, and is very familiar with this play.

Yuan Shuai waited for Du to make his move, thinking that he could benefit from the conflict and take the opportunity to bring Jiang Jun back under his own wings.

Instead, he was shocked to hear that Du had ousted the woman who had been with him for so many years, just for the sake of Jiang Jun, this ticking time bomb. Yuan Shuai began to suspect Du’s motives. Maybe Du knew about Jiang Jun’s real family background and wanted to use her to do something, but the probability of that is close to zero. So what other reason could there be for a man to be willing to do such a stupid thing for a woman?

Many people pursued Jiang Jun, but she never accepts anyone. When someone sends flowers, she simply asks the receptionist at the front desk to use them as company flowers. When someone sends gifts, she immediately donates it to the company’s fundraising platform to auction it off and help the giver do a good deed. She even has only one friend, a roommate from college, and after such a long time they still haven’t reached the stage where they are close enough to confide in each other. The environment she grew up in and the education she received made her instinctively wary of and distant from others.

In the dirty and cold world of business, Jiang Jun has her own way of doing things. She is warm and generous to other people, neither servile nor overbearing in her work, and deftly establishes social relations. She laughs with her coworkers in private, but falls out with people when appropriate. When she argues with or reprimands others, she is never careless. Golf with her clients always ends with 87 strokes, not enough to win but not enough to lose. In the financial industry’s top echelon of investment banking, Jiang Jun wears the armor called Juno and never takes one excessive step or utters one sentence too many, and this was her way to survive.

Du should have been the kind of person that she is most defensive against; this girl subconsciously has a kind of obsession with cleanliness, and she has a bone deep abhorrence of utilitarian emotions.

But the tacit understanding between her and Du made Yuan Shuai incredibly afraid. He knew that Du’s place in Jiang Jun’s heart was by no means as simple as that of just her boss, and maybe Jiang Jun herself didn’t notice that when she spent time with Du, they had a kind of specious ambiguity between them.

Yuan Shuai thought of that day when Jiang Jun and Du were at the entrance of the apartment building together, their movements hinting at intimacy. He hadn’t been able to see their expressions clearly, as he had been isolated in another dimension, unable to say or do anything except to watch them anxiously. A suffocating despair overwhelmed his entire world, so he fled in defeat, desperately telling himself that it was a misunderstanding, a hallucination, that his Junjun would not have fallen in love with another man again. She must not fall in love with another man again. He couldn’t stand it, he truly couldn’t bear it. Jealousy and resentment were like barbed, thorny brambles growing through his blood.

He wanted her, wanted her madly. He wanted to become a part of her inside of her body, and wanted them dissolve together, with his love, into his blood and bones. She made love with him, sinking into depravity beneath his body, and in the moment when their lust and desire erupted, it was his name that she called out. Jiang Jun was his; on her body there is his mark, and inside her body there is his essence.

Jiang Jun was finally his now. It was okay if she didn’t love him, he could wait, ten years, twenty years… It was okay if he had to wait until they are both old and white haired, or even until their very last breaths. As long as she was by his side, everything was fine.

Yuan Shuai gripped the steering wheel tightly and pursed his lips into a smile.

“Was it okay?” Jiang Jun looked at him anxiously. “Did Yin Zhe make trouble again and provoke you? Don’t pay attention to him, really, he’s just…”

“I’m not going to lower myself to his level,” he interrupted Jiang Jun, thinking about it, and added, “Your taste* back then really sucked.” [*T/N technically vision in Chinese, but basically talking about preferences and attraction, which is usually described as taste in English]

“I think so too, I was young and ignorant ah.”

Yuan Shuai stopped at the red light, then leaned over and kissed her. “You’re only a good girl if you correct your mistakes once you know them.”

Jiang Jun pointed at the red light that had changed again. “Don’t be a hooligan, the driver behind you is about to come and start chopping you up.”

“If he’s that type, then bring it on, this little master isn’t afraid.” Yuan Shuai stepped on the accelerator and took her to the front.

That night, Yuan Shuai slept very restlessly. He constantly kept turning over and talking in his sleep, which woke up Jiang Jun several times. Since she couldn’t sleep, she decided to take revenge on the culprit who had kept her awake. Holding her eyebrow pencil and lipstick, she carefully approached Yuan Shuai. She was just about to start when, to her surprise, Yuan Shuai suddenly opened his eyes, reached out, and hugged her into his arms. “You’re being bad again.”

“Who told you to be so noisy, you’re a terrible sleeper.”

Yuan Shuai lazily coiled Jiang Jun’s hair around his fingers and brought his face closer. “Now that I can’t sleep either, what should I do?”

“What are you doing? I’m thirsty, I’m going to go pour a glass of water and drink.” Jiang Jun was on her guard as she pushed him aside and tried to run away.

Yuan Shuai slanted his body over hers and pushed her down onto the bed. “I’m quite thirsty too.” He puffed some hot air next to Jiang Jun’s ear, “Otherwise you can explain what is the relationship between you and Du and also that kid with the surname Yin.”

“What… What relationship?” Jiang Jun was pressed down like she was a turtle flipped on its back, totally unable to move.

“So dishonest? It looks like I’ll have to extort a confession.” Yuan Shuai lowered his head, sliding the tip of his tongue over the corner of her mouth, moistening it.

“What relationship can I have with them?” Jiang Jun pretended to calmly press down on his hand, which was untying the sash of her nightgown. “The only relationship I have with them is just the little bit that you already know.”

Yuan Shuai narrowed his eyes, ground his teeth at her, and revengefully tickled Jiang Jun’s ribs with his fingers.

“Okay I’m wrong!” Jiang Jun twisted around her body. “Du is my boss, I’m Yin Zhe’s boss, and Du is Yin Zhe’s boss’s boss. Yin Zhe is my subordinate, I’m Du’s subordinate, and Yin Zhe’s the subordinate of Du’s subordinate. I’m Du’s subordinate, Yin Zhe’s the boss, he’s Du’s subordinate’s subordinate’s boss, Yin Zhe’s the boss’s boss’s sub—”

Yuan Shuai listened to this until he was dizzy. He then simply bit her lip and his tongue slid in, tangling with hers.

“Weren’t you extorting a confession?” Jiang Jun committed another offense, her hand running upward along his thigh, feeling him. Yuan Shuai reflexively shuddered, and just as he was thinking of making a further move, Jiang Jun grabbed his vital part, causing him to inhale at the ache.

“Ask me again, ask me quickly.” Jiang Jun raised her eyebrows and looked at him. “Yuan Shuai, you dare to doubt me!”

Yuan Shuai didn’t say anything, only lowering his head and slumping onto the bed. “So then, what do you really think?”

“I don’t have feelings for Yin Zhe anymore. The past is the past. Now he’s my subordinate, and can’t even be counted as a friend.”

“Not him. It’s Du. How do you feel towards Du?”

Jiang Jun was stunned for a moment. “Du?”

“Yes, you and Du.”

“We…” Jiang Jun bit her lip. “I think of him as… a teacher and also a friend. I can’t describe it clearly, but it’s not love, I’m totally sure of that.”

“But he likes you, the way a man likes a woman.”

“But I don’t love him. I didn’t before, I don’t now, and I won’t in the future either. Don’t you believe me? Just because I didn’t resign? I…”

“I believe you. Anything you say, I’ll believe it. What about me?” Yuan Shuai sat up, fixing his gaze on her, and asked, “Who am I to you?”

“My man.” Jiang Jun felt that this question was too pointless, and patted Yuan Shuai on the face. “It’s already like this, what else is there to ask?”

Yuan Shuai looked at her without saying anything, only quietly breathing in her scent.

They had wasted so many years without making any progress and with one crisis after another. He has hated and complained in the past, and if they were destined to never be together, he would rather have never known her in this life, in the next life, and forever.

Yet he met her, fell in love with her, and imprinted on her like a young chick just hatched from the broken shell. He took great pains and suffered untold hardships to wait for her. He didn’t know what would happen in the future, and he didn’t want to know.

She was finally willing to admit that he is her man, and no longer her brother. They will rely on each other, love one another, and then live and die together.* [T/N actual quote from a four line poem 詩經·邶風·擊鼓 The Book of Odes, Bei Feng, Drumming]

It’ll be like this then, just the two of us. I’m yours, you’re mine, and we won’t be separated anymore. Thinking this way, Yuan Shuai used his greatest strength to hug her closely.

He hugged his Jiang Jun and kissed her greedily and thirstily. He loved her, he wanted her.

Yuan Shuai recalled the last conversation he had with Yin Zhe. Yin Zhe’s eyes had flickered in contrast to the dim night lights in the corridor. “I won’t let you hurt her again, I will her her everything.”

“Then tell her.” He finally spoke, the corner of his mouth lifting. “Who do you think she’ll believe?”

“Don’t think that I don’t know what you want to do.”

“And you think you can stop me? You and what army?”* [T/N* 就憑你This is a hard insult to translate, the gist of it is “what are you going to do about it, you think you have a chance to defeat me all by yourself?”]

“You bastard!”

Yin Zhe swung his fist over, Yuan Shuai effortlessly dodged, and taking advantage of the opportunity, used his elbow to deal a heavy blow.

When he was young, he used to often get into fights with other boys for Jiang Jun. He always won, because he had her.

“Don’t you dare touch him again.” A red-eyed Jiang Jun had stood in front of him, brandishing a martial arts belt of unknown providence. She had still been so small, her braids messy, but she had desperately and fiercely torn into the boy who was twice as strong as her.

“Does it hurt?” She tugged her cuff down to help him wipe the mud off his face.

Yes, he hurt, not from a wound, but in his heart.

Yuan Shuai abruptly opened his eyes, not drowsy at all, and turned his head to look at her where she lay besides him, sleeping naked like a baby.

The smell of Jiang Jun’s body, her unrestrained moaning, the pleasure of their physical intercourse, that kind of throbbing from the depths of their souls, the ecstasy—he was addicted and could not stop himself.

He took Jiang Jun into his arms and kissed her lips and forehead over and over again. Only at this time could he feel that Jiang Jun was truly his and that she loved him.

As soon as Jiang Jun woke up, she saw Yuan Shuai sitting naked on the windowsill smoking a cigarette. He has always been like this. He thinks that when he comes home, he should be like an embryo in the womb, enjoying the warmth and safety, eating when he wants to eat, sleeping when he wants to sleep, naked and comfortable.

In the beginning, she couldn’t stand this weird quirk of Yuan Shuai’s. When she got home, she had to take a shower and change her clothes. Even if she was so tired she was about to faint, she had to crawl to the bathroom to take a quick wash. But as long a she could cook at home, then he would eat at home, and would never go eat outside, not even to the restaurant that he opened himself. Even if the food was packed up to go, he still would always take it home and eat it there.

He did not allow outsiders to casually enter the house. The property and maintenance personnel already pushed his bottom line. Even the cleaning ladies were not allowed to show up when he was at home.

In all the years that Jiang Jun has been with him, she has never seen any of his friends or colleagues at his home, and don’t even speak of anything like a party, she would never even dare to dream of it.

Home is a place of absolute privacy for Yuan Shuai, and even a man as fierce as his father wouldn’t dare to come over casually.

“Girl, I want to eat dumplings.” Yuan Shuai saw that she was awake and showed his big white teeth. “Leek dumplings.”

“Can you put on your pants before you talk to me?” Jiang Jun rubbed her eyes. “It’s early in the morning, I can’t stand the provocation.”

Yuan Shuai ran up to her, smiling mischievously, and bit her ear. “Hurry up, or I’ll eat you.”

“Do you want vegetarian or meat dumplings?” Jiang Jun got up and put on a nightgown before going into the kitchen. She put on her apron, rolled up her sleeves, twisted up her hair while looking at her reflection on the refrigerator, and even found two chopsticks to stick in her hair. Only then did she feel like she was a bit like a housewife.

“Vegetarian, just put in some dried shrimp.” Yuan Shuai was wearing cartoon pajama pants and was leaning topless against the kitchen door, supervising the work. Seeing her turn to look at him, he blew his breath on her. “Want a taste? It’s the new toothpaste, pine flavored.”

Jiang Jun dodged and served out the millet porridge. “Would you like to get a dish of toothpaste? It just so happens that the bean curd sauce is almost all used up.”

“If you dare to give it to me, I’ll dare to eat it.” Yuan Shuai happily took the bowl and walked off swaggeringly, the little yellow bear on his butt tweaking its ears at her provocatively.

“When you get off work today, go to the pharmacy to buy some birth control pills, I’m almost out.”

Yuan Shuai was not happy. “Don’t eat that all the time, it’s not good for you.”

“Then wear a condom.”

“Not wearing it!”

“Then buy the pills.”

“Not buying it!”

“Then we won’t do it.”

Yuan Shuai saw that he couldn’t talk her out of it and was defeated. “I guess I’ll wear the condom then, what flavor do you like?”

Jiang Jun raised her hand and gave him a slap. “Sulfuric acid flavored.”

After sending Yuan Shuai to work, Jiang Jun stayed at home and read a book. Recently, it was like she had returned to high school; she read all kinds of books, romance, martial arts… The only ones she doesn’t read are about business warfare or documentaries. She doesn’t want to read those, and Yuan Shuai has the same understanding, so he never buys it for her anyway.

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T/N: Please comment if you are reading, even if it’s just a couple quick words – I very much appreciate it and it’s so encouraging when I know there are people reading this translation! Especially when I’ve taken such a long break and I don’t know if anyone’s really still following this blog…