Chapter 3 Part 2 - 'Yu' From the Word 'Redundant'

Translated by: Jellylynn

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Proofread by: Lian

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Names mentioned in this chapter (which can also be found in the glossary ):

-俞知乐( yú zhī lè )- Yu Zhi Le, the female protagonist.

-乐乐姐(lè lè jiě)- Older sister Le Le, referring to the female protagonist

-余子涣( yú zǐ huàn )- Yu Zi Huan, the male lead

After rummaging the kitchen, Yu Zhi Le had a new understanding of Yu Zi Huan.

He is an honest child. He said that there were instant noodles, and there really were instant noodles. Usually, when she eats cup noodles, she would add a ham sausage or poached eggs. Yu Zi Huan’s house had nothing except a box of instant noodles. The refrigerator was cleaner than her face.

When the water has boiled, two bags of instant noodles were put into it. As soon as the fragrance was wafting out, Yu Zhi Le heard noises of the sound of chairs dragging behind her. She turned back and saw Yu Zi Huan had already placed the plates and chopsticks on the small table in the kitchen.

The steaming hot noodles burnt her lips, but Yu Zhi Le couldn’t stop eating. As July was approaching, the weather was getting warmer. The stuffy kitchen quickly caused them to sweat. Yu Zhi Le fanned herself with her hands. She saw Yu Zi Huan eating with his left hand slower than her as his white face was covered with beads of sweat, and his loose hair was stuck to his forehead. As he was focused on eating, he didn’t have a cold expression on his face. He looked just like an ordinary child.

He is a beautiful child. Usually, people would look messy when they sweat. Yu Zi Huan only reminded Yu Zhi Le of the dew stained lotus in the morning, where it wouldn’t be tainted by dust. Also, his drooping dog-like eyes made her have maternal instincts, and she can’t look away from him.

As she stared at him, Yu Zi Huan suddenly looked up towards her. Yu Zhi Le and her shining eyes looked towards him. Then, she realized that she was day-dreaming. She immediately returned to his regular expression and began to grieve and lament, “You can’t be like this. You are growing up. How can you eat instant noodles every day? How would that fulfill your nutritional needs?”

Yu Zi Huan listened as he frowned. He shifted his line of sight and looked at her, “I can only afford instant noodles.”

Yu Zhi Le was happy that she successfully changed the subject and didn’t let Yu Zi Huan dislike her. She secretly let out a sigh of relief, and she seriously thought about this issue. Suddenly, she thought of an idea.

Yu Zi Huan lacked people to take care of him while she didn’t have a place to live. If not, she could rent his house by working hard to pay the rent and manage Yu Zi Huan’s meals three times a day. This shouldn’t be considered as taking advantage of him.

She told the idea to Yu Zi Huan. He looked at her strangely and said, “Aren’t you a resident of this building?”

Yu Zhi Le recalled her actions of using the key to open the door downstairs. It was not surprising that Yu Zi Huan misunderstood. She laughed, “If I said that I had picked up that key, would you believe me?”

Yu Zi Huan obviously didn’t believe her, and he didn’t say anything more. He picked up a noodle strand and put it into his mouth.

“Are you worried that I am a bad person?” When Yu Zhi Le saw that he was silent, she thought he still had concerns.

“How much rent are you paying?”

It turns out that he was thinking about this question.

Yu Zhi Le considered factors such as rent and inflation in prices ten years later. She estimated the rate, “One thousand?”

She regretted it after saying. Ten years later, the apartment she lived alone was about the same price as this. However, Yu Zi Huan didn’t give her the chance to regret, “Ok, and the water and electricity are equally shared.”

He really doesn’t want to lose out.

Yu Zhi Le understood Yu Zi Huan better. Who asked her to come up with this method herself? She could only grit her teeth and swallow her grievance in her stomach. Somehow she found a place to settle down. Moreover, she was quite familiar with this area. In the absence of an educational background and identity certificate, it was easier to find odd jobs here.

After eating and washing the dishes, Yu Zhi Le realized that she had not introduced herself. “I forgot to mention that my name is Yu Zhi Le (俞知乐). The word ‘Yu’ (俞) is from the word elm (榆树) but remove the ‘wood’ (木) from the word ‘elm’ (榆). The word Zhi (知) is from the word ‘knowledge’ (知道), and the word ‘Le’ (乐) is from the word ‘happy’ (快乐). You can call me Older sister Le Le.”

“My name is Yu Zi Huan.”

“What a coincidence. Our surname is the same. We seem more like siblings.” Yu Zhi Le closed the tap to dry his hands and said happily.

Yu Zi Huan sized her up and said with a gloomy face, “Unfortunately, the word ‘Yu’(余) is from the word ‘redundant’(多余).”

Yu Zhi Le wanted to say both of them have the same pronunciation anyways. Yet, he slowly added, “The word ‘Zi’ (子) is from the idiom a family wrenched apart (妻离子散), and the word ‘Huan’ (涣) from the word disorganized(涣散).”

Yu Zhi Le cleared her throat and said, “The word ‘Zi’ (子) can also be from the idiom ‘to have many offsprings in a family’ (子孙满堂), and the word Huan (涣) can also be from the idiom ‘to melt away’ (涣然冰释).”

Yu Zi Huan looked at her again. This time, the coldness in his eyes lessened a bit, and he didn’t respond.

In the evening, when Yu Zi Huan was doing his homework, Yu Zhi Le secretly checked the things she had brought from ten years later. Although her mobile phone’s battery hasn’t died, her sim card given by the school in her first year of university had no signal. She didn’t know whether she could continue to use her smartphone with a sim card from 2005. However, to avoid attracting other people’s attention, it was better to change a mobile phone in line with the times.

There were 1000 yuan and some change in her wallet. Yu Zhi Le nervously counted them one by one. Fortunately, they were printed in 2005 or before, and they still can be used. Yu Zhi Le was glad that she didn’t transmigrate to twenty years or more ago where her few notes would not be useful.

However, she had to pay rent, water, and electricity. She also had to buy vegetables. She had to save some money before she could find a source of income.

Yu Zhi Le continued to rummage through her bag. She took out her resume and various certificates as she sighed heavily. She was clearly a real graduate student. She had passed all levels 4 and 6, yet now she is worse than a blind. What is she going to do in the future?

Wait, shouldn’t she think about how to return to the year 2015? If she returned, she would not have to worry about survival and at least not pay the rent for the second time. However, it seemed that there was no lead to finding a job similarly in 2005. Yu Zhi Le was in deep thoughts.

That’s right. Although Yu Zhi Le seemed to be in a daze, she was racking her brains as she couldn’t think of a solution.

Yu Zi Huan, who was doing his homework in the bedroom, walked out of the bedroom as he dragged his inconvenient legs and feet. Yu Zhi Le hurriedly swept the things on the coffee table into her bag as she feared that he might see something odd. Who knew that he didn’t bother looking at her, and went straight to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water and walked back to the bedroom with a glass of water.

Yu Zhi Le saw him stopped, and she turned to look over.

Yu Zi Huan didn’t look back. With his back facing towards her, his eyes fixed on the slightly quivering water in his cup. “The rent can be paid later.”

After that, he went into the bedroom and closed the door.

Yu Zhi Le was thinking about why this child suddenly became so magnanimous. Suddenly, she realized that she might have disturbed him.