IRWTBWY Chapter 2.1
“The banner?”
“It’s been hung up.”
“Has the audio and video been tested?”
“Neither have any issues.”
Liu Xia quickly checked the completed tasks on her list and surveyed the venue, now fully adorned in decorations. Lifting her sore arm, she grimaced at the weight of Qi Nian on her shoulder. “Finally, it’s finished.”
Qi Nian had come over to help early in the morning. At this moment, Liu Xia was too tired to push her away, only kicking her in the leg to wake her up from her drowsiness.
Li Yue, who was finishing adjustments on the lecturer’s chair on the stage, looked down to find everybody finished and waiting for him. “What are you guys standing around for? Let’s hurry and go to Luocheng so that we can get good seats on the second floor by the window. Dinner’s on me.”
Liu Xia, exhausted from all the work, heard “dinner’s on me” instantly changed her attitude from half-asleep to fully resurrected.
Qi Nian, who was only a helper, just wanted to sit at a table near the second-floor windows in Luocheng. However, she suddenly experienced an uncomfortable feeling. Quietly pulling at Liu Xia’s sleeve, she whispered, “This is a gathering for your biochemical department students, so I’ll... I’ll excuse myself first.”
Liu Xia gave her a sideways look, “You’ve been busy all day—why would you leave first?” She continued to add, “If you leave, this dinner table would be full of fashion-less men.”
Liu Xia’s classmates happened to hear the conversation between the two and laughed, “There are too many monks in the biomedical department and only two pieces of meat, but one is taken, and the other is sold to the domestic market...you can’t leave!” [t/n: “two pieces of meat” refers to Qi Nian and Liu Xia, as they are the only girls and the entire biochemical department are males. “Sold to the domestic market” means committed to work, or work as a priority.]
Qi Nian scratched her head and was about to answer when the chaotic din became muffled. Qi Nian closed her mouth as everyone turned their eyes to the stairs.
Only when the room quieted down did they hear the sounds of footsteps on the wooden stairs.
Ji Yanxi listened carefully to Li Yue’s words as he slowly followed him. Next to him is an old window, placed there by the boss’s wife. When passing the window, his white dress shirt shone in the sun, cast in a yellow shade, while his eyes were touched by the light as if they were brightly painted. He was the kind of person who, when they appear, completely steals your attention away.
In the silent atmosphere, Liu Xia quietly murmured “Hey” and pinched Qi Nian’s thigh under the table in excitement.
It was Ji Yanxi! The one and only Ji Yanxi!
The associate professor of the biochemistry department at Z University, he had a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology and had published several influential papers. Due to his impeccable resume, he was directly hired by Z University as an associate professor.
His life was full of accomplishments that were incomparable to the ones of normal people. Most importantly, however—he had a good appearance.
Liu Xia had repeatedly been mentioning him to Qi Nian for the past couple of days. But when Qi Nian saw him again, the first thing Qi Nian remembered was how he looked when he leaned on the car door and gave her his name and number.
Which was noticeably different from how he was now...
Seemingly aware of her gaze, the inattentive person who kept his head down suddenly raised his head. Like the first time they met, his chillingly cold eyes carried an aura of glacial snow.
Aloof and distant.
Qi Nian, who felt as if she was being strangled, suddenly paused.
Fortunately, Ji Yanxin's gaze did not stay on her for long. When their eyes met, he turned and walked away.
In those eyes, there was no friendliness, no hesitation, nor even the slightest acknowledgment of familiarity...it seemed as if he didn’t recognize her.
This conclusion made Qi Nian feel she had taken a hit for the bone spirit under the Monkey King’s baton. She was confused and couldn’t conceal the upset look on her face. [t/n: Monkey King is a character from one of the four Chinese Classic Literature Novels called “Journey to the West.” In the novel, the Monkey King would use his baton to fight off enemies. In this context, it means she is hurt by his actions.]
As soon as Ji Yanxi arrived, the once casual atmosphere soon slowly disappeared.
Obviously, he noticed this as well. The subjects of conversation at the dinner table suddenly changed to academics, theories, and experiments.
Qi Nian tried her best to listen for a while but couldn’t really understand. To hide her ignorance, she could only bury her head into the food. The last dish to arrive was the sweet and sour pork ribs, the signature dish of Luocheng.
Qi Nian patiently waited to try it as the ribs went around the turntable. Finally, when it was her turn, she stretched her chopsticks to pick it up, only to not hold down the plate, and as the turntable kept spinning—
The meat went flying!
Ji Yanxi narrowed his eyes, calmly retracted the hand that was pressing on the turntable, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.
After finishing dinner, Ji Yanxi went to pay the bill. Liu Xia and Qi Nian’s seats were the closest to outside, so when Ji Yanxi first walked out, Qi Nian followed closely behind. While walking down the stairs, she quietly looked at the exposed skin of his neck between his short hair and his slightly red ears.
Liu Xia saw that Qi Nian was walking in a comfortable manner, which left her speechless.
Before anyone noticed, Liu Xia grabbed Qi Nian and pulled her aside. Fearing others would hear, she asked in a deliberately low voice, “Are you being serious?”
Qi Nian thought for a moment and nodded, “I like him.”
Liu Xia rubbed her forehead. When directly confronted with it, why was love at first sight so difficult to believe?
~~~
It was rare for everyone in the biomedical department to meet, and seeing that the time was still early, they discussed where they wanted to go next. At this time, they had to choose between taking a stroll in the streets or going to KTV. Since the majority of the group were men, they all opposed the idea of strolling through the streets Thus, they all agreed to go sing. [t/n: KTV=karaoke, and in Asia, there are karaoke rooms you can book.]
Qi Nian was pretty embarrassed to join as she wasn’t part of their department. Just as she was about to make an excuse to leave, Ji Yanxi, who had participated in the conversation so far, warned, “Pay attention to your own safety, and don’t pass the curfew .”
Everyone went quiet.
Qi Nian thought about whether to follow his words or bid a farewell. She glanced at Ji Yanxi from the corner of her eye and noticed that he was already looking at her.
She immediately turned away and pretended to look at the street light, trying her best not to squint her eyes.
Liu Xia, who saw the whole exchange, couldn’t think straight. As soon as Ji Yanxi left, Qi Nian also started walking home. Liu Xia, who was not interested in singing, said that she’ll take Qi Nian home and left.
~~~
Upon arriving home, Liu Xia’s voice, which had been suppressed all night, finally was freed of its harnesses. “Qi Nian, why must it be him? My associate professor of all people! You can’t even imagine the number of love letters we get at our department each day.”
Qi Nian opened the refrigerator to find a drink. Hearing Liu Xia’s reprimand, she muttered, “But he’s single.”
“Single?” Liu Xia sneered, staring at her, “You don’t know how indifferent and ruthless he is to those girls.”
Qi Nian closed the refrigerator and said uncaringly, “That’s because they don’t have a strong heart like me. I can hold onto him no matter how indifferent and ruthless he is to me, and the more he resists the more I will admire him.”
Ever since Qi Nian learned that Ji Yanxi was probably Liu Xia’s professor, the pounding in Qi Nian’s heart had never stopped.
~~~
In the middle of the night, she was still planning on how she would carry out her “one-year plan” of making Ji Yanxi fall in love with her unknowingly.
Could she do this?
Even with Liu Xia’s continuous blows, Qi Nian still could not extinguish the spark in her heart.
She was determined to court Ji Yanxi!
Liu Xia tutted and looked at her with an expression of annoyance, frustrated by the fact that Qi Nian refused to learn, before she said, “Come, come, come.” [t/n: The original is 孺子不可教. Which basically is Liu Xia seeing Qi Nian as a child who would not listen, since she is basically going after a forbidden fruit.]
She grasped Qi Nian’s neck and leaned against the desk, digging out her phone. “I’m going to give you something good.”
Qi Nian leaned forward and saw Liu Xia’s fingers tap the screen a few times. Liu Xia pulled up a class schedule and said, “The classes I circled are all Professor Ji’s classes. Except when I need to do experiments, in which case I would need to go to the laboratory, all other courses are in the classroom. You can come join me in class.”
Liu Xia sent the schedule to Qi Nian’s Wechat. Raising her hand, she squeezed her friend’s pink cheek, “Don’t say I didn’t help you. This sister will have to rely on you in the future. If you can successfully get Professor Ji, I would have to call you master.” [t/n: Calling her master would mean 2 things. One, she would be a master, since she would have successfully made JYX fall for her. Second, because JYX is LX’s teacher, and also very well respected, and bc they are together (QN and JYX), she will call her master’s wife, 师母 (Shīmǔ).]
Qi Nian was pinched by Liu Xia and shrieked, impatiently waiting for her to let go. Giving her a drink, she stared fiercely, “I have to complain to Li Yue later!”
Liu Xia laughed out loud, “You don’t say— I’m the one that has been helping you inquire about Professor Ji, and Li Yue cleaned up for me secretly.”
Qi Nian’s curiosity was immediately aroused, “How’d he clean up you?”
Liu Xia blushed and sighed, “Why do you care? Worry about yourself. I think Professor Ji didn’t even look you in the eyes tonight. Maybe he’s already completely forgotten about you.”
She really couldn’t stand the thought of Qi Nian and Professor Ji being together, as they would both torment her to death.
As Qi Nian had just published a small manhua book recently, there wasn’t much pressure for a new release.
Liu Xia proposed for them to get drunk that night. Qi Nian struggled a little bit with the decision, but she eventually took her wallet to the convenience store downstairs and happily returned with a bag of canned beer.
~~~
Liu Xia’s alcohol tolerance was really good. She was one of the few people who couldn’t get drunk easily in Qi Nian’s circle of friends. After a few drinks, she got tired of drinking and took Qi Nian to a barbecue stall for some food.
When Li Yue arrived, Liu Xia was already speaking nonsense with a can in her hand. [t/n: Basically she drank so much that she had gotten drunk.]
Qi Nian was all worked up and sweaty. At this moment, seeing her savior, she almost burst into tears, “You finally came!”
Liu Xia turned her arm and leaned back on Qi Nian’s body. Holding onto Qi Nian’s face, she stared straight at her saying, “Li Yue, come give Qi Nian some help with her idea...”
Li Yue burst into laughter. Squeezing Liu Xia’s shoulders, he pulled her back, and winked at Qi Nian, “I heard XiaXia say that you like our Professor Ji?”
Qi Nian: “...”
Seeing Qi Nian’s face full of embarrassment, Li Yue realized it wasn’t appropriate to say that to her so directly. He coughed, and hurriedly corrected, “XiaXia is causing you trouble tonight, I’ll bring her back first...”
Before he finished speaking, Liu Xia turned around and twisted Li Yue’s ears, yelling, “I don’t want to go back, who wants to go back with you? Tonight I will sleep with my Qi Ye!” [t/n: 戚爷 (qī yé), Qi is referring to Qi Nian, and Ye means grandfather. In China, it is common to refer to friends as “wife” between girls. To say ye, is like giving them authority, but in a joking manner.]
Li Yue glanced at her helplessly, and grabbed onto Liu Xia’s hands and held her tightly so she wouldn’t move, hurriedly saying, “Originally there was something I had to tell you, but XiaXia has been busy recently so it hasn’t been convenient. We have a lab tomorrow afternoon, so if you have time, please come over.”
Qi Nian nodded, noticing the key point, “A lab...then Ji Yanxi...?”
Li Yue chuckled and blinked, “Of course.”
With Li Yue’s confirmation, Qi Nian didn’t sleep well throughout the night.
~~~
The next morning, Qi Nian woke up early and started to pick out her clothes.
‘Pink...it’s a light color, so would it be too delicate?’
However, she still didn’t know what style he liked.
If she would have known about this, she could have casually asked him about it that other night… Qi Nian scratched her head and picked up a purple one. ‘Is this one too drab?’
Should she choose a darker color, closer to last year’s style?
But what if he prefers a fresh and youthful look?
Qi Nian quickly shook her head, ‘No, no, I should replace that one.’
As someone who suffered from being indecisive, the ordeal of choosing an outfit was exhausting.
After deliberating for a long time, Qi Nian still couldn’t make a decision. She instead simply laid out her top picks on the bed, labeled them with post-it notes, and uploaded them to her Weibo. [t/n: Weibo is Chinese twitter.]
She almost forgot that she had fans.
Although Qi Nian’s Weibo account, “dada”, had only recently been created, it had already garnered 170,000 followers, and many of them helped provide suggestions and opinions. Of course, her fans did not only provide suggestions...
Unable to stop herself from laughing at its sweetness, she read comments which said: dada, explain honestly, do you have a date today?
MengQiQi: do you guys remember recently when dada said she met her male god?! Make sure to like the post! Help me get on trending. [t/n: male god is referring to her ideal type/idol.]
BaconMeatBuns: waiting for the ideal man’s photo!
YuXiangPork: waiting for the ideal man’s photo + id!
Howlongcantheweibonamebe: I can smell dada’s pure pink heart from over the screen.
Qi Nian held her mouse and almost smashed her head against the table.
Was her maiden heart that obvious?
~~~
As soon as the weekend was over, the platter of rain filled the sky. Many students who had returned to the school were on their way to class.
Qi Nian rubbed her hands together and watched the green leaves amidst the rain and mist, thinking back to her time at J University.
Qi Nian had initially done poorly on the college entrance exam and went to a second level college called J University. After studying for four years, she worked hard and was admitted to Z University to continue her postgraduate studies.
In the north where J University was located, the summer and autumn were noticeably long. Back when she was still there, around this time, the leaves would already have begun to turn yellow and robust winds would build up; there would often be autumn rain, and leaves would fall to the ground.
As for Z University, at this time, it seemed like it had just entered autumn.
Qi Nian glanced at her phone – it had been 10 minutes since she ended her call with Liu Xia.
She started to walk into the corridor…
Translator: Coral
Editor: Alam
Proofreader: Diya
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