004. The thief cries
thief
The chilly voice petrifies An Ran and Lin An Jie. Through the dusky lighting, An Ran can only see a man standing tall and straight a few meters away from them. The lighting was eerily calm. He carries that light, though An Ran cannot see what kind of person he is. But that is not the point-- An Ran quickly realizes her situation, and pushes Lin An Jie away with all her might, and was able to put a few meters between them.
“What are you, my girlfriend and I were being affectionate, and it’s none of your goddamn business.” Lin An Jie turns around to face that man, walking over to him; his voice was powerful, clearly disturbing his moment was an annoyance.
“I’m not his girlfriend.” An Ran, beside him, quickly explains, to clear the matter of no relationship between her and Lin An Jie. She originally intended to wait and see how it goes, but now, there’s no need.
The man in the dark looks at Lin An Jie and says, “You hear that?” He takes out his cellphone, lifts his hand and pauses before pressing anything, as if intending to call the police.
"Wait, wait.” Lin An Jie thought that the man is going to call the police, and hurriedly calls out to him. He’s just a civil servant, at the next half of the year he will be preparing to be promoted up to Deputy Commissioner; he can’t afford this kind of lawsuit. He turns his head and glances at An Ran, lowers his head and quickly takes his leave while muttering a swear.
After Lin An Jie has left, the man walks closer and closer to An Ran.
As he approaches, An Ran can now clearly see that he possesses an extremely handsome face, strong black eyebrows, eyes deep as a valley, nose straight and tall, thin lips; a rare beauty.
“Are you alright?” He asks softly, his voice is no longer as cold as before. It was extremely pleasant to hear.
An Ran stood surprised. Taking a few minutes to recover from her shock, she finally shakes her head and responds, “I—I’m alright! Just now—Just tha—Thank you!”
The man smiles gently, shaking his head. He turns to walk away, but suddenly thought of something. He turns around again, and asks, “Do you need a ride home?”
An Ran, still in a daze, quickly shakes her head after his question, refusing, “No, no need. I can get back myself.” Just because of the unexpected fright earlier, she’s not so weak that she can’t send herself home. Besides, she and him are total strangers, how can she possibly ask that of him.
The man takes in her distressed appearance, his lips form into a half-smile, and says, “That man doesn’t suit you at all.” Not allowing any time for An Ran to react, he turns and walks away towards the outline of the dusky, thin alley.
Lin An Jie can really be called the best of the best of an outrageous person (T/N: alt. meaning is high-quality person), using a coffee coupon for their blind date, avoiding the bill by using the excuse to pee. The thief cries thief, he was preparing for it all right from the moment they met.
When An Ran had reached home, both Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen were sitting in the living room, looking troubled. Turns out before An Ran had returned, that Lin An Jie took the first step and cried thief, calling over to Lin Xiao Fen’s colleague Aunt Zhang, asking what kind of woman did she introduce him to. They went on a date in the most expensive restaurant, emphasizing on the expensive part, and after finishing their meal, she insisted on holding hands or else she will call the police and report him of indecent assault, giving a good scolding to aunt Zhang.
Aunt Zhang only wanted to do a good deed of bringing two fated people together, which has now failed miserably; this act of good will shouldn’t have been done. For no reason, a person cussed the good reputation that she had built up. The more she thought about it the angrier she got, so she picked up the phone and called the Gu Family to demand an apology from Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen. So, just as An Ran had reached home, Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen had just ended the call with Aunt Zhang.
"Ran Ran, just what happened exactly. Father and I do not believe that you are a person to act without reason,” said Lin Xiao Fen. She knows what kind of person her daughter is, but Aunt Zhang is not a person who would speak rubbish to incite a quarrel. There has to be a misunderstanding somewhere.
“(Chuckle), that man tried to force a kiss on me. It’s a good thing there was a person who walked by and stopped it, but I didn’t even say a thing, even tonight’s dinner was paid for by me,” said An Ran, raising her head to her mother, and continues, “Call Aunt Zhang, I want to speak to her."
“How ridiculous!” hearing that her daughter was nearly humiliated by a man, Lin Xiao Fen was boiling with anger. “Ran Ran, I’m going to call Aunt Zhang, what kind of person did she dare introduce you to, even thinking that my daughter is unacceptable,” she says as she picks up the phone to call Aunt Zhang.
“It was not Aunt Zhang’s fault, she only meant well. It just unfortunately ended up with someone with bad intentions. You have to clear this up, our Ran Ran is not the kind of person he described, but it was he who has a problem with his morals.”
An Ran looks at her parents, doesn’t say any more, and turns to her room. As she lies on her bed, An Ran could feel herself getting more and more depressed. Even recalling this evening’s events, the fear still lingers. If it wasn’t for that man who appeared, she really did not now how to take it. She doesn’t know if this situation will occur again; she never thought that going to blind dates in the city could ever be this dangerous. But she’s getting older, this [the blind date] seems to be the only way. She can only blame her own foolishness; just for a scar, she was hurting for 6 years.
Just thinking about it, her heart throbs with pain. The her right now really needs to find someone to talk to.
She grabs her cellphone and calls Lin Li, who picks up right away. Just hearing the call, Lin Li suddenly lamely breaks out in Korean, “Annyeonghasaeyo~!”, stretching out the last vowel. That pitch doesn’t really suit the happiness of her age. Apparently her mood is always this good, An Ran was a little jealous of that, but it was also something she admired.
The chilly voice petrifies An Ran and Lin An Jie. Through the dusky lighting, An Ran can only see a man standing tall and straight a few meters away from them. The lighting was eerily calm. He carries that light, though An Ran cannot see what kind of person he is. But that is not the point-- An Ran quickly realizes her situation, and pushes Lin An Jie away with all her might, and was able to put a few meters between them.
“What are you, my girlfriend and I were being affectionate, and it’s none of your goddamn business.” Lin An Jie turns around to face that man, walking over to him; his voice was powerful, clearly disturbing his moment was an annoyance.
“I’m not his girlfriend.” An Ran, beside him, quickly explains, to clear the matter of no relationship between her and Lin An Jie. She originally intended to wait and see how it goes, but now, there’s no need.
The man in the dark looks at Lin An Jie and says, “You hear that?” He takes out his cellphone, lifts his hand and pauses before pressing anything, as if intending to call the police.
"Wait, wait.” Lin An Jie thought that the man is going to call the police, and hurriedly calls out to him. He’s just a civil servant, at the next half of the year he will be preparing to be promoted up to Deputy Commissioner; he can’t afford this kind of lawsuit. He turns his head and glances at An Ran, lowers his head and quickly takes his leave while muttering a swear.
After Lin An Jie has left, the man walks closer and closer to An Ran.
As he approaches, An Ran can now clearly see that he possesses an extremely handsome face, strong black eyebrows, eyes deep as a valley, nose straight and tall, thin lips; a rare beauty.
“Are you alright?” He asks softly, his voice is no longer as cold as before. It was extremely pleasant to hear.
An Ran stood surprised. Taking a few minutes to recover from her shock, she finally shakes her head and responds, “I—I’m alright! Just now—Just tha—Thank you!”
The man smiles gently, shaking his head. He turns to walk away, but suddenly thought of something. He turns around again, and asks, “Do you need a ride home?”
An Ran, still in a daze, quickly shakes her head after his question, refusing, “No, no need. I can get back myself.” Just because of the unexpected fright earlier, she’s not so weak that she can’t send herself home. Besides, she and him are total strangers, how can she possibly ask that of him.
The man takes in her distressed appearance, his lips form into a half-smile, and says, “That man doesn’t suit you at all.” Not allowing any time for An Ran to react, he turns and walks away towards the outline of the dusky, thin alley.
Lin An Jie can really be called the best of the best of an outrageous person (T/N: alt. meaning is high-quality person), using a coffee coupon for their blind date, avoiding the bill by using the excuse to pee. The thief cries thief, he was preparing for it all right from the moment they met.
When An Ran had reached home, both Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen were sitting in the living room, looking troubled. Turns out before An Ran had returned, that Lin An Jie took the first step and cried thief, calling over to Lin Xiao Fen’s colleague Aunt Zhang, asking what kind of woman did she introduce him to. They went on a date in the most expensive restaurant, emphasizing on the expensive part, and after finishing their meal, she insisted on holding hands or else she will call the police and report him of indecent assault, giving a good scolding to aunt Zhang.
Aunt Zhang only wanted to do a good deed of bringing two fated people together, which has now failed miserably; this act of good will shouldn’t have been done. For no reason, a person cussed the good reputation that she had built up. The more she thought about it the angrier she got, so she picked up the phone and called the Gu Family to demand an apology from Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen. So, just as An Ran had reached home, Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen had just ended the call with Aunt Zhang.
"Ran Ran, just what happened exactly. Father and I do not believe that you are a person to act without reason,” said Lin Xiao Fen. She knows what kind of person her daughter is, but Aunt Zhang is not a person who would speak rubbish to incite a quarrel. There has to be a misunderstanding somewhere.
“(Chuckle), that man tried to force a kiss on me. It’s a good thing there was a person who walked by and stopped it, but I didn’t even say a thing, even tonight’s dinner was paid for by me,” said An Ran, raising her head to her mother, and continues, “Call Aunt Zhang, I want to speak to her."
“How ridiculous!” hearing that her daughter was nearly humiliated by a man, Lin Xiao Fen was boiling with anger. “Ran Ran, I’m going to call Aunt Zhang, what kind of person did she dare introduce you to, even thinking that my daughter is unacceptable,” she says as she picks up the phone to call Aunt Zhang.
“It was not Aunt Zhang’s fault, she only meant well. It just unfortunately ended up with someone with bad intentions. You have to clear this up, our Ran Ran is not the kind of person he described, but it was he who has a problem with his morals.”
An Ran looks at her parents, doesn’t say any more, and turns to her room. As she lies on her bed, An Ran could feel herself getting more and more depressed. Even recalling this evening’s events, the fear still lingers. If it wasn’t for that man who appeared, she really did not now how to take it. She doesn’t know if this situation will occur again; she never thought that going to blind dates in the city could ever be this dangerous. But she’s getting older, this [the blind date] seems to be the only way. She can only blame her own foolishness; just for a scar, she was hurting for 6 years.
Just thinking about it, her heart throbs with pain. The her right now really needs to find someone to talk to.
She grabs her cellphone and calls Lin Li, who picks up right away. Just hearing the call, Lin Li suddenly lamely breaks out in Korean, “Annyeonghasaeyo~!”, stretching out the last vowel. That pitch doesn’t really suit the happiness of her age. Apparently her mood is always this good, An Ran was a little jealous of that, but it was also something she admired.
“What kind of bird language is that,”
An Ran grumpily said.
“Hey hey, I’ve been learning Korean recently. I already talked it over with Cheng Xiang, our honeymoon will be in Korea. They have plentiful of beautiful ladies and handsome men, ha ha,” Lin Li said happily.
“Fine, go, be wary of Cheng Xiang getting his heart stolen by a beauty, then he won’t want the faded old woman that is you,” An Ran said evilly.
“Che, I have confidence in my Xiao Xiang, my Xiao Xiang only has me in his heart,” she said, and then calling out behind her, “Right, Xiao Xiang?” (T/N: the way she uses ‘I’ is a bit weird, I’m not familiar with it but I think it’s supposed to be the way they used titles in the historical days).
An Ran could faintly hear Cheng Xiang’s reply, then she could hear Lin Li proudly asking, “You hear that?”
“I heard it, I heard it. You are our LaoFoYe (Empress/Highness). Your Cheng family is at your side as XiaoLiZi. (T/N: dictionary translates it as little plum but that doesn’t make sense so…)” An Ran turns her frown into a smile.
“F- you, not going to bring a cursed person like you,” Lin Li jokes, “Tell me, what did you need from this elder sister (Jie Jie).”
The two joke around for a while, when suddenly Lin Li deadpanned and said, “Hey, I’m being serious here, I have some goods in my hands, you want it?”
“What goods?” An Ran was puzzled, she didn’t understand what was going on.
“A man! Cheng Xiang’s colleague, I met him before, he’s older than us by 2 years, his looks are top-notch, his work is top-notch.. Anyways, he’s absolutely the definition of a high-quality man! How about it? I’m keeping the goodies within the family, casting you the line!”
“No thanks, I’m afraid of these high-quality men. Why don’t you find a normal man for me instead.”
“BS, comparing this high-quality man to your other high-quality man, seriously speaking, his qualifications is far better, you’ll see. If I didn’t have my Xiao Xiang, I’d have definitely fallen for him,” Lin Li said with starry eyes.
An Ran blushed, “More like your Xiao Xiang fell for your brazen face!” This person is really impossible!
“Hey hey, what’s important is not how it begins, but how it ends. Although at the time it was tough to court him, but so many years have gone by, who can dare say that we haven’t reached happiness,” Lin Li said proudly.
An Ran listened and thought, that’s right! It doesn’t matter what you used to have, the people who have stayed by your side are more important, who would say the opposite.
Seeing how silent An Ran is, Lin Li says, “An Zi*, I’m taking your silence as an agreement then. I’ll ask my Xiang Zi* to get in touch, if there’s any more I’ll call you.”
See here, the good is always forced. If one doesn’t want to marry, what difference will it make!
“Hey hey, I’ve been learning Korean recently. I already talked it over with Cheng Xiang, our honeymoon will be in Korea. They have plentiful of beautiful ladies and handsome men, ha ha,” Lin Li said happily.
“Fine, go, be wary of Cheng Xiang getting his heart stolen by a beauty, then he won’t want the faded old woman that is you,” An Ran said evilly.
“Che, I have confidence in my Xiao Xiang, my Xiao Xiang only has me in his heart,” she said, and then calling out behind her, “Right, Xiao Xiang?” (T/N: the way she uses ‘I’ is a bit weird, I’m not familiar with it but I think it’s supposed to be the way they used titles in the historical days).
An Ran could faintly hear Cheng Xiang’s reply, then she could hear Lin Li proudly asking, “You hear that?”
“I heard it, I heard it. You are our LaoFoYe (Empress/Highness). Your Cheng family is at your side as XiaoLiZi. (T/N: dictionary translates it as little plum but that doesn’t make sense so…)” An Ran turns her frown into a smile.
“F- you, not going to bring a cursed person like you,” Lin Li jokes, “Tell me, what did you need from this elder sister (Jie Jie).”
The two joke around for a while, when suddenly Lin Li deadpanned and said, “Hey, I’m being serious here, I have some goods in my hands, you want it?”
“What goods?” An Ran was puzzled, she didn’t understand what was going on.
“A man! Cheng Xiang’s colleague, I met him before, he’s older than us by 2 years, his looks are top-notch, his work is top-notch.. Anyways, he’s absolutely the definition of a high-quality man! How about it? I’m keeping the goodies within the family, casting you the line!”
“No thanks, I’m afraid of these high-quality men. Why don’t you find a normal man for me instead.”
“BS, comparing this high-quality man to your other high-quality man, seriously speaking, his qualifications is far better, you’ll see. If I didn’t have my Xiao Xiang, I’d have definitely fallen for him,” Lin Li said with starry eyes.
An Ran blushed, “More like your Xiao Xiang fell for your brazen face!” This person is really impossible!
“Hey hey, what’s important is not how it begins, but how it ends. Although at the time it was tough to court him, but so many years have gone by, who can dare say that we haven’t reached happiness,” Lin Li said proudly.
An Ran listened and thought, that’s right! It doesn’t matter what you used to have, the people who have stayed by your side are more important, who would say the opposite.
Seeing how silent An Ran is, Lin Li says, “An Zi*, I’m taking your silence as an agreement then. I’ll ask my Xiang Zi* to get in touch, if there’s any more I’ll call you.”
See here, the good is always forced. If one doesn’t want to marry, what difference will it make!
----END OF CHAPTER----
*T/N: Lin Li uses An Zi (安子) = An Ran / Xiang Zi = Cheng Xiang. I think the suffix 'zi' is sort-of like a term of endearment, in a mother-child kind of way. Correct me if I'm wrong though, haha.
It's a bit early, but happy chinese new year! Year of the monkey~ Wishing the best for your future endeavours!
Thank god she didn't get together with An jie. That guy's a loser
ReplyDeleteImma fuck An Jie up in a side corner .. HOW DARE HE!!!
ReplyDeleteXiaoLiZi is a common name given to eunuch. Since 1 is an Empress, it means that her man listen to whatever she said.
ReplyDeleteEvery interest thanks to translator
ReplyDeleteLao fo ye (Old Buddha) was the nickname of Empress Dowager Cixi. Her head eunuch's name was Li Lianying (Xiaolizi = Little Li), who was devoted to her. They had a famously close relationship; he was her friend as well as her most trusted servant. I believe that's what's being referred to here. If someone is Xiaolizi to your Lao Foye, it means they're always by your side and you can depend on them.
ReplyDeleteWith 'zi' (子), it's a funny one because it can mean 'child' or 'small thing' as well as being used quite a lot as a kind of general suffix for single-syllable nouns (not all of them, though). It's also used as a dimunitive in affectionate names, so you're quite right about it being a term of endearment, or rather, it denotes a term of endearment. Li Lianying = Xiaolizi (which uses the prefix 'xiao'/little as well); Anran = Anzi, Cheng Xiang = Xiangzi; I see he's also referred to as Xiao Xiang. That's where my knowledge ends, sorry! I know there are quite specific rules about the use of -zi and -er in names, but I don't know what they are yet.