Translation Checker: asgardlucy

A moment of silence permeated through the air.

Jian Mei laughed for a while and found that the other person was strangely silent; Lu Xingwang didn’t seem like he was laughing.

“Ahem..”

Jian Mei covered his lips and coughed slightly, trying to ease the embarrassment. He asked softly, “Isn’t it funny?”

Lu Xingwang was sitting by the bed, and his injured arm had just been bandaged. He had the information and materials of some members of the military that Zuo Qingshan had passed to him, which allowed him to become familiar with it faster and investigate as soon as possible whether there were traitors and undercover agents inside on the day General Zuo was killed.

Lu Xingwang’s brows furrowed as he flipped through a page of the file. “Is this polar bear up to something?”

Jian Mei was stunned. “Ah?”

“Plucking its own hair.” Lu Xingwang spoke according to his usual thinking. “Is there any reason why the polar bear did it?”

“..No.”

“Then why did it pluck its hair out?

Jian Mei replied. [Because it was bored.]

Lu Xingwang was silent for a moment.

For some reason, Jian Mei felt a little ashamed. He didn’t think much at first, but after being asked by Lu Xingwang, he felt a little stupid, as stupid as the polar bear.

Jian Mei coughed softly again and whispered. “Let me tell you a different story!”

“Once upon a time, there was a very stupid little chick. It always liked to recite the same paragraph. As a result, after a long time..” Jian Mei deliberately paused, pretending to be mysterious. He lowered his voice and said, “Guess what happened?”

Lu Xingwang wasn’t hopeful. “What happened?”

Jian Mei couldn’t help laughing softly. His voice was clear and pleasant. “It became a repeating chicken.”

The other side of the phone fell silent.

Lu Xingwang listened quietly to Jian Mei’s endless laughter from the other side of the call. He didn’t know what was going on with this child or why it was so easy for him to laugh. Although he didn’t understand the ‘repeating device’, Jian Mei had a great appeal. As Lu Xingwang listened to the laughter, he seemed to be affected by the pleasant environment. Lu Xingwang’s furrowed brows slowly loosened. He said in a low voice, “Jian Mei.”

Jian Mei quickly stopped laughing and was a bit nervous. “Huh?”

Lu Xingwang threw out a question. “Are you..particularly bored today?”

Jian Mei was speechless. The child who was originally cheerful became dejected. He thought that these two jokes should be quite funny. He tried his best, but the effect wasn’t obvious. He had been preparing for so long, but it didn’t work at all. He lowered his head in frustration and whispered softly, “It’s not funny, right?”

Lu Xingwang didn’t even realize it was a joke. “Weren’t you telling a story?”

Jian Mei was almost pissed off.

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Lu Xingwang: “Hmm?”

“Because..” Jian Mei paused while talking. The sound of their breathing was amplified in such a peaceful night, and this moment of peace was tender. He spoke with some clumsiness but with sincerity. “Because I think you don’t seem to be very happy and under a lot of pressure. Although I don’t know the reason, I want to make you happy.”

Lu Xingwang’s hand that was flipping through the pages stopped.

Jian Mei smiled naively as if he was mocking himself, which was a little distressing. “But it seems I didn’t succeed.”

“But it doesn’t matter!” He quickly comforted himself and immediately cheered up. “I’ll watch more skits tomorrow, and I’m sure I’ll get better.”

After Jian Mei finished speaking, he expectantly listened to Lu Xingwang’s reply. In his opinion, Lu Xingwang would give him another chance. Maybe Lu Xingwang would even comfort him and tell him to make persistent efforts.

However, Lu Xingwang replied unenthusiastically. “What are you watching those for?”

Jian Mei was stunned. “Ai? Because I want you to be happy..”

“No need to do all those necessary things.” The boy’s slightly deep voice carried solemnity in the silent night. “You’re already doing a good job.”

Lu Xingwang’s words would always give an unexplainable sense of security. Jian Mei’s eyes widened and his somewhat distressed heart slowly relaxed. Just when he wanted to use his not-so-clever head to think of what to say, he heard Lu Xingwang say:

“Jian Mei.” There was a soft laugh from the phone. Lu Xingwang said, “Thank you for your stories. They made me very happy.”

At that moment, Jian Mei’s originally relaxed and calm heart suddenly racing.

Jian Mei’s mind went blank and was unable to think of anything.

The next day.

Shen Meina and Jian Shencheng took a break on National Day, which they seldomly did, and returned to the small mountain village to celebrate the holiday. When Jian Mei received a call from his father, Shen Meina and Jian Shancheng were about to arrive at the entrance of the village.

He wanted to welcome them, so he went outside and called out to his brother. “Ge, mom and dad are here. Let’s go pick them up.”

Jian Changjia was busy playing games, so he didn’t raise his head when he heard it. “If you want to go, go by yourself. I’m not going.”

Not only did Jian Changjia dislike Jian Mei and spending too much time with him, but he also avoided his parents as much as possible. His animosity against his family was even obvious on his face.

Jian Mei pursed his lips. He ran over and squatted beside him. “Can you accompany me?”

Jian Changjia was impatient. “Are you deaf? I said I won’t go. Get lost.”

Jian Mei’s eyelashes trembled. He said in a low voice, “But dad said that his assistant will drop them off at the village entrance and they bought a lot of things. I can’t carry that much. It must be very heavy..”

Jian Changjia, who was playing a game, paused.

Jian Mei quickly showed a smile when he saw that Jian Changjia might be swayed. “Let’s go. Come on.”

Jian Changjia glanced at his brother’s somewhat smug look and got annoyed. “I’m not going. It’s not my problem. Why did they buy so much stuff if they can’t carry it?”

All right.

Jian Mei took a deep breath. He said, “If?gege?isn’t going, then forget it. I’ll go ask Tiezhu-ge?next door to go with me.”

Jian Changjia looked up and became somewhat angrier. “Stop.”

Jian Mei paused in his steps and turned back with some doubts.

Jian Changjia said, “Why are you asking others for help? Do they owe you?” He put away his phone and stood up. “Why are you always so annoying? What are you looking at me for! Let’s go!”

Jian Mei pursed his lips and smiled. He hurriedly nodded his head. “Oh, okay.”

The two of them rarely went out together and the villagers passing by couldn’t help looking twice.

When they arrived at the village entrance, they saw their parents from far away. Jian Mei waved his hand to say hello. Shen Meina smiled when she saw her child. She walked over quickly as if she didn’t see her elder son, and started to help Jian Mei fix his clothes. “Why are you wearing so little clothes? Today’s temperature has gone down!”

Jian Mei bowed his head and said, “It’s okay. I’m not cold.”

Shen Meina frowned and didn’t listen at all. “Once you catch a cold, it’s already too late. Changjia, you’re really something. You didn’t know to ask your brother to add more clothes..”

Jian Changjia frowned and his face became gloomy.

Jian Mei hurriedly explained. “It’s not?ge’s?fault. I’m the one who wanted to dress like this.”

Shen Meina glared at Jian Mei.

Next to them, Jian Mei’s father hurriedly came over to mediate things. “Okay, okay. He hasn’t caught a cold yet, and the child isn’t so fragile. The wind at the village entrance is strong. Let’s go in first.”

While Jian Mei’s father was talking, he took out candied hawthorn on a stick and said, “Look, what is this?”

Jian Mei’s eyes brightened. “Did you buy this, dad?”

“Yes.” Father Jian smiled and said, “Doctor said your blood cell count from the last checkup was much more stable. This candy is your reward.”

Jian Mei was very happy. “Thank you, Dad.”

Because leukemia patients couldn’t eat too many sweets, Jian Mei had been banned from eating sweet food since he was a child. In fact, he liked to eat sweets very much, but he had to control his craving. Sometimes, things you couldn’t get would make you crave for more. Jian Mei couldn’t eat sweets without permission, so he was ecstatic that he could have candied hawthorn. When he was about to take a bite, he suddenly stopped.

From the start, Jian Changjia had been standing next to him without saying a word.

It was obviously a reunion of a family of four, but it seemed like one person was naturally neglected. Although no one had deliberately done it, the elder son was still indeed neglected.

Jian Mei’s action paused, then he ran to Jian Changjia and raised his hand. “Gege, eat.”

Jian Changjia’s tense expression softened. “Who wants to eat this shit?”

“People always say the first hawthorn is sour. Try it for me, please?” Jian Mei raised his small face and said softly,”I remember?gege?likes the sour taste.”

Jian Changjia glared at him. “So, you just give the sour ones to me?”

Jian Mei was aggrieved. He leaned closer and said in volume only the two of them could hear. “I just ate a pastry when I was in the house. I won’t be able to finish the candied hawthorn.?Gege, help me with two pieces. Otherwise, mom will scold me again. If you don’t help me, I’ll tell grandpa that you used his book to cushion the table legs.”

Jian Changjia gritted his teeth. “You dare!”

Jian Changjia imagined his grandpa’s and mother’s nagging and forced himself to take a bite of the candied hawthorn.? Once the exception was made, he was forced to finish half of the candied hawthorn for Jian Mei.

Shen Meina smiled and said, “I’ll have to bring one for Changjia in the future.”

Jian Changjia said, “I don’t like it.”

“Changjia likes to eat sweet and sour ribs.” Father Jian walked beside his sons and let them carry the lighter things. He smiled softly, “It just so happens that I haven’t cooked for a long time. I’ll show you what I can do later.”

Jian Mei mumbled softly. “I want to eat ribs too.”

Jian Changjia glared at him. “Are you a piglet?”

“Ai. Gege, then you’re a big pig!”

“Jian Mei!”

The family of four were showered by the autumn sunset, as they bickered and laughed on their way back. When they arrived at grandpa’s house, Ali jumped out of the grass from nearby. The cat stretched its body lazily and followed the family home.

This was also the happiest day for Jian Mei during the National Day holidays.

In the evening, he crawled on the bed and sent a message to Lu Xingwang, mentioning the candied hawthorn. “It was so good, oh, unimaginably delicious. You can’t miss it.”

After that, to his surprise, Lu Xingwang said: [Candied hawthorn?]

Jian Mei replied. [Yeah.]

Then it took him a moment before he realized and asked carefully. [Have you had it before?]

Lu Xingwang replied. [No.]

This was probably a kind of food on Jian Mei’s planet, so he’d never eaten it. In fact, he’d never even tasted some folk delicacies in Stan Star. He had lived in the palace ever since he was a child, and there were people specially responsible for his diet. Imperial Concubine Lan was strict with him, so he had no chance to eat the kinds of food that weren’t in line with his mother’s taste. But hearing the name candied hawthorn, he could more or less guess it.

Lu Xingwang said: [Is it a dessert?]

He said it casually, but it unexpectedly brought a great shock to Jian Mei!

When he knew that Lu Xingwang didn’t go to school, Jian Mei thought that his Dazhuang-ge?didn’t go to school because of his illness. However, later he saw that not only did Dazhuang-ge?not need to stay in the hospital, but he could also participate in various competitions, which showed that he should’ve had the time to study. However, Dazhuang-ge’s family not only didn’t let him study but rather had him engage in dangerous sports!

As he thought of this, he was worried and suddenly became very distressed for Dazhuang-ge.?He must have had a very hard life. His family was probably very strict with him that they were even reluctant to buy him snacks!

Jian Mei lamented. “This is unacceptable..”

On the other side, Lu Xingwang was completely unaware that his life experience had been twisted in Jian Mei’s head. His Highness gestured to dismiss the maid not far away and was about to rest when ‘ding dong’ rang out, but it was a different ringtone.

Lu Xingwang clicked on it with some doubts and saw a small red packet on the chat page. After reading the words clearly, he fell into deep thought.

[WeChat red packet to be received: 10 yuan.]

Translator’s Notes:

Hello, I think a lot of you guys know about the announcement of JJWXC so I won’t mention it here. However, what I want to talk about is why I kept the other chapters locked. It’s related to that that’s why I locked some chapters. I understand that because a lot of translations are being kept private or password-protected, many people are doing backups. I did that to somehow prevent it. To tell you guys frankly, I can’t control every person doing that nor I can stop aggregators. What I’m doing right now is superfluous, just delaying things. I don’t want to see my translations being spread around at this time. Some strong-headed people will eventually put it up on aggregator sites. This password-protected thing is temporary. Give me a few days to sort out my thoughts.

The good news is I will continue translating this novel, so you don’t have to worry that I will drop it or something. Don’t worry I’m with you along the ride, you can rest assured. I just hope that someone will have the conscience not to use other people’s efforts to gain for themselves.

There will be some changes in February including the schedule. You can wait for my announcements in Discord or I will post an announcement on my blog. Here, I posted an hour earlier to calm your inner frustrations. Fret not, just enjoy reading!