Love is Sweet – Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Lovers in Sync 情侣对表 (Part 2)

Translated by: lovexsweet

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST THIS ANYWHERE. YOU ARE WELCOME TO LINK & CREDIT AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE, BUT IF I FIND THIS SOMEWHERE ELSE I WILL STOP TRANSLATING.

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Jiang Jun had indeed thought about claiming Yuan Shuai for a lifetime and had even wanted to impulsively say to him: how about the two of us get together and live together for the rest of our lives? She knew that Yuan Shuai definitely would have agreed without hesitation, but isn’t a marriage without love too unfair to him?  She felt that Yuan Shuai would not fall in love with her.  After all, if it were going to happen, it would have happened already, why would he wait until now?  She also didn’t want to take the initiative again in loving someone; the love that came from begging is never real love.  She had already paid for these lessons in blood and she really had no life left to go through it again.

Estrangement sometimes happens not because of hate or dislike, but rather, from the fear of uncontrollably falling in love with a person. Jiang Jun deliberately adjusted her schedule to minimize the time spent alone with Yuan Shuai. She wanted to calm down for a while and let things settle down.  In her current state, facing Yuan Shuai every day would only make her emotions more confused. She was normally always busy with work, so Yuan Shuai wasn’t surprised when she came back late every night or even didn’t come back at all.  He only took the opportunity to tell her to pay attention to her health as he sent her to work in the morning.

She had a good relationship with Jin Dong and his wife of the XV Group, and they often met in the evenings to play bridge. When Yuan Shuai’s call came, Jiang Jun and her partner were once again being defeated, so when the phone rang, she dismissed it and didn’t answer.  She concentrated on socializing with the two rich people sitting across the table. 

She partnered with Mrs. Jin’s nephew, A Xiang, who had also been her classmate. About half a year ago, this guy who was normally only interested in ball sports suddenly and enthusiastically asked to learn bridge and to join the fray. Jin Dong was very dissatisfied with A Xiang’s card skills, but A Xiang looked to be in a sorry state: “Uncle, I’m sacrificing my life to play with you and I’ve studied this game so much that my hair is falling out. It’s harder than a PhD, give me a break.”

“You should really ask Juno for more advice.” Mrs. Jin sipped her tea and smiled at Jiang Jun. “A Xiang’s recent job is also at an investment bank.  At Skyway Bank, he’s so busy every day that I have to ask him three times before I can get him to come have a meal with us. Juno, if you have time, please teach him.”

“Skyway?” Jiang Jun instantly realized something and smiled at A Xiang. “Are you trying to provoke your dad again? You didn’t join your own family’s company, but instead ran to Skyway to suffer.”

“It’s a good thing for young people to come out for exercise. You all continue talking, I still have something to do.” Jin Dong got up and left his seat.

Jiang Jun was about to leave too, but was stopped by Mrs. Jin, who said, “I asked the kitchen to prepare a supper, don’t leave until you’ve eaten. Sit down first, I’ll go check if it’s ready.”

“Juno, there’s an alumni party in a few days, do you want to go have fun?” A Xiang leaned close to Jiang Jun and started to shamelessly put on an act. “Come, come! I’ve already told everyone that I’ll bring you, my senior classmate, so that they can see what a true beautiful banker is like.”

Jiang Jun gave him a look, “Save it. What did you bet?”

A Xiang chuckled. “Agera.* If you want it, it’s yours.  Just lend it to me for a few days so I can drive it.”  [T/N* the Koenigsegg Agera, a Swedish sports car]

“Anyway, how’s your job there?”

At the mention of the job, he rather proudly said, “I started as a project manager, but we just won a big case at the end of last month; we stole it from MH. The boss said I’ll break the record for fastest promotion. And by the way, I’m working incognito, I definitely didn’t rely on my family name.”

Jiang Jun smiled and said nothing, having received confirmation of why she herself had lost that order previously. But she really didn’t understand why A Xiang had suddenly chosen to join an investment bank, doing things he didn’t like. She remembered that not long ago he had said that his biggest dream was to make a movie for all the people he loved—a movie that would touch them so deeply, they would both laugh and cry, and after watching it, they would toss and turn in bed at night, unable to sleep. When he had said this, his eyes were full of confidence and happiness, as if his dream would come true with just one touch.

“I used to wonder why you like this job so much, but although this industry has long hours and high stress, and the coworkers are mostly all bastards, it does feel very fulfilling and challenging. I like it.” A Xiang ate a piece of milk candy and sucked on it, making a provocative gesture, “You better watch out.”

Jiang Jun pretended that she didn’t see the gleam in his eyes as he talked such nonsense, and echoed back, “Yes, yes, in the future I’ll have to rely on you to give me more advice.”

“Chatting so happily?  Come and eat,” Mrs. Jin greeted them. “Juno, don’t imitate those girls who try to lose weight, there’s nothing beautiful about being a bag of bones.”

After the dinner party with Mrs. Jin, Jiang Jun was compelled to get in A Xiang’s car. When they drove to a place not far from her apartment, Yuan Shuai called again, and Jiang Jun truthfully explained her whereabouts and location.  When, from the corners of her eyes, she saw A Xiang’s ears perk up like a rabbit’s, she laughed and held the phone in front of him, saying: “Would you like to say hello to him and greet him as brother-in-law?”

A Xiang was shocked: “Du?”

Jiang Jun simply turned on the speakerphone. She was always confident of the tacit understanding between herself and Yuan Shuai, and Yuan Shuai sure enough said what she expected: “Girl, when are you coming back? I miss you.” His voice was lazy, with the strong Beijing accent of the stubborn elders in the hutong, and it was as different as night and day from Du’s usual standardized Mandarin, which was similar to that of news anchors.

A Xiang heard the horrifying news and exclaimed, “Bellatrix can still fall in love? What about Voldemort?” [T/N: Yes, the author made Harry Potter references LOL]

Jiang Jun had become used to how this kid’s brain intermittently short-circuited; he could always find a way to associate any person with the characters of a certain movie.

“I’m thirsty, can you invite me up for a cup of coffee?” A Xiang asked when the car stopped in front of Jiang Jun’s apartment, not even looking at the place.

Jiang Jun turned her head and stared at him, smiling but not really,* not saying anything and just looking at him. [T/N* I couldn’t think of a translation for this idiom, just imagine it]

After A Xiang was rendered wordless for a moment, he smiled awkwardly. “I really am thirsty.”

“The temporary parking space is on the stone road in front, you can only park for 30 minutes.  Go park and then come to the lobby to find me.” Jiang Jun took her bag and got out of the car.

By the time A Xiang parked and ran into the lobby, Jiang Jun had already bought coffee and was waiting for him with a paper bag.

“Your coffee, a venti. I was afraid you’d be too thirsty so I bought juice and mineral water too.  Take your time drinking it.”

“It’s not like I’m a bucket.” A Xiang made an exaggerated expression, seeming to want to ease the atmosphere.

Things having reached this point, Jiang Jun didn’t want him to become even more involved, so she said directly: “A Xiang, I like you very much, so I’m willing to be friends with you. Even if you have ulterior motive for getting closer to me, I don’t care, but I do have my bottom line. I don’t know what kind of bad blood you and Du have, but you really made a mistake in choosing me to get to him. He’s not in my house, and we’re not in the kind of romantic relationship that you’re thinking of. Of course, it doesn’t matter if you believe me or not.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Axiang quickly apologized, and rambled on, “I also sincerely see you as a friend, but you get how it is, it was just curiosity. Someone asked me and I’m too gossipy, I’m really sorry.”

“All right, go back then.” Jiang Jun turned around without expression and walked through the entrance of the apartment area. A Xiang was too slow to react and realized too late that he wanted to make it through the door too. He stood outside the glass partition and shouted to Jiang Jun, who was pressing the elevator button: “Forgive me, I promise from now on I’ll never pry into your private business again… I’ll finish drinking all of these drinks, okay?”

Jiang Jun was unmoved and went straight into the elevator with a displeased expression, but before the elevator door closed, she saw A Xiang actually drink down the entire big cup of coffee, looking genuinely wretched. As the elevator doors closed, Jun Jiang couldn’t help but laugh. This kid is so interesting. To think that that old ghost Mr. Ding would have a son with such a pure and transparent heart, no wonder the old man worked so hard to pave the way for him.

When she got home, she told Yuan Shuai. Yuan Shuai gave her a blank look and unhappily rebuked her: “You’re bullying the kids again, the little boy in Ding’s family is such a good kid, his life is like a fairy tale and you had the heart to do that.”  He had just finished taking a shower and water drops still clung to his body.  He sat beside her with a grin, looking up at the wall clock. “You’re home early today.”

Jiang Jun waved her hands and slumped formlessly onto the sofa: “I’m exhausted, and tomorrow I still have to play mahjong with Mei Ling’s Mrs. Sun, it’s really terrible.”

Yuan Shuai didn’t speak, raising his hand to help massage her shoulders. Jiang Jun didn’t pay any attention at first, but the moment there was skin-to-skin contact, it was as if she received an electric shock, and her muscles tensed up even more. This distance was too close, right? Feeling her face getting hot, she shifted her body away uneasily, avoiding Yuan Shuai’s hands.

Yuan Shuai quietly cleared his throat, breaking the weird silence between the two, and said softly: “Jun’er, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and I think the two of us…”

Jiang Jun was afraid that Yuan Shuai was still caught up in the matter of that night and was going to bring up some foolish talk about taking responsibility, so she hurriedly digressed: “Why are you still up? Oh yeah, do you have any Coke there? I finished mine.”

Yuan Shuai looked at her quietly for a moment, dipped his head and laughed ruefully, then stood up and pulled together the bathrobe. “I’ve already bought it for you; it’s in the refrigerator. Tomorrow I’m going to Rome for a conference. It’ll be about four or five days. Do you want me to bring you anything?”

“Ice cream.” Jiang Jun turned around and pretended to find the TV remote control, getting her emotions under control and teasing him, “I don’t want the kind that Princess Anne has eaten.”

Yuan Shuai patted her head. “You have the pretentiousness of a princess, but the life of a maid.  Your stomach is so delicate and you still want ice cream? Go on, you should go to bed earlier.”

Jiang Jun watched him leave, looking at his departing figure, those shoulders, that slender waist, hmm, it was really sexy. She was suddenly a little vexed, why had she been so drunk that she couldn’t remember anything, and wasted her first time like that?

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Three days later, when Jiang Jun was arguing because of conflicts with her colleagues in other teams, she received a picture from Yuan Shuai. He sat in front of the table full of ice cream, doing all kinds of poses. The subject of the email was: You can’t eat it, you can’t eat it, you’re so mad!

She couldn’t hold back in that moment and laughed, lowering her head and sending him a message: Eat it all up then, this face is as big as a pizza.

When she held back a smile and raised her head, she found that everyone was watching her. Du rubbed his temples, took off his glasses, and wiped them.

Jun Jiang was in a very good mood and she felt that there was no need to worry about this matter anymore, so she said generously: “Forget it, it’s all our own people anyway, whoever did it or not.  But my team’s previous work can’t be done in vain.  You guys can take the majority of the credit, but we’ll take our share.  Just divide it into four.”

The other party was anxious: “What?”

“We’ll settle it that way then.” Du put on his glasses, making the final decision.

“Du, you’re picking sides.”

“Yes, I’m biased,” Du said frankly.  “If you’re smart at all, then think carefully about whom I’m partial toward.”

“Sorry, I have to answer this call.” Jiang Jun looked at the phone and frowned. It was A Xiang. After thinking about it, she still picked up.

“Juno, where are you? I’ll pick you up.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t you agree to come to the alumni reunion party? Are you still angry? Didn’t you say that you forgave me on MSN?”

Jiang Jun had really forgotten all about it. In fact, she didn’t regard the experience of studying at the University of Science and Technology as really studying, but when Du asked her to go for the EMBA (Executive MBA) at the University of Science and Technology, Yuan Shuai had also approved of it. Based on what Yuan Shuai said, it wasn’t important what she learned there, the important thing was what connections she could make.  It was a good opportunity for her to open up a network of contacts and improve her clientele profile. 

There was an old saying about four ways to truly build a relationship together: being classmates, being comrades-in-arms, sleeping together,* and being accomplices in crime. Carrying guns, sleeping together, and sharing stolen spoils are all impossible for Jiang Jun, so her only choice is to go for classmates.  So Jiang Jun, who was just promoted, took MH’s recommendation letter and spent the company’s money, studying with a bunch of people whose average age was over 35.  Those she called older brothers, uncles, elder sisters, and aunts became her classmates. She also met A Xiang at that time. He had been studying film abroad before, but after returning to Hong Kong, he was forced by his father to enter the University of Science and Technology for a MBA.

[T/N* This rhymes in Chinese so the four methods of social bonding isn’t as random as it sounds in English.  The author replaced part of the saying, so instead of “sharing prostitutes together” (一起嫖过嫖) she used “sleeping together” (一起上过床). Business in China used to (and still does to varying extents) involve after work social activities involving lots of alcohol, a banquet, and brothels, since it’s all about building connections.]

Jiang Jun looked down at what she was wearing today. The party was held in a nightclub that A Xiang had invested in. These old-fashioned suits were obviously inappropriate, but there were only a few long dresses in the store downstairs, and it was too late to go home to change. Thinking about it, she called Xu Na and asked her to get a skirt as quickly as possible. Xu Na was always quick and within five minutes, she sent a text telling Jiang Jun the address of a shop where she could pick up clothes and shoes.  Jiang Jun forwarded the text to A Xiang and asked him to help her pick it up.

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Translator’s note: Do you guys prefer A Xiang or Ah Xiang? I thought the former might look weird to English speakers but technically it’s the correct Romanization from pinyin. However, I’ve seen lot of the “A”-attachment to names (for a nickname) have also been translated to “Ah” in English. Please comment and let me know what you think about this, and especially about whether you like translation notes within the chapter or at the end. Thanks!