Love is Sweet – Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Lovers in Sync 情侣对表 (Part 3)

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. I especially do not want this translation to end up on sites/apps where people are selling it for money and ripping off people.

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After arranging everything, Jiang Jun looked up and found that everyone else in the conference room was staring at her. She hadn’t listened carefully to what Du said before, but looking at the current situation, the matter should be settled and the subsequent problem was only how to give face to the other party. Jiang Jun stood up, her attitude exceedingly sincere, and said that she would fully cooperate on the work handed over and would try her best to assist if there were any problems in the future.  She faked it in front of the other party for a long time, saying polite formulaic things like how they should strengthen their communication, they shouldn’t let this little matter affect the camaraderie between work colleagues, and so on. Finally the great Miss Jiang looked at her watch and said goodbye directly: “I have an appointment with someone so I’ll leave first, but you all take your time.”    

She handled the necessary business for the day with ease, spent ten minutes putting on makeup and combing her hair, and then had a cup of coffee in the office while waiting for A Xiang.

Holding her clothes and carrying her shoes, this young master stumbled into the office without even knocking, despite the secretary’s attempt to obstruct him.  He complained, “You’re such a big shot, when have I ever served anyone like this?!”

Jiang Jun took the clothes and hung them up, asking politely, “What do you want to drink?”

“Coke.” A Xiang looked around at Jiang Jun’s office. “This is much grander than my boss’s office. I really can’t wait to challenge you.”

“You really are ambitious. The Coke is in the fridge in the lounge, ask my secretary to take you there.”  Jiang Jun opened the door and called out, “Ammy, get someone to take good care of this future industry leader. He wants to drink Coke, and while you’re at it, get him a slice of cheesecake.”

“Are you shooing me away?” A Xiang was surprised. “Aren’t we going to the party together?”

“Nonsense, how can I change my clothes if you don’t leave?” Jiang Jun ushered him out the door. “Be good, humble yourself a bit and go eat cake with the ladies.”

Opening the clothes bag, Jiang Jun suddenly felt a headache. In one glance, she could tell that the dress was in her good friend Xu Na’s style, low-cut and tight fitting, exposing all curves. It took a long time for her to stuff herself into the dress. She looked down and thought it was okay, but she always felt uncomfortable somewhere.

She had broken the floor mirror in the house a few days ago in a fit of temper, and a new one had not yet been delivered. Jiang Jun opened the door a crack to ask Ammy to come in and help her look, but instead saw Du sitting in Ammy’s seat reading the newspaper. He turned around to look at her when he heard the sound of the door.

“Why are you here?” Jiang Jun looked at her watch. “I have something to do tonight, don’t tell me to work overtime.”

Du pointed to the empty cup on the table. “I wanted to have a cup of coffee, but the secretary disappeared. So I went to get it myself, but couldn’t make it into the lounge. Can you guess why?”

“Because a lot of young women are in there. Why did they crowd in there? Because of the handsome guy that I brought.” Jiang Jun took her coffee cup and turned around to go back to her office. “You’re so boring.”

“So you like that type of man…” He suddenly laughed and Jiang Jun looked back at him. Du immediately restrained his smile, walked quickly into the office and closed the door. “Where are you and your guy going tonight for fun?”

“Alumni party.” Jiang Jun poured him the coffee from her own cup. “I haven’t touched this coffee, it’s still hot. You can make do with it.” Turning around and handing it to Du, she found that he was covering his mouth and smothering a laugh.   

“What on earth are you laughing at?” Jiang Jun was so bewildered that she turned her back to Du and discreetly tugged up the fabric around her chest, but Du’s laughter only became louder. Angry, Jiang Jun picked up the cup on the table and glared at him. “What the hell is wrong with you? Don’t provoke me.”

Du raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, put down the cup, I surrender.”

Seeing Jiang Jun put down the cup, Du pulled her in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and pulled up the blinds.  He held Jiang Jun’s shoulders and turned her halfway around, pointing toward her rear with a deadpan expression. “Look for yourself.”

Jiang Jun suspiciously twisted her body and looked at her shadow on the glass window.  It couldn’t be seen when she stayed still, but as soon as she moved, the little pink panties competed to be seen on each side of her butt and the silver dress only showed off their tender beauty.  Jiang Jun’s eyes were red with anger and she thought: This retarded designer, why put two zippers on the sides?

She looked up at Du and saw his gaze still resting on her rear, so she gritted her teeth and said, “Either take your coffee and get out now, or wait for me to strangle you.”

Du withdrew his gaze, nodded calmly, and held up his coffee. “I’m leaving, I hope you have a good time. By the way, are those white parts wings? That’s the Victoria’s Secret design, it’s really…  Sorry, have fun.”

Jiang Jun wanted to die and was filled with anger that had nowhere to vent, so she just casually touched up her makeup, grabbed her jacket and purse, and walked outside. The only person left in the break room was A Xiang and he was holding a Coke, staring off into space. When Jiang Jun went over and shook him, he recovered and grabbed her arm.  “As expected of Voldemort, even his way of pouring coffee is so stylish. Looks like I’ll need to practice more.”

Jiang Jun was quite exasperated. “Are you crazy? Your father is a famous real estate king in Hong Kong, why not learn from your old man?”

A Xiang was full of admiration.  “You don’t understand, my father’s set is outdated, Du’s kind is the trend.”

“I know why you are interested in Du,” Jiang Jun said ambiguously with a sudden realization, and leaned closer to A Xiang before lightly saying, “So you have this kind of orientation, huh? No wonder you haven’t had a girlfriend.”

A Xiang blushed and pushed her away. “What nonsense, I just think he’s great. The way men idolize others is actually crazier and more irrational than women… If only he were to come with us.”

Jiang Jun was taken aback. “You invited Du to our alumni party?”

“Yeah.” A Xiang grinned with a bit of teeth, looking cute. “It’s only cool enough if Voldemort brings Bellatrix Black to the event, haha!”

Jiang Jun picked up a bottle of Coke and whacked it over. “Yeah right! You’re such a troublemaker.” Her sixth sense told her that an alumni party led by this unreliable little boy, A Xiang, would definitely be a disaster.  And sure enough, it wasn’t an ordinary party, but a costume party, with the theme: The Elite Club.

“If you don’t have your own mask, we will provide one,” the waiter prompted politely.

Jiang Jun picked up the list of masks provided by the organizer and after reading only a few lines, immediately wanted to back out and leave.

“Since you’re here, just have some fun.” A Xiang was very excited. He pointed to Juno’s name on the list and said to the waiter, “This one.”

Jiang Jun looked at the human face mask placed on the tray, which resembled herself. Her hair stood on end and her killing intent grew. “Did you do this?”

A Xiang explained, “I customized it based on the photo you used for that interview in the financial magazine. It does look quite a bit like you.”

“Like hell it does.” Jiang Jun poked at the mask, and the more she looked at it, the angrier she became. “It’s so disgusting, I wouldn’t wear it even under pain of death.” She looked up to scold A Xiang, but saw Du—no, it was A Xiang wearing Du’s human face mask.

“What do you think, is the aura close enough?” A Xiang happily turned a full circle. “This is based on the official photos from Du’s participation last time in the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum. My suit is the same style he wore at the time.”

“You’re seriously crazy.” Jiang Jun shook her head and couldn’t help but take a closer look. She playfully reached out and pinched the fake Du’s face.  

“That hurts so bad, this is an ultra-thin simulation, you know.” A Xiang covered and rubbed his face, and said very aggrievedly, “If you have a grudge against him, don’t take it out on me, okay?”

Jiang Jun thought of how this list had Du, and herself, so it should also have Yuan Shuai to be accurate.  She hurriedly asked A Xiang, “Is there GT’s Zeus?”

“Yup, all the well-known bankers are on the list, but it seems that only few people are wearing masks.”

The waiter explained, “Most VIPs brought their own masks.”

Jiang Jun was finally interested and said to the waiter, “I want Zeus’s mask.”

That night, Jiang Jun and A Xiang’s appearance became the climax of the party, with cheers and whistles everywhere. Jiang Jun wasn’t afraid of being embarrassed, and anyway, if she lost face it was with Yuan Shuai’s face.  She and A Xiang put on a variety of intimate poses for others to take pictures, and had a great time.

“Aiyo, I say, who has the guts to be so brave?” Someone tapped her on the shoulder but Jiang Jun didn’t even need to turn around; as soon as she heard the sound of his voice, she knew that Yuan Shuai himself had arrived.

Only after she had taken enough pictures did Jiang Jun look back, content. But instantly her expression, hidden under the mask, froze. “You actually dared to use my face?”

Yuan Shuai stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her waist, leaning close to her. His voice was full of laughter, “It’s mutual, isn’t it? Come on, let’s take a photo too.”

“Get lost!” Jiang Jun twisted away and shook him off.

A Xiang had drank quite a bit and at this time was extremely high as well, smiling so much that even his mask wrinkled.  He shouted at Yuan Shuai, “Zeus! I recognize you, but you definitely can’t guess that I am A Xiang!”

Yuan Shuai hugged him, pretending to be surprised. “Du, my old guy, so you won’t accept your old age and instead ran off to get Botox injections*?” 

[T/N* I had to look this one up and it’s pretty disgusting, the actual thing the author wrote is sheep placenta injections, which supposedly has anti-aging and rejuvenating effects. It was apparently popular in Hong Kong back in the 80s and 90s as a super crazy expensive cell therapy beauty treatment and more recently it’s caught on with mainland Chinese who travel to Switzerland for medical tourism. According to some sources, at least half of the customers are men and often CEOs, so maybe that inspired the author.  I will add that although I think it seems insane, before anyone gets too judgmental or starts comparing it to TCM rhino horn kind of stuff, remember that people in the West do things like vampire facials and also that this sheep placenta thing started with and was developed by the Swiss.  And on a lighter note, wow Yuan Shuai, that burn!]

“Don’t be nasty.” Jiang Jun tugged at the corner of his coat behind his back.

“Are you very familiar with Juno? Oh, right, you’re both from Beijing.” A Xiang shook his head, “Do you Beijing men all speak in the same tone? You all sound the same.”

Jiang Jun was afraid that A Xiang would find that Yuan Shuai was the same person pretending to be her boyfriend on the phone, so she hurriedly changed the subject. “Zeus and I haven’t seen each other for a long time, so it’s a coincidence that we ran into each other here.”

Yuan Shuai was uncooperative and tried to undermine her, “You little heartless one, we just met last week. Fine, how’ve you been recently?”

Obviously she was saving his face, so why was he so ungrateful? Regardless of whether Yuan Shuai could see it or not, Jiang Jun rolled her eyes hard at him and faked civility. “Not bad, it seems like you’re doing well too.”  She pointed at the girl standing next to him, who was disguised as Britney Spears, and asked, “Is this your new girlfriend? So cute.”

Yuan Shuai introduced them. “This is Xiao Ya, the daughter of Gao Dong of Xinya Building Materials, who’s still in middle school. We met while parking the cars.”

“My cousin,” A Xiang explained in Jiang Jun’s ear.

Jiang Jun asked back irritably, “Isn’t it an alumni gathering?”

A Xiang had a guilty conscience and busily offered hospitality. “The pastry chef I hired is quite good. Would you like some dessert?”

Yuan Shuai patted A Xiang on the back. “I think she just wants pizza now, can you give me a bit of time? There are some things I want to talk to Juno alone.”

“Let’s go dancing.” The girl named Xiao Ya took Yuan Shuai’s arm and said in a flirtatious tone, “I still have a lot of questions to ask you.”

“Zeus, when did you become a part-time tutor?  GT can’t pay your salary?” Jiang Jun regretted it as soon as she said it; even she herself felt it sounded so sour as to make her teeth hurt.

“It’s quiet upstairs and no one goes there, you can go there and talk.” A Xiang seemed to sense the unusual tension between the two and hurriedly pulled the girl away.

Yuan Shuai came over and reached for Jiang Jun’s arm, throwing a wink at her like a girl. “You’re quite the package. It’s one thing to be handsome, but you also have such a hot body.”

“Shut up.” Jiang Jun’s face was flushed under the mask.

“Come on, let’s go upstairs, I have a gift for you.” Yuan Shuai took her upstairs, found a dark corner to stand in, and then pulled the masks off himself and Jiang Jun. He took out a small Tiffany box from his pocket and gave it to her: “Your ice cream.”

Jiang Jun opened it and saw that it was a pendant shaped like ice cream.

Yuan Shuai said, “I saw it at the airport and I know that you don’t like wearing jewelry. This can be used as a cell phone chain, just send it back to the store to alter it.”

“You think I’m still a little girl.” Jiang Jun couldn’t help laughing, holding the pendant as it shook in the light. Sure enough, it was really delicate and cute.

Yuan Shuai saw that she liked it and laughed with her. “How old do you think you are?”

Jiang Jun stuffed the pendant into her bag and patted it with satisfaction. “Then I’ll laugh at it.”

“Virtuous.” Yuan Shuai reached out and flicked her forehead.

The atmosphere became a little mysterious and neither of them took the initiative to say anything, it was just him looking at her and her looking at him, laughing without words.

The sound of a classic song came up from downstairs, which turned out to be “Moon River.”  Jiang Jun came back to her senses, holding the bannister and looking over it for a moment before saying to Yuan Shuai, “Waltzing at this kind of venue? A Xiang has quite the imagination.”

“Let’s dance too.” Yuan Shuai put his arm around Jiang Jun’s waist and took her for a spin, “Let me see if you have grown up over the years.”

Jun Jiang stiffened instantly. She was notorious for her physical incoordination. When Yuan Shuai first taught her to dance, she stepped on him so much that his feet hurt for days. Although she later took classes in college and attended many dances, and Du asked someone to teach her, Jiang Jun’s dance skills from then until now still couldn’t be praised.

Fortunately, Yuan Shuai knew her well, and only led her to pace around slowly. Jiang Jun relaxed, raised her chin slightly and asked, “Why did you come back early?”

The corner of Yuan Shuai’s mouth lifted in a smile and he shook his head. “No princess means there’s no fun, so I came back early.”

“You came back to just pick up girls, hmm? This kind of lame party actually attracted this young master’s attendance?”

“They said you’d come, and you are here, so what can I complain about?”

“That little beauty just now was quite interesting.”

“Do you also feel like when she smiles, she looks the same way you did when you were a kid?  You’ve been too thin these years, it turns out that when your face is fat, it’s so fun. Hey, hey, what kind of expression is that, you’re not jealous, are you?  That little girl is only 16 years old, do you take me as a strange uncle*?”  [T/N* Internet slang, pedophile]

“Only 16 years old? She dresses way too mature.” Jiang Jun thought of the girl glaring at her in annoyance, as if she had been robbed of her favorite toy, and found it somewhat amusing. She couldn’t help but think of how she was herself at sixteen years old, young and frivolous, ignorant and stubborn.

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Translator’s Notes: So, how are you guys liking the novel so far? It’s easy for me to imagine Luo Yun Xi and Bai Lu acting out these scenes, which is why I’m enjoying the translation work so much – it’s like getting bonus scenes after the drama! Even though the plot and many things changed in the drama (sometimes confusingly, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, Jiang Jun is at MH with Du while Yuan Shuai is actually with GT) I feel like the main characters are still very recognizable, especially the dynamic between them. Although Jiang Jun seems extra oblivious to her own feelings and Yuan Shuai’s hints in the novel, which gave me a bit of a Zhao Yao/The Legends (another Bai Lu drama-adapted-from-novel) feeling.

I’ve updated the website with a novel description, chapter index, and subscription button so you can be informed of updates! I’m thinking of adding another section so I can recommend and link to other high-quality English translations of other novels-turned-dramas that I’ve read.

Anyway, it’s been quiet so if you can, please chime in and let me know if you’re reading, thanks! At least I know I’m not translating in vain!