Love is Sweet – Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Beauty In His Arms 美人入怀 (Part 3)

Author: Qi Zi

Translated by: lovexsweet

Translator’s Note: Some strong language and cursing in this chapter.

~ ~ ~

As Jiang Jun brought the coffee upstairs, she heard Yuan Shuai’s voice coming intermittently from the stairwell.

“Yes, okay, of course I won’t mess around anymore, whose son am I anyway? Could I do something like that? We’ll talk about after New Year’s… Why are you worried about whether Jun-jun comes back or not… Which Uncle Liu? What does that have to do with me? There are lots of single women in Hong Kong, and lots of women wanting to get into GT, can I take care of all of them? I don’t have time to see her, so don’t have her come see me… Why give her the address? If you have nothing to do, go adopt a dog.”

Jiang Jun knew that this was a phone call to make him go on an arranged date.* Over the past couple of years, the Yuan family’s calls about these dates had become more and more frequent. If it weren’t for the fact that most of his family was in the military, which made it inconvenient for them to come to Hong Kong, they probably would have already came to kidnap him and force him into the bridal chamber. Jiang Jun felt that walking in at this time would be a little awkward, so she simply turned around and took the elevator back downstairs, making another round before returning. Yuan Shuai was sitting in her living room, gesturing at the wall that separated their two apartments.  [T/N* xiang qin is like a blind date that your parents arrange for you after both families have vetted each other, it’s old-fashioned but still happens. See end notes for my little story]

“Drink less coffee, your stomach’s already sensitive.” Yuan Shuai pulled Jiang Jun down to sit next to him and rested on her shoulder to report, “My old man called just now to ask me about going back for New Year’s, are you going give me a real answer?”

Jiang Jun leaned on him and chewed her fingernails fiercely. “What were you just gesturing?”  

“I’ll have to see just how long you can avoid the topic.” Yuan Shuai pushed Jiang Jun down and spanked her hard. “I was just now thinking that you had the right idea when you said that you wanted to make a door in that wall.”

Jiang Jun bit her fingertips and asked him with a grin, “Don’t you want privacy anymore?”

Yuan Shuai leaned over and kissed her. “Wasn’t that all because I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to resist someday and would monopolize me? I didn’t expect that the wall would turn out to be useless and you’d still take me all for yourself.”

“So virtuous.” Jiang Jun looked at the wall. “Call someone to do it after the Spring Festival. Let me use your large study room. The guest bedroom on my side can be demolished and turned into a closet. We’ll move the gym equipment to your side and bring your dining table and massage chairs to my side, and also exchange your chairs and sofa with mine. We’ll have to forget about the bathtub, the bathroom on my side is too small.

“Have you been thinking about my things for a long time or what?” Yuan Shuai propped himself up on his elbows to look at her. “Take whatever you want, but don’t forget to also take me, thanks.”

Jiang Jun stroked her chin, her face full of calculation. “I think we still have to keep a bedroom, so in case we break up, you’ll still have a place to live.”

“You wanna die or something?” Yuan Shuai pressed down on her with all his weight, pulling her shirt open and sliding his hands inside. “It’s true that we can leave a room for the children.”

“What, again?” Jiang Jun wailed loudly.

~ ~ ~

Within two days, A Xiang drove to the company to find Jiang Jun with the trophy that he had won in the bet. Jiang Jun stared at the sports car and crooked her fingers at A Xiang.

A Xiang shook his head and refused to get out of the driver’s seat. “Lend it to me for two more days.”

It didn’t matter to Jiang Jun anyway since Yuan Shuai recently has his new car to drive and its performance was better than this one. If Master Ding wanted to play with it, she could lend it to him. Jiang Jun magnanimously agreed, “Okay, you can drive it.”

“To thank you, let me treat you to tea. A new dessert shop opened nearby. I tried it and it’s great.”

“No need, just hang onto the car for me.” Jiang Jun still had things to deal with and she had no time to entertain him, so she turned around and was about to leave when A Xiang called out to her. “Don’t be mad, but I’m really curious about why you’re not with Voldemort!”

“What?” Jiang Jun turned her head to look at him, a puzzled expression on her face.

A Xiang was a little embarrassed and couldn’t look at her. “Never mind, it’s nothing, I shouldn’t misunderstand you. The fact is that you’re not Bellatrix, you are you, Juno. Also, you’re a good match for Zeus, I can tell that he really loves you.”

Jiang Jun asked him without thinking much of it, “Since you like to make us into movie characters so much, which character are you?”

Hopefully she had interpreted his look wrong. A trace of sadness flashed in A Xiang’s eyes and he whispered, “Aram.”

“Aram?” Jiang Jun rarely watched movies, and she really didn’t know where this Aram came from.

“I’m leaving.” A Xiang reverted back to his usual boyish self. “I’ll send it back to you in a few days, I promise it’ll be in one piece.”

During lunch, Du went to Jiang Jun’s office to look for her and found that she was listening to a comedy show with her headphones on, so entertained that her face twisted with amusement.

Du glared at her with a stern face. “You’re still relaxed enough to smile? We’re all about to be a joke ourselves.”

“What’s the big deal, it’s not good to be so gloomy all the time.” Jiang Jun pressed the corners of her eyes. “What are you here for?”

“Before your vacation, come with me to Beijing.”

Jiang Jun was surprised. “Why?”

“Something went wrong in the office over there so we’ll go and deal with it. Isn’t your home in Beijing? You’ll just so happen to be able to visit.”

“I have to go?”

“Yes, it’s most appropriate for you to go.”

“When will we leave?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“It’s that urgent?” Jiang Jun was a little hesitant.

“Is there a problem?”

Jiang Jun made up her mind and said, “No.”

Du nodded, tapped his fingers on the table, and said softly, “Be careful of how we look, there are many pairs of eyes staring at us.”

Jiang Jun was expressionless. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t be able to laugh now even if I wanted to laugh.”

Du was a little confused. “What’s wrong now?”

“I’m overexcited.”

She always knew that she would have to go back eventually and had kept reminding herself: This was her own family, and everything they did was for her own good.

She only called home during the New Year to express just a few simple blessings, not daring to say much or to listen to more. Grandfather never talked to her. At first, she felt resentful and didn’t want to go back. Then, she didn’t have the face to go back,* and so she delayed it again and again, stalling until now.  [T/N* Too embarrassed/ashamed to go back]

Jiang Jun took out the phone and dialed the familiar number that she hadn’t used in nearly a year. She pressed the wrong buttons and started over, then she got the wrong numbers again and kept dialed, then the dial tone sounded and she hung up. After dialing again, the phone was picked up, and she said as calmly as possible, “I am Jun-jun.”

“Sorry, please give your full name.”

“Damn it!” Jiang Jun threw the phone away angrily. It was probably a new personal secretary who didn’t know who she was at all, and the careful questioning made her lose her courage.

The phone that had fallen in the corner soon rang and Jiang Jun looked away, slumping at her desk and not wanting to answer it.

Secretary Ammy asked her in an internal call, “Mr. Yuan from GT is on line one, do you want to accept it?” Yuan Shuai, that demon, was also putting the pressure on her in this mess? Jiang Jun was even more upset and took out a cigarette. When she opened the matchbox, her hands shook and the matches scattered all over the floor.

The phone kept ringing persistently and she regretted buying a Nokia. It was really sturdy, so no matter how she tried to break it, it still worked.

“Mr. Yuan from GT is calling again.”

Knowing that she couldn’t avoid it, Jiang Jun took a few deep breaths. “Accept the call. Eh, by the way, help me find a lighter.”

“Answer the phone!” Yuan Shuai’s tone was quite stern.

“No.” Jiang Jun hemmed and hawed and started to shamelessly look for a way out, “I dialed the wrong number, you can help me explain it.”

Yuan Shuai’s tone softened. “Be good, hurry and pick up the call, your grandma is waiting for you. Anyway, since you’ve decided to go home, you can’t avoid this forever.”

“I still have things to do.”

“You had the courage to call, so why aren’t you brave enough to pick it up, wimp? Hurry up, if you don’t call, I’ll go to your office to call for you.”

“You bastard!” Jiang Jun hung up and unplugged the line.

Ammy knocked on the door and came in to deliver the lighter. Seeing that the phone was ringing nonstop on the ground, Ammy unsurprisingly asked whether Jiang Jun wanted her to help reject the call.

Jiang Jun waved her hand and motioned for Ammy to leave. She walked to the phone and sat on the carpet, smoking a cigarette and staring at the string of numbers on the phone screen beside her in a daze.

“0000000000000000000.” In mathematics, 0 meant both “the end” and “the beginning.” Was this the end or a new beginning?

Jiang Jun gathered up the courage to pick up the phone and take the call.

“Jun-jun?”

She didn’t speak, her nose starting to ache.

“Jun-jun, Grandma miss you very much.”

“Sorry…I’m sorry…”

“…”

“I will be back tomorrow.”

“That’s good, come back, just come back. What do you want to eat? I’ll roast it for you, how about pig’s feet? Your grandfather said that if you don’t come back this Spring Festival, he’ll send your dad over to drag you home… You silly child, how old are you now to still cry…”

Jiang Jun put down the phone, crying over her desk. It took her so long to discover that life is actually a number, starting from 0 and ending with 0.

Yuan Shuai had felt ill at ease ever since he had scolded Miss Jiang in the afternoon and couldn’t get anything done, so he simply went home early. As soon as he walked in, he was stunned. Clothes were strewn everywhere. There were four different dishes and a soup on the dining table, and there was even a bottle of red wine. The situation was too weird, was it the Hongmen Feast* or the Last Supper? [T/N* A feast set up with the aim of murdering a guest; there was a very famous historical event in 206 BC where Liu Bang escaped attempted murder by his rival Xiangyu and eventually became the first Han emperor. It’s also know as the Feast at Swan Goose Gate]

Yuan Shuai walked into the bedroom and saw Jiang Jun wearing a low cut and backless halter nightgown, desperately pulling an oversized suitcase from the storage room.

She’s trying to run away! This was the first thought that popped into Yuan Shuai’s mind.

“What are you doing?” He held down the luggage.

“Packing my suitcase.”

“Packing your suitcase for what?”

When he saw that Jiang Jun didn’t speak and instead only looked up at him with a pout, Yuan Shuai almost went mad with anger, cursing and scolding, “You fucking still want to run, don’t you? It’s been how many years and you still don’t understand? Do you even have a conscience? How many times has your grandmother cried over you, your grandfather was so angry that he had a heart attack, your parents’ hair has turned white, do you even know? Yes, you’re the only one who’s great and important, you’re the only one who’s ever been infatuated, and everyone else are just jerks. They’re all murderers trying to destroy your bullshit love. I’ve been following behind your ass for so many years while you fucking chased after that bastard every day without even sparing a glance at me. Yes! I’m despicable, it’s all my one-sided wishful thinking, I…”

One way to make a person shut up is to not let his mouth be empty. Jiang Jun didn’t understand what he was talking about, but she had been yelled at so much that her head started to ache, so she simply rushed forward and grabbed his head to kiss him. She tasted salt on her lips and yet didn’t know whose tears were so bitter.

Taking advantage of the intermission, Yuan Shuai began to talk again. “What do you count this as, huh? You really take me for a dog, whenever you like you’ll just kiss me, whenever you don’t like, you’ll just turn around and leave, you…”  He was interrupted by another deep and passionate kiss with tongue. “Don’t keep trying that on me, I’m standing firm, your honey trap isn’t going work, you better not think that you can run…”

His mouth was swollen and yet Yuan Shuai was still chattering on. Jiang Jun was annoyed. “Are you done yet or what? I’m going to Beijing tomorrow on a business trip, what’s the big deal about packing a suitcase?”

Yuan Shuai stared blankly for a bit and then asked, “Why are you taking such a big suitcase on a business trip? It’s the same as if you’re moving.”

“I’m going to just live at home for the New Year and my annual leave was approved. Anyway, I have to go back to live there in the future, so I might as well bring more things now if I can.”

Another deep kiss, French style, and this time it was Yuan Shuai who initiated it.

“Weren’t you standing firm? Why are you kissing me?” Jiang Jun gave Yuan Shuai a glare and wiped her mouth.

Yuan Shuai picked her up and put her on the bed. “That’s right, I am standing firm. I’m not only firm but also full of wisdom, I incited the beautiful woman first.”

Jiang Jun rolled to the corner of the bed, wrapped herself in a quilt and yelled, “You’re trying to use your good looks to seduce me, but let me tell you, my position is also firm.”

Yuan Shuai grinned and climbed onto the bed, pinning her under his body. “You’re not as firm as I am, bring it on!”

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Translator’s notes:

That last line is as suggestive as it sounds even in English, the author uses two different adjectives for “firm” wink wink.

So about the xiang qin stuff… You might think this is some kind of historical Mulan-style stuff, but my older sister was put through dozens of them and sometimes my mom even made me go in her place to meet the guy (because my sister was out of state at that time, even though she’s 13 years older that me), which is just as awkward as it sounds. Funny story, when I was in college, my mom dragged me to an actual matchmaker once. She was an older lady who was presiding over an open air farmer’s market full of fruits and vegetables and looked at me like she was inspecting a cabbage. No joke.

Anyway, this matchmaker ended up taking down my info even though this was all supposedly for my sisters who are way older than me. So of course this woman calls up my mom two weeks later trying to pair me up with some guy who was 15 years older than me (I was under 20 at that time) but is a doctor, what a good catch, great family!! blah blah blah because she mixed up our information. Anyway, I still instinctively shudder whenever I hear the words. But back in the day, it was actually worse and families would make marriage alliances and the groom and bride would get married before even seeing each other.

Also on another note, it’s hard to get exactly what Yuan Shuai means during his outburst when he describes himself as “贱” because it’s associated with whole bunch of bad meanings in modern times that can’t really be summed up in one English word, like being low class, contemptible, a bitch, slut, etc. though it originally was used more as cheap/inexpensive. The poor guy had just had it at that point lol