Chapter 143: Troubles
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
It seems like Shen Qingbie’s troubles are about Yu An.
This made Ruan Yesheng even more curious. She wanted to know what Shen Qingbie’s troubles really were, so she read carefully. Xi Mo leaned a little closer at this time, her eyes fixed on the letter without moving. Ruan Yesheng caught sight of her serious look and smiled, then pushed the thick stack of letter paper a bit more toward Xi Mo.
Their heads were almost touching as they kept reading the letter.
Shen Qingbie’s handwriting was very clear, every stroke neat, no fancy cursive. The shapes were round and cute, filling the white pages in order.
She used the voice of “a friend” in the letter and said: “That closest sister treats my friend very well. Of course my friend treats her very well too. They’re colleagues in the same company. Because of the nature of work, my friend often has to travel for business, and that closest sister often goes with her, takes care of her, and thinks of her in everything. Even though my friend often makes that closest sister angry, sometimes even gets blocked, but Xi Mo, don’t worry. These are just little quarrels. That closest sister can’t bear to really block her. Usually after an hour she unblocks her again.”
Xi Mo: "…"
…Who’s worried?
Even when writing a letter she still has to add extra drama?
At first she was only reading with Ruan Yesheng because Ruan Yesheng wanted to. But when she saw this part, she became more curious about the person behind this letter.
How can there be someone in this world who talks so much nonsense?
This is eye opening.
Shen Qingbie then wrote another long section, chattering on and on, describing how “close” she and Yu An were, yet still not getting to the point.
Ruan Yesheng saw this and thought, no wonder it’s Shen Qingbie. Fortunately, Yu An can’t see this letter, or else Yu An might block Shen Qingbie for an hour again.
Finally Shen Qingbie made a turn. She wrote: “My friend doesn’t want to get married at all. She always feels marriage is troublesome, even scary. One time my friend watched a variety show about several celebrity couples after marriage. The show had good reviews, and the couples were very sweet. But when my friend watched it, she felt very nervous. She wondered, is this just acting after getting a script, are those couples really the same in private, or maybe not. My friend thought this way of thinking was very dark. She felt ashamed while reading, but she just couldn’t control it.”
Although Shen Qingbie always says she’s the solar system’s straight girl, she has never dated. Her judgment of being straight is only based on what she calls her instinct.
When they chatted before, Ruan Yesheng had learned that when Shen Qingbie was young, her parents were already divorced.
Shen Qingbie looked like an optimist, but deep inside she had a fear of marriage. She was scared that if she ever married one day, she would end up like her parents, walking the road of divorce.
Since this was her confession, and she used the excuse of “I have a friend,” Shen Qingbie wrote with every detail, holding nothing back: “My friend’s mom divorced her dad very early. At that time my friend didn’t know the reason. Her mom divorced in a very firm way. The property was split half and half. My friend was given to her mom and grew up by her side.”
Ruan Yesheng saw Shen Qingbie bring up her parents’ divorce on her own, and couldn’t help sighing.
If someone’s parents divorced early, there’s a high chance they suffered or had scars in the heart. Yet Shen Qingbie could still keep her purity, with no schemes in her mind. The big reason must be that her mom sheltered her too well under her wings.
In those years while Shen Qingbie grew up, her mom surely couldn’t bear to let her suffer any pain. She didn’t want her to see the ugliness of the world. She didn’t even tell her the real reason for the divorce, probably made up a soft excuse to kindly deceive her.
She was her mom’s little princess.
Shen Qingbie wrote: “When my friend’s mom was on her deathbed, she told her the truth of the divorce. It was because her dad hit her mom. He hit very hard. That was the first time he hit her mom. He had another woman outside, and her mom found out. They argued in anger, and then he raised his hand. When my friend heard this, she remembered that night in childhood. She saw her mom had injuries. Her mom said she fell by accident. After coming back from the hospital, she took her and left the house.”
Xi Mo frowned.
She hated domestic violence. Seeing that the letter writer’s mom had been abused, she was furious, yet at the same time felt some pity for what the letter writer went through.
Fans were willing to pour their life stories into letters because they trusted her, treating her as a warm harbor where their feelings could rest for a while. Even if most of them never expected her to read them, they still kept writing.
Among those letters, falling down like snowflakes, she would randomly pick some to read. Inside, she could always see joys and sorrows, separations and reunions, all kinds of human life.
Her heart was wrapped in the thick snow and ice of the high mountain, but inside it was soft. As she turned over those confessions, warmth would flow quietly in her chest.
Shen Qingbie then carefully asked in the letter: “Xi Mo, now I will write down word for word the words my friend’s mom said before she died. She remembered them since she was little and never told anyone before. The words may be a bit long. I’ll use her mom’s tone to retell them. You won’t mind it, right?”
Xi Mo: “…”
This is a letter, not face-to-face talk. You already wrote it, why still ask if I mind?
Another detail made Xi Mo unable to stand it. She pointed at one sentence and whispered to Ruan Yesheng: “Here’s a hole in logic. The writer has been using ‘a friend’ to cover up that she’s talking about herself. But here she says, ‘never told anyone before.’ If her friend never said it, how would she know? This is just revealing herself. She is that friend.”
Ruan Yesheng laughed: “Your logic is too weird. Why get entangled with such little matters.”
“Is this a small matter?” Xi Mo looked serious. “Since she wanted to use ‘a friend’ as a cover, it would be better if the logic stayed complete, with no mistakes. That way the reading experience would be smoother. The whole letter said ‘a friend,’ but here she slipped up. It feels awkward.”
“Your OCD is acting up again?” Ruan Yesheng stared at her.
Xi Mo: “…”
“Alright, the letter can’t be changed, but to make you feel better, I’ll fix it for you in words. Change it to, ‘She remembered them since she was little, and in the past only told me about it.’” Ruan Yesheng squinted her eyes as she smiled. “Well? Does it feel better now?”
Xi Mo muttered: “Mm.”
Her face was stiff, but after Ruan Yesheng fixed the logic for her, she really did feel much better.
It was like seeing a glass sitting at the edge of the table, about to fall, scratching at her heart with unease. Then Ruan Yesheng just happened to walk by and kindly pushed the glass back in place. Now everything was perfect again.
That sense of comfort made her feel, just for a moment, that Ruan Yesheng was also part of this perfection.
Shen Qingbie continued in her letter: “Before my friend’s mom passed away, she said: ‘Baby, if you get married in the future, you must remember, if someone hits you once, there will be a next time. Everything else is an excuse. Asking for forgiveness later is also a lie. You must never believe it. If someone truly cares about you, how could they bear to raise a hand against you? If you meet such a person, you must leave without hesitation. I cannot rest easy. If I am no longer by your side to protect you, what should I do? Mom wanted to live strong till eighty or ninety, that way I could always protect you. If your future husband treats you badly, I’ll break his leg. But sadly, I can’t do it now. Mom won’t see that day.’”
After Ruan Yesheng finished reading Shen Qingbie’s mother’s last words, she let out a soft sigh.
Shen Qingbie wrote: “Before her mom passed away, she was still worried that my friend might be bullied by her future husband. But she didn’t know that deep inside, my friend was already afraid of marriage. At this point, Xi Mo, you might ask, what does all this have to do with my friend’s closest sister?”
Xi Mo: “…”
Why would I ask?
Adding drama again?
Are you actually a movie queen?
In the next line of the letter, Shen Qingbie asked and answered herself:
“My friend is afraid of marriage, so she also feels timid about dating. Because dating will sooner or later lead to marriage, right? Since she doesn’t want marriage, she would rather not date. This way she won’t trouble anyone. After my friend accepted this thought, she also hoped her closest sister would never date, and never marry. But when she began to think this way, she realized she was being selfish. She felt very troubled and didn’t know what to do.”
Shen Qingbie wrote out a whole mess of reasons, and finally Ruan Yesheng understood what she truly meant.
Shen Qingbie actually hoped that Yu An could stay single like her.
But she also felt it was too mean to think that way, so she fell into self-doubt and couldn’t get rid of the worry. That’s why she wrote to Xi Mo to vent. Probably even Shen Qingbie herself didn’t expect that Xi Mo would actually read this letter.
Ruan Yesheng, being sharp-minded, felt there were many hidden details in Shen Qingbie’s words that could be dug deeper if one thought carefully.
Shen Qingbie went on:
“My friend’s closest sister has always stayed with her, but she can’t possibly never marry and accompany my friend until old age. That’s too unrealistic. My friend doesn’t even know what kind of person her closest sister likes, but recently, from her observation, it seems her closest sister likes pretty boys.”
Next, Shen Qingbie strongly showed her anger in the letter:
“What’s so good about pretty boys? It makes my friend so mad, mad, mad. That closest sister really can’t pick people. I thought her taste was high!”
She wrote “mad” three times in a row. You can see how angry she was.
Shen Qingbie was lost in it, while Ruan Yesheng as an outsider could see things clearly. She felt that Shen Qingbie’s resentment almost jumped out of the paper. Her eyes turned lightly, and her lips curved a little.
Shen Qingbie wrote a lot more after that. The eight-page letter finally came near the end. She wrote:
“This letter is a bit too long, but I think you won’t read it. My friend is also in an entertainment company. She gets lots of letters every day. You must get even more. I don’t expect you to see mine, but still I send my most sincere wishes.
I hope everything is well with you.
From your dear little fan.”
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
When she read this, Xi Mo let out a breath for no reason.
…This was not just a bit too long.
It was especially long!
After reading, she still had business to do. Xi Mo quickly sat back, carefully searching through the envelopes, hoping to find the kind with 24 solar term flowers that Ruan Yesheng mentioned.
Even one would be fine.
Ruan Yesheng put the thick stack of papers back into the envelope and set it where it was. She also sat down at the table, searching for the letters she wrote to Xi Mo while saying:
“After reading this letter, how do you feel?”
“It’s so long.” Xi Mo said with a straight face.
Ruan Yesheng burst out laughing.
“Then what do you think about the person who wrote the letter, and her closest sister?”
“What do you mean what do I think?” Xi Mo asked.
Ruan Yesheng hinted gently: “The one who wrote the letter looks like a marriage-fearing straight girl. The closest sister she mentioned is also a straight girl. Do you think two straight girls, both not marrying, living together till old age, is possible?”
“Why not?”
Ruan Yesheng felt happy inside and quickly asked: “Then tell me, in what case would that happen?”
“Do you still need examples?” Xi Mo said seriously: “I read some reports. Some women are independent non-marriage types. Then they meet other women who think the same way. They agree to live together, help each other, and walk through the rest of life side by side until the end. Some live in groups, some in pairs. In today’s society, this is very normal.”
Ruan Yesheng: “…”
Reports? This block of wood is smart and logical, yet when it comes to this, she just won’t get it.
It made her mad.
Xi Mo noticed Ruan Yesheng’s face looked a little dark and asked: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Ruan Yesheng moved her eyes away, staring at the messy letters on the table. A sudden stuffy anger rose in her chest. She said: “Hurry and find the letters. If you can’t find them, you’ll have to pay for it.”
Xi Mo: “…”
Author's Note:
Solar system’s straight girl worrying about her own marriage, really thinking too much. If you marry the Galaxy’s straight girl, how could there be such troubles, silly [.
As expected of you, Universe’s straight girl, hurry and coax your wife
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