Chapter 2: Rooted In Her Heart
New names to learn
施楚宁 - Shi Chuning
宋雨兰 - Song Yulan
This translation is originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
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Two long shadows overlap beneath the streetlamp.
The cold light shines on Song Qingluo's silver-gray hair, sparkling, delicate, and fluffy. Her whole body is so white that it shines, seemingly transparent and fragile. The bright and enchanting facial features neutralize it, making her look more like a wild and untamed elf.
A strand of hair blew up in the night wind and brushed against the tip of Wen Ruoxian's nose, making it itch.
When the stranger suddenly asked her name, she instinctively raised her guard and brushed her sleeves, "Sorry, it's inconvenient."
Song Qingluo also realized she had been rude and awkwardly withdrew her hand, saying, "I'm sorry."
She didn't insist any further, thinking of her friend waiting for her. It was time to leave. Looking at the fallen motorcycle on the ground, she couldn't have imagined during the purchase that, less than a month later, she would have to use her trained methods to lift it.
Superleggera means "super light", with a full carbon fiber body and a total weight of 152 kg, which is considered light among models of the same brand.
It’s not like she hasn't lifted heavier bikes than this.
Song Qingluo walked to the middle of the bike, and squatted with her back to it, gripping the handle with one hand and supporting the rear seat with the other. Her legs provided support as she exerted force, slowly lifting the bike...
She carefully controlled her strength, fearing that she would flip over on her back accidentally.
A pair of hands suddenly held her shoulders.
"?"
"Be careful." Wen Ruoxian walked around to the right side of the car and stretched out her hand to support her behind her back.
The two forces balanced, and Song Qingluo had no time to be surprised. She kicked down the stand to support the bike, turned around, and lightly curled her lips, "Thank you."
Wen Ruoxian nodded and walked towards her car.
It sat there quietly, with a brand-new paint job, gleaming with oil. It resembled a calm and mysterious beast, with two straight headlights emitting a cold and sharp light, illuminating the swirling dust.
Jiang D SR220*
*Chinese License plate. The character is the short name or alias for each province, autonomous region, and municipality. The letter next to the character is the region code. D are for the car owners who have registered addresses within the 9 central districts. Jiangcheng (There are real ones- a county in Yunnan, and a district in Guangdong) is a common fictional city name in mainland Chinese literature, film, and television works. The rest are alphanumeric combinations with no particular meaning BUT car owners can have custom plates. For those who read FTBT, you probably know what SR means. 220 is a chat lingo that means second to no one, though more on a Western thing, I don't know if it means the same in China.
Song Qingluo silently memorized the number plate, watched her get into the car, and then walked away after it drifted away...
….
After a few minutes of delay on the road, it was already half past nine when she arrived at the "Lingyi"* Motorcycle Club. The single detached two-story building was brightly lit from within, filled with chatter, and the entrance was crowded with motorcycles of various designs.
*01
Today is the first anniversary of the founding of the club. Her motorcycle friends attending the party were busy with an outdoor barbecue, the delicious aroma wafting quite a distance. Song Qingluo parked her bike under the awning, just as she removed her helmet, a few familiar faces gathered around.
"Ducati?"
"Qingluo-jie bought a new toy again."
"It's only been seven days since you got the Ninja, and now this? You're so inhumane, haha."
Listening to the teasing from everyone, Song Qingluo was absent-minded, and she smiled perfunctorily, "What's cooking?"
The large yard covers an area of more than 200 square meters and is spacious. There is a panoramic ground-floor showroom along the street, featuring a wide range of motorcycle brands. Upstairs was the exclusive members' leisure area, equipped with various entertainment facilities. The design had a dark industrial aesthetic with a touch of cyberpunk elements, exuding a sense of technology and power.
Because of the anniversary party, both indoors and outdoors were adorned with balloons and colorful lights. Rock music played to the rhythm of drums, creating a festive atmosphere.
A woman with blonde hair stood by the barbecue grill, with the cooked meat skewers steaming in her hands. Seeing Song Qingluo walking over, she stretched it out in front of her with a smile: "Freshly grilled big beef skewers, I know you like it most."
The source of her resentment is Shi Chuning, who is also the owner of the club.
She urged her three or four times tonight.
"I'm late, please make two skewers first as a token of respect." Song Qingluo winked, took the meat skewers, and took a bite.
Riding a motorcycle and drinking alcohol don't mix. Motorcyclists usually drink coffee at gatherings, but it is already night and drinking coffee may cause insomnia until dawn. Shi Chuning thoughtfully brought her freshly squeezed juice and pulled her to sit down.
The party started at six o'clock, and there were thirty-one members, men, and women, present. Most of them were familiar faces, and they had been enjoying themselves since sunset. Song Qingluo had a performance tonight, so she had to rush to make it in time after her other commitments clashed.
She had only come to make a brief appearance and to show off her new toy.
"Qingluo, is this a new model released last year? I haven't seen it in China before." A tall and thin boy stared at the red motorcycle with envy in his eyes.
Song Qingluo took a sip of juice and said, "Mm, I just received it last week."
"Can I be your fender?"
"Sure."
She nodded casually, swaying the cup in her hand, and smiled, "Change your personality first."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Everyone knows that Song Qingluo only carries girls in the back seat.
The two girls beside her joined in, "Take me, take me, Qingluo-jie, I'm holding the number plate of love, the first one!"
"Another time."
"Wah—"
They chatted for a while about motorcycles, various events, and plans for the next event. Song Qingluo listened with her ears, but her mind was filled with "Jiang D SR220", distracted without realizing it.
She took out her phone and opened her cloud album. In a few old photos, the camera focused on the woman's face. Due to the distance of the shots, the photos weren't very clear, only showing the contours of her face and rough features.
The rest is in her mind.
When she took these photos, she didn't think about how long she would keep them, maybe a few days, maybe a few months. However, now she had gone through four phones, and her cloud album account remained the same. The photos came and went, but these few were always there.
Comparing carefully with the woman tonight, there was indeed some resemblance in their facial bone structure. However, there were subtle differences too.
She couldn't quite put her finger on it.
The excitement continued until late at night, and the final round of the lottery ended as the clock pointed to eleven o'clock.
Everyone said goodbye to each other, and the motorcycles at the door left one after another. The empty yard was in a mess, the colored lights were still flashing. The music had abruptly stopped, and for a moment, it was eerily quiet.
Song Qingluo huddled in the corner in a daze.
"The performance didn't go well?" Shi Chuning sat down next to her and took the empty cup away.
"What?"
"I noticed that you are not in a good mood tonight."
In the past, Song Qingluo loved lively gatherings, and she was adept at enjoying food, drinks, and entertainment. Even major issues wouldn't affect her mood. However, tonight, she appeared distracted, trying to hide it.
Colorful lights illuminated her face. Her expression seemed lost, but she was smiling again, "I accidentally hit a four-wheeler on the way here just now."
"A car accident?" Shi Chuning suddenly became nervous. "Are you okay? Why didn't you say anything earlier…"
"It's just a small scratch." Song Qingluo waved her hand.
"Who do you think the car owner looks like?"
Seeing that she was fine, Shi Chuning felt relieved and said, "Who?"
"Mia."
This name, sounding like English but actually German, dragged them both into a whirlpool of memories. It was their shared memory, but Shi Chuning was a bystander, while she had been the party involved.
Bystanders are always more sober than those involved.
Shi Chuning shook her head: "How long has it been, why are you still..."
"Why haven't I forgotten her?" Song Qingluo continued and then she chuckled.
A person she had only met twice had been rooted in her heart for six years.
How ridiculous.
"How much do they resemble each other?"
"About six or seven points, height, facial features. But it's not exactly the same." She recounted what had just happened.
Upon knowing that she didn't ask the other party's name, Shi Chuning coughed lightly and looked at her with a look of love for a fool: "So, is it possible that it would be more effective for you to just say 'Mia, I met you in Berlin'? You could gauge her reaction that way, couldn't you?"
Song Qingluo was stunned.
Why didn't she think of it? Starting with asking for the name and getting rejected was her own fault.
Mistake. Mistake.
"It's too late to talk about this now." Song Qingluo sighed, her long and dense eyelashes drooping slightly.
Shi Chuning wanted to persuade her to let go and not hang herself on one tree, but she had said similar words several times over the years, but Song Qingluo never listened to her. They had grown up together, and they knew each other's temper best, and there was no point in nagging.
So she changed the subject: "Are you going to go camping in an RV at the end of the month? On the 27th, we will go to the Baizhang Mountain Scenic Area in the next province."
Song Qingluo's eyes brightened slightly, but she remembered something more important, "No, there is a performance on the 29th, and we have to rehearse for the first three days."
"What a pity. I originally wanted to introduce you to someone."
"That's not really a pity."
"I heard that she is a sweet girl, a top student, and her family is engaged in scientific research."
"Not interested"
"She really likes you. She never misses any of your performances."
"How is that my business?"
"..."
This person was determined to hang on one tree.
Shi Chuning thought worriedly like an old mother, and raised her forehead helplessly: "Forget it, just hold Mia's phantom and be alone for the rest of your life."
"Are you cursing me?"
"That's a blessing!"
The yard echoed with the laughter of the two.
This translation is originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
The next day, Song Qingluo sent the motorcycle to the official repair shop.
Her new toy is delicate. It fell last night. Thanks to the protection of the crash bars, it hadn't suffered any damage to its overall structure or components when it toppled over last night. However, the right side had some scraped paint, making it look unsightly with dents and scratches.
Unfortunately, the factory paint had run out, so she had to wait a whole week to get it repainted. In the meantime, she had them fix the paint, replace the crash bars, apply a protective film, and perform full maintenance.
The cost is less than ten thousand.
After the motorcycle was delivered back, it stayed parked in the underground garage. Song Qingluo never touched it again. She preferred to ride her Ninja 400 when going out or occasionally drive a four-wheeled vehicle. This way, she avoided the remorse that came with seeing it every time.
But "Jiang D SR220" was rooted in her heart. Like an insect bite, swollen and extremely itchy.
Living in the same city and sharing the same sky, she sometimes couldn't help but think that there might be a chance to meet again, or pass each other on the street, or meet in the traffic at the intersection.
….
A rainy morning.
Song Qingluo was woken up by her mother's phone call.
"Qingluo, I'm going to invite my partners to dinner today at noon. It should be over around one-thirty. You go ahead and have your lunch first, then arrive ten minutes early at the parking lot of Yunjin Lihua Hotel. I'll have the driver..." The gentle yet somewhat indulgent voice of a woman in her ear chased away her drowsiness.
She hummed twice as a response, hung up the phone, and got up.
She hasn’t been home for the past half a month. Ms. Song Yulan said she missed her and asked her to go back and stay for a few days and go to the beauty salon for a spa treatment in the afternoon.
Song Qingluo knew very well that her busy mother wanted to break everything in half. She would sign contracts with people in the morning and treat people to dinner at noon. During the meal, she would let her go over to meet them and go home together after finishing the spa.
Perfect itinerary.
As a kissing little cotton-padded jacket*, of course, she cooperated.
*mama's girl
She spent the entire morning practicing the violin. The violin and motorcycles were Song Qingluo's two major hobbies. Besides eating, drinking, and having fun, she devoted most of her time and energy to these two passions. In fact, she could go a day without riding her motorcycle, but she couldn't go a day without practicing the violin.
Before going out, Song Qingluo applied a few strokes of eyebrow powder, applied apricot-colored lip gloss, rolled up her hair casually, and wore a casual sweater and trousers with sneakers, looking lazy and naughty.
It took a fifteen-minute taxi ride from her residential area to the hotel. She probably inherited her mother's precise time management skills, always arriving neither too early nor too late.
There are not many cars on the second floor of the basement, and the black Maybach is right in front of her.
"Miss Song." The driver Xiao Jiang saw Song Qingluo from a distance, got out of the car, opened the back seat door, and smiled at her.
Song Qingluo thanked her and bent down to sit in the car.
"Have you had lunch?"
"Yes."
"Oh, when did you get here?"
"Around eleven forty."
She asked, and the driver responded, politely and concisely.
There were documents neatly placed on the small table in the back seat. Song Qingluo flipped through two pages. It seemed to be a cooperation project in the field of language services. The name of the other party's company was "Yisheng", and there was a brief introduction in the document.
She wasn't particularly interested and put the documents back.
After sitting for less than five minutes, Song Qingluo got a little impatient and felt that the car was too restrictive. She opened the door and walked back and forth around the car.
Footsteps were coming from the direction of the elevator hall.
Three or four people were walking her way. Song Qingluo saw Ms. Song Yulan at a glance, she was talking to the person next to her with a smile as bright as a spring breeze. She moved her eyes to the face of the woman next to her…
Is it her?
Author's Note:
I see a lot of familiar little cuties (happy~
PS: I secretly sent red envelopes to everyone in the previous chapter.
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