Two or Three Events in the Last Days 014
Chapter 14: Going to the Processing Station
Zhao Zhiwen was also running in their direction. Although he knew what an earthquake was, this was the first time in his twenty-some years of life that he had ever experienced one. When he had been shaken awake, he had still been half asleep. It was only after his mother, still in her pajamas, dragged him out of bed and caused him to bump his head on the floor that he fully regained his senses.
The whole family rushed out of the house. Still shaken and panicked, Zhou Yu collapsed onto the ground, but she still remembered to tell Zhao Zhiwen to hurry and check on Jing Lin and Le Le.
Zhao Zhiwen had good eyesight. From far away, he spotted Jing Lin carrying Le Le in the moonlight and heading toward them. As he got closer, he noticed that Le Le was crying so hard he was hiccuping.
“How… how are you? Are you okay?” he asked hurriedly. His own heart was still pounding in his throat, and he was stammering and gasping for breath as he spoke.
“We’re fine. He got frightened.” Jing Lin gently stroked the back of Le Le’s head.
Le Le had experienced an earthquake before. During the period after he had come to live with Jing Lin, Jing Lin had barely dared to turn over in bed at night. Even a slightly larger movement could wake Le Le and frighten him into tears, as he would mistake the motion for the house and bed shaking.
Perhaps the earthquake had reminded him of the parents he had lost. Le Le remained pressed against Jing Lin’s shoulder, quietly sobbing. No matter how Jing Lin tried to comfort him, nothing worked. Even Zhao Chenghuai and Zhou Yu were at a loss.
The villagers who had been awakened by the earthquake gradually gathered together in small groups. Jing Lin noticed that Yan Fei’s family was approaching from the other side.
Yan Fei was bare-chested, wearing only a pair of loose shorts. He had barely managed to slip on a pair of flip-flops before running outside. Over the past several days, he had been busy buying grain and stockpiling supplies everywhere. Aside from crossing paths with Jing Lin on the first day he went shopping, he had not seen him again.
As he approached, the first thing he noticed in the moonlight was not Jing Lin’s face. It was his feet. Even under the dim moonlight, they appeared remarkably pale.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
There was a reason people described beauty as something one could feast upon. As Yan Fei neared Jing Lin, he distinctly heard himself swallow. For someone like him, the flattering description would be love at first sight. The less flattering description would be that he had been captivated by good looks.
Yan Fei headed straight toward Jing Lin, and the rest of the Yan family followed behind him.
“Are you all right?” Yan Fei asked. As he spoke, he glanced at Le Le, who was curled up in Jing Lin’s arms.
Although he had not met Jing Lin again recently, he had already gathered information about him. He knew that Le Le was now Jing Lin’s only close relative and that he was on especially good terms with his childhood friend, Zhao Zhiwen’s, family.
Jing Lin’s attention was entirely focused on Le Le. He barely paid attention to Yan Fei. Hearing the question, he simply nodded in greeting and shook his head to indicate that they were fine.
Yan Fei did not mind. After all, they were practically strangers.
“Hello. My name is Yan Lu. I’m his younger sister.” While Yan Ruifeng and his wife Zhou Feifei moved toward the larger crowd of villagers, Yan Lu followed her brother over and cheerfully introduced herself.
Before Jing Lin could respond, Zhao Zhiwen’s eyes lit up.
“Hello! Hello! My name is Zhao Zhiwen. He’s my buddy, Jing Lin, and the one in his arms is his nephew, Le Le.”
Yan Lu nodded to show she understood. Then her gaze settled on Jing Lin and refused to move elsewhere.
She helped Jing Lin comfort Le Le, and after the child finally stopped crying, she continued studying Jing Lin with obvious interest. As a result, she completely failed to notice that Zhao Zhiwen was studying her just as intently.
Yan Fei, however, noticed immediately. He frowned slightly. Pulling Zhao Zhiwen into conversation, he began asking about village relationships and local families, deliberately redirecting Zhao Zhiwen’s attention away from his sister. From time to time, he also turned to include Jing Lin in the discussion.
The village was in an uproar. The earthquake had completely shattered the last traces of hope people had been clinging to.
Liu Yinghua’s house stood next door to Zhao Chenghuai’s. At that moment, Liu Yinghua and her daughter-in-law sat on the ground, each holding a child and crying. The children cried right along with them. The men who supported their household were all away from home. With no phones and no way to contact them, they had no idea whether those family members were safe. It took more than thirty hours by train to reach them. Trying to find them in person was completely unrealistic.
Others in the village also had relatives away from home. Hearing the two women cry made them anxious as well. Some began wiping away tears of their own, all while scolding the women and insisting there was no point in crying.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Others worried about their parents and relatives in neighboring villages. Some of those relatives still lived in old tile-roofed houses that had stood for more than thirty years. Those houses were close enough to have felt the earthquake, too. No one knew whether they had survived the shaking or collapsed.
Fortunately, their own village was in relatively good condition. Over the past two years, nearly every household had built new homes. At least for now, there was no immediate concern about houses collapsing.
Zhao Chenghuai had originally had a brother, but he had died when Zhao Chenghuai was still very young. Their parents had also been dead for many years. As for Zhou Yu, she had two younger siblings, but they were half-siblings from different parents, and their relationship was poor. When Zhou Yu lived at home, the two often bullied her, and her stepfather treated her badly as well. Back when she insisted on marrying the poor Zhao Chenghuai, her stepfather had even taken scissors and cut up the quilt she was bringing as part of her dowry the day before the wedding. As a result, after her mother died, Zhou Yu never returned to her maternal home and had gone many years without contacting that side of the family. So now, like Zhao Chenghuai, she only needed to worry about her own small household. Besides her husband and son, that family also included Jing Lin and Le Le.
Fortunately, they were all together.
Mother-in-law, Liu Yinghua, cried for quite a long time. By the time they finally stopped, the village leader had arrived carrying an oil lamp. Aside from the violent shaking earlier, no one had felt any aftershocks, but they still did not dare return to sleep. The leader gathered the villagers and arranged for everyone to spend the night at the village processing station.
The processing station had once been where their village and several nearby villages collectively milled rice and exchanged grain for flour. When Jing Lin was in middle school, the station’s tiled building had been rebuilt as a flat-roofed structure, but it was later shut down and had sat abandoned for many years. It was only cleaned and repaired once a year. During the busy farming season, villagers would sweep the large open area in front of it clean and use it to dry grain.
Although they were only planning to get through the night there, they could not simply lie down on the ground. Many of the villagers were brave enough to run back into their homes and fetch their sleeping mats. Even a little padding was better than nothing. Zhao Zhiwen ran inside to get a mat, while Zhao Chenghuai carried out the two wooden lounge chairs that were usually stored by the front gate before bedtime. Fully reclined, they could serve as makeshift beds. He also brought out two soft, lightweight blankets to cover their stomachs during the night and prevent them from catching a chill.
Yan Fei and his father also went home to gather supplies, while Zhou Feifei came over to find Yan Lu. At first, seeing her daughter staring dreamily at a young man carrying a child had made Zhou Feifei feel rather embarrassed. But after Yan Lu whispered that this was the young man her son had taken a liking to, Zhou Feifei could not help casting curious glances at Jing Lin as well. Even someone as oblivious as Jing Lin began to feel uncomfortable under the weight of their conspicuous attention.
Jing Lin finally had to ask, “Excuse me, is there something you need?”
Zhou Feifei snapped out of it and waved her hand awkwardly. “Nothing.”
After a while, she casually asked, “Young man, do you have a girlfriend?”
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Jing Lin shook his head. “No.”
Delighted, Zhou Feifei asked, “Is there any girl you like?”
Jing Lin immediately sensed something was off. He glanced at Yan Lu, who was standing nearby with eyes practically shining, and said seriously, “I need to raise my nephew, so I’m not planning to find a girlfriend for the time being.”
Jing Lin assumed Zhou Feifei was like those people who loved matchmaking whenever they saw an unmarried young man. He thought she was about to recommend some relative, niece, or even daughter to him, so he hurriedly made his situation clear. He still had a nephew to raise, which was a heavy responsibility, and hoped that would discourage her immediately. Besides, with the state of the world in the future, even finding enough food might become a problem. Who had the energy to think about romance?
In reality, plenty of people were thinking about such things—Yan Fei, for example, and Zhao Zhiwen, who had been secretly watching Yan Lu.
After hearing Jing Lin’s response, Zhou Feifei understood instantly. But she thought to herself, not finding a girlfriend didn’t mean he couldn’t find a boyfriend. What about her son? The two of them could raise the child together. Since neither of them could have children together anyway, they could simply treat raising one as having a son.
She had far too much she wanted to say, but outwardly remained perfectly composed. Zhou Feifei kept smiling. Even though she could not clearly see Le Le’s face, the way she looked at him was practically the same as looking at half a grandson. Fortunately, the darkness concealed her expression and prevented anyone else from being alarmed.
Meanwhile, Zhao Zhiwen was feeling rather miserable. Over the past few years, he had met quite a few women through matchmaking, but it had been difficult to encounter anyone he genuinely liked. Setting appearance aside, he had always disliked arranged introductions in the first place, so he often developed a negative impression of the other person before even meeting them. Matches that started that way rarely worked out. As for Yan Lu, while it wasn’t quite the “love at first sight” as it was for Yan Fei with Jing Lin, he did have a very favorable impression of her.
Now, hearing Zhou Feifei questioning Jing Lin and seeing Yan Lu’s obvious interest in him, Zhao Zhiwen felt a little dejected. It had not been easy for him to finally take a liking to a girl, yet both the girl and her mother seemed interested in his good friend instead.
Still, he knew Jing Lin belonged to the type of person who was incredibly slow when it came to romance. Back in middle school and high school, plenty of girls had liked him, including some who were beautiful, academically gifted, and from good families. Yet he had not been interested in a single one of them. By university, he had only grown more handsome, and still had never dated.
Thinking of that, Zhao Zhiwen heard Jing Lin mention Le Le again and secretly concluded that Jing Lin had definitely understood Zhou Feifei’s intentions. Bringing up Le Le had been a polite rejection. It seemed Jing Lin had no romantic interest in Yan Lu at the moment, which meant Zhao Zhiwen needed to put in more effort himself.
Zhou Yu had followed the conversation the entire time and had observed all of her son’s little reactions. Seeing Zhou Feifei’s attempt to talk with Jing Lin fail, she quickly stepped in herself. Jing Lin might not be interested in your daughter, she thought, but I am—and so is my son. She stuffed the fan, mosquito coil, and matchbox she was carrying into Zhao Chenghuai’s arms and pulled Zhou Feifei aside to chat.
It had to be said that both families were remarkably carefree. They had just experienced an earthquake and were worrying about what the future might bring. Everyone else looked anxious, yet these two families still had the leisure to sit around chatting.
The processing station stood on the eastern edge of the village. By the time Jing Lin and the others arrived, those who had walked ahead had already chosen spots, spread out mats, and settled down. Zhou Feifei and Zhou Yu shared the same surname and had similar personalities, so they got along exceptionally well. Their families decided to place their mats and chairs together. When Yan Fei and his father arrived, they simply spread their mat in the open space Zhao Zhiwen had deliberately reserved.
The ground was smooth concrete, so there was no concern about discomfort from uneven terrain. Everyone applied mosquito-repellent lotion and lit mosquito coils, leaving no worry about insect bites. The temperature outside was also cooler than indoors, making it more comfortable for sleeping.
Everyone had been jolted awake in the middle of the night, and once the initial shock passed, exhaustion gradually caught up with them. Before long, the conversations faded away, replaced by the sounds of people sleeping all around.
Jing Lin and Le Le shared a mat positioned directly beside Yan Fei and his father. Le Le slept on Jing Lin’s left side, while Yan Fei lay on Le Le’s other side. After Le Le had fallen asleep, Jing Lin tore the tissue he had used earlier to wipe away Le Le’s tears into two small wads and gently stuffed them into the child’s ears, worried that insects might crawl inside. When he finished and looked up, he found Yan Fei staring at him from beside Le Le.
Startled, Jing Lin paused before quietly asking, “Did I wake you?”
Yan Fei shook his head. “No. I just couldn’t fall asleep.”
Jing Lin could not sleep either. The earthquake had made him think of his sister and brother-in-law, and his mood was poor. He had no desire to chat, so he rolled from his side onto his back, adjusted the blanket covering Le Le, glanced up at the starless night sky, and said, “Even if you can’t sleep, you should try. It’s getting late.”
His tone was calm, but Yan Fei could tell that he was not in a good mood. He said nothing further. After watching Jing Lin quietly for a while, he closed his eyes and tried to drift off to sleep. When he opened them again, everything had changed.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Two of two for the week.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Avid BL reader, editor, and translator with 1 story completed (CLWP) and 1 story in progress (TELD). Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
