Two or Three Events in the Last Days 002
Chapter 2 Red Bumps
When he arrived at the residential property guard post, Jing Lin asked when the power would come back. The property staff said they did not know for the time being. It seemed that a large section of the area had lost electricity, and unfortunately, their backup generator had also broken down. They were currently trying to find someone to repair it.
Several owners came to inquire one after another. Jing Lin had to take Le Le by the hand to have some breakfast over at the breakfast stand next to the community and then wait for the bus at the nearby bus stop.
It took Jing Lin more than half an hour to take the bus from the residential area to the company site. He felt that the bus was particularly crowded that day. Usually, the bus wouldn’t be full until it was about halfway through the route, but today it was already packed to capacity by the second stop. Acquaintances chatted amongst themselves, discussing how miserable the power outage last night had been.
Le Le sat on Jing Lin. Jing Lin shielded him from being jostled by the crowd and went to the company in silence.
When he arrived at the company, he found that the power was out there as well. The company Jing Lin worked for was on the 12th floor, with no electricity; his only option was to climb the stairs. Along the way, people from other companies noticed him leading a child by the hand, but since they were not familiar with him, the most anyone did was cast an extra curious glance his way.
Jing Lin was something of a homebody and spent most of his time in an office. He rarely exercised, so he had to rest frequently while climbing to the 12th floor. He felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
The company officially clocked in at 9 o’clock, and it was just past 8:40. Not many people had arrived yet. Most of those who had come were still lying at their desks, catching up on sleep. When they heard the noise and opened their eyes, they saw that Jing Lin had arrived – and he was leading a small child by the hand. Those who knew him immediately recognized that it was his nephew.
Several female colleagues saw Le Le’s curly hair, delicate face, and well-behaved demeanor. They immediately brought out the snacks they usually kept in the office to amuse him. However, Le Le was naturally introverted and shy around strangers, so he kept burying himself deeper into Jing Lin’s arms. Jing Lin accepted the snacks, thanked them, and patted Le Le on the back to comfort him.
A female colleague asked Jing Lin, “Did you have a power outage last night?”
Jing Lin nodded.
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.
He had always held a taciturn image at the company, but because he was tall and good-looking, female colleagues were quite willing to talk to him despite his seemingly aloof attitude. “The place I rented had a power outage last night, too. And this morning, the water went out. I actually had to use the water from the dispenser just to wash up this morning.”
Jing Lin frowned. Although he still had water that morning, he wondered if it would be cut off if the power didn’t return tonight. A blackout in summer was already inconvenient, but losing water would be really difficult.
One by one, colleagues arrived; most of them looked like fish out of water, sitting at their desks and gasping for breath.
The number of people slowly increased. Those who were still resting woke up, and everyone gathered to discuss the power outage. A large-scale blackout like this was rare. While complaining about the inconvenience, people also felt an inexplicable excitement, saying they probably wouldn’t have to work today. Latecomers saw a notice from property management at the building entrance explaining that the cause of the blackout was unknown, the generator was broken and under repair, and the time for power restoration was still uncertain.
Quite a few people were late today—including Jing Lin’s supervisor. By the time he’d arrived at the company, it was already past ten, and many colleagues had already gone back when they realized that there was still no electricity. The supervisor explained that his phone had run out of battery the night before, so the alarm didn’t go off. It had also been too hot to sleep well, and he’d only managed to fall asleep at dawn—then ended up oversleeping.
Upon arriving at the company—and since it happened to be Friday—the supervisor immediately gave everyone three consecutive days off. Power would definitely be restored by Monday, at which point they could resume work as normal.
After leaving the company, Jing Lin took Le Le on the shuttle bus home. The first thing he did upon arriving was check whether the water supply in the residential area had been cut off. When he found out it hadn’t, he felt relieved. Still, he wasn’t entirely at ease, so he quickly filled the two plastic basins they usually used for laundry with water and placed them in the kitchen. The basins weren’t large—just enough water for him and Le Le to bathe once—so he decided to head out and buy a bigger one.
Jing Lin first went to the market to buy groceries for lunch and dinner, then headed to a nearby general store to buy the water container. He chose an extra-large 150L stainless steel stockpot for storing water. On the way out, he also picked up two candles and two handheld fans. Since the pot was so large and the distance back to the residential area wasn’t short, making it hard to carry, he hailed a taxi.
After arriving at the entrance of the residential area, Jing Lin tossed the groceries and candles into the pot, had Le Le hold onto the corner of his clothes, and slowly carried the pot upstairs.
The kitchen was relatively small, so Jing Lin placed the stockpot in a corner of the living room and used the two smaller basins to pour water into the large pot. In the sweltering heat of July, with neither fan nor air conditioning, even sitting still would leave a person drenched in sweat. By the time Jing Lin had carried the pot home, his hair was already soaked. Now, as he was pouring water to fill the pot, Le Le stood off to the side where he wouldn’t be in the way, holding the newly bought fan and diligently fanning Jing Lin.
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.
After finally filling all three containers, Jing Lin felt unbearably hot. He spent a few minutes heating a pot of water for bathing, took off both his and Le Le’s clothes, and had a refreshing wash. By then, it was almost noon, and Jing Lin’s phone had already run out of battery and shut off.
For lunch, Jing Lin didn’t feel like stir-frying anything. He took out the meat he had bought, which had been kept submerged in water to keep cool, chopped it up. Alternating between two knives, he quickly minced it into a fine paste. Then he mixed in some egg whites and starch, washed the water spinach he had bought and simply prepared a meatball soup for lunch for the two of them.
After eating, Jing Lin brought the sleeping mats they usually used out to the living room floor and spread them out. He then settled down to read a book himself, while handing Le Le a picture book, intending for them to lie down on the mats and take a nap once they grew tired of reading.
The afternoon hours were spent like this. In the evening, Jing Lin went out and bought some ribs. Even though the power was out, the ribs on display still looked fresh.
For dinner, he cooked rice and stewed the ribs with a bitter melon he had bought earlier. Bitter melon helped reduce internal heat in the summer. Perhaps the old saying was true that a nephew takes after his maternal uncle—Jing Lin loved eating bitter melon, and Le Le liked it very much too, completely unlike other children who usually detest it. Before eating, Jing Lin also took out some pickled long beans from a glass jar. In the summer heat, people easily lost their appetite, and sour foods like these were excellent for stimulating the appetite.
After dinner and a bath, it had already grown dark. The temperature was lower than during the day, and a light breeze had started. Jing Lin took one of the fans he bought earlier, held Le Le’s hand, and went downstairs, walking toward a nearby park, treating it as an after-dinner stroll.
There were no streetlights along the way, only the headlights of passing cars. The park was full of people out for a walk after dinner—families with children, people walking dogs, and a group of elderly folks singing and dancing together.
They were quite good at entertaining themselves.
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 and Le Le sat on a bench by the park, watching the crowd around them as he gently waved the fan in his hand.
After resting outside for nearly two hours, Le Le had fallen asleep on Jing Lin’s lap. There were fewer people around by then, so Jing Lin picked him up and prepared to head back.
Having climbed all the way up to the sixth floor, Jing Lin opened the door only to be met by another wave of heat—though, truth be told, it wasn’t particularly unbearable. He fished out the lighter from his pocket, located the candle he had deliberately left on the entryway cabinet before heading out, lit it, and carried it into the room.
Before going out, Jing Lin had already lit mosquito-repellent incense, so there were no mosquitoes in the room now. He covered Le Le’s small belly with a thin blanket, then changed into his pajamas and went to bed.
It was another unrestful night of sleep, repeatedly waking up from the heat. Early the next morning, while Jing Lin was still half-asleep, he was suddenly shaken awake by Le Le.
Jing Lin opened his eyes and looked at Le Le. Le Le was sitting beside him, scratching all over his body nonstop. His arms and legs, exposed outside his pajamas, were covered in red bumps the size of mung beans—even his face and neck had them.
Clearly, the bumps were extremely itchy. As he scratched, Le Le spoke in a tearful voice, “Uncle, I’m so itchy all over.”
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: This story seems to start slow. But it was rather obvious who the ML was when he appeared 😀 In other news, Novelupdates page is up 🙂 This story is officially “Ongoing Translations”!
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.
