Defeated By Love

Translated by Fairy_Dust

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Xie Ruhe became silent. 

The movement of hair could be faintly heard as if he was sitting up from the bed. A few seconds later, there was another sound as the curtains were pulled open. 

Then, Shu Nian heard Xie Ruhe repeat her words in a whisper: “Stars…” 

Upon hearing this, Shu Nian suddenly realised that she herself hadn’t even opened the curtains. 

Don’t talk about stars, if she hadn’t seen the time, she wouldn’t even know if the sky outside was dark or not.

After pulling the curtains apart, Xie Ruhe didn’t speak again. It could only mean that he listened to her and looked out with expectation, only to find that dark clouds covered the whole sky and not a single star could be seen. 

It was like she was caught lying, Shu Nian’s face felt a little hot. She looked at the curtains and covered the speaker as she tiptoed over in case he heard her moving around. 

Shu Nian grasped the corners of the curtain and tried to carefully open it a little to see if there were any stars outside. 

But before she could even make a small slit to look out, Xie Ruhe whispered: “It’s very pretty.”

“…” Shu Nian immediately let go and her worries disappeared.  She didn’t bother looking out anymore. “Well… Did I wake you up?” 

“I wasn’t asleep yet.” 

Shu Nian didn’t quite believe him: “What were you doing?” 

Xie Ruhe replied: “Writing a song.” 

“Oh.” Shu Nian remembered something and asked him. “Why don’t you sing anymore?” 

“I want to concentrate on creating.” Xie Ruhe’s voice was patient, calm and a little gentle. “And some of the songs I write are not suitable for me to sing.” 

“But I think the song, “Stars Are Falling” is a suitable song for you.” Shu Nian sat back down and hugged her knees as she talked to him. “You’re much better than me.”

The version he sang was still in her phone and Shu Nian had listened to it a hundred times. 

But she was still not tired of it.

Xie Ruhe chuckled and seriously said: “You sing well.” 

He said more words than usual and also didn’t ask her why she called him so late. 

Shu Nian thought he would keep silent a few times but he would always open his mouth unexpectedly. It seemed like he spoke without thinking because he responded quickly.

It made her feel like he would always be there. 

The feeling flowed from the phone and transformed into a comforting breath that wrapped around her. 

Shu Nian’s fear gradually dissipated. 

She hesitated but she didn’t want to disturb him anymore. Just as she was about to say something and hang up the call with him, Xie Ruhe suddenly asked her a question: “Shu Nian, do you think there are ghosts in this world?” 

“…” Shu Nian subconsciously shrunk into the quilt and lowered her voice to a whisper. “There must be. Hasn’t there been people who have done experiments about how after death there will be a spirit?”

“Really?” Xie Ruhe’s voice was calm. “Then isn’t that good?” 

That sudden conclusion was extremely incomprehensible to Shu Nian but she still wanted to hear his explanation.

“Why is it good?” 

“This just means that those who you want to see but can never see again.” Xie Ruhe paused, as if he remembered someone: “They may be with you right now.” 

“…” Shu Nian figured out the meaning of his words and asked in a small voice: “Are you talking about auntie?1“ 

Xie Ruhe didn’t deny it: “Uh-huh.” 

Shu Nian’s mood became a little complicated. 

But Xie Ruhe’s didn’t sound like he was in a bad mood because he made it seem like it wasn’t a sad thing. Perhaps he had never done such a thing before because his tone was a little stiff: “If you think ghosts are true then believe in them. You don’t have to make them out to be so horrible and be scared by it.” 

After talking around in a circle, Shu Nian finally realised.

He was using another way to make her be not afraid. 

He was comforting her. 

“I see.” Shu Nian rubbed her eyes and whispered: “Thank you. Also, I’m sorry for calling you in the middle of the night, I’ve troubled you.”

It was probably because it was night, Xie Ruhe’s voice sounded quite attractive: “I’m glad that you called me.” 

Hearing that, Shu Nian breathed a sigh of relief. 

For a moment, she was at a loss for words. When she wanted to say something, Xie Ruhe opened his mouth again but his voice had changed back to his usual cold and flat tone: “It’s okay, you didn’t trouble me.”

That sentence felt like an auditory hallucination for Shu Nian. 

She licked her lips: “Then go to bed, it’s late.” 

Xie Ruhe said: “You should sleep too.” 

After saying “good night” Shu Nian put the phone on the pillow next to her. She waited for him to hang up the call but a few seconds later, the other party still hadn’t hung up and the call continued to go on.

Shu Nian looked at it and listened intensively but she couldn’t hear any sounds from the other end.

She didn’t know what he was doing.

Maybe he was waiting for her to hang up the phone like her. 

She stared at it for a moment and then reached out to hang up the call. 

Shu Nian put the phone on the bedside table and pulled back the curtains to see a cloudy sky outside the window through the gap. She paused and buried herself in the quilt again. She closed her eyes and a ghostly face didn’t appear in her mind. There wasn’t even a trace of fear.

Soon, Shu Nian sat up without any sleepiness. She touched the area where her heart was in uneasiness. 

 
Why was it beating so fast? 

The recording studio was only rented for four days. Shu Nian didn’t have a lot of dubbing experience. She didn’t want to affect the progression and would practice lip-syncing in her free time.

Moreover, most of the actors who came to dub had no professional dubbing training before. In order to get it to be perfect, many lines needed to be repeated and Shu Nian didn’t want to let herself occupy the studio for too long.

Ke Yiqing’s scenes were all recorded on the afternoon of the second day and she didn’t go back to the studio. 

Shu Nian didn’t take her words to heart. She put all her attention on voicing the role well and hoped that she would not hinder all the other actors. 

Everything finished smoothly within the time limit.

It was still early when Shu Nian left the recording studio. The burden on her shoulders was lifted off. Now, she was in a particularly relaxed mood. She thought about buying some fruit from a nearby place and then going to pay a visit to Xie Ruhe. 

Shu Nian felt a little guilty thinking back to the wish Xie Ruhe had said on his birthday and how she had not done anything after she agreed.

She hesitated to send a WeChat message to Xie Ruhe since she couldn’t just head over.

It took a long time to receive a reply from Xie Ruhe because it didn’t come until Shu Nian almost arrived at his building:【 Are you here yet? Just go straight to the 17th floor. 】

Seeing that number, Shu Nian could guess he was probably doing some rehabilitation exercises. She didn’t dwindle any longer and went to the 17th floor. She recognised the person who opened the door as the rehabilitation doctor. 

Shu Nian followed him through the living room and to the room Xie Ruhe specially used for his rehabilitation process. 

After entering the door, Shu Nian froze at the scene that greeted her. 

The last time she saw him do this, it was on his birthday. At that time, he could only stand up with the support of the bed, his lower limbs seemed to be completely powerless.

But here, a month later.

Shu Nian saw Xie Ruhe standing in the middle of two parallel bars without relying on anything. For a moment, she even thought that he had completely recovered. During this period of time, he achieved good results because his efforts were finally repaid. 

She didn’t know how long the training had gone on for but Xie Ruhe’s face was sweaty and slightly red. He noticed Shu Nian’s presence and looked over. He seemed exhausted and the next moment, he reached out and grabbed the bars next to him to stabilise himself.

The rehabilitation doctor went over and told him: “Take a break first.” 

“In a minute.” Xie Ruhe shook his head and glanced at Shu Nian. His breathing pattern was unstable. “Shu Nian.” 

Shu Nian went to stand beside him and asked: “What’s wrong?”

“I can stand for a minute without holding things now. If I can walk——” Xie Ruhe paused. “Three steps, just three steps. Can you…” 

He didn’t know what he wanted to say. He just wanted to speak to her but realised a little too late that his words sounded like a request so, in the end, Xie Ruhe didn’t finish speaking.

After waiting for a long time and not getting anywhere, Shu Nian was confused: “Ah?”

Xie Ruhe lowered his eyes and whispered: “It’s nothing.” 

The rehabilitation doctor next to him saw right through his thoughts and felt that it was funny so he said it for him: “He just hopes that you can give him some encouragement.” 

Xie Ruhe didn’t think he would speak so suddenly and looked over with a frown. 

Shu Nian didn’t quite understand and asked: “What kind of encouragement?” 

“It’s not very difficult to do.” The rehabilitation doctor was serious as if it was something very common thing: “Just a few words or a hug, that will be enough.”

Who else thinks the male lead is very cute? He has to be protected at all costs. 

If there are any errors in the text then please kindly ping me on discord in the ‘report typos’ channel or leave a comment down below!

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

She’s referring to Xie Ruhe’s mother