Goodnight, Miss Rose

1

Xu Linyue actually found out long ago that Tao Ting might secretly be in love with him. It was not strange that one or two songs played on the car stereo were songs he had heard before, but to have five consecutive songs of different styles and languages that he knew? He immediately noticed that something was wrong.

He had once doubted their ambiguous relationship because of this, thinking that Tao Ting might, perhaps, be letting his wrong impression go uncorrected and going with the flow. It was simply difficult to refuse his kindness after all, be it a superior or an idol. Wasn’t such thinking narcissistic of him?

Later, after they were officially together, Tao Ting immediately denied it when Xu Linyue brought it up. She told him not to be too smug – that she had simply looked up to his career achievements back then and did not harbour any improper thoughts. Xu Linyue nodded again and again as he listened, saying that he understood – she was just embarrassed to speak the truth. 

2

The first time Xu Linyue visited her home, Dad Tao and Mom Tao prepared a table of delicious food.

After three rounds of wine, Tao Zejun pulled Xu Linyue over to chat heartily about his past, talking about how he used to work in a film dubbing studio and dubbed for many old films when he was young.

Tao Zejun stated the titles of several films, smacking his lips and sighing, “I really miss those times. Young people nowadays don’t watch dubbed films anymore.”

Xu Linyue stood up from his chair with a bang, stunning Tao Ting and Yang Fanghua.

Then, both of them watched as the 1.8-metres tall Xu Linyue hugged the other 1.8-metres tall Tao Zejun, his expression ecstatic, his arms tightly wounded around the other, as though hugging his entire childhood.

3

Xu Linyue was very lazy in private. When he entered the house, he would take off his coat and carelessly throw it onto the sofa.

In the beginning, Tao Ting would help him hang it up. Later, she would always remind him. After that, even reminding him did not work anymore.

During such situations, Tao Ting would feint disappointment, “My image of you has been destroyed. It turns out that CEO Xu is actually this sloppy.”

Due to his indescribable need to have a good image [1], Xu Linyue would immediately hurry over to the sofa and hang up his coat, “Your idol is perfect and without flaws.”

4

Xu Linyue has many leather and biker clothes. It was only then that Tao Ting learnt that motorbikes were one of his favourite hobbies during his youth.

“Why didn’t you share this on Weibo before?”

Xu Linyue scratched his eyebrow, “Before I went to Germany, I played with them for a few years. I once got into an accident, and till today, the scar remains on my leg. At that time, my parents ordered me never to touch motorbikes again.”

The incident also left a shadow over his heart. Being at the brink of death was an awful feeling; besides, one would cravenly cling onto life and be afraid of death the older one gets. 

“Turns out that you had such a style when you were younger,” Tao Ting found it rare and novel.

Xu Linyue was scrolling the tablet and casually asked, “What style?”

“Rough and rebellious,” When Tao Ting said these three words, her eyes were alluring, as if dropping a hint.

Xu Linyue shrugged his eyebrows and decided on the spot, “I will wear a leather jacket to work tomorrow.”

Tao Ting asked, “Why?”

Xu Linyue said, matter-of-factly, “Don’t you like it?”

Tao Ting looked at him, speechless, “But I’m not asking you to wear it to work. Even Xiao Liu is not that flamboyant.”

Xiao Liu is Xu Linyue’s bodyguard.

5

From then on, Xu Linyue no longer drinks coffee when he goes to Starbucks. He would, instead, ask for a cup of “Iced Shaken Peach Oolong Tea”. 

When ordering, he would always look at Tao Ting, grinning and deliberately emphasising “Tao Tao (peach)”. 

6

The little robot cufflinks became part of Xu Linyue’s daily outfit. Once, when he accidentally dropped one, he got his employees to lift all the carpets on the 17th floor to find it.

Later, rumours spread in the company that CEO Xu must have lost his family heirloom, for he had made such a huge fuss over it.

When Tao Ting learnt of this, she was embarrassed and flustered. That was neither gold, silver, nor gem – why pass it down? Besides, which family would carry their family heirloom around every day? 

However, Xu Linyue nodded in approval when he heard of this. He decided to always lock the cufflinks in the safe from then on. When he passed it down to his son in future, he would tell him that this was his parents’ token of love.

7

To prevent unnecessary speculation, both of them never made their relationship public when they were dating. When they made an official announcement after the wedding, they gave their colleagues a huge shock.

Xu Linyue announced on his WeChat Moments [2] – a picture of them together, against the backdrop of the nightscape of the (Shanghai) Bund.

He captioned: I have a new family member. I’m calling her ‘Boss’.

8

On the night of the wedding, Xu Linyue was forced to drink ‘til he was drunk and almost changed the front page of the company’s official website with their wedding photo. Fortunately, his conscientious and responsible secretary stopped him; otherwise, Tao Ting would have resigned that very night. Who would dare go back to work after such an incident?

9

Xu Linyue laughed at Tao Ting being called “Princess” by Tao Zejun for a long time. Who would have thought that she would have such a prissy nickname?

Tao Ting explained that her father had been dubbing for a historical drama when she was born. Perhaps he was too into character, and on top of that, too emotional. Thus, when he left the operating room after her birth and was asked by Tao Ting’s parents, “is it a boy or a girl?”, Tao Zejun blurted out, “Your Majesty, it’s a little princess.”

When she was young, everyone would call Tao Ting that as a joke; soon, it became a habit.

Xu Linyue would sometimes deliberately call Tao Ting “Princess Tao Tao”.

Tao Ting would give him a cold look and roll her eyes, yet would play along with him and reply, “What’s the matter, my prince (emperor’s son-in-law)?”

10

One day, Tao Ting suddenly said solemnly to Xu Linyue, “I’ll take a leave tomorrow morning to go to the hospital.”

Xu Linyue was instantly nervous, “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

Tao Ting threw the thing in her hand to him, followed by heaving a long sigh.

Xu Linyue was so afraid that he was trembling. When he finally took a good look at the thing that had dropped onto his stomach, he was smiling for a moment, then tearful the next.

The man, who was close to his forties, did not sleep the entire night, talking to Tao Ting about everything and anything. 

After the examination the next day, the doctor informed them about the pregnancy week and the baby’s condition, repeatedly advising them on the precautions.

In the end, she asked Tao Ting, “How are you feeling recently? Do you have any extreme mood swings?”

Tao Ting shook her head, pointing at Xu Linyue, who was standing by the side and said, “He’s the one having pretty extreme mood swings. Why don’t you give him some medicine?”

Xu Linyue, “…”

The due date was the 3rd of June. However, the child must have been anxious to celebrate Children’s Day and could not wait to arrive in the world.

It’s a boy, 3.8 kilograms; a huge, chubby child.

His name was given by his father – Xu Xiting [3].

May he always be bright, happy, upright and magnanimous.

11 (Extra Weibo Snippet)

The perfume that Xu Linyue gave Tao Ting back then was White Peach & Coriander [4].

It is by a niche German brand, sweet and fragrant, suitable for spring and summer (do not worry, it does not smell of coriander).

Tao Ting used to love using earthy perfumes. Recently, during informal events, she would occasionally spray the White Peach & Coriander. Xu Linyue loves the peach fragrance; every time he catches a whiff of the scent on Tao Ting, he could not help but have a bite. He then named this action “biting a peach”.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

[1] 偶像包袱 (ǒu xiàng bāo fu): Most commonly translated as “idol’s baggage”. It is an Internet slang, referring to celebrities who are unable to let go of their idol image (e.g. being handsome/pretty and behaving prim and proper) when on variety shows or performances. It is usually used as a criticism, when idols are overly self-conscious, not easygoing/accommodating, and/or put themselves on high ground. (Source)

[2] 朋友圈 (péng you quān), literally “Friends Circle” is a feature of WeChat, a messaging application. This feature is similar to social media platforms like Facebook, where you can view your friends’ status updates, pictures and videos on your Moments feed.

[3] The 熙 (xī) in the name means to be “bright/sunny”, and the 庭 (tíng) means to be “upright/impartial”. 

[4] The 4711 Acqua Colonia White Peach & Coriander was launched in 2017 by the German perfume brand, Maurer & Wirtz. It is a light and fruity fragrance made for women and men and combines the sweetness of white peaches with the tang of fresh citrus, the woody aroma of coriander and the earthiness of herbal notes.

BUNNY’S RAMBLINGS

And it’s completed! Thank you, everyone, for your love and support~ (〃^∇^)ﾉ Am also especially grateful to my proofreader, Rose, for her help. If you enjoyed this novel, do consider leaving a review here or on NovelUpdates so that I can share your love with the author. If you’d like to remain anonymous, mention it in your review on this blog and I won’t publish your comment and share your name with the author.

Due to copyright issues, I am unable to translate another novel that I had my eyes on. The novel is also by the same author; I had already started planning for it and was really sad when I couldn’t translate it but it can’t be helped. (ㄒoㄒ) If you’d like to read more of my translations, you can subscribe to my blog (on the right sidebar) and receive notifications when I have successfully received permission to translate another novel.

As previously mentioned, the author has plans to rewrite this novel to better develop the characters and plot. Some of you may have already noticed it – here is the translated description of the “new” novel.