Heartbeat of Innocence

Jiang Yuan knew that Chen Jingchuan had taken Shen Dongyu outside, so she had repeatedly reminded them to be back before twelve. However, she ended up waiting until about four in the morning to see them return. So, when they returned, they saw an open door. She scolded Chen Jingchuan as soon as he stepped into the house, and only cooked them congee after she finished.

Chen Jingchuan didn’t eat, but instead went directly to his room to sleep. Jiang Yuan followed him, reminding him that he must get up for breakfast tomorrow morning, lest he get a stomachache.

Shen Dongyu stood sleepily at the door, wanting to ask her for the key so he could return to change first before coming back to eat. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan instead explained to him that the key was lost.

The day Shen Shuran went to Australia, she just left the key on the table. Perhaps it was placed somewhere else when Jiang Yuan or Chen Lu1Chen Jingchuan’s father did housework, but for now, it couldn’t be found.

His jacket and even the inner sweater were wet from the heavy snow, so Jiang Yuan told him to take a shower, afraid that he would catch a cold. She then found some of Chen Jingchuan’s clothes for him, and went to the kitchen to heat up some water to make some cold medicine from a bag of granules, waiting for him to drink it after getting out of the shower.

Shen Dongyu was actually not sure what he should do in this type of situation, not knowing whether to smile or appear thankful. He only stood there foolishly, only taking the next action after Jiang Yuan told him to do something. 

“Are the clothes too big?” Jiang Yuan rolled up the cuffs, scrutinizing him from top to bottom to see if there’s a problem.

“It’s okay, and it’s quite warm too.” Shen Dongyu told her truthfully.

“You’re also pretty tall, just a bit too thin.” Jiang Yuan felt that Shen Dongyu was just a few centimeters shorter than Chen Jingchuan, but she didn’t expect him to be so skinny. She let him wear clothes from Chen Jingchuan’s highschool freshmen year, yet they still seemed big on him.

“If I eat more, I’ll definitely gain more weight.”

“Then you need to drop by more often in the future.”

Jiang Yuan smiled at him with warmth and sincerity. Shen Dongyu, seeing the glow in her eyes, was still unsure how to accept this tremendous hospitality, and only tried to nod at Jiang Yuan with the same smile in the end. 

Shen Dongyu sat across from her, keeping his head lowered. With a spoon in his hand, he stirred and stirred the millet congee, taking a long time to bring it to his mouth.

“Auntie will go to sleep first. You can take your time, the room has already been prepared.” Jiang Yuan noticed his unnatural behavior, and prepared to leave. “After eating, you should go to bed quickly. School starts tomorrow.”

Shen Dongyu knew that he couldn’t even express anything, not even the most basic replies, the only thing he could do was watch Jiang Yuan leave the living room 

He sat back down, staring at the congee, feeling like there was something blocking his throat. For a moment, a sore wave of feelings flooded his nose2the feeling you get when you’re about to cry. As he buried his head in his arms, he depressively mumbled, “So useless.”

Most lights in other houses were already dimmed, and the lights that were still visible from the outside stood out in solitude.

Early in the morning, Chen Jingchuan left the house at seven, while Shen Dongyu slept in the guest room. The only thing he liked about the bedroom was the balcony and its plants.

He pressed his fingers against the glass window, quietly in a daze. With his eyes landing on the greenery, no one knew what he was thinking.

Shen Dongyu was actually bad at adapting to new environments, so he just felt sleepy after he took his medication. His brain was barely conscious from sleeping too heavily. When he was finally freed from feeling tired, Shen Dongyu saw that the sky was already yellow from nightfall. 

It was the sunset of another sunny day.

The curtains weren’t drawn last night, allowing the sun to shine through the glass window by his bedside. The sycamore leaves were all clustered together, appearing mottled and peaceful. 

Shen Dongyu walked onto the balcony, barefoot. He lazily stretched, tilting his head up to look for the last few remaining rays of light.

There were wispy clouds floating in the sky, and Chen Jingchuan was standing downstairs.

Some of the sycamore leaves still have tips that were green, but most of them were completely yellowed and withered, falling onto the sides of streets and onto the manhole covers, reenacting a scene from film cameras.

Chen Jingchuan was sitting on a cool motorcycle, waiting for someone.

Who knew who he was waiting for right in front of his own house. Shen Dongyu watched from afar, getting curious.

Ten minutes later, from the intersection came a girl who Shen Dongyu felt was familiar. She wore a white cardigan and black leather boots, with a hint of playfulness within her graceful demeanor.

Either way, they looked good together.

It was the girl who laughed with Chen Jingchuan in that social media post.

When Chen Jingchuan saw Yuan Yao panting as she ran over, he naturally raised a hand to help her straighten her messy scarf, then softly said some words to her. Yuan Yao began smiling sweetly.

He then told her to stop wearing so little, took a pair of gloves from his motorcycle, and put them on her. 

Shen Dongyu suddenly remembered the scene from yesterday, of Chen Jingchuan handing him an umbrella.

Similar to last night, a feeling of bitterness rushed at him out of nowhere. He wasn’t aware of it.

Shen Dongyu couldn’t stay at Chen Jingchuan’s house for too long. Shen Shuran made three new copies of the key. One was placed in Jiang Yuan’s drawer in case of emergencies, and they kept the other two copies.

As winter break slowly drew to a close, Spring Festival was also nearing its end. Before school started, Shen Dongyu went to Beijing for therapy. He only returned to Shanghai after a week had passed, and prepared for school.

After getting out of the car, Shen Shuran stood outside the door and helped Shen Dongyu straighten his slightly curled-up hair. In the thin mist of the early morning, in the warm sunlight rising from the east, she said pleasantly, “It’s a new beginning. I wish for A’Yu to grow up happily every day.”

“I will.” Shen Dongyu replied with a sense of comfort, and got out of the car with a smile.

On that day, Shen Dongyu greeted the teacher, and they entered the classroom together. Most likely because he’s a new student, all the students’ eyes stayed on him for a long time.

The teacher arranged a seat for him near the front, with a female deskmate. Her long hair tied behind her neck, she wore a pair of glasses, sitting there obediently.

During lunch break at noon, the teacher told Shen Dongyu to go get his school uniform from the third floor of a nearby building. Shen Dongyu should’ve had no trouble finding his way there, but he only knew how big No. 7 High School was when he walked out onto the school grounds.

Shen Dongyu tried to convince himself not to be impatient, while purposefully walking around on campus for some time. The banyan trees stood together on the side of the pavement street, still with some unmelted snow on the branches. The breeze was still slightly cold, he tightly wrapped his scarf around him and walked toward the building on the other side of the field. 

Just as he reached the second floor, he ran into Chen Jingchuan.

Chen Jingchuan was wearing his uniform, walking through the hallway in Shen Dongyu’s direction. It was a sunny day, without rain or snow, and rays of light lazily shone through the yellowed apricot leaves onto the floor, onto the mouth corners curling up from smiles and laughter. 

“Why are you over here?” Chen Jingchuan left the crowd, standing in front of Shen Dongyu to ask.

“The teacher told me to pick up my uniform, but I’ve been looking for so long and still haven’t found where to go.” Shen Dongyu’s mood was much better than the last time that Chen Jingchuan had seen him, even carrying a rare charming air about him.

“I’ll bring you there.” Chen Jingchuan said.

“Where were you originally going?” Shen Dongyu followed him downstairs and asked. He thought that if Chen Jingchuan had something to do, then he wouldn’t bother him and just go by himself once he pointed out the direction.

“Going to see you.” Cheng Jingchuan replied flatly.

Shen Dongyu’s footsteps slowed as he stepped off the stairs and onto flat ground. Walking onto a main path, he opened his mouth to ask, “Did jiejie ask you to come check on me?”

“En, she just called, ” said Chen Jingchuan, “She said you don’t eat on time, so she told me to go over to see what you had for lunch. If you didn’t eat, then take you out for something.”

Shen Dongyu had already guessed that it was Shen Shuran, so he politely said, “Thank you.”

“No need.” Chen Jingchuan wasn’t bothered by this kind of thing.

After the uniform was collected, Chen Jingchuan told him to wash it at home first before wearing it, since uniform checks are only on Mondays anyway. So Shen Dongyu packed the uniform in his backpack, and brought it home when the school day ended.

No. 7 High School was a boarding school, but there were also students who’d go home every day, such as Shen Dongyu.

The area around the entrance gate was empty, where one could see their stretched shadow when turning back, and even further back were the blurry faces and buildings appearing in sight. They were all heading towards the school’s dining hall, a part of their time spent as youth in school. 

There was a grilled food street vendor on the way home, raising a strong smell of Chinese cumin seed. Shen Dongyu bought some rice cake and candied hawthorn. But the candied hawthorn was too sour, so he gave it to Xiao Ju3literally “Little Orange” from a neighboring family. 

Xiao Ju was six years old, very round and very cute. His mom called him Xiao Ju, so Shen Dongyu followed suit.

Xiao Ju had so much homework that he couldn’t complete, so he grabbed the hand that Shen Dongyu hid inside his sleeve, pouting and crying, saying, “I can’t finish it…”

“Which parts?” Shen Dongyu took a look at the workbooks laid out on his table.

“Everything.” Pang Ju4“Fat Orange” rested his head on the edge of the desk, poking the homework booklets with his pencil, without any energy.

Xiao Ju’s mom came in through the door with some fruits, laughing as she said, “The teacher couldn’t tell the difference between his Chinese and math, and thought Chinese was math, so the two were switched.”

“Is that so?” Shen Dongyu laughed, then looked towards Xiao Ju as he said, “I used to be like this too.”

Tutoring Xiao Ju on his homework until around ten, Shen Dongyu even wrote a line for him while his mom went out to get a package. Xiao Ju stared at the tip of the pencil with his round eyes, afraid that the older boy would also make the same mistakes that he did. 

Senior year in highschool was very stressful, especially during the spring and summer. At ten on top of the roof, the seniors of Class 1 were eating the grills and beer secretly brought in from the outside, having their occasional rebellious moment. 

The weather in Shanghai wasn’t as cold anymore. For the sake of appearance, many boys and girls stopped wearing extra layers inside. But when they stood in a windy place for too long, their legs started shivering, making the hot food seem even more appetizing. 

While they were talking about a certain topic, a phone rang.

It was Shen Dongyu.

“Dongyu?” The rooftop was windy, causing Chen Jingchuan to cough once, as he asked, “What is it?”

“You’re not in the classroom?” Shen Dongyu heard Chen Jingchuan’s noisy background, and this question was what popped up immediately in his mind.

“I’m chatting with Yuan Yao on the roof.” When Chen Jingchuan said Yuan Yao’s name, the girl next to him immediately became nervous. 

But Chen Jingchuan held her with his hand, signaling that Shen Dongyu wasn’t his family member. 

“Oh.” Shen Dongyu didn’t continue this line of questioning, and instead stated his reason for calling, “The light in the corridor is broken.”

Chen Jingchuan wasn’t sure about the true meaning behind his words, saying, “But it’s always broken. My mom still hasn’t found someone to fix it.”

“It’s broken because there’s no one to fix it, so of course it won’t light up.” Shen Dongyu’s mind was becoming fuzzy, his vision was starting to turn blurry. He sat in front of the gate, describing slowly, “Auntie said to let you fix it, she said you know how to change lightbulbs.”

Chen Jingchuan thought there was something off about his tone, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. He was surprisingly patient. “Then where’s my mom right now?”

“I don’t know.”

Shen Dongyu stood on the street, looking up at the third floor of the building, which was almost completely covered by the sycamore tree. By his ears, other than Chen Jingchuan’s voice, he also heard whistles blown by police officers at the intersections. 

Compared to a room without lights on, he was more afraid of not knowing whether there would be a light source at all. 

“Fine, let me call my dad.”

“Chen Jingchuan.” Shen Dongyu called out just as he was about to hang up.

“En.” At this moment, Chen Jingchuan thought that maybe he should ask Jiang Yuan why Shen Dongyu was so different from other people.

“Can you come back?” Shen Dongyu was affected by alcohol and his medicine. He said to Chen Jingchuan, “Aren’t you reading French? If you’re in the corridor, the light will light up, so I won’t be afraid to go home anymore.”

Shen Dongyu thought this was a sufficient reason, so Chen Jingchuan would understand and return.

Yet after the sentences were intermittently spoken, Chen Jingchuan hung up the phone.

The voice next to Shen Dongyu’s ear suddenly disappeared, making him think that perhaps it was just a short dream. Perhaps Chen Jingchuan agreed to come back at the end of the call, or perhaps not, but it gave a lift to this seemingly lonely night. 

But Shen Dongyu actually wanted to chat a little longer in the dream, to talk until Chen Lu would tell him that Chen Jingchuan needed to return. According to Chen Jingchuan’s thoughtfulness, he would probably let Shen Dongyu into his home.

But this secret thought must not be known to Chen Jingchuan. He waited until Shen Shuran came back.

 

TL: Guess who’s translating instead of studying for finals~

The relationship between them does move a little slowly but that’s where the slow romance tag comes from. It’s definitely a HE though ^^

1Chen Jingchuan’s father2the feeling you get when you’re about to cry3literally “Little Orange”4“Fat Orange”