Heartbeat of Innocence

The motorcycle quickly arrived at the school’s underground parking lot. Shen Dongyu took off the helmet and returned it to Chen Jingchuan. Cheeks slightly flushed red from the cold breeze, he stood off to one side and waited for Chen Jingchuan to park. The two then went out together.

Their classrooms were in different directions, so Chen Jingchuan looked back and said to Shen Dongyu, “Come back with me when school ends.”

Shen Dongyu reacted slowly. Looking up at Chen Jingchuan, he pondered for a while before replying. “En.”

“Are you still dizzy?” Chen Jingchuan reached out a hand to pat the top of Shen Dongyu’s head, then looked towards the pair of eyes that were always dull and inattentive.

“No.” Shen Dongyu said what he wanted to say with some difficulty, “I got it, I’ll wait for you here after school.”

“En.” Chen Jingchuan finally nodded. “You can go.”

Shen Dongyu, with his backpack, walked towards the instructional building without looking back.

When Chen Jingchuan stood there to watch him enter the building, he wondered whether or not Shen Dongyu would turn his head around.

It took Shen Dongyu a lot of effort to pay attention to the morning class until the end. When the lunch break bell rang, he went with Lin You to the snack counter. The two people stood under the eaves, each holding a popsicle.

Today’s weather was nice, so the students all headed to the field, chatting and strolling. The area under the basketball hoops was also filled with people sitting down, and some others sat by the edge of the flowerbed, basking in the fragrance of pine and cypress trees.

Lin You squatted down, using her hands to block the direct sunlight, she looked up at Shen Dongyu and said, “Did you not sleep well last night?”

“I have trouble sleeping.” Shen Dongyu looked at the people who sat underneath the cool shade of the shrubbery, suddenly thinking of the green tea in Chen Jingchuan’s cup this morning.

“No wonder,” Lin You’s guesses were put to an end by the answer. “You always seem tired.”

Shen Dongyu was silent, lost in thought.

Lunch break would soon come to an end, so Lin You suggested that they return to the classroom. Shen Dongyu shook his head, then returned to the counter to buy a thermos. Its style wasn’t too fashionable, but the shopkeeper said it was more durable, so he bought it.

He also asked her for some orange peels while leaving, then let them steep in the thermos.

When Shen Dongyu went to look for Chen Jingchuan on the fifth floor, he didn’t feel awkward or nervous, but instead a lot more relaxed. Keenly aware of his own recent emotional fluctuations, he only wanted to return Chen Jingchuan’s goodwill while he was still stable, to balance out the scale.

Though even such goodwill was an easy and casual task for Chen Jingchuan, just like drinking a cup of tea. 

Shen Dongyu stood outside the door, looking at Chen Jingchuan who leaned against the door frame with a tired expression.

“I brewed some orange peels for you.” Chen Jingchuan brought a new cup filled with water to Chen Jingchuan, “Drink some, so you won’t feel so tired anymore.”

Chen Jingchuan received it, asking, “Whose cup is it?”

“I bought it for you.” Shen Dongyu smiled as he said, “Just use it for water from now on.”

“Got it.” Shen Dongyu finally received a smile from emperor Chen Jingchuan.1the author used 朝, meaning assembling for imperial court. So Shen Dongyu is like a minister serving the emperor

The beginning of June was the tunnel of intersection between spring and summer, causing the entire afternoon class to feel like falling asleep.

The first class in the afternoon was physical education. Shen Dongyu wanted to ditch, so when the bell rang, he still stood there in place, not planning to go.

“Still not going back to class?” Chen Jingchuan asked.

Shen Dongyu replied with a face full of displeasure, “It’s physical education.”

Chen Jingchuan laughed, ruffling Shen Dongyu’s disheveled hair, feeling that Shen Dongyu was just being lazy.

Chen Jingchuan, with his own idea of letting Shen Dongyu ditch class, brought him to his class to watch a movie with them. 

The four sides of the classroom were all covered up by blackout curtains, not letting a single sliver of light slip by. There was only the projector on the podium that let out jumping streams of illumination.

In this kind of dim environment, it was very easy for people to become sleepy. He sprawled out on the table beside Chen Jingchuan, almost falling asleep a few times but ending up getting woken up by continuous laughter each time. 

By the time the movie reached the halfway point, half the class was also asleep. Perhaps the class president also felt bored, napping and snoring while on the podium, even getting recorded by the girls in the front row. The video was sent to the class group chat, causing everyone who saw it to joke around.

 Shen Dongyu only saw the ending of that movie. It was a black-and-white Indian musical that didn’t hold any special meaning. On that day, Shen Dongyu remembered the ending song’s lyrics, Chen Jingchuan’s form as he bowed his head to write, and the warm water that Chen Jingchuan handed over as he noticed him waking up. 

The water was filled in the cup that Shen Dongyu had bought, permeated with soaked orange peels. In the scorching afternoon heat filled with the hums of cocadas, its faint sourness thoroughly quenched his thirst. 

Under the sun’s faint afterglow, Chen Jingchuan began waiting for Shen Dongyu at the school gates in advance. 

The motorcycle with Shen Dongyu drove into the scorching hot summer. A blue jacket was tied to the back seat, flopping in the air.

Time flew by quickly, and it was already the middle of summer. 

The streetlights downstairs lit up one by one. The westward sky still had a hue of blue from the day, and the power lines across the city intersected each other, dividing the colorful sky into pieces.

Yuan Yao wore suspenders and a short skirt, waiting for Chen Jingchuan at the side of the street. The weather was hot, so her backside was soaked. It was an eyesore that also brought down her mood. 

Chen Jingchuan had been avoiding her lately, though it was actually more like running away. But Yuan Yao wanted an outcome. Since she couldn’t find him, she could only block him at the entrance of his own house. 

Yuan Yao waited for half an hour before she saw Chen Jingchuan and Li Muxu, walking side by side along the street towards the building entrance. She crossed the chaotic street in a single breath, directly appearing in front of Chen Jingchuan, scaring the two boys. 

“Damn, where did you come from, scaring me to death.” Li Muxu hugged the basketball, laughing in fright. 

“I just waited right there.” Yuan Yao didn’t move her gaze, directly staring at Chen Jingchuan. 

Sweat soaked the small strands of hair on her forehead, and they slid down her smooth skin, soon all swept away by her hand. She brought up the main topic. “What do you actually want?”

The young girl in the summer night looked beautiful, with lights shining on her eyelashes and into her pupils like sparkles of starlight, delivering emotions of passion and love.

Her braids hung by her collarbone. The pink suspenders added a stronger sense of purity. 

“I don’t want you to leave.” Chen Jingchuan ignored her appearance with outfits that once made him fall, and responded to her word by word with a firm attitude.

“Jingchuan!” Yuan Yao frowned, “Can’t you just understand my perspective? Going abroad is really important to me.”

“I know it’s important, but are you coming back?” Chen Jingchuan interjected.

Yuan Yao was at a loss for words, and when she lowered her head, her eyes filled with tears. The beautiful girl under the moonlight, in Chen Jingchuan’s sight, shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Jingchuan, I want both.” Yuan Yao said, “I’m very greedy.”

“What can I do?” Chen Jingchuan’s tone was calm, yet the gaze that he gave Yuan Yao was colder than ever.

“I… wanted to ask you. Do you want to come with me?” Yuan Yao’s voice shook as she said this, and she reached out to grab his sleeve. She can clearly feel her heart’s violent beating, even more frantic than when she first confessed to Chen Jingchuan.

“Why?” Chen Jingchuan took a step back, immediately increasing the distance between them.

Yuan Yao’s hand grasped at thin air.

“Then we can be together, without going long-distance.” Her eyes glittered as she talked about an idea that Chen Jingchuan thought was naive and meaningless.

“Do you think it’s possible?” Chen Jingchuan asked back.

“What do you mean?” This was the only idea she could come up with, the best of both worlds.

“You still don’t understand.” Chen Jingchuan was disappointed to the extreme, “You didn’t even give me a chance to think about it, so now that there isn’t a more reasonable option, you decided that going abroad together will make everything fine? Our thoughts are so different, can we even stay together for that much longer?”

The three people under the shade of the trees were silent for a long time.

In the end, Chen Jingchuan rationally told her to study well for the exams first. They’ll discuss more after Gaokao.

This summer was too hot, just hugging brought about the sticky feeling of sweat, so they quickly separated. 

On the way back after seeing off Yuan Yao, Chen Jingchuan brought Haagen-Dazs for Shen Dongyu and Xiao Ju. The order came from a call from Jiang Yuan.

He didn’t know what flavor Shen Dongyu liked, but also didn’t want to randomly pick, so he called Shen Dongyu. 

“What’s up?” He heard Shen Dongyu’s clear voice ring in his ear.

“What flavor do you like?” Chen Jingchuan directly asked.

“I’m okay with anything…” Shen Dongyu recalled Jiang Yuan’s question from earlier. So Chen Jingchuan must be buying it right now. Though he also didn’t really know what flavor he wanted to have.

“If everything’s okay then I’ll just buy everything.” Chen Jingchuan replied.

“No need.” Shen Dongyu hurriedly said, “I can’t finish it all.”

“What flavor do you want right now?” Chen Jingchuan deliberately prompted him.

“Then, matcha.” Shen Dongyu responded helplessly.

“En.” Chen Jingchuan hung up the phone as soon as he received an answer.

Matcha flavored Haagen-Dazs was akin to the air after a summer rain, sweet and gentle.

 

TL: This chapter felt pretty realistic. I like how Yuan Yao is just an innocent girl pursuing her love, not some kind of villain that other series might’ve written her as.

The next 3 chapters are relatively longer (ch10 is double the usual length), so I’ll be splitting them up into separate parts. Thanks for understanding ^^

1the author used 朝, meaning assembling for imperial court. So Shen Dongyu is like a minister serving the emperor