Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side

When Zhou Li found out he had been asleep for three days, he suddenly felt that things were getting intriguing.

In his memory, he dreamed about how the jade the little boy gave him had for some reason grown to become the height of a person, standing upright on the ground. After kicking it and leaving no scratches on the jade surface, he sat down next to petal and then, less than five minutes afterwards, he woke up. How could it be three days?

When the doctors and nurses heard of his awakening, they rushed over for an examination. After the check-up, the results were the same as the previous days: everything is normal. However, if they were worried, the patient can still stay under observation for another two days.

Although he said so, the doctor himself knew the stay will be useless.

There was nothing wrong with the patient’s data. He had been under observation for three days but they were at a loss the whole time. Even if he stayed for an additional two days, they were afraid there will be no new discoveries.

Madam Zhou and Zhou Luwen have been living in the hospital during the past few day while Father Zhou and Zhou Lubo would come before and after work every day to check up on his condition. Therefore, the ward was very crowded. When the doctor left, they surrounded the patient and confirmed that the wakened personality was Zhou Li, to which they began their endless barrage of questions.

Father Zhou: “Did you see Liye ah?”

Zhou Luwen: “Were you guys fighting?”

Madam Zhou: “Did he say anything? Did you talk to him about our family?”

Zhou Lubo faintly asked, “Besides him, was there anyone else?”

The other three went silent for a moment, before chorusing, “Was there anyone else?”

Zhou Li reacted slightly and understood what they meant, then took the initiative to admit his wrongdoing. “I’m sorry to have worried all of you.”

He told the truth, “I didn’t see anyone, I just felt like I slept for a short time. I didn’t expect to sleep this long, sorry.”

The Zhou family listened carefully and were very concerned, wanting to persuade him to pay a visit to some psychiatric experts.

Zhou Li naturally had no objections, agreeing to follow their arrangements, then turned his eyes to Ji Shaoyan sitting not far away. He greeted with a grin, “You’re here too?”

Ji Shaoyan answered with a gentle “en”. He said, “I happened to be in the building, so I came to see you.”

Madam Zhou was very happy that her son had made a new friend. She liked Ji Shaoyan very much. She suppressed the chokes threatening to come out of her throat and clarified, “Xiao-Yan came to see you every day, three times a day.”

Zhou Li looked at Ji Shaoyan and sincerely said, “Thank you.”

Ji Shaoyan smiled at him. “You slept for three days, aren’t you hungry?”

Zhou Li really did feel hungry when it was mentioned and nodded, wanting to wash up and eat something.

Madam Zhou heard them and hurriedly went off to get him some food. Zhou Luwen and Father Zhou rushed to support him to the bathroom but saw he could walk fine by himself, which let them feel somewhat relieved. Ji Shaoyan only stayed around to see him enter the bathroom, then left with the excuse that he had other business to attend to on his end.

The nurse pushed him out of the ward, looking at the back of his head, unable to understand what was going on in the young master’s mind.

During these three days, Ji Shaoyan came to this ward every morning, noon, and night, almost devoutly so. It had gotten to the point that she had to vocally remind him to leave on time. His attitude was of someone not shaken by thunder*. Today, the patiently had finally awoken from his coma, so why did he leave early?

[T/N: sticks to his plans no matter what]

Ji Shaoyan wore his ever-present smile, his expression perfectly set on his face like a mask.

He slowly pinched his own fingers, from his thumb to his little finger, then from his little finger back to his thumb*. At this time, he heard a “ding” and watched the elevator doors open, where he saw Liang Jingxiu appear in sight.

[T/N: probably like, pinch thumb and index finger together, then thumb and middle finger, then thumb and ringer finger, so on and backwards]

Liang Jingxiu was worried that if Zhou Li switched places with his personality, A-Yan will go insane, so during these days he also came to take a few peeks. He didn’t expect to meet him at the elevator entrance today. This wasn’t the usual time when A-Yan leaves ah.

At a glance, he saw how A-Yan was pinching his fingers in a light-hearted manner and scanned his eyes over to the smile on the other’s face. His heart was instantly on edge.

He hasn’t seen A-Yan like this in years.

The last time was when they were around ten years old, when Ji Tianyang cursed out A-Yan’s mother in front of his face. At that time, A-Yan was smiling and pinching his fingers, just like now. More than two months later, Xiao-Yang was crushed by a heavy falling furniture at home, almost getting flattened and killed on the spot. He lied on the hospital bed for an entire month before he was able to recover.

He held his breath and cautiously questioned, “How…is he?”

After waiting for a while, the nurse heard how Young Master Ji did not say a word and tentatively answered, “He’s already awake.”

Liang Jingxiu raised his eyebrows. “Then…?”

The nurse accompanied him for three days; she naturally knew of the situation.

She glanced at Young Master Ji, who was still silent but did not show any sign of stopping her, and said, “The one who woke up is Young Master Zhou Li.”

Liang Jingxiu startled and understood.

A-Yan’s emotions were about to explode. He had left early because he was afraid of losing control.

He did not dare to provoke Ji Shaoyan while he was in this state. Adapting to the current circumstances, he instructed the nurse to push her patient back to his ward, then he went ahead to see Zhou Li himself. 

Once he was done eating, Zhou Li wanted to be discharged early.

The Zhou family wished for him to stay for two more days under observation but seeing him so vigorous and lively*, they thought back to how the hospital hadn’t found any useful information in the past few days, thus ended up agreeing to his wishes. Zhou Li was driven home and once he arrived, he went straight to his bedroom and pulled out the box containing the jade petal.

[T/N: like a lively dragon and animated tiger]

He had also considered the possibility of ‘it’s just a coincidence’ before, but after this incident, he was 80% sure that his transmigration had to do with this jade petal, because sleeping for three days straight was too goddamn weird.

That day, he had simply touched the jade and then fell asleep for three days.

If…if he hung this jade directly around his neck when he sleeps, will he transmigrate back?

Zhou Li was immediately captivated* by this idea.

[T/N: led astray]

He cherished life very much and wanted to continue living, but he didn’t want to live a life not knowing what danger lies behind each corner*. Besides, he had to reimburse the owner of the body he hijacked. Although he will be stuck as a wandering soul once he returns, he will at least be at ease ah.

[T/N: 朝不保夕/precarious: idiom, meaning ‘at dawn, not sure of lasting to evening’]

After considering everything, he decided to give it a try.

But he can’t test things out now. First, he had to say goodbye to the people around him.

Qian Duoshu didn’t need it. He’s already said everything that needed to be said and wasn’t keen on speaking to the mentally ill patient again.

There wasn’t any need for a farewell to the second generations either. They only knew each other for a few days and he had gifted them a live concert, which could be regarded as a perfect ending. 

On Song Yingshi’s side, she knew herself that her stepmother and the others were nothing good, so he only needed to drop a comment that the scroll painting and were authentic.

He basically didn’t need to worry about the little golden retriever. Madam Zhou and Zhou Luwen will probably help him raise it.

So, all that was left were the little brothers, the Zhou family and Ji Shaoyan.

After thinking about it, he opened the WeChat group named “Brothers for a Lifetime” and sent out ten 200 yuan red envelopes in one message.

The little brothers were all blown up* at once.

[T/N: the red envelops were a ‘bomb’]

Er-ge: Fuck!

Lao San: Fuck, money!

Xiao Liu: Ying-ge, powerful!

Xiao Shi: This! Is the correct way for local tyrants to greet people, please keep it up.

Xiao Wu: Thank you, Ying-ge, did you run into something good?

Xiao Ba: Kneeling and thanking.

Fa Cai 7: Dad, is there any more?

Zhou Li smiled and shared a voice message, “Have you guys ever wondered why my personality has changed so much? I will tell you why today…”

He brought out the rhetoric that has fooled many people thus far and revealed the specific time of his appearance, saying, “I recently fell in a three day coma and I’ve been feeling that one of these days I will close my eyes and disappear, but I just can’t bear to watch you guys keep walking down a messy road. You guys were good to me, so I want to be good to you too! Promise me, that even if your Ying-ge comes back, you must all study hard!”

The little brothers were stunned by this sudden news and the group fell completely silent for more than a minute before becoming active again.

Xiao Wu: I don’t care who you are. You saved my life, I will forever recognize you as my brother.

Er-ge: That’s right, you treated us as your brothers, we also treat you as our brother!

Lao San: That’s right!

Zhou Li laughed and said, “Then you guys promise me you will study well, don’t be so reckless in the future. This is my only wish before I disappear. If you are my brother, don’t refuse me.”

The little brothers almost started bawling on the spot, enduring the deep pain that spread throughout their hearts and collectively sent out “okay”s.

Satisfied with the results, Zhou Li chatted with them for a while and sent out another round of red envelopes, thinking this should be enough.

He went on to tell Song Yingshi the truth, then opened the door and went downstairs into the kitchen.

The Zhou family now watched him as if they were looking at a fragile item. Madam Zhou and the housemaid hurriedly followed him, wondering what he was up to.

Zhou Li inspected an array of ingredients and found that everything needed in a household pantry was present, so he announced, “I’m going to make dessert.”

His cooking skills were not good, but the opposite can be said when it came to desserts. This skill was specially learned for the girls and ladies of his family, with the quality having been verified by many tasters.

Madam Zhou and the housemaid turned slient for a while, with the sudden urge to ask him to leave the kitchen.

Zhou Li said seriously. “Trust me, my craftsmanship is good.”

Madam Zhou persuaded, “Then, why don’t you cook another day?”

Zhou Li: “I’m really okay. This time I made you all worry, I will make it for you to eat.”

Madam Zhou was a little moved. At his insistence, she and the housemaid guarded him and found that he really lived up to expectations. She thought having multiple personalities was essentially like having many rooms in one’s mind; everything you wanted, you already have. She couldn’t help but find it very magical.

Zhou Li made some of his most well-received desserts. When he saw that the chef was about to prepare lunch, he even ran over to cook up a dish, though he didn’t dare cook anymore than that as he knew where his cooking skills lied on the spectrum.

Once everything was ready and when Father Zhou and Zhou Lubo had just come back from work, the family sat down at the dining table. Once they heard how the dish with the worst appearance was whipped up by Zhou Li, they were no longer opposed to it and quickly ate up every crumb.

After lunch, dessert was served.

Father Zhou observed the cute decoration and tasted a bite, then looked at his son somewhat curiously. “You really made this?”

Zhou Li smiled and said, “En, how is the taste?”

Father Zhou gave him a big thumbs up. “You can definitely open a dessert store.”

Zhou Li was not modest at all. “I think so too. I am a dessert chef who is delayed by my studies.”

“……” Father Zhou said, “If you’re interested, want me to invest?”

Zhou Li: “We’ll see ba, I need to finish school first.”

Father Zhou nodded, happily eating and chatting. He ended up returning to the company half an hour later than usual.

Zhou Li watched them leave then went back into the house to record a video for Qian Liye, explaining everything that needed to be explained, such as Qian Duoshu’s medical treatment, the Zhou family’s situation, the little brothers’ education, and how there wasn’t any need to answer Master Lin’s phone calls anymore. After painstakingly leaving a few lines of persuasion, he pressed stop.

There was now only one person left.

He opened WeChat and tapped on the very familiar name, agreeing to meet up with Ji Shaoyan in the evening. When the time came, he went downstairs and freshly baked up a few new desserts, packing them neatly before stopping halfway during the trip to personally arrange a bouquet at a florist shop. Hugging the bouquet, he arrived at the hospital.

By now, Ji Shaoyan had already wrangled back in those hard-to-handle* emotions, changing back to his gentle and elegant appearance from before.

[T/N: 失而复得: to lose and win back]

It was a little hot outside so they met again in the leisure area on the first floor. He sat in the booth, smiling at the approaching Zhou Li and swept a careful look over the other’s body. “Are you alright now?”

“I’m alright.” Zhou Li handed the flowers to him and placed the dessert box on the table. “I made these myself. Thank you for visiting me these days.”

Ji Shaoyan was a little surprised. “You made this?”

Zhou Li stretched out his hand and made a ‘please help yourself’ gesture. “Have a taste.”

Ji Shaoyan’s curious heart was enticed and he opened the box to take a bite. Finding that the taste was really good, he showered praise without hesitation.

Zhou Li smiled and accepted the increase in his ego, then quietly looked at the other boy.

They had come across each other without warning and there had been a plastic* “poop shoveling officer and dog owner” master-servant relationship for a period of time. The first thing he saw when he came into this world was him, and the last person he said goodbye to before he left was also him. It can be considered a perfect farewell.

[T/N: fake/just for show]

The only flaw* in this goodbye was that, after that accident, he felt Ji Shaoyan’s feelings really might have fallen on him.

[T/N: 美中不足/the fly in the ointment: everything s fine except for one small defect]

But after all, the time they spent together was short. According to the original novel, Ji Shaoyan only had slight affections for Song Yingshi when he returned to his human body, and at most thought she was a bit special. Now that these ‘feelings’ were placed on him, even if they have a tragic separation, the scars probably won’t run too deep, right?

This young master has always been a wise man and has never treated himself poorly.

He still had so much life to live for and this momentary goodwill will always pass.

Ji Shaoyan met his gaze and his* heart skipped a beat for some unknown reason. “What’s wrong?”

[T/N: not sure who this refers to, could be either tbh]

Zhou Li smiled and said, “Nothing.”

Ji Shaoyan didn’t believe him. He felt that there was something wrong with Silly Fool’s state of mind. After considering for a few seconds, he asked, “I heard about the situation with your personalities. Did this incident put you on edge?” 

Zhou Li said, “It didn’t. Besides, I knew long ago I wouldn’t be here for long.”

Ji Shaoyan faintly smiled, noncommittal.

Zhou Li heart softened slightly at that smile, but once he started thinking about the young master’s white shell, black soul personality, he no longer wanted to know what wicked things were rolling around in the other’s mind. He kindly chatted with him for a while and when he saw that it was almost time for dinner, he stood up to leave.

Watching him walk away, Ji Shaoyan couldn’t help but call out, “Zhou Li.”

Zhou Li paused in his steps, turning his head to look at the young master. 

Ji Shaoyan stared into his eyes. “I’ll see you at school.”

Zhou Li grinned, waving at him before leaving without another word.

The darkness settles later in the day during summer. By the time he got home, the sunset was just starting to bloom. 

Zhou Li raised his head for a look, then dragged a chair onto the balcony and sat down to enjoy the sunset. Thinking about how he had basically been swamped with other people’s affairs the moment he stepped foot in this world, he let out a quiet sigh. 

Father Zhou happened to come home at this time and saw him sitting there from a distance. After entering the door, he personally went to call the boy down for dinner, sneaking up to him and asking, “What are you thinking about?”

Zhou Li: “Admiring the view, thinking about life along the way.”

Father Zhou: “Oh, any epiphanies?”

Zhou Li: “It’s…it’s a bit hot.”

Father Zhou: “……”

Who let you sunbathe in the summer!

He was speechless, so he pulled up this thoughtful son of his and they went downstairs to eat.

The atmosphere in the dining room was harmonious as usual.

Zhou Li made sure to thoroughly enjoy his last dinner and watched a movie with Madam Zhou. Once he was done, he went upstairs to wash up and changed into pajamas before lying in bed. He took out the jade petal from its box and wore it around his neck, folding his arms over his chest* and mentally preparing himself to the return to his tombstone, ready to finally talk to his dead neighbours. With a heart full of contentment, he closed his eyes.

[T/N: how you position someone in a coffin haha]

That night, he dreamt of nothing.

Let alone the jade, he didn’t even dream of the rope it hung off of.

Zhou Li sat up, looked at the sunlight outside, then at the familiar bedroom around him, feeling a little dazed. He opened the door and ran out, coming across Father Zhou who was about to go downstairs.

Father Zhou smiled and said, “Morning ah.”

Zhou Li replied “Morning” and asked, “How long did I sleep this time?”

Father Zhou startled and was immediately distressed, stepping forward to pat his shoulder comfortingly. “Just for one night; you didn’t slip into a coma. Don’t be afraid, I have already contacted medical experts in the area.”

Zhou Li let out a single “oh” and turned back into his room with a blank face.

Why?

He had even prepared the opening remarks of “I travelled to another world” for his plans to discuss his adventures with the grave neighbours. The script had already been written but somehow, there was no audience.

He suddenly had the ‘forgetting your dreams once you wake up’ feeling that most people would frustrate over. After delaying his movements for more than ten minutes, he finally went downstairs and walked into the dining room to say hello. He saw that Zhou Luwen was wearing his school uniform.

Mingying’s school uniform was similar to that of his previous high school. The overall outfit was black, and every set was tailor-made, looking sleek enough to boost one’s confidence. The student didn’t need to wear a jumper or outer jacket in the summer, so Zhou Luwen just wore a white shirt and thin trousers, looking very steady and gentle.

Today was Mingying’s school opening ceremony. He, a transfer student, did not need to attend and only needed to go when classes officially start tomorrow.

Zhou Luwen looked at him and asked for his opinion. “Do you want to come with me? I’ll show you around the school.”

Zhou Li replied, “No need.”

Right now, he didn’t want to visit the campus, he just wanted to go back to his grave.

However, life proved to be a disappointment for nine out of ten people.

He held this jade pendant to sleep for another day but still failed to transmigrate back. The next morning, he had to resign himself to school with a small schoolbag on his back.

In Mingying High, there were only 30 students in each class.

He was placed in the last class of his year because there were only 27 students in this class; he was made the 28th student.

He followed the head teacher into the classroom and waited for her to finish a brief announcement, then scanned the room himself and gave an introduction.

The gauze around his head has already been removed. Although a small portion of hair near the wound had been shaved off, his hair was fortunately long and covered the non-uniformity, dealing no damage to his image. His school uniform was still being made so today he wore a simple and casual outfit. With a big smile on his face, he gave off the aura of a handsome and sunny young man.

Except for one Tang Xintian who had already shared a meal with him, the other girls were all excited, evident by their shining eyes. Even Tang Xintian had to admit he looked really handsome. It was a pity that he’s such a punchable person.

In response to the applause of the class, Zhou Li stepped down from the podium to the empty seat at the back.

The bell rang sometime after, indicating the end of morning classes.

A few boys watched the head teacher leave, exchanged glances, then stood up in front of Zhou Li, asking, “Ai, why did you come to Mingying, did you just move here or are you local?”

Zhou Li said, “Local.”

The boy leading the group asked again, “Then which school were you at before?”

Zhou Li: “Liuxi No. 2.”

A boy next to him made a noise of surprise. “Isn’t that in the suburbs?”

This voice was a bit loud and everyone nearby looked over.

Zhou Li looked at his small audience and nodded. “Yeah, I suddenly became rich, so I transferred.”

The few boys heard his answer and were immediately sold. This newcomer was just like them; a nouveau riche.

How great. If this guy grew up well and had a little background, how can they live?*

[T/N: 太好了，长得那么好，如果再有点背景，他们还活不活了？: not sure how to translate, basically, if Zhou Li was born rich then he would have an upperhand]

The small crowd suddenly felt cordial.

The leader of the group sat down on the chair in front of him and said with a smile, “Ai, is your Liuxi accent different from Putonghua*? Say a few words for us, if you keep us happy, I’ll cover you in class from now onwards.”

[T/N: 普通话/putonghua: common speech of Chinese (Mandarin). I’m not too sure on how dialects are different in China]

“Right, say a few words for us brothers*.”

[T/N: 哥们: more of a ‘bro’ kind of brother]

“……” Tang Xintian was about to come over to say hello, her eyes glazing over this group lightly.

Are you guys all right? You even dare mess with him?

Zhou Li took a look at the person in front of him and understood. He guessed that this boy must be the class bully.

He has been in a bad mood for the past two days, but he decided to let it go and also smiled kindly. “Sure ah, our words there are nice to listen to and very easy to learn. If you want to, I will teach you guys.”

The boy who had blurted out his words loudly earlier on saw that the girl he had a crush on was still staring at the transfer student, so he was a little upset and interjected before his boss could speak, “Then you can talk like that for three days, I think I can learn it in that time.”

Zhou Li’s smile remained on his face. “Sure, I guarantee you will learn it very quickly.”

Among his extensive hobbies, learning languages was also one of them.

He spoke four languages: Putonghua, Dongbeihua*, Sichuanese and English.

[T/N: 东北话/Northeastern dialect]

Thus, he opened his mouth and let the words fall out. “Just look’it ya’self, that wannabe delinquent get-up, actin’ arrogant ‘n bullyin’ anyone ya’ see, can’t even talk like a civilised person. What the hell ah, if ya’ can’t find someone ‘ta make ya’self look noble, ya’ think ya’ can’t enter heaven, s’that right ma?”

[T/N: “你瞅瞅你们那狗蹦子似的损塞样儿，一个个得呵儿的，来个人就可劲儿地欺负，还让人学说话，咋滴啊，不找个人衬托你们的高贵，是上不了天吗？” Tried to do English equivalent slang for dongbeihua, ended up with a cockney-style speech. If you couldn’t tell, ZL is talking to Qian Liye] 

Tang Xintian: “……”

The crowd of boys: “……”

Everyone else: “……”

Zhou Li: “How ‘bout that, ain’t it purdy nice ‘ta hear?”

The small group of boys finally returned to reality.

The one who was a little jealous asked, “Are you cursing someone out?”

Zhou Li was just wanting to reply when he heard the classroom door being knocked on twice. Zheng San stood there, grinning and beckoning to him. “Zhou-shao, come out, I’ll introduce a few people to you.”

Zhou Li called out “en”, no longer bothering with the person in front of him and standing up to leave.

The several boys: “……”

Fuck, isn’t that Zheng San-shao?

Different to how their group would only mess with equally small groups, Zheng San-shao was a genuine school tyrant ah.

Very soon after, someone remembered. “Fuck, I just remembered. In the summer holiday, didn’t they find out that Zhou Luwen wasn’t the real second young master of the Zhou family? This new guy surnamed Zhou, he couldn’t be him ba?”

Every other person froze, horrified. When Zhou Li came back, they didn’t dare to move a muscle towards him.

Zhou Li looked at them and called out. “All of ‘ya come over, class hasn’t started yet, let’s talk ‘nother two dollars*.”

[T/N: dongbeihua ‘slang’ for coming together to gossip about non-important issues (just informal chats, really)]

The class bully laughed dryly, “No need, Zhou-shao. We were just playing a fun little joke on you.”

The other few people also echoed, “Right, right, right, it’s just a joke.”

“Everyone is classmates here, forget it ba.”

Zhou Li smiled and said, “I’m not joking. Us North-eastern people stay true to our words.”

The boys couldn’t hold out any longer, biting the bullet and slowly making their way over.

As he said himself, Zhou Li stayed true to his words. He promised three days, and three days it was, not one minute less. He also only spoke in the other dialect to those few people; if it were to someone else, he would immediately switch to the standard Putonghua. The more those select few boys listened to him, the more they felt it was ‘magical’, but they didn’t dare call him out and so they could only accept their fate.

On the morning of the fourth day, as soon as the morning bell rang, someone hurtled into the classroom, “Ji-shao came to school!”

As Mingying’s ‘Man of the Wind’, Ji Shaoyan had many brain-dead devotees.

[T/N: influential figure (since they attract/pull even the wind towards them)]

There was news of him getting in car accident during the summer holiday and ever since the beginning of school, no one has seen a shadow of his figure. The brain-dead fans had turned crazy long ago; everything others said they would do, they have already done. At this moment, hearing that their idol was finally here, all their spirits were lit on fire.

Zhou Li raised his eyebrows in surprise. Just when the thought of “wasn’t he being confined for a month” came forward, he heard the crowd around him yell out two words in perfect unison: “—— Hell yeah!“*

[T/N: 艾玛/ai ma: short for 哎呀妈呀/aiya maya, meaning ‘oh my god’/’oh my mother’. I switched it out for what (I think) fangirls would say in that situation, though it would be more accurate to say “f*ck yeah!”]

Zhou Li: “……”

The author has something to say:

Zhou Li: Dongbeihua never disappoints.