The day of the fire on the 5th was the Qingming Festival for this year.

Ji Chaozhou’s absence today was not because of the fire. It was because he never went to the cemetery during the Qingming Festival itself. He always came several days later and never brought chrysanthemums. He would cut the flowers he planted himself and place them on the gravestone. 

The flowers he usually gave each year were lilies-of-the-valley, which was Yun Ran’s favorite flower to grow since before he was born. She used lily-of-the-valley to create Ranshan back then.

Some people think that the Ranshan created by Yun Ran has front and end notes, but they don’t realize that, in fact, Ranshan only had front and middle notes.

Today’s most classic Ranshan was actually just an unfinished work by Yun Ran.

Yun Ran had been a young talented perfumer who lived for fragrance. She never used fixed formulas and steps. What she created was from her own inner understanding.

 …In the same way, she also died carrying the fragrance in the end.

Ji Chaozhou placed the freesia in his hand in front of the gravestone. He did not speak to the person but quietly knelt and leaned against it.

The cold tombstone could not transmit temperature. Ji Chaozhou knelt down beside it silently, letting the dark red blood in front of him cover him little by little.

He couldn’t break free, and he didn’t want to break free.

At least this addictive pain reminded him that he was still alive.

People came and went in the cemetery, but Ji Chaozhou never left, staying by the gravestone almost as if he was masochistic.

The dark clouds overhead were getting thicker, but he didn’t react in any way.

It wasn’t until the rain started to fall and big raindrops hit the gravestones and stone pavement that Ji Chaozhou’s lowered eyelashes moved slightly. He slowly stretched out his hand, and the raindrops hit the palm of his hand, cold and heavy.

…It was raining.

But the heavy rain somehow did not want to hit Ji Chaozhou. After the first few drops of rain fell on his palm, no more raindrops reached him—but the stone steps still faced the torrential rain.

Chaozhou later realized that he smelled a familiar bitter smell. He raised his head and looked up, a little sluggishly, and met Cheng Liu’s eyes.

There was no familiar smile on her face. She was looking at him quietly.

…So it was her.

“It’s raining.” Cheng Liu held a black umbrella and stood beside the gravestone. She looked down at the kneeling young man, so pale and cold, and stretched out her hand to him, “It’s time to go home.”

The young man raised his slender, white neck, like a swan on the verge of death, fragile, with a sense of sadness, infinitely close to the abyss.

Before she came in, she had thought of many excuses for this chance encounter, but after meeting him, she could not make any excuses.

In the end, nothing was explained.

Cheng Liu looked at Ji Chaozhou’s outstretched hand in silence. A few drops of rain fell on his palm.

Before he could refuse, she bent down, reached out to hold his hand, and pulled him up.

In an instant, the rainwater flowed and moistened the palms of their hands, and their body temperatures mingled.

The black umbrella blocked out the surrounding sounds leaving only the indistinguishable sound of their heartbeats.

Ji Chaozhou turned his head and stared at Cheng Liu’s face. She didn’t even look at him. She held an umbrella in one hand and held him in the other as she led him out.

Under the still-gloomy gray sky, the blood-red abyss intertwined with countless black gravestones gradually dissipated.

Cheng Liu quickly pulled Ji Chaozhou out of the cemetery, all the way to the car, pushed him into the passenger. She walked around the front of the car and got into the driver’s seat.

They were now completely isolated from the rain outside. The rain hitting the windshield turned it blurry, making it difficult to see outside clearly.

Ji Chaozhou lowered his long eyelashes and trembled slightly. His eyes touched the hand that Cheng Liu had just released. He paused slightly and moved this hand away from his sight, as if doing so would erase the traces of her warmth.

Cheng Liu had pulled him out of the cemetery in one breath and directly took him into the car, but now she didn’t know what to say.

The car was extremely silent.

She looked at the raindrops rolling down the windshield and her hands twitched guiltily. She thought hard for a long time and suddenly asked, “Will the pomelo seedlings in the yard be drowned?”

A moment later, Ji Chaozhou tilted his face with its almost translucent skin to look at Cheng Liu: “…”

She was stared at!

Cheng Liu suddenly felt much relieved and started the car. “Let’s go back and take a look.”

Along the way, no one mentioned what happened just now. Cheng Liu was talking about how the fruit trees in the two yards will probably look like in the future.

Ji Chaozhou leaned on the passenger seat and followed her vivid description, unconsciously thinking of the four seasons that would cover the courtyard in the future.

He didn’t realize that the corners of his lips were slightly curved.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

Cheng Liu drove the car directly into the garage of Villa No. 6.

This was the second time that Ji Chaozhou had come inside.

“Let’s go see the pomelo seedlings quickly.” Cheng Liu came out with an umbrella and stood beside Ji Chaozhou.

The two came out of the garage under an umbrella.

Ji Chaozhou’s eyes fell on Cheng Liu’s fruit seedlings scattered in her courtyard. After their previous rescue attempt, the fruit seedlings seemed to have somewhat recovered.

Cheng Liu, holding an umbrella next to him, didn’t pay attention to the fruit seedlings in her front yard at all. Her focus was entirely on the wrong thing, and she even said it out loud. “It’s too inconvenient when it rains. Why don’t we tear down part of the wall someday? We could build a doorway so that during the rain and cold we don’t have to use an umbrella.”

Ji Chaozhou paused. They had just reached the place where the ladder was leaning against the same wall she was planning to tear down. He turned to look at Cheng Liu and said one word succinctly, “No.”

“Oh.” Cheng Liu said, “Okay, then we won’t tear it down.”

Anyway, it would be the same once they get married in the future.

Nothing Young President Cheng wanted to do had ever failed: it was just a matter of time.

… …

The two of them soon walked into the left side of the front courtyard of Villa No. 5 still holding an umbrella. Cheng Liu looked at the two green pomelo seedlings and said, “They look like they are still alive.”

“If you’re done checking…”

Before Ji Chaozhou finished speaking, Cheng Liu interjected from the side.

“I’ll take you in, it’s raining heavily.”

She held the umbrella and sent Ji Chaozhou into the living room without leaving. Instead, she closed the umbrella and walked into the living room together.

“I think young people should eat out less and cook at home when they have time.” Cheng Liu stood in someone else’s living room and said righteously, “Although we cooked well last night, there is still room for improvement in the cuisine.”

“…What is it you want to say?” Ji Chaozhou looked at her coldly.

Cheng Liu skipped over his bottom line again and again. “When I come back from shopping should we cook together?”

Ji Chaozhou directly refused. “I won’t do it.”

“Oh, then I’ll order takeout to eat together.” Cheng Liu seemed to follow his words and quickly took out her mobile phone and ordered the takeout in one go.

An hour later, Ji Chaozhou was forced to finish what she had ordered.

The only thing better than yesterday was that it was only five o’clock in the afternoon when they finished eating today.

The TV was on, Ji Chaozhou was sitting on the big sofa, and Cheng Liu was sitting on the single-seater next to him, talking non-stop.

Ji Chaozhou felt that he was more tired today than in previous years.

“This company is not good. I have met their chairman. He is bold and doesn’t consider things well before he does anything.” Cheng Liu commented on the middle-aged man on the TV screen. She finished peeling the tangerines in her hand, put it into the fruit plate, and pushed it to Ji Chaozhou.

Ji Chaozhou was sitting in the middle of the sofa, listening to Cheng Liu’s words. He frowned and pushed away the fruit plate she brought over, feeling sleepy.

It was probably because Cheng Liu annoyed him.

He didn’t bother to talk to her; he simply lay on the sofa and went to sleep with his back to the TV, and Cheng Liu still on the seat next to him.

Ji Chaozhou was so sleepy that he forgot that at this time in previous years, he would have already fallen deep into the abyss. He would only be able to escape by cutting his arm open and seeing his own blood pool.

He didn’t know anymore, but Cheng Liu—who had been chattering next to him all this time—suddenly stopped and looked quietly at the young man who was lying on his side on the sofa, his slender body slightly curled up.

After he got back home, he changed out of the dark suit and into casual home clothes. His thin, pale, porcelain-white ankles were clearly visible.

Cheng Liu looked at him for a long time to confirm that he was asleep. She got up and went to the guest room where she had slept before, took out a thin blanket, and covered him.

She walked out of the living room. Before leaving, she stopped at the door, turned around and said softly, “Good night.”

If It’s Wrong, Then It’s Wrong translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: Qingming Festival or Tomb-Sweeping Day is held sometime first week of April. People go visit the graves of their ancestors to sweep debris and make ritual offerings of food and incense. Thanks to Lin Daojuan for catching the error.

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Chapter 37.1 — Day 12 (Swimming Pool)
Chapter 37.2 — Day 12 (Swimming Pool)