Thank you for all the well wishes. In this chapter, we learned why Yu Tu has to give up the sea and the stars. It is easy for the parents to support their offspring whose ambitions are common and can earn a good living. But if they aspire to do something non-mainstream with an insecure career prospect, it is rather hard on them. This is more so if the family is not well off. Some Chinese readers think aerospace is rather mysterious and romantic lol.
Jing Jing told Yu Tu that he is a rabbit that has seen the most stars. Many Chinese readers love this sentence. This sentence originated from the Weibo posting of Jade Rabbit Lunar Rover. He posted first-person accounts of Yutu, China’s lunar rover and is very popular across China. Designed to survive for just three months, Yutu has been operating on the moon for over two years, lasting longer than the Soviet Union’s 1970 moon rover Lunokhod 1, which spent 11 months on the moon. Reflecting on his own life, the lunar adventurer seemed satisfied. “I’m a rabbit that has seen the most stars!”
Chapter 15 (translated by peanuts and edited by hoju)
Qiao Jing Jing mind went blank for a moment…
After a long time, only then she replied flatly with a “no” and moved her legs to let him pass through.
Qiao Jing Jing could vaguely sense that he seemed to give a laugh, and then he walked in and sat down next to her. Suddenly his male scent and breath that seemed to burn pervaded all her senses.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
It was not until a few minutes after the movie started that Qiao Jing Jing regained her composure. She could not help feeling a little chagrined. Was she on the receiving end of teasing just now? And she actually hadn’t teased back? She was simply a disgrace to the entertainment circle.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she glanced suspiciously at Yu Tu. He was staring attentively at the big screen. His handsome side face had a focused and serious look on it…
Okay……
Qiao Jing Jing withdrew her gaze and began watching the movie earnestly. After only watching for a few minutes, she felt something was wrong. From what she could see, this seemed to be a story about how the protagonist was steadfast in pursuing his dream in spite of the obstacles from his family?
She recalled the desolate expression in Yu Tu’s eyes on that day when he had said he was going to give up the stars and the sea …
Would Yu Tu’s mood become down from watching this?
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
The movie was very interesting, not a dull moment for 90 minutes. Of course, in the end, the protagonist persevered with his dream and got the support of his family. The movie ended with the closing song being played. The audience left feeling satisfied.
Qiao Jing Jing and Yu Tu waited until everyone was gone before leaving.
“I’ll take you back.”
Qiao Jing Jing nodded.
On the way back, Yu Tu was somewhat quiet. She sneaked a peep at him. He looked indifferent in the dim light of night. He discovered that she was looking at him, so he raised his eyebrows at her in puzzlement.
“Um, I didn’t know it was that storyline.”
“It’s quite good,” Yu Tu said. “The guy in the movie is a lucky dreamer.”
In the end, Qiao Jing Jing could not help asking, “Last time, you said you want to give up. Why?”
She remembered that he had said his parents had objected when he was taking the university entrance examinations. “Is it still because of family objection? But isn’t your uncle also involved in aerospace? Why would your parents object then?”
Yu Tu was a little startled.
Qiao Jing Jing suddenly realized that she knew too much! Thus she quickly looked up at the sky.
However, to her surprise, Yu Tu did not change the topic, and there was even a hint of a smile in his eyes as he looked at her.
Qiao Jing Jing had to revert her gaze from the sky: “That…Pei Pei…”
Yu Tu nodded and said, “I know. She knows all the gossip in the class.”
“…That’s right.”
Qiao Jing Jing quickly changed the topic. “Could it be, your parents still object?”
“They had already agreed back when I sat for my post graduate entrance exam.”
“Why then?”
The faint smile on his face from earlier had already completely faded. Only after a while did Yu Tu say, “My parents came to Shanghai a little while ago, but they didn’t tell me. It was only when my aunt called me and asked me about my mother’s condition and whether it was benign that I found out they had come to see a doctor.”
“When I went to find them, they were staying in a small hotel that costs just a dozen or so bucks a night. There were also some crackers and instant noodles in the room.”
Qiao Jing Jing had come up with many reasons, but she had not thought that this reason would be so common, ordinary and unsolvable. She regretted that she had asked until she had gotten to the very root of everything.
“Is your mother okay?”
“She’s okay, just a false alarm.” Yu Tu lowered his eyes. “However, I couldn’t help but think, what if there had been something? Would I have had the ability to give her the best possible medical treatment?”
He mockingly asked himself this, then gave himself the reply: “I don’t have that ability. I clearly could have it, but I don’t.”
In that moment, Qiao Jing Jing almost wanted to say, “I can help you.” But she knew that she absolutely could not say it. After quite a while, she asked: “Then what do you plan to do next?”
“Investment banking, I guess.”
But he had, after all, not practiced for many years what he had studied for his undergraduate degree, so he had to start everything from scratch. He smiled, his voice a bit melancholy and self-deprecating. "Since young, I’ve always prided myself on being smart, but I ended up achieving nothing at thirty years of age.”
Qiao Jing Jing stopped walking and looked at him, momentarily speechless.
Yu Tu stood for a moment and said, “Let’s go, it’s late.”
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
The night was quiet.
Yu Tu sat on the bed, leaning back and smoking. He had emptied his mind of somewhat. He thought, he probably had acted a little out of character today.
He did not know why he would say so much to Qiao Jing Jing, even revealing the sense of defeat that was in the deepest part of his heart. Regarding the situation with his parents, he had never even mentioned it to his teacher.
The screen of the phone next to the pillow lit up once. He picked it up, and it was a message from Qiao Jing Jing.
Jing Jing: I suddenly remembered a sentence which is very suitable for you.
Yu Tu: What?
Jing Jing: But you’re already a rabbit that has seen the most stars.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Yu Tu was stunned for a moment: Jade Rabbit’s Weibo?
Jing Jing: Yes.
Then she sent a long voice recording over.
“Earlier on, my mind was all caught up in how you were leading everything and just dazed. How can you say you’ve achieved nothing? Even if you want to give up your present career and start over from the beginning, the things that you did before will still be there. Although I don't know exactly what you have done, I think it must be very valuable. Thus, even if you don’t do this job in the future, you don’t have to negate what you did before. At least, you strove and struggled for your dream. Compared with compromising and never trying, I feel that this is at least was not a mistake.”
Jing Jing: Rabbit God, add oil! (cheering him on)
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Yu Tu stubbed out the cigarette. After a short period of time, he pressed on that long recording to listen to it again. Qiao Jing Jing’s voice was actually very pleasant to listen to. He remembered, during their high school years, she would always go on stage to sing whenever there was a cultural activity.
He did not expect that one day she would say such a thing to him.
—— You’re already a rabbit that has seen the most stars.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Yes, no matter what he did in the future, these past ten years, he did not let himself down. Whether he was going to persist or give up, at the very least he should not think that this was a mistake.
Yu Tu’s finger was pressed against the reply box on WeChat. He didn’t realize that at this moment his mood was so tender, to the extent that when he was keying in the text, his typing speed was so slow.
Yu Tu: Thank you.
Yu Tu: You should go to sleep.
Yu Tu: We will start ranked matches tomorrow.
Jing Jing: …Good night!
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. If you are not reading this from hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation was taken without consent of the translator.
Yu Tu smiled, put down the phone, got up and walked to the window.
The sky outside the window was pitch-black, and even the slightest starlight could not be seen. He recalled, that day he went to look for his parents, it was also such a pitch-black night. He still remembered the suffocating feeling in his heart when he pushed open the door of the hotel room.
There was a time when everything had been right at his fingertips and he could just take it if he wanted, so he had not cared about any of it in the least. He had thought that he could solve everything. The whole process of growing up probably was telling him, he actually wasn’t so omnipotent.
He thought, he had already helped himself in trying to achieve his dream. He should have no regrets anymore.
Completed:
15 of 37 Chapters