Saturday, May 9, 2015

The Rental Shop Owner - prologue & ch1

Translator: ayszhang
Proofreaders: krabbykabbi, Luzo & Red

 
Prologue and chapter 1 of our new story: The Rental Shop Owner.



 



Prologue


My university arranged a job for me at an agricultural experimentation centre after graduation. The pay was fifty bucks a month. I quit after not being able to feed myself. But what could I do?

I went to a few career fairs but agricultural parasite majors were not exactly the most attractive group.

I had driven trucks for a while and I was utterly wiped every single day. My family were concerned too. I was the only child, after all.

I had opened an apparel store. I thought that my selection was unique in town (albeit a very small town), but I had little customers and even ended up owing my dad, who was about to retire, over two thousand dollars.

I had opened a bakery. Everyone who came in said it was yummy. It was just that there weren’t many who came in.

In the end, with my back against the wall, I brought out my entire prized collection and opened a little video and book rental shop. My taste that I was very proud of finally worked its magic and business was booming, so much so that several nearby stores had to close down and relocate.

My dad and mom could finally let out a breath of relief. Although their only son was still far from what they had hoped for, I was finally making enough to keep myself alive. Afterwards, all that was left was continuing the lineage.

Regarding this issue, I was destined to disappoint them. I had already known since puberty that I was a man who did not like women.

I did not like women but I hadn’t planned to date men either. In my opinion, dating was like drugs. If you do it once, then there will be a second time and then a third time and then it’s addiction; it’s disaster. And one day the beans would be spilled. My dad was already thirty six when I was born. I couldn’t let an old fellow like him get shamed on by others.

Of course, I understood that homosexuality is not perverse—it’s just different. But in others’ eyes, homosexuality was no different from perversion, am I right?

All in all, I lived a simple life. I didn’t feel that I couldn’t live without sex.

But humans cannot win against nature.
 
 
 
 
01

The shop opened late even during the Lunar New Year’s season when everyone else was off on holiday. It was the third day of the first lunar month and a cold, snowy day. I didn’t want to go out after closing the shop at ten o’clock so I decided to sleep there.

I was watching Legend of the Fall and mumbling about Brad’s six-pack when I dozed off. Someone started knocking in the middle of the night and woke me from my light sleep.

It was unusual so I asked, “Who is it?”

The knocking continued but no one answered. My stomach did a little uneasy flip. I got dressed and went to the door, opening the door a tiny crack.

The moment I opened it, a person barged in.

A tall guy wearing a sterile mask and wrapped in a scarf and down jacket stood in my shop, scolding me with a glaring look in his eyes. “Aren’t we the daredevil, opening doors in the middle of the night? You ain’t got nine lives!”

Seeing him fling his clothes away, the retort I was about to make got stuffed back down my throat. All I could see underneath the jacket were bloody bandages.

Nonchalantly, he lied down on my clean metal cot, muttering. “I have a fever.” By the time I comprehended it, he was already unconscious.

I was at a complete loss.


×××


I told you that I had led a simple life; I did not want women or men. He, well, he was younger than me and was still a little thug out and about on the streets just three years ago. He kept coming to my shop to borrow videos. He had bad taste and also never paid. But he was a leader of the local scene nonetheless, and I wasn’t one to bother with kids anyways.

Winter of 1997, he came running into my shop, asking me, “Yo, you got any movies with Leslie Cheung in it?”

I looked up from the screen playing Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion. One glance at him almost made me cough out last night’s dinner—oily, wax-yellow hair with a tuft in the front dyed green and purple, a fake gold earring on the left ear, a pair of coffee brown sunglasses, a fake black leather jacket, a metal-studded belt and an unbelievably fat pair of red pants.

Disgusted, I asked, “Which do you want?”

“That fag one, of course!”

I was very repulsed. I knew he was talking about Happy Together, which was the best gay film I had ever seen. Although I didn’t count as a legitimate queer, I did feel disgusted when people called gay people fags. But what could I say to garbage like him?

Still disgusted, I spat, “I don’t have any! Take this. Sex and Zen. It’s got Shu Qi, Chingmy Yau, see–”

“You fuckin’ deaf? You got what I want or not?”

Your mother fucking has it, I swore in my head.

“Yes.”

“Hehe, knew you got all the goodies. Bet you’ve seen it already too.” He stuck his disgusting yellow and purple coloured, sticky-looking hair in my face. It smelled like cheap hair gel.

I crinkled my nose, “Nothing special,” and said no more.

Sullenly, he left with the disk. As expected, that copy of Happy Together did not return.

Some days later, he showed up again. “Yo, you got anymore? The ones with homo Cheung if you can.”

I clenched my teeth before flashing a smile. “I wonder why you always watch them.” I took a full look at him. His face was nicely proportioned but he was just another bony teenager going through puberty.

“Hehe…” I snickered meaningfully.

“Whatchu laughin’ at?” He shot up and glared at me with a pair of disgruntled eyes like a vulture. It made my hairs stand up.

What was with that reaction?!

But there was one thing I could stand about that piece of garbage—his eyes. Aside from the disgruntled look that he had acquired, they were a pair of pitch black and bottomless eyes.

I wiped my smile off and stopped fooling around. “This one, right? Just take it.” I tossed the American gay film towards him since I didn’t expect it back anyways.

What really infuriated me was when he nicked my entire private collection one day. The rascal rummaged through my cash drawer while I went to take a piss. Farewell My Concubine: this was thin on the ground back in ’98 and was brought by someone all the way from Guangzhou; The Wedding Banquet starring Winston Chao; Cheap Killers (not Hold You Tight) starring Alex Fong; Total Eclipse, the best DiCaprio film; and the three Japanese dramas I had spent a fortune on, Dousoukai, Ningen Shikkaku: If I Were to Die and Kira Kira Hikaru; and…

He took them all.

Now that I think about it, QAF was everywhere. There was nothing special about my stuff.

He slapped my back before he left and made faces at me. I did my best to keep it together, telling myself: amiability brings riches, amiability brings riches, amiability brings riches…that motherfucker. He just had to take my gay films. As if they were easy to get my hands on!

After a while, the damn jerk strode into my shop again after the Lunar New Year’s holidays.

I was stupid and quickly hugged my drawer close.

“What’re ya doin’? I look like a thief to ya?” The hoodlum rolled his eyes at me with a cigarette between his teeth.

“Your stash was pretty sweet!” He flashed a flattering smile right after the eye-rolling. “You got anymore? Hmm?”

Ew. Disgusting. What the hell was he smoking?

More smoke ended up coming out of his stinking mouth.

“Hey–!” Then I broke out coughing.

“Mwahahaha!” He began laughing at me exaggeratedly.

Everyone has their limits.

And I always saw these crooks as eyesores.

So I pointed my nose up in the air. “You’re not welcome here. Please leave right now.”

Ahem. I admit I was pretty harsh. He still makes fun of me about it until this day.

The hoodlum shot me a glance before plopping onto the table without a care in the world and even started flipping through my rental records and reading out loud.

“Zhang Hua rented Ghost…”

He misread several characters and even licked his fingers to flip the pages.

I froze in place as flames of fury sparked within and rose above my head. I understood then what it meant to be driven mad.

I carefully set the drawer down and shoved the useless piece of shit off the table.

“Get the fuck out!” I roared.

He didn’t pay any heed and kept teetering.

I was a man. Although I wasn’t as hot-blooded as Mister Lu Xun hoped our countrymen to be, I was still a man.

Thus, without much consideration, I punched him.

Actually, as a cultured person, I usually never lost my temper. I could count all the fights I had in twenty four years with one hand. He had not done anything evil or unforgivable and there were not any hate based on our social classes, but I was just so angry.

Sometimes, one punch leads to a life of complications for two.

He was 180 centimetres tall, about half a head taller than me. Though he looked malnourished, he was apparently very experienced. My fury went into hiding once more after dealing two punches and taking four of his. I had knocked one of his teeth out since my first punch landed on his mouth—which I wasn’t told until much later—and that truly angered him. We fought like there was no tomorrow. Disks were cracked and shelves were tipped over. The thunderous racket brought over a crowd of curious people.

What they saw was the mild-tempered Qian Jr. beaten bloody by some thug, the popular Qian Jr. getting his store wrecked by a hoodlum lowlife.

I don’t know what happened after that: I got knocked out. What a joke. A twenty-four-year-old man getting knocked unconscious by an eighteen-year-old kid.

I was the Qian family’s only child. My uncle’s son-in-law’s second brother worked in the police station in the East District and the scoundrel was arrested on the day of the incident. My dear mother told me this when I woke up in the hospital that night.

“…wouldn’t have let you if I knew opening a book store would get you beat up…I told you not to…” My sixty-year-old ma could barely breathe through the sobbing. “It’s all your old man’s fault…making you apply for that stupid agriculture university. If only you listened to me…”

I felt guilty. This is going to be the last time that I make you worried, I promised silently.

My head still didn’t feel too well so I stayed another day.

I was on the hospital cot, drinking the dates, white fungus and lotus seed soup my mom made me and skimming through Slam Dunk.

“Hahaha!” Hanamichi Sakuragi was really adorable but I still liked Mitsui the best.

“Excuse me…” A small, skinny woman appeared by my bed. I was certain I didn’t know her. She had a very thick layer of foundation on her face which still couldn’t hide the thin creases all over her skin. She was probably close to my mom’s age. I only knew afterwards that she was only in her early forties.

“Are you Comrade Qian Jiying?”

I frowned. Apparently Jiying was the name of a famous poet from our hometown in the imperial times and my self-crowned, learned intellectual father named me after him. But I’m Qian Jiying, not Comrade Qian Jiying.

“What can I do for you?” I asked kindly.

A giant bag of bananas and apples popped out of nowhere. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m Shen Bin’s mom. He shouldn’t have fought with you. I didn’t do a good job raising him. Sorry…”

So the rascal’s name is Shen Bin, I thought. I was nowhere as furious after the fight.

“I’m sorry but I don’t have anything else I could give you other than these fruits. Shen Bin’s still young. He’s only going to turn nineteen after the next New Year’s. I’d hoped that he’d amount to something. They said he started a fight in your shop and broke lots of things and even hurt you. I know I have to pay but I really don’t have any money. I’ll educate him in the future, I promise. He’s already in jail now. I just hope you can find in your heart…”

I wonder how a tiny woman like her could raise such a tough son. Honestly, I did not want to make a fuss over it too much. He was a kid after all and I was the one who started it.

“You don’t have to pay. But there’s no use in begging me. I’m not the one who arrested your son.”

The old lady puckered her lips and almost burst out in tears. I never liked seeing women cry so I hurriedly said, “Come on, it’s okay. He’ll be released in a couple of days. It’ll be fine!”

Her old, teary face made me feel so sorry for her and even a bit regretful. I wondered to myself if the rascal would learn his lesson this time.

She took out another bag after wiping off the tears on the powder. “I know he broke the videos in your store. I found these in his room. I’ll try looking again when I go–.”

I had just taken the bag from her when my ma came in like the Tasmanian devil. “How dare you show your face around here? Probably thought our sweetie’s easy to fool, didn’t you? Your thug of a son is gonna end up in jail sooner or later, I tell you. If anything happens to my son, that piece of shit is gonna be dead meat! Now, get the hell outta here!”

The woman left unkemptly in a hurry with her fruits.

I frowned as my mom started on me. “Don’t you be nice now. You almost got beaten to death! What are we gonna do if you died, son? Hmmph. She thinks a few apples is all it takes? How funny!”

By then, I was already regretful. I felt really sorry for Shen Bin’s mom.

I opened the bag. There were approximately forty or fifty disks in there. My entire collection.

“Don’t you be fooled by her appearance now. She used to be that little widow up the street. Tons of lovers. They say bitches raise sons of bitches, and they’re darn right about that. Don’t you start feeling sorry for her.”

Sigh. I guess even the kindest mother would become a witch when it came to her son.

There were other stuff in the bag aside from my disks: The Longest Nite, Young and Dangerous, Midnight Cowboy, The Sting, Sniper…even Rouge, Centre Stage, and Three Colours.

My collection had not been lying abandoned in the trash but rather, they were perfectly fine. I was quite dumbfounded.

My old lady was still grumbling, “Gotta make sure he goes behind the bars…”

“Let’s forget it.”

“But son!”

Only after my persistent pleading did my family decide to go easy on Shen Bin.

However, my brother-in-law’s second brother came back saying that the rascal had the guts to beat the living daylights out of the big fellow that was locked up with him on his second night at the detention centre, breaking three ribs, blinding one eye and almost rupturing the spleen.

I gasped out loud. My so-called injuries were nothing compare to those. Why was he so misbehaved though? He wasn’t going to get out easily after something like that.

I opened shop again in a couple of days, alive and kicking.

I had just opened for business when these little scoundrels dressed like thugs showed up at my door. “Qian! You won this time wit’ your dirty tricks! Disrespectin’ Shen Bin like that…just you wait!”

What tricks? I was puzzled

“Don’t play innocent with me. E’eryone knows what that motherfuckin’ Ol’ Wu does. You Qians sure are cold!”

Then they left after not being able to do anything in broad daylight.

I smelled something fishy so I went to ask the second brother.

He hesitantly told me after my interrogation, “We were thinking the fellow didn’t behave, plus he had beat Qian Jr. up, so, um, we put him with Old Wu ‘cause we thought, you know, but who knew he’d be that ballsy? Old Wu is one big guy. You should’ve seen that giant being beaten to a pulp…”

I glared at him.

“Hey buddy, your mom was the one who asked me!”

I continued to glare at him.

“’Kay, fine. I heard Old Wu’s done that kind of stuff before, but I didn’t know about it beforehand. I ain’t that wicked. I really didn’t know!”

“What kind of stuff?”

“You know, the usual. They say he did a few little boys before.” He patted me on the back after my silence. “Qian Jr., this really ain’t our fault. I only heard about it afterwards, if not I would’nt’ve–.”

“Of course,” I nodded. “It’s not your fault, brother.” Then I left.

After reporting this to the family, my old man announced, “We are at fault for–.”

But Mom interrupted before he could finish, “What’re you saying? They’re all the same—karma, I reckon! Say, you think those little punks are gonna take revenge?”


×××


I felt kind of uneasy and had trouble sleeping for the next several days. All I could think of while tossing and turning were Shen Bin’s disgruntled, black eyes and his mom’s ancient, wrinkly face. I decided to visit their home.

The Shen household was located on the only street in town that had not been upgraded yet, and consisted of three tattered brick rooms with a roof sticking out for a kitchen.

Shen Bin’s widow mom was Ding Hongmei. She used to work at the No. 1 Cotton Spinning Factory and had been a looker once upon a time. Later on, she got involved with a sadistic brute and often got beaten blue and purple. Apparently, she was rescued once and had been naked, covered with bloody burn marks on the skin and piercings on her nose, belly, vagina…

No wonder she aged so fast.

_____________________

ayszhang: >o< I hope you guys like the new story. I think I will release chapters every weekend! :D There will be more chapters tmr~

P.S. I got an email two days ago from the school in Japan that I applied for. I received official admission and the Japanese student visa and everything! ~\(≧▽≦)/~ I will be studying in Tokyo from Oct 2015 to Aug 2016! Woohoo~ Just wanted to share this news with my favourite readers in the whole wide world <3 (and maybe if any of you are going to be there during that time ;) you know who to call!)
Creative Commons Licence
The Rental Shop Owner - English Translation by ayszhang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

78 comments:

  1. Thank you and congrats!

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  2. Thanks for the new story and congrats on your acceptance!! I would have loved to study abroad!

    I loved that they mentioned one of my favorite actors Leslie Cheung! And Happy Together is such a classic. Plus it had another one of my other favorite actors Tony Leung! Can't wait to see how this relationship develops.

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  3. Translating this story was so interesting cause almost everything mentioned is real like all the movies and books!

    I'm glad there's someone who knows about Chinese cinema! :D you'll enjoy this story then hahaha

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  4. hahaha yea back before the age of the internet I was in rental shops every weekend! Wathching HK films really helped with my Cantonese.

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  5. I thought you meant CS by Mother's day special.. Was so looking forward to it T_T

    But this story seems very interesting so I cant really complain. ;D

    Congratulations on your admission!! That sounds so cool! Do you intend to blog/instagram your experiences in JP? I would love to follow(as in virtually lmao) you if that was the case!

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  6. Congratulations on your acceptance! Next year i might be working in Tokyo,Japan so i think we can meet then.

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  7. AZ, thank you for starting a new story. Is this going to be one of those S/M kind of story? I wonder who is going to be the bottom and who is to be the top. May be QJ the bottom and SB the top or vice versa (that is impression that I got from it). What do think AZ? Or, maybe SB will make QJ be the bottom in the relationship as of a revenge for him getting rape in prison by Old Wu, and thought that it was QJ fault. You know there is a saying "love begin after your first meeting fight".

    The mentioned of all the great classic movies in the story is awesome and epic. Though, I wished it wouldn't mention that Leslie Cheung was gay (so sad when he commit suicide). Not only he was a good actor but was a great singer (eventhough he was kind of shorter than other celebrities), and he had a beautiful face too (well, at least to me).

    And the mentioned of Slam Dunk the anime (I wished they would complete the anime story as well, and the mangaka complete the series because I wanted to know which team won the National) of how the QJ think HS is adorable (to me, I think HS was more of hilarious than adorable), and QJ like Mtsui the best (to me, I like Lukawa/Rukawa the best because of his one stupid track mind and the stoic character/attitude).

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  8. Also.. I would like to try my hand at drawing Shen Bin and Qian JR. Do you know what does Qian look and dress like?

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  9. congratulation!! study in tokyo is always my dream. but maybe i'll come as a tourist coz i cant study there. whatever it is enjoy your student time coz it the only time you can be carefree. good luck n bty, i like the new story. is there any new chapter for cold sand tomorrow?

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  10. Wow. Congratulation AZ for getting accepted from the school in Japan, and it was your wish/hope too. Really, congrats and wishing you all the best.



    I wish I could go to Japan as a tourist but I heard that it is so expensive there even just to visit. I could barely make living here let alone have the money to take a vacation trip to Japan. But actually, I like to also visit other Asian countries and the Europe.

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  11. SATAN, I like to give it a try of picturing QJ looks like. I would say that he is about 170 to 175 cm tall, dress like modern day young men living in China would dress, not too flashy or too conservatively dress, hair is neatly cut, his face maybe not great looking but it not bad either (maybe just a little bit of feminine looking and just a little bit pretty), his skin color maybe pale because it seem like he doesn't get out much, and no tattoos or piercing either or any jewelery adorn on him either, and not too fat or too skinny. How that? Maybe my imagining of him and my description could be wrong.

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  12. SATAN, may I make a suggestion to your drawing? You could draw a little video rental shop (of 2 story high) with the shop on the 1st floor and a small apartment/s/room on the 2nd floor in the background with SB standing behind QJ with his arms tightly around QJ 's stomach, and QJ's hands holding on top of SB's hands. How about it?

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  13. Omg yay!! I'm glad :D this story was set a bit too early for me (i was one year old when Qian gets beat up by Shen Bin hahaha) but I think people a couple years older would totally connect with this :p

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  14. :O that would be great! Maybe wait until the end of the story? That way you can get to know the characters better! Give me your email ;) we can discuss this in further detail if you wanna draw them.

    Oooh I haven't thought about blogging about it :o maybe I should?

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  15. I like this :) and really the author doesn't describe them too much (lol at Qian's description of Shen Bin). Shen Bin is said to be very handsome but Qian not so much. But we'll see as the story goes! There's no rush.


    As for clothing style, I think a nice simple button-up shirt would be fine. :)

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  16. XD I'm glad~ it took me forever to search up all those tv/drama/books! I mean most of the time the titles are COMPLETELY different. Anyways this story really grabbed my attention because of this real life references. I don't think I've seen many that do this!

    You're welcome :D I know who is gonna top and bottom but I won't tell you hehehe....;)

    And no, no BDSM. This will be a typical(?really?) love story with no kinks. I would have added that to the warning if BDSM was involved (oh dont get me wrong I love BDSM)

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  17. Thank you! :D I definitely will try to make the best of it

    No ; u ; I've been releasing CS so fast that the next chapters haven't gotten proofread yet! Sorrryyyy

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  18. Nooo it's not expensive if you know where to go and what to do. Sure, there are areas where living and costs are suuuper high. And also it's expensive if you want to live the way you live elsewhere (say North America). Japan has (very) limited resources so they have developed a way of living there that fits this limitation. If you don't follow that then it'll cost extra, a lot! But I would say if you stayed away from the big cities living expenses isn't too bad! Short-term travelling though is kind of inevitable cuz you obviously have to go to all the big cities

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  19. Congratulations for being accepted at the japanese school!!! It's wonderful!!
    Thanks also for this new project! I've begun reading Cold Sands some weeks ago and I'm trying to catch up with the new chapters but I'm someone stalled at the chapter when Han Xin left Murong. I don't want Murong out of the scene for so many chapters ;_; !!!

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  20. That was my impression (the image that I got) of QJ. I kind took a guess at describing QJ in my other comment to SATAN below.

    I didn't describe SB because I know that he is quite tall for an Asian man (or maybe just a little above average for Chinese man. Chinese are quite taller these days than back in the older days because now days the foods that we eat are more nutritious than back then, and milk are plenty. I know that Chinese are taller than Vietnamese and Japanese and maybe other people from other different Asian countries), and his punky-flunky outer appearances. And, I get an impression that he is handsome, and he knows it too that why he is acting all cocky. I also believe that he know that he is gay and maybe can recognize that QJ is gay too, and thinks that QJ will fall for him that why he acts all cocky in front of QJ.

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  21. Awwww <3 it's okay ; u ; I had a hard time reading through the chapters without Murong too

    Thank you :) I'm looking forward to it ~~~

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  22. Seriously, your english teacher trained you very well :O you don't even need to read the book!!!


    Haha anyways, yeah~ We'll meet another character in ch 5 (i think) who is a fujoshi ;D and she thinks Shen Bin is super hot haahha

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  23. I feel so old! Haha but I'm not.... maybe? Lol.

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  24. Thank you and congratulations. Japan is nice place to study. So want to go there again. And thank you for new story. Beginning is interesting. SB is sure attached to QJ but clumsy lead man still not aware... So we just have to wait till they realize each other's feelings.

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  25. ;) It won't be long before they do
    Thank you <3 How was your experience? And where did you go?

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  26. Yeah, and she will keep on gawking and stalking SB and say "OMG! and kakakakaka, and he so bad but so good in way of his looks are out of his world, and I am going to die, and I am going to try to set him up with one of my guy friend."

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  27. Pretty much!!! Actually one of the extras is written from her perspective ;D so we'll see Shen and Qian's relationship from another POV

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  28. Congrats on your admission!!!

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  29. If I was to take a guess, I would say SB is the bottom, eventhough, he acts tough and all cocky, he just like a little puppy that wagging its tail and bother/follow the person/owner around in hope that the person/owner notice him.

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  30. *jaw drops* you've succeeded in impressing me once again!

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  31. And the new novel i really love its very interesting. Thank you for your hard work :)

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  32. You're welcome >u< I'm glad you like it!

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  33. Congrats!! And have fun in Japan! I'm so jealous. I didn't make the application final date so I couldn't apply. :( But I wanted to go to Japan this summer. Haha.


    Back to the story. I really like down-to-earth romances so I'm pretty excited! :3

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  34. Yeah that's true XDD Those are really the classics. For me though, English class was a bit of a drag at times because some of the themes or messages were just hard for me to wrap my head around. I guess it also depends on the teacher too, 'cause there was one teacher and everything she taught just clicked with me so easily, even Shakespeare! I remember there was King Lear and Lord of the Flies that year.
    Speaking of reading, I've been reading this book called Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. I recommend it if you have free time! Makes you think about this world we live in. It could be heavy at times but generally a nice massage for the brains.

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  35. :D Thanks~
    Awww, there's always next year! :)
    .
    Yay!!! OvOb I enjoyed it so I hope you will too!

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  36. Will do. I will tried to read the book that you recommended.

    And, you are right about depending on the teacher. I remembered when we were in our Junior year and had English class right after lunch. So when bell rang the 2nd time, all of us were already seated, and our English teacher came in the classroom with one of her button on her blouse was undone (it was always undone very day, and it never fail). All of my classmates and I, we looked at each other, and we all made a comment to each other after class that she was doing it during limited lunch time and had to run to the class and didn't have time to properly button up her blouse, and we all laughed about it. We knew that I was impossible because shed lived in the next town which took 20 minutes from her town to my town, so therefore, she couldn't go home and do it with her husband but then I said "Maybe she was doing it with one of the single male teacher." Yeah we were all pretty bad. Several years ago, I talked to one of my old classmate who still lives in my home town, and she said that this English teacher that we had in Junior year had died from Alzheimer's disease which she contracted couple of years after our graduation. Anyway, her lessons were very boring to all of us (except for one who was all teachers' pet) and made us feel sleepy (or it was because we just had lunch that all of us were feeling sleepy) and a lots of her lessons didn't click with some of my classmates and me. But my Senior year English teacher was even worst because not only was he our English teacher but he sort a like the VP, and really doesn't have any sense of humor, and his lessons were kind of rush some of it didn't click with us and our English class was 1st class in the morning too (crying boo hoo hoo from remembering the pain & suffering of boring English classes).

    The English teacher, that taught us to analyze by tearing apart of the stories and poems and to give interpretation of it, was our Sophomore year teacher.

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  37. Yeah the English teacher I was talking about was my grade 10 (sophomore for you americans ;)) English teacher too! She was also, coincidentally, teaching choir, PE and drama! :o Maybe that's why she was so good at teaching since she was so connected with other forms of art as well. Who knows XD
    .
    Ohh Alzheimer's :s bleh. I took a psych course entirely on Alzheimer's. Sooo depressing T__T It really made me realise that we are just an animal. We're not all-powerful like we think we are.

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  38. My Sophomore year English teacher taught only English. My Junior year English teacher was like your Sophomore English teacher in that she also taught drama [made me, one of my classmate and 3 others students from the Senior class put on a short play (which I thought was stupid because the story line had no depth in it) for other students (grades from F to S which was not too many students because I lived in a very small town) in school to watch because we were in her drama class] except mine didn't teach PE; however, my Senior year English teacher also taught PE and coached Junior high school girls volleyball & basketball and Junior high boys & girls tracks. Now really want to cry because of remembering the pain, embarrassment and frustration of having have to act in a stupid play and unable to get out of it. Arrrrrrrggggghhhhh and boo hoo hoo.

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  39. Oh yeah, down-to-earth which soon will be turning into smoke and causes the sweat from all that heavy ramming and pounding turns to steam and rise up to heaven.

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  40. Oh, I don't think QJ is clumsy. It is just that he didn't have SB in his eyes or mind or care for SB and thought that SB is a thud/punk and a kid; therefore, SB wanted QJ to notice him as a man and not a kid (but fail miserably) so he kept on being obnoxious and bother QJ in hope that he will grow on QJ, and QJ will be thinking of him and can't keep him out of QJ's mind.

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  41. TAT unfortunately this story doesn't go too into detail with the ramming and pounding...sowee QAQ
    My next short story will be a smut one though!!!

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  42. Hahaha, I think @BL fan just meant he is clumsy in the sense he doesn't realise SB's intentions >o< so he's kinda socially clumsy.
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    =O= you should be a fortuneteller~~~ you basically just told the story for the author (and me the translator!) <3

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  43. I'm starting to miss @nii_san 's comments QAQ I hope everything is going okay for her!

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  44. Yippy! I can't wait for it. Now, you got me all excited. So this story is a tame one, huh? No biggie. Like I said, I really like to read everything even the tame romances.

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  45. :D I'm excite too~ I've actualy been working on it since I finished Drip Drop but I realised my Eng smut lingo wasn't enough so I've been reading lots of Eng smut to build my vocab in that area...so I'm going to really get to work on it after I finish Rental Shop OvO/

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  46. Oh, so that what BL fan meant. So, basically, they are both clumsy, one socially awkward, and the other is romantically clumsy as of don't how to get your love interest to notice you. LOL.

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  47. And that's why they are meant for each other ;D

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  48. Yeah, I wanted to ask you about it. She posted her comment in chapter 32 that she is really heartbroken and crying her eyeballs out after reading it, and won't be commenting for a while.

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  49. Yeah, they are perfect for each other. LOL, clumsiness goes with clumsiness.

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  50. TAT really???? >_< I hope she comes back soon <33

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  51. Yeah, me too. I miss her funny rantings and her indescribable logically thinking.

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  52. AZ, did you grow? Because your icon from CS is a kawaii chibi boy but now your icon is a grown man.

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  53. ;D Yess I grew over night hehehhee

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  54. Thank you for clarifying my point. I said QJ is clumsy because he knows about his sexuality yet couldn't recognize SB's intentions. And totally agree with you they are made for each other.
    I was in Niigata but loved traveling during breaks. As I said before Japan is wonderful and one of the place you must visit.

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  55. No problem ;)

    Ooh niigata! Thats the place with the yummiest rice!!! (Go read my translation "Please Don't Eat Me" and you'll know what I'm talking about!)

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  56. ; A ; I'm halfway done ch 36 of CS and I've cried twice already. I need some comforting to push through this. Normally dairytea would be there to listen to my ranting but she's so busy nowadays :(

    Anyways...

    TT_TT Han Xin is just so damn ... Stubborn?! Awkward? The way he deals with his feelings is so ( / _ ; ) I just feel so miserable watching him do this to himself Dx and I feel bad for Murong and Heng who fell in love with such a difficult person!!! Ahhhhh. >:( it's hard to rant without giving the plot away...grrrr. *crawls back to translate the rest of the chapter and cry some more*

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  57. Yeah, I know. And good sake😉 If you have time please visit Niigata and other small towns around. And I read all the post but just recently started to commenting. By the way I liked "Please don't eat me" too. Story is funny and interesting.

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  58. Maybe that is why both MY and HZ loves him. HX is selfless when it comes to his responsibility as emperor. I could just sympathize with his thinking. Sacrificing thousands to save millions, including himself. Now I feel like Want to read next chapter but in other hand doesn't want to because I know there is heart wrenching pain for HX and MY. Sure I'll cry to when I read those chaters too. Thank you for working so hard

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  59. Aww <3 thank u for the support ~

    I will definitely check it out! :) any place that you really liked?

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  60. It likes "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", and then "Honey, I Blow Up the Kid" but it actually "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 2" hahahahha.

    I don't mind listen/reading your rantings (just like I listen/reading nii_san rantings). You should let us listen/reading you rantings. Just lets it all out. We're all here for you too.

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  61. but the problem with me ranting is that I already know how the story is going to turn out...so I can't rant to my heart's content without giving the rest of the book away QAQ ugh... But trust me, I will rant a lot when the last extra is released!!!!! >A< let it allll out!!!

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  62. (//o\\) oh my the second half of ch 36 is so deliciousssssssss <33333 and so sweet <33333

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  63. congrats ayszhang, hope u will have a great adventure over there....i'd love to visit japan someday

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  64. Thank you :D You need to!!! It's such a strange but very interesting place! The culture is so different~

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  65. First thing i noticed is, homosexuality he was speaking about.. noo worries, we over here are supporting you XD Why would be reading this if we weren't?!
    Yep, same thing with BL, it's a drug, it starts with curiousity and.. you get addicted ^^
    nice way to beging your life.. at least he was succesful...
    Woah, what a bizzar beginning.. i'm feeling as though i was Jiying.. soo hard, i knew that Shen Bin didn't throw the movies he got from Jiying anyway, it was kind of him, and the way he lives it must be the reason why he is soo bad.. and his mother really, poor her, what a tough life they're going through...
    the way Jiying's mom acted made me hate her, but i can't blame her since she s protecting her son, i bet i would've done the same if i were in her place.. probably...
    Wooooow, how did Shen Bin's mother live after going through that state?? maan i would've died if i was in her place!! It gives me goosebumbes just thinking about it !
    annd nowww, the congratualation part that i dilayed before ;p
    soo, cogratualations ayszhang for being accepted there ^^
    HIp Hip Horraaaaaaayy (i wanted to say this again XD)
    agh, i wanna be there to meet you ><
    well, have fun there, take very very good care of yourself("don't be like nii_san, getting sick all the time!" AGHHHHHHH THAT VOICE AGAIN!!!! well it's right.. don't be like me, i'm always falling ill -_-)
    anyway, don't forget, brush your teeth, eat healthy food and.. (i told you this before, right??) anyway, you've got to tell us the day you are leaving... so i can nag at you a little more.. okay, okay.. so i can bit you farewell, all of us ^^



    Thank you for the new story, it seems a nice beginning, and as i saif many times before, i trust you completelly, it has to be a great story, but whatever happens, i'll still be loyal and love Han Xin the most
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    i know what you're thinking (i bet you didn't think about it, but i'll say it anyway)
    Why was't i beaten up???????????
    nice question.. and the answere is very sipmle, i am not commenting for cold sands soo, they have noo idea where i am ^^
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    okay that was a lie, i just don't want to drag them here soo you guys don't get mixed up and abandon this story for cold sands... i mean cold sands is the best.. alright alright, i know have nooo idea what i'm talking about so i'll stop andd.. yep, i'mm go comment for the next chapters..

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  66. You're back yayyyyyyy 8D <3

    Yeah :( unfortunately China ain't so homo-friendly...

    More on Shen Bin and mom's background in future chapters. It's pretty sad :'( poor Shen Bin.

    I wil! Thank you for all your wishes <3 I will take lots of pictures (someone mentioned the idea of me starting a blog to blog about my experience in Japan and I might do that :o)

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  67. Hello, about your cover, if you didn't fiind anyone to drawn one for you i might help you if you wish. let me a message or something along with your ideas about the cover.
    Is the last thing i can do to thanks you for your work.

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  68. We haven't found anyone yet ; u ; I actually don't have many ideas. I thought the artist could just draw whatever came to his/her mind after reading the story 😌

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  69. I still have some ch left, after i finish them i will make some drafts and maybe wee can chose one. tomorrow i will have them ready i hope.

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  70. i forgot to ask you, my stile is more into hiperrealism but i can make "anime" style as well. which you prefer?

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  71. I think realism would be better ;)

    BTW what is your email? I can send you the full translation including unposted chapters so you can better get inspirations

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  72. saghel_gina@yahoo.com, i was going to ask you as well for your mail :)

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  73. Thanks you!! ^^

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  74. I decided to give this story a try while waiting for Cold Sands extras. I like the story already. The narrator is funny and I'm planning to check out his gay movies collection later. There are a lot I haven't seen yet. :D Thank you so much for giving us all the goodies! <3

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  75. Oooh ;) thank you for giving it a try! <3 And I'm happy that you like it~~~

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