Love Knot v1c6

Author: Shi Ding Rou
Translator: yuejiin
Please do not steal my translations!

When Pipi was falling down she actually didn’t hurt herself. This was because she happened to drop onto the recliner, and the recliner was filled with metal springs.

However, when she looked up and saw that Helan Jingting was also falling, she immediately understood what had happened. A freeze-frame of an outdated detective film suddenly flashed through her mind: she lay naked at the bottom of the well, blood gushing from her mouth, her limbs scattered all over the place. The voice-over is criminal police captain Mu Ran’s description: “Deceased woman, unmarried, around 20 years old, wearing…”

She didn’t dare to think about it. Seeing that Helan Jingting had not yet stood firm, she did not hesitate to make a move and kicked a certain part of his body!

The person in front of her felt pain, and he couldn’t help but bend down and fall heavily on the recliner.

Before he could understand what had happened, his neck was tightly clutched by Pipi.

Seducer, pervert, murderer…

Pipi grit her teeth in hatred. Her strength grew bigger and bigger. The more her hand restrained, the closer it got. Helan Jingting struggled for a while, and then he stopped moving.

It turns out that it was actually so easy to rewrite a detective film. In less than three seconds, Pipi went from a victim to a murderer.

If it hadn’t been for the bright moonlight, the well’s clean bottom, and that the person lying on the chair was not ugly, Pipi would have been claustrophobic.

Only after a long time did she dare to release her hand, and her heart was still beating wildly. For fear of Helan Jingting suddenly awakening, she tied his hands tightly with a scarf and made a knot before using the moonlight to look carefully.

Helan Jingting was lying there motionless. A button on his chest was torn open, revealing a white clavicle, somewhat emaciated, but still emitting the characteristic smell of a man.

In fear of being unable to further control the desire to give him a second glance, along with being curious, Pipi took off his glasses and unintentionally took a deep breath.

Actually, Helan Jingting’s eyes were no different from those of ordinary people, peacefully closed, and no distinguishing features could be seen. However, Pipi felt that the Helan without glasses on and under the moonlight had an indescribable temperament, giving off a stunning sensation.

Really an elegant gentleman, gentle as jade. A pity she (Pipi) was a good girl, with what other choice but to commit this crime?

Pipi internally shook her head, checked his breathing, then touched his artery.

There was no breath, no pulse either.

She suddenly panicked and bent down to listen to his heartbeat.

There was no heartbeat.

In an instant, Pipi was covered with cold sweat. She had always thought that Helan Jingting, who was laying in front of her, had just fainted.

It couldn’t be! This handsome brother is simply too weak, right? She didn’t do anything, just kicked him and choked him a bit. How did he just, just…die?

A feeling of coldness crawled straight from her toes to her heart, as if even her heartbeat had froze.

Pipi said to herself, stay calm, stay calm.

That’s right. She came across a lecher, she was defending herself. But by no means did Pipi want to kill a person. After all, people all have times when they make mistakes. Moreover, he was also an outstanding party member who had once made remarkable contributions to the country. Even if he was guilty, it was not a guilt deserving death.

With this in mind, Pipi immediately found even more justifications for why Helan Jingting did not deserve to die: for example, from beginning to end, Helan Jingting did not do anything to her, actually treating her politely and peeling an apple for her. For example, on the well platform, he only gently pushed her down. When the time comes to face the police, giving an explanation won’t be clear enough, and maybe Helan’s family members will even accuse her of “intentional injury” when they find out.

Helan Jingting is so rich that a lawsuit will definitely cause her to suffer losses. Pipi’s family is very poor and definitely can’t afford a lawyer…

Of course, these are not the most important reasons for her guilty conscience.

The main reason is that Pipi felt that, for a man with Helan Jingting’s looks and successful career, it shouldn’t take much effort if he wants a woman. Even if he doesn’t want one, there must be many who deliver themselves to his door. Pipi herself, however, was really too ordinary, too plain. How could Helan Jingting covet her?

Following this logic, Pipi even felt that Helan did not even push her just now but merely bumped into her. She was too sensitive and anxious to be on guard, falling down when her body leaned over. ——Maybe he really didn’t have any evil intentions. 

Not daring to think about it again, she quickly performed CPR on him.

Pipi had learned a few lifesaving skills before, immediately put both palms together, press three times on the chest of the “dead person” and then blow into his mouth.

Three groups in a row, ten times in each group, no response.

She clenched her fist and forcibly pounded his heart.

No response.

Pipi’s scalp felt a burst of numbness, her whole body was wet with cold sweat. Looking around, she found a more serious problem: the well wall was very smooth, and with her power alone it would be absolutely impossible to climb out. She couldn’t call the police either, the small bag holding her phone was placed on the sofa.

Such a desolate private residence, not to mention on this high mountain top, will not have visitors for about a year.

Is it possible that she will have to die with this stranger in the same place?

At this time a cold wind blew from who knows where, melancholic and chilling to her bones. The more Pipi thought, the more she got scared. All the more reason she dared not slack off. Not only did her hands not stop moving, she also put in even more effort.

One time, two times, three times.

Continuously doing eleven groups, Helan Jingting’s finger suddenly moved slightly. Immediately after, a bit of warm breath came out from his ice-cold lips. She continued to work harder, continued to blow air in, press, and raise her face to observe him.

Helan Jingting’s chest gradually began to rise and fall, but he was still lying motionless.

“Helan Jingting, if you are not dead then say something!”

After a moment, his brows wrinkled, his eyes closed, and he used a feeble voice to say, “I can’t talk, I’m injured.”

Pipi let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, she immediately heightened her vigilance and rose her voice to shout at him, “Helan Jingting, you wolf wearing sheepskin! Tell me honestly, what did you want to do just now?”

Helan Jingting retorted, “I didn’t do anything.”

“Why did you push me into the well?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to see what my room looks like? This is my room.”

“Then you should say it clearly, why did you want to push me down? What exactly was your plan?”

“To get into this room, there is no other way than jumping down. It’s better for me to help you since you’re going to jump down anyways. Oh! Oh! Don’t kick me, I’m almost infertile.”

“You bastard, still want to have children! I’ll let you die without descendants!”

“Fine, you killed me. Let’s both die here. In any case, without my help, you can’t climb out.”

These words worked. Pipi stopped kicking him immediately.

“Untie the scarf, its binding my hands quite uncomfortably.”

“Pei! Pei!⁽¹⁾ Don’t think about it!” Pipi shouted.

⁽¹⁾呸(pēi): expressing disdain, annoyance or disapproval (eg. pah, bah, pooh)

He ignored her, using his mouth to bite loose the knot on the scarf little by little, throwing the loosened scarf onto the floor.

“Don’t mess with me, I have practiced martial arts, you are not my opponent!” Pipi wanted to put on a stance, only to discover that the bottom of the well was too small and the recliner was too big, the rest of the space simply couldn’t accommodate a person.

Helan Jingting snorted softly and said, “Just your three-legged cat kungfu? Can it still be called martial arts?”

Then he sat up, picked the glasses back up from the ground, and began to take his clothes off piece by piece.

Pipi was at a loss, dumbfounded, “You… what are you doing?”

“Undressing, bathing in the moonlight.”

“Such a cold day, yet you’re undressing?” She quickly covered her eyes, then opened her fingers a crack to observe him.

“It’s not cold.”

“You…wear a bit more okay!” Pipi’s voice was almost pleading.

“Why?”

“I…I am a woman, men and women are different…”

“You just kicked me so much, I’m basically a woman now.” He thought about it, seeming to think it was a reasonable request, and said, “Alright, hand me that towel.”

Following the direction of his finger, Pipi discovered that there was a cabinet under the recliner. She took a white towel from inside and handed it to Helan Jingting. He turned around, used the bath towel to cover his lower body, then laid comfortably on the recliner, bending his arm to make a pillow and stretching out his long legs.

The moonlight gently spilled down.

The air was very cold. Helan Jingting on the recliner looked white all over, as if practicing some kind of internal skill or taking a steam bath, appearing contented and incomparably satisfied.

Pipi cast side glances with a red face, her fantasies running wild.

After a while, she suddenly remembered her real purpose of coming to Lushui Mountain Villa this time, wasn’t it to interview this person?

Now they were alone in a room and unable to walk away, really a great opportunity!

Pipi quickly took out the recording pen in her pocket, asking, “Mr. Helan, may I ask why you want to bathe in the moonlight?”

Helan Jingting did not reply, disliking her noisiness, yet he didn’t lose his temper. Only after a while did he say, “No reason. A hobby, a habit.”

Encountering strange incidents do not scare journalists. A dog biting a person is not news, a person biting a dog is news.* Bathing in the moonlight isn’t that newsworthy, at most it’s a health-preserving exercise, similar to winter swimming. Pipi was tired from standing, so she sat by his side, “Then, how long are you going to bask?”

*T/N: Basically a person biting a dog is more interesting news.

“One night.”

“One night?!” Pipi immediately jumped up to protest, “Then what do I do?  Can it be that you want me to accompany you here for a whole night?”

Don’t know why, perhaps because he was knocked down too easily, Pipi was not afraid of this person at all, but felt that the things that had happened tonight were interesting.

“If you aren’t willing, you can just come up with your own solution to get out,” he said.

“Helan Jingting!”

“It’s no use calling me.” A lazy voice.

“Looks like you really don’t want to have children!” Pipi wanted to throw a punch at him again, but was pulled by him by surprise onto the recliner so that she was lying down alongside him. A soft voice came from beside her ear, “Why are you in a hurry to get out? Don’t you think that the moonlight tonight is beautiful? That the wintersweet flowers on the mountain are very fragrant? There is also wind blowing through cavities in the distance, the sound of vegetation snapping…”

“Snow beginning to melt, the sound of spring streams surging…”

“A mole drinking from the river, the sound of ice breaking…”

“An otter having a dream, the sound of a falling star…”

“The sounds of nature are so touching, you ought to cherish this beautiful moment, lay here with me, be still and savor it carefully.”

“Oh…,” Pipi’s state of mind turned misty, bewitched by that dreamlike voice.

Midnight deepened, the cold was pressing. Although Pipi was wearing a down jacket, she still involuntarily shivered. The hand holding the recording pen was almost frozen stiff.

She sniffled, discovering that her hand was suddenly grasped by Helan Jingting. Ten fingers clasped together, a melting warmth came from his fingertips.

Their faces were almost next to each other, and they could hear each other’s breathing. Pipi wanted to turn around, but was pulled back by him, and her heart couldn’t help beating rapidly.

“Are you afraid of me?” he suddenly said.

“Not afraid.”

“I might eat you.”

“How?”

“First start eating from your toes,” he looked at her, a deep smile emerging on his face, “wait until I’ve almost eaten to the top of your head, then I’ll ask you if it hurts.”

Pipi giggled. Halfway through, she once again felt her blood run cold, goosebumps breaking out from head to toe.

They lay side by side on the chair, looking at the rounded wall of the well, looking at the moon in the sky. 

After an hour, Pipi got impatient, “What’s so good about this well? It’s so boring.”

“Unfortunately, there’s really nothing entertaining.” Helan Jingting said. Then, he thought of something and said, “Wait, I have a shortwave radio, do you want to listen?”

His hand moved, took out a small radio from under the recliner, turned on the switch, and played classical music.

Pipi took over the radio and twisted the band around, “Let me see if there’s a night talk show, there used to be a ‘Pandora’s Psychology Talk’, FM1097, I quite liked listening to it.”

“No, I must listen to music. The talk show is very noisy.” Helan Jingting grabbed it and turned it back to the original channel, Serenade in E-flat major.

“The music on this station is all in E-flat, the host is really crazy. ABCDEFG, so many keys, he prefers listening to this kind, and even playing it endlessly. Really is eating too much and being stuffed full.” Pipi was unwilling, using all her energy to whisper in his ear. This complaint was not made by Pipi, but by Pipi’s former roommate who was in the music department. As a student, she was also accompanied by shortwave radio every day.

Helan Jingting was unmoved and resolute, “I just love to listen to the key of E.”

“Fine, I’m letting you.” Pipi generously let go, “I prefer to have a sense of moral superiority.”

“No no, I also like to have a sense of moral superiority.” Helan Jingting said, his slender finger moved, the unique sound of a female channel came through, tender, like spring rain:

“––Now let’s answer a listener from Hangzhou, Miss Wang, hello. I am Panpan, this here is FM1097, Pandora’s Psychology Talk. Just now we talked about the friendship between women, which seems very different from that of men. Miss Wang, do you want to share your experience with everyone? ……”

This column is full of the most nonsensical psychology gossip. Helan Jingting hates that he can not block his ears with his hands. Pipi snickered in her heart.

After listening for less than ten minutes, Helan Jingting yawned, seemingly wanting to sleep. He turned over slightly, face sideways, towards her.

Ah ah ah, must not fall asleep. Pipi quickly opened the recorder pen, “Mr. Helan, can I interview you now?”

“You can’t.”

“Why?”

“Considering what you have just done, you have lost this opportunity.”

“Then, Mr. Helan, send me back home.”

“After another two hours.”

“I want to go home now!” Pipi’s voice increased by eight degrees.

“Help yourself,” he pointed to the well opening, “I suggest you climb barefoot, the climbing feasibility is greater.”

“You…you won’t help me?” Speechless. 

He shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, very regretful.

Pipi originally already sat up, but hearing these words she fell down on the reclining chair again with a ‘bang’. She was also very tired today, now too tired to open her eyes, “Alright, I’m sleeping. I have work at eight o’clock in the morning, remember to wake me up at 7:30.”

Finished speaking, she pulled the towel on his body, putting it over her own body, “I must be covered with the towel, I’m cold.”

He was stupefied, becoming aware of himself, his face unexpectedly turned red, “Then, then what do I do?”

“How would I know?”

“Using your scarf is fine.” He picked up the scarf on the floor, wrapped it around his waist, and laid down again comfortably.

Pipi was speechless, hatefully going to sleep.

In the middle of the night Pipi woke up, the moonlight outside was still cool, Helan Jingting was still sleeping by her side. She twisted her body, tightly clinging to her down jacket, buried her head and slept soundly.

She couldn’t help but be a little curious again. Since she was little, Pipi had never seen a man’s body. Even Jialin, over the past decade, she had only come into contact with it once during a rainstorm. Since then, six long years have already passed from bumping fingers to holding hands.

Therefore, a rare opportunity, a free biology lesson, Pipi lowered her head, carefully studying his body a bit.

En, not bad, a rare specimen ah…

Moonlight as white as silk, stars sparkling. Pipi found a peculiar form of ancient jade hanging on Helan Jingting’s neck, one end is round, hollowed out with carved patterns. One end is pointed, slightly raised, like canine teeth. Pipi secretly thought, wearing this type of jade, would it be comfortable? So sharp, wouldn’t you poke yourself? Nevertheless, the jade is of excellent quality, moist like sunshine after the rain, giving off a cool glow in the moonlight.

When Pipi woke up, the sky was already bright. She found herself sleeping in a big comfortable bed, her shoes weren’t even taken off.

She went to the living room and found Helan Jingtin bathed entirely new, in a suit and leather shoes, currently putting on a watch.

“If you want to shower you can use my bathroom,” he said.

“Eh… no.”

She was a bit embarrassed. She went to the restroom to hastily wash her face and rinse her mouth.

“I’ll send you to the subway station.” He stood up.

This time, he had a cane in his hand. Sure enough he couldn’t see anything.

Pipi remembered the address on the door plate when she went out: 56 Xianting Street.

He held the blind cane but didn’t use it much, and he did not hesitate like a blind man.

“Don’t send me, I can walk by myself.”

“The path down the mountain is very long.”

They walked side by side, and Helan Jingting kept following her silently, not fast nor slow, in an unhurried manner.

“I don’t believe that you can’t see anything, at least you can see a little light?” Pipi said. 

“Whatever light can’t be seen.”

“Then what is your eyesight at night?”

 “1.5.”

“So to say, you actually don’t have to wear glasses at night.”

“En.”

“Then why are you wearing it again? Isn’t it troublesome?”

“Not troublesome, I got used to it.”

At the station, Pipi took out her ticket and was about to bid him goodbye, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly gathered the courage to ask, “Mr. Helan, you…are you human?”

Suddenly, a crease* appeared in the corner of Helan Jingting’s eyes and disappeared quickly. He bowed his head and remained silent for a moment, as if thinking about what the right answer was. Then, raising his head he lightly said:

“If I’m not human, what am I?”

*T/N: I think the eye crease means he smiled.

 

Glossary:
⁽¹⁾呸(pēi): expressing disdain, annoyance or disapproval (eg. pah, bah, pooh)