Love Knot v1c8

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

(☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞ Love knot reference coming through this chapter!
I decided to add ellipses (. . .) where the author switches scenes because otherwise it’s a bit confusing..
Also, this chapter is a result of me procrastinating last night instead of studying so enjoy it heheheh.

The jade tiger laid still on a wooden table covered with velvet, only the size of a palm. The jade on the head had been eroded.

Helan Jingting put on soft cloth gloves, taking the jade tiger in his hands and weighing it, weighing it again, then putting it down. Picking up a magnifying glass and a flashlight, he carefully examined the lines and coloration* on the surface.

*T/N: Original text says 沁色 (qìn se). I think it refers to the color of jade after oxidation, which jade experts examine in jade identification (telling artificial jade from true trade).

“This is fake, isn’t it?” Pipi gathered from the side, pointing to the two round holes on the tiger’s back, “Can artisans from the Warring States period drill such round holes? This hole looks like a machine drilled it.”

“In the Liangzhu period the holes were this round.”

“Was Liangzhu period before or after the Warring States period?”

“Five thousand years ago.”

“…is that before or after?”

A certain person heaved a sigh, “Before.”

. . .

Behind them stood two tall and strong security guards, looking ahead expressionlessly. 

Helan Jingting turned the flashlight to the brightest setting. Against the light, he measured the length and spacing of the pattern with a tape measure.

A moment passed, and seeing he didn’t speak after so long, Pipi spoke again, “The lighting here is obviously bad, what are you doing not taking off your sunglasses? If it’s because you’re afraid of losing them, I can hold them for you.”

“Please just treat me as a blind person.”

“You didn’t wear sunglasses in the museum yesterday.”

Certainly, Pipi remembered crystal clear. At that time, Helan Jingting had promptly put his sunglasses on after hearing her movement. Suddenly, she seemed to realize something, “Could it be that you only wear your sunglasses when I’m next to you?”

“That’s right, you seem to be very important, don’t you?”

Pipi shut up.

Another thirty minutes passed, Pipi couldn’t help but press, “Are you done looking?”

“No.”

“How much longer do you need to look?”

“A little longer.”

“I’m hungry.”

“There’s a dining area outside the door.”

“I don’t have enough money.” Due to being in a hurry to catch a bus, Pipi sat in an ultra-luxury-nonstop-air-conditioning type of bus. There wasn’t much left after paying the tickets. The rest of the money still had to pay for the ticket going back.

Helan Jingting stood up, gave the security guards a greeting, then returned the jade tiger.

. . .

In front of the museum was a busy street.

Helan Jingting asked, “What do you want to eat?”

“…noodles.”

“What would you eat if you had money?”

“Boiled fish fillet.”

He brought her to a Sichuan restaurant.

The two took a seat, and the moment Pipi flipped through the menu she was frightened, “How can Sichuan dishes be so expensive?”

Helan Jingting looked at her, “It’s my treat.”

Pipi ordered two dishes, one was boiled fish fillet, the other was a plate of mushroom cabbage stalks, “Boiled fish is quite a lot, enough for two people to eat.”

Helan Jingting didn’t utter a word. Waiting until after the waiter took away the menu, he said, “I’m not eating anything, just eat by yourself.”

Eating by herself ah? Is it that she didn’t order the dishes that he liked?

Pipi felt a little sorry and said, “How can you not eat, are you not hungry?”

“Not hungry.” Helan Jingting lightly said.

“Then…what do you normally eat for dinner? Do you make your own food?”

“The things I eat, you won’t like them.”

Pipi laughed, “No way. I’m an omnivore, I can eat anything. Say it for me to see, what do you like to eat?”

Helan Jingting raised his head and looked at her, saying, “I eat flowers.”

“Flowers?” Pipi didn’t hear clearly, “Broccoli? Cauliflower? Wood ear? Sichuan pepper?”*

*T/N: These all contain the chinese word for flower (花) in their names (西蓝花, 花菜, 花木耳, 花椒), so Pipi thinks he might be referring to one of them.

Helan Jingting shook his head.

Pipi’s line of sight just happened to fall onto the flower vase in the middle of the table. There were two carnations placed inside.

“You mean…fresh flowers?”

“En.”

She pointed to the flower vase, “This type? Carnations?”

“Red flowers.”

“These are carnations.”

“I call them red flowers.”

“Certainly…they are red.”

Pipi felt that their conversation was starting to become newsworthy. So she kept pursuing without letting go, “OK, you eat flowers, fresh flowers. How do you eat them? Air-dry to make tea? Make them into preserves? Stir-fry with sugar or boil in water?”

“Eat them raw.”

Pipi plucked the carnation, handing it to him, “Eat it for me to see, alright?”

Helan Jingting didn’t take it, “I’m not eating it.”

“This is a flower, why won’t you eat it?”

“Fertilizer was used.”

“…you only eat organic foods?”

“En.”

Pipi thought about it, then asked, “Then how many flowers do you eat a day? Is it counted by duo⁽¹⁾? Or is it by weight?”

⁽¹⁾朵 (duo): measure word for flowers

“I never counted before.”

“Where do you buy flowers from? A flower shop?”

“I grow them myself. I have a very big flower garden.”

“What if…what if the harvest isn’t good, not enough to eat?”

“Then just starve.”

Pipi sized up his figure for a long time, sighing, “Not enough nutrition…no wonder you’re so thin.”

The boiled fish fillet was served, Pipi was forced to eat alone. Helan Jingting silently looked at her from the side.

She was very hungry, eating two bowls of rice in a row and not even managing to speak.

After eating, Helan Jingting ordered her a bowl of spinach soup, “Drink some soup, you ate too fast, can you swallow it all?”

Pipi wiped her mouth, fishing out a small jade from her pocket to hand over to him, “This is a piece of jade I bought, give it a look.”

Exiting the subway station this morning, she bought a piece of jade from a di tan⁽²⁾ after seeing it was glossy green, the quality was not bad, and it was twenty dollars.

⁽²⁾地摊 (dì tān): vendor with goods spread out on the ground for sale

Helan Jingting took a look, chuckled, and threw it into the trash can without a second thought. 

“Hey, my jade, why’d you throw it away!”

“Trash.”

Pipi grabbed the edge of the trash can, getting ready to rummage through it. Without any warning, a nearby customer spit into the trash can.

A hand grabbed her, “Don’t look anymore.”

Helan Jingting said, “How about I send you something similar.”

“I…why would I want your things?”

“It’s not anything valuable, but, it’s a mascot.”

He took out a wallet from his bosom. The wallet had a small pocket for storing coins. Opening the pocket, he conjured from inside a pellet-sized bead, red in color. Using a thin black string, he tied it to her left hand’s wrist, tying a knot while doing so.

Pipi realized that his movements when tying the knot were very quick and neat, but also very strange. The knot he made was looped in layers, creating the appearance of a flower with a hollow center.

“Done.” He used a pocket knife to cut off the remaining string.

“What is this bead made of? It doesn’t seem like jade.” Pipi moved the bead into her palm to play with, discovering that it was very hard, and also very heavy, but the surface wasn’t very glossy. Looking carefully, there were thin holes and veins.

“It isn’t jade.”

“Is it…a buddhist bead?”

“More or less.”

He suddenly sat in the chair beside her, saying mysteriously, “I’ll teach you how to play with it.”

Opening her wrist, Helan Jingting moved the bead to where her pulse was. That bead started to softly vibrate.

“Look, look, it can move!” Pipi gently cried out, “It seems like it’s about to jump up.”

“It really likes listening to your heartbeat.”

“Oh…it also generates heat.” That bead gradually turned hotter and hotter.

“Don’t play for too long, your heartbeat will also follow along and quicken.”

The author has something to say:
Because it’s all written at the last moment, everyone’s welcome to point out mistakes ha~~

 

Glossary:
⁽¹⁾朵 (duo): measure word for flowers
⁽²⁾地摊 (dì tān): vendor with goods spread out on the ground for sale

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So I spent like 20 minutes figuring out that catching bugs is slang used by authors to say ‘point out mistakes’ (╥ᆺ╥；)