Volume 2 - CH 15

In which Qin Zhiyuan finally graduates from clown school! Congrats, Qin Zhiyuan, on finally cultivating a human form!

Volume 2, Chapter 15

At 7:30 in the morning, Qin Zhiyuan punctually finished tying his necktie.

He was wearing a dark, three-piece suit, his hair combed so that not a strand was out of place, his expression calm as he walked past his renovated kitchen to push open his door and step outside. The company wasn’t too far away, and although he encountered the morning traffic jam, by 8:30, he was already sitting in his own office.

There was already an upper management meeting that needed to be held early in the morning.

Qin Zhiyuan tidied up the documents he had on hand, and right before the meeting, he even specially confirmed with his secretary the day’s schedule, making certain that he was able to take a three-hour break in the afternoon.

Although he had already asked several times, the secretary still maintained a professional attitude and earnestly replied, “That’s right. I already arranged it for you half a month earlier. No matter if it’s a meeting or a banquet, all of it has been moved. There definitely won’t be anything unexpected happening.”

A pause, and then some curiosity sprang forth with the muttering of a very unprofessional sentence, “I don’t know what date is this important?”

“It’s not a date.” Qin Zhiyuan didn’t get angry, simply smiled and said, “But it really is very important.”

He then didn’t explain further and instead grabbed the folder of files, walking towards the conference room in long strides.

The meeting took a while longer than he had expected.

When he finally had some real free time, it was already almost past lunch break. Qin Zhiyuan was afraid he’d encounter peak traffic times again, so he didn’t even eat lunch, simply buying some bread at the supermarket before driving straight to the hospital.

When he arrived at his destination, Gu Yan had long already been there in the waiting room.

He was wearing a pair of large sunglasses and some relatively thin clothes and was currently playing a game on his cellphone. The moment he saw Qin Zhiyuan, he started and asked, “Why are you here?”

Qin Zhiyuan walked over to sit next to him and returned with, “I can’t be here?”

Gu Yan’s new movie was currently in the intense filming stage, and he had just returned from location yesterday so couldn’t help but yawn as he spoke, “You already helped me arrange for a follow-up appointment. There’s no need for you to come here especially for me.”

“If I don’t check up on you, I’m afraid that you’ll forget to get treated again.”

Gu Yan laughed upon hearing that. “Hasn’t work been busy lately? It’s even almost the end of the year, so right now is probably the busiest time for the company, right?”

“Being busy with work is just an excuse. If someone wants to make time, how could they not be able to free up some?” Qin Zhiyuan slowly folded his hands and very naturally said, “It’s just up to whether or not this matter or person is worth the time to him.”

At those words, Gu Yan was surprised, raising his brows in amazement. “So you finally admit that you always used work as an excuse in the past? How weird, why are you suddenly being so honest today?”

Qin Zhiyuan looked at him and said in a warm voice, “I just discovered that it’s actually not scary at all to speak my true feelings out loud.”

This sentence seemed to have a rather deep meaning.

After a moment of thought, Gu Yan very much wanted to open his mouth to say something, but unfortunately, right at that time, the nurse called out his number. He thus could only take off his sunglasses and wave to Qin Zhiyuan before getting up to enter the treatment room.

While Gu Yan was receiving treatment, Qin Zhiyuan ate the bread that he had bought on the way, quietly sitting outside waiting. In the past, he had been that helplessly frantic because he was afraid to lose Gu Yan.

But right now he wasn’t afraid anymore.

Because he had quietly made a space for Gu Yan, hiding him in the safest place in his heart, so that no one could steal him away.

Time passed extremely quickly, and after only a blink of an eye, Gu Yan walked out rubbing his right hand. Qin Zhiyuan hurried to tidy up and walked over in welcome. He would be back to the hospital in two days anyway, so he didn’t ask Gu Yan how the session went, simply saying, “I also scheduled your next appointment for you. It’s right when you have a break from filming. When the time comes, I’ll call you.”

Gu Yan felt some pressure from this. While Qin Zhiyuan seemed completely aware of his schedule, he himself didn’t know when Qin Zhiyuan needed to attend meetings. Thus, as he walked, he said, “Actually, if you want to thank me, you can simply give me money, and I won’t refuse. You don’t have to go to all this trouble.”

“Yes.” Qin Zhiyuan readily agreed with his point of view. “If it was simply gratitude, then money would be able to resolve it.”

His gaze fell on Gu Yan, his voice dropping so low that only he himself could hear it, “But some things can only be reciprocated with sincere feelings.”

“What?” Gu Yan wasn’t able to hear those words clearly.

Qin Zhiyuan said instead, “Want to eat dinner together?”

“Let’s pick another day. I’m so tired today, I want to go back and sleep early.”

“OK, I’ll send you home.”

Qin Zhiyuan very considerately sent the person to the door and watched as Gu Yan went upstairs, even waiting downstairs for a while afterwards before driving away. He returned to the company to finish taking care of some more things and didn’t get off work to return home until the sky had completely darkened.

He didn’t eat dinner, and he also didn’t call for takeout. He simply pulled open his fridge door and picked out a few things from the ingredients stuffed full in there, taking them to the kitchen and carefully examining them with the help of a cookbook. And then he washed his hands, pulled up his sleeves, grabbed a kitchen knife, and with an attitude like he was going to a warzone… did battle with the kitchen utensils.

This was a new habit that he had cultivated recently. No matter how busy work was, he always had to make his own dinner.

It was only that Qin Zhiyuan had discovered that even cooking required some talent, and he completely didn’t have any skill in this department. He had clearly followed everything in the recipe to the letter, putting in however much oil or vinegar or salt or sauce as accurately as possible, but in the end, the substance he made was even difficult for he himself to swallow.

And as expected, tonight’s attempt was also a complete failure.

Qin Zhiyuan ate and swallowed that disgusting food one bite at a time, feeling somewhat disheartened.

Following his current progress, exactly which month or even which year would it take for him to make some edible dishes? It didn’t matter if he himself just ate whatever, but he couldn’t let Gu Yan get food poisoning along with him, could he?

He sighed as he thought. Halfway through the meal, he put down his chopsticks and grabbed his cellphone on the side, giving his good friend a call, “Hello, it’s me… Yes, help me book an intensive cooking class, the faster the better… It’s nothing, it doesn’t have anything to do with that culinary program, it’s just that…”

His following words were somewhat embarrassing, but when Qin Zhiyuan mentioned it, he couldn’t help but soften his voice, “It’s just that… I want to learn, that’s all.”

He didn’t know how to cook anything delicious.

Even moreso, he didn’t know how to love someone.

But he could slowly learn. When he loved Zhao Xin in the past, he never dared to voice his feelings; he was always afraid of getting hurt, and so he always left an escape route.

He didn’t know that those risks were inevitable in love.

Perhaps what laid in front was a fathomless abyss.

But if you loved someone, then you would be willing to take that step forward for him.

On the night that Qin Zhiyuan destroyed his kitchen, he took the first step. Although the path ahead was treacherous, and he’d most likely stumble and fall many times, he already had his sights set on Gu Yan’s back, and he’d wholeheartedly move forward.

As expected, the cooking class he booked had some effect. After finding the time to attend a few classes, although his skills hadn’t suddenly advanced by leaps and bounds, under the directions of the teacher and starting with the most simple dishes, he was at least able to make some things edible.

Qin Zhiyuan also didn’t dare to try anything fancy and simply focused on learning to make one dish — radish pork rib soup. He practiced it every single day at home, from the beginning when he was a complete mess to later on when he gradually got familiar with all the steps. He struggled for half a month before he finally go to the level where he could bring it to Gu Yan.

Because it was almost the end of the year, the company had an unceasing flow of things to do, big or small. As such, only after much difficulty did Qin Zhiyuan manage to get some time off in the afternoon in order to run over to visit Gu Yan on set.

Gu Yan also hadn’t had it easy recently. The filming had entered a bottleneck, with Lin Jiarui continuously saying that he couldn’t feel any emotions, and no matter how much they shot, he was never satisfied. He never got angry or threw the script around, and from beginning to end, he still maintained that cold and indifferent expression. The only things he did were to explain the plot to Gu Yan while telling the other to improve, over and over again, completely uncaring about how much manpower or resources he had to waste.

Gu Yan finally understood how Young Master Lin became famous. No matter how much of a flower vase the actor who worked with him was, he’d still carve out some acting skills no matter what.

When Qin Zhiyuan came to look for him, Gu Yan was in the lounge memorizing lines, and the moment he raised his head, he was greeted with a plastic bag in front of his face.

“Help me taste-test this.” Qin Zhiyuan smiled while handing the thing over.

Gu Yan accepted it easily, and from the plastic bag, he took out a thermos. Upon opening the lid, he blinked as he found the still-warm pork rib soup. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Qin Zhiyuan found a reason so that he wouldn’t refuse. “I’m currently planning to start a new program, something to do with gourmet food, so I want to hear your opinion.”

“Don’t you just have to make it look good on a table for a gourmet food program? You actually still have to make it taste good?”

“For the sake of maintaining realism, we’ll have a segment where the audience taste the food.”

Gu Yan thought that that made sense and so ladled out a spoonful to drink, but as a result, right as he tasted it, his expression froze in place for an entire minute.

Qin Zhiyuan asked on the side, “How’s the taste?”

Gu Yan tried a few more spoonfuls and then turned around to shoot Qin Zhiyuan a glance, asking, “Who made this soup?”

“It needs to be a secret for now. You just have to give your opinion.”

Since Qin Zhiyuan already said so, Gu Yan naturally wouldn’t be courteous and said as he ate, “The pork ribs were cut too thickly, the radish is too mushy, and there’s way too much ginger… If this kind of dish was given to the audience to taste on a program, then the ratings are guaranteed to break records. Yes, it’s guaranteed to be record-breakingly low.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Zhiyuan laughed. He then took out his laptop and painstakingly recorded every single criticism, even asking a few additional questions, doing his homework very well. For those unaware, he really did look as if he was doing research for a gourmet food program.

The noon break passed by very quickly.

Qin Zhiyuan was afraid that he’d disturb Gu Yan’s work, and so he didn’t stay for very long, saying goodbye after only a few more idle exchanges. Right before he left, he didn’t forget to say, “You have my thanks for today. In a few more days, I might have to trouble you to taste some more dishes.”

Gu Yan sent him to the door and said, as if he wasn’t paying much attention, “The food really tasted terrible.”

“Yes.”

“You definitely followed the recipe to the letter, right? And even precisely measured out exactly how much salt to put in?”

Qin Zhiyuan was startled and said, “How did you know?”

Only after he spoke did he realize that he had fallen for a trap.

Gu Yan did his best to hold in his laughter and said, “If you want to show off, then remember to stick some bandages on your hands next time. That’d be even more effective.”

Although Qin Zhiyuan had been teased, he didn’t get the least bit angry and simply smiled as he said goodbye to Gu Yan. The next time he brought over a dish, he really did have a bandage on one of his fingers.

Gu Yan almost laughed himself silly, and it was only with a great amount of effort that he held it in. He ate the red braised pork that Qin Zhiyuan had painstakingly made and then, in deadly earnest, offered no small amount of criticism.

As before, Qin Zhiyuan recorded all of it, not missing a word, and said as he typed, “It’s almost the end of the year.”

“Yes, it seems like this year passed by especially fast.”

“On the thirty-first, the company is having a drinking party to celebrate the new year. Are you going to attend?”

“Ah, I did hear my manager mention it.” Gu Yan thought about his own schedule and then asked, “Is it possible to take leave?”

“You can, but I can’t.” When Qin Zhiyuan said this, his eyes were staring fixedly at Gu Yan, the implication was clear that he wanted to spend the last day of the year together.

How could Gu Yan not understand his meaning? But he didn’t reply directly, simply looked at Qin Zhiyuan’s fingers and asked, “Is that injury real or fake?”

Qin Zhiyuan’s lips rose into a smile, and he very happily replied, “It’s fake.”

Gu Yan, conversely, actually didn’t believe him and reached out to grab Qin Zhiyuan’s hand.

Qin Zhiyuan turned his hand around to grab firmly onto Gu Yan’s own, softly stroking that ugly scar on the palm.

Gu Yan’s right hand began trembling uncontrollably.

But Qin Zhiyuan simply tightened his grip, lowering his head to examine that scar even closer, using his eyes to trace over its shape carefully, as if he was tracing over Gu Yan’s heart. In a low voice, he said, “I’m not putting on a show or anything.”

“Hm?”

“Even if the taste is awful, I still wanted you to taste my cooking, only that.”

He simply wanted to let Gu Yan see his heart.

Whether Gu Yan accepted it or not was one story, and whether Qin Zhiyuan did these things or not was another.

Gu Yan also understood this reasoning, so he didn’t complain about Qin Zhiyuan tormenting his stomach, simply slowly pulling out his own hand and saying, “Regarding the drinking party, I’ll have to see how things go. If I can find the time, I’ll go.”

This much was already enough.

For the following days, Qin Zhiyuan also didn’t mention this matter again. On one hand, his work was busy, and on the other hand, he also didn’t want to force Gu Yan; he simply sent out a text message every few days, reminding Gu Yan to wear a few more layers.

In the blink of an eye, it was the day of the thirty-first.

The customary end-of-year drinking party hosted by the company was very magnificent. Many famous celebrities from the entertainment circle as well as some business partners were in attendance, and the hotel’s sumptuous great hall was full of drinking and partying, bustling and lively to the extreme.

Qin Zhiyuan was one of the organizers and so had to take care of every little detail; just the greetings had his mouth sore from smiling. People were plying him with alcohol every which way, and he was busy for the entire night, walking this way and that, only occasionally having the opportunity to take a short rest. Every moment he had the spare time, he’d look around searching for Gu Yan. Unfortunately, while he saw the arrogant-as-a-peacock Qin Feng as well as the Zhang Ji who was glowing with smiles having just received new work, he wasn’t able to see Gu Yan at all.

Near the end, Qin Zhiyuan became somewhat absentminded, shooting glances at the doorway every now and again. Walking by himself in this lively drinking party, he felt somewhat lonely, and when he thought back to Gu Yan’s answer at the time, he couldn’t help but send the other a message.

From beginning to end, Gu Yan didn’t reply. It wasn’t until five minutes to midnight that he called. Noise filtered through the background from the other end, making Gu Yan’s voice sound somewhat indistinct, “Sorry, I don’t think I can make it in time.”

Qin Zhiyuan startled. It’d be a lie to say he wasn’t disappointed, but he still maintained his smile to say, “It’s fine. It’s just a formality anyway. Even if we miss this year, we still have next year.”

Gu Yan said a ‘yes’ and then, “It’s all Director Lin’s fault for not letting people go and insisting on going to film the setting sun on this kind of day, not ending work until it was already dark, and there was even traffic on the way…”

“Then are you home right now? Or are you still on the road?”

Gu Yan was quiet for a moment before saying, “I’m in the hotel, just downstairs.”

“What?”

“But there’s something wrong with the elevator, and it’s been stuck on the tenth floor this whole time. I remember the company drinking party is in the great hall on the twentieth floor, right? So I probably won’t be able to make it.”

When he heard this, Qin Zhiyuan felt his heart pounding and immediately shouted, “Stay there and don’t move. I’ll come down there immediately.”

“Huh?” Gu Yan startled and said, “You can’t be planning on taking the stairs, right? It’s twenty floors.”

At this time, it was three minutes to midnight, and the great hall’s lights suddenly turned off, causing a round of shrieks.

Qin Zhiyuan’s reply was covered up by this noise. When Gu Yan was next able to hear his voice, the sounds of footsteps rapidly descending the stairs were also already accompanying it.

The lights in the stairwell was dim, and Qin Zhiyuan was also in a hurry, so he had no mind at all to keep track of which floor he was on. He simply impatiently hurried down the staircase, his entire heart set on seeing Gu Yan. When he reached who-knew-what floor, he finally heard the twelve o’clock bell echo from outside, and then he heard Gu Yan’s hoarse voice say next to his ear, “Happy New Year.”

Qin Zhiyuan suddenly came to a stop.

Brilliant fireworks exploded in the sky outside, and the multicolored sparks shone through, illuminating the originally darkened stairwell. Gu Yan was standing there, just a few steps away from him, with a smile and cellphone in hand, his eyes similarly shining with light.

Qin Zhiyuan suddenly found himself unable to speak. He watched as Gu Yan walked forward amidst the sound of fireworks, as if this person was walking step-by-step into his heart. It was only when all twelve chimes of the clock had finished echoing that he finally regained his senses and opened his mouth to ask, “Are we going up or down?”

“Let’s rest for a bit first. I’m a bit tired from walking.” As Gu Yan spoke, he hung up the phone and sat down on the stairs.

Qin Zhiyuan then also sat down next to him and said, “I’m not sure which floor this is?”

“I forgot to count.” Gu Yan raised his head to look out the window and unhurriedly said, “But as long as we walked the right path, we’d definitely meet in the end.”

The fireworks were still going off.

From beyond the window, one could see a magnificent sight in the night sky.

One was upstairs, while the other was downstairs. Only by each of them stepping forward, walking past that many stairs, walking through that much darkness, did they succeed in meeting at this moment.

It was a very simple matter.

But when Qin Zhiyuan thought of it, he simply felt that it was very heart-rending.

Only when the sounds outside the window had gradually started fading away did Gu Yan turn around and smile, saying, “When I got to the hotel just now, I saw that little white rabbit of yours holding a woman and getting in a car. He’s dressed pretty nicely today, still a feast for the eyes as always.”

At first, Qin Zhiyuan didn’t understand who was the ‘little white rabbit’, but when he heard those last words, he finally realized and really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Why are you always thinking of my brother?”

Gu Yan asked in return, “Why did he hide the moment he saw me?”

“Since he’s a year older now, he probably also matured a little. He should know now who he can provoke, and who he can’t.”

“Oh? So it isn’t that he was taught a lesson by his older brother?”

This time, Qin Zhiyuan didn’t fall for his trap and changed the topic entirely, “Do you want to sit here and wait for the sunrise?”

Gu Yan waved a hand at once. “It’d be too tiring to wait until sunrise. I definitely couldn’t take it.”

“Then I’ll send you home early.”

“You don’t need to show your face upstairs?”

“It’s fine. It’s already past midnight, so it’s almost time to leave anyway.”

“Before you went downstairs, why did I hear screaming?”

Qin Zhiyuan laughed and said, “It’s just something they do every year, turn off the lights right before midnight.”

“Ah, I remember now, at this time, you can grab the opportunity to take some liberties, to kiss whoever you want to kiss…” Gu Yan was truly tired, and as he spoke, he leaned against the wall and fell asleep.

Qin Zhiyuan smiled and couldn’t bear to wake him, simply taking off his own jacket and gently draping it over the other’s shoulders. After that, Qin Zhiyuan hesitated for a while before moving a bit closer to Gu Yan and then very, very lightly touched his lips for a brief moment.

“Happy New Year.”

Gu Yan didn’t remember how he got home that night.

When he woke up, he was already lying in his own soft and comfortable bed, and Qin Zhiyuan’s suit jacket was in his arms, crumpled into a ball. He raised his head to look at the sky beyond the window and guessed that it was probably already almost noon, but he was too lazy to get up. Instead, he actually held that suit jacket in his arms even tighter, wrinkling it even more, and then went back to sleep for a while longer.

It wasn’t until his doorbell rang that Gu Yan finally pulled away his blankets, draped whatever clothes on himself, and then walked with long strides to open the door.

The Qin Zhiyuan outside had already changed into a new suit and was still as impeccably dressed as always. He stuffed a very familiar thermos into the other’s arms and said, “I figured that you haven’t eaten lunch yet, so I got you some takeout.”

Gu Yan very naturally accepted it and said, “Come inside to eat together?”

“No need, I still need to return to the company to work.”

“You’re this busy? You don’t get time off even today?”

“Yes, after I finish being busy for this period of time, I’ll be able to take more time off during the Spring Festival[1].”

Qin Zhiyuan didn’t mention any plans for the Spring Festival holiday, and Gu Yan also didn’t ask, simply saying, “I wrinkled your suit jacket. I’ll take it to be dry-cleaned this afternoon, and I’ll return it to you in two days.”

“OK.”

Once Gu Yan said goodbye to Qin Zhiyuan, he turned around and draped that extremely wrinkled suit jacket over his shoulders and then opened that thermos to eat his lunch slowly by himself.

This kind of leisure time lasted only for one short day.

The next day, Gu Yan was called back on set by Lin Jiarui to continue his torments. One scene was retaken many times, and Young Master Lin picked out issues left and right, feeling unsatisfied no matter what. In the end, he simply allowed everyone else to end work and go home, while he himself pulled along Gu Yan for an outside stroll. He also didn’t insist that Gu Yan drive, simply dragging the person onto a bus, taking it from the beginning to its terminus point, going in one big circle around the whole city.

The warm light of the winter day shone through the windows, making people feel drowsy. Lin Jiarui didn’t say a word about the movie, simply saying in a careless manner, “Stop always thinking about how you’re going to act well in your role and spend more time looking at the world around you with your own eyes.”

Gu Yan didn’t say a word, narrowing his eyes to look at the setting sun from the bus window as it disappeared below the horizon.

The next few days of filming suddenly went much more smoothly.

Lin Jiarui’s mood was great. Although it couldn’t be seen on his cold face, he clearly started speaking more than he usually did. At noon, when Gu Yan was eating the dumplings that Qin Zhiyuan sent over in the lounge, he also came over to look and said, “A certain person doesn’t look like it, but he’s quite good at currying favor.”

Gu Yan laughed and said, “It’s unfortunate that he’s still not good at cooking quite yet.”

“Then why do you look so happy while eating it?”

Gu Yan used his chopsticks to hold up a dumpling and very generously asked, “Do you want to try it?”

Lin Jiarui also didn’t hold back and simply opened his mouth to eat it in one bite. However, right as it entered his mouth, his expression abruptly changed. After swallowing it with great difficulty, he hurried to find some water to drink, coughing as he spoke, “What kind of dumpling is this? Why does it taste entirely of alcohol?”

“Probably when he was making the meat filling, he poured in too much rice wine, and it permeated the skin so that everything tastes like it now.” As before, Gu Yan ate the dumplings one by one, saying, “I guess this could be considered alcoholic dumplings? Hm, it’s quite creative actually.”

Lin Jiarui watched his face remain the same as he almost finished eating the entire box of weird-tasting dumplings and revealed a rare expression of admiration, saying, “I guess I now know what true love looks like.”

Gu Yan didn’t respond to that, simply slowly eating the last remaining dumpling before then pulling out his cellphone, earnestly writing down all his criticisms, and sending that text to Qin Zhiyuan.

Not five minutes passed before the phone rang.

Gu Yan simply thought that it was Qin Zhiyuan calling, so he answered the phone with a laughing, “Hello.” However, unexpectedly, the voice on the other end was a stranger’s, “Excuse me, are you Mr. Gu Yan?”

Earlier, Gu Yan hadn’t paid attention to the caller ID, and he was also too lazy to check now, so he simply said in agreement, “Yes, it’s me.”

“Forgive my disturbance, I’m Mr. Qin’s secretary. Our boss wants to make an appointment to meet with you. Does Mr. Gu have the time?”

Gu Yan startled for a moment and then asked, “Which Mr. Qin?”

That unfamiliar voice said a not-at-all unfamiliar name.

Gu Yan had long already guessed that the ‘Mr. Qin’ wasn’t referring to Qin Zhiyuan, but when he really heard the words ‘Qin Jing’, he was still surprised, and it took him a long while to say, “Of course I have the time.”

He thought of his recent work schedule and then arranged an appropriate time with the secretary on the other end. After he hung up, he held his cellphone and played with it for a while.

Qin Zhiyuan had replied to his previous message very quickly. First, the person had sincerely accepted the criticisms, expressing that he would continue working hard, and then he asked what the other would like to eat next time.

Gu Yan replied with ‘braised eggplant’ and didn’t mention the matter with Mr. Qin. In the past, he had been with Qin Zhiyuan for so many years, yet he had never once met that philandering Mr. Qin. But now that he and Qin Zhiyuan had become simply friends, why was this person suddenly interested in meeting with him?

Was it that Qin Zhiyuan had run over to the film set too often?

Or did Qin Feng run over and tattle?

Regardless, it definitely wasn’t about work.

Gu Yan spun his cellphone, mostly able to guess why Qin Jing wanted to meet with him. In the past, it didn’t matter if Qin Zhiyuan was just playing around, but if he was truly sincere and wanted to be together with a man, then how could the Qin family patriarch sit idly by?

Gu Yan just didn’t know what kind of tactics he would use.

A threat? Or a bribe?

Really, what a headache. Even romantic dramas nowadays hated filming these kinds of cliché plotlines.

[1] As in, Chinese New Year. It’s our longest holiday, which I celebrated by… translating this novel, haha. 

Ah, that end of the year work rush. If I had started translating this a bit sooner, this might have come out right at that (Chinese) new year period for me LOL. Though I did actually translate this while fireworks were going outside my window, so it’s still quite timely, regardless.

Returning to a 2x daily schedule today too~