One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

34

There were some things that, after you possessed them once, you would not even care about anymore.

Probably from when she was old enough to be aware and sensible about things, she had only been fixed upon the idea of "reuniting with him." It was also because of this thinking, though, that she forced herself to integrate into this society and to use the most normal and ordinary identity to meet him again.

"In your opinion, if there really is reincarnation, is there any use for money? Is there any point to contending with or maneuvering against other people?" She contemplated briefly. "I think, really, there's no point."

"Yeah... But I don't believe in reincarnation, so my life is more realistic and practical than yours. I like money, and I like people to respect me." Mei Lin blew out a breath. "As for you, you only seem to value relationships. But that's why being friends with people like you is the best. I never have to worry that you will do anything to hurt your friends."

Shi Yi smiled, not saying anything.

Mei Lin's thoughts turned to the husband that Shi Yi's heart and mind were always thinking about, and she could not help sighing that she still had not had a chance to truly come in contact with him. A man who lived on the earth but would rather study Venus was quite fascinating.

Shi Yi was uncertain when he would be returning to the country and could only respond by saying that next time, when they had the chance, they would definitely all go out to dinner.

The competition came to a perfect conclusion, and Mei Lin successfully signed on three new artistes.

Two men and one woman, all who were very talented.

Mei Lin was sitting inside a barge, drinking some tea and cracking little jokes with some of the professional voice actors while the new artistes sat amongst them looking somewhat shy. One of the young men, Shi Yi very much admired the timbre of his voice and his innate sense of drama and acting, and she could not help saying a few more words to him before they were to all leave the West Village.

The barge was moving along very slowly. As it floated out from under a stone bridge, she happened to just finish her conversation and throw a casual glance in the direction of the bank of the canal.

Someone was there, watching her with a smile.

He was wearing light beige trousers and a sky-blue, short-sleeved polo shirt. Clean-looking and ordinary. He did not have any luggage with him and simply stood in a shady area on the banks, his glasses held in his hand.

He was far-sighted, so removing his glasses allowed him to see more clearly, and judging from the way he looked, he seemed to have been watching for quite some time already.

If the scenic area had not still been closed to the public, he would have very easily faded into the crowds of people... Shi Yi anxiously twisted around and grabbed Mei Lin by the shoulders. "Hurry and pull over to the edge. Pull over to edge!"

Mei Lin was slightly taken aback. Seeing the person standing on the bank of the canal, she tried for quite some time to place who he was before asking somewhat uncertainly, "Your hubby's here?"

This one question aroused the curiosity of everyone on the barge.

People were always more interested in who would end up "getting" the beautiful girl rather than just the ordinary person. And furthermore, since the last awards ceremony, everyone knew that Shi Yi had someone who was so good it was enviable. Now, that person was here, so certainly they needed to look him over closely.

Of course, D. Wang was eyeing him over the most carefully.

<>The translator would sincerely appreciate it if you would read this translation only at hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, the actual site of posting. Thank you.

Shi Yi only made a cursory noise in answer, her mind focused only on hurrying to land.

She was very worried that all these people's prying eyes would make him feel uncomfortable.

Zhousheng Chen was much more composed than she had expected, and when he saw everybody's gazes on him, he gave a very natural nod of his head in greeting. The boat docked at the nearest stone steps along the waterway, and Zhousheng Chen also strolled over to that same spot. As Shi Yi stepped ashore, he stretched out his hand to help her.

"Mr. Zhousheng, hello." Mei Lin was standing at the bow of the boat and was boldly and openly looking him up and down as she greeted him, "Every time, I have managed to miss the chance of meeting you. This time, I finally get to see you in person."

With one hand, Zhousheng Chen firmly supported Shi Yi as she took a large stride onto the stone steps and then stood beside him.

"Hello, Mei Lin," he smiled politely. "Shi Yi talks about you often. Thank you for taking care of her all this time."

Shi Yi was slightly surprised by this. She had always worried that she would trouble him and would not talk to him about her work matters.

Mei Lin smiled and exchanged some polite niceties with him.

While the boat was pulling away, Zhousheng Chen eyes moved over the entire group again, and he nodded and said goodbye.

His gaze intersected with D. Wang's before shifting away, but everything remained uneventful and peaceful.

After the boat had moved away from the canal's edge again, Shi Yi finally could not hold herself back and took his hand. "When did you get back? Why did you suddenly come back? What about your stuff over on the other end? The problems over here regarding entering the country, have they all been resolved, too?"

Her questions came one immediately after another.

He smiled, putting on his glasses and then, to her surprise, he wrapped his arm around her waist.

His action had not been overly conspicuous and the pressure applied by his arm was not great, but it was enough to bring her into his embrace. Shi Yi was startled, and only when she was resting against his body did she detect that his arm was somewhat moist with perspiration as it pressed against her own arm. Skin-to-skin contact. It was not necessary to be bare before each other within a room. This moment was enough to cause her cheeks to burn.

"I arrived in Shanghai this morning. The main reason was because I was worried about you being alone here and whether you might have issues or problems. My matters have been resolved for the time being, including my research and the issues regarding entrance into the country." He answered each of her questions one by one before, with a light smile, he asked her in return, "Any other questions?"

"Mm-hmm. One more." Because he was behaving so intimately out in the open and under broad daylight, she also very naturally slid her arms up to rest on his shoulders as she asked softly, "Aside from worrying that I might encounter problems, was part of the reason for your return because... you missed me?"

To have him here beside her was so nice. Even the sky seemed clearer.

Shi Yi knew too clearly that all of her emotions -- happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy -- were tied up in him alone, but she gladly accepted this.

She gazed up at him.

His eyes were fixed on her as well. With a smile, he looked at her for some time before finally nodding.

"Yes, I really missed you."

[1] 六月，己亥. This is referring to the sixth month of the Lunar calendar. 己亥 "Ji-hai" is the thirty-sixth year in the traditional, 60 year cycle used to name years (refer to chapter 9.2, footnote [3]).

[2] 东宫 "Dong Gong." Literally means "Eastern Palace." The Eastern Palace refers to the palace belonging to the crown prince because traditionally, it had been located on the eastern side of the imperial palace.

[3]兵荒马乱 "bing huang ma luan." This idiom is describing a society that is in tumult because of war times, but when taken to a broader sense, it could simply be used to describe something that is chaotic and disordered. When Shi Yi used this idiom, Mei Lin could be interpreting it that she was just dreaming of things that were chaotic and jumbled, but Shi Yi was probably meaning this literally, that they were dreams of the war and chaos she remembered from her past life.