Chapter 3: 3

Chapter 3 – Full of Rubbish

Shan Yi sat on an elevated chair behind the small round table and clinked glasses with a man named James[1].

“It’s mint tea again. You’re really no fun at all.” James put down his cup and sighed.

Shan Yi shrugged his shoulders: “Wine is only enjoyable when you drink with a special someone, and you’re obviously not that special someone.”

James was left speechless: “Come on, you’re on a rare holiday leave right now, so why don’t you let loose and enjoy yourself? If you’re this stiff, the ladies won’t like it.”

Shan Yi disagrees. For him, letting loose never once hinged on alcohol. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gotten acquainted with the man in charge of the Skydiving base, James. Without him, he wouldn’t be able to see how outgoing a particular Chinese girl can be.

A pair of shining eyes popped up in Shan Yi’s mind. Raising his eyebrows with a smirk, he responded, 

“Not necessarily. Not all women like ones with taste or mood. Some prefer and seek ones who will give them excitement and stimulation.”

James with the wrong idea: “Of course women like excitement. See? No, look over there, that Chinese girl has been sneakily peeking at you for quite some time. Haah, and I guess if you want to tonight, you can do something exciting for a change.”

Shan Yi has heard the phrase “Chinese girl” over and over again throughout today. Unknowingly following James’s gesture, he casually glanced over and unexpectedly caught a sneaky glimpse at a hairy little head.

She was hiding behind a palm-sized cocktail. And when Shan Yi looked over, she lowered her head in a fluster and began to frantically tap on her phone.

Shan Yi raised his eyebrows. He genuinely didn’t expect that he would meet the “Chinese girl” in the afternoon so soon in this vast foreign country.

He quickly retracted his gaze. Leisurely picking up the cup of mint tea and sipping a mouthful, he lightly replied to James: “Of course, if she wants to.”

*

Yan An: The best couple turned out to be a curly-blond foreigner!

Yan An: I still couldn’t see who’s that irritating foreigner.

Yan An was left heartbroken: God, I feel as painful as being robbed of my most expensive bag!

Yan An paused her fingers and quickly lowered her head: And I have no choice but to go now! My peeping has been discovered!

Ah Man quietly read through all of Yan An’s onslaught of texts. Many may not know that Ah Man herself is actually quite experienced in the field of romance and love. And because of that, she begins to harbor doubts about the clumsy words of this naive little girl.

She decided to provoke the naive little girl on the other side for a bit: Sister, mere empty words cannot be taken as irrefutable proof. Go send me a picture, and I will judge whether your so-called top rate is really a top rate or not.

Yan An: Oh, just you wait!

James, who was about to die of laughter, hurriedly elbowed Shan Yi: “Hey, Sam, that girl is secretly taking photos of you!”

Shan Yi remains unfazed.

She’s just taking a few sneaky photos and nothing more, so he wasn’t all that startled. 

After finally settling down, James propped up his chin and gazed at Shan Yi with curiosity: “I think that girl of yours is actually really cute. So, are you really not interested in her at all? Not even a little bit?” 

Shan Yi remained silent before James finally said, “Hey, if I ask her for her number, will she give it to me?”

Shan Yi finally replied, “You can go ahead and try.”

James looked at him with an expression full of interest.

“Fine then. I’ll go get one for you.” 

After saying that, he stood up and walked over.

As Yan An sent the ‘secretly’ taken photos, a man’s hand knocked on the table.

“Hi, lovely Chinese girl.”

Yan An raised her head and stiffened. She immediately turned off her phone while immense guilt brewed inside her. 

She unknowingly glimpsed in Shan Yi’s direction and replied: “Hi, is there something wrong?”

James pointed his thumb in the direction of his old pal.

 “My buddy of mine is also Chinese. He thinks you are very cute. So would you like to exchange contact information for him?”

Yan An swallowed calmly.

Bro, that is so fake. That so-called buddy of yours has still not accepted my friend request. 

Yan An politely declined: “Sorry, that’s too burdening. He’s just not my type.”

She paused and then thoughtfully sent her blessings.

“Your buddy… is quite a decent partner if I say so myself. And you aren’t so bad either.” 

She then made a gesture: You guys match.

James froze at her gesture.

“That girl of yours has something wrong in her head!” James grumbled as he trudged his way back. [TL/N: Fujoshis man..]

Shan Yi idly watched the bar’s singer’s performance on the stage as he made a disinterested “Ohh?” sound towards Jame’s grumblings.

James rants, “She thought we were a couple, and she even did this to me!” He imitated the gesture and showed it to Shan Yi, before angrily rolling his eyes. 

“If it wasn’t for your reception tonight, then perhaps I would’ve brought home a girl by now!”

Looking away from the singer, Shan Yi glanced at the gesture James had imitated and laughed loudly: “Then who told you that it was a good idea to pick a gay bar of all places?”

James glared at him: “Then who’s the one who is afraid of causing a commotion if he went anywhere else?”

Shan Yi, staring at the nutjob of a woman, states: “There is something indeed wrong with her head.”

James: “Right!”

Shan Yi: “And even if I were gay, I still wouldn’t pick you.”

James: “…Fuck!”

The pictures Yan An sent to Man were quite blurry, but they didn’t have a huge impact when it comes down to it.

Ah Man repeatedly scrutinized the picture before finally sending her approval: I believe you can still work a bit harder.

Yan An: ? ? ?

Man: Ah, if by any chance you miss this opportunity for these two top rates, you will surely regret it for life.

Yan An, who was being inspected at the entrance, gulped down the rest of her cocktail. After paying for the drinks and the tips, she begins to walk.

She pouted to the woman on the phone: But I’m not depraved enough to give away my first time to a pair?

Yan An walked out of the door of the bar. With the cool night breeze brushing past her, she couldn’t help but heave a deep sigh. This world is getting worse. More and more handsome men are being snatched away by other men.

Before she fully sighed, there was a sudden flash of pain in her arms.

A man in a peaked cap dashed past her in a flash and vanished into the alley. She was left stunned.

Her bag, money, ID card, and passport are all gone!

Fuck!

This time her expensive bag has actually been robbed!

And on top of that, Yan An had the misfortune to first and foremost experience the rumored laziness of the Spanish police.

Police Officer: “You’re now registered. We will immediately contact you once we get any updates.”

Yan An: “How long will it take? I have all of my documents in the bag.”

With Local theft prohibited, the local police have long been accustomed to it. But whenever a Chinese tourist comes along, 9/10 times something would get lost.

The officer calmly replied: “Ma’am, you need to mentally prepare yourself in case your belongings may not be able to be recovered. So in that case, please take this form and go to the embassy tomorrow to get a replacement.” 

The police officer, seeing her as a girl, eventually softened his voice and asked where she was currently staying. After getting her reply, he expressed, “It’s quite far away from here. Do you happen to know someone around here? If so, then go ahead and make a phone call and have that person go pick you up.”

“… Shouldn’t Officer Uncle escort the victim here?”

“If you wish to leave now, then you have to wait for a while. There is currently no free personnel available at the moment.”

Yan An blankly stares: “…”

She quietly sat and contemplated for a while before eventually picking up her phone and making a call.

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The bar singer proceeded into intermission while James and Shan Yi were chatting and reminiscing about a variety of topics. 

Eventually getting up, James spoke while paying the bill: “Let’s go. It’s time for you to go home and call other people over for your shift.”

James grinned and pointed to the phone: “I only really came by here to check up on the base. If this is going to be your last time in Barcelona, feel free to make an appointment with me. I would gladly see you off.”

Shan Yi just smiled and gave him a light hug.

Then the two old friends, who only see each other maybe once or twice a year, parted ways without saying a single goodbye.

Shan Yi’s cell phone rang while he was calling over a cab. It’s a Chinese number. He paused for a moment before eventually picking it up.

A soft voice came out from the speaker. “Hi, do you still remember me? 

You took me with you for the skydiving jump today.”

“…Is there something wrong?” Shan Yi paused as he opened the car door.

Yan An paused for a moment and suddenly asked, “It’s quite late outside, so did I by any chance interrupt what you were doing?”

There really is something wrong in her head. Shan Yi instantly ended the call.

Only a minute later, the phone rang again. 

Shan Yi gave the address of his hotel to the driver before picking up and replying, “You did indeed interrupt me, so what’s the issue here now?”

Yan An on the other end braced herself. After a moment’s pause, she stiffly spoke: “I was robbed by a thief and lost all my money, and my hotel is quite far away from the police station where I am at. So, can you please conveniently pause on what you’re doing right now, and come to the relief of your fellow Chinese comrade?”

Shan Yi scowled and pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt like he had an incoming headache.

Yan An thought that Shan Yi would take at least half an hour to arrive. After all, one needs some time to finish what they were doing on the other end before making it here.

Because her bag was gone, her portable wifi was also gone. 

She decided to launch an offline game on her phone and planned on killing some time before Shan Yi arrived. But before she chose her game’s level, a shadow loomed over her.

She looked up and widened her eyes.

“That fast? Were you in a nearby hotel?”

Shan Yi scrutinized her. Compared to her daring and confident impression back then, seemingly overflowing with confidence and smugness when she boldly asked for his number in the afternoon, her current appearance appears to be downright meek and harmless.

With her completely inverted impression, he couldn’t but say: “Is this on purpose?”

Yan An tilted her head in question: “Hm?”

Forget it.

Shan Yi shook his head and sighed, “Then let’s go, comrade.”

The taxi that Shan Yi called just now was conveniently parked at the gate of the police station. The pair got into the cab while Shan Yi inquired Yan An where her current address is.

After conveying her address to the driver, he leaned back in his seat and stayed silent.

After a moment of silence, Yan An’s casual inquiry broke the silence.

 “So, where did you call this taxi from?”

Shan Yi casually replied.

“This taxi is actually on the way to my hotel before I made it turned around.” 

Yan An shuts her mouth. It’s indeed true.

Shan Yi looked at her as if she was full of rubbish. 

At this point, he didn’t feel the need to make any light talk. With that, he leaned on the car window before eventually closing his eyes.

After the silent and uneventful ride, the taxi eventually stopped beside Yan An’s apartment block. Upon arriving at her temporary residence, Yan An began to get out of the cab.

Before fully getting out, she paused for a moment and softly said, “Thank you, my comrade.”

“You’re welcome.” Shan Yi cooly replied. But at this moment, Shan Yi is secretly a little curious about what she’s about to pull off.

There is no way a person with a temperament like her will let things end so mundanely.

And sure enough, Yan An paused and seemingly thought about something before eventually pointing toward the phone.

“Oh yeah, by the way, can you accept this friend request of this fellow comrade?”

Shan Yi’s eyes seemingly questioned, Why?

Yan An proclaimed, “We’re in a foreign country. As fellow countrymen, we should keep in touch so we can take care of each other if situations occur.”

Shan Yi contemplated before eventually nodding.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Don’t worry, handsome. I’m very kind, and I don’t have any of those thoughts now. I promise you won’t regret being good friends with me!”, Yan An reassures.

I really don’t have those thoughts about you now.

Yan An’s face was brimming with sincerity as she spoke warmly. Shan Yi couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows before saying “Thank you.”

Yan An eventually returned to the apartment. With her phone reconnected with the internet, notifications from Ah Man soon popped up.

Ah Man: It’s cool when sisters take to the street holding hands.

To be sisters? Yan An laughed outright.

Ah Man: Man, also that’s quite something. Even if he’s handsome and dashing, there’s no damn point in the end if he’s bent[2] all along.

Going back on track, I believe I have stumbled upon an affair.

Before Ah Man goes offline, she dutifully sent her online travelogue[3] to Yan An. 

I found this to be very interesting. Only a handful are aware of this. And with that, feel free to mess around with it.

With this sister having an affair on her plate, she naturally didn’t bother her anymore. 

Yan An didn’t tell the other party about the bag snatching and instead sent her a wish you a happy evening and a blowing kiss emoji.

After exiting the chat, Yan An’s eyes lit up instantly.

She now has a new buddy in her messages!

Yan An: Hi, fellow compatriot!

The other party did not reply.

It doesn’t matter to Yan An now. After all, he’s now a bent she now couldn’t even capture.

She was curious and decided to tap on the other person’s friend group. She found that the group was only public for six months with barely any activity.

Its latest post was a video. Yan An tapped on it, where the video began to play with skydiving from a first-person perspective.

Yan An’s memory of those few seconds of pure excitement instantly resurfaced.

The next post was from a two-month-old friend group.

It appears to be a picture taken from the bottom of the sea. In the photo, Shan Yi is sporting a diving wetsuit while equipped with diving goggles and a safety rope tied around his waist. He appears to be gazing toward the only light source in the photo.

The photo’s tone and aesthetics are deeply cold and emotionless, while a muted somber vibe enhanced it further due to the afterglow of the light. 

With the lighting and the angle, Shan Yi seems like a demon who broke free from confinement from the deepest fathoms of the sea, brimming with restrained power.

Yan An enlarged the picture and gulped hard, while her brows crunched as if she swallowed dead houseflies.

Oh, help me! This is a man who likes men!

 

Translator’s Notes:

[1] The raws states ‘Jams’. Yes, I’m serious. At this point, I decided to change it to an actual name instead of a food product. I might change Flix to Felix later on. Let me know if you guys actually want Jams instead of James.

[2] If you don’t realize what bent is, it’s pretty much slang for gays/lesbians.

[3] A movie, book, or illustrated lecture about the places visited and experiences encountered by a traveler.

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