My Darling (我的曼达林)

Untitled Part 10

Haha, I have a soft spot for Papa Jian and Jian Bianlin since I speak Cantonese as well.

Chapter 3.2 — You and Me, Together (2)

In the dozen or so days that followed, Jian Bianlin's dad's recovery went very well.

When the doctor did the check-up on him, he said that it was fortunate the older man had been working manual labour in the past, so his body was physically fit. "If it weren't for this accident, I would dare say that your dad's body is more fit than yours."

After the doctor left, with the bed separating them, the two continued to sit and keep his father company watching television.

Jian Bianlin's dad very much disliked wearing glasses, was hard of hearing, and also could not really see subtitles clearly. Therefore, Chu Jian's main task was to explain things to him when he came across a part in the television program where he had not heard clearly and was unable to read the subtitles.

Midway through, Jian Bianlin stepped out. The late-night news began reporting on the typhoon that had landed in Hainan.

The images of the havoc wreaked on the streets by the raging winds and torrential downpour brought about another conversation topic. "I heard Hainan's chargrilled oyster and strawberry conch are pretty good?"

"Mm-hmm..." Chu Jian was holding a mandarin orange and pulling off the peel bit by bit. "Strawberry conch is tasty. Stir-frying it with coarse sea salt works well, as does dipping it in soy sauce."

At the mention of seafood, she really did want to go back to her old university for a visit.

"Do you know why I know this so well?" Jian Bianlin's dad lowered his voice. "Back then, I thought I would have a daughter-in-law from Hainan, so I deliberately studied up on Hainan specialties."

"......" Chu Jian nodded, mechanically stuffing the mandarin orange that she had originally peeled for Jian Bianlin's dad into her own mouth.

When Jian Bianlin was in university, his father had found quite a few train tickets for the route between Beijing and Hainan in Jian Bianlin's luggage. It was also during that period that Jian Bianlin had said that his girlfriend was in Hainan... Another little lie. Although no one had been hurt, simply too many of these types of things had accumulated between the two of them, invisibly piling higher and higher until, even during an everyday casual conversation such as this one, there were pitfalls everywhere.

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Jian Bianlin's dad rambled on, sometimes melancholically, sometimes lamentingly, about many things from the past. As luck would have it, right when his emotions reached a climax, Jian Bianlin walked in through the door.

A live target had just presented itself; how could Jian Bianlin's dad willingly miss out on this chance? With a resentful cry of "Brat!" he began criticizing Jian Bianlin, starting with his clothes and then carrying on from there, until in the end, he transitioned perfectly into grumbling about how much of Jian Bianlin's time had been wasted back then by that girlfriend of his from Hainan, and it was fortunate that Chu Jian had managed to persuade him to turn from the error of his ways.

Covering his forehead with the back of his hand, Jian Bianlin closed his eyes. It was clear he had a great aversion towards this topic.

However, in his dad's eyes, these were all silent means of rebelling.