Xie Jianwei knew very clearly that there were no problems with his diet, that this wasn’t caused by him being poisoned with X medicine (aphrodisiacal drugs); it was, in fact, a reaction that was naturally, spontaneously, produced when the body reached a certain time period.
It’s not like he was a pure teenaged girl - naturally, he knew what was happening.
He wanted Lu Li, wanted him so much that his behind was a field of dampness.
It was truly too intolerable.
Xie Jianwei lightly panted, trying hard to regularise the arid heat in his body - it was a pity that it had no effect in the end - his brain was completely filled with Lu Li, completely filled with what the two did on bed.
But he only just kicked away Lu Li, if he were to call him over again right now, wouldn’t the dreamscape collapse?
But this body was truly too much of a nuisance, he wanted to make love, his head felt so hot that those two words were the only things left in there.
Lu Li Lu Li…
Xie Jianwei used his limited brainpower to think up solutions, when suddenly a ray of ‘divine light’ flashed through his mind, and he managed to react at last.
Whatever his state was within the dreamscape - it was all that Lu Li desired for it to be.
It was apparent that the big bastard didn’t plan on neglecting himself.
Even if he had been kicked away, even if he had been abused until his heart and liver trembled chaotically - he would still fight for those benefits that he should have.
Xie Jianwei’s body becoming like so, was also something that Lu Li wanted.
He was waiting for Xie Jianwei to look for him, waiting for Xie Jianwei to need him, even if it was only due to lust.
Since it was something that Lu Li had set, then if Xie Jianwei played along, the dreamscape would not collapse.
Xie Jianwei dialled his assistant’s mobile: “Bring Lu Li here, no matter by what means.”
He couldn’t endure it. Even if it was broad daylight, he didn’t want to wait any longer.
Not much time passed, Lu Li appeared in front of him.
Having parted for seven days, their reunion actually had a tinge of ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ - of course, this was all strategist Xie’s feelings.
Lu Li couldn’t possibly have thought that, he who had been ‘dispatched’, could so quickly meet this abominable man again.
To say that he didn’t miss Xie Jianwei would be false - he missed him, missed him to the extent where he found it hard to close his eyes, day and night.
The more he missed him, the more he loved him, and the more that hatred thickened.
Desiring to haul him down from the peaks of the clouds, desiring to drag him deep into hell, anticipating eternally shackling him within a tiny square of space… these types of sick thoughts clamoured over his whole world day after day, unsuppressible.
What did Xie Jianwei call him over for? To continue his humiliation?
Aside from this, Lu Li did not have any other thoughts.
Xi Jianwei waved away everyone, legs slightly shaking as he walked closer to Lu Li.
Lu Li lowered his gaze at him, his handsome features without a single shred of emotion.
Even if his heart currently felt as if it had been slashed with knives, even if he wanted to kiss him like crazy right now, even if he still worthlessly and greedily felt reluctant to part with his smile - in the end however, his dignity made him control himself, resolutely not revealing a single sliver.
Xie Jianwei tightly grasped the clothes on his chest, his lips slightly trembling: “Hug me.”
Roaring sounded in Lu Li’s brain.
Xie Jianwei took the initiative and kissed him, his red-hot lips and bewitching tongue like demons, capable of enthralling all living beings.
Lu Li didn’t know how he pushed him away: “Xie Jianwei, what do you mean by this?”
Xie Jianwei, with watery eyes, said in his irresistible voice: “Lu Li…Lu Li…”
He used this voice that made people’s ears feel soft to murmur his name, more beguiling than the world’s most moving words of romance; Lu Li could only borrow the pain from his nails piercing into his palms to ensure his own calm.
But very quickly, this thread of logic, as thin as silk, also snapped with a ‘bang’.
Because Xie Jianwei took off his clothes right in front of him, baring his naked form just like that, using his pliable and sensual body, sticking it against his own.
The two ate a ‘navel orange’ full of juice. [1]
(T/N: putting this here cause how many of you actually look through the notes later lol I don’t: NAVEL ORANGE FRom now on refers to riding. As in the two had a very ‘juicy’ round of ‘riding’ fun. For reason please look at notes lol)
After finally feeling refreshed, Xie Jianwei leaned against Lu Li’s embrace, his heart filled and his desire sated.
Xie Jianwei really liked this moment, the two embracing each other while naked, smelling the other’s breath, listening to the other’s heartbeat; even if they did nothing, it already represented everlastingness.
‘Navel orange’ was quite taxing to his body, so his breathing was very uneven: “Lu Li…”
Shouting out these two words, the three words that came afterwards almost overflowed from the corners of his lips - but Xie Jianwei, in the end, wasn’t a normal person, his SSS grade spiritual power making him have not a single moment where he didn’t retain a sliver of calm and logic.
He couldn’t confess.
To confess would only make the dreamscape collapse.
Xie Jianwei stopped just in time, making the words that were already at his lips turn and go back into his stomach.
Lu Li released him, long legs striding off of the bed, face expressionless as he started putting on clothes.
Xie Jianwei: “…”
Lu Li shot a glance at him, sarcastically saying: “President Xie really knows how to make the best use of everything.”
Xie Jianwei was still considering what he should say.
Lu Li already gifted him a line: “What does president Xie want to give me this time?”
Xie Jianwei now had a little grasp on his general train of thought, raising his head to look at him with a cold expression.
Lu Li put on a shirt, slowly asking: “A house? A car or…”
He didn’t finish his words, suddenly nearing Xie Jianwei - like so, with all the buttons open, a large patch of his chest exposed to the outside, carrying a captivating power - looking down at him from above: “…How about giving your Xie family to me?”
Lu Li’s thin lips curved, carrying the sinister expression that was both familiar, yet not to Xie Jianwei.
Familiar, because Xie Jianwei knew that Lu Li, to the people he hated, would reveal this sort of expression; not familiar, because Xie Jianwei had never seen Lu Li using it against himself.
A surge of inexplicable anger rose to the tip of his heart, and Xie Jianwei lowered his voice: “Scram!”
Lu Li’s voice was as cold as ice and frost: “You are the one who told me to come, and now you’re telling me to scram, enough of you, Xie Jianwei!”
Xie Jianwei raised his head to look at him: “I’ll also look for you in the future.”
Lu Li’s inky black pupils shrunk rapidly
Xie Jianwei lightly laughed, slowly saying: “I thought three months was enough for me to get bored, but as it appears now…you’re actually still pretty good.”
Lu Li’s thin lips had basically pressed into a line.
Xie Jianwei stared at him: “How about continuing this relationship segment with me?”
Lu Li interrupted his words: “I won’t come again.”
Xie Jianwei’s face revealed a little ruefulness: “Then forget about it.”
Lu Li’s heart dropped for a second.
Xie Jianwei, completely unsurprised, gave him a line: “Finding another bed partner like you again shouldn’t be hard either.”
“Xie Jianwei!” Lu Li reached the limit of his patience and lowly uttered.
Xie Jianwei turned his head to look at him; “Oh, I must thank you for teaching me how to feel good…”
“Shut up.” Lu Li suddenly grasped his face, a bloody brutality that only a wild beast in rage would have, lingering within his inky black eyes, as he spoke through clenched teeth, “I will come, as long as you want to do it, I’ll satisfy you.”
The last three words carried a viciousness so condensed it couldn’t be melted.
After Lu Li left, Xie Jianwei dazed for half a moment.
He quietly left the dreamscape.
Yan Ke surprised uttered: “My Lord! Did you get kicked out again?”
Xie Jianwei came back to his senses: “I came out by myself.”
Yan Ke released a breath: “What happened? Did you come across some sort of problem?”
Xie Jianwei, in entering Lu LI’s dreamscape, had the power to make his own decisions - if he wanted to wake up, he could, but he couldn’t leave for too long, because after the dreamscape broke away it might be replaced, and when he went in again it would be very troublesome.
Xie Jianwei shook his head, said: “It’s nothing.”
Yan Ke was perplexed: “Then for what reasons did you come out?” [2]
Xie Jianweii blinked a few times before coming back to reality, and said: “I will go back now.”
Yan Ke was so confused by him that he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. [3]
Returning inside the dreamscape Xie Jianwei finally made his heartbeat return to normal.
He felt that he may have caught a disease - he had actually thought that, just then, the Lu Li who had been enraged by him, was super hot!
It seems that a long time ago, on that deserted planet, the teenage Lu Li who had been isolated from society, his whole body filled with a vicious air, as fierce as a wolf pup, had also once revealed to him that kind of expression.
That was the bearing of a beast, who relied on his own skills to survive, when protecting food.
An undetectable sliver of joy rose from the depths of Xie Jianwei’s eyes.
As expected, no matter how many years had passed, Lu Li was still his Lu Li.
In line with ‘making inferences from example’s basic principles, Xie Jianwei had already acted out the role of the ‘sexually active but not emotionally active‘ scum President Xie remarkably well,.
Lu Li would meet with him once a week.
The two would jump on the bed without a second word.
Previously, Lu Li would be very gentle with Xie Jianwei in bed, constantly afraid that he would feel discomfort, but now that there was a fire holed up in his heart when he didn’t feel comfortable, he was only too eager to make Xie Jianwei even more uncomfortable.
It was a pity that Xie Jianwei’s body had no limits to its lasciviousness; no matter how rough he was, Xie Jianwei still felt refreshed to the point where even his toes quivered.
Lu Li on one hand really loved this appearance of his, on the hand he also really hated it.
At the thought of how if he didn’t come, Xie Jianwei might use this sort of appearance to seduce other men, he would burn with jealousy, hating how he couldn’t fuck him to death on the bed.
(T/N: Annddd it appears again!)
Xie Jianwei slowly also came to understand what the meaning of ‘interests’ was [4].
Even though this body was something that Lu Li purposefully set, it couldn’t be left unsaid that it truly was too suited to the direction that the plot was developing towards.
The ‘abnormal’ relationship between the two continued on for half a year.
Neither of them was idle during this period.
Lu LI tormented Xie Jianwei in bed, and continued to torment the Xie Corporation out of bed.
Xie Jianwei cooperated with Lu Li in bed, and continued to devotedly cooperate out of bed.
The identity that Lu Li gave himself was pretty average - even though he was also the young master of a dignified family, but when compared to the broad Xie family, the Lu family was truly not worth mentioning.
But Lu Li had always been of unorthodox origins; before he was the Supreme Commander, he was a bandit boss.
The entire Soaring Wings Army called him boss - it was actually lucky that there was Xie Jianwei present, otherwise even if he had levelled the alien invasion, he wouldn’t go on to becoming the Supreme Commander - there was an eighty per cent chance that. in a turn of the eyes, he would become the second one to bring disaster to the Milky Way Galaxy, as the interplanetary pirate captain.
Even though this personality of his had become much restrained after he became the Supreme Commander, in this dream, it was in fact thoroughly exposed.
Using normal methods to pull down the Xie family was very hard, but if one used abnormal methods, then it would be much easier.
And then adding on Xie Jianwei also helping him from the shadows - so in a short half year, the momentum of Lu family’s growth was as fearsome as a tiger, while Xie family’s financial group obviously and steadily declined.
With a turn of the eyes, they had almost reached the end of the year; Xie Jianwei’s birthday was on the day before Christmas.
The birthday feast of the helmsman of Xie family’s financial group was naturally held ostentatiously, the atmosphere abnormally lively.
Xie Jianwei unavoidably drank a lot of alcohol. After feeling a bit dizzy in the head, he found his assistant and made him deal with things, going up to the deck himself for the breeze.
Red wine was something that would make you dizzier if you caught a breeze - Xie Jianwei was, after all, not an earthling from the ancient times, and so truly didn’t know about this rule.
After staying in the wind for a while, not only did his head fail to clear up, he got more dizzy instead.
After an indistinctive period of time, he perceived that someone had come close to him: “Jianwei?”
Even though Xie Jianwei was a little drunk, but he wasn’t intoxicated to the point of losing consciousness. He looked at the new arrival through squinted eyes, and was a little unfamiliar with the sight.
But this person seemed like they knew him instead: “I’ve waited for you for a long time, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to see you, Jianwei…I miss you very much.”
• • •
[1] Navel orange sounds like ‘qi cheng’ in Chinese, which is also how you pronounce what basically means ‘riding’. The author uses this metaphor a lot lol but no one really got it, so she explains it in the later chapters. I’m not sure how to translate this so that the metaphorical nature of her words stays, so I’m leaving it as ‘navel orange’.
[2] Yan Ke addresses Xie Jianwei with the respectful version of ‘you’. In general, his style of speaking to XJW is really respectful and pretty cautious, not sure if that’s expressed very well in the translation.
[3] I mentioned it before but I’ve been converting common phrases and sayings in Chinese to common English phrases or sayings - the background of the original saying is very much lost but it’s easier for English readers to understand without having to put in a bunch of author’s notes. Lemme know if you prefer the OG.
Xie Jianwei knew very clearly that there were no problems with his diet, that this wasn’t caused by him being poisoned with X medicine (aphrodisiacal drugs); it was, in fact, a reaction that was naturally, spontaneously, produced when the body reached a certain time period.
It’s not like he was a pure teenaged girl - naturally, he knew what was happening.
He wanted Lu Li, wanted him so much that his behind was a field of dampness.
It was truly too intolerable.
Xie Jianwei lightly panted, trying hard to regularise the arid heat in his body - it was a pity that it had no effect in the end - his brain was completely filled with Lu Li, completely filled with what the two did on bed.
But he only just kicked away Lu Li, if he were to call him over again right now, wouldn’t the dreamscape collapse?
But this body was truly too much of a nuisance, he wanted to make love, his head felt so hot that those two words were the only things left in there.
Lu Li Lu Li…
Xie Jianwei used his limited brainpower to think up solutions, when suddenly a ray of ‘divine light’ flashed through his mind, and he managed to react at last.
Whatever his state was within the dreamscape - it was all that Lu Li desired for it to be.
It was apparent that the big bastard didn’t plan on neglecting himself.
Even if he had been kicked away, even if he had been abused until his heart and liver trembled chaotically - he would still fight for those benefits that he should have.
Xie Jianwei’s body becoming like so, was also something that Lu Li wanted.
He was waiting for Xie Jianwei to look for him, waiting for Xie Jianwei to need him, even if it was only due to lust.
Since it was something that Lu Li had set, then if Xie Jianwei played along, the dreamscape would not collapse.
Xie Jianwei dialled his assistant’s mobile: “Bring Lu Li here, no matter by what means.”
He couldn’t endure it. Even if it was broad daylight, he didn’t want to wait any longer.
Not much time passed, Lu Li appeared in front of him.
Having parted for seven days, their reunion actually had a tinge of ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ - of course, this was all strategist Xie’s feelings.
Lu Li couldn’t possibly have thought that, he who had been ‘dispatched’, could so quickly meet this abominable man again.
To say that he didn’t miss Xie Jianwei would be false - he missed him, missed him to the extent where he found it hard to close his eyes, day and night.
The more he missed him, the more he loved him, and the more that hatred thickened.
Desiring to haul him down from the peaks of the clouds, desiring to drag him deep into hell, anticipating eternally shackling him within a tiny square of space… these types of sick thoughts clamoured over his whole world day after day, unsuppressible.
What did Xie Jianwei call him over for? To continue his humiliation?
Aside from this, Lu Li did not have any other thoughts.
Xi Jianwei waved away everyone, legs slightly shaking as he walked closer to Lu Li.
Lu Li lowered his gaze at him, his handsome features without a single shred of emotion.
Even if his heart currently felt as if it had been slashed with knives, even if he wanted to kiss him like crazy right now, even if he still worthlessly and greedily felt reluctant to part with his smile - in the end however, his dignity made him control himself, resolutely not revealing a single sliver.
Xie Jianwei tightly grasped the clothes on his chest, his lips slightly trembling: “Hug me.”
Roaring sounded in Lu Li’s brain.
Xie Jianwei took the initiative and kissed him, his red-hot lips and bewitching tongue like demons, capable of enthralling all living beings.
Lu Li didn’t know how he pushed him away: “Xie Jianwei, what do you mean by this?”
Xie Jianwei, with watery eyes, said in his irresistible voice: “Lu Li…Lu Li…”
He used this voice that made people’s ears feel soft to murmur his name, more beguiling than the world’s most moving words of romance; Lu Li could only borrow the pain from his nails piercing into his palms to ensure his own calm.
But very quickly, this thread of logic, as thin as silk, also snapped with a ‘bang’.
Because Xie Jianwei took off his clothes right in front of him, baring his naked form just like that, using his pliable and sensual body, sticking it against his own.
The two ate a ‘navel orange’ full of juice. [1]
(T/N: putting this here cause how many of you actually look through the notes later lol I don’t: NAVEL ORANGE FRom now on refers to riding. As in the two had a very ‘juicy’ round of ‘riding’ fun. For reason please look at notes lol)
After finally feeling refreshed, Xie Jianwei leaned against Lu Li’s embrace, his heart filled and his desire sated.
Xie Jianwei really liked this moment, the two embracing each other while naked, smelling the other’s breath, listening to the other’s heartbeat; even if they did nothing, it already represented everlastingness.
‘Navel orange’ was quite taxing to his body, so his breathing was very uneven: “Lu Li…”
Shouting out these two words, the three words that came afterwards almost overflowed from the corners of his lips - but Xie Jianwei, in the end, wasn’t a normal person, his SSS grade spiritual power making him have not a single moment where he didn’t retain a sliver of calm and logic.
He couldn’t confess.
To confess would only make the dreamscape collapse.
Xie Jianwei stopped just in time, making the words that were already at his lips turn and go back into his stomach.
Lu Li released him, long legs striding off of the bed, face expressionless as he started putting on clothes.
Xie Jianwei: “…”
Lu Li shot a glance at him, sarcastically saying: “President Xie really knows how to make the best use of everything.”
Xie Jianwei was still considering what he should say.
Lu Li already gifted him a line: “What does president Xie want to give me this time?”
Xie Jianwei now had a little grasp on his general train of thought, raising his head to look at him with a cold expression.
Lu Li put on a shirt, slowly asking: “A house? A car or…”
He didn’t finish his words, suddenly nearing Xie Jianwei - like so, with all the buttons open, a large patch of his chest exposed to the outside, carrying a captivating power - looking down at him from above: “…How about giving your Xie family to me?”
Lu Li’s thin lips curved, carrying the sinister expression that was both familiar, yet not to Xie Jianwei.
Familiar, because Xie Jianwei knew that Lu Li, to the people he hated, would reveal this sort of expression; not familiar, because Xie Jianwei had never seen Lu Li using it against himself.
A surge of inexplicable anger rose to the tip of his heart, and Xie Jianwei lowered his voice: “Scram!”
Lu Li’s voice was as cold as ice and frost: “You are the one who told me to come, and now you’re telling me to scram, enough of you, Xie Jianwei!”
Xie Jianwei raised his head to look at him: “I’ll also look for you in the future.”
Lu Li’s inky black pupils shrunk rapidly
Xie Jianwei lightly laughed, slowly saying: “I thought three months was enough for me to get bored, but as it appears now…you’re actually still pretty good.”
Lu Li’s thin lips had basically pressed into a line.
Xie Jianwei stared at him: “How about continuing this relationship segment with me?”
Lu Li interrupted his words: “I won’t come again.”
Xie Jianwei’s face revealed a little ruefulness: “Then forget about it.”
Lu Li’s heart dropped for a second.
Xie Jianwei, completely unsurprised, gave him a line: “Finding another bed partner like you again shouldn’t be hard either.”
“Xie Jianwei!” Lu Li reached the limit of his patience and lowly uttered.
Xie Jianwei turned his head to look at him; “Oh, I must thank you for teaching me how to feel good…”
“Shut up.” Lu Li suddenly grasped his face, a bloody brutality that only a wild beast in rage would have, lingering within his inky black eyes, as he spoke through clenched teeth, “I will come, as long as you want to do it, I’ll satisfy you.”
The last three words carried a viciousness so condensed it couldn’t be melted.
After Lu Li left, Xie Jianwei dazed for half a moment.
He quietly left the dreamscape.
Yan Ke surprised uttered: “My Lord! Did you get kicked out again?”
Xie Jianwei came back to his senses: “I came out by myself.”
Yan Ke released a breath: “What happened? Did you come across some sort of problem?”
Xie Jianwei, in entering Lu LI’s dreamscape, had the power to make his own decisions - if he wanted to wake up, he could, but he couldn’t leave for too long, because after the dreamscape broke away it might be replaced, and when he went in again it would be very troublesome.
Xie Jianwei shook his head, said: “It’s nothing.”
Yan Ke was perplexed: “Then for what reasons did you come out?” [2]
Xie Jianweii blinked a few times before coming back to reality, and said: “I will go back now.”
Yan Ke was so confused by him that he couldn’t make heads or tails of it. [3]
Returning inside the dreamscape Xie Jianwei finally made his heartbeat return to normal.
He felt that he may have caught a disease - he had actually thought that, just then, the Lu Li who had been enraged by him, was super hot!
It seems that a long time ago, on that deserted planet, the teenage Lu Li who had been isolated from society, his whole body filled with a vicious air, as fierce as a wolf pup, had also once revealed to him that kind of expression.
That was the bearing of a beast, who relied on his own skills to survive, when protecting food.
An undetectable sliver of joy rose from the depths of Xie Jianwei’s eyes.
As expected, no matter how many years had passed, Lu Li was still his Lu Li.
In line with ‘making inferences from example’s basic principles, Xie Jianwei had already acted out the role of the ‘sexually active but not emotionally active‘ scum President Xie remarkably well,.
Lu Li would meet with him once a week.
The two would jump on the bed without a second word.
Previously, Lu Li would be very gentle with Xie Jianwei in bed, constantly afraid that he would feel discomfort, but now that there was a fire holed up in his heart when he didn’t feel comfortable, he was only too eager to make Xie Jianwei even more uncomfortable.
It was a pity that Xie Jianwei’s body had no limits to its lasciviousness; no matter how rough he was, Xie Jianwei still felt refreshed to the point where even his toes quivered.
Lu Li on one hand really loved this appearance of his, on the hand he also really hated it.
At the thought of how if he didn’t come, Xie Jianwei might use this sort of appearance to seduce other men, he would burn with jealousy, hating how he couldn’t fuck him to death on the bed.
(T/N: Annddd it appears again!)
Xie Jianwei slowly also came to understand what the meaning of ‘interests’ was [4].
Even though this body was something that Lu Li purposefully set, it couldn’t be left unsaid that it truly was too suited to the direction that the plot was developing towards.
The ‘abnormal’ relationship between the two continued on for half a year.
Neither of them was idle during this period.
Lu LI tormented Xie Jianwei in bed, and continued to torment the Xie Corporation out of bed.
Xie Jianwei cooperated with Lu Li in bed, and continued to devotedly cooperate out of bed.
The identity that Lu Li gave himself was pretty average - even though he was also the young master of a dignified family, but when compared to the broad Xie family, the Lu family was truly not worth mentioning.
But Lu Li had always been of unorthodox origins; before he was the Supreme Commander, he was a bandit boss.
The entire Soaring Wings Army called him boss - it was actually lucky that there was Xie Jianwei present, otherwise even if he had levelled the alien invasion, he wouldn’t go on to becoming the Supreme Commander - there was an eighty per cent chance that. in a turn of the eyes, he would become the second one to bring disaster to the Milky Way Galaxy, as the interplanetary pirate captain.
Even though this personality of his had become much restrained after he became the Supreme Commander, in this dream, it was in fact thoroughly exposed.
Using normal methods to pull down the Xie family was very hard, but if one used abnormal methods, then it would be much easier.
And then adding on Xie Jianwei also helping him from the shadows - so in a short half year, the momentum of Lu family’s growth was as fearsome as a tiger, while Xie family’s financial group obviously and steadily declined.
With a turn of the eyes, they had almost reached the end of the year; Xie Jianwei’s birthday was on the day before Christmas.
The birthday feast of the helmsman of Xie family’s financial group was naturally held ostentatiously, the atmosphere abnormally lively.
Xie Jianwei unavoidably drank a lot of alcohol. After feeling a bit dizzy in the head, he found his assistant and made him deal with things, going up to the deck himself for the breeze.
Red wine was something that would make you dizzier if you caught a breeze - Xie Jianwei was, after all, not an earthling from the ancient times, and so truly didn’t know about this rule.
After staying in the wind for a while, not only did his head fail to clear up, he got more dizzy instead.
After an indistinctive period of time, he perceived that someone had come close to him: “Jianwei?”
Even though Xie Jianwei was a little drunk, but he wasn’t intoxicated to the point of losing consciousness. He looked at the new arrival through squinted eyes, and was a little unfamiliar with the sight.
But this person seemed like they knew him instead: “I’ve waited for you for a long time, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to see you, Jianwei…I miss you very much.”
• • •
[1] Navel orange sounds like ‘qi cheng’ in Chinese, which is also how you pronounce what basically means ‘riding’. The author uses this metaphor a lot lol but no one really got it, so she explains it in the later chapters. I’m not sure how to translate this so that the metaphorical nature of her words stays, so I’m leaving it as ‘navel orange’.
[2] Yan Ke addresses Xie Jianwei with the respectful version of ‘you’. In general, his style of speaking to XJW is really respectful and pretty cautious, not sure if that’s expressed very well in the translation.
[3] I mentioned it before but I’ve been converting common phrases and sayings in Chinese to common English phrases or sayings - the background of the original saying is very much lost but it’s easier for English readers to understand without having to put in a bunch of author’s notes. Lemme know if you prefer the OG.
