Chapter 15 – Enduring

Edited by: umamin

There were a lot of people at the amusement park. They waited in line for a very long time for the roller coaster that Fu An wanted to ride. It took almost an entire hour before they finally reached the front.

In Fu An’s recollection, there seemed to be a certain saying that went along the lines of— at the end of a life, everything that happened in it would be experienced again just like a revolving lantern¹Lit. a trotting horse lantern, a rotating lantern that has cutout scenes on its sides: https://news.mydrivers.com/1/613/613323.htm, until the very end, where it would linger on that life’s happiest moment, and then fade away. 

As they climbed to the very top of the track and the little car slowly inched forward, Fu An inexplicably thought of that saying. He didn’t know who had said it to him, but regardless of who it was, he’d still remembered it.

As he looked down from this great height, he could see faraway scenery, the city distant and small, like the toy models he played with when he was a child.

He thought that he also didn’t know whether this moment was during his real life, or if it was during the revolving lantern at its end.

Because he held onto the hand of the person next to him, it felt like dropping from such a high place wasn’t frightening at all.

At the moment of weightlessness, Fu An tightly clutched Qi Qianze’s hand, at first he felt many strong, mixed emotions, and very soft, sincere feelings, but after only a few seconds, he couldn’t pay any mind to anything anymore. The rollercoaster left blurred afterimages as it looped through the air, the more exhilarating the movement the better. As Fu An spun in the sky, he could no longer hear even the screams of the people around him, only the rushing of the wind blowing past his ears.

Amidst his vertigo, he suddenly grew a little worried, about whether he’d squeezed Qi Qianze’s hand too tight and hurt him.

Fu An didn’t actually feel very well. The dizziness persisted for a long time and when he stood up, he felt a bout of nausea, the pulses in his wrist and temple throbbing in sync. He got off the rollercoaster by way of Qi Qianze pulling him, and to get down the stairs, the two of them supported each other and leaned on the railing, like two drunkards on their last legs, just barely holding on.

On the last step, Fu An’s arm suddenly grew heavy and he nearly fell. He looked towards Qi Qianze and saw that his face was slightly pale. Qi Qianze said: “My legs went soft.”

Fu An just smiled and put Qi Qianze’s arm over his shoulder, carrying him along.

Qi Qianze sighed and said: “Aren’t I losing face like this?”

There were people to the side quietly laughing at him. The laughter wasn’t unkind but still made his face redden.

“You can lose your face, but I’ll carry my man.”

In public, there were few moments of outright intimacy like this.

Fu An liked it a lot. So did Qi Qianze.

That night, they watched the parade.

There were lots of people, all sitting by the side of the road, so Fu An and Qi Qianze were squeezed together.

It was already dark. Their faces were lit in a mosaic of colors by the lights from the parade, and amidst the sky-shakingly loud music, all of their fingers were intertwined. 

Fu An said something. Qi Qianze couldn’t hear it, so he leaned in closer, motioning Fu An to say it again.

Fu An’s breath was somewhat damp. Next to Qi Qianze’s ear, it really made him itchy.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Qi Qianze paused in surprise, then looked at him.

Fu An nodded, and mouthed––– Let’s go.

As they walked out of the park, the road was nearly empty, with only a few people scattered and faraway.

They walked for a bit, neither saying a word, like they weren’t willing to ruin the atmosphere, or maybe they already knew what was about to happen next and were nervous about it.

After ten minutes Qi Qianze finally stopped, his hand pulling Fu An’s. The two people stood still on the sidewalk.

On this night, a slightly chilly breeze blew gently past, and the shadows under the streetlights were very long.

As they held hands, their shadows also held hands. If they glanced downwards, the shadows  seemed to look like artistic graffiti.

“Fu……”

As Qi Qianze was about to say something, a “bang” came from faraway. Hearing it and looking over, a large firework exploded in the sky.

Midair, silver stars were strewn on golden flowers. Twinkling, they scattered and subsided. Then came another few sounds of “bang bang bang”, and one on top of the other, they bloomed together.

Under this scene, Qi Qianze turned and faced Fu An. The trivial, complicated memories, wishes, thoughts, and emotions, like the fireworks, faded into the background. For them, there was only this moment, only this person before their eyes.

“Fu An, you’re the person I’ve searched for so long for, and finally found.”

You’re also the one that I’ve overlooked for so long, but I’ve finally realized that you’re the one.

Qi Qianze stepped forward and held him, at the same time holding his slightly trembling emotions.

Fu An rested his chin on Qi Qianze’s shoulder, little fireworks reflected in his eyes, cheeks slightly pink. He could hear his own and Qi Qianze’s mingled heartbeats, and that person’s long-owed confession.

 “Let’s never separate again, okay?”

“I love you, Fu An.”

The fireworks dissolved into smoke, on this quiet moonlit night.

All the past grievances scattered like the wind, leaving only the fragrance of flowers gifted by a certain someone, transformed between the lips and teeth of the lover into a sure answer, forever enduring.

–fin–

Author’s Note: 

Suddenly it ended.. I found that the writing didn’t have anything to do with sashimi (but it was a brain hole from when I got overpowered by wasabi.. sashimi also sounds very good)

Thank you very much to all the little companions who have read to here!

Heart to heart! Let’s meet in the next book!

Translator’s Note: 

Thank you for reading! And a huge thank you to umamin for an amazing job editing! I hope you enjoyed reading about Qi Qianze and Fu An as much as I enjoyed translating their story~ (If you did, please consider supporting the author on Gongzicp, guide here: https://ninetysevenkoi.wordpress.com/2021/08/13/ios-gongzicp/.) 

Editor’s Note: 

I’d like to thank my MVP, the thesaurus. Also I learned quite a lot from editing, it seems pretty fun actually. I enjoyed it.

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  Lit. a trotting horse lantern, a rotating lantern that has cutout scenes on its sides: https://news.mydrivers.com/1/613/613323.htm