Goodnight, Miss Rose

Tao Ting was furious. She did not expect Xu Linyue to be so good at quarrelling. 

Xu Linyue was no better. Through this argument, he found out that Tao Ting was very eloquent when she was angry. 

One had his hands on his hips, and the other had her hands crossed, both mad. Their eyes met, and they tore their gazes away, one coldly snorting and the other scoffing.

“It’s my turn to ask now,” After a while, Xu Linyue opened his mouth.

Tao Ting nodded, “Sure, go ahead.”

Xu Linyue pulled at his collar and looked a little uncomfortable, “Erm… Who was the man at your home that night?”

Tao Ting went, “Huh?”

Xu Linyue tensed his cheeks and held back the sourness in his heart as he reminded her, “During our phone call. I heard him.”

He was taking things so seriously that it made Tao Ting nervous for a moment. When she finally recalled what happened, she closed her eyes and palmed her forehead, speechless. 

She asked in reply, “Who did you think it was?”

Xu Linyue did not answer. She had hung the call in a hurry that night. There was no other reason for that other than her being guilty. 

Tao Ting glared at him and took her phone out from her bag, “Who could it be at my house late at night? That’s my dad, idiot.”

Xu Linyue laughed scornfully, “Do you take me as a fool? I heard his voice. He’s at most thirty. That’s your dad?”

Tao Ting did not want to continue explaining herself any longer. She made a phone call, and when the call connected, she put it on speaker, “Hello, Dad.”

“Tao Tao, what’s wrong?”

Xu Linyue recognised the voice. Even though he could not believe it, he had no choice but to accept that he had indeed made a fool of himself due to his pettiness. 

Tao Ting kept a close eye on his face, watching the various expressions flashing past. She took immense pleasure in it and curved the corner of her lips, “Just wanted to ask if you’re still in the recording booth? Have you eaten dinner yet?”

Dad Tao replied, “I still have a few more segments to record. I’ll be eating with Xiao Wu and the rest later. Have you eaten?”

“I have.”

Both father and daughter continued talking a little longer before Tao Ting hung up the phone. She crossed her arms and looked at Xu Linyue in a calm and composed manner, a mocking smile at the edges of her mouth.

Xu Linyue, that old fox (sly man) [1], schooled his expression instantly, responding with a fitting “wow” and saying, “Your father’s (honorifics) voice sure is young.”

Tao Ting explained, “My dad had been in the voice acting industry for thirty years. He takes good care of his throat. His actual voice is actually not young anymore. He used to always dub those yandere second male lead characters back then [2].”

Xu Linyue did not understand, “Yandere?”

“Um,” Tao Ting put it another way, “a weak, nobleman role.”

Xu Linyue seemed not to fully understand, “Oh.”

Now that the misunderstanding was cleared, it was, instead, even more awkward between them.

However, unlike the previous grey, light green (jealous) atmosphere, there seemed to be faintly discernible pink bubbles everywhere this time. 

Tao Ting stepped on a fallen leaf on the ground and listened to it rustle.

She asked a genuine question, “Actually, one sentence could have cleared up all these misunderstandings. Why did we suffer for so long?”

Xu Linyue gave a long sigh, “Blame me for being old. I can’t bring myself to speak out about love.”

Tao Ting nodded understandingly. Expressing “I love you” directly was indeed very difficult.

“Then can I ask you a question?”

Xu Linyue’s gaze fell on her, “Go ahead.”

Tao Ting put her hands behind her back and took a small step forward, “Senior, what is your ideal type?”

Xu Linyue said, “If I didn’t remember wrong, my answer back then was, ‘I like girls who work hard.’”

Tao Ting asked, “What about now?”

Xu Linyue raised his eyebrows, “Same as before.”

“That’s a coincidence,” Tao Ting’s eyes reflected the street lamps and the moonlight, along with a star that had been secretly kept for many years.

She said, “I’m bad at everything but being hardworking.”

At eight o’clock at night, the streets were empty, and the cold wind blew at the trees, turning their shadows to a state of disarray. 

Xu Linyue bent down and placed a kiss on her eye.

“Actually, I’m very worried.”

Tao Ting lifted her head in his arms, “Why?”

He rarely showed his vulnerability, and the few times he did, they were always in front of her, “I may not be as good as you think I am. I’m afraid that you would think that your fantasy is dashed.”

Tao Ting did not know that he would have such a worry and was rather surprised. After thinking about it, she laughed, “I won’t.”

“If you’re always in a higher position, I will worship you but will not like you. Love is sometimes unrefined. I like you because I will feel annoyed and tired when I see you, and can see your flaws. I am not the one who finally climbed to the top of the mountain to catch up with you; you were the one who walked towards me,” from where she was, Tao Ting pecked his Adam’s apple, “so don’t feel burdened to put on a good public image [3]. In my eyes, your image has long collapsed.”

With his worries cleared, Xu Linyue tightly embraced her and said into her ear, “I have no flaws.”

Tao Ting secretly rolled her eyes, “Yes, you don’t.”

Xu Linyue smelled a faint fragrance on her, like the sweetness of white peaches.

He parted his lips, and in a low voice, tenderly called out a reduplication appellation, “Tao Tao.”

He could clearly feel the person in his embrace tremble slightly.

“Earlier, I saw the name your mom saved you as in her contacts. Turns out it’s this ‘Tao (peach) [4]’. Is this your nickname?”

Tao Ting nodded and buried her face into his chest.

Xu Linyue tilted his head and kissed the tip of her ear, “Is it crispy or soft, or sweet or bitter?”

“I don’t know,” Tao Ting said boldly, “why don’t you try [5]?”

The back seat of the black Bentley was truly a little cramped for two adults.

The sounds of the rustling of clothes mixed with light panting were infinitely amplified in the enclosed space.

Outside, it was a long, cold winter night. Here, it was a spring day [6] that Xu Linyue gave her.

The warmness, softness, radiance and fragrance allowed her to blossom without restrain on a spring day that belonged to her alone.

—

The bouquets for the planning department had begun to be regularly delivered again. This time, the recipient was clearly written. 

In the afternoon, Tao Ting was eating at the staff canteen with her colleagues when she saw everyone suddenly standing up. She, too, put her spoon down and stood up.

Turning around, Tao Ting almost choked on her food when she saw that their CEO had honoured them with his presence for reasons unknown. 

“I heard that the sweet and sour spare ribs in the staff canteen is delicious, so I’m here today to try it,” The man in the expensive, custom-fitted suit took a tray to grab a meal. Someone wanted to help him, but he refused, insisting on experiencing it himself.

Tao Ting closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was the one who had mentioned this off-handedly yesterday. At that time, Xu Linyue said that he would make time to try it, but she did not think that he would do it this quickly.

Seeing everyone standing still, Xu Linyue waved his hand, “Everyone, eat. Why are you looking at me?”

Everyone sat back on their seats, burying their heads and continued eating quietly, occasionally whispering.

When Xu Linyue sat down across from her with his tray, Tao Ting felt the stares on her coming from all directions. She rubbed her neck, at a loss for what to do.

She respectfully called out, “CEO Xu.”

The man gave an “Mmm”.

Only the two of them were at the table, so Tao Ting lowered her voice and asked him, “Why are you here?”

Xu Linyue replied, “I’m here to see my young girlfriend.”

Tao Ting let out a soft cry of pain as her teeth hit the bone of the spare rib, “Have you seen her then? How is she?”

Xu Linyue was composed as he took a sip of the soup, “She’s fine, but I think she has a toothache.”

With Xu Linyue around, nobody dared sit at the surrounding tables. However, there was no lack of thoughtless people. Song Qingqing carried her tray of freshly-ordered meal and sat next to Tao Ting, looking at the man opposite and saying, “Oh, His Royal Highness is mingling with the commoners?”

Xu Linyue glared at her and followed her tone, “Oh, isn’t this our Princess Lü who is banished to the streets?”

Song Qingqing could not win against him. With a “hmph”, she moved close to Tao Ting, covering her mouth as she whispered, “Don’t ever argue with him. He will drive you mad.”

Tao Ting lifted her lips and smiled. Xu Linyue raised his eyebrows but did not take her seriously.

When Tao Ting saw Jiang Zhen walking along the aisle in a daze, looking for a seat, she waved at her, “Over here.”

Jiang Zhen, who was totally oblivious to the fact that there was a “Big Buddha” (someone of a very high position), walked over happily. When she finally saw Xu Linyue, she stopped abruptly, straightening her shoulders and back and calling out, “CEO Xu!”

Xu Linyue smiled, “Sit.”

“En, en,” Jiang Zhen ate the meal in fear and trepidation. To prove that she was actively doing as the government encouraged, she even cleaned her plate.

When the three of them returned to the department together, Jiang Zhen rubbed her full belly and exhaled exaggeratedly, asking Tao Ting and Song Qingqing, “Why are both of you so calm? It’s like he’s your family.”

Tao Ting and Song Qingqing looked at each other. One was rubbing her nose, and the other was smoothing her hair. They could only go against their conscience and praise him.

–– “CEO Xu is amiable and approachable.”

–– “CEO Xu is kind and affable.”

—

In April, spring has returned [7], and the tulips in Shanghai has bloomed. The streets were filled with a variety of rich colours – red, yellow, pink and white – and the entire world looked like an oil painting, colourful, bright and vivid. 

Along with the rising temperatures, the sluggishness that came with the season swept over the people.

During the span of a meeting, Tao Ting had already secretly yawned several times.

Feeling the man’s gaze, Tao Ting pursed her lips and raised her head to look back.

Sitting at the head of the table, Xu Linyue put down the fountain pen in his hand and interjected with an off-topic question, “Did all of you stay up late to work overtime, or is there a ‘sleep bug’ [8] in this meeting room?”

Everyone’s sleepiness instantly disappeared once he said that. Coughing and drinking water, they straightened their backs in succession, refocusing their attention. 

The screen of the phone by his side lit up, and Xu Linyue glanced at it.

【Tao Tao: It was because you insisted on doing it one more time last night.】

Xu Linyue gave two dry coughs and pulled at his collar, instructing, “Since everyone is in a poor condition, we’ll stop here today. Do rest well.”

Tao Ting kept these words in mind till the night. After showering and blow-drying her hair, she retreated under the blanket, preparing to sleep. 

After ending his phone call, Xu Linyue came out of the study and saw the bulging lump under the blanket. He walked over and asked, “You’re sleeping so early?”

Tao Ting closed her eyes and rolled over, “CEO Xu told us to rest well.”

Xu Linyue brought this upon himself. Even though he felt dejected, he could only bear with it, “Sleep then.”

Tao Ting was actually not sleepy. She was just about to open her eyes to see what he was doing when the corner of her lips was kissed tenderly. 

Xu Linyue turned off the floor lamp and laid beside her. He gathered her into his arms, softly whispering a cheesy sentence against her ear.

––– “Gute Nacht, meine Rose.”

Goodnight, my rose.

—The End.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

[1] 老狐狸 (lǎo hú li), literally, “old fox”. It can be used both positively or negatively. As a criticism, it would be used to describe a person as cunning/sly, but as praise, it would be used to describe an intelligent person who always has tricks up his sleeves and knows to play his cards right. (Source)

[2] 病娇 (bìng jiāo): Yandere, a term used for a person who is initially loving and caring to someone they have a strong affection for until their romantic love, admiration, and devotion become feisty and mentally destructive through either over-protectiveness, violence, brutality or all three combined. (Credit)

[3] 偶像包袱 (ǒu xiàng bāo fu): Most commonly translated as “idol’s baggage”. It is an Internet slang, referring to celebrities who are unable to let go of their idol image (e.g. being handsome/pretty and behaving prim and proper) when on variety shows or performances. It is usually used as a criticism, when idols are overly self-conscious, not easygoing/accommodating, and/or put themselves on high ground. (Source)

[4] The 陶 (táo) in 陶婷 (Tao Ting) is pronounced the same as 桃 (táo), which means “peach”. 

[5] 桃 (táo), literally, “peach”, is used to refer to that part of a female’s chest because of its colour and shape. (Source 1, 2)

[6] 春天 (chūn tiān), meaning “spring/spring day” is commonly used to symbolise something amazing happening (usually in regards to romance). A common saying, 春天到了 (chūn tiān dào le; lit. “spring has arrived”), describes someone who is very happy because they are about to get into a relationship and/or is in love. 

[7] 春回大地 (chūn huí dà dì), literally, “spring has returned to Earth”. It is used to describe the passing of the harsh winter, and the warmth and vitality returning. It originates from a poem by Song dynasty poet, Zhou Zizhi (周紫芝) –

树头雪过梅犹在，

地上春回柳未知。

The snow is gone from treetops, the plum blossom remains.

As spring returns to the ground below, still unaware, the willow.

(Credit, Source)

[8] 瞌睡虫 (kē shuì chóng), literally “sleep bug”. In the olden days, there was a myth about a sleep bug that could put people to sleep if they fly into your nostrils. Now, this phrase is used to refer to sleepy people.

BUNNY’S RAMBLINGS

One last bonus chapter to go~

Also, a huge thank you to my proofreader, AmethystRose, for “working overtime” to catch up with my uploading speed! (⁀ᗢ⁀)

Some extra tidbits by the author:

This was supposed to be a 5,000 (Chinese) characters extra for another novel (featuring Jiang Zhen as the main female lead), but it ended up being 30,000 characters. The author blames it on CEO Xu being too charming!

Both of them married in spring the following year.