[Translation] Chapter 1(5) of Sealed with a Kiss Novel
最好他喜新厌旧又彻底嫌弃我的不知趣，摔出张支票来让我滚蛋。
© 2011, JoleCole. All rights reserved.
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It’s best that he falls madly in love with the new and loathe the old. Then gets completely fret up by my disinterested attitude and throws me a fat check to tell me to get lost.
这种梦没得做，莫绍谦很快转移话题：“昨天买了什么衣服？”
Unfortunately, such a dream isn’t going to happen as Mo Shaoqian quickly changes the topic. “What did you buy yesterday?”
我就知道他要问，所以我看都没看就拎了两件回来，真是有先见之明。于是兴高采烈告诉他：“米兰的当季新款，不过现在太热了，还不能穿给你看。”
I knew he was going to ask. That’s why I didn’t even bother to look at what I bought and just decided to bring back two items. I really have foresight. In ecstatically cheerful tone, I tell him, “Milan’s newest design for the season. But it’s too hot right now, so I can’t wear it for you to see.”
金主很满意地点点头，花钱的是金主，穿新衣的是金丝雀。我的用处是满足他大男人的虚荣心，让他花钱有乐子。有时候我也忤逆他，但这种忤逆非常有分寸，就像小猫挠人的手，是撒娇的轻狂，而不会真挠出血迹来，省得惹毛了他吃不了兜着走。
My benefactor nods in approval. The rule of the game: the benefactor is the one who spends the money while the beneficiary wears the new clothes [8]. The use of my existence is to satisfy his masculine ego. I keep him amused by spending his money. Sometimes, though, I would still defy him. My defiance, however, is carefully crafted not to go overboard. It’s almost like a cat who lightly scratches a hand. It’s a type of coquettish tantrum with twist of feminine charm. The soft scratch doesn’t cause a bleeding at all, because I wouldn’t want to seriously piss him off and bring unpleasant consequences upon myself.
[8] The Chinese term that Tong Xue used to coin her monetary relationship with Mo Shaoqian is jinzhu or “gold owner,” which is generally used to refer to rich persons who monetarily sponsor something, and the canary. Tong Xue refers herself as “Jinsique” or canary because in traditional Chinese culture, raising a canary in a golden cage is a symbol of wealth. I think a more vulgar English equivalent of jinzhu and jinsique is “sugar daddy’ and his “sugar baby.” I chose not to use these terms because I found them too derogatory. I guess a classier equivalent is patron and his courtesan or benefactor/beneficiary.
再这么下去，我都可以写部当二奶的秘笈，名字就叫《我的情妇生涯》好了，放在网上一准轰动，就冲这名字也能飙点击率啊。
If this situation continues, I can write a manual on the 101 secrets tips to become a successful mistress, entitled “My Career Being a Mistress.” I bet if I post it online, it’ll cause an uproar. Just the name alone warrants innumerable clicks, setting a whirlwind record off the charts.
他问我：“今天有课吗？”
He asks me, “Do you have class today?”
“有。”我没撒谎，还全是大课，著名的千人斩教授，要是点名不在我就死定了。
“Yes.” I’m not lying. They’re really all important lectures too. If that infamously formidable professor takes attendance and I’m absent, I’ll be dead meat.
“那晚上一起吃饭。”
“Then let’s have to dinner together tonight.”
看来他今天不打算走了，我去换衣服。找了半天才找了件有领的衬衣。没办法，脖子上全是青一块紫一块，惨不忍睹，我在心里喃喃骂莫绍谦是禽兽。随便配了条牛仔裙，回头看到禽兽正靠在衣橱门口，颇有兴味地打量我：“还真有学生的样子。”
It looks like he’s not planning to leave today.
I went inside to change my clothes and spent the longest time trying to find a shirt with a neck collar. It can’t be helped since my neck is covered in scattered patches of blue and purple — an unbearable sight. In my head, I mumblingly curse at Mo Shaoqian for being such an animal (or beast).
I casually matched it with a pair of jeans and turned around just to see that beast leaning against the doorframe of the in-walk closet and checking me out with interest in his eyes. “You really do look like a student.”
我本来就是学生好不好？
I am a student, okay?
幸好没堵车，赶到学校没迟到。刘悦莹已经帮我占了位置，我们两个照例坐第一排。为什么要抢第一排，因为我们爱学习。你别笑，我们两个是本校应用化学系那年招进来的高考前一、二名，我高考理综只丢了两分，是物理算错了一道题。刘悦莹比我还牛，她理综满分，调档的时候估计老师都没看她的资料，闭着眼睛就把她录取了。
Luckily, there was no traffic on the way and I got to school on time. Liu Yueying already saved me a seat, and both of us sat on the front row as usual. Why must we fight for the front row? It’s because we love to learn.
Don’t laugh.
Based on the scores of our college entrance exams, Yueying and I ranked first and second place of our class in the applied chemistry department. I just lost two points in the cumulative total for the sciences because I made a mistake on a problem. Yueying was even more impressive than me. She earned a perfect score on her cumulative total for the sciences. I bet during the admission process, the committee didn’t even bother to read her profile and just accepted her with a blind eye.
要早知道她爹是著名的民营企业家，估计学校也该琢磨找她爹捐个实验室什么的。不过我们学校牛人太多，校长也不在乎。倒是她爹一听说女儿考取了这名牌大学，那个激动，连星星都恨不得摘下给她。当初刘悦莹就跟我说：“我那暴发户的爹，成天忙应酬，从来没给我开过家长会，从来没关心过我考多少分。他还琢磨掏钱把我给弄美国去念个野鸡大学呢，结果我考了个全省状元。”
If early in the admission process the school found out that her father was one of the famous privatized industrialists, they would probably think of a way to ask him for a donation to build a laboratory or something. But our school has too many impressive people anyway; the school president probably wouldn’t even care.
When Yueying got admitted into this prestigious university, it was actually her father who got really excited, too excited. In fact, he probably wanted to travel into space and pluck a star for his daughter. Yueying told me, “My bao fu hu (“new rich”) father busied himself all day with business socializing, and never attended a single parent conference nor cared too much about my grades. He was actually thinking of spending some money to send me to America and study at some “diploma mill” college. Instead, I became the top student in my province.”
所以她二十岁时，她爹一高兴就买了直升机送宝贝女儿。
That’s why on her twentieth birthday, her father bought a helicopter for his precious daughter.
都大三了，很少上大课。难得跟其他兄弟班级凑一块儿，偌大的阶梯教室里热热闹闹。老师在上面讲的热闹，下面健笔如飞抄笔记、传纸条、听MP3、发短信、看小说……有人学习有人不学习，反正热闹。
We’re in our junior year already, so there are few lecture classes left. Seldom do we get to hang out with students from other years. The large lecture hall with raked floor was bustling with noise. As the professor speaks onstage, students below either speed to jot down what he said, pass notes around, listen to MP3, send text messages, or even read a novel… Some are present to learn, and some aren’t. It’s actually quite lively.
跟刘悦莹隔一个空位坐着一位帅哥。不成文的规矩是，不认识的男女生坐的时候，中间总要隔一个空位，教授也对这样的资源浪费司空见惯。我一边记笔记一边欣赏帅哥。因为阶梯教室朝南，大玻璃窗里透进来的阳光正好映在前三排。帅哥乌黑的头发被阳光镀上一层绒绒的金圈，他手里拿着支圆珠笔，一下子转过来，一下子转过去，非常娴熟。
One empty seat from where Yueying sits a hot-looking hunk. The hidden rule is you always leave an empty seat between where you sit and the people you don’t know. The professor seems indifferent to such wasteful use of resources.
I look admiringly at that good-looking dude while I take notes. Because the raked lecture hall faces south, sunlight penetrated through the large glass window onto the three front row seats. The jet-black hair of that handsome guy emits a series of velvety golden ring under the sunlight. He holds a pen in is hand, skillfully spinning it around.
我呆呆地看着那支笔，忽然就想起萧山。我转笔还是萧山教我的，手把手，食指，中指，怎么使劲，怎么借巧，怎么控制旋转不让它从手指间飞出去……萧山的手指秀气修长，微带着凉意，触在我的手背上。我的脸烫得发烧，十六七岁的少年，轻轻地触一下手指，都觉得可以幸福好久。
I dully stare at the pen, and suddenly immerse myself into thinking about Xiao Shan. It was he who taught me how to spin my pen skillfully. How to grip it with my hand, and then how to move it with my index finger, my middle finger, how to use tricks, and finally how to control the spin without causing the pen fly out of your hand…
As Xiao Shan’s long delicate fingers, a little cool to touch, placed on top of my hand, my face blushed feverishly. Whenever this sixteen year old seventeen-ish teenager gently touched my hand, I would feel ecstatically happy for the longest time.
秋天来了，所谓悲秋还真是有的，在这个阳光明媚的初秋早晨，我忽然就想起了萧山。
Autumn is here, and the sorrow of autumn really does exist. In this bright sunny day on an early autumn morning, I suddenly thought of Xiao Shan.
每次想到萧山的时候，就是我最不快活的时候。我的不快活一直持续到中午，吃饭的时候我连最喜欢的四喜丸子都吃不下，悦莹瞥了我一眼：“思春啦？你男朋友不是刚来么？”
Every time I think about Xiao Shan, it’s always during my unhappiest period. My unhappiness lasted till noon. I didn’t even have the appetite to eat my favorite “Four Happiness Meatballs.” Yueying takes a quick look at me and asks, “Yearning for love? Didn’t your boyfriend just come back?”
我无限唏嘘地告诉她实话：“我想起我那初恋了。”
I sigh heavily and confess the truth. “I was thinking about my first love.”
“有男朋友还想初恋，真没人性。”
“You have a boyfriend already and yet you still think about your first love? You’re inhuman.”
“可是初恋隔得远嘛……人在天涯，当然会想念他……”
“But my first love is such a long distance away from me… He’s on the other side of globe, of course I would think about him…”
“有多远？太平洋？大西洋？印度洋？他现在在哪儿？不行你踹了现在的男朋友，追到国外去不就完了。”
“How far away? Pacific Ocean? Atlantic Ocean? Indian Ocean? Where is he now? If you can’t stop, why don’t you just dump your boyfriend and just go abroad to pursue him.”
我叹了口气：“他在隔壁的那间大学。”
I sighed again. “He’s at the university across the street from us.”
“靠！”悦莹都怒了，连香喷喷的丸子都不吃了，形象也不顾了，拿着筷子戳我，“起步价都没有，你从西门出去进他们学校东门，不就完了！还好意思在这儿悲悲戚戚，你丫真当咫尺天涯了？”
“Shit!” Yueying got so mad that she didn’t even bother to eat her delicious meatballs, completely failed to be conscious about her own image, and used her chopstick to poke at me. “You don’t’ even need to climb the freaking stairs. You just have to exit the west gate and then you can enter the east gate of his campus. That’s it! What’s up with all the melancholic and mournful crap! Shit, you really think he’s really on the other side of the globe? “
悦莹没说错，还真是天涯咫尺。
Yueying is right. He’s really on the other side of the globe.
打死我也不会去见萧山，打不死我就更不会了。
Even if it kills me, I’m not going to go see Xiao Shan. Even if it kills me, I won’t.
我宁可矫情地把过去的一切放在心里，永远。
I would rather be pretentious and locked everything inside my heart, forever.
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