[Translation] Chapter 2(3) of Sealed with a Kiss Novel
我对排练的那段日子念念不忘，一多半是因为姥姥对我好，她对我真是太好了。
I would never forget the days we spent rehearsing our play, largely due to the kindness that Xiao Shan’s grandmother showed me. She was really too good to me.
快到春节时我们已经把台词倒背如流，有一天排完之后时间还早，不知是谁提议去溜冰。我是南方人，根本就不会溜。但排练到如今，可以说我们小组几个人已经是铁板一块，那友情比铁还硬，比钢还强。几个同学死活都拉我一块儿去，萧山也说：“有我们在，摔不着你。”
When Spring Festival almost approached, we already had our lines memorized inside out. One day when our rehearsal ended early, I forgot whose idea it was, but someone suggested that we go ice skating. I was southerner so I had no idea how to ice skate. Ever since we started to rehearse for our play, our small group had developed into an extremely close-knitted clique; our friendship became more unbreakable than metal, stronger than steel. Several of them even relentlessly insisted that I tagged along. Xiao Shao also said, “We’ll be there, so you won’t fall.”
穿上冰刀后我连腿都不知道怎么迈了，两位同学一人牵着我的一只手，我小心翼翼迈着步子往前蹭，他们稍微快一点我就吓得大呼小叫。最后有位同学不耐烦了，转过头去叫萧山：“你来带她吧。”又对我说，“萧山退着滑最棒。”
After putting on the ice skates, I didn’t even know how to take my first step. Two of my classmates held each of my hand, and I trod carefully forward. Whenever their speed increased a little, I just wanted to scream out of fear. In the end, a classmate lost patience and turned his head to call Xiao Shan, “You hold her.” And he turned back at me to say,” Xiao Shan can backward skate beautifully.”
萧山教得非常耐心，他一边退着滑一边跟我讲解动作要领，就像他平常讲数学题那样。寒假小组熟悉起来之后，我偶尔问他题目，他总能讲得头头是道，思路清晰，而且一定是最简单的解法。滑了几圈后我自己慢慢悟了一些，他看我溜得不错，就渐渐松开了手：“你学这个还有点天分。”
Xiao Shan taught me with extreme patience. With every step he took backward, he started to describe how I should turn my neck in the same manner he usually used to explain how to solve a math problem. He was always very logical in his speech, lucid in his train of thoughts, and always used the most simplistic explanation.
我不好意思被他夸：“不是，原来玩过轮滑鞋，所以知道一点平衡。”
I shielded in shyness when he praised me. “No, it’s because I used to roller skate, so I understand how I should balance myself.”
我第一双轮滑鞋还是爸爸去美国出差买回来给我的，我还记得那双鞋是粉红色的，爸爸总喜欢给我买粉红色的东西，因为在他心里，女孩子就应该是粉嫩嫩的。那鞋买得稍大，我穿了好几年。后来国内也有类似的轮滑鞋卖了，可是样式要简陋得多。学着玩轮滑也是爸爸教的我，拉着我的手，就在家门口的篮球场里，溜了好几个星期天我才学会。
My dad bought me my first pair of roller skates when he went to United States on a business trip. I still remember that pair of shoes being pink. Dad loved to buy me things in pink, because in his heart, girls would be delicately refined in pink. The roller shakes were in a size a bit too big for me so I was actually able to wear them for several years. Later, shoes similar to roller skates became available for purchase in China, but the designs were much more simplistic. It was also my dad who taught me how to skate. He held my hand and I skated around the basketball court in front of our house. I actually skated for several weeks before I mastered the skill.
我狠狠地摔了一跤，萧山一把把我拽起来，没好气地说：“想什么呢？还没学会就一心二用，你怎么总这样啊？”
I fell brutally hard. Xiao Shan helped me up and in exasperated tone, “What were you thinking about? You haven’t even learned to skate, yet you’re multitasking.”
我没有作声，有时候我问他英语阅读理解，讲半天我还在发愣，他就这样不耐烦，觉得我笨，又不用心。从小没人说我笨，过去老师也总夸我接受能力强，可是在他面前我就是笨，因为他太聪明。
I kept silence. Sometimes when I asked him some questions about the English reading comprehension, he spent half a day explaining it to me, but my mind still drifted off somewhere. He got frustrated and thought I was dumb and unmotivated. Ever since I was young, no one ever said I was dumb. In the past, all of my teachers always praised me for my learning ability. In front of Xiao Shan, however, I was always the dumb one because he was just too intelligent.
他怕我再摔着，一直没再撒手，拉着我的手带我慢慢滑。那天有一点点风，吹在脸上并不冷，我没有戴帽子，头上就用了条围巾随便绕了一下。我长这么大，从没跟男孩子手牵着手这么久，虽然都戴着手套。但上次我和男孩子手牵着手，好像还是小学的时候，“六一”儿童节表演节目。想到这个我的心突然跳起来，跳得很快，微微让人觉得难受。萧山却根本就是坦荡荡，他紧紧拉着我的手，就像拉着个妹妹，或者拉着位同学——我本来就只是他同学而已，我不再扭头看他，只是努力让自己显得更自然。
He feared that I would fall again, so he didn’t dare to let go of my hand again and just held it as I skated slowly. It was a little windy that day, but when the wind blew at my face, I didn’t feel any cold chill. I didn’t even wear a hat. I just had a scarf wrapped all around my neck and head. Being almost an adult now, I never had a boy hold my hand for such a long period before, even though we were both wearing gloves. I recalled the last time a boy held my hand. It was in elementary school during a performance event on June 1st Children’s Day. This realization caused my heart to suddenly beat faster, very fast and slightly discomforting. Xiao Shan, on the other hand, appeared perfectly normal and unaffected, holding my hand tightly as if he was holding a little sister or maybe a classmate. Anyway, I was just his classmate. I didn’t turn my head to look at him anymore and solely concentrated on making myself look more natural.
溜完冰后我们去小店喝珍珠奶茶，热乎乎的珍珠奶茶捧在手心里，显得格外醇香。大家七嘴八舌说过年去哪儿玩，还有人提议逛庙会。我一个人不做声，只是喝奶茶，正吸着珍珠呢，忽然听到萧山说：“呀，你脸冻了！”
After ice skating, we went to a little shop to drink some boba milk tea. With a cup of simmering hot boba milk tea in each of our hand, the cozy pleasant smell was especially poignant. Everyone started to chatter about our plans for New Year; someone even suggested that we go to the Temple Festival. I didn’t utter a sound and concentrated on drinking my milk tea. As I sucked on a tapioca ball, I suddenly heard Xiao Shan said, “Ai, your face is frozen!”
我摸了摸脸，有个硬硬的肿块，痒痒的，我从来没生过冻疮，没想到第一次生冻疮就在脸上。听人说生冻疮会破皮化脓，如果长在脸上，那岂不得破相了？我连奶茶都不喝了，使劲按着那个硬肿块，想把它给按没了。萧山说：“别揉，越揉越糟，我家有亲戚给的蛇油，明天拿点给你吧，用蛇油擦两次就好了。”
I touched my face. There was a harden spot, somewhat itchy. I never had chilblains before. I heard people say that chilblains caused severe chap and ulceration. If I got them on my face, did it mean facial disfiguration? I stopped drinking my milk tea, and pressed on the harden spot with as much force as I could exert. I just wanted to rub on it till it was gone. Xiao Shan said “Don’t rub it. The more you rub, the worst it gets. I have some snake oil at home that a relative gave us. I’ll bring you some tomorrow. You just need to rub some on two times and it’ll heal.”
第二天就是除夕，早就说好了这天到正月初五都暂停排练，毕竟要过年了。我原本以为他说说就算了，谁会在除夕从家里跑出来啊。谁知道刚起床不久，就听到电话铃声。表妹还没起来，舅妈怕吵醒了她，连忙把电话接了。听了一句就叫我：“找你的。”
The next day was New Year’s Eve. We all agreed early on that we would stop rehearsing from New Year's Eve to the 5th day of New Year, since everyone needed to celebrate New Year. At first, I just assumed he just mentioned it casually in a passing. I totally did not expect him to show up on New Year Eve. I also didn’t expect to hear the phone to ring right when I just got out of bed. My younger cousin was still sleeping, so my uncle’s wife feared that the noise would wake her up so she rushed to pick up the phone. She listened for a brief moment and called out to me, “It’s for you.”
© 2011, JoleCole. All rights reserved.
