[Translation] Chapter 2(4) of Sealed with a Kiss Novel

      我怕舅妈不高兴,很少把家里电话告诉人。所以不知道是谁会在除夕的早晨打电话给我,忐忑中却听到萧山的声音,他说:“你的电话可真难找啊,问了老班才知道。”
I was afraid that uncle’s wife wouldn’t be happy, so I rarely gave others my home phone number and didn’t have a clue who would give me a call on New Year’s Eve.  When I nervously answered the phone, I heard Xiao Shan’s voice, “Man, your phone number is so hard to locate. I had to ask our class president for it.”

舅妈就在旁边的沙发上,有意无意地看着我,因为从来没有男同学打电话到家里来,我怕她误会什么,连忙问:“今天不是不排练吗?”
Uncle’s wife sat on the sofa next to me, seemingly throwing me an inadvertently look but also gave a stare intentionally sometimes. I never had a male classmate called my house before. I was afraid she would misunderstand, so I rushed to ask, “I thought we didn’t have to rehearse today?”

“你忘了?昨天说拿蛇油给你,你出来拿吧。”
“You forgot already? I told you yesterday that I would bring you the snake oil. You can come out to get it.” 

我还有点反应不过来:“啊……”
I didn’t respond enough quick. “Uh…”

他说:“我就在复兴门地铁站门口等你。”
He said, “I’ll be waiting for you at the entrance of Fuxingmen Subway Station.” 

那是离舅舅家最近的一个地铁站,走过去只要十分钟,我飞快地拿了主意:“好,那麻烦你等等我,我马上就来。”
That was the closest subway station to my uncle’s house. It would only take 10 minutes to get there. I immediately decided to go. “Okay.”

搁下电话我告诉舅妈,排练的稿子有改动,所以同学打电话通知我,我得去拿。我也不知道为什么对舅妈撒谎,也许我认为告诉她一个男同学给我送蛇油,她会想歪了,也许我就是单纯地不想告诉她。
After I hung up, I told uncle’s wife that I needed to make some revisions to the script for our play, so my classmate called me to go pick it up. I didn’t even know why I needed to lie to my uncle’s wife. Perhaps if I told her that a male classmate purposely came to give me snake oil, she would think in the wrong way.

舅妈也没太在意,倒是舅舅问我:“要去哪儿拿?”
Anyway, Uncle’s wife didn’t pay too much attention. It was uncle who asked me, “Where do you need to go pick it up?”

“他们家住回龙观,有点远。”我脸不红心不跳地继续撒谎,其实萧山家住公主坟,而且他已经说了到地铁站等我,但我说谎说得挺顺溜:“要是堵车,我就不回来吃午饭了。”我想留点时间独自在外边逛逛,哪怕去超市发呆也好,因为今天我就想一个人呆着。
“They live in Longguan. It’s kind of far from here.”
My face didn’t turn red nor did my heart beat faster when I continued to make up my lies. Xiao Shan’s house was actually in Gongzhufen area and he already said that he would wait for me at the subway station. But my lies went through smoothly. “If there’s traffic, I may not make it back in time for dinner.”
I just wanted to give myself some alone time to wander outside, even if it meant that I had to linger in a supermarket. I just wanted to be alone today.

舅妈说:“还是早点回来,都要过年了。”
Uncle’s wife said, “Just try to come back earlier. It’s New Year soon.”

出门之前我在玄关换鞋,舅舅过来塞给我一百块钱,我不要,他说:“拿着吧,那边老堵车,要是赶不回来吃午饭,就买个汉堡。”
Before I departed, Uncle came over to give me 100 Yuan when I was changing into my shoes in the hallway. I didn’t want his money. He said, “Take it. If there’s traffic outside and you can’t make it back in time for lunch, just go buy a hamburger.”

一拉扯舅妈就看到了,笑着说:“舅舅给你你就拿着嘛,又不是别人。”
Once we started to shove the money back and forth, uncle’s wife saw us and said with a smile, “Your uncle wants to give you the money, so you should take it. We’re not strangers.”

她这么一说,我只好把钱收起来。
I could only take the money after what uncle’s wife said

我揣着那一百块钱到地铁站去,果然远远就看到了萧山。他个子很高,长胳膊长腿,很醒目。
I took the 100 Yuan with me to the subway station. From a distance, I could see Xiao Stan already. He was quite tall with long arms and legs, looking quite sharp. 

我一溜儿跑到他面前,这么冷的天他连羽绒服都没穿,外套还敞着,露出里面的格子围巾。见着我咧嘴一笑,露出一口洁白的牙:“来得挺快的。”
I skipped to meet him. It was such a cold day, but he didn’t even wear his down jacket, and he didn't even button his coat, revealing his plaid scarf. When he saw me, he gave me a wide smile, displaying a full mouth of white teeth. “You came pretty fast.”

我今天戴了帽子,却忘了围巾,一路跑过来,脸被风吹得生疼,尤其是长了冻疮的那个地方。我一边用手揉着脸,一边问:“蛇油呢?”
I wore a hat today, but I forgot my scarf.  My face burnt with pain from the chilling wind that blew at me when I ran to meet him, particularly the area where I had chilblains. As I used my hand to rub my face, I asked, “Where’s the snake oil?”

结果他手插在兜里根本没动:“我还没吃早饭,你请我吃早餐吧。”
In response, he didn’t even make a move and just had his hands in his pocket. “I haven’t eaten yet. You can treat me breakfast.”

我在心里直叫万幸,万幸兜里有舅舅给的一百块。我说:“请你吃麦当劳吧。”
The word “fortunate” rang loudly in my head. Luckily, I had the 100 yuan that Uncle just gave me.  I said, “I’ll treat you McDonald.”

他倒也不挑:“行!”
He wasn’t picky. “Sure!”

我没想到萧山竟然是个大胃王,一个人吃了两份套餐还意犹未尽,幸好他没要第三份,不然我那一百块说不定就不够了。他吃得快,可是喝得很慢,两杯热饮喝了半天还没喝掉一杯。我吃东西一向慢,就这样我吃完自己那份套餐,他还在慢条斯理地喝饮料。这样单独跟一个男生在一起,我也不知道跟他说什么好。只看着他眼睫垂下来,似乎专心致志地在那里吸吸管,长长的眼睫毛微微颤动,就像有隐形的精灵在上面跳着舞。我忽然不敢看他,于是拿了垫在盘子里的纸,随手叠来叠去。
I never expected Xiao Shan to have such a large appetite. He single-handedly consumed two full meals and he didn’t even look full yet. Fortunately, he didn’t ask for a third meal; otherwise, my 100 yuan wouldn’t be enough. He ate fast, but drank very slowly. He didn’t even mange to finish one of two hot drinks that came with the meals. I ate rather slowly most of the time. As I slowly chew my food, he slowly drank his drinks. Hanging out with a boy all by myself — I didn’t even know what to say to him. So I just stared at his eye lashes angling downward. He seemed so concentrated sucking on his straw, his long lashes flickering as if there was an invisible fairy dancing on top of them. Suddenly, I became too afraid to look at him. I took the napkins on the tray and started to fold them in my hands.

我最后叠出了一只很胖的纸鹤,萧山忽然“噗”地一笑,放开吸管,说:“这是什么,丑小鸭?”
I ended up folding a very fat Origami crane. Without warning, Xiao Shan bursted into laughter and let go of his straw to say “What is that? An ugly duckling?”

我觉得很郁闷,虽然胖也是只纸鹤好不好?
I felt gloomily frustrated. Even though it looked fat, it was still an Origami crane, okay?

他把纸鹤拿过去重新折:“你叠错了。”
He took the crane and refolded it. “You folded it wrong.”

他重新折过的纸鹤果然很漂亮,他去洗手间的时候,我思想斗争了半天,最后还是偷偷拿起那只纸鹤藏到了大衣口袋里。刚一藏好萧山就回来了,招呼我:“走吧。”
After he refolded the Origami crane, it turned out much more beautiful. When he went to the restroom, I mentally battled with myself for a long time before deciding to secretively take the Origami crane and put in the pocket of my jacket. Just when I succeeded in hiding it, Xiao Shan returned and waved to me. “Let’s go.”

离开温暖的快餐店,站在寒风凛冽的街头。他拿出蛇油递给我,是个小玻璃旋盖瓶子装的,瓶子很别致,玲珑剔透。里面的蛇油看上去黄黄的,半凝固如同膏体。我说了声“谢谢”,他问我:“你住的不远吧?”
After leaving the warmth of the fast food restaurant, we stood at a street corner in the bone-chilling cold. He handed me the snake oil. It was a tiny glass bottle with a circular lid. The bottle looked elegantly exquisite, beautifully wrought in details. Inside, the snake oil looked yellowish, and half-frozen in a creamy texture. I said “Thank you.”
He asked me, “You don’t live too far, right?”

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