[Translation] Chapter 2(6) of Sealed with a Kiss Novel
To my SWAK novel readers, I apologize for my lack of update in translation work. I suddenly had the urge to translate another small piece of the novel. Hope you all will enjoy reading this! If you've forgotten what you read last, you can check out the previous chapters on the Current Projects page.Next chapter has more Mo Shaoqian! Yay for me! I'm so unmotivated to translate the Xiao Shan's parts.
有次我们做完题后，各自回到座位。老奔非常得意地说：“把他们两个配对，就是最完美的解法。”其实他是口误，但全班哄堂大笑，我面红耳赤，半天抬不起头来。这句话后来在班上流行了很久，连外班都知道老奔说过这句名言。不过很少有同学拿我和萧山开玩笑，大概我们俩看起来太不搭，萧山外向聪明，而我则是太中规中矩的好学生。倒是有人经常拿萧山跟林姿娴开玩笑。女生们总拿林姿娴打趣：“朱丽叶，你的罗密欧呢？”有时候萧山和一帮男生站在走廊里，看到林姿娴从楼下过，一帮男生也会起哄：“哦！朱丽叶，罗密欧在这儿呢！”
One time when
we finished solving the problem, we both return to our seat. Lao Ben said in a
very pleased matter, “We just need to pair them up and we’ll have the perfect
solution.” He used the wrong word choice and the whole class roared into
laughter. I blushed red to the tip of my ears and did not dare to raise my head
for the rest of the day. These words spread in our class for the longest time,
even others outside of our class heard these “famous” words that came out of
Lao Ben’s mouth. However, not many of our classmates would tease Xiao Shan and
I about this incident. I assumed they thought we did not suit each other at
all. Xiao Shan was outgoing and smart while I was the typical average good
student. Quite a few people actually teased Xiao Shan and Lin Zixian. The girls
would always tease Lin Zixian, “Oh Juliet, where’s your Romeo?” Sometimes when a
group of boys and Xiao Shan stood in the hallway and see Lin Zixian come down
the staircase, the boys would rally up to tease “Oh! Juliet, Romeo is here!”
Lin Zixian
was very graceful and open-minded. She never took offence to the teasing. The
most she ever did was titled her face upward to give those boys upstairs a gentle
smile. She had a great personality. Her temperament was warm and kind. She befriended
many people. Not only did she have a ton of female friends but countless guys
became very good friends with her.
萧山生日的时候请全班同学吃必胜客，因为他拿到了奥赛奖金。班主任大喜，觉得他明年保送名校没有问题了，于是也网开一面，欣然前往。那是班上最热闹的一次聚会，比高考结束后吃散伙饭还热闹。因为还在高二，大家即将面临未来高三整年的煎熬，于是所有的人都兴冲冲。从日复一日的学习中短暂地跳出来，难得地洒脱开怀。
On Xiao Shan’s
birthday, he treated the whole class to Pizza Hut because he won the prize for
the Olympiad competition. The head-teacher of the class was absolutely ecstatic.
He felt Xiao Shan would be guaranteed admissions into a prestigious university.
So he decided to give everyone a break and we all went out for a meal. It was
the most lively class gathering, even more animated than our hot-pot gathering
after the end of college entrance exams. Because it was only our second year in
high school [1], we all wanted to have a good blast before our dreaded senior
year crams for the college entrance exams. It was rare to have a small break from the
harsh monotony of our study cram.
[2] High
school in China is only 3 years.
吃完必胜客班主任和几位老师就先走了，于是我们又悄悄转战烧烤店，倒不为吃，是为了喝酒。男生们偷偷摸摸喝啤酒，女生们喝可乐。那天吃了什么我都忘了，就记得一位绰号叫“猴子”的同学侯玉冬喝醉了，一个劲拉着萧山要再敬他一杯。萧山被他灌了好几杯了，哭笑不得不肯再喝，林姿娴替他解围：“别让萧山喝啦，待会儿真喝醉了。”
After we
finished eating at Pizza Hut, the head-teacher of our class and a few other teachers
left. We all decided to quietly go to a barbeque restaurant, not to eat but
more for drinking. The boys secretly took a sip of bear here and there while
the girls drank coke. I don’t remember what I ate that day, but I remember a fellow
classmate whose nickname was “Monkey” persistently insisted that Xiao Shan
drink with him. Xiao Shan was forced to consume quite few drinks and finally
resisted at the impossible situation. Lin Zixian intervened to help Xiao Shan
out. “Don’t push Xiao Shan to drink anymore. Otherwise, he’s definitely going
to get drunk.”
侯玉冬一脸痛苦状捂住脸：“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou
Romeo?”
Hou Yudong,
with a face full of agony, muttered “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”
所有的人都被猴子怪腔怪调的发音给逗乐了，猴子说：“罗密欧不喝，朱丽叶喝吧，要不这杯酒你替他喝了。”男生们都有点酒劲了，不少人在起哄，林姿娴落落大方：“喝就喝。”她刚接过杯子，就被萧山拿过去了：“得了，还是我喝。”
Everyone
burst into laughter at Monkey’s strange accented tone. Monkey said, “If Romeo
can’t drink, Juliet can! Why don’t you help him drink this?” When she was about
to take the beer glass, Xiao Shan took it away. “It’s fine. I’ll drink it.”
萧山仰起脖子来，把那一大杯啤酒慢慢喝完，有女生在鼓掌，也有男生在吹口哨。他喝完后，猴子笑嘻嘻搭着他的肩：“行啊，这才叫风度。”
Xiao Shan
tilted his head back and slowly gulped down the glass of beer. All the girls
clapped with their hands and the boys also whistled in awe. After Xiao Shan
finished, Monkey smiled sly and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, “Good, this
is what we called ‘good character’”
我坐在角落里吃烤好的鸡翅膀，辣得喝了一杯水又一杯水，渐渐觉得胃里难过起来。
I sat in a
corner eating the grilled chicken wings. It was so spicy I was forced to gulp
down one cup of water after the other, and slowly felt my stomach in pain.
那天大家散的时候挺晚了，三三两两结伴回家，我跟所有同学几乎都不顺路，匆忙想去赶最后一班地铁，谁知道萧山追上来，说：“我跟你一块儿吧。”
It got quite
late when everyone split up that day. Everyone departed in groups of three to
go home together. I did not live close to anyone, so I just wanted to rush to
the subway station to catch the last train home. Surprisingly, Xiao Shan caught up to me and
said, “I’ll go with you.”
我问：“你不是住西边？”
I asked,” Don’t
you live on the west side?”
他说：“我爸妈回来了，我今天回自己家去。”又催我，“快走，不然赶不上地铁了！”
He said, “My
parents are back, so I’m going home.” He hurried me, “Let’s go quickly!
Otherwise, we’ll miss the last train.”
我们简直是以百米冲刺的速度赶到地铁站，还在下台阶就听见地铁进站的轰隆声，两个人都是拼命狂奔，脚尖刚落到站台上就听见车门嘀嘀响，眼看着车门就要关了，萧山一个箭步已经冲进车厢，回过身来抓着我的胳膊就把我拽了进去。我估计车门就是在我身后堪堪合上，差点没夹着我的头发。萧山还紧紧抓着我的手，因为惯性我向前一扑，他已经把我抱住了。
We madly ran like
the 100-meter sprint to the subway station. While we walked down the staircase,
we could hear the loud rumbling noise of the approaching train. We both ran for
our life. When the tip of our toes touched the platform, we heard the peeping
sound of the opening doors. Seeing that the doors were about to close on us,
Xiao Shan shot like an arrow into the train passenger car and turned around to grab my
arm and dragged me into the passenger car as well. I could sense the train doors closing
behind me and my hair almost caught in between them.
我的耳朵正贴在他的胸前，柔软的T恤下是他又快又急的心跳声，扑通扑通扑通……比我自己的心跳得还要快。刚才跑得太急，我们两个都还在拼命喘气，他身上还有淡淡的酒气，又比我高很多，呼吸仿佛就拂在我的头顶，一下一下，微微吹动我的额发，拂在脸上痒痒的。我几乎觉得从耳朵到脖子都是滚烫滚烫的，在那短短的几秒钟内，我几乎丧失了一切反应的能力，只本能抬起头来。他也正看着我，他的眼珠那样黑，那样深，那样亮，就像是满天的星星都碎了，哗啦啦朝我铺天盖地地倾下来。我被这些星星砸得头晕眼花，连该怎么呼吸都不知道了。
My ears pressed
against his chest. Under the soft fabric of his T-shirt, I could hear his
pounding heart. Thump, thump, thump, thump… His heart was beating much faster
than mine. Because we ran too fast, we both were trying to catch our breath. I
could still detect the slight smell of beer on him. He was much taller than me.
His breath was blowing on top of my head, inhaling and exhaling, gently blowing
the strands of hair on my forehead. They trickled my face. I could feel burning
hot from my ears to my neck. In those few seconds, I almost lost all my
abilities to react and could only lift my head up. He was also staring directly
at me. His pupils were deep black with brightness, like all the stars in the
sky shattered into pieces and pouring down at me. I felt I was being showered
with this shattered pieces of stars and didn’t even know how to breathe
anymore.
也不知过了多久，萧山的手终于放开了，可是却滑落下来，就势抓着了我的手。我根本就不敢抬头，挣了一挣，但他握得更紧了，对我说：“那边有座位。”
我们两个并排坐下来，最后一班地铁，人并不多，车厢里空荡荡的。没有人注意到我们，但我想自己的脸一定还很红，只是觉得不安。他没有说话，但他也没有放开我的手，我又尝试着把自己的手指往外抽，他终于问：“怎么了？”
I lost all
track of time. Xiao Shan finally released his hold on me. But when his hands went
free, he took the chance to grab my hand. I did not dare to raise my head and
struggled for bit. But his grip was too tight. He said to me, “There’s a seat.”
我嗫嚅：“这样是不对的。”
I mumbled, “This
is not right.”
“是啊，”他突然冲我一笑，对我说：“我们坐反方向了。”
“Yes.” He
shot a smile at me and said, “We’re traveling the wrong direction.”
我瞠目结舌，听到列车广播里报站名，果然是坐反方向了。我就顾着跟在他后头一路狂奔，匆匆忙忙拿月票往里面冲，哪知道他会进错站台坐反方向，连我也稀里糊涂地跟着他一块儿搭错车。
I could only
stare in silence when I heard the announcement of the train stop. We were
heading toward the wrong direction. I only concentrated on running, closely following him
from behind, and hurriedly took my monthly pass to rush forward. I didn’t even realize he entered
the wrong platform and just followed him in haphazard bafflement and got on the wrong train.
他似乎很开心，哈哈大笑起来。我不知道他到底为什么那样高兴，但我永远也记得那天他笑的样子，眉目舒展，容颜灿烂。在车厢莹白的灯光下，他的脸庞就像是带着朦胧恍惚的光与影，这么多年来，一直出现在我的梦里。
He seemed to
be quite happy and gave a hearty laugh. I did not know the reason behind his
happiness, but I would never forget the way he laughed that day. His brows
arched wide, his face brightened with laughter. Under the white lighting of the
train passenger car, his face felt a little blurry with lines of light and shadow. After
so many years, his laughter still showed up in my dreams.
