The Eighth Song – 《A Song Written for the First Girl I Liked》

T/N: I’ll be adding a note before each chapter when the song is a Chinese song. The translated title will be above and the original song title will be found here. I hope this helps anyone who wants to listen to these songs! The Chinese name of this song is 写给我第一个喜欢的女孩的歌.

At around one in the afternoon, Lu Chengze and I set out on schedule.

I didn’t expect him to have a car, a pure white Benz GLC.

Lately, I had been looking at cars and so I asked him a few questions about the prices and power usage before finally asking: “Do you not usually drive?”
Lu Cheng replied: “Well, I don’t usually drive on the days I work.”
I told him: “You don’t drive even though you have a car.”
He said: “Do you want to drive it? I can lend it to you on work days.”
I was dumbstruck in place by his generosity and open-mindedness: “Then you may need to visit the 4S shop1 for a full body touch-up after a month.”

Lu Chengze smiled and began singing. It was the song which had come up in our conversation the night before and the reason behind today’s trip.

In the light hearted atmosphere of the bright music, Lu Chengze lowered all the car windows to let in the refreshing wind and sunlight.

He said: “Listening to it like this gives the right feeling.”
I squinted against the sunlight and my entire body was warm in its glow.

The clouds of autumn were always very white and floated very low, soft fluffy masses enveloping the roofs.
Due to the road conditions, Lu Chengze did not drive quickly and it felt as if we were sitting in an unhurried cloud, slowly making our way there.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com

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Mseyu, R oyp olyakdt alzyvkhlzu nypwyz nzsvblp – lmlankpl rydvp yde y nalyx nszsale polyvpbkav. Wsa qlya sq hkszyvkdt vbl ‘pwd pwd pwd’ vblxl, R eke dsv olya y pwd byv yde nswze sdzu wpl xsal nblxknyz pwdpnalld.
Rd ydu nypl, Nw Ubldtgl oswze dsv dsvknl kv.

Vyppkdt wdela vbl zyatl pbyeso sq y vall, ol pvsrrle cu vbl zyjlpkel. Mblal olal iwkvl y qlo nbkzeald qllekdt vbl poydp yde xydeyakd ewnjp qasx vbl rkla.

Nw Ubldtgl vsze xl: “ Eykv y xsxldv.”

Gqvla pyukdt vbkp, bl vwadle yaswde yde oldv vs vbl pxyzz osseld cwkzekdt yv vbl pkel. Ebld bl nyxl cynj, bl oyp nyaaukdt y ryrla nwr qwzz sq qlle kd lynb byde.

Nw Ubldtgl bydele y nwr vs xl.

Xhla vbl pryajzkdt zyjl, R nypvle y qlo rklnlp sq nyccytl zlyhlp yde oyvnble yp vbl czynj poyd kd qasdv sq xl rlnjle yv vblx.

Lu Chengze asked: “Did you ever visit a wildlife park for fun as a child?”
“No,” I turned my head: “I’m not from Yishi, I moved here for college and stayed here for work.”
Lu Chengze’s skill at giving people a way out of awkward situations was top-notch: “So that’s why you’re so special?”
The heat of the sun was making my face a little too hot. I cheerfully went along with his words: “Yep, that’s right.”

I didn’t turn my eyes away and confidently determined: “You’re from Yishi.”
He said something in the local dialect, confirming my guess.

It wasn’t difficult to guess.

Lu Chengze had the characteristics of the males here, a pampered big city male; interactions with him were like chewing on refined rice and white noodles. It exuded a harmless aroma and suggested the need of nourishment of high-quality soil.

I threw the question back at him: “Have you been here before?”
Lu Chengze replied: “I’ve been here many times.”
I was slightly taken aback and jokingly pretended to be jealous: “It seems you have visited the wildlife park with many others.”
Lu Chengze said: “You’re the only one I have ever invited to feed the swans.”
I continued probing: “ You’re so stingy. Did you not invite the previous ones?”
Lu Chengze said: “Because my elders were reluctant to let me spend money.”

His willingness to accept others’ views put me in high spirits but also made me feel thwarted and annoyed. But when he lowered his eyes slightly and looked at me intently, letting the dense eyelashes cast a shadow on his cheeks, it made me feel this wasn’t necessarily a front for sure but just him, who belonged solely to me.

I really liked pandas. Whenever I was tired because of work, I would usually relieve my worries by watching IPanda.2 So when we reached the panda enclosure, we stayed there for a long time, especially since there was a shop which was full of panda goods. It was extremely cute!

While wandering aimlessly around the store, I pointed to a panda hat which could raise its ears: “Try it.” It seemed to suit him.
Lu Chengze immediately tried it on, then turned to face me.

His bangs were a little flattened by the hat, and more of his eyebrows were hidden than before, making him look more obedient.
I bent my fingers, restraining my desire to help him brush away some. Fortunately, he did it himself because a few of them got in his eyes.

It was fixed. As I wanted to play with the controller at the same time, my left hand and his right hand touched in mid-air. It was very light, but I felt that at this moment, the air between us trembled violently.

And then it was still, very still yet filled with a subtleness.

I broke the atmosphere in a flury, deliberately letting out an “Ah” and putting down my hand: “Here, you do it..”
Lu Chengze did not respond. Instead, he raised the two furry buttons and handed them to me: “Teach me, I haven’t played it before.”
I exposed his lie on the spot: “Would you know where the buttons are if you hadn’t tried it before?”
Lu Chengze had a justified and reasonable explanation: “I haven’t tried the panda style one.”

I couldn’t top his words, so I accepted it with both hands and pressed it. Two black ears immediately popped up on Lu Chengze’s head along with a shrill squeak.
He looked up and paid attention to the movements on top of his head. This made him appear a little more child-like.

I put down the controller and commented: “As expected, it suits you.”
He said: “Because it matches my dark circles?”

My gaze moved from the panda ears back to his flawless-looking face. I scrutinized it: “Where? I didn’t even notice.”
He acted confused: “Nothing? I didn’t sleep very well last night.”
I caught the implications of his words: “Then you should go to bed earlier tonight.”
He nodded pretentiously: “Okay, remember to remind me when we chat tonight.”

Who was this person? The sun was still up in the sky but he was already sneakily making an appointment for tonight’s leisurely chat.

Lu Chengze called out to me again: “Qi Miao.”
Me: “Oh.”
His eyes were bright: “Try calling my name.”

“Lu Chengze.”
He pressed the button. Squeak, the ears stood up.

I let out a smile and continued: “Lu Chengze.”
The ears moved again.

A playful thought occurred to me, and so I yelled his name three times: “LuChengzeLuChengzeLuChengze.”
He also pressed it three times, squeak squeak squeak.

The male clerk behind the counter yelled: “Are you still not purchasing one?”
Lu Chengze pulled it off and mussed up a clump of hair on his head. He didn’t seem to notice it and his voice was bright: “Sure, I’ll check one out.”

　　……

On the return trip, the sky had darkened and the tall buildings on either side glowed neon, giving off a cyberpunk atmosphere.

An entire afternoon of sun was like a warm low-alcohol wine, making me feel a little intoxicated. Add in the relaxing English song which was playing in the car and I had no desire to move or talk. I just laid against the window and watched the nightscape.

After a while, Lu Chengze started talking to me while driving: “Do you want to change it to a Chinese song?”
I replied: “Sure.”
“Or would you rather continue listening to English songs?”
“Either is fine.”
“How about we continue with the English songs; you’re working at a foreign company.”
“……”
It’s so cold. I pretended to not hear him.

(Q/N: cold joke.)

He skipped through the song, the prelude was a guitar.

“Your soft long hair
brushes past the corner of your mouth, the wind brushes it past the corner of your mouth”

I paused and quickly brushed away the strand of hair which had stuck to my lips because of the wind. I didn’t mind it, but he had seen it.

“My childish jokes
why do you never laugh”

Well, we both began laughing.

“You leaned against the window, lost in a daze
I sank into my thoughts as I watched you lost in thought.

Where did he find these songs?

I admired it in my heart, removed my arm which had been resting on the window frame, and turned my head.
Lu Cheng really was looking at me while holding the steering wheel with one hand.
My navigator-like voice gave a reminder: “Dear driver, please concentrate on driving.”
He sent a glance to the side, looking through the windshield and in the same navigator-like voice, he replied: “There is a red light ahead, please be patient.”

In the still car, I was unable to refute it so I deliberately made a face and threw daggers at him with my eyes. Lu Chengze immediately gave a brilliant response which hit me dead center in the heart. To his reaction, I could only surrender right then and there, allowing joy to raise my eyebrows.

My interactions with him gradually became more comfortable. I could make all sorts of expressions without being self-conscious of whether or not I looked decent.

I stopped looking at him. As I was sitting up straight, the name of the song slowly slid across the screen in the car. It was very long, 《A Song Written for the First Girl I Liked》.

I curved my lips and let out a yawn in my mind.

As if.

The author has something to say:
You can see Little Lu’s “scumbag” or “sea king”3 statements in every chapter
I only want to ask: Aren’t you satisfied with such a boy? Give a point (T/N: on jjwxc)!

Index:

[1] 4S is short for sales, service, spare parts and surveys.

[2] IPanda is a website featuring live streaming of giant panda reservation sites. The site was launched by China Network Television, the Internet branch of China Central Television.

[3] Sea king is Chinese internet slang for a player, a male who chases or picks up many girls simultaneously without the girls knowing.