The Black Card

Chapter 36 - Nightmare

 

Translator: Lav

Editor: Levs

 

While drinking congee, Shi Lei asked casually: “Your mother was on break yesterday, did you guys anywhere to play?”

Zhang Liangliang replied in discontent: “Don’t even mention it, I’m so angry.”

Shi Lei put his spoon down and asked: “What’s the situation? Tell me about it.”

“I just said I don’t wanna talk about it. In short, it’s not something pleasant.”

“Then tell me your unpleasant things and let me have some fun!”

“Hey! Dashu! Isn’t that meme a bit too old?”

“You are calling me dashu, shouldn’t I use old memes to fit this name more?”

Zhang Liangliang acted as if she wasn’t bothered to talk to Shi Lei and drank congee with her head down. In the corner of her eyes, she saw that Shi Lei was still waiting, she stopped and asked helplessly: “Do you really want to hear about it?”

Zhang Liangliang sighed as Shi Lei nodded, and said: “I don’t know what’s wrong with Zhang Meimei yesterday. When I came out of my room, she actually made me breakfast. That was really the beginning of a nightmare. You don’t know how disgusting the breakfast was as it was made by someone like Zhang Meimei. Sometimes I really admire her. It’s just pan-fried eggs with bread slices and it’s soooooo horrible after being through her hands.” 

Shi Lei was speechless. He could see the image of Zhang Meimei attempting to cook for Zhang Liangliang. There was a devastated pan-fried egg and two slices of bread that’s as black as coal after being taken out of the toaster. 

“I couldn’t help it, so when she went to kitchen, I threw the egg and the bread away and only drank a box of yogurt for breakfast.” Zhang Liangliang’s expressions were as if there was no hope left in the world and Shi Lei felt sympathetic towards her for having a mother who could not distinguish the differences between the crops. 

 “Then, I was initially waiting for you to come and tutor me, but I didn’t know what Zhang Meimei was up to and said she was going to take me out to play. I thought about it and she must’ve called you and told you to not come. Plus, ever since I was born, I don’t have any memories of Zhang Meimei taking me out to play. Well, as long as she was happy, and I wanted to ask for money anyways. She transferred me 5,000 yuan so I pretended to be happy and went out with her. You definitely can’t guess where she took me.” 

As to this, Shi Lei really wasn’t in the position to talk. After all, he was still young and he had no idea where parents would take their children to play, so he could only nod and ask: “Where?” 

 “She took me to an amusement park. Honestly, although I wasn’t too happy to go out with her, but I was pretty happy when I realised that we were going to an amusement park. So we departed and went to Long Cheng because there is a famous amusement park, right? For an ordinary person, it will probably only take an hour and half to drive about 130 km. But Zhang Meimei didn’t know the way and didn’t know how to use the GPS. She couldn’t even find the highway after an hour had passed. In the end, I had to point the way for her and finally got on the highway. But she ended up questioning me how I was so familiar with the roads. She even questioned me if I used the highway and went elsewhere to play. God, even if I really do go to places like the bar to play, but I’ve never left Wu Dong. I said that I just followed the GPS but she didn’t believe me. She said that the GPS even confused her, how could I ever know how to use it. At that time, my instincts told me that it was definitely going to be a nightmare. But then we were already on the highway, and I couldn’t get off, ya know?” 

 Shi Lei nodded silently and said: “And then?” 

 “Then, we arrived at Long Cheng and went to the amusement park. We left before 10am in the morning, by the time we arrived into the amusement park, it was already 12:40pm. Zhang Meimei said we should eat first, so I was like fine, because I didn’t have any more hopes up for this trip anyways, so we went to eat first. When we were waiting for the food to come, Zhang Meimei took out her phone and said she had to reply to some important emails, so she left me in the restaurant and went to get her laptop from the car. I waited for two hours straight and when she came back, it was already 3pm. Holy, you didn’t see the waitresses’ glares, they really wanted to kill me, you know? They were probably thinking, what’s wrong with this person, hurry up and and let us finish our shift, alright? Can you fuck off after eating?” 

Shi Lei could only shake his head to this. Zhang Meimei, a female lawyer, really didn’t seem too reliable. 

 “After she came back, she kept on apologising and promised that it will never happen again. Then we bought tickets. For places like the amusement park, obviously it was more fun to play those more dangerous and exciting rides. Who the hell goes to the amusement park and take photos with those mascots?! But Zhang Meimei did. I said I wanted to go on the roller coaster, but she said she feels dizzy just by looking at it and it was too scary to watch it toss and turn. The same goes with the turbo drop, the flying swing that goes around 360 degrees and she opposed to all of them because she thought it was too dangerous.  So I could only suggest the flume ride, but she said she didn’t bring a set of changing clothes if we get wet. So I figured out that she never wanted me to play anything in the first place. Fine, I didn’t bother to argue with her. Then pirate ship would be fine, right? That’s really not all that dangerous, you know? But she still disagreed. She didn’t even let me go on the ferris wheel because there were incidents about how the ferris wheel couldn’t stop. Dashu, tell me, what could I play? Merry-go-round?” 

Shi Lei couldn’t help but to laugh. If he was in her shoes, he would think Zhang Meimei was boring too. 

 “Then what did you ended up playing?” 

 Zhang Meimei took a deep breath and sighed. Her furrowed brows were like a shar pei and said: “She suggested to go on the bumper cars. I thought about it and fine, let’s go along with it. But after queueing up for ages, she avoided everyone after she got on the car. Even the five year old kids drove around and scared her so much that she screamed, and even complained that their parents weren’t keeping an eye on their children. Have you ever seen anyone who avoids all those cars in a bumper car ride? How the hell was that bumper cars? That was obviously the ride between life and death? She suddenly accelerated to avoid a car, then pressed on the brake all the way down to avoid another. Ten minutes, I almost threw up after that, it was way more ‘exciting’ than that big swing hammer.”  

 Shi Lei laughed loudly. 

“The point was that after Zhang Meimei got off the bumper car, she was moaning as if she just battled for three hundred rounds with a man. She even said that the ride was too crazy and wanted to look for other rides that were less dangerous than this.” 

People who were sitting on tables all turned their heads around and looked at them. Shi Lei’s face turned blue and glared at her: “You are just a brat, don’t talk rubbish! Do you even know what it means to battle three hundred rounds?!” 

 Zhang Liangliang twitched her lips and said in disdain: “What can you not see on the internet? Dashu, don’t pretend to be innocent!” 

 Shi Lei: “......” 

 “Zhang Meimei dragged me to line up for the sightseeing bus. This was something suitable for people from 8 months old to 80 year old, it really suited her. But since I already came, I wasn’t bothered to say anything and treated it as helping her to relieve stress. But when she was lining up, she started making a phone call and that call lasted all the way till I returned to Wu Dong, and she didn’t even notice that I left. Do you think I’m exaggerating? But I’m telling you, this is real. After Zhang Meimei noticed that I disappeared, her first reaction wasn’t to call me, but call the police and ask the police to call me. I said that I thought she was too annoying so I bought a ticket for the high speed rail and went back to Wu Dong. She scolded me over the phone and I was so angry that I gave my phone away to the taxi driver.” 

Shi Lei raised his bowl and toasted with Zhang Liangliang, and said: “Girl, I salute to you for being a man.” 

 

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Chapter 37 In a Relationship ≠ Marriage

 

Translator: Lav

Editor: Levs

 

Shi Lei’s impressions towards Zhang Meimei before was like a beautiful married woman, and on the degree of a capable and experienced, independent woman. 

Through Zhang Liangliang’s descriptions today, Zhang Meimei’s image in Shi Lei’s mind became even more plump.  

Uh……. Her characteristics became more plump, not her figure.  

The Zhang Meimei before was only marked as a parent. But now, that image gradually changed.  

This women had capabilities, but she never learnt how to be a mother. 

Zhang Liangliang’s descriptions were obviously exaggerated, but Shi Lei believed that Zhang Meimei definitely didn’t know what a motherly image was. Shi Lei could imagine that Zhang Meimei probably lacked family warmth and her parents’ attention. 

 He asked: “Are your grandparents the same as your mother?” 

Zhang Liangliang shook her head and said: “I’ve never met them before. I heard from my Mum that they were geological investigators. She never really saw them since she was young because she grew up with her grandma. My grandparents apparently went to investigate in Africa when she was in middle school and never came back. My Mum didn’t seem to be happy to mention them so I didn’t ask any more.” 

Shi Lei thought, as expected, everyone’s personalities are closely related to their environment since childhood. Zhang Meimei became extra independent due to her family situation and because of this, she believed that her daughter could also live like how she lived in the past. 

Originally, Shi Lei wanted to chat with Zhang Liangliang more often to turn over a new leaf. But now, he thought that Zhang Meimei’s problems were much more severe than Zhang Liangliang’s. 

 “Are you full? If you are, I’ll walk you home.” Shi Lei put down his bowl and chopsticks. 

“What can I be doing at home? Even if I go back, I’ll be by myself. Dashu, what about you get a room at a hotel?” 

 Zhang Liangliang’s voice was as loud as usual. People on a few tables turned around to look at them and Shi Lei really wanted to hit Zhang Liangliang so he can carry her back while she’s unconscious.

“It’s still your home even if you are by yourself. Stop the nonsense and hurry up, I’ll send you home. I’m tired, I want to go back to my dorm and sleep!” 

 “How about you take me your dorm and play?!” Zhang Liangliang lived up to the expectation of her name as she was really ‘er’(1).

“My dorm only has four men and more than ten pairs of socks that can almost stand up, you sure you wanna go?” 

Zhang Liangliang: “......” 

Shi Lei stood up and slapped Zhang Liangliang on the back of her head, and said unhappily: “Go home!” 

Felt wronged, Zhang Liangliang twitched her lips, turned around after every step. Shi Lei couldn’t watch it anymore, he lightly kicked her on the butt and she finally went back to a normal pace.  

Shi Lei walked Zhang Liangliang in front of her houseand gestured her to go up by herself. But Zhang Liangliang hugged his arm and begged Shi Lei to go up with her, which made Shi Lei grossed out.  

After pulling her hand off his arms, Shi Lei said: “You are a girl, be more reserved. A man and woman along in the middle of the night, be careful, don’t let the dry firewood catch on fire and burn yourself.” 

Zhang Liangliang didn’t care at all. With slanted eyes, she said: “What do I have to reserved for? Life is not long. You have to dare to love and dare to hate. You really fit my taste, dashu. I just like you, dashu, what about it? I know you are gonna say that I’m young and stuff, but you aren’t too much older than me either. Our age gap is actually pretty normal. I just want to be in a relationship with you, don’t tell me, you are thinking of marriage and having children? That’s too far into the future. Relationship is a relationship. It is different to marriage and having children. Who said you have to have marriage as the purpose when you are in a relationship?” 

 Shi Lei was stupefied; it could only be said that people born in the 00’s really do have different thoughts…… 

No, which year was this girl born in? It should be 1999, then she was the same as Shi Lei, someone born in the 90’s. 

The age gap was only 6 years yet the difference between their thoughts were that different? In front of Zhang Liangliang, Shi Lei felt like he was an inflexible and old-fashioned elder.  

The key point was that Shi Lei actually thought that Zhang Liangliang’s fallacious reasoning actually made sense. How many people can step into marriage in their first relationship? And they can be together until they die? If it was according to this standard, almost 99% of relationships in the world won’t go as far as marriage.  

No, no, he was off tracked by the girl. The outcome can be not marriage, but they can’t just play around with each other straight from the beginning.  

Hey, that’s also not right. What relationship and marriage, what is this? Who the hell wants to be in a relationship with this idiot? If he was really going to be in a relationship, someone like Sun Yiyi was probably a better fit, right? 

At the thought of Sun Yiyi, Shi Lei’s heart unexpectedly warmed up. That girl, he don’t know if she had slept or not yet.  

“Dashu, what are you thinking? Damn, you’re not imagining being in bed with me, are you?” Zhang Liangliang pushed Shi Lei and displayed expressions of dislike.  

Shi Lei rolled his eyes in anger and slapped Zhang Liangliang on her back, and swore: “Why are you talking rubbish? Hurry the fuck up and go. You little brat, no boobs, no butt, love you my ass. Fuck off!”  

Zhang Liangliang twitched her lips and scowled miserably: “Dashu, how can you be so heartless?”  

“You crazy girl!” Shi Lei yelled in a rather odd tone. He turned around and ran off, and disappeared into the dark in a blink of eye.  

Zhang Liangliang laughed and yelled towards his direction: “Dashu, slow down! I’ll go to your school and play with you tomorrow!” 

“I won’t be at school tomorrow, I’m going to a movie with my girlfriend!” Shi Lei left her with this sentence and ran even faster. 

Zhang Liangliang tilted her head and talked to herself: “He has a girlfriend? Hmm, an excellent quality dashu like him, and in a place like uni, it would be weird that no girls like him. Oh well, I’ll change my appearance to the type he likes first, then I’ll ask if he minds to change his girlfriend. If he minds, I’ll ask if he minds to have an extra girlfriend, a kind that doesn’t mind that he has another girlfriend. No man can turn down this kind of girl, right?” 

Zhang Liangliang walked inside and she was immensely pleased with herself and was rather high spirited. As if Shi Lei heard her words, he staggered as he ran, and fell onto the floor and traces of blood seeped through the skin in his palms.  

 ……

In the morning while he was still half asleep, Shi Lei’s phone rang. He didn’t check who it was and chose to pick up.  

“Who is it? Don’t you know that you will go to hell for disturbing someone’s sleep? If you have something to say, spit it out, so I can go back to sleep.” Shi Lei was rather angry. By the time he returned to the dorm, it was already past 1am. He didn’t know why, but Zhang Liangliang’s words echoed in his head and he was on the verge of death as he was tortured by that little girl. When he fell asleep, it was almost dawn. Obviously, he hadn’t had enough sleep yet and it was rather annoying to have someone call him at this time. 

On the other side of the call, the voice was rather shy: “Shitou ge, so…...sorry, I didn’t know you are still sleeping……”  

After hearing this voice, Shi Lei was immediately awake. It was Sun Yiyi.  

He sat up abruptly and looked at his phone, it was really her.  

“Oh, it’s Yiyi, all good, I was about to get up anyways. I came back a bit late last night. Why are you calling me? Did something happen to aunt?”  

Sun Yiyi said hurriedly: “No, no, Mum is fine. She went to the hospital today and the doctor was very cooperative and told Mum according to what we told him. The doctor said that her situation seemed to be fine after observation and they can perform the surgery the day after next.” 

“That’s good.”  

“Shitou ge, I’m at your school, but I don’t know where you live……” 

“Huh? Where are you? Wait, I’m going to get you right now!” Shi Lei quickly chucked his clothes on. 

Er: Internet slang for stupid, but often in a cute way rather than offensive