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INS Chapter 5

Chinese Rose

Tao Ling was startled and looked back.

Wen Qingying let go of his hand, pointed at the marks on the side of his neck, and lowered his head to type on his phone.

Tao Ling reacted and also took out his phone.

 

The two people put their hands in front of each other at the same time—

“Mister, I haven’t given you the money for the medicine yet.”

“It’s okay, it’s just a few band-aids.”

 

Tao Ling smiled lightly and shrugged.

Wen Qingying was afraid that he would turn around and leave immediately, so he raised his arm to hold his wrist again and typed quickly with one hand: “If you don’t want the medicine money, can I give you flowers?”

 

After thinking about it, Tao Ling nodded.

Wen Qingying’s eyes lit up, and he finally let go. He strode to the door, hugged a pot of orchids on the shelf blocking the glass door, turned around, and was about to stuff it into Tao Ling’s arms.

“Hey, this is too expensive! A band-aid only costs a few yuan!” Tao Ling frowned.

 

Wen Qingying saw clearly that Tao Ling’s expression showed obvious resistance. The hand holding the flower paused for a moment, and finally slowly took it back, and the golden bunch of flowers leaned against his heart.

He lowered his eyelashes, his expression suddenly looked a little hurt, and he pursed his lips slightly.

 

Tao Ling’s heart softened, thinking that it looked like he was bullying the weak.

After insisting on it for a long time, he typed on the notepad again. Wen Qingying didn’t rush him, he just stood there holding a large pot of flowers, looking resigned.

After Tao Ling finished typing, he glanced at him and handed it over: “Orchids are too expensive. It would be a pity if I killed them. If you insist on giving me flowers, then just give me Chinese roses. I want the pot you planted just now.”

 

His expression was relatively calm, but his posture was a little more solemn than when he was in the office. Wen Qingying looked at him for a while, as if judging whether he could continue to persist.

Finally, he put down the orchids in his hand and hugged the pot of little white Chinese roses in his arms.

 

Tao Ling took the flowers and whispered, “With the way you send flowers, the store will close down in less than two months.”

As if Wen Qingying knew what he was mumbling, he handed over the flowers and typed another line: “I didn’t send flowers to anyone else, just to you, mister.”

 

“Why?” Tao Ling raised his eyebrows, showing some provocation out of thin air, and looked at him with interest.

This word should have been easy to lip-read. Wen Qingying was a little anxious when he was rejected just now, but now he has suddenly regained his impeccable peace.

He looked at Tao Ling with still sincere eyes, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved slightly.

 

Tao Ling: “…”

Half a minute later, he walked out of the store holding a pot of small Chinese roses in one hand.

 

The midst of autumn approached, yet the Chinese roses still bloomed enthusiastically. The injured petals rubbed softly against Tao Ling’s chest, like a temporarily resting butterfly.

 

After taking a shower in the evening, Tao Ling turned on his computer, writing a paper for the academic conference with one hand and the curriculum for the second half of the semester with the other.

The Chinese roses were placed on the desk. He could see them every time he looked up.

An hour later, his gaze fell on the flowers and didn’t move away. He gently stroked a leaf while thinking about how to arrange the curriculum.

 

“Non-classical meditation and the early seclusion spirit… How to adapt to the laws of witchcraft… Tool elements in the world of witchcraft… The importance of the perfection of language in the process of transformation from witchcraft to religion. Language, huh… language… language…”

What’s the relationship between deaf-mute people and language?

 

Tao Ling frowned and was in a daze when his cell phone suddenly vibrated. He was startled, his body straightened involuntarily, and his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

He let out a rough breath and turned his head to look at the caller ID. It was a former shixiong1an older person studying in the same field. The shixiong was now teaching at S University. They were fellow students for many years and had always taken good care of him.

 

When the phone was picked up, the other end asked with concern, “Tao Ling, are you busy?”

“Shixiong, I’m not busy. I was just thinking about a question and got distracted. I didn’t hear the call.” Tao Ling took off his glasses and rubbed his brows.

 

Shixiong laughed and said, “You stayed up late again, didn’t you? Don’t stress yourself out too much. I’ll be coming back to Wu City tomorrow. Why don’t you come out for a meal after work?”

Tao Ling didn’t answer for a while, and then the other side spoke again, “Don’t worry, there aren’t many people, just a colleague of mine, and he’s not a nosy person. If you’re busy, we’ll just eat near the school.”

 

“That’s not good, you two came all this way.” Tao Ling said.

Shixiong: “Come on, you think I don’t know you? Asking you to come out to meet is like asking you for your life. If it’s far away, the chances of you coming are even lower. It’s just the three of us. I’ll take him to visit Shengnuxiang tomorrow. Give me a call after work. What do you want to eat? You decide.”

 

“The west gate…” Tao Ling said, sighing mid-sentence, “Forget it, that hot pot restaurant outside the east gate. I haven’t had hot pot in a long time.”

“Okay.” Shixiong responded, “It’s settled, see you tomorrow. You don’t need to bring anything.”

Tao Ling: “Don’t worry, I don’t want to bring anything either.”

Shixiong laughed heartily: “This is the kind of attitude I like.”

 

After hanging up, Tao Ling was bored and played around on his phone, scrolling around, and somehow he clicked on the notepad that came with the system.

He doesn’t have the habit of clearing his phone constantly, so the records of when he talked to Wen Qingying in the past two days were still there.

 

He casually looked at it, then his gaze finally landed back on the Chinese roses. Tao Ling suddenly felt that he was too immature.

He was too out of it just now; his mind was clearly full of Wen Qingying. He was already someone who was independent, yet his actions today were too “youthful.”

 

“No matter what age, men always like to look at beauties.” What Tao Jun said was indeed correct.

Though after all is said and done, liking to look and liking are two different things. Tao Ling was free, because he had always only liked to look.

 

Expecting that he still couldn’t sleep today and seeing that it was already half past eleven, Tao Ling turned off the computer, opened the medicine he had brought back, picked through the selection, and finally brewed a packet of Ganmao Ling2a popular natural supplement in China that supports the health of the immune system, respiratory system, nervous system and digestive tract and took a chlorpheniramine3an antihistamine used to treat a runny nose from allergies or a cold along with the medicine.

 

What would happen if he took chlorpheniramine mixed with diazepam4medicine to relieve symptoms of anxiety and alcohol withdrawal? Double the depressant effect?

Tao Ling sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and tapped his toes, thinking about random things while quietly waiting for sleep.

 

At school the next day, Teacher Zhang asked as soon as he pushed open the office door, “Teacher Tao, you brewed such strong coffee again? It could even be smelt from the corridor.”

Tao Ling answered: “Morning, Teacher Zhang. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Teacher Zhang smiled: “How could you suffer from insomnia at such a young age? What would you do when you reach your forties and fifties like me?”

“Teacher Zhang is still in his prime.” Tao Ling smiled, beginning his work.

“This child.” Teacher Zhang held the thermos cup, hummed to the tune of “Qing Zang Gao Yuan”5the main theme song of a TV show 天路 (tian1 lu4 Heavenly Road) , from 1994, and sat down leisurely in his seat.

 

The contents of his work, as usual, were incomplete. As Tao Ling worked, he once again became anxious, so he had to keep sipping coffee. After finishing a meeting report, he lifted his cup and found that it was empty.

Fuck work.

How come Teacher Zhang could do all this so leisurely?

 

Tao Ling turned to look at the crown of the wutong tree outside, then carried his cup to the break room.

After getting hot water, he walked habitually through the corridor above the courtyard, taking a detour to the other end of the religious department.

 

At the door of the flower shop on the opposite corner, Wen Qingying was busy. He wore a black sweatshirt and jeans today. With his height and long legs, he looked extremely youthful.

Tao Ling leaned against the window and saw him gathering the daisies together from two buckets. Someone passed by in a group and looked back several times.

 

That flower really attracted the bees and butterflies.6figuratively, could also mean “attract the opposite (or same in this case) sex” Tao Ling chuckled.

For flowers that pretty, it’s better to just look.

He turned and left.

 

After work in the afternoon, Tao Ling didn’t go directly out of the west gate as usual but walked through the entire campus in the opposite direction. Thinking that he should be polite, he called his senior brother when he was almost at the hotpot restaurant.

He found a place to sit and waited for almost ten minutes. Tao Ling was looking at the menu when he suddenly heard, “Tao Jun?”

 

The speaker sounded very surprised. Tao Ling was stunned and turned his head.

 


TL: Just a note, Insomnia will now be updating on a weekly basis every Thursday. These first few chapters were just to catch up with what was already on NU from the previous translator.

Happy holidays everyone!

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

  • 1
    an older person studying in the same field
  • 2
    a popular natural supplement in China that supports the health of the immune system, respiratory system, nervous system and digestive tract
  • 3
    an antihistamine used to treat a runny nose from allergies or a cold
  • 4
    medicine to relieve symptoms of anxiety and alcohol withdrawal
  • 5
    the main theme song of a TV show 天路 (tian1 lu4 Heavenly Road) , from 1994
  • 6
    figuratively, could also mean “attract the opposite (or same in this case) sex”

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