My One And Only Love/ Exclusive Memory (Somewhere Only We Know) — 独家记忆 Chapter 2 Part 1

 Greetings, hello my dear readers! 

    Another chapter without Teacher Mu, but it seems like someone has been thinking of him lately..☻

Chapter 2 Part 1: Murong Cheng and Son VS Miss Rose 
Translated by Fei斐 & Proofread by Iping

    Chairman Mao[1] and his elders taught us, "Chinese people are not afraid of death, are they afraid of difficulties?"

    I had been influenced by these words since I was a child. I had worked hard to learn how to overcome hardships by myself, and I knew the truth that self-help was better than help from others.

    For that reason, Bai Lin and I found all the tools and equipment, and spent an hour assembling the dormitory door bolt. I rubbed my injured finger and sighed, "I finally feel safe."

    Song Qiqi smiled. She checked the door bolt again and clapped her hands, "Not bad."

    Song Qiqi was the most steady girl in our dormitory. She was from the North and was very good at studying. She would receive the scholarship every time. Meanwhile, Zhao Xiaotang was the complete opposite to her.

    Zhao Xiaotang, in Bai Lin's original words一 Zhao Xiaotang was not an earthling. Zhao Xiaotang sometimes had a little extreme mysophobia, which made her cleanliness degree beyond our reach.

    Remembering the month of enrollment during the military training, the school took all freshmen to a military training camp on the outskirts of City A. That was a place where even birds would never laid eggs. The so-called barracks were nothing but large sheds. We could only lay on the floor with the bedding and mats we carried.

    Not to mention taking a bath, you even had to queue for a long time to go to the bathroom. Under the scorching September sun, we didn't take a bath for a week and didn't dare to change our uniforms.

    Our counselor, who looked at a group of beautiful girls being tortured like this, was feeling very distressed. After discussing with the instructor, he led us to a town a few miles away, rented a bathhouse, took a bath, lined up and then the whole team went back.

    When taking a bath, everyone noticed that the military uniform and sweat were fading to the skin, and the camouflage green coloring was still on the body even after being washed with hot water and soap.

    In the middle of the night, it was Bai Lin and I's turn to guard the night at the gate of the barracks and vaguely heard someone washing things nearby. I carried a wooden gun and walked to see what happened. I didn't expect to see a woman standing by the water channel fetching water. With disheveled hair, her snow-white skin glowed brightly under the moonlight just like a beautiful snake.

    Bai Lin's hand trembled. She tugged at me and said, "Forget it, maybe someone drowned here long ago."

    I was shocked, yet also a little bit scared. But I boldly said, "I am a small person, but I have big guts. I am not afraid."

    "That's right, I'll leave it to you then. Xiao Tong, you go. I will collect the body for you tomorrow morning." Bai Lin patted me, preparing to turn around.

    "No!" I grabbed her, "You... if you go back to stand on guard alone, I...am not feeling at ease."

    So I clenched my fists and slowly approached her whilst leaning against the wall. Bai Lin was forced to follow. When I walked a few steps closer, the other party noticed our movement. She turned around and smiled at both of us. She was a beauty, was not a snake, but was their roommate, Zhao Xiaotang. This was not the most horrifying thing. She put a big basin at her feet, and the basin was filled with freshly washed quilts......

    "You're washing the quilt?" I asked in shock.

    She smiled at me, "Yes, the quilt covers and sheets are all sweaty, and even the cotton lint inside is not clean. So, I washed them all."

    Later that week, Zhao Xiaotang's quilt was not dried. As a result, she had to sleep next to Song Qiqi. The quilt hanging at the vent of the barracks became the story of the whole department. This was the first impression Zhao Xiaotang left me.

    Now, Zhao Xiaotang was addicted to the Internet and was obsessed with seeing online friends[2] from one after another. Every time she was seeing an online friend, she would inevitably took us, the three light bulbs, along together. We used Zhao Xiaotang's beauty as a bait to extort the other party for a big meal and indirectly improved our boring canteen life.

    Now, the man with glasses sitting across from me in Pizza Hut was also one of Zhao Xiaotang's online friend. Fortunately, Pizza Hut’s table was big, so there was enough seat for five people.

    I sat with Song Qiqi, Bai Lin and Zhao Xiaotang sat opposite, and the man with glasses sat in an extra seat.

    Bai Lin smiled and said to the man with glasses "Guess who of the four of us is Xiao-Xiao[3]?"

    Zhao Xiaotang and him met while playing Fantasy Westward Journey[4]. She was Xiao-Xiao and the ID of the man in glasses was Murong Qingfeng. When I first saw him, then thought of the name 'Murong Qingfeng', I felt a bit disillusioned.

    Big brother Murong was a little embarrassed for a while. His eyes quickly swept across our four faces through the lens, and finally stopped at me.

    "Are you Xiao-Xiao?" He asked softly.

    "Huh?" I almost choked.

    However, there was an agreement between the four of us before. When he determined that person was the one, she absolutely couldn't refute it in order to repay Zhao Xiaotang's blessing and kindness.

    The three of them smiled covertly at me. The corners of my mouth twitched, and I had to admit it. It seemed like today was not my day.

    Seeing me didn't deny it, Brother Murong looked happy. After that, he was very attentive and caring for me. I never played online games, so in order to avoid talking about it, we tried to find other things to talk about. Whenever 'professional' topics were involved, Bai Lin or Zhao Xiaotang would prevaricate.

    However, Brother Murong had always been obsessed with online games that he started to pull me back to recall the first encounter between "Xiao-Xiao" and "Murong Qingfeng".

    Zhao Xiaotang turned away from the subject and asked, "By the way, why do you use Murong's surname? Is your surename Murong, ah?"

    As soon as Brother Murong heard this, it aroused greater interest in him. He said eloquently, "No, actually, my surname is Mu. From the root of the surname, our surname's predecessor is Murong, but it was simplified later. From the earliest ancestor, it should be from Xianbei clan."

    Bai Lin nodded with enlightenment, "Oh, we have a teacher whose surname is Mu, but it wasn't from Murong."

    It’s okay if she didn’t say that, but when she said that, I really thought of Mu Chenghe. I imagined if he changed his name to Murong Chenghe, returned to ancient times, let him wear long hair and comb a bun, then later raised his eyes and smiled at me.

    I suddenly felt a chill. If he did grow up like this, it was really a woman's sorrow and a man's shame.

    Brother Murong saw me in dazed with a weird expression, then asked them three quietly, "What's the matter with Xiao-Xiao?"

    Bai Lin said, "You made her confused."

    "Confused?"

    "The big brother is called Murong Qingfeng, while the master is called Murong Chenghe. This Murong family's guy makes it difficult for her to choose."

    "Master? (A master) She met in Journey to the West?" he asked.

    I patted Bai Lin on the head slightly furious, "Don't listen to her nonsense."

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[1] Mao Zedong, also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China, which he ruled as the chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976.

[2] 网友 Wǎngyǒu一 to be literal, it means 'netizen'. However online friend(s) suited better in this context☺

[3] 笑笑 XiàoXiào, ZXT's game ID, means 'smile' in English.

[4]Fantasy Westward Journey is a MMORPG developed and run by NetEase.

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See you next week!

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