My One And Only Love/ Exclusive Memory (Somewhere Only We Know) — 独家记忆 Chapter 2 Part 5
Greetings, hello my dear readers!
Hi, everyone! It's been a whole lot of dragging (3 months, Fei!!!!) without a single update :( I'm wondering if you're still here with me? I hope so T.T Anyway, I'm back this time and I've decided to get the whole book done before September. Only after then, I will start editing (like adding some additional information & more detailed explanations that I usually mark them with ¹²³⁴, etc. As for now, I will just leave them in brackets like how you'll see later in this chapter)😉 So, do expect some fast updates, but lower chapter quality. However, I will make sure to get as many grammars & spellings right as possible, so that you can still enjoy each chapter happily!🎉
Unexpectedly, Bai Lin.... is a sport game enthusiast.. :)
One day in mid-November, there was a strange atmosphere in the campus.
After class in the afternoon, the counselor personally came to our department's dormitory to carry an inspection. It was said that he received a notice from the school to see if any students had illegally stored alcohol in the dormitory, because in the evening was the last match of the Chinese football team's World Cup qualifiers, whether you win or lose tonight, it was going to be China's last hope to enter the World Cup.
Our dormitory's Bai Lin was a ball game fanatic. Naturally, the other three people were also driven to watch Bundesliga and Serie A every week.
A 21-inch TV was installed in each bedroom. On weekends, the cable TV signal was always on, so you could always see the lights flashing with TV programs. However, in normal times (like weekdays), there were only two times of the day when the TVs are on; from 12 to 1:30 at noon and from 5 to 7:30 in the evening. As soon as the time limit came, the school's main control room would automatically cut off the signal source.
However, there were always exceptions.
Many (football) games with extraordinary significance were not always played when we could turn on our TV— either there was no TV signal, or the electricity were shut off, and at this time around, laptop had not been popular among students in university. That was the moment when the students all rose up to protest.
Often, students went to the balcony and shouted loudly in the dark night, "Come on! Come on!" Or, "I want to watch a ball game, come on TV!". Even more, people took their spoons, lunch boxes, and washbasins to make loud noises by hitting each of those together and protested, chanting rhythmically as they continued hitting. After a while, they merged into another symphony of pots and pans. Generally, within ten minutes, the requirements would be met. On important days (0f football games), students had always tried this method repeatedly. So, for today and Sunday, the school informed us in advance that the TV would still be available in the evening, so that we all could watch the football game in the dormitory.
In the evening, the game entered the intermission period.
(T/N: for the commentators conversations, I just directly copy pasted them from MTL because I'm not quite familiar with football games... I'll make sure to check the sentences tho, please don't mind it🙈🥺)
Commentator A said, "For fair competition, the AFC will arrange all the last rounds of the group stage at the same time. But I didn't expect this to be the case."
Commentator B said, "Yes. According to the rules of the Asian Division of the World Cup qualifiers, the team ranking is based on the points, and the points are tied. The goal difference is the same. There is no suspense for the Chinese and Kuwait teams to win their opponents today. The key is to look at the goal difference, and we are at a disadvantage now."
Commentator C said, "But the news from another venue before the game is very detrimental to the Chinese team."
Commentator A smiled helplessly, "The Chinese team may be eliminated unless a miracle occurs."
Commentator C said, "I don't blame others at the moment, but the Chinese team itself. Maybe they will let fans wait for another four years."
Having said that, the screen switched back to the commercial video again, and I glanced at Bai Lin. She was already full of tears.
As the ninety minutes approached, the situation became increasingly unfavorable. At ten thirty, the game was still going, but all the dormitories were plunged into darkness on time. All of a sudden, the classmates became noisy, in a posture that people would not stop after watching the game without calling.
A classmate on the opposite floor stood on the balcony and shouted: "Teacher, if you don't let us watch anymore, I will jump off the building." That appearance and tone caused many people to laugh, diminishing the sad atmosphere.
Only five or six minutes later, we regained light. So we all quickly turned on the TV and sat back in front of the TV heavily until the end of the game.
The Chinese team won, but was eliminated. The three commentators on the screen began to analyze the status quo of Chinese football again when I saw that Bai Lin was crying.
She was crying rather silently. The tears wet her cheeks. She wiped it with her hand, and as soon as she wiped it off, the teardrops slipped down again. She was an extremely cheerful girl, as carefree as I am. I had never seen anything that could make her so sad that she would break down in tears in front of us. I was just a pseudo-fan who joined in the fun, and I had never been able to understand her frustration. However, at this moment, I was infected by her, and a certain kind of sadness spread in my heart.
I walked over and hugged her.
"Don't cry, Xiao Bai."
"(I will) Never watch a ball game again." She sobbed.
The light went out again. Contrary to the power outage just now, the whole campus was extremely quiet, and there was not a single sound in the girls' dorm compound. It seemed that for a moment, the whole world fell into deepness.
Suddenly, there was a "WA" (crying expression). It seemed that there was a girl standing on the balcony crying loudly in another building in our girls' dorm yard. The cry penetrated the night and appeared particularly abrupt. This voice became a catalyst, stimulating everyone's emotions. Perhaps the girl was going to be a little sad, and suddenly there was more cries in the girls' dormitories.
One girl in the dormitory upstairs stood up loudly and yelled, "What are you crying for? Useless! No ambition! It's a waste of tears to cry about Chinese football!"
Many people emerged to echo her scolding.
Bai Lin wiped off his nose and retorted, "I, your old mother*, love to cry; what's your business?"
(*she's calling herself in a bossy manner— basically calling herself as someone they should respect, a.k.a. their "old mother" 🤣)
As a result, crying and cursing were intertwined all together.
Didn't know which girl was the first to start, and threw the mineral water bottle filled with water on the empty space downstairs, "BANG--", making a huge crushing noises.
Then a few others learned to do the same.
Just when several dorms threw mineral water bottles to vent their anger, another huge blast sounded downstairs covering all the noises and made our hearts jump violently. The girls in the dorms immediately quieted down— probably surprised by the noise.
"What is it?" Song Qiqi asked in shock.
Someone was pointing at a pool of scattered pieces downstairs with a flashlight. Zhao Xiaotang looked at it for a while and said, "It's a warm water bottle full of boiling water (that was thrown😂), and moreover it's still steaming. No wonder it exploded like this."
Before Zhao Xiaotang finished speaking, a scream was heard from the unit next door: "Xiao Kui, if you are angry and want to throw a thermos, just throw your own, why mine!" After she finished, we all were amused. Even Bai Lin burst into laughter.
This matter seemed to end right then. Four people climbed to bed after showering.
Bai Lin slept on the bed opposite me, and I kept hearing her tossing about and couldn't sleep. After a while, a little light appeared on the wall, so I looked over.
She turned on the flashlight, leaned over and propped her upper body to write a diary on the pillow. The slender silhouette was reflected on the mosquito net, undulating with the stroke of the pen on the hand, revealing a certain sadness.
I had national pride and enthusiasm for victory, but after crying and laughing, I only had three minutes for being all emotional. I didn't understand why fans like Bai Lin were so sad for a victory and outcome that had nothing to do with their lives.
♡ 💜 ♡ 💜 ♡ 💜 ♡
Next updates starting from next posts are on every Monday and Friday 7 PM (Western Indonesian Time or GMT+7)☺ Honestly, I can't wait to finish this book ASAP so that I can move on to another book that I love hahahahaha (I'm translating that too right now btw!)
See you on Friday this week ;)
On Monday I saw your update on instagram about having a new update, I was very excited, thank you very much for translating it ♥️
ReplyDeleteHow sweet of you! You're welcome ^_^
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