WC ⋆ Chapter 38

by 🐳ᴍᴀᴍᴀ_ᴡʜᴀʟᴇʏ

# AMENDED TRANSLATION

In the previous time reversal, every transmission had come without warning, and Jiang Yishen had prepared himself to be pulled out of this stretch of time. Yet he waited and waited, and nothing happened.

He sat on the small sofa, silently watching Qi Lin lying on his back on the bed, still clutching that piece of clothing in his arms. He lay there for a full half hour.

Jiang Yishen glanced at the clock. Eleven-thirty at night.

He drifted over to check on him and found that Qi Lin had fallen asleep. Deeply asleep. He hadn't rested properly in a long time, and that bout of crying had finally drained every last bit of his strength.

"Are you going to work tomorrow?" Jiang Yishen circled around him. "I don't even know what day of the week it is today. If it's a weekday, did you set an alarm?"

Unfortunately, he couldn't touch anything this time around, or he would have definitely picked up Qi Lin's phone and set an alarm for him.

"You're sleeping without even getting properly into bed. You'll definitely wake up freezing in the second half of the night." Jiang Yishen said this, let out a sigh, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

His muttering received no response at all. The past was already past, and there was no strange twist of fate left to give him another chance to turn things around.

He kept the sleeping Qi Lin company, turning his head to look out the window. The floor wasn't high up, and he could faintly make out the dim yellow glow of the streetlights. They had walked down that road together many times afterward.

Qi Lin slept very still, not moving at all. Jiang Yishen watched for a while, then wandered out to the balcony to look at the cactus.

Neither of them had fought very hard over custody of the cactus. At that time, both of them had been in a state of inner turmoil and hadn't had the energy to fuss over such things. It was only much later, when they had come back to their senses, that Jiang Yishen had mentioned wanting to take the cactus with him, and Qi Lin had refused.

He sat down on the floor, thinking he'd have a little chat with this crystallization of their love. But as his gaze swept over it, something seemed a little off.

What was wrong?

Jiang Yishen furrowed his brow, leaned in close to examine it carefully, looking left and right in the moonlight, and finally found the strange thing.

The top of the cactus was bare in one spot. The biggest and most prominent spine was gone.

Jiang Yishen's scalp prickled, and he backed up several steps, shuddering.

He remembered this spot very well. Qi Lin had told him over and over again to keep it in mind. Their cactus had grown a little lopsided, with a small bump at the top, and this spine had been the largest one right at the very tip of that bump, the only one of its kind. Now only a patch of small, grass-like spines remained.

Wasn't it October 12th right now? Why did the cactus here look the way it would half a year later?

Jiang Yishen's eyelids twitched wildly, Qi Lin's words echoing through his mind: "that cactus is a little weird."

It was already easy to let your imagination run wild at night. Half scared to death, he ran into the bedroom and burrowed down beside the sleeping Qi Lin.

The moment he lay down, the world seemed to spin. The bed rotated a full 360 degrees clockwise, and Jiang Yishen was sent tumbling head over heels. The filmstrip corridor materialized at his side, light and shadow twisting from plain black and white into a swirl of psychedelic color.

Before Jiang Yishen could recover from the shock of the cactus, he was hustled off in a rush to the next stretch of time and space.

For the first time, he tried to speak to the unknown: "Are you ever going to stop?"

Naturally, there was no answer.

Jiang Yishen forced himself to stay alert through sheer irritation, refusing to sink into unconsciousness. He converted the remorse of having witnessed Qi Lin's hollow, lost expression into anger, and directed it at this aberration that was toying with them both.

But he didn't hold out for long. Without realizing it, his consciousness blurred, and when he came to again, he was already standing on a bustling street.

The repeated rapid jumps in quick succession had left Jiang Yishen's mind somewhat scattered. The feeling of being a bystander on the outside was severely affecting his perception.

He took several hard breaths, bent over with his hands on his knees, and did his best to steady himself, scanning the crowd around him for Qi Lin's figure.

This was a commercial street below a shopping mall. It took him a little effort to find a clock he could use to confirm the time, but one glance was all he needed to know where Qi Lin would be.

August 2nd.

Jiang Yishen was surprised to find that this timeline was actually flowing backward. The previous scene had been October, after the breakup, and now it had rewound all the way back to August, when they hadn't broken up yet.

This date wasn't particularly special, but Jiang Yishen remembered where he had seen it before: on the purchase receipt for the ring Qi Lin had given him.

There was still a month left before their breakup, and Qi Lin was buying a ring.

Jiang Yishen followed the revolving door into the shopping mall. The ground floor was lined with luxury boutiques, threaded through with that signature perfume scent. He made his way inward and found the jewelry store that did custom diamond rings.

Qi Lin was indeed standing inside.

Just watching from a distance, he felt his chest being wrung hard, and he couldn't bring himself to go closer and listen to what Qi Lin was saying to the sales clerk.

This was a ring that had never been given. If not for this strange turn of events, perhaps it could only have stayed forever in some corner no one knew about. Until many years later, when time had moved on and Qi Lin was moving out of this city, it would be dug up and placed at the very bottom of a junk drawer.

He didn't know what the sales clerk and Qi Lin had said to each other, but Qi Lin smiled, his eyes full of a joy and satisfaction that came from the heart. Then he tapped a fingertip on one of the rings in the display case.

He couldn't bear to watch anymore. He sat down with his back against the glass door, tilted his head up, and could see the top of the shopping mall's atrium. The sunlight had its harsh glare filtered away by the glass ceiling, and the soft brightness fell through the five-story-tall mall, spreading across the entire atrium.

He suddenly thought that, if he remembered correctly, on August 2nd, he himself had also been in this shopping mall.

They had almost run into each other.

—

Qi Lin's phantom drifted behind "Jiang Yishen" in this new stretch of time and space, following him as he ran up and down the shopping mall, racking up over three thousand steps, without seeing this person buy a single thing.

Qi Lin was tired even from drifting. He watched helplessly as Jiang Yishen went back and forth between the third and fourth floors three times, feeling both amused and heartbroken.

Only now did he learn that Jiang Yishen had been trying to prepare a Qixi gift for him. There was still a week until Qixi, the anniversary of when Fan Zi had slipped and fallen.

This was a gift he had never received. Qi Lin didn't know what Jiang Yishen had ultimately bought, or what reason had kept him from giving it.

But it wasn't hard to guess it wasn't anything pleasant.

Half an hour ago, he had been transmitted here from Jiang Yishen's dormitory in April. The moment he made out the shopping mall, he had almost thought the scene he was about to face was himself buying the ring.

But then, unexpectedly, he saw Jiang Yishen come rushing in through the mall entrance.

Walking and muttering to himself, his phone screen still open on a search for "what to give a boyfriend for Qixi."

His range of gift considerations was broad: from five-figure wristwatches at the high end, down to bracelets from boutique shops at the low end. It seemed like no matter how he looked, he couldn't find anything that felt right.

Qi Lin thought that they had both been trying hard to hold on in places the other couldn't see. It was just a shame that they were both too clumsy, and neither of them ever learned to be honest.

After going around and around and still coming up empty-handed, Jiang Yishen surrendered to the limits of his own imagination and finally sought outside help.

He called Xu Baili and asked whether Qi Lin had anything he liked.

Xu Baili hemmed and hawed on the other end for a long time before saying hesitantly, "He doesn't really have things he likes."

Jiang Yishen slumped against the wall, still unwilling to give up, hoping to pry something useful out of him: "You two are so close. Has he ever mentioned something he likes but hasn't bought?"

"Can we be as close as you two?" Xu Baili let out a sigh. "He's just like that. Whatever he says out loud is something he already has. The things he doesn't have, he doesn't mention."

Qi Lin hovered nearby listening in, surprised that Xu Baili's read on him was unexpectedly accurate.

He hadn't even noticed this habit in himself. Now that it had been pointed out, he thought back carefully and found it was indeed true. He had always had low material desires and no particular hobbies. Any hobby he could afford, he would handle on his own, and he rarely asked others for help.

When he was young, his family had praised him for being sensible. His teachers, relatives, and his parents' colleagues all praised him for being sensible.

Qi Lin didn't like those two words, but after having them repeated at him for so many years, certain habits had long since woven themselves into his life.

Xu Baili's words, however, left Jiang Yishen feeling unsettled.

He asked despondently, "So does that mean he doesn't need me to buy him gifts?"

"Uh…"

Qi Lin could even picture Xu Baili pushing up his glasses: "Hmm, technically speaking, yes. But isn't that just what couples do, give each other little trinkets? I think Xiao Qi isn't the type who cares more about practicality. Whatever you give him, he'll like it."

Qi Lin silently affirmed this and nodded.

"Really?" Jiang Yishen managed a weak smile. "Alright, thank you."

He didn't look convinced. Jiang Yishen hung up the phone and stood frozen in place for a moment, murmuring something to himself.

Qi Lin leaned in to listen. Jiang Yishen was saying, "He definitely won't like what I give him."

His confidence worn down to nothing by his own thoughts, Jiang Yishen finally glanced back at the shop behind him, then turned and left.

"Hey, didn't I just tell you, I'd like anything you give me." Qi Lin said softly to his retreating figure.

He couldn't bring himself to feel angry. He knew that those words would only work if he said them to Jiang Yishen in person, and it was just a shame he had never said them.

Disappointment and self-doubt didn't appear out of nowhere. The little teardrops in the calendar squares accumulated one by one, and every single one was a countdown to the end of this relationship.

Nothing he said could change what was already set in the past, but fortunately it wasn't too late. Right now, Qi Lin only wanted to end this rewind and go back to Jiang Yishen's side.

He drifted down the mall escalator, and when he reached the first floor, he still couldn't stop himself from heading toward the jewelry store. He wanted to see his own self in this stretch of time.

If not for going through all of this, he probably never would have guessed that on August 2nd, the two of them had experienced a near miss.

The jewelry store was in the shop directly facing the elevator entrance. Qi Lin had barely turned the corner when he got a fright.

He saw Jiang Yishen sitting right outside the jewelry store's door, looking like a drowned dog that had just been fished out of the water.

Hadn't "Jiang Yishen" already left just now?

Was he hallucinating?

Qi Lin rubbed his eyes, but then saw the person sitting on the ground lift his gaze and look over, his eyes locking onto him with unerring precision, as if he could see Qi Lin's wandering-soul-like form. His expression shifted from shock and astonishment, and in an instant turned to delight, then was overlaid with a layer of grievance.

Qi Lin's heart gave a heavy thud. From just that one look, he could tell: this was his Jiang Yishen, the Jiang Yishen from January 7th, the Jiang Yishen whose hand he had grabbed at the very moment the midnight bell rang.

—

# ISSUE LOG

|—|—|—|—|—|

| 在上一次的时空回溯中，每一次传送都来得措手不及 | In the previous Time Reversal, every transmission had come without warning | In the previous time reversal, every transmission had come without warning | Capitalization/Tone shift | "Time Reversal" should be lowercase "time reversal" to match the narrative tone and avoid excessive formality. The original Chinese uses lowercase "时空回溯." |

| 江亦深做好了被抽离出这个时间段的准备，可左等右等也不见动静 | Jiang Yishen had prepared himself to be pulled out of this stretch of time, yet he waited and waited and nothing happened | Jiang Yishen had prepared himself to be pulled out of this stretch of time. Yet he waited and waited, and nothing happened. | Punctuation/Clarity | Changed comma to period for better sentence structure and clarity. The original uses a pause (可) that suggests a stronger break. |

| 他坐在小沙发上，默默地看着戚林仰躺在床上，怀里还抱着那件衣服，一躺便是半个小时 | He sat on the small sofa, silently watching Qi Lin lying on his back on the bed, still clutching that piece of clothing, lying there for a full half hour | He sat on the small sofa, silently watching Qi Lin lying on his back on the bed, still clutching that piece of clothing in his arms. He lay there for a full half hour. | Phrasing/Clarity | Added "in his arms" for clarity about what he was clutching. Split into two sentences to avoid redundancy ("lying there" appears twice in original). The Chinese "怀里还抱着" specifically means "clutching in his arms." |

| 他飘过去查看情况，却发现戚林已经睡着了。睡得很沉 | He drifted over to check on him and found that Qi Lin had fallen asleep. Deeply asleep. | He drifted over to check on him and found that Qi Lin had fallen asleep. Deeply asleep. | Punctuation | Correct as is. Maintained the original short sentence structure for emphasis. |

| 许久没有好好休息，刚刚哭那一场终于耗干了所有力气 | He hadn't rested properly in a long time, and that bout of crying had finally drained every last bit of his strength | He hadn't rested properly in a long time, and that bout of crying had finally drained every last bit of his strength. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 也不知道今天周几，如果是工作日，你定闹钟了没？ | I don't even know what day of the week it is today. If it's a weekday, did you set an alarm? | I don't even know what day of the week it is today. If it's a weekday, did you set an alarm? | Punctuation | Correct as is. Maintains the original structure. |

| 可惜这回他触碰不到东西，不然肯定要打开戚林的手机替他定个闹铃 | Unfortunately, he couldn't touch anything this time around, or he would have definitely picked up Qi Lin's phone and set an alarm for him | Unfortunately, he couldn't touch anything this time around, or he would have definitely picked up Qi Lin's phone and set an alarm for him. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| "睡觉还不躺进去睡，后半夜肯定要冻醒。" | "You're sleeping without even getting properly into bed. You'll definitely wake up freezing in the second half of the night." | "You're sleeping without even getting properly into bed. You'll definitely wake up freezing in the second half of the night." | Tone | Correct. Maintains the worried, slightly exasperated tone. |

| 江亦深说着，叹了口气，在床边坐下 | Jiang Yishen said this, let out a sigh, and sat down on the edge of the bed | Jiang Yishen said this, let out a sigh, and sat down on the edge of the bed. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 他的喋喋不休没有得到任何回应，过去的事情已经过去，没那么多鬼使神差能再给他一次扭转过往的机会 | His muttering received no response at all. The past was already past, and there was no strange twist of fate left to give him another chance to turn things around | His muttering received no response at all. The past was already past, and there was no strange twist of fate left to give him another chance to turn things around. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 他陪着睡着的戚林，偏过头看向窗外，楼层不高，隐约瞧得见路灯的昏黄灯光，他们后来一起走过这条路很多次 | He kept the sleeping Qi Lin company, turning his head to look out the window. The floor wasn't high up, and he could faintly make out the dim yellow glow of the streetlights. They had walked down that road together many times afterward | He kept the sleeping Qi Lin company, turning his head to look out the window. The floor wasn't high up, and he could faintly make out the dim yellow glow of the streetlights. They had walked down that road together many times afterward. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 戚林睡觉很老实，动也不动一下，江亦深看了会儿，才溜达到阳台上去看仙人球 | Qi Lin slept very still, not moving at all. Jiang Yishen watched for a while, then wandered out to the balcony to look at the cactus | Qi Lin slept very still, not moving at all. Jiang Yishen watched for a while, then wandered out to the balcony to look at the cactus. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 他们没有太争抢仙人球的抚养权，那个时候两个人都心乱如麻，也没有太多心力纠结这些，只在好久之后回过味来，江亦深提过想把仙人球带走，被戚林拒绝了 | Neither of them had fought very hard over custody of the cactus. At that time, both of them had been in a state of inner turmoil and hadn't had the energy to fuss over such things. It was only much later, when they had come back to their senses, that Jiang Yishen had mentioned wanting to take the cactus with him, and Qi Lin had refused | Neither of them had fought very hard over custody of the cactus. At that time, both of them had been in a state of inner turmoil and hadn't had the energy to fuss over such things. It was only much later, when they had come back to their senses, that Jiang Yishen had mentioned wanting to take the cactus with him, and Qi Lin had refused. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 他席地而坐，想着跟这颗爱情结晶说说话，打眼扫过去，却好像有些不太一样的地方 | He sat down on the floor, thinking he'd have a little chat with this crystallization of their love, but as his gaze swept over it, something seemed a little off | He sat down on the floor, thinking he'd have a little chat with this crystallization of their love. But as his gaze swept over it, something seemed a little off. | Punctuation | Changed comma to period before "But" for clearer sentence structure. |

| 江亦深皱起眉头，凑近了仔细端详，借着月光左看右看，终于找出了奇怪之处 | Jiang Yishen furrowed his brow, leaned in close to examine it carefully, looking left and right in the moonlight, and finally found the strange thing | Jiang Yishen furrowed his brow, leaned in close to examine it carefully, looking left and right in the moonlight, and finally found the strange thing. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 那仙人球顶上秃了一片，最大最显眼的那根刺不见了 | The top of the cactus was bare in one spot. The biggest and most prominent spine was gone | The top of the cactus was bare in one spot. The biggest and most prominent spine was gone. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 江亦深头皮都炸起来，连退好几步，打了个寒噤 | Jiang Yishen's scalp prickled, and he backed up several steps, shuddering | Jiang Yishen's scalp prickled, and he backed up several steps, shuddering. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 他对这地方印象很深，戚林千叮万嘱让他记住，他们的仙人球长得有点畸形，顶上有一个小小的鼓包，这刺是鼓包正上端最大的一根，仅此一根，如今却只剩下一片小草样的小刺 | He remembered this spot very well. Qi Lin had told him over and over again to keep it in mind: their cactus had grown a little lopsided, with a small bump at the top, and this spine had been the largest one right at the very tip of that bump, the only one of its kind. Now only a patch of small, grass-like spines remained | He remembered this spot very well. Qi Lin had told him over and over again to keep it in mind. Their cactus had grown a little lopsided, with a small bump at the top, and this spine had been the largest one right at the very tip of that bump, the only one of its kind. Now only a patch of small, grass-like spines remained. | Punctuation | Changed colon to period after "keep it in mind" for better readability and to avoid excessive punctuation. Added period at the end. |

| 现在不是10月12日吗？为什么这里的仙人球会是半年后的模样？ | Wasn't it October 12th right now? Why did the cactus here look the way it would half a year later? | Wasn't it October 12th right now? Why did the cactus here look the way it would half a year later? | Punctuation | Correct as is. Maintains the original's rhetorical question structure. |

| 江亦深眼皮狂跳，满脑子回荡着戚林那句"那个仙人球有点诡异" | Jiang Yishen's eyelids twitched wildly, Qi Lin's words echoing through his mind: "that cactus is a little weird" | Jiang Yishen's eyelids twitched wildly, Qi Lin's words echoing through his mind: "that cactus is a little weird." | Punctuation | Added period at the end of the sentence. |

| 夜里本就容易胡思乱想，他吓个半死，跑去卧室里，钻到睡着的戚林身边躺下 | It was already easy to let your imagination run wild at night. Half scared to death, he ran into the bedroom and burrowed down beside the sleeping Qi Lin | It was already easy to let your imagination run wild at night. Half scared to death, he ran into the bedroom and burrowed down beside the sleeping Qi Lin. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 这一躺顿觉天旋地转，床像顺时针绕了一个360度，江亦深被转的人仰马翻，胶卷长廊浮现在侧，光影从单调的黑白扭曲成一片迷幻 | The moment he lay down, the world seemed to spin. The bed rotated a full 360 degrees clockwise, and Jiang Yishen was sent tumbling head over heels. The filmstrip corridor materialized at his side, light and shadow twisting from plain black and white into a swirl of psychedelic color | The moment he lay down, the world seemed to spin. The bed rotated a full 360 degrees clockwise, and Jiang Yishen was sent tumbling head over heels. The filmstrip corridor materialized at his side, light and shadow twisting from plain black and white into a swirl of psychedelic color. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 江亦深还未能从仙人球的震惊中回神，便被忙不迭地送往下一段时空 | Before Jiang Yishen could recover from the shock of the cactus, he was hustled off in a rush to the next stretch of time and space | Before Jiang Yishen could recover from the shock of the cactus, he was hustled off in a rush to the next stretch of time and space. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 他第一次尝试和未知对话："你们没完没了了？" | For the first time, he tried to speak to the unknown: "Are you ever going to stop?" | For the first time, he tried to speak to the unknown: "Are you ever going to stop?" | Punctuation | Correct as is. Maintains the original's structure. |

| 江亦深恼火地强撑着精神，不肯陷入昏迷，他将目睹了戚林失魂落魄模样的悔恨转变为怒意，强加到这将他们玩弄于股掌中的异端身上 | Jiang Yishen forced himself to stay alert through sheer irritation, refusing to sink into unconsciousness. He converted the remorse of having witnessed Qi Lin's hollow, lost expression into anger, and directed it at this aberration that was toying with them both | Jiang Yishen forced himself to stay alert through sheer irritation, refusing to sink into unconsciousness. He converted the remorse of having witnessed Qi Lin's hollow, lost expression into anger, and directed it at this aberration that was toying with them both. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 可惜他没撑多久，便在不知觉间意识模糊，再次清醒时，已经站在人声鼎沸的大街上 | But he didn't hold out for long. Without realizing it, his consciousness blurred, and when he came to again, he was already standing on a bustling street | But he didn't hold out for long. Without realizing it, his consciousness blurred, and when he came to again, he was already standing on a bustling street. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 连续多次的短时跳转，让江亦深的精神有些离散，成为局外人的旁观感严重影响到了他的认知 | The repeated rapid jumps in quick succession had left Jiang Yishen's mind somewhat scattered. The feeling of being a bystander on the outside was severely affecting his perception | The repeated rapid jumps in quick succession had left Jiang Yishen's mind somewhat scattered. The feeling of being a bystander on the outside was severely affecting his perception. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 他用力喘了几口气，弯下腰撑着膝盖，尽力定下心神，在周围的人群中搜寻着戚林的身影 | He took several hard breaths, bent over with his hands on his knees, and did his best to steady himself, scanning the crowd around him for Qi Lin's figure | He took several hard breaths, bent over with his hands on his knees, and did his best to steady himself, scanning the crowd around him for Qi Lin's figure. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 这是一个商场楼下的商业街，他费了些许功夫才找到能够确定时间的钟表，只一眼，他就知道戚林在哪里 | This was a commercial street below a shopping mall. It took him a little effort to find a clock he could use to confirm the time, but one glance was all he needed to know where Qi Lin would be | This was a commercial street below a shopping mall. It took him a little effort to find a clock he could use to confirm the time, but one glance was all he needed to know where Qi Lin would be. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 江亦深诧异于这次的时间线居然是倒流，上一幕还是分手后的十月，眼下已经倒退回他们还未分手的八月 | Jiang Yishen was surprised to find that this timeline was actually flowing backward. The previous scene had been October, after the breakup, and now it had rewound all the way back to August, when they hadn't broken up yet | Jiang Yishen was surprised to find that this timeline was actually flowing backward. The previous scene had been October, after the breakup, and now it had rewound all the way back to August, when they hadn't broken up yet. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. |

| 这个日期并不特殊，但江亦深记得在哪里见过它——戚林送他的那枚戒指的购物单上 | This date wasn't particularly special, but Jiang Yishen remembered where he had seen it before: on the purchase receipt for the ring Qi Lin had given him | This date wasn't particularly special, but Jiang Yishen remembered where he had seen it before: on the purchase receipt for the ring Qi Lin had given him. | Punctuation | Added period for proper sentence completion. Changed em dash to colon for consistency with the original punctuation style. |

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