WC ⋆ Chapter 4

# AMENDED TRANSLATION

Faced with a single-day loop that had neither head nor tail, the two of them were practically grasping at straws.

They caught a bus headed for the Ferris Wheel and sat in the corner of the back row. Qi Lin handed Jiang Yishen the notebook he had filled with notes, and the two of them went back and forth analyzing things, only to arrive at conclusions as useless as the saying “spit out the grape skin after eating grapes.”

They had set the little black cat as the original anchor point. Jiang Yishen drew a cat’s head in the center of the notebook page and extended several arrows from it, using that change as the starting point for their reasoning.

“At the very least, we can boldly guess that this loop isn’t a complete reset across the board. Since there are details that can change, it proves we can find a way to break it.”

Qi Lin tilted his head and listened to him talk, the top of his head resting against the glass window, swaying with the vibrations of the bus.

Only after Jiang Yishen had filled the notebook page with little cats did Qi Lin say, “There’s one more thing.”

“Hm?”

Qi Lin took the pen from his hand and drew two stick figures in the bottom right corner of the notebook.

“Why us?”

Jiang Yishen fell silent, quietly watching as Qi Lin wrote the initials of their two names above the stick figures’ heads.

“We’re the biggest variable. It’s just that our habitual thinking made us overlook it.” Qi Lin drew another small arrow and wrote 12.31. “Why today? We’ve already been broken up for four months.”

One hundred and eleven days. Jiang Yishen added silently in his heart.

These past few loops had nearly destroyed their sense of time. It was only now that he suddenly remembered: no matter how many times the loop repeated, today was always the last day of December. They had been broken up for four months. Back then, the leaves hadn’t all fallen yet, and the whole world was golden. They had walked along the road, and the fallen leaves crunched underfoot when stepped on, like stepping on snow.

The reason for the breakup was simple: “not suitable.” Not suitable as lovers, but actually suited to be friends. At least when they were only friends, a natural sense of boundaries made them both more candid and bold.

There was none of the gut-wrenching leaving and clinging back that you saw in TV dramas. The feelings had worn thinner and thinner, worn further and further apart, through the friction of a “not suitable” mismatch in personalities, until they finally became crushed fallen leaves, with only small fragments barely wedged into the cracks.

Qi Lin was a year ahead of him. The tattered leaves dragged this relationship along until his graduation. A gust of wind blew through, and they each had their own path to walk. Breaking up seemed like the most dignified outcome.

That was September 11th, an ordinary Wednesday like any other. Jiang Yishen was the one who brought up the breakup.

The trigger for the breakup was childish and awkward. Qi Lin, sick, had come back to school to bring him something. What exactly he’d brought had already faded from memory, maybe a piece of clothing. Jiang Yishen couldn’t understand why Qi Lin wouldn’t tell him in advance that he was sick. He could have easily gone over to Qi Lin’s newly rented place in the evening to take care of him. But Qi Lin simply thought he had been too busy lately, and that a mild cold was nothing more than a matter of carrying an extra pack of tissues.

They had a huge fight over this. The absurd thing was that both of them had started the argument from the same place: the other person refusing to simply accept their care as a matter of course.

It was a melodramatic emotion, yet it was the last straw under the grand proposition of “not suitable,” piled on top of layer after layer of “it seems like he doesn’t love me that much.” It finally wore them down into people who could only say harsh things to each other. Jiang Yishen felt that love had become somewhat painful. Not wanting this once-beautiful bond to become unrecognizable, he chose to end it.

The second half of the year always seemed to pass faster, especially for students whose days were divided up by semesters. In the blink of an eye, four months were gone.

Not to mention that the second half of this year had been genuinely terrible for him. One month after the breakup, his father fell seriously ill and was sent to the Capital for surgery. For the past three months, Jiang Yishen had been traveling back and forth between two cities. The fifty-two-yuan high-speed rail tickets had piled up into a thick stack. His prospects for graduate school were completely gone, and the murky uncertainty of his future pressed down on him until he could barely breathe.

Jiang Yishen knew that after graduation, Qi Lin had stayed in this city, renting an apartment and preparing for the provincial civil service exam next spring. He had wanted to see Qi Lin again many times, but life swept him forward without looking back. The breakup was like an autumn rain in September, its belated chill clinging to him persistently, faint yet inescapable, clinging for four months straight.

“Jiang Yishen.” Qi Lin called his name.

“Hm.” He responded on instinct, then shifted his gaze downward and found that Qi Lin had drawn a question mark above his own stick figure’s head.

One look at his expression and Qi Lin knew he had just been spacing out. Qi Lin traced over the question mark and repeated what he had just said: “I said, have you ever made a vow, or wished for something?”

Jiang Yishen was taken aback. “Made a vow?”

“Vowed…” Qi Lin genuinely struggled to get the words out. He racked his brains and couldn’t think of any phrase, beyond the likes of “forever and ever,” “till the end of time,” “till the seas run dry and the rocks crumble,” that could convey deep and devoted feeling without being so unbearably mushy.

This was his wild-and-woolly speculation. After all, trapping a former couple on the very last day of the year felt, no matter how you looked at it, like divine punishment in matters of the heart.

But before he could say any of it, Jiang Yishen caught on belatedly, and his expression immediately became something spectacular.

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds.

Jiang Yishen held it in for a long time, and what he finally said was: “What about you?”

Qi Lin was dumbfounded. He wondered if he had gone deaf for a few seconds and missed Jiang Yishen’s answer, skipping straight to the righteous counter-question phase. “Huh?”

“Haven’t you made that kind of wish?” Jiang Yishen, seeing his expression, raised his voice a notch, his eyes full of disbelief.

“I…” Qi Lin accidentally bit the tip of his tongue. “I have, I have.”

Seeing how reluctantly he answered, Jiang Yishen gave a cold little laugh. “You definitely haven’t made as many as I have.”

A strange competitive urge flared up. Before Qi Lin had even figured out what exactly they were doing, his mouth moved faster than his brain. “You don’t even know, so what gives you the right to say that.”

“Because I make wishes anytime, anywhere.” Jiang Yishen had to win this one. He felt not the slightest embarrassment about competing over such a thing. “I make a wish every time I score a three-pointer playing ball with Fan Zi.”

Qi Lin still had enough sense left to stop himself from arguing over this, and he held back. But he looked down at the two stick figures standing side by side, and the more he thought about it the more indignant he felt. He said, “I’m much more sincere than you. I always go to temples to make wishes. Every time I visit a new city, I go to the local temple to pray.”

Jiang Yishen was speechless. After a long moment he said, “Then there’s nothing to be done. There’s no way of knowing which wish is taking effect.”

The new line of thinking hit another dead end. The bus carried two calm and despairing people to the Ferris Wheel stop.

The notebook was turned to a fresh page. Jiang Yishen named this page the Cloud-Watching Plan, to verify the hypothesis that the magnetic field near the Ferris Wheel was different.

They summarized the speed at which the clouds moved as the temporal flow rate, swapping out the ordinary term for a fancier synonym, so it sounded like they had achieved something substantial.

The temporal flow rate was too subjective to gauge individually. They sat seriously on a bench, heads tilted back, and recorded quite a bit of data.

Jiang Yishen tried to use a camera lens to record video and then analyze it frame by frame, but everything, once captured and reproduced through a technological medium, seemed to have its errors corrected. They had no choice but to rely on their own powers of observation.

The notebook was filled with dense rows of numbers. They researched the whole day, until nightfall.

The day passed quickly. They had decided to verify whether the single-day loop would be broken by their coming together, so they hadn’t carried out too many drastic operations.

The next morning, the moment they opened their eyes, even the smell of the room had become familiar. They were unavoidably looping back to December 31st. It seemed that simply coming together was not the key to breaking the loop.

For once, they weren’t anxious about it. Today’s itinerary had already been planned. Qi Lin solemnly turned to the next page of the notebook, making plans to go to the party together that evening.

Although they hadn’t pinned too many hopes on this party, the unknown was always the most worth looking forward to. What if this was the one time it worked.

—

Nine o’clock at night. A private room on the second floor of the bar. The hallway smelled of a mix of aromatherapy and alcohol. New Year’s Eve was lively everywhere. The bartender moved through the corridor, and even through the glass doors you could hear the noise from the rooms on either side.

Qi Lin walked in front. Jiang Yishen followed one step behind, with little in the way of conversation between them, as cold and detached as if they had come to the private room to carry out an assassination.

Tonight’s New Year’s Eve party had six people in total, all friends they had met in college, familiar with one another, the atmosphere easy and warm. When the two of them pushed the door open and walked in, everyone still had relaxed smiles on their faces.

Even though they had anticipated that showing up together would cause a stir among their friends, when the two of them stood before everyone, the resulting large-scale silence still made them feel like they had needles in their backs.

Xu Baili was sitting closest to the door. He bore the brunt of it. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and then they started spinning around, scanning Qi Lin from head to toe.

Under his gaze, Qi Lin felt a guilty conscience. He felt that Jiang Yishen was like a hot potato stuck to him. He didn’t even dare exchange glances with Jiang Yishen, and immediately walked straight over to sit down beside Xu Baili, eyes fixed ahead.

All six people watched Qi Lin sit down on the far left, then turned in unison to look at Jiang Yishen, then watched him sit down on the far right beside Fan Zi.

One on the far left, one on the far right, clamping the room like a posture corrector brace. Xu Baili felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Drink up,” Jiang Yishen said.

The moment those words landed, the taut string inside the private room relaxed a few degrees. Fan Zi followed with a dry laugh. “Ah, yeah, drink, everyone carry on.”

The screen was still blasting pop music. Jiang Yishen raised his hand and switched to a rock track with a heavy drumbeat, which finally made the room a bit livelier.

Amid the crackling sound of instruments playing together, Xu Baili gritted his teeth and tilted his head slightly, glaring at Qi Lin.

Under his gaze, Qi Lin’s hair practically stood on end. Keeping up an appearance of calm, he picked up a glass of alcohol, pressed it to his lips, and took a sip, trying to play dead and muddle through.

Xu Baili had a face full of scholarly refinement, but what came out of his mouth was thoroughly filthy. “Qi Lin, if you two get back together, I’ll pull out the spines of that cactus he gave you one by one. I’ve had it out for that stupid ball for a long time.”

Qi Lin gave a start, shot him a quick glance, then quickly looked away. “…The cactus is innocent.”

“Getting back together now would just be repeating the same mistake. I don’t want to see you like that again.”

Qi Lin was quiet for a moment, then simply said, “I’m not getting back together with him. Today is just a coincidence.”

“You’d better remember those words.” Xu Baili caught sight, out of the corner of his eye, of Jiang Yishen at the other end also whispering furtively with Fan Zi. He said meaningfully, “Jiang Yishen’s limit is three drinks. If he gets drunk, stay away from him.”

Qi Lin didn’t respond.

Jiang Yishen’s behavior when drunk was unpredictable, but he was universally acknowledged to be clingy. Once he had too much to drink, he had to find someone to kiss, and he wouldn’t even spare the cactus.

But times were different now. Qi Lin didn’t know what Jiang Yishen was like when drunk after the breakup.

—

# ISSUE LOG

| Chinese Source | Original English | Corrected Version | Issue Type | Explanation |

|—|—|—|—|—|

| 压在一层层”他好像没那么爱我”之上 | piled on top of layer after layer of “it seems like he doesn’t love me that much,” | piled on top of layer after layer of “it seems like he doesn’t love me that much.” | punctuation | The original uses a comma, but the sentence structure requires a period since it concludes the thought before “终于把他们熬成.” The comma creates an awkward run-on that disrupts the pacing of this emotionally significant passage. |

| 像个背背佳一样把屋子夹住 | clamping the room like a posture corrector brace. | clamping the room like a posture corrector brace. | formatting | The original translation includes a footnote marker [[2]] that should be removed for consistency. The sentence stands clearly without annotation in the context of a narrative translation. |

| 一阵风刮过来，他们都有自己的路要走，好像分手是最体面的结果了。 | A gust of wind blew through, and they each had their own path to walk. Breaking up seemed like the most dignified outcome. | A gust of wind blew through, and they each had their own path to walk. Breaking up seemed like the most dignified outcome. | tone/pacing | The original translation is accurate, but the metaphor “A gust of wind blew through” needs to be understood as representing the passage of time and external forces that separated them, not a literal wind. The translation captures this well. No change needed. |

| 笔记本翻开新一页，江亦深将这页命名为观云计划 | The notebook was turned to a fresh page. Jiang Yishen named this page the Cloud-Watching Plan | The notebook was turned to a fresh page. Jiang Yishen named this page the Cloud-Watching Plan | none | Accurate translation. |

| 他们把云的移速总结为时空流速，把名词同义替换，高档一些，听起来好像成果丰富的样子。 | They summarized the speed at which the clouds moved as the temporal flow rate, swapping out the ordinary term for a fancier synonym, so it sounded like they had achieved something substantial. | They summarized the speed at which the clouds moved as the temporal flow rate, swapping out the ordinary term for a fancier synonym, so it sounded like they had achieved something substantial. | none | Accurate translation capturing the self-aware humor of the characters making their observations sound more scientific. |

| 时空流速用个体来感受太主观 | The temporal flow rate was too subjective to gauge individually. | The temporal flow rate was too subjective to gauge individually. | none | Accurate translation. |

| 江亦深试图用镜头去录下视频，再逐帧分析，可一切经过科技载体再呈现后，似乎都会被矫正误差 | Jiang Yishen tried to use a camera lens to record video and then analyze it frame by frame, but everything, once captured and reproduced through a technological medium, seemed to have its errors corrected. | Jiang Yishen tried to use a camera lens to record video and then analyze it frame by frame, but everything, once captured and reproduced through a technological medium, seemed to have its errors corrected. | none | Accurate translation. The phrase “矫正误差” (correct/adjust errors) is well rendered as “have its errors corrected,” capturing the sense that the technological medium is somehow normalizing or correcting what they observe. |

| 他们难得没有再为此焦虑 | For once, they weren’t anxious about it. | For once, they weren’t anxious about it. | none | Accurate translation. “难得” (rarely/for once) is well captured. |

| 虽然并没有对这场party抱太大希望，但未知永远是最值得期待的，万一就是这一次呢。 | Although they hadn’t pinned too many hopes on this party, the unknown was always the most worth looking forward to. What if this was the one time it worked. | Although they hadn’t pinned too many hopes on this party, the unknown was always the most worth looking forward to. What if this was the one time it worked. | none | Accurate translation. The final sentence captures the hopeful uncertainty well. |

| 晚上九点，酒吧二楼包厢，楼道内是香薰与酒精混杂的味道 | Nine o’clock at night. A private room on the second floor of the bar. The hallway smelled of a mix of aromatherapy and alcohol. | Nine o’clock at night. A private room on the second floor of the bar. The hallway smelled of a mix of aromatherapy and alcohol. | none | Accurate translation. |

| 跨年夜四处都热闹，酒保在走廊间穿行，隔着玻璃门也能听到两侧房间的吵嚷声。 | New Year’s Eve was lively everywhere. The bartender moved through the corridor, and even through the glass doors you could hear the noise from the rooms on either side. | New Year’s Eve was lively everywhere. The bartender moved through the corridor, and even through the glass doors you could hear the noise from the rooms on either side. | none | Accurate translation. |

| 戚林走在前面，江亦深跟在之后一步远的地方，没什么过多交流，冷酷得像来包厢执行暗杀任务。 | Qi Lin walked in front. Jiang Yishen followed one step behind, with little in the way of conversation between them, as cold and detached as if they had come to the private room to carry out an assassination. | Qi Lin walked in front. Jiang Yishen followed one step behind, with little in the way of conversation between them, as cold and detached as if they had come to the private room to carry out an assassination. | none | Accurate translation. The hyperbolic comparison effectively conveys their awkward, tense demeanor. |

| 尽管预料到共同出现会引起朋友们的轰动，可当二人站在众人眼前时，造成的大规模静默效果还是让人如芒在背。 | Even though they had anticipated that showing up together would cause a stir among their friends, when the two of them stood before everyone, the resulting large-scale silence still made them feel like they had needles in their backs. | Even though they had anticipated that showing up together would cause a stir among their friends, when the two of them stood before everyone, the resulting large-scale silence still made them feel like they had needles in their backs. | none | Accurate translation. “如芒在背” (like having needles in one’s back) is well rendered. |

| 许白礼坐的离门最近，他首当其冲，两只眼睛快要瞪得掉出来，紧接着就是叽里咕噜地转起来，从上到下扫射戚林。 | Xu Baili was sitting closest to the door. He bore the brunt of it. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and then they started spinning around, scanning Qi Lin from head to toe. | Xu Baili was sitting closest to the door. He bore the brunt of it. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and then they started spinning around, scanning Qi Lin from head to toe. | none | Accurate translation. The vivid description of Xu Baili’s reaction is well captured. |

| 戚林被他看得心虚，只觉得江亦深像黏在身上的烫手山芋，连眼神互动都不敢，立刻目不斜视地走到许白礼身边坐下。 | Under his gaze, Qi Lin felt a guilty conscience. He felt that Jiang Yishen was like a hot potato stuck to him. He didn’t even dare exchange glances with Jiang Yishen, and immediately walked straight over to sit down beside Xu Baili, eyes fixed ahead. | Under his gaze, Qi Lin felt a guilty conscience. He felt that Jiang Yishen was like a hot potato stuck to him. He didn’t even dare exchange glances with Jiang Yishen, and immediately walked straight over to sit down beside Xu Baili, eyes fixed ahead. | none | Accurate translation. “黏在身上的烫手山芋” (hot potato stuck to him) is well rendered. |

| 六个人目送戚林坐到最左边，又齐刷刷地看向江亦深，再目送他坐到最右边凡子的身旁。 | All six people watched Qi Lin sit down on the far left, then turned in unison to look at Jiang Yishen, then watched him sit down on the far right beside Fan Zi. | All six people watched Qi Lin sit down on the far left, then turned in unison to look at Jiang Yishen, then watched him sit down on the far right beside Fan Zi. | none | Accurate translation. The synchronized movement of the group is well conveyed. |

| 一左一右，像个背背佳一样把屋子夹住，许白礼觉得自己呼吸不上来了。 | One on the far left, one on the far right, clamping the room like a posture corrector brace.[[2]] Xu Baili felt like he couldn’t breathe. | One on the far left, one on the far right, clamping the room like a posture corrector brace. Xu Baili felt like he couldn’t breathe. | formatting | Removed unnecessary footnote marker [[2]]. The sentence is clear without annotation. |

| “喝啊。”江亦深说。 | “Drink up,” Jiang Yishen said. | “Drink up,” Jiang Yishen said. | none | Accurate translation. The command is appropriately rendered. |

| 话音落下，包厢内紧绷的弦才松快几分，凡子跟着干笑两声：”啊，喝，大家继续。” | The moment those words landed, the taut string inside the private room relaxed a few degrees. Fan Zi followed with a dry laugh. “Ah, yeah, drink, everyone carry on.” | The moment those words landed, the taut string inside the private room relaxed a few degrees. Fan Zi followed with a dry laugh. “Ah, yeah, drink, everyone carry on.” | none | Accurate translation. The metaphor of the “taut string” relaxing is well conveyed. |

| 屏幕里仍在高声唱着流行乐，江亦深抬手切了首鼓点强烈的摇滚，总算让屋子里热闹了一些。 | The screen was still blasting pop music. Jiang Yishen raised his hand and switched to a rock track with a heavy drumbeat, which finally made the room a bit livelier. | The screen was still blasting pop music. Jiang Yishen raised his hand and switched to a rock track with a heavy drumbeat, which finally made the room a bit livelier. | none | Accurate translation. |

| 在噼里啪啦的乐器合奏声里，许白礼咬着牙微微偏过头，怒视着戚林。 | Amid the crackling sound of instruments playing together, Xu Baili gritted his teeth and tilted his head slightly, glaring at Qi Lin. | Amid the crackling sound of instruments playing together, Xu Baili gritted his teeth and tilted his head slightly, glaring at Qi Lin. | none | Accurate translation. The onomatopoeia “噼里啪啦” is well rendered as “crackling sound.” |

| 戚林被他看得头发都炸起来，状似不动声色地拿了杯酒，压在唇边抿了口，试图装死蒙混过关。 | Under his gaze, Qi Lin’s hair practically stood on end. Keeping up an appearance of calm, he picked up a glass of alcohol, pressed it to his lips, and took a sip, trying to play dead and muddle through. | Under his gaze, Qi Lin’s hair practically stood on end. Keeping up an appearance of calm, he picked up a glass of alcohol, pressed it to his lips, and took a sip, trying to play dead and muddle through. | none | Accurate translation. The vivid image of his hair standing on end and his attempt to appear calm are well captured. |

| 许白礼长了张书卷气十足的脸，出口却十分肮脏：”戚林，你要是复合，我就把他送你的仙人掌的刺一根根拔掉，我早看那破球不顺眼了。” | Xu Baili had a face full of scholarly refinement, but what came out of his mouth was thoroughly filthy. “Qi Lin, if you two get back together, I’ll pull out the spines of that cactus he gave you one by one. I’ve had it out for that stupid ball for a long time.” | Xu Baili had a face full of scholarly refinement, but what came out of his mouth was thoroughly filthy. “Qi Lin, if you two get back together, I’ll pull out the spines of that cactus he gave you one by one. I’ve had it out for that stupid ball for a long time.” | none | Accurate translation. The contrast between his appearance and his crude speech is well conveyed. |

| 戚林一抖，飞快看了他一眼，又飞快挪开视线：”……仙人球是无辜的。” | Qi Lin gave a start, shot him a quick glance, then quickly looked away. “…The cactus is innocent.” | Qi Lin gave a start, shot him a quick glance, then quickly looked away. “…The cactus is innocent.” | none | Accurate translation. The ellipsis effectively conveys his hesitation. |

| “你现在复合就是重蹈覆辙，我可不想再看你那个样子。” | “Getting back together now would just be repeating the same mistake. I don’t want to see you like that again.” | “Getting back together now would just be repeating the same mistake. I don’t want to see you like that again.” | none | Accurate translation. |

| 戚林安静了一会儿，只是说：”我没有要复合，今天只是碰巧。” | Qi Lin was quiet for a moment, then simply said, “I’m not getting back together with him. Today is just a coincidence.” | Qi Lin was quiet for a moment, then simply said, “I’m not getting back together with him. Today is just a coincidence.” | none | Accurate translation. |

| “你最好记住这句话。”许白礼用余光看到另一端的江亦深也在和凡子狗狗祟祟地说话，意味深长道，”江亦深的酒量就是三杯倒，他要是喝醉了，你离他远点。” | “You’d better remember those words.” Xu Baili caught sight, out of the corner of his eye, of Jiang Yishen at the other end also whispering furtively with Fan Zi. He said meaningfully, “Jiang Yishen’s limit is three drinks. If he gets drunk, stay away from him.” | “You’d better remember those words.” Xu Baili caught sight, out of the corner of his eye, of Jiang Yishen at the other end also whispering furtively with Fan Zi. He said meaningfully, “Jiang Yishen’s limit is three drinks. If he gets drunk, stay away from him.” | none | Accurate translation. The phrase “狗狗祟祟” (furtively/sneakily) is well rendered as “whispering furtively.” |

| 戚林没有接话。 | Qi Lin didn’t respond. | Qi Lin didn’t respond. | none | Accurate translation. |

| 江亦深的酒品飘忽不定，但是公认的粘人，一喝多就要找人亲，就连仙人球也不放过。 | Jiang Yishen’s behavior when drunk was unpredictable, but he was universally acknowledged to be clingy. Once he had too much to drink, he had to find someone to kiss, and he wouldn’t even spare the cactus. | Jiang Yishen’s behavior when drunk was unpredictable, but he was universally acknowledged to be clingy. Once he had too much to drink, he had to find someone to kiss, and he wouldn’t even spare the cactus. | none | Accurate translation. The callback to the cactus is effective. |

| 不过今时不同往日，戚林也不知道分手后的江亦深喝醉酒是什么样子。 | But times were different now. Qi Lin didn’t know what Jiang Yishen was like when drunk after the breakup. | But times were different now. Qi Lin didn’t know what Jiang Yishen was like when drunk after the breakup. | none | Accurate translation. The final line effectively conveys the uncertainty and emotional weight of their changed relationship. |