HSS Chapter 31
Translated by Novice Translations
Proofread by Yserieh
Chapter 31: Cup of Happiness
In the early morning of the weekend, Mu Xiaoya and Bai Chuan returned to Mu Xiaoya’s parents’ home together. Before leaving, Li Rong packed a bunch of gifts in the car and told Mu Xiaoya to give them to the Mu father and mother. Mu Xiaoya wasn’t pretentious and thanked her in-laws, then loaded them all into the car.
An hour later, the two arrived at the Mu family’s home. Mu Ruozhou and his wife, Shen Qingyi, had been waiting at the door for a long time. Looking at the Audi vehicle from afar, they greeted them with a smile.
"Xiao Chuan." As soon as the car stopped, Shen Qingyi went up to help Bai Chuan open the passenger seat’s door.
Bai Chuan got out of the car, looked at Shen Qingyi for a while, before slowly spitting out three words.
"Thank you, mom."
Although these three words were spoken in two separate segments, this kind of autonomous conversation was extremely rare for Bai Chuan, who has autism. Shen Qingyi understood that and naturally she was extremely excited.
"Ai ya, Xiao Chuan thanked me. Lao* Mu, did you hear it just now?" Shen Qingyi turned to ask her husband who was standing next to her.
(TN: it’s a title just to show seniority aka that he’s the elder of the family, respectful title)
"I heard it, you move fast." Mu Ruozhou was very depressed. He clearly stood closer to the car. If he had just opened the door just now, his “thank you” would have been for him.
Bai Chuan paused, glanced at his father-in-law, and called out, "Dad."
"Hey!" Mu Ruozhou was instantly healed, and his eyes happily narrowed into a smile like his wife.
On the other side of the car, Mu Xiaoya, who hadn't had her parents’ attention for a long time, couldn’t help but “be jealous”: “Look at you two’s attentiveness. If I didn’t know your son-in-law came to visit you, I would have thought it was the leader who came to visit.”
(TN: In China, they are communist, so they have a “leader” of the communist party which is the “executive leader/ruler” of China. Haha, BC’s importance is the same as the head of China basically.)
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Shen Qingyi only gave her daughter a minuscule amount of attention.
"Where am I talking nonsense? The car wasn’t even parked yet, and you helped open the door. No mother-in-law opens the door for her son-in-law."
"How can Xiao Chuan be the same?"
"Why is it different? Can’t my family’s Xiao Chuan open the door?"
"Yes!" When Shen Qingyi, who was about to speak to spite her daughter, unexpectedly Bai Chuan spoke first.
"..."
Since this step was demolished, Mu Xiaoya happily bent over on the spot. The Mu family’s elders were stunned for a while, then laughed along with their daughter. Their family’s son-in-law was special, but his reaction speed towards their daughter was really fast, which was no different from ordinary people. In this way, their worries in their hearts lightened.
Shen Qingyi even admitted to Bai Chuan: "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have opened the door for you."
"It doesn't matter." Although he didn’t take offense and his mother-in-law apologized, Bai Chuan felt that he still had to forgive her.
Mu Xiaoya was done with the greetings. She opened the trunk and pulled out a large number of gifts. There were different color bags that could be casually picked and there were more than a dozen.
"Why are you bringing back so many things?" Shen Qingyi saw and helped pick things up from her.
"Don't blame me ah." Mu Xiaoya pointed to two of the most simple and crude plastic bags and said, "These two bags were brought back by me. The rest were all prepared by my mother-in-law for the Mu in-laws."
"This ..." Shen Qingyi and her husband glanced at each other and frowned, "Then how can we take it all? Our family haven't given your husband’s family any gifts, so it’s inappropriate to accept these."
"Yes ah." Mu Ruozhou looked at the gift bags that the three had just finished unloading and couldn’t help but add, "Our family and the Bai family have a disparity in economic strength. Although we don't want to do anything, but these things received by the Bai family isn’t good to accept either."
With the Bai family's economic strength, such things weren’t much to them, but for the Mu family, every gift received was too expensive. The Mu family didn’t want to accept too many expensive gifts because it makes them feel pressured.
"I say, you two think too much." Mu Xiaoya knew her parents best, they were proud, virtuous and extremely cherished their reputation. They were a little thoughtless when it came to social relationships, but in fact, this kind of reason was flimsy and overcome. “I’m already married into the family. You can choose what to do with them, I am already living over there.”
"This ..." When the Mu family’s elders heard this, they suddenly felt if they didn’t accept the gifts, it would be inappropriate.
"Otherwise, you can tell my mother-in-law yourself." Mu Xiaoya said and moved to make a phone call.
“Well, Xiaoya is right. We are all in-laws and it has nothing to do with social relationships so long as we have a clear conscience in our hearts.” Mu Ruozhou promptly stopped his daughter from making that phone call.
“That's right. When I go back, I'll return with some gifts.”
"We received so many things, what will be the right thing for us to gift back?" Shen Qingyi frowned.
"I think the jar of chopped peppers in our refrigerator is good. I’ll take them back later in the evening." Shen Qingyi is from Sichuan Province, and likes to eat chili, and even likes to personally cook them. She has a habit of making and chopping chilies at home every once in a while. So, in the Mu family’s refrigerator, there were chopped chilies made by Shen Qingyi all year round.
"How much can that thing be worth?" Shen Qingyi wasn’t fond of this idea.
"But the Bai family doesn't have it ah. I want to eat it as your daughter, but still can't."
"Xing xing xing*, I’ll prepare a few more jars this evening."
(TN: it means walking constantly, but I think she’s jokingly saying I’m going, I’m going to be playful)
Joking around, the four went into the house with the gifts.
As soon as Mu Xiaoya entered the living room, she tossed the gifts on the coffee table, then collapsed on the sofa.
"Look at you, being so lazy. I hope you’re not like this at the Bai family’s home." Shen Qingyi barely glanced at her daughter’s posture.
"Almost." Mu Xiaoya slouched back and sighed with discomfort. No matter where she went, the most comfortable she felt was in her parents’ home.
"Xiao Chuan, is Xiaoya the same in your house?" Shen Qingyi turned to ask her son-in-law because her son-in-law wouldn’t lie.
"En." Bai Chuan nodded. In his eyes, Mu Xiaoya is Mu Xiaoya, which is the same everywhere.
When she saw Bai Chuan nod, Mu Xiaoya suddenly began to reflect on her behavior in the Bai family’s home. In front of others, she was definitely not like this. Did he mean in their bedroom?
"Looks like, if anything, I have to carefully say some words to you today." Shen Qingyi said, but she was reluctant. Then after those words, she went to the kitchen to cook her daughter's favorite dishes.
Bai Chuan was pulled by his father-in-law to solve some math problems while his mother-in-law prepared lunch in the kitchen. Mu Xiaoya, who has nothing to do, made a nest in the living room and used her cellphone to cast onto the TV screen in the living room to watch a movie. When the movie was almost finished, Mu Xiaoya’s cellphone suddenly rang. She glanced at it, then ran out of the living room. Shortly after, a few workers in overalls were brought in.
Suddenly it was noisy, and the Mu family’s elders were startled, they separately leaned out from the study and kitchen. Bai Chuan completed the math problems in his hand, and slowly walked out from behind his father-in-law.
"What is this?" Mu Ruozhou looked at the three extra workers who were suddenly in the living room.
"Put it here, yes. Right there." Mu Xiaoya pointed to the open space next to the sofa as the spot for people to put things down at, then turned to answer her father’s question, “Massage chair.”
The workers moved quickly and placed the massaged chair down. They quickly unpacked it, debugged it to ensure that there were no issues, then asked Mu Xiaoya to sign for it.
"You have up to one month to return it and up to three months to get it replaced. If you have any questions, please call us at any time," the worker said.
"Okay, thank you."
After Mu Xiaoya finished signing, the workers cleaned up the trash and quickly left the Mu family’s house.
"Xiaoya, what's with this massage chair?" Shen Qingyi was still holding a green onion in her hand and stood beside the massage chair when she asked her daughter.
Mu Xiaoya winked at Bai Chuan who was standing next to his father-in-law.
However, Bai Chuan's reaction to Mu Xiaoya was a blank face.
"..." It’s over, yesterday I explained to Bai Chuan.
"What are you doing, why are you looking at Xiao Chuan?" Mu Ruozhou couldn't help but glance at his daughter’s line of sight with narrowed eyes and a frown.
Wink?
When Bai Chuan thought of that keyword and his memory was instantly revived. He thought of what Mu Xiaoya told him last night.
"Xiao Chuan, I used your salary card to buy a massage chair for my parents, but this massage chair is a little expensive. My parents will definitely scold me for spending money recklessly. So tomorrow, say that you bought it for them, okay?"
"Okay."
"I'll wink at you then. "
"En." Bai Chuan agreed without hesitation. However, he didn’t understand the meaning of the wink until his father-in-law "winked" at him.
(TN: The father-in-law didn’t actually winked at him, but narrowed his eyes and probably blinked and caused BC to remember the “wink”.)
"I bought it." Although Xiaoya didn’t "wink" at him correctly, Bai Chuan perfectly cooperated with her.
With a loose look, Mu Xiaoya quietly gave a thumbs up to Xiao Chuan.
"You bought it?" The Mu family’s elders were startled. "Why did you buy a massage chair?"
"My salary, I bought it for you." Xiaoya only asked him to say that he bought it. As for why, she didn’t tell him, so Bai Chuan can only say that.
However, even if Bai Chuan didn't say, the Mu family’s elders automatically made up a reason on his behalf. In a short while, they soon deduced a suitable reason for him.
"Did Xiao Chuan buy this to show filial respect?" Shen Qingyi looked at her husband with joy. They didn't expect that they could enjoy their son-in-law's filial piety so quickly?
"Your salary?" What surprised Mu Ruozhou even more was that Bai Chuan was able to earn his own salary.
"Mine." Bai Chuan nodded.
The two knew that the gift was most likely bought by their daughter, but the money was from Bai Chuan’s salary, which made the meaning totally different. Thinking about it this way, the two people looked at that brand-new massage chair and immediately felt that everything was good.
"Dad, Mom, this massage chair is good for massages on the cervical spine. Please try it quickly." Mu Xiaoya pushed her mother who was the nearest and pressed the person onto the massage chair. The Mu family’s elders were teachers, so they prepared lessons or grade papers all day long. Their spines weren’t good, that’s why Mu Xiaoya bought this massage chair.
The massage chair was already debugged. Mu Xiaoya selected the mode and clicked the start button.
The two took turns on the massage chair for half an hour. They didn’t think the massage chair would be really effective. Anyway, they were both comfortable while the sun shone on their faces. Shen Qingyi couldn’t help but make more dishes for lunch.
After lunch, Mu Xiaoya and Bai Chuan went next door because Bai Chuan said he wanted to find some books.
Although the courtyard next door has been unoccupied for some time, the Bai family has it cleaned regularly. The green plants in the garden have been carefully trimmed, so it didn’t look messy.
Entering the living room, Mu Xiaoya was in a trance for a moment.
In her memory, she hasn’t been here for many years, but the furnishings haven’t changed at all. The sofa was still floral print, the curtains were still milky white and even the tea set on the coffee table were the same.
Mu Xiaoya picked up one of the teacups and saw a small gap on the blue and white porcelain cup at a glance. It wasn’t big, but it was a bit abrupt.
Looking at this gap, Mu Xiaoya felt inexplicably familiar with it. "The shape of this gap is pretty, it’s heart-shaped."
Bai Chuan glanced at it and remembered something again, and his eyes flashed a smile.
"Wasn’t this missing a long time ago?" She hadn't been to Grandma Bai’s house for a long time, but she felt familiarity towards this gap, it would probably be a long time before she recalls it.
"Eight years, three months, and five days."
"... Remember so clearly ah." Although she knew that Bai Chuan's memory was good, every time she heard such an accurate detail, Mu Xiaoya couldn’t help but sigh, "It's been so long, why wasn’t it changed?"
"This gap is heart-shaped. If you drink water with this cup, every sip will lie in your heart, and the water will taste better. If you drink it enough, you will find happiness." Bai Chuan gently looked at Mu Xiaoya.
Mu Xiaoya looked back at Bai Chuan dumbly.
This kind of silly sweet line would only appear in shoujo comics. This wouldn’t have been said by Bai Chuan, nor by the wise elderly Grandma Bai, so counting them, Mu Xiaoya begin to doubt herself.
"I said that?"
"En." Bai Chuan nodded.
"When I was in high school, I seemed to be fascinated by shoujo comics." Mu Xiaoya scratched her chin awkwardly, and also guessed another possibility, "This gap, I made it."
"En." With that, Bai Chuan pointed to a place at the corner of the table.
Mu Xiaoya understood, Bai Chuan meant that she used the corner of the table to bang the teacup against to make that gap.
Mu Xiaoya looked at the cup and imagined the situation when she seriously duped Bai Chuan, thinking about that scene made her feel it was somewhat funny.
"I lied to you then." Mu Xiaoya said with a smile.
"No." Bai Chuan shook his head. "Drink too much and you can really obtain happiness."
"Happiness? Do you know what happiness is?"
"Know, happiness is being with Xiaoya." Mu Xiaoya asked casually, but Bai Chuan replied very seriously.
This answer was akin to a sharp blade cutting Mu Xiaoya’s heart which caused it to burst with pain.
"You’ve been drinking water with this cup ah."
"En."
Suddenly her nose started to sour, and Mu Xiaoya's eyes turned red. She believed that many people have said or heard a lot of casual words or deliberately fool others when they were young. Some won’t believe it; others will believe it. Even if they believe it, it would only be temporary because innocence will fade, maturity and reasoning will allow them to distinguish between truth and falsehood. But Bai Chuan was different, in his world, as long as he believes in something, he will believe it for a lifetime.
For more than eight years, Bai Chuan remembered her casually saying a few words, but she forgot about it, or rather the events didn’t leave any impression on her at all.
"Sorry, I forgot."
"It doesn't matter, you have bad memory." Grandma said that his memory is a gift from heaven, not everyone has it, so it didn’t matter that Xiaoya forget, he remembers.
Originally, Mu Xiaoya was crying because she was guilty. As a result, when Bai Chuan suddenly uttered that sentence of no complaints, she couldn’t help but smile: “Yes, I have bad memory. But this time, I definitely won’t forget.”
Mu Xiaoya turned around and wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
"It doesn’t matter, I’ll remember."
"Xiao Chuan, I’ll remember." Mu Xiaoya turned around and directly stared at Bai Chuan, and firmly said.
"En." Bai Chuan nodded, as if he saw the girl who always did math problems incorrectly again.
"Ah ah, why did I do it wrong again?" Mu Xiaoya in a school uniform rubbed her hair frantically, "Xiao Chuan, teach me again. I promise, I’ll remember this time."
"En." The youthful Bai Chuan skillfully raised his pen and began to explain the use of the same formula for the fifth time.
In fact, Bai Chuan had a secret that he never told others. He secretly hoped that Mu Xiaoya would never remember the formula, so that she would come look for him after school every day.
"Go, let's go to the library to find books."
Although it was the same type of residential house, the Bai family’s study was much larger than the Mu family. Because the Bai family only had two people living in it, Bai Chuan and Grandma Bai, Grandma Bai had opened up all the bedrooms on the first floor and built a small library for Bai Chuan. All the books that Bai Chuan read and wants to read have been collected and stored in there.
Every time Mu Xiaoya enters this study, she was deeply shocked. There were bookshelves that lined the walls in uniform rows, and they were all densely packed with books. Grandma Bai even equipped a mobile staircase beside the bookshelves which made it convenient for Bai Chuan to climb up and down. There was a small desk in the middle of the study, surrounded by a sea of books. It seems that as long as you sit there, even if you were illiterate, you could immediately learn more knowledge from ancient and modern times.
"What book are you looking for? I'll help you find it." The number of books were far too many to count. It was a waste of time for them to find it. Mu Xiaoya just looked at several rows of bookshelves and found that the books didn’t seem to follow any organization rules. In this situation, it will be a waste of time to find it.
"I found it."
Mu Xiaoya turned around, and she saw that Bai Chuan was holding a book with a green cover.
"You found it so soon?" So lucky?
"I remember them all."
"You mean, you remember where the books are located at?" Mu Xiaoya was shocked.
"En."
Mu Xiaoya thought it was fun, so she couldn't help it and said, "Then, help me find a book."
"Okay."
"Have I put any books here before?" Before high school, Mu Xiaoya was obsessed with comics. As soon as the holidays arrive, she will go over to Bai Chuan in the guise of learning. As soon as her parents entered, she would put it on the bookshelf casually so that nobody would find it. Although she wasn’t sure, she thought maybe she had left one or two comic books here.
"Pure School Grass*," Bai Chuan replied.
(TN: The title means that the most handsome boy in school – school grass is pure and innocent…lol so the title is about ML.)
"What?"
"Pure School Grass." Bai Chuan repeated it in exactly the same tone.
"Shoujo comics?" Mu Xiaoya vaguely remembered, it seemed to be a comic book she was particularly fascinated with in junior high school.
"En."
"This comic, you have it here, where?" Mu Xiaoya asked.
"The east shelf, the sixth row from bottom to top, and the 128th to 136th books from left to right." Without waiting for Mu Xiaoya to finish her words, Bai Chuan clearly stated the specific location.
"There are nine volumes ah." Mu Xiaoya started looking for the books according to Bai Chuan's instructions. "East, one two three four five six, this row, from left to right ... Ah, found it."
Comic books were always smaller than ordinary books, so she quickly found it after locating the row. Mu Xiaoya located the entire series, “Pure School Grass”.
"The cover is so new and well-preserved." Mu Xiaoya flipped through a few pages casually, then found the manga characters inside were gorgeous and gave people goosebumps. The protagonist’s eyes were actually diamonds and they were light blue. When she smiled, there were gorgeous rose petals in the background. Really, what a special effect, Mary Sue, how could I like this kind of thing before?
Thinking of it like this, in fact, sometimes people were strange. They once like something, but one day, they will find it’s boring.
"Are you looking for another book?" Mu Xiaoya shook the goosebumps from her body and put the comic back.
Bai Chuan shook his head.
"Well, let's go."
When they arrived, they went straight to the direction of the study . When they left, they walked towards the door, which was in the opposite direction from before. This caused Mu Xiaoya to see a portrait on the living room wall at a glance.
It was a portrait of Grandma Bai. In the portrait, Grandma Bai was dressed in a dark cheongsam, had her hair in a neat bun, with pearls on her ears and her hands folded onto each other. She sat gracefully on a mahogany chair and looked at everything in front of her with adoring eyes.
"I painted it." Bai Chuan followed Mu Xiaoya’s line of sight and saw the oil painting as well. He painted it for grandma, and she liked it very much. She hung it on the stairway so she could see it every time she went up or down the stairs.
"You did it?" It's no wonder that Grandma Bai had such a loving look in her eyes, she was looking at Bai Chuan.
"En." Bai Chuan nodded. "The third day after I painted it, grandma was hospitalized."
Mu Xiaoya was stunned for a while and felt distressed. In fact, his memory is too good and sometimes it wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
"Do you miss her?" Mu Xiaoya couldn’t help but ask.
"I think." Bai Chuan nodded.
Yes ah, how can Bai Chuan not think? Bai Chuan’s memory is so good, that there were very few people in his world to remember. If he wants to forget, he couldn’t.
Suddenly, her body was squeezed into a familiar embrace.
Mu Xiaoya looked up in surprise and found that it was Bai Chuan. She didn’t know when he put the book down. At this time, he embraced her gently: "Don't be sad."
Sad? Didn’t you feel sad just now?
No, she was obviously afraid that Bai Chuan was sad, how could she be sad.
"Xiao Chuan, do you still feel sad when you think of grandma?" Mu Xiaoya asked dully.
"No." Bai Chuan shook his head, "Grandma said, everyone's life has a time limit. She had hers and I have mine. Grandma’s time limit was up, so she left. I was reluctant but not sad.
"Grandma was right."
Maybe only autistic patients like Bai Chuan can be calm and rationally face the departure of loved ones.
However, this is actually quite good. When the time comes and she leaves, he could do the same?