The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 25.2 - Joined Pulses (2)

"And you smell, too," Jǐ Yi replied softly.

"Let me go have a shower first, and then I'll come find you." Jì Chengyang chuckled.

"Mm." Loosening her hold on him, she pulled herself away from his embrace. At last, she realized what sort of surroundings she was in. Upstairs, Jì Nuannuan was incessantly making expressions that declared, "Awesome!" while looping her arm through her maternal grandpa's and bringing the elderly man back into the dining room to continue eating.

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

Jì Chengyang was too exhausted.

His return journey here could not be considered smooth. Many of the roads and bridges were in the midst of carrying out rushed, emergency repairs. After parting ways with his two journalist friends, he had proceeded on foot for seven, eight hours before finally finding a place where transportation had not yet been halted.

The he of the past had often trekked busily about like this for news stories. This, though, was his first time doing everything possible to get back "home" as soon as he could.

When he had finished showering and lain down on the couch in the study, Jǐ Yi nestled up beside him and also lay down. Her frame was dimuntive, and to him, she was more like an extra-large throw pillow, so very soft.

"Are you sleepy? Do you want to go sleep? If you want to sleep, why don't you go into the guest room? It's not comfy here." Jǐ Yi tossed out these several questions in succession, seeming like a nagging little mother.

"I'm not sleepy, just tired," Jì Chengyang answered her, his voice quiet. Right now, every single joint in his entire body felt swollen and aching. Lying quietly like this was the most comfortable and was much better than expending effort again to move to another place.

Squeezing her hand, he sighed, "How is it you've all of a sudden grown up so much?"

"Huh?" Jǐ Yi was a little anxious at this and lifted her head. "Am I old?"

A laugh sputtered out from Jì Chengyang. "Grown up, not old." He did not really understand how she had managed to associate that with the word "old." Based on her age, she should be considered a grown adult, but in his eyes, she was still a little girl.

As he simply held her hand in his like this and then thought back to the size of her palm when she was a child, he found it quite inconceivable.

For a moment, Jì Chengyang's emotions were somewhat stirred.

Jǐ Yi did not know what he was thinking and merely thought he was tired and did not want to speak. After a while, she sat herself up straight and began to over and over glide the palm of her right hand from his thigh to his ankle. Though the material of his pants acted as a barrier, this repeated action actually caused Jì Chengyang's entire body to relax quite a bit. Squinting his eyes in comfort, he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Back then, when Zhao Xiaoying was tired, her mom would massage her like this. She tried it on me before, too. It feels pretty good."

It did feel pretty good.

Jì Chengyang stretched out his arms, then crossed them and placed them like a pillow behind his head.

<>Please support this translation by reading it at its actual site of posting, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, instead. Thank you very much.

Of those two journalist friends with whom he had gone on the journey to Dazhou, one was a father already, while the other's wife was pregnant and they were anticipating the arrival of the baby. When the two men chatted, the topics were very amusing. The one who was already a father would speak with great familiarity about child development and parenting and even about the kindergartens near his residential area. And also baby formula, diapers... All of this experience, he passed on, one by one, to the dad-to-be, and in excitement, the dad-to-be had pulled out a notebook and begun taking notes.