An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 226 Hairpin Phoenix

"You got off work quite early today." This was the first thing Shan Muchen said to her when they met again after a week.

"Hmm," Meng Youyou smiled, "I'm not busy today, so I left half an hour early." As she spoke, she put her index finger to her lips, making a gesture of telling everyone not to make a fuss.

Shan Muchen also smiled, but this smile was different from his previous ones, it seemed a bit forced. Meng Youyou could tell, and she could roughly guess why.

Ever since he said "Because I want to see you" that night, Meng Youyou sensed his feelings. She hadn't figured out how to face him or his feelings. So for the past week, she'd been arriving at work half an hour early in the morning and leaving half an hour early in the afternoon.

He knew she was avoiding him, but understandingly refrained from exposing her crude tricks.

Shan Muchen's smile faded, and he let out a soft breath before asking, "Do you have time to have dinner together?"

"Okay," Meng Youyou agreed. Dragging things out wasn't a solution, nor was it her usual style; she had to face it.

……

The dinner was very enjoyable. The food was delicious and the dining environment was beautiful. The two of them tacitly avoided talking about any slightly heavy topics during the meal, instead choosing to chat about some light and everyday things.

On the way back, Shan Muchen was driving when he suddenly called out to her, "Yoyo."

Meng Youyou turned her head to look over, knowing in her heart that the time had come.

After exchanging a glance with her, Shan Muchen quickly turned his head away, staring straight ahead at the road, and said softly, "I have some things I want to say to you, and some questions I want to ask you."

"You said."

Without any preamble, Shan Muchen confessed, "I think I must have fallen for you, from the very first time I saw you." His directness was somewhat unusual for him.

Without giving Meng Youyou time to react, he continued in one breath, "You'll definitely find it too sudden and too fast to tell you all this now, after all, we haven't known each other for very long."

The man paused, swallowed, and looked a little nervous before continuing, "I wonder if you'll think this way—that I like you only because of your appearance?"
It's undeniable that I think you're beautiful, but that's definitely not all; there are many things about you that attract me.

My initial plan was to take things slowly and gradually, so that you would feel more relaxed and less pressured. But I rushed things, and suddenly... you distanced yourself from me.

Dan Muchen forced a smile and said, “For the past week, I’ve been reflecting on whether I said something wrong that made you uncomfortable on the last day I saw you.”
I've thought about it many times, but I still can't come up with an answer. But I can vaguely sense that there's a resistance within you that's preventing you from accepting my kindness.

I could sense it during our previous dates, but I always thought it was just my imagination. Every time I asked you out, you would come, and you would say you liked the things I gave you, that the restaurant was delicious, the movie was great, and you had a lot of fun. You would also give me gifts.

Everything seems so perfect. I can't help but look forward to our next date, and I'll be counting down the days in my mind, calculating when would be the best time to confess my feelings to you.

So, I repeatedly dismissed that strange, unfounded intuition. Instead, I comforted myself, wondering if it was possible that you were more cautious and slower to warm up to people, while I was being too hasty?
But after this week, I'm even more certain of this strange intuition.

I'm not very good at interacting with girls. I went on a few blind dates arranged by my family, but that was the last step. In the time I've spent with you, I can only try to get closer to you based on my limited understanding and knowledge in this area.

Sometimes I can sense that you've opened up a little to me, giving me a chance to get closer to you. Of course, this is just my personal feeling, if I'm not just imagining things." As he said this, the man quickly glanced at the girl beside him and saw her smiling gently at him; a slight weight lifted from his heart.

Then he continued, "But when I tried to go further, I found that the invisible door had been closed by you, and I was turned away."

To be honest, your attitude towards me has been rather unpredictable. I'm confused and lost, unsure of where to begin or how to open that door.

He turned his head again, not just glancing at her, but looking her in the eye, and said sincerely, "Oh, I want to know why. Can you tell me the reason?"

Meng Youyou pursed her lips and asked, "Hasn't my dad told you anything about me?"

“Your father actually respects your privacy, and when he first introduced us, he really just wanted you to make some new friends. It was after I took you home that we started to interact more, and that's when he talked to me about your basic information and hobbies. He didn't say anything else.”

"Could you give me a moment? Five minutes, I need to think about how to answer you."

He asked her what the door was that stood between them. How should she answer that question? Meng Youyou looked down at the crescent moon on her fingernail, white and curved, and remained silent for a long time. Shan Muchen pulled the car over to the side of the road; he knew she was thinking and struggling. Every hidden secret in one's heart requires some courage to finally speak it out.

So she sat quietly to the side and waited. The man was as patient as ever, without urging her, his gaze remaining calmly fixed on her profile.

After what seemed like an eternity, probably well past five minutes, the girl finally spoke again: "I have...". She had clearly hesitated for a long time and had already thought about what to say, but just as the words "boyfriend" were about to come out, Meng Youyou couldn't help but freeze.

In later years, online discussions frequently sparked heated debates, with relationship issues always attracting considerable public attention. Meng Youyou recalled a time when a highly discussed topic on a Q&A website was: "How long should a couple go without contact before breaking up?"

At this moment, Meng Youyou asked herself: How long does it take to break up?

They haven't been in contact for three months.

"I have someone I like." That was the last answer I gave.

Dan Muchen didn't seem surprised by the answer. Over the course of a long week, even someone as dull and slow-witted as him could still deduce the most likely reasons, and this one just happened to be within his expected range.

"Then... does he like you?" Shan Muchen was very nervous when he asked this question, because he already had the answer in his heart. In his opinion, no one would dislike her, especially when she liked him too.

Meng Youyou gave a very faint smile. "I think you'll like it."

"Should?" Shan Muchen didn't quite understand what "should" meant. Could you add a prefix like "should" between liking and disliking?

Meng Youyou smiled again, the same faint smile as before, but there was still no smile in her eyes. "You like it, right?" She changed her answer, removing the prefix "should", but still leaving "right".

Dan Muchen stopped dwelling on these ambiguous words and continued to ask, "So, are you two together?"

We were together, but we broke up later.

Dan Muchen tentatively asked, "May I ask why we broke up?"

Meng Youyou fell silent again, and Shan Muchen quickly spoke up to explain, "If it's inconvenient to say, then don't. I'm sorry, I was too impatient. I shouldn't have asked that question."

Meng Youyou slowly shook her head, paused for a moment, and then spoke softly, "It's nothing. Have you heard of the story of 'The Phoenix Hairpin'?"

"The Phoenix Hairpin?" Shan Muchen repeated, his voice filled with doubt, as if he didn't understand why the other person would suddenly bring this up. But after searching his memory carefully, he said, "In my memory... it seems to be a poem by Lu You." In the end, he only managed to retrieve a few scattered pieces of information.

"Hmm," Meng Youyou nodded and began to tell the story in detail: "Lu You and Tang Wan were cousins, and they were in love with each other. The Lu family used an exquisite family heirloom phoenix hairpin as a token to arrange a marriage between them and the talented Tang Wan."

The couple lived happily after their marriage; they were a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman, and deeply in love.

However, Lu You's mother did not like Tang Wan. She felt that her son was obsessed with love after marriage and neglected his studies, which would delay his career in the imperial examinations. Therefore, she never gave Tang Wan a kind look.

Tang Wan was depressed and would occasionally go to Qingxin Nunnery in the suburbs to burn incense. One day, she encountered a villain with malicious intent, but was rescued by Zhao Shicheng, who was playing nearby. Tang Wan was beautiful, and Zhao Shicheng, a descendant of the royal family, fell in love with her at first sight.

Only a year after Tang Wan and Lu You got married, Lu You's mother ordered her son to divorce her on the grounds that they had no children.

The two were deeply in love and reluctant to part, but under pressure from his mother, Lu You hid Tang Wan in a small courtyard outside. However, the truth eventually came out, and Lu You's mother found out about his actions. She forced Lu You to send Tang Wan back to her parents' home with a letter of divorce, citing Tang Wan's lack of offspring.

From then on, Tang Wan spent her days in tears. When Zhao Shicheng learned of this, he visited her every day and proposed marriage, promising to be with her for life. Touched by Zhao Shicheng's unwavering sincerity and devotion, Tang Wan withstood immense pressure and eventually married him.

After their marriage, Zhao Shicheng treated Tang Wan with utmost care and tenderness, cherishing her like a precious treasure, a devotion that lasted for ten years.

But their happiness was short-lived. One day, while the couple was visiting Shen Garden, they ran into Lu You, who had just returned from failing the imperial examination. As Lu You watched his former lover and husband walk away hand in hand, he was overcome with sorrow and turned to write a poem, "The Phoenix Hairpin - Red Hands," on the wall.

The poem quickly spread throughout the city. When Tang Wan saw it, she was overwhelmed with emotions, and sweet memories of the past flooded her mind. She became melancholy and eventually fell ill. Zhao Shicheng sought out many famous doctors, but to no avail.

Before her death, Tang Wan visited Shen Garden again and wrote a poem, "The Phoenix Hairpin: The Coldness of Human Relationships," next to Lu You's poem. She then passed away.