Perfect Fiancé Chapter 6

h.e.l.lo everyone! We bring to you another chapter of Perfect Fiance. I also would like to introduce Th.o.r.n.yan, our lovely new editor and a translator that some of you might be familiar with, Minodayz! She has translated, edited and helped many other series in Meraki but one of her recent ones was , please do check her work out too~ Also, not forgetting our awesome editor who helps me a lot with our current serialization, Ely!

Thank you all for your lovely support to this series, please look forward to this and the next chapter! Lu Xi and Su Jin are back again with their tension, can you feel it? I’m excited about the next few chapters. Now that story is pretty established at the moment, loads of stuff are coming soon~

Join  for Perfect Fiance to discuss it~ It’s pretty empty at the moment… ? Oh yes! Warning: this chapter has food, pretty dresses and loads of Chinese culture~ It is one of the longest so far. Without further ado, chapter… 6!

Chapter 6: Shyness Flaky peach pastry, yummy!

The after-cla.s.s bell rang and at the lectern Lu Xi was soon surrounded by a crowd of students. As Su Jin was leaving, she cowardly avoided meeting his gaze. With a soft snort of annoyance, she pulled w.a.n.g Zhe, who was originally planning to step forward towards the lectern and exited the room.

On their way back to the dormitory, w.a.n.g Zhe pestered Su Jin the entire way but she was not successful in getting Su Jin to return to Professor Lu’s cla.s.s. w.a.n.g Zhe, therefore, had no choice but to give up on the cause.

Strangely, their dorm room was brightly lit.

Standing before their building, baffled, Su Jin and w.a.n.g Zhe looked at each other before going upstairs to open their door.

“Inside and sitting on a chair, distressed, Zhou Qian ruffled through her long tresses.

"Qianqian?" w.a.n.g Zhe was a little surprised, "you are back from the library this quickly?"

Shenhai University's evening cla.s.ses were from 6pm to 8pm, and usually, Zhou Qian would remain at the library until it closed at half past nine.

"Yeah," Zhou Qian nodded, "I have some stuff…" As she spoke, she raised her head and looked at Su Jin who stood beside w.a.n.g Zhe.

"Xiao Jin!" Zhou Qian sprung up and her troubled expression turned into excitement. In a few steps, she scuttled towards Su Jin, "could you help me, please?"

Startled by Zhou Qian, Su Jin patted her chest to soothe herself. Then, she replied, "what's wrong?"

w.a.n.g Zhe looked at Zhou Qian's actions in curiosity.

"It's because of that bunch at the student council." Zhou Qian was aware of her own rashness and bashfully pulled the two of them to sit before she continued, "the graduation ceremony is next Thursday, right, so the student council wants every cla.s.s to partic.i.p.ate in the selections for the best performances, and then perform during the graduation evening party."

"Perform?" Su Jin was stunned, "you want me to go on stage?"

"Yes," Zhou Qian nodded, "didn’t you perform a piano recital at the opening ceremony for the new academic year?"

"I remember that too." w.a.n.g Zhe interrupted, "Xiao Jin's piano performance was wonderful."

Playing the piano…

Su jin felt somewhat helpless; the original Su Jin's piano playing skills were definitely good because she had been training from a young age. However, the issue at hand was that the current Su Jin had a change of corpus. Although the memories and experiences were still present, when all was said and done, she had never tried to play since she swapped over to this world.

"Xiao Jin?" Zhou Qian exclaimed as she looked at Su Jin, who was in contemplation.

Returning to her senses, Su Jin smiled lightly when she saw Zhou Qian's antic.i.p.ating gaze.

It was true that she could not play the piano but that did not imply she did not know how to play other instruments.

"Alright, I'll go." Su Jin faced their gazes and nodded, "but, I won't play the piano but the guqin instead(1)."

(1)  (gǔ qín) 古琴 – named guqin or qin, it is a long zither with seven strings that is plucked with fingers. It is also the original Chinese instrument that developed into the contemporary guzheng, a large zither with 13 to 25 strings.

"Guzheng?" w.a.n.g Zhe blinked and distractedly repeated.

"No, it's guqin." Su Jin corrected, "the seven-stringed guqin."

Zhou Qian and w.a.n.g Zhe were stunned for a long time as their disbelief changed into awe.

The two roommates' innermost thoughts were in sync: as expected, a G.o.ddess was definitely a G.o.ddess, yeah? Other than the piano, she could also play the guqin! And it's the seven-stringed guqin! Just the mention of it sounded so elegant and cla.s.sy…

Wordlessly, Su Jin obliquely looked at the two young women who were stupefied. She then turned to take out her night clothes and walked into the bathroom.

As a highly experienced intellectual youth, how could she not learn a type of musical instrument that gave off a literary and artistic vibe? After she graduated from university, she earned her own money and ran off to learn the guqin. Although she only learnt for two years before arriving here, still, it was fortunate that she had a decent and innate skill for it. Her skills could not be praised as an expert level, but they were good enough to perform for a short time at the school's graduation evening party.

The two young ladies suddenly thought of something else after being in shock for a while.

"Xiao Jin, do you have a guqin? Also, about your stage outfit…"

"A guqin can be borrowed from school, and as for the outfit, I will settle it for myself," Su Jin replied in the bathroom.

Therefore, the final problem was also resolved. As for the selections, with Su Jin being one of the school beauties, that was obviously not going to be an issue.

Day by day, time pa.s.sed. As always, Zhou Qian and w.a.n.g Zhe continued their daily life of going to and fro from the dormitory to the library. As for Su Jin, ever since she experienced the anxious atmosphere during the end of term exam period, she had not gone back to the library. Rather, when she had time to spare, she pa.s.sed her days practicing the qin at the music studio.

The Sunday evening after she pa.s.sed the selections, Su Jin received an express delivery.

The box was received by w.a.n.g Zhe who brought it up to their dormitory room. Coincidentally, both Zhou Qian and Su Jin were also in the room.

The box contained a scarlet red crossed-collar hanfu(2).

(2)  (hàn fú) 汉服 – it is a term a.s.sociated with the Hanfu movement (a controversial and popular movement that has developed in China since the beginning of the 21st century to revive and preserve the Han Chinese ident.i.ty). It also means the traditional dress of the Han people and the term was created by netizens around the year 2003. Ancient Han clothing is influential in the creation of other East Asian clothing, such as the j.a.panese kimono and the Korean hanbok.

The two roommates a.s.sumed Su Jin had prepared this outfit for herself. As they gently caressed the exquisite gold thread embroidery on the hanfu, they could not help but rhapsodize over it.

Su Jin stared blankly at the box in confounded surprise when out of the blue, a pair of alluring peach blossom eyes came to mind.

Speaking of which, he had not appeared in a long time.

At the same moment, this aforementioned man was leaning against the sofa in his villa when he suddenly gave out a sneeze.

Rubbing the tip of his nose, a soft smile surfaced.

What was that young girl dwelling on in regards to him… As he raised his head to look towards the moon, he wondered, the present should have been received already right?

The day of the graduation ceremony swiftly arrived.

As it was a school-wide graduation ceremony, it was set up outdoors. After the grand ceremony in the daytime, next, it was the evening festivity of the graduation party.

Benefitting from Su Jin's status as a partic.i.p.ating act, w.a.n.g Zhe and Zhou Qian occupied the center seats in the fourth row from the front stage. Rather than actual seats, they were actually just sitting on neatly placed plastic stools. Although the evening party had yet to begin, Su Jin had been summoned backstage early, leaving Zhou Qian and w.a.n.g Zhe to their own devices and the girls were bored stiff. They were idling and lazily negotiating with a round of Scissors, Rock, Paper who the loser would be to go buy their snacks.

"Rock, scissors, paper-"

The two of them yelled in chorus. Zhou Qian showed scissors and yet w.a.n.g Zhe, who was sitting facing her, did not make a move.

"Zhezhe, why did you not make your move?" Furrowing her eyebrows, Zhou Qian noticed that w.a.n.g Zhe's gaze was aimed at something behind her.

Shocked, a series of horror movies flashed into her mind. Taking a deep breath, she immediately turned around.

Fortunately, it was not a ghost or a zombie, she inwardly thought as she patted her chest in relief.

"Professor Lu!" Finally returning to her senses, w.a.n.g Zhe scrambled up and called out.

No wonder she was surprised, it was really too unexpected for someone of status and an ident.i.ty like Professor Lu's to appear here. After thinking about this, w.a.n.g Zhe quickly looked around at their surroundings. But thankfully, the sky had already begun to darken, otherwise, with Professor Lu's looks, who knows how much attention he would attract towards them.

Professor Lu? In shock, Zhou Qian quickly stood up and surveyed his face at a glance. Then, she turned to w.a.n.g Zhe and gave her a fleeting look.

This was the handsome subst.i.tute professor that you were previously talking about?

w.a.n.g Zhe nodded her head lightly.

Zhou Qian inwardly shook her head as she lightly clicked her tongue. With just this pair of peach blossom eyes, who knows how many young girls would be bedazzled in the future?

"Professor Lu, you’re here?" w.a.n.g Zhe finally asked.

Thinking for a moment, he then replied, "w.a.n.g Zhe?" Seeing her nod, he then turned to look at Zhou Qian and smiled, "you're Zhou Qian then?"

"How did you know? Zhou Qian's eyes widened in surprise. w.a.n.g Zhe had attended this Professor's lessons so it was not strange that he knew her, but her too?

"Nice to meet you." Lu Xi glanced at how the two young girls stared at him blankly and laughed with a quirk on his lips. "I am Lu Xi, Jin'er's fiancé." After saying this, he handed over a bag in his hand to them. "It's the first time we have met, so I brought you some snacks. Thank you for taking care of Jin'er all this while."

Jin'er!? Fiancé!?

w.a.n.g Zhe and Zhou Qian, both faintly shocked by the revelation of this information, woodenly took the bag of snacks and sat down. After a while had pa.s.sed, then they reacted and as one, they turned to look at the man who had already sat down in the spot they had left for Su Jin as if it was inevitable and right for him to be there.

Sensing their gaze on him, Lu Xi sent a friendly smile their way.

The two girls immediately averted their gaze back to each other.

"What shall we do?" Pointing discreetly at Lu Xi and at the snacks in her arms, w.a.n.g Zhe asked in a low voice.

Zhou Qian was quiet for a short while before she replied, "ask Xiao Jin."

Su Jin was currently backstage, preparing and tuning her guqin when she suddenly received a text from her roommates.

"Xiao Jin, Professor Lu came and said he was your fiancé. He even brought snacks for us…"

At the end of the text, there was a series of frightened and alarmed emoticons.

Lu Xi came? Frowning, Su Jin thought for a moment and then finally replied with four words.

"Don't bother about him."

After receiving the reply, w.a.n.g Zhe and Zhou Qian looked at each other for a while before deciding to listen to Su Jin's advice. They ignored Lu Xi who sat one seat away from them and then, they began to nibble at the snacks in their arms.

As the night grew darker, the neon lights on the stage began to twinkle. The greatly antic.i.p.ated evening party had finally begun.

Su Jin's performance was arranged to be one of the last few. As she sat to the side backstage and looked out at the audience through a small slip in the curtains, her thoughts were a little agitated.

There was also something else worth mentioning: Lin Xiyue, too, was onstage.

An elegant, flexible and graceful beauty, her flowing-sleeves dance practically stunned the entire audience(3).

(3) (shuǐ xiù wǔ) 水袖舞 – 'shui xiu' means water sleeves and 'wu' means dance. This is a traditional Chinese flowing-sleeves dance that was incorporated into operas in the past and even today. One of the most dramatic forms of Chinese dancing, a dancer uses long silk sleeves to accentuate her hand and arm movements, whirling them around like banners or ribbons, waving water-like movements and snapping them like whips. These 'water/ flowing sleeves' are an extension of the hands and can be up to two feet long. An example of such a performance is in the given link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjsvGx87PEU

Even w.a.n.g Zhe and Zhou Qian who were sitting beside Lu Xi momentarily forgot about him; they applauded fervently.

As for Su Jin, once it was her turn to step onstage, she drew in gasps of surprise.

Her outfit was interwoven with the layering of red and gold. She wore a crossed-collar scarlet ruqun with narrow sleeve cuffs and a waist-high skirt, while the collar and hem of the skirt were embroidered with gold thread, creating an exquisite pattern(4). A similarly coloured embroidered belt was secured around her waist, making her slender waistline seem even more sylphlike. She also wore a crimson coloured beizi, and similarly, its wide sleeves were embroidered with gold thread along its borders(5).

(4) (rú qún) 襦裙 – 'ru' means an open cross-collar shirt and 'qun' means a wrap-around skirt. A ruqun is a traditional Hanfu primarily for women but also for men. A ruqun can be divided into two types based on the height of the skirt: at the waist or the chest (only worn by women).

All these jackets are variations of the jacket, beizi.

(5) (bèi zi) 褙子 – a parallel-collar "jacket" with side slits beginning at the armpit or at the waist, it is secured at the front with either ties or a metal b.u.t.ton; it is worn by both men and women.

It should have been an excessively lavish colour combination.

But, glancing at it once more…

The attractive woman had darkened eyebrows. At the outer corner of her phoenix eyes, the eyeshadow followed along the eye to curl up at the end; at its tip, half of a plum blossom was drawn(6).

These are all elaborate designs, however, Su Jin’s is just a simple flower.

(6)  (méi huā diàn) 梅花钿 – 'mei hua' means plum blossom and 'dian' means flower ornament. In this case, putting these three words together refer to the famed plum blossom makeup of ancient folklore: Princess Shouyang was resting near the plum trees and a plum blossom drifted down onto her face, leaving a floral imprint on her forehead that enhanced her beauty further. This began the trend of drawing a small delicate plum blossom design on the foreheads of court ladies. Gradually over different dynasties, it was drawn at other areas of the face such as the cheeks or the left eye. There were also a variety of designs like dots, other flowers and other symbols.

At this point, no matter how opulent the clothes were, they had simply become an enhancement to that pair of eyes.

Truly a picturesque beauty, she captured one's heart and soul.

It was plain that she had only put on some eye makeup, nothing more.

In the audience, Lu Xi's peach blossom eyes slightly squinted as he emitted a trace of jealous hostility.

The clear and crisp sound of the guqin resounded and the piece that she was playing was a famed guqin song, Peaceful Lake, and the Autumn Moon. But at this moment, no one was paying attention to the contents of the song- they were all spellbound by her profile.

The piece ended on a last lingering note and the audience seemed to stir from a dream-like trance. As they raised their heads, projected unbelievably clearly on the projector screen next to the stage was the view of the beauty's back as she carried the zither.

Later after Su Jin changed out of her clothes, and returned to the spectator seats, there was only one performance left. She sat beside Zhou Qian and reached into the bag in Zhou Qian's arms. Pinching off a small piece of flaky peach pastry, she threw it into her mouth. Then, she finally turned to look at the man beside her and spoke.

"Mr. Lu, how did you find some time for such a small evening party?" Her tone was absolutely flippant.

Lu Xi glanced over, the makeup on the girl's face had yet to be removed. With a slight arch at the corner of her eyes when she showed a plastic smile, it was utterly charming.

He lightly averted his eyes and his voice was a little husky when he replied.

"Naturally, I came to look at a beauty."

Hearing this reply, Su Jin stared blankly and then quirked up a smile. Peering from the side of her eyes as she tried to tell him something else, she suddenly noticed that the tip of his ears were flushed red.

This… Su Jin blinked, was he shy?

Translated by irisu-san

Edited by Ely, Th.o.r.n.yan

Translation check by Minodayz