Still Frame Chapter 8
byChapter 8 Isolated Island (3)
Wen Jin’s sudden utterance startled both Zhang Liuxin and the girl. Just as Zhang Liuxin was about to say something, he heard the girl speak in slightly clumsy Yinzhou dialect, “Are you from Yinzhou?”
Zhang Liuxin paused and exchanged a look with Wen Jin.
The girl hadn’t expected such a reaction from the two men in front of her. She waved her hand and switched back to Bernlinian, “I’m not from Yinzhou, but my brother-in-law is. They speak some Yinzhou dialect when they go home for the New Year.”
Zhang Liuxin breathed a slight sigh of relief and replied, “Oh.”
Fortunately, another customer entered the shop at that moment. The girl stopped asking questions, gave the two men a suspicious look, and left.
The second customer was an elderly woman who looked very spry, but she only spoke the local dialect. Zhang Liuxin couldn’t understand much of what she said, so he had to rely on hand gestures. It took a while before he finally understood that the old woman wanted the pineapple bun cut into small pieces because both her and her husband’s teeth weren’t very good.
“Wen…”
Zhang Liuxin braked mid-word. That half-baked Yinzhou dialect earlier had served as a warning.
“Yue Zhuo, cut the pineapple bun into smaller pieces.”
In any case, he reverted to that name. Wen Jin didn’t mind what he was called this time and lowered his head to slice the bread.
His expression was highly focused. The last time Zhang Liuxin had seen him look like this was probably last month, when he went to the Yinzhou Academy of Sciences as usual to pick Wen Jin up from work. At the time, Wen Jin was conducting a very important experiment. Zhang Liuxin watched from outside the chamber with his student for a while. He couldn’t understand the experimental details, so he only focused on the pair of serious and stern phoenix eyes behind Wen Jin’s goggles.
Wen Jin handled the bread knife with the posture of a surgeon holding a scalpel, forming a stark contrast with the round, fragrant pineapple bun lying on the cutting board.
Wen Jin looking like this was truly rare, giving him a unique feeling.
Zhang Liuxin withdrew his gaze and handed the bag containing the sliced pineapple bun to the old woman.
The old woman glanced at Wen Jin, then at him, said something Zhang Liuxin couldn’t understand, and he simply smiled along.
“Aunt Mo said both of you are very handsome.”
Tu Yier had returned at some point and translated for them.
He stood at the counter, scrutinizing Zhang Liuxin and Wen Jin, and teased with a smile, “Chen, I think maybe because you’ve been married for so long, there’s always a certain aura when you stand together.”
“What aura?” Zhang Liuxin was confused. Was it the aura of years spent pretending to be a model couple?
“Haven’t you noticed it yourself? You always like to look at your husband. Of course, I know he is very handsome.”
Zhang Liuxin was stunned. “Is… that so?”
He subconsciously wanted to look at Wen Jin again. Wen Jin had already taken off his gloves and was quietly watching him.
Tu Yier laughed heartily twice. “Your husband is the same. Maybe because he doesn’t understand what we’re saying, most of the time when you talk to us, he just stares straight at you.”
Brother Tu must be lying.
Zhang Liuxin pursed his lips and said no more.
However, one thing bothered him. “By the way, Brother Tu, don’t you usually use mobile phones?”
“Very rarely. Although Serin City is much more developed now, the signal in our town is still very poor. Besides, the town is small, everyone knows each other, and we visit frequently, so there’s not much need for phones.”
“Do you watch the news then?” Zhang Liuxin continued. “Or newspapers? I prefer reading newspapers. I wanted to ask if there’s anywhere in town to read them.”
“News? Yes, we watch it, but usually just news from Serin City. As for newspapers, there’s only one bookstore in town that sells newspapers, old books, and things like that.”
“Great. Could I trouble you to take me there after the shop closes today?”
“Sure. It works out well, as I need to drive back up the mountain after showing you.”
Tu Yier sat down on a chair in the corner of the shop, squinting his eyes for a nap.
Taking advantage of the lack of new customers, Zhang Liuxin lowered his voice and said, “That girl speaking Yinzhou dialect just now startled me. To be safe, you shouldn’t call me by my real name anymore.”
Zhang Liuxin wasn’t arrogant enough to think every Yinzhou person would recognize him, but he had worked in television for so many years after all.
“What should I call you then?”
Zhang Liuxin was about to say “Chen Liu” would suffice when he heard Wen Jin speak.
“Liuxin.”
“Hmm?” He answered subconsciously.
Then he realized that the word “Liuxin” was Wen Jin calling him.
In Yinzhou, in front of others, Wen Jin also called him that— “Liuxin”—but it wasn’t an intimate term; it was more like a businesslike address.
The moment they were alone, Wen Jin couldn’t even be bothered to speak to him.
That’s why the single word “Liuxin” when he woke Wen Jin from his coma yesterday had surprised him so much.
“You…” Zhang Liuxin said, “Just call me Chen Liu.”
If Wen Jin kept calling him “Liuxin,” he would feel like they were still in Yinzhou, and the next second they would have to smile warmly, pretend to gaze deeply into each other’s eyes, and feign affection for those who observed them with magnifying glasses.
“Too much trouble. This isn’t Yinzhou.”
Zhang Liuxin said, “It’s precisely because this isn’t Yinzhou.”
Wen Jin frowned and glanced at him.
Sure enough, seven years of cohabitation hadn’t fostered any real affection, and at this moment, Zhang Liuxin didn’t understand what Wen Jin was thinking.
“There’s a bookstore in town. I plan to go check it out tonight. Maybe I can find news about the current situation in Yinzhou.”
“The station has a program recording the night after tomorrow. I wonder how they’ll handle it. And Camellia…”
“Zhang Liuxin, the Silver Mirror Station can function without you. As for your cat, it has a butler and servants at home. Instead of worrying about it, worry about yourself.”
“Alright.” That made sense.
Several more customers came in succession later. Tu Huisha also returned with Duofei. When only a few loaves of bread were left, they closed early.
Zhang Liuxin helped prepare dinner, but since he didn’t know how to cook Bernlinian food, he could only assist Tu Huisha by washing and chopping vegetables.
When he carried the finished dishes out, he saw Wen Jin chatting with Duofei.
The two of them were nearly two generations apart in age and didn’t share a language, so he wondered how they were communicating.
“What are you two talking about?” Zhang Liuxin asked Duofei.
Duofei grinned, showing her teeth. “Uncle taught me Yinzhou dialect.”
Zhang Liuxin hadn’t expected Wen Jin to be so approachable and gentle. He asked, “What did he teach you?”
Duofei cleared her throat dramatically and said in clumsy Yinzhou dialect, “Hello, quiet, get out.”
Zhang Liuxin: “…”
“Why are you teaching a little girl your catchphrases?”
Duofei even managed to imitate Wen Jin’s indifferent mockery perfectly.
Duofei asked him, “Brother, what does this mean?”
Professor Wen also asked him, “Why does she call you differently than she calls me?”
“…”
Zhang Liuxin took a deep breath. First, he explained to Duofei, “The first sentence means ‘hello.’ You don’t need to learn the last two.”
Then he turned to Wen Jin and said, “She calls you Uncle and me Brother.”
He had expected Wen Jin to look displeased or mock him coolly, but instead, Wen Jin nodded after hearing it and said unhurriedly, “Is that so? Then what do you call me?”
“Of course…” Zhang Liuxin imitated his slow, deliberate tone, “Professor Wen.”
Wen Jin withdrew his gaze and said flatly, “Too fake.”
Tu Huisha brought out the last dish, and the two of them stopped talking. Just then, Duofei pointed at Zhang Liuxin’s cheek and said, “Brother, you have dimples when you smile.”
Zhang Liuxin looked towards the nearby glass window and saw that in the reflection of the setting sun’s afterglow, his lips were slightly upturned, and the dimples on his cheeks were faintly visible, revealing an incredibly gentle smile.
Realizing this, he straightened his lips again, masking the smile.
“Yes. Let’s eat quickly.”
After dinner, Zhang Liuxin and Wen Jin took Tu Yier’s car to the only bookstore in town. Tu Yier gestured to the bookstore owner while saying, “The owner is Uncle Feng. He had a severe fever when he was little and damaged his hearing, so you need to speak loudly to him and use hand gestures. He’ll understand.”
“Or his son will be back in a couple of days. If it’s too difficult, you can come back then.”
Zhang Liuxin waved his hand. “It’s fine. My Bernlinian isn’t great anyway. If he speaks the dialect, I won’t understand either.”
Tu Yier chuckled twice. “Chen, you’re being modest. But you can teach Yue a few more phrases in your spare time. A cultured person like him should learn quickly.”
Tu Yier simply referred to Wen Jin as a “cultured person.” Zhang Liuxin couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, alright. Brother Tu, drive safely.”
“Will do. I’ll be back down in a couple of days.”
“Uncle Feng,” Zhang Liuxin said loudly, “Where are your newest newspapers? We’d like to take a look.”
Uncle Feng didn’t hear clearly and replied with an equally loud voice, “Huh? What do you want?”
“Newspapers.” Zhang Liuxin gestured to him.
“Liuxin.” A slightly low male voice came from behind him.
Zhang Liuxin turned at the sound. Wen Jin pulled out a newspaper and waved it at him.
“Yes, that’s it. Uncle Feng, can we look at these?”
“Newspapers, yes, yes. This one is new. It was delivered this morning at eight.”
Unfortunately, the newspaper contained no useful information. Not only was it all in Bernlinian, but it was also only news from Bernlin Province.
Wen Jin flipped through others and did find news related to Yinzhou, but it was about the Seven Provinces Joint Summit from two months ago.
“This is you, isn’t it?”
The report on the Joint Summit included a very blurry group photo. Even among the collection of mosaics, Zhang Liuxin could instantly spot the tallest figure as Wen Jin.
“Yes.”
Zhang Liuxin struggled to read the report. Fortunately, the entire article was filled with official jargon and didn’t mention much about Wen Jin.
Seeing their interest in the newspapers, Uncle Feng brought out a large stack from the storage room. “These are from previous years. They’re just sitting in storage, so if you’re interested, you can look through them.”
“Thank you, Uncle Feng.”
Zhang Liuxin could only roughly understand the words on these newspapers, so he just casually flipped through them. Most were irrelevant, outdated news from Yinzhou.
Just as he was about to fold a newspaper and put it back, his attention was caught by a corner of one paper. He picked it up, first checking the date, and realized it was a newspaper from seven years ago.
Seven years ago, Yinzhou had just passed the Animal Protection Act. The center of the page featured a photo of the Chief Justice of the State Central Court speaking at a conference.
Looking further down—
The corner was occupied by a wedding announcement. Zhang Liuxin didn’t need to read the text beside it to know what it was, because the accompanying photo was of the small island where he and Wen Jin had held their wedding.
Next chapter: marriage, right.
(As usual, please feed me starfishes~)