.jpg "A broken mirror is not easily mended – Chinese novel")
A broken mirror is not easily mended
Chapter 5
With the start of the new semester, I threw myself into my studies, attempting academic papers and scholarly works.
It was challenging, but it brought me a quiet joy.
Every day, I read, researched, and wrestled with ideas.
One night, as I lay in bed, I realized I couldn’t remember someone’s name or face.
It was a relief.
I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
I saw Bai Zhou again when our professor collapsed in class.
We rushed her to the hospital, and Bai Zhou hurried over.
I’d thought he would have already left for S City, but he was still here.
Soon after, he called me. “The cherry blossoms at Jade Lake are blooming. Would you like to see them with me?”
I hesitated, then agreed.
I’d seen news about Zhou Junhao—he’d opened a branch office in B City.
His car was often parked outside the school, and photos of him standing beside it were posted on the university forum.
He was handsome, drove a luxury car, and naturally attracted attention.
But none of that mattered to me anymore.
Not long after, Bai Zhou asked me to be his girlfriend.
I said yes.
I didn’t know if my heart had any love left, but I needed to move forward.
I chose to trust Bai Zhou because of the patience and kindness he’d shown Miaomiao in my past life.
When we walked hand-in-hand past Zhou Junhao, his eyes flashed with pain.
He took a sharp drag on his cigarette, then drove away.
Cheng Xiaoyu came to see me as I left the library for lunch.
She told me Zhou Junhao had been in a car accident and hadn’t spoken since waking up. She begged me to visit him.
I looked at her and sneered. “Don’t bother with this performance. Go back and tell him that even if he dies, I won’t go to see him.”
She glared at me. “I don’t know why he ever loved someone as heartless as you!”
“Really? Have you managed to become Mrs. Zhou yet?”
Her face paled, and she stormed off.
Later, my father showed up.
He yelled at me for being unfilial, then tried to persuade me to reconcile with Zhou Junhao.
“The Zhou family only has one son. All their wealth will go to him. This is your chance,” he said, after not seeing me for nearly a year.
“I’m already married,” I said coldly.
He was stunned. His hand flew out and slapped me. “Divorce him! Immediately! Don’t you dare tell anyone about this.”
I was shocked by his audacity.
Why did he think he could control me?
“Fine,” I said.
He relaxed, then added, “The family’s finances aren’t good. The real estate project isn’t going well. If you marry Zhou Junhao, I can ask his family for help.”
I smiled slightly.
When Bai Zhou came out of his office, I was waiting for him.
He was surprised and kissed me.
“I can make sweet and sour pork ribs tonight,” he said.
In the car, I took out a ring I’d just bought at the mall.
He was silent for a moment. “I thought the man was supposed to do this.”
“Is that a rejection?”
“No, it’s a surprise.”
That night, I didn’t return to my dorm.
The next day, we went to the civil affairs bureau and got our marriage certificate.
He helped me move my things from the dorm to his home.
We laughed and joked like any newlyweds.
Bai Zhou’s parents were delighted.
We decided to have a small wedding—too many guests would be overwhelming.
Sometimes, we stayed at his parents’ house.
In Bai Zhou’s old room, I found a photo of us together—from high school.
“We knew each other before?” I was astonished.
In the photo, I was crying, as usual.
He hugged me from behind and laughed. “Every time I saw you, you were crying. Such a crybaby.”
No wonder he’d sighed when we first met again! He’d recognized me all along.
He turned me to face him and pressed his forehead to mine. “I wasn’t part of your past, but I’ll be part of your future. If my wife cries, it’s my fault. I don’t want to be a failure as a husband.”
I kissed the corner of his mouth.
A wife’s tears are a husband’s failure.
A daughter’s tears are a father’s failure.
That summer after high school, my father tried to force me to choose a major.
When I refused, he hit me.
When I was little, he hit my mother. I tried to protect her and lost hearing in one ear.
I ran away.
Zhou Junhao was in France, so I went to find him.
I lost my phone and wallet, didn’t speak French, and panicked.
That’s when I met Bai Zhou.
He helped me contact the airline, reported my loss to the police, and found my documents in a trash bin.
But my money and phone were gone.
I couldn’t remember any phone numbers or log into my accounts.
I felt like the sky was falling.
But Bai Zhou didn’t seem like a bad person. He reminded me of Zhou Junhao, so I trusted him.
He took me to a hotel, gave me some money, and said he’d help me find my friend the next day.
The next morning, he and his friend were going to take me to Zhou Junhao.
The photo was taken by his friend at breakfast.
I was so upset about losing my phone that I didn’t pay attention to anything else.
I hardly remembered his face.
Who knew we had such a connection?
Under my father’s pressure, I finally went to the hospital to see Zhou Junhao.
Bai Zhou came with me.
Zhou Junhao looked haggard, his arm in a cast, his neck in a brace.
My father sat on the couch.
Cheng Xiaoyu stood nearby like a maid, trying to feed him soup.
Zhou Junhao knocked the spoon away.
His mother scolded Cheng Xiaoyu. “Can’t you do anything right? If he doesn’t want to eat, don’t force him!”
Soup splashed on Cheng Xiaoyu’s white dress. She looked miserable, on the verge of tears.
In my past life, Zhou Junhao would have comforted her. Now, he ignored her.
His parents greeted me warmly—a stark contrast to how they’d treated me after Miaomiao was born.
When they saw Bai Zhou, they froze.
Zhou Junhao’s eyes lit up when he saw me.
“Qingyao,” he said, voice controlled but eyes red.
I nodded and smiled slightly.
Bai Zhou introduced himself. “Hello, I’m Qingyao’s husband, Bai Zhou. I’m also a doctor at this hospital.”
He was dressed casually, on his day off.
The room fell silent.
My father glared at me.
I took a wedding invitation from my bag and handed it to Zhou Junhao. “I thought you should have one.”
The veins in his hand stood out against his pale skin.
His uninjured hand trembled as if it weighed a thousand pounds.
His mother began to shout, calling me heartless, saying Zhou Junhao had given me everything and I’d betrayed him.
She told Zhou Junhao it was good that a cold woman like me was gone.
Cheng Xiaoyu cried and accused me of betraying her beloved Junhao.
I looked at them all—my father, his parents, Cheng Xiaoyu—and felt nothing but detachment.
Bai Zhou squeezed my hand.
“Let’s go,” I said.
As we left, I heard Zhou Junhao’s mother shouting, “She’s not worth it, Junhao! Forget her!”
But I knew, in my heart, that he never would.
With the start of the new semester, I threw myself into my studies, attempting academic papers and scholarly works.
Find more: Chinese to English translation, rebirth, betrayal, family, tragedy, webnovel, novel translation, 破鏡難再圓
Comments