Chapter Twelve Girl

  On his way back from Sunset Boulevard on the bus it was already late afternoon, Jester simply bought two beef burgers by the roadside to fill his hunger.

  The sightseeing bus stop is not far from 'Jedi's Home' game store, within a 30-minute walk.

  Jester decided to walk away directly, which also counts as digesting food after meals and is beneficial to physical health.

  The street-side bookstore also lit up its lights, apparently it's going to continue business.

  On the advertisement posted outside the bookstore, there were a few lines of eye-catching words that looked somewhat familiar, and Jester couldn't help but stop to take a look.

  The name of the book printed on that advertisement is "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", and the cover design has a strong artistic and elegant tone, which is also highlighted in red to attract attention.

  Jestem read it a few times, and only after seeing the author's name Min-Kundera at the back did I realize that this was actually that very famous "The Unbearable Lightness of Being".

  It's time now and it's indeed the right moment for this monumental work to be published.

  In his previous life, he had taken a course in literary history at university in order to pursue his girlfriend.

  In the end, I didn't get the girl, but I did hear a lot of interesting stories.

  The teacher who gave the lecture was a fan of Sholokhov and Milan Kundera, and took out time to talk about the world literary scene in 1984. The world literary scene that year mainly revolved around three names: Sholokhov, Milan Kundera and Marguerite Duras.

  For this teacher, this year can be said to be a year of mixed emotions of sadness and happiness.

  Sholokhov died this year, and Milan Kundera wrote "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", while Marguerite Duras, though far less famous than the first two, still published France's best-selling "L'Amant".

  It's Liang Jiahui, the one with the "sexy buttocks".

  At that time, his teacher said that Sholokhov, the greatest writer in the Soviet Union, had passed away this year. Even Western countries with opposing ideologies expressed deep condolences for the death of this great writer.

  At that time, Jester still had some doubts about this teacher being a brain-dead fan, because what the other party said was completely illogical. A Soviet writer, and not Solzhenitsyn, but a real proletarian fighter who won the Stalin Literature Prize and the May Day Medal, how could he be mourned by those Western countries?

  Nonsense.

  Jest walked into the bookstore and saw that a prominent display had been set up for the English translation of "And Quiet Flows the Don".

  This book is Sholokhov's greatest work, known as a book that can be used to support one's head in the coffin after death, a lifetime of writing just one book and having no regrets. The most amazing thing is that he started writing it when he was twenty-five years old...

  And the fact that these books can be placed in a prominent position indicates that their sales are quite good. It's worth noting that this is the Western world, where ideological opposition between East and West is extremely severe, while Sholokhov is a Soviet writer.

  Is literature really beyond national boundaries and ideologies?

  Zhest also couldn't help but admire Sholokhov's influence, truly a world-class literary giant, just as his teacher had said back then.

  "Bang!"

  A faint sound came from nearby unexpectedly.

  Jester couldn't help but look up in the direction of the voice, a black-haired girl with an air and attire that didn't fit in with this era's Americans was blushing, awkwardly squatting down to pick up a book that had fallen on the ground.

  The cover of the book is the same as the poster that Jester saw outside the bookstore, Milan Kundera's immortal work "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", which shocked the world shortly after its birth.

  "Hello, are you Chinese?"

  As soon as he saw the other person's clothes, Jester had already guessed his identity and couldn't help but feel a sense of closeness, although he had seen many Chinese people here, but this was still the first time he had met someone from the other side of the ocean since he was reborn in America.

  The girl is very pretty, giving Jester a lily-like feeling. Her skin is white and her hair is black, tied up in a ponytail with a simple hair tie. She's wearing a pure white dress that reaches down to her calves, revealing half of her spotless white legs. On her feet are a pair of black patent leather shoes with white cotton socks rolled up to her ankles.

  The girl's face turned red like a ripe apple as she saw people around her staring at her with strange eyes.

  At this moment, the girl suddenly heard a sentence of extremely standard Mandarin, which made her face reveal a surprised expression.

  She has been studying in the United States for more than half a year, although she has seen many Chinese people, and there is also Chinatown in Los Angeles, but most of them speak Cantonese, and few speak Mandarin, especially as standard as just now.

  The girl looked up in surprise towards the direction of the sound, and saw a young man with yellow skin and black hair, about 1.8 meters tall, walking towards her with a smile.

  The girl was a little distracted at this moment, and Jester had already squatted down to help her pick up the book that had fallen on the ground.

  Then he handed the book over to the girl's hand.

  "Thank you... thank you so much!"

  The girl was still a bit shy, stood up, quickly took the book, blushed and bowed her head, then stuttered out a thank you.

  "Wow! So you're really from China!"

  Upon hearing the girl's response, Jester still revealed a surprised expression, despite having confirmed it earlier.

  The girl was taken aback by Jester's words, originally thinking that someone who could speak such authentic and fluent Mandarin must also be an overseas student from China.

  Although there are not a few Chinese students in Los Angeles, they can't be said to be many. She has been here for so long and has also gathered several times. Most of them have seen each other before. At first glance, Jester's face looked unfamiliar, and she thought he was some Chinese student she didn't know.

  Unexpectedly, listening to his question just now, it seems that he is not from China, but can a Chinese person speak Mandarin so well?...

  "Yes, I am from Beijing, and you... aren't you here on a scholarship from within the country?"

  The girl's voice is not loud, nor does it have the flavor of Beijing dialect, but rather a somewhat bookish and effeminate Jiangnan accent.

  "I... I'm not, I'm Chinese, my grandfather came to America in '45. Your accent sounds like it's from Jiangsu or Zhejiang, doesn't sound very northern." Jester was taken aback by the girl's question, and just as he was about to reveal his true identity, he suddenly remembered that he had already crossed over and been reborn, and the world had long since changed, even the city he was in didn't exist due to administrative divisions.

  At this time, the girl's face showed even more astonishment, and a few threads of doubt flashed in her bright eyes. Even for locals, it's not easy to tell where someone is from just by their accent.

  The girl still replied: "My ancestral home is in Jiangsu, and I also lived in Jiangsu when I was a kid, until I went to college did I move back to BJ."

  Jie Si nodded, actually he was an otaku before his rebirth, the kind who couldn't say a word in front of girls for half a day. This time, he took the initiative to talk to this girl just because of a long-time urge to see Chinese people, and after this urge disappeared, he also didn't know what to say anymore.

  For a moment, there was an awkward silence between them.

  At this moment, Jestr inadvertently lowered his head and saw that the girl was still holding Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" in her slender white palm, and he took the initiative to say: "This book is very good, my friend recommended it to me."

  Upon hearing this, a hint of joy appeared on the girl's face. After chatting with Jester for a bit, she felt that he didn't seem like a bad person, and her shyness dissipated somewhat. In fact, she was quite talkative in front of people she knew well, especially when she heard that he liked "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". She excitedly said: "You also like this book? It was recommended by one of my teachers at school, who said it's the best work to come out of the 80s up until now... Unfortunately, there are many things in it that I don't understand..."

  “Don't understand?” Jester had never really read this book, and he never read books that were so artistic. His understanding of the book only came from his elective course teacher, but he did hear from friends who had read the book that some parts were very difficult to understand, but the problem was that he didn't know himself.

  At this time, Jester was somewhat regretful that he hadn't thoroughly studied this book from the beginning.

  The girl thought Jester was someone who had read the book and understood more than her, after all, he grew up in the United States, his English must be very good, while her English level was not high, after all, she was not a foreign language major.

  She gently opened the cover of the book, stretched out a finger as white as jade, and pointed to the string of letters on the title page that were obviously not English. She asked Jester in a voice with a hint of hope and a bit of grievance: "Is this it? Is this it? I copied down this sentence and asked several of my classmates, but they all said they didn't know what it meant, and also said it shouldn't be English or French."

  Jester glanced at it and looked at the words on the cover page, feeling a little familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere.

  Jester's face also showed a puzzled expression, and the girl's originally hopeful face couldn't help but dim slightly. In her heart, she thought silently, so he doesn't know what this sentence means either.

  Suddenly, Jester's eyes lit up and he slapped his forehead as he remembered.

  The girl looked at Jester's previous performance, seemingly frightened, with both arms clutched around the book in front of her chest, somewhat panicked and looking at him in confusion.

  Jester's face broke into a smile.

  Is this the sentence that his elective course teacher wrote on the blackboard and directly told everyone that there will definitely be questions explaining what this sentence means in the exam?

  After some thought, Jester began to put on airs in front of the girl, while also secretly cursing: "These American publishers are really stupid, leaving a sentence in Czech untranslated on the title page, what's the point?"

  "This sentence is in Czech, Milan Kundera is a Czech..."

  "Ah! Kundela is Czech? I heard from the teacher that he was a French writer..." The girl couldn't help but exclaim in surprise as soon as she heard Jest's explanation, but then felt that interrupting someone else's explanation to her was somewhat impolite, and couldn't help but feel embarrassed, sticking out her tongue, her pale cheeks immediately turning red.

  Jester just smiled indifferently and continued to explain to the girl.

  "Hmm, he is a French writer, but he is Czech, he has written works in French and also in Czech, this "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" was written in Czech, because it's a story that takes place in the Czech capital Prague..."

  Jester carefully introduced the background of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", and the girl listened with great interest.

  As for why Jester knew the content of this book without having read it - he had seen that famous movie "A Prague Affair", which he remembered was adapted from it, maybe with some differences in details, but the overall background was still correct.

  The sentence on the door is in Czech and means "All evil has been forgiven beforehand, and everything is permitted!" It means that all the sinful things people do are already forgiven before they even happen, which allows those sins to occur. It's a satire of Jesus and Christian spirit because Christians get the answer "God has already forgiven you" no matter what they confess before death. This sentence is also the core idea of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, understanding it makes the book easier to comprehend. Tereza almost verbatim repeated what that lecturer on literary history had said back then.

  The girl listened and also flashed a look of admiration in her eyes. College students in this era are still very simple-minded, they will naturally admire those who understand more than themselves.

  She didn't know that Jester was just going through the motions...

  "Oh! It's so late, I'm going back......" The girl looked at the sky outside, which had already completely darkened, and then looked again at the book in her hand, Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", reluctant to part with it, and carefully put it back on the bookshelf.

  Jest knew this was because books in the US were too expensive, and at that time, studying abroad was all funded by the government, with very little living expenses. The remaining money was also used to buy books that were beneficial for studies, such as bestsellers like this one, which would occupy an important position in the world literary scene in the future. However, it was still impossible to spend precious foreign exchange on buying them.

  Then the girl bid farewell to Jester and hastily walked out of the bookstore.

  Looking at the girl's slender figure, her bare legs exposed outside like white jade, Jester's nose seemed to still smell the fragrance on the girl's body before, a bit like the sweet scent of lilies after they bloom.

  Jester knew this wasn't the scent of any cosmetics, it was the natural body fragrance of that girl.

  Then Jester suddenly slapped his forehead, and only then did he remember that he had forgotten to ask the girl's name, contact information, which university she was studying at...

  I'm really an out-and-out otaku!

  He cursed himself and swiftly grabbed a copy of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" from the bookshelf, flipped it over to check the price - sixty dollars - and cursed again at the greedy American bookseller. Then he hastily walked to the cashier, threw down a one-hundred-dollar bill, and quickly ran out of the store, chasing after the girl in rapid strides.

  Jester didn't know the girl's name, shouting "Hey, hey" seemed too rude and might give her a bad impression. Shouting something like "Beauty" which was common in later generations would probably be taken as teasing. Jester could only silently follow closely behind her.

  Although the girl may be in a hurry and walking quickly, she is after all a weak woman, no match for this sturdy man, Jester.

  In less than a minute or two, Jester caught up with the girl.

  The girl with the scent of lilies was staring at Jester in surprise, who was sweating profusely and still panting heavily, not knowing why he was chasing her.

  "Here!" Jester handed the book forward to the girl.

  It was the same book that the girl had been reluctant to part with earlier - "The Unbearable Lightness of Being".

  The girl's shining eyes stared at the book that Jester handed over to her, but she didn't reach out to take it. Although her eyes were full of hopeful expression, she still shook her head firmly.

  "I don't want it, this book is too expensive, and we've just met..."

  Jester suddenly stuttered.

  Should college students of this generation be so innocent?

  He had to change his tone and said: "It's not a gift for you, let's just say I'm lending it to you, whenever you see me is fine. My name is Jester Lee, I'm a student at UCLA, after the break I'll be a junior in electrical engineering. You can return this book to me when you're done reading it. And you're from mainland China, while I'm an overseas Chinese, shouldn't we help each other out? Isn't that what Zhang Mingmin sang about during the Spring Festival Gala this year: 'The blood flowing through my heart is surging with the voice of China, even if I'm abroad, my Chinese heart won't change'?"

  Upon hearing Jester's words, the girl was even more astonished: "You've also heard 'My Chinese Heart'?"

  Jester smiled and said, "This song is written about us overseas Chinese! My grandfather got the tape from a friend, after hearing this song, he cried like rain, kept saying, 'This is what we are talking about! This is what we are talking about!'"

  The girl heard Jester's explanation, still biting her lip tightly, and a struggling expression appeared on her delicate face. Perhaps the temptation of this book was too great, and in the end, she took it over.

  But she repeatedly emphasized that she was just borrowing it to take a look and would definitely take good care of it, and after finishing reading it, she would return it intact.

  Jester just smiled and didn't say anything, in fact he didn't care whether the girl was still there or not.

  It's also quite delightful for him to be able to help an international student from his home country.

  And as he looked at this clean, neat and elegant girl in front of him, a strange feeling arose in his heart, which seemed to be... love at first sight?

  Jester didn't know if this was it or not, but he knew that this girl was indeed his type - straightforward, unpretentious and principled.

  The girl looked at Jester, lowered her head to glance at the book in her hand, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke up in that gentle, soft voice that Jester never got tired of hearing, with a hint of Jiangnan water-like accent: "My name is Qin Shuyi, I'm studying film production and screenwriting at USC, thank you for your book!"

  After finishing speaking, possibly for the first time introducing herself to a strange boy, the girl's face suddenly turned bright red.

  Then he turned around and walked quickly towards a bus stop sign in the distance.

  Jie Si quietly looked at the girl named Qin Shu Yan, his eyes inadvertently fell on her feet wearing black lace-up leather shoes. He only then discovered that possibly because the girl had walked too quickly and the shoelaces were too loose, one of the shoe's laces was already untied.

  Seeing this scene, Jester couldn't help but quickly chase after her again, then without saying a word, he squatted down to tie the girl's shoelaces.

  Qin Shu saw this scene, her face turned from cheek red to ear root in an instant, and a look of anger also appeared on her face.

  "What's wrong with this guy! How embarrassing on the street..." Qin Shuyi's heart was like a small deer constantly bumping around, she originally wanted to scold him harshly and throw his book back at him, saying she didn't care about his worthless book... but looking down at Jester quietly and gently tying her shoelaces, she couldn't bring herself to scold him no matter what.

  He tightened his shoelaces, and Jester stood up, just about to say "done", but he saw the girl's angry face, and suddenly understood how... excessive what he had done was for a domesticated girl. For now, let's use this word to describe it, Jester couldn't think of a better word to decorate it with either.

  The girl stared at Jester with wide, bright eyes, her eye sockets filled with water vapor, and some grievances pursed her lips, her face red, but she didn't say a word. She just passed for one or two seconds, then turned around and disappeared quickly in the crowd.

  Jie Si watched as Qin Shu Yan's figure gradually disappeared from view, and inexplicably felt a sense of loss in his heart.

  It's an extremely lonely feeling.

  This was his first time feeling this way since he came into this world.

  This seems like love at first sight.

  He could only comfort himself like this.

  PS: Yesterday, I only updated one chapter because the second chapter was too difficult to write. I wanted to write a pure and romantic encounter and create a female character that I had in mind. I wrote from 7 pm to 3 am before finishing this 6,000-word chapter, revising and editing countless times, it was really tough.

  Please be more tolerant. Also, thank you to the great god of vulgarity for the shoelace-tying segment in Shui Zhi, which gave me inspiration to depict a scene of pure and innocent encounter, this segment is just perfect for it.