I Am A Prodigy

‘Singles’ Day?’Ye Lingchen was stunned momentarily. He looked at his phone, finally realizing that it was 11 November. The four eye-catching “ones” stood out like a sore thumb.

‘It’s already been a month since National Day celebrations?’

‘No wonder.’

Singles’ Day was also known as Un-single Day, an alternate form of Valentine’s Day. Its popularity was on par, if not higher than Valentine’s Day.

Ye Lingchen looked at the two boxes of love letters in front of him and could not help but shake his head with a bitter laugh. Having too many pursuers was quite troublesome in itself.

He randomly opened a few letters. Inside them were mostly words of affection and some confession poems with elegant handwriting. Some of the braver ones would even include their selfie in the letter.

“Ye’zi, can I borrow a few letters?” Little Gen asked Ye Lingchen out of the blue.

“What are you planning?”

“I plan to learn how to write a love letter and confess to a girl!” Little Gen was highly motivated. “I’ve decided that today I will say goodbye to my single life! I can no longer accept the fact that I’m a single dog!”

“Ye’zi, lend me a few too!” Xiang interjected as well.

“You’re planning to write love letters too?” Ye Lingchen asked out of curiosity.

“I want to take a picture and post it in Wechat moments, claiming that someone wrote me a love letter,” replied Xiang in a creepy manner.

That move was even more despicable than Little Gen’s, causing Ye Lingchen to roll his eyes immediately.

On this special day, regardless of gender, their hearts would begin to flutter. Apart from physical love letters, the internet was going wild with confession poems and confession prose. Everyone was either showing off their confessions or publicly displaying their affections for each other. Of course, there were also those publicizing their status as single, hoping to be approached.

On Weibo, some VIPs and celebrities were also taking this chance to get some popularity.

A well known male celebrity posted on Weibo, [I dare not self deprecate. Love to share the snow with thee, sharing the chalcedony. You, if this heart is unenlightened.][1] With that, he tagged his wife, and added one last line, [I wish all the lovers get married.]

[Ahhh, you’re so heartwarming. Your wife must be really blessed.]

[This is an acrostic poem. The first word in each sentence would join together to say “I love you”! I love it!]

[Sob sob sob. All the singles suffered a critical hit from you guys. We now require a partner to resurrect us.]

…

Apart from that, some people had also written confession poems and published them online, bringing in lots of cheers.

Some confessed, with the comments flooded with support from the public to get together.

It was a very happening day. Countless people managed to confess using a comedic approach. Similarly, there were also countless people silently wounded, and could only laugh off the awkwardness by claiming it as a joke.

Very quickly, half a day’s classes came to an end. Having nothing to do, Ye Lingchen headed over to Y Cosmetics.

It was a special day after all. He wondered how Zhang Yunxi was doing. As a boss, he should show more concern over his employees.

However, when he arrived at the doors of Y Cosmetics, he was dumbfounded. It took him a long while before he could confirm that it was his store.

There was a sea of people outside the door, which overflowed with customers. It was normal that business was booming, but the abnormal part was the cosmetic store’s doors were filled with fresh flowers.

The majority of the flowers were roses, mostly red, and some white. They were all arranged nicely and placed in front of the cosmetic store.

‘What’s going on? Did the cosmetic store take up a side business selling flowers?’

As he approached, he noticed the flowers had cards attached to them. Most of them were, “Love you for ten thousand years”, “Be XX’s angel”, “You’re my everything”, and so on. It was unbearably affectionate, causing goosebumps to appear all over Ye Lingchen’s body.

Honk honk honk!

Right then, an electric bike stopped at the store’s door. The driver shouted, “Boss, delivery for you!”

“Oh, I’m coming!” Zhang Yunxi’s sound could be heard from within the store, followed by her taking quick strides outwards.

The delivery guy took out a magnificent bouquet of flowers and passed it to Zhang Yunxi. “This is your 99 roses. The other party asked me to pass you a message: I’ll hold your hand and grow old with you. Please sign the delivery confirmation.”

Zhang Yunxi helplessly received the item from the delivery guy,

“Yunxi,” Ye Lingchen greeted with a smile as he walked over. However, his heart was spasming lightly.

‘Just what are these people? Trying to court our village belle with just some flowers and love letters? Hmph!’

He did not feel anything when he received love letters. However, when Ye Lingchen saw Zhang Yunxi receiving a mountain of gifts, he could not help but feel uneasy. ‘These people are of ill intent. They’re here to steal my girl!’

“Lingchen, when did you get here?”

Zhang Yunxi’s eyes lit up when she saw Ye Lingchen.

“Let me help you keep the flowers.” Ye Lingchen took over the flowers from Zhang Yunxi’s hands.

“There are too many flowers. We don’t have enough space in the store. Just put them all outside,” Zhang Yunxi stated.

“Yunxi, you sure are popular.” Ye Lingchen winked.

Zhang Yunxi looked at the flowers around her, then stuck her tongue out playfully. “These were sent over by some online friends.”

“Are they all trying to court you?” Ye Lingchen asked.

Zhang Yunxi gave Ye Lingchen a charming smile. “Shouldn’t be. I’ve not even met them before.”

‘Tch, you think I’ll believe that?’

Seeing Zhang Yunxi’s expression, Ye Lingchen pouted. He then started going off on those people, “How can these people be so half-hearted. Trying to confess without even meeting you in person? That’s so typical of those people that only focus on looks. These people are unreliable!”

“Lingchen, why are you so agitated? Are you jealous?” Zhang Yunxi slowly walked closer to Ye Lingchen, her beautiful eyes staring at Ye Lingchen as she chuckled.

“Cough cough. I’m just worried about you. I’m afraid you might be tricked by these people.” Ye Lingchen replied after a light coughing.

“It’s because today is Singles’ Day. It’s normal to receive gifts.” Zhang Yunxi then continued, “It’s not just me. Miyako and the others working outside also received gifts.”

‘What?’

Ye Lingchen was shocked. These people targeted Miyako as well.

However, it made sense as he thought about it. Miyako was beautiful. It was only normal for her to be targeted by those single dogs online. ‘Those animals are trying to get my whole store!’

“Singles’ Day was meant for the single people. Why was it forcefully turned into Confession Day? This is straying off from its roots. What nonsense!” Ye Lingchen exclaimed furiously.

“Boss, your delivery is here!”

Right then, another delivery guy came by. This time, apart from the flowers, was another greeting card.

The design of the card was elegant, with cartoon designs that resonated with a teenage girl’s heart. It even came with its own music. With one look, one could tell that it was a popular type on Taobao.

(Only) Guests leaving for the blooming flowers.

(Wish) Longing for Spring to last.

(To) Birds singing and dancing to the warmth.

(Live) You transform into a misty charming river.

(Another) Going through the river of love once more.

(Day) Like the loving swans on the river

(For)Playing with water as it flows away.

(You) The heavens were heartless to keep us away[2].

Ye Lingchen took a glance and understood the situation, mumbling, “Hehe, acrostic poem.”

Connecting this poem, it would read “Only wish to live another day for you.”

Although he appeared calm and collected, he was cursing away in his heart. ‘Jerk! Disgusting! I’ve never seen such a shameless person in my life!’

…

[1] This is an acrostic poem. We merged the second and third sentence together and did some awkward rephrasing of the words to use “I, Love, You” to start each sentence as the raw uses four words, 我喜欢你 (Wo Xi Huan Ni). Hopefully, that would keep it somewhat relevant to the raw in terms of the delivery of the poem. Thank you all for your support of this title. We love you =)

[2] Another acrostic poem. This time, due to the length, it was almost impossible to make those rearrangements so we decided to put it in this format. The words in the brackets are of the translated phrase made from the first words in each sentence. Please note that the order does not match each sentence.