我身后的眼睛 The Eyes Behind Me [8] (Elementary)

I’ve been thinking about writing a colloquial Chinese short story on Beginner level for a while, but it turns out that it’ll be much easier to tell a complete story on Elementary level instead of Beginner’s. To check out how reading levels are rated, please click here. My dear readers, I’ll also need your feedback to help me understand the difficulty level of my writing.

I’ve always been thinking that Chinese language could be more approachable to the world if enough reading materials on different levels could be available for learners to read, especially for adult learners. That is also the main goal I’m trying to reach in this “Learn Chinese online Short Stories” session.

Before you begin to read this 4500-character Elementary level short story, I’d suggest that you run through the vocab table first to get familiar with the new words. That way your actual reading process might be much smoother. At the end of each part, there will be a short quiz to test your comprehension.

我身后的眼睛 [8]
 

从餐馆出来, 已是满街灯火.

初秋的风, 夹杂着街市的味道, 扑面而来.

“孩子在等你回去了吧?” 他问.

“他们以为我今天加班.” 我回答.

“哦…” 他顿了顿, “对不起.”

“你没有什么对不起我的地方…” 我停下了脚步, 面对着他.

他也站住了.

“我们去长青湖边走走好吗?”

我央求他. 他点了点头.

 

长青湖的湖面闪着星星点点的光亮.

“你母亲现在怎么样了?” 我早该问他这个问题了.

“她在我回去的第二年就去世了…. 那之后我也找到了工作.”

“真对不起.” 我知道我的问候太迟了.

“我工作刚满八个月就请假来过这里.”

“是吗? 我怎么不知道?”

“我先住在王浩那里.

王浩说, 你如果是来玩, 就痛痛快快地玩, 别想别的.

如果是来找你以前的女朋友, 现在就回去.

我告诉他我就是来找我女朋友的, 想和她当面谈谈.

王浩说, 她下个月就结婚了, 让我死了这条心.”

 

我的脑海里回想起婚礼上王浩转交给我的他送的贺礼和祝福。

婚礼后我问王浩”他人呢?”

王浩说是他托人带来的，他本人并没有来。

我的胸口开始隐隐作痛。。。我继续听他把故事讲完。

 

[vocab table]

 

Simplified Chinese    Traditional Chinese    Mandarin Pinyin    English Definition
灯火    燈火    deng1 huo3    lights
夹杂    夾雜    jia1 za2    to mix together (disparate substances); to mingle
扑面    撲面    pu1 mian4    lit. sth hits one in the face
央求    央求    yang1 qiu2    to plead; to ask earnestly
星星点点    星星點點    xing1 xing5 dian3 dian3    tiny spots
去世    去世    qu4 shi4    to pass away; to die
问候    問候    wen4 hou4    to give one’s respects; to send a greeting
请假    請假    qing3 jia4    to request leave of absence
痛痛快快    痛痛快快    tong4 tong4 kuai4 kuai4    happily and thoroughly
脑海    腦海    nao3 hai3    the mind
婚礼    婚禮    hun1 li3    wedding
贺礼    賀禮    he4 li3    congratulatory gift;
祝福    祝福    zhu4 fu2    blessings
胸口    胸口    xiong1 kou3    chest
隐隐作痛    隱隱作痛    yin3 yin3 zuo4 tong4    to ache inside
 

[pinyin]

wǒ shēnhòu de yǎnjing [8]
 

cóng cānguǎn chūlái, yǐ shì mǎn jiē dēnghuǒ.

chū qiū de fēng, jiāzá zhe jiē shì de wèidao, pūmiàn’érlái.

“ háizi zài děng nǐ huíqu le ba?” tā wèn.

“ tāmen yǐwéi wǒ jīntiān jiābān.” wǒ huídá.

“ o…” tā dùn le dùn, “ duìbuqǐ.”

“ nǐ méiyǒu shénme duìbuqǐ wǒ de dìfang…” wǒ tíngxià le jiǎobù, miànduì zhe tā.

tā yě zhànzhù le.

“ wǒmen qù cháng qīng húbiān zǒu zǒu hǎo ma?”

wǒ yāngqiú tā. tā diǎn le diǎntóu.
cháng qīng hú de hú miàn shǎn zhe xīngxing diǎndiǎn de guāngliàng.

“ nǐ mǔqīn xiànzài zěnmeyàng le?” wǒ zǎo gāi wèn tā zhège wèntí le.

“ tā zài wǒ huíqu de dì’èr nián jiù qùshì le…. nà zhīhòu wǒ yě zhǎo dàoliǎo gōngzuò.”

“ zhēn duìbuqǐ.” wǒ zhīdào wǒ de wènhòu tài chíle.

“ wǒ gōngzuò gāng mǎn bā gè yuè jiù qǐngjià lái guò zhèlǐ.”

“ shì ma? wǒ zěnme bù zhīdào?”

“ wǒ xiān zhù zài wáng hào nàli.

wáng hào shuō, nǐ rúguǒ shì lái wán, jiù tòngtongkuàikuài de wán, bié xiǎng biéde.

rúguǒ shì lái zhǎo nǐ yǐqián de nǚpéngyou, xiànzài jiù huíqu.

wǒ gàosu tā wǒ jiùshì lái zhǎo wǒ nǚpéngyou de, xiǎng hé tā dāngmiàn tántán.

wáng hào shuō, tā xiàgèyuè jiù jiéhūn le, ràng wǒ sǐ le zhè tiáo xīn.”

 

wǒ de nǎohǎi lǐ huí xiǎngqǐ hūnlǐ shàng wáng hào zhuàn jiāogěi wǒ de tā sòng de hèlǐ hé zhùfú。

hūnlǐ hòu wǒ wèn wáng hào” tārén ne?”

wáng hào shuō shì tā tuō rén dàilái de， tā běnrén bìng méiyǒu lái。

wǒ de xiōngkǒu kāishǐ yǐnyǐn zuòtòng。。。 wǒ jìxù tīng tā bǎ gùshi jiǎng wán。

 

[traditional Chinese]

我身後的眼睛[8]
 

從餐館出來, 已是滿街燈火.

初秋的風, 夾雜著街市的味道, 撲面而來.

“孩子在等你回去了吧?” 他問.

“他們以為我今天加班.” 我回答.

“哦…” 他頓了頓, “對不起.”

“你沒有什麼對不起我的地方…” 我停下了腳步, 面對著他.

他也站住了.

“我們去長青湖邊走走好嗎?”

我央求他. 他點了點頭.

 

長青湖的湖面閃著星星點點的光亮.

“你母親現在怎麼樣了?” 我早該問他這個問題了.

“她在我回去的第二年就去世了…. 那之後我也找到了工作.”

“真對不起.” 我知道我的問候太遲了.

“我工作剛滿八個月就請假來過這裏.”

“是嗎? 我怎麼不知道?”

“我先住在王浩那裏.

王浩說, 你如果是來玩, 就痛痛快快地玩, 別想別的.

如果是來找你以前的女朋友, 現在就回去.

我告訴他我就是來找我女朋友的, 想和她當面談談.

王浩說, 她下個月就結婚了, 讓我死了這條心.”

 

我的腦海裏回想起婚禮上王浩轉交給我的他送的賀禮和祝福。

婚禮後我問王浩”他人呢?”

王浩說是他托人帶來的，他本人並沒有來。

我的胸口開始隱隱作痛。。。我繼續聽他把故事講完。

 

[English Translation]

Special thanks to John Collett for diligently proofreading my English translation!!

 

The Eyes Behind Me [8]

 

When we stepped out of the restaurant, the street had been lit up with street lights.

The breeze of early autumn, mixed with the smell of the city, gently stroked our face.

“Perhaps your child is expecting you to come home now?”, he asked.

“They thought I worked late today.”, I answered.

“Oh,” he paused for a second, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize for anything.”, I stopped and faced him.

He stopped as well.

“Can we have a walk to Chang Qing river?”, I asked.

He nodded.

 

The surface of Chang Qing river was scattered with sparkling lights.

“How is your mother doing now?”, I should have asked this question earlier.

“She passed away the second year I returned…. sometime later I found a job.”

“I’m so sorry.” I know my condolences came too late.

“After eight months of work, I actually came here once.”

“Really? How come I didn’t know?”

“I first stayed at Wang Hao’s when I came.

Wang Hao said to me “If you came here to spend your vacation, then please fully enjoy it, and don’t bother to think about anything else. But if you came here to find your ex-girlfriend, then you’d better go back now.”

I told him I did come here to find my girlfriend, and I wanted to have a talk with her face to face.

Then Wang Hao said, “She already has her wedding planned for next month. You’d better wake up and face reality. “

 

I still remembered how Wang Hao had passed his blessing and wedding gift to me on my wedding day.

After the wedding, I asked Wang Hao, “wher was he?”

Wang Hao explained how he had asked someone to bring the wedding gift to me, because he had been unable to come himself.

My heart started to ache. I waited for him to finish the story.