In the snowy night, her retreating figure—the white winter coat fluttering as it gradually melted into the swirling snowflakes—remained oriented only by the faint crimson guidance of her scarf.
雪夜里她的背影,那白色的冬衣跳动着渐渐融入雪花纷飞的夜色里,只有她那大红的围巾,恍惚间依旧指引着她的方向.
The faucet in the washbasin, mottled with rust, could not be fully shut off; droplets fell in irregular patterns, ticking and tapping, each sound striking against Li Haojun's restless heart. Rubbing and washing her socks in his hands, he felt as though the young Kesiya were sitting alone by the window in the bedroom behind him, gazing out at the world beyond.
洗手池的水龙头带着斑驳的锈迹,无法关断的水滴,长长短短地嘀嗒着,敲打着李皓珺的心绪.手里揉搓清洗着她的袜子,仿佛身后的卧室里就是年少的凯西娅,独自坐在窗前仰望外面的世界.
He longed to step into that moment, to be by her side, yet found himself frozen in the amber glow of the dim bathroom light, unable to accompany her loneliness… unable to move even a single step.
他想走进那段时光,到她的身边,而自己却被凝固在了洗手间灯光昏黄的琥珀时光里,不能陪伴她的孤单...,无法移动一丝脚步.
"Ah," Li Haojun suddenly woke with a start. Daylight was already bright. He turned to look around—no one was there. Listening carefully, he caught the sound of Qin Wenjing and Malaya talking in the kitchen.
"啊,"李皓珺忽地惊醒,天色已经大亮,他扭头看了看周围,空无一人,仔细听了听声音,厨房里传来覃文静和玛莱雅的交谈声,
"Oh," Li Haojun let out a breath. Only then did he remember that he had brought Malaya home to rest last night. Perhaps he had been too exhausted; in his sleep, he had forgotten everything that had happened in reality.
"哦,",李皓珺松了一口气,他这才想起来昨晚是自己把玛莱雅带回家休息的,是不是自己昨天太累了,睡梦中已经忘了一切现实中发生的事情.
He got up, dressed, and wanted to go to the kitchen to see the woman and the girl who filled his thoughts. But the moment he stepped out, he stopped, standing there dazed, looking toward the kitchen.
起床穿上衣服,想要去厨房看看让他心心念念的女人和女孩,可是一出门他就站住了,傻傻地站在那里望向厨房那边,
The two women stood there in their pajamas, laughing and talking without restraint. The golden morning sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating Qin Wenjing's cheeks and shoulders, even gilding the edges of her dark green silk camisole with a shimmering golden rim. Within that radiant glow was her face and figure.
两位女性正站在那里,穿着睡衣,肆无忌惮地谈笑着.清晨的金色阳光,透进窗子,照亮覃文静的脸颊和肩头,就连她那件墨绿色丝绸吊带睡衣,也仿佛被烫上了闪亮的金边.金光闪亮里是她的面容和身影.
Whether intentionally or not, Qin Wenjing had dressed Malaya in her own semi-transparent white silk chiffon pajamas. In the projection of the golden morning light, Malaya's youthful silhouette revealed itself—through the loose strands of her hair, the slender curve of her neck, the contours of her body beneath the fabric, the line of her shoulders and back, the narrowness of her waist and hips, the length of her thighs—already bearing the faint air of mature girlhood.
不知道是不是故意的,玛莱雅被覃文静穿上了她那件半透明白色蚕丝雪纺睡衣.在金色清晨阳光投影的她青春身影中,透过披肩发丝,她修长的颈部,透过睡衣的身形轮廓,肩背,腰胯,大腿,已经有了些成熟少女的气质.
Li Haojun watched them silently, unwilling to disturb their happiness or break the beauty of the moment. Yet, even with them here, he still felt a trace of sorrow—a sorrow belonging solely to Kesiya, a sorrow of parting. He wondered if she was happy now. Alas, how could she be? Clearly, he had failed to protect her well enough.
李皓珺默默地望着她们,不想打扰她们的快乐时光,也不想打破这样的良辰美景.只是在这有她们陪伴的时光里,李皓珺还是感到了一丝忧伤,分别的,独属于凯西娅的那份忧伤,也不知道她现在是不是幸福开心.唉,又怎么会呢?分明是自己没能爱护好她.
After breakfast, Malaya stayed in Qin Wenjing's room for a long while, busy with something, before finally stepping out.
吃过早餐,玛莱雅在覃文静的房间里和她一起忙活了好长一阵子,终于走出了房间.
After all that time, it turned out Qin Wenjing had styled her hair into double buns on either side, with the leftover length twisted into twin looped knots—like the hairstyle of an ancient Chinese fairy. The back of her neck was exposed, pale and white, while straight bangs covered her forehead, making her seem once again like the childish girl Li Haojun remembered so fondly.
忙了那么久,原来是覃文静给她梳了一个双侧丸子头,多余的长发绑了双环发髻,就像中国古代仙女的发型,后面露出雪白的脖颈,前面齐刘海遮挡着额头,看起来仿佛又回到了她满是孩子气的年纪,李皓珺很是怀念的曾经那个她.
Malaya's dress from yesterday was being washed, so she had no outer clothes to wear today. She chose a light gray women's casual blazer from Qin Wenjing, dotted with sparse small black spots.
玛莱雅昨天穿的裙子洗了,今天没有外衣了,所以选了覃文静的,一身淡灰色稀疏小黑点布料的女式休闲西装.
The top was a fitted, rounded-hem jacket with a back slit, featuring peak lapels and a black collar edged in gray. The design itself was petite, the lapels short, and beneath them bloomed a black-bound ruffled collar over a white shirt—petals of lace framing Malaya's smiling face as she walked past. She seemed delighted all morning.
上身是收腰圆角衣襟后开气,戗驳领小西服,黑色的衣领,有着灰底色的边缘.上衣款式本身就很小巧,西服领的长度也小,领口里簇拥着白色衬衫的黑色锁边荷叶领,而那花瓣一样的荷叶领,则簇拥着玛莱雅走过眼前的笑脸.看来这一早上她很开心.
The suit was a relaxed style, made of stretchable fabric, so the matching trousers lacked sharp creases, clinging instead to her skin, outlining the roundness of her hips as she passed by, the hem swaying with each step, the bell sleeves brushing against her slender fingertips, down to the firm lines of her thighs, flaring out gracefully at the calves.
这身西服套装是休闲款,面料是有弹性的,所以同色的长裤并没有笔挺的裤线,而是紧贴肌肤,凸显着她圆润的臀部走过自己的面前,左右摇摆间碰撞着衣襟,还有她荷花袖的袖口,纤细的指尖,再往下是大腿紧致的线条,到小腿喇叭口的潇洒.
Ah—she was wearing high heels. No wonder her passing smile had seemed to float, her retreating silhouette carrying a hint of alluring rhythm.
哦,她穿了高跟鞋,怪不得刚才走过面前的时候她飘过的笑脸,走过的背影里她诱惑的步伐.
As he stood watching, Qin Wenjing came over as well, crossing her arms over her shoulders as she stood before Li Haojun, eyes smiling, saying nothing.
伫立凝望之间,覃文静也跟着走了过来,双手抱肩站在李皓珺面前,笑眯眯地眼睛看着他,没有一字言语.
As if mocking his lingering gaze on Malaya's passing figure, Li Haojun gave a sheepish smile and rested his hands on Qin Wenjing's waist and hips.
好像在嘲笑自己刚才对玛莱雅走过背影的觊觎,李皓珺惭愧一笑,双手搭在覃文静腰胯,
"Does the Kalispell system still need debugging?" Qin Wenjing asked softly, running her hands over Li Haojun's forearms.
"卡利斯佩尔的系统还要调试吗?",覃文静轻声问着,说着把双手抚摸着李皓珺的前臂,
"Yes. The townspeople can't rely solely on programs to maintain their health—there are always exceptions the system can't predict. Like someone getting a hair from their pillow stuck in their eardrum. We need to add more feedback mechanisms."
"是啊,小镇上的人靠程序并不能维持他们的健康,总有些特例是程序预测不到的,比如有人枕头上的头发扎到了耳膜,需要增加一些反馈机制."
"You really are a fine mayor for the people," Qin Wenjing teased, her face leaning closer with a smile.
"你真是人民的好镇长,",覃文静说笑着,她的脸庞笑盈盈地在靠近,
Li Haojun wrapped his arms around her, pulling her entire body close, kissing her lips gently, then looking into her eyes.
李皓珺连同她的胳膊,把覃文静整个人搂进怀里,轻轻亲吻她的嘴唇,然后望着她的眼睛,
"And I'm your good man, too."
"我也是你的好男人,"
"Heh… just my man?"
"呵呵,只是我的男人吗?"
Li Haojun paused, unable to answer. He didn't know whether "her man" meant something physical or spiritual—or if it was exclusive.
李皓珺愣了一下没有回答出来,他不知道自己作为她的男人,现在这个定义应该是肉体的,还是精神的,是否排她的,
"Go on now. Malaya's waiting for you," she said, giving him a gentle push.
"快去吧,玛莱雅等你呢,",说着推了他一把,
As his body swayed, a strand of Qin Wenjing's hair fell across her neck.
身体的晃动之间,覃文静一丝秀发散落在脖颈,
Li Haojun brushed the strand aside, pressing a light kiss to her skin. One arm tightened around her shoulders, the other sliding down to her hips, lifting her closer. His lips trailed downward—to her collarbone, then to the edge of her breast beneath the neckline.
李皓珺轻轻撩起那一缕发丝的遮挡,轻轻亲吻在她的肌肤之上,一手搂紧她的肩背,一手滑落在她的臀部,搂起她的身体,自己亲吻的嘴唇滑落到了她的锁骨,然后是她领口里乳房的边缘.
Qin Wenjing no longer pushed him away. She tilted her head back, her chest rising and falling.
覃文静没有再用手推他,仰着头,胸脯起伏.
Yet another day. Li Haojun still did not go to the factory in Kalispell. The more transparent the floor-to-ceiling windows of its office, the more hollow he felt inside. So today, he and Malaya returned once more to the Kalispell Management Center, that mountainside building by the lake.
新的一天,李皓珺依然没有去卡利斯佩尔的工厂,那里办公室的落地窗玻璃越是通透,他的心就越感到空无所依,所以今天他又和玛莱雅来到了卡利斯佩尔管理中心,那个湖畔的山体建筑里.
Perhaps in this cramped, isolated space, he could focus better on solving problems. The previous manager had not refined the system's feedback mechanisms. During the factory's construction, Li Haojun had met more of the town's residents and discovered that many were not in good health.
似乎在这局促的与世隔绝的空间里,他更容易集中注意力处理问题.之前的管理者并没有很好地完善这里的系统反馈,在建设工厂的过程中李皓珺接触了更多小镇的居民,发现很多人并没有处于很好的健康状态.
Small issues—minor physical injuries, insect bites, skin conditions—nothing serious, but left untreated, some people's overall condition would worsen.
都是些小问题,比如身体的小物理外伤,蚊虫叮咬皮肤病,问题不大,可是不处理的话,有的人整体健康状况就会恶化.
What Li Haojun needed to do was simple: add personal health maintenance directives and feed them back into the system. Easy work—just no one had done it before. No wonder the previous supervisor had been transferred. Probably left in such a hurry that he hadn't even taken his strange collection of tools with him. Li Haojun silently mocked the former supervisor in his mind.
需要李皓珺做的也很简单,增加个人身体维护指令,反馈至系统处理.很简单的工作就是之前没人做,也难怪之前的主管被调走了.可能走得太匆忙,连他那些个怪异癖好的工具都没带走,李皓珺心中暗暗嘲笑这里的那个前任主管.
After finishing the day's work, he and Malaya emerged once more into the autumn afternoon light. Lake Ashley lay deep blue and luminous. The golden remnants of the sun lit up the emerald conifer forests on the opposite shore, pouring that gilded green into the lakeside waters. Ripples stirred by the breeze rolled in waves of gold, then flashed back to jade—like Kesiya's gaze flickering before him. He reached out to take her hand, but she was far across the lake.
完成今天的工作带着玛莱雅再次回到午后秋光沐浴的地面,阿什利湖面幽蓝而明媚.金色残阳照亮对岸碧绿的针叶林,就把这样的金碧一起倾倒进了沿岸的湖水,湖面在微风的荡漾间,一波波铄金涌过,又闪现湖水的碧绿,好像凯西娅的眼波又闪动在面前,刚想要拉住她的手,却远在对岸.
"Thinking of her again?" Malaya said as she walked past Li Haojun.
"你又想她了?",玛莱雅说着从李皓珺身边走过,
The sisters could sense what he was thinking. After being together so long, it no longer surprised him. He saw Malaya take a few small objects from the car—they looked like earpieces. She put one in each ear, then handed two to Li Haojun.
她们姐妹能感觉到自己在想什么,相处了这么久他已经不觉得奇怪了.只见玛莱雅从车里拿过来几个小物件,好像耳机,自己一边一个塞进耳朵里,然后又递给李皓珺两个,
"These are shared-vision transmission devices used during field operations. Want to try them?"
"这是外勤执行任务时候共享视野的传送设备,你要试试吗?"
Li Haojun took them, puzzled. Why would she want to share her vision with me?
李皓珺伸手接过来,有点疑惑,她为什么要与我共享视野呢?
"It's a sensory transmission device, not music headphones," Malaya explained, taking the devices from his hand and placing them in his ears. Then she stood before him.
"这是传送感官的设备,不是音乐耳机,",见李皓珺没有动作,玛莱雅一边解释着,一边从他手里拿过设备,塞在了他的耳朵里.然后站定在他的面前,
"What you see now is me in front of you. You can also sense my perspective of looking at you—but you'll need to distinguish between them. The two views overlap. Focus your attention on whichever one you want to see."
"你现在看到的是你面前的我,现在你也能感觉到我看你的视野,但是需要你注意分辨,因为这两个视野是重叠的,你要看哪个就需要把注意力放在哪个上,"
Li Haojun tried to find, within Malaya's face before him, the image of himself as seen through her eyes.
李皓珺试着在自己面前玛莱雅的面容里找到她看到的自己的面容,
"The device needs a short adaptation period," Malaya explained.
"设备需要短暂适配时间,",玛莱雅解释着,
Before long, Li Haojun indeed glimpsed a faint shadow of his own face within his field of vision—only the image was dim, and unlike the view through the lens of the eye, it felt more like a processed visual signal projected from Malaya's brain into his own.
不一会儿李皓珺果然在自己的视野里隐约看到了自己面容的影子,只不过成像有些暗淡,并且不像是透过眼睛晶状体成像后的视野,更像是把大脑处理后的视觉从玛莱雅的脑子里投射进了自己的大脑,
"Yes. What's projected is the brainwave-processed visual data."
"是的,投射的是视觉处理后的脑波,"
Listening to Malaya's explanation, Li Haojun felt he had also sensed her awareness of his inner confusion.
听着玛莱雅的解释,李皓珺似乎觉得刚才也感觉到了她感觉到了自己脑海中的疑惑,
"Yes. My thoughts and feelings will be projected to you as well."
"是的,我的思维和感受也会投射给你,"
"Why are you letting me try this device?" Li Haojun asked, still puzzled.
"为什么你要给我尝试这个设备呢?",李皓珺有点不解地问,
"With this, whenever you think of her, I can transmit my sister's current state to you through it."
"有了这个设备,只要你想她的时候,我就可以通过它把我姐姐的情况传送给你."
Even after Malaya's explanation, Li Haojun remained uncertain. Yesterday, the visual image she had projected to him had been a third-person view of someone else. How could she do that? Even if she and her sister shared a psychic link, shouldn't it be a first-person perspective?
听着玛莱雅的解释,李皓珺还是有些疑惑,昨天玛莱雅投射给自己的视觉图像是远望另一个人的视角,她是怎么做到的呢?即便是她和姐姐有心灵感应,那也应该是第一人称的视角啊?
"Come," Malaya said, pulling Li Haojun into the car.
"你来,",说着,玛莱雅拉着李皓珺坐进了车里,
"Alright. Now close your eyes. Follow me."
"好了,现在你闭上眼睛,跟随我,"
Li Haojun closed his eyes. In the darkness, Malaya's vision of him became clearer.
李皓珺闭上了眼睛,黑暗中,玛莱雅看着自己的视野更清晰了一些,
"Wait a moment," she said—and then she disconnected, because Li Haojun's sight went completely black.
"等我一下,",说完她就掉线了,因为李皓珺现在的眼前一片漆黑了,
He opened his eyes and looked at Malaya beside him in the seat. Her eyes were closed, motionless. Li Haojun couldn't help but think of her meditative state.
他睁开眼睛看看坐在身边座椅的玛莱雅,她闭着眼睛,一动不动,李皓珺不由得想到了她冥想时候的状态,
She told me to wait—what is she doing? he wondered, gazing at her face. As he stared, he thought he heard the sound of ocean waves. Strange—listening closely, it wasn't the lake's surf, but the crash of waves against rocks.
她让我等一会儿,她在做什么呢?李皓珺寻思着,望着她的脸庞,凝视之间似乎他感觉自己听到了海浪的声音,有点奇怪,仔细辨别了一下,不是湖水的浪花,而是海浪拍打礁石的声音.
Gradually, Li Haojun felt as though he, too, were seeing something—just like before. He quickly shut his eyes to confirm the sensation. Indeed, he perceived visual imagery.
渐渐地李皓珺感到自己眼前似乎也有了视觉,就像刚才一样.他急忙闭上眼睛,来确认自己的感觉,果然,他确实感到了视觉图像,
A gray sky. Blue-black seawater. At the distant horizon, sea and sky merged into one. The sea wind was strong, driving the surging blue-black waves closer, rolling them until they crested in white foam, crashing against the jagged black rocks on the shore with a roar, splashing into scattered spray, then dragging the crackling white froth back into the sea.
灰蒙蒙的天空,蓝黑色的海水,在不远的天边海天一色.海风有些强劲,催动着汹涌的蓝黑色海浪,由远及近,逐渐在翻滚中催生出白色的浪尖,涌向岸边嶙峋的黑色礁石,轰鸣着冲撞拍打,溅起飞散的浪花,然后卷着噼啪作响的白色碎末,又从礁石上褪去,回归大海.
The sky was overcast. The rhythmic pounding of wave after wave against rock was monotonous. Within that empty, echoing monotony, even unanchored thoughts seemed set adrift, merging into the space between earth and sky, feeling the grains of sand, the stretch of heavens, the rocks and the waves.
天色有些阴郁,一波波海浪冲击礁石的声音有些单调,在这样的单调的空灵里,似乎放空的思绪也被放逐,融入这天地之间,感受这细砂与天空,岩石和海浪.
The returning gaze settled on a lounge chair—a white dress, bare feet.
收回的视线里是躺椅上的白色长裙和赤裸的双脚.
Was it Kesiya? Li Haojun felt as though he could perceive her mood. He had merged into her body. Within her form was a vague hollowness, a faint sorrow.
是凯西娅吗?李皓珺觉得自己似乎感知到了她的心情,自己已经融入了她的身体,她的身躯中有着朦胧的空洞,淡淡的忧伤.
"Kesiya," Li Haojun called her name in his heart.
"凯西娅,",李皓珺不由得在心中呼唤她的名字,
"Mm?" She heard the sound within her own heart.
"嗯?",她的心中听见了这个声音.
（Translated by Yuanbao™）