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    Loves Balance
    Chapter Index

    NOTE: If you enjoy this translation, please consider rating it on Novel Updates 🩷

    Disclaimer & Warning:

    ⚠️This novel contains themes and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Readers are advised to ensure they are of appropriate age to engage with this content.

    ⚠️Please refrain from sharing this translation on any social media platforms, as it may result in the translation being taken down.

    Chapter 11: The Troublesome Cohabitation Life

    For convenience, Ye Qinghe didn’t return to the four-story Ye family residence but instead gave An Yue the address of his apartment in the Lake Bay District. He told An Yue that he hadn’t been to this place in years and had only recently asked Aunt Chen, who worked at the main house, to come over and clean it. He then asked An Yue to check around and see if anything was missing so that Aunt Chen could bring in any necessary items.

    The apartment was on the eighth floor, with two units facing each other as one stepped out of the elevator. The interior was bright and simple, with rosewood flooring throughout. A large bay window offered a full view of the lake, framed by ivory-white walls and black window frames, paired with sheer white curtains layered under lake-blue serpentine drapes. In the center of the living room sat a light blue-gray fabric sofa, accompanied by a sizable teak coffee table framed with delicate cast-iron edges.

    After helping Ye Qinghe onto the sofa from his wheelchair, An Yue took his phone and plugged it in to charge. Only then did he take a walk around the apartment. At the end of the hallway were two bedrooms with matching decor. One was slightly smaller, but both had en-suite bathrooms. There was also a small study, though An Yue merely peeked inside before heading toward the balcony. Stepping out through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors, he stood on the rear balcony, taking in the view of the lake for a moment before returning to the living room with a simple conclusion:

    “This place is pretty nice.”

    Ye Qinghe smiled, as if accepting the compliment on his home from Teacher An. Then, curious, he asked, “What are you doing with my phone?”

    Seeing that the phone had gained some battery, An Yue turned it on and pressed Ye Qinghe’s finger onto the sensor to unlock it. He navigated through the settings, having Ye Qinghe scan his fingerprint a few more times. After quite a while, he finally finished his setup.

    “Alright, I’ve enabled blind mode for you and downloaded a few useful apps. Try it out,” An Yue said, guiding Ye Qinghe’s hand to pick up the phone himself.

    “Fifteen thirty-nine,” the phone immediately announced the time the moment Ye Qinghe moved it. Though it was just a monotonous, mechanical female voice, Ye Qinghe still let out an amazed “Wow,” his fingers brushing against the screen. As he touched different areas, the phone read out the names of the apps one by one. His smile grew wider and wider.

    Watching Ye Qinghe’s simple and genuine joy at this moment, An Yue couldn’t help but wonder—before the accident, what kind of person was this Chairman Ye? He couldn’t have been so quick to show his emotions in the business world, could he?

    Clearing his throat, An Yue pulled Ye Qinghe’s attention back.

    “When you hear the name of the app you want to use, just tap the screen twice to open it.”

    Ye Qinghe followed An Yue’s instructions and tried opening a few small applications. Both he and the phone were still getting used to the commands, resulting in a fifty-fifty success rate.

    Teacher An set up a few frequently used contacts for quick dialing. After some thought, he also added his own number. He installed an audiobook app and even downloaded a few martial arts novels for Ye Qinghe. Additionally, he taught him how to use an object recognition app. As long as the phone camera was pointed at something, the screen would automatically announce what it was. It could even read out text from books and newspapers.

    Holding Ye Qinghe’s hand, An Yue guided him through the process, aiming the phone’s camera forward and tapping twice on the screen. A robotic female voice soon reported:

    “This might be a television.”

    Ye Qinghe shifted the phone slightly to the left and tapped twice again.

    “This might be a dark green, square-shaped vase.”

    “Oh, so the vase is still there!” Ye Qinghe said cheerfully.

    An Yue walked over, picked up the long vase that had been left in the corner, and moved it to the rear balcony shelf. Afterward, he carried his luggage into the room. He first unpacked Ye Qinghe’s clothes and placed them in the wardrobe of the larger bedroom before taking his own belongings to the guest room opposite the master bedroom. As soon as he entered, he casually dropped his suitcase beside the bed and collapsed onto it.

    Burying his face into the bedding, he let the sun-dried sheets’ fluffy, clean scent overpower the faint trace of woodsy sweetness lingering in the air. Ever since stepping into the apartment, An Yue had caught a hint of this fragrance. He knew it wasn’t an artificial scent—it was simply the natural aroma of rosewood flooring.

    Rosewood had a subtle and elegant fragrance and was known for its stability. Many households used it for furniture. In fact, his father’s ancestral home still had a full dining set made of huanghuali rosewood[1]—a large table and six chairs, all well-maintained, glowing with a gentle luster, exuding a soft, refined scent, much like an elegant noblewoman gracefully welcoming guests. An Yue had followed his father to visit their ancestral home for ancestral rites before, but he had never found the scent particularly intrusive.

    Yet, the faint fragrance in Ye Qinghe’s house—so subtle it was nearly imperceptible—just happened to match the exact intensity of another scent from a not-so-pleasant memory. And that memory came rushing back, overwhelming him.

    It was as if this long-neglected scent, realizing it had been noticed, seized the opportunity to invade his senses. It infiltrated his nose, then his lungs, then spread through his entire body, stirring up emotions he thought he had long buried—desires, affections, resentments, obsessions. It crept in quietly, yet brazenly, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

    That scent, lingering at the tip of his nose, had once been synonymous with passion and youthful desire. It had been his greatest temptation—his most intoxicating poison. It was a scent he had once loved with all his heart.

    But now, he hated it. Absolutely hated it.

    The addictive fragrance of rosewood—just inhaling it seemed to paralyze his mind and weaken his limbs. He was on the verge of losing control, unable to move.

    But no matter how much he wanted to lie still, he couldn’t just leave his blind and mobility-impaired employer alone in the living room.

    An Yue took a deep breath. As the saying goes, “When one stays in a fish market long enough, they cease to notice the smell of fish.” Fine. He convinced himself that, if he stayed here long enough, his senses would become numb to it. It was such a faint scent—it would fade soon.

    Rolling over twice on the bed, he patted his chest, suppressing the stiffness in his body and the dull ache in his heart. Then, reluctantly, he got up, rubbed his face, and stepped out of the room.

    Ye Qinghe was still enthusiastically playing with the object recognition app, taking pictures all around the apartment.

    “Still at it? Is the recognition feature accurate?” An Yue asked as he walked past, heading to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

    Hearing An Yue’s dragging footsteps, Ye Qinghe pointed his phone at him and tapped twice to take a picture. After about five seconds, the phone announced:

    “This might be a handsome young man.”

    Ye Qinghe burst into laughter.

    “…” An Yue was speechless. Shaking his head, he continued pouring water.

    “Seems pretty accurate. So, Teacher An is a handsome guy, huh?” Ye Qinghe playfully flipped his phone, then wondered aloud, “I wonder how I’ll turn out?”

    As An Yue drank his water, he watched Ye Qinghe excitedly strike a selfie pose. After a few seconds, the phone reported:

    “This might be an old monkey.”

    “Pfft—cough!”

    An Yue choked on his water, sputtering in disbelief.

    (To be continued…)

    Footnotes:

    1. huanghuali rosewood: Huanghuali rosewood (黃花梨, Dalbergia odorifera) is a highly prized and rare type of hardwood native to China, particularly Hainan Island. It belongs to the rosewood (Dalbergia) family and is known for its beautiful grain, durability, and natural fragrance.

    NOTE: If you enjoy this translation, please consider rating it on Novel Updates 🩷

    Disclaimer & Warning:

    ⚠️This novel contains themes and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Readers are advised to ensure they are of appropriate age to engage with this content.

    ⚠️Please refrain from sharing this translation on any social media platforms, as it may result in the translation being taken down.

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