13Catstranslations

  It was Yang Zi's birthday. In the evening, Zhen Yi and Si Gui gathered in Yang Zi's rented apartment to make dinner. Neither of them mentioned work; For many years, this tacit understanding had been a cornerstone of their friendship. Yang Zi's computer was placed on a stool by the kitchen door, volume turned up high, playing Fan Wei Qi's "One Like Autumn, One Like Summer." The three of them squeezed into the narrow kitchen, washing vegetables, chopping, and cooking without division of labor, coordination, or understanding, creating a lively and innocent clamor of young girls. "Zhen, my goodness! What's that pile of white stuff you poured? You idiot!" Si Gui scolded. "You don't add sugar to braised pork! Idiot!" "I have the sugar, what you added was salt! Fool!" "... " Zhen Yi: "Why are you hugging the sugar? Bitch!" "... " Si Gui: "Fuck you!" "With what?!" Yang Zi was tas...

  This year, there was more rain in Hong Kong than usual. In early May, the sky unexpectedly turned deep blue. The rain was as gentle as that in Jiangnan, and cherry blossoms fell to the ground in the courtyard. Brewing a pot of tea, Zhen Yi sat in a wicker chair by the wooden window, holding a tablet computer. She had her own apartment, but whenever she encountered a difficult situation, she would come to her grandfather's small building to either listen to his wisdom or simply sit quietly in this little corner of tranquility on the school grounds, away from the hustle and bustle. Today, Auntie Zhang took her grandfather for a medical checkup, leaving her alone. She browsed through the search results on Google for "Yan Ge" and was slightly surprised. Along with the search results, various terms were mixed and rearranged: personality, therapy, psychiatry, clinical, counseling, physiology, hypnosis, surgery, study... She couldn't fully comprehend it. What was strange w...

  The room was quiet, with only Yan Ge and Song Yi engaging in a question-and-answer session. Zhen Yi had initially thought that a polygraph examiner would apply pressure on the subject through their voice and body language, but Yan Ge did not. He maintained a steady tone, with a deep and even voice; his posture was clean, without any fidgeting. He didn't look at the polygraph but kept his gaze on Song Yi: "Your name is Song Yi?" "Yes." "On the early morning of April 28th, you were at the ecstasy club?" "Yes." "You are not from HK City originally?" "No." "You went to ecstasy because a friend invited you?" "No." There was a slight hesitation. "You went to ecstasy by chance, just randomly?" "...No." "You went to the club alone?" "Yes." "You are an actress?" "Yes." "Was it your first time at ecstasy?" (This question hadn't been menti...