Yesterday, This Morning / An Overdue Vigil on Danmei AI Translations

Chapter 1

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 1#

Yan Wei had been an incredible person since high school. His specialty was squeezing onto buses.

A fifteen-minute walk from home, you could see the bus stop. People waiting for the bus would always swarm it as soon as they saw it. The strong would push, the thin would be pushed. Those who got on were bruised and battered, those who didn’t were seeing stars. The kids from their high school all had their own tricks for getting on the bus, knowing how to turn sideways and squeeze forward.

Chapter 2

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 2#

Even Yan Wei only vaguely remembered how they met. Yu Lin had been a head taller than everyone else since high school. He stood at the back of the line, didn’t like to talk, and was never very social. He had good grades and was quick at solving problems, like a small computer. He didn’t have the habit of twirling his pen or chewing on it. After finishing his work, he would lie down on his desk, and no one knew if he was really sleeping.

Chapter 3 - 1

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 3 - 1#

When they found Fugui, it was during a fierce rainy season.

The most exciting event that year was the ‘98 World Cup. The small shop downstairs had a TV, and if you bought a drink, you could sit there and watch the live broadcast all afternoon. Yan Wei had the match schedule taped to his desk, and when the time came, he didn’t even care about class.

Chapter 3 - 2

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 3 - 2#

Yan Xi kept his head down the whole way. It was only when they were almost at the airport entrance that he asked, “Will you get back together with him?” His head was slightly tilted up, his voice hoarse. “Yu Lin, I’m scared.” Yu Lin drove silently. After a long time, his eyes dimmed a little. “It’s all in the past. Don’t be afraid.” Yan Xi’s hands were trembling violently. “I’m really scared. It’s a good thing he woke up, but I…” The screeching sound of brakes was like a knife stabbing into one’s heart, cutting a long gash.

Chapter 4

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 4#

When the weather was good, Yan Wei would take Yu Lin to the mountains. Usually, a few tagalongs would join them, and they would have a picnic together. Everyone brought their own charcoal, pots, and food to grill from their homes.

Occasionally, it was just the two of them. Yu Lin had a camera at home, so he would bring a few rolls of film and wander around the front and back of the mountain.

Chapter 5

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 5#

A warm front passed through, bringing torrential rain. Outside Yan Wei’s old house, the sound of the rain was loud and gentle, like the sound of tearing exercise books, rustling as it wet the wild vines. Water trails meandered on the window, one vertical, one horizontal, one washing away another.

The window frame had been rusty for a long time; no matter how hard one tried to close it, a crack would remain. Rain drifted in through the crack, gently hitting the cheek. Frogs croaked from some unknown hidden drain deep in the night.

Chapter 6

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 6#

At the end of the month, a buddy’s family went on a long trip. He said he got a good movie and invited everyone to watch it.

The boys in the class all followed along. More than a dozen sat on the sofa, and those who couldn’t fit squatted on the floor.

Yan Wei and Yu Lin sat in the very middle of the sofa. As soon as the movie started, everyone’s eyes widened. The sound was a bit messy. No mosaic. The woman had a nice figure, and the man had a small belly.

Chapter 7

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 7#

Yan Wei remembered that the first time he went to Yu Lin’s house, the adults were not there.

The lock on Yu Lin’s room door was broken, so it could only be left ajar. Yan Wei hypocritically shouted that it was hot and took off his jacket, revealing a white tank top. His two biceps looked completely unreliable, but they were there when he flexed them hard.

His clean face when he was young, no matter how mischievously he smiled, was not annoying.

Chapter 8

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 8#

Yan Wei’s courtyard housed several families. On pitch-black nights, the storm would rage endlessly. Women’s underwear hung on nylon ropes, dripping wet, while red plastic basins floated in the accumulated water.

Yan Wei remembered clearly who entered the room first and who bolted the door.

Fresh sheets were spread on the iron bed frame. A large peony was embroidered on the pillowcase with dense stitches that felt raised to the touch. He sat on the bed, looking at Yu Lin, smiling foolishly and revealing a few teeth that looked like glutinous rice.

Chapter 9

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 9#

In the summer of ‘99, the reservoir Yan Wei and the others often visited had been renovated beyond recognition. The latest project to reinforce the gate embedded parts was halted halfway due to funding issues. After the chemical plant upstream relocated, the water gradually became clear.

People often sat on the dam fishing, dozing off while they fished. Flowing past the sluice gate entangled with water weeds and further east for over forty kilometers, one could see the sea. Yan Wei often rode Yu Lin to the seaside, picked up a bag full of shells, and then rode back.

Chapter 10 - 1

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 10 - 1#

I remember that year was exceptionally cold. As soon as autumn arrived, some people put on sweaters and woolen pants early.

Yan Wei was usually quite energetic, but after the twelfth lunar month, his hair started to look messy from sleep, sticking up in some places and flattened in others. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being clean, but as soon as the weather got cold, he would stay in bed and feel lazy all over. Laziness and image are natural enemies.

Chapter 10 - 2

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 10 - 2#

In the recording, Yan Xi did not answer. The hissing static continued for over a minute, followed by the sounds of going downstairs and closing the door; Cui Dong had left the villa.

After this, faint footsteps sounded in the house. The sound moved out of the study, and the muffled thud of the piano lid being lifted was indistinct, but the piano sound was crystal clear.

Chapter 11

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 11#

Extra: Gentle Waiting

Yan Wei was sleeping on the sofa, snoring comfortably. When he turned over, the towel blanket covering him fell to the floor. He rubbed his eyes and barely opened them a slit. The sunlight illuminated the entire balcony, with tiny floating particles dancing in the beams of light. The person reading the newspaper on the balcony sat in the bright light.

“Yu Lin.”

“I’m here.”

Chapter 12 - 1

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 12 - 1#

Extra: Although I Am Just a Cat#

A hand hovered over my head. I lifted my head and glanced at him sideways. That hand was white, thin, and slender, holding a fish bone between the fingers, shaking it twice at me: “Do you want to eat it?”

“Hungry, aren’t you, little sweetheart?” He squatted there, with a head of slightly yellow messy hair, smiling with curved eyes: “Beg me, beg me and I’ll give it to you.”

Chapter 12 - 2

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:45:22 +0000

Chapter 12 - 2#

I wanted to stop the story here, with the feeder who never grows up and his silly lover, but I am just a cat, who would listen to my decree? That year, as soon as the college entrance exam results came out, the teacher’s office was crowded with people checking their scores. His lover’s score was lower than expected, while the feeder performed exceptionally well, his scores in every subject were just short of being annotated with “bumper harvest and celebration”. Not long after, these two people with similar scores actually received admission notices stamped with the red seal of the same school.