Chapter 35 (Second Update)

Chapter 35 (Second Update)

"Wife, which museum are we going to?"

"Wife, you forgot your bag."

"Wife, this way in."

…

After being hit by these two words N times in a row, Shu Yao finally couldn't bear it anymore.

He looked at the man in front of him lazily fanning himself with his ticket and couldn't help but complain, "Grandma's not around now, so there's no need."

"If you don't practice, how will you be able to shout it out smoothly later?" Chen Ye's eyes fell on her face, and his eyebrows raised slightly. "Shout it out."

Shu Yao pretended not to understand: "What are you shouting about?"

"What do you think?"

Shu Yao clenched her hands, feeling like she could dig out an art gallery with her toes. However, she had promised him herself that her acting was good and she would do her best to cooperate.

"Old..." She opened her mouth, but no word came out.

She couldn't even shout it out in private, let alone in front of her grandma. Shu Yao suddenly felt that what he said made sense.

Chen Ye leaned down, looked her in the eye, and said, as if coaxing a child, "Try it?"

Shu Yao lowered his head, his voice as low as a mosquito's.

Shen Ye didn't hear clearly, so he deliberately turned his head and put his ear closer: "What did you say?"

"husband."

Shu Yao's ears turned red and he gritted his teeth.

She called her husband out as if he were her enemy.

Chen Ye rubbed the top of her head and said, "It's okay. Just shout like this today. Practice makes perfect. Don't let yourself be caught when you go back."

"Oh." Shu Yao snatched one of the tickets from his hand and entered the ticket gate first.

Visiting the exhibition was not a spur-of-the-moment idea.

She originally thought that he had to go to work today and her grandmother had an appointment, so she booked the art museum tickets herself.

After deciding to go out together, Shu Yao felt that he might not be interested in the exhibition, and was thinking about whether to refund the ticket first and come back in a few days, but was rejected by Chen Ye.

Shu Yao booked a ticket for him for the same time period.

This is the exhibition called "Her 100 Stories".

What is unique is that the exhibits are not cultural relics, but are donated by women of different ages, occupations and life situations in society.

This place is like a microcosm of the current living conditions of women.

The first exhibit at the entrance is a piece of white paper with a few black words written crookedly on it. However, as time passes, the paper turns yellow and the words become less clear. Only the words "poverty", "daughter" and "later" can be vaguely seen.

The sign at the bottom reads: [In 1995, when my adoptive parents found me, this piece of paper was inside my swaddling clothes. Almost 30 years later, they finally found me and hope I can donate bone marrow for my younger brother.]

The second item was a pair of torn pants. Judging from the size of the pants, the girl was only about seven or eight years old at the time.

The sign simply had one line of lyrics written on it: [Why choose me, without any bias?]

…

This is an exhibition with a rather depressing overall atmosphere. The cold white lights appear ruthless, and the dark red exhibition cloth always reminds people of blood and death. Perhaps because of this, the exhibition is quite unpopular and only a handful of visitors come.

But of course, there are also touching and heartwarming exhibits.

For example, a pancake bag with "Little Yellow Pancake" printed on it.

The girl's mother was an illiterate mute who set up a pancake stall in front of the high school gate. The girl, who was in her rebellious teenage years, felt embarrassed, so every time after school, she deliberately avoided passing by the pancake stall and chose to take a detour to leave.

But one day, she noticed that some of her classmates brought in little yellow pancakes every morning. They would tell everyone how delicious they were and praise the owner for her generosity. The girl began to wonder if her mother's pancakes were really that delicious.

Finally one day, after school, she no longer took a detour, but secretly watched her mother making pancakes for an hour or two across the street.

Seeing her "having a good time" chatting with her classmates using body language, the girl realized that the one who looked down on her was not others, but herself.

From then on, she overcame her inferiority complex and sometimes even set up a stall with her mother.

Several years passed and she had become the owner of several chain restaurants. It was not until a class reunion that she learned that her classmates had actually known for a long time that she was the daughter of the pancake stall owner, and that the method they recommended to her every day was actually a method that they had discussed together.

Shu Yao and Chen Ye looked through one-third of the exhibits in silence.

Most of the visitors in the exhibition hall were silent. The quieter they were, the more the noise of a man not far away stood out.

Facing his girlfriend who was taking photos of the exhibits, the man folded his arms over his chest, shuffling his legs lazily, his face full of impatience: "What's so good about this? Let's go."

His girlfriend gave him a cold look and said, "Are you annoying? If you want to leave, just go by yourself."

The boy put his arms around the girl's waist and began to beg for mercy: "What's the point of me walking alone? Let's go together. Let's go to the movies. They are much better than these disgusting things."

The girl struggled out of his arms: "What do you mean? What's so disgusting?"

Faced with the strange looks from the people around him, the man became somewhat annoyed and pointed at the pack of sanitary napkins in front of him and said, "Isn't this disgusting? You call a pack of sanitary napkins art?"

"Idiot." The girl's face flushed with anger, and she pointed at the door, "Get out of here."

"You're so shameless." The man cursed and stormed out of the exhibition hall.

The girl looked at the ceiling to calm herself down, then walked to the lounge chair next to her with her phone and sat down. She lowered her head and fiddled with her phone, wondering if she was complaining to her friends.

After the man left, only girls were left in the exhibition hall.

Shu Yao secretly glanced at Chen Ye, but found that he seemed to have not noticed the argument at all. He was standing in front of the exhibit that the man had sneered at, concentrating on looking at the sign.

There was no contempt or disgust in his eyes. His straight back made people feel that he was appreciating the exhibits in front of him with respect.

Most people, from campus to workplace, will change themselves to some extent for something, but his ease and openness seem to have been hidden in his bones since childhood.

She still remembers that when she was in high school, most girls were too embarrassed to talk about menstruation. They would call sanitary napkins "little breads" and when they went to the bathroom, they would either put them in their pockets or wrap them in a tissue before holding them in their hands.

Shu Yao was young at that time and was no exception.

One day during the winter break of her senior year in high school, she went to the restaurant opposite the bookstore to eat as usual. Halfway through, she suddenly felt a little bloating and pain in her lower abdomen. When she stood up, the familiar warm current told her that her period had come.

She sat back as if something had been stabbed in the spine, looking embarrassed and at a loss.

She took out her cell phone and asked Zhao Tiantian for help, but Zhao Tiantian said that she was visiting relatives with her parents in the suburbs.

Apart from Zhao Tiantian, Shu Yao had no one she knew or trusted at school. Just when she was hesitating whether to ask the clerk for help, Zhao Tiantian sent another message saying that she had contacted someone and would be there in five minutes.

When Shu Yao saw the person, he realized that the person Zhao Tiantian asked for help was actually Chen Ye.

He was holding a white bag in his hand, which was semi-transparent. If you looked carefully, you could see the pink sanitary napkin packaging inside, but he didn't seem to mind at all and just walked into the store with the bag calmly.

Taking the coat and bag he handed her, Shu Yao held the coat over her body and rushed into the restaurant's bathroom.

When she came out, her coat was still wrapped around her waist, but her expression was much more natural.

Shen Ye leaned against the door, and when he saw her come out, he put his phone in his pocket and asked her if she was leaving. But she belatedly remembered that since there was blood on her pants, there should be blood on the chair too.

She asked Chen Ye to wait and returned to her seat. The half-eaten noodles she had just eaten were still on the table, and her chopsticks had not been touched at all.

She pulled a few tissues from the table and looked down, only to find the wooden chair was spotless. In the trash can nearby, there were a few tissues, a faint hint of red showing through.

At that time, Shu Yao didn't think much about it and thought it was cleaned up by the waiter. After all, how could a person with Chen Ye's personality, who was not familiar with her, do such a thing?

But thinking about it now, Shu Yao felt as if his eyes had suddenly opened.

At that time, the dishes and chopsticks on the table were untouched, which means that the waiter probably didn't even approach the table. How could he help her wipe the chair?

Out of curiosity, Shu Yao walked up to Shen Ye and asked him about this quietly.

As expected, Shen Ye still remembered it and did not deny it.

Shu Yao asked him why.

Shen Ye asked as a matter of course: “If I get hurt and bleed, won’t you help me wipe it?”

He seems to be unrestrained and ostentatious, but he is born free and open.

And this openness, after years of experience, has not only not disappeared, but has become more obvious.

At this moment, Shu Yao felt that he had never really gotten to know Chen Ye before.

He was obviously stronger than she remembered, yet also more gentle.

The last piece on display was a circular ring made of copper.

Shu Yao didn't realize what it was at first glance until she looked over and saw the three big words "IUD" on the sign.

This is a common contraceptive method. Although most young people would find it scary to think about putting this thing into the uterus, it was an extremely common thing among my mother's generation, or some rural women.

About a year ago, she accompanied Shu Meiru to the hospital to get it.

Seeing him looking so seriously, Shu Yao secretly asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Chen Ye smiled at her and asked her, "Have you finished reading it?"

"Yeah." Shu Yao's eyes fell on the curator's simple but sincere blessing at the exit -

I don't want to say they're lucky, but what they deserve is that after going through hardships, they're currently living lives that at least satisfy them. I hope you are too.

Shu Yao finally understood why the exhibition was called 100 Stories but had only 99 exhibits.

Because the 100th story belongs to every female visitor, it is unique.

When Shu Yao walked out of the exhibition hall, his thoughts were complicated, but he did not feel depressed. Just like the words on the exhibition:

【Facing hardship head-on, not out of fear, but to overcome. 】

She thought, maybe she should also truly move on from some of her past and face her future life.

She took a deep breath, glanced at the exhibition information on her phone with a sense of relief, and suggested to Chen Ye with a smile: "There is also a modern art exhibition in the next exhibition hall. I heard it is quite good. Do you want to go and see it?"

Shen Ye naturally had no objection.

The two of them walked to the exhibition hall next door. As soon as they entered, they saw a huge naked male statue. The lower body was covered with a few leaves to cover the key parts, but it caught Shu Yao's eyes directly.

She is not able to appreciate all art. For example, in this case, she can only superficially count the number of abdominal muscles the other person has.

When Shu Yao counted to the fifth piece silently, he suddenly heard a sneer from the side.

“So this is where the good part is.”

"..." Shu Yao glanced at him, deliberately prodding him, "Are you jealous?"

"What's the matter?" Chen Ye leaned over and whispered something in her ear in a voice that only the two of them could hear. There was a hook in his voice that hooked Shu Yao's heart and made it sway.

He said—

"How about I count for you tonight?"