Chapter 54 How far is he from youth?

The sun rises very quickly.

As they entered the room, a golden light had fallen on the floor, shimmering softly. The indigo carpet was illuminated, and whales in the patterns leaped joyfully from the deep night sea, awaiting the dawn.

The inescapable net of love spreads across a beautiful, shimmering morning, capturing two passionate and yearning hearts.

The door was closed tightly.

In the private space, Chen Jizhou's kiss was much more passionate than before.

He could wrap his arm around her entire waist with one forearm, and his palm could cover half of her back when he pressed down.

He pulled her closer and lifted her up. Jiang Meng wrapped her arms around his neck and eagerly tilted her head back in response.

He said that kissing wouldn't cause oxygen deprivation, so she relaxed a little.

Jiang Meng was indeed a little nervous just now. She felt her whole body become hot the moment their lips touched. Her back was hot, her ears were hot, and her lips felt like they were on fire. Her body was so stiff that she dared not move and almost cramped up. She didn't have time to properly savor the beauty of the kiss before it ended in a hurry.

Perhaps because the kiss was brief, Chen Jizhou, who was in control, seemed more at ease. Now, with this kiss lasting longer, small problems were exposed during the prolonged contact, and he was still somewhat awkward.

But he was trying his best to suppress his initial clumsiness and control his technique, hoping to give her the best experience.

Thus, amidst the tactile sensation of warmth, slight stickiness, and surging emotions, the subtle awkwardness and unfamiliarity can be disregarded.

Because the room was so quiet, the sounds of lips touching and gentle sucking were amplified.

If your impression of him was 100 points before, it can now rise to 1000 points.

The intimate contact sent her adrenaline soaring.

I love kissing him...

Jiang Meng's earlier determination to turn the tide was thwarted by the overwhelming embarrassment, so she abandoned her offensive and chose to go with the flow.

It's good to be guided by him.

— Buzzing.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

The kiss was interrupted.

Jiang Meng took out her phone to see who had called her so early in the morning. Then, her expression became a little awkward, and she glanced at him: "My dad."

Chen Jizhou released her and nodded, saying, "Go ahead and take it."

He made room for her and sat on the sofa for a while.

Jiang Meng didn't really want to answer, but she was afraid that Jiang Su calling so early meant something urgent, so she pressed answer button. A man's voice came from the other end: "You're up?"

Jiang Meng didn't want to exchange pleasantries with him, so she got straight to the point: "What's wrong?"

Jiang Su said, "I'm in Yunzhou. There's an exchange activity at your school in a couple of days. Shall we have a meal together?"

"..."

Jiang Meng was speechless. She wiped the moisture from her lips, feeling that this person was particularly disappointing. The words of refusal were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them back. Jiang Meng said, "Let's talk about it later. I have something to do right now."

Jiang Su said, "Okay."

Chen Jizhou sat in the sunlight.

He closed his eyes for a moment, the sunlight illuminating his clean and refreshing face, highlighting the clear contours of his Adam's apple, jaw, and nose. His youthful eyes and brows were beautiful even with his eyes closed, and his overall demeanor was pure and clean, sunny and open, without the "materialistic" air he despised. He had always been like this; a person who would never fall into vulgarity would naturally not succumb to the ravages of time.

Jiang Meng walked over, pushed his crossed legs apart, and could now sit down in her territory without any problem.

Chen Jizhou slightly opened his eyes and saw that she was sitting upright. He tilted his knees slightly, and Jiang Meng naturally leaned into his arms, where he caught her. She also wrapped her arms around his waist and looked at him with a smile: "Didn't you shave?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jizhou touched his chin slightly with his hand: "I left in a hurry this morning and didn't take good care of myself. Did I prick you?"

"A little bit, hairy."

She also stretched out a finger, touched his lips, and couldn't help but lean forward and kiss him, revealing a triumphant and satisfied smile.

Chen Jizhou is probably one of those people with a bit of high testosterone; his beard grows very quickly, and he has to groom the area around his lips every day. It's not very noticeable to the naked eye, just a faint bluish tinge, which is quite sexy. But when this bluish tinge touches her cheek, the slightly prickly sensation becomes very noticeable on her lips, like a dense array of tiny, harmless thorns that prick all her nerve endings, making her alert yet comfortable.

It was as if she had been bewitched; she wanted to experience it again.

"Chen Jizhou".

"Um?"

Will you listen to me?

Sensing her implied meaning, he looked at her and asked, "What are you trying to say?"

Jiang Meng: "You just said that if you have a wife, of course you'll listen to her. You're not just using that to trick me into kissing you, are you?"

Based on her understanding of him, he would most likely lazily mock her, saying: "That's true, but are you my wife?"

However, Chen Jizhou didn't argue with her this time. He smiled and nodded obediently.

"listen."

“Okay,” Jiang Meng offered her insightful opinion, “then you should manage your company well, make it bigger and stronger, and I won’t be your secretary anymore, I want to be the boss’s wife.”

Chen Jizhou laughed out loud, his Adam's apple bobbing as he listened. He was genuinely amused by her: "So you're after my money."

Jiang Meng laughed and said, "Of course, I am that kind of snob."

Chen Jizhou: "Great, I love snobs."

Jiang Meng couldn't help but laugh. She raised the invisible microphone and said, "So, in your opinion, what advantages do you have over my rivals when we're dating?"

Chen Jizhou glanced at her radiant smile and said in response, "We know each other well, I would never lie to you."

He looked at her, his usual nonchalant expression concealing a torrent of tenderness, subtle yet profound: "I won't change."

Jiang Meng paused, holding the microphone, and gazed silently into his clear, handsome, and affectionate eyes for a few seconds. She softly echoed, "Yes, you won't change."

She nestled in his arms and said, "We've been childhood sweethearts, inseparable since we were little."

Jiang Meng muttered to herself, feeling a hollowness in her stomach that had been there for a while. She stood up and said, "Hey, I'm a little hungry. I'll go to the restaurant to get something to eat."

"Um."

Do you want it?

"I'm not eating anymore." Chen Jizhou was so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open, so he slowly closed them again. "I'm going to sleep for a while."

Jiang Meng said with a grin, "Sleep a little longer and don't wake up, so you don't find out it was just a dream."

Her footsteps were light as she walked away on the carpet.

It really felt like a dream.

He didn't know if Jiang Meng was joking with him or if she really had such a dream about lovemaking.

She had told him before that she dreamed of being kissed by the person she liked. That memory was very vivid and lingered in her mind.

Chen Jizhou always felt that there was no insurmountable difficulty in life, except for love, except for her.

He was locked on the river at the age of seventeen, and even his dreams no longer moved forward.

He is as far removed from youth as he is from her.

Even in his dreams, he restrained himself, refusing to take advantage of her or disturb her.

Many, many times.

For eight years, no matter how many times he dreamed of her, he would only ask one question: How have you been lately? I miss you so much.

But Chen Jizhou didn't want to define her as an obstacle. He didn't crave possession so much. His deeper desire was to see her happy and fulfilled. All he could do was help her fly to freedom to the best of his ability.

Love is about allowing freedom.

As the door closed, Chen Jizhou leaned calmly against the light; even with his eyes closed, his vision remained bright.

The hotel restaurant was a buffet, and Jiang Meng enjoyed a delicious meal. She also brought him some snacks. When she returned to the room, Chen Jizhou was already asleep with his head on his arm.

The phone on the TV cabinet lit up as she entered the room, and Jiang Meng quickly picked it up before it started vibrating loudly.

The phone belonged to Chen Jizhou, and the contact name was Pei Su. Jiang Meng remembered this person from when he took her out to dinner last time; he was a university intern that Chen Jizhou had mentored. Seeing that Chen Jizhou was still asleep, she took the initiative to answer the phone for him and said in a low voice, "He's sleeping. Is there something urgent?"

Just as Pei Su was about to get down to business, he heard the girl's voice and exclaimed in surprise, "Ah?"

Then, he exclaimed in sudden realization, "Oh!" "Okay, okay, okay, okay, no, no, no."

-

On the day Jiang Su arrived, Jiang Meng was teaching a political education class to several classes in a lecture hall. There were quite a few people there, over a hundred. After all, it was a class taught by the counselor, and few dared to cause trouble under her watchful eye.

As the weather turned cooler, Jiang Meng wore a light jacket and stood on the podium presenting her PowerPoint slides. Jiang Su, who had entered at some point, stood in the back row, his posture and expression stern, like a visiting leader.

Jiang Meng was slightly taken aback, but quickly regained her composure.

She lived a light and cheerful life in Yunzhou. Although she often felt bored and lonely, or annoyed and irritated by her students, she rarely felt depressed.

Jiang Su would bring his oppressive atmosphere anywhere, leaving no trace of lightness and brightness.

He chose the restaurant; it was a Japanese restaurant.

Jiang Meng never eats Japanese food, so he didn't know that.

After Jiang Su and Ye Zhaoxu divorced, Jiang Meng met him a few times. He visited her under the guise of being her father and then took her out to eat.

They met once during their undergraduate studies, once when she received her master's degree acceptance letter, and once more when Jiang Su took her to celebrate her graduation.

Each time, the atmosphere was heavy, as if they were completing a task. There would be no more strong family affection between them.

Jiang Meng agreed to meet him because she was still asking her father for money. Before she became successful, Jiang Meng's meager salary was not enough to support her somewhat extravagant lifestyle. Jiang Su provided her with a lot of financial support, so her willingness to sit down and have a meal with him without holding a grudge was a reasonable way of giving this human ATM a reward.

Although Jiang Meng's actions stemmed from a desire for revenge, she didn't care about the amount of money. She simply felt that if she couldn't get love, she had to ask for something in return to be fair and to do justice to the girl's helplessness and pain.

After she sat down, Jiang Su asked her, "Do you enjoy lecturing now?"

Jiang Meng: Did I say I didn't like it?

"Grandma said so."

Although her relationship with her father has changed, Jiang Meng still visits her grandparents frequently; she is very close to the elderly.

Jiang Meng said, "I found it very difficult when I first graduated, but now I can't say I like it; I've just gotten used to it. Besides, I don't have many classes; I usually just attend class meetings and such."

Jiang Su picked up a piece of raw food that she disliked and asked her to try it.

"You never wanted to be a teacher, did you?"

Jiang Meng frowned and pushed the meat aside.

The teaching profession embodies the expectations that parents have for her.

Jiang Meng used to be rebellious, and her hatred for him was undisguised and showed on her face, but in the end she still walked the path he had planned for her.

This wasn't going against my own will, Jiang Meng explained: "I didn't become a teacher because of you, it's just because I happened to have the opportunity and the choice, and the job market for my major isn't very good. I did an internship, and the companies I worked for were biased towards men when they were hiring, so I got angry and left. Anyway, if I don't go to a university, I'll just take the civil service exam. I'll do this for now and see if I can switch to an administrative or teaching position later."

Jiang Meng has an impressive resume, with a bachelor's and master's degree from the best 985 university in the province. Even if she goes on a blind date, she would be praised as a top student.

But she wasn't a bright student who had a smooth and successful journey.

Jiang Su knew better than anyone that she had experienced lows.

Her low point disappointed him greatly, even making him consider giving up on her.

I wonder if Jiang Meng has become a "successful daughter" now.

I wonder if he will frequently recall the harm she suffered in her childhood, and feel heartbroken for her.

Jiang Meng, who had just finished the college entrance examination, was still very lenient.

In other words, even though she was utterly disappointed in her father, she still wanted to present him with her glorious acceptance letter to counter his previous nonchalant contempt and to hear him solemnly say, "I was wrong."

Her twelve years of hard study were incredibly significant.

Holding it in your hand, it's so thin, yet it feels so light and effortless.

—See, I still won.

Her family threw a lavish party for her. Jiang Su went to the banquet and talked to her. Their most peaceful conversation ever took place on the day of the college entrance exam celebration.

Because it was a rare occasion, Jiang Su no longer acted superior and gave her pointers.

He sincerely apologized to Jiang Meng.

He expressed many apologies, including the harm he had caused to the family and his neglect and coldness towards her, hoping she wouldn't hold it against him and wishing her all the best in the future.

She took the apology as a genuine farewell and accepted it without question.

That family photo of the three of them in the garden was unearthed again when Jiang Meng sold recyclables before going to university. She saw his handwritten words: "Baby's fifth birthday," and still couldn't help but secretly wipe away her tears.

Only at that moment did she try to let go and be willing to put an end to her turbulent youth.

Embrace the promise of a bright future.

When a person hates someone, it is always accompanied by complicated emotions, because the lingering love has not yet faded away.

When you truly stop caring, it's like a kite breaking free of its string—only then are you truly free from all ties.

The passage of time eroded her attachment to her father's love.

Time truly is the best healer.

The college entrance exam is long over, life is no longer measured by grades, and she no longer needs the value of a certificate to exchange for his words: "Congratulations on becoming an excellent person."

Photos that I used to be reluctant to throw away, I don't need to throw away now.

Dinner here is just dinner. Once we leave this room, we'll go our separate ways. I will no longer miss you, no longer dwell on the pain and happiness, and no longer hate you.

How you see me is no longer my concern.

—There's no need to wait until you walk out of this door. Jiang Meng was distracted during the meal, barely picking up her chopsticks, glancing at her phone every now and then, her mind wandering, and revealing a sweet smile.

Jiang Su asked her, "Who are you chatting with?"

Jiang Meng answered honestly, "Boyfriend."

He was a little surprised: "You're in a relationship?"

"Um."

Jiang Su paused for a moment, then asked the most important question: "What are the conditions?"

Jiang Meng looked up at him from her phone screen and couldn't help but laugh.

Mocking, sneering, speechless laughter.

She said, "It's so-so."

Jiang Su also sensed the barb in her smile, and changed his words, saying, "If you like it, then so be it."

Before parting ways after the meal, Jiang Su mentioned someone: "Are you still in contact with Chen Jizhou? I heard he's in Yunzhou."

Jiang Meng paused for a moment, then nodded.

Jiang Su glanced at her hesitantly, but then, seeing Jiang Meng's eagerness to leave, he withdrew his words.

Back in her car, where she was alone, Jiang Meng turned on her phone.

Jiang Meng came to eat right after class. It was still early, and it had just gotten dark. She really didn't like Japanese food and had only eaten a few bites of the sushi that she could tolerate. Her stomach was still empty, so she urgently called Chen Jizhou, her voice sounding particularly aggrieved: "Are you off work yet? I can't take it anymore."

Judging from his work progress report, he should have just finished a meeting. He asked her, "What happened?"

"I had dinner with my dad, and it was awful. I really hate eating eel. Can you please come and feed me? Candlelight dinner, candlelight dinner, don't forget what you owe me."

Jiang Meng fastened her seatbelt while reminding him, a bright smile on her face.

Chen Jizhou said, "It just ended, where am I supposed to find you?"

Jiang Meng: "Come to my house, I need to get ready, and you can also come see Xiao Jin while you're at it."

"Okay, I'll be there in twenty minutes." After he finished speaking, he added, "How about half an hour? I need to buy some food to appease it."

Jiang Meng giggled and said sweetly, "Come here, come here, I missed you, brother."

Chen Jizhou was taken aback for a moment, then asked in a serious tone, "Who is your brother?"

She changed her address: "I miss you, my husband."

"..."

A long silence followed.

Jiang Meng frowned unhappily: "No, then what should I call you? Using your full name is too formal, isn't it?"

Chen Jizhou said casually, "What's so serious about it? I'm used to it."

She sighed and rubbed her forehead, then offered him advice: "Chen Jizhou, why don't you buy some dating guides and take a look? I can't stand you anymore."

After a long while, Chen Jizhou responded softly, "Husband, it's okay."

A slight smile returned to her face: "What did you say?~"

He raised his voice and said slowly, "I said, husband, you can."

"Okay, honey, what time can I kiss you?"

"..."

Since he didn't speak, Jiang Meng toned it down a bit. For example, she stopped saying things like "treat each other like husbands" when they were dating. She explained softly, "I'm pretty direct, I hope I don't scare you away."

Chen Jizhou said in a low voice, "No, you just wait."