"ah?"
Jiang Cheng felt a touch of tenderness at the peak of her lips and stood there stunned.
Zhao Xuerou simply leaned gently on his shoulder, nestling into his arms like a thin kitten.
She looked exceptionally beautiful in the dim light.
Jiang Cheng glanced down and saw her fair face and soft, delicate skin, which appeared even more supple in the unlit room. Her long, gentle eyebrows seemed tinged with worry, yet her eyes still sparkled like stars, captivating Jiang Cheng's heart in this small space. Her thin lips curved slightly upward, carrying a melancholic smile. At this moment, Zhao Xuerou resembled an ethereal fairy, exquisitely perfect.
Her tone was very calm, but there was a hint of gentleness in her voice: "Do you know... why I agreed to your request back then?"
Zhao Xuerou's words also struck a chord with Jiang Cheng's long-standing, unspoken doubts.
He was unaware of everything that had happened in the dream world, but seeing that the woman beside him was Zhao Xuerou naturally filled him with many questions. However, out of respect for his status and caution regarding the dream world, he could not ask.
However, it seems that this problem can now be solved.
After all, it was Zhao Xuerou who took the initiative to speak, so as long as he went along with what she said, there shouldn't be any problems.
"Why?"
Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate at all. He simply put his arm around the woman's shoulder, placing his hand on her shoulder with the most polite gentlemanly gesture he could muster, avoiding any physical intimacy as much as possible, and asked in a low voice, "Why...why did you agree to this?"
"Do you remember when we were in college, one night we secretly skipped the dorm to go see the temple fair?"
A hint of expectation flickered in Zhao Xuerou's eyes, but more than that, they were overflowing with nostalgia.
Jiang Cheng didn't say anything, but gently patted her shoulder with his palm, comforting Zhao Xuerou's emotions as if coaxing a child.
Zhao Xuerou didn't pay attention to Jiang Cheng's response, but simply treated him as her best listener and continued to recount the situation.
"I don't know if you still remember, it was winter, we were about to have winter vacation, and everyone was busy with final exams, but you still stayed by my side every day. I remember, the streets were very lively that night, there were families with children going to the temple fair, and couples embracing each other, wearing thick gloves and hats, buying a candied hawthorn and sharing it..."
"Although the temple fair that year wasn't very large, it was probably because the Lunar New Year was just around the corner, and everyone was going out to move around a bit, so the whole street was packed with people. It was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the crowds were bustling around, making it a very lively place."
Zhao Xuerou seemed a little uncomfortable nestled in Jiang Cheng's arms, so she casually draped her left arm behind his neck, propped herself up, adjusted the hem of her nightgown, and then sat on Jiang Cheng's lap.
The two sat facing each other in this ambiguous manner.
Feeling his body temperature rise slightly, coupled with the ambiguous environment, Jiang Cheng found it difficult to control himself and coughed with his head down. It seemed that only through such a small action could he temporarily calm his surging blood.
Although Zhao Xuerou could feel Jiang Cheng's body temperature changing and could see his slightly red neck when she looked up, she didn't have any thoughts about it. She simply rested her chin on his neck, leaned on his shoulder, and closed her eyes to recall the past.
"That day, we had a bowl of hot duck blood and vermicelli soup, and you even bought me a cup of milk tea and took me for a walk on the street... Oh, by the way, speaking of those two cups of milk tea, that was the first time I realized how eloquent you were!"
Zhao Xuerou's eyes were clear and sparkling. When they shone in front of Jiang Cheng, he saw ripples spreading across the water's surface, as if a long-dormant emotion had been thrown onto the once calm water with a small stone, causing his heart to tremble.
Zhao Xuerou chuckled and ruffled Jiang Cheng's hair: "Back then, you asked me what kind of milk tea I liked. Actually, I knew you already knew all my preferences and habits. I answered somewhat confusedly that taro ball milk tea would be fine. But then you asked me to pick another one I liked. I could only bite the bullet and choose a coconut latte."
"Then you went into the bubble tea shop and bought one of the same drinks. After you gave me the taro ball bubble tea, I noticed that your coconut latte had two straws. I knew that this way you could let me drink two drinks at once without having to worry about too much caffeine and being unable to sleep at night. I really hadn't realized you were so thoughtful before... It was that time that I developed a lot of feelings for you."
Although Zhao Xuerou's description of the incident was touching, Jiang Cheng felt that it wasn't enough to make Zhao Xuerou fall completely in love with him.
This can be considered a somewhat sad form of self-awareness...
Jiang Cheng pursed his lips slightly and asked in a low voice, "And then?"
"Then, as soon as we turned the corner of the ancient city gate, we saw the old man selling hairpins at his stall."
The moment Zhao Xuerou said those words, the tenderness almost overflowing in her eyes made Jiang Cheng instantly certain that this must be the main event that led to their falling in love.
He concentrated and listened carefully to Zhao Xuerou's next words.
Zhao Xuerou wanted to recount all the events of that day, one sentence at a time, with Jiang Cheng responding to each other, but she didn't get a single recollection from Jiang Cheng. Instead, she was the one who kept telling the whole story from beginning to end.
To say she wasn't disappointed would be a lie.
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