Chapter 2: Leng Chenxiang’s embrace after the rain.
Song Jili was standing against the light, with the upper half of his face hidden in the darkness.
He bent low, letting his glasses slide down to the sides of his nose. He raised his hands, holding the bottom of the frames on both sides with his thumb and middle finger, with his index finger suspended in the air. He exerted a little force, with veins bulging on the back of his hand, and raised his hands up to the base of his nose.
A casual little move, done in an exceptionally sexy way.
"Ms. Chen, what I wanted to ask you just now is, what do you think about marrying me?"
Chen Cheng neither nodded nor shook his head. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out, and he lowered his head.
Song Jili supported himself on the edge of the car window and lowered his body a little.
It seemed like he was holding on to something and had to talk to her at the same eye level.
Chen Cheng avoided his sight.
Song Jili stared at her for a few seconds.
Why do I feel...the girl is silly and kind of cute.
Chen Cheng was a little scared.
At this moment, even if Song Jili looked better than the fairy boy, it could not offset the fear deep in her heart. All she could think of were the cruel villains in the police and gangster movies she had seen.
He really did something indecent. The scar on his right arm made him look a bit rogue, and his strong muscles gave him an irresistible sense of power, making him completely unable to escape.
She thought he would do something wild, but in the end he just bent down and caught her gaze that was looking down.
He said, "Don't take that kid's words to heart."
Chen Cheng kept shrinking his neck, and there was a strand of hair standing up on his slightly messy hair. Song Jili wanted to reach out and rub it.
After several mental struggles, I managed to hold it back.
Girls are timid to begin with, and if you rub them a little, she will go home tonight and make a fuss about breaking off the engagement.
"Go to bed early." Song Jili put his hands back in his pockets, stood up straight, and took two steps back.
Chen Cheng, with fear still lingering, used sign language to signal him.
--Thank you.
Make a fist and tap your thumb twice.
She thought Song Jili was a polite person.
Then I thought of him raising his hand and grabbing Song Yeliang's collar, holding him easily like he was holding a chicken.
There is courtesy, but not much.
Song Jili, who was standing on the roadside, had no idea how the girl was judging him in her heart. He had a not-so-salty smile on his lips, with two faint brackets on his lips, revealing his teeth, looking a little cynical.
The shirt perfectly outlined his broad shoulders and the hem was tucked into his trousers. The wind blew predatorily, fluttering in his clothes.
He suits well in black shirts, which perfectly show his noble laziness.
The car window rolled up, and Chen Cheng finally escaped from the oppressive environment.
I had no mood to draw anymore and just stuffed the notebook back into my bag.
The driver took Chen Cheng to the Shen family's small villa. She sat in the car for a full ten minutes and got off only after she was mentally prepared.
The third brother and his wife were sitting in the living room. When she walked in, they stood up and smiled at her.
Chen Cheng smiled slightly and made a simple gesture to indicate that she was tired and wanted to rest.
Shen Jiangyi nodded: "Okay, okay, take a rest if you are tired, and we will talk about other things tomorrow."
Third sister-in-law Jiang Mei also nodded with a smile, and asked her aunt to prepare hot water for her to take a bath, showing her great care.
Chen Cheng nodded in thanks and went upstairs.
There was no need for her to say anything more. They must have known all the details of today's dinner with the Song family before she arrived home.
Chen Cheng stopped at the corner. A few minutes later, the third sister-in-law downstairs could no longer hold back and started complaining to her husband.
"I told my niece to go with the match, but you, the Shen family, insisted on pushing her to go. It's not that I have a prejudice against her. Normal people would avoid the matchmaking partner if they knew that the matchmaker was a disabled person. It's normal for the Song family cousin to cancel the engagement."
"How can you say that? Xiaocheng is aphasic, not mute. How can he be disabled?" Shen Jiangyi lowered his voice. "He still lives in our house. How can you, as an elder, make up stories about him behind his back?"
"Why am I not telling the truth?" Jiang Mei said anxiously, "My niece is my biological niece. She is just your adopted daughter, the one your mother kept by her side to relieve her loneliness in her later years."
Shen Jiangyi shook the newspaper without blinking, "Your niece's surname is Jiang, but she and my mother have the same surname as Chen. You can't tell the difference between relatives."
"I understand! You, the Shen family, don't consider us, the Jiang family, as one family!" Jiang Mei picked up the teacup and was about to throw it to the ground.
Shen Jiangyi quickly stopped and softened his voice: "Wife, calm down. If Xiaocheng really heard it, what would she think? What would mom think if she knew that she came to Jiangdu and stayed at our house? You don't have any bad intentions, but you can be easily misunderstood."
"I...I...I am also thinking about my family. I didn't mean to say anything mean."
Jiang Mei was confused for a while, so she pulled her husband's sleeve and asked anxiously, "We must do business with the Song family, and you are responsible for the market in the south. If something goes wrong, the responsibility will fall on you. What if Dad is biased against our third house? Putting all this aside, the marriage contract was made by the elders in the family, so we must get married. What if Xiaocheng doesn't want to?"
How can I not be anxious?
All the industries in the south are managed by Shen Jiangyi. If anything goes wrong and the old man holds them accountable, they will definitely be the ones to be scolded.
If the engagement hadn't been called off, perhaps Chen Cheng would have agreed.
But now that the marriage partner has changed to the second generation of the Song family, it’s hard to say.
After listening to the conversation between her brother and sister-in-law, Chen Cheng clenched her fists and walked back to her room lightly, trying her best not to let her third brother and sister-in-law notice that she was eavesdropping.
After taking a shower, she walked around the room twice. Not feeling sleepy at all, she simply changed into sportswear, put on a dirt-proof overall, and mixed the pigment.
I walked to the French window in the living room, sat down in front of the drawing board, dipped my paint in it, and painted the blank page.
It is impossible to say that I am not afraid when I go to a foreign country alone.
No matter how much she had in her heart, she couldn't say it, so whenever she felt depressed, she would draw, and it would be even better if she could draw a very large one.
She racked her brains and let out all her imagination. When the daylight came, her mood gradually calmed down.
Chen Cheng stopped painting halfway. If he stayed up late, he would definitely have serious dark circles under his eyes. In order to feel better, he took off his overalls, changed into clean pajamas, and lay on the bed to make himself sleepy.
After turning over for the fifth time, Chen Cheng, who couldn't sleep, took out his mobile phone from under the pillow and opened WeChat.
A female college student who used to work part-time in her gallery sent her a message asking if she could help change the lighting in a painting.
Chen Cheng was bored at the time, so he sat up immediately after receiving the message.
She imported the file into the drawing software on her tablet, added a new layer, and began to make changes.
In less than half an hour, the originally gray painting came to life, with light and shadows distinguishing the main and the secondary, making it more comfortable to look at.
I sent it back to Yu Qing, who replied immediately.
Yu Qing: [Boss, you didn’t sleep? ]
Chen Cheng: [Yes, it’s almost there.]
Chen Cheng: [Why didn’t you sleep? ]
Yu Qing: [Something happened, I was a little excited...I couldn't sleep, so I got up and rushed to finish the manuscript.]
Chen Cheng: [You should finish your painting soon. I will take a rest first. ]
Yu Qing thanked him again and went about his business with the revised painting.
Chen Cheng stared at the screen in a daze.
In fact, she wanted to ask whether Yu Qing should continue to come to work after her gallery was ready.
Yu Qing is a rare person who spends time learning sign language in order to communicate with her.
But that should be impossible. It turns out that opening her own art gallery made her family unhappy. They said she was messing around. They also reminded her indirectly that she should stay at home well after arriving at the Song family and not do whatever she wants.
Suddenly, she felt a little disgusted with this imperfect body that bound her to so many rules and regulations.
Chen Cheng sighed helplessly, wondering what was going on.
Could it be that the people around you have been hitting a sore spot with the word "dumb girl" from time to time recently?
I couldn't help but laugh at myself and denied the thought that came to my mind.
After so many years, she certainly doesn't care. She just can't adapt to the cold and damp weather in the south in autumn.
Chen Cheng lay down, with a lot on his mind, and fell asleep with his eyes closed without knowing when.
-
In the afternoon, Chen Cheng went to the studio rented by the Shen family for Shen Bingwei to revise a painting for Shen Bingwei, who is going to take the art exam next year.
As dinner time approached, Mrs. Shen called Chen Cheng.
Seeing who was calling, she was a little nervous for a moment, but she didn't care about it anymore. She walked to the end of the corridor in her dirty apron, holding her phone, put on headphones, and turned on the call.
The video was connected, and on the screen, the gray-haired old lady Shen smiled warmly and called out cordially, "Niuniu, are you busy?"
Chen Cheng used sign language: Yes, I’m teaching Xiaowei to draw.
The housekeeper next to her translated for Mrs. Shen.
The only person in the family who had smooth communication with Chen Cheng was the housekeeper.
After she became aphasic, in order to help her recover as soon as possible, Mrs. Shen specially hired a housekeeper who knew sign language to take care of her, spending a lot of time and energy on it.
Later, Mrs. Shen found it troublesome and started learning it herself. She can’t say that she has mastered it 100%, but she has no problem reading daily conversations.
Old Mrs. Shen said, "I've heard about the blind date from your third brother. Although I'm old and can't stay with you for too long, I hope you can get married and have someone to take care of you in the future. But if you don't like it, I'll send someone to pick you up tomorrow."
Chen Cheng didn't know how to respond.
The anger from last night is gone.
She was angry that she was being randomly assigned like an object. The Shen family had been kind to her, and Old Lady Shen had been kind to her, raising her to this age. It was her duty to do something for them. If they wanted her to marry, then she would do her best.
Although I was moved, I also knew that things were not as simple as my mother said, and my father must still be putting pressure on her.
"Niuniu, don't let your imagination run wild. I'm here to take care of everything." Old Mrs. Shen saw what Chen Cheng was thinking. "I'll send someone to pick you up tonight. Pack your things."
Chen Cheng felt a little jealous and suddenly didn't want to think too much about the pros and cons.
Stay with your mother as long as you can, and we can worry about the future later.
Chen Cheng nodded and gestured: I... don’t want to get married anymore, I just want to spend more time with you, is that okay?
"Okay, go eat first." Old Mrs. Shen smiled and looked at the girl on the screen with particularly loving eyes.
Chen Cheng hung up the phone and went back happily to pack his luggage.
Before midnight that night, Chen Cheng returned to Beijing North, treating everything that happened in Jiangdu as an unpleasant trip.
Later, I would occasionally come across this matter because my eldest brother and his family came back for dinner a few times. Every time they talked about the engagement with the Song family, they would quarrel and always ended in a bad mood.
Her mother told her not to worry.
She listened too.
She thought the blind date was over, and no matter who would be the one to fulfill the marriage, it had nothing to do with her anymore.
-
In early winter in October, Chen Cheng put on a thick coat and sketched on the lawn. Standing in the cold wind, he couldn't help but shrink his neck. The white plush scarf covered half of his face, leaving only a pair of lively eyes, which were watery and bright.
He endured the cold and exposed his five fingers, which turned red at the joints after being blown by the wind twice.
A few cars came to the door. Chen Cheng glanced at them and continued to concentrate on his own work.
Although it was very cold outside, she was in a good mood as she saw that the painting that had taken her two months of hard work was almost completed. The corners of her lips raised slightly, and faint vortices appeared beside her.
Half an hour later, the housekeeper came to call her: "Miss, there is a guest. The mistress wants you to meet him."
Chen Cheng pointed at himself, forgetting to put down his paintbrush and almost smearing his face.
The housekeeper smiled and said, "Yes, go in first, I'll clean it up."
Seeing Chen Cheng's red hands, he urged her to hurry into the house, took over the painting supplies and paints, and cleaned them up with ease.
The Shen family often has business partners visiting, but they never ask her to meet them. But today, the guest came from nowhere and insisted on meeting her.
Chen Cheng walked towards the front hall with curiosity. Just as his hand was about to touch the handle, the door was pushed open from the inside, and he almost bumped into the arms of the person who came in.
The familiar Leng Chenxiang made her feel at a loss. She raised her head and met the man's dark eyes. She opened her mouth slightly in surprise and her mind went blank for a moment.
Song Jili?
Why is he here?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
