Chapter 83 Shen Yuqiu embraced Wen Min and lowered his head to kiss her... Old Master Shen...
Shen Yuqiu guessed that Wen Min and the children hadn't eaten dinner yet. He originally wanted to ask Wen Min if she wanted to eat first before going back, but seeing that Wen Min was sleeping too soundly, he couldn't bear to wake her and drove directly to the orphanage.
Driving was difficult on a rainy day, and Shen Yuqiu wanted Wen Min to sleep a little longer, so she deliberately drove very slowly. It was already past eight o'clock in the evening when they arrived at the orphanage.
Upon arriving at the gate, An Fusheng got out of the car first to open the gate, while Shen Yuqiu glanced at the gate sign he had previously overlooked and drove the car into the welfare home.
Shen Yuqiu drove very smoothly and stopped very smoothly. The people who fell asleep didn't wake up even after arriving home.
Lou Lan had asked An Fusheng beforehand and knew they couldn't get a taxi, so Teacher Shen drove them back. Hearing the car, Lou Lan came downstairs and asked, "You're back?"
“Okay.” An Fusheng bent down and carried the sleeping Wen Xinglan out of the car and handed her to Lou Lan. “They’re all asleep. Could you hold Xiao Ba for a bit while I carry Xinghe out.”
Wen Xinghe leaned against Wen Min and fell asleep. Shen Yuqiu saw An Fusheng going to wake Wen Min and tried to stop him, but unexpectedly Wen Min woke up on his own. Shen Yuqiu got out of the car and opened the car door for Wen Min.
Lou Lan hugged Wen Xinglan and whispered her thanks to Shen Yuqiu. Shen Yuqiu said it was nothing and there was no need to be polite. Then he whispered to Wen Min, "Get some rest."
Wen Min nodded: "Thank you for today."
"You're welcome," Shen Yuqiu said. "Then I'll head back."
Wen Min: "Okay."
...
The next day was the weekend, and it was still raining when I woke up in the morning.
The kindergarten children wore their new raincoats and rain boots to school yesterday, but they weren't satisfied with just one session. Today, they begged their mother, Ms. Lou, to let them wear them again so they could splash in the rain in the yard. They were having a blast, which made two other children who don't go to kindergarten and don't have raincoats shout and want to jump into the rain too.
An Fusheng and Xu Sannian continued their busy daily routine: buying groceries, cooking, and running their shop.
In the afternoon, the rain finally stopped, and the sun slowly peeked out from behind the clouds. A few streaks of light, like golden and silver threads, pierced through the clouds and shone into the yard, where the children played with the light again.
Shen Yuqiu knocked on the door of the orphanage and saw a yard full of children. She asked An Fusheng, "Aren't the adults home?"
"Yes," An Fusheng said. "Are you looking for Aunt Wen?"
Shen Yuqiu nodded: "Mm."
"I'll go get her." An Fusheng ran off to fetch her.
An Fusheng called Wen Min over and found that Qi Zhao and the others had also come.
When Shen Yuqiu saw Wen Min approaching, he cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly and said, "I brought them here to apologize?"
Wen Min asked suspiciously, "What are you apologizing for?"
Qi Zhao said, "We shouldn't have made Fuzai travel all the way to deliver food to us, and we even encouraged him to learn to ride an electric bike, causing him to fall. We're sorry."
The other two added, "Yes, yes, yes! We're really sorry! We were inconsiderate. We won't do it again. We've already called the food delivery platform's customer service repeatedly to ask them to expand their delivery area. Until they're included in the delivery area, we'll just order delivery ourselves if we want to eat."
Shen Yuqiu said, "I also bear responsibility. They only tried to please me by having Fuzai deliver food because they saw that I liked Fuzai's cooking and were afraid I would scold them for making mistakes. I'm sorry."
Wen Min looked at An Fusheng.
An Fusheng quickly waved his hand: "It's okay. It was my own decision to deliver the food, and I wanted to learn how to ride the electric bike myself. I don't blame you."
"Really?" Qi Zhao produced his electric scooter as if by magic: "Want to learn now? We'll teach you step by step, completely free, guaranteed to teach you until you learn, and we promise you won't fall."
An Fusheng was ecstatic. Even kindergarten kids liked electric cars, so there was no reason for him not to like them. An Fusheng glanced at Wen Min.
Seeing that An Fusheng needed Wen Min's consent to learn how to ride an electric bike, Shen Yuqiu said weakly, "There's no need to be too strict with children."
Wen Min said, "If you want to learn, then go ahead."
An Fusheng said happily, "Thank you, Aunt Wen!"
The children in the yard also ran over in droves:
"I want one too!"
"Let me try it too!"
"I want to learn too."
"Okay, come on, let's play together."
A group of children, big and small, went to learn to ride electric bikes on the path outside the orphanage, leaving Wen Min and Shen Yuqiu staring at each other.
Wen Min asked, "Is there anything else?"
Shen Yuqiu originally wanted to say, "Let's talk," but then she thought, "What should we talk about?" It seemed like there was nothing to talk about, so she could only say, "Nothing. I'll wait for them here. I need to take them back in a little while."
"Go ahead," Wen Min said and left.
Shen Yuqiu watched Wen Min walk away without looking back and sighed softly.
Lou Lan was unaware of their relationship. Upon seeing that it was Teacher Shen, who had kindly brought Wen Min and the others back yesterday, she warmly said, "Teacher Shen, please come in and have some tea while you wait."
Shen Yuqiu: "Okay."
Recently, many people have been visiting the welfare home, and most of them bring their children. The children like to play in the yard, so Lou Lan cleaned up the empty room next to the restaurant and turned it into a tea room so that the adults can rest while watching the children.
Lou Lan invited Shen Yuqiu into the tea room and said, "Please forgive Dean Wen for being so busy."
"It's alright." Shen Yuqiu asked, "Don't you have shift changes on weekends?"
Lou Lan paused for a moment before understanding his meaning, and then laughed and said, "Our welfare home only has three staff members: me, Director Wen, and Fuzai. Recently, we've added Niannian, so everyone has their own work. There's no such thing as shift work."
Shen Yuqiu: "Working 24 hours a day, all year round?"
Lou Lan: "Pretty much, but you can ask for leave if something comes up."
Shen Yuqiu: "Then what about the family?"
Lou Lan placed the warmed teacup in front of Shen Yuqiu, saying, "In this city, we are all alone, with no family to take care of. The children in the welfare home are our family, and the welfare home is our home."
Shen Yuqiu seized upon the key information: "Is your Dean Wen single?"
Lou Lan said, "Yes."
Shen Yuqiu: "Has Dean Wen always been single?"
Fearing that Lou Lan might find his question too abrupt, Shen Yuqiu added, "Wen Min and I used to be friends, but we haven't seen each other for a long time. I was just checking in on her; I didn't mean anything else."
Professor Shen seemed upright and sincere, and had even kindly helped them before, so Lou Lan completely lowered her guard against him and sighed, "Yes, I did have a boyfriend when I was studying abroad. But after I returned to China and took over the welfare home, I was so busy and stressed that I didn't have time to date."
Shen Yuqiu finally steered the question in the direction she had planned, asking, "Did you date a foreigner, and that's why you broke up with him after returning to China?"
Lou Landao brewed a cup of tea and poured one for Shen Yuqiu, saying, "No, she was also a Chinese student studying abroad. At the time, she excitedly told us that she and her boyfriend would graduate with their master's degrees in a few months and she would bring her boyfriend back to China to meet us. Who knew that before she graduated, her parents, the former dean and his wife, had an accident, and she rushed back. Later, she was unable to go to school anymore and never mentioned her boyfriend again. They must have broken up."
Shen Yuqiu's breath hitched: "Chinese students?"
Lou Lan: "Yes, they say it's a joint medical master's program between the medical university and Oxford University. They're so outstanding. Not only are they good-looking, but their medical skills are also excellent. Although they studied ophthalmology, they can also cure cats with terminal illnesses. They said we definitely won't be disappointed when we meet them."
Shen Yuqiu was already having some difficulty breathing. Who else but himself could treat the cat's terminal illness?
It was his first trip to London a few months after arriving in England. He remembered it clearly. He was queuing for a public restroom next to London Bridge. There were so many people queuing that day. His phone was almost out of battery and there was still a long queue ahead of him, so he had to put his phone away and visit the Thames River, which wasn't very interesting. However, in that fleeting glance, Shen Yuqiu saw Wen Min holding a plush toy.
She had fair skin, beautiful features, eyes like deep lake water, full lips, and long, slightly wavy hair that was jet black and glossy, shimmering with a subtle brown sheen in the rare London sunlight, like a goddess who had stepped out of an ancient myth.
As if possessed, Shen Yuqiu put away the coins he was holding, stepped out of the line, walked up to Wen Min, and said in Chinese, "Hello, do you have any coins?"
Wen Min looked at him, puzzled.
Shen Yuqiu's heart pounded, and she said in a trembling voice, "The public restrooms only accept coins, but I didn't bring any. Could you lend me some?"
Wen Min took out several coins from her bag and gave them to him.
Shen Yuqiu didn't even count them, just slapped them shut and took them all away. "You wait here for me, I'll give them back to you in a bit, okay?"
Wen Min: "Okay."
After queuing up again, Shen Yuqiu realized that his clumsy behavior was full of loopholes. Why was he queuing up in the first place if he didn't have any coins? Why did he borrow money and not pay it back before going to the restroom, but wait until he finished? Fortunately, Wen Min didn't expose him.
While waiting in line, Shen Yuqiu thought of many ways to strike up a conversation. Finally, she found a way to start the conversation: Why is Wen Min walking around here with a cat? Cats are different from dogs; cats don't need to walk.
He asked this question as soon as he came out of the bathroom. Don't blame him for not being able to think of a more sophisticated reason to strike up a conversation; his brain had completely shut down, and it was already quite remarkable that he could come up with this somewhat plausible reason.
He was once again thankful that Wen Min hadn't thought too much about it. Wen Min told him that it was her best friend's cat, which had been diagnosed with cancer. Her best friend felt that her cat was going to go to the cat planet before it could see the world, so she decided to take it to see the world before it passed away. However, she was busy writing her thesis, so she entrusted this important task to Wen Min.
Shen Yuqiu knew that British doctors were sometimes less reliable than Baidu in diagnosing diseases, so he immediately said that he was a medical student and could help her see if the cat could be saved.
Wen Min thanked him.
The next day, Wen Min took the cat to Oxford to find Shen Yuqiu. After examining the cat, Shen Yuqiu discovered that it only had asthma. However, he did not tell Wen Min this, only that it could be cured. So, in the following days, either Wen Min took the cat to Oxford to find him, or he came to London to find Wen Min, and the two gradually became acquainted.
Later, when the cat recovered, Wen Min planned to return to France. Shen Yuqiu said he wanted to say goodbye to her in person, but in reality, he had finally mustered up the courage to confess his feelings to her.
He arranged to meet Wen Min at the place where they first met. He picked out the reddest bouquet of roses from a florist and set off from Oxford to London early in the morning with the large red roses. However, he encountered a train strike and eventually took a bus to London after several twists and turns.
They agreed to meet at noon, but when he arrived it was already afternoon. It was drizzling that day, and when he got to the agreed location, he was surprised to see Wen Min waiting for him with an umbrella.
When Shen Yuqiu saw that slender figure in the rain and mist, tears welled up in her eyes. The glistening tears fell onto the slightly wilted rose petals, reflecting a beautiful face.
Half of the umbrella was moved over Shen Yuqiu's head, and Wen Min asked, "Why aren't you using the umbrella?"
Shen Yuqiu asked in a hoarse voice, "How long have you been waiting? Are you cold?"
Wen Min said, "It's a bit cold, but I'm wearing quite a lot of layers. It's just a bit windy..."
Before Wen Min could finish speaking, Shen Yuqiu hugged her and lowered his head to kiss her...
Later, Wen Min always mocked Shen Yuqiu for being tacky, giving big red roses when it was such a romantic time to confess her love, making her embarrassed to let her best friend see it.
Seeing Shen Yuqiu remain silent for a long time, Lou Lan assumed that he was also sympathizing with Wen Min's plight. She said with regret, "They must have had a good relationship back then. When Wen Min turned 24, the director and his wife finally managed to find time to go to France in advance to celebrate her birthday with her. She spent the whole time in England with her boyfriend and only returned to France on the last day to celebrate her birthday with her parents. However, the director and his wife had an accident on their flight back to China. She came back to handle the aftermath and took over the welfare home. A lot happened at that time, and she went through a very difficult period. I haven't seen her boyfriend contact her since. He probably broke up with her after learning about her family's troubles. In this world, there are always more people who add flowers to brocade than people who offer charcoal in the snow."
Shen Yuqiu felt as if something was gripping his heart tightly, and he could hardly breathe. He managed to ask, "Wen Min's father is French?"
Lou Lan: "Yes, but she looked like her mother since she was little, so you can't tell she's mixed race unless you look closely."
Shen Yuqiu, who was sitting in a chair, stumbled and almost fell.
Lou Lan exclaimed, "Teacher Shen, are you alright?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com