Chapter 54 Blue Mag: "Stay tonight."
More than a decade ago, in a small town south of Beijing.
"Hey, we've been hanging out together for so many days, and you still haven't told me your name!"
The little girl who was called looked up, blinking her big, confused eyes: "Ah, me?"
"Hmm? What else?" The little boy raised his chin with a rather smug look. "This secret base is just the two of us, okay?"
The little girl let out a long "Oh." She had just met the little boy in front of her a while ago; she and some friends were playing a game, and the little boy had been watching from a distance.
The other children all said that this little boy was a spoiled rich kid from the city, with an incredibly arrogant temper, and advised Shen Cen not to pay any attention to him.
But Chen Cen still stepped forward and asked, "Would you like to play with us?"
Jiang Shiyu usually disdained playing with these children, finding them extremely childish and prone to crying. But now, staring at the fair-skinned little girl in front of him, her eyes bright and sparkling like stars in the sky, he surprisingly said, "Oh, okay."
These words startled even himself.
What surprised him even more was that he unconsciously took the little girl's outstretched hand in a gesture of friendliness.
Her hands were soft and tender, much like the cotton candy her grandma often bought for her.
Jiang Shiyu glanced again at the little girl's pink cake dress.
Yes, it's still strawberry flavored.
After that, Shen Cen would see the little boy every time she went out to play, and they gradually became familiar with each other. She even took him to her secret base.
"You're really not going to tell me your name?" The little boy's words brought her back to her senses.
"My name is Shen Cen."
"Chen Cen, which Cen? The Zeng of 'once upon a time'?"
"With the character '山' (mountain) on top and '今' (today) below, my mother said that '岑' (Cen) represents a small but tall mountain." Shen Cen chuckled, revealing a row of neat, white teeth. She was very satisfied with her name.
“A small but high mountain…” Jiang Shiyu repeated the last sentence, suddenly feeling that the name suited the girl in front of him very well.
"Your name is very beautiful."
"Thanks!"
"Aren't you... curious about my name?"
"Oh, what's your name?"
I won't tell you this time; you can ask me next time.
"Oh well."
But the next time they met, Shen Cen still forgot to ask, and continued to call him "Young Master" as before. Finally, Jiang Shiyu couldn't hold back any longer and pulled Shen Cen out from the group of children with a sinister look on his face.
"Remember this, my name is Jiang Shiyu."
Shen Cen found the name a bit of a mouthful, and the syllables swirled in his mouth before he finally uttered the words awkwardly: "Jiang Shiyu".
"Give me your hand."
Although Shen Cen didn't know why this strange young master would suddenly make this request, he still complied.
Jiang Shiyu carefully wrote his name on her palm, stroke by stroke. But before he could finish writing the character "Yu," Chen Cen started giggling from the tickling sensation and pulled her hand back, saying, "It tickles so much! Stop writing!"
"Remember this and I won't write it down."
"Got it, got it... Hey, what's this? A camera?"
"Yes, Polaroid."
His parents sent it to him a few days ago, and his first reaction upon receiving it was to take two photos with Shen Cen.
I don't know why, it was a subconscious thought.
"A Polaroid?" Shen Cen had never heard of it before, and he frowned in thought. "You can get the photo immediately after taking it?"
She can only translate literally.
Jiang Shiyu smiled and said, "You're quite clever."
"Is it really that amazing?" Shen Cen's eyes lit up. "Can we film it together?"
"I brought it here because we took the picture together."
After a crisp "click," a wide-format photograph slowly emerged from the camera. The two held their breath, waiting for the image to be captured.
"Wow! That's a great shot!" Shen Cen couldn't help but exclaim. In the video, the little girl had a sweet smile on her face, her head slightly tilted towards the little boy. The little boy, as always, was aloof, his straight lips revealing no emotion, but the subtle look in his eyes as he gazed at the little girl seemed to say it all.
"Can I have this photo?"
Unexpectedly, Jiang Shiyu, that stingy fellow, stuffed it into his pocket: "Our first photo is mine, and the second one is yours."
"Okay, but could you smile? Otherwise I'll think you're unhappy about taking pictures with me."
"OK."
In the second photo, Jiang Shiyu is smiling. Although it's just a slight smile, his whole demeanor is different; he looks much gentler.
Shen Cen carefully put the photo into his pocket: "If we forget each other in the future, we can take out the photo to recognize each other."
"I can remember without photos."
"By then, will you have become a very successful game designer and pretend you don't know me?"
"I was worried that our historians would be too busy to see me."
The two suddenly looked at each other, and then burst into laughter in unison.
Laughter echoed throughout the alley...
-
“Jiang Shiyu, you are actually…” Shen Cen stroked the faded Polaroid photo, tears streaming down her face and falling onto the photo.
She had just retrieved the photo from the Lu family mansion a while ago. At the time, she stared at the boy in the picture for a long time, but she couldn't remember that this person was Jiang Shiyu.
Looking closely now, the boy's eyebrows and eyes are exactly the same as Jiang Shiyu's.
Jiang Shiyu hugged the girl who was crying uncontrollably, and pulled her onto his lap. The two embraced tightly, facing each other.
He slapped the woman's lower back in feigned anger: "You little ingrate, you forgot I didn't say anything and you still misunderstood that I like someone else."
"Who told you to become so handsome? I didn't even recognize you." Shen Cen laughed through her tears.
Jiang Shiyu was very receptive to this. The gloom that had been building up in his eyes for a long time was finally swept away, and he used his arm to lift the woman up a little.
The adjusted position clearly made Shen Cen feel comfortable, and she rubbed against the back of the man's neck.
"Jiang Shiyu".
A warm sensation rose near his ear, completely softening Jiang Shiyu's heart. "Baby, what's wrong?"
"You've waited for me for so many years, haven't you had a hard time?"
"It's not hard work."
Jiang Shiyu cupped Shen Cen's face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers, "As long as it's you, everything is worth it."
These words made Shen Cen's heart ache again, and the tears she had just stopped welled up again: "Jiang Shiyu, why didn't you tell me sooner!"
"Chen Cen." Jiang Shiyu called her name solemnly, "I don't want you to feel burdened, and I don't want your feelings for me to be based on gratitude."
"I only hope that you have fallen in love with me as a person purely."
Shen Cen did not deny Jiang Shiyu's statement. If Jiang Shiyu had told her about his crush of more than ten years from the beginning, her feelings for Jiang Shiyu would definitely have been mixed with other things.
"Then why haven't you come looking for me in the past ten years?"
If the two hadn't met again in the afterlife, would they have missed each other forever?
Jiang Shiyu paused for a long time before slowly uttering a sentence, and upon closer listening, one could feel a slight tremor in his voice.
“Xiao Cen, I went to see you on the day you finished your college entrance exam, but you refused.”
"What?"
Shen Cen gasped sharply, his face filled with disbelief. "You came looking for me?"
"Hmm, maybe you don't remember."
A girl as outstanding and beautiful as Shen Cen naturally has no shortage of suitors. Jiang Shiyu subconsciously assumed that this was the reason why Shen Cen didn't remember this little episode.
"No, no."
Shen Cen shook his head. "No one contacted me on the day the college entrance exam ended."
She remembers very clearly that the last exam that day was geography, and because the paper was very difficult, she felt quite dejected.
As she dragged her weary steps to the classroom door, she was surprised to find that Lu Baichuan had specially rushed back from school to pick her up, and had even thoughtfully packed her schoolbag. She immediately left the school with Lu Baichuan, who then treated her to a big meal.
She didn't recall anyone ever coming to see her.
"I was originally going to tell you this in person."
At that time, he specially brought a bunch of lisianthus and returned to Jingjia Affiliated High School early, preparing to confess his feelings to Shen Cen after she finished her last exam.
It's said that a true confession begins with a bouquet of flowers, so Jiang Shiyu went to the florist and personally arranged a bouquet. At the time, he didn't know it was lisianthus; he just felt that Shen Cen was like this flower—beautiful yet unassuming, but possessing a unique charm that would unconsciously draw one's attention. That's why he chose it immediately.
However, before he could even wait for Shen Cen, he received a call from Peking University saying that his grandmother had suddenly fainted during class and had been taken to the hospital. He could only hurriedly leave a message on the card and leave the bouquet and card at Shen Cen's spot.
Grandma's health wasn't ideal. Although it wasn't a serious illness, she had fallen quite badly and was hospitalized. Mr. and Mrs. Jiang immediately chose the earliest flight back to China.
That day, Jiang Shiyu sat in the hospital corridor, checking his phone every few minutes. He was usually very capable in everything he did, but when it came to Shen Cen, he had absolutely no confidence.
He was like a person adrift at sea in a small boat, unsure whether danger or land would come first.
"bite--"
The phone screen finally lit up, and then a line of cold, hard text pierced his eyes.
Sorry, it's been too long, I don't remember. Please don't bother me again unless it's absolutely necessary.
"So, you didn't reply to the text message at all, right?"
Jiang Shiyu grabbed Shen Cen's arm and suddenly became excited. Perhaps because he was too excited, he didn't control his strength. He saw Shen Cen hiss softly before he loosened his grip and rubbed the spot that he had pinched red. "Sorry, Xiao Cen, I was too excited."
"Jiang Shiyu, the first bouquet of lisianthus I ever received was bought for me by you at the airport."
The moment the words left her lips, a guess arose in Shen Cen's mind. However, this guess was utterly absurd, and she dared not think about it, much less tell Jiang Shiyu.
She snuggled closer to Jiang Shiyu, more clingy than ever before. "But thankfully, our ending was good, wasn't it?"
Jiang Shiyu naturally and keenly grasped the implied meaning of those words.
"So, Xiao Cen, have we made up?"
"Mmm." Shen Cen tilted her head back and took the initiative to leave a kiss on Jiang Shiyu's lips, but this time it was not a light peck, but a long and ambiguous one.
The man took the initiative, flipping her over and pinning her to the sofa, intensifying the kiss. All their breaths were swallowed between their lips, which even became swollen and numb. Neither of them wanted the kiss to end.
Jiang Shiyu only released Shen Cen's lips when she felt her brain was so oxygen-deprived that it went completely hazy and she couldn't help but let out a soft moan.
Perhaps it was in this ambiguous atmosphere that people became unusually sentimental. Two tears slid down Shen Cen's cheeks. She hooked her arms around the man's neck and choked out, "Jiang Shiyu, I'm sorry."
She could easily imagine how heartbroken Jiang Shiyu must be in the face of her estrangement. This kind of cold violence was like a dull knife; it wouldn't kill him instantly, but each blow would strike a vital spot.
"Silly girl, why are you apologizing?" Jiang Shiyu raised his hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes. "If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. I didn't have a mouth and I didn't explain things clearly, which is why Xiao Cen misunderstood."
His arm slipped under the woman's neck, and then he held her tightly in his arms in a very reassuring way. "You've been through a lot, baby."
"Jiang Shiyu!" Shen Cen cried even harder, "Why did you have to be so good to me?"
"Am I too good to you? You've found yourself unable to live without me." Jiang Shiyu raised the corners of his lips, trying to ease Shen Cen's guilt with a light and cheerful tone.
"Yes, I think of you every day I'm away."
The man's expression became more joyful, more like a sigh of relief, as if everything had finally settled down.
"Xiao Cen".
"Stay tonight."
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Author's Note: Um... if I add another angst later, I hope you guys won't kill me, right? [Please!]
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