Chapter 49 Dali's Dream "He cries quite a bit both day and night."...
Shen Cen was very familiar with this house; it held many of her childhood memories and was her utopia.
Since her parents divorced, her father left Jingjia, and the house was sold. She had also heard from Fu Meihua that a new owner had moved into the house.
She hasn't returned here all these years, firstly because Fu Meihua wouldn't allow it, and secondly because she knew that this former utopia no longer belonged to her.
Even if she comes here, she's only doing so as a tourist, visiting someone else's house.
But now, this house has changed hands several times, and was eventually bought by Jiang Shiyu unexpectedly.
Shen Cen suddenly felt that her utopia had returned.
Tears streamed down her cheeks like a kite with a broken string. Jiang Shiyu wiped away her tears, then slipped his arm under hers and wrapped it around her waist in a way that made her feel safe.
"What a coincidence." Jiang Shiyu gently brushed his nose against the top of her head, and tightened his grip on her waist. "Well then, Shen Cen, welcome home."
-
Jiang Shiyu renovated the house, replacing the wallpaper and relaiding the floor tiles.
"This used to be my mother's study."
Shen Cen had recovered from her shock and readjusted her emotions, beginning to introduce her former home to Jiang Shiyu. As she spoke, she gestured, "This place used to be piled with books, as thick as bricks."
“This is my room.” Shen Cen led Jiang Shiyu into the largest room, where the balcony and bedroom were connected. “I remember there used to be a lot of certificates on this wall, but I didn’t have time to take them with me when I left.”
As she spoke, Shen Cen still showed a look of regret. When she saw Jiang Shiyu take out a thick stack of certificates of merit from childhood to adulthood at her grandmother's house, she was reminded of her own lost certificates of merit.
She led Jiang Shiyu on a tour of the house, inside and out. As they were about to finish, she suddenly stopped and couldn't help but chuckle: "I almost forgot, you are the owner of this house now."
Jiang Shiyu ran his fingertips through Shen Cen's hair, gently patted her head, and pretended to be angry, "Shen Cen, when did you become so clear about things with me?"
In Jiang Shiyu's view, everything he has should belong to Shen Cen.
Two years ago, he visited the previous owner of the house and bought it for a price far exceeding the market value at the time, hoping to one day bring Chen Cen back here and return the house to its rightful owner.
Shen Cen's tears, which she had been suppressing, started falling again. She covered her face, but they still didn't escape Jiang Shiyu's eyes.
She muttered softly, "Jiang Shiyu, I've found that since I've been with you, I've become someone who cries involuntarily."
"Really?" Jiang Shiyu leaned closer and kissed away the woman's tears. "I can tell, you cry quite a lot both day and night."
Shen Cen pushed Jiang Shiyu away, but to Jiang Shiyu, her strength was nothing more than playful flirting. She lowered her head shyly, pursing her lips, "Jiang Shiyu, you..."
"What about me?" The man took her hand and pulled her into his arms.
His chin rubbed against Shen Cen's forehead twice, and his arms tightened around her unconsciously. Those eyes, which to outsiders always seemed indifferent and devoid of any emotion, were now as gentle as a pool of spring water. "From now on, I will never let our little Cen cry again."
After saying that, Jiang Shiyu's lips curled up, and he added a condition in a very irritating way: "Of course, this excludes in bed and when I'm moved."
"River……"
Seeing that Shen Cen was about to angrily call his name again, Jiang Shiyu preemptively covered the woman's lips with his, silencing her.
The man's kiss was light and gentle, like a feather brushing against him. Shen Cen subconsciously touched the spot where he had been kissed, as if the warmth of the man's lips still lingered.
"By the way, which room are we staying in tonight?"
Jiang Shiyu raised his chin and pointed to Shen Cen's room, "I'll stay in this room and see if Teacher Shen from my childhood will appear in my dreams."
Shen Cen was amused by these words, "Jiang Shiyu, people can't imagine things they haven't seen before, so I guess you definitely can't dream about them."
"That's hard to say." Jiang Shiyu raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes flickering as he looked at the woman.
Shen Cen shook his head, still saying he didn't believe it, but Jiang Shiyu seemed very certain.
So when she woke up the next day, the first thing she asked Jiang Shiyu was if he had dreamed about her childhood.
"Guess."
A man's voice in the early morning has a unique soothing quality, with a touch of languor and a carefree, unrestrained quality that is uniquely his.
Shen Cen was resting his head on Jiang Shiyu's arm. His arm was all muscle, so it didn't feel uncomfortable at all when he was lying down.
Shen Cen rubbed against him comfortably a couple of times, closing the distance between them, and replied, "Definitely not."
"Actually, I dreamed of a little girl, but I don't know if it was our teacher Shen when she was a child."
Seeing Jiang Shiyu speaking so seriously, Chen Cen was immediately intrigued: "What does it look like?"
"Hmm..." Jiang Shiyu paused deliberately before continuing, "She had two little ponytails, and she hopped and skipped up to me, then took my hand and said..."
"What are you saying?"
Shen Cen discovered that Jiang Shiyu was very good at keeping people in suspense, especially his tone of voice, which attracted her attention even more.
“She said…”
Jiang Shiyu leaned close to Shen Cen's ear, his beautiful peach blossom eyes curving upwards, "You're going to take me to the secret base."
Shen Cen was stunned.
"What? You didn't actually make me dream about you when you were little?"
Seeing that the person in his arms remained silent after hearing this, Jiang Shiyu deliberately pinched the soft spot on the woman's body.
Shen Cen snapped out of her daze and looked down at Jiang Shiyu: "Are you telling the truth?"
"Um."
Shen Cen stared at Jiang Shiyu for a long time, and only after realizing that his expression didn't seem to be joking did she slowly speak:
"Jiang Shiyu, I really do have a secret base."
-
The most prominent feature of life in the small town south of Beijing compared to the urban area of Beijing and Jiaxing is its "slow pace".
In a slower-paced life, people's sensory experiences are amplified and remembered more vividly.
Jiang Shiyu rented two old bicycles that made a creaking sound when pedaled. In the city center, these two bicycles would seem out of place in this modern metropolis, but here, they seemed perfectly natural.
Just like when we were kids drawing a landscape, we would all instinctively draw the sun in the upper left corner and clouds floating on the right. Below the clouds, there would be a big tree and a house. In the pictures of the small town in southern Beijing, old-fashioned bicycles and morning markets are just like the sun, clouds, and big trees in a landscape painting, becoming an obvious and natural part of the scene.
To Shen Cen's surprise, Jiang Shiyu actually led her to the morning market she remembered.
Two bicycles weaved through the small town roads, and gradually, the unique noise and shouts of the town entered Chen Cen's ears.
Steaming hot bamboo steamer, freshly picked vegetables from the field, chickens, ducks and geese gathered together...
The two parked their bicycles at the entrance to the morning market.
Jiang Shiyu took Shen Cen's hand and said, "Let's see if we can find any memories of our teacher Shen from her childhood."
After walking a few steps, a stall selling black glutinous rice caught Shen Cen's attention. Her eyes immediately lit up, and she tugged at Jiang Shiyu's sleeve, "I ate at this place when I was little."
The two walked up to the black glutinous rice stall, and she asked Jiang Shiyu, "Do you prefer it savory or sweet?"
"Salty mouth."
"Me too."
Noticing the subtle similarities between the two, Shen Cen felt inexplicably more relaxed. She smiled and said to the stall owner, "Boss, two salty ones."
"Okay!"
The owner skillfully scooped out a large spoonful of black rice and spread it on the bamboo roll, instantly filling the nostrils with the aroma of rice.
Shen Cen couldn't help but close her eyes and take a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she saw Jiang Shiyu just putting down his phone.
"You took pictures of me without my permission again."
Since seeing those photos on Jiang Shiyu's WeChat Moments, Shen Cen realized that Jiang Shiyu had been recording many moments about her without her noticing.
Jiang Shiyu showed no embarrassment at being discovered and said confidently, "Chen Cen, you should reflect on yourself."
Shen Cen's eyes widened: "What am I reflecting on?"
"Reflect on why you are so attractive to me, and why my camera can't help but point at you."
As he said this, Jiang Shiyu's eyes were full of smiles.
A morning breeze blew by, carrying the pleasant scent of cedar emanating from the man. Shen Cen felt a stirring in her heart, and she stammered, "Glib, smooth-talking."
"Hahahaha." The stall owner's hearty laughter interrupted their conversation. "Tsk tsk, these young people nowadays know how to date much better than we did back then."
As they spoke, the owner handed over a plate of cooked black glutinous rice. The rice was filled with fried dough sticks and various kinds of pickled vegetables made by the owner himself. The aroma made Chen Cen a little dizzy. She took a big bite and prepared to let Jiang Shiyu try some as well.
Before she could reach out, she remembered that she had asked Jiang Shiyu for one earlier as well.
"Oops, I misheard it as 'one'." The boss slapped his thigh. "I'll make it for you right away."
While waiting for the second batch of black rice—
Jiang Shiyu hooked Chen Cen's finger, "Xiao Cen, I'm hungry."
"The boss is working on it, just wait a bit."
He beckoned again: "Xiao Cen, I'm so hungry I'm about to faint."
It is said that the ten fingers are connected to the heart. Shen Cen did not feel that Jiang Shiyu was hooking her fingers. Instead, it was as if he was hooking her heart through her fingers.
"Okay, here's a bite for you."
She held up the part she hadn't bitten yet in front of Jiang Shiyu, but Jiang Shiyu turned around and took a big bite of the part that Shen Cen had just eaten.
"Delicious." Jiang Shiyu chewed, his expression still savoring the taste.
The two of them finished their black glutinous rice, taking turns eating it, before the owner handed them the second one.
Besides black glutinous rice, the two also bought other local specialties from Jingnan Town.
Jiang Shiyu suggested buying only one of each item so they could try more. Shen Cen thought about it for a moment and felt that Jiang Shiyu's suggestion was quite reasonable. Besides, the two of them were already an "old married couple" and had done all sorts of intimate things. Compared to that, sharing a breakfast seemed like a little cheesy affair.
With Jiang Shiyu around, Shen Cen wasn't worried about not being able to finish the food, and boldly ordered all sorts of things she wanted to eat. After taking a few bites of each dish, she would toss it to Jiang Shiyu, who also ate it with great relish.
"I didn't realize you liked other people's food so much." Shen Cen covered her mouth and laughed, handing the last half of the salted egg yolk shumai to Jiang Shiyu.
Jiang Shiyu threw it into his mouth. "Chen Cen, let me correct you. It only applies to things you've eaten."
They walked to one end of the street, then turned back; many of the stalls had already closed. They left the morning market and got back on their bicycles.
"Where do we go next?" Shen Cen asked.
Jiang Shiyu already had the answer in his heart: "Chen Cen, go to your secret base."
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Author's Note: Thanks for reading! [Rainbow smile] Comrade Xiaoxin is here again to promote two pre-orders on this column. Please add them to your favorites! [Laughing]
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