Shopping did have an effect; it did lighten Meng Sheng's slightly heavy heart considerably.
She picked out a gift for the Pei family matriarch, Lou Shumin, Xu Pianran, and Qiu Yi.
Pei Sui helped her carry her things, noticing that they were all items she had bought for others, and raised an eyebrow, asking, "Don't you like anything?"
"Well, there's nothing in particular I want."
As she spoke, she suddenly blinked and smiled, saying, "But... I think I just saw something interesting. Let's go back and take a look."
After saying that, she pulled her downstairs to a small, custom-made jewelry shop, pointing to bracelets and cufflinks in one of the counters, "This is it."
Pei Sui lowered his eyes.
The bracelet and cufflinks inside look like a couple's set; the design is quite niche and novel.
The design is not complicated; the button is adorned with a piece of clear, lustrous white jade, giving a sense of mutual affection.
He asked Meng Sheng, "Why didn't you say anything when you saw it before?"
“I wasn’t planning on buying this, but I was just thinking…we haven’t worn matching couple’s items before, and this is quite unique, so why don’t we try it?”
"good."
Pei Sui nodded and asked the counter staff to bring out the bracelet and cufflinks.
They both tried them on. Meng Sheng rarely wore bracelets, usually opting for watches. She smiled with satisfaction, "They look good. Shall we buy them?"
"Um."
Pei Sui didn't. He pulled out a card without hesitation, without even needing to take it off and repackage it.
After buying their things, the two left the store and went to get something to eat together.
The work in Tokyo was progressing smoothly. After handing over the follow-up work to Qiao Na, Pei Sui, adhering to Ou Xi Ya's principle that one should relax appropriately after the workload became too heavy, took Meng Sheng to Osaka City for two days to relax after the dinner party that evening, returning to Beijing a day later than Qiao Na and the others.
Although there was a minor incident during the entire trip to Japan, it didn't really affect Meng Sheng's mood.
Before boarding the plane, she posted a photo on her WeChat Moments. The nine-grid layout included scenery, food, and photos of their matching bracelets and cufflinks. The center photo featured the two of them against the backdrop of the sunset.
The bright afterglow bathed the two in a warm glow, their eyes shining with light, laughter, happiness, and sweetness.
Her caption was simple: "I've met the light, give me a thumbs up!"
There's also a cute "V" sign emoji after the text.
After she posted it, Pei Sui was the first to like it, and then slowly picked out six photos that were important to him and posted them on his WeChat Moments as well.
But there was no copywriting.
He asked, "How about we go on a trip once a year from now on?"
Meng Sheng also saw his post on WeChat Moments and couldn't help but laugh. She gave it a like and said, "Great! It's settled then. We'll go on a trip together every year, just like we did in Osaka this time. We'll go to a place and write a postcard to take back with us."
Pei Sui nodded and followed up on the topic, asking, "Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"
“Hmm…” Meng Sheng thought about it seriously for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, “I’d like to go to the Himalayas to see the stars. Come to think of it, it’s really rare to see stars in Beijing.”
Pei Sui was taken aback by her idea, "Stargazing on a snow-capped mountain?"
"Um."
"Then let's go see it this year."
The two were discussing their plans for their next trip, and before long, Pei Sui's post on WeChat Moments had received over twenty text messages.
He doesn't actually have many people on WeChat, and he never likes to add customers on WeChat; he mostly just calls them.
Mobile phone numbers are usually divided into public and private accounts.
Those who can add him on WeChat are basically friends and relatives with whom he has a good relationship.
He's usually not one to post on social media, and it's normal for him to go two years without posting anything. But since he started this relationship this year, he's posted two or three times on social media.
Xie Qi, Qin Heng, Ming Zhan, He Xuan, and the others started a group chat under that post.
The conversation started with the topic of Pei Sui's "iron tree blooming" (a metaphor for a romantic relationship) posting on social media to show off their love. Several people replied to each other, and within just two minutes, there were more than a dozen or twenty messages.
Later, they even started tagging them in the group chat.
Just as it was time to board, Pei Sui glanced at them briefly and then promptly turned off her phone, showing no intention of paying them any attention.
On the evening of their return to Beijing, Meng Sheng and Pei Sui had dinner with Meng Chengli.
Meng Chengli's recovery is progressing quite well. His protein levels and other indicators are gradually stabilizing, and the stiffness in his hands and legs has been greatly relieved.
Then his mind started to wander, and he wanted to be discharged from the hospital.
As soon as he opened his mouth, he was met with a serious refusal from Meng Sheng, "No, I just asked Professor Fu, you still need to stay for two more months. Don't even think about being discharged now. Although your protein levels are much better than before, they haven't fully returned to normal yet."
She placed a poached egg on his plate. "You should consume more protein now to ensure a faster recovery. Try to stabilize these data completely over the next two months. The same goes for rehabilitation. Professor Fu told me today that your rehabilitation yesterday was perfunctory. I'll personally supervise your rehabilitation tomorrow. If it still doesn't work, I'll call my brother. He's still in Beijing."
"..."
Meng Chengli was rendered speechless by her ten sentences.
There's always this feeling that she's about to hit his palm with a ruler at any moment.
He glanced at Pei Sui, who was peeling shrimp beside him, and gestured for him to say a few words.
Pei Sui understood his father-in-law's meaning, put the peeled shrimp into Meng Sheng's bowl, and said seriously, "Uncle Meng, what Sheng Sheng said is true. I was there just now, and that's exactly what Professor Fu said."
Meng Chengli twitched the corners of his lips, looking at him with disdain for his henpecked nature.
He could already imagine the scene after their marriage, where Pei Sui would be completely controlled by Sheng Sheng.
Surprisingly, this old father was quite happy, though he felt a pang of sympathy for Pei Sui.
Pei Sui looked at his father-in-law's meaningful gaze, pretended not to know anything, and placed the peeled shrimp on his spoon.
"Uncle Meng, Professor Fu said that you can eat some shrimp every day now, as long as you don't eat too much. After dinner, Sheng Sheng and I will push you out for a walk."
Because of the high daytime temperatures, Meng Chengli can only go out for a stroll in his wheelchair in the mornings and evenings.
Meng Chengli reluctantly agreed, "Alright then."
But I couldn't help but correct him, "It's not two months left, only one month and twenty-seven days. I asked A-Chen, and he said that he's recovering well and can be discharged in early September."
Meng Sheng glanced at him, and this time it was her turn to be speechless.
But considering that he had been living in the hospital for the past six months, it was perfectly normal for him to want to be discharged and go home, so I refrained from criticizing him.
After the meal, Pei Sui helped him into a wheelchair and pushed him out of the ward.
It wasn't as cool outside as inside the ward; the air was still thick with the lingering heat of the day. The three chatted idly, creating a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.
However, after walking around for about half an hour, Meng Chengli felt hot and wanted to go back to his ward.
Meng Sheng and Pei Sui had no objections. They returned to the ward and watched him drink the medicine. After sitting for a while, they got up to say goodbye and went to the pet store to pick up Sisi, who was being fostered.
When Sisi saw them, it started meowing through the glass door and even spontaneously performed a glass-wiping act, its excitement overflowing.
The shop assistant opened the glass door of the cat villa, and the little guy stared with his round eyes, opened his mouth and let out a roar like a dragon, and then bravely jumped in.
Meng Sheng was startled. She was only halfway through her conversation with the shop assistant when she suddenly fell silent and leaned over to catch it.
She caught it safely and breathed a sigh of relief, then angrily pinched its face. "You're getting more and more reckless! You dared to jump like that! What if I hadn't caught you? I would have broken your legs! Idiot! Big idiot!"
Meow~
Sisi seemed oblivious to the anger in her words, and gave a soft cry before nuzzling her head into her hands.
Meng Sheng was speechless. This girl was quite good at acting cute. She ruffled her head in annoyance, said goodbye to the shop assistant, and carried her out of the store.
Pei Sui followed behind, carrying the cat carrier, cat food, and snacks.
It was almost ten o'clock when the two people and the cat returned to the Left Bank Courtyard.
Having returned to a familiar environment and with a wider range of activities, Sisi jumped down from Meng Sheng's arms and started running away.
It rushed to the cat tree that Meng Sheng had bought for it, stayed there for half a minute, and then jumped down and started parkour.
"What is this...?"
Looking at its short legs that seemed to leave a blur as it ran, Meng Sheng couldn't find the right words to describe it.
Pei Sui succinctly added to her statement, "She's crazy, don't worry about her."
Meng Sheng laughed, "They must have been feeling too stifled in the pet shop and need to release some energy now."
That's understandable, considering Sisi was locked up in that cat villa for eleven and a half days.
The afternoon before leaving for Tokyo, Pei Sui dropped Meng Sheng off at the pet shop while picking her up.
They've been away from home for almost half a month, and Nie Han has been very busy lately, so he can't find time to come here to feed Sisi. They also don't trust anyone else to feed her.
They can only be temporarily boarded at a pet store.
Meng Sheng also felt that she had used up most of her energy, so she stopped paying attention to Si Si's parkour. Seeing that Pei Sui was washing its cat bowl, she went to wash up first, and then lay down on the bed feeling weak all over.
She doesn't quite remember when she fell asleep.
However, I felt exceptionally refreshed when I woke up the next morning.
She went to the art museum first in the morning for a debriefing meeting. After the meeting, she explained the situation to Jona and then went to the hospital.
Meng Chengli's rehabilitation time is from 3 pm to 4 pm, and she has to keep an eye on him.
Meng Chengli hadn't expected that what she said yesterday was true.
"You just got back from Japan, isn't the art museum busy?"
Meng Sheng put her bag aside, glanced at him, and said casually, "I'm not busy. I still have time to keep an eye on your rehabilitation."
Meng Chengli: "..."
Meng Sheng said with a smile, "I was worried you would miss me too much since I've been away for so long, so I made a special trip to be with you today. I called Aunt Lan and asked her to add two more dishes for lunch and dinner."
Meng Chengli didn't say anything. He was indeed quite lonely in the hospital most of the time, with Miaomiao from the next ward occasionally coming over to keep him company.
He was actually quite happy that Meng Sheng was able to set aside most of the day to spend with him.
After lunch, Meng Chengli didn't take a nap. Instead, he had someone bring him a chessboard and played two games with her.
After winning both games, he shook his head smugly, "Have you been out of the game for too long? How come you've regressed so much?"
A few days ago, when Meng Shixu was with him in the hospital room, the father and son played games together, but he couldn't beat Meng Shixu. He played two games a day, but after losing too many, it got boring.
Now I've finally regained my sense of superiority through my daughter.
Meng Sheng's lips twitched. After all these years, her father was still as confident as ever in his terrible chess skills.
She nodded casually. "Hmm, you're impressive. Well, what can I say, you're a professor. Are you coming down or not?!"
"Get off! Of course we'll get off! There's still more than an hour before the reconstruction starts."
This time, Meng Sheng was serious. In the third round, he showed no mercy and defeated Meng Chengli.
Then, with a smile that crinkled her eyes, she tilted her head and looked at her, "Professor Meng, you flatter me. Don't be discouraged. You've made significant progress this time. I'll have Miaomiao come over to keep you company tomorrow. She'll definitely be able to get back at you."
Meng Chengli: "..."
The siblings Meng Shixu and Meng Sheng learned their chess skills from their grandfather, Mr. Meng. When they were little, whenever the siblings came home from school, their grandfather would make them play chess in the study for an hour.
On weekends, playing chess, practicing calligraphy, reading, and answering questions are all essential activities for the brother and sister.
Its name is "Tranquility".
Stay calm and composed in the face of adversity.
Sometimes, if your chess skills aren't up to par, you'll be punished by the old man.
Although they were never actually punished, the old lady always stopped the punishment because she felt sorry for them.
Meng Chengli wanted to play another game, and Meng Sheng agreed. It seemed that she was about to win with just one more black piece when Meng Chengli's not-so-nimble hand suddenly took back the black piece he had placed earlier.
"I won't get off here. I got off at the wrong place. Don't worry, let me think about it. Your dad is a patient right now, so you have to be considerate of him."
Meng Sheng: "..."
She was silent for a moment, and finally saw his black stone fall again. She asked incredulously, "Dad, were you cheating just now? You're a professor who teaches and educates people."
Meng Chengli's face hardened, his tone neither righteous nor assertive. "What do you mean by 'playing dumb'? I'm old, and I just had a stroke. So what if my reactions are a little slower?"
"..."
Meng Sheng stopped talking and, after another ten minutes, still won the game.
She shrugged, her suppressed laughter seeming to say, "Look at you, why bother?"
Meng Chengli didn't want to play anymore.
After putting away the chessboard, the father and daughter started chatting casually again, creating a harmonious scene.
The afternoon rehabilitation training went smoothly, and Meng Chengli cooperated well. When they returned to the ward, she prepared a basin of hot water and applied a towel to his knee.
Just then, the phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number without a contact name.
She dried herself off, picked up her phone, and answered, "Hello."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. Meng Sheng was puzzled, so she said "hello" again, and then a familiar voice came through the receiver, "Director Meng, it's me."
Meng Sheng paused, his brows furrowing unconsciously.
Is it Gu Ci?
She glanced at Meng Chengli on the hospital bed, not calling her by name, but asking in a low voice, "Oh, what's the matter?"
Gu Ci's voice was as gentle and pleasant as ever, "I just saw you pushing your dad upstairs."
But to Meng Sheng, it sounded like a demonic whisper. She turned away, her face turning cold. "So?"
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