dazzling
She hadn't noticed it before, but at this moment, Shen Anxia felt as if spring was crashing right into her eyes.
The person outside the door was truly dazzling! He still had a perfectly clean-cut buzz cut, with a few strands falling across his forehead. His black shirt made him look even more composed, and the cuffs were casually rolled up. Shen Anxia could clearly see the lines on his forearm muscles, the kind of lines that only someone who frequently practices combat sports would have. His left hand was casually in his pocket, and a thin black jacket was draped over his right arm. His black suit pants were well-tailored, making him appear broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, and long-legged. At this moment, he stood like a free-spirited bamboo stalk facing the wind.
As a dance major, Shen Anxia felt a surge of ambition to teach him to dance when she saw those long legs.
At the same time that Shen Anxia saw Yang Zheng, Yang Zheng also saw her.
"Anxia!" Yang Zheng's Adam's apple bobbed as he called out her name and waved to her, the black watch on his wrist shimmering in the sunlight as he waved.
Shen Anxia quickly walked over and teased Yang Zheng, "Do you know that just standing there, you attracted everyone's attention? Just now, two girls behind me were screaming and praising how handsome you were. Did you see those two girls?"
"No, I just saw you," Yang Zheng said with a smile. "So what do you think?"
“I feel honored that you were praised,” Shen Anxia said generously.
Yang Zheng saw no jealousy in Shen Anxia's eyes, nor did he see any romantic feelings she might have for him like other girls. She didn't even seem happy about his arrival after a long separation. A slight hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes, but he quickly composed himself and asked, "Shall we go eat?"
Shen Anxia agreed: "What do you want to eat? It's my treat."
"It's your territory, you choose!"
"I know a place that serves pretty good grilled fish. Do you eat fish?" Shen Anxia felt she needed to eat some fish to replenish her brain, as she had been expending too much energy lately.
Yang Zheng nodded: "I have no dietary restrictions."
"How did you get here?" Shen Anxia asked.
"Drive, the car's in the parking lot, I'll take you there." Yang Zheng pointed in the direction.
The two got into the car, and as usual, Yang Zheng handed Shen Anxia a thermos: "Hot milk."
Shen Anxia took the drink and noticed that the ornament on the front of his car had been replaced with the New Year's gift she had given him.
It is a light blue woven pendant with a thin woven ring about ten centimeters in diameter at the bottom. Inside the ring is a light blue bear that sways gently as the car starts and stops.
"You hung it up!" Shen Anxia blushed a little. She could still see her rough handiwork in some places; it wasn't very smooth and flawless.
Yang Zheng also looked at the ornament and patted the bear's head: "It's very cute. I didn't expect you could make ornaments."
"That's all I can do. I can't do anything any harder." Shen Anxia gave Yang Zheng an address, and then the two headed straight for the grilled fish restaurant. While waiting for their food, they chatted casually.
How did the exam go?
"It's alright." Although Shen Anxia felt that she was fine, she always made a conservative estimate before receiving the results.
When will the results be released?
"The school will notify you to check your scores around May or June."
The waiter brought out a large plate of grilled fish, along with all the side dishes.
Yang Zheng picked up the boneless fish meat from the belly, placed it on a plate, and pushed it in front of Shen Anxia: "So what's the plan next?"
Shen Anxia sorted out her thoughts and replied, "I'll probably find an internship." Shen Anxia suddenly remembered, "By the way, the troupe leader told me last time that there's a chance I'll stay in the troupe, so I'm spending my free time practicing martial arts, but I have more free time than before. What about you? What are your plans?"
"My plan is to work, run my shop, and teach martial arts from Monday to Friday, and I'll also use some time to practice my spoken English. As for the weekends..." Yang Zheng's speech slowed down noticeably when he mentioned the weekends, "An Xia, can I come see you every weekend?"
Shen Anxia: "..."
He had mentioned before that he would come to see me over the weekend.
However, Xinfeng and Yi'an are not two counties, but two prefecture-level cities. Although they are the closest points between the two cities, there is still a corner of another city in between. Traveling back and forth every weekend is fine at first, but after a long time, he and she will get tired, right?
Moreover, the purpose of blind dates is with marriage as the premise. Shen Anxia herself is uncertain about her future, so how can she promise Yang Zheng a future? Besides, his family is already overwhelmed with worries about his marriage, so they can't wait for her to calm down.
She was genuinely afraid of holding him back.
Seeing that Shen Anxia remained silent and seemed to be thinking about something, Yang Zheng said again, "Whatever you do won't affect you. Just like before, let's work hard together, okay?"
Seeing how Yang Zheng was accommodating her in every way, as if afraid that she would disagree, Shen Anxia couldn't bring herself to refuse the suggestion. She emphasized again, "The journey is long, and you will be very tired."
Yang Zheng quickly added, "I've thought about it. I can take the high-speed rail, which will give me more time to rest. I'll find a hotel near your rented apartment on Saturday, so we can spend the weekend together."
Shen Anxia, however, thought about how much the round-trip high-speed rail tickets and hotel would cost, and suggested, "How about we meet at the end of each month?"
"Half a month? Is half a month okay? Otherwise, you won't have time to truly understand me." Yang Zheng tried to shorten the time as much as possible.
Shen Anxia looked at Yang Zheng with eyes full of expectation, and couldn't bring herself to refuse, so she nodded somewhat uncontrollably.
Yang Zheng stayed at a nearby hotel that night and didn't return to Yi'an until Sunday afternoon.
Although their relationship didn't progress much, they got along quite naturally.
In April, Shen Anxia also got an internship at a listed company. The company has cooperation with many countries overseas, which will give her the opportunity to be exposed to business English. So, she worked while waiting for the notification for the TEM-8 exam and the dance troupe.
Two days before the May Day holiday, Yang Zheng made a video call to ask Shen Anxia about her plans for the holiday. Shen Anxia then briefly told Yang Zheng about her itinerary and thoughts.
But after hearing Shen Anxia's plan, Yang Zheng remained silent for a long time.
Shen Anxia noticed his silence and asked, "What's wrong?"
“Anxia,” Yang Zheng said slowly, his tone revealing his disappointment, “is your birthday coming up soon?”
Shen Anxia was taken aback.
She hadn't planned to tell Yang Zheng her birthday, since they weren't at the point where they could celebrate birthdays together, but she didn't expect him to ask her that.
Shen Anxia didn't think Yang Zheng guessed her birthday because he saw her ID card, because her ID card showed her Gregorian calendar birthday. But she was different from others. She was born on the day of Lixia (the beginning of summer), so Zhao Ping and Shen Ke named her "Anxia". She always celebrated her birthday according to the lunar calendar, and this year's Lixia was on May 5th.
"I..." Shen Anxia felt a little apologetic because when Yang Zheng asked her about her May Day plans, she had planned to spend May 5th with her family. Now that Yang Zheng was silent about this, she realized that he wanted to spend his birthday with her.
Yang Zheng remained silent until he received a reply from Shen Anxia.
"How...how did you know my birthday was coming up?" Shen Anxia asked.
Yang Zheng sighed, his dejected expression revealing his disappointment: "I thought you would tell me yourself, and then ask me my birthday."
Shen Anxia felt that Yang Zheng was angry, although he didn't show it very obviously. She thought for a moment and said, "My birthday is according to the lunar calendar, which is the day of the Beginning of Summer. This year it's May 5th in the Gregorian calendar. What about you?"
Yang Zheng sighed again.
The answer given voluntarily and the answer obtained voluntarily will never be the same.
He knew that Shen Anxia's birthday was on the same day as Li Xia's; he had known this for a long time.
Tonight, he tried various ways to probe Shen Anxia's plans for her birthday, but no matter how he asked, Shen Anxia's plans didn't include him.
Yang Zheng looked at Shen Anxia, whose face was full of embarrassment, and realized that his emotions might have affected her, making her feel a little uneasy.
After adjusting his mindset, Yang Zheng smiled gently: "On my birthday, please make some time for me! Also, my birthday is on the third day of the ninth lunar month, so I also celebrate my lunar birthday."
Shen Anxia was a little sensitive to this date: "The third day of the ninth month? Is that the day when 'dewdrops resemble pearls and the moon resembles a bow'? I remember. I thought it would be too much trouble for you to help me celebrate my birthday. If you don't mind, how about we have dinner together on the 5th?"
No matter how tortuous the process was, Yang Zheng finally managed to get a meal. He smiled and said, "Okay."
On the evening of the 30th, Shen Anxia took the late-night high-speed train back to Yi'an, where Yang Zheng picked her up at the train station.
After passing through security, Shen Anxia walked towards Yang Zheng, who was standing by the railing under the wall lamp outside the exit.
Yang Zheng took two steps forward and reached for Shen Anxia's suitcase.
Shen Anxia thanked him: "Ever since I met you, my dad has completely let me run wild. I still have to trouble you to pick me up all the time. Does it take long?"
Yang Zheng picked up her small suitcase and walked to her left toward the parking lot, asking her as he did so, "Anxia, have you noticed something about yourself—it seems you never want to owe anyone anything?"
Shen Anxia: "...That's somewhat true..."
"So that's why you didn't tell me your birthday was coming up?" Yang Zheng really wanted to confirm if Shen Anxia's reason was this.
Shen Anxia looked up at Yang Zheng beside her: "Yes... a little, I don't want to trouble you."
“But people need to spend time together to deepen their feelings, right? Besides, picking you up was my own choice, it’s not something you should apologize for, and it’s the same on your birthday.” Yang Zheng hoped that Shen Anxia wouldn’t always be so distant in front of him.
As they were talking, the two arrived at the parking lot. Yang Zheng first opened the right-side car door and let Shen Anxia get into the car. Then he opened the trunk, put Shen Anxia's suitcase in, and finally got into the car.
Seeing that Shen Anxia had already fastened her seatbelt, Yang Zheng picked up the hot milk beside him and handed it to her.
"Thank you." Shen Anxia took the hot milk and, thinking about Yang Zheng's topic, explained, "Yang Zheng, I've been living alone in Xinfeng all these years, and I only share good news with my family, so I'm used to making decisions on my own. These past few months, you've suddenly appeared in my world, and I'm actually a little scared."
Yang Zheng paused in fastening his seatbelt, then looked up and asked Shen Anxia, "What are you afraid of?"
The sound of the seatbelt being fastened into the slot was crisp, and the dim yellow light from the parking lot streetlights shone on Yang Zheng's profile.
Shen Anxia hesitated for a moment, and after a long while, she said seriously, "I'm afraid I won't be able to repay what you've done for me."
"What are you worried about?" Yang Zheng laughed. "Nobody's asking you to pay it back."
Yang Zheng started the car and drove Shen Anxia straight to the Shen family home.
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