garden
It was almost nine o'clock when we arrived at the Shen family's house.
As Yang Zheng passed by Xu Qingjing's house, he looked at Shen Anxia and smiled: "When I came to Lao Si's house before, I would think about when I could climb one more floor."
Shen Anxia also found it amusing and asked him, "So how does it feel to climb one more floor now?"
"I'm so excited that I'll be able to move in soon and even visit your bedroom." Whether it was from the heat of climbing the stairs or from nervousness, Yang Zheng's palms were covered in a layer of sweat.
As they spoke, the two had already reached the fifth floor. Shen Anxia took out her key and opened the door. The three people inside the house came out to greet them upon hearing the sound.
"Dad, Mom, Ayi."
"Uncle Shen, Aunt Zhao, Ayi."
The two spoke at the same time.
Shen Anyi helped Yang Zheng get slippers: "Sis! Brother Yang Zheng, my sister specially prepared slippers for you."
"Thank you." Yang Zheng changed his shoes.
Shen Ke and Zhao Ping quickly ushered Yang Zheng inside, saying, "Why are you carrying so much stuff! Xia Xia didn't even help carry some."
Shen Anxia defended herself: "I did want to help, but Yang Zheng is just that outstanding; he handled it all by himself."
Yang Zheng chimed in, "Yes, Uncle Shen, Aunt Zhao, I took care of it all by myself."
Yang Zheng had been to this reception room before, but he was preoccupied with other things and hadn't looked around carefully. Now, he surveyed the room. The overall style was white, but the Shen family had decorated it with a birthday theme. The background wall was covered with purple balloons, and balloons with the words "Happy Birthday" were already hung on the wall. There were also many light purple, dark purple, and pinkish-white balloons piled on the floor, probably not yet hung up. Various purple flowers were arranged on the coffee table, and next to it stood a purple arched card that read "Happy Summer's Birthday."
After Yang Zheng and Shen Anxia were seated, everyone first wished Shen Anxia a happy birthday, and then served Yang Zheng fruit, dried fruit, and tea.
"Are your parents in good health?" Shen Ke asked casually.
"Everything is fine, Uncle Shen, don't worry."
Zhao Ping brewed a pot of Tieguanyin tea and made a cup for Yang Zheng: "Xiaxia told me you love Tieguanyin, and your Uncle Chen also happens to love it. How does it taste?"
Yang Zheng stood up, took the cup, and thanked him.
Shen Ke pushed several plates of dried fruit and nuts on the coffee table toward Yang Zheng: "Zheng, Xia Xia said you always prepare fruit for her. I suppose you like to eat it too. Come and have a taste."
Yang Zheng took the cherries from Shen Ke and quickly thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Uncle Shen."
"Mom and Dad, let me take Yang Zheng to my bedroom for a look." Shen Anxia saw that Yang Zheng was extremely humble and reserved, so she quickly came to his rescue.
"Alright, you two go ahead! We'll go out for dinner later," Chen Ke said with a smile.
After being helped up by Shen Anxia, Yang Zheng quickly bent down and took a sip of tea: "Uncle Shen, this tea is really fragrant."
Zhao Ping laughed: "We don't have that many fuss in our family. Don't be shy, you two go have some fun."
Shen Anxia pulled Yang Zheng further inside, saying, "I live at the very back."
Yang Zheng had completely lost control of his expression; he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips, his eyes were full of anticipation, his heart was pounding with excitement, and his hands were trembling.
He finally arrived at the place he had dreamed of countless times.
He had imagined the layout and furnishings of this place, wondered how Shen Anxia decorated her own garden, and how she spent her youth here.
The door was a white wooden door with a Chinese-style semi-circle carved on the handle. Hanging from it was a string of pink rabbit pendants, about the size of a fist, similar in style to the woven bear in Yang Zheng's car. Yang Zheng guessed that this pendant was also woven by Shen Anxia herself.
Pushing open the door, one enters Shen Anxia's secret garden.
The bedroom layout is the same as the west room in Xu Qingjing's apartment downstairs, about fifty square meters, but the furnishings are quite different—
To the left of the beige integrated wooden floor, facing north, is a wooden bed with off-white, plain bedding. Further in are three wardrobes. Next to the bed on the north wall is a white bookcase filled with English books. In the middle is a white wooden carved dressing table with Shen Anxia's daily skincare products and a few small ornaments on the shelves. To the south are two off-white pumpkin-shaped soft sofas, with a snow-white soft rug in front of them. On the rug is a round, light-colored wooden table with a glass vase containing five or six small blue flowers in full bloom.
A knock sounded on the door, and Zhao Ping, carrying a plate of fruit and a plate of dried fruit, said to Shen Anxia and Yang Zheng, "You two eat and play at the same time."
"Thank you, Mom."
"Thank you, Aunt Zhao."
The two spoke in unison.
Zhao Ping delivered the fruit and left the bedroom, carefully closing the door behind him.
"What kind of flower is this?" Yang Zheng asked, looking at the vase on the low table.
“Blue snowflake,” Shen Anxia said.
"It's really beautiful." Yang Zheng looked around the room. Apart from the warm yellow and milky white, this blue snowflake was the only object with a different color, which made the room less monotonous.
These items only take up ten square meters.
The space on the right, nearly thirty square meters in size, was completely empty. A professional dance barre was embedded in one wall, suggesting that this was where Shen Anxia practiced dancing. The wall was covered by a white curtain. Yang Zheng asked, "What's behind that?"
Shen Anxia pulled back the curtain, revealing a huge floor-to-ceiling mirror on the wall, just like in a dance studio: "My mom said that mirrors shouldn't face the bed, so she hung a curtain for me. I open it when I'm practicing and close it when I'm not. This room is the biggest one. My parents liked this room because they thought it was perfect for me to practice dancing, so they bought this house in the end."
Yang Zheng knew this, after all, this room was the largest in Xu Qingjing's house.
Shen Anxia pulled him to sit on the pumpkin-shaped sofa.
"Do you like purple? I see that the main color outside is purple," Yang Zheng asked again.
"Colors? I love every color," Shen Anxia suddenly remembered some preconceived notions and began to chatter, "Actually, every color is beautiful, but sometimes people give certain colors negative meanings, like green hats. I have a green, openwork tassel hat that I knitted myself, and it's very pretty."
As Shen Anxia spoke, she walked to the wardrobe, found the hat she had mentioned, and put it on. Yang Zheng thought it looked really good; it was a headscarf style with tassels hanging down on both sides, and it was the same length as Shen Anxia's hair.
"But why use green thread to weave it?"
"When I first got this yarn, I felt that I should weave it into a hat, just like the light blue bear in your car and the pink rabbit at my door."
“Hmm,” Yang Zheng understood, “It’s an intuition.”
Yang Zheng took the hat from Shen Anxia's hand and examined it closely. He discovered that it was adorned with many pearls the size of rice grains. The hat was indeed very beautiful.
Yang Zheng felt a soft feeling in his heart.
Shen Anxia asked, "Were you nervous just now?"
"Yes." Yang Zheng did not deny it.
"You've met my parents before, and Ayi is a good person. Everyone likes you."
"Mm." Yang Zheng smiled.
“I’ve never met your parents, so I don’t know if they like me or not.” Shen Anxia actually understood Yang Zheng to some extent.
"What are you worried about?" Yang Zheng ruffled Shen Anxia's hair. "They have no idea how much they like you."
Shen Anxia didn't believe him, after all, Yang Zheng's parents had never met her.
"Is there a balcony behind this door? The fourth brother's house has a balcony here," Yang Zheng asked casually.
“Yes, it’s a balcony.” Shen Anxia got up and opened the door.
Yang Zheng got up and followed Shen Anxia to see the balcony that he had always found incredibly wonderful.
The balcony was about □□ square meters. On the east side was a plant shelf with all kinds of plants. Yang Zheng found the same potted flowers that were in the glass bottle earlier.
"Is this also a blue plumbago?" Yang Zheng asked, pointing to the potted plant.
"Yes, those were cut from this plant. I'm going to propagate them by cuttings. May is the perfect time for propagation."
Yang Zheng nodded, casually looking around the plant stand, his gaze suddenly stopping on the hidden metal pipe behind the stand that led straight to the fourth floor.
He looked at the magical tube and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Next to the plant stand are two rattan chairs and a round rattan table with a tea set on it. On the other side is a desk and a wide chair, where Shen Anxia must have studied English. There is even a bookcase on the entire western wall.
“There’s another bookshelf here,” Yang Zheng said in surprise.
"Yes, this bookshelf is full of exam books, and the bookshelf in the bedroom is full of reading materials."
The balcony is so cluttered that it's difficult to walk around, while the bedroom is too spacious. But this is the space of a girl who loves to dance.
Yang Zheng suddenly had an idea of how to decorate the third floor of Peacock City.
“This balcony is really magical,” Shen Anxia said to Yang Zheng. “If you close this door, you won’t be able to hear what’s being said here from outside.”
Yang Zheng laughed when he heard this: "So, where do you think the sound went?"
"Where can we go? Everything's blocked off." Shen Anxia felt Yang Zheng was deliberately teasing her. She asked, "Would you like some tea?"
"Aunt Zhao just brewed some Tieguanyin tea, but we haven't drunk it yet."
"Then I'll go get it for you."
“Anxia,” Yang Zheng pulled Shen Anxia back, “It would be very impolite for me to stay inside all the time when I’m visiting your home. Besides, Uncle Shen and the others should still be setting up your room. I can go and help.”
Shen Anxia also felt that Yang Zheng's words made some sense, so she respected his idea and left the bedroom with him.
Shen Ke and Shen Anyi continued to inflate the balloons, while Zhao Ping sorted out the gifts.
"Why are you two out here? It's not all set up yet," Shen Ke asked.
“Uncle Shen, let me help you with the setup.” Yang Zheng sat down next to Shen Ke.
Shen Ke didn't stand on ceremony: "Then you help me hold this frame."
Yang Zheng did as instructed.
"Mom, what's this?" Shen Anxia asked as Zhao Ping took a box.
Zhao Ping handed the box directly to Shen Anxia, saying, "Wishing our Xiaxia happiness forever."
Shen Anxia took the box, opened it, and saw that it was a long, purple off-the-shoulder dress.
"Wow—" Shen Anxia took out the dress and held it up to herself, exclaiming in amazement, "Mom, this dress is so beautiful!"
Yang Zheng held onto the balloon stand, but his eyes were fixed on the dress in Shen Anxia's hand. It has to be said that Zhao Ping had excellent taste.
"Sister, go and try it on," Shen Anyi called out from the side.
Shen Anxia also wanted to try on this beautiful dress, and happily returned to her bedroom.
After Shen Anxia returned to her bedroom, Yang Zheng asked Shen Ke, "Uncle Shen, shouldn't we go to the dining room to decorate?"
Shen Ke chuckled twice and patted Yang Zheng on the shoulder: "Don't worry, Zheng, the restaurant is already decorated. The rest are things we brought from the restaurant. Let's decorate the house a bit more and make Xiaxia happy."
Yang Zheng laughed and said to Shen Ke, "Uncle Shen, my last visit to your house was impulsive. I was afraid you would introduce other blind dates to An Xia, so I said those things. Now that I think about it, it's quite funny. Please don't mind."
Shen Ke paused in tying the balloon, looked at Yang Zheng, and said with satisfaction, "Zheng, I really admire your courage. You persisted for so long when Xiaxia didn't make any promises to you. If it weren't for your courage, I don't think Xiaxia would be as happy as she is now. I just hope that you two are happy."
"Uncle Shen, I definitely will," Yang Zheng promised.
“I heard that your parents are busy with their business all over the place and can’t always be in the city. After you go to work, you can come here for lunch and dinner. Your Aunt Zhao and I are about to retire. Our workplaces take care of us, so we’re not as busy as we were when we were young. We also have time to take care of our children, but they’ve all moved away. The house feels empty. If you can come, your Aunt Zhao and I will feel more at ease.”
After the siblings left, Zhao Ping and Shen Ke felt a huge echo in their home every day when they returned, and with their relatives far away, the elderly couple felt lonely.
Hearing Shen Ke say this, Yang Zheng didn't stand on ceremony and immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll come after May Day. My appetite is comparable to that of A Yi and Xia Xia combined."
"Haha, good, good, good." Shen Ke's mood relaxed a bit.
At this moment, Shen Anxia walked out of the bedroom.
The group responded and looked over.
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