Chapter 163 Parents' Love: You Are the Greatest Scheme of My Life
Since that dramatic "running away from home" farce, Shen An was taken to Dali Temple by Jiang Guoguo under the pretext of "special training," and Shen Garden had a few rare days of peace and quiet.
The afternoon sun shone through the window and onto the rosewood table in the study.
Jiang Mianmian was lying on the table, holding a rag in her hand, wiping a dusty mahogany box.
This is the "treasure chest" that Shen Jin specially brought with him when they moved to Jiangnan.
“Clatter.”
The box was opened.
There were no priceless jewels inside; instead, it was filled with a pile of seemingly broken and tattered "junk."
Half a broken Duanxi inkstone; a purse with extremely ugly embroidery and stitches that looked like centipedes crawling; a fragment of a Kongming lantern inscribed with "Wishing to hear your heart for a lifetime"; and... a dried-up, blackened candy sealed in amber—a White Rabbit milk candy.
Jiang Mianmian picked up the candy and couldn't help but smile.
[Tsk tsk, Shen Jin usually seems so cold and aloof, but why is he like a junk collector in private?]
If outsiders saw these things, they'd think the Regent's Palace had gone bankrupt.
Although she complained, her fingers gently stroked each old item, and tears welled up in her eyes.
This is not junk.
These are the footprints they have left behind over the past twenty years.
"What are you looking at?"
Shen Jin pushed open the door and entered, carrying a plate of freshly peeled lychees.
Time has etched a few shallow lines on his face, but it has not diminished his charm. On the contrary, it has made him look more composed and refined, like a jar of aged wine that becomes more flavorful with each sip.
"Let's see your 'evidence'."
Jiang Mianmian held up the broken inkstone. "Your Highness, do you remember this? Back then, that unfortunate Vice Minister of Rites had his head split open."
Shen Jin put down the lychee, walked over, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"Remember."
He chuckled softly, "Back then, I was thinking, 'Why is this woman so fierce? What if she becomes abusive towards me in the future?'"
"Then why do you still spoil me?"
"no way."
Shen Jin nuzzled her cheek. "Who told you to be so cute when you're being fierce?"
"and……"
He picked up the ugly purse. "Although you are fierce, you have embroidered purses for me. Although they are ugly, I always kept them close to my body until they were almost rotten before I put them away."
Jiang Mianmian blushed.
Oh, I was just trying to please you back then.
[But...thinking about it now, you were pretty easy to fool back then. A cheap purse was enough to win you over.]
"I'm not easily fooled."
Shen Jin corrected, "It's because...it was given to me by you."
"As long as it's from you, even if it's poison, I'll gladly accept it."
Jiang Mianmian turned around and looked at the man who was so close to her.
His eyes still reflected her image, so focused that it was as if she were the only person left in the whole world.
"Calm and cautious."
"Um?"
When...did you start liking me?
Jiang Mianmian had asked this question countless times in her heart, but she had never dared to ask it out loud.
Was it when he heard her heartfelt words on their wedding night? Or when she played "Phoenix Legend" at the palace banquet? Or perhaps... when she descended from the sky in Dragon Valley?
Shen Jin looked at her, his gaze becoming deep and distant, as if piercing through time and returning to that snowy day when they first met.
"actually……"
He spoke slowly, "Earlier than those."
"Good morning?" Jiang Mianmian was stunned. "Have we met before?"
Shen Jin shook his head.
"The moment I heard your heartfelt words."
"Back then, my world was a deathly black and white, filled with scheming and malice. Everyone wanted me dead, and everyone was wearing a mask."
"Only you."
Chen Jin's fingers gently stroked her eyebrows and eyes, "Your voice, though noisy, though vulgar, though your mind is full of food and money..."
"But that was the most vivid, the most real, and the most...warm voice I have ever heard in my life."
"Like a beam of light, it inexplicably entered my abyss."
"I knew it at that moment."
Shen Jin lowered his head, his forehead touching hers, his voice low and deep, as if making a vow:
"I want this man."
"Whether she is human or demon, good or evil, I will keep her by my side, listen to her curse for a lifetime, and listen to her... laugh for a lifetime."
Hearing his confession, Jiang Mianmian finally couldn't hold back her tears.
turn out to be……
This is what is known as "love at first sight".
【fool……】
So you've been plotting against me all along?
I thought I won you over with my own skills!
Shen Jin kissed away her tears and smiled:
"Yes. This is the biggest... scheme of my life."
"Fortunately though."
"Luckily you're greedy, luckily you're gluttonous, luckily... you don't dislike me."
Jiang Mianmian stopped crying and smiled, reaching out to hug his neck:
"Who said I don't hate you anymore? I still hate you!"
"I hate it when you tell me to eat ice cream, I hate it when you force me to go to bed early, I hate it when you're so good to me that I can't live without you."
[Calm and cautious.]
【I love you. 】
[The kind of love I absolutely adore. Even more than my love for braised pork.]
Shen Jin heard the unspoken "I love you".
His heart was filled to the brim at that moment.
"I love you too."
He responded, "More than I love this country, more than I love my life... far more."
Outside the window, the setting sun casts its golden rays throughout the study.
The two people, whose combined age is nearly eighty, embraced each other tightly like young lovers, reluctant to part.
They reminisced about the past.
I recall every argument, every reconciliation, and every time we faced life and death together.
Those thrilling moments of the past have now become topics of casual conversation. But the mundane routines of daily life have brewed the finest wine, intoxicating time and each other.
"Calm and cautious."
"Um?"
"When we're too old to walk, will you still peel lychees for me?"
"meeting."
"Then... will you still carry me to eat at roadside stalls?"
"meeting."
"Won't you think I've become ugly? Or that I've turned into an old woman?"
Shen Jin looked at her, his eyes filled with deep affection:
"Won't."
"In my eyes, you will always be that little girl who called me a 'dog of a man' on our wedding night."
"Forever...so vibrant, so lovely."
Jiang Mianmian smiled.
She smiled so much that the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes smoothed out.
This life has been worthwhile.
In your next life... remember to come find me sooner.
Also, remember to bring money and some good food.
Shen Jin gripped her hand tightly.
"good."
It's a deal.
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