Chapter 151 Zhou & Yan meet by chance while moving
Zhou Ran decided to move on Friday. He asked Xiao Zhang for leave in the afternoon and waited at the gate of the community for Qi Jin to drive over with the luggage.
There's a teahouse next to the entrance to the community, with umbrellas hanging outside. Many elderly men and women like to come here to play mahjong and chess. They'll sit there for hours after the shopkeeper makes them a cup of tea.
The weather was hot, so Zhou Ran moved under an umbrella to avoid the sun. In a blink of an eye, he saw Yan Nian coming out of the 24-hour supermarket opposite, holding an ice cream and a bottle of yogurt in her hands, crossing the zebra crossing and walking straight towards him.
Zhou Ran hurriedly checked his surroundings to see if anything was wrong, and waited for her to approach with a calm and serious look.
When Yan Nian saw him, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He walked over and asked him, "Zhou Ran, are you taking a break today?"
"Yeah." Zhou Ran didn't forget to tell her, "I moved here." Feeling a little deliberate, he added, "It's convenient for work."
"oh."
Unable to find anything to talk about, it was inevitable that it would be awkward. Yan Nian looked at the things she had just bought and handed him the yogurt: "Want some?"
Zhou Ran took the yogurt like a kind older brother and said, "Thank you."
I don't feel embarrassed at all.
Zhou Ran thought he was having an illusion. When he took the yogurt, Yan Nian lowered her head, pursed her lips and smiled.
When this girl doesn't smile, strangers should stay away from her; but when she smiles, she is really beautiful.
Zhou Ran's phone rang. He picked it up and saw Qi Jin. He didn't answer. He put the phone on silent and put it in his pocket. He asked Yan Nian, "Why are you here?"
Yan Nian glanced to the left and front: "Grandma is playing mahjong here, I came over to take a look."
Zhou Ran followed her gaze and saw an old lady sitting at the mahjong table with her back to them.
Oh, it’s grandma.
Zhou Ran was still thinking about eating, so he asked her, "Are you free tomorrow?"
Yan Nian was stunned for two seconds: "Huh?"
Zhou Ran said, "I'm treating you to a meal, so it's only right to reciprocate."
Yan Nian didn't agree and asked cautiously, "Is there anyone else?"
Zhou Ran said quite straightforwardly, "Just the two of us."
Yan Nian then nodded and said, "Yes."
Zhou Ran asked, "What do you want to eat?"
Yan Nian didn't bother to be polite with him and said, "Let's go with the old hot pot in the university town that you mentioned last time."
Zhou Ran's phone vibrated countless times in his pocket. Now he really had to leave. He took out his phone and said, "Then it's decided. I'll send you a message. I'm leaving first."
Yan Nian agreed, and smiled as she watched him turn and walk away. The ice cream in her hand had melted into a puddle, and Yan Nian threw it into the trash can beside her.
Zhou Ran drank a mouthful of yogurt and answered Qi Jin's call. He was yelled at from the other end: "You bastard! I've been waiting at the west gate for ages. I even dialed 110."
Zhou Ran said slowly, "Why are you going to the west gate? I'm at the east gate."
Qi Jin was so angry that he lost his temper: "Okay, you wait for me."
Zhou Ran hung up the phone.
Qi Jin drove over, got out of the car, took the suitcase and put it in front of him, and asked, "What were you doing just now?"
Zhou Ran simply said, "I ran into an acquaintance and chatted for a while."
Qi Jin put his hands on his hips and said, "You were chatting and didn't answer my calls. Count how many times I called you."
Zhou Ran said, "That's inconvenient."
Qi Jin wanted to beat him up: "Okay, I finally understand. I blocked the way all the way from the south here to deliver your luggage, and I didn't even drink a sip of water..."
Zhou Ran didn't wait for him to finish his rant and handed him the luggage: "Wait."
Zhou Ran bought some water and threw it to him: "You've worked hard, go back."
Before Qi Jin got into the car, Zhou Ran shouted, "Wait."
Qi Jin half leaned against the car door, his tone not very good: "What?"
Zhou Ran smiled and said, "I'll bring someone to your restaurant for dinner tomorrow."
Qi Jin wiped his face and said, "Go ahead. Whatever you tell me, remember to pay me."
After saying that, he closed the car door with a bang and drove away.
Zhou Ran smiled and drank some yogurt, then dragged his suitcase through the access control system, entered the community, and greeted the security guard.
I walked to the stairs and sent a message to Yan Nian: [I'll be waiting for you at the gate of the community at 5 pm tomorrow.]
Yan Nianhui: [Okay.]
Yan Nian's 1,001-page notebook
Yan Nian is a good-tempered and patient mother. When Zhou Lu'an was four years old, he liked to learn from her to paint on paper with a paintbrush.
Yan Nian also likes to teach Zhou Lu'an how to paint, which can not only exercise his hand skills but also enhance his imagination.
That day, Zhou Ran returned home. Yan Nian had gone out for something and had not returned yet. His aunt sat on the carpet to take care of Zhou Lu'an.
Zhou Lu'an heard footsteps, looked up, and called out, "Dad."
"Yeah." Zhou Ran responded and saw Zhou Lu'an lying on the carpet painting on a thick book. Zhou Ran thought it was the sketchbook Yan Nian bought for him, so he didn't pay much attention to it. He said a few words to his aunt and went upstairs to change his clothes.
Zhou Ran entered the cloakroom and was surprised to see Yan Nian's dressing box, which was placed at the innermost part of the cabinet, lying on the ground, opened, with the key still inserted in it.
Over the years since Yan Nian moved here after getting married, her most treasured possession has been this old wooden box. In its era, this kind of box was considered a dowry item with a very high level of craftsmanship. It was lacquered in cinnabar red, with carved and hollow inlays, and was as big as a laptop computer.
Yan Nian is a precious thing, so she cannot be touched or touched. Zhou Ran respected her privacy and never touched the wooden box. However, he was always curious about what was hidden inside. The box also had a special key, and he had only seen what the key looked like today.
Zhou Ran picked it up curiously and looked at it. There were three jewelry boxes. The big one contained a jade bracelet of warm color, which seemed to be something specially passed down by an old man. The other two contained two fishtail bracelets.
These were the two bracelets he bought for Yan Nian when she was studying at a coastal university. Unexpectedly, she still kept them until now, and they also included the custom-made necklace he gave her a few years ago.
Zhou Ran smiled and said, "I'm embarrassed to let others see it."
Putting the bracelet back, Zhou Ran found something unusual. Yan Nian was very meticulous in his work, so how could the box be on the ground?
Zhou Ran immediately suspected Zhou Lu'an, put the box away in the cabinet, changed his clothes and went downstairs.
Zhou Lu'an was still doodling in his notebook when his aunt said, "Keep your eyes further away."
Zhou Lu'an turned his eyes away.
Zhou Ran walked over, asked his aunt to go do her business, and sat cross-legged next to Zhou Lu'an.
Zhou Lu'an used different colored paintbrushes to paint the little figures in the notebook. Zhou Ran asked him, "Zhou Lu'an, did you touch Mom's box?"
Zhou Lu'an immediately knelt up and looked at him with his eyes rolling.
Zhou Ran was sure that this kid had done it, so he slapped his butt and scolded him, "You're getting bolder and bolder. I'll punish you. How did you find your mother's key?"
Zhou Lu'an explained obediently, "Mom's keys are in her bag. I asked Grandma Fan to get them. Dad, there's a sketchbook in Mom's box. She said she drew you and me there. Many of the pictures are missing color, so I want to help Mom color them."
Aunt Fan passed by and said with embarrassment, "I took it down. He was clamoring for it. He went to find the wife's key and couldn't turn it himself, so he made a fuss for a long time and wanted to paint it. I took it down."
Zhou Lu'an still looked at him, afraid that his father would blame him.
Zhou Ran said to Aunt Fan, "Don't indulge him in this kind of thing in the future. Call your wife first and ask clearly."
Zhou Ran trusts Aunt Fan's character, but he is not very happy about what Yan Nian does.
Aunt Fan said, "I called Madam twice, but she didn't answer."
Zhou Ran's expression was not good: "Okay, I understand. Go ahead and get busy."
Aunt Fan responded, “Hey!”
Zhou Ran asked Zhou Lu'an again, "What sketchbook did you take from Mom?"
Zhou Lu'an pointed to a notebook on the ground, about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, and said, "This."
Zhou Ran's eyes fell on the thick notebook. It was one of the pages. Seeing the Q-version figures and words on it, which were not the pictures in the notebook, Zhou Ran picked it up to have a look out of curiosity.
March 25, 2015. Below are some Q-version clouds and two little people holding hands. There is a door on the side with "Happy Valley" written on it.
Record: He came to see me and we went to Happy Valley and had a lot of fun.
Zhou Ran's eyes froze.
He flipped through it roughly, and there were records on every page, so he started reading from the first page.
It was a WeChat chat record, with the chat interface pieced together using drawings. It was the day he confessed his love to Yan Nian, with every word and every voice message exactly as it was.
Zhou Lu'an colored all their message bars green.
Record at the bottom: On March 2, 2015, he confessed his love to me. I was very nervous but also very happy. I fell in love that day.
Zhou Ran smiled. This was the reason why Yan Nian didn't let him touch the dressing box.
Looking back on the past and looking at the present, it turns out that in those fleeting years, she recorded all the beautiful things in this way.
Turn to April 30, 2015
A small plane emerged from the clouds, recording: The third time we met after we fell in love, his flight was delayed and I missed the appointment.
Zhou Ran felt something sting in his heart, and flipping through the pages, he found that it had been more than a year since April 30th before a new record was set.
What had she been doing for the past year or so? Zhou Ran wondered if her life had been so difficult because of him.
July 26, 2016.
It was a bottle of rainbow candy, which she had colored herself, and it recorded: Happy Birthday ZR.
This book records the nearly seven years of gaps between them after they separated. Yan Nian filled it up with this recording method. Before returning to Lindu, except for the day of his birthday, each entry was colorless, all in black and white. It was not until he returned to Lindu that colors gradually appeared.
The time recorded in it varies, including important days and ordinary trivialities in life, such as their first love, dating, their reunion in Lindu, love, meeting their parents, getting a marriage certificate, and wedding. Every stroke is made with great care, and there are many interesting black and white figures pasted on it, all of which were colored by Zhou Lu.
The last page is the day Zhou Lu'an was born, exactly one thousand and one pages.
Zhou Ran finished reading and closed the notebook. Zhou Lu'an called him from the side, "Dad."
Zhou Ran looked at Zhou Lu'an: "Hmm?"
Seeing his father holding the sketchbook in his arms and not speaking to him for a long time, Zhou Lu'an became anxious: "Dad, Mom will be back soon, and I haven't finished painting yet."
Zhou Ran patted his head and spread the notebook on the carpet: "Daddy will help you color all of Mommy's sketchbook, okay?"
Zhou Lu'an nodded happily: "Okay."
Yan Nian came back from outside and saw the two of them sitting on the carpet. They were drawing something in a rare harmony. Without disturbing them, he tiptoed over to see what they were doing.
The moment Yan Nian saw her notebook, her head buzzed. She ignored her gentle image and rushed over to snatch her notebook back from their hands.
Zhou Lu'an and Zhou Ran were like two naughty kids who were caught doing something bad and were immediately frightened.
Yan Nian held the account book in his arms: "Zhou Ran, Zhou Lu'an, how could you touch my things so casually?"
Zhou Lu'an had never seen his mother angry, so he felt a little lied for a moment.
Zhou Ran stood up and held her in his arms: "Wife, don't be angry, listen to my explanation."
Yan Nian blushed. This was her secret. She had kept it hidden for so long, but Zhou Ran still saw it.
Zhou Lu'an also stood up, tugged at his mother's skirt, and took the initiative to admit his mistake: "Mom, I was wrong. I wanted to color you and Dad. Don't be angry."
Zhou Ran touched his son's head and said, "We are all in Mom's sketchbook. We must protect Mom well from now on. Got it?"
Yan Nian's heart softened, and she checked the notebook in her arms. It was obviously Zhou Lu'an's handwriting. All the chat message bars she had specially arranged were colored green.
Zhou Lu'an often video calls with his sister Ranran who is far away in Lindu. Every time Yan Nian sends a message, he will come to ask. Seeing that the message bar sent by his mother is green, he thinks all messages are green, so he paints them all green.
Yan Nian suddenly smiled. What was in front of her was more precious than the past. She was just a little annoyed because her secret was discovered, but she was not really angry.
The father and son saw her smile. Zhou Ran picked up his son and said, "Go and comfort your mother."
Zhou Lu'an kissed Yan Nian: "Mom, don't be angry."
Zhou Ran held his son in one hand and Yan Nian in the other: "Wife, there will be no more black and white from now on."
Yan Nian nodded: "Yeah."
With them, life will be colorful, and there will be no more black and white.
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