Chapter 91
In the evening, the sun set, and while there was still a little white light in the sky, Shen Jiangfu took the prepared matcha thousand-layer cake and went to find Xie Jing.
Shen Jiangfu arrived at Xie Jing's house and found that the door was open. She walked over and saw a figure sitting with his back to the door. He turned around slowly when he heard the noise.
Xie Jing saw Shen Jiangfu, who was wearing a sleeveless green dress and holding a transparent box in her hand. Inside was the matcha mille-feuille cake she had just mentioned on WeChat.
Seeing Xie Jing open the door and wait, Shen Jiangfu smiled and walked into his house, "I told you on WeChat, and you actually came downstairs to open the door early."
For most people, this gesture was a basic courtesy. Shen Jiangfu found Xie Jing's behavior a bit strange, but also seemed normal. Perhaps Xie Jing wasn't as unapproachable and aloof as she thought. It was simply that they weren't familiar with each other, and he couldn't be as warm and welcoming to someone he didn't know as the other people in the village.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Shen Jiangfu looked left and right and asked him about his flower farming.
"I bought a pot of jasmine yesterday. I saw that you have jasmine in your yard and the flowers are blooming beautifully. How do you grow them?"
"Is there jasmine for sale in town?"
When Shen Jiangfu heard Xie Jing's rare response to her question, she continued, "Yes, sometimes people from the county town come in with things to sell. Today they brought some vegetable and flower seedlings."
Xie Jing stood up and stood there after she entered the door, with the two of them only an arm's length apart.
Chen Jiangfu continued, "Did you buy your flowers online? What kind did you buy? The shape of these flowers looks different from the ones I bought."
Xie Jing looked at the flowers at the door and replied, "I bought all hairy jasmine."
"I bought Baozhu Jasmine, which feels a bit like white camellia." Shen Jiangfu said while looking into Xie Jing's eyes. At this time, she saw that he had his eyes lowered, as if looking at the floor.
Shen Jiangfu also looked at the floor. It was a light brown, a bit like khaki, but darker than khaki. She also took a quick look at the layout of Xie Jing's living room. The hall was just a brown wooden table with four chairs. There was also a long brown storage cabinet with cups and a kettle on it.
These tables and chairs look a bit old.
Xie Jing's eyes slowly lifted, and what caught his eye was a hint of bean green. As he went up, the green gradually faded. Shen Jiangfu was wearing a gradient green dress, which faded as she went up, leaving only a very light aqua green at her shoulders, almost white.
Looking up, he saw her face, which was much smoother than what he had seen a month ago. He noticed Shen Jiangfu's eyes, which were glancing left and right.
Shen Jiangfu withdrew her gaze from surveying the layout of Xie Jing's living room and noticed he was looking at her. They were silent for a moment, then both shifted their gazes. Shen Jiangfu was about to tell Xie Jing to go home, but just as she was about to speak, she noticed a painting hanging on the wall behind him.
The album was not big and was a bit far away from her, so she couldn't see clearly what was drawn on it. It looked like there were mountains and trees.
Chen Jiangfu remembered that she was still temporarily serving as an art teacher, and glanced at Xie Jing. "Are you interested in teaching children to paint at school?" She said as she watched Xie Jing's reaction. Although she knew Xie Jing might refuse, she wanted to mention it and see if there was hope.
"Sorry, I'm not very interested."
Shen Jiangfu was not disappointed after receiving the expected answer. She could only let her students freely display their painting skills.
"It's okay, I was just asking casually." Shen Jiangfu smoothed her hair.
Suddenly, she thought of the student she met in town a few days ago. She saw her buying stationery and asked her a question.
Thinking of this question, Chen Jiangfu asked Xie Jing, "Then how do you think you can draw well? For example, how can you draw a tree that looks like a tree or a table that looks like a table?"
She didn't know what to answer correctly at the time, and what she said to the student was completely an amateur's opinion. She told her that she needed to imitate more to make the painting look like the original, and to paint whatever she wanted, including the scenery and people she liked.
The student at that time still had a confused look on his face, looking at her with an expression of "it's all the same no matter what you say", which made Shen Jiangfu feel a little guilty.
Xie Jing hadn't expected Shen Jiangfu to ask him about his painting. When they met frequently, he assumed she would ask him about it, just like everyone else. That time, when they met by the stream, Xie Jing was afraid she'd ask him what he was painting, so he left in a hurry.
He hates people being curious about him.
Xie Jing inexplicably thought of Zuo Xiaolin, his heart tightened, he blinked quickly, turned around and turned his back to Shen Jiangfu. He looked at the painting in front of him, which he and Zuo Xiaolin had painted together.
"If you want to draw something that looks like it, draw more. If you want to draw well..."
Xie Jing recalled words that had been forgotten for years, his eyes lost in memories. "Paintings are only judged when they are put into competitions, and there are good and bad ones. If not, paintings that can express my feelings, can arouse the desires in others, and can express emotions are also good."
"He once told me that you can paint because you're happy, sad, in pain, or want to express yourself, but you shouldn't make yourself miserable just to paint painful emotions, as this will ultimately lead to self-destruction."
This person should be Xie Jing's adoptive father. After listening to this, Shen Jiangfu asked him, "Are you like this now? Allowing yourself to feel pain just to paint it."
Hearing this, Xie Jing suddenly looked at Shen Jiangfu, his eyes filled with various emotions, but he finally restrained himself. He saw that Shen Jiangfu's eyes revealed doubts and... concern about the matter.
Shen Jiangfu saw Xie Jing's reaction and saw him standing there stiffly. She walked over to the picture and saw clearly what was painted on it.
She saw a withered, yellow forest, with green mountains behind it. At the foot of the mountains, a field and a pond were painted, with a white duck beside it. The overall scene felt familiar to her, and her mind flashed back to the scene of her home visits. This painting must have been drawn in Tai Tong.
Now neither of them spoke, and Shen Jiangfu did not continue to question Xie Jing.
"You painted this in Datong, right? I've been here before when I was visiting a student's home. When did you paint it?"
"I painted it many years ago." Xie Jing still stood there, looking at Shen Jiangfu's back, and finally moved his lips and spoke, "I painted it with my father."
Shen Jiangfu turned around and blinked, "Your father must be very good at painting." She didn't ask any more questions. There are some things that really shouldn't be asked.
"I should go back now. This mille-feuille is best eaten right away. It tastes better." Shen Jiangfu walked to the table and pointed at the matcha mille-feuille on it. "Of course, you can also put it in the refrigerator and eat it tomorrow."
After Shen Jiangfu left, Xie Jing closed the door. He returned to his previous seat and opened the matcha mille-feuille. As he opened it, a little matcha powder spilled out. He could also smell the matcha.
Xie Jing went to the kitchen to wash a spoon, scooped a spoonful and put it into his mouth. While eating, he thought of what Shen Jiangfu had asked him just now, and what Zuo Xiaolin had said to him a few days before he committed suicide -
Don't allow yourself to deliberately walk into pain.
Don't self-destruct.
Li Qingsheng once told Xie Jing that Zuo Xiaolin had attempted suicide once before adopting Xie Jing, but was rescued in time by Li Qingsheng. Later, when Zuo Xiaolin was counting his property and preparing to donate it, he saw Xie Jing in the welfare home and found that he had a talent for painting, so he adopted him. As he raised him, Zuo Xiaolin found that Xie Jing was very similar to himself, both of them were eccentric. Zuo Xiaolin did not want Xie Jing to become a person like him, and planned to give up suicide. He took Xie Jing to Kuantang Village and concentrated on teaching him painting.
But who would have thought that a few years later, Zuo Xiaolin abandoned Xie Jing and embarked on the path of self-destruction.
Xie Jing dug into the bottom of the bowl and finished his matcha mille-feuille. Something struck him, and he opened his phone, finding a few videos to watch before finally selecting one and adding it to his favorites. Looking at the video cover, Xie Jing hesitated for a moment before finally sending it to Shen Jiangfu.
After sending successfully, Xie Jing washed the spoon and bowl and put them in the cupboard. He stacked the bowl with the bowl that contained the red bean and water chestnut cake last time.
——
After taking a shower, Shen Jiangfu lay on the bed and chatted with Yu Huo.
In two days she would go to the county to attend Yu Huo's wedding. Yu Huo kept telling her that he was very nervous, so she kept comforting him.
At this time, she received a video from Xie Jing. She clicked on it and saw that it was a video teaching painting.
[I have never taught anyone to draw, you can watch this video. ]
Shen Jiangfu remembered that the book wrote that Xie Jing and Zuo Xiaolin were talented players, and their teaching was not suitable for ordinary people.
[Okay, thank you.]
【You're welcome】
Shen Jiangfu exited WeChat and tossed and turned.
The variety show "Treasure Hunt" started filming today. Shen Jiangfu stayed at home today. Apart from visiting Xie Jing, she didn't go anywhere else. This time, Shen Jiangfu didn't go to be an extra, so it was unlikely that she would meet Liu Chanxin.
Shen Jiangfu was recalling the contents of the book. Liu Chanxin didn't have a deep memory of Shen Jiangfu. It was only when Shen Jiangfu mentioned her in the book that Liu Chanxin remembered who she was.
The phone vibrated a few times in her hand. Shen Jiangfu replied to the message sent by Yu Huo and told her to go to bed.
Afterwards, Shen Jiangfu opened Xie Jing's WeChat and said goodnight to him. Shen Jiangfu hadn't expected Xie Jing to reply to her message, but when she sent it, she saw the "The other party is typing..." message at the top of Xie Jing's WeChat. She didn't immediately exit the chat interface with him, wanting to see what he would say in response.
After a few seconds, the message "The other party is typing..." disappeared, and Xie Jing did not send any message.
"I knew it would be like this." Shen Jiangfu muttered. She turned off her phone, put it aside casually, and got up to turn off the lights.
The next morning, Shen Jiangfu slept until she woke up naturally.
She opened her phone to check the time: 7:52, and there were several WeChat messages.
Shen Jiangfu unlocked the screen and saw the messages from Yu Huo and Xie Jing. She clicked on the one from Yu Huo first because she had already seen the content of Xie Jing's message.
Yu Huo: [Okay, good night~]
See you on the 5th
Also attached is a sleeping emoticon.
Shen Jiangfu clicked on Xie Jing's WeChat. It was sent at 8:12 last night, when she turned off the lights and went to sleep.
【good evening】
Shen Jiangfu stared at these two words for a while, pondering in her heart, and finally got up to wash up.
While combing her hair in front of the mirror, Shen Jiangfu couldn't help but laugh. Seeing her smiling self in the mirror, Shen Jiangfu thought that making the matcha mille-feuille cake this time was not in vain.
After breakfast, Shen Jiangfu went to water the vegetable garden. She saw a group of people walking down the street, several carrying cameras. Standing in the center was a tall man, standing out from the crowd. He was dressed in all black and had a baseball cap on his head. He must be a celebrity.
As Shen Jiangfu filled her watering can and carried it back to the garden, the group of people were approaching along the road. Shen Jiangfu's garden was at the intersection of two roads: one leading into the mountains, the other to Tangwei, where seven or eight families lived. They were probably headed there.
The photographer noticed someone in the distance. A male cameraman wearing a fisherman's hat took pictures of Shen Jiangfu for a while.
"Did you find it?" A man in blue clothes ran up behind them and asked the tall boy breathlessly.
"No."
"It's been an hour. We've been searching since seven o'clock. I heard Team Li Xi has found two clues. She and Liu Chanxin found a box in a villager's loofah shed... Hey, hey—could she have any clues?" Luo Zixiao noticed Shen Jiangfu watering the vegetables, and his eyes lit up, thinking he had found a new clue. "Chu Yi, have you asked her?"
Chu Yi looked over and saw a woman in the vegetable garden. She looked like a young person.
"She doesn't have a microphone on, so she's probably not an extra."
"Just an ordinary villager?" Luo Zixiao looked at Shen Jiangfu and observed her carefully. He didn't see the microphone behind her and was inevitably disappointed. "Ten clues, and we didn't find any."
"It doesn't matter. There are still eight clues. Let's go there and take a look."
The sun had come out and began to bake the ground, and Shen Jiangfu quickly finished watering.
Just now she heard about the loofah shed. In their village, only the principal's wife had a loofah shed. Liu Chanxin found an important clue. It seemed that the program was already halfway recorded.
After watering the vegetable garden, Shen Jiangfu walked back home slowly.
Passing by Xie Jing's house, she saw him watering the flowers with a water gun. Shen Jiangfu said to him naturally, "Good morning, your flowers are blooming beautifully."
Xie Jing was also dressed in black today. She couldn't help but compare him to the black-clad male celebrity she had just seen. From this distance, Xie Jing's figure was similar to that of the male celebrity, but his skin was paler, making him look a bit sickly. The male celebrity was more energetic, and his overall temperament was more conspicuous.
After greeting, Shen Jiangfu received a nod in response from Xie Jing. Shen Jiangfu now found that she had adapted to Xie Jing's response pattern and also adapted to this way of getting along with him.
Xie Jing saw Shen Jiangfu before she came up. When Shen Jiangfu finished talking to him and continued to walk up, Xie Jing said for the first time: "Good morning."
When the water gun shot at the jasmine flowers, the water splashed and fell, and a rainbow appeared under the sunlight.
Shen Jiangfu saw the small rainbow.
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