The fifth story ends
"bell--"
The bell rang, and the students in the classroom stopped writing. Shen Jiangfu came down from the podium to collect the test papers.
Shen Jiangfu folded the collected test papers and cleared her throat. "Everyone, please be quiet. I'm going to say a few words here. First, what should we pay attention to during the holiday?"
The students in the audience responded one after another: "Be careful!" The holiday was about to begin, and the students were all very excited.
"That's right! Be careful. We must cherish our lives. Be careful when playing with firecrackers during the New Year and don't hurt yourself. Second, you must complete your winter vacation homework. You can write one page a day and you should be able to finish it. Now, pack your things and line up outside to go home. Take your textbooks, pens, and other things with you. Don't leave anything in the classroom."
The classroom was filled with the sounds of desks being turned over and textbooks being stacked. Shen Jiangfu watched the students pack their bags. She looked at the pile of test papers in her hand and said, "By the way, your parents will be notified when the test results are released. You can come to school to pick up your transcripts then. The results will be out in about two weeks."
"Okay, sit down for a while after you clean up. We'll be lined up at the door at 4:30."
Shen Jiangfu waited until 4:30, then stood up and directed the students to leave. "Remember to do your winter vacation homework during the break."
After all the students left, she returned to the office and gave the English test paper in her hand to Yu Huo, then put the three stacks of Chinese test papers on her desk into the bag, and finally went downstairs to lock the door of her classroom.
Before leaving, Shen Jiangfu glanced up from outside the teaching building.
*
January 16th, Fengcheng, Young Painters Exhibition Hall.
Shen Jiangfu followed the crowd to the center of the exhibition hall. Paintings were hung on the walls. Some people were taking pictures in front of the paintings, and some media were interviewing.
She looked all the way through, stopping to look at each painting for a moment.
Some paintings are so realistic that they look no different from photographs.
Shen Jiangfu stayed in front of a painting called "Clown" for a long time. The colors used in the painting were very bright and eye-catching.
The painting mainly uses a lot of royal blue and garnet red, outlining the image of a clown with closed eyes. But she can vaguely see that the clown in the painting is a woman, a woman who seems to be smiling but is actually crying.
Shen Jiangfu walked forward and came to another area with the words [Advent] written on it.
The exhibition hall here is divided into areas according to themes. The area that Chen Jiangfu visited was an art exhibition from previous years, called "Desire".
There were even more people gathered in the [Advent] area, with seven or eight people surrounding each painting. Some paintings had even more people. Shen Jiangfu could only get a general idea of the paintings from a distance, and could not clearly see the titles of the works and the names of the authors.
Shen Jiangfu first went to look at the paintings that had fewer people around them. Each painting was beautiful in its own way.
Some paintings are so rich in color that you wouldn't expect one color to go with another, and the combinations aren't strange at all, but surprisingly fresh. Some paintings are very artistic, and you can tell the artistic sense at first glance.
For Shen Jiangfu, an outsider like her, everything she sees here seems good.
After a while, there was a commotion outside the door.
There were several cameramen walking on both sides, who looked like local reporters, and three or four middle-aged leaders walked in the middle.
The leader was followed by more than a dozen men and women. Shen Jiangfu searched for a while and saw Xie Jing in a black suit.
The group of people stood under the theme wall, the media came forward to hand over the microphone, and the main leaders began to speak.
These were all polite words. Shen Jiangfu walked forward and stood to the side. She saw Xie Jing's face clearly and raised her phone to take a picture of him.
The leader spoke for a few minutes, and then the group of people walked towards Chenjiang.
Shen Jiangfu saw Xie Jing walk to the front, where a group of people were surrounding a painting that she hadn't seen. After he walked over, several cameramen and reporters followed him.
As Shen Jiangfu approached, she heard a reporter ask, "Mr. Xie, why did you choose to paint such a work?"
Xie Jing's face was expressionless, as if he were keeping people at arm's length. "Where I live there are many trees. Every time the sun sets and the sunlight hits the trees, I find it very beautiful. Also, I find the color purple very beautiful."
The reporter continued, "I saw you named this painting 'Discovery'. Why did you choose this name?"
Xie Jing's expression softened as he recalled the first time he watched the sunset with Zuo Xiaolin. "The inspiration for this painting came from my first experience watching the sunset in the mountains. No sunset I've seen since has been as stunning as this one. I've discovered that you don't have to go to a high place to watch the sunset; you can also watch it from the woods, but it's harder to see the full sunset."
After Xie Jing finished answering, another reporter took the opportunity to ask, "Mr. Xie, as far as I know, you are very young. Before you are 30, you have already created many works that have been well received in many art exhibitions and are worth a lot of money. How do you view yourself? Or how do you view these achievements?"
In addition to media interviews, there were also some people around holding up their mobile phones to record videos and take photos.
Xie Jing is tall and fair-skinned. He looks tall and straight after dressing up. With the help of a suit, he looks like a nobleman. He lacks his usual youthfulness. His cold and abstinent appearance attracts the attention of people around him.
Xie Jing looked at the people around him. He looked far away and saw Shen Jiangfu standing at the outermost edge. He felt relieved and continued to answer the reporter's questions. "Most of my achievements are due to my father. He taught me to paint. Without him, I wouldn't be who I am today."
"As for how I view myself—" Xie Jing paused for a few seconds. He didn't look at the reporter, but at Shen Jiangfu. "My personality is not very good, but I am very lucky to have met some very gentle people. Thank you."
Xie Jing nodded towards the reporter: "Thank you."
Shen Jiangfu could tell that Xie Jing's last words were directed at her, and she felt an indescribable sadness in her heart.
On the one hand, she was moved, and on the other hand, although she knew at the beginning that he was using indifference to avoid interpersonal communication in order to maintain his spiritual purity, at a moment she realized this feeling and deeply felt that Xie Jing's previous alienation and indifference were actually a layer of protection.
The reporters gradually dispersed, and the number of people surrounding him also decreased. A few passers-by asked him questions.
Shen Jiangfu took a few steps forward, but didn't get too close to disturb him. She was standing in a position where she could just see Xie Jing's painting.
He painted a picture of sunset in the woods, which gave people a sense of tranquility at first glance.
Normally, when she watched a sunset, she would wish it would linger longer. Once the sun had completely set and the sky was clear, she would leave, not lingering to gaze at the inky black sky. But facing this painting, Shen Jiangfu didn't feel any regret for the fading crimson sunset. Instead, she looked forward to the arrival of night.
On Xie Jing's side, he saw Shen Jiangfu coming over. He said a few words to the people around him, then walked up to her step by step.
When Shen Jiangfu saw him coming, she looked towards where he had just stood. There were several people looking over there, each with a curious look on their face.
"Are you done?" Shen Jiangfu looked up and saw Xie Jing fiddling with his tie knot uncomfortably.
She had tied this tie for him this morning, and it must have been too tight when she was pulling it up. She reached out and adjusted the tie again, loosening it. "It's too tight, why don't you adjust it yourself?"
Xie Jing let her fiddle with it, spreading his hands, and said with a somewhat aggrieved tone, "I don't know how to do it. I'm afraid it will be messed up and look bad."
Seeing his eager eyes, Shen Jiangfu looked at him unhappily.
After two months of getting along, Xie Jing became much more familiar with her. In addition to often going to her house for meals, he would sometimes tell her jokes.
"alright."
"I'll take you to meet Uncle Li. He's over there." Xie Jing waved to Li Qingsheng who was not far away.
Shen Jiangfu had always known that Li Qingsheng was his father's friend and his agent. She saw a man in a gray suit smiling at them and said, "Okay."
Xie Jing reached out and took Shen Jiangfu's hand, then brought her to Li Qingsheng. "This is my girlfriend, Shen Jiangfu."
This was mentioned before they came, to introduce the two to each other.
"This is Li Qingsheng, Uncle Li, my dad's friend."
"Uncle Li, hello." Shen Jiangfu nodded towards Li Qingsheng, "My name is Shen Jiangfu."
"I didn't expect Xiao Jing to have a girlfriend in his lifetime! I thought he would live alone!" Li Qingsheng was very happy to see Shen Jiangfu. He looked at her carefully and glanced at Xie Jing's face. "Teacher Shen and Xiao Jing are also destined to be together!"
Li Qingsheng knew about Shen Jiangfu's existence, and Xie Jing explained the situation to him before coming to Fengcheng.
"Yes, it's fate." Shen Jiangfu responded from the side.
"It's a rare holiday. After the art exhibition, let Xiaojing accompany you to Fengcheng for a few days to have fun. I won't accompany you. I have a party later." After saying that, Li Qingsheng saw his old friend waving again, motioning him to come over. "A friend over there is calling me. I'll go over first. You stay with Teacher Shen and have fun."
"Okay, go do what you want."
After Li Qingsheng left, Xie Jing asked Shen Jiangfu if she wanted to continue looking at the exhibition. Shen Jiangfu shook her head and said, "Let's go out. I've almost finished looking at all the paintings here."
"Okay, shall we go have dinner?"
"Uh-huh."
The two walked out of the exhibition hall hand in hand, and a cool breeze blew over.
The temperature in Fengcheng is usually around zero degrees in winter, but the climate has warmed up in the past few days. Today's temperature is relatively high, at 20 degrees, which is not too cold compared to usual.
The two took a taxi to a specialty restaurant in Fengcheng, which specializes in chestnut roast chicken.
The restaurant is located in a shopping mall next to a subway entrance. It is usually crowded on weekdays. Shen Jiangfu and Xie Jing arrived at the restaurant just at dinner time. They waited in line for half an hour.
The two ordered chestnut roast chicken, garlic longli fish, roasted bamboo shoots in casserole sauce, and two desserts recommended by the menu.
It was already past six o'clock after dinner, and the two took the subway to a park for a walk.
With the Lunar New Year approaching, the trees in the park are festooned with red lanterns and streamers. Every evening, the park becomes bustling with people, and various food stalls are set up at the park entrance, attracting many passersby who stop by to take a look.
Chen Jiangfu and Xie Jing followed the crowd and came to a bridge. There was a long pavilion at the end of the bridge, where several old people were singing opera.
"What do you think will happen to us when we get old?"
Shen Jiangfu held Xie Jing's arm and looked at the four old men in the pavilion. They looked to be about sixty years old.
After hearing this, Xie Jing thought about it for a while and said, "We are old now, and you should retire. My painting speed has slowed down."
Shen Jiangfu looked at a family walking by. The child was being held by the father, and the mother was looking down at her phone while replying to a text message. She asked Xie Jing, "Have you ever thought about raising a child?"
When Xie Jing saw the child, he turned to look at Shen Jiangfu and said, "No, I never thought about getting married and having children before." He hesitated for a few seconds and then said, "It would be great if the two of us were together."
There is no need for a third person to appear.
Xie Jing had never thought about having children, neither in the past nor now. He felt that just him and Shen Jiangfu were enough.
In the dark night, Xie Jing looked at the profile of Shen Jiangfu. The dim street lights cast a long and magnified shadow on their faces. He looked at their shadows and asked, "Do you like children?"
Shen Jiangfu looked at his face hidden in the darkness. At this moment, she felt unusually calm. "My students are children. I have never thought about leaving Kuantang, nor have I thought about getting married and raising children." She paused and said calmly, "I also enjoy the days when we are just two people."
She hoped that there would be only the two of them in this life, that they would accompany each other until old age, live a simple life, and enjoy peaceful and tranquil days.
The two walked for half an hour and arrived at the river.
At this moment, there were sparse people gathering on the river bank. After a few seconds, fireworks began to be set off on the opposite side of the river bank. One by one, the fireworks rose into the sky, and the sky instantly became colorful, giving people a New Year atmosphere.
More and more people gathered around the river, and some of them ran over to watch when they heard the sound of fireworks.
Suddenly, the river was packed with people, and everyone couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! There are fireworks!"
Fireworks were set off continuously. Shen Jiangfu and Xie Jing did not go near the river. They stood under a hibiscus tree and looked at the fireworks in the sky from afar.
As clusters of fireworks bloomed, Shen Jiangfu and Xie Jing looked at each other at the same time.
Shen Jiangfu squinted her eyes and smiled, her eyes sparkling with tears. She leaned half of her face towards Xie Jing, and this action spoke for itself.
Xie Jing was stunned when he saw Shen Jiangfu asking him to kiss her. He opened his mouth slightly, looked around, slowly lowered his head, and kissed Shen Jiangfu's right cheek in the light of the fireworks.
Shen Jiangfu's eyes and eyebrows were full of smiles. She looked up at him and saw that Xie Jing's deep eyes contained some tolerance and warmth.
The two looked at each other silently, with each other's smiles in their eyes.
New fireworks gradually rise in the sky, and the alternation of old and new fireworks is dazzling.
Shen Jiangfu naturally leaned back, and Xie Jing opened his arms to hug Shen Jiangfu's waist. The two of them enjoyed a moment of intimacy amid the sound of banging.
The red flames burst into life, the darkness becoming the backdrop. Thick white smoke drifted downwind, exuding the scent of happiness. Family, friends, and lovers huddled together, looking up to watch the dazzling display.
After dusk, the night is brilliant and happiness is right beside you.
(over)
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