Chapter 79 Chapter 79 If I met you in high school, I would...
The weather was exceptionally good on Mid-Autumn Festival. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, and there wasn't a single cloud in the clear, blue sky.
As the Cayenne drove toward the cemetery, Chen Zhuo and Shao Chengzhang remained silent, their silence only enhanced by the gentle flow of jazz music. Arriving at the cemetery, Shao Chengzhang led Chen Zhuo up the cobblestone path, quietly starting a few sparrows from time to time.
Shao Chengzhang's mother's tombstone was spotless, as if someone had frequently visited to clean it. "Zhao Yun" was engraved in gilt ink on the stone, above which was a photograph of a woman.
This was the first time Shen Zhuo met Shao Chengzhang's mother. She squatted down, gently placed the bouquet in front of the tombstone, and looked up at the photo carefully.
The woman in the photo had relaxed eyebrows and a faint smile on her lips, a gentle and generous temperament. Shen Zhuo noticed that Shao Chengzhang's deep eyebrows resembled Shao Song's, while his high nose bridge and soft lips resembled Zhao Yun's.
Shao Chengzhang squatted down beside Shen Zhuo and whispered, "Mom, this is Shen Zhuo, my wife." As if afraid she hadn't heard clearly, he repeated it again, a faint smile in his eyes. "You never thought, one day I'd get married."
Chen Zhuo turned his head slightly and looked at Shao Chengzhang, with a subtle tenderness in his eyes.
He smiled and turned to Zhao Yun and said, "If you were still here, you would definitely like her too. I was planning to bring her to you on your birthday, but I can't wait for you to meet her."
Chen Zhuo listened, raised her hand and held his, interlocking her fingers with his, her eyes softly falling on the tombstone: "Mom, I'm Chen Zhuo. Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for family reunion, so we came to see you together."
Shao Chengzhang couldn't help but hold her hand tightly.
The wind blew through the pine forest, carrying the fragrance of pine resin, and the sunlight fell quietly between the two people.
Shen Zhuo stood up and walked away alone, letting Shao Chengzhang and Zhao Yun talk for a while. Before leaving, Shen Zhuo stood in front of the tombstone with her eyes closed. After a while, she opened her eyes, put away her emotions, turned around and said to Shao Chengzhang with a smile, "Let's go."
After leaving the cemetery, Shao Chengzhang drove to Ms. Chi's home. On the way, he asked, "What did you just say to your mother?"
Shen Zhuo snorted, "That's a private conversation between my mother and me, I won't tell you."
"What are you doing? Are you secretly saying bad things about me and not letting me hear them?"
"Look at you, you're judging others by your own standards. I've only said good things."
"Can't you let me hear your nice words?"
Shen Zhuo turned his head and looked out the window, the corners of his lips slightly raised, thinking, of course not. Because what she said was too corny, in front of Shao Chengzhang, she really couldn't bring herself to say it.
She and Zhao Yun promised to give Shao Chengzhang a warm home, so that he would have someone who loved and cared for him all his life and would never leave him.
Ms. Chi knew that her daughter and son-in-law would come at noon, so she started preparing lunch early in the morning.
As soon as Shen Zhuo entered the room, she heard the crackling sound of frying food in the kitchen. "Mom—what are you cooking?" She walked to the kitchen carrying two bags of fruit and saw Ms. Chi making her favorite fried eggplant boxes!
Chen Zhuo's eyes lit up. He put down his fruit and picked up his chopsticks, scooping up the top piece and shoving it into his mouth. The eggplant box was freshly fried and still very hot. Chen Zhuo slurped it while mumbling about how hot it was, fanning himself with his hands.
Ms. Chi scolded her speechlessly: "Are you stupid? How can it not be hot when it's freshly made? You're eating the bottom part."
Shao Chengzhang put the mooncake gift box on the coffee table. When he heard Shen Zhuo yelling in the kitchen, he hurried over. Seeing Shen Zhuo stomping his feet on the spot because he burned his mouth, he couldn't help laughing. At the same time, he didn't forget to reach out his hand, "Spit it out if it's burned." He motioned for her to spit it out in his palm.
Shen Zhuo shook his head, tilted his head back, and finished eating with a slurp.
Shao Chengzhang laughed and shook his head, greeted Ms. Chi and called her "Mom".
It was a bit crowded for three adults to stand in the kitchen, so Ms. Chi asked them to leave.
Shao Chengzhang said, "Let me help you here." He glanced at the stuffing that Ms. Chi had mixed and knew that they would have to make dumplings soon.
Ms. Chi didn't refuse: "Okay, can you roll noodles?"
This really touched upon Shao Chengzhang's blind spot, and he honestly said he didn't know how. Ms. Chi then asked him to fry the eggplant boxes until both sides were golden brown. Ms. Chi found a basin, poured in the dough, added water, and began kneading.
"Then it's none of my business, right?" Shen Zhuo was happy and at ease.
Ms. Chi said, "Wash the fruit."
After washing the fruit, Chen Zhuo went out with the fruit plate. He sat on the sofa and picked up a small bunch of Qingwang to eat. It was juicy and sweet.
Ms. Chi stirred it a few times and a dough came out. She put it aside for a while and then started to mix the filling.
"Chengzhang, is Chen Zhuo like this at home too? He does nothing?" Ms. Chi asked.
"Well, she burned her hand while frying tofu once, so I won't let her into the kitchen. Aunt Chen usually cooks it in the evening, and I cook it on weekends or go out for dinner."
After hearing this, Ms. Chi exclaimed, "Oh!" and said, "Just spoil her." Although she said this, Ms. Chi was smiling.
"What are you talking about me?" Shen Zhuo walked in with grapes, interrupting their conversation. She plucked a grape and fed it to Shao Chengzhang.
"Hello." Ms. Chi said with a smile.
"Then mother's birth is the best." Shen Zhuo smiled sweetly, making Ms. Chi smile from ear to ear.
The dumpling filling was also Shen Zhuo's favorite mushroom and fresh meat. Ms. Chi put the chopping board on the dining table and called Shen Zhuo over to roll out the dumpling wrappers. But after just a few rolls, Ms. Chi complained that she was always rolling too slowly, so Shen Zhuo was assigned the unskilled job of picking dumplings.
Shao Chengzhang stood opposite, helping to make dumplings and listening to Ms. Chi and her daughter chatting.
"Are you guys having dinner here tonight?"
"Do you want us to eat here or not?" Shen Zhuo asked.
Since returning from her road trip, Ms. Chi has signed up for a dance class with her best friends. Tonight, the community property management is holding a Mid-Autumn Festival party for residents, and Ms. Chi and her friends have signed up to dance. When Chen Zhuo found out, he said he would go to support Ms. Chi that evening.
But they were directly rejected by Ms. Chi, "I have to go to rehearsal and put on makeup in the afternoon, so I can't take care of you." Shen Zhuo knew that Ms. Chi was embarrassed, but actually wanted them to go.
"No, I have to film your wonderful moments for you. We have nothing to do tonight anyway."
Shao Chengzhang listened to his wife and nodded and said "yes".
After dinner, Ms. Chi took a nap as usual, and Shen Zhuo took Shao Chengzhang back to her room.
The room was small and simply furnished. Shao Chengzhang walked over to the bookcase and saw a childhood photo of Chen Zhuo on the middle shelf. He had short hair, a chubby face, and a red dot on his forehead. He frowned slightly, not sure if it was dislike or impatience. The photo was also cosplaying as Xu Wenqiang, wearing a top hat, a small suit, and a black scarf around his neck.
Shao Chengzhang couldn't help but pick it up and take a closer look, "Is this you?" He held the photo and looked up at Chen Zhuo lying on the bed.
"Yes, doesn't it look alike? I had short hair when I was a child, just like a little boy. I only started to grow long hair when I went to elementary school." Shen Zhuo sat up and said.
"So cute." Shao Chengzhang said, "Are there any other photos? I want to see them."
"No." Chen Zhuo said, "I was so stupid when I was little."
Shao Chengzhang put the photo back and took two steps to the bed. He sat down and shook her hand coquettishly: "Let me see it, ok?"
"Then beg me." Shen Zhuo was happy.
"Please~" Shao Chengzhang mumbled and leaned into her arms.
"You're so disgusting." Chen Zhuo smiled and pretended to push him away with disgust. "Here, the photos are in the closet. There's a big storage box underneath."
Shao Chengzhang stood up, moved the big box out, and opened it. Inside was a large photo album, envelopes, a yearbook, a small notebook, photo stickers, postcards, and so on. Almost everything that had belonged to Shen Zhuo since he was a child was included.
He first took out the photo album and flipped through the pages. The first page was a hundred-day photo of Chen Zhuo. He was wearing a small bellyband, lying on the mat with a fat white face and a big grin on his face.
Chen Zhuo moved his position and lay down beside his legs, watching with him. Seeing her hundred-day photo, she sighed, "Why do you come up here and look at other people's nude photos?"
Shao Chengzhang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and followed her words: "I've only seen your body when you grew up, now let's see your body when you were a child, and make up for it."
...Shen Zhuo was impressed by his casual and irresistible words.
Shao Chengzhang looked through the pictures one by one. There were no more pictures of Chen Zhuo until she was in junior high school. He couldn't even fill up a whole album. He noticed that when she was little, she always frowned when she had her pictures taken. Many of them showed her trying to smile while frowning, which made him laugh.
Chen Zhuo hadn't opened this box for a long time. She took out the yearbook that was very popular in elementary and junior high school and flipped through it casually.
"Dear Chen Zhuo, Zhan Xinjia. I don't think you know me. I'm Liu Dongyang from Class 6, Grade 1. This is the first time I noticed you..."
Shen Zhuo heard the sound and suddenly looked up to see Shao Chengzhang holding a piece of paper and reading. "Hey—what are you doing!" She turned over and tried to snatch the love letter from his hand, but Shao Chengzhang stopped her and raised his other hand high.
"Stop reading!"
"Do you still keep the love letters other boys wrote to you?" Shao Chengzhang said sourly. He glanced at her again and read a few lines, "I've met you. Now spring has come in the dead of winter... Tsk, how pretentious it is."
"Of course I kept it," Chen Zhuo said. "It was a token of his kindness, after all. Throwing it away would be disrespectful. But I didn't agree to it. I don't even remember him anymore." She climbed on top of him, straddling him. Even with her arms stretched out, she couldn't reach him. Chen Zhuo simply pushed him back and threw him onto the bed.
"Give it to me quickly."
"I just saw that you received a lot of love letters!" Shao Chengzhang hugged her and said, "It would have been great if we had met in high school. I envy and envy them now. I really want to know what you were like in high school."
"Even if we were in the same high school, nothing would happen. Didn't I tell you I was very rebellious in my freshman year? I guess you were just a good student in school. I don't think either of us would look down on each other."
"No." Shao Chengzhang said, "If I met you in high school, I would definitely fall in love with you."
Shen Zhuo didn't believe it: "Slippery tongue, oily words."
"Wife, you know, I often wonder why I didn't meet you earlier. According to the average life expectancy of Chinese people, the time left between you and me is no more than forty years. Minus the time we spend working, eating, and sleeping, the time we actually spend with you may only add up to ten years. This is really too short for me." Shao Chengzhang said seriously.
These words made Shen Zhuo feel warm in his heart.
"Maybe..." Chen Zhuo placed his hand on his chest, supporting his chin. "There will be a parallel world, in which we are high school classmates. You are the pride of the teacher, and I am a rebellious girl. I don't know why you fell in love with me, and you pursued me for a whole semester before I agreed to be with you." Chen Zhuo began to laugh as he spoke. "Or even longer, but under your and Jiang Jun's supervision, I also started to study hard. After the college entrance examination, you went abroad and I went to C University, but we were still in love. When you returned to China to start a business, we lived together and got married later."
She originally wanted to tell him a story about a high school girl who was forced to break up due to premature love, but then she thought it better to coax him and told him a happy ending.
Shao Chengzhang was very satisfied with what he heard: "But I want to correct you on two points."
Shen Zhuo raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"First, I know why I love you at every moment."
"Second, if we were in a relationship, I would not go abroad. I would only go to the same university as you and be with you."
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