Did you and Senior Zheng really date?
"Did you and Senior Zheng really date?"
40.
"Lanjian?" Chongming's voice was a little hoarse after drinking too much. He called out to Meng Lanjian. She sat upright beside him, looking out the window with an inexplicable sadness in her eyes. He didn't know what she was thinking. Chongming was drunk and his head was heavy, so he could only call her again, "Lanjian."
Meng Lanjian finally turned his head.
When I looked at him, his expression was somewhat unfamiliar.
It was as if she was chewing on some memories, and she unconsciously kept her distance from him.
"How much longer until we get home?" Chongming asked, trying to make conversation.
As the car passed the familiar red bean cake shop, Meng Lanjian replied, seemingly out of context, "I'll definitely miss this red bean cake shop after I move."
"Since you like red bean cakes so much, let's open a red bean cake shop in Shenhua Village sometime."
What's the difference between a shop and a storefront?
"A shop sounds easier to move around; wherever you are, the red bean cake shop will be there."
After Chongming finished speaking, Meng Lanjian's barely suppressed emotions were stirred up again. She lowered her voice and changed the subject, "When are we moving?"
“Before spring.” Chongming glanced out the window. There was little snow on the southern slopes, and it looked like there wouldn’t be any snow this winter either. “I heard my mother say that ‘Shenhuali’ was named that way because there’s a birch forest deep within the villa complex. If you walk north along that birch forest, you’ll reach Xiang’ai Peak of Wuyue. Xiang’ai Peak is the closest peak to Beiluan in Wuyue. Fifty years ago, many people on the southern slopes who were forced to separate from their families would climb the mountain by hand before that forest was developed, until they returned to Beiluan’s territory.”
“Then those southerners who lost their identities, some of whom could no longer find their way home, became… refugees on the border.” Lan Jian’s voice grew softer and softer, and as she finished speaking, the taxi stopped at the entrance of Senjing No. 1. She helped Chongming out of the car and heard him mumble incoherently, “Chongming, what did you say?”
"I said, Shenhuali is especially beautiful in winter." Chongming, after getting drunk, did indeed have a lot to say. "I have a childhood friend who lives there. One winter, I went to his backyard to roast chestnuts. As we were roasting them, it started snowing. Snowflakes fell one by one into the birch forest, the tree trunks and the snow blending together. I looked after his child for most of the winter. He went out on a date with his wife, and I was playing wildly in the snow with Xie Tangqian in my arms. The little guy was still very small, so small that he accidentally fell and tumbled into the snow. If he hadn't cried out, I almost wouldn't have been able to find him. After I picked him up, Xie Tangqian's white beard was thicker than Santa Claus's. He cried and I laughed, scaring all the neighbors."
“It was after this winter that I told my mom that I wanted to live in Shenhuali after I got married. My mom thought that I had developed the idea of getting married and having children because of raising the kids, so without saying a word she forcibly took the last house that the developer had reserved for him.”
Listening to Chongming's rare drunken ramblings, Meng Lanjian imagined the steady Chongming and his childhood friend's son making a ruckus in the snowy birch forest, and she could almost see that scene.
“I’ve always wanted to take you to Shenhua Village,” Chongming suddenly grabbed Lanjian’s wrist. They were already in the elevator, in the enclosed space, and their intimate body language hinted at a beginning. “There needs to be someone there to open that door to home with me.”
Lan Jian's hand, which was pressing the elevator button, suddenly stopped.
She held Chongming's chin in her hands. His eyelids were slightly red from drinking. She admitted that she was taking advantage of him at this moment.
"Chongming, answer one question to me seriously."
"Go ahead and ask."
"Did you and Senior Zheng really date?"
The light red hue had vanished, replaced by Chongming's deep, dark eyes. He looked at Meng Lanjian with a clear and calm gaze, without uttering a word.
Meng Lanjian didn't want to lose, but his eyes said it all. He didn't want to tell her.
Whether she has her reasons or not, she has no right to know.
Lan Jian released his hand from his face, pressed the elevator button, and pulled his other hand away from under his palm.
After a long while, the elevator doors opened.
Lanjian is in front, Chongming is behind.
The door opened and then closed. Meng Lanjian realized after changing her shoes that she was so familiar with this house that she could change her shoes without even turning on the lights.
She groped to turn on the light, and Chongming grasped her hand again. This time, he finally spoke.
"But my grandmother has seen you, only you."
Lan Jian recalled that Zheng Xuerou was not present at his grandmother's funeral on the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Bowing three times at the funeral counts as having met them.
-
Chongming did not lie.
His grandmother had indeed met Lan Jian; it was in the photo album on Chongming's phone.
His grandmother was seriously ill and asked him if he had a girlfriend. Chongming said yes, but then realized he didn't have a photo of himself and Zheng Xuerou together. His excuse that neither of them liked taking pictures didn't hold water. The elderly woman, already ill and irritable, assumed Chongming was lying when he couldn't produce a photo.
Left with no other choice, Chongming opened the lab's photo album, which contained some group photos from a dinner party. He found a photo of Lan Jian's arrival at Nanjing University not long ago, taken at a restaurant outside the lab. Zheng Xuerou and Lan Jian were standing on either side of Xue Xiang, while he and Ma Yuehe stood side by side behind them. He was standing right behind Zheng Xuerou, in such a conspicuous position, yet his grandmother spotted Meng Lan Jian at a glance.
"Is this the little darling?" Grandma smiled, her eyes narrowing. "It must be her!"
Chongming was a little puzzled, "Grandma, why did you guess it was her?"
"Because she's the prettiest!" Grandma said matter-of-factly. "Who doesn't like pretty girls?"
Chongming didn't have any particular preference when it came to girls' appearances. He pointed at Zheng Xuerou and said, "She's pretty too. Why don't you guess her?"
“You said ‘also,’ which means you were just being polite and didn’t necessarily really agree.” Grandma smiled. “She doesn’t smile much, and her smile isn’t as natural and beautiful as this one, like a little sun. She has a good personality too, right?”
Thinking of Meng Lanjian, Chongming couldn't help but smile. "She's quite nice. She looks silly, but she likes to act fierce for the sake of justice. She's as soft-hearted as a puppy and will wag her tail and come to you at the drop of a hat. Even if you ignore her, she won't care. She'll still wag her tail and come to you obediently next time."
"You," Grandma finally showed a hint of relief despite her illness, "you've finally met someone you like."
But what does it really feel like to like someone?
At that time, Chongming thought it might have been the butterfly on the puppy's nose, fluttering its wings in that instant.
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