Chapter 45 Painter
Jiang Shen followed the location sent by Ms. Miao’s daughter and went into a small path.
After entering the small road, the number of electric vehicles and bicycles increased a little. The aroma from several street food stalls flowed into the car through the gaps in the window.
Ren Fenghe couldn't help but sniff. It was the smell of steamed buns in the steamer.
She smelled hungry again.
Ren Fenghe couldn't help but touch his belly and looked at the stacked steamers with envy.
Jiang Shen would occasionally keep an eye on her through the rearview mirror, and when he saw her like that, he reminded her, "We'll be at Aunt Miao's house soon, and she'll definitely make you something to eat. If you eat beforehand, you won't be able to eat later."
Ren Fenghe approved very much and touched its belly twice to comfort it and tell it to stay calm.
After entering the small road, the cars drove very slowly, and had to avoid pedestrians and electric vehicles along the way.
It is Chinese New Year and there are still quite a few people here. If it were a weekday, cars probably wouldn't be able to get in.
"Turn left one hundred meters ahead." the navigation reminded.
Jiang Shen's car moved forward slowly. After finally reaching a hundred meters, he turned the steering wheel to the left. It was a narrower alley, about the width of one and a half cars.
Just as Jiang Shen was about to drive in and prepare to back out later, Ren Fenghe opened the car window and shouted outside: "Grandma! I'm here!"
The sharp-eyed Ren Fenghe had already spotted Ms. Miao, who was standing in the middle of the alley, waiting under a residential building.
Hearing Ren Fenghe's voice, Ms. Miao looked over here. Even though she couldn't see the people in the car, she still smiled with joy.
She walked over and saw Ren Fenghe opening the car window and hurriedly got her in.
She poked Ren Fenghe's forehead and said, "Aren't you afraid that Xiao Shen will be discovered?"
Ren Fenghe muttered, "I was in the car and I was wearing a mask. What am I afraid of?"
Ms. Miao pretended not to hear the child's mumbling.
She had a brief chat with Jiang Shen.
"Okay, I'll take her this afternoon. Can she come around six? We can have dinner at half past six."
After confirming the approximate time the other party would arrive, Ms. Miao said goodbye to Ren Fenghe and Jiang Shen.
Ren Fenghe stood obediently beside Ms. Miao and waved to Jiang Shen. The two waited until the car drove away and then walked towards Ms. Miao's home.
Ms. Miao asked, "What's wrong with your eyes?"
As soon as they met, she could tell that the child had cried.
Thinking about what Jiang Shen said yesterday that he would take Yuanyuan to video chat with her mother today, Ms. Miao had almost guessed the reason.
Ren Fenghe said honestly: "I just cried because I was sad."
Ms. Miao touched her head and said, "I made chicken nuggets. You can go up and have two more later."
Ren Fenghe's eyes brightened instantly, and he quickened his pace, saying hurriedly: "Let's go back quickly, I'm so hungry."
"I see you are very greedy, right?" Ms. Miao said unhappily.
Jiang Shen returned home again, and it was still a long time before six o'clock in the afternoon.
He opened the refrigerator, which contained a chicken he had prepared in advance. He took out the chicken, which was not very big, and stuffed it with soaked glutinous rice, red dates, chestnuts and half a ginseng.
He cleaned the other ingredients and skillfully cooked the ginseng chicken soup.
It takes some time to make ginseng chicken soup. During this time when no one is at home, he took out the key and opened the mysterious room that Ren Fenghe has been curious about for a long time.
The door opened and he opened the light-blocking curtains wide, allowing the warm sunlight to flow freely into the room.
There are rows of storage racks in the room, and storage boxes on the racks. It's hard not to think that this is a storage room, but with so many storage racks and storage boxes arranged neatly and cleanly, it doesn't look like a storage room.
Jiang Shen picked up the cleaning tools and began to clean the mysterious room.
He first took down the neatly arranged storage boxes one by one, wiped off the almost non-existent dust on them, and then opened the lid of the storage box.
In the storage box, there were pieces of paper with unknown contents written on them.
There seems to be a different scent on each piece of paper. As time goes by, the scent fades, and you are in me and I am in you, blending into a unique scent.
He checked the papers one by one. The edges of the papers had turned a little yellow due to being left for too long, but there was no damage. He checked them skillfully, closed the lid, put it back in place, and then opened the next storage box.
After repeating this process over and over again, he finally cleaned up the place completely, and then he opened the only chest of drawers in the room.
There are two old mobile phones in the chest of drawers.
He charged all his old phones and made sure they could still be used. Then, while waiting for the chicken soup to be ready, he took out one of the old phones and opened the mailbox on the old phone.
The phone, with worn edges and scratched screen, looked very small in his hand. This was his first phone. After Zhang Jingchun decided to come to Korea, his mother took him to a mobile phone store to buy it.
He flipped through his text message inbox. He had deleted all the advertising messages in it, leaving only messages from friends and family.
Then he opened the photo album again.
The photos in the album taken many years ago seemed extremely clear at the time, but looking back at them now, they are hazy because of the passage of time.
He had taken screenshots of these text messages and photos and saved them on his hard drive and cloud storage long before he changed his phone. But every time he wanted to review them, he preferred to look at them on his old phone rather than opening the hard drive or cloud storage.
Looking at it this way, it feels like going back to the past.
He has been using this phone throughout his trainee career. He was a trainee for a long time, and this phone has been with him for a very long time.
He silently flipped through the text messages and photos, looking at them one by one.
At the beginning, he could still receive a lot of text messages from relatives, most of which were asking him to stop being stubborn. Later, these text messages became less and less, and most of them were sent by Zhang Jingchun’s mother and Jiang Tangxia.
"They asked me to confirm whether you died abroad. I asked them to transfer my labor compensation to me, but they refused. I also said that I would share half of the money with you."
This was a text message sent by Jiang Tangxia during the Chinese New Year.
"Wait! Your dad transferred the money to me! I have money! But how can I give you half?"
"Forget it, I'll keep it for you first and give it to you when you return home."
Just a few minutes later, Jiang Tangxia sent these two sentences again.
Jiang Shen's eyes fell on his reply. At that time, he answered like this - "You don't have to leave it to me. Spend the money yourself. By the way, tell him that it has nothing to do with him whether I live or die."
Jiang Shen's fingertips paused, remembering what Jiang Tangxia said in the video call this morning.
"Your father hasn't been feeling well lately. Do you want to come back?"
"No." He answered without hesitation.
He turned off his phone again and put it back in the drawer.
On the other side, Ms. Miao took Ren Fenghe to the downstairs of the residential building.
"You go in front and I'll follow behind." Ms. Miao said, pointing to the stairs.
This residential building is very old and has no elevator. Some time ago, it was planned to be renovated and an elevator could be installed as long as every household agreed. However, in the end, it was not installed due to some disputes.
Ren Fenghe was not afraid of the stairs at all and rushed up.
A child’s energy is a magical battery. Sometimes it can be reduced to zero in the blink of an eye, and sometimes it can be fully charged immediately.
Ren Fenghe was in the latter situation at the moment. Thinking of the chicken nuggets that Ms. Miao had fried for her, she became very motivated.
"Ouch, why are you crawling so fast? Be careful not to fall or roll down."
Seeing that she was climbing two flights of stairs as one, Ms. Miao reminded her.
“Chicken nuggets are the most fragrant and delicious when they are freshly fried! If they are left for too long, they will not taste good anymore!”
"Is it worth it just for stuttering?" Ms. Miao was helpless. Seeing that Ren Fenghe liked the food she cooked so much, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
"Hehe." Ren Fenghe laughed foolishly twice and then rushed forward.
In addition to food, she was also curious about Ms. Miao's daughter, who is a cartoonist! Illustrator! painter!
Thinking of the extremely beautiful sky in the picture book and the delicate emotions in the comics, Ren Fenghe couldn't help but imagine what Ms. Miao's daughter looked like.
It should be the image of a goddess with long flowing and smooth hair, wearing a white long skirt, holding a paintbrush seriously and attentively, and tilting her head when thinking, right?
As soon as he thought of this, a hand appeared in Ren Fenghe's imagination and slapped this imagination away.
No, how could she wear a white dress while painting? Even if she had never painted with pencils, she had written with pencils. The outside of her palms were always rubbed black by the pencils on paper. If she accidentally touched her clothes, the clothes would turn black too.
Moreover, Ms. Miao said before that her daughter always ran outside to draw with her tools in her arms, so it would be inconvenient for her to wear a skirt.
To correct, Ms. Miao’s daughter should be wearing a dashing black outfit, and maybe even have tattoos on her body!
Ren Fenghe nodded affirmatively.
Logical.
Curious and excited, Ren Fenghe quickly rushed to the floor Ms. Miao mentioned and waited for Ms. Miao at the stairs.
Ms. Miao followed Ren Fenghe's pace and climbed up. The stairs she was used to walking on became more tiring than usual. She panted and said, "Really? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Ren Fenghe considerately stretched out his two fists and tapped Ms. Miao's legs gently.
"This one." Ms. Miao let her massage her legs with the force of a mosquito. After a couple of massages, she really felt less tired and her breathing became smoother.
She took out her key and opened the door.
The door is very old and makes a loud noise when it opens.
Just like when Ms. Miao came to Jiang Shen's house, she always made a series of noises before entering the living room.
The keys were thrown on the table, making a crackling sound, and the slippers were taken from the shoe cabinet and thrown on the ground, making a crackling sound.
Various noises rang out one after another, so loud that Ren Fenghe was worried that his neighbors would have complaints.
But apart from Ms. Miao's voice, there was no other sound in the room.
Ren Fenghe followed Ms. Miao like a curious kitten who had come to a new environment, grabbed the corner of Ms. Miao's clothes and looked inside.
Isn’t Ms. Miao’s daughter here? If he was there, he would have come out when he heard the sound.
"Change your shoes and wash your hands. I'll get you some chicken nuggets." Ms. Miao pointed to the bathroom to Ren Fenghe.
Ren Fenghe cooperated by changing his shoes and washing his hands. He did not hang around Ms. Miao's house and sat down at the dining table obediently.
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