85/Bang bang bang (End of text)
After Zhao Lili's wedding, more and more people around Chen Mian jokingly asked Chen Yu if he had any plans for Shen Yu and when he planned to get married.
In fact, Chen Mian and Shen Yu had discussed the topic of marriage more than once.
The locations were all different: on the bed, on the sofa, and on the dining table.
It's similar to casual conversation. Sometimes, one second the two of them are talking about what to eat for dinner, and the next second they suddenly veer to the word "marriage".
Shen Yu was quite straightforward, telling Chen Mian directly, "All my enthusiasm for marriage stems from the fact that you are the one I'm marrying."
During her relationship with Shen Yu, Chen Mian had imagined more than once the day when the two of them would walk into the Civil Affairs Bureau. For Chen Mian, the word "marriage" had always brought more negative meanings. She couldn't see where the protection that the word represented was. Rather than protection, it seemed more like a breeding ground for violence. Illegal acts were beautified as family disputes, and as long as there was no bloodshed, no one would pay attention.
Perhaps it's also related to her upbringing. Even someone as kind-hearted as Aunt Zhang couldn't help but have some outdated ideas. She told Chen Mian more than once that things would be fine once she grew up and started her own family, as if transferring from one household registration book to another would free her from all the darkness. And in that building, the arguments that came up every day at mealtimes were countless.
Sitting on the steps waiting for the house to quiet down, Chen Mian had heard many other people's lively conversations. Husbands would criticize their wives for not cooking to their liking, for spending money too quickly, and so on. All the responsibilities in the family were shifted onto the women. Men who could hardly be called gentlemen put the idea of "gentlemen keeping away from the kitchen" into practice in their lives. They wanted their wives to cook delicious meals and take care of their husbands and children. They themselves were not necessarily perfect, yet they demanded that their partners be close to perfect.
Everything Chen Mian saw and heard during her upbringing prevented her from developing any positive aspirations for marriage, and she even once thought that marriage had nothing to do with her.
It wasn't until she started dating Shen Yu that Chen Mian understood the real reason she longed for marriage: the desire to grow old together with her partner and to legally and reasonably participate in all aspects of their lives.
The biggest change that Chen Mian experienced in her relationship with Shen Yu was learning how to express her inner emotions. She no longer kept quiet about what she liked or disliked, what she wanted or didn't want. It was no longer something that was difficult to talk about and that could not be respected or satisfied.
Chen Mian's response to Shen Yu's words was direct and concise: "Me too."
Therefore, Chen Mian assumed that Shen Yu's birthday was exactly the same day the two got their marriage certificate.
During that time, their household registration books were kept on the bedside table in the Shenyu Apartment, which was convenient enough to take them directly to the Civil Affairs Bureau without having to ask anyone's opinion.
On May 19th, the eve of Shen Yu's birthday, Chen Mian finished all her work ahead of time, packed her luggage, and got into Shen Yu's car.
Shen Yu had made it clear beforehand that he didn't want any birthday gifts, he just wanted Chen Mian to follow all his arrangements on her birthday, and the first thing she had to do was pack her bags and run away with him.
Chen Mian didn't ask anything, just fastened her seatbelt and occasionally looked up at the egg-yolk-like sunset.
Shen Yu deliberately tried to scare her, "Aren't you afraid they'll just take you away and sell you?"
Chen Mian yawned. "Sell it."
"Judging from your tone, it sounds like you're sure I'm reluctant to part with you, my friend."
"No." She had been in class all day and was so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open. Her voice was languid. "It's because I trust you. Even if I'm going to sell myself, I should be able to sell myself to a decent family. Hmm, I'd like to find a highly educated family that can help me write my thesis."
Chen Yu, who was driving, couldn't help but laugh. When the red light came on, he slowly stopped the car and casually poked her cheek. "Why are you already dreaming before nightfall?"
The chat content was completely rambling.
At first, Chen Mian was able to stay awake and chat with him for a few minutes, but as the music in the car became more and more lyrical and the sky grew darker, Chen Mian couldn't help but fall asleep.
She had a strange dream in which she and Shen Yu turned into puppies and were kept in a pet shop. They were both locked in cages and could only face each other every day. Shen Yu was a very majestic and beautiful Samoyed. She wasn't sure what breed she was, but judging from the angle, she was probably a small dog.
In her dream, Shen Yu kept calling out to her. When the shop assistant opened the cage, he would come closer to her, sticking out his tongue and licking his face. But the good times didn't last long. Different customers bought them separately. On the day they were separated, Shen Yu cried out in anguish, just like a pair of lovers being torn apart in a melodramatic TV series.
Despite the absurdity of the dream, Chen Mian felt so distressed that she felt an urge to cry, and her heart was pounding.
The next time they met was at the pet hospital. She was being carried there to get vaccinated when she saw Shen Yu there to get neutered.
Chen Mian: !!! !!! !!! !!!
I woke up covered in sweat, instinctively spread my hands, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing her reaction, Shen Yu asked curiously, "What did you dream about?"
Chen Mian, still breathing heavily, stared at his face and said, "I dreamt that you turned into a dog and were dragged to get neutered."
Shen Yu: "...Damn it."
He rarely swore, and he looked at his girlfriend with annoyance, "Can't you wish me well for once? Do you think it's reasonable for you to say these things to me on my birthday?"
Chen Mian shut up, feeling guilty, and only then did she hear the sound of the rising and falling tides.
It was completely dark outside. The time on her phone was 8 p.m. Chen Mian looked out the window and realized that she was at the beach.
Shen Yu opened her car door, helped her out, and led her along the coastline aimlessly.
Amidst the roar of the tide, Chen Yu was still calculating.
Do you have any special affection for dogs?
Chen Mian argued, "That was just a dream."
Shen Yu sneered, "Have you ever heard that dreams are a true reflection of reality?"
“Dreams and reality are opposites. I dreamt that you turned into a dog, which means you are indeed a human in reality.” After saying that, Chen Mian noticed that the person opposite her pursed his lips even more tightly. It was summer, and Chen Yu was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and shorts. He casually put on a baseball cap that he had taken from the car, with the brim tilted to one side. Around his neck was the necklace that Chen Mian had given him for his birthday last year. It was a Möbius strip that she had made herself, with the initials of their names engraved on it.
The ring swayed back and forth as he reached out. Shen Yu didn't say much, but simply hooked his arm around Chen Mian's neck and pulled her into his arms. He restrained her hands with one hand and went straight for her waist with the other, making Chen Mian laugh and beg for mercy because of the tickling.
Shen Yu didn't stop at all, and asked Chen Mian arrogantly, "Are you really a person? You talk to your boyfriend who's having your birthday like this? If you hadn't had this dream, you wouldn't have realized I'm a person, right? Chen Mian, you're not being honest."
Chen Mian dodged left and right, but was restrained by Shen Yu, which caused the two of them to move in a serpentine pattern on the beach. The waves covered their ankles and then quickly receded. Her insteps, which were wearing sandals, were itchy, as if someone had gently tickled them with a feather.
Although she was no match for Shen Yu in strength, she skillfully knew how to subdue him. She snuggled into his arms, smiling and acting coquettishly, calling him "Shen Yu" and "A Yu" sweetly.
Shen Yu persisted relentlessly, even launching indiscriminate attacks, saying, "What 'A Yu'? It sounds like a dog's name."
Chen Mian: "...I'm going to tell my uncle and aunt."
Shen Yu: "Tell them you dreamt I was a dog?"
Chen Mian shook her head. "Tell them that you said they gave you a dog's name."
“If you go and complain, my mom will only say one thing to you.”
"What?"
"—You're flattering him. My mom would say that to you, in their society, calling me a dog's name is already considered lenient. Do you even know what my dad's name is?"
"I really didn't know," Chen Mian asked. "What?"
“Shen Zhengyi, it was named by my grandfather. My father threatened to run away from home but he couldn’t get the right to change his name.”
When Chen Mian thought of Shen Yu's father's face, she felt that, combined with his name, it did indeed look somewhat like a rural-urban fringe area.
"Then why didn't you call him Shen Heping?"
"You know my grandpa, right? When my mom was pregnant with me, my grandpa actually said that if it was a boy, he would name him Heping and if it was a girl, he would name her Fangfang. My mom absolutely disagreed, saying that it would make the child in her belly feel ashamed for the rest of his life. So she just flipped through the dictionary and told my grandpa that if it was a boy, he would name him Shenyu and if it was a girl, he would name her Shenyu. Only then did my grandpa give up."
Chen Mian was silent for a while before standing on tiptoe, stretching out her hand to ruffle his hair, and comforting him in the way he usually comforted herself, "Compared to Shen Heping, Shen Yu is already very nice to hear."
Shen Yu: "..."
I wasn't comforted, thank you.
As they joked and laughed along the way, Chen Mian forgot to ask him what he was doing at the beach.
Her feet were covered in sand, and after a few steps her soles were aching. She was carrying her sandals when Chen Yu took them away from her.
"Would you like some coconut water?" Shen Yu asked her.
Chen Mian shook her head, then inexplicably added, "Beautiful waters and clear mountains."
Shen Yu: "...knowingly committed the crime."
"To commit...to rebel?"
"A complete mess."
Chen Mian replied quickly, "I'd never tire of my wife's hardships."
This idiom chain game was completely unpredictable, and Chen Yu, a science student, was stumped. He remained silent for a long time without continuing. Chen Mian shook his arm and said, "—Disgusting."
Don't you know any idioms containing the character "厌" (yàn)?
"Hmm... You could say, 'Difficult to persuade'."
Shen Yu disagreed, "Why don't you mention your wife who shared your hardships?"
Chen Mian was quite easy to talk to, "Can you really accept the title 'wife who has shared hardship'? Well, what about 'wife who has shared hardship'?"
"A wife's glory brings honor to her husband." Shen Yu waved his baseball cap, his bangs ruffled by the wind, and pulled Chen Mian's steps forward. He could make even this messy conversation sound wonderful. "Given my current state, my true self, please print out this idiom and stick it on my face."
Chen Mian laughed so hard she bent over, but then the man suddenly reached out and covered her eyes.
Her smile vanished abruptly as she suddenly realized something.
Shen Yu took out his buzzing phone from his pants pocket. Chen Mian was restless and didn't close her eyes. Her eyelashes brushed against his palms, making them itch. He used his baseball cap as a cover for his eyes again and pulled her into his arms to prevent her from peeking. Only then did he answer the phone and lazily said "hmm" to the other end.
The salty sea breeze blew over, and Chen Mian's heartbeat was so loud it almost drowned out the sound of the waves.
Many people around her have hinted that Shen Yu has been acting differently lately, and they have told her with absolute certainty that someone as sentimental as Shen Yu would definitely propose.
However, time stretched on endlessly, and some things that she knew would happen sooner or later but didn't know when always hung in her heart, like an alarm clock that could ring at any moment. When she got to the beach, Chen Mian thought that it was probably now, but Shen Yu didn't show any abnormality, and even joked with her.
Then she thought, oh, it seems not.
But now, her eyes were covered, she was pulled into his arms, and she could hear his strong heartbeat through his hat. Finally, the alarm clock rang.
Instead of a ringing sound, it was the crackling sound of the fuse being lit.
It lasted for less than a second before turning into a deafening roar.
—Bang bang bang.
At this moment, Shen Yu released her eyes.
Countless fireworks bloomed on the sea surface behind us, igniting the dark sky.
This moment is slowly merging with the beach I went to after finishing the college entrance exam.
However, at that time, besides them, there were also You Huai and his group.
Now, apart from the endless coastline, countless fireworks, and rolling waves, all that can be seen is the Sinking Domain.
Chen Mian guessed that Shen Yu's hand, which was gripping her wrist, could definitely feel her disordered heartbeat.
Her breath caught in her throat; the vibrant colors of the fireworks were reflected on Shen Yu's face, and rainbows seemed to appear in his beautiful peach blossom eyes.
"Chen Mian".
He called her name.
Chen Mian hummed in agreement.
Then she heard Shen Yu laugh and say to her, "There are still two and a half hours until I turn twenty-three. During these two and a half hours, fireworks will be going off, and there will be a band performance further ahead. The band performance will end at 10:30. Then I will take you back to the hotel. The hotel room faces the beach. During this time, I will chat with you or make love to you directly. But I will stop at 11:30 because at this time, the drone show I have chartered will start. I will use it to propose to you and ask you if you want to marry me."
"I'm telling you all the arrangements because I've found that all the romance is a bit superfluous. I want you to agree to my request not out of gratitude, but purely because you want to."
"So I asked you two and a half hours in advance, giving you two and a half hours to think about whether you want to say happy birthday to me or not."
As he finished speaking, the fireworks went out, all the light sources disappeared, and everything returned to darkness.
Chen Mian subtly smiled and asked him, "When you proposed, did you only ask me if I wanted to say yes?"
Shen Yu pursed his lips, and after a while said, "What else do you want?"
Chen Mian grabbed his hand and felt the dampness in his palm. "Can't you ask me first if I'm happy today?"
It was as if they were teaching him.
Shen Yu simply copied her, asking, "Did you have a good day?"
"Then I would answer you, every day I spend with you is happy."
The girl's voice was gentle yet firm. After speaking, she added, "Then you should ask him, 'Do you love me?'"
At this moment, Shen Yu realized what Chen Mian was about to say.
His voice was a little hoarse, "Do you...love me?"
Chen Mian held his hand and pressed it against her heart. "Then I will tell you, along with my heartbeat, that I love you, I only love you. And then, at that moment, you should ask me the question you wanted to ask."
Bang bang bang.
It wasn't fireworks, it was the sound of her heartbeat.
All the romance he arranged paled in comparison to Chen Mian's simple words.
Shen Yu felt as if a fire was burning inside him, making his throat parched.
"Chen Mian, do you want to marry me?"
"Okay, let's be together then."
The exact same answer.
It was the words Shen Yu had said to her when she asked him if she wanted to be with him, and now they were being returned to her.
Chen Mian felt that she was not brave enough, not honest enough, and not perfect enough.
The road ahead is still long, and we are far from reaching the peak we once imagined.
But she chose to take it slow. Time is as long as the future, and she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to become the person she wants to be.
"Is this the happy ending you imagined?"
"It doesn't look like it."
"Could you give me some face, Chen Mian?"
"No happy ending in a story is this dark, Shenyu."
"The fireworks are over, aren't they? How about I ask again when we get back to the hotel and the drone arrives?"
"blossom everywhere."
"...You're still playing idiom chain at a time like this?" Shen Yu was utterly speechless, but still subconsciously replied, "A profusion of flowers."
"A cluster of brocade flowers".
"Is this an idiom? I'm a science student, don't lie to me."
"Just Google it."
"Okay, then let's keep going like this, with flowers in full bloom and clusters of blossoms, until we reach the happy ending you mentioned."
No sooner had he finished speaking than it started to rain, as if deliberately trying to antagonize him.
The torrential rain left Shen Yu completely dumbfounded.
Chen Mian stood there laughing so hard her whole body was shaking, and raindrops soaked her hair and clothes.
“Chenyu, your drone can’t fly anymore, and the band can’t perform either.”
"Flying tomorrow is fine too, you already promised me today. Compared to this, isn't it silly of you to stand in the pouring rain and say all this to me? Run!"
He grabbed her wrist and led her running towards the hotel in the heavy rain.
Chen Mian raised her head as she ran.
It's as if I can see that rainy night at the bus stop during my first year of high school.
The hand he reached out to her, after so much time, finally became a clasp of fingers, firmly moving forward together.
—End of text—
[Shenyu's Birthday Anime] A Good Omen
"Birthday"
1.
The weather was nice on the day Shen Yu was born. His grandfather said it was a good omen, indicating that he would have a smooth life from then on. This statement kept fooling Shen Yu until he was three years old. Before he was three, he was a naughty little brat. Every time he got into trouble, his mother would call from a thousand miles away to scold him, and he would shout and repeat his grandfather's good omen.
When Shen Yu started kindergarten at the age of three, he noticed that almost everyone had a good omen, so he stopped talking about things that were no longer unique. At that time, You Huai didn't attend the same kindergarten as him, and Chi Sheng was with him every day. When Chi Sheng was singled out by the teacher for discipline, he was surrounded by other children and acted as the leader. When Chi Sheng was being scolded by his parents at the kindergarten gate, the driver who came to pick him up helped him carry his schoolbag.
Chi Sheng's envy lasted from kindergarten to graduation. When he entered elementary school, Chi Sheng stopped saying that because Shen Yu, who seemed to be loved by all the teachers and surrounded by his classmates, was quite lonely. This loneliness was simple in the eyes of elementary school students. On Children's Day, he and You Huai were taken to the amusement park by their parents, while Shen Yu was in a training class. No one took him to the amusement park, and no one bought him toys.
But Shen Yu showed no interest in any of this. He rarely mentioned his parents to his friends. After graduating from elementary school, he stopped living with his grandfather and made a phone call to his father, saying he wanted freedom. At the same time, he mentioned that he had never dropped out of the top spot in his grade.
His family members are all extraordinary people. Other families would never feel comfortable letting a junior high school student who is not yet an adult live alone, but his parents agreed without hesitation. As a result, Shen Yu lived in the villa by himself and only went to his grandfather's house during holidays. Occasionally, his parents would drop by, but as they discovered that he could really live well on his own, their visits gradually became less frequent.
Whenever You Huai and Chi Sheng had conflicts with their families, they would come to Shen Yu for refuge. At these moments, envy would resurface. In their eyes, Shen Yu had absolute freedom, free from the constraints and nagging of his family. He could do whatever he wanted, and as long as it didn't affect his grades or cause him any trouble, he could even take a week off from school without anyone caring. It was so cool that no one cared.
Shen Yu remained silent. He had always been quite cool back then, rarely speaking to anyone. His desire to express himself diminished as he lived alone day after day. Many nights he would wake up, stare into the darkness, and then silently lean against the headboard, lost in thought, maintaining a blank state until sunrise. The aunties who came to cook and clean had a generation gap with him, and their employer-employee relationship made it difficult for them to be too close. Since he had no one to talk to, he was too lazy to say anything more.
I turn on the TV while eating, and I turn on music while reading or doing homework.
At this point, Shen Yu genuinely felt that continuing this kind of life was alright. The TV, which was playing in the background, often showed dramas that were endlessly about love. The seemingly complicated but actually idiotic logic chain of "You love me, but I can't feel your love for me, so in my opinion you don't love me" could go on for seventy or eighty episodes. Shen Yu thought that it was quite great that the word "love" could keep so many people with logical problems eating.
But this word had nothing to do with him. At that time, his father was hospitalized with gastroenteritis in Suibei. The driver his father sent told him about it. At that time, Shen Yu said, "I only studied junior high school knowledge, not medical knowledge." The implication was that there was no use for him.
This overly aloof personality once led the driver to believe that Shen Yu might go to extremes and become an antisocial personality who disregards human life if he deviated even slightly.
This belief only completely changed when Shen Yu entered high school.
It was a rainy night a month after the start of the semester. The driver was taking Shen Yu home from school when You Huai suddenly called halfway there, urgently asking him to go to the coffee shop near the school to pay the bill. The rain was pouring down. Shen Yu hadn't planned to go, but You Huai was so persistent that he had to ask the driver to turn around. When he got to the coffee shop, he found You Huai eating with Chen Yin. They ordered a whole table of food, and only when it was time to pay did You Huai realize that he had left his wallet at school. After paying the bill, Shen Yu declined the invitation to eat together, opened an umbrella, and walked out of the coffee shop. When he reached the bus stop by the roadside, he suddenly stopped.
Later, recalling this detail countless times, Shen Yu felt that there was a destiny between him and Chen Mian.
He had seen Chen Mian at school, and three moments from that experience left a deep impression on him.
The first time was during a speech under the national flag not long after the start of the school year. The school had arranged for a television station to record a charity moment to donate money to impoverished students. Among a group of people with their heads down, only one girl in the middle of the crowd stood out. She raised her head and looked straight ahead. When she received the things from the principal, she said thank you in a clear voice. He heard her name from the hushed whispers of the people around him.
The second time was when they brushed past each other at the entrance of a convenience store. People were coming and going around him, while she stood in the shade at the entrance, head down, waiting for someone. Her school uniform skirt covered her knees and swayed back and forth in the wind. Her figure was like an ice cube falling into sparkling water in the dull spring afternoon. Shen Yu glanced at her for no reason, his gaze lingering on her fair profile for a moment, before entering the air-conditioned convenience store.
The last time was during PE class. Her friends were talking about how to confess their feelings, their plans and wording were perfect, and a bunch of people were there to help them. Shen Yu was not interested. She sat in the audience with a can of Coke but didn't open it. She just used the coolness to relieve the heat. She raised her eyes slightly and looked at the noisy area without moving. She saw the girl who had been stopped suddenly become agitated and frowned. She didn't know what she said, but the crowd that had been cheering for her to say yes suddenly became sullen and seemed to have lost their ability to speak. Meanwhile, she pulled the girl who was behind her and walked towards her class without stopping.
She's a very interesting person, and a rare girl who can pique Shen Yu's interest.
At this moment, Chen Mian was soaked to the bone. Her school uniform clung to her body, water dripped from the zipper of her jacket, and her school uniform skirt clung to her thighs. She had abrasions on her elbows and knees. As if she was running away from something, the more flustered she became, the more mistakes she made. She tripped and fell a few steps away from the bus stop where she was about to take shelter from the rain. She lay there on the ground for a long time without straightening up, her head down, seemingly lost in thought. Raindrops streamed down her hair.
He couldn't explain his thoughts, but his actions seemed to have a mind of their own. Walking towards her became the only command his body gave. He stopped in front of her, tilted the umbrella towards her, and then reached out his hand to her.
2.
Shen Yu was absolutely certain that at the beginning of their relationship, there was no liking or love at all. It was just that his boring life had gained someone who could arouse his interest. This was because Chen Mian was different from everyone else, and because among all the people, only Chen Mian truly needed him. Even though she didn't care about him at all, she couldn't leave him.
This relationship is neither normal nor healthy. As a top student, Shen Yu certainly understands this, but so what? He is not a person with a strong sense of morality. He has never done the things that his elementary school teachers taught him, such as helping old men and women cross the road. His concern for the people or things around him is limited to what he cares about, and this scope can be narrowed down to a few specific things in different areas.
For example, his friends. He seems to have countless friends, but the only ones he truly cares about are You Huai and Chi Sheng, who he has known since childhood.
As for the rest, it doesn't really matter.
He was entangled with Chen Mian from the first year of high school to the third year, giving her all his time and money.
They maintained a distant, unfamiliar relationship at school, but once they stepped into the bedroom, they became inseparable and intimate.
Shen Yu thought, this is not bad. Relationships between people are inherently fragile and easily broken. The companionship that can be bought with money has filled this quiet room with a lot of noise, and even made him feel that the room was indeed too quiet when he was alone.
He began to crave companionship more intensely when Chen Mian was not around, so he always spent time with his friends. Even listening to the wailing and howling of ghosts in a karaoke bar was better than being alone at home. At this moment, Shen Yu thought he had reached a stage where he needed liveliness, so he was afraid of being alone and needed someone to accompany him.
Until one night when he was with Chen Mian again, she fell asleep beside him, exhausted. The room was quiet except for the sound of her breathing. He reached out to touch her face and saw her furrow her brows in instinctive resistance. He couldn't help but laugh. It was at this moment that You Huai sent him a message asking if he wanted to go out. He refused outright.
You Huai was a little curious: Isn't it boring to be home alone?
Many past interactions accumulated at this moment formed a subtle quantitative change.
This quantitative change wasn't enough for him to develop feelings for Chen Mian into liking her, but it was enough for him to understand that he hadn't grown up to the point of being afraid of being alone; it was just that after getting used to having someone by his side, he realized that being alone was indeed a bit of a nightmare.
During Christmas of my second year of high school, the school organized an event. Every class was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. Canned snow spray became weapons for playing around. Shen Yu came to the corridor from the noisy classroom and saw Chen Mian walking with her friends downstairs through the railing. She was holding an apple in her hand, and a boy upstairs was calling her name from above.
—Chen Mian, Merry Christmas!
The person downstairs looked up, and a pair of bright, sparkling eyes met Shen Yu's.
You Huai, whom he had found in his own class, put his arm around his shoulder and followed his gaze to Chen Mian downstairs. "Do you like her, friend?"
At that moment, Shen Yu's voice, which should have been a direct "no," remained stuck in his throat for a few seconds before he finally uttered it.
What truly transformed a few seconds of hesitation into unwavering resolve was the senior year of high school.
In countless moments, from the dark, ghostly classroom to the basketball park in front of her, and from the countless footsteps that, despite being furious with her, couldn't help but walk towards her, Shen Yu completely gave up.
That explains why a relationship that could be explained in just a few sentences in a TV series can be stretched into dozens of episodes.
Because it's impossible for one person to fully understand another, they have no idea whether what they perceive as a declaration of love is seen by the other person as a symbol of a break in the relationship.
Chen Mian was the person he both understood and found the most difficult to understand among all of them.
This is why Shenyu is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss, completely out of control.
3.
There are many things Chen Mian doesn't know.
For example, after the senior year teacher appreciation banquet, he returned to Shengshi Haoting and put all the things she had packed back in their original positions according to his memory.
For example, on the night before the college entrance exam, on the last page of her scratch paper, she was so tired that she fell asleep on the table, and he took a pen and wrote a line on it:
—May all good fortune accompany Chen Mian, may she succeed in the college entrance examination, and may everything go smoothly. From now on, may Chen Mian's life be filled with good omens.
It was a spell his grandfather cast on him before he was three years old, and this same spell he cast on the girl in front of him when he was eighteen.
If You Huai or Chi Sheng saw this, they would laugh at him countless times for being a sycophant.
—Shen Yu, you're really pathetic.
—No way, Xiao Shen, who's used to being pursued, has started pursuing someone else?
Chi Sheng had said this to You Huai countless times. Most of the comments in the group chat were jokes, and Shen Yu's replies were either "get lost" or he simply ignored it.
However, after the teacher appreciation banquet, during the time Chen Mian left him, no one ever said such things to him again, and hardly anyone mentioned Chen Mian's name to him anymore. It seemed that these two words had become a forbidden word in the Shenyu world.
Chi Sheng said, "There are plenty of fish in the sea, why be hung up on just one?"
Only someone as uncultured as Chi Sheng could utter such vulgar words.
After much deliberation, You Huai finally said something similar to what his parents had said: "You're only eighteen. Eighteen is an age when you can get through pain and sadness and still stand up again."
During that period, Shen Yu seemed to have returned to a stage where he had lost the desire to express himself.
He started to become too lazy to tell others what he was thinking.
Love is simply about getting together because you like someone.
But his relationship with Chen Mian is not that simple.
At that time, he thought that even if they didn't end up together, he probably wouldn't like anyone else again.
The urge to understand, to get closer, to hold hands, to hug, to kiss, and to make love is only directed towards Chen Mian.
4.
"Blowing out the candles, what are you thinking about?"
The girl waved to him from the candlelight.
Shen Yu blew out the candle.
The moment the room went dark, the number nineteen on the cake also disappeared from sight.
"I was just thinking about things from the past."
"Hmm?" Chen Mian asked, somewhat confused. "What is it?"
"Meeting, liking, losing, possessing—just these four things about you."
"..."
Chen Mian fell silent instantly, then walked around to his side in the darkness and reached out to hug his waist.
The lowered voice sounded like coaxing a child, saying to him, "It won't happen again."
"I will never leave you again."
The air was filled with the sweet aroma of cake.
Chen Mian sat in his lap, so close to him, and hooked her arms around his neck, kissing him from his chin to the corner of his lips.
She cupped his face in her hands and repeated the gesture with utmost sincerity.
Happy birthday, Shenyu.
And for the first and only time, I made a promise.
"I will be with you every year on your birthday from now on."
Shen Yu chuckled softly.
He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and, in the instant he struck it, noticed the girl's sparkling eyes.
"Okay, starting from today, in three years, remember to keep your promise."
Three years later, Shen Yu, who was nineteen, turned twenty-two and reached the legal age for marriage.
Chen Mian curled her fingers and nodded without hesitation, "Okay."
I couldn't help but ask him, "So what did you wish for just now?"
Shen Yu said, "The one from just now."
Eighteen-year-old Shen Yu hopes Chen Mian will be happy every day.
Nineteen-year-old Shen Yu harbored selfish motives, wanting to stay with Chen Mian forever.
Then the two awkward children became a still awkward but loving couple, and then from a couple, they became an old couple watching the sunset hand in hand.
This is the smooth and successful end that Shen Yu hoped for in his life.
/
Happy birthday, Xiao Shen!
"Chen Yin's Tour of Huaihe River (Side Story)"
"Chen Yin's Tour of Huaihe Extra Chapter" Rose
1.
You Huai accompanied Chen Yin to get her tattoo.
She flipped through the booklet choosing tattoo designs, while You Huai sat next to her playing games.
"How about this one?" she asked him, pointing to the rose pattern.
You Huai looked up from the game and glanced over, his tone rather perfunctory, "It's alright."
"Not bad" was considered good by him, so Chen Yin took the booklet and went to find the tattoo artist.
You Huai didn't participate in the whole process until he found out that Chen Yin wanted to get a tattoo on her thigh, and that the tattoo artist was a man.
He snatched the phone directly from Chen Yin's hand, and the words "okay" turned into "not good".
Chen Yin jumped up to grab it, but couldn't reach it. Frustrated, she grabbed his arm and bit him. The tattoo artist with a small braid next to her whistled and said that the kids were playing quite wildly.
In the end, the tattoo didn't go through.
You Huai said, "Arms and calves are fine, but anything else is out of the question."
His tone was extremely arrogant, and his usually playful expression was now cold and indifferent. He had a scoundrel-like air about him and didn't seem to think it was inappropriate to control her like this.
Chen Yin was furious. "My arms and calves are so conspicuous, my parents would have seen them immediately. They could have killed me!"
You Huai laughed, "If you're so cowardly, why did you get a tattoo?" He grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
You Huai has an exceptional talent for making people angry.
Chen Yin's kindergarten knew this. Back then, she would cry every day, clinging to her father's neck and saying she didn't want to go to kindergarten. You Huai would stand by, holding the teacher's hand, being extremely well-behaved, greeting the teacher and then looking at Chen Yin with a bewildered expression, asking why she didn't want to come to kindergarten when it was so interesting. This caused Chen Yin's father to completely lose patience, pulling her off him and pointing at You Huai, saying, "Look at other people."
Then, as Chen Yin walked into the classroom and sat down, this person scoffed at her.
This bad impression directly led to her never giving You Huai a kind look until she was in elementary school.
Back then, boys and girls played in separate groups. She was the first to draw a line between them and coldly told You Huai not to come near her. Later, during PE class, when she heard other girls talking about You Huai, she frowned and said, "Anyone who plays with You Huai is messing with me! Anyway, if you play with me, you can't play with You Huai!"
The antagonistic situation only improved in junior high school.
After all, it's quite a coincidence that they've been classmates from kindergarten to junior high. It was You Huai who released the doves symbolizing peace first. It was the first day of school. You Huai simply picked up his schoolbag, sat down next to Chen Yin, took an iced Coke from his bag, threw it on her desk, and said with a grin, "Hey, let's make a deal, let's get along well from now on."
When You Huai talked about getting along well, he meant that when Chen Yin had a disagreement with another girl, he would unconditionally stand by her side, completely ignoring the so-called rule that boys shouldn't get involved in girls' arguments, and taking her side as a matter of course.
"Oh, I don't care who's right or wrong in fact. Facts aren't my friend, Chen Yin is my friend."
That's what he said.
So at that time, everyone around thought that You Huai must like Chen Yin, and Chen Yin's female friends who were close to her analyzed the situation very well.
"How could You Huai not like you? Every time the teacher reassigns seats, everyone else is rearranging their seats, but you two have always been deskmates. I heard from the boys that You Huai went to the homeroom teacher himself and asked to be your deskmate. If that doesn't count as liking someone, what does? Also, during PE class, when the boys are playing basketball, whenever you walk by, they push You Huai and cheer. They must know that You Huai likes you, and you've known each other for so, so long!"
Chen Yin took it seriously for a while, and even went so far as to ask You Huai directly if he liked her.
You Huai laughed so hard he almost died. "No way, my friend, hahaha, you're telling me this? Are you kidding me?"
He reached out and wrapped his arms around Chen Yin's neck, pulling her into his embrace without any restraint.
Chen Yin smelled the lemon scent on his school uniform, blushed, and reached out to pat his arm.
It wasn't until the boy patted her head that she became angry and snapped at him, "What are you doing, You Huai!"
You Huai replied nonchalantly, "Oh, have you lost your mind asking such a question?"
After that, Chen Yin coldly said to her friends, "Don't be ridiculous, is this what you call liking someone? Do you really think I'm stupid?"
Time flies, and we've gone from junior high to senior high.
As I walked out of the tattoo shop, I recalled those not-so-pleasant memories.
Chen Yin was still a little angry, not because she felt that You Huai was interfering too much with her, but because You Huai hadn't given her any face while she was inside.
She noticed teeth marks on You Huaichang's arm outside, and reached out to pinch them.
As a result, You Huai dodged quite nimbly and raised his hands to beg for mercy, "Grandma, can you please stop pinching me? Look, I still have some good flesh on my hand. What will I say when my mom asks me about this later?"
"You said you were pinched by girls at school? Aren't you the modern-day Jia Baoyu, spending all your time surrounded by girls?"
"Can you stop turning the tables on me, friend? Shouldn't you narrow down the scope of the girls you're talking about? Did you drag your friends around and introduce me to each of them as your little brother? What did you learn about Chinese? Which Jia Baoyu was treated like a servant?"
Chen Yin was too lazy to pay him any attention.
She wanted to get a tattoo on a whim, not really because she was thinking about it too much. It was just that a friend of hers had a firework tattooed on her fingertip, and Chen Yin thought it was cool, so she wanted to get a rose tattoo too. But at the last minute, You Huai stopped her.
Seeing her expression, You Huai stopped smiling. "Alright, you just wanted a rose, right? Sit here and wait, I'll give you a painless tattoo." With that, he pressed Chen Yin down on an empty chair in a milk tea shop at the mall entrance, scanned the code to order her a milk tea, took a screenshot and sent it to her, then turned and went into the mall.
Chen Yin had no idea what kind of tricks You Huai was playing.
I found him incredibly annoying and wanted to leave, but just as I got up, the clerk announced that milk tea number 81 was ready.
It was ten minutes later that You Huai came out.
She was carrying a brightly colored little bag, which she tossed directly onto the table.
"Your rose."
While sipping her milk tea, Chen Yin opened the package out of curiosity and found temporary tattoos inside.
It was indeed a rose, and they even thoughtfully took a picture of it in every style imaginable.
You Huai: "You say it's painless, and it's painless? Isn't that awesome?"
Chen Yin: "..."
With a cold face, he closed the bag and said, "You Huai, I think you're an idiot."
As a result, it was 10 PM.
You Huai, who had already returned home, hadn't even finished a game when he received a WeChat message from Chen Yin.
His teammate shouted into the mic, "Bottom lane, bottom lane, Youhuai, go to bottom lane."
"Quick, quick, come help me!"
"Where are you, You Huai?"
You Huai switched to WeChat.
I saw the photos Chen Yin sent.
In the photo, the girl's black pajama pants were pulled up, and bright red rose petals, like flowing blood, clung tightly to her inner thighs, the skin against which the petals were so white they were almost blinding.
Chen Yin didn't feel there was anything wrong with sending You Huai such photos.
She also told him: "I'll let you off the hook since the results were pretty good."
You Huai rested his elbows on his knees, his fingers pressing against his chin.
My teammates have already sent me WeChat messages to yell at me.
—Where are you in ranked matches or when you're winning? Don't tell me your internet is lagging.
—Where have you been? If you don't give me a reasonable explanation, I'll come to your classroom and kill you tomorrow.
He returned from the Huai River tour a while later.
—Just consider me dead.
After waiting for a while without receiving a reply from You Huai, Chen Yin asked again: "Do you think Shen Yu would think it's beautiful if he saw it?"
When I sent it, the dialog box kept showing "typing".
I have no idea what You Huai is typing; he's been typing for so long.
She didn't pay any attention to it, but after sending it, she saw that the text she was typing disappeared.
It took about three minutes for them to reply.
You Huai: You can consider another possibility.
Chen Yin: ?
You Huai: A Yu has absolutely no interest in watching this kind of thing.
Chen Yin: ...
Chen Yin: You Huai, go to hell.
You Huai didn't reply, but instead scrolled up the screen and opened the photo again.
He turned off the bedroom light and put his phone on silent.
He took off his pants in the dark, took out his quietly hardened penis, and slid it up and down in front of the photo.
In the photo, the rose petals lead to the girl's most private parts.
You Huai's other hand rested on the screen, pressed against the petals; the hot screen felt like the temperature of a woman's skin.
Twenty minutes later, white semen sprayed onto the screen and wet the red petals.
He wanted to have sex with Chen Yin.
Desire is especially hard to resist tonight.
/
It's not over yet.
It will probably take two or three chapters.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
