Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The rain has stopped.
Shen Qingyuan ate too much; her stomach was a little bloated. She couldn't stop eating hot pot once she started. Because there were so many kinds of food, even a little bit at a time made the total amount excessive. She never learns her lesson.
It seems like I'm always like this in some things; I never learn from my mistakes.
When Shen Qingyuan was in the third grade of elementary school, her mother, Nan Lan, who was a middle school teacher, said this after guiding her daughter's math homework: "The significance of wrong answers is to help you find your weaknesses and not make the same mistakes again. If you don't learn from your mistakes, you will make the same mistakes again. You can't step into the same river twice."
Shen Qingyuan decided to take a stroll in the neighborhood for a while before going upstairs.
The residential complex in this area consists of resettlement housing built in the 1990s for former employees, mostly inhabited by Shen Qingyuan's parents' colleagues. The houses are older than Shen Qingyuan herself. Thirty years of weathering have passed, and even the once pristine buildings now bear the obvious marks of time.
The walls of the houses in the community are peeling, and the old-fashioned security grilles are rusty. The green belts are interspersed with vegetables such as loofah, pumpkin, and green onions, which are climbing and growing vigorously.
"Yuanyuan! Have you eaten yet?"
Shen Qingyuan ran into Zheng Meijuan, Nan Lan's old colleague.
Shen Qingyuan: "Aunt Zheng, I just ate, have you eaten yet?"
"Not yet, I just dropped my granddaughter off at kindergarten, I've been busy all day long." Zheng Meijuan's bright eyes sized up Shen Qingyuan, and she said with a grin, "Yuanyuan, you have a lot of holidays this year, you even get time off?"
Shen Qingyuan smiled and said, "Let's take a break, I'm too tired!"
"Okay, come visit me sometime, Yuanyuan. See you later!" Zheng Meijuan seemed to be in a very good mood.
As soon as Zheng Meijuan left, Shen Qingyuan's smile vanished. "Forget it, I shouldn't wander around anymore; if I do, I'll run into even more acquaintances."
You can't step into the same river twice, but you can run into the same group of relatives again and again.
Shen Qingyuan realized her skills were still insufficient. If she truly wanted to lie still, she shouldn't have risen from the dead. She shouldn't have been startled awake in her deathbed, neither fully alive nor dead.
While climbing the stairs, Song Ting called, "I've arrived at the newspaper office."
Shen Qingyuan said "Oh," and thought, "In broad daylight, is it really necessary to be so cautious in reporting our whereabouts?"
Song Ting took a breath. "Shen Qingyuan, I was too embarrassed to ask you in front of the driver in the ride-hailing car just now."
"Um?"
Do you regret it?
"ah?"
"Stop pretending! Ye Chuyang pursued you back then, and you didn't agree. If you two had actually gotten together, your life would be completely different now!"
"..."
Shen Qingyuan stopped in her tracks.
After a moment of silence, Song Ting's voice softened a little, "Shen Qingyuan? Don't tell me you've forgotten that Ye Chuyang pursued you back then. Thinking about it, you were the goddess that the big star couldn't have back then! If it were me, just thinking about that would make my life feel complete! My best friend, just tell me quietly, satisfy my little curiosity!"
Shen Qingyuan continued climbing the stairs: "Song Ting, don't be so naive. Who can remember clearly what happened ten years ago?"
How could you forget something like this?
The protagonist is so nonchalant and lazy, while the supporting characters are quite energetic. That was one of the few significant events in their boring high school years, closely related to the so-called "youth".
Song Ting recalled Yu Miaomiao, who used to be quite arrogant. Her friend was someone who could forget who Yu Miaomiao was.
Over the years, countless men must have been attracted to Shen Qingyuan. Sigh, what can you do when she has such a beautiful face and a sharp mind? Who knows, she might have long forgotten that Ye Chuyang also had a past with her.
Given Su Liao's current persona, he might automatically rewrite his memories and deny the unrequited love he experienced during his student days. After all, he's the universally loved and charming Su Liao!
Song Ting's gossip-fueled temper flared fiercely. "If you two ever run into each other, things will get interesting! You used to ignore me, but now, I'll make sure you can't afford to miss out!!!"
"Don't worry, there's no chance we'll meet. We're from different worlds," Shen Qingyuan said confidently. She climbed to the fifth floor, slightly out of breath. Half a year without exercise had taken its toll; she was now panting after climbing just five flights of stairs.
"I'm hanging up now." Shen Qingyuan hung up the phone.
A handsome young man's face appeared in her mind.
Brushing away the dust of time, those eyes and brows remain lively. A hint of shyness in her lowered eyelids, as if she has something to say. Or perhaps she hesitates to speak.
Before entering, Shen Qingyuan frowned slightly in confusion and muttered to herself, "Ye Chuyang wasn't exactly radiant back then either..."
-
The Shen family's small two-bedroom apartment, built in the 1990s, is a bit dated, but it's still quite tidy. Nan Lan loves crocheting dust covers, and almost all the appliances are covered with her creations.
After Nan Lan retired two years ago, she devoted herself to making her home more comfortable, and the aroma of meals wafted out on time every day. It was a warm, peaceful, and stable life. Their daughter was successful, working in a big city; the Shen couple's life couldn't be described as bad.
Before Shen Qingyuan, the only daughter, went home and lay down, life was simply blissful.
During dinner, Shen Jing'an took the remote control and switched to CCTV-1, where a documentary called "Animal World" was playing.
Shen Jing'an is Shen Qingyuan's father. He hasn't retired yet. He has worked in a local cultural unit for most of his life, and just before retiring, he barely became a deputy director.
Even a minor official is still an official, and Shen Jing'an has been straightening his back more, whether intentionally or unintentionally, lately.
Dinner consisted of four dishes and a soup, with the highlight being braised black carp with pickled peppers, Nanlan's specialty. The aroma was irresistible.
The hotpot lunch didn't affect Shen Qingyuan's appetite for dinner at all. Shen Qingyuan picked up a piece of fish, grabbed her rice bowl, and stared at the TV.
(Voiceover) "The struggle between hunter and prey plays out every day. This is the Serengeti plains..."
Nan Lan placed a piece of fish cheek meat on Shen Qingyuan's plate, her tone soft and gentle, "Yuanyuan, how did your meeting with Song Ting go today?"
Shen Qingyuan's gaze remained fixed on the television screen. She moved her lips slightly and mumbled, "Hmm, it's pretty good."
(Voiceover) "1.5 million wildebeests come in a mighty, dusty procession, migrating northward... This great animal migration, which has lasted for 2.5 million years, is one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring sights in nature..."
Nan Lan's eyes were filled with a thirst, and her mouth moved, but she didn't make a sound. She gave Shen Jing'an a look.
Shen Jing'an didn't quite catch on, and only after Nan Lan cleared her throat in a pretentious manner did she barely understand.
(Voiceover) "What triggered and propelled this massive animal migration?"
Shen Jing'an: "It's good to see your classmates more often. Song Ting is a nice girl. She's polite and warm to everyone."
(Voiceover) "The reason why the grassland animals are rushing around seems to be only one thing: food..."
Shen Jing'an clicked his tongue twice and said meaningfully, "Food... that's right. Whether it's animals or humans, survival is the first priority."
When children are in elementary school, their dreams are often to become scientists, astronauts, or other professions that make significant contributions to human civilization. See? When parents are disappointed enough, their expectations for their children are simply to find their own way to make a living and have enough to eat.
(Voiceover) "The wildebeest hadn't had a drop of water for days. Seeing the river only intensified their thirst, but they still dared not approach the riverbank..."
Shen Jing'an watched the standoff between the wildebeest and the crocodile with great interest, no longer paying attention to human society.
Nan Lan secretly resented her husband's inarticulate and roundabout way of speaking. Her father, in his youth, was a handsome and talented man who loved to compose poetry and paint. He was considered a scholar in the surrounding area.
Before marriage, Nan Lan thought she was lucky to have found a treasure. But after getting married, she discovered that when it came to actually living together, her father, Mr. Shen, was always in a state of uncertainty, like a "Buddhist" indifference. To put it nicely, he was a laid-back, uninvolved husband.
When it comes to educating their daughter, Mr. Shen advocates a laissez-faire approach and respecting her nature. Nan Lan, who works in primary and secondary education, knows all too well how lazy and cunning children can be. If you don't keep them in check, they'll dare to defy their teachers and parents.
Over the past six months, Nan Lan has sighed countless times, feeling somewhat disheartened that her approach to raising her daughter was a joke. She even thought that if she had followed Shen Jing'an's laissez-faire approach, her daughter might be ordinary, but she might not be lying around at home doing nothing now.
Perhaps, children will eventually take advantage of their teachers and parents; it's just a matter of time.
There are still decades to go. If my daughter continues to be so depressed, when will it ever end?
“Yuanyuan,” Nan Lan regrouped, “you two haven’t seen each other in a long time, you must have a lot to talk about, right? Don’t think your mother is being long-winded, but since I retired, I only see a few old colleagues and neighbors in the neighborhood every day. There’s nothing new to ask me, it’s actually quite boring. I feel like there’s a generation gap between me and you young people…”
Shen Qingyuan's bowl of rice was almost empty. Theoretically, she could eat another bowl, but there were a lot of shows tonight, and she was a little tired and wanted to finish as soon as possible.
Shen Qingyuan hummed in agreement, replying nonchalantly, "Let's just chat casually, about our recent lives, how our classmates are doing, and things like that."
On television, a crocodile opened its blood-red jaws and bit a young, weak wildebeest. The crocodiles then devoured the animal, creating a very bloody scene.
"Oh my—" Shen Jing'an was so excited that he stopped eating with his chopsticks.
Nan Lan's eyes lit up. "What's going on with your classmates? Tell your mom."
"It's nothing much, just who got married, who had a baby, who's now a small business owner, and so on. Everyone's just living their lives as usual." Shen Qingyuan put down her rice bowl.
For some reason, Shen Qingyuan intentionally or unintentionally overlooked the one who was the most unconventional: the big star Su Liao.
(Voiceover) Wildebeests know that there are crocodiles eyeing them in the river, but in order to extinguish the flames in their throats, they have no choice but to take the risk.
Nan Lan said, "That's right. It's not like a big city here. Most of the kids who stay in Chenyang do what they're supposed to do when they reach a certain age. They try to find a stable job, get married, have children, and that's how it's been for generations. Unlike big cities like Jicheng, where everyone is young and not so aware of the passage of time..."
Shen Qingyuan thought the word "alert" was quite apt.
Her reading comprehension skills have deteriorated a lot recently. Nan Lan's key sentence was clearly "do what you should do when you reach a certain age".
On TV, wildebeests have a silly-looking face. A herd of thirsty wildebeests confront crocodiles across the river.
Herbivores have a gentle and docile appearance. Crocodiles, on the other hand, have sinister eyes, gaping jaws, and a foul stench; from any aesthetic point of view, they are synonymous with ugliness.
In this animal world, black is black, and white is white. Herbivores eat grass, and carnivores eat meat; there is an orderly system.
No wonder a scholar like Shen Jing'an would like it.
Human society is different; ugliness lurks in the shadows. Danger can be as pleasant as a meadow, or as refreshing as a spring, waiting to lure its prey in before dropping its disguise and swallowing it whole, leaving not even a bone fragment.
Suddenly, a magnificent crocodile opened its huge jaws, leaped out of the water, and bit the ugly face of one of the young wildebeests.
Shen Qingyuan and Shen Jing'an both held their breath.
The wildebeest struggled desperately, while the crocodile bit down hard; both were locked in a fierce battle. In this life-or-death situation, who would dare not fight with all their might?
...
Finally, the strong wildebeest broke free from the crocodile's jaws and quickly retreated to safety with the herd.
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