Driving skills
Waking up in an unfamiliar room in the morning, Zhou Ji'an turned over and looked at the strange yet familiar person in front of him, silently saying, "Long time no see."
Last night, Deng Yi whispered "Happy Wedding" in her ear and didn't disturb her sleep. Because she still couldn't believe it was real, she consciously let herself fall asleep and dream.
She wanted to see if the Deng Yi in her dream was really different from the Deng Yi behind her now.
But last night, Zhou Ji'an didn't dream, or rather, she didn't remember having any dreams.
"Did you sleep well?" Deng Yi asked with his eyes closed, naturally raising his hand to massage her neck and waist, helping her relax her stiff body.
His voice was lazy and sounded very comfortable.
Before he opened his eyes, Zhou Ji'an guiltily closed them and didn't make a sound.
Finally, because she didn't have enough breath, she lay in his arms, panting heavily.
Deng Yile smiled broadly, put his arm around her waist, and turned her onto his body, pressing her spine evenly. "Do you want to get up or sleep a little longer?"
The physical distance between the two is almost shrinking to a negative number.
Zhou Ji'an shifted his hips to avoid the part of him that was excited, and replied, "I have to get up to eat and get ready for work."
"Do you still have to work eight hours a day?" Deng Yi asked, tracing a strand of her hair as he knew she had just changed companies before their marriage.
“No need, five hours at most will be enough.” Zhou Ji’an braced herself on both sides of his body, preparing to get up, when Deng Yi hugged her and sat up halfway.
This time, Zhou Ji'an nestled into his arms again, just like the two times yesterday, except this time there were no clothes between them.
Deng Yi seemed to really enjoy having her nestled in his arms like this. Zhou Ji'an clung to his shoulders and looked up at him, who was staring at the blanket in his hands.
The blanket covered her shoulders and neck completely.
"Your neck and shoulders shouldn't get cold, otherwise your cervical spine will hurt," Deng Yi said seriously. "You'll have to wear a neck vest to sleep from now on."
Zhou Ji'an has these things because people with her kind of work often suffer from cervical spondylosis. She always has to pay attention to the discomfort in her cervical spine, collect all kinds of equipment and tools to protect her cervical spine, and frequently exercise the muscles around her cervical spine.
But this thing doesn't suit Deng Yi at all, and I don't know how he found out about it.
"Is your neck uncomfortable? Did you hurt it from writing or reading scripts?" Zhou Ji'an placed his hands on his chest to avoid being too close to him. "Swimming can relieve it. After I started swimming regularly, my neck has hardly hurt anymore, and I rarely feel dizzy."
Deng Yi smiled gently: "Yes, the water should be warm by the afternoon, let's go swimming together."
Zhou Ji'an nodded: "Okay."
After a night, her face became even clearer, making the hickeys on her neck and chest appear unusually dark.
To avoid a repeat of last night's near-miss situation, Deng Yi picked her up, blanket and all, and asked, "What do you want for breakfast?"
Zhou Ji'an had no choice but to hold him back, suppressing the tremors caused by his intentional or unintentional movements, "Just take a bite."
"There are wontons and steamed buns that Aunt Yang and the others have made in the refrigerator. How about we steam some and eat them with soy milk and vegetables?" Deng Yi lifted the down comforter off her and helped her put on her clothes.
"Hmm... I can put it on myself." Zhou Ji'an covered himself up and down with both hands, trying to keep an eye on one side but not the other. "Don't... touch me."
In the end, I couldn't resist and tried it.
Deng Yi could only try his best not to keep touching her, "Turn around, I'll button your clothes."
Zhou Ji'an thought this was just right; he wouldn't be as reckless as before.
She turned around as instructed.
But the buttons remained unbuttoned for a long time.
The hands that were about to button his clothes began to wander over the same spots he had lingered on for a long time the night before.
“The more I look at it, the more it looks like a little monkey,” Deng Yi said, raising her left arm.
He was referring to a birthmark on her left arm, near her shoulder joint.
Zhou Ji'an hunched his shoulders and head, glanced at his hand, and asked, "Really? I didn't notice."
Deng Yi lowered his head and kissed him, saying, "I'll be careful."
Zhou Ji'an, whose body was tingling on one side, thought to himself, "If Deng Yi isn't someone who has seen countless people, then he must be exceptionally gifted."
The two of them spent almost half an hour changing clothes together.
Finally, despite her repeated refusals, Deng Yi picked her up and carried her to the restaurant.
Zhou Ji'an sat in a chair, watching Deng Yi's busy figure in the kitchen, and felt that such days could not last long.
She really wanted to ask him if he would be this patient with her for the rest of his life.
Even after the two faced each other and finished eating the breakfast prepared by Deng Yi, Zhou Ji'an still couldn't bring himself to ask a question like that.
She assumed she knew the answer and didn't bother asking.
There are many couples in this world who start out as sweet as honey, but many of them end up with their relationship falling apart.
Moreover, they are not really husband and wife, and their relationship is destined to fall apart.
"You really won't let me go back with you to move my things?" Zhou Ji'an still didn't understand why Deng Yi wouldn't let her go back to the house there.
That house isn't hers, and it's not like she'll never come back once she goes back.
Deng Yi, who was clearing the table and dishes, paused, staring directly at her as if trying to discern something from her face and eyes.
Zhou Ji'an touched his face and said, "If you don't want to, then don't. Why are you glaring at me?"
"When did I glare at you?" Deng Yi turned around and put all the plates and pots into the dishwasher. "You can come back with me, but you have to come with me to pick out some things."
Zhou Ji'an thought to himself that this person really had a cautious and deliberate personality, but he still pressed on, asking, "What is it?"
"You'll find out then." Deng Yi washed his hands. "What about your work? It will take at least two or three hours to get here and there."
Zhou Ji'an had actually considered resigning to pursue independent development. In any case, her bank account balance had been increasing rapidly in recent days, so even if her plan failed, she wouldn't be in trouble.
Based on her spending habits, the balance in her card could last until the day she passes away.
Zhou Ji'an has always studied, worked, and saved money in an orderly manner throughout her life without making a single mistake. Sometimes she really wants to see what will happen and what she will encounter if she breaks her pursuit of stability, and whether she can handle it.
Her fake marriage with Deng Yi was the first thing she did that broke her pursuit of stability, and so far the result has not been bad. She is not resisting, but enjoying it.
Zhou Ji'an wanted to share her plan with Deng Yi, but she was afraid that he wouldn't be interested or wouldn't care.
She leaned back in her chair and replied, "It's okay, I can work overtime tonight."
"You're going swimming again? Won't that make it very late?" Deng Yi sensed that the plan was about to change again, and he couldn't help but start calculating the time in his mind.
"No, it should be finished by nine o'clock at the latest."
Zhou Ji'an was worried about Deng Yi packing and moving her belongings by herself.
Although she avoids hoarding unnecessary things to lighten the burden of moving, she is still afraid that Deng Yi will discover from her simple possessions that she has been unilaterally clinging to him and loving him. That would be a burden on their relationship, and for Deng Yi alone, it might be a signal that he can no longer have a marriage without constraints.
After making the agreement, Zhou Ji'an started looking for his phone to prepare to leave.
The moment she touched her phone, she remembered that someone had called her last night. She immediately turned on her phone and went to the missed call page.
"Who hit him?" Deng Yi asked, leaning closer.
Zhou Ji'an looked at the unfamiliar number, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't know. An unfamiliar call might be a sales call or a scam."
Deng Yi glanced at it casually and said definitively, "It's a scam call. You'd better block it."
"Really? This number is special?" Zhou Ji'an glanced at the string of numbers again, put his phone away, and asked him.
"Nothing special, I've just seen it before."
He probably meant that he had received scam calls from similar numbers.
Zhou Ji'an couldn't understand. This person, like his mother, was too used to adding multiple layers of information to their words.
Thinking of his mother, Zhou Ji'an asked as he got into the car, "Does your mother often come to this house?"
"No, she'll let us know in advance if she's coming." Deng Yi turned to look at her. "Worried about the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship?"
Zhou Ji'an still felt a little awkward about such words, and looked away, saying, "No, I just asked casually."
After watering the potted plants in the yard, Shen Ruoheng sat on a stone chair to rest. After clearing her mind for a while, she looked through the photos in her private album on her phone.
She stared intently, as if gazing at a sliver of light filtering through a sky full of dark clouds.
The sun is exceptionally bright today.
Zhou Ji'an suspected that his state of mind had changed because of what happened last night.
She seemed to see the potential for her relationship with Deng Yi to develop further.
"Is it pretty?" Deng Yi asked.
Zhou Ji'an abruptly turned his head and denied, "I wasn't looking at you."
Deng Yi tossed his hair and laughed, "I'm asking you if the scenery on this side of the street is nice?"
“Prettier than you,” Zhou Ji’an retorted.
"Can I be compared to the street?" Deng Yi asked, feigning displeasure. Seeing her remain silent with a straight face, he had an idea. "Since you compare me to the street, can I compare you to that potted holly?"
What is North American holly? Zhou Ji'an didn't recognize it.
She followed his gaze and looked through the car window for what appeared to be a greenbelt plant resembling North American holly.
Deng Yi kindly explained, "That plant with small, round, red fruits hanging on its branches is American holly, and yours is much prettier than that."
Zhou Ji'an never expected him to say she was prettier than that plant; she thought he was going to take revenge on her.
Zhou Ji'an turned her body away from him; she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I wonder if the fruit tastes as good as yours." Deng Yi's driving skills were superb, and he quickly arrived at his destination.
Zhou Ji'an dared not breathe, and his already flushed face turned even redder from holding his breath.
The Deng Yi driving next to her seemed to be the adult version of the Deng Yi she used to know.
Deng Yi was secretly pleased. He drove the car into the underground parking lot, giving her some time to catch her breath. "Are you feeling better?"
Zhou Ji'an bit her lip and tried to open the car door, but it wouldn't open. She could only stand there blankly with her back to Deng Yi, waiting for him to do it.
Deng Yi unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned over her, and asked knowingly, "Want to get out of the car?"
He unbuckled her seatbelt, which she had forgotten to unbuckle in her panic, buried his face in her warm neck, and savored the sensations of last night and this morning. "I don't want to get out of the car."
The fact that he didn't want to get out of the car clearly meant it wasn't the machine they were sitting on.
“If you do this again, I’m not getting in your car,” Zhou Ji’an mimicked his words.
She imitated it quite well, because she heard Deng Yi's hearty laughter.
When Zhou Ji'an opened the front door, passed through the entryway, and entered the living room, he truly felt the size of the house.
When she lived alone, she treated it like a shared apartment, staying in her own bedroom and occasionally using the kitchen and living room. She didn't pay attention to the size of the apartment, nor did she think about how much bigger this big apartment was compared to the small shared apartments or small rented apartments she had lived in before.
"If you're going to sell this house, will you also have to sell all the tableware and cooking utensils you bought?" Zhou Ji'an asked.
"Let's hang it up and see." Deng Yi ignored her question. "Move your things out first."
Zhou Ji'an didn't have many belongings to begin with, and since she didn't have a good opinion of her fake marriage with Deng Yi, she stored some of her things at Lu Jianni's house before moving into this house.
The bedroom contained only some professional books, a desktop computer, a spare laptop, and some simple clothes.
As for her tableware and cooking utensils, they were even less worth mentioning.
When she rented the apartment, she only prepared a rice cooker and a small frying pan, which was more than enough for cooking for one person. She also had only one large salad plate and one noodle bowl, which was sufficient for her daily meals.
After a quick tidy-up, the bedroom was back to normal.
Deng Yi asked suspiciously, "Is that all? Did you leave all the important things at your friend Lu Jianni's house?"
Caught off guard by the sudden suspicion, Zhou Ji'an lost his composure and stammered, "No... how could that be? She... she has so much stuff, she can't possibly fit all my things in there."
"I can tell you're lying just by looking at your expression." Deng Yi was annoyed and directly exposed her. "When do you have time? Let's go and move Lu Jianni's things out of her house."
Since he had already concluded that she had hidden something at Lu Jianni's house, he would inevitably force her to move those things to the house in the east of the city.
Zhou Ji'an couldn't think of a response at first.
From Deng Yi's perspective, his actions are understandable. After all, as a public figure, his family affairs are under constant scrutiny. As his publicly acknowledged wife, her storing some of his belongings at a friend's house would inevitably lead to much speculation once it becomes known.
From her own perspective, however, his actions would directly cut off her escape route.
Zhou Ji'an knew she couldn't persuade him, and she also had an obligation to protect this fake marriage, so she had no choice but to give in: "I will go to her house every Saturday and move out little by little."
With another goal achieved, Deng Yi felt even more at ease and asked, "What do you do at her house every Saturday?"
"Let's chat," Zhou Ji'an replied, carrying a takeout bag.
"What should we talk about?"
“Let’s talk about women, let’s talk about men.” Zhou Ji’an said, glancing at him with a hint of smugness.
Her ability to imitate seems pretty good; she grasped the essence of Deng Yi and his mother's conversation so quickly.
"What kind of men are you talking about?" Deng Yi's eyelids twitched slightly. "Male classmates, boyfriends, or male exes?"
What is the term "male ex"?
Zhou Ji'an found it strange and was unwilling to repeat his ambiguous words, "To be precise, we're talking about women and men."
Seeing his expression of not quite understanding, Zhou Ji'an said, "You're in the film industry? You should know a lot about things like feminism, male rights, patriarchy, and so on."
"Really? I thought you were talking about men." Deng Yi picked up a book with the title "How's Your Summer?" on the bedside table, glanced at the zipped-up packing bag and suitcase, and simply held it in his hand for the time being.
Zhou Ji'an then dealt with the last and most difficult item to move—a desktop computer.
"That's prejudice and arrogance. You think that when women get together, they only talk about men," Zhou Ji'an retorted while unpacking the various cables from the computer.
Deng Yi raised one hand in denial: "I swear I didn't mean that."
Zhou Ji'an, who was kneeling on the ground, turned around and glared at him, indicating that he did not believe his oath.
Deng Yi smiled and waited for her to handle the items she didn't want him to touch, while casually flipping through the book in his hand.
The book's title page bears the inscription in beautiful small regular script: Purchased by Zhou Ji'an on May 17, 2023.
He flipped to the very end but didn't see her handwriting, so he slowly flipped back, his eyes drawn to a black horizontal line.
The underlined sentence is: When you grow up, you will become me... just become me.
The blank space at the end of the sentence contains her words: Reading this was like being struck by lightning.
Deng Yi looked up at the person packing the mouse and mouse pad into a dedicated desktop computer suitcase, his expression focused and serious.
It was clearly a small matter, but she seemed to have put in 100% of her effort, without the slightest bit of perfunctoriness.
Even someone like Zhou Ji'an still feels he's not good enough.
Zhou Ji'an gripped the lever and said, "Alright, let's go."
Deng Yi closed the book, his hand holding it drooping towards the ground.
Ordinary books seem to suddenly sprout white tendrils, reaching towards the reinforced concrete ground; before long, those tendrils will grow into thick root systems.
"I told you not to carry heavy things." After putting down the two suitcases with one hand, Deng Yi frowned and scolded Zhou Ji'an when he saw Zhou Ji'an pick up the packing bag containing clothes.
“It’s not heavy.” Zhou Ji’an felt that he was being too cautious and too considerate.
Could it be because they are in a public place and he is acting?
"It doesn't feel serious now, but when I get older, it will become a strain and it will be too late."
Zhou Ji'an nodded but didn't say anything.
"Ji'an".
The newcomer spoke in a loud voice, calling out the name "Ji'an" word by word.
Zhou Ji'an barely remembered the voice anymore, but the owner of that voice was someone she could never forget.
She was sorry to him.
Despite all that time, he was still healthy, had a loud voice, and was even radiant and full of vigor, seemingly living a much better life than her. Yet, she still felt sorry for him.
Zhou Ji'an looked at Xu Zhiyan approaching and asked, "When did you get back?"
"You've only been back for less than a week." Xu Zhiyan looked at Zhou Ji'an for a while and smiled, "You've lost weight."
Why does everyone think she's lost weight? Is it that obvious?
Zhou Ji'an chuckled and joked, "Maybe it's because it's winter, and temperatures fluctuate."
Xu Zhiyan glanced at Deng Yi next to the trunk and said casually, "Your husband."
He used a declarative sentence.
He should use a declarative sentence, since she and Deng Yi held a public wedding. Given Deng Yi's fame and her insignificance, their marriage would definitely become a topic of conversation among their classmates and friends.
Zhou Ji'an nodded, glanced at Deng Yi, closed the trunk, and walked closer to her and Xu Zhiyan.
"Hello, I'm Deng Yi. We've met before." Deng Yi switched the book to his left hand and extended his right hand to Xu Zhiyan.
"I didn't expect someone as important as you to remember someone as insignificant as me." Xu Zhiyan shook hands with him briefly.
Zhou Ji'an thought of what Deng Yi had mentioned yesterday about Wei Jinglin taking Xu Zhiyan to his studio. She wanted to say something, but couldn't find a good opportunity; it seemed there simply wasn't one.
Deng Yi: "Looking around, everyone is an unknown person, and I think it's good to be an unknown person."
His words have the same meaning as his previous statement, "What's wrong with being ordinary?"—a typical example of someone who speaks without understanding the situation.
Just as Zhou Ji'an was about to retort, Xu Zhiyan said, "Famous people all say they want to be nobody, but if you were actually nobody, you would feel that life is meaningless."
Zhou Ji'an nodded in agreement, but when he looked up, he met Deng Yi's gaze, and his nodding motion froze in mid-air.
"Wow, I didn't expect to meet you so soon?"
From not far away came Wei Jinglin's voice, seemingly enjoying the spectacle.
He was accompanied by a woman wearing pointed high heels.
"Jian, that's not fair of you. Zhiyan called you last night, and you didn't answer, fine, but how come you haven't even thought to call him back yet?" Wei Jinglin hooked his arm around his girlfriend's slender waist and looked the three people in front of him up and down. "What were you doing with my best friend last night? You didn't even have time to answer the phone?"
Zhou Ji'an's associative abilities started to misbehave again, and as she recalled what she and Deng Yi had done last night, her face inevitably flushed.
"Want another beating?" Deng Yi said coldly, pulling Zhou Ji'an by the back of his hand and nodding politely to Xu Zhiyan. "We're leaving now."
The show was about to end just as it began, and Wei Jinglin was naturally unhappy. "If you've got the guts, come and beat me up. Let's see if the video of the famous director beating up his former friend can go viral within a minute."
Zhou Ji'an was even less willing to get entangled with Wei Jinglin than Deng Yi, so when Deng Yi opened the passenger door, held onto the roof, and gestured for her to get in, she immediately sat down, fastened her seatbelt, and was ready to leave at any moment.
Deng Yi walked around to Xu Zhiyan and Wei Jinglin's side, glanced at Wei Jinglin's unwilling face, and said indifferently, "The video you said won't go viral because you're not my friend."
As Deng Yi got into the driver's seat, something suddenly fell from the book he was holding in his left hand to the ground.
He looked down, and Xu Zhiyan, Wei Jinglin, and others followed suit.
On the concrete floor of the underground parking lot, there was a pendant that looked like a wooden letter Y, with a short line attached to the end.
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