Chapter 03

Zhao Shuming cast his eyes toward her room.

Jiang Yimiao probably didn’t consider staying here for a long time, so she chose a guest bedroom, her room and the checkroom were connected, with only a sliding door separating the two rooms.

Seeing the reflection of her figure on the bathroom door fade, Zhao Shuming also walked to the checkroom to find clothes for her.

He quickly found the cabinet where she kept her personal clothes and pajamas.

The cupboard was filled with the scent of her clothes, a scent that was very unusual for Zhao Shuming, restful yet restless.

The familiar scent factor competed to stimulate his nostrils, such a scent was actually somewhat unfamiliar to him, but the signals buried in the deeper regions of his brain told him that such a scent was familiar.

So familiar that it made him feel as if he was in the middle of a summer night many years ago.

Jiang Yimiao sat on the edge of the desk with her head propped up by a head of hair that hadn’t been completely blown dry, and the pen in her hand turned twice on her index finger and thumb before she crossed over to ask Zhao Shuming with her exercise book, “Brother, I don’t seem to understand some of this question.”

When she was in middle school, Jiang Yimiao’s body grew quickly, so she liked to wear oversize clothes. The school uniform was one size too big, and even the pajamas liked to buy one size too big.

When she got close to him, the sleeves of her pajamas easily and lightly pressed against Zhao Shuming’s arm, and as she lifted her right hand to follow his writing and drawing movements on the paper, the sleeves roamed over his skin like fingertips.

And he was tightly wrapped around his body by the odor that belonged to her ……

Just like him now, he was wrapped in the odor of her clothes.

Zhao Shuming knew that the Proust Effect would cause humans to turn on the memories of that time when confronted with a smell they had once smelled often.

Because there was no way for humans to transcend the speed of light to achieve time and space travel, Zhao Shuming couldn’t go back to the past, so he could only indulge in such a flavor memory effect, and then be flooded by memories of the past that belonged only to the two of them.

Remembering that Jiang Yimiao was still waiting for him in the bathroom, Zhao Shuming closed his eyes and forced himself to completely withdraw, reaching out and picking up the short-sleeved pajamas that were folded at the top and walking back to the bathroom door.

Two knocks came from outside the door, “Miao Miao, open the door.”

Jiang Yimiao opened the bathroom door, revealing only a gap through which Zhao Shuming’s arm stretched in.

As he moved the pajamas curled up to the area above his wrist, she swept a glance at Zhao Shuming’s small arm with clear veins and veins.

“Thanks!” Jiang Yimiao took her pajamas from his hand with fire.

The door snapped shut again.

Zhao Shuming sighed softly as he leaned against the wall of the door panel, he held a smile as he glanced down at his arm, his line of sight gradually moving from a somewhat blurry scar to his hand.

Her clothes had the unique scent of her body on them, and his palms now seemed to be lost to such a scent.

However Jiang Yimiao inside the bathroom also smelled the scent on her clothes, and the fresh scent of the detergent made her feel like her pajamas were clean.

She hummed as she quickly dried herself off and changed her clothes, hung up her cleaned personal clothes, and when she turned around from the balcony and walked back to the living room, Zhao Shuming was sitting boarded up on the sofa.

After taking a shower her brain became clear as if it had been covered in a layer of white fog, Jiang Yimiao brushed up her bangs that had been inadvertently wet by the water before reacting to the fact that it seemed like she was going to be living with Zhao Shuming afterward.

This was originally his home, and she was just borrowing it here.

The greenish-gray sky pressed against the window, and there wasn’t a single star in the city’s night. The evening wind blew and lifted the hair behind Jiang Yimiao.

She glanced at Zhao Shuming, and he received her gaze and locked eyes with her for a split second.

While Jiang Yimiao was still struggling with what to say to Zhao Shuming, he spoke first: “Miao Miao, why don’t you change the bedroom to the master bedroom?”

His tone was like a discussion and a suggestion.

“Hmm?” Jiang Yimiao was stunned.

This house actually had people living in it, Zhao Shuming had studied in South City for two years in elementary school and lived here then.

Although the things in the master bedroom had been put away, there were still some objects left that belonged to Zhao Shuming. Besides, she was living on borrowed time, so she was naturally embarrassed to live directly in someone else’s master bedroom.

Jiang Yimiao waved her hand.

“No, I’ll just stay in the guest bedroom ah, I don’t have a lot of things.”

She thought Zhao Shuming was afraid that the guest bedroom was too small.

“The master bedroom has a separate bathroom, you’re a girl, it’s more convenient to stay in the master bedroom.” He explained.

Jiang Yimiao blinked, remembering the embarrassing incident of her pajamas falling to the floor and getting wet just now, “What about you?”

“I’ll be in that guest bedroom next to the master bedroom, that room has a desk, it’s more convenient for me to work.”

Is he being too troublesome for her?…… Jiang Yimiao hesitated for two seconds, “I’ll be looking for a new house recently, so it’s okay to stay in the guest bedroom for the time being for bedrooms and stuff.”

“A new house?” Zhao Shuming’s tone was flat, but he usually spoke to Jiang Yimiao with a smile.

Only when he was angry would he use such a flat tone. Instead, his flat tone now made her feel strange.

“Well, it just so happens that on the weekend I can go around and see if there are any houses for rent.”

Jiang Yimiao didn’t resent living with Zhao Shuming, she just didn’t feel like bothering others.

Saying that, the tip of her nose itched and she sneezed.

“Miao Miao, it’s fine for you to live here all the time, it’s so close to your company and it’s convenient to commute to work.”

He suddenly stood up and crossed to her side to close the balcony door behind him.

She laughed dryly, “It’s not very nice to bother you with living here.”

“I’m not bothered, it’s not like we haven’t lived together before.” He frowned, seemingly a little puzzled.

When he was a child, there was a period of time when he lived directly in Jiang Yimiao’s house, and that period of time was the time when they were closest.

“It’s fine, whatever makes you comfortable, I just think it’s most convenient for you to stay here, and I really don’t mind.” He lowered his tone and resumed that polite and courteous yet gentle expression.

Only then did Jiang Yimiao slowly nod, “It would be best if I don’t trouble you ……”

“Then, does the bedroom still need to be changed?” She asked afterward.

Zhao Shuming looked at the time, “It’s too late now, you’re too sleepy to open your eyes.” He laughed.

Jiang Yimiao was the type of person whose emotions were written on her face, or maybe it was just because he was too familiar with her, so familiar that he could tell what was going on in her mind as long as she blinked.

When she got sleepy, her speech would slow down and her eyes would become shriveled.

So Zhao Shuming could see that she was sleepy right now, and asking her to move her bed and change rooms now wasn’t a very good decision.

“It’s fine if we talk about anything tomorrow.”

Jiang Yimiao now needed a time to ease the awkwardness of not being close for years, and he knew he couldn’t push her too hard right now.

“Then I’ll go back to my room and pack my bags first.”

“Good.” She nodded.

Zhao Shuming clenched his palms tightly, restraining the desire to touch her head.

Seeing him go back to his room, Jiang Yimiao sat on the living room sofa and watched a bit of variety.

The wind at night was so strong that it blew the coat racks to crackle, and seeing the two of them hanging outside the balcony with their clothes fluttering in the wind, Jiang Yimiao finally realized that the childhood friend she had known for over twenty years had reappeared in her life.

This was a somewhat strange experience for her.

It was like Zhao Shuming, who had left back then in the third grade of elementary school, had suddenly returned when she was in middle school.

Looking at the clothes she had washed tonight, Jiang Yimiao suddenly remembered that there was still a pile of clothes on her bed that she hadn’t packed up, so she turned off the TV and shuffled back to her room with her slippers.

After hanging the clothes back in the closet, Jiang Yimiao collapsed on the bed.

She raised her eyebrows and looked at the boring and monotonous clothes in the closet. She thought of her mother’s black, white, and gray straight girl aesthetic.

In fact, she couldn’t say that she liked black, white and grey, but choosing colors like black, white and grey would never go wrong. The most important point was that wearing black and white gray wouldn’t affect her life.

Jiang Yimiao had a secret that wasn’t really a secret. Since she was a child, she had a strange disease that made her want to take a bite out of very cute creatures or objects, or to destroy them.

When it was severe, Jiang Yimiao would even stop shaking all over her body, and the symptoms would only be relieved when her upper and lower rows of teeth bit into something with a certain degree of toughness.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen a doctor, just that she hadn’t been able to find out what the problem was. It wasn’t until many years later when she saw a psychiatrist again that the doctor mentioned the cuteness aggression effect – the psychology of seeing something too cute and wanting to destroy it.

Except that cuteness aggression isn’t a disease in the traditional sense; it’s just a kind of emotional equalization that occurs to prevent a single and overly strong emotion from going out of control.

Because this strange disease didn’t really affect her life, and Jiang Yimiao’s brain didn’t have any problems, as a good student who grew up to be at the top of her class, her mom and dad as well as her didn’t pay attention to this so-called strange disease anymore.

Just to better avoid the disease, Jiang Yimiao’s life gradually eliminated a lot of cute objects.

She never bought stationery with colorful cartoon characters on it, and even her clothes were all black, white and grey, even the dresses she wore were all in solid tones.

Although her face is cute, but her friends have seen more than her black and white gray minimalist style, and do not feel that her style is very abrupt.

Even all the office supplies on Jiang Yimiao’s workstation had a strong business style, or were so simple that they couldn’t be simpler.

She looked even more IT than the stereotypical IT person.

But no one knows that she also likes colorful gadgets and cute cartoon characters.

Only when it’s late at night, Jiang Yimiao will quietly indulge herself, holding her cell phone and brushing a cute pet video cloud sucking cat.

While being cute kittens and puppies want to stick their hands into the screen to ravage it, while biting and nibbling. . ravishing it, while biting into the chewing gum to relieve the adverse reaction from the strange disease.

Or perhaps turning to hold her only doll in her arms, her fingertips couldn’t help but squeeze the soft cotton through the doll’s soothing plush material.

The air between the cotton ran away in unison at the moment of squeezing, leaving the squeezed cotton clutched in her hand.

Jiang Yimiao thought, then rolled over and picked up her doll.

The small sound of the air conditioner’s operation reached her ears, accompanied by the gusts of cold, comfortable wind.

Thinking that tomorrow was the weekend and she didn’t have to work, Jiang Yimiao was so happy that she couldn’t help but roll twice on the bed, and then hugged the doll hard in her arms.

There were two quilts on the bed, one that she had gotten up from blowing out the air conditioner in the middle of the night to cover her up, and a small quilt that was a bit thin but with plush.

In addition to this small plush quilt, bedding are all new, only the smell left by the laundry detergent, so new that there is still the factory folding marks left.

Jiang Yimiao wasn’t a person who liked the new, she didn’t like this unfamiliar scent, instead she liked quilts that had been covered for a while, and dolls that had rubbed their scent on them.

So she didn’t like her new quilt, she only liked her old plush little quilt.

She drew up the plush quilt and wrapped herself in it, and held the doll up in mid-air again talking to it to herself.

“Are you sleepy and want to go to bed?” She asked.

The only thing that answered her was the white noise of the room.

“Well, are you asleep already.” She said, suddenly hugging the doll and kissing it twice, “It’s so cute.”

Jiang Yimiao didn’t know where she read the article when she was a child, saying that talking to oneself can exercise the brain and help develop one’s own thinking logic, so she loved talking to herself since she was a child, so much so that her habit of often breaking into pieces when she was alone hadn’t changed even now.

She held up the doll and looked at the doll’s dumb expression, she was so cute that she couldn’t stand it.

Jiang Yimiao knew that her strange disease had struck again. She had to grab the plush quilt and the doll and kiss it hard a few times.

When she rolled around the bed two more times, she felt her head getting a little hot, Jiang Yimiao subconsciously looked up and coincidentally saw Zhao Shuming standing in the doorway.

Zhao Shuming’s deep, bottomless eyes locked with hers, “Uhm …… Miao Miao, are you going to sleep?”

Jiang Yimiao blinked, when did he come here, he wouldn’t have just been standing here watching her have a fit over the doll.

She somewhat regretted why she loved to sleep with her room door open since she was a child.