Chapter 023.

The skirt was tried on once and liked it.

For the next few days, Zhen Zhen wore the skirt to her liking and mood.

Servant Huai Ming did not have any opinion on her dress, nor did he give any comments, letting her enjoy herself.

But when Zhen Zhen went out and ran into Wu Dafeng, she would always say that it was very unattractive for her to dress like this and told her to stop wearing it.

She said: “Every day you dress like this, what do you want to do, still like a woman who lives a life?”

Zhen Zhen felt embarrassed every time she heard her say this.

In the following days she intentionally avoided Wu Dafeng, not wanting to hear her say those things.

On Sundays, she didn’t go out to play with Wu Dafeng, and when she came over to see her, she didn’t go out on the pretext that she was busy.

After watching Wu Da Feng leave with her needlework, Zhen Zhen went to her room to rest and then went to sit in Shui Huaiming’s room.

Servant Huai Ming’s room was the equivalent of a classroom for her, a place where she needed to be most serious, so she didn’t say anything with a blank face and reached for her workbook to practice writing.

Servant Huai Ming was holding a thick book in his hand.

He turned his head to look at Zhen Zhen for a moment and asked her, “Did you have a problem with Wu Dafeng again?”

Previously, she would go to Wu Dafeng as soon as Sunday came around, and it was naturally unusual for her to be like this today.

Hearing Shui Huai Ming speak, Zhen Zhen raised her head to look at him, and simply answered, “I don’t have a problem with her, it’s just that every time she sees me, she’ll say that I’m dressed in ugly clothes, and nag a lot, and I don’t want to listen to it …….”

Even though I know she doesn’t mean any harm, I can’t help but be offended.

It’s good that there’s no conflict.

Serving Huai Ming listened to the end of the nod, did not say anything more.

When one dresses up beautifully and goes out and is told that one is ugly, one would be quite unhappy.

He didn’t say anything else to Zhen Zhen, his eyes fell back to the book and continued to read his own book.

Zhen Zhen naturally did not dare to interrupt his reading with irrelevant gossip, so she also silently stopped talking, she sat next to her and quietly copied those complex Chinese characters, which is considered to be practicing writing, but also to deepen the memory of the brain and hands.

The room was quiet.

Zhen Zhen’s pencil scratched across the page with one stroke.

The book in Shui Huaiming’s hand gently turned over a page in the middle of the day.

With Shih Huai Ming beside her, Zhen Zhen would instinctively tense her nerves and write with extra care.

But after she had written all those complicated Chinese characters, she suddenly remembered that today was Sunday.

Sunday was also her day off, so it seemed like she didn’t have to be as nervous around him as she usually was.

Thinking of this, Zhen Zhen slowly relaxed her nerves and quietly turned her head to look at Shui Huaiming.

Seeing that Shui Huaiming was very seriously engaged in reading, and would not be distracted to notice her, Zhen Zhen became a little more bold, so she quietly turned her head sideways and stared at Shui Huaiming’s side face for a while.

The profile of Shui Huaiming’s side face was very nice, with a straight nose and lowered eyelids, just a little colder.

When Zhen Zhen was looking slightly lost in thought, Shui Huaiming suddenly turned his face.

Four eyes met, peeking was caught.

Not panicking, Zhen Zhen blinked her eyes and silently withdrew her gaze.

Pretending that nothing had happened, she suppressed her heartbeat and continued to look for words to write.

Servant Huai Ming looked at Zhen Zhen for a while longer, and did not say anything out loud after withdrawing his gaze.

A moment later he reached out and found a book out, sent it to Zhen Zhen and said, “You already know quite a few words now, try reading a book, this one is a novel, telling a story, it looks easier.”

Jen looked at the cover of the book and read in a whisper, “Song of Youth and Spring ……”

She reached out and flipped the cover, and Servant Huai Ming continued beside her, “If you don’t know the words, you can guess them according to the context of the smooth, or you can use a pen to mark them next to or underneath them, and I’ll add pinyin to them for you when I have time.”

“Oh.” Zhen Zhen nodded and continued to scroll down.

Turned to the first chapter, looked at the page full of dense words, her mouth unconsciously read softly: “Early in the morning, a train from Beiping to the east of Ping Shentong train, is speeding in the vast, turquoise wilderness ……”鈶�

She slurred over the words she couldn’t read and drew them with a pencil.

After listening to Zhen Zhen read two lines softly, Shi Huai Ming spoke up again and said, “It’s not that I’m asking you to read, it’s that I’m asking you to try to read, it’s not just a matter of recognizing these words, recognizing the words isn’t the main thing, the main thing is to look into them and know what she’s talking about.”

Zhen Zhen turned her head to look at Shi Huai Ming for a moment and nodded again, “Okay.”

It was easy for Shi Huai Ming to say, but it was difficult for Zhen Zhen.

She first had to recognize the individual Chinese characters, recognize them and then connect them into a complete sentence, and then try to understand what the sentence said, and could not scan over and immediately understand what was written.

Zhen Zhen had been reading all morning, and had only read one chapter.

But this short chapter was already enough for her to digest for a long time.

She did understand what the chapter was about.

It was about a schoolgirl named Lin Daojing, who took a train from Beiping to Beidaihe with a bunch of instruments for playing and singing, and went to Yangzhuang to join her cousin, who was no longer in Yangzhuang.

After listening to her generalization, Servant Huai Ming nodded his head affirmatively, “Well, not bad.”

Zhen Zhen couldn’t help but be happy, taking her pencil and going back to the first page, picking out something that she really couldn’t guess the meaning of and asking Servant Huai Ming, “What does this mean?”

Squire Huai Ming took a look and said, “Little Miss, Miss, pronounced miss in English, means miss.”

Zhen Zhen nodded her head after hearing this and pointed the tip of her pencil at the two words behind it again and asked, “What about this one?”

Servant Huai Ming looked up again, “Lost love, it’s when two people, a man and a woman, fall in love together, but because of some reason, the two people can’t be together anymore and separate, this is called lost love.”

Zhen Zhen looked at Serving Huai Ming for a moment and asked, “Fall in love, fall in love …… how to talk about ah?”

Serving Huai Ming averted his gaze and thought for a moment, then looked at Zhen Zhen and said, “Two people who like each other confess their hearts to be together, but are not married, is to talk about love. As for how to talk about it, I haven’t talked about it either.”

Zhen Zhen looked at him and heard something.

Falling in love was free, staying together because they liked each other, while Servant Huai Ming and her were arranged.

Because of her, Squire Huai Ming hadn’t had a relationship with someone he liked.

Being married, it was also impossible to fall in love.

Hesitating for a moment, Zhen Zhen gathered her courage and asked again, “So …… have you ever had a favorite person?”

Serving Huai Ming did not hesitate, shook his head and said, “No.”

When he was young, he was bent on studying, thirsty for knowledge and only wanted to gain more knowledge.

He hadn’t yet met the person he liked and hadn’t yet freed his mind to think seriously about this aspect, when Zhong Minfen proposed that he marry Zhen Zhen.

After marrying Zhen Zhen, he went out to war. During the war, he only had family and national affairs in his mind, so he didn’t have the heart to think about these things.

When he came back, there were many people who wanted to introduce him to someone, but he said that he had a wife in the countryside and had never contacted anyone else.

Zhen Zhen gently bit her lips and nodded, did not continue to ask.

Turning her head to see the time on the alarm clock, she closed the book and said, “It’s time to make lunch.”

Serving Huai Ming didn’t let her go to the kitchen to make lunch, called out to her and said, “Let’s not cook today, if there’s anything else you don’t understand you continue to ask, later I’ll go to the cafeteria to fetch food and come back.”

Knowing that he valued studying more.

Hearing him say this, Zhen Zhen this then didn’t get up.

She opened the book again, picked up a pencil and pointed to the places she didn’t understand and continued to ask Shi Huai Ming.

After finishing her questions, it was almost time for dinner, so he got up and went to the cafeteria to get some food.

Zhen Zhen stayed home without going out and read a few more lines.

As she read, she thought along with the book – why did she (the heroine) come to the countryside alone? Why did she defect to her cousin? Why is she so sad?

And all these questions became points that attracted her to keep reading on.

When Squire Huai Ming came back with the meal, Zhen Zhen put down her book.

She went out to wash her hands and sat down to eat with Shui Huaiming, asking him again, “Are all the stories in these books true? Are they other people writing their own stories?”

Servant Huai Ming patiently explained to her, “Many of the stories are fictionalized, but this one was created by the author based on his own personal experiences, and is a semi-autobiographical novel.”

Zhen Zhen nodded and asked, “Then Lin Daojing’s cousin is no longer in the countryside, what will she do next?”

Servant Huai Ming looked at her, “Do you want me to tell you about it, or do you want to read it yourself?”

Zhen Zhen thought for a moment and voiced, “I’ll read it myself.”

Reading a book by yourself and listening to someone else tell you about it really does feel different.

Naturally agreeing with her choice, Servant Huai Ming continued, “The same book, everyone reads it with different feelings, focuses on different points, and understands it differently. When you finish reading it, we’ll talk again.”

Two people talking about a book, is it the kind of romance that Li Shuang said?

The smile at the corner of Zhen Zhen’s mouth became a little thicker, looking at Squire Huai Ming and nodding, “Uh-huh!”

So after dinner Zhen Zhen did nothing else, and still went to Shi Huai Ming’s room to sit down and read a book.

Two people sitting side by side, one person holding a book in his hand, although there was no music or coffee, but Zhen Zhen still found it very romantic, it was a beautiful look that she couldn’t imagine before.

In such an atmosphere, Jenny read the book very carefully.

She was distracted when she saw a knock on the front door of the house at about two-thirty.

Servant Huai Ming got up and went to open the door, only to see that it was Shizuku outside.

He also knew Shizuku, after all, Shizuku worked as a salesperson in a sub-store, but he didn’t know Shizuku well.

He didn’t wait for Shizuku to speak up, but he asked first, “Looking for Jenny?”

Ah Wen smiled politely and courteously, “Yes, I want to call her out to play for a while, are you free?”

Because she had asked Li Shuang to introduce herself to Shui Huai Ming, and Li Shuang had not mentioned this to him after asking him if he had a wife, she didn’t feel any embarrassment when she faced Shui Huai Ming now.

Shi Huai Ming didn’t answer and turned back to call Zhen Zhen, “Someone is looking for you.”

Zhen Zhen closed her book and came out to see Wen, a little surprised, “Why are you here?”

Wen looked at her and asked again, “I’m looking for you, are you free?”

Zhen Zhen turned her head to look at Shi Huai Ming, “Then I’ll go out for a while?”

On Sundays, Mr. Huai Ming didn’t interfere with what Zhen Zhen did, and nodded, “Go ahead.”

Zhen Zhen was like a bird out of a cage again, happily following Shizuku.

Ah Wen led Zhen Zhen to the next door to call Li Shuang, “I’ve already called Little Cotton out, come out quickly.”

“Coming.” Li Shuang answered and soon came out as well.

Li Shuang closed the door of her house.

Zhen Zhen asked curiously, “Where are you going to play?”

Li Shuang said, “Let’s go for coffee, there’s a cafe at school.”

She had now survived the pre-pregnancy period, the most comfortable time of pregnancy, and was in a better mood than before.

Zhen Zhen was relieved to be hanging out with Li Shuang and Wen, and went along with their arrangements.

The three of them didn’t go outside, they went straight to the school caf茅, ordered coffee and sat down to chat.

Li Shuang slowly stirred the coffee and said, “To be frank, we call this afternoon tea.”

Wen laughed and said, “But don’t be so sophisticated.”

Jenny was not used to drinking coffee, so she added more sugar and milk to it.

Drinking coffee and chatting casually with Li Shuang and Wen, Zhen Zhen vaguely felt that Wen looked as if she was a bit different, so she asked Wen, “Are you having some happy events?”

She was stunned by her question, then laughed and said, “Can you tell?”

Zhen Zhen also laughed, “The complexion is different, it feels like there’s a happy event.”

Before Shizuku could answer, Li Shuang whispered for her, “She’s in love!”

She was embarrassed, and raised her hand to hit Li Shuang.

In the morning, Mr. Huai Ming had just talked to Zhen Zhen about falling in love.

Zhen Zhen could sense Wen’s sweetness and couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

It turned out that falling in love was such a beautiful and sweet feeling, but unfortunately she had never been in love in her life.

Squire Huaeming had never been in love either, and he must have felt regret in his heart.

The feudal marriage, it turns out to be really bad.

Li Shuang was whacked by Wen also did not stop talking, and said: “I’m still helping you to look for it, but it turned out that you found it yourself.”

The first time I saw this, I was so happy to see you, and I was so happy to see you.

Li Shuang laughed and said, “Look at you give beautiful.”

After a few moments of joking around, Zhen Zhen asked Wen, “What is the other person?”

Shizuku looked over at her and smiled, “Also a cadre in the army, I just want to find a cadre in the army.”

Li Shuang raised an eyebrow, “A dream come true.”

Zhen Zhen smiles along, warming her voice, “That’s nice.”

Shizuku was so engrossed in the sweetness that she smiled and talked a little more.

After talking about herself, she looks at Jen and asks, “What about you? These days, you’ve changed so much, has Servant Huai Ming’s attitude towards you changed at all?”

Zhen Zhen nodded, “Well, there is.”

Shizuku rises in anticipation and whispers, “So have you moved in together?”

Jen looked at Shizuku for a moment and then at Li Shuang.

At the expectant gazes of Li Shuang and Shizuku, she shakes her head once and says, “I feel that, when he’s with me, he’s become more serious, and he’s more strict and stern with me academically.”

Li Shuang & Wen: “……”

The smiles on their faces silently turned gone together.

They look at each other and then silently look at Zhen Zhen together.

Not wanting the atmosphere to become awkward, Zhen Zhen smiles a little and says, “He doesn’t care about any of this stuff on the outside of me.”

Li Shuang picks up his coffee and takes a sip, “But your temperament and mannerisms have changed a lot.”

A lot more generous and confident than when you first arrived.

Sensing that Zhen Zhen didn’t want to talk about this, Li Shuang put down the cup and said, “Cough, then I don’t care about him, just live happily on your own. He is a man is not anxious, what are we anxious? Right?”

Wen nodded at the side, “If he gets anxious someday, Little Cotton, you give me a hard time to torture him.”

Zhen Zhen couldn’t imagine what Servant Huai Ming would be like if he was in a hurry.

How could he be in a hurry, much less for her.

But she smiled a little and looked at Li Shuang and Wen and said, “Well, I’m not in a hurry right now.”

That’s as far as this topic goes.

The three of them drank their coffee and talked about something else, some of which Jen understood and some of which Jen didn’t.

When she didn’t understand, she would ask directly, and Li Shuang and Wen would patiently tell her.

After drinking coffee from the caf茅, the three of them took a walk in the school.

When they arrived at the playground, they happened to see Shui Huaiming He Shuo and Lao Zhou playing basketball with a group of other people.

The three of them walked to the side of the basketball court and stood watching for a while.

Zhen Zhen didn’t understand what basketball was, so Li Shuang and Ah Wen explained it to her some more.

They didn’t really know what it was, but to put it simply, it’s a game where two teams run after a basketball and shoot it into the opposite basket, and then it’s considered a score.

Zhen Zhen understood what Li Shuang and Wen said.

When she looked at the court again, she asked, “So who played the best?”

Li Shuang said nonchalantly, “My family He Shuo plays the best.”

Ah Wen said from the side, “But Shi Huai Ming is the most outstanding in this group of people, tall and longest …….”

Before the following words could be said, Ah Wen was killed by Li Shuang’s gaze and swallowed back.

She smiled and added, “The truth can’t be told ah ……”

Zhen Zhen also stood and smiled, looking over to the court to continue watching them play.

Just in time to see Squire Huai Ming throw in a goal, she grabbed Shizuku’s arm and said with slight excitement, “Scored scored scored.”

Shizuku followed with a hmmmmmmmmmm, “See see see.”

Jen could see some interest here.

She held Shizuku’s arm and continued to watch carefully, watching a group of men running back and forth on the court, and then seeing He Shuo receive the basketball and run a few steps, putting the ball into the basket.

Jen exclaimed, “It went in again and again.”

Shizuku: “Uh-huh uh-huh, I saw it saw it.”

And He Shuo wasn’t like Squire Huai Ming after he scored, he was dejected.

He happily opened his arms and ran up on the field, his eyes caught Li Shuang on the side of the field, he ran over to Li Shuang with his arms open, and ran in front of Li Shuang and hugged her directly, very oblivious.

Li Shuang was so shocked that her eyes stared up.

Many people on the court followed, He Shuo had already run back indifferently.

Wen and Zhen Zhen glanced at Li Shuang together, then silently raised their hands and blocked their faces.

Li Shuang’s face reddened, but she held steady and didn’t move.

Seeing that Shizuku and Zhen Zhen were embarrassed for her, she raised her hand and whacked Shizuku and Zhen Zhen on the shoulder one by one.

Only after she had done so did she clear her throat and say, “Let’s go.”

Shizuku put her hand down and looked at her and asked, “Not watching?”

Li Shuang’s face was red but her voice was steady, “What’s there to see, let’s go.”

Li Shuang turned around and walked away.

Wen and Zhen Zhen followed her, Zhen Zhen turned around and then looked back to catch Servant Huai Ming on the court, then quickly turned back to follow Wen’s steps.

After all the drama on the court, Li Shuang didn’t continue to hang out outside.

She took Shizuku and Zhen Zhen home with her and went to her house to sit down and take a break with a glass of water.

Shizuku was not polite when she arrived at her house.

Seeing the record player on the high table next to the couch, she ran straight over, opened the film box, chose a record she liked better, put it in the jukebox and played it.

When the music started, she went back to the sofa and sat down, humming a few lines along with it.

After humming she asked Li Shuang, “Why did you move this too?”

Li Shuang nudged his chin toward Jen and said, “Moved it over here for Cotton to play with.”

Shizuku grunted at her, “If you’re so good to Little Cotton, why don’t you see me being so good to you?”

Li Shuang: “I’m not nice to you? You’re a wolf with a heart of gold.”

The three of them talked nonsense and laughed for a while.

After talking and listening to five songs, Wen glanced at the time and got up, saying to Li Shuang and Zhen Zhen, “It’s almost time, we’ve had a good time, let’s call it a day, I’m going home, bye bye comrades.”

Li Shuang and Zhen Zhen followed and got up together.

Li Shuang said, “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

Wen didn’t want to stay, “I don’t want to eat your cafeteria’s food.”

When she heard this, Zhen Zhen pulled her back a bit, “I can cook, why don’t we eat at my place?”

Although Wen was interested in Zhen Zhen’s cooking, she still shook her head decisively, “I’ll eat at home.”

Zhen Zhen wasn’t the only one in her family, there was also Squire Huai Ming.

Wen didn’t let Li Shuang and Zhen Zhen stay for long and ran away.

The first time I saw her was when I was in the hospital, and I was not sure if I was going to be able to make it to the hospital.

When she got home and closed the door, Zhen Zhen walked with the pleasure of a butterfly.

She went to the kitchen and tied on her apron to start cooking, still humming softly and uncontrollably.

When she was humming happily, the chopping was in the rhythm of the song.

She was so immersed in her own world that she didn’t hear the sound of the door opening when Squire Huai Ming returned.

When she turned back after cutting the vegetables while humming the song, she suddenly saw Servant Huai Ming standing in the kitchen doorway looking at her, and she was startled.

Returning to her senses, she hurriedly said, “I’m cooking, it’ll be ready soon.”

Servant Huai Ming let out a hmm, “I’m going to take a shower first.”

Servant Huai Ming turned around and went to take a shower.

Zhen Zhen was cooking seriously in the kitchen, not humming like she did earlier.

The home-cooked meal was very simple, and by the time Zhen Zhen finished cooking, Shui Huaiming had just finished his shower.

The dishes were brought to the table, and the two of them sat down to eat.

Zhen Zhen didn’t take the initiative to speak, Shi Huai Ming looked at her twice and asked her, “Did you go to the field just now?”

At that time, He Shuo ran to the side of the court and hugged Li Shuang, he naturally saw Zhen Zhen.

Zhen Zhen’s attention wasn’t on him, it was on Li Shuang and He Shuo like everyone else present.

Hearing Servant Huai Ming ask, Zhen Zhen hurriedly nodded, “Watched you guys play for a while.”

After answering in a disciplined and simple manner, Zhen Zhen did not continue further.

Servant Huai Ming looked at her, wanting to say something more, but after half a day of silence, nothing came out.

Zhen Zhen felt that there was something wrong with him, and after a moment of speculation, she busied herself by saying, “I’ll go read a book right after dinner!”

Servant Huai Ming looked at Zhen Zhen and froze, he did not mean this.

After freezing for a small moment, he lowered his eyebrows to eat, “Good.”

***

Zhen Zhen did what she said she would do, and immediately went to sit in Servant Huai Ming’s room after eating, flipping through Song of Youth and Spring.

Turning to the first page, she only saw that above all the vocabulary words she had marked out, there were more pinyin written in pencil.

The font was Shi Huaiming’s, and the pinyin was naturally marked out by him.

Zhen Zhen couldn’t help but be happy at the pinyin, so she re-read it again from the beginning.

This time, the reading was very smooth, and her mind was enriched with many details and imaginations – the young girl with dark and bright eyes, the train puffing white smoke, the endless sea, and the smoke curling up from the cooker. ……

Seeing that it was time to go to bed, Zhen Zhen put down her book and greeted Squire Huai Ming and went to wash up and go to bed.

After washing back to the room to lie down, pulled the light lying in the heavy night, Zhen Zhen brain cluttered, there is Wen filled with sweet smile eyes, but also Li Shuang was He Shuo embraced the blushing face ……

She blinked her eyes and silently thought – this should be love.

***

Inside Squire Huai Ming’s room.

After Zhen Zhen left Servant Huai Ming didn’t wash up and go to bed.

He finished the book he was going to read, reached over and took the copy of Song of Youth and Spring that Zhen Zhen was reading, flipped to the new paragraphs she had read tonight, and labeled pinyin one by one on top of the vocabulary words she had marked out.

There were some words that were difficult for Zhen Zhen to understand, so he labeled them with simple explanations next to them.

After marking the parts that Zhen Zhen had read, Shui Huaiming pinched his pen and paused for a while. He didn’t close the book after the pause, but with his knowledge of Zhen Zhen’s literacy, he marked the next few pages in advance.

He sat under the lamp and wrote carefully, stroke by stroke.

Afraid that Zhen Zhen wouldn’t be able to read what he wrote, he didn’t hyphenate each word.

The otherwise clean blank spaces on the pages were filled in bit by bit with his words.

The author has something to say:

鈶� Excerpt from Song of Youth and Spring (Yang Mo)