Rainy days are perfect for spending time with your loved ones, snuggling in a warm bed, and slowly while away the hours.
Lin Shengmiao chuckled softly, and amidst the rich fragrance of roses, he took her slightly cool hand in his.
Author's Note:
People say: No, I just find the dog food (a slang term for public displays of affection) choking!
Chapter 32 Not knowing what day it is today
"Alps are making chia seed flavored lollipops? Are they worried I won't have enough to eat?"
In Lu Sining's living room, Xu Xingyan was holding a lollipop, laughing uncontrollably. She tore off the wrapper and stuffed it into Lin Shengmiao's mouth: "Try it, is it good?"
Lu Sining, who was helping her husband prepare vegetables in the kitchen, peeked out and said with a smile, "These were all picked out by Leo at the supermarket. He always likes these strange and unusual snacks."
Leo is a young German man with thick eyebrows and big eyes who gets so angry with his wife that he cries during arguments. His Chinese is just as bad as Xu Xingyan's English.
In their first year of marriage, because he had to hand over his secret stash of money, Leo wanted to borrow money from Xu Xingyan to buy his wife a gift. As a result, the two of them couldn't understand each other for a long time and finally had to use translation software to solve the communication problem. Strangely enough, the two of them quite liked to chat with each other using gestures, perhaps enjoying the thrill of their idiot-like banter.
Luo Jing, who was leaning back on the sofa and texting, said without looking up, "I know a shop that makes really delicious candy. I'll bring you some next time."
Xu Xingyan twirled Lin Shengmiao's long hair with her fingers as the young couple whispered sweet nothings. Hearing this, she turned around and asked in confusion, "I remember you don't like sweets?"
An old movie was playing on the large TV in the living room. It had a soft filter and a British country style, with a cool atmosphere mixed with a damp and lingering feeling.
Bai Yun crossed her long, straight legs, took a sip of red tea, and chuckled, "Something unusual must be going on."
Yao Yan was engrossed in the movie, but that didn't dampen his gossipy spirit. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Luo Jing, you've been texting the moment you walked in. Who's on the other end? Don't tell me you're busy with work. With your attitude of turning your back on family as soon as you're on vacation, I don't believe it..."
Ji Heng had a very important exam today and wasn't there, so everyone was noticeably more relaxed and didn't have that pretentious feeling they usually have in front of their younger brother.
Lu Sining's laughter came from the kitchen, and she raised her voice, "Something's up? Is Xiaojing dating a little boy who loves sweets this time?"
"Speaking of which, Xiao Luojing seems to really like younger men," Yao Yan recalled. "Do you guys remember? When she was a first-year graduate student, she dated a guy who had just taken the college entrance exam. When she was dumped, she cried her eyes out and was heartbroken. It was a real tragedy..."
"Alright, alright," Luo Jing said, unable to bear it any longer. "Every time we get together, you dig up our embarrassing pasts. How did I end up with such a bunch of bad friends? Yao Dashan, if you have so much free time for gossip, you should go find a girlfriend yourself. Every time I see Uncle Yao, he asks me about this..."
"No way!" Yao Yan rejected the offer decisively with a free-spirited attitude.
"Why bother with romance? Aren't games fun enough? Isn't making money appealing? If all else fails, go study! Then you can have a love-hate relationship with physics, a mutual attraction with geography, and a mutual hatred with math... Wouldn't that be a mix of love, hate, and everything in between?"
Everyone: "..."
I'm speechless, yet it seems to make some sense.
...
Yao Yan seized an opportunity to pull Xu Xingyan into the adjacent study, winked, and whispered, "I've recently come across an investment opportunity. Are you interested...?"
"No! Goodbye..." Xu Xingyan's eyes widened, and she immediately turned to leave.
"Hey, hey, no! Let me finish!" Yao Yan quickly grabbed her, pleading with her to stay.
Xu Xingyan shook off his hand and said angrily, "You said that movie I invested in with you last time would definitely be a hit, but what happened? It's been shelved for two and a half years and there's not a ripple at all. Twenty million yuan, even if you throw it into the river, you'll still make a splash, but with you, not even a ripple!"
"This time is different!" Yao Yan said in a manipulative tone, "This time I've made comprehensive preparations, and it definitely won't be like last time..."
"Then I won't invest with you!" Xu Xingyan's heart was as hard as stone, unmoved in the slightest. With a look of weariness from being scammed many times, she said, "You're just too unlucky. Over the years, you haven't invested in many profitable projects!"
“And to be honest with you,” Xu Xingyan patted Yao Yan on the shoulder, “I don’t have much liquid cash on hand. At the end of last year, I made a few more investments and invested in a new sweet drama. Right now, I only have about 20 to 30 million yuan that I can directly access. But I’m a married woman now, so I need to keep some money on hand…”
Many people believe that Xu Xingyan is extremely wealthy, and that is indeed the case; however, it's not as outrageous as outsiders imagine...
When dividing the inheritance, the older generation of the Xu and Fang families took special care of Xu Xingyan, giving her mostly long-term, high-quality assets that were easy to manage. Cashing them out would be too much of a loss for her.
Moreover, it would be a waste of resources to keep a large amount of money in the bank to earn interest. Xu Xingyan has a good eye for investment. After several rounds, she can make some money by the end of the year. If she loses money occasionally, she will find that it was basically because she believed Yao Yan's nonsense.
"Big brother... I'm begging you, please stop making things difficult, okay?"
Xu Xingyan countered with earnest advice: "Isn't your company doing quite well? If you focus on doing real business, although it's a bit harder, you'll still make a profit. Isn't that better than losing money all these years?"
"If all else fails, go back to your old profession and become a photographer. A few years ago, didn't a company buy one of your photos to use as a webpage background? I remember it sold for eight figures. Just take that picture..."
Yao Yan sighed deeply, and said with a bitter smile, somewhat disheartened, "Then let's just forget about it..."
Yao Yan had a grand dream of becoming an investment guru since he was a child, but now that he is thirty, his dream has been completely shattered by reality and his own bad luck.
He wanted to try again, but even Xu Xingyan, the only one among all his friends who was still willing to give him some face in this matter, resolutely refused...
How heartbreaking!
Xu Xingyan also fell silent. After a long while, she patted his back to comfort him slightly, then opened the door and left, leaving Yao Yan, who needed to sort out his emotions, alone.
I sympathize with her, but getting her to spend money again? Ha! Absolutely not! She has a girlfriend now, so she can't be as extravagant as before.
...
At the dinner table, after downing two glasses of red wine, Lu Sining began to talk about her love story with Leo again.
Of all those present, only Lin Shengmiao, who was hearing it for the first time, and Leo himself were able to sit obediently and listen attentively to his wife, nodding in support from time to time. Everyone else was practically sick of listening.
But actually, their story is quite bumpy.
The old man of the Lu family was a very traditional old man. When he learned that his granddaughter had found a foreign boy to date, he was very dissatisfied. He even arranged blind dates for Lu Si Ning many times, which was very annoying. During that time, Lu Si Ning's hair was falling out in clumps, and she was almost driven crazy by her grandfather.
At that time, Leo was abroad, and the two were in different countries. His family situation was also complicated; he was the kind of person who "lost his mother when he was two or three years old."
They actually met when they were twenty and their relationship was always very close, but they didn't get married until they were thirty, which was due to various factors.
Xu Xingyan buried herself in her food, occasionally picking up a piece of food for Lin Shengmiao, who was listening with great interest. Leo had been in China for so long, and although his Chinese was still only half-baked, that was purely a matter of language difficulty and the upper limit of his talent. He was an excellent Chinese cook, especially his pickled fish, which was simply superb!
Lu Sining spoke with deep emotion, tears streaming down her face: "After he bought the plane ticket, he only had 150 yuan in his pocket. When I found him, he was squatting in a corner of the airport eating dry bread. He didn't say anything when he saw me, he just grinned like an idiot. At that moment, I felt that if I ever bullied him, I would be a monster!"
Leo stood beside her like a big puppy, his eyes gentle and devoted. He gently nuzzled her sweater with his chin and whispered words of comfort in German.
By the way, the reason they were able to overcome all difficulties and finally be together was not only because of Lu Sining's determination, but also because of Leo's reckless madness. The big guy who sits here now looks so cute and soft, but back then he was a young man who gave up everything he had to travel thousands of miles to pursue love.
Even the meager 150 yuan was ultimately used to buy Lu Sining a bouquet of flowers.
All love stories in the world that can last hand in hand are, in essence, mutual journeys.
Upon hearing this, Lin Shengmiao seemed to understand something and couldn't help but look at Xu Xingyan. Coincidentally, their eyes met, and a gentle ripple of emotion stirred in his heart.
The atmosphere is filled with affection, tender and moving.
Just then, Lu Sining turned the topic to them, her eyes, slightly red from the alcohol, becoming even more beautiful, and her smile was serene: "Thinking about it now, so many years have passed, and even Yan Yan has found someone she likes."
Bai Yun immediately said, somewhat hurtfully, "No... I know you and your husband have a good relationship, but don't try to sound like 'time waits for no man,' I'm still young!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
...
At night, the clouds were thick and the moon was nowhere to be seen, as if the sky was preparing a grand feast to welcome the rain.
Because the community was still under lockdown, Xu Xingyan and Lin Shengmiao stayed in the second-floor lounge. After the flower shop downstairs closed, Xu Xingyan took out the home projector she had bought earlier from the storage room and played "Love Letter".
A film that beautifully portrays unrequited love.
Sitting on the brown rug, with his back against the edge of the bed, he felt a sense of comfort and peace, like chatting by the fire.
The film has a quiet and gentle pace, unfolding slowly and gently, like a love poem.
...When the girl saw her own portrait on the back of the library card, her unrequited love, which had almost been buried by time and death, finally saw the light of day again. Unfortunately, it became a regretful one, "This love can only be cherished in memory, for at the time it was already lost."
Xu Xingyan: "I borrowed the original book from the university library. There were more than a dozen postcards inside, some were love letters and some were portraits. I didn't put anything in. I just thought that if I had the chance in the future, I would definitely watch the movie with you."
Lin Shengmiao pressed his forehead against hers, kissing her from the tip of her nose down to her lip, his kiss tender and lingering.
After falling in love, they both enjoyed the feeling of being inseparable, which is probably true for all lovers in the world.
Love makes you feel empty and incomplete, as if two people were born as one but were artificially separated. From then on, the rest of your life is a process of searching for each other and praying to regain wholeness.
After the kiss, Xu Xingyan was slightly out of breath, her eyes filled with affection. She leaned close to her lover's ear and whispered something.
"Are you sure?" Lin Shengmiao grasped her forearm, her hair falling to her collarbone, revealing a touch of charm.
Xu Xingyan smiled, her lips pressed against her earlobe, tracing over her delicate skin, stopping at the side of her neck, leaving a wet, teasing kiss.
Of course, my dear, I long to be close to you, to merge with you, to please each other.
Lin Shengmiao paused, gently stroking her back, and led her to the bed amidst her slightly trembling breaths.
...
In her most dazed moment, Xu Xingyan felt like a rabbit wading through a stream under the moonlight, half of her body wet with water, unaware of what day it was.
But it doesn't matter, as long as the two of us are together, nothing is too bad...
Author's Note:
I'm finally asleep.
——
The concept of a spherical person is used, which I will briefly mention here.
In his famous Symposium, Plato, through the voice of the ancient Greek comedian Aristophanes, tells the story of a "spherical man":
Originally, humans had three sexes: male, female, and hermaphroditic. Humans were spherical in shape, with one head, but all other organs were twice the size of modern humans, including two faces, two sets of ears, four hands, and four feet. Although they only had one head, it was rounder than our modern heads and had two faces on it.
The round-shaped beings possessed great abilities, and thus conceived the idea of becoming gods, plotting a rebellion to ascend to heaven and overthrow the gods. The gods, of course, wouldn't stand idly by, but they still needed people to offer sacrifices, so they couldn't simply eliminate all the round-shaped beings. Zeus, the king of the gods, was clever; he devised a plan to allow the beings to live, but to split them in two.
After being split in two, half of the head was turned around, and the round back was straightened, and the round person became what we look like now. The navel is the knot made by tearing the skin off the round person after they were split open and tying it to cover the cut.
Such a person would only be left with two genders, male and female, and would no longer be a complete and perfect human being, having lost their original nature. The round figure symbolizes two things:
(1) Love
As someone who has been cut in half, in order to find their whole self, they strive to find their other half and want to become one again; this is what we call love.
Previously, it was believed that when a bisexual sphere was split in half, the male half would seek the female half, and the female half would seek the male half. It was also believed that when a male sphere was split in half, he would only be interested in men, and when a female sphere was split in half, she would only be interested in women. This is the origin of heterosexuality and homosexuality.
(2) Education
The person who has been split apart yearns for wholeness, a sound personality, a fulfilling life, and the restoration of their true nature; this is the fundamental principle of education.