But the last shred of reason told her that since Cen Sen had said he would no longer dwell on the past, she shouldn't take her anger out on him for no reason.
Maybe Li Wenying knew that she had a bad temper and would quarrel with Cen Sen, so she deliberately used this trick to sow discord between the couple, and is now waiting to see her make a fool of herself.
Yes, that's right.
We must not fall for their trap! We absolutely must not fall for their trap!
But I'm so angry!!!
Ji Mingshu picked up a cushion, buried her head in it for a while, and then kicked Cen Sen away with a thud. She put her legs down, sat up straight, and was fuming, teetering on the edge of getting angry and questioning him.
Ji Mingshu is usually straightforward, but when it comes to her mortal enemy Li Wenying, she becomes like a madwoman, always harboring resentment that she cannot express.
The elementary school outside hadn't let out yet, but the nearby shops were all open, and vendors were gradually setting up their stalls with their carts.
"Stop the car!" Ji Mingshu suddenly shouted, looking at the stalls outside and saying, "I'm hungry."
The quick-witted driver immediately replied, "Madam, what would you like to eat? I'll go down and buy it."
Ji Mingshu: "No need, I'll go myself."
As soon as he got out of the car, Ji Mingshu went straight to the fried food stall and ordered a plate of chicken strips.
Like stationery stores, fried food stalls are a standard feature of off-campus life for all schools, from elementary to high school. Apart from the soaring prices and the QR codes pasted on the vehicles, everything is just as familiar as I remember.
The vendor moved swiftly, picking up some chicken strips from the iron plate and putting them on the scale. He picked up too many, then picked up two more pieces from the small scale, gave them a light shake, and tossed them back onto the iron plate.
His series of skillful and nonchalant actions seemed to be telling Ji Mingshu: Give up, my stall can't be paid for with beauty.
In fact, Ji Mingshu only started strictly controlling her diet in her second year of high school. She loved eating junk food when she was a child. Sprite, Coke, potato chips, spicy strips, fried food, and barbecue were all her favorites.
Back in junior high, she took advantage of her youth and good metabolism, and would often go out for late-night snacks with her girlfriends.
During the summer vacation after the first year of high school, the class organized a final gathering before the class division. She ate a lot of oily and spicy skewers with beer. When she got home, she had a terrible stomachache and kept going to the toilet. Finally, she was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis by her family doctor and had to be on an IV drip for three days.
At that time, her aunt was both distressed and scolding her, and her cousins also surrounded her and nagged. She was so scared of being nagged by this group of nagging monks that she had no choice but to raise four fingers and swear, "I will never eat junk food again, or I will marry an ugly man!"
My younger cousin, being sharp-eyed and meticulous, insisted on pressing down one of her fingers so she could send it again.
Feeling guilty, Ji Mingshu weakly repeated the message again, finally getting some temporary peace and quiet. However, with only her left in the room, she felt the silence was a bit too much, and her stomach pain became increasingly pronounced.
She curled up in bed, rubbing her lower abdomen with tears in her eyes. She couldn't fall asleep, remembering what the girls in her class had said at the party: "Li Wenying actually hooked up with Cen Sen" and "She's so lucky." She tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.
In her memory, that must have been the most difficult night of her life so far.
She didn't take the vow seriously when she made it, but after that night, she developed a deep and lingering fear of gastroenteritis and felt apprehensive whenever she saw junk food. Surprisingly, she actually kept her promise and turned over a new leaf.
*
Chicken strips coated in breadcrumbs sizzled and sizzled in the oil, turning golden and oily. Ji Mingshu's thoughts returned, and he poked at the glass cabinet again, "Add a sausage."
Before anyone knew it, Cen Sen had already followed them.
He glanced at Ji Mingshu, but couldn't detect any particular strong desire for fried food in her eyes.
The food was fried quickly. Ji Mingshu held the chicken strips and handed the sausage to Cen Sen, saying, "Help me get this."
Cen Sen didn't answer for a long time.
For some reason, she suddenly shoved a sausage into his face and said sarcastically, "Didn't you ever get snacks for your girlfriend when you were in school?"
Cen Sen finally took the bamboo skewer from her hand, and while thinking for a moment, said, "No."
"..."
Nobody would believe that.
If Li Wenying didn't even touch the snacks, what kind of reminiscence is she trying to have?
Ji Mingshu walked angrily toward a beef noodle shop, but Cen Sen reminded her from behind, "The one in front tastes better."
How did you know?
Cen Sen said calmly, "I used to study here."
...?
Ji Mingshu paused for two seconds, then turned to look at the primary school across the street.
——The Second Affiliated Primary School of Xingcheng Normal University.
The red paint on the school's nameplate is somewhat faded, and like the old guard post, it seems to have not been renovated for many years. The roads inside the school are obscured by lush trees on both sides, and the further in you go, the less clearly you can see them; you can only vaguely make out the brick-red teaching buildings in the distance.
Did Cen Sen study here when he was in Xingcheng?
For some reason, this once ordinary little street suddenly exudes a familiar, old-world charm, making people inexplicably want to learn more about it.
*
Even after following Cen Sen into the noodle shop, Ji Mingshu was still carefully looking around. She found it hard to imagine that Cen Sen, when he was a little boy, had lived here for a long time.
Cen Sen thought she was being spoiled and couldn't accept such a simple environment, so he even put two tissues on the plastic stool. Little did he know that Ji Mingshu didn't see them at all. After looking her over, she pulled up a small plastic stool and sat down.
The owner looked Cen Sen up and down, his eyes seemingly saying, "What kind of man is this who is more particular than this pretty girl?" Cen Sen, however, remained unfazed, sat down and ordered directly, "Two bowls of beef noodles, slightly spicy."
Ji Mingshu corrected, "I don't want beef, I want the three delicacies."
"Okay."
The elementary school students hadn't finished school yet, and the owner quickly cooked the noodles for them in just a few minutes.
The boss is an honest man, and the differential treatment is very obvious. Cen Sen's bowl is a normal portion, but Ji Mingshu's bowl has a mountain of seafood toppings on the three-delicacy noodles.
Unfortunately, Ji Mingshu's small appetite was destined to disappoint her boss's kind offer of extra portions at the same price. Having long controlled her diet, she had developed a physiological and psychological inertia; after a few chicken strips, the calorie count raced through her mind.
She couldn't eat right now, so she just half-heartedly stirred the food in her bowl with her chopsticks.
Perhaps feeling the atmosphere was too quiet, she stirred things up while asking Cen Sen, "Did you often eat at this restaurant when you were in elementary school?"
Cen Sen added some chili peppers to the bowl. "Not often, I usually eat at home."
The mention of going home inevitably brought to Ji Mingshu's mind Chen Biqing and An Ning. They'd only met once, and Cen Sen seemed to have lost contact with them. Was he simply going to abandon them?
Ji Mingshu rested his chin on his hand and said casually, "I saw on my WeChat Moments that An Ning seems to have started school."
Cen Sen glanced up, his mind racing, and suddenly asked, "Are you trying to ask if Cen Yang has returned?"
"...?"
"I don't."
Ji Mingshu subconsciously denied it, still feeling completely bewildered.
Honestly, she's exhausted every day, like a dog, and has no time to think about the vaguely remembered Cen Yang.
Cen Sen didn't know whether he had believed it or not, but he didn't respond.
Ji Mingshu snapped out of her daze and realized that his sudden change of topic to Cen Yang was because he didn't want to talk about family issues, so she didn't press him further.
After all, this matter didn't really concern her, and she knew she didn't have the ability to act as a mediator and mend the messy family relationship in her husband's home.
The next second, she remembered something that was very important to her.
Li Wenying's interview was so sincere and heartfelt, she really missed their relationship. How rare could three months be? Has she never seen a man before? This cold and hard rock, only that innocent Li Wenying would treat it like a treasure!
She's fine when she doesn't think about it, but the thought makes her feel uncomfortable and makes her want to cause trouble.
Suddenly, she picked up the vinegar bottle and poured about half a bottle of vinegar into Cen Sen's bowl, staring at it earnestly as she said, "I think it tastes better with some vinegar."
Cen Sen paused with his chopsticks, said nothing more, and simply switched the positions of the two bowls.
When I came out of the noodle shop, the sun was already showing signs of setting. Across the street, elementary school students were either craning their necks to look for their parents or lining up to get on the school bus.
Ji Mingshu stood by the roadside, and suddenly, like a primary school student, she grabbed Cen Sen and refused to move.
Cen Sen: "What?"
"My feet hurt, I can't walk."
After a warning, Ji Xiaoque started causing trouble.
Cen Sen glanced down and said, "Then I'll have the driver bring it over."
Ji Mingshu: "This is a one-way street, and cars have to make a big detour to turn around."
She doesn't even have a driver's license, but she knows a lot about traffic rules.
Cen Sen ignored her and was about to make a phone call.
She covered the phone with her hand and said matter-of-factly, "Why do you like to cause trouble for others so much?"
"..."
Cen Sen glanced at her with a look that said, "Anyone has the right to say that, but you don't." After a moment of silence, he asked again, "So what do you want? To carry you on my back?"
Ji Mingshu crossed her arms and looked around, deliberately adopting a nonchalant attitude, and even squinted her eyes halfway, "When I was little, whenever I couldn't walk anymore, Brother Cen Yang would carry me on his back."
"..."
Cen Sen continued to look through the driver's phone.
"...?"
What kind of disgusting attitude is that?
She wouldn't actually expect him to carry her in front of a group of elementary school students, but he could at least show some tenderness and consideration as a husband. Hadn't he carried Li Wenying before? Why couldn't he carry her?
Ji Xiaoque grew angrier and angrier as she thought about it, and without thinking, she said, "I wonder when Brother Cen Yang will come back. Brother Cen Yang has been smart since he was a child, and he must have done quite well abroad all these years. Speaking of which, I have never met many boys as outstanding as him, and he is also very kind. When I was a child, he was the one who fed the stray cats in the alley."
Just as Ji Mingshu was rambling on and on about making things up, the driver had already been notified and brought the car over.
Cen Sen stepped forward and opened the car door, then paused, turned back to look at Ji Mingshu, and said indifferently, "He has many traditional Chinese virtues, but unfortunately I don't."
Ji Mingshu: "...?"
Before she could react, the car door slammed shut.
Chapter 37
The loud "bang" sound lingered in my ears, its echo seeming to resonate for days.
Ji Mingshu had never been slammed in a car door in over twenty years. Suddenly being thrown out left him momentarily stunned, then a long string of question marks popped into his head: Had Cen Sen gone mad? How could he treat his lawfully wedded wife like this? Was he even human?
She strode forward and slammed the other car door shut with a deafening bang.