This was the first time Lin Zhi had ever sat in the passenger seat of her own car. In the past, when she hired a designated driver, she always sat in the back seat. The passenger seat felt unfamiliar, as if it wasn't her own car.
"Hmm... Let's go eat."
Jiang Lai raised an eyebrow: "You just finished a big meal."
Yes, but what about you?
Lin Zhi glanced at Jiang Lai's lower abdomen out of the corner of her eye and continued, "Are you starving?"
Jiang Lai tried to stubbornly say she wasn't hungry, but her stomach started growling uncooperatively. She shrugged and said, "Okay, I'm hungry."
Lin Zhi chuckled to himself, then turned to fasten his seatbelt: "You decide what we eat."
After she finished speaking, she closed her eyes and rested for a short while.
Jiang Lai thought for a moment, then started the car and drove away from the parking lot.
Lin Zhi had only intended to take a short rest, but perhaps because Jiang Lai was driving so smoothly, she unknowingly fell asleep. When she opened her eyes again, the view outside the window was completely different. Jiang Lai was sitting in the driver's seat playing on her phone, and the car had been turned off, indicating that it had been parked for a while.
Lin Zhi yawned and sat up straight: "Why didn't you wake me up?"
Jiang Lai put away her phone upon hearing the sound: "I can't bear to."
After hearing this, Lin Zhi let down the hair behind her ear to cover her burning ear tips: "What's there to be reluctant about? Get off the bus, you must be starving."
She unbuckled her seatbelt, got out of the car, and froze in place when she looked up.
Groups of students walked past them, carrying books and smiling as they chatted with their friends.
They might be discussing a classmate who embarrassed themselves in today's performance class, or how delicious the barbecue rice at the cafeteria is.
Lin Zhi knew this place all too well; it was the place that held all the joy and tears of her youth—the Film Academy of City A.
Jiang Lai walked up to her without her noticing and took her arm: "Let's go, senior, the barbecue rice in the first cafeteria is really delicious."
Jiang Lai took her hand, just like the students walking past them, except that Jiang Lai was young, while Lin Zhi was no longer young.
The two walked hand in hand along the school's pebbled path, the only way from the performing arts academy to the cafeteria, passing by rows of tall school trees.
This is the School of Management, that's the School of Fine Arts, and behind us is the School of Performing Arts... Each school's main gate is adorned with sculptures of outstanding figures from their respective fields. Both of them spent four years here, and nothing has changed. The only change might be the people who walk along this path.
With the peaceful days gone by, Lin Zhi put all the unpleasant things behind her. Walking with Jiang Lai, Lin Zhi felt as if she had returned to her university days, back to the time she spent at the performing arts academy.
Youth is like an open book. A gentle breeze blows, and before you know it, the page has turned. When the reader turns back to the page, all that remains are memories.
As they passed a flowerbed, Jiang Lai stopped and crouched down. Lin Zhi bent down and asked her, "What are you looking at?"
Jiang Lai raised her head and smiled, "Right here, under a little red flower, I buried my dream."
Lin Zhi asked her, "So, are you going to dig it out? You could steal the gardener's little shovel."
Jiang Lai pouted: "That won't do. I stole the gardener's shovel when I buried it, but I forgot to return it. He found me on the security camera and gave me a good scolding. I don't want that. Besides, my dream hasn't come true yet. I'll come back and dig it up when it does. I'll bring my own shovel then, so the gardener won't have to spend time watching the security camera."
Lin Zhi smiled at this person, like a child: "What is your dream?"
Jiang Lai stood up and took her arm again: "Students at the performing arts academy all have the same dreams. I'm nothing special, the only difference is..."
"Um?"
"Never mind, it's nothing. Let's go eat, I'm starving."
Upon arriving at the cafeteria, Jiang Lai magically produced a meal card and bought a grilled meat bibimbap, which was quite generous in portion and contained a lot of meat.
The cafeteria was playing music, "2 Million." Jiang Lai praised the person who played the music for having good taste. The song is still on her playlist; she listens to it when she goes to sleep and when she takes a shower.
"Sister Lin, do you think this song is good?"
She suddenly asked a question, and Lin Zhi was taken aback. After listening carefully, she replied, "It's a very elegant song."
Jiang Lai tapped her fingers to the rhythm of the music, humming the lyrics: "Now I have your world, I'll always keep the light on..."
Lin Zhi didn't disturb her; she preferred listening to Jiang Lai's humming to the music playing on the radio.
The music stopped, Jiang Lai shut her mouth, turned to look at Lin Zhi: "Now that I have your world, I'll always keep the light on."
She read the lyrics, but her eyes were fixed on Lin Zhi, as if she were saying to her that this person's eyes were so captivating that looking into her eyes was like torture, something she couldn't escape yet didn't want to.
Just as Lin Zhi's heart was pounding, Jiang Lai suddenly brought up another topic: "This song is the theme song for one episode of the American TV series 'Dickinson'."
Lin Zhi knew about Emily Dickinson, the legendary American poet, but she hadn't read this book. She was too busy; she devoted all her time to her company and her artists.
Jiang Lai said to herself, "Have you read her poems?"
Lin Zhi shook her head: "No."
“I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen you. You were like the first ray of morning sunlight piercing the desolation in my heart, but now she has turned into another kind of desolation, making me even more lonely.”
Her voice was beautiful, and reciting the poem was like a soothing melody. The little deer in Lin Zhi's heart, which had just calmed down, became restless again. She knew that the other person was just reciting a poem, but to her ears it sounded like she was hearing a love confession.
Jiang Lai's gaze never left her: "Sister Lin, you don't have to endure the darkness; you are a ray of sunshine."
Lin Zhi's breath hitched, and her mouth felt dry. She picked up the water on the table and took a sip: "Thank you."
Throughout the meal, Jiang Lai barely touched the water in front of her, while Lin Zhi finished a whole bottle and then headed straight for the bathroom.
Jiang Lai put the plate in the recycling bin and stood at the bathroom door waiting for Lin Zhi.
"Lai Lai?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Jiang Lai looked up, paused for two seconds, and helplessly rubbed her forehead: "Professor Min, don't you have classes this afternoon?"
At school, she always called him Professor Min.
Seeing her like this, Min Xuehua felt as if her daughter was disliking her: "What kind of expression is that? Shouldn't I be asking you why you're here? Aren't you filming a movie?"
It's a long story.
While the two were talking, Lin Zhi came out of the restroom and bowed respectfully to Min Xuehua, saying, "Teacher."
Jiang Lai blinked, her gaze darting back and forth between the two: "Sister Lin, is she your teacher?"
Lin Zhi nodded: "Yes."
Min Xuehua smiled and introduced herself generously: "I am Jiang Lai's teacher and also Lin Zhi's teacher. What a coincidence that you two know each other and even went back to your alma mater together?"
Lin Zhi and Jiang Lai each harbored their own thoughts and didn't want the other to know, but Min Xuehua knew everything.
Min Xuehua: "I don't have class this afternoon. Would you like to come to my house for a bit?"
"No!"
"No need to trouble yourself."
The two spoke in unison, but Jiang Lai's tone was not as reserved as Lin Zhi's.
Min Xuehua looked at the two of them, her smile growing increasingly strange: "Alright then, I won't bother you two anymore."
After saying goodbye to her two "daughters," Min Xuehua hurriedly returned to her office and took out her phone to call her husband.
"Old Jiang! Guess who I just saw?"
Old Jiang was completely bewildered: "Who did you see?"
"Lai Lai! And Xiao Zhi too!"
"Isn't Lai Lai on set?"
"Who knows... No, that's not the point. The point is that the two of them went back to school together, and they seem to have a good relationship. I originally thought Lai Lai and Xiao Zhi were just boss and employee, but it seems they're getting closer. Xiao Zhi rarely goes back to school, and she always comes back alone. Suddenly she came back with Lai Lai, what do you think...?"
Lao Jiang: The old man's cell phone on the subway.
Isn't it the main point that your daughter suddenly appears at school when she's not on set?
Min Xuehua said triumphantly to her husband, "I have a way to get Xiaozhi into our family."
Jiang Chuanmin: "What method?"
"Of course, we'll marry her openly and honestly!"
"Oh...marry me...wait?marry me?"
Jiang Chuanmin suddenly felt confused. Wasn't his daughter the one he had given birth to?
After leaving the cafeteria, Lin Zhi answered a phone call, and the smile that had finally appeared on her face vanished instantly.
"Jiang Lai, I have some personal matters to attend to and can't stay with you. I'm sorry, and thank you for spending time with me today."
Jiang Lai knew that the private matter Lin Zhi mentioned was probably the one that made her cry. She didn't ask or insist on going with her. She drove Lin Zhi to her apartment building, said goodbye to Lin Zhi, and then took a taxi to her aunt's studio.
Jiang Wanqiu is a painter who has held exhibitions and has her own independent studio. She is not worried about money and plans to dedicate her life to art. In her eyes, not getting married and not having children is no big deal. When Jiang Lai was a child, she thought her aunt was a fairy and that stinky men would only make fairies fall!
"Auntie~"
Jiang Lai knocked on the door and peeked out. Jiang Wanqiu turned around and was overjoyed to see her niece.
"Lai Lai~ Let Auntie see, tsk tsk, you've lost weight."
Jiang Lai's little face was pinched, making her look very cute: "Dudu, don't eat five on the trip."
Jiang Wanqiu released her grip: "How did you know your mother was coming to see me?"
Jiang Lai was taken aback: "What? I didn't know!"
Author's Note:
P.S.: "Dickinson" is a 2019 American TV series (the novel's timeline does not match real time, so there's no need to delve into it).
Chapter 22
Min Xuehua and her daughter arrived almost simultaneously. Jiang Lai hadn't even had a chance to sit down properly when Min Xuehua arrived, dressed like a career woman. As soon as she saw her daughter, she gave her a big hug, ruffled her hair, and kissed her.
Jiang Lai felt very uncomfortable and wiped the large lipstick mark off her cheek in front of the mirror: "Mom, what happened to you?"
Jiang Wanqiu just smiled and didn't say anything. She brought over two cups of coffee and handed them to her sister-in-law and niece.
Jiang Wanqiu: "Let's catch up in my office."
The three of them went up to the second floor, pushed open the door, and found the office filled with an artistic atmosphere. The paintings on the walls were all painted by Jiang Wanqiu, and they couldn't be bought anywhere else.
Jiang Lai crossed her arms and looked at the painting on the wall with admiration: "Auntie~ when can you paint one for me too?"
Before Jiang Wanqiu could speak, Min Xuehua interjected, "You? What's so great about your paintings? You might as well paint my daughter."