Gentle to the Bone - Chapter 24

Shen Yansheng and Zhou Wanying finally rented a prosperous shop on Yanghuai Road facing the street. The storefront is not very big, but the location is very good. The front door is spacious and bright, and there is a row of ginkgo trees along the road. landscape.

Throughout August, Shen Yansheng was so busy almost every day that his feet didn’t touch the ground. During the day, he was busy setting up the studio and visiting the fabric market. At night, when he got home and ate a couple of bites, he ran upstairs and locked himself in the room to design. No one was allowed. disturb.

When Lu Jingce went home, he wanted to go upstairs to see Shen Yansheng, but was stopped by Aunt Ping outside and said embarrassedly, “Mr. Lu, Miss Shengsheng explained that she is working, and no one should go in and disturb her.”

“??” Lu Jingce frowned and asked, “Me too?”

Aunt Ping had been in this house for so long, and she had seen it clearly. Although Shen Yansheng always said that Lu Jingce was just playing with her, Aunt Ping had lived most of her life, and she had already seen that Lu Jingce had no bottom line in favoring Shen Yansheng.

Since Lu Jingce obeyed Shen Yansheng’s words, she was right to listen to Miss Shengsheng. Thinking of this, Aunt Ping couldn’t help but feel more courageous, and said, “You better not go in, Miss Sheng Sheng has been busy for a while, and she is not in a good mood. If you go in for a while and disturb her work, I might lose my temper with you. “

Lu Jingce: “…”

Lu Jingce frowned and stood at the door for a long time. In the end, he didn’t go in. He explained to Aunt Ping, “Let the kitchen prepare a late-night snack. I’ll probably be hungry after a while.”

“Eh.” Aunt Ping responded with a smile.

Shen Yansheng was busy in the room for several hours, and finally came out of the room when she felt hungry in the early hours of the morning.

Aunt Ping was watering the plants in the corridor outside. When she saw Shen Yansheng coming out, she put down the kettle and asked with a smile, “Miss is done? Are you hungry? There is warm porridge and snacks in the kitchen. What would you like to eat?”

Shen Yansheng was really hungry, and said with a smile, “It’s fine, I’ll go down and have a look.”

Downstairs, she went straight to the kitchen by herself. Seeing a cup of brown sugar eight-treasure porridge stewed on the stove, when the lid is opened, the sweet fragrance is tangy.

Shen Yansheng was already hungry, and when she saw the food she liked, her stomach growled even more, so she turned around and went to the cupboard to get a bowl, stood in front of the stove, and filled the bowl with porridge with a spoon.

Aunt Ping followed behind, and seeing Shen Yansheng pouring porridge herself, she asked with a smile, “Would you like to fry some more dumplings?”

Shen Yansheng shook his head and said, “No need, I’ll just eat a small bowl of porridge. If I eat too much, I won’t be able to sleep for a while.”

After filling the porridge, she brought it to the restaurant to eat. Aunt Ping went to the living room to bring a dessert and said, “Mr. Lu brought you the sweet-scented osmanthus cake from Fuyuan Pavilion when he came back. Didn’t you want to be disturbed, so I didn’t call you.”

Open the box while talking. Shen Yansheng likes desserts, so Lu Jingce sometimes buys delicious desserts for her. Tonight happened to be having a party at the Yuelai Hotel. During dinner, someone at the same table said that the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in Fuyuan Pavilion downstairs was a must. Lu Jingce thought of a little ancestor who loved desserts at home. After dinner, he went downstairs. It was time to go to the store to buy one.

Shen Yansheng saw that Lu Jingce bought her some cakes and came back, and she felt a little sweet in her heart for a moment. She picked up a piece and tasted it. She didn’t know if it was because it was really delicious, or because she was in a good mood at the moment, and she always felt that the sweet-scented osmanthus cake was better than the cake. The ones she usually eat are delicious.

But because it was already midnight, she didn’t dare to eat too much. After eating two pieces, she packed the box and asked Aunt Ping to help her put it in the refrigerator and eat it tomorrow morning.

While helping her carry the osmanthus cake into the refrigerator, Aunt Ping said with a smile: “Miss Shengsheng, you always say that President Lu is just playing with you, but I think Lu always really likes you. You were working just now, Lu I’m always afraid that you’ll be hungry after work, so I specially let the kitchen prepare a late-night snack.”

Shen Yansheng paused slightly after hearing the words.

It’s not that she doesn’t know that Lu Jingce treats her well, and she also knows that Lu Jingce definitely likes her at least now, but she doesn’t dare to think about things further, and she doesn’t want to have unrealistic fantasies about the future.

Right now, the most important thing for her is work. As for Lu Jingce, if they feel happy together now, they can be together. One day when Lu Jingce doesn’t like her, she won’t shamelessly pester him.

After supper, Shen Yansheng originally wanted to work for a while, but suddenly she thought that she was too busy recently and seemed to have left Lu Jingce a little cold, so she didn’t go back to the room where she worked, went upstairs, and went straight back to the bedroom.

In the bedroom, Lu Jingce hadn’t slept yet, sitting on the sofa talking on the phone with a cigarette in his hand.

Seeing Shen Yansheng coming in, he raised his head and glanced at her, Shen Yansheng smiled, closed the door and threw himself into Lu Jingce’s arms.

Lu Jingce hugged her subconsciously, afraid that the cigarette **** in his hand would burn her, so he slammed the cigarette **** into the ashtray.

On the other end of the phone was a friend of Lu Jingce. The two were discussing a project at hand. When they talked about the key points, it was inconvenient to hang up the phone at this time.

Lu Jingce patted Shen Yansheng’s **** subconsciously, and his eyes signaled her: Be calm.

Shen Yansheng hadn’t planned to do anything at first, but seeing Lu Jingce’s eyes warning her, she started to play prank instead. Hold her waist and don’t allow her to move.

Shen Yansheng sneered as if he had succeeded, not only was he disobedient, but also became more and more serious, causing Lu Jingce to look at her with a dark look, and he couldn’t hear anything that was being said on the other end of the phone, so he spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, ” I have something to do, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

After speaking, he hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

Seeing that Lu Jingce hung up the phone, Shen Yansheng subconsciously wanted to run, but where he could run away, Lu Jingce threw the phone on the coffee table, reached out and retrieved Shen Yansheng, and turned over to cover her under him.

Shen Yansheng couldn’t help laughing, and raised his hands to beg for mercy, “I was wrong! Get up, I’m too tired to work.”

Lu Jingce didn’t smile, but his hands were already peeling off Shen Yansheng’s skirt, “You’re not responsible for putting out the fire you started yourself?”

Shen Yansheng tried to escape, but after she knew she couldn’t escape, she didn’t bother to move. She raised her hands to wrap her arms around Lu Jingce’s neck. The two huddled on the narrow sofa and kissed tightly, and the ambiguity in the air gradually heated up.

Shen Yansheng’s entrepreneurial process was smoother than she imagined, mainly because she had a clear positioning and her studio was located in the Yanghuai Road business district. She was very confident in the clothes she designed, and hung them in the showcase, not worried that no one would buy them. Coupled with Wanwan’s connections in the entertainment industry, it didn’t take long for her small studio to gain a little popularity in the circle.

In October, she made a tailor-made dress for Wanwan, and Wanwan wore that dress to receive the award. That night, Wanwan’s dress became a hot search because it was so beautiful. Within two days, Shen Yansheng received it. Several female stars wanted to customize their dresses.

When the studio is now expanding its reputation, Shen Yansheng will follow. After all, there is a star advertising her, and she is too happy to be happy.

It’s just that the craftsmanship of making the dress is too cumbersome. She didn’t want to rush work, so she signed a three-month construction period.

Because of picking up a few custom-made dresses, Shen Yansheng became busy again, drawing and making patterns in the studio every day, often busy until the early morning without finishing work.

Fortunately, no matter how busy he was at work, there were times when he had time to relax. As the New Year approached, Shen Yansheng reduced his workload and stopped taking customized orders. At the end of the year, Hewanwan was considered profitable, and they had already earned more than their costs in the past few months. The two happily split up and planned to wait until the end of the year before making a New Year’s work plan.

In the days when the New Year was approaching, Shen Yansheng was not very busy. Maybe everyone went home for the New Year and the studio was deserted. She simply closed the store and went home to spend the New Year with her parents.

I was having dinner with my parents that day. My father suddenly mentioned that he wanted to go back to his hometown for the Spring Festival. Shen Yansheng was stunned when he heard the words, then raised his head and asked, “Are you going back to Yuzhou?”

Shen Haihua nodded and said, “I haven’t gone back for some years. Your mother and I plan to go back this year.”

Shen Yansheng didn’t have a deep impression on her hometown of Yuzhou. When she was born, her parents had settled in Beicheng for many years, so she was born and raised in Beicheng.

In addition, there are no relatives in Yuzhou, so from childhood to adulthood, except for the Spring Festival every year, I will go back to Yuzhou to worship ancestors, and I have no chance to go back at other times.

And I haven’t even gone back to the Spring Festival these years.

Zhou Xiuyun suddenly said, “Let’s go back together with Sheng Sheng. You haven’t gone back for many years. Go back and see your grandparents and grandparents, and give them incense sticks.”

Shen Yansheng was stunned for a moment when she heard the words. She suddenly thought of Lu Jingce, wondering if Lu Jingce would agree to her going back to her hometown for the Spring Festival.

But she did not go back for several years. After thinking about it, she nodded and said, “Okay.”

After having dinner at his parents’ house, Shen Yansheng took a taxi back to Lu Jingce’s place.

When he got home, Lu Jingce hadn’t come back. At the end of the last year, he had a lot of entertainment, and basically came back late every day.

She looked at the time, it was less than nine o’clock, and she estimated that Lu Jingce would not be back until around eleven o’clock, so she went upstairs to take a shower and pack up.

It was half past eleven when Lu Jingce went home after socializing. He drank some wine tonight, and when he entered the house, he smelled of alcohol. When Aunt Ping saw this, she hurriedly went to get the hangover medicine.

Lu Jingce threw his coat on the sofa, took a drink from the cup on the coffee table, and asked, “Is Sheng Sheng back?”

Aunt Ping came over with the hangover medicine and said, “I’m back, I’ll be back at eight o’clock.”

Tonight was the last social event at the end of the year. Lu Jingce drank a few more glasses and had a bit of a headache.

The lights in the corridor were on, and the bedroom door was not closed. Lu Jingce walked to the door, and before entering the room, he saw Shen Yansheng sitting cross-legged on the carpet beside the bed, with the suitcase spread out in front of him, packing his things.

He couldn’t help but froze for a moment and asked, “What are you doing with packing?”

Shen Yansheng said as he folded his clothes, “Isn’t it going to be Chinese New Year? I plan to go back to my hometown with my parents for the Spring Festival.”

After Lu Jingce heard this, he stared at Shen Yansheng for a long time.

Shen Yansheng didn’t hear Lu Jingce’s words for a long time, looked up at him, and asked tentatively, “Will you agree? I haven’t gone back for several years, so I have to go back and pay homage to the old man.”

Lu Jingce didn’t say anything, walked into the room, sat on the sofa, took out the lighter and lit a cigarette.

Seeing that Lu Jingce didn’t speak, Shen Yansheng kept looking at him.

After a long time, Lu Jingce finally looked up at her and asked, “When will you be back?”

Shen Yansheng said: “It will take at least three or five days. My parents still want to go back to see the old house, and plan to find someone to renovate it. It will take some time.”

Lu Jingce looked at Shen Yansheng silently, without saying a word.

Seeing him like this, Shen Yansheng knew that he was not happy. She got up from the ground, sat next to Lu Jingce, hugged his arm, raised her head and looked at him with a smile, “Lu Jingce, don’t be unhappy, at most three or five days, I’ll be back after the ancestor sacrifice.”

Lu Jingce originally thought that he would be able to spend the Spring Festival with Shen Yansheng this year, but how could he be happy when she heard that she was going back to her hometown.

He ignored Shen Yansheng for a long time, and shook the ash into the ashtray with a blank expression.

Shen Yansheng shook Lu Jingce’s arm, raised his head and kissed him again, with a coquettish tone, “Lu Jingce—”

Lu Jingce still ignored her.

She shook Lu Jingce’s arm again, and kept looking at him with eyes.

After a while, Lu Jingce finally couldn’t hold back, looked at her sideways, and asked, “Can I come back in the fourth day of the first year?”

Shen Yansheng thought for a while, she will leave tomorrow, and if she can stay in her hometown for six days, the fourth day should be fine.

So he nodded and said, “Sure.”

Lu Jingce still had no happy expression on his face, pinched her cheek, and said, “Send me the flight number before you come back, and I’ll come pick you up.”

Shen Yansheng smiled and said, “Got it.”

She raised her head and offered a kiss, she wanted to leave at the slightest touch, but Lu Jingce grabbed the back of her neck and deepened the kiss.

Shen Yansheng originally thought that according to her plan, she should be able to return to Beicheng in the fourth day of the first year. But a lot of things couldn’t keep up with the changes. After returning to Yuzhou, I stayed in the city for the first two days. On the first day of the new year, I drove back to my hometown early in the morning to visit my grandparents, grandparents, and grandparents.

After staying on the mountain for half the morning, I went back to the old house after going down the mountain at noon.

Shen Yansheng’s hometown is in a small town in Yuzhou. The town is not big, but the scenery is beautiful, with beautiful mountains and rivers, and it has the characteristics of a small town in the south of the Yangtze River.

The old house of the Shen family is an old one-story house by the river. After the death of grandparents, the old house was left vacant. I haven’t come back for all these years. After looking for the master, I found that there are many places in the house that need to be repaired.

Shen Yansheng asked the master if he could finish it in two or three days. The master waved his hand and said, “How is this possible? The beams of this house need to be reinforced, and it will not be safe if you don’t fix it properly. I just want to rush work for you. can’t find any manpower.”

“Then when will it be ready?” Shen Yansheng asked.

“If you’re in a hurry, I’ll find someone to repair it for you after the third year of junior high. But it’s impossible for two or three days, at least a week.”

Shen Yansheng couldn’t help frowning when she heard the words. She promised Lu Jingce to go back on the fourth day of the first day. If she broke her promise, Lu Jingce’s character would definitely be angry.

Shen Haihua said: “Sheng Sheng, if you are in a hurry, go back first, and your mother and I will just watch. Although I am old now, I am more professional than you in construction.”

Although he said that, Shen Haihua had an accident a few months ago, and his body has not fully recovered. Shen Yansheng looked at her parents’ gray hair, and really didn’t want them to be too tired, so she could only stay and supervise the work by herself.

Back at the hotel in the evening, Shen Yansheng called Lu Jingce.

The phone was connected after two rings, Shen Yansheng felt guilty and took the initiative to speak first, “Lu Jingce, it’s me.”

The other end of the phone was quiet, Lu Jingce laughed scornfully and said, “I didn’t know it was you?”

Shen Yansheng pursed her lips and smiled. Hearing the silence on the other end of the phone, she asked, “Why is it so quiet? Didn’t you go out to play?”

Lu Jingce was reading at home and said lazily, “Xie Rin asked me to play mahjong, I’m too lazy to go.”

Shen Yansheng said: “Why don’t you go, it’s very lively outside today on the first day of the new year.”

Lu Jingce smiled and asked, “What about you? What are you doing?”

Shen Yansheng said: “I just finished eating out and just returned to the hotel.”

“What did you eat?”

“It’s a special dish from our hometown. You don’t know if you say it. I’ll take you to eat it when I have a chance in the future.”

Lu Jingce was leaning on the sofa, playing with the corner of the book in his hand, talking to Shen Yansheng seriously, when he heard this, the corner of his lips unconsciously raised a smile, and asked her, “Then when are you going to take me there? “

Shen Yansheng said: “Of course it depends on your time. Boss Lu deals with so many things every day, so how can you come to such a small place.”

Lu Jingce smiled, remembered something, and asked her, “Have you bought a plane ticket? When will you arrive on the fourth day of the first day?”

Speaking of this, Shen Yansheng felt guilty immediately, she pursed her lower lip unconsciously, and said, “That… I was about to tell you about this.”

Hearing her words, Lu Jingce almost guessed that the situation had changed, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Yansheng said: “That’s right, I may not be able to come back in the fourth day of the first year. My old house has too much to be renovated, and it can’t be done in two or three days, and I don’t worry that my parents are here alone, so it may take years come back later.”

After she finished speaking, she was afraid that Lu Jingce would get angry, so she quickly asked, “You won’t be angry, will you?”

Lu Jingce was silent for a while, then said, “What do you think?”

Across the phone, Shen Yansheng could think of Lu Jingce’s expressionless face, and said, “Don’t be angry, I promise, I’ll be back as soon as the matter here is over. Anyway, I’m not in a hurry for the next few days, right?”

Lu Jingce was not angry, but he was somewhat regretful that he couldn’t spend the Spring Festival with Shen Yansheng. After a while of silence, he said, “Be careful yourself. When the workers are renovating the house, stand far away, and don’t stand under the brick wall.”

Shen Yansheng originally thought that Lu Jingce was going to be angry, but when he heard him admonish her like this, she suddenly felt sour in her heart. After a long while, she whispered, “Lu Jingce, I miss you.”

For Lu Jingce, these four simple words were the greatest consolation in this lonely night.

With a smile in his eyes, he said, “I miss you too, come back early.”

“En.” Shen Yansheng nodded solemnly.

The renovation of the old house in Yuzhou was not completed until the tenth day of the new year. Once the house was repaired and perfected, Shen Yansheng bought a plane ticket to return to Beicheng that night.

She didn’t tell Lu Jingce about her return in advance. She originally wanted to surprise him, but when she got home, she realized that Lu Jingce was not at home.

Aunt Ping said: “Mr. Lu left on the fifth day of the first year. The day after tomorrow is his parents’ death day, so he returned to Jiangcheng.”

Shen Yansheng was stunned when she heard the words, and asked, “Is he alone?”

Aunt Ping nodded, “Yes, Mr. Lu used to go back to worship alone in recent years.”

On the morning of February 11th, early in the morning, just as Lu Jingce came out of the old house and was about to smoke a cigarette, Shen Yansheng called.

He picked up the phone, and before he could say anything, Shen Yansheng opened his mouth and said, “Lu Jingce, come and pick me up!”

Lu Jingce was stunned for a moment, thinking that Shen Yansheng had returned to Beicheng, and said, “I’m not in Beicheng now, I’ll ask Uncle Chen to come and pick you up immediately.”

As he spoke, he was about to hang up and call Uncle Chen.

“Wait!” Shen Yansheng smiled and said, “I’m at Jiangcheng Airport, where are you?”

Lu Jingce couldn’t help being stunned. For a moment, he almost thought he heard it wrong, and asked uncertainly, “Where are you?”

“I’m at Jiangcheng Airport.” Shen Yansheng said, “Come and pick me up, I’ll be waiting for you in the arrival hall.”

Lu Jingce hurriedly went back to the house to get his coat, and said, “I’m a little far away from here. You can find a restaurant to sit down and have something to eat. I’ll be there in about two hours.”

Shen Yansheng nodded and said, “Okay, don’t worry, drive slowly.”

After hanging up the phone, Shen Yansheng went to a restaurant for breakfast.

She went out early in the morning and didn’t eat on the plane. She was really hungry now.

Just ordered a bowl of rice noodles and a cup of coffee, then sat down and waited for Lu Jingce.

Just while waiting for Lu Jingce, she suddenly remembered something, she seemed to have been to Jiangcheng before.

She propped her chin and looked out the window. Jiangcheng Airport has changed a lot, it is much more spacious and brighter than when she came here more than ten years ago.

It was almost noon when Lu Jingce found Shen Yansheng.

Shen Yansheng had finished breakfast long ago, lying on the dining table, waiting for Lu Jingce to fall asleep.

Until she felt someone rubbing her head, she raised her head in a daze, met Lu Jingce’s smiling eyes, and couldn’t help mumbling, “Why are you here?”

Lu Jingce smiled and said, “It’s a little too far to tell you.”

Touching Shen Yansheng’s head, he said, “Come here and don’t tell me.”

Shen Yansheng picked up the scarf on his legs and wrapped it around his neck, and said, “I want to give you a surprise.”

She looked up at Lu Jingce, smiled, and asked, “Are you surprised?”

Lu Jingce smiled, reached out to carry her suitcase, and said, “Let’s go.”

Shen Yansheng picked up her bag and got up, walked out of the restaurant, Lu Jingce freed up a hand to hold her, Shen Yansheng consciously clasped Lu Jingce’s hand.

The two walked towards the parking lot, when Shen Yansheng suddenly said, “Lu Jingce, I’ve been to Jiangcheng before.”

Hearing this, Lu Jingce paused slightly and looked at her sideways, “Really? When?”

Shen Yansheng said: “It’s been a long time, more than ten years ago. It should have been the summer vacation of the year of graduating from the high school entrance examination. At that time, my father contracted a construction site in Jiangcheng. During the summer vacation, my mother and I went to Jiangcheng to find him and lived for a while. “

Lu Jingce looked away with no emotion in his eyes, and said “um” casually.

Shen Yansheng said: “However, Jiangcheng was still developing at that time, and there was no fun. I was so bored every day, and for a while I went to the construction site every day to play.”

Having said that, she looked up at Lu Jingce and said softly, “Lu Jingce, Aunt Ping said that tomorrow is your parents’ death day?”

Lu Jingce looked at her sideways, “You came here because of this?”

Shen Yansheng nodded and unconsciously held Lu Jingce’s hand a little tighter. She actually wanted to come to accompany Lu Jingce in her heart, but she was embarrassed to say it, and said, “I’ll see if there is anything I can do to help.”

Lu Jingce clearly saw through her thoughts, a smile flashed in his eyes unconsciously, and he deliberately teased her and said, “If I say I don’t need any help, do you want to buy a plane ticket to go back now?”

“…” Shen Yansheng choked, then he stretched out his hand to Lu Jingce and said, “Okay, compensate me for the plane ticket.”

Lu Jingce smiled, took her hand, and said, “Let’s go, I’ll take you to lunch first.”

The author says:

Double shift in one, no today, see you tomorrow~