Shi Nian specially drove to the neighboring town of "Paoquan" again and found the largest Chinese supermarket there. She filled up a basket with Chinese ingredients and queued up at the counter to check out.
This largest Chinese supermarket, however, was located in a relatively quiet small town, but even so, it still attracted many Chinese custors, and people from East Asian ethnicities as well. Shi Nian understood that they preferred to drive tens, even hundreds of kiloters from surrounding towns, just to buy authentic ingredients from China.
Because "the Chinese palate" is the hardest to change.
She rembered when she first started as a community volunteer reporter, she had once interviewed community residents about their views on their Chinese neighbors. The old lady was very courteous, smiling silently, but she understood that the more such a case, the more the old lady was holding back a lot of things to say.
She persistently went to interview the old lady, finally getting her to open up. The old lady smiled and asked her, "Girl, you’re also from China; you should know better than I do about the real life of you Chinese in M Country, right? Look at them, especially the elderly. Even though they live in our community, they eat Chinese food, speak Chinese, and their friendships are limited to the Chinese circle. Even when shopping, they only go to Chinatown. They never care about local elections or vote... Hey, I really don’t understand, why do they co here? If they can’t successfully integrate into the local community and culture, they’ll always be lonely immigrants, don’t you think?"
Shi Nian was speechless.
So from then on, she started to pay great attention, beginning to actively accept local customs through food, and then started to open her heart, overcoming psychological barriers to boldly use spoken English.
So, in these more than four years, including this ti, she has only been to the largest Chinese supermarket in Paoquan town twice.
"Miss, it’s your turn."
While Shi Nian was lost in thought for a mont, the cashier was already smiling and calling her. She hurriedly smiled apologetically, stepped forward to check out.
Coincidentally, it was the sa checkout counter where she had stood last ti when buying bird’s nest for Guo Zhengi. Shi Nian tilted her head unwittingly, recalling that tall man she once t here... He talked to her, saying it seed like he had seen her sowhere before. She blushed, then raised her hand to show her wedding ring.
At that ti, because the sunlight outside was glaring, and because the question resembled a typical flirtation attempt, she felt a bit embarrassed, so she didn’t look up high to clearly see the man’s appearance.
But... for so reason, Shi Nian narrowed her eyes, rembering the man’s fingers holding the wallet beside her.
Pale, slender.
And that wallet... premium top-layer calfskin, soft and delicate, with a beautiful yet restrained sheen; the stitches were neat but not stiff, obviously handmade. The most crucial thing was it didn’t have any brand marking, elegant and understated.
That feeling was too familiar.
"Miss, are you paying by cash or card?" The cashier reminded again.
Shi Nian hurriedly returned to her senses, quickly handing over her credit card.
Carrying the groceries out of the Chinese supermarket, Shi Nian still shook her head. Maybe it was just an allergy.
.
Shi Nian felt embarrassed to carry the groceries back to Kangchuan University. Although the dormitory had a kitchen, it wasn’t suitable for Chinese cooking, as the smoke and sll would have nowhere to escape. She thought for a mont and then sent a text ssage to Xiang Yuan, saying if he didn’t need the house temporarily, she’d like to use it for a while.
When Xiang Yuan received the text, he stared at the phone for a long while, his heart lifted high and then fell heavily.
He couldn’t help but glance at Mark and Mr. Lin Qi sitting opposite, then took a deep breath and replied to Shi Nian: "Don’t forget that it’s clearly stated in the Divorce Agreent that the house belongs to you. You can go whenever you like and do whatever you want."
But my god, at this mont how much he wanted to leave Mark and his son and drive straight back, even just to see her in the house once more, it would be worth everything.
After sending the text, Xiang Yuan put his phone back in his pocket and gently closed his eyes.
Mr. Lin Qi smiled, "Lawyer Xiang, do you have personal matters to attend to? Then my son and I will take our leave."
Xiang Yuan quickly apologized, "No, actually, it was inappropriate of to carry a personal phone during work."
.
When Shi Nian returned to the house she once shared with Xiang Yuan, she saw the porch floor was clean, with no dust accumulated. Shi Nian couldn’t help but crease her brow slightly.
It seed Xiang Yuan hadn’t moved out yet.
She carried the groceries into the kitchen and hurriedly got busy.
The doorbell rang, and she quickly wiped her hands and went to open the door. From the intercom, she saw Tang Yanqing standing at the door with a stern face, and she could only sigh silently and open the door.
He, wearing sunglasses, squinted and scrutinized her, "Didn’t you say you’d be at the university for classes today, staying in the library, and said I shouldn’t disrupt my work, nor did you need Jia Tianzi and Guan Liang to accompany you. So, this is where you co for classes and the library? How co I didn’t know Xiang Yuan’s house had university professors and a library?"
He looked displeased, and how could Shi Nian not understand, so she could only sigh, "Who said the house doesn’t have a university professor? The tall and handso person standing in front of , isn’t he a visiting professor at Kangchuan University?"
"As for the library... I can take you to see A Yuan’s book collection, the legal books inside are enough to make one’s head spin."
Noticing that she finally agreed to flatter him a little, he snorted, shrugged his shoulders, and walked in with a spring in his step. As he passed by her, in that fleeting mont, he leaned in leisurely to her ear and said, "That’s more like it. I’ll let you off."
When he ca in, he indeed first glanced at the floor, and Shi Nian quickly said, "Uh, I just wiped the floor."
With his hands in his pockets, it was clear his earlier excitent had dissipated. He looked down at her, "Do I need to go upstairs to check Xiang Yuan’s room?"
Shi Nian could only raise her hands in surrender, "Alright, A Yuan hasn’t moved out yet. But I’m not here for a secret eting with him, I’m here to use the kitchen."
He then turned to look at the kitchen, "What are you doing in the kitchen? Making food-grade poison?"
Shi Nian, annoyed by him, couldn’t help but step on his toe, "Is it as exaggerated as you say?"
She turned around and walked back to the kitchen, not wanting to pay him any more attention.
Carefully scaling the fish she bought, next she prepared to make decorative cuts. But honestly, handling fish had always been her soft spot, because the raw fish felt—like rubber. And that pale, bloodless color always made her think of "corpses."
Of course, the fish lying on the cutting board was itself, wasn’t it a corpse?
Watching her wield the kitchen knife, holding the fish tail, asuring this way and that, Tang Yanqing couldn’t help it anymore, put down the carrot he was munching on, and ca over to roll up his sleeves.
"I’m really worried that what you’re asuring with the kitchen knife isn’t the fish, but your own precious ’only five’ fingers."
Saying this, he already took over the fish, deftly taking over her kitchen knife at the sa ti.
She stuck her tongue out in defiance, though secretly she was also quietly relieved.
To be honest, she was really worried that if she made so many decorative cuts, she would actually asure them on her own fingers.
"You can?" she stared at his profile.
He turned his head to give her a sharp look, "Straighten that question mark of yours and turn it into a straight line. Leave the comma below."
So turning "?" into "!" then. Shi Nian made a face at him.
It wasn’t until she turned back that she noticed the half-eaten carrot he had bitten, and she got anxious, "Hey, you! I only bought one carrot for garnish, and you’d eaten half? Were you a rabbit in your past life?"
He suddenly leaned in, his slightly cool breath tinged with a rich tobacco scent tickling her neck. ’
"Are you suggesting I’m Playboy’s rabbit, or a Rabbit of Gluttony?"
"Pfft..." Shi Nian almost sprayed his face.
Oh wow, it turns out soone actually has a bit of self-awareness, knowing he’s either Playful or Gluttonous.
Seeing her struggling to stifle her laughter, he let out a quiet sigh of relief and smiled too.
Four years ago was her nightmare, and also the deepest scar on his heart. His nearly ascetic practices over these four years were all for winning today - being able to see her freely smile in front of him like this.
Instead of worrying about four years ago, he would rather cherish the present, and cherish every mont he can be happy with her now.
Thinking of this, his mood suddenly brightened.
Being in a good mood, his technique beca even more superb, reaching a higher level. Shi Nian watched, dumbfounded, as his long, steady fingers expertly controlled the blade, making near-perfect decorative cuts on the rubbery fish body. The distance between each pair of slashes was almost perfectly equal, and each cut was nearly the sa depth...
Shi Nian shook her head and laughed, "Your knife skills are as good as a surgeon’s."
He raised an eyebrow and looked over, "I studied it."
"What haven’t you studied?" Shi Nian was also taken aback.
He lowered his eyes and smiled faintly, "To be a good police officer, to successfully capture all sorts of criminals, I need to learn their individual professional skills, even learn to think using their thought processes. Only then can I recognize them in a crowd, and bring them to justice."
—
[The second part of the morning update]
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