Shi Nian reached out and brushed her temple, blushing awkwardly: "I just wanted to make an early breakfast for Youyou. But for so reason, I’ve been forgetting things lately, and I couldn’t even find the pot and rice."
"So that’s what’s going on."
He raised his eyebrows high but then gently lowered them. He just gave a faint smile, took Shi Nian’s hand to help her up, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and held her protectively in his embrace.
"It’s not that you’re forgetful, it’s that I just changed the location of the pot and rice. You know, this is Jiangnan Ancient Town, and in sumr it’s inevitably humid. I’m worried the rice might get damp and spoil."
He gazed at her tenderly, reaching out to brush aside the strands of hair on her forehead that were damp from nervous sweating: "Besides, I told you not to cook. In this day and age, cooking has beco the job of a family cook. Won don’t need to suffer from the smoke and oil, just being beautiful is enough."
What he said sounded reasonable enough.
Shi Nian blushed slightly: "So that’s how it is. Youyou actually told the sa thing, saying that daddy won’t let cook, but I just feel like I’m a negligent mother."
He laughed and nudged her shoulder to guide her back to the room: "What are you saying? There’s nothing negligent about it. A al is really nothing significant. Your love for your daughter is well understood by her."
"Moreover, when it cos to negligence or not, loving your wife is a man’s natural duty. If you cooked every day, that would be my negligence. You go play with Youyou, or browse the internet, watch so TV. I’ll take a quick shower and soon co down to cook for Jieyou."
Shi Nian couldn’t refuse, so she returned to the room.
Youyou sat obediently on the sofa reading a fairy tale book, and Shi Nian wandered to the bookshelf, randomly picking out a book to read.
Ti quietly flowed, the sunlight cast the shadow of the banana leaves outside the window onto the white wall, with light and shadow shifting, like ever-changing ink paintings.
Though she was reading, she still saw the sunlight and banana leaves’ shadows on the wall, and Shi Nian knew her mind had wandered.
She kept inexplicably hearing the sound of water, knowing it was him showering. This sound of water left her restless.
It’s just her husband taking a shower, as a wife, what’s there to fuss over?
She couldn’t help but bla herself, clenching her fist and tapping her head.
What’s wrong with ?
Since she couldn’t concentrate on reading, she gave up and stood, picking up a handmade coarse cloth bag to go out.
The traditional Hui-style ancient house had one hundred square ters just in the front yard. The courtyard was landscaped with artificial hills, winding paths leading to seclusion, even the green moss on the bricks was lush, far from appearing naturally.
Shi Nian stood watching, recalled an anecdote about garden-making in Jiangnan, knowing that such good moss was cultivated by watering with glutinous rice water.
Carefully treading on the moss, she stepped out the front door.
Outside the door was not a spacious place, but a narrow alley. Opposite was the back wall of another garden. A small door opened on the back wall, and a young man happened to co out too, the two eting in the alley, unable to avoid each other.
The young man greeted naturally: "Sister-in-law, heading out so early? Is Youyou still asleep?"
His tone was that of long-ti neighbors, familiar and friendly.
Shi Nian suddenly felt very awkward. With such familiar neighbors, she didn’t even know their na, and though they greeted her, she didn’t know what small talk to make, so she resorted to the most formal words, nodding and smiling: "Morning. She got up early and is reading by herself."
The young man naturally walked over, seeing the cloth bag in her hand, he laughed: "Oh, a few months ago sister-in-law said she wanted to learn hand-weaving, and now you’ve learned it and even made a bag."
Shi Nian was surprised, knowing that in so ancient villages in Jiangnan and Shanxi, old looms from the Ming Dynasty still existed, with elderly people making such coarse cloth by hand. She had been curious, but... she smiled awkwardly, knowing she hadn’t learned it herself: "This wasn’t woven by , I bought it."
The young man tilted his head to look at the bag, then smiled: "Looking at the pattern ford by the warp and weft, it seems like the character ’Nian.’ This can’t be bought, it’s obviously handmade."
Shi Nian found herself at an even more awkward standstill, her mind blank.
The young man laughed again: "Then I’ve guessed correctly; it must be Mr. secretly learned and quietly made it for you."
Shi Nian felt even more embarrassed: "Really? He didn’t tell anything about it."
The young man didn’t find it strange, smiling gently with his head bowed: "Mr. has always been like that towards you, quietly doing many things for you without asking for your knowledge, just wishing you could live peacefully."
Shi Nian lowered her head in thought, and realized she agreed with this reasoning.
Luckily, she couldn’t rember many things, yet she had no doubts about this understanding, so she nodded happily, "Yes, he’s always treated like that."
Walking out of the narrow alley, ahead was still an alley, just with a few more cross paths intersecting. Shi Nian instinctively turned and took another path. Standing at the crossroads, the young man seed to notice the unfamiliarity and evasiveness in Shi Nian’s eyes as he walked over, and he nodded with a smile, "I’m Xiao Li, Li Le Wen. Sister-in-law, you probably forgot, right?"
His words seed to have another layer of aning.
Shi Nian couldn’t help but ask, "Sorry, Xiao Li, from the look on your face, do you think it’s quite normal for not to rember you?"
And she forgot about things from Jieyou’s childhood, would inexplicably find her own ho unfamiliar, even unable to find the kitchen... These things felt crazy to her, yet to her husband or Youyou, there was nothing unusual. So she wanted to know, if these things were viewed from outsiders’ eyes, like the neighbor Xiao Li, would they also find her abnormalities?
Unexpectedly, Li Le Wen just smiled faintly, "Yes, it couldn’t be more normal. Sister-in-law forgot, there was a traffic accident a year ago, you took a hit to the head. Everyone in the village knows, and your husband has already told everyone, so if one day you suddenly forget again, please bear with it."
Shi Nian was stunned.
Is that how it is?
She couldn’t help but smile wryly and shook her head.
Li Le Wen then asked, observing her expression, "What’s wrong, sister-in-law? Is it because you forgot again and don’t believe what I’m saying?"
Shi Nian only smiled wryly, "It’s not that I don’t believe, it’s because I woke up this morning finding that I can’t rember anything again. I just find it a bit funny, after watching so many years of Korean dramas in college, I never thought my fate would one day mirror a Korean drama, that’s several levels higher than simply being a fan."
Li Le Wen also laughed, "Television dramas are also derived from life, after all, car accidents and amnesia really happen in reality."
Shi Nian took a deep breath and nodded, "Alright, I’ll just consider myself the female lead in a drama, a star, oh, and now I feel like I’m glittering all over."
It was just a joke, but Shi Nian suddenly froze.
— That sentence inexplicably felt sowhat familiar. Who did she hear it from, and when?
Back then, who was described by those words?
A vague figure floated in her mind, light as ink, drifting away like clouds as soon as the brush strokes opened. She strained to rember, but only managed to conjure a fleeting silhouette, totally indistinct.
She sighed in disappointnt, knowing she had forgotten again.
Li Le Wen saw her laughing to herself and then sighing wistfully, so he smiled indulgently, "Sister-in-law, if you need to buy sothing, better hurry and buy it, don’t get lost again and make your husband and Youyou worry. I have sothing to do, I’ll be leaving now."
Shi Nian nodded farewell, "I just want to get so pickles for her, to go with the plain porridge. Go ahead, Xiao Li, goodbye."
Li Le Wen turned and walked away. He was a handso young man, wearing a simple denim shirt and matching denim pants; his back tall, with a strong, steady stride.
Shi Nian stood in place, unconsciously watching that back for a long ti.
Feeling it sowhat familiar.
It seed the figure in her mind, as light as a cloud, was also tall and striding steadily like that.
But when she thought this, she imdiately smiled to herself, embarrassed.
Ahem, she must be overthinking it. That elongated silhouette, such ethereal qualities, clearly belongs to her husband, doesn’t it?
— Her mind was filled with a bittersweet nostalgia, yet it was mixed with certainty, that the figure lingering in her mory must be her husband, the father of her child, naturally, how could it be anyone else?
All her life, she has loved and could only love one man. No second one.
A lifeti, just two people, that is the love she seeks.
.
It wasn’t until Li Le Wen’s silhouette disappeared from sight that Shi Nian snapped out of it, realizing she had stood too long at the crossroads of the alleys, and hastily turned toward the end of the left alley.
There stood a locally owned "Welco Supermarket." This was a small village, calling it a "supermarket" was far from "super," more like the tiny convenience store from childhood.
Shi Nian entered, and the thin female shopkeeper wasn’t particularly warm, just nodded, "You’re here."
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