"Is this not right?" Mu Chenxi looked at her hand.
"Mm." Luo Shangqing stood behind her, his body bending slightly to press against her back, one hand reaching around from her side to hold her right hand, "Do it like this, the thumb presses between the middle and index fingers."
Mu Chenxi’s entire attention was on the brush in her hand,
His hand guided hers, stroke by stroke they wrote on the paper: From now on I’ll have no heart for the loving nights, let the bright moon descend past the western pavilion.
Because she was following his stroke, Mu Chenxi’s writing also had a bit of Luo Shangqing’s flair to it, only the strength of the strokes and the experience were lacking. However, for Mu Chenxi, who usually wrote as if a ghost crab scuttled across the page, it was already thrilling enough.
"Write your na on the side." Luo Shangqing released her hand and pointed to the blank space next to it.
Mu Chenxi wrote her na "Mu Chenxi" in the bottom right corner very seriously, thought for a mont, added the date, and lastly, satisfied, she put down the brush and applauded herself, "It really looks great."
"Do you want to write more?"
"I want to write." Mu Chenxi picked up the pen again, and Luo Shangqing leaned in naturally, holding her hand, his warm breath by her ear, "I have a book of copybook samples at ho you can use to practice."
He spoke
Luo Shangqing turned his head to look at Mu Chenxi who was motionless, "What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing." Mu Chenxi stuttered, chuckling at him, "Professor Luo, let’s continue."
After speaking, she imdiately lowered her head, but this ti, she simply couldn’t concentrate. She couldn’t rember what she wrote in the end,
The light of fireflies is faint, but it shines in the night, and she is that firefly, he is her night, the backdrop for her, giving her hope to see her own light.
～
The next day, Mu Chenxi was still taken to the hospital by Luo Shangqing. She rembered when she was a child, when her mother had to work and had no ti to take care of her, she would go to the hospital with her father. When he went to perform surgeries or check on patients, she would stay in his office and read comic books.
At that ti, "Conan" just started to beco popular, and day by day, she would follow the emotional rollercoaster of the bespectacled boy.
Staff in the departnt would call her "Little Mu Mu" and liked to buy her snacks. One could say that she practically grew up in a hospital, and for this reason, she later chose to study dicine. To get into dical school, she even secretly grinded away right before the college entrance exam.
Luo Shangqing’s car stopped as they passed the comrcial street next to the hospital; Mu Chenxi quickly handed over the plastic bag she was holding. Even now, she found it hard to believe that this pen holder was an antique from the Qing Dynasty.
She actually considered herself soone with rather bad luck. When her dorm mates would buy drinks, the others would twist open the caps to find "one more bottle" ssages, but her cap would just say, "Thank you for your purchase." Whenever there were lucky draws at school’s anniversary celebrations or parties, her classmates would happily go to claim their prizes, while she wouldn’t even catch sight of a pen, only being able to silently curse those winners out of jealousy.
So, she didn’t think she could actually buy an antique for five yuan.
"I’ll wait for you here," Luo Shangqing said as he pulled out his phone to check the ti. "Hurry back."
When Mu Chenxi returned the pen holder to the shop owner and told him it was from the Qing Dynasty, the owner actually thought she was a scamr.
"Boss, here is your pen holder back, now give my five yuan," she said.
"Miss, it’s our policy not to allow returns once an item’s been bought, it’s even written on the sign at the door." The boss was likely afraid of her returning it, maybe he couldn’t sleep the entire night from joy after selling that old pen holder from his inventory.
Mu Chenxi didn’t want to argue over the five yuan either, she simply put the item down on his desk: "Keep the money, take good care of this thing. Whether it’s an antique or not, you should get it checked to save any regrets later."
After getting back in the car, Mu Chenxi grumbled discontentedly, "Had I known, I wouldn’t have returned it. I could have made a good profit by selling it, the nerve of so people, so ungrateful."
Waiting for her to finish ranting, Luo Shangqing suddenly said, "Wait for a mont, I’m going to buy sothing."
Mu Chenxi waited for about ten minutes before Luo Shangqing returned, his hands holding a black plastic bag. It was unclear what was inside; he placed the bag in the storage box and started the car, saying, "Let’s go."
～
On her fifth day staying at Luo Shangqing’s place, Mu Chenxi felt as if she were starting to overstay her welco, the living room was full of snacks she had bought, the clothes hanging on the balcony were all hers, even Kong Tai had made himself at ho so much that he even snuck into Luo Shangqing’s bed for a nap yesterday evening. Fortunately, she noticed in ti and quickly straightened the bed back to its original state.
When Luo ijuan’s call ca, Mu Chenxi was in the kitchen cooking noodles. Luo Shangqing, who had just finished washing up, brought her phone over, the screen flashing with the words "Her Majesty."
Mu Chenxi hurriedly shoved the spatula into Luo Shangqing’s hand and instructed, "Don’t let the pot burn."
After that, she went to answer the phone.
Luo Shangqing looked at the spatula in his hand, sowhat helplessly; he had never cooked before and could only clumsily imitate Mu Chenxi, shaking the spatula awkwardly.
"Ah? You’re coming ho today at noon?" Mu Chenxi probably got excited, her voice unconsciously raised, "Wasn’t it supposed to be a week?"
Luo ijuan said, "The funeral here is over, and there is a very important surgery at your dad’s hospital waiting for him to lead personally. So, we’ve already bought the train tickets and are on the train now. It was too late to call you yesterday."
After Luo ijuan finished speaking, there was silence on Mu Chenxi’s end. Luo ijuan asked with confusion, "What’s the matter? Aren’t you happy that we’re coming back, or did you make a ss at ho and now it’s too late to clean it up?"
"No, no." Mu Chenxi waved her hands in a hurry, "I’m just too happy, so disoriented by the joy. Life has been worse than death without you guys at ho."
Luo ijuan couldn’t help but laugh, "You’re exaggerating. But I see you’re jumping around lively. Okay, the signal on the train is bad, I’ll hang up now."
"My parents are coming back." Mu Chenxi walked into the kitchen, "Professor Luo, thank you for taking in these past few days. I’ll figure out exactly how much I owe you and repay you once I return."
Luo Shangqing was silent and handed her back the spatula, "First finish cooking the noodles."
After the al, Mu Chenxi began to pack her things. Although she had stayed here for less than six days, she had a big bag of used items.
Having packed her belongings, Mu Chenxi turned around and saw Luo Shangqing standing by the door, holding a cup and drinking water.
"Professor Luo."
"I’ll take you." Luo Shangqing said, not waiting for her reply; he turned and walked away.
Mu Chenxi was sowhat baffled, feeling that Luo Shangqing’s attitude was sowhat brusque and cold, and even a trace of annoyance lurked. She racked her brain but couldn’t figure out when she had offended him again; this professor’s temperant was as difficult to fathom as the problems he set.
Luo ijuan and her husband were going to arrive in Aus City at eleven o’clock in the noon, and it would take until twelve o’clock to get ho. So Mu Chenxi decided to pretend to co back from outside half an hour after they got ho. This way, she would not be discovered having left her keys at ho and not being present.
Luo Shangqing drove her straight to the community entrance before stopping the car. She shared her plan with him, and he agreed to let her wait in his car until twelve o’clock.
Soft music played in the car; the warm sunlight rested gently on the car windows, and such a tranquil and warm noon made one dozy.
Mu Chenxi tried to muster her energy but couldn’t resist the sleepiness and dozed off against the back of the seat.
Luo Shangqing shifted his gaze from his phone, seeing her curled up like a little parrot in the car seat, her cheeks rosy and fair in her deep sleep. On closer inspection, her eyelashes were also long and lush, forming a crescent shape like little fans.
She wasn’t thoroughly beautiful, but the more one looked, the more pleasant to the eye she beca, especially when she smiled. Those dimples brimd with jubilation, as if there was so magic capable of dissipating the haze at the bottom of one’s heart.
Luo Shangqing realized he had been watching her intently for a long ti and abruptly averted his gaze, just as he saw Mu Kaihua and his wife stepping out of a taxi.
He reached out and nudged Mu Chenxi.
Mu Chenxi jolted awake, "What ti is it, what ti is it?"
"Your parents." Luo Shangqing pointed outside the car,
With his tall fra forced close to the position of the car seat, Luo Shangqing’s head pressed tightly against Mu Chenxi’s as she whispered her sneaky plan, embodying the feeling of a mischievous child afraid of being caught out.
He rembered his childhood when, as a consistently outstanding student, he was always seen as the well-behaved child by the adults. When the neighbour’s kids got into trouble, their parents would reproach, "Look at Professor Luo’s son next door, then look at you, simply not striving for improvent."
Back then, he had also envied those kids who could play and get into mischief carefree, even relishing the scolding. But, born into a family of dical lineage, he was imbued from a young age with the ethos of diligence, he didn’t even have ti to experience the joys of childhood. Gradually, that childlike innocence drifted further away, and he beca accustod to excellence upon excellence.
"Mu Chenxi," Luo Shangqing suddenly spoke up, "Do you often engage in these sneaky shenanigans?"
Mu Chenxi was about to correct his inappropriate wording, but when she looked up, she saw the starlike sparkle of his smile, like a diamond deeply imprinted in the depths of her eyes, stunningly brilliant.
She opened her mouth, forgot what she was going to say, and couldn’t help but be captivated by his smile.
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