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墨書 Inktalez
Feng Ning shook her head and said solemnly, "Two pieces."
After holding back for a long time, Jiang Wen suddenly broke into a smile, his fair and handsome face lighting up. He cleared his throat and said, "Alright, let's start then. Two pieces it is."
"Wow, did you just smile?" Feng Ning exclaimed, her face full of wonder. "I can't believe you can actually smile."
Jiang Wen quickly composed himself, feeling a bit embarrassed and annoyed. "What's wrong with smiling?"
"It looks good on you! You're already handsome, but when you smile, you're even more so," Feng Ning said sincerely. "You look way more cheerful than when you're sulking. If you could smile more at school, that guy from Class Seven who competes with you for Campus Heartthrob wouldn't stand a chance. Our Jiang would easily outshine him."
"Focus on studying," Jiang Wen commanded.
The sophomore courses were quite simple. Aside from physics and math, Feng Ning could manage to understand the rest through self-study. Most of her time at the hospital was spent either taking care of Qilan or reading.
She hadn't fallen too far behind and could barely keep up. After completing a test paper with a total score of one hundred, she estimated she could score around eighty.
The morning passed quickly, and when lunchtime arrived, Jiang Wen put down his pen. "What are we eating?"
"Feng's Kitchen."
"Where's that?"
She humorously replied, "In my kitchen at home."
"....."
Jiang Wen was pulled into the kitchen by her.
Feng Ning somehow found two deep blue aprons and tossed one to him, quickly putting on the other. The aprons had advertisements for MSG printed on the front and back.
Jiang Wen was speechless for a moment, reluctantly following suit. He was tall and could only roll up the sleeves, barely managing to put on the apron.
For the first time in his life, the young master Jiang found himself in the kitchen, surprisingly in the small, rundown yard of Feng Ning's home.
Feng Ning taught him how to pick vegetables, wash them, and cut potatoes. He didn’t put on any airs as a young master and worked alongside her.
Jiang Wen had a serious obsession with perfection; when cutting things, he had to ensure they were all of uniform thickness. As he cooked for the first time, he became more and more enthusiastic.
Feng Ning watched his focused profile and gave him a thumbs-up, repeatedly exclaiming, "Not bad! I didn’t expect you to have such potential."
While stir-frying, Feng Ning pulled out two towels from somewhere and handed him a cream-colored one.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Feng Ning placed the towel on her head and adjusted it. "See? Like this."
Jiang Wen refused. "I don’t want to."
Feng Ning urged him, "Hurry up! Cover your hair; otherwise, it will smell!"
His expression fluctuated between annoyance and reluctance. "No."
"Why not?"
The image-conscious Jiang Wen provided his answer: "It's too ugly. I'd rather wash my hair."
"Then you're not going back this afternoon, are you washing up at my place?"
Feng Ning turned on the gas, grabbed the spatula, and prepared to start frying the potatoes. "There's no one else here, so hurry up and stop being so pretentious."
As she tossed chopped scallions and garlic into the pan, Feng Ning was momentarily choked by the fumes. Turning around, she nearly burst out laughing.
Jiang Wen had a towel askew on his head, his sleeves rolled up, and there were two streaks of soy sauce smeared across his face from an earlier mishap. His delicate features were flushed red from the heat, transforming him from the trendy young master of the morning into a rustic househusband.
This was probably the most unrefined moment Jiang Wen had experienced since birth.
She took charge of the cooking. "Hey, stand back a bit; be careful not to get splattered with oil. Just pass me the seasonings."
Busy in the cramped and chaotic kitchen with Feng Ning, Jiang Wen found himself covered in the smell of smoke and food. Surprisingly, he didn’t throw a fit about it. His mood was unexpectedly good.
His phone buzzed several times. He pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at it, and then silenced it.
After over an hour of bustling around, they managed to whip up two dishes and a soup. Feng Ning set the dishes on the table and served two bowls of white rice, handing Jiang Wen a pair of chopsticks. "Alright, we can eat now!"
Jiang Wen pushed her hand away as she reached for the food. "Wait."
"What for?"
He stood up and took out his phone, snapping a few pictures of the spread on the table.
His behavior was so at odds with his usual aloof demeanor that Feng Ning couldn't help but chuckle as she bit down on her chopsticks. "Oh, so you want to capture your culinary achievements?" She patiently waited for him to finish taking photos. "Is this your first time cooking?"
"Yeah."
"How are you feeling?"
Jiang Young Master nodded reservedly. "It's okay."
After taking the photos, Jiang Wen sat down, and just then his phone rang again. He answered it.
Zhao Binlin shouted loudly, "Dude, I've been trying to call you! What are you up to? You're busier than the President! I can't even catch you at your own door!"
Jiang Wen replied coldly, "Get to the point."
"Let's hang out this afternoon. We're meeting at Jianshe Street at one-thirty. Lin Ru brought a few girls from other schools, and they're all super pretty. You have to come."
"I have something to do, I'm not going."
"No way! Listen to me, you have to come. Those girls are only coming because of you. If you don't show up, we won't be friends anymore."
Jiang Wen interrupted him, "You guys go ahead and have fun. I don't have time."
Zhao Binlin tried to argue further, but all he heard was a beep—Jiang Wen had hung up.
"Damn it."
Zhao Binlin glared at his phone in frustration.
Xi Gaoyuan asked, "So, is he coming or not?"
"He’s not coming!" Zhao Binlin pouted, venting all his frustration from Jiang Wen onto Xi Gaoyuan. "He always makes me call him. Why don’t you ever come?"
"What's up with that dog? He's been acting all mysterious lately. He wouldn't really be out there soliciting, would he?"
Xi Gaoyuan perked up at the mention of such risqué topics. "But, considering Jiang Young Master's personality, his virginity is probably reserved for..."
"Feng Ning?" Zhao Binlin chimed in, casting a sidelong glance at him, grinning in a rather lewd manner.
Xi Gaoyuan hummed in agreement. "If he gets the chance."
*
Around seven or eight in the evening, Feng Ning walked Jiang Wen out of Rain River Alley, and the moon had already risen.
Suddenly, she said, "You come in the morning and leave at night, under the stars and moonlight. It reminds me of a poem."
"What poem?"
Feng Ning's eyes sparkled. "Planting beans at Nanshan, where the grass grows thick and the bean sprouts are sparse. Rising early to clear the weeds, returning with my hoe under the moon."
"What?"
"I’m just like the beans planted by Jiang Yuanzheng under Nanshan."
He stood by the roadside trying to hail a cab.
"Stop trying to hail a taxi, you money-spending fool." Feng Ning pulled two steel coins from her pocket.
Jiang Wen paused. "What are you doing?"
"Let me take you home," Feng Ning said, a hint of excitement in her voice as she handed him a coin. "Take the bus!"
"You’re going to take me?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"
"Never mind, it's fine."
"Alright then, you can take the bus back by yourself. Just remember to get off at Xingxi Road and call me when you get home."
"Okay."
Jiang Wen fell silent.
The bus arrived, and as the doors opened, he was about to step on when someone jumped up beside him.
Jiang Wen glanced at Feng Ning. "What are you doing getting on?"
"Aren't you unhappy? I'm keeping you company on the way home."
He instinctively denied it. "I'm not..."
The bus driver urged them, "Move further inside, don’t block the door."
"Stop pretending; I can see right through you." Feng Ning dropped her coin into the fare box. "Let's go."
This 452 bus ran 24 hours a day, covering almost two-thirds of South City. Once they boarded, they chose a double seat in the middle towards the back. Feng Ning sat by the window while Jiang Wen took the seat next to her.
On the way, Feng Ning was on the phone with Qilan, happily reporting what she had done and learned that day. Once the call ended, she sighed and fell into a daze.
After removing her playful facade, she appeared somewhat lost and weary.
Jiang Wen glanced at her and spoke up, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Feng Ning replied, regaining her smile. "I finished tutoring your sister earlier. If I'm in a hurry, I take the subway. If not, I prefer this bus; the scenery along this route is stunning."
The two fell silent. The bus swayed slightly as chaotic advertisements played on the small screen, while the scenery outside changed rapidly, with flickering neon lights gliding past them. Feng Ning's eyelids grew heavy, and eventually, she succumbed to sleep.
In the dim light, Jiang Wen lazily turned his head to look at her. Feng Ning had already dozed off; her eyelashes fluttered gently with each shallow breath, her face illuminated and shadowed intermittently.
He raised his hand slightly, pausing just a bit away from her, tracing her outline with his fingertips.
The bus jolted slightly, and in that half-dreaming state, Feng Ning's eyelashes trembled. Jiang Wen withdrew his hand.
The lights dimmed further as the night bus came to a stop; some passengers boarded while others quietly disembarked.
The night silently enveloped the city's fatigue. He took out his headphones from his pocket, putting one side on himself and gently placing the other end into Feng Ning's ear.
She remained asleep.
Jiang Wen swiped his finger across his phone to open the playlist.
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