Chapter 24.1 - Unable to Get into the Role (1)
Sheng Huainan laughed upon hearing this, tilting his head and looking at her seriously.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Luo Zhi sighed.
"Romance is always something the observer sees."
For Sheng Huainan, this event was a childhood romance — a quiet girl, a fleeting encounter with no "afterwards."
But for her, it wasn’t like that. It was their first meeting. She was always the unfortunate one, the one with no connection to romance, the one who bore all of the “afterwards.”
Because later, she found out that her mother had gone to ask his father for help in obtaining her father’s pension with a bottle of Maotai liquor and a set of children’s encyclopedias; because that day, when her mother greeted Sheng Huainan’s mother at the gate of the government compound, she had seen the coldness and disdain in that woman’s eyes; because that sunset behind him was so beautiful that she couldn’t see his face, but the afterglow of the setting sun stung her eyes.
All the subsequent events, even up to today, if anyone is to blame, it should be him.
Back then, she was alone, sitting on the steps, her left hand still feeling the coldness and sweat of her mother's hand earlier.
She looked up at the sky, clear and blue, the clouds stretched out like ripples or fish scales, extending all the way to the horizon. She stared, and suddenly felt the urge to tell her mother, "Let’s forget about the money, okay?"
“Forget the money, it’s us who don’t want it, not that they won’t give it.”
That way, she wouldn’t cry.
She tilted her head until her neck ached, and suddenly, a big head blocked her view of the sky.
It was him, smiling at her, asking, “What’s your name? I’m Sheng Huainan, my name means 'Southern'. My mom is from the South, but I’m a Northerner. But everyone says my name sounds nice.”
Before she could answer, he added, “Why are you sitting here by yourself? The girls are playing house, come play with us.”
He said, “Now, you are my fourth imperial concubine.”
He kept talking.
It wasn’t until Luo Zhi grew up that she understood how important speaking was. Those small, fragmented sentences could fill the gaps between people. It’s always better to be crowded than to be empty, because being empty is desolate.
When he waved goodbye to her, the sunset behind him was so dazzling it made her tear up.
What was that line from the song?
“You shine for a moment, and I’ll be dizzy for a lifetime.”
He would never know, a few days later, she passed by that government compound again. Her mother had gone inside to take care of business and had entrusted her to the kindergarten principal. When the principal jokingly asked her if she wanted her mother to send her to the kindergarten, she foolishly thought he was one of the children at the kindergarten. She rushed into the compound, wanting to tell her mother that she wanted to go to kindergarten, but instead, she saw her mother crying and begging an aunt.
She didn’t hear what they were saying. She returned to the kindergarten and seriously told the principal, "Aunt, this place is too far from my home. I want to go to a kindergarten closer to my home."
What place? A place closer to her miserable home?
It must be far from him.
He knew nothing. Even in those eleven years where he didn’t appear, he still haunted Luo Zhi’s youth.
But those eleven years were no longer as warm as their first meeting. In the four years that followed, he pushed her down into the dust, causing a humble flower to bloom.
Sheng Huainan reached out, pulling her back to reality as the vegetable tempura was served.
Sheng Huainan said, "This dish doesn’t have any fatty meat, fortunately. How about I place these two pieces of fatty meat on the beam, what do you think?"
He was inexplicably excited by this strange coincidence.
