Chapter 022

Humming the tune in her head as she cooked, Zhenzhen felt like a young bird trying its wings for the first time.

Lately, Shi Huaiming often found himself unconsciously drawn to the smile on Zhenzhen’s face. He could sense the light and simple joy radiating from her, and it stirred in him a similar feeling—something quiet and peaceful, like the beauty of time slowly passing.

For a moment, he let himself be caught up in that gentle happiness.

Then he asked her, “What did Li Shuang do with you this afternoon?”

Hearing him ask, Zhenzhen turned around, glanced at him, and smiled. “Sister-in-law Li Shuang brought out a phonograph from her house and played music for me all afternoon. She also let me try coffee and told me lots of beautiful things.”

Watching her as she moved about cooking, Shi Huaiming followed up, “What songs did you listen to?”

Still busy in the kitchen, Zhenzhen replied cheerfully, “We listened to a lot of songs, but my favorite was ‘Listening to Mama Talk About the Past.’ ‘We sit by the tall haystacks, listening to Mama tell stories of the past…’”

She recited the lyrics.

But her tone was so warm that Shi Huaiming could picture the scene just from her voice.

It was a scene he too had experienced—during the autumn harvest, sitting by the haystacks, listening to his mother tell stories.

He stared at Zhenzhen’s profile in a daze.

When he didn’t respond, Zhenzhen turned her head and happened to catch his gaze.

Their eyes met. Shi Huaiming didn’t look away, and Zhenzhen’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She had no idea why he was looking at her like that.

After a moment’s hesitation, she asked softly, “Third Brother, what’s wrong?”

Shi Huaiming snapped out of it and quickly looked away. “Just thinking about my mother.”

His words instantly made Zhenzhen think of Zhong Minfen—and then of her own mother.

Her birth mother could no longer be seen in this life, but they could still visit Zhong Minfen. So Zhenzhen said to him, “When you get leave to visit home, let’s go see Mom together. Or if she feels better, we can bring her to the city.”

Shi Huaiming nodded. “Alright.”

He had originally planned for Zhong Minfen to come to the city with Zhenzhen, but she hadn’t come in the end.

When the time was right, he still intended to bring her over.

Their hometown remained the biggest shared connection between Zhenzhen and Shi Huaiming.

Once the topic of home came up, they had more to talk about.

Zhenzhen told him about what had happened in the village and at home during the five years he’d been away.

Most of it was just trivial everyday things—family matters, farming affairs.

Since Zhenzhen had come to the city, Shi Huaiming had also been in regular correspondence with the family.

Nothing major had changed back home. Life continued as always, day after day. That small village remained the same, year after year—the same sun, the same land. For farmers, the biggest events in life were still spring planting and autumn harvest.

–

That day was fulfilling and satisfying for Zhenzhen.

After dinner, she twirled once in her room, relaxed and content. Sitting at the desk, she took out everything she’d bought that morning. She tried on the new hair clips in front of the mirror, slipped on the little leather shoes, and walked back and forth a few times, her heart bursting with happiness.

Just as she was putting the shoes away, she suddenly remembered something.

Before leaving that morning, she had told Wu Dafeng that she’d come visit after she got back—but she’d been so caught up in the day that she’d forgotten all about it.

Remembering this, she went to let Shi Huaiming know and then headed over to Wu Dafeng’s house.

By now, Wu Dafeng’s family had already finished dinner. Old Zhou had taken their four kids out to the playground to stretch their legs. Zhenzhen stayed with Wu Dafeng, chatting as they worked on some sewing.

Curious, Wu Dafeng asked, “What were you doing at Li Shuang’s all afternoon? I saw you two sitting and drinking something, and I heard someone singing from inside. Who was singing?”

She had thought about finding Zhenzhen earlier, but when she saw her at Li Shuang’s, she decided not to interrupt.

So when she asked, Zhenzhen naturally told her about everything that had happened that afternoon.

Wu Dafeng found it all fascinating. Looking at Zhenzhen in disbelief, she said, “There’s really such a thing in the world? It turns around and sings on its own?”

Zhenzhen nodded. “Yes, it’s really interesting. Maybe we can ask Sister-in-law Li Shuang to play it for you sometime?”

The moment Wu Dafeng thought of Li Shuang’s face, she immediately refused. “I don’t want to listen. That thing can’t fill your belly, what’s the point? Today it’s this, tomorrow it’ll be something else again—how is anyone supposed to live like that?”

Seeing Wu Dafeng’s reaction, Zhenzhen didn’t press the topic any further.

She used to think that she and Li Shuang were from two different worlds. Now, she realized it was Wu Dafeng and Li Shuang who truly belonged to different worlds. They didn’t understand each other’s ways of life, nor did they accept them. Each believed the other was living the wrong way.

But Zhenzhen didn’t feel that anyone was necessarily living the wrong way.

Everyone has their own way of living. As long as it feels right to them, that’s enough.

It was just that she didn’t feel her own way of living was right, which was why she wanted to change—wanted to broaden her horizons and become a better version of herself.

Wu Dafeng kept saying that Li Shuang was leading her astray.

But Zhenzhen felt otherwise. Her life hadn’t gone off track—in fact, she had gained many new experiences.

Compared to who she used to be, she now felt fuller inside, as though she was slowly becoming more substantial.

Of course, she didn’t say any of this to Wu Dafeng.

Partly because she wasn’t great at expressing herself, and partly because she knew Wu Dafeng wouldn’t understand or agree.

In Wu Dafeng’s eyes, all of these changes were bad—signs of a woman going astray.

Zhenzhen didn’t bring up Li Shuang again. Instead, she sat and chatted with Wu Dafeng about household matters.

When Old Zhou returned with the four kids, Zhenzhen said her goodbyes and headed home.

After washing up, she lay down and went to sleep.

A full and satisfying day came to an end in sweet slumber.

The next morning marked the start of a new week.

This time, before Shi Huaiming could even say anything, Zhenzhen spoke up on her own. “I’ll stay focused and study hard.”

Shi Huaiming nodded at her and encouraged her with a simple, “Keep it up.”

After being strictly supervised by Shi Huaiming for so long, Zhenzhen had developed much stronger self-discipline and focus when it came to studying. Now, she could concentrate without letting her thoughts drift.

Thanks to that focus, she had already learned to recognize quite a few characters.

After estimating how many characters Zhenzhen had learned, Shi Huaiming figured it was time for her to start applying them.

So after a moment of thought, he said to her, “Learning to read and write is for everyday life. Reading is one part of it, but writing is another. Starting today, try writing something each day.”

Writing?

Zhenzhen looked at him and asked, “Write what?”

She knew she wasn’t ready to write essays—she still had trouble reading fluently.

Shi Huaiming understood that. She didn’t know enough characters, and her grasp on forming words and sentences was still superficial. Even her reading wasn’t smooth yet. He said, “Let’s start with bookkeeping. If there are characters you don’t know, use pinyin for now. I’ll teach you later.”

Bookkeeping—that she could manage.

Zhenzhen quickly nodded. “Okay!”

With that settled, before heading to class, Shi Huaiming handed Zhenzhen a brand-new notebook.

He placed it in her hands and said, “Use this one.”

Zhenzhen liked the crisp, clean cover of the new notebook.

She took it, smiling, and replied, “Alright.”

After Shi Huaiming left for class, Zhenzhen sat down at her desk, picked up his fountain pen, and carefully wrote her name on the cover—Lin Zhenzhen.

When she finished, she looked at it with satisfaction, capped the pen, and put it away.

Looking at her name on the notebook, she thought to herself—now that it has her name, it’s hers.

She set the notebook aside and refocused her attention on studying.

She began by rereading the texts she had already learned, then practiced writing the characters, and then reviewed the math problems she had studied—solidifying what she had learned.

Once her review felt complete, Zhenzhen went to the grocery store.

She brought the pen and notebook with her in her bag. When she got to the store, she took them out and began writing down each item as she bought it.

Watching her do this, Awen watched with amusement and teased, “So thrifty, huh?”

Zhenzhen replied seriously, “I’m practicing my writing.”

Awen glanced at her notebook and smiled. “Looks pretty good.”

Hearing that, Zhenzhen beamed. “Maybe one day I’ll even be able to write articles.”

That was quite an ambitious goal. Awen patted her on the shoulder, encouraging her, “You definitely can. Keep at it.”

After finishing her shopping and bookkeeping, Zhenzhen returned home.

She set down the groceries and sat down to review the entries in her notebook.

There were some words she didn’t know how to write—like the more complex “lotus root”—so she replaced them with pinyin.

It was her first time applying what she’d learned to real life, and the sense of achievement filled her heart.

From not recognizing a single character when she arrived to now being able to buy groceries and keep accounts, it felt magical—an incredibly rewarding experience.

After looking at her work for a while, Zhenzhen carefully put the notebook away.

Even while she cooked lunch, her mind lingered on those bookkeeping entries.

After lunch, she studied with Shi Huaiming and showed him her notebook.

Shi Huaiming looked it over and nodded. “Very good.”

Then he picked up his fountain pen and filled in the characters Zhenzhen hadn’t been able to write.

Zhenzhen watched him complete her entries.

Looking at the mix of her handwriting and his on the same page, she felt her heart flutter, and for a moment, her thoughts drifted.

She suddenly had a faint but distinct feeling—that she was a little closer to him now.

She lifted her eyes to look at Shi Huaiming, a smile just barely held back in her gaze.

When Shi Huaiming handed the notebook back to her and met her eyes, he quickly looked away and said softly, “Still need to work hard.”

Zhenzhen gathered herself and nodded. “Mm.”

She knew there was still a significant gap between her and him, but she was determined to keep working hard.

Besides her academic efforts, Zhenzhen was also trying to draw closer to Shi Huaiming emotionally. In her spare time, she followed Li Shuang’s lead, learning to change the way she spoke and behaved, refining her manners, and broadening her horizons.

As for how emotionally close she had grown to Shi Huaiming, Zhenzhen wasn’t sure.

Despite the time they had spent together, she still didn’t know if Shi Huaiming had developed any different feelings for her. Since he had never said anything, she hadn’t dared to ask.

Most of their interaction still revolved around their daily lessons.

Shi Huaiming continually taught her new material, checked her progress, and offered either criticism or praise based on how well she grasped it.

His critiques came in various forms, and so did his rewards.

When Zhenzhen performed well, he’d draw little red flowers as rewards, praise her verbally, and sometimes give her treats—milk candy, biscuits, or chocolate—to encourage her to keep going.

But when she didn’t do well, his criticism could be sharp and uncompromising, sometimes even to the point of making her cry.

In terms of academics, he had stayed true to his word from the start—strict and demanding.

Through alternating cycles of criticism and encouragement, Zhenzhen had progressed from recognizing no characters at all to gradually understanding many. From being completely lost when she stepped outside, she could now read simple signs and had even learned to keep accounts.

Although the process was sometimes grueling, even suffocating,

Overall, everything was steadily getting better.

–

Ten days passed in a steady rhythm of effort.

After completing her studies that day, Zhenzhen went out by herself.

She rode her bike to the tailor’s shop to pick up two sets of newly made clothes.

The fabric and styles had been chosen with help from Li Shuang and Awen, and the finished outfits were beautiful.

When she got home with the new clothes, she couldn’t resist trying them on.

Both sets fit perfectly—neither flashy nor gaudy, just very tasteful and flattering.

After trying them both, Zhenzhen stood in front of the mirror, hesitating for a moment before deciding to leave on the plaid long dress.

To go with the dress, she put on the small leather shoes she had bought earlier.

She added a hairclip and dabbed on a bit of scented cream.

Lifting her skirt slightly, Zhenzhen stood before the mirror and held her breath as she looked at herself—she barely recognized the person staring back.

At that moment, she truly looked like someone who had stepped out of a painting—elegant and refined.

She stood in front of the mirror, dazed for a long time.

When she finally snapped out of it, she remembered she had to cook, but a glance at the time told her it was already too late. So she didn’t cook and instead grabbed her lunchbox to fetch food from the cafeteria.

Because she was in a completely new outfit, Zhenzhen felt a little nervous stepping outside.

But she was dressed perfectly normally—a modest dress and low-heeled shoes. No one gave her strange looks. It was only because she had never dressed like this before that she felt self-conscious.

After her trip to the cafeteria and back, she began to relax.

On the way back, she ran into Wu Dafeng, who was visibly surprised. “Aiyo, Zhenzhen! Why are you dressed like that?”

Zhenzhen immediately felt embarrassed.

She stopped and asked, “Does it look bad?”

Wu Dafeng frowned. “Of course it looks bad! What are you wearing? So weird and over-the-top—completely improper. Ugly as sin. Go home and change!”

Zhenzhen was mortified by her comment.

Before she could respond, another voice cut in, “It looks great! Really great!”

Zhenzhen turned around to see Li Shuang returning with He Ziran.

Li Shuang smiled and added, “Ziran, tell your aunt—doesn’t she look nice?”

He Ziran immediately shouted, “Auntie looks great in that dress!”

Wu Dafeng groaned and turned to Li Shuang, annoyed. “You being strange is one thing, but now you’re dragging Zhenzhen into it too. How’s she supposed to get any work done dressed like that?”

Li Shuang just laughed and didn’t bother responding.

If she kept arguing, it would turn into a full-blown shouting match with hands on hips. And she wasn’t about to get on Wu Dafeng’s bad side again, so she smiled politely and went inside.

After Li Shuang went in, Zhenzhen didn’t linger either. She gave Wu Dafeng a brief goodbye and carried her lunchbox home.

Back home, she put the food on the stove to keep warm and then went into the room to look at herself in the mirror again.

While looking, she wondered: Was it really too flashy? Too improper? Was it actually unattractive?

But after a while, she still felt it looked really good—so she decided not to change.

Then she heard the front door open.

Zhenzhen stepped out of her room and greeted him, “You’re back.”

Shi Huaiming was hanging up his hat and turned to see Zhenzhen. He froze instinctively for a moment.

Zhenzhen was completely transformed. She wore a long dress with a belt cinching her waist, giving her a slim silhouette. The hem of the skirt revealed her fair, slender calves, followed by white socks and polished black leather shoes.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, he came back to his senses and walked in, replying, “Yeah.”

Zhenzhen didn’t say anything more. She went to the kitchen to get the food, and Shi Huaiming followed her in.

With the food and utensils set out on the table, they sat down to eat.

Zhenzhen didn’t know how Shi Huaiming felt about her outfit and was a little nervous, so she kept quiet.

Shi Huaiming was usually a man of few words, and true to form, he didn’t say anything—no comments, no reaction to how she looked.

Worried he might dislike how she was dressed, Zhenzhen hesitated for a long while before finally asking, “Is it okay if I dress like this?”

When Shi Huaiming heard her question, he looked up and nodded, replying, “It’s fine.”

The weather was getting warmer, and it wasn’t uncommon to see girls wearing dresses on the street.

Zhenzhen let out a breath of relief. She wanted to ask if he thought it looked good, but when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them again, thinking it might be awkward to say it out loud.

So she didn’t ask further, just lowered her head and quietly focused on eating.

After dinner, everything followed the usual routine.

Zhenzhen went to Shi Huaiming’s room and sat down for their study session.

Since he didn’t seem to have any particular reaction to her outfit, she relaxed and treated things as normal.

She turned her textbook to the page they were studying, picked up her pencil and notebook, and focused her attention.

Shi Huaiming, as usual, looked serious as he started teaching from the textbook.

He sat beside Zhenzhen, pointing to the characters in the book with his pen as he read them aloud slowly.

He read one line, and Zhenzhen followed along carefully, repeating it line by line.

Once they had read through the passage several times, Shi Huaiming began teaching her the new vocabulary.

When she struggled with more complex characters, her strokes shaky and uneven, he, as usual, reached out to guide her hand and demonstrate how to write them properly — it helped her learn faster.

But just as he held her hand and finished the first stroke, he abruptly let go.

Zhenzhen looked at him, puzzled. He said, “Just practice it on your own.”

She didn’t object. “Okay.”

Zhenzhen earnestly finished writing the new characters.

Shi Huaiming didn’t comment on her performance. He simply pulled out the math textbook and started a new lesson.

He taught the new content at a brisk pace and had her do exercises right after explaining.

Zhenzhen felt he seemed even more serious than usual today.

So she tensed up and didn’t dare let her focus slip.

While Zhenzhen worked on the math problems, Shi Huaiming picked up his own book to read.

But although his eyes were on the page for quite some time, he wasn’t really processing the words.

In his right palm, he could still feel the warmth from the back of Zhenzhen’s hand, along with a faint lingering scent.

Zhenzhen sat beside him, writing. The scratch of her pencil against the paper filled the quiet room.

He listened to the soft sound, and without realizing it, turned his head to glance at her notebook.

His gaze lingered on her work for a while, then drifted upward to her profile.

Under the bright light from the table lamp, her face looked pale and luminous.

Her eyes were lowered in concentration, and the light cast long, distinct shadows from her curled lashes.

A small hair clip was pinned behind her ear, contrasting with her dark hair and making her ear look fair and delicate.

Zhenzhen finished a problem and happened to turn her head toward Shi Huaiming.

Catching him looking at her, she was momentarily stunned, her face showing a bit of confusion.

Her mind was still occupied with the lesson and the problems she had just done, so she didn’t think too much of it.

Shi Huaiming snapped out of it, quickly looked away, put down his book, and stood up, saying, “I’m stepping out for a bit. Keep working.”

Before Zhenzhen could react, he had already left.

Zhenzhen came to herself and wanted to explain that she hadn’t been daydreaming, but Shi Huaiming had already closed the door.

So she said nothing and went back to her exercises.

Outside, Shi Huaiming lit a cigarette.

He exhaled into the quiet night, tilted his head, and looked up at the moon.

It felt as though a stone had dropped into his heart, sending ripples that were especially noticeable in the stillness of the evening.

He was well aware that he had started behaving differently around Zhenzhen lately.

Back when she first arrived, she had worn new clothes and even dressed up carefully, but he hadn’t thought much of it. Today, though, she had seemed… different.

He didn’t know when it started, but during their conversations, he’d find himself distracted by her eyes or her smile. Sometimes, he would even lose focus while looking at her — and feel a stir of emotions he knew he shouldn’t have.

Just like earlier — he had spaced out again.

Smoking, he thought to himself:

In the end, he was still just an ordinary man. Not immune to being moved by a woman’s beauty.

But his principles hadn’t changed — a man shouldn’t be ruled by desire.

While he was lost in thought, someone bumped into his shoulder.

Snapping out of it, Shi Huaiming turned to see it was He Shuo.

He Shuo looked at him and asked, “What are you doing out here this late?”

Shi Huaiming replied calmly, “Just came out for a smoke.”

He Shuo asked for a cigarette, lit it with Shi Huaiming’s lighter, and said, “I’ll keep you company.”

After taking a puff, He Shuo smiled and said, “You look like you’ve got something on your mind.”

Shi Huaiming exhaled smoke and replied, “What could I possibly be thinking about? Just needed a breath of air.”

He Shuo followed up with a grin, “Xiaomianhua’s making you feel suffocated? Isn’t it always the other way around?”

Shi Huaiming: “…”

He Shuo chuckled and didn’t press the matter.

He finished his cigarette quickly and said, “I’m heading back to my wife. You stay out here and find enlightenment.”

Shi Huaiming: “…”

After He Shuo left, Shi Huaiming stayed outside for a little while longer.

Once he had completely calmed down, he returned to the house and sat next to Zhenzhen as usual, reading his book.

Zhenzhen sneaked a glance at him.

He seemed even more stern and cold than before, so she immediately snapped back to attention and focused on studying.

She figured if he caught any mistakes now, he’d probably scold her harshly.

Only when the study session ended and Shi Huaiming signaled it was over did Zhenzhen finally relax.

She didn’t linger a second longer, quickly gathering her textbook, pencil, and notebook before returning to her own room.

Once inside, she finally relaxed fully and collapsed onto the bed, lying there for a while.

She stared at the ceiling, thinking to herself—
Could it be that Shi Huaiming didn’t like the way she was dressed today? But judging by how he usually was, if he didn’t like it, he would’ve said so directly. So probably not.

After mulling it over, the most likely explanation she could come up with was that he was simply being stricter than usual to keep her from getting distracted by things like this, so she could focus better on her studies.

That made sense. He never really cared what she looked like or how she dressed.

Zhenzhen turned over and lay on her stomach.

After lying there a while, she got up, stood in front of the mirror, and took another look at herself.

She still quite liked it—she looked nice and it made her happy. So she smiled with her lips pressed together, lifted her skirt, and spun in a little circle.