The temperature at night is a bit cool.
I had just eaten, and my whole body was still warm, but I didn't feel cold at all.
The two people intertwined their fingers and walked slowly along the road.
"Brother Zhining, I feel that grandma doesn't like me, even though she acts close to me." Sheng Jiaoyang turned his head and glanced at Shen Zhining and said.
"It doesn't matter, we will go home the day after tomorrow."
Thinking about it, Sheng Jiaoyang no longer worried about this matter. She instead said, "I should give you some gifts for grandpa's birthday. What do you think is the best thing for me to give?"
"Does grandpa like painting?" Sheng Jiaoyang asked again before Shen Zhining could answer.
Shen Zhining stopped and looked at her, "You have already felt their attitude, why bother to prepare gifts."
Sheng Jiaoyang raised his lips and smiled without any grudges: "They are your relatives. No matter what, I still have to do what I should do."
In fact, if you think about it, Ning Xiaoruan and his parents are not bad in character, so the temperaments of the two elders of the Ning family will not be that bad. Even if they don't like her, they can at least maintain the same attitude as today, and that's enough. , anyway, Shen Zhining’s surname is Shen, not Ning.
"It's my birthday soon too." Suddenly I heard Shen Zhining say this.
She blinked, April 12th seemed like only a few days ago.
"What gift are you going to give me?"
"Uh... now that I tell you, there won't be any surprises?"
Shen Zhining looked at her steadily and suddenly said, "Okay, then I'll wait for your surprise."
The light from the street lamp was not bright, but when he smiled softly, his whole body seemed to glow, so brightly that Sheng Jiaoyang couldn't move his eyes away.
Suddenly a gust of cool wind hit, and Sheng Jiaoyang shivered. The night was still quite cold.
Shen Zhining reached out and hugged her, "Let's go back and rest."
Smelling his unique scent, Sheng Jiaoyang felt warm in his heart.
Although Shen Zhining doesn't come often, the Ning family has always reserved a room for him. This room used to belong to his mother, and later became his.
Sheng Jiaoyang picked up the photo frame on the table. On it was a family photo of a family of three, consisting of the extremely handsome father Shen, the delicate and gentle mother Shen, and a young boy with a bright smile. This young boy was naturally Shen Zhining.
"It's just a photo. Do you need to look at it for so long?" A pair of hands came up from behind and hugged her waist.
“This is the first time I’ve met them.” By them she meant his parents, the young couple in the photo.
Although Sheng Jiaoyang's grandfather and Shen Zhining's grandfather were good friends, in fact, Sheng Jiaoyang had never met Shen Zhining's parents before their accident.
Shen Zhining just hugged her and said nothing. His eyes fell on the photo, which was a little dark.
Sheng Jiaoyang didn't need to look at his expression to sense his momentary depression. She changed the subject and said, "Brother Zhining, I didn't expect you to be so cheerful."
"You mean," Shen Zhining leaned against her ear, "I'm not cheerful now?"
Sheng Jiaoyang shrank his neck, feeling a little itchy, and tilted his head to look at Shen Zhining: "Can I tell the truth?"
"Do you want to tell a lie?" Shen Zhining raised his eyebrows slightly.
Sheng Jiaoyang pursed her lips and smiled, probably because she had already done the intimate things. When she faced him, she no longer had a sense of distance like in the past. She looked very relaxed, as if she was familiar with her master. The dead cat no longer showed its paws in defense, and lay down softly, exposing its belly.
"I don't think you can be associated with cheerfulness at all now." She said in a teasing tone.
"Then what do you think I am now?"
After thinking about it, Sheng Jiaoyang's eyes darted around and he said confidently: "I can't tell."
Shen Zhining chuckled, raised his hand to hook her chin, and moved closer: "It seems you don't know me well enough, let's..."
"Cough!" A disconcerting cough came from the direction of the door.
Looking over, I saw Ning Xiaoruan holding the doorknob, standing at the door, looking at them awkwardly.
"It's not me peeping, it's your door that's not closed." Ning Xiaoruan quickly explained.
"Please close the door, thank you." Shen Zhining drove people away.
Ning Xiaoruan said with a numb scalp, "My parents asked me to ask you, we have to go to the hotel early tomorrow to welcome guests. Will you two go by yourself or with us?"
"Let's go together." Shen Zhining's eyes swept over lightly, why don't you leave
"Um, what," Ning Xiaoruan scratched his neck, "You guys have a rest, don't make trouble too late, good night." After saying that, he quickly closed the door.
Sheng Jiaoyang found it funny to see Ning Xiaoruan acting like a mouse and a cat. Ning Xiaoruan must have been dealt with severely by Shen Zhining before, otherwise he wouldn't be so afraid.
"By the way, I haven't prepared my gift yet. Brother Zhining, are there any paper, ink, pen and inkstone here?" Sheng Jiaoyang thought of another thing and said quickly.
"There is it in the study."
"Then can you bring me a set?"
"Just go to the study room."
"Isn't this bad?" Sheng Jiaoyang hesitated. No one is allowed to enter a place like the study at will.
"You are not an outsider."
Shen Zhining took her to the study.
As soon as he entered the study, Sheng Jiaoyang was attracted by the books covering two walls. The books on the two walls made the study look very scholarly.
When Shen Zhining helped her lay out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, he asked her: "Don't you paint oil paintings?"
"You don't have oil painting materials here. It takes time to buy them, and the oil paintings have to dry for a while after painting. It's really too late."
"Are you going to do ink painting?"
"Well, I think grandpa also prefers our local products."
"When did you learn it?" Shen Zhining looked at her. In his impression, she had never learned ink painting.
"I learned it after I returned to China. The time was too short. I only learned a little bit. I might have to make a fool of myself. But at least it is my intention. Grandpa won't throw it away, right?" Sheng Jiaoyang said jokingly.
Shen Zhining had a smile in his eyes, "If he wants to throw it away, that's good, I can pick it back and treasure it."
It's a treasure, not a collection... Sheng Jiaoyang pursed his lips, feeling very happy, as if he had been wiped with honey.
Lay out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and grind the ink well.
Standing in front of the desk, Sheng Jiaoyang suppressed all emotions and entered a state of concentration.
Ink painting is different from oil painting. Oil painting relies on the layering of colors and pays attention to reality, while ink painting pays more attention to artistic conception because the whole picture is only black and white.
Sheng Jiaoyang already had the idea of a painting in her mind. After being silent for a while, she picked up the pen.
When she started writing, she did not hesitate. With one stroke, she directly drew a curve that almost diagonally spanned the entire drawing paper. Then she started to draw in a smooth flow, dotting, tracing, changing pens and continuing to ink. draw.
An outline quickly appeared on the white paper.
After adding the details bit by bit with fine brushes, a pine and cypress tree proudly took root on the drawing paper.
Immediately afterwards, many more figures appeared under the shade of the trees. In front of the big pines and cypresses, these figures looked very petite, but the whole picture was full of harmony.
After finishing the last stroke, Sheng Jiaoyang was about to put down the pen, but she heard Shen Zhining, who was standing by to help her sharpen the ink, say: "Don't you want to sign?"
Sheng Jiaoyang put down her pen. She looked at Shen Zhining and saw that he was looking at her paintings. She suddenly became playful and replied: "I can't sign. Someone spent a huge sum of money to seal my pen name."
At this point, she paused, then raised her voice and continued: "He also said that if he saw me with this name again, he would call me life, or, for example, death."
Shen Zhining's face stiffened for a moment, and he almost forgot about it.
Seeing his expression, Sheng Jiaoyang thought it was quite funny, and said deliberately: "I'm so scared. I don't dare to sign my name anymore, and I don't want to write anything else, so I might as well just write nothing. "
"Are you blaming me?" Shen Zhining looked at her.
Sheng Jiaoyang lowered his head and said quietly, "How dare I."
What if you are unhappy and lock me in a dark room? She muttered.
"I heard everything." Shen Zhining had already walked around the desk and walked to Sheng Jiaoyang.
He held her face in his hands, looked directly at her, and whispered: "I want to tell you that I'm sorry for all the bastard things I did at that time."
It was just a joke at first, but seeing him being so serious, Sheng Jiaoyang was not used to it. She hurriedly said: "It's okay, everything has passed, and you didn't recognize me at that time. It's normal to have such a reaction. .”
Shen Zhining was silent for a moment. His eyes were deep and he said in a serious tone: "I feel now that it was a good thing that I didn't recognize you at that time."
"Why?" Sheng Jiaoyang looked confused.
Shen Zhining rubbed her cheek, hugged her and walked out, "Let's go back to the room to rest."
"Wait, you haven't told me why it's a good thing you didn't recognize me then."
"I'll tell you when I get your surprise gift."
"Hey, what can't you say?"
"Leave it in suspense so that you can prepare the gift for me more carefully."
The door to the study was closed, and everything in the room, together with the painting, fell into darkness.
When having breakfast the next day, Sheng Jiaoyang raised his eyes and met the old man's gaze again when he felt the frequent glances from the host.
"Grandpa, what's wrong with you?" Sheng Jiaoyang called in a very friendly tone.
"I heard that you can draw." Mr. Ning said.
"Yeah." Knowing that the old man was just using these words as a quotation, Sheng Jiaoyang looked at him and seemed to be listening carefully.
Mr. Ning coughed slightly and asked straight to the point: "Did you paint the paintings in the study?"
"You just saw it?" Sheng Jiaoyang was a little surprised.
Shen Zhining said from the side: "Grandpa goes into the study room to read a book every morning."
Sheng Jiaoyang turned to look at him and thought, since you know it, why didn't you remind me to put the painting away last night.
She then said to Mr. Ning: "Grandpa, this is a little thought of mine. The painting is not very good. I hope you don't dislike it."
"Yes." Mr. Ning responded calmly. (To be continued)