After lunch, Shen Li played chess with Mei Yanqing for a while before leaving.
When I got home, it happened to be evening.
She pressed the code to enter the door:
"Dad, I'm back."
No one answered, she looked up and found that Shen Zhijin was not in the living room.
She changed her shoes, put the painting back in the studio, thought about it, and knocked on the door of the study.
There were footsteps, and then the door was opened.
Shen Zhijin stood behind the door with clean eyebrows and clean eyes:
"Are you back? Sorry, I was reading a book just now, so I didn't hear it."
Shen Li's gaze swept across the desk behind him.
Spread out on it is a heavy volume of "Sunspot".
This is a basic book in the field of astronomy, but Shen Zhijin is reading it.
She remembered this book—it was the one that Gu Tingyin bought to read at the beginning, but she couldn't understand it, so she gave it to Shen Zhijin.
Of course, she gave him, not just this one.
Shen Li can still think of the beautiful handwriting on the title page and the little figure scratching his head in distress at the foot of the page.
It was because he was so engrossed in watching that he didn't hear her enter the door.
What's more, it's such a simple book for Shen Zhijin.
Shen Li paused, then rolled her eyes:
"It's okay, I just wanted to ask you, what's for dinner tonight. I see that there is a mango ice cream cake in the refrigerator. Did you buy it for your mother?"
"Um."
Shen Zhijin's brows and eyes stretched.
Shen Li asked:
"I haven't heard you mention that mom likes mangoes too?"
As soon as she asked this sentence, she suddenly understood something.
—Shen Zhijin is the one who likes mangoes.
Shen Zhijin smiled:
"She always buys this flavor for her birthday. She doesn't eat much mango, but the ice cream is hers."
Shen Li's fingers curled up.
When Shen Zhijin brought up the past, it was clearly a memory many, many years ago, and it was still as vivid as yesterday.
He rubbed her head:
"Does Tangtang want to eat tomato beef brisket today?"
Shen Li returned to her senses and nodded:
"Um."
Shen Zhijin smiled and said:
"good."
…
The dinner was very rich, Shen Zhijin even took out the cake after the meal.
It's a six-inch cake with mangoes piled high on it.
Shen Li saw that he took out the candles and inserted them one by one.
—Twenty whole.
Shen Zhijin turned off the lights in the dining room, only the faint light from the living room shone.
The sky outside the window has darkened.
chila—
Shen Zhijin lit the colored candles on the cake.
The wind blows from the window, the candlelight flickers, and it seems that even the red camellia that is blooming warmly next to it is also swaying.
Shen Li looked up at him.
The warm light reflected on his face, making his eyebrows clear and sharp, and the long eyelashes cast a faint shadow, covering the depths of the black pupils, clear and quiet.
He did this series of movements very smoothly and naturally, as if he had done it many times before.
— not as if.
In the past few years, he has indeed done so.
Shen Li remembered that Yan Qiu always said that Shen Zhijin never celebrates any festivals.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is not the same, and the Spring Festival is not the same.
But it turned out that he was not everything.
He will celebrate Gu Tingyin's birthday by himself.
Camellia, cake, candles.
Everything is so formal that nothing is missing.
Looking at the candles, she finally asked:
"Dad, why... twenty candles?"
Shen Zhijin was quiet for a while, as if he was thinking about something, for a moment, a faint smile crossed his lips.
With just this smile, the cold and indifferent demeanor around him dissipated a little, revealing a kind of gentleness that is rarely seen by outsiders.
"Shen Zhijin! My birthday is three months away!"
They had known each other for less than a month at that time.
"Shen Zhijin! What kind of cake do you like?"
It was obviously her birthday, but she kept asking around.
"Shen Zhijin, did you really not prepare a birthday present for me? Really, really, really not?"
She was very wronged.
"Shen Zhijin, guess what wish I just made? If you ask me, I'll tell you!"
He has never been interested in these things, but at that moment, unexpectedly, he wanted to explore them.
In fact, she couldn't wait to tell him before he had time to ask.
"Oh! Then I'll tell you in secret—I hope it's my twentieth birthday!"
She sneaked over, but her eyes were so bright that nothing could hide them, and the starlight and love seemed to overflow in the next second.
"The legal age of marriage for girls in Hong Kong is 16, but in the mainland you have to be 20!"
She clasped her hands together and prayed sincerely,
"Twenty years old!"
What she wished for was not twenty years old, but him.
One of the candles slipped off, Shen Zhijin collected his thoughts and laughed.
"she likes."
…
In the evening, after taking a bath, Shen Li changed into her pajamas and got ready to sleep.
But lying on the bed tossing and turning, I don't know why, and I don't feel sleepy at all.
She sat up, feeling a little thirsty, so she pulled on her slippers and went out to get a glass of water.
However, after walking a few steps, she found a tall figure standing on the balcony.
Shen Zhijin.
There was a telescope on the balcony, and he seemed to be looking at it.
It was already 12:30 in the middle of the night, and Shen Zhijin's work and rest were extremely regular. Except for occasional work needs, he rarely stayed up at this time.
As if hearing the voice, Shen Zhijin looked back.
The temperature in the capital has cooled down in the past few days, and the cool wind is particularly strong at night.
He was wearing a thin gray sweater and black slacks, with a tall and straight figure.
But the black night seemed to cover him with a layer of silence.
"Tangtang."
He spoke softly.
Shen Li hesitated for a moment, then walked over:
"Dad, why aren't you asleep yet?"
Shen Zhijin paused for a while, and said, "I'm a bit insomnia."
Shen Li was silent for a moment.
Even if he doesn't say it, she also understands that there will always be some time that cannot be passed by sleep.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pony pillow on the rattan chair on the balcony, and the tea on the small table next to her was half-drunk, and seemed to be cold.
It was as if an invisible hand had suddenly clenched her heart, and even her chest hurt when she breathed.
For so many years, he has come here like this.
"Tangtang."
Shen Zhijin seemed to guess what she was thinking, and called her.
Shen Li raised her eyes.
Shen Zhijin paused for a while:
"You know, nothing with mass can travel faster than the speed of light. But—"
The black night is shrouded, as if all the light is trapped here.
but.
"Thinking is faster than light."
Maybe everyone feels that Shen Zhijin is very pitiful, but he himself never feels that way. Because he will always have Gu Tingyin.
(end of this chapter)