CA | Chapter 26

◎She belonged to Shen Yicheng.◎

On Monday mornings, attendance wasn’t taken in class, and the lectures were dull enough to drain the life out of anyone. The moment Ning Jia thought about the mess still waiting at home, she woke up early and decided to get all the scattered bits and pieces cleaned up.

She liked things neat too. Living alone, she had slowly grown used to tidying her room, doing laundry, cooking for herself. She had once thought she was clumsy and useless, but after injuring her hands a few times, she gradually became practiced at it.

Shen Yicheng had held her very tightly. She first thanked heaven for not suffocating in his arms, then struggled up out of them. She took her sweater dress off the carpet at a snail’s pace and looked around, deciding to clean the bedroom first.

The room wasn’t that warm. The cake’s cream had only melted a little. Ning Jia covered the cake, gathered the rose petals from the bed into a bag, and was sweeping the floor when she heard a rustling sound from the living room.

She peeked out. Shen Yicheng had lifted a hand and was taking down all the balloons from the ceiling, wearing only the shirt from last night.

Ning Jia hurried to draw the curtains. “What are you doing? People can see from outside.”

He wasn’t even wearing pants, and all that white skin was being left for others to look at.

Shen Yicheng took off the shirt and went to find his bathrobe. Ning Jia chased after him, quickly pulling the bedroom curtains shut. “What are you doing… I told you already…”

“Who else would look at me besides you?”

She pulled the robe closed around him. “Plenty of people would. Pay a little attention.”

“You don’t want anyone else looking?”

“No. Anyone who looks gets beaten up.”

He laughed softly, lowered his head, and asked for a kiss. Ning Jia kissed him perfunctorily. “Go back to sleep. You barely slept last night.”

“How do you know?” Shen Yicheng lifted her hair aside with his hand, revealing her slightly pale face. “You sleep too lightly. I didn’t move at all.”

“I could hear your breathing,” Ning Jia said. “When you’re asleep, your breathing is very light, but when you’re still awake, you like to lean close to my ear… like that…”

And lick for a while.

The breathing had a rhythm to it.

Shen Yicheng thought she had already fallen deeply asleep, and said with some guilt, “Did I keep you awake?”

“No. If you weren’t here, I’d sleep even worse.”

As soon as she said it, she regretted it a little.

Shen Yicheng took her broom and helped sweep up the ribbons on the floor, saying to her, “What do you mean, sleep even worse?”

By the time he looked back, Ning Jia had already gone into the living room.

She had climbed on a stool to put up the decorations in high places, so she started by clearing the things she could reach. When Shen Yicheng came out a little later, he raised a hand to help take down the sticky pieces, including the red banner.

He rolled up a few things and carried the little figurines she had bought into the bedroom. Then Shen Yicheng opened her bedside drawer and found a mess of capsules, pills, and a bottle of sleeping pills.

He moved a few pills with his finger. His gaze remained calm, as if he saw nothing at all. He pushed the drawer shut and placed the ceramic figurine she liked on the bedside table.

After they had nearly finished tidying up, Ning Jia made rice on the way, then asked him where he wanted to eat. Shen Yicheng said, “Here. I’ll take you to class this afternoon.”

Ning Jia couldn’t bring herself to refuse. She also understood that he was only making a stop on the way out.

“Should I heat up the leftovers?”

“Sure.”

Ning Jia said, “You like that beef. I’ll make it again next time.”

“Don’t tire yourself out.”

“I’m not tired. I barely have any classes, and nothing much is going on.”

Shen Yicheng pulled her down to sit with him. Ning Jia wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, rubbing against him like a little cat. She slipped a hand into his bathrobe and tugged it open a little, then kissed his skin in the midday sunlight. Shen Yicheng felt one patch of skin go damp, then something sticky press against it, and that patch became food in her mouth.

Ning Jia was eating very seriously when Shen Yicheng’s phone rang. She woke up from the trance at once and asked, “Why aren’t you answering?”

“Too lazy.”

“You can’t skip work. I still have class this afternoon. If one day you really want to spend every day revolving around me, then I’ll be the one who’s busy.”

That hit home.

Shen Yicheng was helpless. “You really do know how to indulge yourself on the surface, while your heart is all business.”

Ning Jia said, “How could that be? How is my heart all business?”

He rubbed her chest lightly. Ning Jia’s spine went pleasantly numb, and she pressed back into him again. His voice rumbled from above her head, the smile in it deep. “Then what else is in your heart? Milk?”

“My heart is all you.”

Shen Yicheng couldn’t handle her saying that. Before Ning Jia even reacted, her bottom got a slap, and then his hand was there, full of sensation. She could feel every inch of his lines. Ning Jia rested against his shoulder and laughed. “How are you so easy to coax?”

He was actually the hardest one to coax.

Ning Jia had been made so limp she could barely stand. Sitting in his lap, she tried hard to burrow into his clothes. Shen Yicheng loosened his belt, and Ning Jia hugged him as she asked, “Can you heat up food?”

“I can use the microwave.”

Ning Jia said, “Then use the microwave. I’ll heat up the meat we brought back yesterday later.”

“Can’t it go in the microwave?”

“You’re so silly. It’ll explode.”

How could meat explode? She was just talking nonsense.

What she meant was simply that she didn’t want to move right now and wanted him to do it for her. Shen Yicheng understood. He carried her to the sofa and went to heat up the food himself. When he brought out that piece of meat, he glanced at Ning Jia. She was lying there without moving, clutching a small blanket in her hands, apparently asleep.

If not the microwave, then what? He refused to believe it and put it in for one minute first. Twenty seconds later, he heard the sound of a small chain-reaction explosion inside. He quickly opened the microwave, looked at the split-open skin of the meat, then stared at the steamer.

*

Ning Jia was called up to eat by him. The kitchen hadn’t exploded, everything was still fine. Shen Yicheng set the food on the coffee table and held a bowl, ready to feed her, but Ning Jia waved him off. “I’m not disabled. Besides, even if my legs don’t have any strength, my mouth still works.”

“Last night, your little mouth was very strong.”

Ning Jia’s face went red. “Don’t say that when we’re eating.”

Shen Yicheng said nothing. He put on a movie. After a while, Ning Jia asked him, “Was I not good enough?”

She had tried her best, everything. But yesterday… nothing had really been a success.

“You’ve always been very good, Ning Jia. Yesterday, today, tomorrow.”

Ning Jia’s ears grew hot at once, and then her eyes did too.

“Though your carving skills and your skills with your mouth still need steady practice.”

Ning Jia successfully forced her tears back down.

She told him to eat properly, and if he kept talking, she’d turn off his movie.

Her class started at two in the afternoon. Ning Jia napped for an hour, and Shen Yicheng kept track of the time for her. When the hour was up, he lowered his head to kiss her and softly called her to get up. She lay on top of him like a tiny baby, still sucking on her fingers. When she opened her eyes, Shen Yicheng stroked her cheek again. Ning Jia buried her face in his chest and said dully, “Is it time?”

“It’s time for class. Is it a major course this afternoon?”

Her lock screen had become her class schedule. Just now, someone had knocked twice at the door, probably Jiang Chao coming downstairs and stopping by to call for her.

“Yes… sigh, I don’t want to go to school…”

“How can you not want to go to school?”

“Don’t tell me you like going to school.”

He said, “I don’t like it either.”

The two of them laughed together.

Ning Jia dragged her feet as she “got up” and went to the wardrobe to pick clothes. “Ah… I’m going to run out of clothes again.”

Her wardrobe was always missing one piece of clothing, the one she needed to wear today.

Shen Yicheng told her to tell him what styles she liked, and he’d have Zhou Jing buy them. As Ning Jia got dressed, she said, “The secretary姐姐’s taste is really good. The clothes she buys fit perfectly too. Help me thank her.”

It seemed there was no rejection, and then she added, “But buy less. There’s no room in the wardrobe anymore. I bought you some clothes too… oh right, I hung all your suits on this side.”

He had already seen it, the pitiful two centimeters of space.

“Put up with it for a few years, then we’ll change to a bigger one.”

“Change where?”

“Where do you want to go?” Shen Yicheng said. “The better schools for this major are concentrated in Europe. Want a house over there?”

Ning Jia said, “That’s too far. Back then I said you only had to take care of me until I got into university. How much longer do you want to take care of me?”

How much longer did he want to take care of her? Shen Yicheng had never thought about that question. He didn’t think about the future, make plans, or ponder it. Taking care of her, feeding her, buying her clothes, letting her live with him, taking care of her in bed too, all of it had become habit.

Shen Yicheng had not considered the day in the future when she would no longer need his care. Besides, she was so soft and frail, crying and shrinking back under his protection after a little rain. How could she even dare to ask how much longer he would take care of her?

Shen Yicheng said, “Depends on you.”

Ning Jia quietly put on her coat. “Then if it were up to me, I’d want you to take care of me until the day I die.”

She always kept the word “die” on her lips.

Shen Yicheng frowned. “Stop saying that kind of thing all the time.”

“Got it. You’re so serious.”

Ning Jia pulled him up. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”

*

He送 her there. Ning Jia had thought he would only take her to the entrance, but who knew he would walk into campus? The security guard didn’t even check his ID and just let him in.

Ning Jia no longer held him so tightly. Instead, she looped her arm through his. Shen Yicheng threaded his fingers through hers, gently rubbing her palm. Ning Jia caught a falling maple leaf and recited the line, “I heard this can make two people stay together forever.”

“By relying on one leaf?”

“Do you have any sense of romance?”

“Watch fewer Korean dramas. Finish reading Modern Art History and come up with something new.”

“Oh my god, I haven’t even sat down in the classroom yet, and you’re already teaching me.” Ning Jia tucked the leaf into his overcoat pocket. “I don’t care. You take good care of our leaf.”

Leaves and leaves were no different, just as roses and roses were all similar. But one carefully cultivated, the only bloom on the planet, was like the leaf in his pocket. At this moment, it was given a new meaning.

Shen Yicheng took out a book and placed the leaf inside it. Only then did Ning Jia realize that he had actually brought a bag.

“What are you here to do?”

Seeing her wary expression, Shen Yicheng smiled. “I’m here to attend class.”

Heavens, no.

She hurriedly let go and looked around. “That’s not good.”

“It’s fine. I’m not the teacher.”

Even as a special guest, it still wouldn’t look good. Ning Jia didn’t reach for his hand again. By the time they arrived at the lecture hall, she saw several people waiting at the door. When they saw Shen Yicheng, their eyes lit up and they came over smiling. Ning Jia shifted a little to the side and said quietly, “I’m going to class first. What time is your lecture?”

“Three forty-five.”

“Perfect, that’s one class period. Who are you giving it to? Can I listen in?”

“It should be the carving department. Nothing special, 3 to 5. I saved you a seat.”

“You always give me such a big surprise.” After saying that, Ning Jia left.

*

Originally, after class, Ning Jia was going to the library with Jiang Chao to borrow two books and read them. The two of them had joined a reading association that assigned several books each week. After everyone finished them, they would share their thoughts with each other. The activity room of the club held valuable treasures left by senior students over the years. Ning Jia had joined late, and the books had already been divided up. She checked online, and the library still had three or four copies, so she and Jiang Chao reserved them and planned to go pick them up later.

When Jiang Chao heard they were going to a lecture, she hurriedly asked, “What lecture? Is it for extra credits? Why haven’t I heard about it?”

“No…” Ning Jia sighed. “His lecture.”

There was only one “he” in her mouth, her boyfriend Shen Yicheng.

“Oh, I see. Then I won’t go be a third wheel.” Jiang Chao held out her hand. “Give me your student card. I’ll grab the books and go home. When you have time, come upstairs and get it.”

“You’re an angel, I’ll buy you a drink!”

“Less flattery.”

Ning Jia placed the student card in her hand. Hanging from the cardholder was a little dog kissing a kitten.

Jiang Chao really didn’t get it. Wasn’t she afraid of cats and dogs? Why did she seem to like them so much? Her stickers, her profile picture, her Moments cover, all of them were little cats and dogs.

Women were impossible to understand.

*

Ning Jia ran to the lecture hall. It was packed with people inside, probably students from the entire college, along with school leaders and teachers. The seat reserved for her was on the right side of the third row, and she could clearly feel that the people around her were not ordinary students.

“Hey, little junior, what year are you in? This is a second-year graduate seat.”

Ning Jia waved a hand. Pointing at 3-5, she said, “My seat…”

This had been left there by the teacher’s instructions. Everyone had originally thought she was a student from another school, but looking at the textbook in her hands, it was clearly for first-years at their own university.

Confused as they were, they still let her sit down.

“Little junior, are you Teacher Zhou’s daughter?”

Ning Jia shook her head.

Seeing that she wasn’t talking, everyone grew even more curious. “Then do you understand what he’s saying?”

She probably didn’t. She hadn’t even learned all the material yet.

Shen Yicheng was standing in the first row in front of her, talking with the people around him. At one point, he glanced back casually, saw her, and turned his gaze away.

“Senior, senior sister, just count me as coming to join the fun.”

Everyone laughed. “If you don’t understand, just ask. You’re from the carving department, right?”

“I… I study jewelry design.”

“…”

The senior sister sitting next to her said, “Then you really are just here to join the fun.”

The lecture began. Before going onstage, Shen Yicheng took off his wool coat. Beneath it he wore a shirt, and Ning Jia couldn’t help thinking that she had already started wearing thick, fleece-lined outerwear, and it was still a little cold here. Would he be cold?

She took out her notebook and wanted to jot something down, but her eyes couldn’t leave him. His face, his lips, and his clean hand holding the remote.

Only when he stood there did she realize just how distant and untouchable he was.

Other people were taking photos with their phones, and she raised hers too. No matter how she snapped, it was still only him. She couldn’t take in what he was saying, much less understand it in the first place.

When it came to the discussion segment, several students stood up to speak with him. Shen Yicheng would step down from the stage to answer them. Ning Jia sat at the edge of the row. As he passed by her, she could smell a faint scent of sandalwood, and a little of… the rose perfume she used.

Ning Jia looked up at him. When he returned to the stage, she touched her chest. The senior sister beside her smiled. “You’re not here to chase a star, are you? Mr. Shen’s technique is indeed very strong, but he doesn’t really make jewelry. Most of the works he’s famous for are large sculptures. He does small pieces too, but not many.”

He carved jade figures, Ning Jia knew that.

Ning Jia said, “Senior sister, you know him really well.”

“Of course. There are few people here doing pure art, most are here to listen to commercial stuff. Mr. Shen isn’t just top-notch at carving, he’s also a businessman.”

Ning Jia nodded. The other party asked again, “What about you? Are you doing pure art?”

“No, I still hope to do commercial jewelry design. No one can go against money.”

“Hahaha, when we met first-years before, everyone said they were artists. By the time you reach our age, you understand that art can’t put food on the table. In the end, half of them become art teachers and half go into self-media.”

Ning Jia laughed too.

“So…” the senior sister sighed, “if you ask me, learning a good craft still doesn’t compare to marrying into wealth.”

“I think if you marry into wealth and are still happy, you’d have to be a fool,” Ning Jia analyzed. “Like senior sister, for example. You clearly know that marrying into wealth is a shortcut that can quickly raise your status and wealth, but you don’t want to do that. You say you want to do commercial work, but in your heart you still hope to become a respected artist.”

The other person was speechless for quite a while.

“For example, me. I like diamonds. People always say that’s tacky, but as long as it looks good, that’s fine.” Ning Jia said, “As long as I’m satisfied inside, whether diamonds can be exchanged for money doesn’t seem all that important anymore… Of course, that’s just because I can still make a living right now. If I can’t make a living later, I’ll still hope they can sell for a good price.”

Just then, the discussion ended. Shen Yicheng talked through two more slides on the podium before stepping down. Ning Jia saw that he was only sitting down, and couldn’t help sending him a message: “Put your coat on.”

After a moment, he draped the coat over himself. Ning Jia finally felt comfortable.

When the lecture ended, Ning Jia gave up her seat to the senior students beside her. The senior sister patted her on the shoulder. “Little junior, your future is bright. You have to bring out some real hard goods in the future too.”

Ning Jia said, “Of course. Maybe when senior sister gets married in the future, you’ll even have to come find me to design the outfit.”

“Then I’ll be waiting for you… oh right, what’s your name?”

Just as Ning Jia was about to speak, she saw Shen Yicheng raise a hand. She hurriedly picked up her things and walked to his side, quickly turning back to answer, “I’m Ning Jia.”

The teachers were over there. Ning Jia walked over, tidied her hair, and greeted them one by one with a bow. Shen Yicheng patted her on the shoulder, and the group chatted and laughed happily. Only then did the second-year graduate student realize that the person sitting beside her just now had belonged to Shen Yicheng.

The meeting dispersed. Shen Yicheng refused the send-off and said he wanted to stroll around campus.

The student council president from the college was nearby, and Shen Yicheng refused him too, patting Ning Jia as he said, “She can take me.”

At that moment, most people had mistaken Ning Jia for Old Master Zhong’s disciple, Shen Yicheng’s little junior sister, but when the two of them walked out, they thought something was off. The major didn’t match.

Shen Yicheng wanted to take her little hand, but Ning Jia dodged and hesitated. He smiled. “There’s no one around anymore. What are you afraid of?”

“How am I not afraid? My status is different from yours.”

“Status… Between us, what difference in status is there?”

She put her hands behind her back and said, “I really want to kiss you romantically under a tree, but that wouldn’t be fair to you. I have nothing. I want to wait until I have some name for myself before I do that. At least then, when people talk about it, they’ll say, ‘Ning Jia does have something going for her, to have caught the eye of Second Young Master Shen.’”

“Ning Jia, don’t care what other people say.” He put an arm around her shoulders. “There’s no end to caring about it.”

“You’ve let everyone know how much you dote on me. I’m afraid you’d block the gossip and not let me know.”

Shen Yicheng lowered his head and laughed. “Ning Jia, you really are something. Your sweet words just keep coming, and every line is for my sake. How could I not dote on you?”

Ning Jia blushed, then looked up and said, “Then if I don’t consider you at all, wouldn’t I be an ungrateful wretch?”

“An ungrateful wretch is nothing…”

The way he said it made it sound as if even if Ning Jia ate his flesh and drank his blood, he would still spoil her all the same.

Ning Jia sighed and sat by the lake, looking at the faint ice flowers on the water’s surface, wrapping her arms around his leg. “I’m really going to die.”

“What now?”

“It feels so bad…”

He frowned. “What feels bad?”

Ning Jia said, “Go home. When we get home, I want to kiss you.”

Shen Yicheng said, “I really can’t figure out what’s in your heads, you kids.”

*

Around four or five in the afternoon, Ning Jia leaned against the headboard, drenched in sweat. Shen Yicheng was over her, and Ning Jia clutched his shoulder with one hand, begging for mercy. Outside, everything looked like it was on fire. Ning Jia was overheated. She reached for the box on the bedside table, and it was empty. She immediately said, “That’s really the last time. It’s empty.”

Shen Yicheng said, “I’ll go buy some later.”

“Ah…”

Being young had its advantages. Shen Yicheng thought to himself that he was just a vulgar ordinary man too. He liked sweet, juicy peaches, the kind that were soft, dripping with juice, and everyone loved them. He was no exception. The disgust he used to feel had long faded. He only wanted to eat a few more bites, afraid he wouldn’t get to eat them tomorrow.

Ning Jia didn’t see it that way. Even the finest jade ruyi, if used to hit people, would lose that elegance. At first it seemed refined, but gradually it became unbearable. She didn’t understand, how could a jade ruyi be used to hit people? As long as it looked good, wasn’t that enough? He shouldn’t have said that kind of thing.

Ning Jia really felt like she had been beaten apart all over. She rested on his shoulder for a while, then he carried her into the bathroom. Shen Yicheng really did spoil her. Ning Jia even felt that he wanted complete intimacy with her too, especially since he liked to do things under running water. This time the box was empty, so he held himself back, washed up with her, and even dressed her afterward.

Shen Yicheng knelt on the floor to put stockings on her. Ning Jia felt awkward and looked down. “How can you do this… what kind of thing is it for you to put socks on me?”

He thought it was funny. “What kind of thing? I’m willing to put anything on you.”

Ning Jia stepped on his knee, her face burning hot, especially after he kissed her calf once. Ning Jia’s face grew redder and redder, and finally her little universe exploded. She flopped onto the bed, too shy to lift her head.

She was going out to buy drinks for Jiang Chao so she could go upstairs and fetch the books. Shen Yicheng was going to buy condoms. Ning Jia told him not to buy them at the pharmacy by the school gate. He looked around. “Then where should I buy them?”

Ning Jia said, “Whatever.”

In the end, she still saw him come out of the pharmacy carrying a big bag.

Ning Jia had bought four drinks in advance. Jiang Chao liked coffee, so she bought two lattes. One was also for Jin Ru. There was a cup of caramel pearl milk tea for herself, and another unsweetened fruit tea. When Shen Yicheng took it out and saw lemon passionfruit, his teeth went sour. “Why did you buy me this?”

“To whet your appetite. Eat more tonight and go to bed early.”

Shen Yicheng smiled and went home first. Ning Jia went upstairs, knocked on the door, and after a while Jiang Chao opened it. Ning Jia said with a smile, “I’m here to get the books!”

Jiang Chao seemed to have just woken up. She let her in. Seeing how dazed she looked, Ning Jia put the two cups of coffee on the table and went into the small room she shared with Jin Ru.

Wangcai suddenly came over and rubbed against her leg. Looking at its white fur, Ning Jia’s heart softened. She just gazed at it gently.

Jiang Chao took the books out and looked Ning Jia up and down. “What? Don’t you want to pet it? Pick it up and play with it. It isn’t scary at all, and Wangcai doesn’t bite. It’s very well-behaved.”

Ning Jia sighed, bent down, and picked it up, stroking it gently. Jiang Chao drank her coffee and said, “Isn’t this pretty good? Why don’t you keep one with your Shen uncle? Though ragdolls have very delicate stomachs. It’s had a bit of diarrhea these past two days, and I don’t know if it’s because of the cold.”

“He once bought me a puppy, and I made him return it.”

“Why?”

“I was afraid I wouldn’t take good care of it. I was afraid…” Ning Jia lowered her eyes. “I was afraid…”

She was afraid for a long time, but never gave the reason.

Jiang Chao said, “If you’re afraid of this and afraid of that, in the end you won’t enjoy anything and all you’ll have left is regret.”

“You’re right.” Ning Jia kissed the little cat. “I’m much better now. Maybe I should keep something with him too. If he’s not around, I’d have company too.”

“He didn’t come back with you today?”

“He’s at home, but he always has to leave. I don’t know when he’ll be back next time.”

“Why are you so sentimental? You sound like some lonely wife in the inner chambers.”

Ning Jia laughed. Playing with the cat here made her not want to leave. Jiang Chao said, “Don’t say I’m chasing a guest out, but your very busy dear husband is still waiting for you downstairs. Why are you sitting around in my place? Take the books and go already.”

“Oh…” Ning Jia said, “I’m going now… Is the coffee good?”

“Good, good. Hurry up and go.”

Ning Jia looked up and asked, “Jiang Chao, are you okay?”

Jiang Chao froze. “What could be wrong with me?”

“Okay. If anything happens, tell me.” Ning Jia had already noticed that she had just taken some medicine and looked dazed and sleepy. Worry crept into her voice. “We’re good friends, right? If you have anything, you have to tell me.”

“Ning Jia, every one of us has a few worries. When it’s time to say them, we’ll say them.”

Ning Jia had no choice but to put down the little cat and leave with the books.