Chapter 567

1989.

January 1st, today is New Year's Day.

Spent the morning in the study reading and writing, writing Chapter 20 of "Dust Settles": "Book."

The missionary returned to the dungeon; he had to heal his wounds there before he could come out.

In this way, the Maiqi family would have one more slave.

….

Because he wanted to finish the book before publishing it, Li Heng was in no hurry with his new book, and every time he had to brew his emotions to the best state before putting pen to paper.

If there was even the slightest dissatisfaction, he would tear it down and start over.

Or simply not write at all.

Under this extreme strictness of striving for perfection, although he struggled for a whole morning, the word count wasn't particularly high, about 5,600 words or so.

Drinking a cup of tea, Li Heng rubbed his wrists to relax his mind, and then he continued to write.

This continued until about 5 PM, when Zhou Shihe came to find him, and he stopped.

Zhou Shihe pushed open the study door gently and asked gently: "You didn't eat lunch again?"

Li Heng turned his head and said naturally: "Oh, I forgot."

Then he asked: "Have you been practicing the piano all day today?"

"Mm."

Zhou Shihe hummed and added: "I was reviewing in the classroom in the morning and practicing the piano in the afternoon."

Li Heng asked: "Didn't you go to the library?"

Zhou Shihe replied: "There were too many people, I went late and didn't get a seat."

Li Heng asked casually: "Which classroom?"

Zhou Shihe said: "309."

Li Heng hadn't been to this classroom, but he knew it was a large classroom in the corner, near the restroom: "Is that classroom crowded? If there are few people, you'd better change classrooms; it's not safe."

Zhou Shihe knew he wasn't exaggerating and knew her own charm, so she immediately said: "Usually there are many people; if there's no one, I'll pack my things and leave."

Hearing this, Li Heng nodded and asked: "Are you looking for me for something?"

Zhou Shihe said: "Sui Sui is hosting the New Year's Gala tonight. I've already prepared the food; let's go to Xianghui Hall together later."

Li Heng asked: "Did Sui Sui entrust you with this?"

Zhou Shihe replied with dignity: "Yes."

If it weren't for Sui Sui's entrustment, she wouldn't have come to find him alone, nor would she have cooked for him.

Regarding cooking for him, it wasn't that the friendship between them wasn't enough, but that she was afraid he would misunderstand her.

Capping his fountain pen and tightening the ink bottle, Li Heng followed her downstairs.

Reaching the corner of the stairs, she asked: "Did you finish writing Chapter 20?"

With his gaze on the back of her head, Li Heng asked with a smile: "Want to see?"

Zhou Shihe in front seemed to have eyes on the back of her head; she was quiet and didn't make a sound.

Down to the first floor, she closed the door, entered the kitchen, and started serving the dishes to the table.

Li Heng wasn't idle either; he washed his hands simply and also served rice and took chopsticks.

He asked: "Just the two of us?"

Zhou Shihe said: "I'll send food to the three of them later."

Li Heng responded okay.

Having been together for over a year, this was the first time the two had eaten alone like this. Although they had eaten together in Beijing before, the atmosphere at that time was different.

At that time, there was a very thick wall between them, blocking their hearts tightly.

But now, she vaguely felt that the man in front of her was increasingly showing signs of wanting to poke through the window paper; he seemed increasingly unable to restrain himself.

Or rather, he had the intention to control his own words and deeds, but many times when he faced her, he seemed unable to help himself.

The reason she asked the question today—asking Sui Sui if he had other women—was to guard against him suddenly making a move.

But she didn't dare to ask deeply, afraid that Sui Sui would notice something strange, afraid that Sui Sui would discover he had thoughts about her.

In that case, she and Sui Sui would be very embarrassed.

During the first half of the meal, the two basically had no communication. Occasionally, their chopsticks would bump together, or they would pick up the same piece of meat. After looking at each other, they would silently separate, pretending nothing had happened, and continue eating their own food.

But they both knew clearly in their hearts that their thoughts were wandering; otherwise, their chopsticks wouldn't have bumped into each other three times in a short period.

Later, she simply didn't touch the green pepper stir-fried meat in the middle, nor did she touch the tomato stir-fried eggs and Mapo tofu in front of him; her chopsticks only picked at the two Huaiyang dishes in front of her.

Speaking of Mapo tofu, this was the second time she had made it. She had experimented with it once in her hometown in Hangzhou during the winter break according to a cookbook, and everyone in her family said it was very delicious.

She suddenly remembered it today and made it again. However, this time she added more chili according to someone's taste.

Li Heng liked Mapo tofu very much, even to the point of using a spoon to scoop several spoonfuls onto his rice and eating it with his bowl.

It had a refreshing taste like eating a rice bowl.

The way he shoveled it into his mouth looked very appetizing, making the woman across the table look at him once, and then involuntarily look at him again later.

Although her movements were very small, they were still captured by someone.

Seeing this, Li Heng put down his bowl and chopsticks, half-stood up, picked up the Mapo tofu with his left hand, and used a spoon to scoop tofu into her bowl with his right hand, praising: "Your cooking is truly amazing; it really suits my taste and goes well with rice. You should try it."

Zhou Shihe sat upright without objecting, her eyelids lowered a few degrees, quietly watching him scoop spoonful after spoonful, scooping 5 spoonfuls of Mapo tofu into her bowl in total.

After 5 spoonfuls, he sat back down and continued eating by himself.

Zhou Shihe stared at the Mapo tofu in her bowl for a long time, and finally picked up her chopsticks, imitating his style, mixing the rice and tofu together, and putting it into her mouth in small bites.

After that one sentence, the two had no more words, and it stayed like that until dinner ended.

Li Heng looked up into her bowl, yo! It was empty; not a single grain of rice or piece of tofu was left.

Afterward, he turned toward her unconsciously.

Their gazes met in the air, and they faced each other in silence for four or five seconds. Zhou Shihe moved her gaze away calmly and looked elsewhere.

Later, seeing his gaze still lingering on her, Zhou Shihe calmed down, stood up, and went to the kitchen to pack food for the three women.

Li Heng wasn't idle either; he wiped the table, tidied up the dishes, and swept the floor.

Zhou Shihe glanced at him with the corner of her eye. In the past, these chores were all done by Sui Sui; today, the sun really must have risen from the west, as he was even wiping the table and sweeping the floor.

After packing three lunch boxes, she waited on the living room sofa.

Another ten minutes or so passed before Li Heng came out of the kitchen, raised his left hand to glance at his watch, and said: "It's getting dark, let's go."

Zhou Shihe didn't say a word, stood up, picked up the lunch boxes, and walked out of the house.

Li Heng locked the door and followed behind for a while before suddenly speaking: "I didn't bring the Erhu."

Zhou Shihe said: "Sui Sui has already helped you take it over."

Hearing this, Li Heng continued to follow: "Are we the first to perform?"

Zhou Shihe hummed lightly.

Li Heng asked: "What time?" Zhou Shihe said: "It starts in 47 minutes."

Li Heng said: "It seems we haven't practiced together for a long time."

Zhou Shihe looked at him: "After the final exams start, don't rush to leave; let's practice the piece for the Singapore performance for three days."

Receiving her look, Li Heng understood: "You've been wanting to tell me this all along, right?"

Zhou Shihe was very frank: "Yes."

Li Heng frowned, estimating the days.

Zhou Shihe asked: "Can't squeeze out three days?"

Li Heng nodded: "I have a lot of things to do during the winter break; I can stay for at most one day. How about I come over a day early after the New Year? Let's meet here on the fourth day of the New Year?"

Zhou Shihe seemed to understand and said warmly that it was okay.

In this day and age, there were no mobile phones or computers, and no way to kill time, so the New Year's Gala was an activity everyone looked forward to very much.

Sure enough, just as they reached the entrance of Xianghui Hall, they found it already packed with people, crowded and impassable.

The two stood at the entrance for a few seconds, then gave up the idea of entering from there and went around to the backstage.

At this time, the backstage of the gala was very busy. Mai Sui, in a bright red coat, was particularly eye-catching; she could be seen from far away in the crowd.

Seeing Li Heng and Zhou Shihe appear, the backstage, which had been quite lively and noisy, suddenly became silent as if a silencer had been installed.

Everyone, one by one, looked at the two.

Who is Li Heng? No need to say more; he has a pile of titles, any one of which could make his peers breathless.

And Zhou Shihe? She had also been a popular figure for a long time, the only "Big King" of Fudan, with beauty and temperament that no one could rival. Now, with the dazzling halo of her pure music album, she was always the most eye-catching person wherever she went.

Passing through the crowd of people getting makeup backstage, Li Heng smiled at Senior He Xiao nearby and greeted Dai Qing next to her, asking: "Dai Qing, have you had dinner?"

It was the first time she saw him chatting with her on such an occasion, and Dai Qing was a bit flattered, smiling and saying: "I have."

He saw Huang Ziyue; this girl was in a Huangmei opera costume, presumably going to perform on stage tonight.

Huang Ziyue wanted to lean over, but looked at Zhou Shihe, who was close to the senior, and hesitated. Just because of that moment, Li Heng had already walked past her.

A great opportunity to talk slipped away just like that. Huang Ziyue cursed herself for being useless, but later her gaze followed Zhou Shihe's frail back, and for the first time in her life, she felt discouraged.

She wasn't afraid to fight for a man with Yu Laoshi.

She was just as tough when fighting for a man with Mai Sui.

But if she had to fight for a man with Zhou Shihe, she was defeated before the battle even began, and her heart had already lost by three points.

Coming to Mai Sui, Li Heng couldn't care about that much anymore; anyway, the entire Fudan faculty and student body were guessing behind their backs about the ambiguous relationship between the two.

He circled around Mai Sui and blinked: "Beautiful, still the same sentence: red is your destiny."

Hearing this, everyone nearby looked at Mai Sui quietly.

It had to be said that Mai Sui in red was charming and full of style; her personal charm was already not much worse than Xiao Han's and Yu Laoshi's.

Even Zhou Shihe felt that Sui Sui was changing too fast; compared to a year ago, she could now be described as "peerless."

Huang Ziyue's best friend secretly pondered: There was a reason why Ziyue had lost to Senior Mai Sui by a large margin twice in the competition for host.

In front of so many people, Mai Sui was thin-skinned, and her face couldn't hold it; she forced a smile, took the lunch box, and led the two to find Sun Manning and Ye Ning.

Li Heng asked: "Where are those two girls?"

Mai Sui said: "They are in the room inside, testing the sound system."

Li Heng was surprised: "They know how to do this?"

Mai Sui said: "Ning Ning's family is currently in this business, and her skills are even better than the people arranged by the school."

Li Heng looked at her with admiration. Was this still the fujoshi he knew? Amazing, amazing!

Entering the room, Sun Manning's first sentence was "The food is finally here, I'm starving, I'm starving to death," and the second sentence was "Li Heng, act like a human; you even came backstage to declare sovereignty. Do you want Mai Sui to become a public enemy?"

Ye Ning chimed in from the side: "Exactly, exactly, Li Heng's prestige is too great, scaring the male host so much that he doesn't dare to talk to our Sui Sui much."

Sun Manning had food in her mouth and said vaguely: "More than just the male host, any guy with a 'thing' doesn't dare to communicate too much with Sui Sui, okay!"

After finishing, Sun Manning's eyes sparkled as she said to Mai Sui and Zhou Shihe: "Sui Sui definitely understands the term 'guy with a thing.' Shihe, you definitely don't understand, do you want me to explain it?"

Mai Sui's face turned red. She really did understand; Li Heng had already spit dew on her several times.

Zhou Shihe smiled without saying a word. She was reminded of the segments in the two books "White Deer Plain" and "Dust Settles"; someone should be an expert in this area.

Thinking of this, Zhou Shihe glanced at someone who was helping Mai Sui wipe the corner of her mouth. The next second, she forcibly cut off the thought and turned to walk out of the room with light steps.

Sun Manning asked: "Shihe, where are you going?"

Zhou Shihe said quietly: "The air in the room is bad, it's a bit stuffy, I'm going outside to get some air."

Sun Manning sniffed: "Is the air bad? Is it?"

Ye Ning said: "It's indeed bad, I've been feeling chest tightness for a long time."

Sun Manning's tone was full of contempt: "Mai Sui and I are C, Shihe is B+, you're an A- talking about chests? Damn! Little Ye Zi, stop defiling the sacred word 'chest', okay?"

Ye Ning was so angry she wailed, stabbing the bottom of her bowl fiercely with her chopsticks: "Sun Manning! If you dare to say A- again, I'll break off with you!"

Sun Manning gave a sassy look: "Break off? Do you want me to say something insincere? If you don't believe me, ask Li Heng, if you cover your head with a black cloth, what's the difference between your front and back? Even if you touch it with your hands, you can't tell the difference, right?"

Li Heng: "..."

Mai Sui: "..."

Ye Ning stopped eating and started a full-blown fight.

Not long after, Li Heng and Mai Sui were forced out of the room, with the two women tossing and turning inside.

Looking at the crowd not far away, Li Heng asked: "Nervous?"

Mai Sui shook her head.

Li Heng said: "If you don't eat the fat meat, give it to me; feed it to me."

Mai Sui smiled tenderly, "Marry me? If you marry me, I'll feed it to you."

Li Heng said: "I will."

Mai Sui felt dizzy; even these words couldn't scare him. Seeing him lean over secretly, she looked around helplessly.

At one moment, she used lightning-fast speed to pick up a piece of fat meat and stuff it into his mouth.

After stuffing the meat, she deliberately stood on tiptoe, using the back of her head to block his lips, not wanting others to see.

Sometimes things are just that coincidental; the more you don't want others to see, the more someone sees.

Dai Qing saw it.

Huang Ziyue saw it.

He Xiao also saw it, and she said to her friend on the side: "Did you see that?"

Her friend said: "She fed him a piece of meat; Xiao Han is in danger."

He Xiao felt the same: "I think so too. If I were Xiao Han, I'd probably be depressed; I wouldn't go to any self-study classes, and I'd just guard this man whenever I had time."

ps: Update first, edit later.

12,000 words updated.

(End of chapter)