DF Chapter 73
by VolareChapter 73 If You Might Perceive Pain in the Future
Jingjiang No. 1 High School was undergoing a thorough cleaning when the specific dates for the fourth mock exam were announced.
Even during holidays, there wasn’t much free time for seniors in high school. The Qingming Festival holiday had just passed, and now they were anticipating the May Day Labor Day holiday.
The school was giving a full seven-day break, and most teachers hadn’t assigned much homework to the seniors, just one or two test papers per subject was considered enough.
When Sheng Jia finished cleaning and returned home, Sheng Huaiying was also busy. She had recently developed many interests in life and had learned how to scrape putty and paint on Douyin, redoing the cracked walls to make them look new.
Now, Sheng Huaiying would fix most of the broken things in the house. She had gradually added many new items over the past few months. She had complained that carpentry took too long during the New Year, so she started learning it herself. Recently, she even replaced her bedside table with a wooden one, a result of her learning little by little from videos.
She also had her own ideas for the wall. She covered it with all of Sheng Jia’s awards, big and small, from over the years, leaving only a space in the middle. Seeing Sheng Jia return, she stretched her body. It was unknown what changes she had recently made in the house, but the sunlight from outside could actually shine in, landing right on her face, a golden, glittering expanse, even turning her pupils into a gentle amber color.
“Our wall is still missing something,” she took two steps back, “What do you think?”
Sheng Jia rubbed her chin, she looked up and met Sheng Huaiying’s eyes, having already seen clearly what was leaping out from the depths of her eyes. She helplessly curved her lips, “Missing some photos.”
Missing group photos.
Sheng Jia and Sheng Huaiying had hardly taken any photos from childhood to adulthood, let alone group photos.
In the past, the house was filled with a gray haze, who would want to take photos?
Sheng Huaiying even used to be too lazy to open her phone camera for selfies, but now it was different. Now, when she saw rainy days, she thought of playing mahjong happily and eating offal in Xiyanghong’s mahjong room. When she saw sunny days, she thought of taking the quilts out to dry, and drying herself as well. Her WeChat moments were filled with content, and Xiyanghong and the old ladies in the community often interacted with her.
It was like suddenly breaking free from a dark prison of more than ten years, suddenly discovering that there were so many things in this world worth experiencing and liking.
She had thought about taking photos for a long time, but only finally said it today. Sheng Jia did not go against her wishes.
She thought that the house had indeed become more lively since the beginning of this semester.
Sheng Huaiying was not one to procrastinate. As soon as Sheng Jia agreed, she immediately made an appointment with the photo studio at the entrance of the community. It was a large, old-fashioned studio, putting up small advertisements every day. The prices weren’t high, but the photos taken were unexpectedly good-looking.
Perhaps it was because the community was old, and most of the residents were elderly, the photographer had a greater understanding of how to capture a warm and peaceful feeling in the photos.
Sheng Jia still wore her school uniform when she went out. Sheng Huaiying changed into a qipao she had recently bought online, a sprouting green color, a loose fit, which made her look very energetic. When they arrived at the photo studio, the makeup artist gave her light makeup, making her look even more radiant.
Sheng Huaiying looked at herself in the mirror and touched her face somewhat embarrassedly, “Won’t this make me look too young?”
“How could it?” The makeup artist put some blush on her and smiled, “We didn’t put much makeup on you, you are already very young, there’s no need to look young.”
Sheng Huaiying blinked and turned back to ask Sheng Jia, “What do you think?”
“I think it’s very good.” Sheng Jia put away her phone, and the two went to the backdrop together.
A grand master chair was placed next to the red velvet backdrop. Sheng Huaiying sat on the chair, and Sheng Jia stood behind her.
The photographer said with a smile: “Sheng Jia, get closer to your mom.”
Sheng Jia moved closer two steps uncomfortably, leaning close to Sheng Huaiying’s back.
“Then put your hand on your mom’s shoulder,” the photographer continued to direct.
Sheng Huaiying smiled, she raised her hand to cover Sheng Jia’s hand, and said in a low voice: “Does this outfit make me look grand? Xiyanghong praised me like that last time after seeing it.”
Sheng Jia lowered her eyes and nodded, “Yes, it makes you look very grand, like a tycoon with millions of assets in hand.”
“You even make fun of your mom,” Sheng Huaiying scolded her with a smile, but the corners of her lips almost stretched to the roots of her ears.
“Good!” The photographer praised: “Just like that, keep it up!”
The flash flashed, and Sheng Huaiying’s expression became stiff after hearing the instructions.
The photographer looked down at a few photos, tilted his head and said helplessly: “Sheng Jia, you should smile.”
After taking dozens of photos, Sheng Jia didn’t have a single one with a smile. He knew that some children were always impatient and reluctant to accompany their mothers to take photos, but Sheng Jia was clearly not this type of child. Her gaze towards her mother was very gentle and patient, she was definitely not the type to ruin her parents’ mood.
“Yeah, you should smile,” Sheng Huaiying also joked, “You look much better when you smile than when you don’t.”
Sheng Jia was also a little helpless, she was naturally not one to smile much, and she didn’t remember this when taking photos. Rubbing her face, she replied seriously: “I will smile properly.”
She said so, and she did so. In the photos that the photographer took next, Sheng Jia had a smile on every one, even if it was just a slight curve of her lips, it was much more vivid than the original photos.
Until it was time to choose the photos, Sheng Huaiying found three photos from hundreds of dazzling photos in which Sheng Jia smiled with a distorted expression, and couldn’t help laughing out loud.
“Sheng Jia was really tired today, look, your eyes are crossed.” Sheng Huaiying pointed to the portrait on the screen, “I must keep these three, they are so cute.”
Sheng Jia turned her eyes away without wanting to look more. It was fine for Sheng Huaiying to see them, she hoped that these photos would not have any other admirers.
The two picked and chose in the photo studio, and only left at dusk. On the way home, Sheng Huaiying hummed a little tune, clearly in a great mood.
“It’s not fast for them to print the photos, it will take at least half a month to receive them. I secretly ordered two small photo albums just now, with ten more photos stuffed inside. That little girl is very generous, she said that we can get one free for every one we buy,” she said with a smile.
Hearing this, Sheng Jia glanced at the date, it would be right after their fourth mock exam.
“My classmates asked me to go out to dinner tonight,” Sheng Jia said.
“Go, go,” Sheng Huaiying waved her hand, “I’m planning to invite Xiyanghong and the others to eat hot pot this afternoon.”
The two shadows were stretched very long, from side by side to one in front and one behind. Sheng Jia stood at the entrance of the community, watching Sheng Huaiying walk forward slowly, until her figure could no longer be seen, then she turned around and walked outside.
Song Ji’an and the others booked a spot at the seafood city next to the school. Although it was already spring on the calendar, the weather had not warmed up. This season was not a good time to eat seafood, but the few decided to come here for a good meal after discussing it.
After more than two months of traveling, Song Yi had just returned two days ago. She would spend the following month frantically making up for cultural knowledge. Several of the schools she was applying to had already achieved good rankings, making her much more relaxed.
The few rarely gathered together, and the small group had become lively a few days ago. Everyone was clamoring to go out.
High school days were one less day for every day they spent. After the college entrance examination, they would probably rarely have time to gather together so completely.
When Sheng Jia arrived, the sun had already set. The internet-famous seafood city was not chaotic, on the contrary, the boss had probably made a fortune and renovated it to be more grand, looking like a high-end restaurant.
Song Ji’an and the others chose a window seat on the second floor, where they could directly see the scenery of Jingjiang No. 1 High School. There was no one at the school during the May Day holiday, but all the street lights were still turned on as usual at night, and now they could see a cluster of brilliant lights.
“Sheng Jia, you’re finally here,” Xu Lijing was the first to notice her, and handed her the menu, “We came early, so we ordered the dishes first. Do you want to add anything?”
Sheng Jia naturally took the menu and greeted them one by one.
“There’s nothing to add,” Sheng Jia made a judgment after glancing at it, “It’s already very rich.”
Saying that, she raised her head and met Song Ji’an’s eyes, and Song Ji’an curved her eyes at her.
There were many dishes Sheng Jia liked in the menu. Clearly, most of them were ordered by Song Ji’an for her, just like every time in the past, when Sheng Jia was late, Song Ji’an would order food for her. This year, she had already understood Sheng Jia’s preferences deeply, enough for her to take care of Sheng Jia’s preferences as if she were taking care of someone else.
Perhaps she was still cautious when they first met, but now, the boundaries of ordinary friends had long been broken. The indescribable feelings between the two could be felt by each other even in their gazes.
Even though this table was full of good friends, only their relationship was closer and more elusive.
Sheng Jia lowered her eyes and tore open her tableware.
She was actually thinking about whether she should cut off this overly close, unexpected relationship.
“Sheng Jia, if you don’t eat, it’s estimated that it will be snatched away.”
Song Ji’an’s reminder interrupted Sheng Jia’s daze. She tilted her head and asked somewhat strangely: “I feel like you’ve been spacing out a bit more frequently lately.”
“Just thinking about some things,” Sheng Jia met her eyes, and the thoughts in her heart couldn’t connect anymore.
If she wanted to cut off such a close relationship, then she would inevitably have to neglect and distance herself from Song Ji’an. The last time she did this, Song Ji’an directly pushed her into the snow, breaking the deadlock.
But the premise at that time was that she herself was willing to get closer to Song Ji’an again.
Once Sheng Jia decided to cut off her relationship with Song Ji’an before all the truth was revealed, then she would not give Song Ji’an another chance to break the deadlock.
She suddenly realized that she could no longer imagine Song Ji’an looking sad and worried in her mind.
When the Song Ji’an in her mind overlapped with the Song Ji’an in reality with her curved eyebrows, those thoughts of cutting off their relationship could no longer be brought up at all.
Sheng Jia didn’t continue to speak, and Song Ji’an didn’t continue to ask. Sheng Jia was very likely to tell her about things that she couldn’t solve alone, and if she didn’t say it, then it was Sheng Jia’s own secret, and she would definitely respect her.
On the contrary, when they were almost full, Song Ji’an suddenly said to Sheng Jia in a low voice: “Ms. Fu said that there will be an auction on June 10th. She wants to invite you to attend as a younger generation. Let me ask you if you want to go.”
“Why doesn’t she ask Sister Ru Ping to tell me herself?” Sheng Jia frowned slightly. June 10th was a few days after the college entrance examination.
“A few nights ago, my mom took me to a dinner, and she met her at the dinner,” Song Ji’an explained: “My mom and I are going that day too, so I said I’d bring her invitation to you by the way.”
Sheng Jia pondered for a moment, then nodded, “Okay, thank her for me. I’ll go that day.”
Fu Minglang’s arrangement was obviously hoping to make her identity public immediately after the college entrance examination. No matter how Song Ningqiu chose at that time, she would use practical actions to prove to the outside world that she was Sheng Jia’s backer, and she absolutely recognized Sheng Jia’s identity.
But the moment Sheng Jia wanted was not then, and she had never thought of revealing her identity in a normal way.
She lowered her eyes, concealing the expression in her eyes, and picked up the cola and took a sip. The sparkling water gurgled down her throat.
Su Zhaolin leaned over with a smile and asked: “What are you two whispering about?”
Song Ji’an raised her hand to push away her face and joked: “Sheng Jia and I are discussing whether we should increase the intensity of our studies in the coming month.”
“Ah? Increase it again?” Su Zhaolin immediately showed a bitter face upon hearing this, “Please don’t increase it, I’m scared. Do you know how high you’ve raised the champion score in the school? Everyone is saying that Sheng Jia and you are very likely to break the record this year.”
“Do you know how much pressure this puts on the people below us!”
“Really?” Song Ji’an was surprised, “But your grades are completely more than enough to get into the schools you want to go to.”
Song Ji’an had long mastered everyone’s application intentions, and had a rough idea of them in the course of their daily joint study.
“More than enough is one thing, but feeling pressure when you see your scores is another,” Su Zhaolin spread her hands, “Last semester, the score gap between you two and me was only ten or so points, but this semester, it’s a fault line, you know?”
“Then how about we just slack off a little?” Song Ji’an exchanged a look with Sheng Jia and joked.
“That’s still not okay,” Su Zhaolin sighed at this point, and said sincerely, “Actually, every time we talk about you two, we feel especially proud. The pressure is our own business.”
Song Ji’an rubbed her head and couldn’t help laughing.
“If you want to get into Beijing and Tianjin University, you need to choose a major, but that’s basically a sure thing,” she comforted her, “What’s worth worrying about?”
“Yeah, you see, I never worry,” Xu Lijing raised her eyebrows, “I want to get into Huai Law, and my third mock exam score is only two or three points higher than last year, I’m not worried, why are you worried?”
Su Zhaolin glanced at her faintly, “I also want to be more carefree, but I can’t do it.”
Xu Lijing got excited when she heard her say this, and pulled Song Yi to talk to her at length about how the academically challenged can relax, vowing to cook a big pot of chicken soup for her.
Without Su Zhaolin, there was a bit of silence between Sheng Jia and Song Ji’an.
Their gazes looked out the window, and occasionally a few birds flew by, but what was most dazzling was the blurry reflection of them sitting side by side in the glass.
Song Ji’an suddenly said: “After graduating from the college entrance examination, there is one thing I want to tell you, can you give me a chance?”
It took a long time before Sheng Jia slowly said: “If you might perceive pain in the future, would you still do this?”