Still Frame Chapter 66
byChapter 66: Olive Green
Wen Jin truly felt his wedding was perfect.
First, there was his spouse.
The first time he met Zhang Liuxin was at the Zhang family residence. His memory had always been excellent; he remembered it was an overcast day.
During that period, he had skipped grades and entered university. Everyone, known and unknown, was sending congratulatory letters to the Wen manor. The noise gave him a terrible headache, so he simply stayed in his room, refusing to go out. After a while, he became somewhat gloomy.
His parents, who had just returned from a long business trip, finally realized their son hadn’t spoken a single word for half a month. Yue Yun worried that if this continued, he would develop mental issues and become a highly intelligent but isolated eccentric. Of course, the Wen-Yue family would not allow their sole heir to turn out that way.
Yue Yun began forcing him to socialize. During that time, she even forbade He Qing and Lü Zixia from interacting with him, and even his cousin Duan Chengzhi, who had grown up with him, returned to his maternal grandparents’ home.
Wen Jin was annoyed. He spent every day either running to the swimming pool or going out in the rain, because he felt the world was too noisy, distracting him and making him irritable.
One day, Yue Yun said there was a gathering outside and told the driver to take him there. It was clearly mandatory, Wen Jin knew, but he still got into the car. There was no point in fighting his parents; he had known that since childhood.
But the car drove toward a villa complex. Only upon arrival did he receive a call from Yue Yun, who said she had recently met a lady whose child was learning piano. Knowing Wen Jin also played, she wanted to invite him over to teach.
Wen Jin didn’t know what Yue Yun was thinking, asking him to teach piano to a child he didn’t know. He’d rather go surfing when it rained.
Wen Jin turned to leave, but the Zhang family had already come out to greet him, practically lining the path. He had the means to simply walk away, but the result would likely be his mother dragging him back later to apologize. So, Wen Jin entered the Zhang family home.
The child he was supposed to teach was named Zhang Qinnan, only two years younger than him, already twelve years old. What was there to teach? The child’s eyes were glued to him, making him even more irritated.
Zhang Qinnan softly asked him to play a piece, but he refused. The child then drooped his eyebrows, looking pitiful. Wen Jin was unmoved, thinking the child had chosen the wrong target. He leaned against the window, absentmindedly counting seconds, planning to leave in five minutes.
Zhang Qinnan was playing the piano. Wen Jin thought it lacked any real technique and was grating to the ear, so he shifted his gaze toward the window.
The Zhang family’s backyard was lush with foliage. He spotted several types of expensive flowers and took the effort to identify a few.
Hydrangeas, peonies, Ice Queen lilies… Where did this child come from?
Into the riot of color stumbled a dusty-looking child, limbs terribly thin, as if a gust of wind could break him apart.
The child approached a lily, lowered his head to sniff it. Initially, his expression was one of enjoyment, but getting too close, he was choked by the pollen and sneezed.
How clumsy.
Wen Jin thought, why does the Zhang family have such a dirty child?
Then the child rubbed his nose and, for some unknown reason, suddenly looked up. He happened to see the open window, the gently swaying white sheer curtain, and the cool, detached youth by the window.
Green eyes.
Wen Jin narrowed his eyes, not even noticing that he was staring. The child flinched under his gaze, his eyes widening further. Now, only those eyes stood out on his face.
Seeing the child open his mouth, Wen Jin raised a finger to his lips, signaling him not to speak. The child wasn’t entirely stupid; he understood and watched him with unblinking green eyes.
“Brother Wen? How was my playing?”
Zhang Qinnan finished a piece and called out Wen Jin’s name, seeing him look out the window the whole time.
The child outside hastily ran away. Wen Jin calmly withdrew his gaze, casually responding to Zhang Qinnan while wondering: Olive green eyes—was he a member of the Zhang family?
Wen Jin hadn’t quite recovered his focus even after getting into the car and leaving. When he returned to the Wen manor, his mother was waiting. Seeing a hint of curiosity in his expression, she was delighted that her son was showing such a fresh emotion. She asked, “Xiao Zhuo, how was it? Did you see Qinnan today? He’s the same age as Zixia. Did you talk much and make friends today?”
Yue Yun might have treated him like a child. Wen Jin sat on the single sofa, took a sip of black tea, and casually replied, “It was alright.”
Yue Yun looked even more surprised: “So you taught the little brother piano properly, right? I told you, you need to spend more time with peers. What will happen if you keep talking so little…”
“I’m going upstairs.”
What kind of little brother? Wen Jin had almost forgotten the name of the child whose piano playing was terrible.
He returned to his bedroom and searched for which state’s people might have green eyes. After searching around, the most likely candidate was Bernlin State, but the images online didn’t seem to match the beautiful color of the Zhang family child’s eyes.
A very pale and pure olive green. It looked out of place among the flowers but matched the piled-up dark clouds in the sky better.
Duan Chengzhi finally returned from the Yue family. While the two were playing golf, Wen Jin casually asked, “How many children does the Zhang family have?”
Duan Chengzhi looked puzzled: “Which Zhang family?”
“Caliber.”
Although Duan Chengzhi planned to join the military, he was very familiar with the social circles of Huan City. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Don’t they just have one son? What’s his name… Qinnan?”
Wen Jin swung his club cleanly, not even glancing at the ball’s trajectory afterward. He turned to Duan Chengzhi: “The others.”
Duan Chengzhi turned back and found Wen Jin’s gaze surprisingly persistent and serious. He tossed his club to the caddy and thought: “I think there’s another child, Zhang Jiming’s illegitimate son. I forget the name, but he’s the same age as Zhang Qinnan.”
The same age? That child looked only eight or nine.
“What’s wrong? Why are you interested in this? Auntie told me you went to the Zhang family to teach piano last time. Not bad, little brother, now you’re a piano teacher.”
After saying this, Duan Chengzhi was prepared for Wen Jin to glare at him, but Wen Jin instead sat down with his water cup, staring into the distance of the golf course without a word.
This was truly odd. Duan Chengzhi sat beside him and asked, “What is it? Which child did you see at the Zhang family? This isn’t like you, being interested in humans.”
“The olive green child,” Wen Jin added. “He looked unintelligent.”
“You must have run into an alien. Whose child is green?” Duan Chengzhi said with concern.
Wen Jin couldn’t be bothered to say more. He lost interest in golf, stood up, and prepared to go to the pool, asking Duan Chengzhi if he wanted to join.
Duan Chengzhi was still pondering which green alien could interest his aloof younger cousin. He didn’t respond immediately, and when he looked back, Wen Jin had already vanished.
What was his name?
Wen Jin felt strange. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen people with other eye colors, but why was he so interested in that child?
Perhaps because he looked so incredibly clumsy. Wen Jin rarely had such clumsy people around him.
But going back to the Zhang family just for this was impossible. The master of that house smiled falsely, and the child’s piano playing was excruciatingly bad.
It wasn’t difficult to find out the child’s name. He eventually learned it from Duan Chengzhi: his name was Zhang Liuxin. He had to admit, it was a poetic name that suited those eyes well.
But his interest stopped at merely finding out the name. Wen Jin was too busy. After entering university, he had many things to do and many people to deal with. Before long, he had put the child out of his mind.
He didn’t expect to see him again—or rather, for him to see the child unilaterally.
It was at State University. He was standing on the second floor of the Science Academy, having stepped out for a breath after a long meeting. Glancing down, he saw a very slender youth.
Wen Jin’s gaze fell on him first for no other reason than that everyone else looked somewhat odd, while that youth was the fairest, had a good physique, and stood out in the crowd.
They were still wearing high school uniforms, likely touring State University with their teachers.
A girl was walking beside him, talking non-stop, seemingly boundless energy. Zhang Liuxin would occasionally respond, a shy smile appearing on his face, and his olive green eyes would sparkle.
Puppy love.
Wen Jin found it uninteresting and withdrew his gaze. Someone came out looking for him, and he raised a hand to signal he would return soon.
But before leaving, he inexplicably looked down again. This time, he could only see the youth’s back—slender shoulders and back, barely filling out the school uniform.
This time, he didn’t look up, still walking forward with the female classmate.
The monotonous days passed quickly. Soon, he received his own scientific research award. He was nineteen, the youngest recipient of the award.
Wen Huaichuan was very pleased and gifted him an island, asking him to name it. Wen Jin casually said, “RXR050632.” Duan Chengzhi asked why, and Wen Jin replied it was the designation number of an experimental subject he was working on.
“You research fanatic,” Duan Chengzhi muttered.
He knew his uncle didn’t like Wen Jin doing research and hoped he would inherit the family business, but the fact was, as long as it brought glory to the Wen family, his uncle was quite happy too.
The day before He Qing left to study abroad, the four of them gathered. He Qing told them not to miss him too much, saying he would fly back occasionally. Lü Zixia scoffed, “Are you coming back to see us or to see your dear brother?”
Unlike other blended families, He Qing had a very good relationship with his stepbrother.
“Of course, to see you all,” He Qing smiled and gently asked, “Zixia, you’re about to enter State University as Ah Zhuo’s junior. What are your thoughts?”
Lü Zixia threw a pillow at him, leaning lazily to the side: “He’s doing his doctorate, I’m a freshman. What kind of junior is that?”
Just then, the usually quiet Wen Jin suddenly spoke: “You’re going to college already?”
A vein pulsed on Lü Zixia’s forehead, and He Qing quickly pressed him down. Duan Chengzhi played peacemaker: “Just kidding, just kidding.”
Wen Jin was genuinely surprised. He had been on back-to-back business trips and only now had free time, realizing that it was already August and a new batch of freshmen would be arriving at the university.
Perhaps the tension in his brain suddenly eased. Wen Jin had a little to drink and inexplicably thought of Zhang Liuxin. Since he had visited State University, did he intend to apply here?
Could he get in while constantly chatting with that girl?
That night, Lü Zixia drank too much, talking about his high school romance, about his first love, his ‘white moonlight,’ who had died unexpectedly. He Qing, whose flight was the next morning, stayed up to comfort him.
Wen Jin found his histrionics too noisy and returned to his bedroom.
Over the years, he had built his own network. Checking a student’s admission result was not difficult. Sure enough, Zhang Liuxin had been admitted to State University, surprisingly in the Journalism department.
That green-eyed child—no, not a child anymore—wanted to be a host?
In any case, he couldn’t sleep now. He pulled a sheet of State University letterhead from a drawer and, without hesitation, put pen to paper. The ink was deep, the brushstrokes sharp like a sword: “Proceed with determination, a boundless future awaits.” (徑行直遂，青雲萬裏.)
The motivation for writing this line was unclear, so when Wen Jin woke up the next morning, he expressionlessly crumpled the paper and tossed it into the trash can.
Liuxin, your name was on the congratulatory letter back then.