1172 Longing Is Faster Than Light
After lunch, Shen Li played chess with Mei Yanqing for a while before leaving.
It was evening by the time she reached home.
She entered the keycode before entering.
“Dad, I’m back.”
No one answered so she looked up and realized that Shen Zhijin was not in the living room.
She changed her shoes and put the painting back in the studio. After some thought, she went to knock on the door of the study.
The sound of footsteps could be heard before the door was opened.
Shen Zhijin stood behind the door, looking at her with his clear and handsome eyes.
“You’re back? I’m sorry. I was reading just now, so I didn’t hear you.”
Shen Li’s gaze swept across the desk behind him.
There was a thick and heavy copy of “Sunspot” on it.
It was a basic book in the field of astronomy, but Shen Zhijin was reading it.
She remembered this book. It was the one that Gu Tingyin had bought to read, but because she had not been able to understand it, she had given it to Shen Zhijin.
Of course, she had given him more than one book.
Shen Li could still remember the beautiful handwriting on the title page and the sketch of a little person scratching his head in distress at the foot of the page.
Her father had been so engrossed in the book that he had not heard her enter.
Moreover, it was such a simple book for Shen Zhijin.
Shen Li paused and her eyes curved in a smile.
“It’s nothing. I just wanted to ask you what we’re having for dinner. I saw a mango ice cream cake in the fridge. Did you buy it for Mom?”
“Yes.”
Shen Zhijin’s thin eyebrows relaxed.
Shen Li asked, “I don’t think I heard you mention that mom likes to eat mangoes too, did I?”
As soon as she asked this question, she suddenly understood something.
Shen Zhijin was the one who liked mangoes.
Shen Zhijin smiled.
“She always bought this flavor for her birthday. She didn’t eat much of the mango, but the ice cream was all hers.”
Shen Li’s fingers twitched.
Whenever Shen Zhijin mentioned the past, it was clearly a memory from many, many years ago, but it still seemed as vivid as yesterday.
He rubbed her head.
“Tangtang, would you like to eat beef brisket with tomatoes today?”
Shen Li came back to her senses and nodded, “Yes.”
Shen Zhijin smiled and said, “Alright.”
…
The dinner was very sumptuous. After the meal, Shen Zhijin even brought out the cake.
It was a small six-inch cake with mangoes piled on top.
Shen Li saw him take out some candles and inserted them one by one.
There were twenty in total.
Shen Zhijin turned off the lights in the dining room until only the faint light from the living room shone in.
The sky outside the window had already darkened.
Whoosh–
Shen Zhijin lit up the colorful candles on the cake.
The wind blew in from the window, and the candlelight flickered. It seemed that even the red camellias that were in full bloom next to it were swaying with it.
Shen Li looked up at him.
The warm light reflected on his face, making his eyebrows look even more handsome. His long eyelashes cast a faint shadow on the depths of his black eyes, making him look cool and calm.
He went through this series of actions very smoothly and naturally, as if he had done it many times.
Not ‘as if’.
In the past few years, he had indeed done this.
Shen Li remembered that Yan Qiu had mentioned that Shen Zhijin never celebrated any festival.
Neither the Mid-Autumn Festival nor the Spring Festival.
However, it turned out that it was not that he never celebrated anything.
He would celebrate Gu Tingyin’s birthday by himself.
Camellias, a cake, and candles.
Everything was so formal, not a thing was missing.
She looked at the candles and finally asked, “Dad, why… are there twenty candles?”
Shen Zhijin was quiet for a while, as if he was recalling something. After a while, a faint smile flashed across his lips.
With this smile, the cold and distant temperament around him dissipated a little, revealing a gentleness that was rare for outsiders to see.
“Shen Zhijin! My birthday is in three months!”
At that time, they had only known each other for less than a month.
“Shen Zhijin! What flavor of cake do you like?”
It was clearly her birthday, but she had continuously asked him questions.
“Shen Zhijin, did you really not prepare a birthday present for me? Did you really, really, really not?”
She felt extremely aggrieved.
“Shen Zhijin, guess what wish I made just now? If you ask me, I’ll tell you!
He had never been interested in such things, but at that moment, he actually had the intention of exploring them further.
However, before he could even ask, she had already impatiently told him.
“Oh! Then let me tell you in secret… I hope that today is my twentieth birthday!”
She sneaked over, but her eyes were so bright that nothing could hide them. The starlight and love in them seemed like they were about to overflow in the next second.
“The legal age of marriage for girls in Hong Kong City is sixteen, but in the inland areas, it’s twenty! ”
She clasped her hands together and prayed devoutly, “Twenty years old!”
What she wished for was not to be twenty years old, but for him.
One of the candles fell over, causing Shen Zhijin to gather his thoughts and laugh.
“She likes it.”
…
At night, after Shen Li had taken a bath, she changed into her pajamas and prepared to sleep.
However, as she tossed and turned in bed, she found that she did not feel sleepy at all.
She sat up and felt a little thirsty, so she slipped into her slippers and went out to get a glass of water.
However, after a few steps, she saw a tall figure standing on the balcony.
Shen Zhijin.
There was a telescope on the balcony, which he seemed to be looking through.
It was already 12:30 at night. Shen Zhijin’s work and rest schedule were extremely regular. Other than the occasional work needs, he rarely stayed up at this time.
Shen Zhijin turned around, as if he had heard a sound.
The temperature in the Capital had dropped these few days, and the night wind was particularly chilly.
He was wearing a thin gray sweater and black casual pants, his figure tall and straight.
However, the dark night seemed to have draped a layer of loneliness over him.
“Tangtang.”
He said gently.
Shen Li hesitated for a moment, but still walked over.
“Dad, why aren’t you asleep yet?”
Shen Zhijin paused for a moment. I have slight insomnia, ” he said.
Shen Li was silent for a moment.
Even if he did not say it, she understood that there would be some times that he would not be able to get through by sleeping.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pony pillow on the rattan chair on the balcony. The tea on the small table next to it was half-drunk, and it seemed to have turned cold.
It was as if an invisible hand had suddenly clenched her heart. When she breathed, even her chest hurt.
He had lived like this for so many years.
“Tangtang.”
Shen Zhijin seemed to have guessed what she was thinking and called out to her.
Shen Li looked up.
Shen Zhijin paused for a while.
“You know that any matter with mass can never surpass the speed of light. But…”
The dark night seemed to have trapped all light.
But…
“Longing is faster than light.”