1987 My Era

Chapter 590, The Chaotic Situation
A thought flashed through Zhou Shihe's mind: What should I do?
Should we continue to be magnanimous? Forgive him and treat him as usual?
Or should we break off all ties with him?
Or tell the wheat?
Given her personality, she would have slapped him immediately when he dared to disrespect her at Xiyuan.

This time, she endured it twice before she could barely pry his hand off, and her right hand rose heavily, but she lost half of her strength as it fell.

Given her usual personality, she would have definitely turned on him and left tonight, never speaking to Li Heng again, and becoming a stranger from then on.

But she inexplicably endured it, inexplicably only pushing away his hand that was being flirtatious with her, only symbolically staring at him and forcing him back.

To some extent, this was a way for her and him to save face.

At this moment, a flood of memories flashed through her mind: from holding hands and hugging while skiing in Northeast China to his accidental kiss on the lips; from living together in Beijing to hearing him call her name in her sleep late at night; from rehearsing "The Original Scenery of My Hometown" together to their seamless interaction on the Spring Festival Gala stage; from him secretly watching her from time to time to catching her taking a shower...

Lost in thought, Zhou Shihe reflected: When exactly did it start? Why did she, who was described by many relatives and friends as someone who "never showed any respect to men since childhood," become so tolerant of him? Especially since he was a philanderer.

Is it because he is different from others?
Is it because he is a great writer? Or is it because you particularly like the words he writes?
Is it because he's a legendary musician as described by state media? Or is it because you particularly love those 10 instrumental albums?
Is it because you care about your friendship with him?

Or is he the man Sui Sui loves?
In the study, Zhou Shihe was extremely conflicted. Half of her university life had passed by in the blink of an eye, and she had made three true friends: Mai Sui, Sun Manning, and Ye Ning.

If they fall out, Mai Sui loves him so much, she will definitely leave her.

Manning and Li Heng were high school classmates and deskmates. Although Manning often picked fights with Li Heng, it was all just joking and having fun. If she really had to choose between herself and Li Heng, she felt that Manning would choose him without hesitation.

As for Ye Ning, she usually admires Li Heng, and with the influence of Sui Sui and Man Ning, plus the fact that Ye Zhanyan has fallen in love with Li Heng, she will most likely side with Li Heng.

She had few true friends growing up. Because they shared similar habits, Zhou Shihe cherished this friendship and put a lot of effort into making these four friends.

Otherwise, given her background and circumstances, there would be no way she could cook for four outsiders.

It's even less likely that he would go out of his way to entertain guests.

They wouldn't come to Lushan Village on the third day of the Lunar New Year.

Why did she come to Lushan Village today?
Zhou Shihe's reasoning was: the concert in Singapore was very important to her teacher and she couldn't afford to mess it up. She needed Li Heng's help, so she came to accompany him to show her respect.

As for the deeper reason for appearing in Lushan Village on the third day of the Lunar New Year, when the thought "I fell in love with Miss Zhou at first sight" popped into her mind, she immediately stopped herself and didn't dare let the thought go any further.

She was terrified!
She was afraid of coming to a conclusion that she herself could not accept: that she had been brainwashed by his words and had developed different feelings for him.

She feared she had fallen into his carefully woven, invisible web of love and had developed feelings for him.

Zhou Shihe sat blankly in her chair, her heart filled with turmoil. She was weighing her options: she really didn't want to completely deny their deep friendship just because he had helped her brush a strand of hair behind her ear. Telling Mai Sui was easy, but how would she face Mai Sui afterwards?

In Lushan Village, everyone he knew had a close relationship with him. Was he going to move back to the dormitory and spend his junior and senior years of college all alone?
However, these are not the most important points.

She had a vague feeling that although Li Heng was a successful and world-renowned musician and a leading writer in China, he was also rich, powerful, and famous.

But even if we put it bluntly, he's only a little over 19 years old, and he won't be 20 for several more months. Men of this age are in the prime of their lives, and it's not entirely hard to understand why they might lose control of themselves when they're alone together.

Zhou Shihe has unparalleled confidence in her charm; she believes that if she wanted to, few men could resist her.

This confidence is not blind, but stems from her excellent external and internal qualities, and from her family.

Unconsciously, Zhou Shihe began to make excuses for Li Heng, narrowing down the matter of Li Heng helping her with her hair to the definition of "male impulse," thus reassuring herself.

Although she had long been aware of his unusual feelings for her, Li Heng had been very restrained until tonight. Even when he occasionally had strong emotional fluctuations towards her, he always managed to suppress all distracting thoughts and did not deliberately offend her.

Zhou Shihe spent half the day anxiously in the study, controlling her thoughts and avoiding thinking about Li Heng taking further liberties with her, accepting his feelings, or what might happen between them in the future.

Because she understood one thing perfectly: Li Heng's love for Xiao Han was genuine, and he doted on Mai Sui; Teacher Yu probably wouldn't give up pursuing him. It wouldn't be easy for other women to get involved.

After much deliberation, she finally suppressed her desire to confront him and abandoned the idea of ​​revealing her true feelings to Mai Sui.

She wanted to attend her teacher's concert in Singapore without any problems.

She wanted to enjoy her university years peacefully first.

After sitting quietly in the study for a long time, Zhou Shihe felt a little tired and her legs were a bit numb.

She stood up, bent down and rubbed the numbness in her calves, then composed herself and walked out of the study.

There was no one in the living room on the second floor.

Zhou Shihe subconsciously glanced at the master bedroom. The master bedroom door was closed, and no light was shining through the crack under the door.

She thought for a moment, then walked towards the stairwell and started going downstairs.

She stopped halfway down the road, just as she reached the corner.

Because she bumped into one.

At this moment, Li Heng was holding two bowls in each hand, one containing sweet wine and the other containing three fried eggs.

Upon seeing him suddenly, Zhou Shihe unconsciously gripped the wooden handrail with her left hand. Her heart was filled with complex emotions, but she maintained an extremely calm demeanor as she quietly looked at him.

The sweet wine was fragrant. After looking at each other for a while, Li Heng broke the silence first: "I traveled all day today. I had noodles for dinner at Zhang Zhiyong's place. Maybe it's because I didn't eat rice, but I felt a bit uneasy. So I made sweet wine omelets. Have you ever had this before? Want to try some?"

Well, that's why he made sweet wine omelet.

That's because the kitchen basically has nothing else besides eggs and sweet wine, so there's no way to come up with anything else.

Because of what had happened before, Zhou Shihe instinctively wanted to refuse. But after meeting his gaze, she hesitated for a moment, then turned around and silently went back upstairs.

Her steps were small and light, like willow catkins, and each step seemed to blend seamlessly with nature, graceful and elegant. Apart from Teacher Yu, Li Heng couldn't find another person with such a graceful bearing.

Perhaps this is what it means to be raised in a large family; every word and action reveals a profound cultural background.

Huang Zhaoyi's words and actions are actually quite tasteful, but she is not in the same style as Zhou Shihe's tranquility or Teacher Yu's intellect; she tends to be more bright and magnanimous.

Zhou Shihe sat down gracefully in front of the sofa and then waited quietly.

Li Heng sat on the sofa opposite her, placed one of the bowls in front of her, and handed her a pair of chopsticks: "Here, have a couple of bites while it's hot."

Her gaze swept over the tips of the chopsticks, Zhou Shihe slightly raised her head, looked into his eyes, hesitated for a moment, and finally reached out and took the chopsticks.

With this, the matter of the study officially became a thing of the past.

This signifies a reconciliation between the two individuals.

She understood, and so did he.

Or perhaps Li Heng knew he had crossed a line today, so he used this method to seek her forgiveness.

Zhou Shihe understood his thoughts, which is why she used their tacit understanding to gracefully back down, giving him and herself a way out. Just like a roly-poly toy, she corrected the deviation and restored the relationship to its original state.

Under his gaze, Zhou Shihe first used her fingers to tuck the stray strands of hair on her face, then crossed her left hand across her chest to prevent the sweet wine from falling on her clothes, lowered her head, picked up an egg with chopsticks, put it to her mouth, and took a small bite.

She paused for a moment after taking a bite, then began to eat slowly and deliberately.

She finished it in one bite, then without stopping, quietly continued eating the second and third bites…

Throughout the entire process, she didn't say a word, nor did she look up at him again.

But Li Heng knew that sweet wine and eggs should suit her taste very well, otherwise she wouldn't have been so obliging as to eat more than half an egg in one go.

After a short while, Li Heng also picked up his chopsticks and started eating. Unlike her ingrained refined image, he was much more carefree, taking bites of eggs and sips of sweet wine every now and then.

Eggs with sweet wine—it couldn't be more delightful. In modern terms, it's absolutely amazing!
Noticing his movements, Zhou Shihe secretly glanced at him for a while with her clear, simple black and white glasses, and then tried to eat a bite of egg and drink a sip of sweet wine.

Just then, a voice suddenly came from behind, "How does it taste like this?"

Zhou Shihe paused for a moment, feeling as if she had been caught red-handed.

She finished eating her food before gently saying, "It's pretty good. Did you figure it out yourself?"

"No, no. This is a traditional recipe from my hometown, uh, I should call it a traditional custom," Li Heng said.

Zhou Shihe opened her eyelids slightly and quietly looked at him.

Li Heng explained, "It's called a custom because in our hometown, when the bride and groom visit their future spouse's home for engagement and wedding, the first thing they're served is sweet rice wine with fried eggs..."

He paused halfway through his sentence, then fell silent.

He had just touched her ear and face, and now he was serving her sweet wine and eggs and bringing up marriage and engagement... This just doesn't feel right at all!

Zhou Shihe understood his thoughts, but pretended not to know and asked gently, "Is it also 3 fried eggs?"

Li Heng felt ashamed.

He smiled sheepishly and said, "No, it's because there were only 6 eggs left in the kitchen, so I'm dividing them equally, 3 for each of us."

Furthermore, in our area, good deeds are always done in pairs, not odd numbers. The last digit is usually 2, but in special cases it can be 4 or even 6, symbolizing prosperity in all four seasons and good fortune in all six directions.

However, to avoid making mistakes, aside from a few elderly people who are particular about such things, most people use the number ending in 2, as it is considered auspicious and pleasing.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Shihe nodded slightly, then picked up an egg from her bowl and placed it in his bowl.

But as soon as she finished picking up the chopsticks, she squeezed the chopsticks in her palm and stood there stunned.

Someone just said that happy occasions often end in even numbers because they represent good fortune and are pleasing to the eye. If I put an egg on his plate now, wouldn't that be making it an even number?

She has two, he has four.

Sweet wine and eggs symbolize engagement and marriage. Will he overthink it?
Did she think she was hinting at something to him?

Thinking of this, Zhou Shihe pouted her pretty little mouth slightly and said to herself, "I'm not very hungry, I can't finish it."

She explained it in just seven simple words.

"Um,"

P.S.: I'll post one chapter first to get back into the flow. There's more to come today...

P.S.: In March, Zhou Shihe's storyline was written very subtly and implicitly, just like the character's personality. Some readers might find it abrupt if they didn't understand it. But I believe most readers did understand it. Some of the comments in the previous post were quite insightful. Thank you all.

(End of this chapter)