Entertainment from Divorce

"Then let's buy a house in Jinling." Tan Yue pulled her into his arms, rubbing his chin against her head. "We'll enclose this river and all the reeds as your backyard garden."

She was amused, and the wine swayed over the edge of the cup and dripped onto his jeans.

He didn't get angry. He lowered his head and wiped the sweet wine off her fingertips, causing her to blush and hide aside.

The lighthouse in the distance began to flash regularly, and the first star appeared behind the clouds.

From the Wetland Park to Confucius Temple, the subway passes through most of the city of Jinling.

The carriage gradually became lively, with tourists carrying salted duck and Yuhua stones and speaking in accents from all over the country.

Chen Ziyu dozed off on Tan Yue's shoulder. He looked up travel guides on his phone, his fingers occasionally running through her falling hair.

As I exited the subway station, the lights of Wei River came into view.

The flying eaves and pointed corners of Confucius Temple were immersed in a warm yellow halo. Black-sailed boats carrying tourists slowly passed by, and the oars shattered the starlight in the river.

Chen Ziyu looked up at the words "The World's Literary Center" on the archway, and the red lanterns reflected tiny spots of light in her pupils.

"Let's eat first?" Tan Yue shook the map in his hand. "The guide said the red bean dumplings at Lianhu Gaotuan Store are pretty good."

The store was packed with people and they finally found a seat in the corner.

The Yuanxiao in the bowl floats in the amber soup, sprinkled with osmanthus and rice wine.

Chen Ziyu scooped up a spoonful, bit into the glutinous rice ball and found warm sesame filling, the sweet fragrance mixed with the sweet osmanthus fragrance exploded on the tip of his tongue.

Seeing that she was very satisfied with her meal, Tan Yue quietly transferred two Yuanxiao from his bowl to her.

After supper, they took a walk along the Wei River.

The pleasure boats on the river were hung with palace lanterns, and a singing girl on the bow was singing "Jasmine Flower".

Chen Ziyu leaned on the railing and watched the reflection of the lights ripple with the water.

Suddenly a cruise ship passed by, and the waves it stirred up wet her skirt. Tan Yue quickly pulled her into his arms, but his back was splashed with water.

"So stupid." She took out a tissue to wipe it for him, but he grabbed her wrist.

He leaned in closer, his warm breath brushing her lips: "Just now in the wetland park, you said you wanted to watch the sunset every day."

"Um?"

"Now," he pointed to the river, "do you want to see lights like this every day?"

Chen Ziyu was stunned. In the halo of the street lamp, his eyes were brighter than the water of Wei River.

The hustle and bustle around him suddenly became far away. There was only the warmth of his palms and the lanterns rising and falling on the river, like a dream that would never end.

Turning into Gongyuan Street, the aroma of sugar-roasted chestnuts wafted from the shops along the street.

Chen Ziyu was attracted by a handicraft shop. The Jinling folding fans in the window were painted with the scenery of Wei River.

She picked one up and looked at it carefully. The painted boat on the fan was outlined with gold powder and glowed faintly under the light.

"Do you want it?" Tan Yue had already taken out his wallet.

"It's too expensive." She quickly put the fan back, only to find that he had already paid for it.

The shop owner was an old lady. She smiled and stuffed two packets of sweet-scented osmanthus candy into the bag: "You two are a perfect match. These candies are for you."

As the night deepened, the street food stalls lit up with warm yellow lights.

Tan Yue bought plum blossom cakes, the steaming hot cakes sprinkled with red dates and raisins.

Chen Ziyu took a bite. The soft and glutinous rice cake was filled with red bean paste and was so sweet that it made him squint his eyes.

He used a tissue to wipe the corners of her mouth, but he secretly ate the plum cake in her hand.

When passing by a teahouse, the sound of Pingtan was heard from inside.

They found a seat by the window on the second floor and ordered a pot of Yuhua tea.

A woman in cheongsam holds a pipa and sings "The Golden Hairpin" in the soft Wu dialect.

Chen Ziyu held his chin and listened, the heat from the tea blurring the lenses of his glasses.

Tan Yue reached out to take off her glasses, and his fingertips touched her eyelashes.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"I was thinking," she looked at the crowd downstairs, the light of the lanterns reflected in her eyes, "If eight hundred years ago, would we also visit Confucius Temple on a night like this?"

Tan Yue held her hand, and the tea leaves in the cup expanded in the water: "Then I must be a poor scholar. After taking the imperial examination, I used my last copper coin to buy you a candy man."

"Then I am the lady in the embroidery building," she continued with a smile, "I secretly pawned my gold hairpin to raise money for you to go to Beijing for the exam."

They both laughed. The sound of Pingtan downstairs, the laughter of tourists, and the sound of the Qinhuai River flowing, mixed with the fragrance of tea, fermented in the air. The waiter of the teahouse brought a plate of crispy candies, saying that all the guests who listened to the story were entitled to a portion.

Chen Ziyu broke open the candy wrapper, and the sweet fragrance was mixed with a hint of mint, just like the evening breeze on this summer night.

At 11 o'clock, the Confucius Temple was still brightly lit, but the number of visitors was gradually dwindling.

Chen Ziyu's feet felt a little sore, so Tan Yue squatted down and carried her on his back: "Come on up, Miss Chen's embroidered shoes can't get wet with dew."

When I carried her across the Wende Bridge, there were only a few lanterns left on the river.

Tan Yue shook deliberately, and she was so scared that she hugged his neck: "Be careful!" But he laughed out loud, and the vibration of his chest was transmitted to her palm.

The moonlight cast their shadows on the stone road, like a moving ink painting.

On the subway back to the hotel, Chen Ziyu leaned on Tan Yue's shoulder and flipped through photos.

The sunset in the wetland park, the lanterns in the Confucius Temple, the red bean dumplings in the Lianhu Cake Shop, each photo contains each other’s smiling faces.

Tan Yue rested his chin on her head and swiped his finger across the screen: "Let's go boating tomorrow?"

"Okay," she yawned, "but you have to learn how to row. We almost capsized last time."

"That's because someone keeps moving around." He pinched her face gently.

After exiting the subway station, the night wind was cool.

Tan Yue put his coat on her, and they walked hand in hand back to the hotel.

The shadows of the plane trees on the street were swaying, and the street lights made their shadows very long.

Chen Ziyu suddenly stopped and pointed to the sky: "Look, the stars."

Tan Yue looked in the direction of her finger and saw a few stars twinkling faintly in the light pollution of the city.

He put his arm around her shoulders and said, "When we get back to Beijing, I'll take you to see the Milky Way."

She leaned into his arms and smelled the faint scent of soapberry on him: "Actually, it's good now."

Street lamps passed overhead one after another, their shadows overlapped and separated, and finally disappeared into the revolving door of the hotel. The lights of Weihe River were still on, the reeds of Yuzui were still swaying in the wind, and their night was slowly flowing with the starlight.

The city of Jinling gradually quieted down in the early morning, and the floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel room reflected the last lights of the city.

Chen Ziyu came out of the shower and saw Tan Yue organizing photos on the computer.

In the cold light of the screen, the sunset of the wetland park and the lanterns of the Confucius Temple flickered alternately. "What are you doing?" She climbed onto the bed and hugged his waist from behind.

"Make a photo album," he turned off the computer and held her in his arms, "When we are old, we can sit in a rocking chair and look at these photos and talk about the stories we had in Jinling."

She smiled and buried her face in his chest: "You must have been presbyopic at that time and couldn't even see the photo clearly."

"Then let you read it to me." He kissed the top of her head, "From the first ray of sunset in the Wetland Park to the last lantern in the Confucius Temple."

The moonlight from outside the window came in, giving the room a silver edge.

Chen Ziyu listened to his heartbeat and imagined the lights of the Wei River and the starlight of the wetland park interweaving into a river, their shadows swaying gently on the river surface, never dispersing.

Tan Yue looked at her slightly trembling eyelashes, and suddenly remembered the painting "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove" he saw in the museum in the morning - Ruan Ji's wildness and Ji Kang's arrogance were not as gentle as the person next to him at this moment.

Chen Ziyu transferred the photos in the camera to the TV, and the two of them sat on the sofa and slowly looked through them.

The bronze ware in the museum, the old post office in the Museum of the Republic of China, the steps of Zhongling Mausoleum, each photo shows the other person.

"Are we going to the Ming Tombs tomorrow?" Tan Yue handed her the cut watermelon, with water droplets still on the red flesh.

Chen Ziyu took a bite of the watermelon, and the sweet juice flowed down the corners of his mouth: "Okay, but you have to carry me up the stone statue path."

"Yes, Miss Chen." He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. The pictures on the TV screen were still switching one by one, like their unfinished story.

The lights from the Wei River shone through the windows, drawing tiny light patterns on the floor.

Chen Ziyu rested his head in Tan Yue's arms, listening to his even breathing, and suddenly felt that the so-called romance was nothing more than turning ordinary days into poetry with the person you love.

The rustling sound of the sycamore leaves outside the window seemed to be telling the thousand-year-old story of this city.

And their story has just begun.

……

As the morning light slanted in through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel, Tan Yue was woken up by Chen Ziyu's cell phone alarm.

The curtains were made of semi-transparent gauze, filtering the morning sunlight into a gentle amber color, casting long and thin spots of light on the carpet at the end of the bed.

"Sleep for another ten minutes." Chen Ziyu buried his face in the pillow, his voice muffled.

The ends of her hair were scented with the jasmine scent of the hotel's shampoo, which spread on Tan Yue's pillow.

Tan Yue reached out to turn off his phone, and his fingertips touched the "7:30" displayed on the screen.

This is their fifth day in Jinling. Their schedule for the past few days was full, so they deliberately left today free and agreed to sleep until they wake up naturally.

"There's a lecture at the Great Temple at ten o'clock." He poked her exposed ear, "You'll miss it."

"What kind of alarm did you set?" Chen Ziyu turned over, his eyelashes casting tiny shadows under his eyes, "The plane trees in Jinling haven't woken up yet."

Tan Yue smiled, got out of bed and opened the curtains.

The glass curtain wall of the building in the distance reflected the sunlight, and there was already traffic on Longpan Middle Road downstairs.

He bent down to pick up the white dress that he had thrown on the floor last night and put it on the back of a chair. "I'm going to buy some duck blood vermicelli soup. Can you take your time to clean up?"

"Add duck intestines!" Chen Ziyu stretched out a hand from under the quilt and made a "V" sign.

Breakfast was served at an old shop near the hotel.

When Tan Yue came back with two bowls of soup, Chen Ziyu was applying lipstick in front of the mirror.

She wore a light blue linen shirt with the cuffs rolled up to her elbows, revealing her slender wrists.

"The soup here is really delicious." Chen Ziyu scooped up a piece of duck blood with a spoon, "It's more authentic than the one in Confucius Temple yesterday."

"The locals recommended it." Tan Yue took a bite of a steamed bun and gasped at the hot soup. "They said there's nothing good to eat near the temple. We have to eat our fill before going."

The subway arrived at the station soon.

When I was leaving the station, I met a group of middle school students with the "Jinling Middle School" badge on their uniforms.

Chen Ziyu stared at the school badges waving on their chests for a while, and suddenly said, "When I was in high school, I always felt that getting into Jinling Middle School was like having one foot in a prestigious school."

“Now what?”

"Now I feel that what's important is who you visited Jinling with." She tilted her head and smiled, and the end of her hair brushed across the back of Tan Yue's hand.

The glazed tower of the big temple glows with colorful halos in the sun.

Tan Yue looked up following the guide's instructions. Each layer of the tower was inlaid with restored glazed components, and patterns of lotus, flying apsaras, and Capricorn fish swayed gently in the wind.

Chen Ziyu held up his mobile phone to take pictures, but the camera was always facing the tourists under the tower: a girl in Hanfu, a child holding a balloon, and an old couple with white hair.

"Why are you taking these photos?" Tan Yue leaned over to look at her photo album.

"Don't you think these people are the lifeblood of the temple?" Chen Ziyu turned to a photo in the album with backlight, "Look at this old lady. The way she looks at the Glazed Tower is like she is looking at the story of her own youth."

They stayed in the ruins museum for a long time.

Below the glass plank road are the foundation ruins of a large temple from the Ming Dynasty, with a few wild grasses growing among the broken walls.

Chen Ziyu squatted down to look at a brick engraved with patterns. There was a thin layer of dust in the cracks between the bricks, but the edges had been polished to a shine by the gazes of countless tourists.

"I used to think that history was something that was only in textbooks," she said softly. "Now I understand that history is like this, being stepped on and held in the palm of your hand."

It was almost noon when we left.

Tan Yue bought two cups of cultural and creative coffee, with a pattern of a glazed tower printed on the cup sleeves.

They sat on a bench under the shade of the tree and watched the shadow of the tower move slowly across the ground.

Chen Ziyu suddenly pointed to the distance and said, "Look, does that piece of grass look like a piece of matcha cake?"

Tan Yue looked in the direction of her finger. There were a few cherry trees dotted on the green lawn, just like the icing on a matcha cake. He took out his phone to take a photo, but the camera only captured Chen Ziyu's profile - she was tilting her head back to drink coffee, her eyelashes glowing golden in the sun.

The Pioneer Bookstore in the afternoon is located in the underground garage of Wutai Mountain.

When you push open the glass door, the first thing that catches your eye is a huge slogan that reads "Strangers on Earth".

There were quite a few people in the bookstore, but it was so quiet that you could hear the rustling sound of books turning pages.

Chen Ziyu was immediately attracted to the poetry area in the corner. He took out a collection of poems by Wislawa Szymborska and began to read while leaning against the bookshelf.

Tan Yue wandered around the travel bookshelf and finally chose "The Story of Nanjing".

When he was looking for a place to sit down with his book in his arms, he saw Chen Ziyu squatting in the children's picture book area, telling a story of "Guess How Much I Love You" to a little girl with pigtails.

The girl's mother was smiling and taking photos. Chen Ziyu's profile in the camera was gentle, and her voice was soft: "I love you, from here to the moon, and then - back again."

By the time the two met in the cafe, the sun had already set.

Chen Ziyu bought a canvas bag with the bookstore’s logo printed on it, which contained her newly purchased poetry collection and postcards.

Tan Yue handed her the Biography of Nanjing: "Didn't you say you wanted to learn about this city?"

“What about you?” She opened the book, which had a commemorative bookstore sticker on the title page. “What do you want to know?”

"I want to know," Tan Yue reached out to brush away her hair, "Jinling in your eyes." (End of this chapter)