Hear this life

In the following days, everyone noticed the changes in Wen Tingli.

Although she used to be talkative and cheerful, these past few days, her entire body seemed to be glowing, a glow that even the most careless person could not ignore.

That day, Wen Tingli hurried to the dressing room to change clothes as usual after work. Huang Yuanshan was standing at the door with his arms folded, looking at her.

The two looked at each other, and Huang Yuanshan spoke first: "Why, you're not going to have supper with us tonight?"

Wen Tingli was busy sticking a beard on his face: "You go with them, I have something else to do."

Huang Yuanshan smiled knowingly: "In my opinion, there is no one else. Tell me the truth, when did you two reconcile?"

"Reporter Huang." Wen Tingli looked around in the mirror. "Now is not the time for an interview. I have no answer for your question. I'm leaving first. No matter what you take them out to eat tonight, the bill will be on me."

"Don't blame me for not reminding you. This week we have to sign contracts with Xinghua Bookstore and Miss Ge. They are all top-priority business. Please pay attention to me."

"Huh! When have I ever delayed important business?" Wen Tingli answered loudly from the front.

Huang Yuanshan smiled and shook his head. He walked into the shed, clapped his hands and said, "I heard that the boss is treating us to dinner tonight. She asked me to tell everyone: Don't be polite when ordering. Do you understand? We are all going to give her a good beating tonight."

A burst of cheerful laughter broke out in the shed.

At this moment, Wen Tingli had already got into the car of the car rental company. In the past few days, she and Lu Shicheng had dinner together every night. Today, they made an appointment to meet near Bei'anli. She booked the place. Zhao Qingluo said that several new late-night snack shops had opened nearby, and the food was very fresh. Since not many people knew about it yet, the place was quite quiet, which was perfect for a date for two people.

But she had to go to Xiao Taozi's kindergarten on the way. In the afternoon, the principal of Xiao Taozi called her and said that several children had been selected to participate in the art performance, and Kuang Weihang was one of them. There were several forms that needed to be filled out by parents. Mrs. Zhou was illiterate, so she asked Wen Tingli to go there as soon as possible. Wen Tingli hurriedly agreed, and before leaving work, she asked Xiaotian to buy some fruits and cakes for her.

When they arrived at the kindergarten, the principal had not yet left work. Wen Tingli respectfully placed two large gift boxes on the table and said, "I always trouble the principal and the teachers to look after Xiao Taozi. This is a small gift from you. Please accept it."

The director stared at Wen Tingli in a daze, took off his glasses, wiped them, put them back on, and looked her up and down again.

She was wearing a men's suit, a cap, and a mustache. As he watched, the director came to his senses: "Miss Wen, you must have just come from the theater. I am so old and my eyes are blurry that I thought she was a young man who came from nowhere and said these things to me for no apparent reason."

Wen Tingli exchanged a few words with the head teacher, filled out the form, bought some children's magazines for Xiao Taozi, and then said goodbye.

As soon as I arrived, I saw Lu Shicheng's car parked under the shade of a tree.

He sat in the car and looked toward the intersection.

Wen Tingli smiled, took out money to pay the fare, and tiptoed towards Lu Shicheng's car, intending to scare him from behind when he wasn't paying attention.

Unexpectedly, Lu Shicheng seemed to have eyes on the back of his head and turned around to look at him.

The two of them smiled at each other from a distance. When they got together, Lu Shicheng looked behind her and asked curiously, "How did you get here from there?"

"Xiao Taozi's kindergarten wanted to register her for a cultural performance, so I asked the driver to go there halfway."

"Where's your car?"

"Don't mention it. The car broke down when I came out this morning. The foreign company sent someone to tow the car away. I don't know when it will be repaired."

As she spoke, she naturally held Lu Shicheng's hand, and Lu Shicheng helped her straighten the hat on her head.

"Have you been waiting for me for a long time?" she asked in a low voice.

"Not long."

"But I was more than twenty minutes late."

Lu Shicheng didn't mind holding her hand and walking forward. Wen Tingli lowered her eyes and stared at the steps of the two people. The two of them were really like two streams, happily converging together every time they walked.

As soon as I entered the dining hall, the proprietress came up to me warmly and said, "Sir, you are back. This is the friend you were waiting for. The food is almost ready. I will serve it to you two right away."

People around were looking at them, probably wondering whether Wen Tingli was a boy or a girl. An elderly woman even looked at Lu Shicheng with horror.

Lu Shicheng studied the menu in his hand without looking away, but Wen Tingli couldn't help laughing. She placed her arms alternately on the table and whispered to him, "Mr. Lu, that person thinks you are a freak."

He didn't care. Without even looking up, he said, "What dessert do you want? I just ordered a few main courses. Take a look at the menu yourself."

As a result, Wen Tingli shook her head, and when the main dishes came, she only took two bites of each and put down her chopsticks.

Lu Shicheng was puzzled: "Don't you like it? How about changing to another restaurant?"

"It's delicious. No need to change it. I'm full."

Lu Shicheng took out his wallet from his jacket pocket and paid for it, then came out and asked her in a low voice: "Are you feeling unwell? Or are you too tired?"

No matter what happened in the past, she would never eat so little. Even if she was in a bad mood, she could wipe her tears in front of him and continue to stuff food into her mouth.

"You know, I'm currently filming a labor film." Wen Tingli patiently explained, "I play the heroine Chunhong. Originally, I was very confident in my performance of this role, but one day Miss Cao from our company took me to meet the female workers of the Red Cotton Textile Factory. Only then did I know what real female workers are like."

She paused and said as calmly as possible: "Sister Huang and I both hope to arouse the public's attention and sympathy for female workers through this film. Therefore, as the protagonist, I must be as close to real female workers as possible in my image."

Lu Shicheng listened silently.

"I had successfully lost ten pounds a while ago, but unfortunately, every time I go out to eat with you these days, I eat a lot without realizing it. I weighed myself this morning and I gained two kilograms. I have to find a way to lose weight as soon as possible."

That's why she fainted from hunger that night. He looked at her arms, which were thinner than before, with concern: "How long will it take to finish shooting this film?"

"We will be able to finish the studio scenes before the Mid-Autumn Festival, and then we can go to the countryside to shoot a few outdoor scenes and then we will be done."

Unconsciously, she walked to a place with few people. She took off the two mustaches on her lips, revealing her whole face, and she seemed to breathe much more freely.

"Is it possible to resume a normal diet by then?"

"Of course, if this continues I'm going to become malnourished."

Lu Shicheng breathed a sigh of relief and said nothing more. He held her hand and slowly walked forward.

Wen Tingli was very happy that he did not just advise her to take care of her body, but tried to understand what she did.

"Once I finish filming this movie, I have to go on a food binge for a few days. The first stop is to go to Lao Zhengxing to eat braised tripe, then go to Jindong Restaurant to eat eight-treasure duck. The whole duck is mine! Then go to Changxing Restaurant to eat braised catfish and crab roe scrambled eggs. I order three plates of each -"

As Lu Shicheng listened, he couldn't help but take out a pocket notebook from his pocket.

"doing what?"

"I'll write it down for you. Then you can eat at each restaurant one by one in order." He said seriously.

His muteness had been cured for a long time, but he still kept the habit of carrying a notebook with him. She smiled and leaned her head over: "Let me see if you have said anything else bad about me in the notebook."

As she said this, she pretended to snatch his notebook. Lu Shicheng smiled and took a step back, but in the end he let her snatch it away. Wen Tingli did not open it to take a look, but stuffed the notebook back into his hand. Suddenly, he felt a chill on his forehead and raindrops fell.

They both looked up at the same time.

"It's raining? That's great. I love walking on the road on rainy days."

Wen Tingli reached forward to catch the silver needle-like raindrops.

Lu Shicheng followed her with his hands in his trouser pockets.

In her eyes, even the most ordinary little things can make her happy.

The sky was full of stars last night, and she happily shouted to him, "Lu Shicheng, look, the stars are so big and bright tonight."

The day before yesterday was a cloudy day. When I looked up, I couldn't see the stars or the moon, only dark clouds. She said to him excitedly: "Look, this is a real dark and windy night for murder. No wonder there are not many people strolling on the streets. It's just right, I don't have to worry about anyone recognizing me." She is a person who truly knows how to cherish every moment and every minute.

No matter what situation she encounters, she always responds with the most optimistic attitude.

He thought, if everyone's soul had different colors, then Wen Tingli's soul must be golden, like the morning sun, and he was unconsciously attracted by that light.

Wen Tingli took two steps forward, looked back, and found that Lu Shicheng was staring at her from behind. She calmed down, and a little shyly went back to him and held his hand.

The two of them wandered aimlessly, the tranquil atmosphere seeping into their hearts.

Lu Shicheng suddenly said, "Look."

They happened to pass by a photo studio. There was a half-length portrait of Wen Tingli hanging in the glass window. The owner probably thought that Wen Tingli had a particularly friendly smile, so he enlarged her photo and hung it in the most conspicuous place.

"Have you ever had your photo taken in this studio?"

"No." She said proudly, "I don't know how many photo studios use this photo of mine to attract customers. In fact, this is a behind-the-scenes photo from the filming of "Beauty of the South". Look, there is also a photo of me across the street."

Opposite is a grocery store with a thermos advertisement pasted next to the door frame.

The smiling girl in the picture must be Wen Tingli.

"Horrible, you're everywhere."

"Terrible? Say that again."

Lu Shicheng made sure that there was no one around, so he lowered his head and pecked her on the forehead. It happened that two young girls pushed the door open in the photo studio, and because of the dim light, they couldn't tell whether Wen Tingli was a boy or a girl, so they screamed in fear.

When she saw Lu Shicheng turning around and looking at him, she felt embarrassed because he was so young and handsome, so she smiled and ran away hand in hand.

Wen Tingli looked at Lu Shicheng in the darkness with burning eyes: "Mr. Lu can't clear himself even if he jumps into the Yellow River."

"It doesn't matter." He also looked at her with burning eyes. She raised her hand with a smile to touch his shoulder. There was a cool breeze in the rain, which rustled the branches of several trees on the roadside. The leaves fell in the wind, and one of them happened to fall on Lu Shicheng's shoulder.

She helped him pick the leaf, but when she raised her shoulder, the backpack tilted and Xiao Taozi's new books fell out of the bag.

Lu Shicheng leaned over to help her pick it up and accidentally glanced at the cover, which had the three words "Kuang Weihang" written on it.

"Is that the scientific name for Little Peach?"

"Well, how's it going."

"It sounds nice." He suddenly became curious, "What about you? Do you have a nickname?"

Wen Tingli shut up and turned to walk forward.

He followed her pace slowly and said thoughtfully, "According to common sense, if the second child has a nickname, the eldest child will most likely have one too."

"I won't tell you."

"I've made a guess. Is her name Little Orange?"

He just said it casually to tease her, but her reaction told him that he guessed right. He couldn't help but laugh. How could there be such strange nicknames? The younger sister is called Little Peach and the older sister is called Little Orange. Isn't that a family of fruits?

"You're still laughing!" She glared at him. "My mom said she heard from the elderly that the more casual a child's nickname is, the easier it is to raise. When she was pregnant with me, she liked to eat oranges the most, and when she was pregnant with my sister, she liked to eat peaches. Is that not okay?"

She moved forward, feigning anger.

Ever since she started school, she refused to let her parents call her by her nickname. She happened to see the word "婷婷玉立" in the dictionary and thought the meaning was beautiful, so she changed her name on her own initiative. At that time, she was ignorant and little, and she hoped that she would become more and more beautiful in the future, so she changed the word "立" to "丽".

From then on, her name officially became "Wen Tingli". Except for her parents occasionally calling her the wrong name once or twice, the name "Xiaojuzi" never appeared in her life again.

There seemed to be a child selling something not far away, and the intermittent shouting sound drifted into her ears, but she was not interested.

After a while, she heard a faint sound of someone chasing after her. It was not Lu Shicheng's footsteps. Wen Tingli couldn't help but look back curiously. A bunch of white flowers was stretched out from the side. It turned out to be a child selling flowers who caught up with them.

"The gentleman behind bought it and gave it to you." The child said, "He said he wanted to apologize to you and asked you to forgive him for offending you just now."

Wen Tingli raised the corner of her mouth and slowly reached out to take the bouquet of lily of the valley from the flower girl.

The flower boy stared at Wen Tingli's face curiously. When he got closer, he was sure that she was really a woman, but she was wearing men's clothes.

The child had his own way of saying it. He said with a grin, "If you buy flowers from my little Ningbo, they will last forever. Sir, Miss, I wish you a happy marriage and may your lovers finally get married!"

He ran away in a flash. Wen Tingli was happy in her heart, but she said, "Don't think I will forgive you just because you give me a bouquet of flowers."

His earnest voice came from behind: "How can I ask Miss Wen to forgive me?"

"Unless—you tell me your nickname, too."

Lu Shicheng's expression froze for a moment. Wen Tingli suddenly remembered that his parents had died early. She felt regretful for what she had said and immediately decided not to ask anything. She ran towards him with the flowers in her hands.

However, Lu Shicheng only lowered his head for a moment, then leaned over and whispered two words in her ear.

"What?" Wen Tingli laughed in surprise.

"My nickname."

In the evening he sent her home as usual. After Wen Tingli came in, she did nothing but sat on the sofa, staring at the bouquet of lilies of the valley and smiling.

She felt like laughing when she thought of his nickname.

"Xiao Cheng", how reasonable, how cute, how childish, she didn't believe that Lu Shicheng would still be willing to call himself by this nickname after he turned five.

Mrs. Zhou came out to drink some water. Seeing Wen Tingli sitting in the living room and grinning inexplicably, she couldn't help but wonder, "Why are you sitting here in a daze? Are these flowers given by fans? Why are there only a few of them? They are so small, so shabby."

"Shabby?" Wen Tingli was a little unhappy. The beauty of flowers does not lie in the flowers themselves, but in who sends them.

In her eyes, this bouquet of flowers is the most beautiful, more beautiful than any other bouquet in the world.

***
What Wen Tingli didn't expect was that when she entered the office the next day, there was a large bouquet of roses and pearl orchids on the table. The flowers were as big as saucers, and the fresh fragrance was refreshing.

Wen Tingli smiled and approached to hug the bouquet. Although she had already guessed who sent it, she still couldn't help but confirm with Xiaotian: "Who sent these flowers?"

"I don't know. I put it here early in the morning."

Wen Tingli smiled but said nothing. Although Tian Ling was a little curious, she had to hide her smile and walk out.

At noon, Wen Tingli went to school to do some work. Because her car had not been repaired yet, she called Xiangsheng Car Rental in advance to call a car. Unexpectedly, when she came out, she saw an unfamiliar car parked outside the company.

The driver got out of the car and greeted her: "Miss Wen, Mr. Lu said that your car broke down, so he asked me to pick you up these days."

It was just a casual remark, but he took it so seriously. It was a very inconspicuous old black Ford sedan. Judging from its appearance, no one would have thought it was the Lu family's car.

He considered every aspect for her.

Wen Tingli felt warm in her heart and smiled at the man, "May I ask your name? Li? Then I'll trouble you, Master Li, for the next few days. Please take me to Hujiang University to do some work first."

(End of this chapter)