The Cinnabar Mole of a Beijing Circle Tycoon

The two continued walking and passed a jewelry store. Shen Qingyao stopped and looked at the small silver pendants in the window.

The stars, moon, and tiny sunflower designs make them perfect gifts for your roommates.

"One of each," Meng Jiangyu said directly to the shop assistant, then turned to ask her, "Is that enough?"

"That's enough, three roommates are just right."

She tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Mr. Meng."

He took her hand in his, his fingertips tracing her fingertips: "No need to thank me, it's nothing."

The alleys of the ancient city are like a maze. As you wander around, you'll come across a stone bridge covered in moss. The river beneath the bridge reflects the blue sky, and a few white water lilies float on the water.

Meng Jiangyu asked a passing tourist to take a picture for him. He stood behind her, his arm around her waist. Their shadows were stretched long by the sunlight and overlapped on the stone pavement.

Shen Qingyao took a selfie with her phone. In the photo, he was looking down at her, his eyelashes casting a soft shadow under his eyes. She suddenly felt that this scene should be kept forever.

Walking to the corner café, Shen Qingyao ordered two iced lattes and showed Meng Jiangyu a photo album: "Look at this one, you've closed your eyes."

"That's because of the sunlight." He leaned closer to look, his fingertip pointing to the photo of her in a floral dress. "This one is the best; she looks like she stepped out of a painting."

Looking out from the coffee shop, the distant island is bathed in a clear blue sky, and many tourists are strolling on the beach.

Racing sailboats bob on the sea, and the sounds of surfers can be heard all around—that's the taste of freedom.

"Ah Yu, it feels so good! Even the air smells like freedom."

"And the people here are so relaxed!"

"Different cultural environments lead to different behavioral patterns; the French prefer to enjoy life!"

Shen Qingyao took a sip of coffee. "I really enjoy this slow-paced lifestyle!"

"If you want to, you can!"

"No, I don't think I have a strong sense of self-determination; I'm easily influenced by my external environment." Shen Qingyao looked into Meng Jiangyu's eyes. "That's how I spent my student years. I didn't know what I liked; I just studied and studied endlessly. I didn't learn any special skills!"

Meng Jiangyu did not interrupt the girl; he simply looked at her and listened quietly.

"I get anxious very easily. Whenever I have fun, I worry that my grades will drop and I often suffer from insomnia."

"Back in my hometown, things were fine. Teachers valued grades above all else; if you did well in school, you would be noticed and praised."

"But things changed after I went to university. My counselors and professors preferred confident, cheerful, and lively students, as well as students with many talents. I just seemed very ordinary."

"My classmates always manage to find interesting and unique ways to solve problems, which I can never do well."

"A college student's academic performance is not determined by exam scores, but rather by course performance and presentations."

"My previous approach doesn't seem to work in college anymore. I'm confused. Was my previous methodology wrong, or has the situation changed?"

Looking at the little girl who was confused about her philosophy of life, Meng Jiangyu offered his insights: "Honey, other people's attitudes and opinions are subjective; what matters is your own thoughts."

"But shouldn't students take their teachers' words as gospel?"

"That was a high school student. You're a college student now. High school students' questions only have one solution, but college students' life questions have a wide variety of answers."

"The college students' answer is what kind of person they want to become!"

"Those people admired by your group are just supporting characters you encounter on your life's journey. They may be dazzling, but you yourself are the protagonist."

"But I'm just an ordinary person. Can an ordinary person be the protagonist? I see that the protagonists in TV dramas are all very capable people."

"Why can't it be? Every individual is ordinary and unremarkable. It's just a TV series; it simply reflects the preferences of many viewers."

"No, you're lying to me! You're extraordinary; everyone seems to admire you!"

"Honey, I just have a lot of money, social status, and worldly success. They admire me only because I am the embodiment of their dream of success."

"If their dream is to be a tech guru, then I'm not someone they admire."

Shen Qingyao had no way to refute it.

"My dear child, you must understand that in your growth process, you will encounter environments that are suitable for you, and environments that are not suitable for you."

"When you encounter soil that suits you, you can bloom into a bright flower; when you encounter soil that doesn't suit you, you can still take root and grow into a towering tree in the future."

"Your methodology is not wrong; it's just that the goals and current situations are different at these two stages of life. There is no superiority or inferiority between them."

"No one's life is smooth sailing. You have to accept the times when you need to accumulate experience and at the same time appreciate the times when others achieve great things."

"What you need to do is recognize your shortcomings, then work on them and make up for them; or, choose a more suitable environment and continue to flourish."

"How can I be sure this soil isn't suitable for me?"

"You need to determine what kind of person you want to become."

Shen Qingyao seemed to understand but not quite, "What kind of person do I want to become?"

Meng Jiangyu continued to explain, "In layman's terms, if you still want to become a psychotherapist, you need to think clearly about what abilities or skills an excellent or mature psychotherapist needs to possess, and then make up for those deficiencies in a targeted manner."

"Skills that are inconsistent with or mismatched with your goals are irrelevant to you, no matter how well others use them."

"You don't need to feel anxious because others are excellent. You're just going in different directions. You can genuinely appreciate them! You're great, and I'm not bad either!"

"If you still have extra energy, you can also experience different lives."

"Everyone worked so hard, why shouldn't they deserve a good result!" Meng Jiangyu said, sipping his coffee.

Shen Qingyao understood Meng Jiangyu's words, but she still had a long way to go before she could put them into practice.

"My dear, as long as you are heading in the right direction, even if the process is winding, you will eventually reach the other side."

Meng Jiangyu suddenly remembered something, "Honey, is your fatherly aura too strong?"

"No, I really appreciated it! Thank you, Professor Meng!" Shen Qingyao raised her coffee cup. "Cheers!"

"Cheers, my sweet girl!"

Shen Qingyao looked at Meng Jiangyu, who was smiling brightly in the sunlight. His face was absolutely stunning; even the sunlight seemed to favor him.

"Ah Yu, is this the authority that guides sexually active couples?"

"Of course, you can stand on my shoulders to see a bigger world!"

"Wow~" How could someone say something so bold?

"I can share my money, power, social status, and life experience with you until one day you stop liking me, or I leave this world or become senile and incompetent, you can still live a good life."

"No way!"

"My dear, nothing in the future is absolute. Even the most shrewd and far-sighted kings can become senile and incompetent in their old age. The only constant is change."

Shen Qingyao looked at Meng Jiangyu in disbelief. "Are you trying to warn me? That one day you'll leave me!"

"No! I love you, Yao Yao, but I can't guarantee I can always be with you. I'm eleven years older than you; I can't fight against time!"

Shen Qingyao's tears suddenly welled up.

Meng Jiangyu hurriedly comforted her, "Baby, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said those things. That's decades from now, we don't need to worry about it in advance."

"I'm not sad, I'm just moved to tears. You've given me so much, but I have nothing to give back to you!"

"All you need to do is stay by my side and be with me; that's all I want."

"good!"

As the setting sun painted the sky a honey color, Meng Jiangyu carried a bag containing a dress and jewelry, while Shen Qingyao held a bunch of lavender in her hand, the air filled with a sweet fragrance.

"Go back and develop the photos," Meng Jiangyu suddenly said, "and make them into an album to put at home."

"Okay." She looked up at him, the sunset reflected in his eyes, shining like starlight. "We need to take more photos to fill the whole album."

He lowered his head and kissed the top of her head, then slowed his pace and walked alongside her in the sunlight.

The ancient city bells rang in the distance, startling a few pigeons. The sound of their wings cutting through the sky mingled with the footsteps and laughter of the two people.

When we checked into the seaside villa in the evening, the setting sun was painting the sky orange.

Meng Jiangyu opened the balcony door, and the sound of waves rushed in.

He hugged her from behind, resting his chin on the top of her head: "Do you like it here?"

"I like it." Shen Qingyao turned around, tiptoed, and kissed the corner of his lips. "I like it even more to be here with you."

The lights of fishing boats in the distance came on, and stars climbed one by one into the night sky.

Meng Jiangyu lowered his head to return her kiss. The evening breeze, carrying the fragrance of flowers, brushed against their hair, as if infusing all the tenderness into the spring night of southern France.

There were no noisy social engagements, no trivial worries, only each other's breathing and the sound of waves crashing on the shore, neither hurried nor slow, just right.