Chapter 54: Marriage First, Love Later, and a Side of Scum-Bashing 32 part 1
Ning Qingqing rubbed Nan-Nan’s hair and said, “Nan-Nan is acting more and more like a little adult! Alright, let me introduce your brother-in-law.”
She walked to Gu Youchen’s side, held the man’s hand, and introduced him to the mother and daughter. “This is my husband, Gu Youchen.”
Then she said to Gu Youchen, “Youchen, this is my Auntie and Nan-Nan. Just call them what I call them.”
Obviously, Auntie also recognized Gu Youchen. She was somewhat surprised, but immediately nodded in approval. Since she couldn’t speak, she could only gesture with her hands, smiling warmly at him and inviting them inside.
Nan-Nan translated, “Brother-in-law, my mom is inviting you inside to eat.”
Saying that, she pulled on Ning Qingqing too. “Sister, we’re stewing meat today, dipped in my mom’s secret sauce. It’s delicious!”
Since they were so hospitable, Ning Qingqing said to Gu Youchen, “Youchen, let’s eat at Auntie’s place. I’ll take you to eat snacks on the street tomorrow.”
Gu Youchen nodded and said, “It’s just that the gift for Auntie is still at home. I planned to visit formally tomorrow morning.”
Hearing this, Auntie got a bit anxious and started gesturing again.
Nan-Nan laughed. “Mom says you coming over is the best gift!”
The mother and daughter invited the two to sit in the main hall. There were two other tables of guests today.
They had hired a chef, but Auntie handled everything else by herself.
Ning Qingqing familiarly went to help. Gu Youchen rolled up his sleeves to help carry dishes but was stopped by the mother and daughter.
Nan-Nan blinked at Gu Youchen. “Brother-in-law, just sit. I want to whisper secrets to Sister!”
With that, she went to help Ning Qingqing. The little girl couldn’t hide her curiosity. “Sister Qingqing, did Brother-in-law chase you?”
Ning Qingqing laughed. “Any puppy love in the gymnastics team? Gossiping so much before your teeth have even grown in?”
The little girl pouted. “I’m the romance expert of our gymnastics team!”
Ning Qingqing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Your brother-in-law and I met through work. We thought we were a good match shortly after meeting, so we got married.”
Hearing this, Nan-Nan began to doubt if she had been mistaken. After all, she was indeed very young back then, and some images had become blurry.
So she asked, “Then when will Sister and Brother-in-law have a baby?”
Ning Qingqing said, “In another two years. We’ll focus on work for a few years first.”
“Oh.” The little girl’s thoughts jumped. “Brother-in-law is very handsome, and Sister is pretty too. The baby will definitely be good-looking!”
Ning Qingqing: “…”
Everyone sat down to eat and chat together. Ning Qingqing asked about Nan-Nan’s training, and Gu Youchen said he would definitely go watch when there was a formal competition.
Just then, the sound of ding-ding-dang-dang came from outside, and a vendor shouted in the local dialect: “Selling malt candy (Matang)! And new flavors of sugar paste!”
Hearing this, Ning Qingqing quickly said, “I’ll go buy some!”
She hadn’t eaten these traditional snacks in years.
Gu Youchen quickly handed her his wallet. “The vendor might not have WeChat QR code. Use cash.”
Ning Qingqing took the wallet, nodded, and ran out excitedly.
The vendor was right at the entrance of the inn. Two children were ahead of her buying with change, and the vendor was weighing it on a scale.
Ning Qingqing opened Gu Youchen’s wallet, planning to pull out a ten-yuan bill.
Prices weren’t high here; ten yuan would probably be plenty.
While Ning Qingqing was looking for money, she saw the photo in Gu Youchen’s wallet again.
She froze for a moment.
Just then, a child who had just bought candy turned around and bumped into Ning Qingqing.
Ning Qingqing instinctively took a step back. By coincidence, the photo in the wallet flew out and fell onto the ground.
Ning Qingqing quickly bent down to pick it up.
The evening sunlight fell on the somewhat blurry image, plating it with a layer of soft, warm light.
And this warm light gave it an added filter of time.
Ning Qingqing maintained her bent posture, her fingers already touching a corner of the photo.
Her eyes went from dazed to incredulous; something was quaking in her pupils.
She actually saw herself.
Herself from ten years ago.
She was wearing the twin braids common among girls in this town, a cyan top, and light blue trousers—an outfit worn by many girls in town.
She had worn these clothes to school during the first semester of her freshman year of high school, but her roommates had laughed, saying she looked like a time traveler.
Every stitch on those clothes had been sewn by her grandmother at home, using fabric bought from outside.
In the photo, she looked a bit green. She was holding something Auntie had given her, seemingly saying goodbye to Auntie to go to her grandmother’s house.
Ning Qingqing thought, the place she was standing back then should be just a bit further out from her current position.
She picked up the photo and held it up at what she thought was the right angle.
Suddenly, the photo and the real scene overlapped—
One was slightly blurry due to low pixel count; the other was crystal clear, the present moment.
But the road was the same road, the scenery on the street was the same scenery. Even the sign of the nearest shop was fluttering in the same way, and one could faintly see the word ‘Tofu’.
Only the person was different.
The girl in the photo was in her cardamom years (early teens), standing in this scenery, looking vivid and naive.
Ning Qingqing couldn’t say if shock or some other emotion was dominant in her heart right now.
Before this, she had never thought the girl in the photo was herself.
Even after meeting Qin Yanyue that day, she had wondered if Gu Youchen’s cousin was being mischievous, secretly putting a girl’s photo in her cousin’s wallet to make Gu Youchen unable to explain himself.
But right now, she clearly saw that it was her.
The person in Gu Youchen’s wallet was her, herself from ten years ago.
He said he had met her ten years ago, his tone seemingly casual.
But Nan-Nan said the Big Brother stared at her and smiled often, and he didn’t smile at anyone else.
Before, she thought Nan-Nan was too young back then and knew nothing.
Now it seemed that children had transparent eyes. Gu Youchen must have looked at her like that often, so often that even a three or four-year-old child remembered it for so many years.
A realization finally formed in Ning Qingqing’s mind—
It turned out that in his world, she was not a stranger to him.
Because she had accompanied him in his wallet for ten years!
“Miss?” The vendor finished weighing for the kids and, seeing Ning Qingqing dazed, couldn’t help asking, “Do you want malt candy? Are you a tourist? Our town’s malt candy is superb! You can buy it to eat yourself or take it to friends…”
Ning Qingqing came back to her senses and nodded quickly. “Mm, I want to buy some.”
And the vendor reminded her—she was going back to the Imperial City, so she should bring some malt candy for her family, colleagues, and Qiao Xiaomian. It wasn’t easy to buy elsewhere.
Hearing her speak the local dialect, the vendor was surprised.
Ning Qingqing explained, “I grew up here, just went to work out of town.”
“Oh, oh, no wonder you look familiar.” The vendor said, introducing products to Ning Qingqing. “These two types are sugar paste, also very delicious. Want to try and see if you want to bring some?”
Ning Qingqing said, “Give me two jin of all three kinds, but please pack them separately into three portions.”
“Alright!” Having a big customer, the vendor enthusiastically packed them for Ning Qingqing.
At this time, Gu Youchen seemed to see she hadn’t returned for a while, so he came out to find her.
Seeing him, for some reason, Ning Qingqing’s heartbeat suddenly accelerated.
She discovered that the direction Gu Youchen walked out from seemed to be exactly the direction from which the photo was taken.
And did the teenage him, seeing her leaving one day, chase her out, secretly take a photo, develop it at home, and hide it in his wallet?
“Qingqing, I was just thinking we could buy more to bring to friends,” Gu Youchen said.
Ning Qingqing nodded. Looking at the man who came to her side, her ears uncooperatively turned red.
Gu Youchen didn’t notice anything. The sunset was perfect right now, reflecting warmly on everything, including the girl beside him.
The vendor finished packing everything. Gu Youchen took the bags, and Ning Qingqing paid, her hand holding the wallet feeling a bit hot.
The two returned to the inn together. Ning Qingqing’s thoughts shifted. “We should have brought an extra suitcase when we came. I remembered there are quite a few specialties we can buy.”
Gu Youchen laughed. “It’s okay. We drove anyway. Worst case, we can move things to the car first.”
Everyone ate happily together and watched some photos and videos of Nan-Nan’s competition before Ning Qingqing and Gu Youchen said goodbye and left.
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