My era, 1979!

Chapter 58 A Glance That Was Quickly Interpreted (Thanks for the monthly vote, please continue reading)

"What is the great poet writing about now?"

She lowered her voice, the end of her sentence carrying a mischievous chuckle, "You were writing so diligently that you didn't even notice I was standing behind you."

Xu Chengjun's heart skipped a beat.

You're allowed to see this?

He hurriedly stuffed the manuscript paper under the paper.

With a calm and composed expression, he casually brushed it off: "It's nothing, just something I wrote down to practice my word choice and sentence structure."

"Does writing nonsense make you smile?"

Su Manshu reached out to grab it, but just as her fingertips touched the corner of the paper, Xu Chengjun pressed down on her wrist.

Her hands were slightly cool, like a piece of white jade.

He loosened his grip as soon as he touched her, allowing her to take the opportunity to snatch half a page of the poem.

"Hey!"

Xu Chengjun tried to snatch it, but Su Manshu turned around and went behind the bookshelf, holding the manuscript above her head.

She was already quite tall, at least 170cm by now.

As she raised her arm, the cloth strap slipped off her shoulder, revealing her slender collarbone.

The moonlight fell upon it, scattering a layer of shattered silver.

"Teacher Su, that's childish!"

Xu Chengjun chased after the bookshelf, and old books fell dust as the two dodged.

Su Manshu walked lightly, laughing as the floorboards creaked under her feet: "A great poet's writings, why would he be afraid of people reading them? Is there a ghost involved?"

"I don't have anything on my mind, it's just that my writing is rough!"

Xu Chengjun reached out to grab the paper in her hand, his fingertips brushing against the back of her hand. Both of them pulled their hands back as if they had been burned.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Su Manshu crawled to the other side of the long table, pressed the poem on the table, and read it aloud in a serious manner: "'Look, the waves are washing over the sandbar.' Oh, I thought it was about the moonlight just now!"

Ok!

Execution in front of your face, huh!

Xu Chengjun walked around to the table, but she hid the paper behind her back and backed away with her hands behind her back: "You want it? You'll have to say something nice first."

"say what?"

He stopped and looked at the cunning in her eyes.

“They said, ‘Su Manshu is the smartest; she understands my poem at a glance.’”

She tilted her head and smiled, her long, straight black hair blowing in the wind in a natural arc.

That's it?

Are you trying to make things difficult for a guy born in 79?

Are the current "ethical tropes" and "father-son tropes" just for show?

Xu Chengjun pretended to hold it in for a long time, then squeezed out the words through clenched teeth: "Su is the smartest! Incredibly smart! She can understand all my poems!"

"Not sincere enough!"

Su Manshu shook her head, then suddenly tiptoed to reach the top shelf of the books, deliberately showing him her back.

Xu Chengjun seized the opportunity to reach out and grab it, but she turned around and grabbed his arm—

Their shadows overlapped on the wall, her hair brushing against his chin, carrying a mixed scent of camphor wood and shampoo.

Xu Chengjun saw his reflection in her pupils, her eyelashes casting shadows under her eyes.

The mischievous smile in her eyes just moments before suddenly became misty.

I'm starting to panic.

Su Manshu looked at him too. The playful tone in his eyes hadn't faded, but there was a softness he himself didn't realize, like moonlight being caressed by the evening breeze.

What Xu Chengjun didn't know was that Su Manshu had already read his "The Granary" and "The Scales".

She had initially assumed he would be a typical educated youth from a rural family, but after getting to know him, she discovered...
This person is surprisingly "avant-garde".

Whether it's his knowledge, experience, or his calm yet sharp demeanor.

The song "Walking Towards the Light" seems to be a link between rural educated youth and the "avant-garde".

The clock in the corridor ticked, startling the two of them into blinking simultaneously.

Xu Chengjun's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, as if he wanted to break the silence with a witty remark.

But he didn't open his mouth at all.

Su Manshu's fingertips trembled slightly on his arm.

She should have let go, but unconsciously she tightened her grip even more, and a blush crept up her jawline from her earlobes.

The scent of camphor wood mixed with the soapy smell from her hair wafted over, and Xu Chengjun suddenly felt his breathing become a little heavy.

His gaze couldn't help but drift towards her flushed ear tips, then he consciously looked away.

Su Manshu also wanted to look away, but her gaze was drawn to him. She paused for a moment at the corner of his tightly pursed lips, then quickly looked away, her eyelashes trembling violently.

Xu is so beautiful!
The thought had barely crossed her mind when she saw Xu Chengjun suddenly regain his composure.

He no longer dodged, and when his gaze returned to her face, his eyes, which had just been playful, suddenly became serious, showing a maturity beyond his years.

His brow bone cast a faint shadow in the dim light of the corridor. His nose was high, yet his jawline was taut, carrying a sharpness that hadn't been worn down by the world. This appearance strangely blended calmness and sharpness, even his slightly furrowed brows exuded an indomitable spirit.

Su Manshu stared blankly, her trembling fingertips ceasing at some point.

She suddenly noticed a small mole behind his ear, hidden at the edge of his black hair, which added a touch of childlike innocence to his angular face.

Su Manshu had just pulled her hand back from his arm when Xu Chengjun's outstretched fingertips froze in mid-air.

"His eyes barely move before his thoughts are guessed."

"A face full of charm and elegance"

"A half-written note, filled with tender sorrow, conveys my deepest feelings."

"The moon moves, the flower shadows shift, a promise to meet again."

"Cough—" Xu Chengjun spoke first, his voice a little hoarse.

Just as he was about to step back, Su Manshu suddenly let go of his hand, turned around and hid behind the bookshelf. When her hair brushed against his cheek, they both subconsciously shrank back.

She squatted down with her back to him, pretending to tidy up the scattered manuscripts, but her ears were so red they were almost bleeding.

Inwardly, however, he was cursing himself for not looking away earlier.

Xu Chengjun stood there, touching the arm where her fingertips had touched him; the cool touch still lingered there.

The cicadas outside the window had stopped chirping sometime ago, and only moonlight streamed in through the window cracks.

Perhaps they felt they had gone too far.

"Okay, stop fooling around!"

The two finally stopped joking, and Su Manshu handed the poem back.

But suddenly he pulled his hand back, saying, "I'll just take a look, and then I'll give it back to you."

Just as Xu Chengjun was about to take it, she darted behind her back and ran out, saying, "If you don't give it to me now, I'll give it back to you tomorrow!"

"Such a grown man, still cheating!"

He shook his head, intending to let her be.

After thinking for a moment, I inexplicably took two more steps after him.

Su Manshu ran to the top of the stairs and suddenly stopped. When she looked down at the manuscript, her fingertips were still trembling slightly.

The evening breeze lifted the hem of her shirt, revealing a small patch of her snow-white neck, and a blush crept up her ears.

"It's written... really well."

When she looked up, her eyes were filled with an irrepressible smile, but the redness at the tips of her ears spread down her jawline. "It's a bit sweeter than 'Walking Towards the Light'."

Xu Chengjun looked at her.

Suddenly, he lost the urge to chase after it, and just stood there laughing: "It's all a mess, that's how obscure poetry is, it's normal that you can't understand it."

"Do I understand it?"

Su Manshu folded the manuscript into a small square and carefully stuffed it into the innermost layer of her canvas bag.

She clutched the bag strap, her cheeks flushed with a powdery haze.

"If you can understand it, give it back to me!"

Xu Chengjun teased her on purpose, and when she hid her bag behind her back, her eyes were almost overflowing with shyness.

"No."

Su Manshu took two steps back, her steps a little unsteady. "I'll give it to you tomorrow... I'll definitely give it to you tomorrow."

She turned to leave, then suddenly stopped. As she turned back, her hair brushed against her cheek, and a blush spread across her fair face. "Xu Chengjun, does the 'amber shine' in your poem... hide some kind of light?"

Just as Xu Chengjun was about to answer, she hurriedly turned around and ran down the stairs.

The moonlight fell on her receding figure.
It's so beautiful it makes your heart flutter.

Xu Chengjun stood at the top of the stairs, touching his chin where her hair had just brushed against him.

He was slightly taken aback.

Back to the archives.

On the notebook,

Next to the four characters “思与境偕” that he had just written, Su Manshu drew two orchids.

The cicadas outside the window gradually stopped chirping.

The old wall clock in the archives echoed with a long, drawn-out chime, completely drowning out the clicking of pens.

After finishing his thesis in the evening, Xu Chengjun walked towards the bus stop as the sun set.

If you haven't been back for a day, make sure to tell the people where you are staying so as not to waste resources.

Wang Zengqi was a gentle and playful person.

I guess,

Upon seeing him, he might say, "Xiao Xu, are you rushing around because you're afraid of being late and not having a hot meal, or because you're worried someone will be anxiously waiting for your reply?"

Passing by a newsstand on Handan Road, I saw the headline of the Xinmin Evening News: "Construction of Special Economic Zones Accelerates."

　I posted two chapters back-to-back today, but that's all for this afternoon. I felt it wasn't good to separate them; I was originally thinking of putting both in one chapter, but I decided to wait until after the book is officially released before posting a longer chapter. I was surprised to see so many readers giving me rewards today, and one reader even gave me 23 monthly tickets! I was so excited at that moment, and I even suppressed the urge to add more chapters. Thank you all for your support! Three bows! Could we have more of this?! Monthly tickets, monthly tickets! My condition hasn't been great these past few days; I've been busy moving and haven't been able to write peacefully. I need to get through this busy period quickly so I can focus on writing more. My encounter with Su Manshu is pretty much over now; the rest will be a normal progression, with a slight acceleration of the plot (some readers complained about the slow pace, so I'll push it a bit). And I shamelessly ask for monthly tickets and to keep reading!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)