It was impossible to say that Zhi Ying had never felt strange in her heart. Now that she was in high school, it was fine, but Zhi Ying had no friends from elementary school all the way up to middle school. She felt that many people were too naive, and many of her classmates regarded her as a monster.
"This is pretty good." Zhi Ying lowered her head and poked her own clothes, "I've met quite a few friends."
Lin Zhuo smiled heartily, "That's right, hahaha, our Ying Ying already has a boy she likes too."
Lin Xiuyu on the side thought of something, her eyes turned red, and Father Zhi stood beside her to comfort her.
Although their scar was now uncovered, it was a sigh of relief after all. Especially all these years, when they looked at Zhi Ying, they always wondered whether they had delayed her talent.
…
Zhi Ying was absent-minded when she came to Beijing for the New Year. After the last time she went to the mathematics museum, she was still thinking about it and longed to go again. But she could never find the time to go again.
Zhi Ying looked at the simple exercise books in her room and felt it was a little 'tasteless'. She felt that no matter how much she did, it was basically one plus one equals two with what she was doing. There was no meaning, so she simply laid down on the bed and let her thoughts wander off...
First floor.
"Xiao Wei is here?" Lin Xiuyu stood up and said enthusiastically, "Are you looking for Ying Ying?"
"Hello, Auntie." Jiang Wei nodded, "Is Zhi Zhi at home?"
Jiang Wei seemed to be dressed casually today, but Lin Xiuyu still found that he was well- dressed wherever he went.
Lin Xiuyu was even more satisfied when she saw this, "Ying Ying is in her room, she must be working on her math problems again."
Jiang Wei glanced upstairs, then looked away, "Auntie, can I go up?"
"Go ahead, take her out to get some air, she'll almost grow her own mushrooms if she keeps staying in her room." Lin Xiuyu moved a few steps aside and gestured to Jiang Wei to go upstairs.
Zhi Ying's door was usually only ajar during the day and would not be fully closed. This was because she was afraid that she would be too absorbed in doing the problems in the room and not hear the sound of people knocking on the door outside.
Jiang Wei knocked on the door, but the door opened slowly by itself, and he saw Zhi Ying lying on the bed at a glance.
"Zhi Zhi, I'm coming in?" Jiang Wei knocked on the open door again.
Lying on the bed, Zhi Ying heard the voice, and slowly turned her head to look at the door.
"...Oh." Zhi Ying's response was weak.
When Jiang Wei came in, Zhi Ying was still lying straight on the bed, unmoving.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Wei sat on the edge of the bed, stretched out his hand to test the temperature of Zhi Ying's forehead, "Do you feel uncomfortable?"
Zhi Ying blinked, held onto Jiang Wei's hand which he had not yet taken away, and pulled herself up.
"He won't open the door." Zhi Ying's tone was full of grievances, "It was agreed that the door will be opened on Wednesday."
As to what would make Zhi Ying so sad, Jiang Wei immediately thought of the mathematics museum opened by Zhou Cheng.
"Why didn't he open it?" Jiang Wei asked.
Zhi Ying lowered her head and unconsciously played with Jiang Wei's hand, pinching his fingers from time to time, feeling depressed, "Last time I called Teacher Zhou, and he said that it will open again in the next year."
"Then let's go next year." Jiang Wei had heard of Zhou Cheng's peculiar temper, and he was famously stubborn in the capital.
"I'm going back home by next year." Zhi Ying said reluctantly, frowning.
Jiang Wei stretched out his other hand to smooth out Zhi Ying's brow, with a smile, "Your forehead is almost wrinkled like a little old man, Zhi Zhi can come back after returning, or come to the capital to go to university later."
"But it will take a long time." Zhi Ying felt uncomfortable just thinking about it.
Jiang Wei moved his hand away from Zhi Ying's eyebrows, but he didn't move away. Instead, he slid down to caress her cheek, and lightly kissed Zhi Ying's lips with his head tilted down.
"You can wait another year, go to university, and get admitted to Zhou Cheng's research institute." Jiang Wei comforted softly, "You can go there then..."
"Am I going to be an administrator of the museum?" Zhi Ying was suddenly excited, and she didn't care about Jiang Wei touching her.
"...It should be possible." Jiang Wei's eyes froze, and finally decided to follow her wish.
Thinking of the scene of her being an administrator, Zhi Ying's listless state was immediately wiped away. She half-crouched on the bed, smiling happily, "Then I will study hard from now on, and I must enter the research institute."
Just after she finished speaking, Zhi Ying remembered that her mother said that her uncle had also worked in a research institute, so she wondered if she could attend one of them.
"Maybe I will go to my uncle's former research institute." Zhi Ying became even more motivated.
"Uncle?" Jiang Wei obviously didn't know about Lin Yuan's existence either.
Originally, the Lin family and the Jiang family were from different fields, and there was not much overlap.
"I have a very powerful uncle!" Zhi Ying told Jiang Wei all about Lin Yuan's past deeds.
Jiang Wei listened very seriously, and after Zhi Ying finished speaking, he added later, "Our Zhi Zhi will also be very impressive in the future."
Zhi Ying stared at Jiang Wei in a daze, her face gradually blushing, "You... why did you say that?" 'It's really embarrassing,' she wanted to say, but didn't have the courage to.
Jiang Wei didn't seem to notice anything wrong with Zhi Ying, and continued, "Zhi Zhi is the most powerful in my heart."
Zhi Ying suddenly felt a strange sense of satisfaction deep in her heart. After being repressed for so long, she felt as if she was almost going crazy. Now that the first place in the grade said that she was the most powerful in his heart, Zhi Ying was actually a little moved.
"I also think I'm better than you." Zhi Ying directly understood what Jiang Wei said in her own way, and said it out loud.
Jiang Wei was taken aback for a moment, quickly cleaned up his expression, and looked at Zhi Ying tenderly, "Mhm, you are much better than me."
Her heart was beating a lot faster than normal, but Zhi Ying was already able to face it normally. Anyway, now when she saw Jiang Wei, her heart would beat faster, and after a few quick beats there would be a skip.
Finally, Jiang Wei pulled Zhi Ying off of the bed, and after she got dressed, the two went downstairs together.
The whole family was in the living room downstairs. When they heard the sound, they all raised their heads and looked towards the stairs on the second floor.
Lin Xiuyu still had a kind smile on her face, and Father Zhi's eyes had a constant sense of murder.
Lin Zhuo stroked his beard, "Xiao Wei, stay for a meal, and then take her out to play."
When grandpa spoke, the whole family had to listen. Lin Xiuyu personally cooked, and Father Zhi was called in to help.
After the meal, Jiang Wei didn't have time to take Zhi Ying out to have fun, because Lin Zhuo asked him to accompany him to practice calligraphy.
Father and Mother Zhi said they were going out to go shopping, leaving Zhi Ying sitting beside them, watching stupidly.
Lin Zhuo's calligraphy was very famous in the world of calligraphy, and it was not an exaggeration to say that a single word was worth a fortune. Others have asked for a piece of authentic work, but not even money could buy it. But now Lin Zhuo easily filled a large paper with a brush.
"Xiao Wei, come and try?" Lin Zhuo seemed to have no intention of writing the last word.
"There are not many people practicing brush calligraphy now." Zhi Ying interjected, "Not even I can write properly."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Wei looked over with warmth in his eyes.
He didn't even do much yet, and she was already protecting him, Lin Zhuo exclaimed angrily, "Ying Ying, you write even ordinary characters crookedly, of course you can't write brush characters well."
"Oh." Zhi Ying nodded, "Then Jiang Wei will definitely be able to write. His handwriting is beautiful."
Lin Zhuo laughed from anger, took a few steps back, and signaled Jiang Wei to write.
People who practiced calligraphy could be discerned from the posture that they held their brush. Lin Zhuo couldn't pick out any faults from the way Jiang Wei held the brush.
Sure enough, Lin Zhuo was quite satisfied after watching him write a sentence later. Although it was still immature, the handwriting was elegant and handsome. It was sharp when it should be, and it was smooth when it should be smooth. What was missing was only a little more life experience.
"Good writing." Lin Zhuo nodded slightly, "How long have you practiced?"
"From the first day of school till now." Jiang Wei put down his brush and answered.
Jiang Wei has been weak since he was a child. Before his health improved, he loved to practice calligraphy in the study room. He even occasionally practiced for a whole morning or afternoon.
Lin Zhuo originally wanted to subdue Jiang Wei's vigor, but in the end he discovered Jiang Wei's strengths. He himself was good at calligraphy, so he naturally liked young people with good handwriting.
"Grandpa, doesn't his handwriting look good?" Zhi felt complacent as if Jiang Wei's handwriting being beautiful also meant that her handwriting was beautiful.
Lin Zhuo glanced at her granddaughter who was turning her elbow outward, helping Jiang Wei, a person that wasn't her family(at least, not yet), and snorted, "The heat is still a bit off."
Lin Zhuo meant that it's still not quite enough, just because of his stubbornness at his granddaughter complimenting Jiang Wei and also dragging him along.
"You're right." Jiang Wei agreed. He bent down and picked up the piece written by Lin Zhuo on the table, "Can you give me this handwriting, Grandpa? I have always wanted to collect your handwriting before, but unfortunately no one was willing to give it out."
Lin Zhuo coughed, "Who are you calling grandpa?" Although his expression was stern, there was an imperceptible smile in his eyes.
Zhi Ying didn't know anything and asked, "Is Grandpa's handwriting so valuable?"
She suddenly regretted that she used a paper with words written by her grandfather as scratch paper. If she sold it for money, she would be able to sell it for a lot of money.
Lin Zhuo patted his granddaughter on the head, "You only knew now? Calculate how much money you have wasted."
There were many writings left by Lin Zhuo in the Zhi house in Quan City. Every time he went to stay at the Zhi house, Lin Zhuo would always practice calligraphy in the room. Zhi Ying sometimes ran out of scratch paper, and when she saw the large characters her grandfather had finished writing, she would ask her grandfather if the back of the paper could be used for scratch work.
Lin Zhuo was stunned for the first time, but by the second and third time he was able to look at Zhi Ying numbly, and kept moving the papers he finished writing on from the study to her own room as scratch papers.
Sometimes when Lin Zhuo visited Quan City, Zhi Ying would stop buying scratch paper for a while, cut out the paper full of large characters, and then bound it to use as a scratch book.
"...Grandpa, please give me this piece." Zhi Ying thought in a wrong way, wanting to sell the handwriting on the table for money.
Originally, Lin Zhuo was not willing to give his writings to Jiang Wei, but when he saw his granddaughter being so vulgar, he went up to put the calligraphy away, rolled it up and handed it to Jiang Wei.
"Take it, I'll give it to you."
"Grandpa, won't you give it to me?" Zhi Ying looked at the scroll in Jiang Wei's hand in shock.
Lin Zhuo glared at his granddaughter, "Xiao Wei is not someone you like? Are you unwilling to even give him a piece of paper?"
Lin Zhuo, who was originally still on Zhi Ying's side, changed his position instantly.
Of course Zhi Ying liked Jiang Wei, otherwise her heartbeat would not have calmed down even until now.
"Then give it to him." Zhi Ying lowered her head and kicked the table, obviously feeling aggrieved.
"Zhi Zhi, if you want the calligraphy, I'll give mine to you." Jiang Wei didn't seem to understand what Zhi Ying meant before, so he gave her the calligraphy scroll he wrote.
'Why would I want yours, I can't use it to exchange money,' Zhi Ying thought angrily in her heart, but she forced a smile on her face, "Okay."
Standing on the side, Lin Zhuo was very satisfied. Of course, everything had its vanquisher, he was very happy now that his granddaughter was being conquered.
Really, Zhi Ying needed someone to support her, otherwise she would piss someone off.
…
Fireworks were banned in the capital, so there wasn't a lively atmosphere during the Chinese New Year. On the night of New Year's Eve, it was customary for Zhi Ying to keep watch. Father Zhi started to accompany her to watch the Spring Festival Gala downstairs, but she couldn't keep going, so she had to go upstairs to sleep.
Jiang Wei didn't need to watch the night at home. He went back to his room early, but he didn't immediately rest like in previous years. Instead, he took out his phone and dialed Zhi Ying's video call.