It's said that the air in Tibetan City can cleanse one's soul, so everything will pass.
After staying in a hotel for several days, Shu Yi fully equipped herself and went to a large mall in Western Sichuan to purchase supplies for her trip to Tibet.
Shen Yin also bought quite a few items. It had been a long time since she had the chance to showcase her culinary skills and prepare a full table of dishes. Now that she wasn't busy, she naturally wanted to make more delicious food to treat herself.
The Indian summer was still ongoing, and the weather was stuffy and hot, so it was important to stimulate the appetite.
Shen Yin made a cold noodle salad with sour and spicy dressing as the main course. She mixed minced garlic, sesame seeds, and chili powder with hot oil, then added soy sauce, oyster sauce, aged vinegar, salt, and sugar. After cooking the noodles, she drained them and added various seasonal vegetables, tomatoes, cucumber strips, and cilantro.
The cold noodle salad looked vibrant and tasted delicious.
Worried that the noodles might be too sour and spicy for little Zhengzheng, Shen Yin specially made eggplant meat patties for him as the main dish.
She also prepared shrimp and egg custard, spicy chicken wings, boneless chicken feet, carp and tofu soup, "tiger skin" eggs, garlic vermicelli, and king oyster mushrooms in a fragrant sauce.
"Mommy, it's delicious," said the little one, holding an eggplant meat patty in one hand and a small spoon in the other to scoop up the carp soup from his bowl.
After the meal, Xu Xiuhe volunteered to clean up the table, while Shen Yin was pulled into the living room by Zhengzheng.
"Mommy, draw," the little one said, bringing out his coloring book for Shen Yin to color.
"Sweetie, this is green. Look at the crayons and find the one that matches this color. Then you can use it to color this area," Shen Yin instructed.
She had bought the coloring book, initially hesitating and worrying that Zhengzheng might be too young to understand or know how to color. But after bringing it home on a whim, she discovered that she had greatly underestimated Zhengzheng. Not only could he use the crayons to fill in the colors, but he did so with great patience, coloring every corner neatly.
Shen Yin also noticed something else – in professional terms, Zhengzheng showed signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
This was a trait that Xu Xiuhe didn't have.
When playing with building blocks, the little one would arrange them extremely neatly. After playing with toys, he would put them away in storage boxes, arranging them perfectly straight without any misalignment.
Even when eating and spitting out bones, he would arrange them neatly on the dining table.
The little one lowered his head to color for a while, then unexpectedly fell asleep while kneeling.
Shen Yin carried him to the sofa and continued coloring the unfinished parts of his picture.
When Xu Xiuhe came out of the kitchen, he saw Shen Yin lying on the sofa like a child doing homework, carefully coloring the picture book.
"Are you drawing?" he asked.
"No, this is Zhengzheng's coloring book. It's quite interesting. Look, after coloring, the patterns become clear. It's quite satisfying," she replied.
"Don't you feel satisfied when you paint your own pictures?" Xu Xiuhe asked. He had seen Shen Yin's paintings before – whether Chinese landscapes or Western oil paintings, they all had clear lines and distinct colors, very aesthetically pleasing.
"I do, but it's a different kind of satisfaction," she explained.
Xu Xiuhe sat down.
"What's the matter? You're sitting down too," Shen Yin remarked.
"Let's date," he said.
Shen Yin almost had a question mark written on her face.
"Our dating isn't over yet. Isn't this what young couples do nowadays? Doing activities together, you draw, and I watch."
"What's there to watch in this? It's boring. This is for children to exercise their minds, improve concentration, and distinguish colors. I'm only doing it because I find it satisfying. I'm not drawing you, so you don't have to watch."
"Good idea. You can draw me instead."
Xu Xiuhe felt a bit jealous. There were many oil paintings by Shen Yin in the house, but the subject of each one was Xu Yunzheng. Why hadn't she painted one of him?
"Alright, I'll draw you," she agreed.
They carried Zhengzheng back to his room on the second floor and put him to bed. Zhengzheng usually slept soundly during his naps, typically for about three hours without waking up.
Feeling assured, they went up to the third floor.
In Ziyue Manor, the first floor consisted of the living room, kitchen, dining room, and guest room. The second floor had the master bedroom, secondary bedrooms, and a study. The third floor was for various entertainment, fitness, and leisure activities.
Shen Yin's painting supplies were on the third floor.
Xu Xiuhe found a spot with good lighting and moved Shen Yin's easel there.
Then he took off his shirt.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Aren't many oil painting models shirtless in foreign countries? Don't figure models pose without shirts?"
"Do you have some misunderstanding about oil painting? Qi Ji studied at the Academy of Fine Arts for several years, majoring in oil painting, and I've never heard that oil painting models don't wear shirts."
"It's fine. You're the one painting, and only you will see it. It doesn't matter whether I wear a shirt or not."
Unable to persuade Xu Xiuhe otherwise, Shen Yin went along with it.
Due to his regular workouts, Xu Xiuhe had an impressive physique. His skin tone was a perfect balance between tanned and fair. His abdominal muscles were well-defined, with just the right amount of muscle.
Shen Yin glanced up once, then quickly lowered her head. Showing off abs in broad daylight, how inappropriate!
"Why aren't you looking at me while you draw?" he asked.
Shen Yin, blushing, replied, "You know very well why."
"Wife, are you feeling shy?"
Shen Yin dared not look up again. In broad daylight, that upper body was just...
"Be quiet! Models aren't supposed to talk."
"I'm not just your oil painting model, I'm also your husband. Or are you saying you know me so well that you can draw me without even looking?"
"Mm-hmm, I remember well enough."
"It's been a while since you've really gotten familiar with my body. Why don't we reacquaint ourselves?"
Shen Yin was past her special period, and Xu Xiuhe had no reservations. His words were flirtatious, and his actions even more so. Shen Yin couldn't resist.
And so, in the afternoon, on the third floor, next to the easel...
"That's enough, Zhengzheng will wake up soon," Shen Yin said, exhausted. Judging by the sun outside, she guessed the time. Zhengzheng should indeed be waking up soon.
"Did you plan this all along?" Shen Yin asked.
"No, it's just that you kept blushing. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing," he replied.
Shen Yin would be a fool to believe a man's lies. Spur of the moment? How could everything be so well-prepared then? She didn't believe he carried those things with him all the time. It must have been premeditated.
When they went downstairs, Zhengzheng had just woken up. Rubbing his eyes, he asked, "Daddy, Mommy, is it dark outside?"
"No, it's not dark yet, Zhengzheng."
"Wah, Zhengzheng had a nightmare. Zhengzheng dreamed of falling into water."
"Zhengzheng, it was just a dream, not real. Mommy's here to hold you," Shen Yin said, scooping up Zhengzheng to comfort her before she even had a chance to wash up.
"Water... water..." the little one whimpered, her voice choked with tears.
"There, there. Dreams aren't real, sweetie. Don't cry, Zhengzheng. You're safe in Mommy's arms. There's no water here," Shen Yin soothed.
Xu Yunzheng clung tightly to Shen Yin's neck, burying his face in her shoulder.
"What's wrong? Did he not wake up properly?" Xu Xiuhe asked as he came downstairs, noticing Zhengzheng crying.
