Su Bin Shen Shaoling

After waking up leisurely, it was another day of rain and sunshine.

I was sitting by the window, the rain falling from the eaves was dripping on the ground.

The dream from last night still resurfaced in my mind, and my brother's words resounded in my ears and in my heart.

Brother, can I really be willful again?

I was full of confusion and overwhelmed.

Footsteps sounded, and I knew who it was without looking back.

"Ah, what are you thinking?"

Shen Zhongxi's voice sounded, and I shook my head when I heard the words: "It's nothing."

There was someone sitting beside me, and I tilted my head to look at the profile of Zhong Chongxi who was identical to Shen Shaoling, with mixed feelings.

"Chongxi, do you think that if I hadn't met you seven years ago, everything would have never happened."

I heard my murmured voice, and saw Shen Zhongxi's complicated eyes.

"Perhaps, but Ah Ping, there is no if in this world."

Chong Xi's words made me feel bitter.

If there is no if in the world, I can't go back to the beginning, and I can't make everything happen again.

"By the way, what do you think about becoming an official?"

I looked down at the spider in the corner spinning its web, pretending to ask casually.

"Ah Bing wants to ask me why I want to become an official?"

"……Yes."

I knew that I couldn't hide my thoughts from Chong Xi, after he asked, I didn't quibble anymore.

In fact, since Chongxi told me yesterday that he was going to become an official, I had some doubts.

He likes traveling in the mountains and rivers the most, even though Shen's father put the career of the Shen family on him, he still chose the path he likes.

The word "You Zhi" is his best interpretation of himself.

But now, he wants to give up what he likes and choose to become an official. Why is this not confusing?

"Actually, it's nothing. It's just that after my father passed away, I wanted to understand one thing."

I looked at the shallow smile on Zhong Zhongxi's face, but I seemed to see bitterness.

"People live a lifetime, whether they are willful or restrained. I have lived willfully for seven years, and now it is time to take on the responsibility of the Shen family."

Hearing that, I can't say anything more, because I'm not qualified.

Like him, my elder brother and parents shouldered the responsibility of Chengjun Palace. I have lived carefree for nearly twenty years under their protection.

Then they died and my dream woke up.

"As long as you don't regret it."

I stood up, picked up the oil-paper umbrella standing aside, and walked out slowly.

Bluestone streets and alleys, white walls and black tiles.

The street corner cries sounded again, and I walked among them alone, not feeling lonely, only having peace of mind.

When we got back to the inn, it was almost dusk.

I walked for a day without feeling tired, it just seemed to have changed my life.

In the past 20 years, the high walls and rich families are all my memories. I have never been like this time, meditating in the flow of people.

"Chongxi, I seem to understand why you are so obsessed with mountains and rivers."

I stood in front of Shen Chongxi, surrounded by an unprecedented sense of relaxation.

"Ah Ping, would you like to go out with me for a walk?"

I was slightly taken aback when I heard Chong Xi's words, and then I saw the smile on the corner of his mouth.

"where to?"

"A place no one knows about."

Zhong Chongxi replied like this, until I got into the carriage with him and Qing Xun, and staggered on the road, I suddenly came back to my senses.

"Chongxi, is the place you said far away?"

"It's not far, it will arrive in one day."

I nodded thoughtfully, and then I smiled when I stood in front of a familiar street scene and looked at a familiar building.