The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 24.1 - The Deepest Recesses of Time (1)

Jì Nuannuan was very picky about her evening gowns, and in the end, she did not find any with which she was satisfied. When they left, she unexpectedly told Xiao Jun, who had walked out behind her, she had not had dinner with Little Uncle for a long time and suddenly wanted to go to Jì Chengyang's home. So, her dinner with Xiao Jun that they had arranged beforehand was cancelled last minute.

The name "Jì Chengyang" was not unfamiliar to Xiao Jun. In fact, with every one of Jì Nuannuan's former boyfriends, this person's name had had a high frequency of popping up. However, to Xiao Jun, it held even more significance.

It was on that night approximately five years ago that he had watched with his own eyes that tall, young man pick up into his arms the badly beaten and bloody Jì Nuannuan right in front of Jì Nuannuan's father and then carry her out of his life.

And it was also from that day onwards that he had truly been able to see with clarity the distance between Jì Nuannuan and himself: a distance like that between the clouds of the sky and the mire of the earth.

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On the way home, Jǐ Yi asked Nuannuan in a rather roundabout way how she had ended up connecting with Xiao Jun again. Nuannuan equivocally answered, "Just by chance ran into him. Today was the first time we arranged to have dinner together, and it was just because I was bringing you. He said he wanted to see you, his old friend, again. I said, dinner was no problem, but I needed to first try on some evening gowns for my wedding. And then, I didn't expect it, but he ended up showing up there first."

The words that were to follow, Nuannuan did not say aloud.

Jǐ Yi could roughly guess what they were, though. What Nuannuan wanted to test was Xiao Jun's manner towards the matter of her upcoming marriage.

Evidently, the man being tested had behaved very ordinarily, as if there had never been any relationship between the two of them previously and they were merely good friends of the past. Jǐ Yi thought of Jì Chengyang, and she wondered, if it had been herself and him in this situation today, what type of scene would it have been?

When they arrived at his home, the lights in the living room were off. Several cold dishes had already been set on the dining table as well as a roast duck delivered by takeout service. Jì Nuannuan would not let Jǐ Yi say anything to alert him, and tiptoeing over to the kitchen doorway, she peeked in on him.

This was a picture Jì Nuannuan had never seen before.

That doctor of philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania who also was Jì Nuannuan's idol since she was a child was currently standing beside the silver, stainless steel sink, holding a very ordinary, narrow knife in his right hand and peeling a potato.

A picture pieced together by a potato and a 1.87-metre tall man truly felt discordant.

"Little Uncle..." Even though she was already twenty-four years old and her height was considered exceptionally tall, when she saw Jì Chengyang, her voice, just like when she was little, became dainty and had a pouting quality to it. "You even know how to cook?"

It was not only Jì Nuannuan. In Jì Chengyang's life in the past, whenever a girl came across him, she usually had the same reaction. It was as if he was simply that type of person who caused girls to instinctively become gentle and tender.

Without even lifting an eyelid, Jì Chengyang gave an "mm," but from the corner of his eye, he searched for and found Jǐ Yi behind Jì Nuannuan.

Fumbling for topics to make conversation, Jì Nuannuan chatted a few sentences with Jì Chengyang. However, she felt a bit like she was merely asking for rejection, and so, dragging Jǐ Yi by the hand, she pulled her into the bedroom, where, with an exaggerated expression, she declared her displeasure. "My little uncle actually cooks for you..."