CA | Chapter 4

◎Food and sex were human nature.◎

When the homeroom teacher talked to Shen Yicheng alone, Ning Jia looked out at the sky, black and heavy beyond the window. The glaring lights of the teaching building made her eyes ache until she could barely keep them open.

She thought of many things, of everyone she had ever come into contact with before, until Shen Yicheng’s voice rang out again.

“Come here.”

Ning Jia turned around and trotted over to him.

She had no idea what he had said to the teacher. In any case, for now, her student status would be retained, and when the college entrance exam came around, she would return to school to take it. After all, for someone like her, so controversial and prone to causing trouble, the school was unwilling to let her stay in the senior year classroom.

Shen Yicheng did not say anything else. He took off his glasses and clipped them onto the pocket over his chest, then rubbed the center of his brow.

Ning Jia heard him ask, “What do you want for dinner tonight?”

“Ah,” she said, then looked up. “Meat?”

Shen Yicheng lowered his eyes and said with a smile, “We should celebrate. After all, it’s the little princess’s first fight.”

Her face went rosy. She knew he was teasing her.

That night they had beef hotpot. Ning Jia, as if she had no cares in the world, ate more than half of it in one go, then obediently set down her chopsticks and said to him, “Uncle, I’m full. Uncle, I’m going to sleep now.”

Shen Yicheng nodded, and Ning Jia shot upstairs like a streak of wind.

She slept fairly well that night. When she woke the next day, she instinctively went downstairs to look for him, and Shen Yicheng was still there.

The first floor had a living room, a kitchen, and his studio. He usually stayed downstairs. Shen Yicheng owned quite a few properties, as did the Shen family. Their home even had a storage room used solely for collecting things, as large as the Shen family’s main residence. Just thinking about it felt extravagant.

Shen Yicheng’s carving skills were decent. There was a lady statue on the second floor that had come from his hands. Ning Jia had noticed his hands very early on. When she held them, she had even felt the calluses and tiny scars on them. What looked like flawless jade actually had gone through countless hammerings and refinements.

Breakfast that day was soup dumplings with crab roe and minced pork. Ning Jia looked at the big dumplings in her bowl and her appetite surged.

Seeing her state, Shen Yicheng asked with a smile, “Hungry?”

“Mm,” she answered softly.

Shen Yicheng said, “It’s good to eat more.”

Ning Jia blushed and felt a little embarrassed, but she had already taken a bite, so she could only finish it. Shen Yicheng then asked, “Is it good?”

Ning Jia nodded.

She stuffed the dumpling into her mouth, her cheeks puffed up round.

Shen Yicheng was washing his hands at the sink. The white towel turned over in his palm, and Ning Jia used his hands as a meal companion, finding the dumpling in her mouth even more fragrant.

She had thought last night about why Shen Yicheng was helping her, but she did not plan to ask. Whatever the reason, his help was something she urgently needed. It did not matter what he wanted from her, because Ning Jia really had nothing she could pay with anyway.

He gave, and she took.

Shen Yicheng picked up two more dumplings, put one into Ning Jia’s bowl, then sat beside her and asked A-ma to pour him a cup of coffee.

Ning Jia also wanted to have a little young lady’s bearing, but she was truly too hungry. During this period she had had almost no appetite, and if she ate at all, it was only a reluctant mouthful of instant noodles. In such a short time, she had already lost more than ten jin.

Grief, pain, and confusion had all turned into numbness. Ning Jia needed food to replenish herself, and she also needed property to secure her escape route.

After she finished eating, Shen Yicheng waited a while, then asked, “Do you need a teacher for tutoring?”

She could not go to school, so she would naturally have to review at home until the exams were over. She had already fallen behind in many lessons, and last year she had spent half a year in intensive training. Ning Jia did not dare guarantee that she could pass smoothly on her own.

Seeing the hesitation on her face, Shen Yicheng said, “If you need one, I’ll find someone.”

Ning Jia blinked. “If that’s possible… then I’ll have to trouble Uncle.”

She accepted everything without complaint, and listened to Shen Yicheng in all things.

Ning Jia was obedient and followed his arrangements, which saved Shen Yicheng quite a bit of trouble.

He pressed her shoulder. Only then did Ning Jia realize that his grip was truly strong, as if everything he touched were stone.

“Go to class this afternoon,” Shen Yicheng said. “Work out the location with the teacher.”

Ning Jia nodded, grateful beyond words.

Shen Yicheng set his phone in front of her. It was the contact information for that teacher. After adding her, Ning Jia asked, “Uncle Shen, can I add your WeChat?”

“Go ahead.”

He did not mind her fiddling with his phone.

Shen Yicheng had the habit of deleting chats after talking, so his interface was exceptionally clean. Ning Jia opened his scan function, scanned herself into his contacts, then returned the phone.

His profile picture was a stretch of green sea. Only later did Ning Jia study it closely and realize that it was jade with white and green blending into each other. It showed just how obsessed he was with jade.

Ning Jia also liked gemstones, though her preference was not jade. Still, in a sense, the two of them could be said to be heading toward the same destination by different routes, since in the end these things were all just stones anyway. More than that, her fondness for gemstones also had countless ties to Shen Yicheng. Perhaps the starting point of that liking had been the jade Guanyin[[1]] she had grasped on the day of her first birthday.

Right now, Ning Jia did not see any accessory hanging beneath his neck. Although Shen Yicheng liked jade, he did not wear it on his person. His two hands were plain and clean, like raw stones just fished out of water, without even a ring on them. She did not know whether that was because he needed them for work.

Seeing her gaze wander over him, Shen Yicheng pressed her head again. Ning Jia covered her forehead and finally stopped looking at him.

*

The teacher Shen Yicheng introduced was the child of a relative, named Feng Wei. When she came, Feng Wei wore a fitted short top with high-waisted jeans, cherry-colored lipstick on her lips. She dropped her little bag onto a small table in the beverage shop and, when she smiled, revealed a row of bright white teeth.

Ning Jia immediately took the hand she extended.

Feng Wei sized her up. Ning Jia wore a long emerald dress, a fitted style with a hint of qipao design, which made her seem very quiet and composed. The dress fit perfectly, so it must have been custom-made. On her wrist was a classic four-leaf clover bracelet, giving off the feel of a sheltered young lady from a proper family.

It was just that face. Her eyes were clear and bright, but the corners of them carried a touch of allure. If she grew up a little more, she would probably be the bright and lovely type, too.

Ning Jia was still figuring out how to address her, when Feng Wei said, “Just call me sis.”

At first Feng Wei had not wanted to come. Her school matters were finally done, and she was lazing around at home. Shen Yicheng called her over to tutor a kid, offering a price she did not want to refuse.

Shen Yicheng also promised to give her a brand-new set of LV bags. Feng Wei was all about that, and she was a vulgar person at heart, so she agreed.

Ning Jia was extraordinarily obedient and very polite, cute yet generous. Feng Wei took a liking to her, and when she went back, she reported to Shen Yicheng, “Uncle, I sent her home. She’s a pretty good kid. I’ll teach her until the college entrance exam.”

Most importantly, she was smart. Feng Wei did not need to worry too much. She only had to help her sort through the key points and then look over the problems Ning Jia did.

Shen Yicheng said he understood, told them to arrange things themselves, and hung up.

These past few days he often stayed at home, but Ning Jia knew he was not completely free. The jewelry exhibitions in the northern city all had to pass under his eye, and he also held private exhibitions from time to time. However, Shen Yicheng’s works were rarely sold, and the reserve price was not high either, but once they went to auction, they would be driven up to sky-high prices.

Shen Yicheng would put out the pieces he was not entirely satisfied with and sell them, then turn around and donate the money to his own charity foundation, acting in a grand style like he was robbing the rich to help the poor.

Seeing her clasp her hands together and then tighten them, he found it amusing and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Praying to the Bodhisattva.”

Shen Yicheng laughed.

Most of the time, he stayed in the studio, while Ning Jia read upstairs. Occasionally there would be the sound of tools drilling into materials, but unless one listened carefully, it could not be heard.

The two of them did not disturb each other. Only A-ma occasionally went upstairs and downstairs to bring them food. Ning Jia liked eating, but she did not eat much. She simply could not bear emptying her mouth. She needed to chew something.

Now she finished one dish and took the plate downstairs. When A-ma saw that her plate was empty, she added another dish of dried sweet potato and a cup of mango yogurt.

Ning Jia then carried the full plate back upstairs.

When dinner came, after Ning Jia finished her noodles, she glanced at Shen Yicheng’s bowl.

A-ma thought she still wanted some, and Ning Jia hurriedly shook her head. “Uncle isn’t eating?”

A-ma felt that this girl before her looked a little silly, but she was not annoying. She at least knew how to feel for other people. So she said, “Second Young Master forgets to eat when he’s working. Why don’t you go call him?”

If this had been in the past, when Ning Jia was still the young lady, A-ma would never have spoken to her like this.

Ning Jia did not hold grudges against anyone. She had a broad heart. So she stood up, washed up briefly, and then stopped outside his studio door.

She knocked, and Shen Yicheng’s faint voice came through. “Come in.”

Ning Jia opened the door a crack. “Uncle, dinner is ready.”

He waved her in. Ning Jia walked inside carefully. Although the place was messy, it was messy in an ordered way. Because there were rows of floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, the room looked quite spacious. In front of him sat a piece of jade rough, disk-shaped, with a burnt brown lower half and a milky white upper half. Ning Jia did not understand jade, but it looked so delicate that she felt it must be a valuable stone.

She was so scared that she moved to eight meters away. If she broke something he was working on, Ning Jia’s current finances could never afford the compensation.

He seemed to have carved halfway through it already. The lower portion had become a scene of craggy rocks and encircling mountains, looking extremely exquisite.

“What should I do for the top?” He flipped through a stack of old paintings. “I can’t think of anything for now.”

Ning Jia said, “Then do it after you’ve thought of it and eaten?”

“What’s the most important thing on your mind? Eating?”

“Eating is more important than the heavens.”

Shen Yicheng laughed and tapped her on the forehead.

Ning Jia pointed at the still uncarved section. “How about a fox pouncing on a rabbit, and the rabbit hiding in the rocks watching…”

She was really treating it like a children’s drawing.

Shen Yicheng looked at the mottled brown surface. Ning Jia also noticed that long patch. “Right here, the fox.”

Shen Yicheng took out his carving knife, traced along the grain, then looked up. After that, he sat down on a stool and leaned in to carve.

Ning Jia sat beside him. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt. When he exerted force with his arms, the clear lines of his muscles and the veins beneath them became visible. He was too pale, and there was very little pink in his skin. Instead, it was as white and lustrous as sheep-fat jade.

She thought of having tasted the jade Guanyin he had been born with, and could not help swallowing.

That sound reached Shen Yicheng. He said flatly, “If you’re hungry, go eat.”

Ning Jia did not move. Her eyes were on his hands, one steadying the jade rough, the other holding the carving knife. A piece of brown bandage wrapped around the fingers of his long hand. It looked like he had been hurt.

When he withdrew the knife, the sharp blade dug into his fingertip. Ning Jia’s whole body tensed, her heart pounding fast. She saw a bead of bright red blood roll out from his fingertip, and even her ears turned red.

She wanted to help him wipe away the blood bead, but that was only something she imagined. In the end, she could only stare dumbly as he stood, rinsed his hand under clean water, wrapped it in bandages, then looked at the little white rabbit with blood beads hanging from its ear and used a cloth to wipe away the blood stain from the jade carving.

It looked like “the fox playing with the rabbit,” but Ning Jia said the rabbit was hiding in the rocks, watching the fox grow anxious, and the picture became “the rabbit playing with the fox.”

It actually looked rather lively.

Shen Yicheng turned his head to call Ning Jia over to look, intending to tease her. Who knew Ning Jia had already run off, all the way upstairs, where she drank an entire glass of milk dry and then curled up on the bed ready to sleep.

Ning Jia rarely dreamed of anything other than nightmares.

Shen Yicheng leaned against the sofa, looking down at her from above. Ning Jia looked up at him and prayed. Shen Yicheng answered her. He reached out and stroked the side of her face. Ning Jia rubbed against his palm, then slightly opened her mouth and bit the tip of his finger.