Because the journey was quite long, after finishing lunch, Shen Tazhi had the driver come to drive the car.
It was Jiang Que’s first time going on a long trip, and he was clearly excited. He quickly packed his luggage and happily held Shen Tazhi’s wrist with his tentacle until they got into the car, leaning against the window and looking outside.
He was wearing a white oversized shirt today, and when he raised his hand, the cuff would occasionally slide down, revealing a bit of his arm.
At first, Jiang Que would patiently pull the cuff back up, but eventually, he stopped bothering and just looked outside at the incessant flow of vehicles and pedestrians, expressing amazement at the occasional passing courtyard or ancient building, saying, “There are such run-down places here.”
Shen Tazhi: …
Did he really think Jiang Que would be amazed by something like that?
He explained, “It’s not run-down, it’s ancient. These buildings have been around for hundreds of years. They are historical traces for humans.”
“Oh,” Jiang Que didn’t seem very interested. “Are there any ancient restaurants inside?”
“No,” Shen Tazhi replied.
Jiang Que lost even more interest at this response. Ancient buildings didn’t have emotions, and he couldn’t see anything interesting. He might as well observe humans.
But he didn’t observe humans for long.
As the vehicle got on the highway, the surroundings gradually became monotonous, with only concrete structures and speeding vehicles left, occasionally passing through toll booths.
Feeling bored, Jiang Que finally left the window and opened a pack of potato chips that Shen Tazhi had prepared, then went to see what Shen Tazhi was working on.
Glancing at the time, it was only 2 p.m.
In order to arrive earlier, they had finished lunch1no no I’m not wrong, the raws clearly stated 午飯 which is lunch by 9 a.m. and had set out from home around 10 a.m. Surprisingly, only one-third of the journey had passed by now.
Jiang Que had some potato chips and opened a bottle of coconut water, contemplating while the air conditioning blew on him.
The journey was so boring.
Shen Tazhi noticed his expression and asked, “Do you want to watch TV? There’s a TV series adaptation of a novel similar to the one you read recently.”
“What, what?” Jiang Que perked up a bit. “Is it ‘Revenge of the Three Princesses vs. The Three Icy Princes’ or ‘Grand Marriage: Young Master Ye Spoils His Wife Too Ostentatiously’? Or maybe…”
“It’s the novel ‘Grand Marriage’,” Shen Tazhi promptly interrupted Jiang Que’s incessant chatter.
He still hadn’t figured out how Jiang Que could effortlessly mention these book titles.
Jiang Que was thrilled, “That’s great, let me see.”
Shen Tazhi turned on the car’s TV, and on the video software’s homepage, he found the TV series adaptation of the novel. He raised the volume so Jiang Que could watch.
Jiang Que held his bag of potato chips, his eyes fixed on the screen.
In the first episode, the female lead, with a ponytail and dressed plainly, got drunk and mistakenly entered the male lead’s room, who had been drugged. She left in fear the next morning, and the male lead coldly ordered his assistant, “Find that woman for me.”
Jiang Que’s hand holding the potato chips froze, and he didn’t click to the next episode for a while.
As the ending theme song played, Shen Tazhi turned to him and asked, “What’s wrong? Don’t want to continue watching?”
Jiang Que sat up silently, dragged the progress bar back to the moment when the female lead was leaving in panic and pointed at the screen, saying, “At this point, she’s thinking that she’s finally stuck in this episode and will have to quickly check out the next one.”
Then Jiang Que dragged the progress bar back to the moment when someone was following the female lead and pointed at the screen, saying, “He’s thinking he’s finally got a bit part again and wondering if the lunch box from noon tastes good.”
He then looked sadly at Shen Tazhi, “How do you humans have so many thoughts while acting? I can’t see them as the characters they portray.”
Shen Tazhi: “…I don’t know.”
He had never acted, so how would he know?
Jiang Que sighed, “They sometimes see themselves as characters from the TV show, and then suddenly start thinking about other things. I haven’t even started watching, and their thoughts have interrupted me. Novels are better.”
Shen Tazhi thought for a moment and suggested, “How about watching some animation?”
Jiang Que had no objections, so Shen Tazhi randomly chose a suspenseful detective-themed animation for him. The soundtrack was slightly spooky, making Jiang Que jump in his seat.
Shen Tazhi couldn’t help but chuckle. He wanted to switch to a different one, but Jiang Que, despite being scared, was both clueless and eager to watch, insisting on seeing it through to the end, even wrapping himself in a blanket.
After this commotion, it was already sunset. Jiang Que hadn’t managed to take an afternoon nap today and was sufficiently startled by the animation, so he started feeling drowsy shortly after the beginning of the next, more relaxing, slice-of-life animation.
The car was quiet, the slight vibration of the vehicle acting almost like a lullaby. Jiang Que leaned against Shen Tazhi and slowly closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.
Shen Tazhi noticed the weight on his shoulder, and when he turned his head, he saw Jiang Que fast asleep. He smiled, turned off the TV, reclined the seat for him, and covered him with a blanket.
Jiang Que slept through until evening. He felt Shen Tazhi nudging him and saying they had arrived, but he was so deep in slumber that when he opened his eyes, it was still dark. He simply closed his eyes again, paying no attention to what Shen Tazhi was saying.
Shen Tazhi watched Jiang Que roll over and fall back asleep. He nudged him again, saying, “Que Que?”
An invisible tentacle touched his hand, another one came up to wrap around it, preventing Shen Tazhi from disturbing Jiang Que further. Shen Tazhi’s hand seemed frozen in the air.
Meanwhile, Jiang Que had pulled the blanket over his head and continued sleeping.
It was clear he was in a groggy state and simply didn’t want to get up.
Shen Tazhi sighed inwardly. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have woken Jiang Que up at 7 a.m. Now, he wouldn’t wake up at all.
In his dreamlike state, Jiang Que couldn’t quite control his tentacles. The smaller tentacles that had started to appear along the way were now visible. To prevent the driver, who had been driving them all this way, from unnecessary shock, Shen Tazhi decided to let the driver stay at the hotel, depart by high-speed rail the next day, and carried Jiang Que directly from the car to the room, wrapped in a blanket.
Since the car was parked directly in the underground garage, not far from the room, Shen Tazhi decided to leave Jiang Que be. Skipping one dinner shouldn’t be a problem.
The villa had already been cleaned in advance, and some seasonal ingredients had been stocked in the fridge.
After spending half a day in the car, Shen Tazhi wasn’t eager to cook, so he ordered takeout, had a quick dinner after freshening up, and went to bed.
The next day.
Jiang Que blinked in confusion.
Why did his head hurt so much from sleeping… the ceiling looked unfamiliar. Where was he?
He was completely disoriented, taking several seconds to slowly remember what had happened the day before.
Oh, Shen Tazhi had asked if he wanted to go out, and he had said yes, so they had ended up in Suzhou.
It all happened so quickly that he hadn’t fully processed it.
As Jiang Que thought about this, he glanced to the side and saw Shen Tazhi peacefully sleeping next to him, breathing evenly. However, the tentacles that he had intentionally shrunk and made transparent had returned to their original large, dark form, coiled around Shen Tazhi’s body.
It felt heavy.
Jiang Que furrowed his brow and patted his tentacles, trying to wake them up to come down quickly. But when he saw his sleeve, he paused.
These were the clothes he wore yesterday, and he hadn’t even taken a shower.
This wouldn’t do.
Unable to stand the feeling of being dirty, Jiang Que immediately got out of bed to find clean clothes and headed to the bathroom.
As Shen Tazhi had mentioned yesterday, the bathroom was well-stocked with toiletries. Jiang Que quickly took a shower, and when he came out, he saw Shen Tazhi already up and dressed.
“You’re awake?” Jiang Que was surprised. “Did I wake you up?”
“No,” Shen Tazhi shook his phone in response, “It was my alarm.”
He chuckled lightly and looked at Jiang Que. “You finally woke up. No matter how I called you last night, you refused to get up.”
Thinking about this, Jiang Que felt the headache from his groggy state return. He walked up to Shen Tazhi, dragging his voice with a hint of grievance, “I have a headache from all that sleep, and you’re laughing at me.”
Shen Tazhi chuckled as he massaged his temples. “How about next time, I wake you up no matter what?”
“No need for that,” Jiang Que replied quietly.
He had a vague memory of last night. The feeling of being jolted awake just as he entered deep sleep was unbearable. He didn’t want that.
He just wanted to occasionally be a bit mischievous, seeing how Shen Tazhi indulged him even when he knew he was teasing him.
The morning sunlight streamed into the room through the window, falling on Shen Tazhi across from him. It was at this moment that Jiang Que suddenly realized he had completely adjusted to the light without even noticing.
Shen Tazhi gradually opened the curtains a bit more each day at home. Initially, Jiang Que paid attention to this, but then he stopped noticing. By the time he became aware again, the curtains were fully drawn.
Just like Shen Tazhi, who slowly but surely had occupied such an important place in Jiang Que’s heart without him realizing it.
Even Jiang Que found it unbelievable that he could value a human to this extent.
Shen Tazhi was smiling across from him, likely because of what he had just said.
The slight touch of emotion Jiang Que had felt a moment ago vanished instantly, and slightly annoyed, he lightly tapped Shen Tazhi.
Shen Tazhi reached out and held his wrist, asking, “Are you hungry? Would you like breakfast?”
Jiang Que’s attention was diverted, “Yes! Are we going out to eat?”
Shen Tazhi glanced at the sun behind him, seeing that it wasn’t too hot, he said, “Let’s go out to eat? It’ll be hot at noon, so I’ll have it delivered directly.”
“Great.” Jiang Que happily chose his backpack, feeling no qualms about spending most of his time indoors while on a trip.
Typically, going out should involve visiting various attractions, bustling crowds, collecting stamps, and buying local specialties. However, Jiang Que wasn’t interested in these things, and Shen Tazhi didn’t push him to go out and explore.
Instead, they enjoyed some of his favorite foods, lounging in air-conditioned rooms during the hottest part of the day, occasionally going out for a stroll, buying fresh ingredients to cook. Living slowly in this not-so-fast-paced city seemed quite pleasant.
Especially with Suzhou’s seasonal dishes always being fresh, Shen Tazhi had been ensuring that Jiang Que didn’t eat stale food after his ordeal with the buffet in Beijing. Coming here was perfect.
Of course, there were other reasons, but they weren’t very important.
With these thoughts in mind, Shen Tazhi looked at the list of Suzhou restaurants he had his assistant collect in the car yesterday and then took Jiang Que out.
In the noodle shop.
Remembering that Jiang Que hadn’t eaten last night before falling asleep, Shen Tazhi decided to take him to a noodle shop.
Jiang Que, with his backpack, held Shen Tazhi’s hand and looked around the noodle shop. Upon seeing the wooden signs behind the counter with the dish names written on them, he immediately started searching.
Two minutes later—
“No crab roe noodles.” He said disappointedly.
He had thought the noodle shop would have it.
The young girl at the front desk, looking like a student, lifted her head at his comment and smiled, “The hairy crabs haven’t come yet. The crab roe noodles2I love hairy crab and crab roe noodles
This is from a restaurant I visited in Shenzhen 会展中心 Exhibition Center station that’s like 2 stations away from Futian station which is one of the border crossings for Shenzhen and HK they sell now are made with frozen crab, not very tasty.”
“I see.” Jiang Que didn’t enjoy talking to people other than Shen Tazhi, so he simply replied briefly and said nothing more.
However, the girl at the front desk continued on her own, “Are you here for tourism too? Our crab roe noodles aren’t good, but the crabs3ordinary brown crabs/mud crabs I guess are the best, consider the crab meat dumplings4yall should try crab roe fried buns and crab roe soup dumplings
.”
“Okay.” Jiang Que replied shortly and subtly moved behind Shen Tazhi.
He could easily tell from the expressions of awe at his appearance that the person in front of him was feeling that way because of his looks. Due to this initial positive impression, she enthusiastically explained things to him.
This goodwill and admiration were without any ulterior motives, purely based on appreciation, something Jiang Que wasn’t used to. He had never experienced it and didn’t know how to respond, so he just wanted to hide.
Shen Tazhi patted his shoulder – it was quite a stretch to reach Jiang Que’s head without lifting his hand – and asked, “Do you want to order yourself?”
Jiang Que shook his head, “You do it.”
He was afraid the girl at the front desk would talk too much again.
So, Shen Tazhi ordered two bowls of shrimp noodles, took the meal number, and sat down with Jiang Que.
As they sat, Jiang Que recalled the girl’s words and felt a bit annoyed, “Clearly, the crab roe noodles you made are delicious.”
Shen Tazhi explained, “Because the noodles and noodle soup are different. I made white noodle soup, even if I add crab roe, it’s just a seasoning and won’t be too heavy.”
“Different?” Jiang Que was puzzled, “What’s different about it?”
Aren’t noodles all the same?
As they chatted, the two bowls of noodles were swiftly brought to the table.
As soon as the bowls were placed down, Jiang Que’s eyes widened, “Why are the noodles so thin?”
The width of the noodles in the bowl was only a quarter of the ones he usually ate at home. They were round in cross-section, neatly arranged in a blue and white porcelain bowl larger than his face, topped with plenty of shrimp..
The shrimp were small, about half the size of a thumb, resembling small, undeveloped shrimp. The noodle soup was a light brown color, with some green chopped scallions floating in it.
Oh, it looked like garlic chives.
Jiang Que grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the nearby holder, was surprised by their length, and then picked up a strand of thin noodles.
“Mmm!” He mumbled with noodles in his mouth, momentarily unable to speak.
Shen Tazhi watched him from across the table and asked with a smile, “Is it good?”
Jiang Que quickly bit off the noodle, swallowed it, and said, “Delicious, I like this. The shrimp is also tasty.”
The noodle soup, fresh and fragrant, soaked the thin noodles easily, soft but not sticky, each strand distinct. The tender shrimp on top, when bitten into, were soft and bouncy, flavorful but not overwhelming, seemingly carrying a refreshing river-like essence.
This reminded Jiang Que of the first time he tasted honey water, feeling similarly fresh and crisp, though the noodles before him were even more delightful.
Shen Tazhi rested his chin on his hand, “It’s crayfish season now, and the freshly peeled shrimp is quite good. If you like it, we can go have some Three Shrimp Noodles5One of the more popular noodle dishes from Suzhou, three shrimp noodles which consist of shrimp roe, shrimp eggs and shrimp meat
in a few days.”
Jiang Que didn’t answer because his mouth was full of noodles, so he just nodded.
Shen Tazhi suddenly chuckled, reaching out to poke Jiang Que’s puffy cheek. He withdrew his hand upon receiving Jiang Que’s displeased look and began to eat his own noodles.
Jiang Que really enjoyed the shrimp noodles. After finishing, he continued savoring the soup with a spoon and asked, “Shen Tazhi, how did you know this place is good?”
“Hmm? This location was organized by my assistant.” Shen Tazhi didn’t hide it, “But I took you to have shrimp noodles because I tried Three Shrimp Noodles here before when I was discussing business. It was really good, I’m not just saying that.”
“I didn’t think you were just saying it,” Jiang Que thought for a moment and added, “Even if it was just organized by your assistant, I wouldn’t think so. You’re busy, yet you always take me out. I don’t think you’re insincere.”
As they spoke, there was a sudden loud splash outside the door, startling Jiang Que.
Setting down his spoon, his expression changed, “That’s the sound of something falling into the water. I’ve heard it many times, I won’t mistake it. This sound only happens when a child jumps into the river.”
Shen Tazhi also looked serious. Outside the noodle shop was a serene green river, occasionally with sightseeing rowboats passing by. The street was narrow, his car couldn’t even enter, so getting an ambulance here would be even more difficult.
People inside the noodle shop had already heard the noise and were heading outside. The girl at the front desk also frowned as she looked out.
Shen Tazhi asked Jiang Que for his opinion, “Do you want to go take a look?”
Jiang Que glanced at him before replying, “Let’s go see.”
Shen Tazhi looked a bit worried, but he decided to accompany Jiang Que to see what was happening.
He just hoped the noodle soup wouldn’t be cold when they returned.
The two walked out of the noodle shop and saw a group of people gathered near the riverbank, some were taking pictures with their phones, creating a commotion. However, no one seemed to be calling for help or attempting to enter the water.
Everything seemed normal.
Jiang Que didn’t pay much attention and carefully held Shen Tazhi’s hand, worried that Shen Tazhi might jump in to save someone.
Shen Tazhi was kind-hearted, but he didn’t want to take that risk.
With this in mind, they approached the stone railing and suddenly froze.
They saw a sleek and agile civet cat, at least eighty centimeters long, dragging a struggling large fish towards the shore.
Only then did Jiang Que notice the steep stone steps leading to the lake under the railing, blocked by a “Dangerous” sign.
However, these were human rules, and they couldn’t stop the cat.
“A cat…?” Jiang Que questioned, looking puzzled.
Beside them was the front desk girl who had come out just before them. She was smiling, snapping photos with her phone, and explained to Jiang Que, “Just now, this cat was catching fish. The fish was too big, and it dragged the cat into the water. They had quite a few rounds of battle before the cat made it back to the shore.”
She giggled uncontrollably, and someone chimed in, “There was a boat that came by earlier. The boatman thought the cat was drowning and tried to rescue it, but the next moment, the cat swam away with the fish. The boatman’s oar fell into the water, and later someone had to fish it out, hahaha.”
“Why are you all laughing? Has anyone thought about how the fish and the oar feel? Hahaha!”
Shen Tazhi chuckled first, and after a moment, Jiang Que couldn’t help but join in. Shen Tazhi softly said, “The child who jumped into the water?”
Jiang Que gave their joined hands a little shake. “I had no idea it would turn out like this.”
Although he hadn’t found it strange before that people would jump into the water while bystanders watched indifferently, he couldn’t help feeling happy after learning the truth.
“It’s just a cat,” he said with a smile.
“And a fish and an oar,” Shen Tazhi added.
This was an old street, mostly inhabited by people who weren’t in a hurry even during the early hours of the day. They all paused to watch the cat.
The civet cat didn’t care about humans. It extended its claws and quickly subdued the struggling fish with a few “pats,” then shook off the water, basked in the warm sun, and started gnawing on the fish, emitting crisp chewing sounds.
Jiang Que’s focus quickly shifted, “Is raw fish tasty? Won’t it get stuck by the bones?”
Shen Tazhi: … Always thinking about food no matter where we are.
He explained, “Raw fish tastes good, but there are many parasites in river fish. If you want to try it, I’ll take you to taste sea fish next time. The fish bones in raw fish are soft, they won’t get stuck, so don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried about the cat,” Jiang Que whispered.
He subtly loosened his grip on Shen Tazhi’s hand, afraid that he might give away something.
In the midst of the bustling crowd, he glanced at Shen Tazhi.
Shen Tazhi’s smile hadn’t faded, and Jiang Que had never felt so openly at ease standing beside Shen Tazhi amidst the noisy crowd.
Since stepping out of the abyss, he and Shen Tazhi had mostly been alone at home or at the office in the Supernatural Investigation Department, where the human world had always left him with a cold impression.
The sun was warm, but whenever he and Shen Tazhi took walks around the villa, they always encountered annoying people.
Jiang Que touched his chest, feeling the warmth from the sun on his clothes.
It wasn’t the sensation of a heartbeat, but a more gentle feeling of fullness, as if the sun had warmed his heart.
He imagined himself rubbing against Shen Tazhi like a little cat.
That’s what Jiang Que thought, and that’s what he did. He directly hugged Shen Tazhi’s arm and rubbed his cheek against it.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Tazhi asked.
“Nothing,” Jiang Que shook his head. “I just suddenly felt that having you by my side at this moment feels especially good.”
Good enough to create an illusion that perhaps humans weren’t so bad after all.
Of course, Shen Tazhi was still the best.
