261. Strolling in the Park【3/122】
==============================
Chen Yao realized that even though he and Lin Nan had become a couple, it seemed like their relationship had hit a pause button.
Was holding hands the peak of their progress?
Besides, Lin Nan seemed to have embraced her femininity a bit more; every time she looked at him, her cheeks would turn as pink as a shrimp.
The past few days, he had been busy helping his family with food delivery, but starting today, a wave of delivery people were returning to work, so he could finally spend some quality time with Lin Nan and improve their relationship—or at least, he hoped so.
But should he start calling her Nan Nan now?
Sitting in front of his computer, he distractedly opened his phone’s photo album, only to discover that something seemed to be missing.
The sneak photos of Lin Nan were gone, along with some suspicious pictures and beautiful models—poof, vanished!
An uneasy thought flashed through his mind as he hurriedly opened his computer and clicked on his study materials, only to be hit with the shocking realization that everything he had saved for years had mysteriously disappeared!
With a dramatic sigh, Chen Yao opened the recycle bin, only to find it emptier than his social life.
“Thank goodness I still have the cloud storage.”
He opened the cloud storage software on his desktop, and staring at the auto-login page, he fell silent.
Sure enough, everything in his cloud was also wiped clean.
“Is she a devil or something?”
“What did you say?” Lin Nan happened to push open the room door just then, towel in hand, drying her hair, looking confused, “What devil?”
“Nothing.” Chen Yao quickly backpedaled.
Turning to look at Lin Nan, freshly out of the shower, he couldn’t help but get lost in her gaze.
Lin Nan’s face was already small and delicate, but with her damp hair clinging to her cheeks, she looked like a porcelain doll. Her hair, not trimmed since last August, reached her shoulders, and her shirt collar was damp from the water, hugging her lovely collarbone in an inviting way.
Just a few days ago, the local temperature had been below ten degrees Celsius, but now, with the cold snap passed, it had climbed to nearly twenty degrees. Lin Nan was wearing only a thin shirt, and her figure was curvy enough to make Chen Yao’s throat go dry.
But before he could go into a daze, she quickly threw on a jacket, hiding her shape from his view.
After drying her hair to semi-dry status, she tossed the towel onto the bedside table and looked at Chen Yao, who wore a perfectly innocent expression.
“I’m going back in a few days,” she announced.
“Uh-huh.”
Since the city hadn’t reported any new COVID cases for more than ten days, people were starting to get a bit lax. The roadblocks weren’t as strict as before, and soon enough, they’d probably lift the restrictions altogether.
The streets had a few more pedestrians and cars than a few days ago, but sadly, there wasn’t much to do; these days, it was just the great outdoors or bust, as even restaurants were still take-out only.
“I heard the university is postponing the start of classes, probably until April? Looks like we’ll still have online classes.”
Usually, classes begin around the Lantern Festival, but this year, the class group chat was eerily quiet regarding any return to normalcy.
Lin Nan was quite eager to return to school—after all, she had friends there, and a daily routine, unlike being stuck at home playing on her computer or phone all day.
After a while, it was just boring.
“How about we go out for a stroll?” Chen Yao suggested. “Grab the entry permit and let’s take a walk in a less crowded area.”
“Fine by me, I need to dry my hair,” Lin Nan replied.
Having spent half a month in Chen Yao’s house without stepping outside, she was more than ready for a change of scenery.
Her hair was getting longer by the day, now partially obstructing her vision, and she finally gave in, parting her bangs to the side.
At first, she’d struggled to get used to showing her forehead, but now she was finally okay with it.
She rarely used conditioner, but perhaps thanks to some magical twist, her hair was smoother than the average girl’s, with hardly any knots.
Using her aunt’s fine-toothed comb, she ran it through her hair and realized she had a black-long hairstyle—if it were any longer, she’d have the quintessential sleek straight look.
Maybe getting bangs would make it look even better?
She had grown accustomed to her feminine style; no traces of the boy she once was remained on her exterior, and eighteen years of memories felt like a foggy dream.
She thought her experiences felt surreal—she had unexpectedly encountered Lilith, inexplicably transformed into a girl, and randomly acquired a boyfriend… She was a bit scared this might all just be an elusive dream.
“Ready to go?” Chen Yao asked, now sporting socks and standing behind her.
“Yeah.”
Lin Nan reached for Chen Yao’s hand, her head down, her face flushed.
He noticed her unease and grinned, “What? Do you want to hold hands while we’re out, too?”
“Is that a problem?” Lin Nan gave him a playful nudge behind the head, muttering, “You’ve already hugged me when we went out…”
About ten minutes later, they found themselves in a nearly deserted small park.
Many had lowered their guards against the pandemic, but with so few businesses open, most people were just wandering around for some fresh air while stocking up on essentials.
Lin Nan donned a mask, struggling a bit with the new obstructed breathing experience.
The park wasn’t very large, just a patch of low trees, a path, and an oval-shaped artificial lake. In the past, there would have been old folks fishing here morning and night. The stone path was blanketed in dead leaves and broken branches, while the chirping of sparrows—who knew what other birds—filled the air.
As the couple strolled hand-in-hand, Lin Nan was initially a bit shy, keeping her head down and quiet, but within ten minutes, she relaxed a little.
“Do you think after we graduate, we’ll work at the school or come back for jobs?” Chen Yao mused, one hand stuffed in his pocket while the other completely enveloped Lin Nan’s hand.
Lin Nan’s nails were perfectly trimmed and pink, resembling delicate petals that drew all of Chen Yao’s attention, making him forget the park’s scenery.
“Not sure.” Lin Nan lightly shook her head. She wasn’t one for future planning. After a moment, she suggested, “It’s up to you. I’ll follow whatever you want to do.”
“I just want to be a hermit and live off instant noodles for the rest of my life,” Chen Yao joked.
Lin Nan shot him a look, her fox-like eyes mischievous and sparkling, making her side-eye feel a touch flirtatious.
“We’ll see. My family wants me to become a civil servant. They say the pay isn’t great, but it’s stable.” Chen Yao grew serious. “But I’d prefer to be a soldier for two years, then move to a big city like Beijing or Shanghai and fight for my dreams.”
“What’s the point of going to a big city?”
“People gotta aim high! Can’t just sit in a small county forever, right?”
Lin Nan nodded in agreement with his reasoning.
“And in the big city, the education resources are better, our kids…”
Chen Yao suddenly felt a sharp pain in his toe, only to see Lin Nan casually letting go of his hand and stepping back a bit.
