Chapter 22 Time Pause
The afternoon sun is bright and dazzling.

It falls into the water, swaying with the waves, piecemeal, like stars passing through the night and falling into the day, causing rippling waves.

Shen Nanxi looked at him for a long time, and her eyes gradually lost focus. It took her a long time to come back to her senses: "Dad, do you remember our agreement?"

Shen Mushan was a little dazzled by the abundant sunlight and did not respond.

Shen Nanxi smiled and continued: "When Kele died, you told me 'Time stopped, and the accounts will be settled later.'"

Coke was a Shiba Inu that Shen Nanxi raised for five years, but the dog died in a car accident.

She cried so hard and couldn't be comforted.

Shen Mushan gave her an electronic watch.

Tell her that when she is sad, she should pause time and then she won’t be sad anymore.

She was eight years old at the time, and was old enough to understand things. She threw away her watch and accused Shen Mushan of deceiving her.

Shen Mushan said, "This is not called cheating. We just paused time and will settle the score later."

She was stunned: "We'll settle the score later?"

Shen Mushan pressed the button and the numbers stopped. "Look, has time stopped?"

She seemed to understand something and nodded in conviction: "Yes."

Shen Mushan hugged her shoulders and said, "Now your sad time has been paused by me, so you are not sad anymore."

She touched her face and was surprised to find that she was not crying anymore.

But when I turned around, I saw that the clock on the wall was still ticking and hadn't stopped at all.

Shen Mushan explained: "This is your time, so it is naturally different from other people's time."

This explanation seems to make sense.

She burst into laughter, took the watch and put it on, then turned her head and asked curiously, "What about 'the reckoning after the fall'?"

Shen Mushan's answer this time was a bit perfunctory: "Set aside some time in the fall and calculate how long you have been sad. You are not allowed to be sad for so long in the future."

She: “Is that all?”

Shen Mushan: "That's all."

Seeing Shen Mushan suddenly smiled.

Shen Nanxi knew that her father was thinking about the same past as she was.

She opened her bag, took out the watch, and handed it to Shen Mushan: "Dad, when you have finished the surgery and recovered, it will be almost autumn. Then I will go to Beijing to settle accounts with you."

Shen Mushan burst into laughter, just like she did in her childhood.

Shen Mushan has another inspection at four o'clock.

Shen Nanxi helped him back to the ward to rest for a while.

The ward is on the eighteenth floor.

When the elevator reached the eighth floor, it stopped.

The silver-gray elevator door opened, and an old man with a hunched back and a cane came in.

The old man entered the elevator but did not press the floor button.

Shen Mushan kindly asked, "Grandpa, which floor do you live on?"

The old man tilted his head and looked over. His cloudy eyes were dull and lifeless. He stared at Shen Mushan's face for a few seconds, shook his head, and said slowly, "I, I don't know."

At this time.

The elevator door closes on time.

"and many more!"

A white hand suddenly appeared, preventing it from closing.

Shen Nanxi was quick to press the door opening button.

At the critical moment, the door stopped and slid open to both sides.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you."

The person outside the elevator walked in, and his clear voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Shen Nanxi couldn't help but take a look.

The man held the old man's arm and said, "Grandpa, why did you come out again?"

I noticed someone's eyes were on me in the elevator.

He turned his head slowly.

The dark eyes suddenly collided with a pair of amber pupils.

Both of them were startled.

"Xiao Xi?"

Hospital restaurant, seat by the window.

Shen Nanxi and Shao Xuan sat face to face, both silent.

The two have not seen each other since they broke up four years ago.

Nowadays, when we meet someone for the first time, it is always difficult to say the first words.

The clock on the wall is ticking.

The ticking sound of the seconds was very clear. With each passing second, Shen Nanxi's heart beat.

She silently counted her own heartbeats.

When Mo Yu counted to two hundred and twenty-seven, she saw ripples forming in the water in the cup.

A little child skipped past them.

"elder brother."

Called Shao Xuan.

"elder sister."

He called her again.

Then, curiously asked: "Are you a couple? Why aren't you talking?"

The child’s grandmother ran over, said “sorry to bother you”, and left with the child.

The situation was somewhat stalemate.

Shen Nanxi put her fingers on the edge of the chair, raised her eyelids a little, and looked at the person opposite her.

The person opposite was also secretly looking at her.

When their eyes met, they were slightly stunned, and then they laughed together.

A blush appeared on Shao Xuan's handsome face: "Xiao Xi, long time no see."

Shen Nanxi's white face turned pink: "Long time no see."

What comes next is easy to say.

Shao Xuan: "It turns out that the person I saw last time was really you."

Shen Nanxi also remembered that familiar profile and smiled, "Why are you in Hong Kong?"

In his junior year, Shao Xuan went to California for further studies for four years.

Only three years have passed now.

Shao Xuan: "I was injured during a field shoot and couldn't continue, so I changed my major. Earlier this year, I shot a documentary and was noticed by director Qin Ke. He encouraged me to switch to directing, so I came to Hong Kong with him."

Shen Nanxi was stunned: "Filming outdoors?"

Shao Xuan majored in oil painting, so how could he participate in outdoor photography?
Shao Xuan understood Shen Nanxi's doubts and smiled: "After going to California, I changed my major."

Shen Nanxi's eyebrows seemed to be frowning: "Why do you want to change it?"

Shao Xuan looked at her, his ink-like pupils seemed to be embedded with morning stars, so bright that it made people dazed: "You said that I am more suitable for photography. After going to California, I can rarely draw paintings that satisfy me. Only when I pick up a camera, I can be sensitive to colors."

Shen Nanxi's long eyelashes trembled, and as her eyelids blinked, many complex emotions emerged in her eyes.

Cut constantly, the rationale is still chaotic.

In silence, I recalled the conversation with Shao Xuan on the day we broke up.

They met in their freshman year, fell in love in their sophomore year, and in their junior year, Shao Xuan got an opportunity to study abroad.

Shen Nanxi and Shao Xuan had an agreement that after graduation, they would participate in a global photography event.

This opportunity undoubtedly broke the agreement between the two.

Shao Xuan's family is not as well-off as Shen Nanxi's, and the art major is very expensive. Studying with a full scholarship is a rare opportunity that is fleeting, and he doesn't want to miss it.

Shao Xuan: "Xiao Xi, can you wait for me for four years?"

Shen Nanxi: "Shao Xuan, you are not suitable for oil painting. Your talent for photography is obviously higher. Why would you do something you don't like just for money?"

Her words were sharp, specifically hitting Shao Xuan's sore spots.

Shao Xuan was also a little angry, and his tone turned cold: "Xiao Xi, I don't like photography, I only like oil painting."

Shen Nanxi: "What about me? I won't go to California, and I won't wait for you. Do you want to continue to insist?"

That was the first time Shen Nanxi acted on emotion, leaving no room for negotiation.

Shao Xuan was silent for a very long time, so long that Shen Nanxi thought she had pressed the electronic watch her father gave her, and the sad time stopped.

however.

She still heard Shao Xuan's every word, and said very firmly: "Xiao Xi, we are different."

Destined to take a different path.

Shen Nanxi sneered: "We are indeed different."

Then he proposed to break up.

Without caring whether Shao Xuan agreed or not, he turned around and left.

A week later, Shao Xuan went abroad.

She was sick at home for a month.

She majored in photography, and traveling around the world to photograph wild animals is her dream.

Just when she was preparing to drop out of school and travel alone, Shen Mushan suffered a heart attack.

She never touched the camera again.

This is a sad topic. Shen Nanxi didn't want to talk about it anymore. She endured the sourness in her nose and changed the subject: "What injury did you suffer? Why can't you participate in the outdoor photography?"

Shao Xuan put his hands on his knees and rubbed them. "I saw a Palos Verdes blue butterfly in the wild. It went too deep and was attacked by a wild beast. Its leg was seriously infected and had to be amputated. Mobility problems are a big taboo for wild photographers, so I had to give up shooting in the wild."

(End of this chapter)