After a Flash Marriage with a Professor - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Small Wishes

After kissing her, Mingshu wanted to run, but Shen Junlan was quicker. She grabbed Mingshu’s arms with both hands. Mingshu was trying to protect the coffee from spilling, so she was caught completely off guard.

“I’m sorry, Professor Shen,” Mingshu said, lowering her head, like a good student who admits her mistake.

“So well-behaved.”

Shen Junlan thought Mingshu was so well-behaved. This behavior seemed to have continued from her student days until now.

In class before, Mingshu would also say “I’m sorry” when she was too nervous to answer her questions.

Shen Junlan smiled and said, “No need to apologize. I like you kissing me.”

This was not something a serious professor would say. It took a while for Mingshu to look up in shock. When Professor Shen spoke in a gentle and serious tone, it always gave Mingshu the feeling that whatever the content was, it was very serious. It took her a few seconds to react.

Mingshu’s sense of guilt from the ambush dissipated. Professor Shen said she liked it.

“Mingshu, you haven’t tasted the coffee I made yet,” Shen Junlan said.

“The latte art is very beautiful, like a work of art,” Mingshu said, first commenting on the latte art that Professor Shen was so concerned about. “It seems like there are many kinds of roses. Which kind is the one Professor Shen made?”

“The same as the name of the coffee. It’s also a cappuccino.”

“Huh? Is there a kind like that?” Mingshu asked in surprise.

“Yes. Unfortunately, the garden at home doesn’t have it. I’ll buy one and give it to you next time.”

Mingshu had not yet seen the garden at home. The two of them snuggled up to each other by the cluster of bird of paradise flowers. Mingshu was curious about everything here, as well as the nearby sea.

“Professor Shen, do you hear the sound of the sea?”

“Mm. Do you want to go see it? I can go with you.”

“Yes!”

The old Mingshu would never have imagined that one day she would live in a villa by the sea. Everything now felt a little dreamy and unreal.

“Are you going to drink the coffee later? Do you need me to hold it for you?” Shen Junlan asked in a gentlemanly manner, just like someone would ask a wife if she needed help with her bag.

Mingshu was a little reluctant to drink it. She didn’t want to ruin the cappuccino flower that Professor Shen had so carefully made on the surface of the coffee.

“I can hold it myself.” Mingshu didn’t want to trouble Professor Shen anymore.

Shen Junlan didn’t insist. She took Mingshu’s small, soft hand and was about to take her to see the sea when Auntie Zhang came out of the house.

“Junlan, Madam, there you are. Dinner is ready. Eat first, then play.”

Play. It had been a long time since Shen Junlan had heard anyone say that word to her. It was as if she had become a child again with Mingshu.

“Should we go eat first?” Shen Junlan asked. Mingshu nodded and said yes.

Jiajia was gone, and there were only three of them again. Mingshu asked with concern if Jiajia had gotten home safely.

Auntie Zhang smiled bitterly. “No word yet. I don’t know who this little girl is mad at this time. She’s not even talking to me, her auntie.”

Mingshu felt bad. In this family, Jiajia could only be mad at her.

“It’s me,” Shen Junlan said. “I said a few things to her that day, and we had an argument. I didn’t give in to her. She’s young, so it’s normal for her to be sulking for a few days. Auntie Zhang, don’t overthink it.”

“That can’t be,” Auntie Zhang sighed. “Jiajia used to listen to you the most. Could it be that everyone has a rebellious phase?”

Auntie Zhang said this and looked at Mingshu. Shen Junlan also looked at Mingshu.

“I don’t think I had a rebellious phase.”

“Then Madam must have made her parents very proud,” Auntie Zhang said, looking at Mingshu with a loving expression.

Mingshu just smiled. She had already been kicked out of her home by her mother.

Born into that kind of family, Mingshu became sensible earlier than other children. She learned to take care of others at a very young age and barely needed anyone to take care of her. Even when her parents neglected her, she never thought of using rebellious behavior to get something from them.

In fact, she was a little envious of Jiajia. The confidence Jiajia had to be angry and rebellious was something she didn’t have.

After dinner, Professor Shen accompanied her to the sea.

As night fell, Mingshu approached the sea for the first time. She found that the night by the sea was not an endless black. It had a bit of gray and dark blue. The wind was strong, but the waves were not high. They reflected the moonlight from the sky. The seawater appeared a little brighter than the moon in the sky.

Mingshu looked at the sea, the sky, and the moon. Shen Junlan only looked at Mingshu. Here, only Mingshu was special to her.

“Professor Shen, can I take off my shoes?” After a long struggle, Mingshu finally asked this question. Because taking off her shoes and walking barefoot on the sand would get her feet dirty, and she might also bring sand into the house. So she had considered it for a long time, but she really wanted to try the feeling of walking barefoot on the beach.

“Of course. I can help you hold your shoes.”

Professor Shen even offered to help her take off her shoes personally. Mingshu was a little panicked, so she just kicked them off casually.

Without her shoes, Mingshu seemed to have shed a little of her well-behaved persona. She ran forward a few steps, both happy and reserved. She quickly turned back to look at Professor Shen. In the moonlight, Professor Shen was really bending down to pick up her shoes, tolerantly accompanying her in doing something so childish.

Shen Junlan felt that Mingshu was particularly lively tonight, more cheerful than when they first reconnected.

“Professor Shen!” Mingshu suddenly stopped. She was a little far from Professor Shen and waved while calling out to her.

Shen Junlan ran over and asked her what was wrong.

“Professor Shen, look!” Mingshu raised her small foot. Shen Junlan looked down and saw a small crab the size of a fingernail.

“Do you want to catch it and keep it?” Shen Junlan asked.

Mingshu shook her head and said no. She walked to the edge of the water. When her feet actually touched the seawater, she was suddenly a little scared. She instinctively ran back to Professor Shen’s side.

Shen Junlan smiled and put her arm around her, asking her if she was scared. Mingshu didn’t admit it.

“Let’s go home. Next time, we can come during the day. You won’t be scared then.”

The two of them held hands and walked home. Mingshu was still barefoot. Her shoes were still in Shen Junlan’s hand.

“Mingshu, are you cold?”

“No.”

“Professor Shen, are there any shells here?”

“Huh?”

“I’ve always wanted to see the sea, just so I could pick up shells. I don’t think I’ve seen any today,” Mingshu said with a hint of disappointment.

Shen Junlan smiled. “There are some. It’s just that there aren’t as many as you’d imagine.”

“Mingshu, do you trust me?”

“Mm!” Mingshu nodded heavily. It must have been too dark at night, which was why she hadn’t seen any shells.

For the rest of the walk, Mingshu noticed that Professor Shen was deliberately walking a little slower than before, as if she were looking for something.

Mingshu wasn’t in a hurry to go home either. She liked the feeling of being held by Professor Shen’s hand and leisurely strolling along the beach. She felt a sense of calm happiness.

Shen Junlan hadn’t expected to care so much about Mingshu’s preferences and needs. When she decided to get married to Mingshu, all she was thinking about was satisfying her own needs. Now, she was even taking a small wish like a shell to heart.

The moonlight shone on the silver sand. Shen Junlan carefully looked at every inch of the area they passed. In the end, it wasn’t her eyes that found it. She felt a sensation with her foot.

“Mingshu, let’s stop here for a moment.”

Shen Junlan lifted her right foot, squatted down, and used her finger to dig out a hard object from the sand.

“It’s really a shell! Professor Shen, you found one!”

Mingshu jumped up with joy, just like a happy child.

A child. Shen Junlan smiled and handed the shell covered in sand to Mingshu. The shell wasn’t big, but its shape and texture were very beautiful.

Mingshu washed the shell clean, held it in her palm, and looked at it over and over again, unable to put it down. When she got home, she continued to look at it under the light, saying that the shell was colorful.

“The cappuccino with latte art has fallen out of favor,” Auntie Zhang said with a teasing laugh. Only then did Mingshu remember that she still had a cup of coffee. It was also a thoughtful gesture from Professor Shen, and she had put it aside for a long time. It wasn’t a lot, so she finished it quickly, regretting that the flower had disappeared on her lips.

Professor Shen came over and kissed her, saying that it wasn’t a shame at all. If she liked it, she could make another one for her next time.

Mingshu said, “Professor Shen, teach me next time. I want to learn, too.”

“Okay. I’ll teach you when you have time next time.”

They had just returned from the beach. Shen Junlan was worried that Mingshu would catch a cold, so she told Mingshu to take a shower first. Mingshu was unwilling to go, so Shen Junlan had to go first herself. After her shower, she filled a bathtub with water for Mingshu.

Mingshu even brought the cleaned shell into the bathroom with her.

Shen Junlan felt helpless. She didn’t know what was so charming about that shell. She was afraid that Mingshu would fall asleep hugging the shell later.

Shen Junlan, who had finished her shower, was resting on the bed. She felt just like Auntie Zhang had joked, that she had fallen out of favor. Mingshu’s favor had gone to the latte art cappuccino coffee and now to the little shell.

The only thing to be happy about was that both of those things were prepared by her for Mingshu. But the fact that they overshadowed her made her feel a subtle sense of dissatisfaction. In Mingshu’s heart, she was the dignified Professor Shen, who wouldn’t do something as petty as being jealous of a small object. She wouldn’t do that either. It was beneath her.

This time, when Mingshu took a bath, she brought her phone into the bathroom. She took a picture of the shell and sent it to Lingyu.

It’s so beautiful! Mingshu, did Professor Shen go with you to see the sea?

Mm.

We said we would go see the sea together, but we haven’t yet.

Mingshu felt a little sad looking at the message from Lingyu.

We can go see the sea on your birthday.

Jiang Lingyu said okay, but she knew that everything was different now. Mingshu was already married to Professor Shen.

After Mingshu finished her bath, she washed the shell with body wash. It smelled good.

Shen Junlan had been waiting for Mingshu. Mingshu stood below the bed and asked if she could bring the shell to bed. She said she had already washed it.

How could Shen Junlan bear to reject Mingshu’s small wish? She nodded.

“It really sounds like the sea breeze. Professor Shen, do you want to listen?” Mingshu asked.

Shen Junlan turned to the side. “Mingshu, I’m not interested in shells. I want a different reward.”

“A different reward… What is it?” Mingshu asked.

Shen Junlan curled her lips into a smile, turned over, and reached her hand under Mingshu’s skirt, heading to where she wanted to go.

“I misspoke. I’m not completely uninterested in shells. I’m only interested in your pearl shell.”

Mingshu suddenly felt a strong, unfamiliar sensation of soreness. The little shell slipped from her hand, and she didn’t even have the strength to pick it up.

Support After a Flash Marriage with a Professor