Old Friends, New Marriage (Next Book)

Marriage first, love later | She has a secret crush on him | Reunited after years apart | Cozy everyday life

Gentle, cool-headed geography teacher x mild-mannered professor

1-

At the age when people usually marry, Meng Shuyu married Shen Jichu, the man she had secretly loved for years.

At the time, Shen Jichu was the youngest professor in the physics department at Nancheng University. He was as gentle and refined as jade, as clear and bright as a crisp autumn sky.

His collar was buttoned to the very top, and he was as meticulous as a physics formula.

Yet this man, so disciplined and proper, said to her in a restaurant, "Why don't we try getting married?"

Of all the impulsive things Meng Shuyu had done in her life, a whirlwind marriage was the biggest.

On their wedding night, Shen Jichu said without batting an eye, "We're married. Sharing a bed is perfectly normal."

Nothing happened all night, though. He respected her completely.

After they married, Shen Jichu kept three things in mind: do research, write reports, and let her know when he had to work overtime.

2-

When Shen Jichu's friends heard he had gotten married, they were curious. Not once in all those years had a woman broken through his distance, so they came to ask what had changed.

Shen Jichu furrowed his brows and thought for two seconds. "Considerate, sensible, gentle."

He didn't mention love or affection at all.

The moon in the sky, the snow on a mountain peak: she was forever out of reach.

Unable to keep deceiving herself, Meng Shuyu stopped expecting anything from their marriage.

Noticing Meng Shuyu pulling away, Shen Jichu gradually spent less time on research. He started coming home early to learn how to cook and how to make his wife happy.

Their relationship blossomed.

Shen Jichu was holding a bouquet of baby's breath, ready to confess his feelings, when he saw a divorce agreement. Meng Shuyu had already signed it.

A torrential rain fell that morning. Shen Jichu went to Meng Shuyu's apartment and held her tightly in his arms, no trace of the courtesy and restraint ingrained in him.

"Wife, don't you want me anymore?" His voice was full of despair.

Bonus Scene

While tidying his bookshelf, Shen Jichu found a drawing that had fallen out of his high school physics textbook.

On a rainy day, a boy in a high school uniform lends a girl an umbrella.

It was signed SY.

He remembered Meng Shuyu's hand-drawn comic, Old Rain.

It also showed a rainy day, with a man lending a woman an umbrella outside a university.

Shen Jichu sat motionless on the balcony all night, clutching the comic.

Many days later, the International Astronomical Union announced the name of a newly discovered planet: [SY520].

Twenty-eight-year-old Shen Jichu gave it as a gift to sixteen-year-old Meng Shuyu.

"Old rain will fall again. Those destined to be together will meet again in the end."

The title comes from the saying "Old friends and new acquaintances," from the lines: "How tenderly we greet new friends, how wistfully we remember old ones."

Theme: Study hard and make progress every day