ALL NOVEL
Chapter 124
One advantage of the phone map is that when zoomed in, it can display all the stores on each street. Lu Lingchuan zoomed in little by little, and then... found this store.
As they were talking, they had arrived at the destination. Lu Lingchuan parked the car.
Shen Nian had conveniently brought casual clothes when she went out in the morning, so she changed in the car while Lu Lingchuan put a cap on her head.
Shen Nian took out a clean mask from her bag and put it on herself, then handed another one to Lu Lingchuan after thinking for a moment.
Both of them were eye-catching with their good looks in a crowd, and Shen Nian didn't want to attract too much attention.
Lu Lingchuan had apparently thought of this as well, taking the mask from Shen Nian's hand.
The two got out of the car, and after closing the doors, Lu Lingchuan naturally held Shen Nian's hand, and they walked side by side.
That store was located on a bustling street and was very popular in the evenings.
Due to the gradually cooling weather, the night had fallen earlier now. It was still broad daylight when they left the office, but now it had already grown dim.
The two walked slowly forward, with many small vendors around.
Some sold decanted perfumes, some sold candy hawthorns, and even those selling sweet potatoes and chestnuts had come out.
After walking about halfway down the street, they finally saw the store that Lu Lingchuan had mentioned. The storefront had a very simple black and white decor, with just two simple words —
Time.
It seems to be a popular store as well.
The two entered together, pushing the door open to see that there were quite a few people inside.
The store area was particularly large, at least two hundred square meters at a glance. There was a corner with tables set up for customers to write, and next to it was an area for taking pictures and checking in on social media. One wall was covered with sticky notes where customers could write down what they wanted to say to themselves or to others, while the other side displayed the store's services.
For example, the "Time Capsule" service: they would give you something like an egg, where you could put your most precious items inside, lock it up, and the store would bury it for you. After 10 or 20 years, the store would send you the key along with the address of where the items were buried, and you could dig them out again.
There was also a "Letter to Your Future Self" service, where the store provided various bookmarks, stationery, and envelopes for you to choose your favorite, and you could write a letter to your future self 10 years later, leaving an address for them to mail it to you in the future.
What Lu Lingchuan wanted was the third service, "A Letter to Each Other," which was mainly designed for couples. When they were most in love, they could write a letter to each other, and the store would mail the letters to them at a designated time.
If by that time they were happily married, they could bring the two letters back to the store, and the staff would give them a red rose as a blessing.
If they had broken up by then, they could still come back, and the store would give each of them a bell flower.
The bell flower symbolizes health, expressing gentle love, and gratitude.
Happiness leads to longevity, exercise keeps one young, peace is bliss, and health is fortune.
Even if they didn't grow old together, the hope is for both parties to find peace and joy.
To meet and love once in this life is already not a waste.
This store really knew how to do business.
Shen Nian and Lu Lingchuan chose the third option, but they made one request: they didn't need five or ten years.
Too long.
The Miss was very accommodating, smiling and saying, "You can set the time yourselves."
Lu Lingchuan thought for a moment, "How about December 31st of this year?"
This was the last day of their agreed-upon 100 days, receiving on the last day the letter they wrote for each other on the first day. The symbolism was quite nice.
"Okay," the Miss readily agreed and was about to write down the time.
"Wait a moment." Shen Nian stopped her, thinking for a bit before saying, "Can we not set a specific time?"
"Hm?" The Miss didn't understand Shen Nian's meaning.
"Just don't confirm the mailing time," Shen Nian explained. "Please give us a mailing address, and if one day I want to send out my letter, I'll email you, and could you please mail this letter for me?"
With this explanation, the Miss immediately understood, giving a slight smile. "Of course, this is your memory, you can decide for yourselves."
After finalizing the mailing method, Lu Lingchuan paid and left an address.
Lu Lingchuan left the Lu family address, while Shen Nian left the Shen family address. Neither of them left the address of their current residence.
The Lu and Shen families represented the past, while the place they currently lived represented the present.
For them, the most beautiful time was six years ago, when he was Lu Lingchuan and she was Shen Nian.
Now, they had been so worn down by reality that they didn't even remember their own names.
After writing down the addresses, the two went to choose stationery and envelopes.
There were too many styles and designs, dazzling the eyes with cute and vintage options galore.
Choosing stationery and envelopes also had a little game: the shelves on the left and right were identical, displaying the same envelopes and stationery on both sides. The couple would choose separately.
If they picked the same stationery or envelope, it meant they were in sync. But if they chose the exact same envelope and stationery, then it was destined love.
Shen Nian and Lu Lingchuan played this game. Shen Nian walked down the middle, where the display was just like a supermarket aisle, with stationery and bookmarks on the left and envelopes on the right.
There must have been at least a few hundred envelope designs alone.
To pick the exact same one out of a few hundred possibilities, it really was destined love.
As Shen Nian looked around while walking, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of yellow.
Her gaze paused, immediately turning to look, and she saw an envelope printed with sunflowers.
The sunflowers on it were beautiful, depicting a whole field of them in a countryside style.
Glancing across to the stationery section, there was sunflower-themed stationery and bookmarks in the same style.
Those who knew Shen Nian were aware that she loved sunflowers, even saying she loved them as if they were her life.
At first, it was Li Mingshi who loved them, and after years of exposure, Lu Lingrui also grew very fond of sunflowers.
After Lu Lingrui passed away, Shen Nian seemed to take over her obsession, loving sunflowers to the point of infatuation.
The two came out at almost the same time, and the Miss had been waiting for them.
To keep an air of suspense, before they went in, the Miss had given them a file bag and asked them to put their chosen items inside before revealing them.
Shen Nian and Lu Lingchuan handed the file bag to the Miss together. The Miss smiled and said, "Now we'll see if you two are in sync."
Shen Nian pursed her lips.
According to her understanding of Lu Lingchuan, he would definitely think she chose the sunflower design.
The shop Miss had already opened her file bag and taken out the stationery.
It was a purely white envelope and letter paper with no patterns printed on it.
Shen Nian had not chosen the sunflower design.
It was time again to unveil Lu Lingchuan's choice, and Shen Nian was certain he would pick the sunflower design, because he knew of her fondness for sunflowers.
But the moment they were revealed, Shen Nian was astonished, her gaze immediately turning towards Lu Lingchuan.
Her eyes reflected disbelief, shock, and incredulity.
He... had also chosen the plain white envelope and letter paper?!