My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

The book café was situated in the centre of the city with a shopping district around. Thus, this one, cozy place looked especially conspicuous with the huge bookshelf that could be seen from the display window. Jiang Jinyan parked on an empty spot and got out of the car. He didn't know how to react as he looked at the two storey building. "You…are sure this is the place?"

"Yes!" Shi Nian harrumphed proudly, then seeing the strange look in Jiang Jinyan's face, she blinked nervously. "Why? You—You don't like it? Hmm wait a minute…" She tapped on her phone, flustered. "Then we will go to another place—"

"No." Jiang Jinyan covered her phone screen, his eyes curving faintly. "It's very interesting. I have never been here before so I am quite…intrigued."

Hearing no rejection in his voice, Shi Nian was invigorated again and started to babble, "I have checked on the internet. This is the place with the highest rating! They have a wide variety of book genres…"

As the girl spoke in excitement with hands gesturing around, Jiang Jinyan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tugged her closer when someone almost bumped into her from behind. He proceeded to hold her hand and pulled her toward the café. "…delicious dishes and comfortable spaces. It's very suitable if we don't want any unnecessary attention!"

Jiang Jinyan sighed, "I told you to put your wishes in mind."

"I know..." She pouted sullenly. "But I really want to come here too. Not amusement parks, aquariums or shopping, I prefer reading books in quiet and peace instead. Jiang Jinyan…" She peered up at him and asked carefully, "What about you?"

"Me?" He chuckled lightly. "What a coincidence. It's the same for me too."

Because it was still early in the morning, there weren't many people inside yet. It was mainly a self service café. Customers were allowed to roam around the space and look for books then sat on the place they liked. 

There were two main areas in the café. First, it was the outer area where you could relax while looking at the scenery from the floor to ceiling window and the second was the inner area for people who preferred private time without any disturbances from others.

Shi Nian, without a doubt, chose the latter with Jiang Jinyan in mind.

They listened to the staff explaining the mechanism and looked around in the meantime. The café was adorned with huge bookshelves which were separated by genre. Most of them were manga, but there was also literary section, poem section, educational and health section, sport section, history section and many more. It really resembled a mini library.

"Should we pick our books first?" Shi Nian asked.

"Sure." Jiang Jinyan answered without looking away from the books. His dark eyes gleamed and it looked like he had found something that roused his interest.

Shi Nian smiled. "Then let's meet up here in fifteen minutes!"

Subsequently, they separated. Shi Nian walked around the poem section and saw some books packaged to be similar to books in the historical era. She suppressed her shock and took out a book that turned out to be a collection of poems from Ming to Wei Dynasty. Shi Nian's hands trembled as she caressed the yellowing pages.

She walked deeper and reached the history section which was merged with the poem section. There were many records, documentaries and encyclopedias preserved in each dynasty before China gradually formed a Republic. Han Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Wei Dynasty…

Years gradually played out in front of Shi Nian's eyes like a silent movie. The Emperors changed along the time and people died one after another. The ancient civilization was replaced with innovation, machine and technology.

Her eyes inadvertently caught sight of a part of a thin book stuck out in the midst as if the person had hurriedly shoved it in between hardcover books but didn't have time to tidy it up. Moreover, the spine was facing inward, making Shi Nian unable to see what the book was about.

Curious, she pulled it out and turned it around. Shi Nian's pupils trembled in shock as her eyes landed upon the title—"List of The Vilest Felons in the History of Wei Dynasty"

Shi Nian's heart thumped for no reason. Somehow, she got an instinct that the thing she had always been searching for was in there. Shi Nian stood there frozen as her entire person fell into a daze. Only the words 'Vilest Felons' repeated in her mind like a curse.

"Shi Nian?" Jiang Jinyan popped his head out from the other aisle. "Are you done yet?"

"Ah?" Shi Nian panicked seeing Jiang Jinyan approach her and in a fit of the moment, covered the book with the poem collection she had found earlier. Thus, that was what Jiang Jinyan saw when he stretched his neck to see.

"'The Compilation of Ming and Wei Dynasty's Poem'?" He read the title out loud, amused. "I didn't know that you're into this kind of book."

"I—I just coincidentally found it and got curious." She pushed Jiang Jinyan away from the history section and tried to lighten her tone so as to not let the cat out of the bag. "By the way, what have you found?"

Jiang Jinyan showed the book in his arms.

Shi Nian blinked. Sun Tzu's Art of War and a bunch of shounen basketball manga…her nose suddenly felt sour. 

Her General's taste, no matter how long it had been, never changed a bit. He still liked to flip through classic literature and somehow, he was also well informed about the hot blooded and scandalous stories that spread among the higher echelon. The two contrasts confused people as they couldn't ascertain whether he was a scholar or a barbarian.

Yet Shi Nian knew that Jiang Jinyan was one of the most knowledgeable men in history.

"The collections here are quite wholesome. It's good then," he added. "I can do my assignment at the same time."

Shi Nian blinked, bewildered. "Huh?" Assignment? What assignment?

Somehow, Jiang Jinyan knew what she was thinking about just by looking at her alone. Amused, he tapped her head with the manga. It didn't hurt, but still surprised her nonetheless. "Didn't you know? I am in the Department of Humanities with a major in History."

Shi Nian was shocked. "H—History?"

Wait, wasn't he the heir of the major Jiang Corporation? Why did he study History instead of Business? All these times, Shi Nian had taken for granted that Jiang Jinyan would choose a sport related major or at least Business, but it turned out she was wrong.

"Why?" He asked in a casual tone. "Is it so surprising?"

Shi Nian snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head in reflex, then after pondering for a while, she nodded hesitantly. No matter what, she didn't want to lie to Jiang Jinyan but if she told the truth, she was afraid that it would remind him of some bad memories.

Jiang Jinyan didn't mind at all. Conversely, he was amused seeing her rapidly changing expression. "I know what you're thinking about." He patted her head gently and added, "Let's go."

"Oh? Oh, yes!" Shi Nian chased after him, all the while thinking; what did he know?

Both of them followed the staff to the inner area. "We have private boxes reserved specially for couples which we rent per hour. How many hours do you want to stay? Don't worry, you can extend it later and the additional fee will be returned to you in the end. We will also remind you half an hour in advance when your time is up."

C—Couple box?! Shi Nian glanced toward Jiang Jinyan, her mouth ready to refute.

However, before she could say anything, Jiang Jinyan replied, his tone couldn't be more casual. "Then we will take five hours."

.

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A/N: Jiang Jinyan is the type of person who, even when he and Shi Nian go to a love hotel, will not bat an eyelid when he ordered, "Give us your most luxurious suite."

No, just kidding lol Shi Nian is still a minor so no smexy time (ʃƪ¬‿¬) but idk if she turns legal later on fufufu...

I want to say my thanks to ArcaneMag, Tan_Lik_Ching, Ann_Perrault and Marrise_Insong (and more because I can't see you sorry QAQ) for your GT! 43 GT just on the first day, you guys rock!

Same old rules. Monthly goals:

1. 100 GT - 5 extra chs

2. 1000 privi unlocks - 5 extra chs

if both are fulfilled, I will give more than 10 chs mass release! Let's go, my dearies~~