He Feng really did jump out the window. Just as he steadied himself and turned a corner, a woman crashed into him.

“Ah—” Meng Yuan planted her face right into his chest, hitting her nose and nearly tearing up from pain. She covered half her face looking at this man wrapped up tightly. “That hurt so much.”

“Sorry.” He Feng left with his head down.

Meng Yuan rubbed her nose as she went to the shop, running to A’Ru with a grieved expression. “I just crashed into someone, really strange, wrapped up like a dumpling. Quick, check if my nose is bleeding?”

“Lower your head a bit.” A’Ru smiled and looked at her. “It’s fine.”

Meng Yuan sniffled. She’d brought steamed buns from the roadside, still warm now.

Xie Chi happened to have skipped breakfast and picked one up, taking it upstairs.

Meng Yuan followed her all the way, from the second floor back down to the first.

“When will he come to Nanjing again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Just tell me.”

Having eaten someone’s food, even though Xie Chi was in a poor mood, she still smiled and said: “I really don’t know – we haven’t been in contact for a long time.” She picked up another bun. “Tastes good, where did you buy it?”

“I’m not telling you either.”

Xie Chi finished the bun in a few bites, looking at her pouting little red lips. “I told you early on, stop thinking about it. They’re in love.”

“If they’re in love, why not get married? He’s already thirty-two.”

“That’s their business.” Xie Chi wiped her hands and took scissors to cut fabric. “Breaking up others’ romance isn’t moral.”

Meng Yuan fell silent, drooping her head dejectedly on the table. After a while, she sighed and said: “But I really like him. Ever since I saw him that day, I dream about him every night.”

“You don’t know him and haven’t spent time together – where does this liking come from?” Xie Chi bent down slightly, felt her shoulder hurt, and straightened her back. “It’s a momentary illusion – don’t be deceived by appearances.”

“It’s not like I haven’t seen handsome men before. I just like him – love at first sight.” Meng Yuan propped her face on her hands and rubbed her nose again. “Don’t you have someone you like?”

Xie Chi was silent for a moment. “I did.”

Hearing this, A’Ru looked over, her eyes immediately lighting up. “Really? Boss? Who?”

“Embroider your flowers.”

A’Ru pouted. “Oh.”

…

Xie Chi ruined two pieces of fabric tonight. She kept spacing out, thinking about the past, present, future…

Looking at the crooked stitches, she felt discouraged, ripped up the fabric, and casually tossed it aside. She got up, went upstairs, grabbed her bag, and went home.

Xie Chi always changed her own bandages. The wound that had been scabbing over seemed to have worsened somewhat after He Feng’s grip today. She silently cursed him a dozen times in her mind as she struggled to rebandage the wound.

She wiped her body with water and stood in front of the mirror looking at herself, images of past intimacy with He Feng suddenly flashing through her mind.

She raised her hand, covering her chest.

Just as he’d said, it had changed quite a bit from her youth.

Xie Chi shook her head, ashamed to think further. She cupped water and splashed her heated face.

She pressed her hands on the washstand, slightly bending over, water droplets falling from her face, reflecting countless versions of herself.

It seemed like each one was with him.

Xie Chi straightened up, feeling somewhat delirious. She grabbed a towel and wiped away the water droplets in one motion.

She lay on the bed in a daze for a while, feeling bored, and prepared to find a book to read outside.

The bookshelf was high, so she took a chair to stand on. The book was half-pulled out when she heard movement on the balcony.

She quietly stepped down from the chair, casually grabbed a bronze sculpture, hid it behind her back, and walked toward the balcony. She saw no one, only white gauze curtains gently swaying in the wind.

Had she heard wrong? Or perhaps a stray cat?

There had been stray cats running around lately.

She relaxed her guard and returned to the bookshelf, only to find the book she’d half-pulled out was gone.

“Western painting.” The voice came from behind her.

Xie Chi immediately turned around to see He Feng flipping through the art book, his tone casual. “You’re painting this kind now?”

“You only know how to climb through windows now?”

He Feng raised his eyebrows at her. “I only climb through your windows.”

He tossed the book over. Xie Chi caught it steadily and heard him mock her: “What could you do with that broken thing?”

Xie Chi threw the bronze sculpture at him. He Feng leaned aside, nimbly dodging as the bronze object rolled “thunk thunk thunk… thunk” on the floor before stopping by the wall.

He Feng picked it up and placed it on the table. “So pretty – not meant for hitting people.”

“What are you here for again?”

“To see you.”

“You’ve seen me, now get lost.”

“Haven’t seen enough.”

Xie Chi wore a thick nightgown of some unknown material that looked extremely soft. He Feng’s gaze traveled down from her face, landing on her slightly exposed chest. He grinned: “Nothing underneath?”

Xie Chi put the book back on the shelf. At this point, she was no longer in the mood to contemplate art.

“Stand steady, don’t fall.” He Feng leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking up at her. “I won’t catch you.”

Xie Chi ignored his words. After putting away the book, she headed to the bedroom. “I’m going to sleep – you leave.”

“Sleep later then.” He Feng lowered his arms and slowly followed her in a few steps, looking around. “Life is short – just sleeping is so boring.”

“Being a traitor is interesting.” She turned to look at him. “Being Japanese is interesting.”

He Feng glanced at her and smiled: “Yeah, flavorful and interesting.”

Xie Chi rolled her eyes at him and sat at the mirror, removing her earrings.

He Feng stood at the desk, looking at a paper under the glass covered with horizontal lines, asking her: “What’s this?”

“People I’ve killed.” She placed the earrings in a box, saying flatly: “Left side is devils, right side is traitors.”

He Feng scanned it all, getting a rough count. “Not many.”

Xie Chi looked sideways at him. “Which side do you count as?”

“Neither.”

Xie Chi’s heart tightened.

“You’ll have to open a special column for me – devil-traitor hybrid.”

Xie Chi silently turned back around. “Shameless.”

He Feng walked behind her, pressing his hands on the table and bending down to look in the mirror. “If you can touch me once, I’ll call you grandma.”

Xie Chi met his eyes in the mirror. “You really like being people’s grandson.”

“I won’t bicker with you.” He Feng pulled out a small round box from his chest, placing it in front of her. “An old Chinese doctor once made this prescription for me – very effective. I specially went to get the medicine for you, ground it for ages until my hands were sore.”

Xie Chi glanced at the small round box. “Thanks for the trouble, thank you.”

“How will you thank me?” He Feng lifted a strand of hair by her face, winding it around his finger. “Something practical.”

“Give you a knife wound too?”

He Feng let go of her hair and held his hand in front of her eyes. “Help me rub it.”

Xie Chi picked up a comb and struck his hand once. He Feng raised his hand and instead patted her head.

“Don’t touch me.”

He withdrew his hand. “Did it hurt when I accidentally touched your wound this morning?”

“Didn’t hurt – felt especially good.”

“How good?”

“…”

He Feng pulled out her hairpin. Xie Chi’s black hair cascaded down as she stared at him in the mirror. “Put it back in.”

He Feng suddenly laughed. “Put it where?”

Xie Chi’s brain went fuzzy with embarrassment. She scratched her hair and got up to walk away.

He Feng looked at her wooden hairpin. “Where did you buy this? So ugly. I’ll carve you a pretty one when I get the chance.” He casually pocketed it. “This doesn’t suit you – I’ll help you throw it away.”

Xie Chi had no interest in fighting him for it, letting him take it, and found a hair tie to casually bind her hair.

“Got any food?”

“Yes, plenty.”

“I’m hungry.” He Feng sat on the bed. “Get me some.”

“Alright.”

Xie Chi went downstairs and brought up some pastries and half a bottle of wine.

“Thank you.” He Feng took them, stuffing an entire large piece of tea cake in his mouth. “Not bad.”

“Aren’t you afraid I poisoned it?”

He Feng stuffed in another piece. “Good food, good scenery, beautiful woman – dying on your bed, I’d accept it.”

Xie Chi handed him the wine. “It’s dry – don’t choke.”

He Feng looked at the small half-bottle of wine remaining. “Women should drink less.” He dry-swallowed the tea cake – the thing was indeed choking, blocking his throat and making his speech unclear. “My fault, gave you bad habits before – shouldn’t have taught you to drink and play with guns.”

He stared at her smiling, just about to drink when Xie Chi snatched the wine bottle away.

He Feng still smiled at her with curved lips. “Really did poison it.”

Xie Chi turned away, placing the wine on the table.

He Feng licked his teeth. “Can’t bear to let me die.”

“I hate traitors most in my life, even more than Japanese.” Xie Chi kept her head down, gripping the bottle tightly, always with her back to him. “Get lost – don’t die here and dirty my house.”

He Feng said nothing and didn’t leave, silently finishing the remaining pastries.

Xie Chi suddenly turned around. “Tasty?”

He Feng nodded. “Delicious.”

Xie Chi scoffed. “You really are thick-skinned and shameless.”

He Feng placed the empty plate on the table, his hand pressing down, caging her in his shadow. “Don’t you know what I’m like?”

Xie Chi looked at his face so close to hers, not retreating, saying calmly: “I still held hope, thinking maybe there were other reasons that made you—”

Before she finished speaking, his arm swept around her waist, lightly lifting her up and slowly placing her on the bed.

Xie Chi rolled to the side, dodging his body covering her. He Feng grabbed her back. “Where are you running?”

Xie Chi lifted her foot to kick at his lower body.

He Feng reacted extremely quickly, immediately gripping her foot, smiling: “Men have to protect their vital parts.”

Having just applied medicine, she wore nothing underneath. With all the pulling and tugging, her white boxer shorts were exposed.

He Feng took a deep breath. If they kept fooling around, he’d lose control. He released her hands, pulling the blanket to cover her long legs. “Trying to cut off my lineage?”

“The He family line is already cut off anyway.” Xie Chi moved toward the headboard, coldly mocking him: “You still need to save it for making Japanese babies.”

He Feng didn’t want to hear her say such things. He got off the bed and deliberately replied: “Right, make Japanese babies – a whole litter of them.”

Xie Chi grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

He Feng picked up the pillow from the floor, hugging it as he sat at the foot of the bed, no longer fooling around with her. He pulled out cigarettes from his pocket and lit one. “I don’t have time – I have to leave soon.”

“Hurry up and leave.”

“I’m not that free to run around everywhere. It was hard to sneak here to see you once – who knows when we’ll meet again.”

“In the underworld.”

He Feng was silent for a moment, then suddenly tilted his head back and exhaled a long stream of smoke. “I don’t want to die so early.”

“You’re afraid of death?”

“Afraid, of course I’m afraid. Living is good.” He Feng looked down at the cigarette between his fingers. “Being alive means there’s still hope. Only by living can there be hope.”

Xie Chi looked at his broad back and that thin, wispy smoke, suddenly feeling an indescribable desolation.

“Have a proper chat with me for a bit.”

Xie Chi remained silent.

He Feng turned to look at her, putting away his cynical attitude, quietly gazing at her for a long time.

Xie Chi looked directly into his eyes, trying to read something from them, but this bastard suddenly became playful and laughing again: “Besides, if I die, what would you do? I can’t bear to leave you alone. If you dare marry someone else, I’ll haunt him even as a ghost.”

“You can’t bear to leave many people – I’m not special.”

“How can they compare to you?” He Feng touched her foot. “Want to leave me a child?”

Xie Chi kicked him away. “Get lost.”

He Feng was kicked and his waist hurt, but his heart was very happy. “Fine, I’ll get lost.” He stood up, put down the pillow, said nothing more, and jumped out the window.

Xie Chi grabbed the pillow from the foot of the bed and threw it out the window.

It immediately flew back in, landing on the carpet.

“Still love throwing pillows.”

One sentence seemed to transport her back years ago, and her heart suddenly felt empty.

Just as she was in a daze, He Feng climbed back in.

“What are you doing now?”

He Feng didn’t answer, walking over to hug her.

Xie Chi’s mouth slightly opened, words stuck in her throat.

He did nothing and said no crude words, just quietly held her for a minute, then said seriously: “Try to leave Nanjing. This is the capital – no matter which city they attack first, they’ll eventually attack here.”

Xie Chi was somewhat unaccustomed to his serious tone. “Oh, I’ll wait for you to attack.”

He Feng released her and pinched her nose. “Silly.”

Xie Chi knocked his hand away. “Bastard.”

“Take good care of yourself.” His hand went behind her, giving her bottom a hard pinch. “Don’t get involved with other men – wait for me to come back and have you.”

“…”

He Feng jumped down without looking back.

The curtain was lifted by the wind he brought, then fell back down.

Xie Chi looked at the black sky outside and suddenly smiled.

He had said ‘they.’

‘They.’

…