That day, Zhu Yun and her mother talked for a very long time. Before leaving, her mother said:

“Zhu Yun, as long as I am alive, don’t even think about this.”

She ordered Zhu Yun to resign immediately and end things with Li Xun. She placed the phone in Zhu Yun’s hands and told her to call him. Zhu Yun said, “If I call him right now, I can only ask him what he wants to eat.”

Her mother stared at her, hard. “You’re refusing to listen to me?”

Zhu Yun paused, then said quietly, “Mom, I’m not a student anymore.”

Her mother left in anger.

After she was gone, Zhu Yun downed several large glasses of water. She had spoken for an entire afternoon and her throat was parched — all that, and nothing had been resolved. Zhu Yun suspected that her mother’s next move would be to find her a new company to work at and line up blind dates. Her mother had always maintained her dignity; she would never resort to dramatic displays of grief or emotional manipulation. And Zhu Yun herself was nearly thirty now — she had enough life experience and financial independence that her mother could no longer lock her in her room to keep her in line.

Thinking of it that way, she felt the weight of it all ease a little.

Outside, night was falling. Zhu Yun missed Li Xun and drove straight to his place. Hou Ning answered the door — he wasn’t at work either, due to the office renovations.

Hou Ning was wearing an old, worn-out t-shirt. He looked at Zhu Yun and said, “We didn’t order takeout.”

“…”

She brushed past him and walked in. Hou Ning called out from behind her, “Illegal trespassing! Li Xun, run for your life!”

The apartment was spacious — over a hundred square meters — open and simply furnished, with several oversized floor cushions scattered on the ground. Li Xun was tucked into one of them, reading a book.

Zhu Yun walked over and bent down to peer at the cover.

“That looks like my book.”

“What evidence do you have that it belongs to you?” Li Xun said, without looking up.

Zhu Yun thought about it. “None,” she admitted.

He reached up and gave her chin a little pinch.

“Could you two not act like no one else is here?” Hou Ning said from behind them.

Li Xun glanced over at Hou Ning from around Zhu Yun. Hou Ning caught the look, wrinkled his nose, seemed about to say something, then thought better of it and stuffed his backpack with his things and headed out the door.

The moment it closed, the apartment fell quiet again. Zhu Yun sank into another floor cushion and asked, “How are the renovations coming along?”

Li Xun’s gaze drifted back to the book. “Still a while to go. The two companies next door folded, so Dong Siyang went ahead and leased their spaces — now they’re all being renovated together.”

“Did the delivery company fold too?”

Li Xun glanced at her sideways. “Were you trying to bring it down?”

“They’ve been stacking things in the corridor every day. Every time there’s a fire safety inspection, everyone on the floor gets fined along with them. The whole floor has been hoping they’d move out.”

Li Xun raised an eyebrow and turned another page.

“Another half a year or so. That whole floor will be ours.”

Zhu Yun made a small, admiring pout. She loved watching him make decisions so casually — even more alluring than when he said sweet things. The confidence in his every movement transformed itself into something effortlessly magnetic.

The apartment was quiet again, the only sound the soft, steady turning of pages. After quite a while, Zhu Yun spoke gently.

“What did my mom say to you?”

“Nothing much,” Li Xun said.

Zhu Yun watched him in silence. Li Xun finished another page, then looked up with a small smile. “Your mom’s got far more backbone than you do. How did she manage to raise a daughter this timid?”

Zhu Yun bristled. “Who’s timid?”

Li Xun shrugged. “If she said anything too harsh,” Zhu Yun said, “I’ll apologize on her behalf.”

Li Xun looked up at her again, with an expression that was just a little too unbothered. He crooked a finger toward her. Zhu Yun heaved herself up from the depths of the floor cushion and stepped closer — then Li Xun grabbed her by the wrist. She lost her balance and tumbled forward, landing on top of him. Li Xun caught her by the nape of her neck. She felt a warm, decidedly masculine presence closing in. His voice brushed against her ear like a feather — soft enough to be maddening.

“Your Highness the Princess — taking me for granted again, are we?”

She knew perfectly well he was teasing her. It made no difference. She gave in completely, every part of her instinctively yielding to him. He held her, kneaded her, handling her with total certainty, and the deep blue floor cushion shifted and reshaped itself around them with every movement, until at last it resembled a slow-swallowing bog, pulling them under completely.

The small beads inside the cushion rustled softly against her ears. Zhu Yun was pressed beneath Li Xun, who had tossed the book aside and was kissing her deeply.

Away from the pressures of work, Li Xun smelled wonderful. She guessed he had showered earlier in the day — there was a clean, youthful scent about him, something that reminded her of his younger years. But he hadn’t shaved, and his stubble scratched her face until it ached.

Even the aching felt good right now.

Having him back — having him back after nearly losing him — made everything about him feel precious.

She found herself thinking that she had come to love every version of his scent, the way a connoisseur learns to love wines of different strengths. Sometimes like a light, pleasant buzz — just enough to feel it, not quite enough to lose yourself. Other times like being consumed entirely, until nothing remained. She welcomed both. As long as it was this particular vintage.

“What are you smelling?” He noticed her small, secret gesture and pulled back slightly, their noses almost touching. “You used to do this when you were young too. Are you part dog?”

Zhu Yun jabbed her knee at him in protest — and accidentally grazed exactly the wrong spot.

Li Xun pressed her down with one hand and started undoing his belt with the other.

Within seconds, the atmosphere in the room had shifted decisively. Zhu Yun, appreciating one of the advantages of being a little older, set aside all hesitation and got straight to the point. They stripped down completely — her skin a pale ivory, his a deeper, darker tone. After a vigorous stretch of activity, they were both drenched in sweat, wrapped around each other in a tangle.

It wasn’t long before neither of them could tell whose sweat was whose. Li Xun exhaled slowly and prepared to make a move.

“Prepared” — because they were interrupted again.

Zhu Yun’s phone rang. She hadn’t planned to answer it, expecting it to die down on its own. But it kept ringing, persistent and unrelenting, until finally it wasn’t the phone that went quiet — it was Li Xun. He lazily rolled to one side, sprawled across the cushion, and waved a hand to indicate she should answer it. Zhu Yun clambered over him and retrieved her bag from the floor. To her surprise, the screen showed Gao Jianhong’s number.

Zhu Yun answered cautiously. A woman’s voice came through the line.

“Is this Zhu Yun?”

“Yes, that’s me. Who’s calling?”

“Hello. I’m a nurse in the oncology department at the Second Hospital. Do you know a patient named Gao Jianhong?”

Zhu Yun sat up straight. In the floor cushion beside her, Li Xun flicked her a glance.

“Yes, I know him. What’s happened?”

“He’s scheduled for surgery tonight. All the preparations are done, but he’s refusing to go into the operating room. He’s asking to see you first.”

The apartment was silent. The nurse’s voice came through the phone with perfect clarity. Zhu Yun looked at Li Xun. His expression was unreadable.

“…If it’s at all convenient for you,” the nurse said.

Zhu Yun said nothing, waiting for Li Xun’s lead. Li Xun got to his feet and walked, bare-chested, to the table to get a cigarette. He lit it, set the lighter down on the table. Zhu Yun spoke quietly into the phone: “All right. I’ll be there shortly.”

She hung up. The room fell silent again. Zhu Yun said quietly, “Why would he want to see me right now?”

“No idea,” Li Xun said.

Zhu Yun watched the broad expanse of his back. “Are you coming?”

Li Xun turned. “He asked for you. Why are you asking me?”

Zhu Yun held her phone and met Li Xun’s dark, unreadable eyes. “Don’t tell me you can’t see it. This call was meant for you. You’re the one he wants to see — he just doesn’t have the courage to say so.”

Li Xun turned back around, giving her nothing but the back of his head.

Zhu Yun began to get dressed, slowly, giving Li Xun ample time to think. By the time she put on her last piece of clothing, Li Xun had finished his cigarette. He pressed it out on the table.

“You go. I’ll wait here.”

Zhu Yun set off through the night and drove to the hospital.

Li Xun’s refusal to come was not entirely surprising. Though he had let Jili off the hook this time, it had been more about freeing himself than anything else. Li Xun had an exceptionally stubborn nature — a measuring stick in his mind that answered only to his own judgment. Gao Jianhong had long since fallen below that mark. He had once given him a chance, and Gao Jianhong had trampled on it.

Li Xun was not a forgiving man.

The hospital was thick with the smell of disinfectant. Zhu Yun found the oncology ward and located the nurse who had called her. The young nurse led her toward the patient’s room, talking as they walked.

“He just won’t go into surgery, no matter what anyone says. He’s in so much pain he’s almost passed out.” While she was still speaking, raised voices drifted from down the corridor. The nurse’s brow furrowed and she quickened her pace.

At the door to the room, an elderly woman was struggling with a younger one. From a distance, Zhu Yun recognized the wavy curls and the long skirt immediately — it was Wu Zhen.

The elderly woman appeared to be in her sixties. Against Wu Zhen, she was noticeably slighter — but she was clearly furious, clutching Wu Zhen’s clothing, her eyes red and her face flushed.

“Is this how a person behaves? Your husband is lying in a hospital bed and all you can talk about is money!”

Wu Zhen shoved at her frantically. “Get your hands off me! What do you mean, all I can talk about is money? Can’t you understand plain speech? I was asking about the company’s equity arrangements — it’s for the family’s benefit! And you’re blaming me for that?!”

The elderly woman was presumably Gao Jianhong’s mother. She couldn’t match Wu Zhen’s sharp tongue, so she compensated by tightening her grip. The young nurse rushed over to separate them.

“Family members, please! This is a hospital!” she said firmly. “Other patients are admitted here. If you cannot keep quiet, you will need to leave.”

Wu Zhen spotted Zhu Yun first. Breathing hard, she pried Gao Jianhong’s mother’s hands away, then strode out on clicking heels. Gao Jianhong’s mother beat her chest in despair. Gao Jianhong’s father appeared from inside the room and moved to comfort her. She was inconsolable.

“I said from the beginning, this was not the right kind of woman to bring into the family — she brought disaster with her! And now look! Since the day she married in, has Jianhong had a single day of peace? He worked himself to the bone every day to give her what she wanted, and this is how she repays us — this is how she repays! And now he’s fallen ill! It’s all her fault! All of it, her fault!”

Gao Jianhong’s father was less agitated. He steadied his wife and said, “Don’t say these things right now. And keep your voice down — the child will only feel more pressure if he hears.”

He looked up and saw Zhu Yun. “You must be Zhu Yun. You’ve grown up — you look nothing like your old photos.”

“You know who I am?” Zhu Yun asked.

“Of course,” he said. “He kept the photos from your university competitions, the ones with you and that young man surnamed Li. He used to mention the two of you all the time back then. Then he stopped.” His voice was heavy with sorrow and exhaustion. “Go in and see him. Child, I don’t know what passed between all of you, but I’m asking you — things being what they are, please help him find some peace.”

Zhu Yun looked at this worn, aging couple and gave a small nod.

“I understand,” she said softly. “Don’t worry.”