When Sun Jingcheng arrived home in the evening, only Ke Yu was there doing homework. Zhou Yu had gone dancing. A year ago she had purchased a jazz dance membership card at the residential complex, but had been too busy to use it. A few days ago she ran into the dance teacher who said if she didn’t come soon, the card would expire.

The card had cost several thousand to purchase and couldn’t be transferred—what a waste if it expired.

Sun Jingcheng walked around the kitchen. Dinner had been eaten clean. In the refrigerator there was nothing but vegetable leaves and raw eggs. He was sitting on the sofa drinking milk when Zhou Yu came back from outside wrapped in an ankle-length down jacket. Seeing him, she was clearly startled and said somewhat politely: “You’re back.”

Sun Jingcheng nodded, “Yeah. Just got back.”

Zhou Yu took off her down jacket and hung it up. Underneath she wore a dance outfit that exposed half her waist. She was about to head to the bedroom, then turned back to put the shoes she had just taken off back in the shoe cabinet. Then she showered and changed into loungewear, having worked up a sweat from dancing.

Ke Yu had already finished his test paper. Zhou Yu went over the incorrect problems with him, checked the time, and had him continue reviewing math. Sun Jingcheng was still sitting on the sofa, the milk carton squeezed flat, considering whether to order takeout. While hesitating, Zhou Yu came out from the study and casually asked him, “Have you eaten?”

“You’ve already eaten?” Sun Jingcheng asked back.

Zhou Yu went to the kitchen and cooked him a bowl of plain noodles, blanched two vegetable leaves, scooped a spoonful of the stewed broth and meat from the clay pot, sprinkled a pinch of chopped cilantro, dripped two drops of chili oil, then fried a golden fried egg on top, and brought it to the dining table outside.

The back-and-forth driving on the road had left Sun Jingcheng starving. He picked up the noodles and ate with great relish.

Sun Jingcheng’s stomach had been spoiled. Now he couldn’t eat outside food—found the flavors too heavy. After finishing, he was about to put the bowl in the dishwasher when Zhou Yu stopped him, taking it to wash herself.

Sun Jingcheng had a good idea, “Later I’ll buy more dishes, we can save them up for a day and wash them all at once…” Before finishing, Zhou Yu looked at him like he was an idiot. Sun Jingcheng shrugged, “I think this idea is fantastic! Clothes can be saved for a full load of laundry, why not dishes?”

Zhou Yu ignored him, burying her head washing the clay pot and noodle pot. After washing she cleaned the range hood, then tidied the counter, followed by mopping and closing the kitchen door.

Sun Jingcheng had another idea, “After cooking dinner at night, don’t worry about anything. Wait until the next morning after making breakfast, save it all up and have the hourly worker do it all.”

……

Anyway, no matter what, Sun Jingcheng wouldn’t do housework. He was very careful about hand care in his daily routine, applying hand cream morning and night.

“You’re the only noble person in the whole world.” Zhou Yu replied to him.

Just then Mother Sun called, saying it was cold at night, don’t make Ke Yu run back and forth. After finishing homework, he should just sleep at the marital home. Tomorrow was the weekend anyway—have him continue studying quietly at home.

Sun Jingcheng hung up the phone and said to Zhou Yu: “Mom says the clinic is too noisy. She wants Ke Yu to stay at our place and continue reviewing tomorrow.”

Zhou Yu changed the bedding in the guest bedroom and told the absorbed Ke Yu to sleep early. There were many students here, plus few universities in the province that could absorb students, so the college entrance exam was exceptionally brutal. Students reviewing until eleven at night was normal.

In the master bedroom bathroom, Sun Jingcheng was running water—he wanted to take a bath. No matter how cold winter got, he wouldn’t go to a public bathhouse or spa. Zhou Yu stood there brushing her teeth, looking at him in the mirror. He stared at the bathtub, not knowing if he was meditating or pondering.

After Zhou Yu finished washing up and went out, Sun Jingcheng felt the water in the bathtub and asked while undressing: “When is Ke Yu’s final exam?”

“Week after next, Tuesday.” Zhou Yu applied skincare products, “Ten more days.” After applying, she sat in front of the vanity mirror hesitating for a long time, then went to the closet and pulled out another quilt.

Since proposing divorce a month ago, the two had tacitly slept in separate rooms and naturally hadn’t been intimate. After separating rooms, Sun Jingcheng either slept in the guest room or in the new district. Tonight with Ke Yu here, naturally they couldn’t sleep separately.

Zhou Yu had just laid down in bed when Sun Jingcheng habitually called from the bathroom, wanting her to help scrub his back. Zhou Yu went over and put on the scrubbing mitt. Sun Jingcheng came out of the bathtub, stood half a meter from the wall, hands braced against the wall, back arched, posed and ready for her to scrub.

Zhou Yu scrubbed while saying how filthy it was, strips of dirt on his back falling off in clumps. She scrubbed off a big strip and pinched it to show him. He closed his eyes refusing to look, saying her back had just as much dirt. Everyone’s dirt was the same.

“When was the last time you scrubbed?” Zhou Yu asked.

“A month ago.”

……

Zhou Yu suddenly laughed out loud, finding it too funny, asking him, “After we divorce, won’t you have no one to scrub your back?”

“Use more force, you’re tickling me.” Sun Jingcheng replied.

Zhou Yu put in effort, seriously scrubbing for him. Neither spoke again. By the time she scrubbed to his waist the situation was already wrong. Sun Jingcheng took the scrubbing mitt and pulled the shower curtain to scrub himself.

Zhou Yu washed her hands and went back to bed to sleep.

It took Sun Jingcheng a long time to come out. He turned off the main light, turned on the dim bedside lamp, stood in front of the vanity mirror applying body lotion all over, and after applying stood with hands on hips waiting for it to absorb dry before putting on his thermal underwear.

Zhou Yu lay in bed replying to colleague messages. After replying, she pulled up Sun Jingcheng’s WeChat and changed his note name—Noble Man.

Sun Jingcheng had one last routine before bed—carefully and thoroughly applying hand cream. After applying, he put on disposable gloves, lifted the blanket, lay down, then raised both hands like surrendering, holding them up beside his face.

Zhou Yu asked with her back to him: “Turn off the light?”

“Go ahead.”

Zhou Yu reached over and turned off the bedside lamp.

After fifteen minutes, Sun Jingcheng took off the gloves and put them on the nightstand, asking her, “Asleep?”

“Almost.” Zhou Yu replied.

“School wants you to rest a few days?”

“I’ve already rested three days. They want me to teach next Monday.” Perhaps because the night was quiet, Zhou Yu felt a bit insomniac and chatted with him idly, “I didn’t agree. Winter break is coming soon anyway. I want to wait until next semester.”

“You decide. If you’re tired, rest a few more days.” Sun Jingcheng said: “If you want to go somewhere to relax, I’ll book tickets for you. If you don’t want to go out, just stay home. If you don’t want to cook, we’ll go back to the clinic to eat.”

Zhou Yu didn’t respond. The room fell quiet again. After quite a while, when Sun Jingcheng was drowsily about to fall asleep, he heard Zhou Yu ask softly: “Sun Jingcheng, why did you propose to me?”

Without thinking, Sun Jingcheng told the truth, “I thought we could make it work. My age was right, I was mature in all aspects. I felt I could settle down and live a good life.”

“You’re really selfish, only thinking of yourself.”

“Everyone dates according to their own preferences, gets married thinking only of themselves.” Sun Jingcheng disagreed, “I’ve never heard of getting married to sacrifice yourself.”

“I’m not talking about sacrifice, I’m saying you also need to consider the other person.”

“When proposing, you’re asking for the other person’s opinion. If the other person thinks it’s not suitable, they can just refuse. We’re both adults, this isn’t forced buying and selling.”

“So if it had been a different person back then, would you have also proposed?”

“No.” Sun Jingcheng pondered for a while and said: “At that time we’d known each other for over half a year. I thought you were a bit silly, and living with you would probably be very interesting.”

“At the time of proposing, I had the thoughts of that time. I had beautiful expectations for our marriage. As for not working out well after marriage, that’s another matter.” Sun Jingcheng looked at her, “What about you?”

“What?” Zhou Yu asked.

“Why did you marry me?”

“Last time we fought you cursed at me, saying I married you to spite my mom.” Zhou Yu didn’t want to talk, “Good night.”

“I didn’t curse at all, I hit the nail on the head pointing out facts.” Sun Jingcheng said to her, “You’re a bit like my mom, your words have a lot of water.”

Zhou Yu ignored him.

Sun Jingcheng found this really annoying about her—just wouldn’t talk to you. When you talked she pretended not to hear. He wrapped himself in the blanket and turned over, “You’re both foolish and shrewd. You extract people’s heartfelt words, but when it’s your turn, not a peep.”

This time Zhou Yu didn’t stay silent, slowly talking about a movie she’d seen in college, “There was a line that left a deep impression on me. The protagonist said: Director Edward Yang’s ‘That Day, on the Beach’: I imagine the environment you grew up in must have been very comfortable and romantic. But the environment I grew up in told me that there is no love in this world. Maybe there’s brief impulse, but that’s all.”

Now it was Sun Jingcheng’s turn to be silent.

“You were right that day. I have strong self-esteem, stubborn about face, but that’s just who I am.” Zhou Yu said: “Even if one day you cheated, I wouldn’t go to the other person’s door to fight, much less make a scene at your workplace. I think that lacks dignity and would only make me fail more thoroughly, more undignified. What I can do is agree to divorce.”

“From childhood to adulthood I’ve never actively pursued anyone, no matter how excellent that man was, or how much I liked him. I comfort myself: if it’s yours, it’s yours; if it’s not yours, don’t force it. Even if I think missing him would be a lifelong regret.”

“That day we argued fiercely. You said divorce—fine, let’s divorce. We weren’t from the same world to begin with. Forcing it would only consume what little goodwill and dignity we have left, eventually becoming hideous to each other.”

“So for this last month, let’s get along well and be more patient. If we can’t be husband and wife, at least we won’t become enemies.”

The weather was bad, heavy with fog. Sun Jingcheng didn’t go running either, sitting on the sofa watching the news. Zhou Yu got up to make breakfast. Sun Jingcheng said he’d go buy some. Zhou Yu shook her head, saying this was Ke Yu’s first time staying at their home—not cooking wouldn’t be right.

After watching the news, Sun Jingcheng went to the kitchen, “Need help?”

Zhou Yu was peeling chives, preparing to make chive pockets, “Hang all the washed socks from the bathroom on the radiator.”

“Why not dry them on the balcony?” Sun Jingcheng was curious.

“Didn’t you see the heavy fog outside?”

“The fog will clear later, it won’t have any effect…”

“I don’t need your help. Go watch TV.”

……

Sun Jingcheng grabbed a handful of socks—two pairs of his, two pairs of Zhou Yu’s. The living room radiator was ivory yellow. He hung Zhou Yu’s two pairs of fuzzy, pink floor socks on the living room radiator. After deep comparison, he hung his own two pairs of apricot-colored wool socks on the gray-blue radiator in the study.

The color coordination had good aesthetic basis.

Zhou Yu came out and saw the socks in the living room. She held back, didn’t scold him, didn’t grab them to hang in the bathroom radiator. Meanwhile Sun Jingcheng was squatting on the floor wiping water stains—a few drops had dripped while hanging the socks.

……

After breakfast Sun Jingcheng went to the new district to work. Zhou Yu put on a mask, wrapped herself up tightly and went to the hospital. She found Jiang Yuan’s hospital room, just looking in through the window in the door. Jiang Yuan’s eyes were wrapped in gauze, half-leaning on the hospital bed receiving an IV drip.

She came down from the ward building and sat on a bench outside in a daze. That day during morning self-study she was supervising two classes, busy in another class when a student came running over in a panic, saying there was a fight and bleeding in the class.

According to the class students, the two had been playing around at first, then somehow started actually fighting. The other one threw a book at him. The book was thick, and the corner accidentally hit his eye.

Zhou Yu was about to go back when she saw the school’s official car. The school had been following this matter the whole time. She found the school people to understand the situation. They said the left eye was blind. There would be more surgeries later. No one could say the specific situation. If recovery went well there was hope; if not, it would be permanent blindness. As for the eye removal that had been rumored a few days ago, that was just the worst-case scenario the doctor mentioned if it deteriorated.

On the subway back she received a WeChat message in the school group. Monday, each homeroom teacher would orderly organize students to go to the auditorium to hear a lecture by senior psychological counselor Teacher Mei.

Then she received a WeChat message in the Sun family group. Mother Sun asked what everyone was eating tonight, she would start preparing ingredients now. Elder sister-in-law said eldest brother was on a mission, she’d come help in the afternoon; second sister-in-law said she could only arrive at mealtime, and casually mentioned two dishes she loved; second brother said he’d come after finishing his current work, mentioning two dishes; Sun Jingcheng said he’d bring Zhou Yu in the evening, also mentioning two dishes; Sun Jingfei said don’t count me, busy out of town.

Mother Sun asked her what she wanted to eat. Zhou Yu replied as usual: “I’m not picky, anything is fine.”

Second sister-in-law replied: “Are we being too picky?”

Zhou Yu also realized her words were inappropriate. Her instinct was to retract, but retracting would seem even more guilty. While thinking how to remedy it, Sun Jingcheng replied: “Zhou Yu is easy to feed, she’s had good eating habits since childhood. Not like me—picky from the womb.”

Second sister-in-law teased: “Alright, we know you two have a good relationship! Sun Jinghui, learn from your brother.”

……

Sun Jingcheng privately messaged Zhou Yu: “What do you want to eat? I’ll have Mom make it.”

Zhou Yu replied: “No need. Nothing I particularly want.”

Sun Jingcheng replied: “I’ll come back in the evening to pick you up.”

Zhou Yu replied: “After I finish tutoring Ke Yu’s homework we’ll go together. You do your own thing.”

Sun Jingcheng replied: “Don’t let him ride an electric scooter with you on it. He’s colorblind.”

Zhou Yu came out of the subway and replied to him: [Okay.]