Gou Kai thought this small town wasn’t so shabby after all. Despite its tiny size, it had everything one needed. Several worn-out boats with black canopies were moored below the water gate. The town was surrounded by mountains on all sides. In the early morning, the thick fog hung like a fairy’s pale white sleeve, gently encircling the emerald mountain peaks, exuding a tranquility reminiscent of a traditional ink painting. The storefronts along the street were bright and tidy, the roads clean, traffic sparse, and greenery standing tall in neat rows. The alleys were filled with hawkers calling out, vendors selling their wares, and animated discussions—creating an atmosphere similar to old Beijing’s liveliness, yet not quite as bustling.

“This place is suitable for retirement,” Gou Kai remarked sincerely upon seeing Ye Meng.

Since Ye Meng had resigned last October, the two hadn’t seen each other for nearly half a year. Gou Kai looked the same as always, the very picture of a flaunting rich young master, dressed head-to-toe in designer brands worth tens of thousands. Sitting properly upright in the coffee shop, he seemed out of place. He brushed some dust off his suit and half-jokingly said to her, “Haven’t seen you for a few months, you look older.”

Ye Meng slouched lazily in the chair across from him, taking a sip of her Blue Mountain coffee, which tasted as awful as ever. “So? I took half a day off just to sit here and listen to you tell me I’ve aged?”

Gou Kai responded with a noncommittal smile, pulling out the small gray handkerchief he always carried from his pocket. While gently wiping his coffee cup, he said unhurriedly, “When will you ever change that impatient nature of yours?”

In the empty street, someone was selling sticky rice cakes—the kind that cost one yuan for twenty. The vendor pushed a small cart with a loudspeaker hanging from the front, repeatedly broadcasting advertisements at high volume. Amid this noisy environment, Ye Meng gave him a very friendly smile and said, “You know, I’m running out of patience.”

Gou Kai knew her too well. Seeing that she was truly getting agitated, he took off his suit jacket, folded it twice, and hung it over the back of his chair. Sitting up straight, he said, “Alright, I’ll admit my mistake. I apologize. Will you come back with me?”

“That’s it?” Ye Meng raised an eyebrow.

Gou Kai made a noncommittal sound, then continued, “I’ve terminated the partnership with Jiang Luzhi’s firm, and I came specifically to ask you to come back. Are you satisfied now? The company can’t function without you. All those succulents you were growing are nearly dead. The flower market owner says that without you, he can’t give us the same prices as before. The succulents that Little He bought later all ended up looking like dwarf melons.”

Ye Meng couldn’t be bothered with his nonsense. “I’m not going back. I have a boyfriend now, and we’re getting married soon.”

“Bring him out, let me meet him,” Gou Kai said calmly, using his handkerchief as a cushion under the cup handle as he took a sip of coffee.

“No. Don’t bother him.”

Gou Kai made another noncommittal sound, giving her a meaningful look. “Seems like he’s younger than you?”

“Mm,” Ye Meng frowned impatiently, staring at him directly without evasion. “Gou Kai, I know exactly what you’re thinking. Back then, you let them take away the Xinhe project I had worked on for two years and sidelined me, all because you thought a third-tier college graduate like me was delusional for wanting to stay in Beijing and buy a house, competing for resources with those elite graduates from 985 universities. You wanted me to recognize my place. If it weren’t for you, where would I be today? I worked hard, but you suppressed me. You were afraid I’d become self-sufficient. You just wanted me to stay by your side doing nothing, like a lapdog. You think that’s all someone with my educational background deserves, right?”

Gou Kai despised superficial people and disdained associating with those of lower education. To him, anyone below the second-tier university level was like a seed buried in dust, unworthy of blossoming. But Ye Meng was an exception.

He was fond of her casual demeanor. Her memory might be poor, but sometimes, just when you thought she was about to embarrass herself, she would surprise you with an unexpected comeback, which he found delightful. He was drawn to this occasional element of surprise, always wondering what was going on in her mind.

Later, he probably spoiled her, indulging her until she believed she truly had the right to stand alongside those who had worked hard to attend prestigious schools, overestimating herself by thinking she could establish a foothold in Beijing. This made him feel that Ye Meng was just like those nouveau riche he despised. Because they lacked proper cultivation, they sometimes mistook fortune’s favor for their ability. Meanwhile, many diligent students remained penniless. Yet, in the arena of fame and fortune, such nouveau riche were as common as ants. Those people even believed there was no difference between themselves and privileged heirs like Gou Kai, who had received strict education and refined knowledge from an early age.

Gou Kai said, “But your difference from other third-tier college graduates is that you have me.”

Ye Meng burst into laughter. “I won’t go back. I’ve already decided with my boyfriend that I’ll stay here with him.”

“Ye Meng, you’ll regret it,” Gou Kai said.

“I won’t.”

Gou Kai smiled slightly, tucked away his handkerchief, and suddenly changed the subject: “Did you receive the camera?”

Camera? Ye Meng had completely forgotten about it. Thinking carefully, she realized she might have forgotten to take it from Fang Ya’en’s car that day. “Mm.”

“You didn’t look at the photos, did you?”

What was there to look at?

As Gou Kai had expected, he looked at her and suddenly flashed a confident smile, then began explaining: “Before the New Year, the company received two orders. One was from abroad—a Chinese collector from Singapore who hoped our company would help him auction an item in China. I put the photos in the camera. If you look at them, you might change your mind.”

Gou Kai was in the antique auction business, or rather, his family had been for three generations. Even earlier, his great-grandfather might have been a tomb raider who sought out burial sites for treasure. Now, however, the business had expanded, and he liked to dabble in various fields. Except for the film industry—he didn’t particularly enjoy watching movies.

Ye Meng’s patience was exhausted. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll go back and smash the camera.”

Gou Kai firmly believed she would do just that, so he had no choice but to say, “This artifact is the jade-inlaid gold thumb ring you’ve been looking for all this time. Didn’t you say it was related to your mother’s death? Don’t you want to meet this Chinese collector? I’m still keeping your position and belongings for you.”

When Fang Ya’en called Li Jin Yu, he had just finished washing up in the bathroom and was about to go back to his room to change clothes before heading to the hospital. He held the phone to his ear while casually pulling out a white short-sleeved shirt. “Sister Ya’en.”

Fang Ya’en was only a year older than Ye Meng, but Li Jin Yu was much more comfortable calling her “sister.”

Fang Ya’en immediately sensed this invisible distance and adopted an elder’s attitude: “Mm, where are you? I’ll drive over to pick you up.”

Li Jin Yu was putting on his shirt, just pulling his head through when he paused, confused. “Huh?”

“Ye Meng called me this morning before she left, saying you seemed to have an upset stomach when you woke up. She asked me to pick you up and take you to the hospital for a check-up. It happens that I need a follow-up on my foot today as well, so let’s go together. Send me your location.”

“Alright, I’ll send it to you on WeChat.”

Li Jin Yu hung up the phone, his shirt still not fully on—one sleeve not yet in place, exposing half his shoulder. His physique showed clean, flowing lines; not bulky but surprisingly strong despite his lean appearance. He sent the address to Fang Ya’en, then sat on the edge of the bed motionless, holding his phone and staring blankly for a while before lowering his head to send Ye Meng a WeChat message.

[LJY: I’m fine, just maybe not quite adjusted yet.]

She must be busy; for the first time, she didn’t reply instantly. Previously, she had always seemed glued to her phone, replying immediately. Fang Ya’en’s car arrived quickly, and Li Jin Yu took his phone and walked out, locking the door behind him.

Fang Ya’en gestured for him to sit in the back. As soon as Li Jin Yu squeezed in, he unexpectedly pressed against a white box. He pulled the object out, and Fang Ya’en’s expression suddenly changed as she remembered that Ye Meng had forgotten to take it last time. Fang Ya’en had told her to pick it up sometime, but Ye Meng had simply said to throw it away without a second thought. What a wasteful thing to do—the item was worth at least several thousand yuan. So she had kept it in the trunk, waiting for Ye Meng to remember and come get it herself. A few days ago, she’d been dealing with divorce proceedings with Chen Jian, which had pushed this matter completely out of her mind. Today, they had just finished dividing their assets—she got the car, he got the house. But she’d forgotten that this thing was still in the car.

“Is this Ye Meng’s?” Li Jin Yu asked.

Li Jin Yu recognized it too—it was the white box they had taken from Jiang Luzhi’s car that day, given by Gou Kai. He opened the lid and looked inside, half-amused and half-exasperated. Gou Kai’s method of pursuing women was truly something—using the camera Li Jin Yu had given him to impress Ye Meng.

Li Jin Yu didn’t think much of it at first, planning to keep it safe and bring it back to Ye Meng. By a twist of fate, it could be considered the first gift he had given her. The camera with its lens was worth at least thirty thousand. Gou Kai was something—could he be so frugal when pursuing women?

However, Fang Ya’en, feeling inexplicably guilty, claimed the camera was hers.

Now Li Jin Yu was curious—what could be in this camera that made Fang Ya’en so nervous on Ye Meng’s behalf? If it hadn’t been the camera he gave to Gou Kai, he wouldn’t have suspected anything. So he leaned back innocently in the rear seat, pretending ignorance as he lazily asked, “May I look at the photos?”

What is there to look at, Fang Ya’en inwardly cursed, breaking out in a cold sweat. She marveled at how even the most handsome and composed men still got jealous like anyone else—truly a sweet trouble. Outwardly, however, she smiled pleasantly, trying to cover for her friend. But in her nervousness, she took a wrong turn and ended up on a longer route.

“Sister Ya’en, you’re going farther away,” Li Jin Yu reminded her.

Fang Ya’en feigned composure as she explained, “What do you know? It’s rush hour now; this is the way I always go.”

As she spoke, Li Jin Yu had already coldly smiled and opened the camera, seemingly calm as he slowly browsed through each photo.

Fang Ya’en became anxious. “Hey, why won’t you listen? I’m just worried you might overthink things.”

Li Jin Yu had fallen silent, his cold, handsome face drawn long, with distinct brow bones, emanating an unprecedented chill. He turned to look out the window, his aloof profile adding to his handsomeness. Fang Ya’en was genuinely impressed by Li Jin Yu’s appearance, wondering what he had eaten as a child to grow up so handsome.

She drove steadily through the surging rush hour traffic, signaling to slow down, carefully observing his expression through the rearview mirror. “See? I told you not to look, but you insisted. You have some intuition. Now you’ve seen it and you’re angry. Why give yourself trouble? Besides, aren’t you two doing well now? That’s all stuff from a year ago. They haven’t seen each other for a long time. And Ye Meng said she wants to stay here with you. There’s no use being angry about it—she doesn’t even know.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Fang Ya’en finally understood the meaning of “when it rains, it pours.” The more she tried to cover things up in confusion, the more heaven seemed to playfully insist on unveiling the drama.

Life in the small town was peaceful and tranquil, as fleeting as a mayfly. There weren’t many coffee shops, and the few with decent business were scattered about. The one they had just passed was the most remote in town, with the fewest customers. Normally, driving to the hospital would never take them this way, but the distraction with the camera had caused her to take a wrong turn. Unwittingly, she had just betrayed her friend.

Fang Ya’en had met Gou Kai once. Shortly after her wedding, she had gone to Beijing to visit Ye Meng, and the three of them had had dinner together privately. Gou Kai was elegant in a way that differed from ordinary wealthy people, and his appearance was also quite handsome. Though he didn’t compare to Li Jin Yu, he would still stand out in a crowd—a poised and distinguished young talent. Wearing gold-rimmed glasses, he looked very gentlemanly. The only thing that made her slightly uncomfortable was that, in conversation, Gou Kai had a way of imperceptibly imposing a sense of superiority—something innate to him.

So when she saw the two of them standing at the entrance of that coffee shop, she wished her car could disappear on the spot.

Gou Kai wore a meticulously ironed, impeccable suit, with neatly styled slicked-back hair, looking like a rich young master straight out of television. Today, however, he wasn’t wearing glasses, giving him a more casual look, suitable for a date.

Li Jin Yu saw him too. It had been a long time since he had seen Gou Kai, but he was still the same—living like a template, a proper gentleman from head to toe, from every strand of hair to the tips of his toes. Li Jin Yu pretended to be good, while Gou Kai had genuinely been good since childhood. Though he had many girlfriends and was a scoundrel in relationships, he was gentle with every woman. In academics and career, he was impeccable.

Fang Ya’en sighed, and in the end could only say, “Ye Meng cares about you. When she left this morning, she called me, worried about your stomach, afraid you wouldn’t take it seriously, and specifically instructed me to come pick you up. Whatever the issue is, at least get clarity before saying anything. Don’t fight with her. I know her best—if you push her too hard, she’ll do whatever she wants. And she doesn’t like men who are too possessive. Occasional arguments can help strengthen your relationship, but if you try to control her, forget it. She’s a mature woman, not a young girl in her early twenties who’s madly in love.”

Fang Ya’en hesitantly glanced at Li Jin Yu through the rearview mirror, feeling sorry for him while also putting on a big-sister act as she warned, “Even if she makes mistakes in the future, I’ll always stand by her side. So don’t go overboard.”

“Mm,” he responded softly.

Fang Ya’en almost teared up. Damn it, how could Li Jin Yu be so humble, so obedient? If Ye Meng ever dared to betray him, she couldn’t bear to watch!

The elderly woman was in good spirits today. Despite the deep wrinkles on her face, she didn’t appear particularly old; her complexion was somehow delicate and rosy. She muttered continuously about a very auspicious dream she had last night. Li Jin Yu sat beside her silently, listening while messaging the bar owner on WeChat about resuming work after his grandmother was discharged from the hospital.

The elderly woman chattered on: “Last night I dreamed that you and Ye Meng got married and gave me a chubby grandson. That little one was much more handsome than you were as a child—plump and fair-skinned, surely easy to raise. I think it’s a sign from heaven.”

Li Jin Yu simply tuned her out, saying indifferently, “Two minutes until morning exercises.”

The old woman pursed her lips, her eyes falling on a bag of medicine hanging from the doorknob. “Why did you bring medicine? Are you feeling unwell?”

Li Jin Yu said, “My stomach. It’s nothing.”

The old woman started rambling again. “Have you been skipping breakfast lately? You young people never take care of yourselves. You won’t be satisfied until you’ve thoroughly worn yourself out, will you?”

Li Jin Yu said nothing, lowering his head to look at his phone, but today it was like it had sunk to the bottom of a pool—exceptionally quiet.

The old woman asked, “When you went to Beijing last time, did Li Ling Bai give you money?”

“Mm,” his voice was very low as he answered truthfully, “Two hundred thousand.”

“What a sin!” The old woman let out a long sigh. The patient in the next bed heard and glanced over, assuming she was chiding him for taking someone’s money.

But instead, the old woman said, “Why didn’t you ask for more? You don’t even have enough money to get married!”

He smiled slightly. “If you hadn’t been so stubborn back then, insisting on donating the money, I wouldn’t be unable to afford a wife now.”

The old woman gave two more weak sighs. “What a sin, what a sin.”

Li Jin Yu hadn’t planned to leave today. He had gone home briefly, returned Ye Meng’s camera, taken a shower, and changed clothes, planning to spend the night at the hospital and go home tomorrow. But just after he had coaxed the old woman to sleep, his phone rang.

[Meng: Baby, when are you coming back? I’m at your door.]

Everyone in the ward was asleep. A few nurses were chatting softly at the nursing station, keeping an eye on the patients. They spoke in hushed tones, making small talk to pass their shift, while occasionally glancing toward the bench nearby. Li Jin Yu sat casually on the long corridor bench that reeked of disinfectant. A tall, handsome young man always drew attention.

[LJY: I’m staying at the hospital tonight.]

[Meng: Ah, you’re not coming back? I’m at your door.]

[LJY: No, not coming back.]

[Meng: Oh, then I’ll leave the things at your door. Remember to pick them up when you return tomorrow morning. It’s tofu cake. I saw them being sold in town today, so I bought some for you and your grandmother. I’m leaving!]

[LJY: Mm.]

The moon looked like it was frying an egg yolk—bright for a while, then it seemed to flip itself over, and this side didn’t look as yellow anymore. It shone sparsely through the gaps in the trees as if laying down a silver ribbon along his path. Everything seemed to be on pause as Li Jin Yu strolled home as if racing a snail for slowness.

When he arrived home, he discovered that Ye Meng hadn’t left after all.

One who said he wouldn’t return had come back; one who said she’d leave hadn’t gone.

He stood in the tree’s shadow, watching her for a few seconds. Ye Meng wore a crisp gray suit that made her look clean, mature, affectionate, gentle, and full of vitality as she leaned against his doorway, smiling at him. He suppressed the sour emotions inside, telling himself to let it go.

Li Jin Yu stood for a moment, lowered his gaze, then walked over to open the door.

Ye Meng subtly embraced him from behind, pressing her face against his back, teasing him as if she’d caught him in a lie: “Didn’t you say you weren’t coming back? Hmm—”

“Bang!” A loud noise—the half-opened door was suddenly slammed shut. Ye Meng’s mind buzzed, and before she could react, she was forcefully pinned against the cold, hard door. Her lips were fiercely captured, as Li Jin Yu, with unprecedented intensity, pressed her whole body against the door. One hand braced against it, while the other roughly gripped her chin, assaulting her with aggressive kisses. He even used his tongue.

He was both kissing and biting her. Ye Meng winced in pain, her head throbbing slightly, yet she was pinned against the door, unable to move under his control. Her jaw ached from his grip, like having chewed on a lemon, and she softly pleaded: “Li Jin Yu, ease up a bit.”

“No,” he coldly refused. Then, still gripping her chin, he suddenly turned her around without a word, pressing her face against the door while embracing her from behind, kissing her, biting her. Li Jin Yu was truly like an untamed dog at that moment, biting her fiercely again and again. Their heated breaths mingled together as if about to ignite. Ye Meng felt like she was pressed against a furnace. She managed to turn around in the narrow space between his body and the door, carefully cupping his face, then gently nuzzling his warm breath with the tip of her nose. His scent was always clean. Very comfortable. Even though she was burning up now, she calmly asked, “Li Jin Yu, what’s wrong? Are you unhappy?”

Li Jin Yu once again sealed her mouth with his, this time directly using his tongue to intrude. Ye Meng’s scalp tingled, her breathing became chaotic, and her heart felt like it had been shocked with electricity, making her whole body tremble. Her mind grew foggy as she confusedly swallowed all his breath, feeling like the entire building was about to collapse. In her passionate daze, she softly coaxed: “Let’s go inside and talk, okay?”

Just in time, footsteps could be heard from upstairs, along with the sound of someone using a cane—someone was coming down.

He continued kissing her without moving an inch.

Ye Meng became anxious—this wasn’t the time to play around. Seeking thrills late at night? They weren’t afraid of heart attacks themselves, but they feared the old woman or old man coming down might have one on the spot.

And yet, in such a tense atmosphere, the more nervous they became, the more exciting it felt. Her heart was beating like a drum. The footsteps grew closer like they were stepping on her heart, each step carrying a sense of urgency. Ye Meng could barely stand. Little did she know, Li Jin Yu was calmly continuing to kiss her forcefully while using his key to open the door. Just as the shadow at the staircase corner was about to reach its largest point, he unhesitatingly pushed her inside. “Bang!” He locked the door and continued pressing her against it, still kissing her.

This series of actions was carried out flawlessly in the darkness, flowing smoothly, their lips never leaving each other. Li Jin Yu truly had remarkable composure.

…

After kissing, they both sat resting in the dark living room without turning on the lights, regaining their senses. With just a thin stream of light from outside the small courtyard, they could barely make out each other’s faces. Ye Meng lay on his lap while Li Jin Yu, who had taken off his jacket to cover her, wore only a thin short-sleeved T-shirt that seemed inadequate for the weather. He leaned tiredly against the sofa with his eyes closed, resting.

Ye Meng lay facing upward on his lap, playing with her fingers as she said, “I quit my job in the city. I might need to go back to Beijing for a while.”

The room was quiet. The small patch of moonlight that slipped in was like washed gauze, gently spreading across the floor. Outside in the courtyard, they could faintly hear Ping An making crunching sounds as he ate his dog food.

Li Jin Yu kept his eyes closed. “And then?”

“I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be gone for quite a while. I won’t be able to come back to see you as often.”

“Oh,” he finally moved, leaning over her to grab a cigarette from the sofa before lazily leaning back. Without looking at her, he put the cigarette between his lips, lit it, and casually said, “Then let’s break up.”

Ye Meng felt he wasn’t joking. She abruptly sat up, looking at him in disbelief. “What do you mean?”

He didn’t speak again.

Ye Meng explained, “I’m going to Beijing to investigate what happened to my mother.”

He made a sound of acknowledgment, leaning back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling with his prominent Adam’s apple, playfully blowing smoke rings, his voice still quite calm: “With Gou Kai? He came to see you today. I saw it. Didn’t Sister Ya’en tell you? I was in the car with her when we saw you.”

She and Fang Ya’en never interfered in each other’s relationships unless they caught a scoundrel cheating red-handed, in which case they would simply and cleanly kick him away from their friend. They generally didn’t meddle in such matters, fearing they might make things worse.

Ye Meng discovered that he had a very stubborn temperament and was extremely difficult to appease—much harder than Ping An. She felt as if something was flowing inside her heart, something she couldn’t quite grasp. She immediately said, “Didn’t I tell you I don’t like him? This time, I’m just going to Beijing with him to confirm some information about my mother.”

Li Jin Yu glanced at her coldly, giving a chilly smile. With one hand holding his cigarette, he suddenly grabbed the camera from beside him. His slender fingers quickly pressed a few buttons, pulled up a photo, and tossed it to her. “You don’t like him, yet you kissed him? Kissed him like that? You’re telling me you don’t like him? Ye Meng, I told you, don’t lie to me.”

“Why is this with you?” she asked, startled.

Li Jin Yu carelessly tapped his cigarette ash and politely apologized to her: “I saw it in Sister Ya’en’s car. I’m sorry for looking at your photos without permission. I was just curious.”

After finishing, Li Jin Yu took one last drag of his cigarette, leaned back on the sofa with a self-mocking smile, and extinguished the cigarette directly with his fingers. “Also, these photos aren’t what bothers me. On my way back just now, I thought a lot about it and finally decided to pretend I didn’t know anything today, to not argue with you. But then you tell me you’re going back to Beijing with him.”

Li Jin Yu finally rubbed his face, propped both hands on his legs, hunched his back, and buried his head somewhat dejectedly. The moonlight was still, as if a breeze had risen, blowing the gauze-like moonlight between them, blurring their vision and separating them.

After a while, he said one sentence:

“Ye Meng, do you enjoy playing with me?”

Who knows how much time passed? Outside, Ping An seemed to have finished his dog food, or perhaps he sensed the rigid, freezing atmosphere inside the house, as he lay low on the ground, whimpering, as if urging them not to argue but to talk things through.

Ye Meng didn’t know what to say to make him believe that there was nothing between her and Gou Kai.

She said with a bitter smile: “Li Jin Yu, everything I’ve said is true. My feelings for you are genuine. To say something shameless, I’ve never pursued anyone so brazenly before, setting off fireworks and taking the initiative to be intimate. Because it’s you, I’ve constantly lowered my bottom line, but what about you? You’re standing still. If you would just take one step toward me, I wouldn’t feel so helpless now. There’s nothing to explain about Gou Kai and me. I never liked him. The only mistake was going with him on that business trip to Guangdong. After being single for too long, I almost let him take advantage of me. I’ve told you, if I had known you existed in this world, I wouldn’t have looked at anyone else. If you’re that bothered by the fact that I kissed Gou Kai, fine, let’s break up.”

“What I fucking care about is that you’re leaving with him now!” He suddenly kicked the coffee table in front of him fiercely. The aged, poorly maintained floor produced a sharp, ear-piercing “squeak!” The sound startled Ping An in the courtyard, making him jump up from the ground. His little head got stuck in the gap of the courtyard door as he peered into the pitch-dark house. The pendulum clock on the wall seemed to stop, the scene appeared to freeze, a few cicada songs fell from the treetops, and ants raised their heads to listen carefully. Then everything seemed to return to normal in an instant.

Ye Meng felt that this version of Li Jin Yu seemed very unfamiliar.

She didn’t say anything more and simply grabbed her bag and left.

She didn’t particularly like arguing when she was angry. She didn’t know about Li Jin Yu, but she knew herself—if she continued, she would likely be controlled by some inexplicable emotions and say some hurtful and heartless words.

She buried her head in the steering wheel, quietly looking at the vine-covered house. It remained dark, with no lights turned on. The door was still open; she hadn’t closed it for him, and he didn’t close it himself. He lived on the first floor, and there was a parking space just outside the building entrance. She had arrived early today and was lucky enough to get the spot. So she sat in her car, staring at the open door, afraid that if he closed it, he would close his heart along with it.

For several days afterward, they didn’t see each other and didn’t send a single WeChat message. Their phones were as quiet as if they were broken. The old woman, chewing on a banana, suggested to Li Jin Yu: “Take it back to the factory for repair. It’s broken—it doesn’t even ring anymore.”

Even their social media feeds grew quieter as they both stubbornly held out. Neither posted anything. Li Jin Yu rarely posted anyway, but Ye Meng, who was usually a social media enthusiast, had become much quieter. In all these days, she hadn’t posted a single update. Yang Tianwei, an avid “liker,” even sent a message to Li Jin Yu’s phone: “What’s up with Sister Meng? She’s not posting on her social media anymore. Did she break up with someone?”

[LJY: gun]

[Little Yang Sheng Jian: Why haven’t you gotten your phone fixed yet? Once I get paid for my odd jobs at the youth training camp, I’ll buy you a new one.]

[LJY: by]

[Little Yang Sheng Jian: What does that mean? Don’t use it? Don’t want it? Damn, what’s wrong with you? You can’t even be bothered to type out complete words for me?]

[LJY: en]

“When are you leaving?”

Meanwhile, Fang Ya’en and Ye Meng were dining at the same restaurant where they had set off fireworks before. They sat in the main hall, unable to see Ningsu Lake outside.

“Next Monday.” Ye Meng had ordered a “Four Happiness Hot Pot” and was dipping meatballs into it.

Unexpectedly, after just a few days, everything had changed. Fang Ya’en felt countless emotions, voluntarily taking the blame as she raised her glass in apology: “This was my fault. I was so nervous that I took a wrong turn. Otherwise, we would never have run into them.”

Ye Meng shook her head. “Even if we hadn’t run into them, Li Jin Yu would have known I was leaving, and we would still have had this argument. It’s not your fault. He’s angry because he feels I lied to him. I promised to stay here, but now I’m leaving.”

Fang Ya’en asked, “So what’s the situation between you two now? Have you broken up?”

Ye Meng put down her chopsticks and suddenly asked an unrelated question: “Is the Civil Affairs Bureau open on weekends?”