Since childhood, Fu Chenglin, as the eldest young master of the Fu family, had always been in Fu Xueli’s eyes a very shrewd and formidable egoist who refused to let himself suffer even the slightest loss. It was just that the Fu family was a prestigious household, and he was the heir, which indeed brought a kind of lonely solitude that comes with high position. His marriage was arranged by the family, and he couldn’t make his own decisions.

She suddenly felt a bit sad. And didn’t know where this sentiment came from. She turned to leave, but Fu Chenglin called out to her from behind, “Fu Xueli.”

“Huh?”

Fu Chenglin rarely sighed. “What about you, you and that whoever, Xu Xingchun—are you two serious?”

“What else? I’m not like you.” Hearing him say this, Fu Xueli couldn’t help but get a bit angry. Although she knew it wasn’t quite appropriate, she added another sentence, “Brother, what I wanted to say earlier but didn’t—although I don’t know why you’ve let yourself fall to this state, I think you’re neither persistent nor mature. Sister Xiao Yun can’t see hope in you, so leaving was inevitable. Eileen Chang said, to give up on a person only requires two things: a new love and time. You should let go sooner too. Life still has to move forward, after all, you were the one who wronged her first.”

Fu Chenglin wanted to laugh hearing this, and the sadness and depression in his heart dissipated a little. He exaggeratedly put his hand to his ear. “What? Fu Xueli, say it louder again—what did Eileen Chang say? Since when did my sister become a literary youth?”

Fu Xueli shouted, “Just because you don’t read more books yourself, doesn’t mean you won’t allow others to be cultured people? Get lost!”

Fu Chenglin swept away his earlier dejection and looked at her as if looking at an idiot. “Where do you get your confidence from? We’re the pot calling the kettle black. I’m a scumbag, so what are you?”

She wanted to refute, but then thinking of Xu Xingchun, Fu Xueli immediately lost her momentum.

Actually, Fu Chenglin wasn’t wrong. The two siblings’ styles of behavior were quite similar—weren’t they just like this? The only difference was that Fu Xueli was a bit luckier.

Turning around, she walked up the steps and entered the door. Aunt Qi came to answer it. Seeing it was her, she was pleasantly surprised. “Lili, how come you came back without telling us in advance?”

“Mm…”

“Where’s your brother? Didn’t he come back with you?” Aunt Qi looked behind her.

Fu Xueli was listless. “He’s outside.” She kicked off her shoes and changed into slippers. Beijing opera was playing on the television. Before going upstairs, Aunt Qi called out to her, “Oh right, this morning when I was organizing the storage room, I saw a big yellow cardboard box of yours. I opened it and looked—it seems to be full of your things.”

Fu Xueli’s hand on the railing paused mid-step. “Where’s that cardboard box?”

“Still there. I put it on the shelf for you.”

With Aunt Qi saying this, she vaguely guessed what it was.

She moved the cardboard box from the storage room to her bedroom. It was a bit heavy, making Fu Xueli break out in a sweat. First removing the tape, she opened it. On top were several colorful books. She picked them up to examine them and discovered they were magazines she particularly loved reading during class in high school.

Digging further down, there were many photos—graduation photos, birthday pictures from each year.

Some of the people in them, she could barely remember who they were anymore.

She randomly picked up another photo. The lighting in it was dim. Looking closer, she realized it was Xu Xingchun.

It should have been one she secretly took and had printed out temporarily. The edges were already blurred.

He stood alone by the river, his outline barely visible. Far from the crowd, there was a kind of mature loneliness that far exceeded his actual age.

Inevitably, she thought of the past.

Fu Xueli came back to her senses and continued looking through the other odds and ends in the box.

Suddenly, a small black box in the corner caught her attention.

Fu Xueli’s heart stirred, and she picked it up to examine it. Was this something Xu Xingchun had someone give her after their breakup? Only a faint impression remained…

Only she hadn’t bothered to look at it at the time. After Xu Xingchun left back then, these things were an eyesore to her, so she put away everything related to him. She had originally planned to throw them away, but in the end couldn’t bring herself to do it. Once left idle, it had been all these years.

She pulled open the small drawer on the box. Inside lay a letter. The envelope was a very plain white. She pinched it… thin.

Opening it to look, she discovered inside was a simple line drawing. On it, a hand was drawn with marker pen, with a date noted. No other words whatsoever.

This date, calculating the time… should be from middle school. Her mind wandered, and Fu Xueli’s thoughts scattered. A certain scene gradually surfaced in her mind. She finally remembered the origin of this simple drawing.

Once, she had been bored in class and asked Xu Xingchun to reach his hand over.

She quickly drew a ring on his ring finger.

Then on the clean back of his hand, she quickly wrote the English word they had just learned that day:

marry

…..

Did Xu Xingchun remember everything?

How could he take everything so seriously…

He really was a big fool…

He must have been heartbroken to death, yet wouldn’t say a single word to make her stay.

Fu Xueli’s heart felt as if a pot of boiling molten iron had been poured over it, burning all her internal organs with pain. Her nose instantly stung with tears.

One o’clock in the morning on the streets of Dali.

As Xu Xingchun got out of the car, Ah Si immediately got out too. The timing for the arrest hadn’t arrived yet. They first walked to the convenience store across the street.

“The supplier left, wants us to make the deal outside. This time the target is someone who came from the Hongshan side back then. His street name is Brother Ka. This guy likes to go out around two or three in the morning. He’s very cunning. His home is on the national highway side, relatively remote, with a river beside it—probably for escape routes.”

Tonight they needed to pose as customers and go to the bar where Brother Ka frequently hung out.

Just now in the car, Old Wu had stared at Xu Xingchun for quite a while before saying, “You won’t work like this. Looking all refined and cultured, anyone can tell you’re a decent person at a glance. Not good for infiltrating. You need to look a bit more alternative.”

They stood at the entrance of the “Ah Fu Get Rich” convenience store. Ah Si shouted at the owner, “Hey! Do you sell hair gel here?”

The person meeting them was in the barbershop next door. Before long, after a complete makeover was finished, when Xu Xingchun pushed open the door and came out, everyone on the scene froze for a moment.

Under the dim lighting, he was tall with straight legs. His bangs had been slicked back with hair gel, adding several degrees of allure. His appearance was truly excellent. Apart from his slightly prominent dark circles, his exposed forehead was smooth, his jade-like jaw—it could be called a flawless face.

Several buttons of his black and gold shirt were undone. The slightly smaller-sized clothes made his broad shoulders and narrow waist even more prominent. He’d removed his silver wristwatch and changed to a silver ring on his middle finger. He’d even deliberately held a cigarette—the spitting image of an unrestrained rich second generation.

Even the only female on site couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter.

After a moment, Ah Si rubbed his chin, as if recalling something. “Brother Chun is still so handsome. I remember when we were in the same squad before, every time we went on a mission, we relied on his looks to fish for targets. Especially effective.”

Ah Si spoke lightly, but everyone present knew how dangerous this kind of mission was. One small mistake and eight hundred different ways of dying awaited. His composure was evident. Respectful gazes couldn’t help but fall on Xu Xingchun again.

Completely unaware that everyone’s eyes were glued to him, his eyes remained fixed on the distance.

They probably had to wait another hour.

For some reason, his heart stirred, and he took out his phone and held it in his hand.

Except for Ah Si and Xu Xingchun who stayed here waiting, the others returned to the cars one after another to monitor the surrounding streets. The two chatted casually. Ah Si was a bit listless, yawned, and took out a cigarette to smoke.

Two young girls from upstairs came down to throw out trash, walking past them unhurriedly. Their eyes glanced over in this direction, seemingly or not.

On the way back, one of them was about to come over to strike up a conversation. Suddenly that handsome guy’s phone rang, so at two or three meters away, her footsteps stopped.

The phone suddenly vibrated once. Xu Xingchun saw the caller ID and his heart jumped. This was the new number he’d given Fu Xueli a few days ago, sending her a text message to tell her about it. Calling this late, something must have happened.

Knowing it wasn’t appropriate timing, he still answered without thinking.

He quickly walked to the side. Hearing Ah Si calling from behind, his footsteps paused, and he turned to indicate he’d take a call first.

“Hello, Xu Xingchun?”

“I’m here.”

“Mm…” Fu Xueli seemed to have a crying tone, her voice sounding extremely sad. “Xu Xingchun, I just had a dream where a strong wind blew up, and then it blew you away. I couldn’t find you anywhere, and then I woke up.”

So she had a nightmare…

“No, I’m fine.” His voice was inexplicably low and hoarse, very pleasant to hear. “I’ll be able to come back in a few days.”

“Really…” Outside, torrential rain was falling. On a night like this, hearing his comfort, she relaxed considerably.

Fu Xueli forced herself to stay awake. “Then you promise me you’ll be well. I’ll wait for you to come back.”

“Okay, I promise you.”

Smoking his cigarette, Ah Si watched Xu Xingchun finish his call and guessed what it was about, laughing the whole time. Then he suddenly sighed. “Fate is unpredictable, fortune and misfortune are intertwined—we must cherish the present.”

Xu Xingchun neither agreed nor disagreed.

He was thinking about Fu Xueli, so he was somewhat distracted.

Recently he could clearly feel Fu Xueli’s change in attitude toward him, yet couldn’t explain the reason.

Taking a deep drag into his lungs, Ah Si looked up, gazing absently at Dali’s night sky, saying with amusement, “Brother Chun, I remember you once told me there’s no such thing as suffering ending in sweetness.”

He paused, then smiled faintly. “There won’t be suffering ending in sweetness, because the suffering never ends.”

Turning his head, Ah Si slightly shifted his gaze, looking toward Xu Xingchun. Having just finished that phone call, his features were soft, his eyes lowered, which dispelled quite a bit of his cold aloofness.

“What about now? Brother Chun, will suffering end in sweetness?”

Xu Xingchun gripped the phone in his hand tightly. He nodded, the motion very slight, pulled his lips into a smile, and said in a low voice, “It will come.”