“Here?” Yun Li asked, pointing to the bed.
“The bed?!”
Yun Li wasn’t a child. All the possible scenarios flashed through her mind. She seriously considered the question – they’d been together for such a short time. In a tone that brooked no argument, she said, “Let’s save that for later.”
Fu Shize had closed his eyes, but at her words, he opened them again. Burying his face in her hair, he murmured, “Not just that. I want to treat you well in every way.”
He held her close, but his mind kept replaying the scene of her encounter. An indescribable feeling of suffocation washed over him.
Despite his exhaustion, Fu Shize couldn’t sleep. He got up to take a shower. As the hot water cascaded over him, he remembered the gift his father, Fu Dongsheng, had bought especially for Yun Li.
It was a common occurrence – many people give gifts when meeting their partner’s parents for the first time.
But this simple act made him realize that in his past state, he would have struggled to provide Yun Li with even these normal experiences.
He might have frequently hurt her, essentially no different from that pervert.
After his shower, Fu Shize realized he hadn’t brought clothes with him. Frowning, he wrapped a towel around his waist.
Returning to the bedroom, he found Yun Li still there, examining the aromatherapy diffuser on the nightstand.
He had forgotten about that.
“You’re done showering. This diffuser…” Yun Li turned and saw his bare chest, water droplets still trailing down his body and onto the floor. The man’s features were softened by the moisture, his usual coolness tinged with gentleness.
“The police caught that guy. I got it back while I was there,” Fu Shize said nonchalantly, walking to the wardrobe to get some pajamas.
Yun Li was stunned, staring at Fu Shize’s back. Water beaded on his excessively pale skin. He turned his head, wet hair clinging to his cheeks. Yun Li watched intently as a droplet slid from his neck to his collarbone, then down his chest and abdomen, disappearing into the white towel.
“Had enough?” he asked, holding his pajamas. His words held a hint of temptation. “Come closer if you want a better look.”
Flustered, Yun Li covered her eyes with her hands. “I’ll go out now.”
She covered her eyes only after she had looked her fill.
Only she could do something like that.
“No need,” he said. Yun Li remained in place, just turning her back as the sounds of him changing filled the room.
Yun Li’s heart pounded. Soon, he handed her a towel and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Can you help dry my hair?” he asked.
Yun Li sat behind him. From her higher vantage point, she could see down his open collar. She slowly dried his hair, acting the perfect gentleman as she said, “Your buttons aren’t done up properly.”
“At 5:17 this afternoon, someone said they wanted to be the person who understands me best,” Fu Shize calmly repeated her words, bringing her hand to his collar. “Don’t you want to understand now?”
Yun Li remained just as calm, buttoning his top button from behind.
She continued gently drying his hair. The towel blocked Fu Shize’s view, but he could feel her warmth behind him. The room was quiet, the earlier sensuality transforming into a moment of tenderness. He lowered his head, bringing her hand to his lips for a kiss.
Yun Li was in a good mood too. After drying his hair, she pointed at the drones and asked, “Are these all models?”
“No, they’re all real,” he said, noticing her interest. “You can play with them if you’d like.”
Each one looked quite expensive, so Yun Li didn’t dare. She remembered how her robot video had been labeled as comedy, earning her the new tag of “comedy content creator.”
Studying science and technology, Yun Li occasionally came up with ideas for tech videos. She asked, “Could I borrow these drones for a video? I might need your help.”
“Mm,” Fu Shize touched her lower lip. “What’s in it for me?”
He never missed an opportunity. Yun Li awkwardly said, “I might not need your help after all.”
He smirked, pretending not to hear. Understanding his meaning, Yun Li struggled for a moment before saying, “My brother doesn’t even get paid when he’s on camera…”
Having seen how domineering she could be with her brother, Fu Shize couldn’t help but say, “He doesn’t dare ask.”
“…”
“So, what’s my reward?”
“…”
They had shared many intimate moments already. Yun Li weighed her options and decided it wasn’t a bad deal. She casually agreed, “Alright then.”
“Can I get an advance?” He pointed to his lips. “A kiss here.”
“…”
After cuddling for a while, Yun Li remembered what he had said earlier and tried to defend herself: “I’m not that overbearing with my brother.”
Fu Shize played with her hair. “You’re not overbearing.” He recalled their conversation at the hospital that afternoon, how Yun Li had repeatedly confirmed before asking him questions – so different from how she acted with Yun Ye.
Feeling it was unfair to her, he paused for a moment before saying, “Li Li, no matter what you do or say, it won’t change how I feel about you.”
Yun Li looked up at him.
“You can be a bit more domineering with me.”
His gaze was gentle, giving Yun Li infinite encouragement. After a moment, she slowly asked, “About that student ID I asked you about before… whose was it?”
“…”
Fu Shize’s fingers, which had been playing with her hair, froze.
The atmosphere seemed to instantly become tense.
Yun Li sensitively realized she had asked something she shouldn’t have.
“It belonged to my childhood friend. He passed away,” he said, his tone emotionless as he continued playing with her hair, trying to distract himself. “So I don’t like talking about him.”
When Yun Li heard this, her body stiffened. She immediately sat up straight and stammered, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have…”
“Li Li,” Fu Shize interrupted her, pulling her hand. “Don’t apologize.”
He continued, “You should know about this.”
Yun Li felt she had tactlessly reopened his wounds. She lowered her head without speaking. A hand covered hers, gently rubbing her head. Fresh from the shower, his hand was warmer than usual.
Yun Li’s eyes welled up with tears.
In the unfamiliar environment, Yun Li found it hard to sleep. She tossed and turned for a long time. She thought about her personality issues – her fear of interacting with strangers, her indecisiveness, and her oversensitivity to others’ words and actions.
It wasn’t necessarily bad; after all, she had managed this way for years. However, most of the time, it didn’t lead to good outcomes.
Especially tonight.
Tears fell onto her pillow. She felt she had hurt Fu Shize.
Yun Li didn’t wallow in these self-pitying emotions for long. In the middle of the night, she started a livestream.
Many of her fans were night owls. Soon, the number of viewers rose to several hundred. She picked out some messages to read.
“Why are you streaming so late at night? — I missed you all.”
“The lazy fish hasn’t updated in ages — Well, since I’m being called lazy, I’ll find a chance to turn things around.”
“Have you made up with the coffee shop guy? — We’re dating, don’t worry.”
This last statement caused a stir, with a flood of comments lamenting the loss of their “wife.” Yun Li found it amusing. “Don’t worry, I’m still your wife for now,” she paused, “but maybe not in the future.”
Not forgetting her original purpose, Yun Li cleared her throat. “Everyone, I have a favor to ask—”
“I want to improve my social skills. Can we chat for a bit?”
It was an odd interaction. Many fans volunteered to speak. The fans ended up being more shy than her, forcing Yun Li to become the one organizing the conversation.
After an hour, having gained a rare sense of accomplishment from socializing, Yun Li finally fell asleep peacefully.
…
Fu Shize’s insomnia hadn’t improved much. He woke up at two o’clock and couldn’t fall back asleep. He opened a drawer containing several types of sleeping pills. Thinking of Yun Li, he wordlessly closed the drawer.
Knowing he wouldn’t sleep, he went to the balcony to clean up the cigarette butts and beer bottles left there.
His parents had sent many messages, mostly telling him to eat well and take care of himself. Only the most recent one said, “Now that you have a girlfriend, take care of yourself so you can take care of her.”
He had been living a decadent life for nearly two years, so long that he had forgotten what a normal life looked like.
Over the past month with Yun Li, cooking for her and spending every day together, he realized his life could return to normal.
He wanted to take good care of her.
He wanted to give her a normal life.
As if answering himself, he picked up his phone and replied to his father with a simple “Mm.”
His relationship with his parents had always been distant, though deep down they all loved each other. Fu Shize wasn’t in the habit of communicating with them.
After some hesitation, he sent them a photo of himself with Yun Li.
Just after six, Fu Shize went to the 24-hour convenience store downstairs to buy breakfast.
When Yun Li woke up, Fu Shize was sitting in the living room. On the table were milk, toast, and fried eggs.
The balcony curtains and floor-to-ceiling windows were wide open, letting sunlight stream in. The balcony was clean and bright.
She checked the time – it was already 8:30.
“I was supposed to be taking care of your meals…” she said.
Fu Shize reheated the eggs in the microwave and placed them in front of her. “It doesn’t matter who takes care of whom.”
“Oh, about the gift your parents gave me – it’s a necklace,” Yun Li said, taking a sip of milk. “It seems quite expensive. I feel bad accepting it.”
“My parents like you. Just keep it,” Fu Shize said as he tore the toast into small pieces for her. Yun Li felt like a giant baby and resisted a bit. “I can do it myself—”
“What did my parents say?” Yun Li was quite happy to have gained his parents’ approval. Fu Shize replied, “They just said you’re good and told me to take care of you.”
Then, as if afraid of losing credit, he added, “But I want to take care of you regardless of what they say.”
After breakfast, Fu Shize took Yun Li for a walk around Jiangnan Yuan. He had grown up here and was intimately familiar with how each shop looked over a decade ago.
After having lunch, they returned to Jiangnan Yuan. Yun Li’s phone vibrated, and she picked it up to look.
Yin Yucheng: [Yun Li, shall I pick up your brother this afternoon?]
Yin Yucheng: [I have two movie tickets for 7 PM tonight. Yun Yi has to go to tutoring, so it would be a waste not to use them.]
Guessing that he wanted to learn about Yun Ye’s situation in person, Yun Li replied: [I’ll ask if Yun Ye wants to go.]
Yin Yucheng: [I’m quite interested in this movie. Would you like to go together?]
Yun Li was stunned for a moment.
This meaning… Yun Li thought it over and became increasingly certain of his intentions.
She carefully recalled that he had seen her with Fu Shize last year.
She stared at the screen for a while. Fu Shize noticed and looked at her. Yun Li voluntarily handed him the phone. He glanced at it and said coolly, “Trying to steal you away?”
“I’ll reply then,” Yun Li said, taking back the phone and typing [No].
“Wait,” Fu Shize stopped her from sending it. He took the phone back, tapped on the screen a few times, and hit send.
[My boyfriend doesn’t want me going out alone with other men. Sorry.]
[You met my boyfriend last time.]
Looking at this chat interface, Yun Li felt extremely awkward.
In the past, she had deleted all the men who had shown any hint of interest in her. With Yin Yucheng, she felt conflicted.
She asked Fu Shize, “Should I delete him? It feels so awkward.”
Fu Shize glanced at her. “Delete him.”
She had her finger on the delete button but canceled it. Turning to Fu Shize, she asked:
“But Yun Ye has a crush on his sister. If I delete him, won’t they think I’m difficult to get along with?”
“…”
“What if they take it out on Yun Ye? Wouldn’t I be ruining his lifelong happiness?”
“…”
“Besides, he might not have meant anything by it. Maybe he just wanted someone to watch the movie with.”
“…”
Yin Yucheng hadn’t replied. Yun Li sat there, conflicted for a long time, coming up with several plausible reasons.
She had been talking to herself for a while. Fu Shize, leaning on the sofa beside her, watched her lazily. Suddenly, he laughed, his tone lacking warmth. “Fine.”
Yun Li looked up. “?”
“You were so quick to delete me on WeChat.”
“…”
This ancient history had been dug up, leaving Yun Li dumbfounded. She tried to maintain her composure, taking a sip of water before saying awkwardly, “Oh, you knew about that? Why didn’t you ever mention it?”
Fu Shize gave her an unforgiving look.
So, he knew, hadn’t exposed it, but now felt unbalanced.
“I wasn’t that quick,” Yun Li explained dryly. Fu Shize crossed his arms, waiting for her to continue.
She thought carefully for a moment before saying, “I hesitated for quite a while before deleting you…”
“…”
Fu Shize couldn’t help but laugh, though he was still annoyed.
Just then, Yin Yucheng replied: [I’m sorry, I misunderstood some things. Let Fu Shize take you to pick up Yun Ye. I can give you the movie tickets.]
“How generous,” Fu Shize commented.
Yun Li was still in a state of high alert and carefully asked him, “So, should I delete this WeChat contact?”
Fu Shize looked at her, seemingly not angry. “No need.”
Despite his words, Fu Shize didn’t talk much all afternoon, though his behavior didn’t seem too different from usual.
Yun Ye arrived in Nanwu at 3 PM and nearly turned to stone when he saw the two people picking him up.
His understanding of Yun Li’s relationship status was still stuck at the failed pursuit stage. How had she become coupled up over just one final exam period?
Yun Li chatted with Yun Ye the whole way, with Fu Shize playing the role of a competent driver. Back at the apartment, Yun Li put on a movie for Yun Ye using the projector, then went to the kitchen to cut apples.
Yun Ye followed her, finally having a chance for the siblings to talk privately. He was incredibly frustrated: “How come you didn’t tell me you were dating?”
“Don’t meddle in adult affairs.”
Yun Ye: “Did you spend New Year’s Eve with him?”
Yun Li eyed him. “So what if I did?”
“You’ve forgotten your brother for a man!” Yun Ye angrily tried to grab her phone. “Give me back my New Year’s red envelope!”
“In your dreams.”
The two scuffled in the kitchen. Fu Shize heard the commotion from outside and leaned against the kitchen doorway.
“Brother,” Yun Ye called out, ceasing his actions and running to the living room.
She had tied on an apron. For a long time, it had been Fu Shize cooking. The last time he had seen this view was weeks ago.
Fu Shize closed the kitchen door and moved closer to Yun Li. With the sudden clarity of his body heat and Yun Ye’s TV sounds from the living room, Yun Li worried he might come in. She whispered, “I…”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, giving her face a slightly punishing kiss. “What is it?”
Yun Li replied, “… Nothing.” She fell silent, focusing on cutting apples on the chopping board.
“Delete me,” he said, his voice tinged with a slightly annoyed smile after being left out. “You’re still so passive now.”