Childhood sweethearts growing up side by side — the idea is deeply appealing to many people.

Probably because everyone hopes that the person they love has been beside them since childhood, sharing in all the bittersweet experiences of growing up, gradually cultivating a bond that nothing can break through years of daily togetherness.

In reality, however, it rarely works out that way.

Because of human biology — especially for males — there is a greater tendency to be drawn to the mysterious and the novel. Someone who is overly familiar tends not to stir feelings of love; what grows instead is more akin to friendship or familial affection.

……

Auntie Zhang had said Li Li hadn’t come around yet.

But Lu Yuwen believed that “coming around” had nothing necessarily to do with age or field of study. It only had to do with who the other person was.

In plainer terms: if Li Li didn’t feel a spark for Su Man today, then tomorrow or the day after, he most likely still wouldn’t.

Footsteps sounded from outside — slippers dragging heavily against the floor, the muffled sound announcing that their wearer was in a very bad mood.

Su Man came back, visibly annoyed.

Auntie Zhang had already set the table with bowls and chopsticks and had ladled a bowl of congee for each of them. When she saw Su Man return, she asked curiously, “What’s the matter?”

Su Man pulled her chair back with a sharp scrape and dropped into it with a dark expression. “Li Li is so ungrateful. I was kind enough to bring him congee, and he complained that I woke him up! The commendation ceremony is today — how can he not get up earlier? He wouldn’t even open his door for me!”

Auntie Zhang laughed, as though this was nothing new. “You two — not a single day without bickering. And you used to be inseparable when you were little.”

Upon hearing that, Su Man felt a twinge of wistfulness. “I know… when we were kids he followed me everywhere. When I went to summer camp and he couldn’t see me, he even cried. Now he acts like I’m nothing but a nuisance.”

Lu Yuwen offered some comfort. “It’s because he’s close to you that he doesn’t watch his words around you. Don’t dwell on it — drink your congee before it gets cold.”

Su Man felt slightly better. She looked up and gave him a small smile. “Li Mister and Li Madam both said it smelled wonderful. He likes to sleep in — serves him right for missing the congee.”

Lu Yuwen smiled as well and pushed the bowl a little closer toward her. “Are you going to stay at the hospital for the rest of the day once you get there?”

Su Man: “Mm. My mom is very particular about beds — she definitely didn’t sleep well last night. I’ll go take over for her today and come back tonight.”

She lowered her head and took a couple of sips of congee, and her eyes lit up as though the taste had genuinely surprised her.

She was the sort whose looks leaned mature and striking, yet she would occasionally let slip a streak of childlike guilelessness — that odd, contradictory combination made her seem interesting and endearing.

Lu Yuwen watched her drink her congee, and slowly, he found the congee tasted better to him too.

“Su Mister will be in the hospital for another month — it must be exhausting, running back and forth between here and there. You might want to consider hiring a hospital aide.”

Su Man shook her head. “That won’t work. Even if we hire someone, my mom would still need to go every day. You don’t know my dad — he looks tough, but he’s terribly fussy. If he doesn’t see my mom for even a day, he acts as though he’s been abandoned and forgotten, pitiful and unloved — so she’ll definitely keep going.”

Lu Yuwen smiled. “The bond between your uncle and auntie is enviable.”

Auntie Zhang came out from the kitchen carrying an insulated lunchbox and caught those words. She smiled warmly too. “Isn’t it! I’ve worked here for over ten years and I’ve never once seen Mister and Madam argue.”

Su Man gave a playful wink. “They most certainly have argued — my mom goes at him at least seven times a week, complaining he’s too clingy!”

Auntie Zhang shook her head with a fond laugh. “That doesn’t count, that doesn’t count…”

Lu Yuwen listened to them talk, stirring his congee at a leisurely pace, a warm smile resting at the corners of his mouth.

“The way parents treat each other tends to shape their children. You’ll probably find a husband just like your uncle someday.”

Su Man nodded without hesitation. “Of course I—”

Of course…

The sentence caught in her throat, the third word swallowed back.

She thought of Li Li.

He already found her tiresome beyond measure now — so how could he ever be as devoted to her as her father was to her mother?

With that thought, her mood quietly sank…

*[Author’s note: At this moment I feel like a teacher, squinting as I survey the classroom — calling roll only to find hardly any students have shown up, then slamming my lesson plan down on the podium in fury: That’s it, class is canceled! The students, terrified, run from all directions begging: Teacher! Please teach us! We want to learn! My anger finally subsides, and with an air of lofty dignity I pick the lesson plan back up, clear my throat: Ahem, class begins now — open to Chapter 14… Oh, I haven’t written Chapter 14 of the Eel arc yet.]*

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