In the end, Su Man never got to see Li Li.

Perhaps out of shame, or perhaps because he resented Su Man — after all, she was partly involved. If she hadn’t infuriated him so completely, he wouldn’t have charged out and started shouting.

In any case, Li Li had shut himself in his room and refused to see anyone.

Su Man was turned away at the door. Her opinion of Lu Yuwen’s assessment grew ever more settled — she thought Li Li would never quite shake off that student mentality. He was actually playing the “lock himself in and see no one” card. How childish.

Another day passed, and Su Man’s father was finally discharged from the hospital.

Su Man and Su Ma together brought her father home, and for the first time in nearly two months, the family of three sat down and shared a meal.

Su Ma’s father had spent some time recuperating at the hospital and had grown noticeably rounder and more cheerful. He asked his daughter with a grin, “So how are things going with young Lu?”

Su Man’s face went red. “What do you mean, how are things going?”

“Don’t you two eat together every day?” Su Ma’s father said. “And you don’t get back until eleven or twelve at night.”

“It’s not eleven or twelve!” Su Man protested, her face still burning. “He worries about disrupting my sleep, so he sends me home before eleven every night!”

Su Ma’s father marveled, “She’s defending him already.”

Su Man stiffened her neck, indignant. “I’m not defending him — I’m stating the facts.”

Su Ma’s father picked at his food with his chopsticks and nodded. “Of course, stating the facts… So then, what about Li Li — have you given him any thought? When it comes to long-term prospects, the relationship between men and women can’t be too ambiguous…”

Su Man: “…”

She suddenly found her father rather nosy…

Su Ma immediately chimed in. “What are you saying? Those two grew up together since childhood — they’re like brother and sister. What’s there to think about?! Manman, don’t listen to your father. Young Lu is a good man. You should treat him properly. In the past your work kept you too busy to even go on blind dates; now that you’re suspended, you finally have time — if you can make things definite, make them definite soon.”

“The way you tell it, Manman being suspended is actually a good thing?” Su Ma’s father was not pleased. “There are times when criticism is appropriate…”

“Criticize what? If you hadn’t arranged for her to work as a traffic officer, would your daughter have run into all that trouble out on the street?” Su Ma’s eyes widened, even more displeased than her husband. “She was up before dawn and out past dusk. Not a word of thanks from you, and now you want to criticize her?!”

Su Ma’s father said, “That’s not what I meant…”

Su Man quietly set down her bowl and chopsticks, gave a soft cough. “…I’m finished eating. I’ll head upstairs.”

The couple seemed not to hear her, bickering on without pause over the matter of her career. Su Ma’s father felt Su Ma spoiled the child too much; Su Ma felt Su Ma’s father didn’t care about the child enough. They went back and forth endlessly.

Su Man walked upstairs. By the time she reached the landing, the topic below had already leaped from her career to her love life.

“I’m not saying young Lu is bad — it’s just that they haven’t known each other very long…”

“Not long? How long would be long enough? Another ten or fifteen years like next door before it stops being ‘not long’?”

“And don’t be so hard on Li Li — that boy’s nature is good at heart. We’ve watched him grow up. We know his family inside and out…”

“Am I the one being hard on him? Have you seen what he’s done?! When he was injured he used Manman like a personal attendant, and the moment he recovered he called her a dog! It makes me so angry… If we hadn’t known them for this many years, I would have gone next door that very day and had words with his mother!”

“All right, all right, don’t work yourself up. He apologized, and he got a good beating for it too — let’s just let it go. Maybe after this he’ll learn to grow up a little. Boys need something to happen before they become men — I know that well enough myself…”

“Oh, spare me. There’s already a proper man right here courting our daughter. Why would our daughter bother waiting around for a boy to grow up? She has nothing better to do?”

“…Ah. Young Lu is a fine person, it’s just that he lives so far away. If it were Li Li, the daughter could marry someone close by and we’d get to see her all the time. If she goes far, even getting together for a visit becomes difficult…”

—