“Du Lai, why has your girlfriend been staying in the tent the whole time?” Bai Youwei asked with a cheerful smile. “Is she not hungry, or does she think your flatbread is too unappetizing?”

Du Lai blinked, then glanced at the flatbread in his hand and laughed. “It really isn’t very good.”

“Tell her to come out and eat with us,” Bai Youwei said generously. “We cooked plenty — it’d be such a waste not to finish it all.”

—

Du Lai didn’t take her up on the offer. He gave a half-smile and said, “Braised beef takes a long time to get tender, doesn’t it? I didn’t see either of you do anything, and yet you’ve got this piping-hot meal to eat. That’s quite enviable.”

Bai Youwei kept her expression neutral and continued inviting him: “Would you like to try some? It really is delicious~”

Du Lai silently bit off a piece of flatbread, washed it down with cold water, and said, “Thanks, but you two should eat it yourselves.”

He brushed the crumbs off his clothes, stood up, and went back into the tent.

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo exchanged a glance.

They were just about to say something when the sound of a woman complaining drifted out from the tent:

“Why didn’t you let me go out to eat? I want to eat! What are you afraid of them for…”

“You can’t eat…” That was Du Lai’s voice.

It was immediately swallowed up by the woman’s:

“This I can’t do! That I can’t do! Is there anything at all I’m allowed to do?! If that’s how it is, then why did you bother saving me? You might as well have just let me die! …”

The voice dropped lower — it sounded like Du Lai was coaxing her.

After a while, the voice took on a tearful edge:

“Now that I’ve become like this, you don’t love me anymore, do you?”

Du Lai’s voice, faintly tinged with helplessness: “I do love you…”

The woman: “Then say it. Say ‘I love you.'”

Du Lai: “I love you.”

The woman: “Say it louder!”

Du Lai: “Cough… they’ll hear us…”

The woman: “So what if they hear?! Does our love embarrass you? If that’s how you feel, then why did you save me? You might as well have just let me die!”

……

Outside, Bai Youwei and Shen Mo: “……”

Bai Youwei mouthed silently to Shen Mo: “Du Lai’s girlfriend has quite a personality~”

Shen Mo glanced at the tent and lowered his voice. “It looks like we guessed wrong. Du Lai has no time to scheme against us right now. Let’s head out a bit earlier.”

Bai Youwei thought about it and nodded. “Yeah, alright.”

……

Du Lai truly had no time to scheme against anyone. For the rest of the evening he was almost entirely occupied with appeasing his girlfriend.

It was genuinely remarkable.

A man like him — a street performer who had drifted all his life, who had learned to read people, who had mastered the art of folk tricks and petty deceptions — and yet here he was with this one woman, soft-spoken, endlessly patient, and willing to bend himself however she needed.

Bai Youwei felt her understanding of Du Lai had been far too shallow before. Today had truly opened her eyes.

And then there was also…

She sneaked a glance at Shen Mo.

If she acted like Du Lai’s girlfriend — making a scene, throwing a fit — would Shen Mo be just as patient with her?

Hmm…

She felt a faint, irrepressible urge to find out.

……

Shen Mo was packing up their things.

He had a very methodical approach to such tasks. He smothered the fire with sand, packed up the bowls and utensils, took down the tent, folded and bundled it, wound the ropes loop by loop — all of it flowing and effortless, his arms tracing smooth, solid lines with each movement.

Sensing Bai Youwei’s gaze on him, he turned and looked at her. “What is it?”

Bai Youwei stared straight into his eyes and quietly asked, “Do you love me?”

Shen Mo paused, then glanced at the tent across the road — and understood immediately that Bai Youwei had been “inspired.” The corner of his mouth curved involuntarily.

When he didn’t answer, Bai Youwei considered carefully, then asked, “Does this question… make you hesitate?”

Shen Mo walked over, bent down, and lightly touched her lips with his, then smiled and replied, “It’s fine.”

Bai Youwei: “……”

*It’s fine?* What on earth did *that* mean?

—