The three of them returned to the same dumpling stall.

The stall owner’s wife was boiling dumplings while the owner was wrapping them — husband and wife both worked swiftly, and business was good. Lu Yicheng, just as he had the last time, methodically wiped down the table and chairs with napkins before gesturing for Jiang Ruoqiao to take a seat.

The time between the two visits hadn’t actually been very long, yet this time felt completely different from the last.

When it came to food, all three of them had consistent, particular tastes.

Lu Siyan ordered corn, mushroom, and pork filling.

Lu Yicheng had cabbage and pork.

Jiang Ruoqiao, as always, went for the three-vegetable filling.

“Mommy, do you want to try mine? They’re so good!” Lu Siyan warmly invited Jiang Ruoqiao to sample his.

Jiang Ruoqiao picked one from his plate.

“I’ll try Daddy’s, then I’ll try Mommy’s~” Lu Siyan then remembered something very important. “Last time, Daddy packed up the leftover dumplings and said he’d pan-fry them for me the next day, but I never got to eat them — so I still don’t know what Mommy’s dumplings taste like!”

Jiang Ruoqiao also looked up at Lu Yicheng.

Lu Yicheng explained: “Have you forgotten? That night you and your Mommy stayed at the hotel.”

But Lu Siyan had no intention of letting this go so easily. “So… did Daddy eat the dumplings?”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “……”

She gripped her chopsticks and quickly bowed her head, hiding the laughter in her eyes.

She herself found it baffling — what was there to laugh about? When had her sense of humour dropped this low? Why was she laughing!

Lu Yicheng: “……”

Children this age had an extraordinarily strong desire to know everything.

They would ask until the adults had no answer left to give. If he didn’t respond now, who knew what the child might come out with next. He had no choice but to answer in a muffled, reluctant tone: “Yes.”

“You weren’t home, so the dumplings couldn’t go to waste,” Lu Yicheng added. “Wasting food is wrong.”

Lu Siyan propped his chin in one hand. “So in the end, Daddy still ate the dumplings Mommy left behind.”

Lu Yicheng: “Do you want some vinegar? I’ll go get some.”

Jiang Ruoqiao said hurriedly: “Yes please, and some chilli oil too — that one has a really nice fragrance.”

Lu Yicheng fled. With his long legs, he normally would have covered the distance in a few strides, but now he slowed his pace deliberately… By the time he returned and sat back down, Lu Siyan had moved on from the subject of that day’s dumplings entirely and was telling Jiang Ruoqiao about something that had happened at kindergarten today. Only then did Lu Yicheng breathe a sigh of relief.

Once she was sure Lu Siyan wasn’t going to circle back to the topic of those dumplings, Jiang Ruoqiao looked over at Lu Yicheng and asked: “You went to see my department head today, didn’t you.”

It was phrased as a question, but her tone was certain.

When it came to someone who would go to these lengths for her — Lu Yicheng was one of them.

Lu Yicheng was in the middle of pouring vinegar. He paused, then looked down, his tone even: “I happened to be passing by.”

Jiang Ruoqiao was certain that if she hadn’t brought it up, he — true to his nature — would never have mentioned it on his own. He could carry it to his grave without a word.

This person…

“Good deeds should be acknowledged by their doer,” said Jiang Ruoqiao.

Lu Yicheng gave a small laugh. “It hardly counts as a good deed.”

Jiang Ruoqiao picked up the thread, eyes smiling as she looked at him. “Is it just something you felt you should do?”

Lu Yicheng paused, momentarily caught off guard by the warmth in her gaze. He shook his head. “No.”

More accurately — this was something he had wanted to do.

Jiang Ruoqiao pressed with interest. “Then what?”

Lu Yicheng had no way out of it now. He said: “I just thought it would be a shame if you didn’t make the selection. If someone else deserved it more, that’s fine — but if you were knocked off the list because of me and Jiang Yan, I felt that was unfair.”

Jiang Ruoqiao propped her own chin in one hand, tapping her slender fingers against her cheek. “Lu Yicheng, I’d like to be your teacher for a day — may I?”

Lu Yicheng was momentarily startled. Seeing her expression, laughter entered his eyes as well. “Of course. Go ahead, Teacher Jiang.”

“When you do something for someone, you must let that person know,” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “Technology hasn’t advanced to the point of mind-reading. If you don’t say anything, how is the other person supposed to know? When I was little and watching dramas, there was one time I got so furious I was beside myself — the female lead did something for the male lead but said nothing about it, and the male lead assumed it was another girl who’d done it. I was so angry I didn’t even go out to buy an ice cream bar that day.”

Lu Yicheng burst out laughing.

His laugh was a little low.

But when he laughed like that, it was bright and open — the most beautiful expression of a twenty-year-old university student.

Clear eyes. A straight nose. White teeth. A sunlit smile.

“Don’t laugh,” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “This is a very serious matter. In the future,” — she paused — “if you do something like this for someone else again, remember to tell them.”

Lu Yicheng unconsciously let the smile fade from his face. “Someone else?”

Jiang Ruoqiao made a sound of agreement.

“I don’t know,” said Lu Yicheng. “I can’t imagine it. If — if in the future I do something for you, should I tell you? Is that what you mean?”

Jiang Ruoqiao was stunned.

What was wrong with this person?!

Why was he being so direct?!

She was exasperated, yet still nodded. “Yes. Tell me directly. What if someone else takes credit for what you did?”

Lu Yicheng: “?”

He shook his head, his gaze gentle. “That wouldn’t matter.”

Jiang Ruoqiao set her chopsticks down lightly.

Lu Siyan, who had been diligently eating his dumplings, felt his radar activate and go on alert.

He looked left, looked right, expression bewildered — what had happened? Why could he sense a dangerous energy radiating from Mommy?!

Jiang Ruoqiao looked at Lu Yicheng. “It matters to me.”

Lu Yicheng’s gaze met hers. His expression gradually grew still and earnest. In the end he gave a solemn nod — but still added: “I might find it a little embarrassing.”

After all, he hadn’t done anything remarkable. Surely not every small, insignificant thing needed to be reported to her?

Jiang Ruoqiao pointed at Lu Siyan. “Isn’t this a perfectly good messenger? Tell him, and he’ll tell me.”

Lu Siyan responded cleverly: “I’ll be charging for that service. No power, no work. Like my learning tablet — if you don’t charge it, it shuts down. I’ll shut down too.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “?”

Lu Yicheng’s expression eased from the awkwardness of a moment ago. “Sure — I’ll deduct it slowly from the hundred yuan you borrowed from me.”

Jiang Ruoqiao asked: “What hundred yuan?”

Lu Siyan wilted. “Your hair clip.”

Jiang Ruoqiao was wearing the cherry hair clip today as well.

“This one?” Jiang Ruoqiao reached up to touch the lifelike little cherries on the clip.

“Yes. I borrowed money from Daddy to buy it. I signed an IOU,” said Lu Siyan mournfully. “Daddy actually wants me to pay him back.”

……

Jiang Ruoqiao’s dumplings went unfinished as usual, with more than half remaining.

There was no microwave in the dorm, and Jiang Ruoqiao didn’t have the nerve to use high-wattage appliances there. This time Lu Yicheng looked perfectly composed as he took the takeaway container and packed up the rest of her dumplings. Summer had retreated completely; autumn had arrived. The three of them walked back along the road, with Lu Siyan holding Jiang Ruoqiao’s hand on the left and Lu Yicheng’s on the right, overflowing with happiness. He looked up at the moon hanging in the sky and let out a sound of wonder. “The moon is so beautiful tonight!”

Jiang Ruoqiao and Lu Yicheng both looked up at the moon.

In that moment, a phrase surfaced in Jiang Ruoqiao’s mind, unbidden: the moonlight tonight is truly lovely.

She turned instinctively to look at Lu Yicheng’s profile.

Lu Yicheng, as though he had sensed something, turned his head and their eyes met.

Both of them looked away. The hands holding Lu Siyan had grown faintly damp.

On the way back, they passed a stationery shop — the kindergarten teacher had assigned a craft homework project. All three of them ducked inside. Lu Siyan was rooted to the spot in front of the trading cards near the register, gazing longingly. Lu Yicheng and Jiang Ruoqiao divided the task.

Jiang Ruoqiao pulled up the class group chat record and read from it word by word: “Coloured paper, the same size as A4.”

Lu Yicheng bent down to look.

“A glue stick, and modelling clay and coloured markers.”

Jiang Ruoqiao had always felt that kindergarten craft homework wasn’t assigned to the children — it was assigned to the parents.

After finding the coloured paper, Jiang Ruoqiao was struck by a pleasant surprise. “This colour is gorgeous.”

She pointed to one sheet. “Rose dusty-pink. Absolutely stunning.”

Lu Yicheng, seeing that she liked it, picked out an entire stack in that colour.

At the register, Lu Siyan tugged at Lu Yicheng’s sleeve and whispered: “Daddy, can you get me some cards? I’ve been really well-behaved lately, haven’t I? I haven’t drawn turtles on the walls at all this whole week!”

Jiang Ruoqiao tried very hard not to laugh.

She genuinely could not understand the interests of small children.

These cards… what were they even for?

Why did kids love collecting them so much? And they weren’t cheap at all.

Lu Yicheng: “……”

He was helpless, but still bought Lu Siyan the cards.

Because of the new cards, Lu Siyan had no interest in his craft homework whatsoever, and Lu Yicheng ended up handling the entire project himself, scissors in hand, following the tutorial to completion. Sometimes it was Jiang Ruoqiao who did the craft assignments, sometimes it was Lu Yicheng — but now, whenever either of them saw the teacher post a new task in the parent group, their first reaction was: my head hurts.jpg

Jiang Ruoqiao would much rather be translating materials.

Lu Yicheng would much rather be reading his textbooks.

When Lu Yicheng had finally finished the craft assignment, Lu Siyan reluctantly set down his cards and his gaze landed on the rose dusty-pink paper that Jiang Ruoqiao had approved. “Daddy, fold me a flower. A rose.”

This was asking far too much of Lu Yicheng.

A rose at that level of difficulty — how would he know how to fold it? They thought too highly of his craft abilities. He had never folded anything like that before. Before he even knew kindergarten had craft homework, the only paper folding he’d ever done was paper aeroplanes — the kind that couldn’t even fly.

Lu Yicheng said honestly: “I don’t know how.”

Lu Siyan was utterly astonished. “Daddy definitely knows how!”

Lu Yicheng: “……I really don’t.”

“How can that be?!” Lu Siyan spread his arms wide. “We have a huge, huge bouquet of roses at home — all paper roses! Mommy said Daddy folded every single one!”

Lu Yicheng looked at Lu Siyan in surprise. He genuinely did not know how to fold a rose.

Lu Siyan continued: “Mommy said there are nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, and Daddy folded every one. Mommy said Daddy folded one each day, and after nine hundred and ninety-nine days he gave them to Mommy, and that’s why Mommy agreed to marry him!”

He wasn’t making it up.

There was a truly enormous bouquet at home — all paper roses.

No matter how much he misbehaved at home, there was one thing he never dared touch: those roses. Mommy said Daddy had folded them long ago. Mommy said if he ever damaged them, he’d find out exactly what a bamboo shoot stir-fry tasted like.

Mommy treasured those roses more than anything else. She didn’t mind if he ruined her lipstick or spilled her perfume — but he could not touch the roses.

How could he dare. How could he even think about it.

Lu Yicheng fell silent.

In that future — had he truly folded that many roses for her?

What a shame to disappoint Lu Siyan, but the Daddy of right now did not yet know how to fold a rose.

After Lu Siyan had fallen asleep, Lu Yicheng lay in bed without sleep coming. Eventually he got up quietly, went to the living room, searched on his phone for a tutorial on how to fold roses, took a sheet of paper, and studied the instructions with careful, focused eyes. His long, clean fingers worked through the steps. He lost track of how much time passed — until at last, in his hands, there was a rose.

Lu Yicheng gazed at it in a daze.

He thought he understood a little now, the feeling his future self must have carried.

One a day?

He carried the paper rose into the study, and placed it in the drawer with great care.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine days wasn’t actually very long.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine roses wasn’t actually very many.

Today was the first.