“Why don’t you try taking the college entrance exam? The result doesn’t matter,” Fei Ni said, her face still pressed against Fang Muyang’s back. “It’s fine if you don’t get in. You can keep painting anyway. When you have enough paintings, we can hold a small exhibition at home.

We’re better off than before—I can study while earning a salary, and my pay will increase after graduation. You don’t need to do any work besides drawing comics to earn royalties. Even if you’re not drawing comics for a while, it won’t affect your livelihood. We have savings, and after I graduate, my salary will increase to over fifty yuan. That’s enough for both of us to live on…”

“Are you planning to become my patron now?”

Fei Ni squeezed Fang Muyang’s arm. “What kind of patron would be as poor as me?” She had seen the books in Fang Muyang’s box and knew that some artists relied on patrons. She could support him for a year or two, but no longer than that. His taste had become more refined since working at the restaurant, and he frequently brought up the matter of canned abalone.

“As long as I have cabbage to eat each month, I’m not picky. What do you think?”

Fei Ni took it as a joke and agreed, “We can have something nice occasionally, not just cabbage all the time.”

Fang Muyang immediately took her seriously. “Then what would you like me to paint for you? I’m obligated to fulfill your requests.”

Fang Muyang indicated that besides painting, he could help Fei Ni make the bed and do whatever she wanted him to do.

Fei Ni asked, “Are you serious? You’ll do whatever I ask?”

“Of course I’m serious.”

“I hope you’ll take the college entrance exam with me. Having you there would make me feel more at ease.” She thought that with Fang Muyang’s foundation, even last-minute cramming might not be enough to pass, but there would be another exam next year—this one could be just for practice. If by chance he passed, that would be even better.

Fang Muyang squeezed Fei Ni’s hand tightly but said, “You’re hugging me too tight.”

Fei Ni embarrassedly loosened her grip. Fang Muyang turned around and embraced her, saying, “It’s my turn to hug you now.”

Fang Muyang held Fei Ni even tighter than she had held him. He cradled her face and kissed her forehead, moving downward.

Fei Ni tilted her head up to meet Fang Muyang’s kisses, but when his lips moved to her ear, she had to say, “Let’s go study.” She feared that if they continued, she wouldn’t be able to resist him. With just over a month until the college entrance exam, they needed to use all their time outside of rest for review.

Fang Muyang’s lips still pressed against Fei Ni’s ear as he finally agreed.

He gently brushed her ear and said, “But after the exam, I’ll have to make up for all my obligatory duties.”

Fei Ni gave a soft “mm” in response, the sound barely audible but reaching Fang Muyang’s ears with perfect clarity.

Fang Muyang had no choice but to continue preparing for the college entrance exam. He had only one requirement for Fei Ni: that neither should manage the other’s studies. If Fei Ni spent time helping him organize exam points, he would withdraw from the exam. He was so adamant that Fei Ni had to let him be. She didn’t have high expectations for him; she just wanted him to get a feel for the exam through this attempt.

Although Fang Muyang had said they shouldn’t manage each other’s studies, he still managed to obtain college entrance exam papers from over ten years ago for Fei Ni. She asked him, “Where did you get these papers?”

“Don’t worry about that—they’re genuine.”

The papers came with answer keys.

The answer keys were written by Fei Ni’s parents-in-law. Usually, such papers could be obtained with help from younger relatives at school, without requiring their effort. But they were now very hesitant to trouble others, so they solved the problems and wrote the answers themselves.

Even after the elderly couple had condescended to write them, Fang Muyang still doubted his father’s answers. Old Fang was indignant: “You’re underestimating your father. Do you think I can’t solve these simple college entrance exam questions?” It was simply preposterous.

Fang Muyang quickly appeased his father: “You’d be even worse at writing elementary school compositions. Your level is beyond what middle school students could achieve—they couldn’t even understand it.”

Old Fang, rarely complimented by his wayward son, found some truth in his words. He then helped find a young person to solve the test questions again. Fang Muyang didn’t even look at the answers before bringing them back to Fei Ni.

Fei Ni wanted Fang Muyang to do the papers too, so they could check their answers together afterward.

Fang Muyang refused outright, claiming he didn’t want to ruin his image in Fei Ni’s eyes. The real reason was that he was too lazy to do them—he didn’t even want to copy a single word with the answers right in front of him.

Fei Ni felt too embarrassed to tell Fang Muyang that she had no expectations of him; however poorly he did would be within her expectations.

So she chose different words: “I love you not because of your grades. However, you won’t change how I see you.” Her view of him was simply that he probably couldn’t solve many problems at all.

However, Fang Muyang still surprised Fei Ni—he did much better than she had imagined.

Many test questions were knowledge for others, but for Fang Muyang, they were common sense. Though he lacked formal knowledge, he possessed abundant common sense.

Fei Ni copied the papers Fang Muyang had obtained and gave them to her brother, essentially reviewing them again in the process of copying.

Fei Ting had originally not planned to take the college entrance exam, but he couldn’t withstand Lin Mei’s arguments. Lin Mei threatened that if Fei Ting didn’t register for the exam, she would terminate her pregnancy since the baby was his reason for not taking the exam.

Fei Ting didn’t completely give in: “If you think university is so good, why don’t you take the exam yourself? If not this year, then next year—you go to university, and I’ll stay home with the child.”

“You’re just mocking me. You know I get headaches whenever I study. In my third year of high school, I kept hoping they would cancel the college entrance exam so I wouldn’t have to explain to my parents why I couldn’t get into university. When it was canceled, you don’t know how happy I was—it felt like a dream. I thought I had finally escaped, but dreams coming true isn’t always a good thing.

Instead of graduating and getting assigned to a factory job, I was sent to the countryside. But I met you there, and I thought maybe that’s where the blessing had been waiting for me, that heaven had been kind to me after all. But the cancellation lasted so many years and held you back too. Sometimes I think how much better it would have been if they hadn’t canceled the exam—you wouldn’t have had such a hard time.” If not for Fei Ni’s help, Fei Ting might not have been able to return even now.

“Oh, you…” Fei Ting had meant to say, “Oh, you, how can you be so silly?” but he omitted the latter half, only saying, “Don’t tell others about this.” These weren’t exactly admirable thoughts to be shared around.

“I’m not stupid—I only tell you these things.” Lin Mei couldn’t help wondering, “If they hadn’t canceled the college entrance exam, would you still have married me?”

“No matter how things changed, I would still have married you. I like smart people like you.”

“You’re teasing me again, but I won’t mind. To register for the exam—just apply to the engineering institute near our home. You can come home for lunch after morning classes.”

Fei Ting had avoided the exam to not burden Lin Mei, but with her expressing such support, he had no reason to refuse anymore. After registering, he used every available moment to study. Unlike Fei Ni and Fang Muyang, he was almost thirty—he had no room for trial and error and had to pass on his first attempt.

Fei Ni often found her brother at noon, bringing him milk powder, canned food, malted milk, tea eggs made by Fang Muyang, and whatever exam papers and study materials she could get.

Fei Ting would accept only the study materials and nothing else. Through recent interactions, he had formed a good impression of his brother-in-law. But Fang Muyang had helped sell the furniture he’d made recently, and though Fei Ni bought things for the family with her salary, it was still their household’s joint property. Once or twice was fine, but too often… He didn’t want to affect his sister’s relationship with her husband by making Fang Muyang view their family as Fei Ni’s burden.

“These are gifts for Mom, Dad, and Sister-in-law—you can’t refuse on their behalf.”

With Fei Ni putting it that way, Fei Ting couldn’t refuse. When winter came, he bought a large basket of coal balls to send to his sister and brother-in-law.

The coal was of good quality and burned well. Though Fang Muyang wasn’t a frugal person, he rarely burned coal at home, feeling it unnecessary.

Fang Muyang didn’t work during the day, but he didn’t study either. He spent most of his time painting, and not just in their small courtyard—he went everywhere. One day he even went to the outskirts of the city to paint in the fields. The wind howled and crept into his collar, but he didn’t notice.

After finishing his painting, he bought some free-range eggs from local farmers, as the grocery store eggs weren’t enough. Then he cycled back to the city. The wind along the way made him warm up—he was in such a hurry to get home. No matter how far he went, he always made sure to return before Fei Ni got off work. In such cold weather, he needed to warm up the house for her.

Sometimes Fang Muyang would spend all day painting in his studio, and when it was almost time for Fei Ni to return, he’d quickly take a shower to wash off the turpentine smell. After the room warmed up, he would sit at his desk waiting for Fei Ni. When she came home and saw Fang Muyang reading, she would tell him to stop and rest before dinner—she always managed to get meat dishes.

On occasions when she couldn’t get meat, they still ate well. After Fang Muyang left his restaurant job, Fei Ni ate better than before. Lamb was scarce and supplied at random times, so Fang Muyang would queue up at four in the morning to buy it. They would slice the lamb and cook it in a hot pot with an alcohol burner.

Even without sesame paste, fermented bean curd, or other condiments, the meat alone was delicious. When the meat wasn’t enough, they would add a large bowl of noodles. Sometimes when Fei Ni finished studying and wanted to relax, she would slice steamed buns, coat them in egg batter, and fry them, serving half a plate with red tea as Fang Muyang’s midnight snack.

While studying at night, Fei Ni kept a hot water bottle in her arms and had a small charcoal stove nearby, which provided warmth and could also roast chestnuts and sweet potatoes.

Fei Ni would eat piping hot sweet potatoes while making Fang Muyang recite his lessons.

Although Fei Ni didn’t expect Fang Muyang to pass on his first try, she hadn’t completely given up on him. They became classmates again. Out of bed, they were classmates, solving problems and reviewing together; in bed, they remained classmates—Fei Ni was both a teacher and friend to Fang Muyang, but not a wife. After the lights went out, Fei Ni’s words to Fang Muyang increased dramatically as she tirelessly shared her study tips with him.

Sometimes Fang Muyang felt this was karma for not paying attention in class years ago, that even after marriage he had to listen to lectures in bed. To avoid disturbing each other, Fei Ni insisted they each use separate blankets. Fang Muyang would hug Fei Ni through the blankets, and she would tell him to put his arms back inside because it was too cold outside, but he would still keep his arms outside. Winter was too cold—one person was never as warm as two people together.