Fei Ni woke up early, feeling suffocated in the shelter. She carefully crept out with her flashlight to get some fresh air.

She didn’t need to worry about safety—the street was full of people, and no one dared to cause trouble at this time.

She had come out aimlessly, but when her flashlight beam swept across, she saw the small wooden shelter where she would be staying today. A faint light emanated from within.

Since she would be living in this small wooden shelter tonight, she couldn’t help but walk closer to examine it carefully. The shelter had a small door, which was open, and she saw Fang Muyang still wearing his miner’s lamp, holding a watch in his hand.

Fei Ni’s flashlight beam fell on Fang Muyang’s face. “Why aren’t you sleeping yet? You’ll be leaving soon, and you won’t be able to rest when you need to.”

Fang Muyang smiled at her, “It’s not even midnight yet, right? I can still sleep for four or five hours.”

“How could it not be midnight? Dawn is almost here, come out and look at the sky.”

“I can’t tell.”

“Didn’t you take my alarm clock? Where is it?”

“Look at this,” Fang Muyang handed her the watch he had just repaired, “What time is it really?”

Fei Ni took the watch; the hour hand pointed to four o’clock. Fang Muyang was teasing her again.

She remained silent as Fang Muyang said to her, “Put it on. Stop guessing the time—just look at it directly from now on.”

“Where did you get this?” She knew that such a watch, even second-hand, would cost quite a bit. She knew better than anyone how much money Fang Muyang had.

“This watch was broken when I bought it—just an empty shell. Even the valuable small parts inside had been removed. It cost about the same as an ice cream. None of the parts I used are original.” Fang Muyang added, “If you hadn’t asked, I would have been too embarrassed to tell you, afraid you wouldn’t wear it if you knew the price.”

While others boasted about their gifts, making inexpensive things sound valuable, he did the opposite, always trying to prove he was frugal.

“I think this watch looks very nice.” Fei Ni wasn’t just comforting him; she truly felt that way. “You haven’t slept because you were fixing the watch?” She remembered the “Watch Repair Manual” he had been reading—he must have spent a long time fixing it…

“I slept for a while, then woke up.” This was true. After finishing the shelter last night, he had succumbed to exhaustion and slept inside. Fei Ni’s alarm clock had woken him.

“Then get some more sleep.”

“Let me put the watch on for you.” Without asking for Fei Ni’s permission, Fang Muyang wrapped the watch around her wrist, secured it, and held her hand to examine it. “It fits even better than I imagined.”

When Fei Ni tried to pull away, Fang Muyang held her wrist and took out an envelope, pressing it into her hand. “This is my advance allowance for two months.”

“Keep it for yourself.”

Fang Muyang smiled, “If I keep it, I won’t have anywhere to spend it. Didn’t you say I don’t know how to spend money? From now on, I’ll let you manage all the money I earn.”

Fei Ni held the envelope, momentarily speechless.

Fang Muyang mentioned a restaurant in the East City, telling Fei Ni to go there in a few days to try the steamed bass. He always thought the bass tasted best this time of year; later it wouldn’t be quite as good. Of course, the last time he had eaten this dish was several years ago.

He knew more about the city’s restaurants than most people. His grandmother rarely took him to restaurants, always believing they were neither hygienic nor tasty. Forget about the chef’s skills—they used the same spatula for different dishes without washing it, which ruined the original flavors. His grandmother didn’t know that after eating too much sweet potato and vegetable porridge, Fang Muyang was more than willing to go to restaurants. Even if the kitchen didn’t wash their vegetables, he’d still go—he couldn’t care less whether they cleaned the spatula between dishes. Whenever he acted like a well-behaved child, parents taking their children to restaurants would include him too. His table manners had been strictly taught—no wolfing down food, no making sounds—so he could only work on his chewing and chopstick speed. His quick hands were partly trained at the dining table.

The year he went to the countryside as an educated youth, he received nearly a hundred yuan in allowance. Suddenly having so much money, he naturally wanted to spend it on food. While others used their allowance to buy daily necessities, he went from restaurant to restaurant. The food wasn’t as good as when he was young, but it was still good. Remembering Fei Ni who had given him one yuan, he went to her house to invite her to eat with him. Fei Ni flatly refused, perhaps worried he would invite her but expect her to pay.

He told Fei Ni about his youth allowance, saying it was enough to treat her to meals for several days. Fei Ni looked at him in shock, as if using the allowance for meals was some unforgivable sin. She suggested he buy some daily necessities instead. She said that no matter what, she wouldn’t eat with him.

Fang Muyang thought Fei Ni was boring, so he went alone to eat steamed bass. The fish was very fresh that day, and he felt sorry that Fei Ni missed it. Before going to the countryside, he went to the post office and sent her five yuan as thanks for lending him money before. Then he used the remaining five yuan to buy some necessities and went to the countryside feeling unburdened, unlike others in his train compartment whose families had spent hundreds of yuan on supplies, filling entire boxes with just toothpaste and soap.

Somehow Fei Ni had found out his address in the countryside and sent the five yuan back to him. Since she had returned it, he naturally wouldn’t send it back again—it wouldn’t even cover the postal fees. He took the money to the county town, had a good bath, and ordered a bowl of noodles with braised meat at a noodle shop, working up a good sweat.

“If you think it’s so good, why don’t you eat there before leaving today?”

Fang Muyang smiled, “I went, but these are extraordinary times—they’re not selling.” He had wanted to buy a fish for Fei Ni to try, but couldn’t.

Fei Ni thought about how this person who loved comfort was going to suffer hardship again. He didn’t seem to mind much.

“Didn’t you want me to strive for progress? I thought you would be very supportive.”

“Of course I support you.”

Fang Muyang knew she was saying one thing but thinking another. Fei Ni’s reluctance to let him go to the earthquake zone was unexpected to him.

Fei Ni had always wanted him to be ambitious; not going would be an unambitious choice. If he met with an accident and couldn’t return, she would certainly grieve for him, but it wouldn’t be without benefits—the house would be hers alone, and as his family member, she might even fulfill her wish of going to university. While mourning him, she might even feel grateful.

After fully regaining his memory, Fang Muyang understood perfectly well why Fei Ni had come to take care of him and why she had married him. But he was different from others—he only looked at results, not motives. He liked Fei Ni, and she was willing to marry him, which was the best outcome possible. As for whether Fei Ni liked him or not, he didn’t care. He used to like playing the violin and never asked if the violin wanted to be played.

But now she would rather he didn’t progress, and Fang Muyang felt an unprecedented reluctance at seeing the worry between her brows. This had never happened before—he was used to partings, but the witty remarks that usually came so easily to him couldn’t make it past his lips last night.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a few days.”

Fei Ni entered the small wooden shelter but kept looking outside. Fang Muyang took off his miner’s helmet and set it aside. The light in the wooden shelter grew dimmer, with only Fei Ni’s flashlight still shining.

“How long approximately?”

“No more than two months.” Fang Muyang held Fei Ni’s hand and wrote an address on it, writing slowly and deliberately, as if afraid she wouldn’t recognize his characters if the strokes weren’t perfect. “If anything happens, go find Editor Fu at the publishing house. I’ve already spoken to him. If I don’t come back, just tell the publishing house directly what you need, don’t be shy about making requests—he’ll help you solve problems.” Fang Muyang joked again: “But don’t ask for too much. If you ask him to get you a Red Flag car to drive, even he can’t do that.”

He had already written the address on the back of the envelope, but now he wrote it again on her hand to help her remember. Perhaps pleased with his handwriting, Fang Muyang held her fingers and examined them.

“Can’t you be serious? Am I not serious enough?”

“Always saying such unlucky things…”

“We’re both atheists—what’s lucky or unlucky about it? Even if I stayed at home, there would still be a chance of something happening, wouldn’t there?”

Fei Ni pulled her hand from Fang Muyang’s grip and used the back of her hand to cover his mouth.

Her hand reached out, but this time she couldn’t pull it back.