Fei Ni hastily parked her bicycle and rushed inside. Fang Muyang had just turned around with his number tag when he came face to face with her. Knowing he could no longer avoid her, he could only smile.

This was a more economical version of Fang Muyang – he had lost considerable weight, which would save fabric when making clothes, though the savings would be limited since his height remained unchanged. When Fei Ni looked at him, she felt a familiar strangeness. The day she decided to care for him at the hospital, he had looked similar to now, or perhaps even better – at least then his eyes weren’t bloodshot, and his lips weren’t as chapped as they were now, looking as if he hadn’t had water for days.

“When did you get back?”

“Today. I just came from the publishing house and was planning to take a bath before heading home.” He had encountered Fei Ni before he could bathe or get a haircut.

“Why didn’t you respond when I called out to you earlier?”

“You called me?” In truth, he had heard her first call – he had never heard Fei Ni speak so loudly before. He could even judge their distance apart by her voice, just as she had recognized him from not far away.

“How could you not hear such a loud voice?”

“Let’s talk outside.”

Because what he wanted to tell Fei Ni wasn’t suitable for others to hear, he spoke very quietly: “A few days ago, I dreamed you were calling me, but when I woke up, it was all just my imagination. Just now, I thought I was dreaming again. I was afraid if I turned around, your voice would disappear.”

His words were half-truth, half-fiction, but spoken so convincingly that one could hardly doubt their sincerity.

As Fang Muyang spoke, he watched Fei Ni, knowing that when she became self-conscious under his gaze, she would stop staring at his current disheveled state. However, contrary to his expectations, Fei Ni didn’t lower her head but continued looking up at him. Fang Muyang decided to let go of his reservations and allow her to look her fill.

As they stared at each other, Fei Ni finally broke: “What are you smiling at?”

“I’ve just realized how much you like looking at me.” Fang Muyang maintained his slight smile and lowered his voice, “You should go first. After I bathe, I’ll come home, and you can look all you want – wherever you want to look.”

Fei Ni reproached him: “We’re on the street – can’t you be more proper?”

“We’ll save such talk for home.” Fang Muyang’s expression indeed became more serious as he told her things others couldn’t hear, “You should hurry home. I didn’t bring our marriage certificate – if someone mistakes me for a hooligan harassing a married woman and arrests me, you’ll have to come bail me out.”

Fei Ni wondered how he could still joke around in his current state.

“Do you have a change of clothes?” Fang Muyang’s current clothes could still be worn if washed clean, the fallen buttons sewn back on, and the holes in the trouser legs properly patched. The holes in the trouser legs weren’t very noticeable unless one looked carefully.

“What I’m wearing now is freshly changed today.” He had taken two sets of clothes with him; the other set had been discarded. This set he wore now had been washed and only put on today.

Without fabric coupons to use, he could only buy second-hand clothes from the consignment store. Finding clean, unstained, unpatched, and well-fitting clothes among used ones wasn’t easy – pants were either too loose or too short. Looking through everything, he decided his current outfit was still better. He resolved to exchange some money for fabric coupons tomorrow to buy new clothes; for now, this would have to do.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Fang Muyang smiled and said, “Not at all. If I hadn’t seen others changing into autumn clothes, I’d think it was still summer.”

“Our new house is ready. I’ve already moved in.”

“But we haven’t made the furniture yet, have we?”

“I bought some used pieces to make do. You’ll see when you get back.” Fei Ni glanced at her watch, “Go take your bath. I’ll visit my parents first, then come back for you. Wait for me at the entrance after you’re done, and we’ll go to a restaurant together.”

She didn’t give Fang Muyang a chance to respond, mounting her bicycle and heading to her parents’ home.

Since moving out, Fei Ni has been returning to her parents’ home every Sunday for meals. If Fang Muyang had been a few pounds heavier, she would have brought him along to eat with them. But he was too thin now – her parents might worry about her if they saw him in this state. She wondered how he had become so thin, though his voice didn’t sound weak, and he didn’t seem to be suffering from hunger.

Before going to her parents’, Fei Ni first went to the food store to buy sachima and caozigao pastries. She took these treats to the plump old lady on the second floor, who enjoyed eating and wasn’t particular about clothes, often exchanging fabric coupons for food coupons. The old lady was delighted with the pastries and gave Fei Ni fabric coupons, though they weren’t enough to make trousers for Fang Muyang. If only his legs were a bit shorter, it wouldn’t be so difficult. His build was the most uneconomical type – some tall people carried their height in their upper body, which was manageable since upper garments had some flexibility in length, but leg length couldn’t be compromised – even half an inch too short in trousers would be very noticeable.

She couldn’t borrow fabric coupons from her parents either – they had used all of theirs preparing her wedding items. If she had insisted on using the defective fabric from her sister’s factory to make Fang Muyang’s bedding back then, she wouldn’t be so worried now.

When Fei Ni arrived home, her parents were preparing vegetables. Because Fang Muyang hadn’t returned for so long, Mother Fei had been anxious and had lost her appetite these past few days. Learning that her son-in-law had returned, she finally felt relieved and asked Fei Ni, “Why didn’t Xiao Fang come with you for dinner?”

Fei Ni had to lie: “His colleagues knew he was back and specially invited him to dinner, and I’m going too. We’ll come next Sunday.”

“Then why did you come back?”

“Just to let you know.”

When Fei Ni reached the public bathhouse entrance, Fang Muyang was already out. The bathhouse offered haircuts and shaves, and he emerged looking like a new person, though his eyes were still bloodshot and his lips still chapped.

After being away for so many days, what hadn’t changed was how Fang Muyang treated Fei Ni’s bicycle as his own. He stepped onto it, and Fei Ni naturally hopped onto the back seat.

Fang Muyang ordered generously at the restaurant, and seeing how thin he was, Fei Ni agreed he should eat more.

While eating, Fei Ni only picked at the vegetables, so Fang Muyang placed a tomato-sauce shrimp on her plate, “Why are you eating like a rabbit?”

“Don’t worry about me, I can serve myself.”

“I want to eat some vegetables too, Fei Ni. Don’t be selfish – you should leave some for me.” Fang Muyang put some de-boned fish on Fei Ni’s plate and took some vegetables for himself, “If I only wanted meat, I would have ordered all meat dishes.”

Fei Ni glared at Fang Muyang before taking a bite of the fish.

When Fei Ni reached for some Chinese cabbage, Fang Muyang intercepted it with his chopsticks. After eating it, he praised her: “You know how to pick the best vegetables – the piece you chose tastes better than what I picked.”

Having eaten Fei Ni’s vegetables, Fang Muyang, feeling compensatory, gave her another shrimp.

Fei Ni had expected Fang Muyang to be overjoyed at the sight of food and try to finish everything they ordered, given how thin he was, but she saw no urgent desire for meat dishes.

While de-boning fish, Fang Muyang said, “The food where I was wasn’t as bad as you imagine.”

“Then why do you look like this now?”

Fang Muyang stared at Fei Ni with a smile: “What about me dissatisfies you? Tell me.”

“I’m not dissatisfied with anything. Just eat more – you’re too thin. You’ll feel your bones when you sleep.”

This time Fang Muyang complied readily, saying, “It doesn’t matter if I feel my own bones, I just worry about bothering others with them. You make a good point.”

His words carried other implications, and Fei Ni momentarily thought of things she shouldn’t. She found him too frivolous, but if she scolded him, he would surely say she was the one with inappropriate thoughts, especially since she had started this line of conversation.

Fei Ni stopped talking and lowered her head to eat. When she reached for some tofu, Fang Muyang directly spooned it into his bowl.

Seeing Fei Ni’s frown, Fang Muyang split the tofu he had taken in half, eating one portion and placing the other on Fei Ni’s plate.

“It’s strange, but I always feel the food you pick tastes better.”

Annoyed, Fei Ni started putting all the shrimp, meatballs, and fish onto his plate, “Since you like eating food others pick for you, hurry up and eat these.”

Fang Muyang expressed his gratitude: “You’re so good to me, I don’t know how to repay you.”

“If you want to repay me, stop saying such mushy things.”

Fang Muyang put some de-boned fish on Fei Ni’s plate, urging her to eat.

“I said I can manage myself. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Fang Muyang said, “If you like vegetables and tofu, I’ll cook them for you. I can’t cook fish, and shrimp is too troublesome, so you’d better eat more of them here.”

“Even if you could cook, you couldn’t do it now. We don’t have a gas cylinder or coal balls at home, just a small electric stove that I occasionally use to cook noodles. We should just eat at the cafeteria.”

“It’s too unfair to you to always eat at the cafeteria.”

“I don’t mind. If you feel it’s unfair, you could cook yourself. But I advise against it – what you’d make probably wouldn’t be as good as the cafeteria. Given that we don’t even have a knife, the cost of buying all the kitchen equipment would be too high. You’d better save the money for clothes.” He had no autumn or winter clothes – getting everything from head to toe would be a significant expense.

Fei Ni put more food on Fang Muyang’s plate and urged him to eat quickly.

When it came time to pay, Fang Muyang paid before Fei Ni could.

“Where did you get the money?” Before leaving, he had advanced two months’ allowance and given it all to her.

“I got paid for my illustrations today.” Fang Muyang kept ten yuan and gave the rest to Fei Ni, “From now on, you’ll manage all my money.”

Fei Ni didn’t refuse. She calculated that this money, combined with what Fang Muyang had left her before, would be enough to buy two seasons’ worth of clothes, and they could be of better quality too.

The autumn wind was somewhat cool. Sitting on the back of the bicycle, Fei Ni watched as Fang Muyang’s shirt billowed in the wind, almost puffing up into her face.

She told him, “I have a needle and thread at home. When we get back, you should sew on that top button that fell off.”

“What for? I never button it anyway.”

“Suit yourself.”

Fearing Fang Muyang might have too high expectations and be disappointed by the new house, Fei Ni gave him a warning.

Fang Muyang consoled her: “I’ll love any home you’ve arranged.”

Fei Ni didn’t believe him and only said, “Well, it is practical, that’s for sure.”

Fang Muyang followed Fei Ni up the stairs, and upon entering, he immediately saw the bunk bed.

Fei Ni explained how to use it: “I sleep on top, you sleep below. Each level is made by joining two single beds together. I suggest you sleep on the outer bed – the inner one can store clothes and other things, holding as much as a wardrobe would.”