It was a dangerous question. If Fang Muyang gave an exact number, Fei Ni might ask how he remembered so precisely; if he said he couldn’t remember, she might suggest there were too many to count.

Fang Muyang smiled and said, “If you asked how many portraits I’ve drawn, I might give you a number, but if you’re asking how many men versus women, I don’t know. Except for you, others’ gender doesn’t matter to me.”

Fei Ni smiled too. “How many girls have you said that to?”

“Of course, only to you.”

Fei Ni looked down at her fingers, shaking her head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Such words, when I say them to you, are proper—not only am I obligated to say them, but you’re obligated to hear them. But if I said them to others, that would be harassment, and they might even report me. Do I look like someone who would harass others?”

“You don’t think you do?”

“So you’re determined to be jealous today.”

“Who’s jealous?”

“We didn’t put any vinegar in the noodles, yet why do I smell something sour?”

Fei Ni quickly retorted, “Your sweet talk is what makes my teeth ache.”

“Your teeth are sour? Let me take a good look.” Fang Muyang leaned close to her ear. “I have even more saccharine things to tell you if you’ll allow it.”

Fei Ni didn’t want to hear more and urged, “The noodles will get cold if you don’t eat them soon. Hurry up.”

“Would these noodles taste better with some vinegar?”

“If you want vinegar, buy it yourself. Don’t blame it on me.”

“I mean eating vinegar is good for health, and I’m happy for you to have more.”

Fei Ni knew that if she asked more about Ling Yi now, Fang Muyang would only become more pleased, thinking she was jealous. Not wanting to give him that satisfaction, she stood to go to the water room, but Fang Muyang caught her hand, using his freshly trimmed nails to tickle her palm. “Stay a while longer. Whatever you want to ask, I’ll tell you. I want you to know more about me.”

The tickling made Fei Ni flush with embarrassment. She pulled her hand away and stuffed the last piece of abalone in his mouth. “Who wants to hear you talk?”

She glanced at the watch he had given her—it was already so late. Today was Saturday, and that dreaded regular time was approaching.

That sound appeared punctually every Tuesday and Saturday. On Tuesday, Fang Muyang had been making furniture outside and hadn’t heard it. Today, she didn’t want him to hear it either. Future concerns could wait for the future; today absolutely wouldn’t do.

Though Fei Ni had been reluctant to speak to Fang Muyang after being teased about jealousy, she now had to initiate conversation: “Weren’t you going to stretch the sofa fabric today? I’ll help you.”

Fang Muyang was puzzled by her sudden enthusiasm for the sofa she disliked, and smiled, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow we’re having dinner at my parents’ house, and we need to go early.” Fei Ni left him no choice, saying directly, “Where’s your sweater? Put it on quickly, let’s go down together.”

Fang Muyang sensed something was off—Fei Ni’s urgency seemed unusual—but since he wanted to stargaze with her anyway, he agreed.

The stars were particularly numerous that night. Under the streetlight, Fei Ni helped Fang Muyang stretch the sofa fabric for fixing.

The sofa was too large—with it and the low cabinet in place, there would be no room for the piano.

But since the sofa was already made, she could only try to appreciate its good points.

“When did you learn carpentry?”

“When I went to the countryside.”

“It must have been hard.” Fei Ni guessed that besides carpentry, he also had to work in the fields. Sent-down youth weren’t like those in the Production and Construction Corps—they had no salary and could only earn work points for food.

“It was alright.” He didn’t think it had been particularly difficult, just boring being stuck in one place unable to leave. According to regulations, since he had no house in the city and his parents weren’t there, he couldn’t return for family visits. He couldn’t travel elsewhere either, as train tickets required introduction letters. During Spring Festival, while others took leave to visit family, he stayed alone at the youth station. The locals were quite welcoming, inviting him to celebrate with them. But while others reunited with their families, he and his parents and siblings were scattered in four different places. If Ling Yi hadn’t committed suicide, he wouldn’t have wanted to give up his university opportunity to her—at least university would have meant a change of location. Last summer was his first family visit leave. If he hadn’t secretly returned home by tagging along with a classmate and encountered that rainstorm, who knows where he’d be now?

“You seem able to adapt anywhere.” For a moment, she even felt envious.

“But I still prefer being with you.”

Fei Ni hadn’t expected him to say that. He always came out with such statements unexpectedly, leaving her at a loss for words.

After a long while, she finally said, “You learned so many things in the countryside, how come you never learned to wash clothes properly?” The way he scrubbed, clothes would lose half their life span.

Fang Muyang didn’t tell Fei Ni that the female sent-down youth at the station had helped wash his clothes and bedding, even taking apart and washing his quilts. In exchange, he helped them carry water and do heavy field work. Sometimes, they would even compete to mend his clothes. It was purely mutual assistance, but fearing Fei Ni might misunderstand, he only said his hands were clumsy and hadn’t improved despite years of practice.

“Your hands are clumsy?” Fei Ni wanted to say his hands were quite skillful when drawing, especially when drawing girls, but instead said, “Isn’t your carpentry work quite good?”

“Do you like this sofa?”

It was almost finished—how could she say she didn’t like it? Fei Ni said the sofa was very nice.

“With the sofa, there won’t be room for your piano, will there?”

Inwardly, Fei Ni thought, ‘I told you earlier there was no room for a sofa, but you wouldn’t listen and insisted on making it.’ But since he’d already made it, she couldn’t dampen his spirits. The apartment was also Fang Muyang’s, and he had the right to choose the furniture he liked—the only problem was the small size. Besides, this new home probably meant even more to him than to her. Before having this new home, she had lived with her parents—cramped but still home. But Fang Muyang had faced greater hardship, sleeping in communal dormitories in a strange place.

Thinking this way, Fei Ni said, “The piano, even if we buy it, I’d only play a few pieces all year round.” She checked her watch—the neighbors’ business should be finished. She said to Fang Muyang, “Let’s go back, we can continue tomorrow.”

Fang Muyang quickly took off his sweater and laid it on the wood for Fei Ni to sit on.

“Put it back on, it’s cold!” Fei Ni immediately picked up his sweater and added, “It’ll get dirty there.”

“Sit for a while, let’s look at the stars together.”

“Aren’t you cold?”

“If you sit closer to me, I’ll be warm.”

But Fei Ni didn’t move closer to Fang Muyang, though when he leaned toward her, she didn’t push him away. He held her hand, wanting to warm it. His hand was indeed warm—though he’d removed his sweater, the heat from working remained concentrated in his hands, quickly transferring to hers.

Fei Ni quietly told Fang Muyang not to sit so close, as night patrols would consider a man and woman together a target for scrutiny.

“We’re married—worst case, we can show them our marriage certificate.”

“Why invite that trouble?”

“If they had any observational skills, they’d know we’re properly married with a certificate.”

“If we didn’t have one, we’d be the ones embarrassed.” Fei Ni didn’t deny they were properly married.

“I wouldn’t be embarrassed. Even if I were caught in an improper relationship with you, I wouldn’t be embarrassed at all.”

Fei Ni thought his words were embarrassing enough, but she didn’t withdraw her fingers from his hand.

That night, the sky was exceptionally blue, growing brighter toward the zenith.

That night, Fei Ni thought the sofa would stay in their room for a long time.

When she returned home from work on Tuesday, Fei Ni discovered the completed sofa was gone from downstairs, and it wasn’t in their room either.

The sofa had vanished as if it had never existed, though she clearly remembered Fang Muyang losing nearly a week’s proper sleep over it.

Fei Ni suspected it had been stolen, though she doubted anyone would dare do such a thing nowadays. She hurried downstairs to ask the first-floor residents if they’d seen what happened to the newly made sofa outside.

After asking several households who claimed no knowledge, the last elderly woman told Fei Ni that her husband had taken the sofa away on a handcart.