The tomatoes tasted wonderful, much better than the tomato sauce that came in glass jars.

Fang Muyang was generous with the tomatoes, adding all of them to the pot.

Fei Ni, accustomed to the meager portions of beef served by the cafeteria cooks, felt almost uncomfortable seeing so much meat at once.

Fang Muyang picked up a piece of beef and placed it in Fei Ni’s bowl. “From now on, don’t rush to the cafeteria after work for their potato beef stew.”

Fei Ni didn’t take his bait. How long could they keep eating canned beef? Even though the cafeteria’s potato beef stew was mostly just sauce, it was still better than stir-fried cabbage with vinegar.

The meal was excellent, with plenty of beef and tomatoes to go around, and no need for the usual polite gesturing over portions.

After washing up, Fei Ni closed the door, drew the curtains, and curled up in bed to listen to the radio. Now that she had finished making Fang Muyang’s winter clothes, she could finally relax against her pillow and read.

Fang Muyang was drawing nearby, and after a while, he came over to listen to the radio with her. He produced a lip balm from somewhere and placed it on the book page. “This is for you.”

Fei Ni picked up the lip balm and gave it a cursory glance. “Where did you buy this?”

Before Fang Muyang could answer, Fei Ni already knew – the packaging was all in English. Where else could it have been bought?

“How much money did you spend today?”

“I received my manuscript payment. I’ve already put your share under your pillow.”

Fei Ni momentarily forgot about questioning Fang Muyang’s spending. She asked, “When will the book be available in bookstores?”

“In a few days. Try to be economical this time – don’t buy twenty copies like you did with the last comic book.”

Fei Ni laughed. “With how extravagant you are, what right do you have to lecture me?”

Fang Muyang could only concede, “I have no right.”

Noticing Fang Muyang’s slightly dry lips, Fei Ni squeezed out some lip balm and moved closer to apply it. Fang Muyang quickly turned his face away. “You should use it yourself.” He jumped off the bed, walked to the cabinet, poured himself a cup of water from the thermos, and drank it in a few gulps.

Only then did Fei Ni carefully read the packaging – it was a tinted lip balm. No wonder Fang Muyang had dodged her. Having been pranked by him many times before, she now wanted to tease him back. The more he refused, the more determined she became to apply it.

When Fang Muyang lay back down on the bed, Fei Ni approached with the lip balm again. “Your lips are dry, let me apply some for you.”

“Have you ever seen a man wear this?”

“Haven’t you heard of gender equality? Don’t be so particular.”

Fei Ni pressed half her body against him, her face drawing closer and closer until she could count the pulses of his Adam’s apple. She smiled as she studied his lips, wondering how they would look with the tinted balm. Curious, her fingers approached Fang Muyang’s mouth, but before the lip balm could reach its target, he snatched it away. He smiled at Fei Ni and said, “No need to trouble yourself, I’ll do it myself.”

He caught Fei Ni’s chin and started applying the lip balm to her lips. Fang Muyang wasn’t so much applying lip balm as he was drawing – using some unknown technique, he first traced an outline on her lips before carefully filling them in.

The application seemed to go on forever. When he finished, Fang Muyang tightened the cap and grabbed a mirror from the cabinet for Fei Ni to see herself. “Are you satisfied?”

Fei Ni turned her head away. “Weren’t you going to apply it to yourself?”

“You’ll see I wasn’t lying in a moment.”

The lip balm was a lemony color, making her lips much brighter than before.

Fang Muyang held Fei Ni’s chin and used her lips as his lip balm, gradually applying it to himself. He pressed against her, pushing her toward the bed until she fell back. Just as he had outlined her lips first when applying the balm, he now traced the same pattern while taking it from her lips to his. Fei Ni’s lips tickled from his touch, but it wasn’t just her lips – his fingers were drawing patterns across her body too. When she felt ticklish, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Hearing her laughter, she grabbed the bedsheet and clenched her teeth to stop the sound, but ultimately her laughter slipped into Fang Muyang’s mouth.

Though Fei Ni’s mouth was now covered, her earlier laughter had been loud enough for Wang Xiaoman and her husband, Section Chief Xu, to hear.

Section Chief Xu remarked, “Little Fei is usually so quiet, how did she end up laughing so wildly? One indeed takes on the color of one’s company.”

Wang Xiaoman replied, “How do you know they’re not alike? Would they have married if they weren’t compatible? The way you talk, it’s as if no one is good enough for Fei Ni. I think young Fang is more than worthy of her.” She mentioned to Section Chief Xu the sofa and bed Fang Muyang had made. “Young Fang is quite capable. Fei Ni didn’t lose out on marrying him – he can make furniture and knows how to care for her. He even washes their bedding himself. Let me tell you, from now on you’ll wash your clothes, I won’t do it anymore.”

“Is that all you can compare? How vulgar! What does he do now? A waiter! And at a foreign affairs hotel no less, just like a servant in the old society. How can you compare him to me?”

“Say what you want, but from now on, you’re washing your clothes. I won’t do it.”

Section Chief Xu grew more frustrated. Ever since the new neighbors moved in, Wang Xiaoman had been threatening to go on strike, one moment refusing to cook, the next refusing to do laundry.

Suddenly the room went dark – another power outage.

Wang Xiaoman remembered borrowing candles from Fei Ni during the last outage and hadn’t returned them yet. She lit a candle and shuffled out in her slippers to knock on Fei Ni’s door.

Fei Ni had been rolled around on the bed in Fang Muyang’s embrace. Her eyes had been closed the whole time, and if not for the knocking, she wouldn’t have noticed the ceiling light had gone out.

Another power outage.

The knocking was rhythmic – their neighbor. Last time Wang Xiaoman had borrowed their candles, and now she was probably returning them, worried they might need them urgently.

Fang Muyang called out to the door, “Keep them, no need to return them.”

“That wouldn’t be right. We’re not the type to take advantage.”

Fang Muyang grunted and bit Fei Ni’s ear, saying, “Ignore her.” He continued holding and kissing her.

Fei Ni struggled to sit up from Fang Muyang’s embrace, feeling around the bed for the flashlight. She called out, “Just a moment.”

Her fingers instinctively checked her collar – the buttons were still properly fastened. She smoothed her disheveled hair, and only after confirming everything was in order did she open the door.

Wang Xiaoman handed her a red candle.

The candle she had lent Wang Xiaoman had been white.

Wang Xiaoman’s flashlight beam fell on Fei Ni’s face, which was covered with a faint blush. She noticed Fei Ni’s lips were a different color than usual, probably from some cosmetic, and soon noticed similar-colored marks on her cheeks, chin, and above the first button of her shirt. Looking at the whole picture, the marks, her flushed face, and the laughter from earlier all made sense.

No wonder they had taken so long to open the door…

As someone with experience, Wang Xiaoman immediately understood what had been happening.

A month ago, Wang Xiaoman had first been kept awake by the sounds from the neighboring bed. After that, it happened about once a week. Each time lasted half the night, and just when she thought it was over, the sounds would start again. She wondered how they could go on for so long and asked her husband about it. Section Chief Xu had said bluntly, “He must be taking pills, otherwise why was there no sound for the first few months? Going all night like that, who knows how many pills he takes? I was much better than him when I was young. Even with pills, he only does it once a week at most.” Wang Xiaoman thought her husband was being ridiculous – wasn’t once a week of such activity enough? If they did it several times, when would they sleep? Though dissatisfied, she couldn’t say much – they were newlyweds after all, and lately, there hadn’t been any disturbances for about ten days.

Wang Xiaoman asked Fei Ni where she bought the lip color, saying she liked the shade and wanted to buy one too.

“I didn’t buy it myself, but I’ll ask for you.”

Fei Ni’s face reddened further as she remembered she was wearing lip color. When Fang Muyang had kissed her, it must have smeared onto her face, and she wondered if it was noticeable.

Wang Xiaoman smiled at Fei Ni and returned to her room.

After closing the door, Fei Ni walked to the bed with her flashlight to get the mirror, but Fang Muyang caught her hand before she could reach it.

She pulled her hand free and grabbed the mirror. In the dim room, her reflection was blurry, but she could still see the marks on her face and neck. She knew Wang Xiaoman must have noticed.

As she tried to wipe the marks off her face, Fang Muyang watched her with a smile.

Her flashlight beam fell on Fang Muyang’s face – his lips looked no different than when he had first come home. All the lip color he had taken from her lips had ended up completely transferred to her face; he hadn’t retained any of it.

For a moment, she found his lips rather hateful.

Fei Ni said to Fang Muyang, “It’s getting late, you should rest soon.”

“Isn’t it a bit too early to rest now?”

“Then keep drawing for a while.” Fei Ni walked to the cabinet, found matches, and lit the red candle.

Fang Muyang came over, rested his head on Fei Ni’s shoulder, and kissed her cheek.

“I’m tired.”

“Then I’ll sleep with you.”

“No need. Didn’t we agree to only do that on Saturdays?” She had almost forgotten their previous agreement when Fang Muyang had kissed her earlier. Thankfully, the knock at the door had reminded her.

Fang Muyang kissed Fei Ni’s reddened earlobe. “We missed last Saturday. I don’t want to owe you, so let’s make up for it today.”

“No need, I have work tomorrow.”

“Just for a little while.”

“You always try to convince me with ‘just a little while.’ Last time…” It was embarrassing just to think about it, let alone say it.

“What about last time?”

“You know.”

“Since you don’t want to today, I’ll have to make it up to you on Saturday.” Fang Muyang pinched her cheek. “Go to sleep now then.”

His hand touched the lip color mark on her face.

Fei Ni’s face reddened even more, and she swatted at his fingers.

She lay down in the bed Fang Muyang had prepared for her, his flowers placed beside her pillow. Through the bed curtain, she could see Fang Muyang drawing by candlelight.

His silhouette made her feel at peace, and soon she fell asleep.

On Saturday, Fei Ni came home from work carrying a stack of comic books.

Fang Muyang’s second comic book was being sold at the bookstore today. She had bought twenty copies in one go, which she put in the camphor wood chest to give away tomorrow. Though usually frugal, she was unusually generous in this regard. She kept one copy out and was now leaning back in her chair flipping through it. Since starting work at the Foreign Affairs hotel, Fang Muyang always come home later than her.

Having read it before, she only skimmed through it this time before leaning over the table to write her review. She hoped this book would bring Fang Muyang not just manuscript fees but also new opportunities.

She didn’t think Fang Muyang was suited to being a waiter, even though he was getting increasingly skilled at making beds.

Hearing the door, Fei Ni tucked the draft paper into the book pages.

Fang Muyang came in carrying a pot of narcissus flowers.

Fei Ni smiled. “If you hadn’t brought these home, I wouldn’t have known where to buy them.”

They always needed a pot of narcissus flowers for the New Year.

Fang Muyang placed the flowers on the windowsill and took out a food container from his bag, placing it on the table. Inside were stir-fried shrimp that he had asked the kitchen chef to make.

Looking at the shrimp, Fei Ni said, “You’ve only been working for a few days. It’s not good to bring food home every day like this.”

Fang Muyang smiled. “Don’t worry, I bought these.” Fang Muyang considered himself law-abiding – he always turned in tips from guests according to regulations. His supervisor was puzzled about how he received more tips in a few days than others received in a month. They had a long talk about it, asking what he discussed with guests, and only after confirming that Fang Muyang hadn’t leaked any secrets to suspicious individuals did they feel reassured.

“If you bring food home every day, your monthly salary won’t be enough to cover it.”

“I promise, I definitely won’t bring any tomorrow.”

Fei Ni was about to say good when she remembered tomorrow was Sunday. Of course, he couldn’t bring food home then.