Fang Muyang had transformed the three small rooms into an independent courtyard house.

Right at the entrance was a stone path leading straight to the main room—a path that hadn’t been there during Fei Ni’s last visit.

“Where did you get so many stones?”

“Those are easy to find.”

But Fei Ni wondered when he had found the time.

Seeing Fang Muyang take off his shoes to walk on the stone path, Fei Ni couldn’t help asking, “Doesn’t it hurt your feet?”

“Try it and you’ll see.”

Fei Ni followed his example, removing her shoes and walking on the stone path in just her socks. Each step made her want to laugh from the pressure of the stones. When she couldn’t take it anymore and tried to put her shoes back on, Fang Muyang picked her up, saying, “I’ll carry you inside.”

“No need, it’s just a few steps.”

“And it’s just a few steps for me to carry you.”

Only after entering the house did Fang Muyang set Fei Ni down. The main room was spacious, divided by a screen partition—the inner area served as the bedroom while the outer section functioned as a living room. The partition frame was made of cypress wood, covered with white silk gauze embroidered with various flowers.

Fang Muyang told Fei Ni where the piano would go, where the dining table would be placed, and where the low cabinet would sit. Though the space was still empty, he already had the layout planned in his mind.

“Where did you get this partition screen?”

“It belonged to the landlord. They thought it was in the way, and I figured you’d like it, so I bought it outright. You do like it, don’t you?” While Fei Ni stroked the embroidery on the silk, she did indeed like it, but she suspected Fang Muyang had run out of money. She suddenly remembered how he would go home late every day to cook noodles, realizing he must have spent all his eating-out money on the house.

Her fingers touched the wall, which wasn’t completely dry yet—it must have been painted just days ago.

“Did you do all this by yourself? Why didn’t you tell me? I could have come to help.”

“You’ve been staying up late organizing the old man’s manuscripts. If I’d asked you to come help, would you have gotten any sleep at all?”

“But this house is for both of us. I can’t contribute anything.”

“You’re handling the rent, that’s enough. Aren’t you earning our rent money by organizing those manuscripts? Besides, I had help from the beginning.”

Fei Ni laughed, “Isn’t that money yours?” The money was essentially from Old Fang to Fang Muyang, who had found an excuse to give it to her.

“That’s where you’re wrong. If you weren’t helping the old man organize his manuscripts, that money would have gone to someone else. It wouldn’t have ended up in my hands anyway. Of course, if you want to share that money with me, I’d be happy to accept.”

The west room was the bathroom, where Fang Muyang showed Fei Ni the bath he had built. “I made this for you. Do you like it? Once we move in, you won’t need to use the public bathhouse anymore.” The small kitchen outside had been converted into a boiler room—since neither of them cooked much, an alcohol stove would suffice. With the small boiler, Fei Ni could take hot baths every day.

“This isn’t our house—did the landlord allow all these changes?”

“I already worked everything out with them.”

“But if they take it back, won’t all our work be wasted?”

“I signed a three-year contract with them. You can live here without worry.”

Now only the studio remained unrenovated.

“Weren’t you planning to add a skylight to the studio?” Fei Ni had read that artists liked skylights in their studios.

“We’ll do that later.”

“Have you run out of money?”

“Why would you think that?”

“If you had money, why would you skip dinner every day and wait until ten to cook noodles at home? You never spend money on the important things.” If he hadn’t bought the partition screen or the boiler, he would have had money to renovate the studio.

“Does this house meet your ideal?”

Fei Ni smiled without speaking. It exceeded her ideal. These past years, she had only thought about owning a house; she had rarely imagined what it would be like once she had one.

“Tell me, how much more do we need for the studio renovation? This time when I give you the money, you can’t spend it on anything else.”

“This time I’ll listen to you.”

Fei Ni was still wearing only socks on the cement floor, as was Fang Muyang, who kept playfully stepping on her feet. It didn’t hurt, just tickled.

“Stop that!”

Fang Muyang ignored her protest and continued stepping on her feet. Annoyed, Fei Ni started stepping on his feet in return.

Fang Muyang let her step on him, but Fei Ni couldn’t bring herself to step hard enough to hurt him. It started to feel more like flirting, and when Fei Ni seemed to realize this, she stopped engaging and walked outside, only to be caught in Fang Muyang’s embrace as she turned.

“Take another look around, see if there’s anything you’re not satisfied with, so I can fix it. I told the old man we won’t be home for dinner tonight.”

“I’m very satisfied.” Fei Ni stood with her feet on top of Fang Muyang’s, looking up at him as she spoke, “Let me treat you to dinner today.”

They went to the same Russian restaurant, where Fang Muyang ordered the same dishes from their first visit without asking Fei Ni.

While waiting for their food, Fang Muyang kept staring at Fei Ni. At first, she met his gaze, but eventually grew shy and lowered her head, saying softly, “Stop staring.”

“Remember our first time here?”

Of course, Fei Ni remembered. Back then, she had come intending it to be their farewell dinner, planning that after the meal, they would go their separate ways. If Fang Muyang hadn’t sought her out again, their relationship would have ended there.

The second time she came here was with Ye Feng, while Fang Muyang sat at another table with others.

Fang Muyang didn’t mention that second visit, nor his feelings when he saw Fei Ni there. He had never been jealous of anyone in his life, but at that moment, he had felt a brief surge of envy toward the person dining with her. Fei Ni hadn’t suspended her dates with others because of his words. When dining with that person, she hadn’t worried about spending money on food. This had been a wake-up call for him.

He couldn’t find fault with Fei Ni—he couldn’t expect her to have taken care of him for so long, depleted her savings, and still developed feelings for him. Even now, he didn’t know the specific reason for Fei Ni and Ye Feng’s breakup, but he knew that whatever the reason, it had nothing to do with him.

Both tacitly avoided mentioning their second encounter here, when they hadn’t even spoken directly, communicating only through the waiters.

Fei Ni didn’t bring it up because she truly didn’t know what to say. When she came here with Ye Feng, she still considered him the most suitable marriage candidate, despite his mother’s disapproval. She had hoped Ye Feng might be willing to move out of his family home. When she learned he wouldn’t, she decided to end things completely. She felt no attachment to that relationship, knowing Ye Feng would quickly find someone who met his criteria. Indeed, he did, and even sent her an invitation letter explaining his marital status.

When she saw that letter, her greatest sense of defeat came from learning that Ye Feng’s wife had attended university while she hadn’t.

She didn’t know what it meant to love someone; she only knew that she didn’t dislike Ye Feng, even somewhat liked him, but it was far from love—and he felt the same way about her. This level of affection, when combined with good timing and matching social status, could easily lead to marriage, perhaps even fooling people into thinking it was some rare emotional connection. But in reality, such feelings were quite random, neither profound nor lasting.

Yet pursuing marriage for some profound feeling seemed too luxurious for her, even more, extravagant than putting a piano in a small room or installing a bathroom in a tiny house. She generally didn’t spend beyond her means.

Fang Muyang ordered a bottle of wine, pouring just a little into Fei Ni’s glass. “You get drunk too easily, drink less.”

“I want to drink as much as you. Pour me more.”

Fang Muyang found it hard to refuse Fei Ni, especially when she looked at him that way, but he still didn’t dare pour too much, only adding a little more.

Fei Ni clinked glasses with him and said with a smile, “I feel lucky to be married to you.”

She even felt somewhat grateful to Ling Yi now—if Ling Yi had been the one taking care of Fang Muyang back then, he would have nothing to do with her now. Though she had cursed Ling Yi more than once in her heart for being ungrateful and never visiting him, if Ling Yi had visited frequently, she might have been the one marrying Fang Muyang instead. In Fei Ni’s mind, Fang Muyang was a good husband, and this goodness had nothing to do with whom he married. He would be a good husband to whoever he married.

Fang Muyang said, “I feel lucky too.”

Fei Ni drained her glass, smiled at Fang Muyang, and reached for the bottle to pour herself more.

Fang Muyang grabbed her hand. “Don’t drink anymore.”

“But I want to.”

“Then let’s drink when we get home.”

After drinking, Fei Ni suddenly became different from her usual self. She no longer avoided Fang Muyang’s gaze, instead looking directly at him, her eyes dancing with laughter that held an allure she didn’t notice.

Fang Muyang hurriedly paid the bill with the money Fei Ni had given him, and they left the restaurant together.

Sitting on the bicycle’s back seat, Fei Ni held onto Fang Muyang differently than usual, gripping him tightly as if afraid he might run away.

She pressed her face against his back, eyes closed, completely ignoring the moon.

“Fang Muyang, we’ve been married for over a year now.”

“Four hundred and twenty-one days in total.”

Fei Ni was startled, but after calculating in her head, she realized he was correct.

“I didn’t know you were so good at math.”

Fang Muyang remained silent, neither accepting nor rejecting her praise.

Previously, no matter how intimate Fei Ni was with Fang Muyang in their bedroom, she always maintained a certain distance in public. Today was different—they entered the building embracing, and only when they reached their door did Fang Muyang remove his hand from her shoulder, letting her enter first: “The old man is sitting in the living room.” This was one of the inconveniences of living with parents. He knew once Fei Ni was completely sober, she would regret not maintaining a proper daughter-in-law’s dignity in front of the old man, so he had to think of this for her.

Old Fang was indeed reading in the living room. Fang Muyang and Fei Ni greeted their father and went to their room one after another.

In the bedroom, Fang Muyang didn’t even draw the curtains before kissing Fei Ni and guiding her toward the bed.

While responding to his kisses, Fei Ni asked for more wine.

“Can we drink a little more?”

Fang Muyang couldn’t understand how Fei Ni could have such a low alcohol tolerance yet such a strong desire to drink.

He took out two glasses and poured wine into each, with noticeably less in Fei Ni’s.

Fei Ni swirled the wine in her glass. “Shall we drink the wedding cup? I heard people do that at weddings. We’ve been married so many days, shouldn’t we drink it once?”

Fei Ni brought her glass to Fang Muyang’s lips, and he poured more wine from his glass into hers.

“Cheater!”

“You’re the one who’ll feel sick if you drink too much.”

Fei Ni slowly finished the wine from Fang Muyang’s glass, still unsatisfied. “Pour me a little more.”

Fang Muyang took a sip of wine and passed some to Fei Ni’s mouth. She held him close, seeking the wine in his mouth, as if she could drink more that way.

Seeming to realize she had bitten Fang Muyang’s lips too hard, her subsequent kisses became soothing. “Does it still hurt?”

In wine there is truth.

Fang Muyang asked Fei Ni, “Why did you come to the hospital to take care of me back then?”

“I saw a news article about a female worker who was recognized as an exemplary worker and got into university for persistently caring for a young worker from her factory…” She had wanted so desperately to attend university that she was willing to try any possible method, no matter how small the chance. For the sake of attending university, she decided to care for him. She chose him because among those injured while saving others and without family nearby, she only knew him.

This answer didn’t surprise Fang Muyang, nor did it disappoint him.

“Are you very disappointed about not getting into university?”

“Let me have another drink…”

Fang Muyang knew she was indeed disappointed.

“Did you regret taking care of me then?”

Fei Ni shook her head, “I would have regretted it if I hadn’t tried. Even if there was only a one-in-ten chance, I had to try.”

She had always known the chances of getting into university weren’t very high, but she couldn’t bear not trying. No matter the outcome, she had to try. Even if she tried and the result wasn’t what she hoped for, she could accept it.

“Do you think marrying me turned out well?”

Fei Ni burst out laughing and looked at the wine bottle. “Let’s drink a bit more. We never had a wedding banquet. Let this be our wedding wine.”

Fang Muyang drank their wedding wine alone, while Fei Ni could only try to steal sips from his mouth.

Fei Ni was unusually forward today, but soon she fell asleep. Unlike others when drunk, she simply slept. She stopped talking, becoming quiet once again.

Fang Muyang helped her to bed and removed her shoes and socks.

In her half-sleep, Fei Ni heard Fang Muyang say, “Fei Ni, I fell in love with you back when you wore two little braids, carried a flowered schoolbag, and swatted flies with a flyswatter.”

Fei Ni naturally didn’t believe this. If he had liked her then, he wouldn’t have stood her up, nor would he have let her weave bracelets for Ling Yi. But she didn’t say anything—since Fang Muyang had forgotten about liking someone else before, why should she remind him?