As soon as they entered the room, Fang Muyang said to Fei Ni, “Stop what you’re doing. Let me massage your legs—you must be tired from earlier.”
“No need.” Though her calves were indeed aching. In their new house, Fei Ni had been standing on tiptoe with her hands against the wall, barely balanced on her toes, her legs trembling uncontrollably. To keep her balance, she had to brace herself against the wall. If Muyang hadn’t been supporting her waist the whole time, she probably would have slid to the floor.
Fei Ni felt slightly embarrassed about how completely she had cooperated—if she hadn’t accommodated his height by standing on tiptoe, they might not have come home so late, and her legs might not be so sore now. She had thought it would be quick, but he had insisted on leaving her handprints on all four walls of the bedroom.
“If you’re not tired, let’s…”
Fei Ni threw a pillow at Fang Muyang, who laughed and said, “If you’re not tired, let’s just talk—what did you think I meant?”
Fei Ni chose to ignore him.
Fang Muyang carried Fei Ni to the bed and, without asking permission, rolled up her pant legs to her knees and began massaging her calves. “How’s my pressure—too hard or too soft?”
Fei Ni covered her face with her hands, the ceiling light filtering through her fingers into her eyes. “Stop pretending—using ‘you’ so formally.”
Her eyelid twitched when he kissed her knee. She closed her eyes and said to Fang Muyang, “We spent so much time today but only got a little bit done. We can’t be like this tomorrow.”
“Your criticism is noted.”
“Tomorrow let’s organize the studio.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it tomorrow—you’re busy enough with organizing the old man’s manuscripts.”
“I’ll still come with you tomorrow. We can try to finish earlier.”
“If you come, we might get less done than if I worked alone.”
Fei Ni fell silent because their work today had indeed been less efficient than Fang Muyang’s usual solo efforts. But it wasn’t entirely her fault.
Quickly following up on his comment, Fang Muyang explained, “I’m not blaming you—I just don’t trust myself.”
The next day, Fang Muyang didn’t pick up Fei Ni from her factory; she took the bus herself. When she arrived, Fang Muyang was organizing the studio. He wasn’t just installing a skylight; he was also converting the original windows into floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the peach tree in the courtyard—no small project.
Fei Ni told Fang Muyang to wash his hands; she had managed to get some meat dumplings from the cafeteria. Since Old Fang had invited Auntie Yang to live with them, Fei Ni hadn’t needed to worry about dinner after work, and it had been a long time since she’d had to compete for dumplings in the cafeteria. But today she’d decided to try, and her speed hadn’t diminished.
Fang Muyang had moved their dining table, chairs, and loft bed from their temporary storage at the landlord’s house. With their new bed, the loft bed had become useless and was now unceremoniously placed in the courtyard. Their three small rooms were part of the landlord’s courtyard, and previous tenants had to pass through the main courtyard to come and go, constantly crossing paths with the landlord and other tenants.
Now Fang Muyang had blocked the moon gate connecting their home to the landlord’s house and opened a new door. Instead of using bricks to seal the moon gate, he had made a door from discarded wood, blocking the original opening. The wood was untreated, retaining its natural color, but still rough with splinters. There was a lock in the middle, usually kept locked, as they now used the newly opened door for daily access. In special circumstances, like when Fang Muyang needed to move furniture from the landlord’s house, he would open this wooden door.
Fei Ni placed the lunch boxes containing steamed buns and dumplings on the dining table, opened her military canteen, and called Fang Muyang to eat. He picked up a dumpling with his chopsticks and held it to Fei Ni’s mouth; she opened her mouth and took a bite.
Seeing Fang Muyang still staring at her, Fei Ni said, “Hurry up and eat so we can clean up together.”
“Didn’t I say you shouldn’t come?”
“I thought two people would work faster.” Yesterday was an exception; today would be different. His sister and sister-in-law would arrive soon, and Fei Ni wanted to finish cleaning quickly. Although her legs had been sore all day, she had rushed to the cafeteria after work, grabbed some dumplings, and hurried to take the bus to their new home. Her legs were still slightly sore.
“That’s not necessarily true.”
Fearing Fang Muyang would say something inappropriate again, Fei Ni didn’t respond. She hadn’t checked the bedroom yet and didn’t know if the handprints were still there. She planned to hang something over them to cover them up. Otherwise, Fang Muyang would surely take every opportunity to tease her. She quickly finished a few bites of food and left her seat.
She went to admire the door Fang Muyang had made. Vines wrapped around it—only he could make such a door.
A small female figure was carved into the door. The woman was young, and Fei Ni knew her well.
Fei Ni thought to herself that she wasn’t a door god—carving her on the door would make people laugh if they knew. Fortunately, the carving was so small that most people wouldn’t notice it.
Today, Fang Muyang didn’t joke much with Fei Ni because he also wanted to finish organizing the house quickly. If Fei Ni hadn’t come, Fang Muyang had planned to sleep there, as he didn’t care where he slept. But since Fei Ni was there, to ensure she could rest well, just after nine o’clock, he suggested they go home.
On their way home, Fang Muyang said to Fei Ni, “Tomorrow I plan to sleep in our new house. Don’t come after work—weren’t you eager to look at the old man’s manuscripts? Don’t worry about the renovation.” Fang Muyang knew that Fei Ni wouldn’t stay overnight there with him before they officially moved in.
Fei Ni was indeed eager to review Old Fang’s manuscripts, but this was their home together—she couldn’t just watch Fang Muyang work alone.
“Don’t rush too much. Worst case, we can move in first and renovate the studio later.”
“If we can finish the studio before the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can watch the full moon through the skylight on the fifteenth.”
Fei Ni laughed: “Can’t we watch it from the courtyard? Why must we watch it from inside?”
“It’s different.”
Fang Muyang’s sister would arrive Sunday afternoon, so Fei Ni and Fang Muyang started moving in the morning. All the flowers Fei Ni had brought were left with her in-laws. The furniture they had moved over, along with the piano and sewing machine, was moved out again, replaced by new furniture—though “new” only meant the bed was new.
The desk and wardrobe were old, found by Fang Muyang at the second-hand store entrance, but their quality and condition were much better than the new furniture from furniture stores. The furniture was bought by Fang Muyang but paid for by Old Fang. With the leftover money plus some additional funds from Fang Muyang and Fei Ni, they bought the newest model tape recorder for their home. They kept the tape recorder but took only Old Fang’s art albums—Fang Muyang wanted them for copying and studying.
Before they could properly look at their new home, they had to go to the train station. They had pre-booked a taxi, arranging to depart from the train station. They took the bus to the station, as Fei Ni couldn’t bear to take a taxi there—one kilometer cost forty cents, with additional charges for waiting time, adding up to several days’ wages for her. They first met Mu Jing, who hadn’t changed much in over a year. Over the years, she had rarely seen her brother, and he was different each time.
The first time Fang Muyang called her “Sister” was during the networking movement. Before that, he had always called his brothers and sisters by their names. When Fang Muyang was five, he suddenly concluded that since his birth year was greater than everyone else’s in the family, he was the eldest—not only was Old Fang younger than him, but the ancient people Old Fang admired were even younger; the more ancient, the more childish, while he was in humanity’s mature period.
He held firmly to this theory, and no one could convince him otherwise. However, when other children younger than him called him “Brother,” he readily accepted it, never explaining his theory to them. Mu Jing’s memories of her brother started from when he was five; before that, their house was so large that Fang Muyang was always running around, and they only saw each other at mealtimes.
The first time Mu Jing heard Fang Muyang call her “Sister” was after their parents’ incident. Fang Muyang took a free train to her city to visit her at school, and she initially thought her brother had come to seek refuge with her. Their parents were under investigation, and their brother’s work situation meant his contact information was false—the address he gave couldn’t reach him. Fang Muyang was so young, with no one to care for him, so she thought he could only come to her.
Mu Jing felt unprecedented pressure; due to their parents’ situation, she was also struggling, and she could not take in her brother. Although their relationship wasn’t close, he had traveled so far by train specifically to find her, and she couldn’t immediately refuse. Though tall for his age, he was still a child inside, and Mu Jing initially felt some pity for him, but he showed no sadness, instead displaying excitement about finally gaining freedom.
This excitement angered Mu Jing; she thought her brother’s excitement came from ignorance about his fate and future—it wasn’t freedom from parental control that awaited him, but a destiny beyond his control. In her anger, she told her brother she had no way to care for him and told him to go home quickly—at least at home he could receive a monthly living allowance, which, though small, would barely sustain him.
Fang Muyang was very surprised at the time. He had come to her city for networking and naturally wanted to see his sister; he had no intention of being supported by her, but unexpectedly was treated as an unwanted burden. He said he didn’t want to leave yet, as he still wanted to visit the city’s famous landmarks and draw some pictures, and he had already found a place to stay—he had met someone on the train who invited him to stay at their home.
He took out some pickled vegetables he had brought for Mu Jing, saying they went better with white porridge than millet porridge. When he said this, Fang Muyang hadn’t been able to afford white or millet porridge for many days; he was drinking corn stalk porridge, sometimes with a few pieces of dried sweet potato. Since moving to the small house, he had started receiving a monthly living allowance—not much, but enough to eat about 70-80% full each day if he didn’t do anything else.
But he needed to draw and had to buy paper and paints, so he grew thinner and thinner. He told Mu Jing that their brother’s address was wrong, and he had put in some effort to find his sister-in-law’s address. His sister-in-law was now pregnant, and he gave Mu Jing a copy of the new address before preparing to leave.
Mu Jing stopped him and treated him to a meal, ordering all meat dishes, which Fang Muyang ate without hesitation. Mu Jing took her brother to the train station and gave him some money and food stamps, telling him to quickly take the train home—he was just a child who didn’t understand anything, and it wasn’t right for him to wander around. Fang Muyang didn’t take the food stamps and only took half the money, using it to buy dozens of baked flatbreads at the train station, where no food stamps were needed.
Mu Jing watched her brother board the train, not knowing that after he got on, he jumped off through another door. Someone had indeed invited Fang Muyang to stay at their home—someone he met on the train—but Fang Muyang didn’t go. He spent his nights where he drew, covering himself with tiger balm to keep mosquitoes away, eating his stored flatbreads when hungry. A week later, he finally left Mu Jing’s city, taking his drawings to places even further from home.
The next time Mu Jing saw her brother was in the hospital. She hadn’t expected that Fei Ni, who had cared for her brother then, would become her sister-in-law.
In the hospital room, it was just the three of them, and Fei Ni introduced Mu Jing to Fang Muyang, saying, “This is your sister.”
Mu Jing remembered her brother telling her in the hospital room that he wanted to go home. But at that time, they had no home.
Now, he was coming to take her home. However, since Fang Muyang still needed to wait at the train station to pick up his sister-in-law, Fei Ni took the car with Mu Jing to return home first.
There were no formalities between them, and they quickly began discussing how the whole family hoped Mu Jing would transfer back.
But Mu Jing said she had no plans to transfer back.