Luo Wei posted the customary nine-photo lineup on her social media feed announcing big news: marriage certificate, wedding rings, wedding photos.

The groom was the man she’d gone to see a movie with last Qixi Festival.

A couple days later, Luo Wei took time out to stop by Lin Shuang’s shop. The two hadn’t been in touch for a while; Luo Wei looked like she’d put on a little weight, her complexion glowing, radiating happiness.

“Congratulations on tying the knot.”

“Thank you for the well wishes.” Luo Wei laughed and pulled a red invitation card out of her bag. “I’d like to invite you to my wedding.”

These days, digital invitations were the trend; a formal paper invitation like this was rare to see. Luo Wei said the card had come from her father- and mother-in-law’s own hands — the two retired elders had put on their reading glasses and spent several days writing them out. It was a bit old-fashioned, but full of sincerity, and it had warmed her heart too; she added that the whole wedding, big and small matters alike, had been handled attentively by her in-laws.

Clearly, Luo Wei was very pleased with her husband’s family.

A harmonious family was certainly better than being an orphan.

Lin Shuang looked at the invitation; the wedding date was later this same month.

“So soon.”

Luo Wei touched the slight bump beneath her coat and blinked. “I originally wanted to pick an auspicious date, but there was no helping it… if we’d put it off any longer, my belly wouldn’t have been able to wait.”

Lin Shuang blinked in surprise, then quickly caught on, her face breaking into a wide smile. “So it’s a double blessing after all. Congratulations, congratulations.”

“I never expected that within half a year I’d manage to knock out falling in love, getting married, and having a baby all in one go,” Luo Wei said with a laugh. “Sometimes even I find it hard to believe when I think back on it.”

“When you meet the right person, everything happens fast.”

“You and Zhou Zheng should come to the wedding banquet together — you have to come, okay?”

Luo Wei pulled out another invitation. “This one’s for Zhou Zheng. I actually wanted to invite Teacher Zhou out for a chat too — I called him, but unfortunately he’s not at school today, he went to Wancheng for a meeting.”

She casually handed the invitation to Lin Shuang. “I told Teacher Zhou I’d leave his invitation with you, and he can come pick it up whenever he’s free.”

Lin Shuang nodded. “Sure.”

The invitation sat in the tea shop for several days; it was only when Lin Shuang happened to notice it one day that she suddenly realized Zhou Zheng had never come by.

The two of them rarely crossed paths — in the tangled web of social connections in this age of information, they were like two leaves entirely unrelated to each other, joined only by the faintest thread of a spider’s silk.

It was strange — someone reachable with just a phone call or a WeChat message, and yet Lin Shuang always found herself steering clear of him.

When she saw Zhang Fan, Lin Shuang asked him: “Has Zhou Zheng been really busy these past few days?”

Zhang Fan nodded. “It’s year-end, you know, the school’s always busy, and he’s got a student in the hospital — he’s been running back and forth to the hospital these past few days.”

“Boss, do you need something from Zhou Zheng?”

Lin Shuang said flatly, “No, nothing in particular — a friend asked about him a few days ago.”

The end-of-term teaching workload was already heavy enough, on top of all the year-end summary reports and performance reviews, plus the grade-level had a string of monthly exams and the final combined exam — and right at this critical juncture, a student in his class suddenly collapsed during class. The school called an ambulance directly, and Zhou Zheng accompanied the student to the hospital, going back and forth for tests; it turned out to be a congenital condition that had suddenly flared up. Fortunately it wasn’t serious, but the doctor recommended abdominal surgery, with two weeks of hospitalization and a month of recovery afterward.

The student’s family lived in a township under Beiquan’s jurisdiction, and both parents were busy with work. Zhou Zheng waited it out until the parents could come take over. The child was strong-willed by nature; upon hearing he’d need surgery and hospitalization, given the intense pace of the advanced class with fast-moving lectures, this recovery period would set him back not only academically but would also mean missing the term’s final exams entirely — and with just a few months left before the college entrance exam, the student broke down crying in front of his parents and Zhou Zheng.

After discussing it with the student’s parents, Zhou Zheng arranged for the class representatives of each subject to collect a set of lecture notes and error compilations every day, which Zhou Zheng would deliver regularly, while also helping to comfort the student’s spirits and catch him up on the coursework he’d missed, all within the limits of what the child’s physical condition and energy allowed.

For several days straight, Zhou Zheng arrived at school by five-thirty in the morning and didn’t leave until eleven at night, in a state of nonstop, high-intensity work from dawn to dusk. That day he had three periods of class plus a study hall and class meeting, and after classes he went to the hospital; coming back from the hospital, there were still summary meetings and end-of-term reports waiting at the office. Zhou Zheng buried himself at his desk, and by the time he finished and looked up, the office was empty — it was already eight-thirty in the evening.

The school cafeteria had already closed. Zhou Zheng’s steps were heavy and slow as he put on his coat and left the school, heading to the food street outside to find something to eat.

Winter in the south was cold and damp; Beiquan hadn’t had a proper snowfall in years, but the wind carried flecks of sleet that struck against his clothes. Zhou Zheng kept feeling a rough, cold sting on his face, but when he reached up to touch it, there was nothing there.

His mind had turned to mush, his body exhausted too; passing by the warmly lit tea shop, his feet simply refused to carry him any further. He paused, then pushed the door open and stepped inside without much thought.

The doorbell went “ding-dong.”

Lin Shuang had stayed a little later than usual today, taking inventory in the back.

Zhou Zheng stood at the door, not stepping further in, hands tucked in his coat pockets, speaking to the figure with her back to him inside: “Is there anything to drink?”

“Teacher Zhou?”

The two of them looked at each other.

Months had passed; this was the first time he’d set foot here again.

“Anything to drink?” He glanced down at the floor, then looked back up at her, his eyes weary, his voice hoarse, like some famished, large animal. “Whatever’s fine.”

“We have some. Come in.” Lin Shuang turned and stepped behind the counter.

She listened to his footsteps — heavy and slow, his whole presence dull and unmoored, as though drifting.

“Tired?”

“A little.” Zhou Zheng lowered his eyes.

“Sit for a while.”

Zhou Zheng picked a nearby seat and sank into the soft chair, staring blankly into space. Lin Shuang tied on her work apron and rolled up her sleeves to wash her hands.

His back had always been straight, but now his shoulders were slightly hunched, his eyes vacant, his expression somewhat dazed.

Lin Shuang glanced at him, then turned the music back on, switching it to a mellow playlist.

Zhou Zheng zoned out for a while, his eyes drifting shut in the flowing music.

He heard the faint click of heels and snapped back to attention.

Lin Shuang came out carrying a hot drink and set it down on the table in front of him.

“Hot chocolate milk — it’s not too sweet.”

“Thank you.” The taste going down was smooth, faintly bitter, carrying the aroma of chocolate, clearing the mind and lifting the spirits.

“You’ve been really busy lately.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Isn’t there no evening study session tonight? It’s so late — did Teacher Zhou come from wandering around school, or did you just get off work?”

“There was something in the office, I just got off, and passing by here… I came in to take a look.”

He just wanted to come in and see her.

Lin Shuang fell quiet. “Take care of yourself, take care of your health.”

She dug out Luo Wei’s invitation and handed it to him. “Luo Wei’s invitation for you is still here.”

“Thanks, I completely forgot about it.”

He finished the hot chocolate milk and got up to leave.

Lin Shuang walked him to the door.

The moment the door opened, the cold wind and night air rushed in against them, and both of them paused.

He blocked the wind and turned to ask her, “It’s late — how are you getting home?”

“A friend’s coming to pick me up later.”

Zhou Zheng gave an understanding “Mm.” “It’s about to snow, the wind’s cold — don’t come out here.”

She stood at the door and watched him leave, calling out a soft farewell: “Come again next time.”

Zhou Zheng walked off, head down, the howling wind filling his ears; her light, offhand words scattered into the wind.

* * *

The man Lin Shuang had recently been seeing was the young heir of some company — young in age, but smooth-talking, worldly in his dealings, and attentive to her in a way that ran ahead of her needs, taking care of her in every possible way.

It was hard to define the relationship between a single man and woman under these circumstances — they’d met a few times, shared a couple of meals, chatted from time to time; calling it friendship felt like it left something unsaid, but calling it a romantic relationship, they hadn’t yet reached that moral contract either.

Beiquan was a small city with fairly traditional customs. Since opening the tea shop, Lin Shuang had built her own social circle and was no longer a shut-in at home doing nothing; her aunt had accordingly lost her purpose. With so many eyes around the tea shop, everyone had watched — from the original Mr. Polo Shirt to the current man — the shift from a boiling curiosity about the gossip to now simply taking it for granted, practically pulling up stools to keep a tally of how long each man in her life lasted.

Luo Wei’s wedding banquet was on Saturday at noon. Following Beiquan’s wedding customs, there was an order to arriving for the toast — Lin Shuang and Luo Wei had some genuine friendship between them, so she only needed to arrive ten minutes before the banquet started, leaving time to take photos with the newlyweds; she could exchange a few pleasantries as things wrapped up too. Zhou Zheng, invited for reasons unclear, would show up right on time, offer a red envelope as a token of good wishes, and could quietly slip away once he’d had enough to eat.

Lin Shuang wasn’t in a hurry to arrive early, dawdling at home changing clothes; the young heir was loyally waiting downstairs to drive her to the hotel.

Halfway there, she spotted someone on the roadside — wearing a black wool coat, thin-shouldered, hands tucked in his pockets, earbuds in, walking with his head down along the sidewalk.

Strange to say, she occasionally ran into him in places outside Beiquan High School — like the university district in Wancheng, or that state-run restaurant — and each time, his role was tied to someone else, forming a kind of oblique sketch of him from the side: a deeply affectionate brother figure, a teacher in an age-gap friendship, someone’s abandoned would-be lover. Never once had she encountered him alone, as simply himself — as just Zhou Zheng.

Arriving at the destination, Lin Shuang got out of the car.

The young heir pouted. “You really won’t let me meet your friend?”

“Next time.”

“It’d give you some face too, you know.”

“I don’t want you embarrassing me.” She patted the man’s cheek.

The young heir, pouting, turned the car around and drove off.

Lin Shuang arrived at exactly the same time as Zhou Zheng. The bride and groom were already preparing to make their entrance into the banquet hall; the two of them were shown to their seats by the host, seated at the same table, right next to each other.

Most of the table was Luo Wei’s high school classmates, nearly all unfamiliar faces; Zhou Zheng came from the science track, so there wasn’t a single person he knew at the table either. Lin Shuang recognized a few faces vaguely but couldn’t place any names.

The people at the table had already gone through introductions once; the two of them arrived late, and Lin Shuang immediately drew the attention of the whole table, leaving Zhou Zheng, trailing behind her, quietly overlooked.

“Lin Shuang, it’s been years — do you still remember me?”

Lin Shuang smiled. “Of course I remember — you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Neither have you — still as pretty as ever.”

“Where’s your boyfriend? Why didn’t he come with you?”

She’d clearly arrived seated together with Zhou Zheng, yet everyone had automatically written him out of that category.

A beautiful woman’s match, apparently, had to either be dazzlingly impressive or an equally good-looking man.

“I’m single.”

Her classmates were astonished. “You broke up with your boyfriend? I remember you two were so close, always inseparable.”

Lin Shuang wore an easygoing, slightly hazy smile.

She’d had no shortage of boyfriends — every relationship had been a good one.

“Was it that tall, handsome one from high school, the basketball team captain, looked like Rukawa Kaede from Slam Dunk, what was his name again…”

“Li Xiaoyi.”

“Right, right, Li Xiaoyi.”

Lin Shuang rolled her eyes internally, all her buried past being dug back up, but kept a smile on her face. “Oh, him — we broke up ages ago. We weren’t together anymore once we got to college.”

“Why’d you break up?”

“What a shame — you two were like a golden couple back then, everyone was so envious. Why would you break up?”

“Yeah, we always figured you two would stay in love forever.”

Lin Shuang answered breezily: “He went abroad for college, joined the capitalist camp. Long-distance relationships are too much of a hassle, so we just cut it off.”

Everyone gave an “oh” in unison.

“Long-distance is annoying enough within the country, let alone across countries.”

“You’re so pretty, how could you not have a boyfriend, surely plenty of people are after you — have you dated anyone since then…”

“Do you remember so-and-so from our class? He’s still hung up on you — at the reunion last year he was asking about you…”

The full force of the questioning landed on Lin Shuang alone, everyone eager to jump in, tossing topics at her from all sides.

“What do you want to drink?” Someone beside her stood up and twisted open a bottle on the table, turning to ask her, voice raised slightly. “Coke, orange juice, or coconut milk?”

“Orange juice, please.” She replied cheerfully.

“Sure.”

Zhou Zheng took her cup from the table, rinsed it with the hot tea water, poured out the leftover water into his own cup, then filled hers with orange juice and set it in front of her; then he took her bowl, plate, chopsticks, and spoon, and rinsed each one with the tea water in turn.

The gesture itself was unremarkable, but the way he stood and served her, his manner completely natural, his movements smooth and practiced, careful and thorough — and all of this under the watchful eyes of the whole table — each small action quietly blocked whatever anyone else was about to say.

Once he’d finished rinsing the dishes, he went to ladle her some soup, asking gently: “Want to start with some soup?”

“Sure.” Lin Shuang smiled. “Thank you.”

“Anything else you’d like to eat?”

“How about a crab leg.”

Someone nearby cut in: “Do you two know each other?”

“We just ran into each other on the way here.” He wasn’t usually one for many words, but he seemed unusually eager to engage this time, turning to ask Lin Shuang, “Are you a classmate of the groom or the bride? Did you also graduate from Beiquan High School?”

“Mm.” Lin Shuang lowered her head to drink her soup. “What about you?”

The two of them launched into an animated conversation. Zhou Zheng, throughout, provided warm, attentive service, his eye for what she needed sharp — passing dishes, handing over napkins, peeling and shelling food for her, extremely attentive.

Seeing this display, no one else could easily get a word in; the man looked clean-cut and refined, yet had turned out to be flattering to an almost outrageous degree — no one could quite place what his angle was.

Lin Shuang finished the meal in complete comfort.

The two of them toasted the newlyweds and left the banquet.

Beiquan High School wasn’t far from here; Zhou Zheng had walked over and planned to walk back to school too. He turned to look at Lin Shuang. “You… heading back to the tea shop?”

Lin Shuang lowered her eyes and gave an “Mm.” “Let’s walk together.”

The two of them walked one behind the other, keeping some distance, not speaking a word along the way.

“Want to listen to some music.” He reached out, one earbud lying open in his palm. “Listening to music might lift your mood a bit.”

“I’m in a great mood.”

Even so, Lin Shuang took the earbud and put it in her ear.

Cheerful music streamed out, the sound of a piano and some crisp, chiming instrument: “Ding-ding-ding-ding-dong-ding, ding-dong-ding, ding-dong-ding…”

It was like a summer night’s stars falling one by one from the sky, landing on a girl’s skirt hem, or like birds hopping playfully along power lines.

The playlist ranged widely — mostly niche music and English songs. The man walked beside her, dressed in a thin wool coat, hands tucked into his pockets, his pace unhurried, and her thoughts began to follow the beat of the music, her steps gradually falling in sync with his.