Just before stepping out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Lin Shuang, in a rare move, posted her very first social media update.

She posted a photo of the vivid red marriage certificate, along with the silly wedding photo, accompanied by a rather clichéd caption—

Every encounter in life is a long-awaited reunion.

Zhou Zheng still sat beside her in a daze, flipping through the marriage certificate in his hands again and again.

She nudged his elbow, gesturing at his phone: “Not going to announce it?”

Zhou Zheng never posted on social media either: “More than half the contacts on my phone are students, no grouping system.” He thought about it dazedly. “If the students in my class find out I skipped class to get a marriage license, who knows how wild they’ll go in the classroom—with the college entrance exam coming up too…….. I’ll just say something in a few group chats.”

Things had happened so suddenly, he hadn’t yet processed the shift from “shock” to “joy.”

Lin Shuang knew his social circle was vast, including former students he’d taught—once the news went out, calls and messages would come flooding in until his hands went numb.

The first to respond at lightning speed was Zhang Fan, who kept popping up frantically, sending message after message to both Zhou Zheng and Lin Shuang, a screen full of exclamation points and shouting flooding Lin Shuang’s phone.

Lin Shuang suddenly remembered: “Oh no!! I forgot!!! I need to call my mom and my aunt to tell them!”

A matter as significant as marriage, and she hadn’t told a single soul—no advance notice, straight to the grand finale.

Zhou Zheng also snapped back to reality: “I’ll call Grandma, and tell my teacher and his wife too.”

Getting married this hastily……… The two split up to call their respective families.

Fu Min received Lin Shuang’s call and, hearing she’d already registered, was utterly shocked: “You’ve already gotten the certificate? How could it happen so fast?”

“It’s nothing much, I just suddenly wanted to get married, so I brought him along.”

Her daughter had gotten married just like that, without a word—Fu Min couldn’t help feeling a pang of sadness in her heart, yet also relief, and also worry: “Come home for dinner tonight, let’s talk.”

“In a couple of days,” Lin Shuang said flatly. “I’ll bring him along, things are a bit busy these past few days. I’ll call my aunt too, and write a letter to Dad, let him know.”

When Lin Shuang’s aunt heard the news, she exploded straight over the phone: “You didn’t even mention getting married over New Year’s, how could it be so sudden—why didn’t both families meet first? Did you even discuss all the wedding arrangements? How did you already get the certificate? Shuangshuang, are you pregnant?”

There truly hadn’t been a shred of warning beforehand—marriage wasn’t a simple matter, it involved the interactions and procedures between two families. But Lin Shuang was used to doing as she pleased, and both her and Zhou Zheng’s family situations were relatively simple, each making their own decisions, with no real need for prior discussion.

Lin Shuang handled the calls to her family one by one, then turned back to look at Zhou Zheng, who happened to be looking at her too. He walked over to her, and spoke calmly into his own phone: “Understood, Grandma. I’ll come home when I have time.”

The call ended, and Lin Shuang took Zhou Zheng’s hand, their fingers interlacing, standing outside the Civil Affairs Bureau, both looking up at the sky together.

The scenery was as it had always been, yet somehow felt different. The same person stood beside her, but the feeling was entirely different now.

The sensation was novel, and floating, like a roller coaster—Zhou Zheng’s mood had been steeped in bitterness one moment, and the next, he’d been fished out and carried to the peak of his life. His heart had already been soaked swollen and sour, repeatedly pinched and kneaded in Lin Shuang’s grasp.

For Lin Shuang, it was something like walking a tightrope or crossing a single-log bridge—novel and thrilling; once past this point, it was past, yet looking back, she still felt her heart tense and uneasy.

The two returned to the car. Before it even started, Zhang Fan’s call came through, and the moment the call connected, a series of screams flooded both their ears.

“Zhou Zheng, why haven’t either of you been replying to my messages? Did you actually get married??????”

“Yes.” Zhou Zheng’s voice sounded a bit dull too. “Just came out of the Civil Affairs Bureau.”

“Holy shit!” Zhang Fan cursed bitterly. “You must have burned incense in your past life, or did you drug Lin Shuang? She actually agreed to marry you?”

Zhang Fan nearly burst into tears: “Wuwuwuwuwuwu, bro, can’t you give a brother some tips, throw a brother a bone, bro I’m begging you, your methods are way too impressive, what kind of magic did you use, weren’t you two just having some huge fight the other day, weren’t you talking about her leaving home? How did you suddenly end up licensed and legal?”

Zhou Zheng: “……….”

Lin Shuang listened to the noise on the phone, raising an eyebrow: “What magic could he have? It’s actually pretty simple—I kidnapped Teacher Zhou here to get the marriage license. Go ask Teacher Xie, would she abduct you to the Civil Affairs Bureau?”

Zhou Zheng: “………”

“………” Zhang Fan spat out a mouthful of blood, “Goodbye, sorry to bother you! I don’t deserve to be friends with you two.”

The call ended with a beeping click.

Lin Shuang scrolled her phone in the passenger seat—her social media had already exploded, countless likes and replies, a string of red unread messages filling her chat window.

She glanced through them briefly, and saw a message from Li Xiaoyi, just two brief words.

[Congratulations.]

Lin Shuang typed back: [Thanks, none of this would have happened without you.]

She set down her phone, feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

She turned to Zhou Zheng: “Where should we go?”

Zhou Zheng reached over, pinching her bare ring finger, thinking it over: “Let’s go buy rings.”

“Sounds good.” She tilted her head to look at him.

The two gazed at each other. Zhou Zheng unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned over, cupped her shoulders, and pressed a kiss onto her soft lips.

His voice was clear and warm, murmuring low: “Shuangshuang.”

The kiss was deep and tender, lingering and grazing over her vivid lips; his hand cradled the back of her head, her cheek nestled into his palm.

How could he possibly convey the depth of his tender love into the bottom of her heart.

“Are you joking with me… I feel like I’m dreaming………”

“Zhou Zheng.” She kissed him back, gripping his wrist. “Seems like your girlfriend never gave you a sense of security. You can demand your wife do better.”

She truly had retreated, backed away, so many times before, yet looking back on it now, taking this step, standing beside someone she liked, hadn’t actually been that difficult.

His wife? Zhou Zheng’s whole world spun—she really had given him so much, so much, he’d just never realized she’d given him her everything.

The two remained locked in their kiss, unable to part.

The kiss lasted a long, long time before ending. Lin Shuang’s lip color had smudged, lipstick smeared across Zhou Zheng’s lips and cheek, leaving him looking a little ridiculous.

Their foreheads pressed together, and both laughed softly.

Lin Shuang pulled out a wet wipe and wiped the color from his lips: “Today’s lipstick is very festive.”

An ordinary, joyous day.

The early spring sun shone warm and bright, green leaves quietly unfurling on the branches, a gentle breeze soft as silk—a fine year had only just begun.

The two went to the mall and picked out a simple, exquisite pair of matching rings, slipping them onto each other’s hands.

“What do you want for dinner tonight? Want to go out for a candlelit dinner?”

Lin Shuang shook her head: “Let’s eat at home, you cook whatever, and make some apple soup too.”

“Isn’t apple soup not that great?”

“I like it better simmered with red wine, you got it wrong last time.” Lin Shuang jutted her chin. “You don’t put enough thought into it, don’t dote on me a bit more, how would you know what’s on my mind.”

He stroked her hair.

“I sleep with you every night, and yet you’re still worried I’ll rekindle an old flame—shouldn’t you be putting in more effort to seduce me instead?” She pouted, accusing him with full righteous indignation. “Afraid I’ll run off? Then sweep me off my feet. Afraid I’ll have a change of heart? Then tie my heart down. Don’t like Li Xiaoyi around? Then chase him off. You’re not the same Zhou Zheng from ten years ago, you’ve got me backing you up now, what’s there to be afraid of.”

Her eyes sparkled with light, her whole being radiant and audacious: “I’m giving you permission to act spoiled with my favor.”

His eyes turned misty, and he hummed slowly in agreement: “I’ll know from now on.”

“Also, I give you permission to throw your weight around because you’re handsome. If I’m not doing something right, you can be a bit fierce with me.”

Lin Shuang laughed.

The two returned home together, tucking both red booklets and their respective household registers into a single folder.

This dinner turned out unusually difficult to cook, both of them overwhelmed with fielding their respective phone calls and messages, along with the emotional tide of their first day being married—Lin Shuang clung to Zhou Zheng as he cooked, kissing and hugging him, holding and pinching him, utterly unwilling to let go.

The stove fire went out two or three times, the heat gradually spreading into the bedroom, the two of them tangled together, limbs entwined like waves lapping wave after wave, emerging from the bedroom joined at the hip like conjoined twins. Lin Shuang, with no strength left in her hands, cut the steak into crooked, uneven pieces—the medium-well steak leaking blood everywhere inside.

Zhou Zheng tossed the steak back into the pan to recook it. He wore a loose white shirt, lipstick prints smudged across his cheeks, chest, and shirt, his whole being radiating a dazed, satiated air, thick with the languor of spring.

Lin Shuang draped a jacket over herself and went downstairs to fetch a box from the trunk of the car.

Mulled red wine paired with stir-fried beef, the two curled up together on the bean bag sofa.

There was still a lot to be done ahead—visiting Fu Min and Lin Shuang’s aunt’s family, going to Zhou Zheng’s hometown and Principal Ding’s family, treating close colleagues and friends from both sides to dinner, and then all the countless details of the wedding banquet later, plus Zhou Zheng’s house, and the college entrance exam at school……..

But Lin Shuang didn’t want to worry about any of it. She asked him: “Do you have wedding leave?”

The province’s standard wedding leave was ten days, but a senior-year teacher’s leave could only be arranged during the summer or winter break: “I do, maybe over summer break I can apply for fewer duty shifts.”

Lin Shuang calculated—the college entrance exam was three months away: “Let’s travel, go on a honeymoon.”

The timing wasn’t quite right—the two of them had never once gone traveling together.

Zhou Zheng’s whole body still felt like it was floating; how had a honeymoon suddenly come into play: “Where to?”

“You pick a free stretch of time, I’ll arrange the itinerary, find some kind of island.” She felt lazily like smoking a cigarette. “The Maldives or Mauritius, something like that.”

“Okay.”

“There’s also a wedding gift I want to give you—it took me a long time to put together.” Lin Shuang dragged the box beside her closer, her expression calm. “Bring your computer over, I need to borrow it.”

Zhou Zheng looked at her blankly, then went and fetched the computer from the table.

Lin Shuang pulled out a tiny USB drive, containing an edited video and a montage of photos, the footage grainy and pixelated, carrying a distinct sense of age.

The video’s editing was messy, cutting through a jumble of scenes, many faces appearing, and then……. in slow motion, Zhou Zheng suddenly saw himself in high school.

Wearing a plain, worn school uniform, very young, unpolished, and dim.

A brief flash of his face in the corner during a class activity, a dim figure on the sports field, glancing back with friends behind the school on the hill—these fragments mostly came from Li Xiaoyi’s diligent help, tracking down classmates who’d been close with him in that class back then—high schoolers from ten years ago, likely still holding low-resolution phones back then, fond of uploading their everyday campus life to online photo albums; Lin Shuang had trawled through the vast expanse of the internet and dug up traces of Zhou Zheng’s existence.

Of course, there were shots of Lin Shuang too, standing beside Li Xiaoyi, laughing carelessly with those around her, and in the very next frame of the same scene, perhaps a flicker of Zhou Zheng’s shadow would flash by.

They had, of course, never been far apart—a sports meet, a class outing, a birthday party—he had existed quietly beside her the whole time, like air and dust.

The video was short. Lin Shuang stared at the computer screen, a smile on her face, her tone even.

“See, I found you. You really were there beside me back then.”

He clenched his jaw tight, gritting his teeth hard.