The weather was nice that weekend, and there were plenty of people in the village. Along the village road, children and elderly folk clustered together, playing and chatting. Zhou Zheng drove past, drawing plenty of attention.

News traveled especially fast in the village—the whole village already knew that Zhou Zheng had married that beautiful, eye-catching, and pampered girlfriend of his.

As Zhou Zheng’s grandmother gazed at her lovingly, stroking Lin Shuang’s hand over and over, the village’s various aunts and relatives swarmed over, each chatting with Lin Shuang about household trivialities. The professional smile on her face never once faltered.

The countryside wasn’t like the city—people’s social distance was much closer, and the atmosphere of family and clan was much thicker.

It wasn’t that she was bad at handling crowds, just that she wasn’t used to handling intimate relationships and identities.

This was exactly the reason behind their impulsive registration—if she and Zhou Zheng had met each other’s relatives and friends a few more times beforehand, there was absolutely no way the word “marriage” would have come up.

The village had many customs and many rites. Quite a few people came to pay their respects to the new daughter-in-law, filling the house, chatting with Zhou Zheng’s grandmother and second aunt about wedding preparations—needing to match birth charts, enter the ancestral hall, invite the elders to worship the ancestors, meet the in-laws, prepare celebratory tea and cakes…

Zhou Zheng was sharp about it, positioning himself in front of Lin Shuang to handle the neighbors—partly worried she wasn’t used to this atmosphere, partly worried she’d get annoyed by the questions. With him holding down the fort, the socializing wasn’t difficult; Lin Shuang just needed to follow along and echo him.

After sitting for a while, Zhou Zheng stood up to find something: “I’ll take Shuangshuang to visit Mom and Dad.”

The village had a cemetery, halfway up the back mountain. He picked up incense and candles, leading Lin Shuang out the door, treating it as something of a spring outing.

The early spring sun was lazy, the mountains lush with greenery. Lin Shuang followed Zhou Zheng up the mountain: “How much further?”

“Not too far.”

He walked ahead, clearing the path for her, occasionally turning back to pick a leaf for her to try. Lin Shuang asked him: “What leaf is this? Can you eat it?”

“Don’t know what it’s called, but it’s edible. I used to eat it a lot as a kid.” He turned back. “Need me to carry you?”

“Do I look that pathetic to you?” She held up her long skirt, sweat beading on her forehead in the sun. “Why’s the cemetery in such a remote spot.”

“Probably has to do with feng shui.” He pushed aside the brambles ahead. “We’re here.”

A low white wall enclosed a patch of wild land. Black paint spelled out the two characters for “Cemetery” on the wall. Walking in, rows of gravestones lined up inside.

Zhou Zheng’s parents’ grave was a joint burial, quite old, the headstone considerably worn. Wild grass grew thick all around, thickly covering the grave. Though there were traces of weeding, nothing could overcome the plants’ stubborn vitality.

Zhou Zheng lit incense sticks and candles, handing one to Lin Shuang. The two of them each lit incense, standing before the headstone for a while.

He took her hand.

Lin Shuang leaned in closer to him, pressing against his shoulder, glancing sideways at him. He, too, looked at her quietly.

The sunlight was soft, the cemetery desolate. In that instant even the sound of wind fell silent, the world empty and quiet.

Only the two of them.

Once the incense had burned out, Zhou Zheng cleared away the weeds near the headstone, and the two of them left the cemetery hand in hand.

Zhou Zheng switched to a flatter mountain path, leading her over one small hill after another. The early spring vegetation grew wild, greenery already spreading across the mountains and fields. The two of them chatted casually, talking about all sorts of things past and present.

This was, of course, nothing like the elegantly dressed evening banquets where people chatted about fashion trends, politics, and finance using lofty foreign terms and jargon, nor like the world of neon lights where men and women flirted ambiguously and gossiped about scandals.

It was a kind of vitality that sank into the bones, solid and grounded, yet also intangible, impossible to grasp or put into words.

The two of them walked through the empty wilderness, low wild grass and unassuming little wildflowers in red, white, yellow, and blue brushing against her skirt hem. Lin Shuang held up her skirt and trotted forward, waving: “Take a photo of me.”

Zhou Zheng crouched down, capturing her in the camera—brilliant sunshine, azure sky, pure white clouds, a sweet, flawless smile.

He walked over too, coming to her side, pulling her into his embrace, wrapping her in his outer coat. She looked like a cocoon bundled in his clothes, giggling and bending over with laughter. His heart raced, and he nuzzled against her lovely cheek.

“Shuangshuang.”

“Mm?”

“I’m so glad to have you.” He held her tighter.

Her eyes carried a soft glow.

The sky stretched vast, a gentle breeze brushing past, the two of them lingering in the wilderness, kissing tenderly, gentle pecks.

Zhou Zheng didn’t stay long in the village—there was a test at school the next day. Lin Shuang went back with him too. Zhou Zheng’s grandmother was especially reluctant to see them go, holding Lin Shuang’s hand, telling her to come back with Zhou Zheng again next time.

Lin Shuang pinched the ring on her finger, smiling brightly as she agreed.

Every few days, Lin Shuang would drag Miao Cai to the home furnishing market. Miao Cai asked her: “You’re getting married? Have you set a date yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Get the wedding photos taken first, and you need to book the hotel in advance, find a wedding company and all that.”

Miao Cai, being someone who’d been through it, gave pointers with confident expertise, talking nonstop from start to finish.

Lin Shuang frowned slightly.

Plenty of people offered advice, but she and Zhou Zheng hadn’t formally discussed the wedding at all—partly because they were approaching the final sprint before the college entrance exam and Zhou Zheng had been especially busy lately, and partly because the two of them still had the new home to set up, which had taken up all their focus recently.

She hadn’t given the wedding much thought.

Zhou Zheng was busy teaching classes, Lin Shuang was busy furnishing the new home. Lin Hai was to be released from prison in early August; the two of them planned to move into the new home over summer break, sending the furniture they currently used for cohabitation to Zhou Zheng’s hometown, so as to free up the current apartment entirely for Lin Hai to use.

The soft furnishings for the new home were all handpicked by Lin Shuang. She looked lazy on ordinary days, but when she got busy she was focused and meticulous. Zhou Zheng would come help set things up after class—the heavy, rough labor fell to him, the detailed work to Lin Shuang. Xie Xiaomeng would sometimes come along with Zhang Fan to take a look too.

It had to be said, Lin Shuang’s taste really was excellent—at least, by the time Xie Xiaomeng saw the already-furnished walk-in closet, she’d completely lost her composure.

What girl wouldn’t like a floor-to-ceiling cream-white wardrobe, slender frosted metal handles, a warm display light, fully transparent bag and jewelry display cabinets, a shimmering full-length mirror taking up half the wall, and a peacock-blue velvet vintage sofa?

Xie Xiaomeng had already started discussing the wardrobe’s functional and aesthetic options with Lin Shuang.

“How much did the soft furnishings cost?” Zhang Fan nudged Zhou Zheng, winking: “That’s a nice bed, two-meter king size, tsk tsk, you could roll around any which way…”

Zhou Zheng kicked him out of the bedroom.

The two of them went to the balcony to install the washing machine. Zhou Zheng remembered something: “Oh right, that hundred thousand yuan I borrowed from you—I put together a workbook over New Year’s, and this morning I got the first payment from the publisher. Let me pay back part of it.”

Zhang Fan’s eyes went wide: “Huh?”

“I’ll give you the rest once my college-entrance-exam bonus comes through.”

Zhang Fan suddenly snapped awake, his face full of forced nonchalance: “Oh, oh, right, that… whatever’s fine… it’s all good…”

Zhou Zheng stood up, patted his pocket, and went inside to get his phone off the dining table.

To work more efficiently, he’d put his wallet, keys, and phone all on the table.

Zhang Fan quietly pulled out his phone, frantically texting Lin Shuang.

【Big sis, that money thing, you still haven’t come clean with Zhou Zheng?】

【Damn it! You two are already married and this still hasn’t been sorted out?】

【He just told me he wants to pay me back! What do I do, should I take it?】

As luck would have it, Lin Shuang’s phone and bag were also on the dining table, and it lit up right in front of Zhou Zheng.

Three messages, plain and clear, laid out right under Zhou Zheng’s nose.

His expression froze for a moment.

Lin Shuang and Xie Xiaomeng were still in the closet, not yet out, their voices light, laughter crisp and clear.

Zhou Zheng picked up Lin Shuang’s phone, going to confront Zhang Fan: “What are you texting my wife about behind my back?”

That was the first time he’d said those two words—he bit down on them especially hard, an intense sense of boundary and possessiveness in his tone.

Zhang Fan’s heart lurched with panic: “………..”

He hadn’t done anything to betray his good buddy!

“No, no….. what am I texting about….. we’re just friends, haha……..”

Zhou Zheng, eyes lowered and demeanor mild, pulled up Lin Shuang’s phone, reading the lock screen text without a ripple in his tone: “He just told me he wants to pay me back, what do I do, should I take it.”

Zhang Fan’s face was full of embarrassment.

Damn it, this was social death in the flesh.

“That hundred thousand yuan you lent me—whose money was it?” Zhou Zheng lifted his gaze. “Shuangshuang’s?”

“You two teamed up to deceive me?” Zhou Zheng ground his teeth ominously.

At this point there was nothing left to deny. Zhang Fan shook his head, then nodded, throwing Lin Shuang under the bus without hesitation: “It’s not on me, man, I was forced into it by Lin Shuang.”

“You don’t know what the boss lady’s like—she… she blackmailed me, snatched my phone, transferred me a sum of money without a word of warning.” Zhang Fan spoke with righteous indignation. “She played the guilt card on me, said if I refused to help, I wasn’t loyal, wasn’t a real friend, would just stand by and watch a friend suffer. And she said, said as long as I convinced you to accept the loan, I didn’t need to worry about what came after, she’d handle it.”

“It really isn’t my business, I was just caught in the middle between you two, in a tough spot—on one side my buddy, on the other my buddy’s girlfriend. I don’t know what game you two are playing, who would’ve thought you two, already married, still hadn’t sorted this out, I’ve been in a tough spot too……..”

Zhang Fan stumbled through his explanation, finally managing to distance himself entirely. Zhou Zheng, for his part, didn’t say much, lowering his eyes, calmly patting his shoulder: “You still want the money back? If so, I’ll transfer it to you.”

“No need, no need.” Zhang Fan waved his hands. “It’s your family business, I won’t get involved, you go talk it through properly with Lin Shuang, haha……”

“Alright then, thanks.” Zhou Zheng crouched back down, continuing his work. “Come help me out, help me connect the drainpipe.”

Zhang Fan scurried over quickly.

Halfway through the work, Zhou Zheng, head lowered, suddenly spoke up again: “If we’re brothers, is there going to be a next time? Should I pull the same stunt with Xie Xiaomeng later on?”

Zhang Fan’s hand trembled slightly—no matter how he heard it, Zhou Zheng’s tone carried a calm menace that revealed nothing on the surface. He pledged his loyalty: “No, of course not, people should be open and transparent about things, never hide anything, never lie, if there’s an issue we lay it all out and talk it through properly.”

“Also….. you and Xiaomeng teach in the same grade, heh heh, put in a good word for me when you get the chance.”

Zhou Zheng nodded, saying gently: “Sure.”

Once Xie Xiaomeng and Lin Shuang came out, Zhang Fan grabbed Xie Xiaomeng and headed for the door: “It’s getting late, let’s head back early.”

“Not staying for dinner?” Lin Shuang asked, surprised. “We already made plans.”

“No, no, you two eat on your own, Teacher Xie and I have something to take care of.” Zhang Fan dragged Xie Xiaomeng into the elevator, waving at Zhou Zheng. “Call me if you need anything, I’ll come help anytime, bro!!”