Jin Chao’s place was close to the coffee shop, only about ten minutes walk away. Before, when Jiang Mu walked with him, she hadn’t thought anything of it. But since learning about his physical condition, she couldn’t help worrying about him getting tired. Even though it was just a ten-minute walk, she kept glancing at him anxiously until Jin Chao finally turned to her and said: “I’m not made of paper.”
That comment made Jiang Mu carefully hide her concern, at least trying not to let him see it.
When they reached the entrance of the residential complex, Jiang Mu paused in surprise. She had seen apartments here when looking through real estate agencies. The environment was nice, and she liked it at first sight, but the price had been too high for her to consider.
Jin Chao walked to the entrance, and after the facial recognition system confirmed him as a resident, the electronic gate opened automatically. He turned back to look at her, and Jiang Mu followed him in with surprise, asking: “So this is where you live?”
Jin Chao glanced at her: “You’ve been here before?”
Jiang Mu smiled without answering. She had been in Nanjing for so long without knowing they lived so close to each other. Before visiting Oon, she had never run into him near her home.
The elevator served two apartments per floor. Inside, Jiang Mu asked: “Which floor?”
“Eighth.”
As Jiang Mu reached to press the button, that moment of loneliness she had felt earlier about spending the holiday alone completely vanished. A smile unconsciously crept onto her face. Since she was facing away from Jin Chao, she didn’t try to hide it.
But as she kept smiling, something felt off. She sensed someone watching her. Slowly turning her gaze to the left, she met a pair of dark eyes. She had forgotten about the elevator’s mirror. Jin Chao had been quietly watching her smile, and who knew for how long. When she turned her head, he shifted his gaze, a hint of an amused smile playing at his lips.
That familiar feeling of embarrassment washed over her, and Jiang Mu pretended to fix her hair while turning her face away.
This was Jiang Mu’s first time visiting Jin Chao’s place. At his doorstep, she realized she had come empty-handed, and visited someone’s home during a major holiday without bringing anything deemed inappropriate. She suddenly stopped, and Jin Chao turned back to look at her: “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Mu pointed at the elevator and said: “Do you need anything? Maybe I should go buy something to bring over?”
Jin Chao had already opened the door. He glanced at her: “Just bringing yourself is enough. Come in.”
Jiang Mu walked toward him awkwardly, though the awkwardness lasted only a second because, in the next moment, Lightning came bounding over. Seeing Jin Chao bring Jiang Mu home, he was extremely excited, his front paws ready to jump on her. One sharp look from Jin Chao made him behave, and he ran to the shoe cabinet to fetch a pair of slippers, placing them in front of Jiang Mu. They were large men’s slippers.
Jiang Mu deliberately asked: “No women’s slippers?”
Jin Chao looked down and said: “Want to check the shoe cabinet?”
Seeing through her little probe, Jiang Mu mumbled: “I just meant these are a bit big…”
She changed into the slippers and crouched down to rub Lightning’s big head, cooing affectionately: “How are you so well-behaved? Hm? My precious Lightning baby.”
Her deliberately sweet voice fell on Jin Chao’s ears, making him smile, even though it wasn’t directed at him.
Jiang Mu’s giant baby was very pleased and ran to generously offer her his bone toy. Jiang Mu squeezed it and put it down, but Lightning picked it up again and pushed it into her hands. Unable to refuse his kindness again, she had to hold onto his bone toy while asking Jin Chao, who was heading to the kitchen: “Can I look around?”
Jin Chao took out the crabs and turned to look at her. She stood by the front door holding Lightning’s big bone toy, which was almost half her height. Under Lightning’s enthusiastic insistence, she just kept holding it awkwardly, making Jin Chao’s eyes warm with affection as he told her: “Feel free.”
The apartment was decorated in simple colors, with a spacious living room that matched Jin Chao’s style. There wasn’t much clutter, making the whole place look clean and fresh. There was a comfortable sofa, no extra decorations or plants, and not even a TV, giving it somewhat of an austere feel.
There were two rooms, one with its door closed. The other room had a large bookshelf and a dark wooden desk. Jiang Mu walked in to find several bid documents and files on the desk. She peeked at them – all related to power engineering. The bookshelf was dominated by mechanical engineering books.
Looking out, there was a large balcony with several pieces of exercise equipment and assistive devices. When she came out of that room, Jin Chao had just put the crabs on to steam. Jiang Mu asked: “Did you buy or rent this place?”
“Bought it,” he answered casually.
Jiang Mu was surprised: “The housing prices here can’t be cheap, right?”
Jin Chao took various ingredients out of the refrigerator and replied: “Made some money from projects these past few years. Enough for a down payment.”
Jiang Mu pointed at the closed room: “Is that the bedroom?”
Jin Chao made an affirmative sound and asked: “Drink or tea?”
Jiang Mu said: “Don’t trouble yourself, I don’t want anything right now. Can I see your room?”
Jin Chao pondered for a moment before responding: “Can I refuse?”
Jiang Mu pursed her lips and raised her chin to look at him: “Hiding a woman in there who can’t be seen?”
Jin Chao lowered his eyes and smiled without speaking. His silence only made Jiang Mu more curious to look inside. She put her hand on the doorknob and said provocatively: “I’m going in, okay?”
Jin Chao raised his eyes to stare at her, his gaze dark and intense. In the end, Jiang Mu let go of the handle, not entering his private space. Instead, she looked at another door and asked: “This is the bathroom, right? May I use it?”
Jin Chao opened his mouth as if to say something, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Jiang Mu said in surprise: “Don’t tell me you’re hiding a woman in the bathroom too?”
Jin Chao lowered his eyes and turned away, saying: “Help yourself.”
After he left, Jiang Mu opened the bathroom door. The space was clean and well-organized with separate wet and dry areas. Even the sink counter was spotlessly clean, with no woman hiding anywhere. But Jiang Mu still froze in place. All the floor tiles were non-slip, safety grab bars were installed around the walls, the shower area had a barrier-free design with a fold-down shower seat, and there was a mobile wheelchair standing nearby.
Although she had learned about Jin Chao’s condition that day, actually entering his life and seeing these facilities firsthand still hit her hard.
This man who had once been so capable, who could lift her with one hand effortlessly, who could carry her up five floors without breaking a breath, was now constrained by life’s smallest tasks. Jiang Mu’s heart ached, her eyes misting over, but she composed herself before leaving the bathroom.
Jin Chao was busy in the kitchen, and Jiang Mu joined him. The L-shaped kitchen was spacious, and the aroma of crabs was already wafting out. Jin Chao was preparing dinner, and Jiang Mu went over to look, rolling up her sleeves and saying: “Let me make a couple of dishes too.”
Jin Chao glanced at her sideways, his tone teasing: “Becoming capable, aren’t you?”
Jiang Mu looked at him with big eyes, deliberately appearing pitiful: “What else could I do? With no one to take care of me all these years, I couldn’t let myself starve, could I?”
She took off her coat, and Jin Chao reached out to take it. Seeing her slightly red-rimmed eyes despite her casual manner, his lips tightened as he looked away and asked offhandedly: “Hard to believe you didn’t have any pursuers?”
Jiang Mu forcefully smacked some ginger with the back of her knife, saying indignantly: “Me, no pursuers? The line of men pursuing me stretched from Canberra to the Sydney Opera House!”
Jin Chao hung up her coat and came back, his tone neutral: “Why didn’t you choose one?”
Jiang Mu finished cutting the ingredients and put them in a dish for later, turning to him and saying: “How do you know I haven’t? I’ve dated quite a few men. The most dramatic was this rock musician who, on our first date, took me deep into the mountains. I thought we were going to barbecue, but he just jumped straight into the river, shoes and all, and told me to jump too. I was stunned – the river was still frozen!”
Jin Chao’s brows furrowed slightly, his movements slowing as he gave her an indescribable look. Jiang Mu immediately laughed, tilting her head: “You believe everything I say, don’t you?”
Jin Chao looked at her with an intimidating gaze: “Run out of things to talk about?”
“There’s still plenty. Are you still working with cars?”
“More or less.”
“When I came back to China, I went to Tonggang and met Pan Kai. He gave me your contact number – a landline in Changchun, but I couldn’t get through. How did you end up in Changchun?”
“Stayed there for two years before. Came here after graduation, but still have business there, go back sometimes.”
“What kind of work?”
“Projects, not fixed. The place you called had moved once, the number’s not in use anymore.”
Jiang Mu muttered: “No wonder.”
Then asked: “College entrance exam or adult education exam?”
Jin Chao had efficiently cleaned up the fat trimmings she didn’t want to use, and replied: “Self-study exam.”
Jiang Mu paused. She’d heard that self-study meant independent learning and passing over a dozen subjects to get a degree. It wasn’t easy, especially while trying to earn money and managing both.
She asked: “Was self-study difficult?”
“The associate degree wasn’t hard. Bachelor’s took more effort, but manageable.”
Jiang Mu took a moment to process this, finally understanding that since he hadn’t finished high school, strictly speaking, he had to start with an associate degree. She couldn’t help asking: “Did you have to memorize a lot?”
Jin Chao smiled almost imperceptibly: “Things like Basic Principles of Marxism – I memorized those during rehabilitation when there wasn’t much else to do.”
This Jiang Mu never doubted. Jin Chao was smart; he’d always been quicker at memorizing than her since childhood. The vocabulary they learned at school during the day, he’d have memorized by evening. Before her college entrance exam, Jin Chao had shared his memorization method with her. It was quite peculiar, twisting the meaning of sentences into completely unrelated content, but strangely enough, the next time he saw the same knowledge point, he never forgot it.
“Did you study the same field?”
Jin Chao skillfully peeled and deveined shrimp while saying: “When Guangyu introduced me to Changchun, I had the experience but no degree, so I just studied Mechanical Design, Manufacturing and Automation.”
“Are you doing your master’s now? Same major?”
“Thermal Energy and Power Engineering. Graduating next year.”
Jiang Mu was amazed. Perhaps for ordinary people, getting a master’s degree wasn’t anything special, but for Jin Chao, especially after seeing the setup in his bathroom, her heart kept twinging with pain. The higher he strived to climb, the more she felt the hardship of each step he took.
Jin Chao sensed her mood and changed the subject: “You’re asking more questions than an HR person. Want me to make you a copy of my diploma?”
Jiang Mu finally fell silent with a smile. With her coat off, she wore a cream-colored semi-turtleneck sweater, her long hair casually tied back, with a few loose strands falling along her cheeks, looking gentle and charming, bringing a homey warmth to the empty kitchen.
Jin Chao watched her in the warm light, then opened a drawer to hand her an apron. Jiang Mu was still marinating pork belly, her hands covered in sauce.
Worried about staining her white clothes, Jin Chao moved behind her to put the apron over her head. Jiang Mu felt his presence looming behind her, her breath catching, even her hands stopping their work, but he quickly moved away.
Jiang Mu turned to look at him, his tense profile showing restrained warmth. She looked back at Lightning lying at the kitchen door, feeling somewhat dazed, like a scene that should only appear in dreams.
Jiang Mu made a crispy pork belly and a fish head dish, while Jin Chao prepared several other dishes. The crabs were done, all large. Before eating, Jin Chao took a phone call. Although the phone wasn’t on speaker, Jiang Mu thought the voice on the other end sounded familiar.
She leaned in close to Jin Chao, perking up her ears, and indeed heard San Lai’s exuberant laughter saying: “If you won’t come over, we’ll come to you! We can head out now, it’s only two hours away. It’s no fun spending the holiday alone.”
Jin Chao raised his eyes to look at Jiang Mu who had pressed close, his tone neutral: “How do you know I’m alone?”
San Lai immediately said: “Sorry, didn’t count Lightning. But seriously, we’re coming over right now.”
Jin Chao replied: “No need, I’m going over next week anyway.”
Jiang Mu started laughing and deliberately changed her voice to speak sweetly into the phone: “Darling, hurry up!”
“…”
The phone went silent. Jin Chao raised his eyes to give her a cold stare while Jiang Mu covered her mouth, unable to stop laughing.
After about ten seconds, San Lai finally managed a “Holy shit,” then stammered: “Well… well bro, you’re busy, I’ll hang up.”
After the call ended, just as Jiang Mu was about to run away, Jin Chao grabbed her collar and pulled her back, his tone quite serious: “You’ve just ruined my lifelong reputation.”
Jiang Mu giggled: “I’ll take responsibility for you, okay?”
Jin Chao’s gaze deepened, the air suddenly growing still. The smile faded from Jiang Mu’s face, but her eyes remained fixed intensely on him.