Generally, usually, sometimes, in novels, besides the fate-governing deities disguised as birth mothers and stepmothers, there exists another type of being that delights readers.

In martial arts novels, it’s the otherworldly master who transfers their inner power to the foolish protagonist until they perish; in time-travel stories, it’s the one who tells the female lead she’s the pampered number-one beauty’s maid in some official’s household; in tomb-raiding tales, it’s the villager who tells the grave robber there are no ghosts or zombies here; in harem stories, it’s the little eunuch who sees a group of beautiful wives crying around the emperor’s sickbed while telling him “Your Majesty, today is the selection of concubines.”

In these ten years… well, never mind, anyway, in these ten years, there existed a similar minor character.

This person was mentioned to Ah Heng by her Chinese colleague. In the sixth alley of the Gobelin district lived an old Chinese medicine doctor, miraculous with acupuncture, specializing in leg ailments. But the old doctor had a peculiar temperament – whether Chinese or foreign, he wouldn’t treat those who were good-looking, wealthy, or whose conditions could be cured in hospitals.

Yan Xi: “Damn, do I need to disfigure myself?”

Ah Heng: “Get lost! I worked hard to nurse you back to health, even if you’re willing, I’m not!”

“Then what do we do?”

Ah Heng gritted her teeth: “What use is that face of yours besides attracting men?”

She took out a gray scarf from the wardrobe, wrapped Yan Xi up like the Big Bad Wolf’s grandmother, and said: “Alright, let’s go.”

Yan Xi was depressed: “How can a mere scarf hide this young master’s beauty!”

Ah Heng ignored him and took him on her bicycle, the second-hand contraption creaking as if it wouldn’t last much longer.

Yan Xi smiled through the scarf: “Ah Heng, I used to give you rides too.”

Ah Heng pedaled laboriously: “Is that old-fashioned bike still in your storage room?”

The grandmother-wolf shook his head: “I sold it.”

“When?”

“Before I moved to Lu Liu’s place after we broke up.”

“Forgot to say back then – happy breakup, wish you happiness.”

“Who said I was happy? Which eye of yours saw me being happy? If I were happy, would I be reminiscing about my ex-girlfriend in front of my current girlfriend? Am I that kind of person?”

“Your logic is all messed up… ex-girlfriend… current girlfriend… who are they?”

“It’s you, all you, only you!”

Yan Xi gazed at the sky, his fair fingers lightly playing piano on his useless left leg. He sighed: “Even I don’t know why all those who once liked me became afraid of you and left one by one.”

Ah Heng was stunned: “I never did anything.”

Yan Xi’s high, straight nose was gently pressed against Ah Heng’s sweater. He smiled: “Yes, you didn’t do anything.”

He said: “It’s all my fault, making you the only one.”

Constantly choosing, seeking, desperately trying to fill the void in his heart, excluding everyone else.

Until only one remained.

The old Chinese doctor’s surname was Wei. Looking at Yan Xi limping like a wolf’s grandmother, then at Ah Heng’s cheap, rough clothes, he was particularly friendly.

Doctor Wei’s courtyard wasn’t large, with many Chinese herbs drying on racks, giving off a strong medicinal fragrance. It reminded Ah Heng of her childhood, feeling as if she had traveled through time, finding familiar scenes in France – it felt very intimate.

Doctor Wei asked: “Have you seen doctors before?”

Yan Xi gestured, saying: “Many. Had rehabilitation, there’s even a steel pin this long inside.”

Doctor Wei pondered: “Young man, take off your cotton pants and lie on the bed, let me have a look.” Yan Xi had been wearing cotton pants for warmth since early autumn, but his blood circulation remained poor, often leaving his leg ice-cold.

Ah Heng wanted to observe and learn, but Doctor Wei locked her outside, leaving her disappointed. As she left, he added: “Young lady, looking at a man’s bare thighs, aren’t you ashamed!”

Yan Xi laughed loudly through the door while Ah Heng’s face alternated between green and red.

Soon after, the little one started howling in pain, his shouts sending geese crashing around the courtyard.

Ah Heng pressed against the door asking: “What’s wrong?”

The old doctor cursed repeatedly: “What kind of rubbish treatment did you get before? Wait another month and the flesh will be completely dead!”

Ah Heng became anxious: “Can you cure him?”

The old doctor tossed out a response: “It’s up to fate!”

Ah Heng grew more anxious: “Please don’t say that, how is it?”

The old doctor slowly applied needles inside, completely focused and no longer responding to Ah Heng. Yan Xi was crying from pain, biting the pillow, his voice hoarse as he whimpered through the door: “I’m fine.”

The old doctor slapped Yan Xi’s mouth: “Kid, what’s wrong with you, are you dirty? Is it really that painful?”

Yan Xi resentfully replied, veins popping: “Whether it hurts or not, you’re the one putting in the needles, shouldn’t you know?”

Ah Heng’s forehead was covered in sweat as she knocked on the door: “How can acupuncture be so painful, did you insert them wrong? Please be careful, he’s been afraid of pain since childhood. Doctor Wei, let me in!”

The old doctor ignored her.

Yan Xi’s cries of pain grew worse, like a pig being slaughtered.

Ah Heng nearly broke down the door: “Please let me in, Doctor Wei! Yan Xi will be fine once he sees me!”

Doctor Wei rolled his eyes and continued with the needles: “Are you a painkiller that seeing you makes everything better? If you’re all that’s needed, what use am I?”

Ah Heng nearly spat blood – what kind of old man was this? Her grandfather, Yan’s grandfather, and the late Xin grandfather combined weren’t this difficult. She said: “Just one look, one look, I’ll leave right after.”

Doctor Wei removed needles from several major points in Yan Xi’s leg, asking the teary-eyed Yan Xi while working: “Who is this girl to you? She’s so concerned about you.”

Yan Xi sobbed: “My wife, not married yet.”

Doctor Wei said: “No wonder. If not for your age, I’d have thought she was your mother.”

Yan Xi wiped his tears while struggling greatly to put on his cotton pants: “You’re joking, my mother never cared for me like she does.”

Doctor Wei looked at Yan Xi’s scarf: “Wait, what’s going on, you haven’t taken off your scarf since you came in?”

Yan Xi: “Well, I’m disfigured. Because I was too ugly, my mother abandoned me when I was little. Want to see?”

Doctor Wei coughed: “Never mind, as long as you’re not good-looking, it’s fine.”

Yan Xi fumed: “What grudge do you have against good-looking people?”

Doctor Wei sneered: “Most beautiful people have wicked hearts.”

Yan Xi smiled awkwardly, slowly opened the door, and immediately fell into Ah Heng’s arms, tears in his eyes: “Ah Heng, it hurt so much.”

Ah Heng’s heart ached as she stroked his hair: “It’s okay, darling, it’s over now, I’ll make you chicken soup when we get home.” She turned to ask Doctor Wei with an apologetic smile, “Doctor Wei, about Yan Xi’s condition…”

Doctor Wei said: “Come once a week, and after acupuncture, you must walk continuously for an hour, no rest.”

Ah Heng’s eyes gradually filled with joy: “So, Yan Xi’s condition, it can be cured?”

Doctor Wei said: “Seeing his response to acupuncture is very good, if he persists, it should be possible.”

She looked at Yan Xi in her arms and spoke softly: “Did you hear that?”

Yan Xi’s eyes brightened: “Ah Heng, will I be able to carry you into the church when we get married?”

Ah Heng nodded, her smile growing more gentle and clear. She held Yan Xi’s hand, accompanying him as he walked slowly, continuously – so difficult for him.

He said: “Please, let me watch your back as you walk.”

But Ah Heng insisted, saying: “This time, we go together.”

Every week, Ah Heng would accompany Yan Xi for his hour-long walk, and then bicycle him home.

The twelfth district wasn’t particularly close to Gobelin, taking another hour by bicycle. After less than a month, the bicycle broke down.

Ah Heng had been fined a month’s salary earlier, living frugally, and with Yan Xi’s medical expenses, though not excessive, it was still a large sum for them now. So, Ah Heng decided not to buy another bike, instead carrying Yan Xi on her back for the remaining distance after his hour of walking.

Yan Xi refused: “Let’s take the metro.”

Ah Heng: “Doesn’t the metro cost money?”

“Then the bus?”

“Buses aren’t free either.”

“Then… I’ll walk back.”

“You’ll collapse before you make it back.”

“Didn’t the doctor say to practice more?”

“Not this much.” Then, before Yan Xi could speak, Ah Heng carried him on her back and started walking, saying, “Look how thin you are, so thin a breeze could blow you away.”

Paris winter, 2007, the first day of snow.

She carried the ball-like Yan Xi on her back, smiling as she said: “Yan Xi, you’re too thin, you need to eat more.” She gritted her teeth, her lips pale, her face covered in snowflakes, veins showing on her forehead.

Yan Xi suddenly laughed on her back.

He said: “Wen Heng, how much do you love me?”

Ah Heng was stunned for a while before speaking softly: “I owed you in my previous life. I harmed you and your whole family, so I’m here to repay the debt in this life.”

She had sewn cotton knee protectors for Yan Xi’s legs. They walked through the snow for a long time, seemingly reaching the end of heaven and earth before finally arriving home.

The scarf wrapping Yan Xi had accidentally fallen off during acupuncture, and Doctor Wei saw Yan Xi’s face.

The kind-looking old man seemed to have suffered a huge betrayal, stopping mid-treatment and saying: “Leave.”

Ah Heng and Yan Xi were both stunned. They hadn’t expected the old man to become so angry.

The old man said: “I won’t treat you anymore, you filthy liars!”

Ah Heng’s lips were dry as she tried to explain: “We had no choice, Yan Xi’s leg wouldn’t heal. Though I’m a doctor, I couldn’t do anything for his leg. Do you know the pain of watching your loved one suffer while being powerless to help?”

But Doctor Wei seemed triggered by something, his anger exploding: “Get out, all of you get out!”

Tears fell from Ah Heng’s eyes like pearls as she choked: “Why? Yan Xi’s leg was about to heal, you know that if we stop halfway, his muscles will deteriorate faster, and his leg will need amputation later. How can you be so unreasonable?”

But Doctor Wei closed the door, saying: “Get out, I don’t want to see either of you again!”

Yan Xi had been standing silently beside her, supporting himself against the wall, watching Ah Heng cry. Sweat from the acupuncture still lingered on his forehead as he suddenly smiled: “Don’t cry, Ah Heng.”

Ah Heng crouched on the ground, her fuzzy hair disheveled, tears falling steadily as she spoke about how difficult everything was.

Yan Xi supported himself against the wall to reach her side, wiping the tears from her little face, saying: “Why cry? Get up, don’t cry, let’s go home.”

Ah Heng cried desperately, saying: “I can’t go on, Yan Xi, I’m tired, really, so tired.”

He said: “Stand up, Wen Heng, get up or I’ll hit you.”

Ah Heng looked at him, her reddened eyes full of tears, saying: “Yan Xi, I’m tired.”

Yan Xi crouched down, his back slightly tilted: “Come on, I’ll carry you home.”

Ah Heng continued crying steadily, saying: “Your leg hasn’t…”

He became angry: “Wen Heng, get the fuck up here! Even if the leg is ruined or amputated, today this man is carrying his woman home, hurry up!”

Ah Heng hesitated, stepping back.

Yan Xi said nothing, taking Ah Heng’s hand with one hand and wrapping his other arm around her waist, standing up.

He walked unsteadily, hunched over, gritting his teeth, sweat gathering on his forehead with each step.

He said: “In the future, I’ll paint for you every day, for our children, then open a gallery, exhibiting only you all, okay? Baby, stop crying.”

He said: “Though I can’t carry you into the church, I dare say, in this world, only I dare to marry you.”

Ah Heng asked: “Why?”

He smiled: “Whoever tries to marry you, I’ll kill them.”

He said: “You always want to hear me say I like you, but baby, how do you expect me to like you more than I do now?”