After returning from Yunnan, Zhao Dalin had no further contact with Sun Kai. She complied with her parents’ arrangements and went on a blind date with a doctoral student from the University of Political Science and Law. Unexpectedly, she encountered Sun Kai and his fiancée at the restaurant.

Sun Kai had broken up with Fang Yan. For Zhao Dalin at that moment, she felt jubilant for an instant. The once-dead heart seemed to be ignited again, but the next second, she smiled self-mockingly. Just because he broke up with his girlfriend, would he accept you? Don’t forget what kind of woman you are in his eyes.

Zhao Dalin sat motionless in her seat, discussing marriage matters with the doctoral gentleman across from her.

The doctoral gentleman asked her, “Would you mind living with my mother after we get married?”

Zhao Dalin maintained her smile and slowly put down her chopsticks. “How should I put this?”

The doctoral gentleman explained to her, “It’s like this, my mother has sold or mortgaged almost everything she could to support my education since I was young…”

It was quite a lengthy, tragic story.

When Sun Kai was settling the bill, he noticed Zhao Dalin. Fang Yan had already left. While lowering her head to take out her wallet, she heard a familiar voice nearby. Instinctively, she glanced sideways and froze. That woman was smiling at the man across from her, saying, “Of course, I don’t mind living with your mother after marriage.”

Sun Kai finished paying, put his wallet back in his pocket, and left without looking back.

His car was parked at the entrance. Zhao Dalin watched him get in the car, and without hesitation, she immediately turned the steering wheel and drove out. The people on their team all drove aggressively—both him and Lu Huaizheng.

Sun Kai was quite silent during that period. When they met in the team, the two still didn’t speak.

Everyone in the team knew Sun Kai was heartbroken, and that he had been cheated on. On normal days, even the mischievous ones behaved well when they saw Sun Kai. During training, they were all exceptionally obedient. During physical fitness assessments, everyone worked especially hard, hoping to comfort their leader through work.

But Sun Kai wasn’t comforted; he became even more taciturn, and his spirit seemed more depressed.

The team members grew anxious, and someone couldn’t help but consult Zhao Dalin from the psychology department.

Zhao Dalin asked in return, “If it were you, after experiencing what Sun Kai did, what would you do?”

The person was taken aback, thought for a moment, and said, “I wouldn’t want to go to work or see anyone.”

Zhao Dalin replied, “So why are you trying to comfort him? When a man is cheated on by his girlfriend, do you think he feels honorable or proud that you all know about it? Your various attempts to please him will only make him more depressed.”

“Huh?” The person scratched the back of his head.

“You all have good intentions but are harming. At times like this, men reject anything from the outside world. They experience self-doubt, question certain aspects of their abilities, and may even become sexually cold or develop sexual phobias.”

“It’s… it’s not that serious, is it?” the person stammered.

“How is it not serious? I’ve seen too many such cases. How should I put it? What you need to do now is act as if nothing happened. Do what you normally do. Don’t try too hard in training, don’t try to please your captain, don’t pay too much attention to him, and don’t make him feel like you’re pitying him.”

“Is that all?”

Zhao Dalin thought for a moment and suggested, “When you have nothing to do, pick some fights, play some pranks on him, distract his attention. Right now, he’s just holding it all in. It would be good if you could get him to vent his anger.”

Whether there was an issue in how that soldier relayed the message when he went back, or for some other reason, Sun Kai was nearly driven to death by these guys. Not just during training, but even when lining up for the bathroom or shower, they all competed with him holding their washbasins. Sun Kai was quite indifferent about it; he just put down his basin and went downstairs to run laps.

Even during training, these guys proposed to have a martial arts competition. And during the competition, they cheated in various ways. When crossing a trench, several people tripped him, but Sun Kai held back and didn’t get angry.

The young soldier found Zhao Dalin again. “Captain Sun is too tolerant. Even in that situation, he doesn’t get angry. During the martial arts competition the other day, He Lang and I dragged him down from the trench by his pants, and he still didn’t get angry. He just endured it. It’s too frustrating.”

Zhao Dalin only replied with two words: “Continue.”

However, two days later, Sun Kai got angry, and surprisingly, his anger was directed at Zhao Dalin.

That day, after routine training, He Lang and the others continued to ‘pick fights’ as usual.

After training, Sun Kai was sulkily washing his face in the bathroom when he overheard He Lang and others discussing.

“Captain Sun is becoming more and more tolerant.”

“Men who’ve been dumped are like this.”

“Is Dr. Zhao’s advice reliable?”

“I’m afraid we might anger Captain Sun…”

“She’s a psychologist, specifically treating these cases. She says she’s treated many such cases before, all of the men whose girlfriends cheated on them, and they feel they’ve lost face…”

Zhao Dalin was going downstairs for dinner. Just after locking her door, she heard rapid footsteps in the stairwell. She thought it was Lu Huaizheng, but when she reached the staircase, she saw Sun Kai wearing a cap running up from downstairs, like an unbridled wild horse heading towards her without restraint.

Before Zhao Dalin could react, her wrist was firmly gripped.

The man’s warm palm pressed against her cold skin, giving her brain a jolt. The next second, Sun Kai, expressionless, dragged and pulled her into the office. She stumbled and was thrown onto the sofa by him, almost passing out from the pain.

“What’s wrong with you?” she cursed.

Sun Kai folded his arms and sneered, “What’s wrong with me, or what’s wrong with you? Getting my team members to mess with me? Zhao Dalin! Does your revenge psychology need to be this strong?”

“I’m getting revenge on you?” Zhao Dalin was incredulous.

Sun Kai was so angry he laughed, his hand on his waist, lowering his head to bite his lip, and laughed self-mockingly, “I admit, in Yunnan, I shouldn’t have said those things to you. My breakup has nothing to do with you. Why are you giving such bad advice here? Huh?”

Zhao Dalin understood. He probably found out the bad advice was from her. She sat on the sofa, turning her head away, saying nothing.

The room was silent, with the wind howling outside. Sun Kai lowered his head slightly, “What right do you have to meddle in my life, I ask you? Did I ask you for psychological intervention? May I ask? Am I your patient? May I ask? Have I shown any signs of psychological abnormality, may I ask?”

“No,” Zhao Dalin said, stretching her neck.

These days, with Yu Hao not around, the psychology department is staffed by Zhao Dalin. Sun Kai didn’t want to see her but forced himself not to show it, just to avoid Zhao Dalin’s psychological intervention. Hearing her indifferent words, Sun Kai finally couldn’t hold back and shouted—

“Then why the fuck are you interfering??”

The room was dim, with the curtains half-drawn. Zhao Dalin’s ears were a bit allergic, turning red. She kept her head turned away, saying nothing.

After a long time, she finally asked, “Are you done yelling?”

Sun Kai put his hands in his pockets, also turning his head away, saying nothing.

Zhao Dalin stood up to leave.

Sun Kai blocked the door, not giving way. The two stood face to face in the dim office, faintly hearing each other’s weak breathing. Sun Kai said, “I’m asking you to stay away from me.”

Zhao Dalin promptly looked up at him, “Fine, please let me pass.”

Her promptness stunned Sun Kai, and he didn’t react.

Zhao Dalin repeated, “Please let me pass, I want to go out.”

Sun Kai dazedly moved a step to the side, and Zhao Dalin didn’t linger, directly opening the door and leaving.

During that period, their relationship was very tense, even more strained than Sun Kai’s relationship with Fang Yan. After breaking up, Fang Yan had sought out Sun Kai several times. Once, she waited for him outside the military base for a whole day. Sun Kai had no choice but to bring her in and have a meal in the canteen.

Zhao Dalin heard about it later from He Lang and others, who said Fang Yan seemed interested in reconciling, and the captain seemed quite reluctant to let go.

Some also said, “A good horse never eats old grass, especially such rotten grass.”

Zhao Dalin didn’t pay much attention; that week was the last half-month of her assignment, and she was already working on the handover with Little Liu.

On Friday, Zhao Dalin went to the air therapy hospital for the last follow-up visit. The old veterans, hearing she was leaving, were quite reluctant to see her go.

“So you and Dr. Yu won’t be coming anymore?”

Zhao Dalin said while packing up, “That’s right.” But on second thought, she took out her business card case from her pocket and handed over a few cards, “If you have any questions to consult in the future, you can find me through the address on the card.”

The old veterans were reluctant to part, “We haven’t seen Dr. Yu for a long time either.”

“She’s had some issues recently. When she’s better, I’ll bring her to see you all.”

The old veterans nodded with tears in their eyes, “Good, good, you must visit often. You and Dr. Yu are both good people.”

Zhao Dalin smiled.

Sun Kai was also at the air therapy hospital for a meeting that day. When he came out, he saw Zhao Dalin surrounded by a group of old veterans. He hesitated whether to go forward and greet her. After that day, they hadn’t spoken a word to each other. He regretted it quite a bit. Usually, he was quite a tolerant person, but that day he just couldn’t hold back with her. He didn’t know why he was inexplicably angry; he just felt uncomfortable seeing her and He Lang conspiring privately.

Several times when he saw her alone, he wanted to go up and say a few words, and apologize, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, especially in the military, wearing that uniform made it even harder for him to lower his head.

When Zhao Dalin saw Sun Kai coming, she turned to leave.

Sun Kai quickly stopped her. He wasn’t in a hurry to speak, first chatting with the old veterans beside him, asking and answering questions, humble and polite, his hand firmly holding Zhao Dalin’s arm. Zhao Dalin tried to pull away but was firmly held by his iron-like hand.

After the old veterans left, Sun Kai finally released her. Zhao Dalin said nothing and walked away immediately. Sun Kai followed, with his long legs, keeping pace beside her without hurry. “Hey.”

Zhao Dalin ignored him and started to hail a taxi when she reached the outside of the air therapy hospital.

Sun Kai pulled her hand down, “Alright, I’m apologizing to you.”

Zhao Dalin glanced at him, “I don’t need it.”

Sun Kai bent forward quite sincerely, “I lost my temper that day, shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

Zhao Dalin sneered, “Fang Yan came back to find you?”

“What?”

“Did you two get back together?”

“No.”

“Then why did you suddenly discover your conscience?”

“Discover my conscience?” The sunlight was harsh, Sun Kai smiled helplessly, “I won’t get back together with her, and there’s no such thing as discovering or not discovering my conscience. Apologizing to you is sincere. Thinking about it later, what I said that day was indeed quite excessive, and also for what I said to you in Yunnan, I also apologize. I shouldn’t have judged you casually without understanding a person.”

Zhao Dalin felt it was pointless. This man truly didn’t understand her thoughts at all. Suddenly, she didn’t have the energy to continue being angry, “Fine, I accept. Anything else? If not, don’t block me from getting a taxi.”

Sun Kai looked at her for a while and said, “I’ll drive you.”

“No need.”

Zhao Dalin’s refusal was decisive, and Sun Kai didn’t insist. He just wanted to apologize, and after apologizing, he felt he should be at peace, so he waved to her and let her go.

But Sun Kai discovered that even after apologizing, his heart was still restless.

He vaguely felt something was wrong, that this matter was no longer as simple as apologizing or not.

But he resisted this feeling from the bottom of his heart.

He believed Zhao Dalin was even less reliable than Fang Yan.

So when he realized his feelings for Zhao Dalin, Sun Kai was nearly devastated. The first thing he did was tell Lu Huaizheng.

Lu Huaizheng expressed that he was not surprised at all.

That day, both were on leave, eating at an outdoor food stall. Lu Huaizheng leaned back in his chair, leisurely peeling peanuts, listening to him talk about those scattered thoughts. After listening to the end, Lu Huaizheng threw the last peanut into his mouth, and patted the peanut crumbs off his hands, showing no surprise, “So?”

Sun Kai hugged a beer bottle, stunned. So?

He didn’t know either.

He was a bit drunk, his eyes slightly tipsy, “Just feel like I have no ambition.”

Lu Huaizheng smiled, leaning back, his legs still spread wide, he spread them a bit wider, smiling as he looked elsewhere, advising him, “You’re just giving yourself a hard time. Rationally, I think Fang Yan suits you, but look, someone as honest-looking as Fang Yan could do such a thing, so these days, you can’t judge a book by its cover, nor can you measure the sea with a bucket.”

Sun Kai had a sudden realization, murmuring hazily, “So I shouldn’t like Zhao Dalin no matter who else I like.”

Lu Huaizheng was stunned, was there any logical connection here?

But Sun Kai was resolutely brainwashing himself, “Right, I can’t like her.”

Sometimes, brainwashing works better in reverse than by forceful indoctrination. The more you remind yourself not to do something, the result often goes against your intentions.

As a result, during that period, Sun Kai and Zhao Dalin fell into unprecedented awkwardness.

After experiencing someone like Hu Yucheng, truly, Sun Kai was not in the same league in front of Zhao Dalin. He was too clean, somewhat like Yu Hao, with everything written on his face. Yu Hao was like a kindergarten child, while Sun Kai was at most an elementary school student.

Zhao Dalin was very proper, maintaining a relationship with Sun Kai that was as bland as water between gentlemen, neither crossing boundaries nor taking initiative, occasionally inviting him to dinner, not revealing anything.

On the contrary, Sun Kai was uncomfortable being hung in such a state, neither up nor down. He wanted to say something to Zhao Dalin, but her attitude suggested they were just ordinary friends, leaving him feeling frustrated.

On the night Liu Yanluo came, when Sun Kai woke up, the two women were still drinking. Liu Yanluo was almost done, while Zhao Dalin was also flushed from drinking. In the end, Sun Kai got them into a car, first sending Liu Yanluo back to the hotel.

Turning to send Zhao Dalin home, he didn’t know where she lived, and when he asked, she was too groggy to answer.

The taxi driver was sweating with anxiety, “Hey, hey, hey, young man, don’t hold up my business, I still have my next ride.”

So Sun Kai made a bold decision and took her to his home.

Zhao Dalin woke up as soon as they reached his home.

Sun Kai threw her onto the sofa, changed his clothes, and came out to find that she was already awake, walking around his living room with her hands behind her back, exploring. Sun Kai picked up a towel, hung it around his neck, and laughed, “Were you pretending to be drunk?”

Zhao Dalin was studying the calligraphy on the wall and didn’t turn around when she heard his voice, “Not bad, whose handwriting is this? Worth quite a bit, isn’t it?”

Sun Kai scoffed, went to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, leaned against the sliding door, drinking while watching her, “Lu Huaizheng’s grandfather’s. The man is a calligrapher, of course, it’s valuable.”

Zhao Dalin nodded thoughtfully, “Impressive.”

“Finished exploring?” Sun Kai asked.

Zhao Dalin turned around, “Yes.”

“Go downstairs and get a taxi yourself then,” Sun Kai said.

Zhao Dalin obediently nodded, “Okay.”

Zhao Dalin went to the entryway to change her shoes, just putting one foot in. Sun Kai lazily sat on the sofa, watching her change shoes.

She was very thin, with a clear and smooth backline wrapped in her clothes, wearing a pencil skirt below. When she bent down, her buttocks tightened, her fair and delicate long legs standing on the floor, her toes slender, the toe bones distinct.

Sun Kai casually shifted his gaze, leaning his body slightly forward, taking a cigarette from the low table to smoke.

Zhao Dalin heard a “tsk” sound behind her.

Someone lit a lighter, seemingly lighting a cigarette, then with a “snap” sound, tossed the lighter back onto the low table.

Sun Kai took a drag of the cigarette, took it down, held it between his fingers, looking out the window while exhaling fog, and casually threw out a sentence, “How are things with that law PhD?”

Law PhD?

Zhao Dalin’s shoe-changing silhouette froze.

This law PhD was so distant in her memory that she could hardly remember who it was. After carefully searching in her mind, she barely matched the person, turned back to look curiously at Sun Kai, wanting to ask how he knew the other person was a law PhD, but then thought, the two of them probably only had two people who could exchange information.

“Quite good,” Zhao Dalin said.

Sun Kai didn’t ask anything more, just silently smoking his cigarette.

Zhao Dalin tested: “I’m leaving.” “Wait till I finish smoking.” “You don’t need to send me off, it’s fine.” Sun Kai ignored her, directly stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette, grabbed the car keys from the table, and went to put on his shoes without a word. The man’s silhouette was tall and large, slightly hunching his back when changing shoes, putting them on in just a few moves, even faster than Zhao Dalin. In the blink of an eye, he was already standing at the door with his hands in his pockets, waiting for her. Zhao Dalin then leisurely put on her other shoe.

After that day, the two didn’t see each other for a long time. Until one day when Little Liu called her, discovering that a psychological evaluation form was missing from the data handover documents. She had left in such a hurry that day that Zhao Dalin had accidentally put it in her document bag.

When she arrived at the military area, Sun Kai had just finished training, sweaty all over, with his arm around He Lang’s shoulder. Zhao Dalin hurried toward the psychology department under the scorching sun. When she turned around, she saw a man wearing loose camouflage military pants, fluttering in the wind, walking leisurely behind her. Zhao Dalin nodded to him as a greeting. Sun Kai took two strides forward: “What have you been busy with lately?” Zhao Dalin shielded her forehead with her hand, “Research projects, lectures.” All academic stuff. “Have you been exercising?” This random question, without waiting for her answer, Sun Kai chuckled to himself: “Look at you, with your occupational disease. Pay a little attention to exercise during work, and don’t stay in air-conditioned rooms for too long, it’s not good for your health.” At that moment, a song suddenly echoed in Zhao Dalin’s mind—”What I fear most is your sudden concern.” Then she heard him say: “Let’s have dinner together tonight, I’m on leave tomorrow.”

Dinner was at Sun Kai’s home, of course not just the two of them, but also He Lang and a few others. Sun Kai cooked himself. The group ate and made merry, then played cards. He Lang and the others combined couldn’t beat Zhao Dalin and Sun Kai. Sun Kai was winning effortlessly throughout, as Zhao Dalin was too good at remembering cards. Whoever teamed up with her would win. In the latter half of the game, Sun Kai and Zhao Dalin became fixed partners. Sun Kai won while barely participating, which angered He Lang and the others who shouted, “You’re not allowed to count cards!!!” Zhao Dalin rarely laughed, somewhat carried away, casting a flirtatious glance at He Lang. But then someone coughed nearby. Looking at the time, it was already eleven o’clock. “That’s enough for today. He Lang, fifty push-ups, then you can go.” He Lang objected: “Captain Sun was at the bottom tonight, he only won because of Dr. Zhao’s card counting. Based on points, he should be the one doing push-ups.” Sun Kai rubbed the bridge of his nose with the back of his hand, laughing and cursing: “Don’t be a sore loser, if you’re not convinced, let’s duel.” “How do you want to duel?!” Of course, He Lang wasn’t convinced; tonight, if not for Dr. Zhao, Sun Kai would have lost more than him. In the end, both of them did the push-ups. Sun Kai didn’t want to argue with him, swiftly completing fifty push-ups and getting up. After everyone left, he prepared to go downstairs to send Zhao Dalin home. “You said you’d teach me push-ups last time,” Zhao Dalin asked, leaning against the doorway. Sun Kai, with his shoes half on, looked up at her: “Want to learn?” “You do them very standardly.” Sun Kai nodded, “Alright.” And so, after He Lang and the others left, for some inexplicable reason, they suddenly started a push-up tutorial in the living room. Zhao Dalin’s arms lacked strength; when her waist sank, she fell straight to the ground. Sun Kai demonstrated a couple more times. Zhao Dalin couldn’t get the hang of it. After countless falls to the ground, she suddenly stood up and slipped under Sun Kai’s propped body. Sun Kai was startled, “What are you doing?” The woman lay beneath him, smiling and blinking: “This way I can see more clearly.” Sun Kai’s hands were propped on the ground, their breaths just an inch apart, hot air intertwining in the space between them, entering each other’s lungs, heartbeats inexplicably quickening. Sun Kai turned his head away and said stiffly: “Don’t fool around.” Zhao Dalin suddenly hooked her arms around his neck, “If you don’t do your push-ups, I’ll stick close to you.” This scared Sun Kai so much that he stammered, “Mo-mo-move away.” Zhao Dalin, smiling, lay back down. Sun Kai maintained his previous posture, gritting his teeth and emphasizing: “Twenty push-ups, then you go home.” “Okay.” He propped himself up, trying his best not to touch Zhao Dalin. Even as his arms slightly curved and he lowered himself, he controlled his strength very evenly, absolutely not touching her body. Moonlight spilled in from the window, filling the room with a clear glow. The two lay on the ground. At first, Sun Kai didn’t look at her at all, turning his head away, gritting his teeth as he did a few push-ups. Later, Zhao Dalin forcibly turned his head towards her. The moment their gazes met, the man’s breath suddenly became scorching, his gaze deepening, until— Their breathing grew heavier, their gazes clinging to each other. “It’s already more than twenty,” Zhao Dalin said softly. The man didn’t stop, he slowly rose and fell, his gaze constantly lingering on her. “Have you been seeing the law PhD lately?” Sun Kai asked while doing push-ups. “Haven’t seen him for a long time.” “Why?” “Didn’t like him.” “What about me then?” “What?” Zhao Dalin said quietly. “Do you still like me?” “I—” Before Zhao Dalin could answer, Sun Kai suddenly lowered his head and captured her lips. Zhao Dalin’s mind exploded as if in an instant, the world was spinning. Sun Kai kissed her roughly, almost breaking her lip. She resisted by pounding his shoulders, but he caught her hands, pinning her wrists high above her head. He kissed her without a word, then asked breathlessly in her ear: “How long has it been since you last did it?” “None of your business,” Zhao Dalin bit him. Neither of them were inexperienced young people tasting love affairs for the first time; they were quite uninhibited in this area, their exchange exceedingly passionate. Sun Kai bit her ear back, sucking on her earlobe, his breathing becoming heavier, “Shall we go to the bed?” “I prefer the sofa,” Zhao Dalin hooked her arms around his neck, “From behind, hmm?” “Fuck.” … After that day, things spiraled out of control. The two were extremely compatible physically. Whenever they met, they inevitably engaged in passionate encounters. As they met more frequently, almost all of Zhao Dalin’s friends knew Sun Kai. “Your boyfriend is here to pick you up again,” they’d say. Zhao Dalin would giggle, “He’s not my boyfriend.” One day, Sun Kai ignored her all evening. The two drove to the mountains and did it once in the car. Afterward, Sun Kai slapped her bottom hard, “Satisfied? If you’re satisfied, put on your clothes and get out.” Zhao Dalin put on her clothes and got out of the car. Sun Kai was furious; he kicked the car hard, resulting in his little Mazda getting dented, and a small concave area appeared in the car’s rear. Sun Kai stood by the car with his hands on his hips, suppressing his anger with nowhere to vent. Then, five minutes later, Zhao Dalin returned with two bottles of water, one in each hand. She bent down to look at the dented car rear, even touching it with her hand, “What are you so angry about?” “Don’t know.” Sun Kai finally managed to say. Zhao Dalin, grinning, leaned against the car door, hooked her arms around his neck, one leg automatically wrapping around his lean waist, slowly unbuckling his belt, pressing her body against his, “I think what we have is pretty good, don’t you?” “So you’re just playing with me? You think I won’t kill you?” “I was just trying to help you overcome your trauma about this, testing it out myself.” Sun Kai buckled his belt back, sneering: “Sorry, but this privilege is only for my future wife.” With a swish, as decisive as a warrior sheathing his sword.

Zhao Dalin didn’t contact him again. Sun Kai held out for about a month, then took leave and immediately ran to Zhao Dalin’s place, only to see her return in a Porsche. Speaking of Porsches, Sun Kai could afford one too, but he wasn’t so particular, and his superiors didn’t encourage such luxury. His little Mazda served him just fine. There was a man in the driver’s seat, impeccably dressed in a suit, handsome, wearing glasses, refined and delicate-looking. Zhao Dalin got out of the car, and the Porsche quickly drove away. The little Mazda at the roadside beeped twice. Zhao Dalin happily jumped into the passenger seat, “You finally remembered me?” Sun Kai was in casual clothes, all black, wearing a seat belt while leaning back in the driver’s seat, one hand lazily hanging out the window, a cigarette between his fingers, emitting wisps of smoke. He had no expression, indifferently tapping off the ash, looking a bit impatient, “Who was that guy?” “Ex-boyfriend,” Zhao Dalin answered promptly. Sun Kai rested his elbow on the car window, casually remarking though his eyes were sarcastic: “Impressive.” “Not as impressive as you.” “Don’t try to butter me up, are we that close?” “Then why are you here?” “Just driving around, nothing to do with you,” he looked straight ahead. Zhao Dalin tentatively reached for the door handle, “Then I’ll get out.” “Go ahead.” “Can’t you speak nicely?” Zhao Dalin complained. “Zhao Dalin, haven’t you played enough? What the hell do you want from me? Can you give me a straight answer? If not, let’s just say goodbye. If I bother with you again, I’ll take your surname.” “Sun Kai, are you an idiot?” “You’re the idiot.” “If you curse again, I’m getting out.” Sun Kai glanced at her coldly, finally surrendering, grunting as he put out his cigarette. Zhao Dalin moved over, straddling him, kissing him: “Seems like we haven’t done it under my apartment building yet?” Sun Kai pushed her away: “Don’t be crazy, your screams will be heard by the whole community.” Zhao Dalin, leaning on him, said: “That wasn’t my ex-boyfriend just now.” Sun Kai suddenly became angry, slapping her bottom hard: “Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?” “My ex-boyfriend is dead.” Sun Kai was stunned again, holding back his anger to ask: “How did he die?” Zhao Dalin: “Suicide.” Today her second brother had come to pick her up, saying Hu Yucheng was dead. When he was discovered, he had been dead in his apartment for nearly seven days, the body already decomposing. He was finally found by the cleaning lady who came to tidy up. Sun Kai couldn’t understand. Found after being dead for nearly seven days—what kind of person was so detached from society? “What about his parents and friends? Did no one look for him in those seven days?” Zhao Dalin: “He never had friends since childhood, no mother, his biological father didn’t acknowledge him. He grew up with his grandmother, who passed away when he was at university. He was then driven out of the house and went to Nanjing.” According to her second brother, Hu Yucheng had returned to Beijing two years ago. The woman who had been keeping him was arrested, and his father gave him some money before severing their father-son relationship. Two years ago, Zhao Dalin vaguely remembered seeing a silhouette resembling Hu Yucheng outside the research institute, but she thought it was her imagination. “All these years, not a single friend? Such low presence?” Sun Kai thought, how much of a failure must one be? Zhao Dalin shook her head, “He was a very callous person. It’s not that there weren’t people who were good to him; he just didn’t cherish them.” Sun Kai didn’t want to hear anymore, tilting his head to kiss her, “If you dare to cry, I’ll kill you tonight.” They did it once in the car, then went upstairs and barely exchanged two sentences before rolling onto the bed, day and night, turning the world upside down. In the night, Sun Kai woke up, feeling that half of her pillow was wet. He held her in his arms compassionately, “So heartbroken? Would you be this heartbroken if I died?” “Don’t talk nonsense,” Zhao Dalin said in a muffled voice. Sun Kai held her, nuzzling the top of her head, half-jokingly saying: “Did he owe you money or something?” Later, Sun Kai found out why Zhao Dalin was so heartbroken. By then, they were already married, and Sun Kai learned from her brother about Zhao Dalin’s passionate love story with that man, and even saw that man’s suicide note. Sun Kai wanted to ask Zhao Dalin, do you still love him? If he were still alive, would you choose him or me? But then he looked at their son in the rocking chair. The child, who usually cried at the sight of Sun Kai, was now sucking on his fist, looking at him with bright, big eyes, giggling. Sun Kai looked around, thinking perhaps his son had matured and wanted to take this opportunity to get closer to him, to coax him. So he picked him up from the rocking chair, swinging and bouncing him, coaxing: “What are you thinking about, silly boy? You were lucky, you know. Your mom almost got snatched away by someone else.” “You almost didn’t get to come into this world.” “Waaah!” A cry. He started crying again.

Meanwhile, Zhao Dalin was on a video call with Yu Hao. Zhao Dalin with a face mask on: “Where’s Lu Huaizheng?” Yu Hao, also wearing a face mask and writing a research proposal: “He’s looking after the child.” Zhao Dalin: “Your Lu Huaizheng knows how to take care of kids. Do you remember that day when we all had dinner together—you, me, Zhou Siyue, and those guys from the team? All the kids loved sticking around Lu Huaizheng.” “Yi Li is quite afraid of him,” Yu Hao smiled. “Boys are all afraid of their fathers. Ours is the same. He’s perfectly fine until he sees Sun Kai, then he cries.” Just as she finished speaking, a wail broke out on the other side. Zhao Dalin was extremely frustrated, “I have to go. Sun Kai and his itchy hands!” From the video, a clear, lazy male voice was also heard. “Yu Hao.” Yu Hao happily ended the video call. “Coming! Husband!”

“Hu Yucheng’s Suicide Note” Dalin: Greetings! During those years in Nanjing, what I loved to eat most was tomato and egg noodles, but I could never replicate your flavor. Actually, before meeting you, I felt everything in this world was extremely ugly. When I met you at the entrance of that small alley, with your two ponytails, hands on your hips, blocking the alley entrance to defend me, at that moment I felt the world was bright. Flowers began to have fragrance, and mountains and waters became clear and distinct. Your brother told me that the reason you chose to study psychology was because of me. But I don’t think so. You never loved me as much as I loved you. To this day, I have no regrets. The only thing I regret Is forgetting to thank that little girl who rescued me at the alley entrance back then. Please tell her thank you for me, and wish her a lifetime of happiness. May there be no turning back to these years in the next life? And may you forever stay happy and beautiful, without even getting a single mosquito bite. Hu Yucheng.