The two people in the room kept to themselves until Lu Zhengsi came in and started talking. Chen Yi bit down on his cigarette and wandered to the living room to smoke.

The room was mostly empty except for two storage boxes under the bed that Miao Jing had sorted from the closet when she first returned. Lu Zhengsi asked if she wanted to take them, but she shook her head.

“Those are things from before college – old clothes and miscellaneous items I don’t need anymore.”

Looking at it this way, her luggage didn’t seem like much. She’d left behind many things: new curtains, a desk chair, a mattress, throw pillows, and various small home decorations. Miao Jing turned her head: “You’ll take care of the rest?”

She was talking to Chen Yi, who pinched his cigarette and turned halfway, giving a vague grunt of acknowledgment. When Miao Jing and Lu Zhengsi were ready to leave, he maintained an indifferent attitude as he followed them downstairs to see them off.

The closing of the car trunk somehow carried a sense of leaving home. Lu Zhengsi had already started the car. Miao Jing opened the passenger door, looked back, and said, “I’m leaving.”

Chen Yi stared at her, his expression cold and rigid. His dark sideburns twitched slightly as he slowly and dryly uttered a single word: “Okay.”

Miao Jing looked at him and smiled with extreme gentleness, her eyes soft and beautiful, before turning to get in the car and closing the door.

Chen Yi stood by the car window with his hands in his pockets, his posture casual but his gaze penetrating through the tinted window with palpable intensity.

As the car started moving, she fastened her seatbelt and began chatting with Lu Zhengsi. Miao Jing had returned to Teng City in August, and time had passed quickly – she’d already been living there for three or four months and had completely adapted to life and work. Teng City’s summer was excessively long and sticky, with only now showing hints of cold. Lu Zhengsi, who had attended university in the north, missed the crisp cold air and frost of autumn and winter. Miao Jing, however, was quite used to it – she loved summer, loved the lush overgrown vegetation and the feeling of damp, sweaty skin.

The conversation shifted from Teng City to personal matters. Lu Zhengsi pressed his lips together and asked if Miao Jing had lived with Chen Yi during high school. He had deduced this from fragments of conversation between Tu Li and Miao Jing, as well as the home’s layout and furnishings.

“Yes, it was just the two of us at home then. My mom went to another city while I studied and Chen Yi worked.”

“The way you and Brother Yi talk often gives me the feeling that… you two aren’t very close.”

Miao Jing smiled: “We used to argue frequently, and then we didn’t have contact for several years. Normally, we don’t understand each other.”

Lu Zhengsi asked with a smile: “Did Brother Yi attend your parent-teacher meetings? Did he manage you? It’s hard to imagine you two arguing.”

“You heard about that during dinner? He would manage me occasionally, like when my grades dropped or I got distracted. After all, besides him, there was no one else.”

“Why didn’t you keep in touch after you went to college? I feel like both you and Brother Yi… are the type of people who think of others.”

Miao Jing glanced at him: “Are you trying to ask if my choosing you as a boyfriend has anything to do with Chen Yi? What exactly is my relationship with Chen Yi?”

Lu Zhengsi, suddenly exposed, blushed slightly: “Uh… it is a bit strange… I really can’t figure it out.”

“I’ve caused you trouble.” Miao Jing’s lips curved slightly, her eyes enchanting. “About this boyfriend thing, why don’t we stop? I’ll treat you to a meal to apologize, how’s that?”

“Can’t we become real boyfriend and girlfriend?” Lu Zhengsi gripped the steering wheel tightly, feeling pressured by her directness, and had to be straightforward: “Miss Miao, I, I like you. When you first talked to me, I was quite excited. During this time… our pace and personalities match well, and we get along great. Can’t you, can’t you consider me?”

Such an innocent young man – Miao Jing did have a good impression of him. He was straightforward in his dealings with people, and despite his doubts, he never aggressively probed, which only made her motives seem particularly impure. Miao Jing hesitated internally for a moment, just about to speak when her phone rang – it was Chen Yi calling.

When the call connected, there was silence on the other end, followed by the slow sound of exhaling. Miao Jing knew he was smoking, with that lazy, ethereal attitude of his.

“Miao Jing.”

His voice was hoarse and rough, the final syllable drawn out as if escaping from his throat.

“Mm?”

Just that one word, but Lu Zhengsi noticed Miao Jing’s voice was completely different – especially soft and gentle, with a clear and tender kind of softness.

“Have you left?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve thought about you…”

She listened quietly, but he had nothing more to say, hastily ending the call. Miao Jing turned her head to gaze out the window, her profile like a painting, her eyes carrying a sense of loneliness.

The earlier conversation having been cut off, there was no way to continue. Lu Zhengsi discovered that though Miao Jing sat beside him, she had already immersed herself in a peculiar atmosphere – an atmosphere she had woven that allowed no one else to enter. He felt somewhat disappointed and dejected; after spending so much time together, he couldn’t understand Miao Jing. He didn’t know if she was too difficult to understand or if his ability was too shallow.

Back at the company, whether due to being too busy with work or not knowing how to broach the subject again, neither Miao Jing nor Lu Zhengsi responded to their conversation from the car.

Chen Yi couldn’t hold back for two days. One evening, after leaving the pool hall, he found an excuse to look for Miao Jing in the development zone. She happened to be out having late-night snacks with colleagues. He parked by the roadside, watching through the rearview mirror as Miao Jing and several colleagues came walking around the street corner. His hand holding a cigarette rested on the car window, his gaze firmly locked on her.

Miao Jing glanced over from afar and stopped to talk with her colleagues, and Lu Zhengsi watched as she walked slowly toward a black car in the distance, pausing at the driver’s window to talk with someone.

He knew, of course, that it was Chen Yi’s car, but there was nothing wrong with that, right?

Miao Jing got in the car, and Chen Yi took her for a night drive, asking if she wanted to go downtown. It was late, and Miao Jing didn’t want to go far, so the car circled the development zone. They discovered a wild field where reeds swayed, connecting to the hazy, low-hanging full moon, giving a sense of eternal desolation.

The car stopped by the roadside, and the tall man leaned down to kiss the person beside him – lips as delicate as a rose, covered in moist evening dew. His tongue entered directly, passing misty gasps between their lips. This was their first kiss outside of enclosed spaces – a beautiful woman and handsome man, their proper appearance making the outdoor affair all the more exciting. He held her tongue tip to his mouth, letting her explore his territory. The rich, heavy tobacco scent enveloped a faint fragrance. Seeing her brows and eyes tinged with red, as gorgeous as peach blossoms, his two strong arms roamed, attempting to stick her to him. Miao Jing retreated at the right moment, leaning against the car door catching her breath, refusing his next restless advances. In the dim light, Chen Yi’s eyes shone with suspicious intent, like a wolf spotting its prey.

Miao Jing asked if he had anything to say, and he leaned beside her, lighting another cigarette to disperse his emotions, asking what she needed him to say.

“Say the words you didn’t say in these six years.”

Whether sweet nothings or lies, as long as he would speak.

“There seems to be nothing to say.” He took a drag of his cigarette. “We separated peacefully, didn’t we? Parting ways, no attachments, no ties, living our own lives.”

“You shouldn’t have come back.”

Chen Yi’s eyes were shrouded in night mist. “Once you came back, we became like this. What good is this? You keep me hanging, neither up nor down, and won’t comply with my wishes.”

The cigarette butt was crushed heavily under his foot.

“Did you think about me?” Miao Jing turned her head, her gaze rippling like water. “I was only in college for two months when your phone number became invalid, completely unreachable, and you never looked for me again. Shouldn’t there be many things to explain now?”

“After all, living together for so many years, I would think about you more or less.”

“You studied, I drifted through days, changed phone numbers, had lots of things to do, and was busy with work. Thinking it over, there wasn’t much to talk about or keep in touch about.”

In the months since returning, she acted as if nothing had happened and didn’t ask, while he also acted as if nothing had happened and didn’t speak. They got along like this with tacit understanding for several months, the only signs of cracks and emotions showing in their sensual ambiguity.

Miao Jing hugged herself, her gaze slightly cold as she gazed into the distance.

The romantic atmosphere was completely gone, the two got in the car, and Chen Yi drove Miao Jing back to the company, not saying when he would come next, then turned the car around and left.

–

There was no other new development, but Miao Jing unexpectedly received a call from Tu Li. After all this time, she didn’t say much else, just mentioned that she had worn Miao Jing’s dress and might have accidentally dirtied or damaged it in her and Chen Yi’s fumbling, wanting to compensate with a new one, asking Miao Jing how much the dress cost and what brand it was.

It wasn’t meant to be persistent harassment, just that since Miao Jing had made her unhappy, she wanted to make someone unhappy in return.

After hanging up the phone, Miao Jing’s expression notably cooled. She held her water cup, standing by the window for a long while.

A few days later, Miao Jing called Chen Yi, hearing the sound of pool playing in the background, and asked if she could borrow his car for a day, as it wasn’t convenient to use the company car.

“What for?”

“A friend is coming to Teng City, I want to drive him around.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow, he’s passing through on a business trip, I’m going to pick him up at the high-speed rail station.”

“I’m playing pool in the neighboring city, I’ll be back tomorrow. Who is it? I can pick them up on the way.”

“It’s not good to delegate, I want to receive them personally.”

Chen Yi’s brows furrowed slightly: “Early tomorrow morning, I’ll give you the car.”

He rushed back to Teng City overnight, and hurriedly changed clothes in the morning to meet Miao Jing, who had specially taken annual leave for this and had carefully but imperceptibly groomed herself – clear eyes, red lips, and white teeth, floating long hair, a lazy yet gentle charm, a very casual noble air.

Chen Yi had never seen her with this kind of feeling, seeing through it at a glance: “Why not ask Lu Zhengsi for help?”

“Zhengsi isn’t quite suitable.”

“Who is it?”

“A former colleague from the company.”

He hesitated for a moment, his fingers tapping on the car window: “Are you familiar with my car? Get in, I’ll drive you to the high-speed rail station.”

“That works too, trouble you to be a driver for once.”

The train was scheduled to arrive at 10:50. Miao Jing stood at the gate waiting, took a phone call, and said a few words, then saw a man in a suit and leather shoes come out. She smiled warmly and brilliantly as the two embraced in the crowd. The man patted her back, asking with a smile: “Did you come alone?”

“More or less.”

Chen Yi leaned against the car door, watching the two walk out side by side. The man was tall and slender, probably in his early thirties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a clear and bright demeanor. His hand was protectively behind Miao Jing, who faced him, brushing her hair – a handsome man and beautiful woman, elite professionals, indeed a matching pair.

“My brother, Chen Yi,” Miao Jing introduced simply. “Former colleague, friend, Cen Ye.”

The two men, one rough and one refined, both wore polite smiles without any warmth in their eyes. Their hands met in a ceremonial grip, slightly tight, then quickly withdrew.

The pristine business card handed over had a particularly good texture. Chen Yi glanced at it – Legal Director for Greater China, quite a respectable position. How was this surname pronounced again? Wasn’t there a poet in the Tang Dynasty with the same character?