“Most men in this world are rotting, maggot-infested goods. You think you’re holding the moon, but in a moment maggots will fall all over your hands.”

Before I came back, I had gone to see Yu Shixuan.

Chi Na had specifically built a courier station for her, but the county town was ultimately too remote, so she would often fly to Beijing to go shopping.

I took advantage of this time to arrange to meet her.

It was at a café in Beijing SKP. She sat by the window, waiting for me while flipping through her notebook.

That jelly-like fresh tenderness was completely gone, replaced by an indescribable air of jeweled opulence.

—Even though she wasn’t wearing any jewelry at all, only a simple sweater dress.

“Sorry, have you been waiting long?” I smiled warmly, sitting across from her and asking, “What are you looking at so intently?”

“Design drafts.” She showed me the interface briefly: “I want to renovate where I’m living now. It’s also my first independent design work.”

Chi Na’s family had plenty of properties, including a villa complex built on a hillside that could overlook the entire grassland. She should be living there, enjoying the most expensive “pure nature.”

“Wow! Not bad, both the owner and a beautiful designer. Enough to trend on social media.”

While exaggeratedly flattering her, I was frantically calculating in my mind how I should go about discreetly finding out some information about Chi Na’s family.

What exactly did his family do?

Did Weisheng’s manager’s disappearance have anything to do with them?

What were they planning to do next?

Before I finished calculating, Yu Shixuan laughed lightly and said, “Director Ren, let’s be clear first—Chi Na and I aren’t married yet. I know nothing about his family’s affairs.”

She was smarter than I imagined.

Among a thousand tangled thoughts, I let myself display a guilty expression and said, “I didn’t mean to ask about that, it’s just… I feel like you really don’t like me.”

She was startled.

Of course she didn’t like me, but that was just a subtle unspoken understanding between girls.

I continued putting on a bootlicking face: “You know, in the future we might cooperate with Beicang… If your boyfriend has a prejudice against me, it would be very troublesome, so I wanted to apologize to you first.”

“Apologize for what?” She stared with eyes wide in disbelief.

I said hesitantly, “Because… I stole Cheng Xia away, you must really hate me…”

She leaned back and sneered coldly: “Stealing a man, between you and me?”

She was pure white and exquisite, even her hair had a kind of carefully designed laziness, while I had just gotten off the train and rushed to the appointment without stopping, my hair disheveled, with toothpaste foam still not wiped clean from the corner of my mouth.

But I had successfully provoked her anger.

“My dad forced me to get married. I know all men are disgusting inside, so I wanted to choose one who looked acceptable on the surface—that’s how I chose Cheng Xia.” She looked at me with a cold smile: “What does he have? In the hospital he’s ostracized by people, used like livestock by my dad, doesn’t dare to fart once.”

I was stunned.

“Just getting him means nothing. What I wanted was to completely and thoroughly conquer him, make him worship me like a goddess.” She said: “It could have worked, but who knew his number-one simp would return to the country.”

“You think he likes you? It’s just because being with you, he can continue to be high and mighty. No matter how he tramples on you, you won’t leave anyway.” She pulled out a cold smile: “This is your hard-won victory.”

“If you hate men so much, why are you still with Chi Na?” I asked.

——

I stood before Cheng Xia’s door, gazing at him long and hard, thinking that this time, I really was leaving.

Cheng Xia sighed and said, “Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“You are the mistress of this house. Why should you be the one to leave?” Cheng Xia grabbed my hand and said softly, “Rather than them leaving.”

Inside the door was a full table of ordinary home-cooked dishes. In the main seat was Cheng Xia’s Third Uncle-in-law, whom I had driven years ago.

And beside him was Director An, a top leader from our company. Nearby were Director Wan from the engineering department who had yelled at me this morning, Director Li from the contracts department…

The warm-toned lighting made their faces appear especially gentle. Director An smiled and greeted me: “Little Ren is back, how did you get soaked in the rain?”

“I… I forgot to bring an umbrella…” I was dumbfounded, not knowing whether to answer his question first or grab a wine glass first to punish myself with three cups.

“This child has been impatient since childhood.” Third Uncle-in-law said with a smile: “Inevitably there are oversights at work, leaders please be understanding.”

“Young people need to have that drive.” Director An smiled: “Among this batch of young people, I’m most optimistic about Little Ren. She can fight tough battles.”

Director Wan also showed none of his morning’s irritability, nodding repeatedly: “That’s right, every project Director Ren handles is neat and efficient. This time it was mainly Zhao Yu being too rash. In the future, I’ll personally mentor her.”

“That’s wonderful. Xia Xia, you and Little Ren quickly toast Uncle Wan.” Third Uncle-in-law said with a smile.

I toasted in a daze. They laughed at my silly face, saying at a glance I was exhausted, chiding me to quickly go change clothes.

I went into the bathroom and could still hear Third Uncle-in-law’s voice saying, “Young people do need more tempering, but I might be worrying needlessly as an elder—girls still shouldn’t go to places that are too remote…”

“Understood, understood. Little Ren’s next project should be that university renovation one. This kind of thing won’t happen again…”

What’s going on? I thought dazedly in the bathroom. Why does everyone seem so kind?

——

I saw the guests off in a daze, made tea for Third Uncle-in-law in a daze, chatted about family matters for a while. He was here on a business trip and stopped by to see Cheng Xia, and a comrade-in-arms of his knew Director An, so he arranged this gathering.

“This child Cheng Xia never asks his family for help. But he knows how to care for his wife.” He said with a smile.

“I learned it from you!” Cheng Xia smiled. In this moment, he was again like that sunny boy from university days.

“Stinky kid.”

Before Third Uncle-in-law left, I said hesitantly, “Thank you, Third Uncle-in-law.”

“Thank me for what?” He patted my arm and said, “This is all small stuff. Your road ahead is still long. Rest well these few days.”

Small stuff? I thought wearily. An hour ago I still felt this was the biggest obstacle in my life, and I was afraid I couldn’t get past it.

After seeing Third Uncle-in-law off, Cheng Xia crouched in front of me and said softly, “My baby seems to have had a hard time.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want me to help you bathe?”

“Okay.”

Hot water, citrus scent, snow-white foam, wet skin, burning kisses.

My numb, cold body finally slowly warmed up again.

“Do you miss me?” Cheng Xia’s soapy hand slowly descended from my spine, following its curve.

Did I miss him? I trembled uncontrollably, my muddled brain unable to think.

“I missed you so much… even in my dreams…” He pressed against my forehead, his soft fingers carrying fragrance, continuing to explore more intimate places: “Yes, that expression. I’ve wanted to see you like this for so long.”

“Cheng Xia…” Something wrong flashed through my mind. I asked, “Have you been taking your medicine on time? What did the psychologist say?”

He didn’t answer, only suddenly picked me up and carried me to the bed.

He leaned over looking into my eyes, his expression holding a strange kind of cruelty, saying softly, “You’re finally mine.”