I attended a dinner party in a high-altitude restaurant on the eightieth floor.

Outside the window was an entire expanse of magnificent clouds, dreamlike light shining on everyone’s faces. Everyone looked very happy, wearing shimmering gowns, fully enjoying wine and fine food.

I was among them too. I worked hard to maintain a smile on my face, while in reality racking my brains trying to recall dining etiquette I’d seen online. I didn’t want to be laughed at.

I tried to elegantly cut my steak, but no matter what I did it made a harsh sound, and everyone looked toward me.

I panicked and lowered my head to look at the plate, only to discover what was on the plate wasn’t a steak at all, but a dripping wet head.

It was a boy’s head, skin snow white, gaze blank, a line of blood slowly flowing down from the forehead I had cut.

It was Qinglong! Qinglong who had drowned in the water.

I was so frightened I suddenly stood up and backed away several steps.

Only then did I realize that sitting in the head seat at the dining table was Chi Na. He smiled wickedly, before him a full plate of steaming hot hearts, livers, spleens, and lungs, bright red blood seeping along the white tablecloth…

“You eat people… you all…” The guests before me were all familiar faces, one after another, and without exception, they were elegantly putting bloody dishes into their mouths.

“You all eat people!”

I wanted to run, but I couldn’t. Around me was an abyss, and I was standing on a solitary high tower, beneath my feet a bottomless chasm.

And that tower was built from countless corpses. I saw Bao Long, the aunties from the wet market, even Ha Rina… Their gazes blank, piled upon each other…

A refreshing citrus scent, followed by a warm kiss pressed on my forehead.

I struggled to open my eyes from the nightmare, only feeling my heart pounding wildly.

Cheng Xia crouched by my bedside, asking gently, “Awake? Did you dream of me?”

I was still in a daze and answered, “You’re never in my nightmares.”

The ones with him were generally sweet dreams.

Cheng Xia smiled and said, “Come on, let’s eat.”

Yesterday’s leftovers had been cleaned up completely. On the table was a bouquet of tulips, beside it hot milk and… spicy hot pot?

“Spicy hot pot for breakfast?” I couldn’t believe it.

“What’s with that expression!” He said indignantly, “I got up at six this morning to follow a recipe, just because you love to eat it.”

“Surprising! Amazing!” I quickly said, “Whose boyfriend is this thoughtful! Damn, turns out it’s mine.”

We both laughed.

The gloomy aura on him had completely vanished. He was more like that boy from university who smiled so cleanly it was ridiculous—the version of him I liked most.

His illness was cured, and he still liked me. Could there be anything more fortunate than this?

I would truly laugh out loud in my dreams.

We chatted while eating, the room full of sunshine, flowers blooming, everything fresh, interesting, and something we could joke about.

That cloud-covered grassland seemed as distant as another world.

“What made you think to arrange such a dinner party?”

“What happened there trended for three days straight.” He said, “I knew it must have greatly affected you, so I asked my Third Uncle-in-law. He’s at a client unit, has a wide network.”

A wave of belated shame washed over me. I said, “Troubling Third Uncle-in-law, it’s actually nothing. At most they’d scold me a few times, they wouldn’t really fire me.”

“Mainly I was afraid they’d exile you to the frontier again, give you a hard time or something.” He served me rice, saying, “Now it’s good. In the future you’ll work on this university town project. It’s just one station away from our unit. We can get off work together and I’ll make you spicy hot pot.”

I put down my chopsticks, hesitated for a long time, and only said, “I know you mean well for me. In the future with this kind of thing… you need to discuss it with me.”

“Sorry, this won’t happen again.” Cheng Xia said to me very solemnly, “This time it was mainly because you weren’t answering your phone. I was a bit too anxious, and also, my Third Uncle-in-law came too suddenly.”

“I know.” I laughed self-deprecatingly, poking at the rice in my bowl, “My situation was already as bad as it could get. Whatever you did would be good, it’s just… I haven’t figured out what to do going forward…”

Cheng Xia said, “Don’t worry, your future promotions absolutely won’t be affected by this. Just work step by step.”

“If I go step by step, it’ll be ten years before my turn to enter headquarters.” I said.

With my qualifications, I could originally only lead small projects or be a sub-project manager, gaining experience bit by bit.

Jiaolong Village was a rare opportunity for me. In the future, the real estate market would shrink more and more. Waiting for another similar opportunity would take forever.

Cheng Xia said, “Actually Dongxue, have you ever thought about going to study?”

I looked at him, “You think I’m not good enough?”

Good lord, I could actually say this sentence naturally as a joke.

“How would I dare!” He said, “Actually these past two years I’ve been wanting to go abroad to study for a master’s degree. When the overall environment isn’t good, you really should improve your comprehensive abilities. For example, a designer who knows both architecture and landscape has much stronger competitiveness.”

He continued, “And at S Construction headquarters, most are from the Old Eight Schools. No matter how much experience you accumulate, education is always a weakness. You can take this opportunity to fill that gap.”

This really struck home. Education always made me feel insecure. When people said meaningfully, “Oh, adult self-study exam!” it gave me a feeling of being inferior.

But my work was really busy beyond belief. I simply had no time.

And now, with the Jiaolong Village project gone and the university project not yet started, I suddenly had a large amount of free time. This might very well be my only chance to improve my education.

“Let’s forget it.” I said.

“Why?”

“I still have a mortgage!” I said. My salary actually wasn’t high—I mainly relied on project bonuses. And I’d bought insurance for Grandma and my dad’s family too, which was no small amount of money.

“I’ll pay it.”

I stared at him dumbfounded, “What crazy talk is this, Cheng Xia?”

But Cheng Xia’s expression was very serious. He said, “After we get married, we’ll definitely pay the mortgage together anyway. It’s just happening a bit earlier.”

…But how could that be the same?

“Or we could do it this way—after this place’s lease expires, if you’re willing, I’ll move in with you. The mortgage money can be considered rent.”

I finally understood, looking at him sideways, “So after such a big roundabout way, you just want to live together, huh. Heh, men.”

Cheng Xia smiled shyly, “Ah, you caught me.”

——

But this really was a solution.

Of course I didn’t want to owe Cheng Xia.

However, as he said, if we got married, we would indeed pay the mortgage together. I could even add his name.

If we broke up…

I could sell this house and pay him back—my house had been discovered by my dad’s family and would never have peace. I definitely needed to consider replacing it.

The sentence that most moved me from Cheng Xia was, “We can’t just look at the present. We need to consider the future. Making two years less money might make life completely different.”

But I had always struggled just to survive. I couldn’t afford not to look at the present.

This might be my only opportunity.

Cheng Xia even encouraged both of us to go study abroad together.

…That I truly didn’t dare imagine. I still had Grandma. I couldn’t accept being away from work for so long.

Thinking this way, I walked to my house’s entrance.

Grandma was busy in the small courtyard, hunched over, her white hair messy and tangled.

My heart ached intensely in that instant.

In that moment I forgave her. I even hated myself a bit for being petty.

She was just stingy, so she couldn’t tolerate a caregiver. I didn’t keep her company either. She was alone here, of course she would be lonely and afraid.

I couldn’t demand that a seventy-something-year-old woman also be a warrior.

Grandma saw me and anxiously wiped her hands, saying, “Your dad and them left… I said if they didn’t leave I’d call the police. That little bastard Xiao Wei made quite a fuss.”

I sighed and went to help her water the plants, saying as I did, “Grandma, I have no opinion about Dad coming to keep you company, but that woman is insatiable and greedy. You’re not unaware.”

Actually my dad was the same. If I didn’t go crazy, sooner or later they would treat this house as Xiao Wei’s.

Yes, don’t doubt it—they excelled at audacious thinking.

“I don’t need him to keep me company!” Grandma quickly said, “I’m fine. Besides, my granddaughter isn’t leaving, do I need anyone else?”

I hesitated, didn’t pick up this topic, and asked, “Have you eaten lunch? Should I make you something?”

Honestly, I was hungry too. This morning Cheng Xia’s spicy hot pot… you couldn’t evaluate whether it was good or not. You could only say it was cooked.

But Grandma followed me all the way to the kitchen, asking, “You’re not leaving, right? Right? Xue’er?”

“Yeah!” I answered perfunctorily, “I haven’t decided yet. Who told you? Cheng Xia?”

“Yes, I called him yesterday. He said you’ll never leave again.” Grandma continued, “Xue’er, girls need to be sensible. You went to spend the night at someone’s place! They won’t take you seriously!”

I answered perfunctorily while cooking, and something flashed through my mind.

I asked, “While I was away, didn’t Cheng Xia come see you?”

Grandma said, “He came all the time!”

Then why had he never told me that Grandma had fired the caregiver and had my dad come over?

“You didn’t tell him about having my dad come over?”

My grandma was stingy and domineering, but she was afraid of making me angry.

Grandma said, “I discussed it with him. He thought it was fine, said you’re softhearted and wouldn’t really get angry with your dad… Ai, that silly child.”

My hand trembled, the eggs overcooked, getting old.

——

I temporarily didn’t need to work, so I took this opportunity to thoroughly clean the house from top to bottom.

Changed to new sheets and bedding with sunflowers, wiped down every piece of furniture, even took down the curtains to wash them, and lit lemon-ginger scented aromatherapy.

Finally flopping onto the soft bed, listening to the familiar TV sounds from Grandma’s room, I suddenly realized—home really was so comfortable! Ten thousand times more comfortable than the construction site! And…

I really missed home so much.

I lay in bed sleeping until I was completely disoriented, until a ringtone woke me up.

It was an unfamiliar number. I thought it was work news, so I cleared my throat before answering, “Hello.”

But the other party didn’t speak for a long time. Just when I was about to hang up, a girl’s voice sounded, with a crying tone, trembling slightly, “Sis, are you really not coming back?”

It was Ha Rina!

I opened my mouth, wanting to say something, but she had already hung up. Only the busy tone remained on the phone.

I sat there in a daze.

Outside the window, dark clouds gathered and thunder rumbled dully.

Another heavy rainstorm was about to arrive.