Fei Ni didn’t give Fang Muyang time to respond, half-mockingly saying, “You’d better stay in the hospital. If you keep drawing pretty girls everywhere else, it’ll become a conduct issue. While you’re in the hospital, people will see you as a patient and won’t bother arguing with you. But out in the countryside, it won’t be so easy.” After years of re-education by the poor and lower-middle peasants in the countryside, he reverted to his pre-reform self as soon as he lost his memory. It seemed the effects of re-education were quite limited, so there was no need to go through it again.
“Do you want me to keep drawing forever?”
Every time Fei Ni suspected Fang Muyang had fully regained his clarity, his unconventional logic would dismiss her previous thoughts.
“Actually, you can draw anywhere.” Fang Muyang shifted the plate between them, clearing a small space on the table. He began tracing with his finger, and Fei Ni thought he was writing something private for her, so she watched intently. Soon, she realized he was drawing. His finger acted as a brush, the table as a canvas. The image was invisible to others, but Fang Muyang could see it, and Fei Ni gradually discerned that he was sketching a woman—men didn’t have such full chests, nor were their lines drawn like that. The woman was drinking soda.
Fei Ni set down her soda bottle and glanced around. The small restaurant was crowded, stuffy without a fan, and her ears grew increasingly warm. She tapped his finger with the non-eating end of her chopsticks. “Hurry up and eat.”
Fang Muyang grabbed the tip of the chopsticks and looked up at her. Fei Ni avoided his gaze and released the chopsticks, muttering, “Are you going to eat or not?” Her tone carried a hint of flustered irritation. She had once thought that, though he wasn’t exactly proper, he at least had decent eyes—never looking where he shouldn’t. Now she saw the deception in his eyes and lashes. He had quietly observed her from head to toe, and she hadn’t even noticed.
Fang Muyang returned the chopsticks and picked up some stir-fried pork with alfalfa for Fei Ni, urging her to eat more.
“Last time I saw you, I sketched you in my mind, but when I tried to draw it later, something felt missing.”
Fei Ni interrupted him, “Did you even look at the sequential pictures I gave you?”
“I did.”
“Can you draw something similar?”
“Probably.”
“Then focus on that instead of always drawing women.”
Fang Muyang actually drew men too, but he didn’t clarify. He simply agreed.
“Your father said you’re getting married.”
Fei Ni wanted to say it wasn’t happening that soon, but she swallowed the words. She would marry eventually.
“Are you avoiding the hospital because you’re afraid people will pressure you to marry me? If they ask my opinion, I’d never let them suggest such a thing to you. It wouldn’t be fair to you.” The hospital leadership, concerned about Fang Muyang sketching the nurses, had offered to introduce him to potential partners. When asked what kind of girl he liked, he said Fei Ni. The leader coughed twice and said, “Forget Fei Ni. We already mentioned marriage to her before, and she refused. That’s why she doesn’t come around anymore.”
Although Fei Ni did believe marrying Fang Muyang would be a raw deal for her, hearing him say it now made her inexplicably feel sorry for him."They did bring up marriage, but it wouldn't be fair to you when I'm the only person you know." Probably realizing how unconvincing this sounded, she changed the subject. "Don't mention returning to the educated youth point again. Let the Office of Educated Youth arrange a job for you. If you visit them a few more times, they'll eventually help. Once you have a proper job, Ling Yi might even change her mind."
"She doesn't need to change her mind, and neither do I. If I had a proper job, would you be willing to go see a movie with me?"
"Honestly, I'm not really interested in movies these days. They just keep replaying the same few films over and over."
"Then what were you going to see with him on Sunday?"
Fei Ni added another chopstickful of greens to Fang Muyang's bowl. "Don't come to the factory to look for me anymore. You only think I'm important now because I'm familiar to you. Once you get a job and meet more people, you'll realize I'm nothing special."
"You're different from everyone else."
Fei Ni didn't believe him. "You can say that after you've gotten a job and met more people."
"No matter when, you'll always be different to me."
"Hurry up and eat. It's getting late, I should head home after we finish."
Fei Ni lowered her head to pick at the greens in her bowl, thinking that ordering three dishes for two people had been too much—they couldn't even finish them.
When she noticed Fang Muyang had also lost his appetite, she said, "Let's go then."
After leaving the restaurant, Fang Muyang walked with Fei Ni for a while in the same direction until she pointed east. "The bus stop is that way. You need to go there."
"Let me walk you home."
"I have my bike. If you escort me, I'll just end up waiting for you. You should return to the hospital."
Before turning away, Fang Muyang told Fei Ni, "Then I'll come find you after I get a job. Before I do, please don't marry anyone else."
"There's dust on your right sleeve—brush it off." Fei Ni didn't agree. She didn't know how Fang Muyang had gotten a white smudge on his sleeve. She'd considered brushing it off for him, but when her hand was still ten centimeters away, she withdrew it and placed it back on the handlebars.
But Fang Muyang didn't look down at his sleeve. He said, "Get on your bike. I'll watch you leave." He suspected Fei Ni might leave while he was distracted.
If Fang Muyang hadn't said he'd watch her go, Fei Ni might have glanced back once.
When she reached home, Fei Ni didn't look back even once.
Old Fei noticed the flowers in Fei Ni's hand and asked who had given them to her.
Fei Ni said, "What matters is that they're beautiful. Who gave them is completely unimportant." She took out the artificial flowers and placed the white gladiolus in a vase.
The next day, she went to the post office and mailed the paper and paints she'd bought to Fang Muyang, leaving the sender's name blank.
The gladiolus lasted two weeks in the vase without wilting much.
During those two weeks, Fei Ni and Ye Feng attended a performance of "Shajiabang," watched a ballet, and went boating in the park once.
Ye Feng invited Fei Ni to visit his home. Though framed as a casual visit, it was clearly meant for meeting his parents. Fei Ni agreed without hesitation.
Ye Feng matched Fei Ni's ideal image of a husband perfectly—the artistic wanderer type had never been her consideration. Though in recent years, those wanderers had all hidden away, becoming model citizens rarely seen in daily life. If Fang Muyang's family hadn't encountered misfortune, he might have become one of them. Whether Fang Muyang regained his memories or not, he remained far removed from her imagined husband.
For her first visit to the Ye household, Fei Ni discussed with her family what gifts to bring.Old Fei suggested giving away the chocolates and American milk powder. The chocolates Fang Muyang had brought were still stored in a cool place, barely touched, and the American milk powder remained unopened. Fei Ni said it wasn’t proper to regift presents from guests and that they should keep the milk powder and chocolates for themselves.
In these times, every household was struggling financially. It was common for families to receive gifts they couldn’t bear to consume themselves and instead pass them on to others. Sometimes, a box of pastries could circulate through more than a dozen households, and the Fei family often did the same. But since Fei Ni objected, Old Fei didn’t press the matter.
In the end, Fei Ni used her newly received salary to buy eight varieties of pastries from the grocery store, packing them into a gift box so full it was nearly overflowing. She also went to a tea shop and bought a tin of tea leaves. On the day of her visit to the Ye family, Fei Ni wore the newly made plaid blouse she had just finished, paired with her old blue cloth skirt.
The Ye family lived on the third floor of a building with two households per floor.
When Fei Ni arrived, only Ye Feng’s mother was in the living room, while the housemaid was in the kitchen cleaning vegetables. Ye Feng asked where his father was, and his mother replied that he was in the study and told him not to disturb. Ye Feng’s mother only nodded at Fei Ni when she addressed her as “Auntie,” and after that, she didn’t speak to Fei Ni again. The housemaid came to serve tea, and Ye Feng’s mother sat on the sofa reading the newspaper, not even bothering with basic pleasantries.
Fei Ni knew that Ye Feng must have explained her identity to his parents before her arrival. His parents were not the type to lack manners, so their deliberate coldness toward her was clearly intentional. Their dissatisfaction with her, even before she arrived, couldn’t possibly be about her personally—it had to be because of her family background and her job.
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