Mu Jing started wearing clothes from over a decade ago again. She didn’t feel she bore any resemblance to the girl in the painting, yet Qu Hua didn’t seem to have any dissatisfaction with her. She thought it was just as well—pretending to be virtuous was exhausting enough.
Mu Jing no longer made a point of serving Qu Hua dishes at the dining table to show her concern for him. When they were alone, she no longer bothered with empty pleasantries. Occasionally, when they talked, Mu Jing would ask Qu Hua about surgical procedures, giving him a chance to shine.
Her understanding of men initially came from her father. Her father loved expounding his discoveries and theories to her mother. To maintain marital harmony, Teacher Mu sometimes feigned admiration for her husband, at which Old Fang would become smug and carried away. However, Teacher Mu was often busy with work and had no time to humor him. None of the three siblings had any interest in Old Fang’s theories either. Fortunately, he had plenty of admirers outside the family. Although he held an administrative position, his hands would itch to teach, so he squeezed in time to give lectures to students. For a while, Mu Jing even thought all men were fond of lecturing others, and the only solution was to actually become a teacher. Students, desperate for high grades, would pore over the lecturer’s notes, no matter how nonsensical the teaching. As for men who weren’t teachers, at least half of their unsolicited opinions were reserved for their wives or girlfriends. Her brother enjoyed enlightening his wife about physics, and her ex-boyfriend used to lecture her on modern drama when they were together. As for her younger brother, he not only disliked being taught but also disliked teaching others. But he was still a child and didn’t count as a man.
She gave Qu Hua the opportunity to play the teacher at home. Someone like Qu Hua, who loved staying at the hospital, always had plenty to say about surgery. But this tactic didn’t work—Qu Hua preferred listening to Mu Jing talk. While she spoke, he would use his fingers to give her a full-body examination, which aligned more closely with their daytime professions.
Qu Hua somehow got hold of a mimeographed set of Lecture Notes on biomathematics and asked Mu Jing to explain it to him. Mu Jing was willing to help him in this regard, if only to avoid having to humor him in other ways. During the day, Qu Hua was either standing at the operating table or sitting in the outpatient clinic, and sometimes he had night shifts. When he came home, he only wanted to lie in bed and listen to Mu Jing’s lectures. As Qu Hua listened, he continued examining Mu Jing with his fingers. Mu Jing told him to stop, but Qu Hua said it was fine—it didn’t interfere with his listening, and he could understand perfectly. As a medical student, he had some foundation in mathematics. He had won first prize in a city-level math competition in high school, which prompted him to pick up university textbooks for self-study. During this process, he realized he lacked the innate talent and gave up decisively, directly applying to medical school for the college entrance exams. That foundation wasn’t enough for research, but it sufficed for half-hearted listening. Mu Jing’s lectures became increasingly difficult toward the end—she struggled to finish a complete sentence, yet she insisted on pushing through, while Qu Hua kept interrupting with questions. Her lessons started well-prepared but often ended abruptly.To thank Mu Jing for tutoring him, Qu Hua asked if she had any requests. Mu Jing said helping him was already satisfying enough. After exchanging a few trivial remarks, she finally mentioned her younger brother. Although Old Qu had repeatedly offered to bring Fang Muyang over, his proposals were always vague—he never specified which room could be allocated. While arrangements could be made after arrival, the lack of concrete planning felt inadequate. Mu Jing tactfully inquired whether there was a spare room in the house, adding that her brother had won major awards in children’s art exhibitions as a child and had continued painting over the years. If Qu Hua wished to discuss oil paintings, he could exchange ideas with her brother after his arrival.
Qu Hua recalled the art album on the train—perhaps it had been intended for her brother.
He didn’t point out the inconsistency in Mu Jing’s words, remembering how she had once told him that her younger brother lacked even basic self-care skills and relied entirely on others. How could such a person engage in discussions about oil painting? Even if he could, Qu Hua had little interest in conversing with the third son of the Fang family about art; he remained more intrigued by his medical condition. He had been waiting for Mu Jing to bring up her brother’s illness, which had been a major topic during their earliest meetings. Yet, a month after reuniting, she never mentioned it again—likely due to distrust in his character and possibly his professional competence. He couldn’t decide which offended him more, though it was probably the latter. With his grandmother’s health steadily improving, he resolved to broach the subject himself if Mu Jing remained silent.
Qu Hua appeared supportive of his brother-in-law’s arrival, telling Mu Jing, "I’ll discuss this with my parents—you needn’t worry about it." Upon hearing Qu Hua’s reasoning, his mother remarked that it was inappropriate to bring a brother-in-law over for case studies, and even if that were the intention, he shouldn’t express it so bluntly to Mu Jing, lest it hurt her feelings. Burdened with guilt toward her daughter-in-law, Qu Hua’s mother specially arranged a spacious, sunlit room for Mu Jing’s brother. Although both parents agreed to host Fang Muyang, their motivations differed: Old Qu admired Fang Muyang’s character, while his wife acted out of familial duty, seeing it as merely "adding an extra pair of chopsticks."
Qu Hua even assisted with purchasing tickets, securing a sleeper ticket for Mu Jing. As preparations for Fang Muyang’s arrival progressed, the couple conversed more frequently—mostly Mu Jing speaking, as she wanted to ensure her brother would be well-received. She emphasized all his virtues.
While other Educated Youth complained about rural hardships, her brother wrote to say, "The villagers have lived here their entire lives—why should I struggle with just a few years?" He assured her he was doing well, mentioning how locals shared lard pancakes and scrambled eggs with him."He can find joy in life anywhere. In reality, he only gets to eat eggs a few times a year, but he always mentions it in his letters to me as if he eats them daily. He really likes the countryside and feels it wouldn't be bad to stay there permanently." Yet Mu Jing privately thought otherwise—no matter how hard life was for the locals, they were born and raised there, whereas he was like a rootless duckweed drifting in. Still, she didn't write this in her letter, not entirely because it was inaccurate. She understood her brother's temperament: it was entirely possible that he'd find the countryside novel and even preferable to home for a few months, but if he were stuck there without moving, he wouldn't be able to bear it. Yet what else could he do besides reporting good news? Should he say that even eating a flatbread relied on the kindness of the villagers? Even if he could share his hardships, what could she do to help? If he truly wanted to settle there for life, he wouldn't have stayed in someone else's house during his homeless period just to take a family visit leave. If he hadn't taken that leave, he wouldn't have saved anyone, and he wouldn't still be in the hospital now.
Mu Jing tried her best to tell Qu Hua about her brother's positive aspects. Fang Muyang had once mailed her a few paintings, all very cheerful—either plump sorghum heads from the countryside or a large goose flapping its wings with a group of ducks following... She had mailed these paintings signed by Fang Muyang to teachers at the Art Academy, hoping to secure him a chance at university, but none of them received any response, and the paintings weren't returned. Otherwise, she could have brought them for her brother to see.
Mu Jing didn't mention the incident with the sketchbook that day, and Qu Hua didn't bring it up either. Qu Hua asked if she wanted him to accompany her, but Mu Jing said she could go alone. It was one of the rare opportunities for the siblings to spend time together privately, yet she was still grateful to Qu Hua and explained things to him more meticulously during their lessons—though she never got to finish on the bed.
The day before returning to her hometown, Mu Jing received a letter from her brother.
In it, he said he had gotten married, and there was a portrait of him and Fei Ni.
Mu Jing was very happy for her brother—he had regained his memory, his wife treated him well, and she came from a sound class background. Along with her happiness, there was a faint trace of melancholy, though it was too trivial to matter.
The prepared room and the purchased Sleeper Ticket had become useless.
The Qu family had already prepared to welcome her brother, so she naturally had to explain the situation. She showed Fang Muyang's letter to Qu Hua and spoke to him about Fei Ni: "I never imagined there would be a girl like her who'd stand by him through thick and thin." She wasn't that kind of person herself, nor had she ever met anyone like that. She turned to Qu Hua and said, "Thank you."
She never believed that couples like her and Qu Hua had any obligation to support each other. Every time he helped her, it felt like an unexpected blessing, just like when she first met him on the train—they were strangers then, and gratitude was all there was to it, nothing more.
That evening, Qu Hua didn't ask Mu Jing to give a lesson, but she took the initiative to teach him. He still had night shifts every week, and if they didn't hurry, she wouldn't finish before she left. She didn't know how much use it was to Qu Hua, but it was all she could do.When she studied Computational Mathematics, it was still an emerging discipline domestically. If her background had been reliable, she would have had the opportunity to participate in important projects. Or if she had been born a few years earlier, even with a problematic family background, she could have already achieved something like her brother and still had a chance to join. But she fell into neither category. Now that she was married, it was as if she had obtained half an admission ticket. Qu Hua kissed her ear, and her whole body trembled, even her voice quivered as she asked Qu Hua, "Can you let me finish talking before we do it?"
Qu Hua said to her, "Whatever isn’t finished tonight, we can continue tomorrow morning."
The next morning, Qu Hua suddenly brought up the topic Mu Jing hadn’t finished the previous night at the family breakfast table. To others, this seemed perfectly proper, yet Mu Jing’s movements as she picked up food became noticeably unnatural after that.
Qu Hua’s mother interjected at this point, "Our second son once won first prize in a math competition and almost enrolled in the mathematics department. The Middle School Monthly even featured him back then—I still have that issue. His father bought about thirty copies and gave them all away."
Old Qu chimed in, "Your memory is playing tricks on you; I didn’t buy that many." Although he had been educated in women’s liberation, he remained quite traditional at heart and felt his son was undermining the family’s male dignity. Still, he had been somewhat pleased at the time; even though his son hadn’t followed his wishes, he had managed to get into university on his own merit without relying on his father’s influence, unlike some people he knew whose children performed abysmally, failing to even test into the worst schools, yet still occupying university spots—utterly shameful. If he had such an unpromising son, he’d send him wherever conditions were toughest to build character.
Mu Jing recalled that she had also been featured in that same monthly publication, also for winning a competition. Her coverage had been the most extensive, complete with a photo. They had both won first prizes, but she had gotten more space because the magazine was based in her hometown, and the editor happened to know her father, leading to a highlighted interview. Back then, she was young and self-absorbed, focused only on herself, feeling the photo made her look terribly affected—she didn’t even want to look at it. She had no interest in the others featured in the issue and thus never knew whether Qu Hua had participated in the same competition as her.
She didn’t bring up this experience at the table—it was all so many years ago. Besides, for Qu Hua, a medical student, having won a math award was a legitimate point of pride. For someone in her field and at her age, boasting about a middle school award would seem rather petty.
Mu Jing privately wrote a letter to her former Professor Wu. Old Wu had been transferred from the farm to the Branch Campus a couple of years prior and, though not high-ranking, was leading a project. She inquired about the situation at the Branch Campus and included some wedding candies from her and Qu Hua. The reply came quickly and was very direct: originally, Old Wu had been trying to arrange Mu Jing’s transfer, as the project team was short-handed, but since Mu Jing was now married, she could only wish her happiness in her new life. Mu Jing smiled wryly at the letter; despite being tossed about by fate all these years, Old Wu remained as straightforward as ever—unlike herself, who had changed so much. Reading between the lines, Mu Jing gathered that there had been hope for her transfer, difficult as it might have been, but now, because of her marriage, Old Wu assumed she wouldn’t give up her comfortable life to move there.
She immediately wrote back to Old Wu, expressing her determination to transfer.Old Wu promptly replied that someone on their end wanted to transfer back to Mu Jing's city but had been unable to find a replacement. If Mu Jing wished to come over, the position was available. As long as both parties agreed, cross-regional job swaps within the same system weren't particularly difficult. Moreover, Mu Jing's previous issues with family background had now been resolved—the main hurdle was settling family matters. Though Old Wu himself remained unmarried, he advised Mu Jing to carefully consider her situation, as her current family could help solve many problems for her, and she might not find a better arrangement in the future.
Mu Jing didn't mention the job transfer to anyone in the Qu family, continuing her usual responsibilities as always.
During lectures or lesson preparations, she inevitably thought of Qu Hua. These moments weren't frequent, but each time they occurred, her face would flush—not out of shyness, but embarrassment. Her professional expertise was constantly being used by him for bedroom banter. What mortified her even more was that whenever Qu Hua posed a perfectly serious question to her, her mind would automatically drift to intimate connotations, while sometimes he was merely engaging in genuine discussion without any ulterior meaning. Qu Hua's foundation in mathematics and physics was far superior to most students at her current school, where many hadn't received complete secondary education. Of course, given Qu Hua's level, Mu Jing found it challenging to communicate with him as an equal. Yet since he was a doctor—and a professionally accomplished one at that—she tended to be more lenient toward him in this regard.
In the evenings, she continued teaching Qu Hua as usual. Feeling the pressure of time, she spoke slightly faster than normal, yet Qu Hua persistently fragmented her sentences.
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