Lin Ge was returning to the educated youth point, and Fang Muyang went to the train station to see him off. Along with him went beef jerky and candies sent by Aunt Fu. Lin Ge refused, but Fang Muyang said if he didn’t want to eat them, he could share them with the village children. Accompanying Lin Ge on his departure was also a homemade crystal radio made by Fang Muyang. He had originally intended to keep it for himself, but he couldn’t set up an antenna, so he gave it to his friend who had once been sent down to the countryside with him, suggesting he could listen to it when he felt too lonely.
Lin Ge noticed that the Fang Muyang he had first seen in the hospital was very different from the one before him now. This version was almost exactly like the one he had known before.
"Have you remembered everything?"
Fang Muyang didn’t answer. There were many advantages to not remembering—people had much lower expectations of a confused patient, though it also meant losing many rights.
Lin Ge didn’t press further. He entered the train carriage, squeezed into the crowd, and waved at him. Soon, the train pulled away, leaving Fang Muyang alone.
Fang Muyang took a tram to the old house where he had lived earliest. His maternal grandmother was a modern woman, a returned student from America who liked living in Western-style houses. Even for a three-story building, she spent a fortune installing an elevator, and every room had to have its own bathroom. His father’s side, however, was very traditional. The old house had been passed down through generations, and by the time his father donated it when Fang Muyang was six, the Fang family had lived in that four-courtyard residence for a hundred and fifty years. Apart from necessary repairs, even the placement of the furniture remained unchanged from over a century ago. Their homes had grown progressively smaller, shifting from a four-courtyard house to a two-courtyard one, and then to an apartment. Fang Muyang didn’t have much feeling about the space; he didn’t like staying at home. No matter how big the house was, it couldn’t stop him from going out to play. The only downside of a small home was that the family was constantly running into each other. His father could find him anytime he wanted to hit him. Back when they lived in the big courtyard, he could always escape, and it was hard to notice if something went missing. Unlike in the apartment building, where swapping the leather bedding on his bed for imported roller skates got him caught the very next day.
Fang Muyang noticed that the plum tree he used to climb was still there, though it had become public property, and picking its fruit was forbidden to passersby.
Biting on a small bean popsicle, he sat in the shade observing the men, women, and children passing by. Not far from the old house was a park where the lotus flowers were in full bloom. If he hadn’t promised Aunt Fu to paint a lotus painting for her, Fang Muyang would have lingered a while longer at the entrance of the old house.
It was almost dinnertime when he finally left the park and went to the Fu residence.
Ling Yi was there too.
Fang Muyang’s father had once been the senior superior of Ling Yi’s father and President Fu. Over the years, only President Fu, relying on his wife’s impeccable revolutionary background, had managed to barely maintain his former life, albeit with a demotion, but still faring much better than his former superiors and colleagues.
Ling Yi wore her hair in a thick French braid. Because of her grandmother’s foreign ancestry, her features were more pronounced than most, giving the impression that she possessed a profound soul.
Had she known Fang Muyang was coming, she would have chosen another time to visit. She wasn’t Fang Muyang’s girlfriend, but because he had given his recommendation spot to her, others often felt she had an obligation to look after him, even though Fang Muyang’s hospitalization wasn’t because of her. Even she herself, in private, couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt.Back when she felt hopeless about her future and wanted to end her life, it was Fang Muyang who saved her and gave her his university recommendation spot. At that time, she genuinely liked Fang Muyang. To make him believe she would wait for him even after starting university, she was even prepared to give herself to him without reservation.
Later, when Fang Muyang was hospitalized, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to visit and care for him—it was just that gossip was fearsome. She didn’t want people to know that Fang Muyang had given his university spot to her. Those who already knew were one thing, but if she visited him often, the circle of people who knew would inevitably grow. When a man gave his spot to a girl, people would inevitably think there was more to it. Once rumors started spreading and evolving, she and Fang Muyang would be bound together for life. And this Fang Muyang wasn’t the one she had known before—she couldn’t accept that.
At first, even Ling Yi’s smile seemed forced. Fang Muyang, however, was completely at ease, treating her as nothing more than an old friend.
Ling Yi quickly realized that Fang Muyang wasn’t the same as the last time she had seen him. His way of speaking and his mannerisms were exactly like the person she had known before.
She was so moved she nearly cried. "You’re finally better," she said. She had thought she would never see the old him again.
But Fang Muyang didn’t think his former self was anything special, nor could he understand Ling Yi’s emotional reaction.
The more the Fu couple watched them, the more they thought this young pair was a perfect match.
After the meal, Fang Muyang was asked by Aunt Fu to escort Ling Yi back to school.
Along the way, Ling Yi kept explaining why she hadn’t visited and cared for him more often.
Fang Muyang thought her guilt was completely unnecessary. "There’s no need to dwell on this. You had no obligation to take care of me."
When he had given up his spot back then, it was only so she could live well. He hadn’t expected anything in return from her.
Fei Ni’s eyes were fixed on the screen, but her mind was far from the movie. She had already watched one film and started another.
She remembered being stood up by Fang Muyang when she was little. That day, her parents, brother, and sister had all gone to the cinema, but because Fang Muyang had promised to take her to see a free movie, she stubbornly waited for him at home alone. By the time her family returned from the cinema, Fang Muyang still hadn’t shown up. Even when her sister offered to take her shopping at the department store, she refused, insisting on waiting for him. The sun set, and he never came. She skipped dinner that night, too angry to eat—half because he had broken his promise, and half because she had taken him seriously, and her whole family knew it. But her anger was also fueled by a sense of power, believing she could punish him. The next day, she found out he had come into money again. He no longer needed to sweet-talk her with imaginary treats in exchange for a real screw, nor did he need to ask for her forgiveness. That day, she reached a conclusion: although she and Fang Muyang were both successors to the socialist cause, the essence of their relationship was still a capitalist money relationship. Occasionally, it wore a gentle veil, but at critical moments, it bared its fangs.
Fang Muyang when he needed something from her and Fang Muyang when he didn’t were two different people.
Today, she wasn’t angry. Her disappointment was expected, since she had invited him unilaterally—he hadn’t made any promises.
Still, she was disappointed. Without his cooperation, she wouldn’t get her own apartment.Not getting married meant never having a house of one's own, but even marriage didn't guarantee one. Rather than living under someone else's roof, it was better to sleep on a floor mat in her own home. No matter how difficult things got, at least she wouldn't have to endure others' disapproving looks. But a mere ten-square-meter room housing five people—and when her brother and sister-in-law eventually added a niece or nephew to the mix—even among family, there would be countless inconveniences.
Turning these thoughts over only brought more trouble.
Fei Ni decided to stop thinking about the future and instead focused on enjoying the movie. No matter how tough tomorrow might be, the wind carrying the fresh scent from the trees into her collar felt pleasant now. The curtains, waxed floors, and tablecloths in the film perfectly matched her ideal vision of the future. Though there were some discordant colors in the scenes, the spaciousness of the rooms made up for it.
With her head resting on her knees and her eyes fixed on the screen, Fei Ni suddenly felt an itch in her ear. Someone was tickling it with a blade of grass that still carried some dampness from the ground. She couldn't help but cough, and when she turned to scold the person, she found it was none other than Fang Muyang.
A warm breath brushed her ear as he whispered, "Have you been waiting long?"
Along with these words, he handed her an ice bottle.
Fang Muyang had appeared out of nowhere and was now sitting beside her. He casually settled on a brick and said quietly, "Hurry up and eat it before it melts."
The ice bottle contained ice cream, and Fang Muyang hadn't forgotten to give her a spoon.
Under the starry night, the light from the screen reached them, allowing Fei Ni to see Fang Muyang's profile clearly. He was completely absorbed in the movie, undeterred by not knowing the plot. She noticed his slightly damp hair, soaked with sweat.
Fei Ni handed the ice bottle back to Fang Muyang. "You have it."
"I've already eaten."
Fei Ni brought a spoonful of ice cream to her mouth. To avoid drawing attention, she moved carefully, keeping her lips tightly closed as she let the ice cream melt in her mouth.
Afraid of mosquito bites, she had applied Floral Water to all her exposed skin—her neck, arms, and wrists. The scent drifted with the wind and reached Fang Muyang's nose.
Perhaps not wanting to disturb others, Fang Muyang didn't speak to her again. Sitting close together, their elbows occasionally brushed, and each time, Fei Ni was the first to pull away.
It wasn't until the movie ended that they spoke again.
Outside the park gate, Fei Ni handed the ice bottle to Fang Muyang and rummaged through her bag for her lunch box. Inside was a spoon she had washed at noon. She took out the spoon and gave the ice bottle to Fang Muyang. "I can't finish it. You have the rest."
"I'll just use the original spoon."
Fei Ni wanted to remind him that it was unhygienic to use a spoon she had already used, but Fang Muyang had already scooped a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth with the very spoon she had just used. Fei Ni could only stuff the clean spoon back into her lunch box.
"You didn't even wipe it."
"I'm not that particular."
But seeing Fang Muyang use the spoon she had just eaten from made Fei Ni feel embarrassed.
"How did you get in? Weren't the tickets already sold out by the time you arrived?"Fang Muyang grinned at her, "I have my ways to get in if I want to." His method was hopping over the wall, but since it wasn’t exactly respectable, he didn’t say it outright. He had climbed directly into the park. Because he had wanted to buy a ticket but couldn’t, he felt perfectly at ease, showing no trace of fear even when passing right under the noses of patrolling guards, until he reached Fei Ni’s side.
"Where did you go today?" she asked. He had disappeared early in the morning and only showed up so late.
"To an uncle’s house. By the time I got back to the hospital and saw your note, it was already dark."
"Then why did you still come? You’ll only catch the end of the movie."
"You went to the trouble of inviting me—how could I not come?"
"What if I had already left?"
"If you’d left, I wouldn’t have lost anything by coming to watch the movie."
"If you knew you were late, why did you still go buy ice cream?" It was quite a distance from the hospital to the park, and stopping to buy ice cream along the way—no wonder he was sweating so much.
"I knew you’d be upset, so I bought ice cream especially to cool you down."
"Stop teasing. I’m not that angry." Fang Muyang had bought at least four servings of ice cream, filling the ice bottle to the brim.
"The spoons they gave were too short. I was afraid if I bought less, you wouldn’t be able to reach it. I was wrong to be late today. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to another park to watch a movie—I’ll definitely be on time this time."
Fei Ni hummed in agreement.
"How’s your job search going?"
Fang Muyang didn’t hide it from Fei Ni: "There’s a job available right now, but this cement factory doesn’t provide dormitories. I’d have to find my own housing." The Office of Educated Youth wasn’t responsible for job assignments; they could only help Fang Muyang return to the city. As for work, he had to go through the labor bureau. The people at the labor bureau were quite concerned about his situation and directly offered him a job as a porter at a cement factory, adding that if he wasn’t satisfied, he could wait a bit longer—they’d contact him if something more suitable came up. Fang Muyang didn’t mind carrying heavy loads at the cement factory, but the factory was a collective enterprise with no canteen and no dormitory. Since he had no place of his own, he couldn’t keep living at the hospital forever.
"If you want to solve the housing problem, I have an idea."
"What is it?"
The stars were bright, but the night was dark enough to obscure the flush on Fei Ni’s face. She tried to calm her racing heart as the words came out slowly and steadily: "My factory is allocating housing right now. If we go through the marriage procedures, when the housing is assigned, we can split it—half for each of us."
Men and women at the factory who wanted housing had already submitted their marriage applications. She couldn’t wait any longer. Last night, she had already planned it out: the place could be divided into two small rooms—she would take the inner one, and Fang Muyang the outer. She would handle everything needed to furnish the place; Fang Muyang only needed to show up.
He had helped her, and she wouldn’t let him lose out.
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