The air was thick with the scent of Floral Water, which had driven the mosquitoes away, only for them to target Fei Ni and Fang Muyang, who hadn’t applied any. Fei Ni waved her hand to shoo the mosquitoes away, and as they scattered, her pinky accidentally bumped against Fang Muyang’s knee. She gritted her teeth in pain and was about to pull her hand back when Fang Muyang grasped her finger with two of his, asking if it hurt.
Fei Ni said it didn’t, but Fang Muyang didn’t believe her. He held her finger, examining it from the base of her thumb to the nail. His hand, no longer dry as it had been in winter, was now slightly damp with sweat, making her hand feel a little clammy too. As if afraid she might be in pain, he gently massaged her finger, not using much force, but enough to make it feel warm and itchy. Just as she was about to snap at him, Fang Muyang slipped a bracelet onto her wrist.
It was a Jade Bracelet, glowing faintly in the darkness.
She asked softly, "What are you doing?"
"Let’s watch the movie first."
Fang Muyang kept his eyes fixed on the screen, occasionally using a piece of bread wrapper to swat mosquitoes away from Fei Ni, appearing deeply engrossed in the film.
They left the park after just one movie. The weather was hot, but there was no breeze.
Fei Ni reached to remove the bracelet, but Fang Muyang caught her hand.
She shook him off, but he didn’t seem bothered, merely smiling.
"By convention, I should have proposed with the bracelet and waited for you to agree before putting it on. But since you’ve already made up your mind, asking for your permission now would just be redundant, so I took the liberty of giving it to you directly."
"Our marriage isn’t like other people’s."
"But your parents think it is. Last time I visited your home, they weren’t very welcoming. If I marry you now without showing any gesture, they’ll resent me even more and worry about you. For our future, you should wear this bracelet to show your parents that I’m not completely without sincerity. You can always put it away later if you want."
Fang Muyang’s reasoning made sense, but Fei Ni, unromantically, asked, "How much did this bracelet cost you? I’ll pay you back."
Even though she found the bracelet impractical.
Fang Muyang laughed and said, "I actually wanted to buy you a watch, but I didn’t have enough money. I could only scrape together a few cents to get you this bracelet. If you hadn’t asked, I’d have been too embarrassed to mention the price. You’re not going to refuse to wear it because it’s cheap, are you?" He was probably the first person to actively prove that his engagement gift was worthless. In the past, this bracelet would have been worth ten taels of gold, but now ten of them combined could barely buy a stainless steel watch. Sometimes, the price of a commodity doesn’t reflect its true value. Still, it wasn’t as cheap as Fang Muyang made it out to be.
His words made Fei Ni the one who felt embarrassed, as if she had asked about the price just to humiliate him for buying something inexpensive.
Fei Ni had no choice but to find new merits in the bracelet, praising Fang Muyang’s good taste for finding such a nice piece with so little money. She didn’t know much about jade, but her intuition told her it was a fine piece.
"If you like it, wear it all the time."
"Have you ever seen a worker wearing something like this on the job?"
"When I have money, I’ll buy you a watch that you can wear anywhere."
"When you have money? You should save it properly. There will be plenty of expenses when we move into our new home."
After putting on the bracelet, Fei Ni had initially felt uncomfortable in every way, but now, engrossed in her conversation with Fang Muyang, she forgot all about that discomfort, as if the bracelet had become a part of her.“You shouldn’t go to the cement factory. Many people can do that kind of work. Why not give the opportunity to someone else and go directly to the art training class at the publishing house? After the training ends, you might not necessarily be unemployed. Other units might need you. Aren’t you also capable of drafting and design?”
“Alright, I’ll do as you say.”
Fang Muyang had originally planned to find a factory job first. After all, the training class was only a temporary arrangement. Although it provided a stipend, the training could end at any time, and he would have to return to where he came from. In the past, when his household registration and grain ration were in the countryside, he could still go back to rural labor and receive an Educated Youth subsidy to support himself. But now that his registration had been transferred back to the city, if the training ended, he would have to remain unemployed in the house allocated to Fei Ni. Although he would eventually find work, he couldn’t afford to wait.
His perspective had changed after his time in the countryside. Timber was much cheaper there than buying it in the city. In the future, after leaving the training class, he could support his family by making furniture with wood sourced from the countryside. He visited furniture stores and secondhand shops and found that a new, simple sofa in a furniture store was far more expensive than a set of sandalwood table and chairs in a secondhand shop. Before he could lament the buyers’ lack of discernment, he calculated the cost of making a sofa. If he could find buyers for the sofas he made, the profit from just one sofa would at least equal a month’s wages as a laborer. As a child, he had taken apart a single sofa and knew exactly how it was constructed. After making what Fei Ni wanted, he would still have leftover wood, and if it wasn’t enough, he could always buy more. The other materials could also be purchased with money.
Fang Muyang always said he would listen to Fei Ni and rarely contradicted her, as if everything she decided was right. Fei Ni found joy in taking charge when she was with him.
“Where will you stay after you leave the hospital?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out.”
Fang Muyang spoke lightly, as if there was nothing he couldn’t solve.
When Fei Ni returned home, she announced that she and Fang Muyang would be registering their marriage the next day.
Although Fei Ma was angry with her daughter, she directed her criticism outward: “This Xiao Fang is too lacking in manners. Even if weddings are simplified these days, he should still come to our home to pay his respects. What kind of situation is this? It makes it seem like we’re the ones chasing after him.”
“When he brought me back just now, he did say he wanted to visit you both. I told him not to disturb your rest and to come tomorrow instead.”
“Come tomorrow after you’ve registered? Then it’ll be too late. Why are you in such a hurry to marry him? Aren’t you afraid he’ll look down on you? No matter the era, girls should be reserved. The harder something is to obtain, the more it’s cherished. You need to let him know that you have plenty of options and that choosing him is his good fortune.” Fei Ma sighed. “You’re usually such a smart person.”
“He’s not like that.”
“You’re quick to vouch for him.”
“If I didn’t know him well, I wouldn’t marry him.” Fei Ni had been hiding the bracelet in her sleeve, but now she deliberately revealed it to her mother, even exaggerating its price. “He gave this to me when he proposed. Do you think it’s pretty?”
“Xiao Fang, I have to say, he really doesn’t know how to manage his life. What use is a bracelet compared to a watch?”
This complaint was different from the previous one—the first was directed at an outsider, while this one was for family. Fei Ni thought to herself that Fang Muyang’s bracelet had indeed served its purpose.His shrewdness made Fei Ni suspect whether he had fully regained his memory. But if he had, why pretend otherwise? The thought gave her a headache, so she decided to stop dwelling on it. Nothing else mattered except that she and Fang Muyang shared the same goal: getting married to secure housing.
On the day Fei Ni went to handle the marriage registration, she still insisted on working the morning shift. She gave out the chocolates Fang Muyang had given her as wedding candies to her workshop colleagues and deliberately saved a handful for Wang Xiaoman. A few days earlier, Wang Xiaoman had hinted that a position had opened up in the propaganda department and promised it to Fei Ni if she could obtain a fourteen-inch Television Ticket. Her brother was about to return to the city and desperately needed such a job.
At that time, chocolate was still a rare delicacy, not easily obtained, and few people gave it out as wedding candy. Fei Ni didn’t just give Wang Xiaoman one piece but a handful, speaking in a casual tone, as if chocolate meant nothing to her. When Wang Xiaoman learned that Fei Ni’s marriage partner wasn’t the one from the Radio Industry Bureau, her first thought was that Fei Ni had found someone better and dumped the previous one. Though she looked down on Fei Ni’s character, she couldn’t help but admire her tactics.
Fei Ni casually asked Wang Xiaoman whether she wanted an imported or a domestic television set, then went on to compare the production technologies of televisions from several countries—information she had gleaned from Ye Feng, never expecting it would come in handy now. During her interactions with Ye Feng, their conversations felt more like interrogations than chats. Fei Ni was even more proactive than Ye Feng when it came to talking. Her questions were half-expert, but she was completely ignorant about systematic knowledge, which inadvertently gave Ye Feng room to showcase his expertise. The curiosity in her eyes was misinterpreted by Ye Feng as admiration, leading him to mistakenly believe she was very understanding. In the end, it proved to be nothing but a misunderstanding.
Wang Xiaoman only wanted a television set and had no interest in these tedious theories. Her ignorance led her to assume Fei Ni was highly knowledgeable. After showing off, Fei Ni remarked in an offhand tone that imported sets might be trickier to obtain, but if Wang Xiaoman wanted one, she could try to pull some strings.
Eager to watch television, Wang Xiaoman said a domestic set would suffice. However, from Fei Ni’s words, she inferred that Fei Ni had powerful connections and could acquire foreign goods. She saw Fei Ni as a sustainable resource—if she could easily get her hands on chocolate and foreign televisions, she must have ways to help Wang Xiaoman obtain other things as well.
In less than ten minutes, Fei Ni and Wang Xiaoman struck a deal, securing her brother’s job. Fei Ni had no actual channels to get a Television Ticket, but she figured that as long as one was willing to pay, it could be obtained on the black market. Her parents would be willing to cover the cost—her brother would earn it back in a few months once he had the job.
Fei Ni herself found it strange that she could lie and boast without blushing. She knew the whole process had been rather undignified, but because her motives were pure and her brother was perfectly qualified for the propaganda department job, she forgave her own lack of decorum. If it were merely an exchange for a Television Ticket, Wang Xiaoman might not have secured her brother the position. Only by believing there would be more benefits to come would she help. After all, many people wanted that job.
Still, she needed to tell Fang Muyang not to come pick her up anymore. If his current situation were accidentally exposed, her brother’s job might fall through.When the time came, Fang Muyang would surely ask her why. What could she say? That she pretended to have a well-connected husband, and to avoid being exposed, he shouldn’t show his face?
She couldn’t bring herself to say such a thing.
As soon as Fei Ni got off work at noon, she waited at the entrance for Fang Muyang. Spotting him from afar, she hurried toward him. Those familiar with her would recognize the bicycle Fang Muyang was riding as hers—it wouldn’t be good if people found out. Fang Muyang’s true situation didn’t need to be concealed for long, just until her brother returned to his formal job. Once he had an official position, even if Wang Xiaoman discovered she had lied, she’d have no choice but to accept it.
Fang Muyang had never seen Fei Ni take the initiative like this. She hopped onto the back seat of the bicycle, tugged at his shirt, and urged him to hurry.
Fei Ni offered to treat Fang Muyang to a meal at a restaurant, but he insisted that from now on, she should save her money. On a day like this, it had to be his treat.
Early that morning, after dropping Fei Ni off at the factory, Fang Muyang had used the candy coupons he received when applying for the marriage introduction letter to buy sweets at the grocery store. He distributed them to the nurses, doctors, and patients he knew at the hospital. To express his gratitude for their care, he even gave away the sweet potatoes a fellow villager had gifted him. When people ate the wedding candies and asked about his bride, Fang Muyang realized the photo of Fei Ni he had kept in his bag was missing. He guessed she must have taken it. In the end, he didn’t describe what Fei Ni looked like, even though a portrait he had drawn of her was tucked under his bedsheet.
He had previously sketched many nurses, and before leaving the hospital, he personally returned each portrait to its model as a keepsake. As he handed them out, he addressed each person by name. He had painted many works, but most were no longer in his possession. It seemed he lacked the innate qualities of a great artist, letting his creations scatter without a second thought.
Carrying an empty travel bag, he went to the post office and sent three letters—one to his parents, one to his brother, and one to his sister. In them, he wrote that he had gotten married and was doing well, enclosing a simple sketch of himself and Fei Ni, drawn with just a few strokes. After leaving the post office, he visited President Fu’s home, offering him wedding candies. Though surprised, President Fu was pleased to learn that Fang Muyang had married the one who had cared for him in the hospital and asked why he hadn’t brought his fiancée along. Fang Muyang smiled and said that he and Fei Ni would treat his uncle and aunt to a meal that week.
President Fu then inquired about Fang Muyang’s housing situation after marriage. Considering Fang Muyang had no home and would soon attend the art society’s training class, he arranged for Fang Muyang and Fei Ni to stay at the art society’s guesthouse for a few undisturbed newlywed days after completing the formalities.
“Don’t let the young lady suffer too much.”
Fang Muyang had no intention of letting Fei Ni suffer and readily agreed.
At noon, the restaurants were packed with the lunch crowd, and several were full. The two had no choice but to eat standing up.
Fang Muyang’s hands served as a makeshift table—his left hand holding tomato beef meatballs, his right hand holding tender tofu stewed with peas—letting Fei Ni eat first.
Under Fang Muyang’s gaze, Fei Ni felt a bit embarrassed. She said, “Why don’t you eat first?”
“I’ll stop looking at you, okay? Hurry up, there’s nothing to be shy about.”Fei Ni was also puzzled by how steady Fang Muyang's hands were. To minimize the time he spent holding the tray, she ate quickly and soon finished a bowl of rice. Then it was her turn to hold the tray for Fang Muyang, but she wasn't sure she could keep it as steady as he did.
Fang Muyang didn't give her the chance to test herself. He combined the dishes from both plates into one, placed the rice on top, and began eating skillfully with the plate in his left hand and chopsticks in his right.
He ate at a leisurely pace.
Fei Ni's hands were left with nothing to do, and she could only watch.
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