At the end of the workday, Fei Ni was in no hurry to leave the factory. Instead, she stood in front of the newspaper stand reading the paper.
In a small line of text, Fei Ni once again saw the name of the "hero of the blank exam." Three years ago, when universities increased the weight of academic exams in student admissions, Fei Ni had just begun to see a glimmer of hope for attending university. But that hope was extinguished by this "hero," who, despite not actually turning in a blank exam, had still managed to get into university because of a letter he wrote. The words in the newspaper brought back memories of that widely publicized letter. One sentence remained etched in her memory word for word: "I have no respect for, and indeed strongly resent, those bookworms who have spent years idling and drifting aimlessly. Exams have been monopolized by these exam-obsessed individuals."
Because of the ripple effects of that statement, Fei Ni did not go to university. Instead, she stood before the newspaper stand in front of the hat factory, reading the paper.
Estimating that Fang Muyang would arrive soon, she walked toward the factory gate.
Ye Feng’s appearance at the gate was unexpected.
Ye Feng assumed Fei Ni was just being petty. He thought if he gave her the cold shoulder, she would eventually yield on her own. He wasn’t entirely satisfied with Fei Ni. As children hope their future spouses will please their parents—not only for the sake of family harmony but also out of vanity, wanting their parents to acknowledge their good taste—Fei Ni had failed to present her best self in front of his parents, which disappointed him. Although he was dissatisfied with Fei Ni’s family background, he had still tried to placate his parents. Yet Fei Ni hadn’t given him that courtesy and had even picked a fight with him.
But after more than a week apart, Fei Ni’s good qualities outweighed her flaws. Coincidentally, a subordinate radio factory had a recruitment quota for returning to the city from the county where Fei Ni’s brother was working. Ye Feng was happy to play the good guy and give Fei Ni a way out. This job was a rare opportunity, and he believed Fei Ni couldn’t possibly be unaware of that. He could even help transfer her from her current job.
Now, looking at Ye Feng, Fei Ni felt completely calm. She greeted him with a slight smile, then turned her gaze toward the direction from which Fang Muyang was expected.
Ye Feng had intended to take Fei Ni to a restaurant to talk, but she refused outright. Just as she was about to say she was already married, Ye Feng brought up the solution for her brother’s job.
If Fei Ni weren’t married, she might have agonized over it. But being married spared her that deliberation.
She knew Ye Feng would never help a married woman.
As soon as she said "Thank you," she quickly added, "I’m married."
"You’re married? You’re joking." Ye Feng couldn’t hide his surprise. They had only broken up the previous week.
"I have no reason to lie to you."
"With whom?"
"A classmate of mine."
"Is it that classmate of yours I know?"
Fei Ni silently confirmed.
Unable to hold back, Ye Feng asked, his voice barely concealing his anger, "Were you wavering between us the whole time?"
Fei Ni understood his anger and explained, "Believe it or not, I only started seeing him after things were completely over between us. Before that, we were just classmates." She hadn’t been two-timing.
Fang Muyang rushed to make it to the entrance of Fei Ni’s factory. More conspicuous than the factory gate was Fei Ni standing with a man.
A man he happened to recognize.
He rode up to Fei Ni but didn’t get off his bike, balancing with one foot on the ground. He smiled politely at Ye Feng.Ye Feng recognized Fang Muyang and the bicycle he was riding.
"Fei Ni, you married a man like this, who even has to ride your bicycle?" The news was too hard for Ye Feng to accept, and his usual good manners vanished, replaced by obvious mockery. But mindful of his status, he kept it to mere ridicule. He had swallowed his pride to come find Fei Ni, only to discover she was already married, making him look like a fool.
If Fei Ni regretted her decision and tried to win him back, he would look down on her.
If she didn’t regret it, he would look down on her even more, considering her foolish. Marrying someone like that just to spite him—she would surely come to regret it. Even more foolish was that she had already hit a wall but still refused to change her ways.
Fei Ni retorted sharply, "What do you mean, 'a man like this'? He’s wonderful. We’re a married couple, what’s wrong with sharing a bicycle?" Ye Feng completely failed to understand the real reason she had broken up with him. He had come to her condescendingly, offering her brother a job opportunity. Without delving too deeply into the logic, she could barely interpret it as goodwill. Even when he questioned her character, she could calmly explain. If things had stopped there, they could have parted amicably. But Ye Feng had to cross the line and insult her partner. She and Fang Muyang were married now—their fates were intertwined in the eyes of others. To belittle Fang Muyang was to belittle her.
She said goodbye and jumped onto the back of the bicycle, wrapping her arms around his waist and urging him to pedal faster.
Only after they turned the corner did she remove her hand from Fang Muyang’s waist.
"Aren’t you usually so quick with words? Why didn’t you refute him when he said those things about you?"
Fang Muyang laughed and said, "Victory makes one magnanimous. Besides, didn’t you refute him for me? Why did he come looking for you again?"
"How should I know? But now that he knows I’m married, he won’t come again." Undoubtedly, he still thought she was reaching above her station by marrying him. If she realized her situation and went back to him, he would disdain her. Since she didn’t, he came to remind her.
"I’ll probably be able to get a Television Ticket tomorrow, so don’t bother with it anymore."
"How did you manage that?"
"If I want to get it, I can get it."
"Why do you always say that?" The surprise was so sudden that Fei Ni could hardly believe it. "You must have owed someone a huge favor for this." Fei Ni knew that favors were a non-renewable resource—once used, they were gone. No one liked dealing with greedy people. Fei Ni tried to solve things with money whenever possible to avoid troubling others, but there were times when money didn’t work.
"It’s not that big of a deal. We just help each other out."
"Thank you."
"With how close we are, why stand on ceremony?"
Fei Ni knew Fang Muyang was deliberately using her earlier words to Ye Feng to tease her, so she pretended not to hear.
"Let’s buy some noodles. My parents don’t know we’re coming back for dinner, so they probably didn’t make any for us." Fang Muyang had said he would take Fei Ni to stay at the Guesthouse for a few days, so her parents likely assumed she would eat out and not return home.
Fei Ni bought the noodles and, to thank Fang Muyang for his help, specially bought him some barbecued pork as well.
When they returned, the old couple indeed hadn’t prepared food for them. There was only congee, steamed buns, and a plate of cabbage stir-fried with pork cracklings.
Seeing Fei Ni return, Fei Ma complained to Old Fei, "I told you they might come back and asked you to prepare some extra dishes, but you wouldn’t listen.""
"You didn’t insist either."
Since both were at fault, they stopped blaming each other.
"Mom, don’t worry about us. I’ll cook the noodles myself."Fei Ni arranged the char siu on a plate and had Fang Muyang carry it inside, while she stood in the corridor cooking noodles.
Fang Muyang urged her to go in, "Go inside and rest for a while, I'll cook."
Fang Muyang snorted inwardly—he had been cooking far longer than Fei Ni. Back when he first went to the countryside, he was the part-time cook at the educated youth point. Everyone loved his cooking—it was rich in flavor and varied in style. But he was soon replaced because he could only ensure good meals for the first few days of the month, leaving everyone to endure hunger for the rest of the time.
Fei Ni didn’t go inside, instead supervising Fang Muyang from the corridor. Though the scallions he chopped weren’t particularly neat, he measured the soy sauce perfectly—exactly three drops, not one more, not one less.
Fang Muyang served the only egg in Fei Ni’s bowl. When the noodles were on the table and they began eating, Fei Ni picked up the egg and placed it in Fang Muyang’s bowl, saying she couldn’t eat that much in the evening.
Fang Muyang didn’t refuse either, scooping out the yolk and giving it to her.
In front of Fei Ni’s parents, the two amiably shared an egg.
Fang Muyang asked the elderly couple if they had received a pickup slip that day. He had listed the Fei family’s address for the lumber delivery, as his own residence kept changing.
Old Fei slapped his thigh, "I forgot to tell you—it arrived this afternoon. I’ll have someone bring it over tomorrow and stack it downstairs."
Fei Ma asked, "Is that safe?"
"How could it not be? The neighborhood’s little-footed detectives are so sharp, they’d even notice if an ant carried a grain of rice, let alone a pile of lumber."
Fang Muyang said, "I’ll arrange for someone to move it myself. You should rest at home."
"Aren’t you working? I can handle this little task."
After the meal, Fei Ni pulled Fang Muyang to the washroom to do the dishes.
Fang Muyang told Fei Ni to rest and let him wash them.
Though she didn’t trust him, Fei Ni didn’t stop him. The more he struggled, the more he needed practice. If they weren’t clean, she could always rinse them again.
There were other people in the washroom, so Fei Ni spoke very quietly, "I won’t go to the guesthouse today. You can leave by yourself in a bit."
"That’s not good."
"It’s settled."
"I’m tired today and don’t feel like biking. Your parents would probably let me stay at your place, right?"
"You go ahead. It won’t take long to bike."
Fang Muyang smiled and said, "When you’re tired, you don’t even want to take a single step."
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