Li Wu had a two-day weekend with plenty of spare time, and Cen Jin also eased her usual tension, staying up very late.
It was almost noon when she crawled out of bed. Without changing her sleepwear, she just threw on a thick-knit sweater and came out.
The door to the secondary bedroom was wide open, letting in a roomful of bright, glaring light.
She turned and headed to the study to look for the kid at home. Sure enough, he was sitting inside, fully absorbed in reading his handouts.
Cen Jin raised her hand and knocked twice on the doorframe, pulling his gaze over: "When did you get up?"
Li Wu stammered oddly: "S-seven o'clock."
Cen Jin gave him a suspicious glance. "Even after just taking an exam, you still have this much homework?"
Li Wu said, "Even if there isn't any, I'll find something to do."
"If I had half your diligence, I'd be settled in the capital by now," Cen Jin remarked, raising her phone to order takeout: "Come out to eat in half an hour."
"Okay."
Cen Jin sat back on the sofa, casually twisting her hair into a bun. With nothing to do, she planned to kill some time scrolling through Weibo.
Unexpectedly, the moment she opened the app, an ad for "Crispy Aroma" appeared—a fresh, clean image of a popular young celebrity holding a yogurt cup, flashing an extremely sweet smile at everyone in front of the screen.
Just from the style, she could tell whose work this poster was. She switched to the group chat and typed: I saw the splash screen. If sales don't explode, it'd be a disservice to your painstaking efforts. She tagged a name in the message.
The designer who was praised laughed heartily and modestly replied: It's mainly because the endorser is good-looking.
Cen Jin chuckled and was about to banter with him a bit more when her phone suddenly rang.
Cen Jin glanced at the name, her expression darkening slightly, and answered the call.
Wu Fu got straight to the point: "Are you free these couple of days?"
Cen Jin said, "Yes."
"Let's find time to sign the paper agreement in person," Wu Fu arranged methodically: "I can take time off on Monday morning, and we can go handle the divorce procedures."
"Sure," Cen Jin replied lightly.
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before he said, "The things your mom gave you are still with me. I'll bring them over this afternoon."
Cen Jin curled her legs up on the sofa and numbly hummed in agreement.
He continued, "After we complete the transfer next week, I'll move out of the Qingping Road house."
Cen Jin lowered her gaze to look at her fingernails: "I thought you'd want the house."
"A house worth over nine million isn't something everyone can afford," Wu Fu said calmly and firmly: "We bought that place mainly to make you happy at the time. I'm only taking back half of what I contributed to the down payment and mortgage. There's no need for you to use these things to indirectly attack me."
Cen Jin feigned innocence: "Did I? You're being too sensitive."
"We're both the same in that regard."
Cen Jin let out a laugh: "Do you still believe, even now, that the miscarriage affected me, made me frustrated, changed my temperament, and directly led to our marriage ending up like this?"
Wu Fu did not deny it: "Yes."Cen Jin shook her head slightly, as if the person across could see her: "No, it's not about the child. Do you remember when I was on maternity leave after the miscarriage? One day you came home, I was sitting in the living room drinking a beverage, and you said coldly, 'Go ahead and indulge, do you still want to be unable to have children?'—I had just bought a cup of juice. I said, what if I really couldn't have children? What did you reply? You said, 'Then what would be the point of marriage?' I was shocked at the time. I thought you would be concerned about my health, my emotions, but you were more worried about whether I still had the ability to reproduce. My identity as your lover became worthless to you after that miscarriage. You valued the child far more than all the emotional bonds we had built over the years. And I’m afraid you don’t even remember saying those things."
"I..." Wu Fu hesitated, his tone growing faint, "It’s meaningless to bring it up now."
"I know."
But it could never be left in the past. Those words were like scars etched into the bone—untouched, they were manageable, but every time they were reopened, the wound remained raw and agonizing.
"So stop talking."
"That sentence hurt me deeply. I still remember it to this day, and I have to say it," Cen Jin refused to let it go. "Perhaps from that day on, hatred began to mix with my love for you. Do you understand, 'Cen Jin supremacist'?"
"If we’re digging up the past, I could make a 300-page PowerPoint too," Wu Fu didn’t want to dwell on old grievances any longer. "I’ll talk to you again this afternoon."
—
The study door was left ajar, and the woman’s voice, neither too loud nor too soft, traveled down the dim corridor into Li Wu’s ears. He set down his pen and rubbed his brow hard.
Her tone sounded unusually calm, but this calmness didn’t seem like indifference—rather, it was the stillness of utter despair.
He pushed up his sleeve and glanced at his digital watch, realizing for the first time how excruciatingly slow study time could feel.
—
Breakfast and lunch were combined, so Cen Jin had ordered quite a few homestyle dishes—meat, vegetables, and soup—all fragrant and beautifully arranged across the entire table.
But she had little appetite, eating only half a bowl of rice before leaning back in her chair to play on her phone.
Li Wu kept eating, glancing at her repeatedly, but she remained completely unaware.
It wasn’t until the boy stood up to get a second bowl that Cen Jin spared him a brief glance: "Did you weigh yourself this week?"
"Yeah."
She set her phone on the table: "Did you gain?"
"Gained 0.35 kilograms." He deliberately specified the decimal to show he took her requirements seriously.
Cen Jin was momentarily stunned by his precise unit of measurement, converting it to kilograms in her head before responding: "That’s nothing, you’ll lose that just by peeing."
"…"
Suddenly, she leaned forward, scrutinizing him closely.
Li Wu instantly felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles, his swallowing slowing to half-speed.
Her gaze swept over his face before settling on the bowl in front of him: "It doesn’t look like you’re eating too little. Is studying too exhausting?"
"Not really." He always gave that same answer, a one-size-fits-all response.
Cen Jin rephrased her question: "How much have you spent on your meal card? Have you checked on the machine?"
Li Wu remembered every expense clearly: "326 yuan and 90 cents."
"Only 300? Do you only eat plain rice for three meals a day?" Cen Jin found it hard to believe. "Or just drink soup?"
"…" His voice lowered slightly: "I just eat normally.""Ah——" Cen Jin let out a low groan, covering her head with both hands: "I don't need you to save money for me like this, I don't need it, and I definitely don't want you to pay me back. Can't you be a little kinder to yourself?"
Li Wu was startled by her sudden outburst, freezing in place with his chopsticks still in hand.
Cen Jin lowered her hands, accidentally tousling her hair in the process. She gave him a cool look: "So everything you've shown me has just been an act?"
Li Wu's brow furrowed: "What?"
She lifted her chin: "Eating so much and so enthusiastically when I'm around, but going hungry and cold back at school."
"..." Li Wu pressed his lips together: "I haven't."
"Then how did you spend those three hundred yuan?"
Li Wu was starting to sweat. His voice was muffled: "The account book is at school, I didn't bring it back." Cen Jin was completely at a loss for words.
Li Wu continued eating, moving carefully, not even daring to reach for dishes farther away.
He could feel the woman's gaze still wandering over his face, lingering for a long time.
But he couldn't bring himself to look directly at her face or read her expression, only guessing what emotions she might be feeling toward him.
He hadn't betrayed her kindness. He had to clear his name.
After swallowing his last bite of rice, Li Wu put down his chopsticks, took a deep breath, and forced himself to look at Cen Jin: "Can you really judge how well someone treats themselves just by how they eat?"
Cen Jin rested her cheek on her hand: "Of course. How can you grow properly, stay healthy, and have energy for studying and living if you don't eat well?"
Li Wu took a deep breath: "You eat very little too."
Cen Jin paused, thinking she hadn't heard correctly, and tilted her ear slightly: "What?"
"You eat very little too." He repeated almost word for word, his expression calm.
Was he lecturing her? Cen Jin couldn't quite process it, blinking repeatedly. "My appetite has always been like this."
Li Wu said: "I get full with every meal too."
"Are you saying that since I don't eat properly myself, I have no right to demand that you do?" Her voice turned cold, taking on a confrontational tone.
"That's not what I meant." Why couldn't her train of thought align with his? Li Wu found it troubling.
Cen Jin stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly reached out and pulled back the bowl of rice she hadn't finished earlier. Grabbing her chopsticks, she slammed them against the table before starting to eat with her head down, as if in a fit of pique.
In just a moment, the bowl was empty. She raised her eyes to glare at him, her gaze intense.
This was the first time Li Wu had seen this side of her. He was somewhat stunned, yet wanted to laugh.
The young man kept his eyes half-lowered, not daring to look at her.
He didn't dare meet her gaze, but he could think whatever he wanted in his mind—after all, she couldn't see that.
So he let his thoughts run wild.
How could she be so adorable?
This older sister.
"I'm so full I could vomit," Cen Jin wanted to take more food but ultimately couldn't eat anymore. She gave him a strained smile: "Do I have the right to make demands of you now?"
"..."
"From three hundred every three weeks to three hundred every week. Can you manage that?"
"I don't need that much."
"Then try hard to use it."
"...Okay."
...
—
In the afternoon, after doing her makeup and changing clothes, Cen Jin went out.
Before leaving, she called a familiar auntie to come clean and reminded Li Wu to listen for the door.
Li Wu felt restless. He vaguely guessed that Cen Jin was going to meet her husband, but the final outcome was still unknown.The conflict over the phone wasn't entirely irreconcilable, and the possibility of reaching an agreement wasn't zero. He simply couldn't stop these wretched hopes and conjectures.
Especially since she had dressed so strikingly—wearing a red off-shoulder dress in this bleak autumn weather, bare-legged, with collarbones cutting through her skin like two pristine daggers.
Her matching lip color made her appear domineering and formidable.
Her image lingered relentlessly in his mind.
Li Wu, agitated and remorseful, spun his pen for a while before leaning back in his chair, his chest heaving heavily.
It shouldn't be like this.
He knew.
But it already was.
There was no helping it.
He couldn't control his dreams, just as he couldn't stop thinking about her, including imagining her.
After waking up, he hadn't been able to fall back asleep. As dawn broke, his first instinct was to take a cold shower, hoping the icy water would wash away his sordid thoughts.
On his way to hang the laundry, he paused at her door for a few seconds. In those moments, his heart grew unusually tranquil, as if standing beneath a colossal divine statue.
But this tranquility shattered the instant she appeared at the study door.
Every nerve in his body ignited as if scorched by fire, leaving him forgetting how to speak.
Li Wu closed his eyes, his brow furrowed as if haunted by a nightmare.
Just then, the doorbell abruptly rang.
He hurriedly opened his eyes and rushed to the entryway. As he reached for the doorknob, the fingerprint lock beeped, and the door was pushed open from the outside.
Their eyes met.
The boy's pupils contracted sharply. His breath, slightly labored from running, gradually slowed and steadied, because the person at the door wasn't the cleaning lady Cen Jin had mentioned.
But the face wasn't unfamiliar. He recognized him almost instantly.
The man's shock was no less than his own. After staring at him for a moment, his gaze shifted to one of subtle scrutiny and probing.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Don't you remember me?" The next moment, the boy met his gaze with an unexpected boldness. "I'm Li Wu."
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