Fu Shize responded with a simple, "Mhm."
Yun Li observed his expression, but when she saw he had nothing more to say, she lowered her head in slight frustration, muttering to herself, "Buy a house, buy a house."
You could buy a house without getting married.
Yun Li consoled herself.
After a whole day of house-hunting, Yun Ye clung to his milk tea, wanting nothing more than to sprawl motionless in the car. Meanwhile, the real estate agent in the backseat continued enthusiastically pitching properties. Yun Li, deeply invested in purchasing her first home, listened attentively.
Fu Shize’s phone vibrated—an E-Station notification for a post he’d missed hours earlier.
Idle Cloud Ticking Sauce: [Today, this lazy fish tried to find a nest.]
Beneath it, the comments were flooded with: [Wifey, I love you!], [Wifey, come to my nest!], [I’ve already warmed up the nest for you, wifey!], [Wifey, wifey!]
He glanced at Yun Li, who was still obediently listening to the agent’s sales pitch. Without a word, Fu Shize turned off his phone.
When the review feedback came in, unsurprisingly, Fu Shize’s evaluations were all outstanding. Yun Li’s final review arrived later, but when she saw it, she exhaled in relief—all excellent.
She looked at Fu Shize, whose eyes held a hint of inevitability, as if this outcome had never been in doubt.
The defense was held at South Science and Technology University, and Fu Shize accompanied Yun Li on the flight back to Nanwu. The bed at North Mountain Maple Forest was particularly soft, so when Fu Shize asked for her preference, Yun Li didn’t hesitate to choose staying there.
On the first night, Fu Shize stayed by Yun Li’s side, helping her rehearse for the defense until they turned in early.
The actual defense took place the next day. After her presentation, the panel raised a barrage of questions, which she would need to answer after all presentations were completed.
Yun Li received nearly ten questions, her forehead damp with nervous sweat.
Fu Shize stepped outside first and texted her: [Come out here.]
Her limbs stiff with tension, Yun Li obeyed.
"Relax," he said, a smile in his eyes as he ruffled her hair.
In just two minutes, Fu Shize categorized her ten questions into two groups and untangled their logical threads. Listening to his calm, measured tone and seeing his composed expression, Yun Li began to feel that this wasn’t so daunting after all.
A little calmer now, she rehearsed her answers following his guidance. Meeting his gaze—always so gentle and steady—she glanced around before impulsively leaning in to kiss his cheek.
Relaxed, Yun Li smiled. "How are you so good to me?"
Fu Shize caressed her face. "My Lili is just as wonderful."
By the end, the professors unanimously awarded her top marks.
Yun Li’s advisor hadn’t revised her master’s thesis. Countless nights, after she returned home from West Science and Technology University, Fu Shize stayed up late in his office, editing her paper for her.
When the review panel announced her score, her first instinct was to look for Fu Shize. He sat quietly in a corner—yet it was a spot she could always see, whether she was at her seat or on the podium.
He was always within her sight.
And so, she always received the most direct support.
Fu Shize handed her a bouquet. "Lili, you’ve graduated."
Yun Li broke into an irrepressible smile, nodding emphatically. "Mhm!"
Back at North Mountain Maple Forest, as if all burdens and pressures had lifted, Fu Shize no longer restrained himself. He guided her toward the bedroom, though Yun Li half-protested, "I still need to shower!"
Fu Shize replied, "Mhm."
Then he steered her into the bathroom and began filling the tub.Yun Li noticed his intention and walked back to the doorway with flushed cheeks. Fu Shize chuckled, detecting the threat in his tone. Yun Li whispered, "I'll go get the flowers and add some petals..."
...
When she woke up the next day, Yun Li felt as though her entire body had fallen apart. Fu Shize had risen early, preparing breakfast and placing it on the small table by the bed.
Yun Li glanced at the time.
"..."
It was only nine o'clock.
Fu Shize sat beside her, pulling the blanket up to cover her exposed skin. "We're going somewhere today."
"My whole body hurts. I can't walk," Yun Li grumbled with morning irritability, turning away to ignore him as she stared blankly at the white wall. When Fu Shize didn't respond, she struggled internally before feigning nonchalance. "Where are we going?"
Fu Shize chuckled.
That laugh seemed to tell Yun Li she had absolutely no backbone.
"There's a bridal shop in Nanwu."
"..."
All her chaotic thoughts instantly scattered to the winds. Yun Li clenched her palms, asking stiffly, "What about it?"
"Let's take a look."
Still facing away from him, she felt the bed dip as Fu Shize knelt and casually settled beside her. "Don't want to go?"
"..."
Fu Shize added, "If you're sore, we'll go next time."
Yun Li had no idea when "next time" in Nanwu would even be.
She shifted, sitting up to stretch, meeting Fu Shize's triumphant gaze before calmly climbing out of bed.
Throughout the journey, Fu Shize didn't mention their plans again.
Yun Li's curiosity gnawed at her. Tentatively, she probed, "Why are we going to a bridal shop?"
Fu Shize replied matter-of-factly, "You could film an exploration video for E-Station. Those are pretty popular now."
Her fantasies shattered instantly.
Her heart sank, and her enthusiasm for the day's plans evaporated. Her tone carried clear reluctance. "But my content is mostly tech tutorials now..."
Fu Shize asked, "Can't you?"
Yun Li met his gaze, baffled by his insistence. After parking, neither spoke as he led her forward.
Nearing the shop entrance, a thought struck Yun Li. Disbelieving, she asked, "Do you... want me to make our relationship public?"
After a pause, Fu Shize hummed in affirmation.
"Everyone online keeps calling you..." He trailed off, lowering his voice with a hint of suggestiveness, "Wife."
Yun Li's face burned as she pushed him away from her right ear.
He glanced at her. "I haven't even called you that yet."
Just then, Yun Ye messaged her about his thesis defense, interrupting their conversation. "Hold on," Yun Li said hastily.
Fu Shize waited patiently beside her. As she finished replying to Yun Ye and switched back to her chat list, his eyes skimmed over his own contact name. Calmly, he remarked, "I was wrong earlier. It's more like our roles are reversed."
"..."
He continued, "Should we switch roles tonight too?"
"..."
"Let's go in." Eager to change the subject, Yun Li pulled Fu Shize into the bridal shop. A vintage, intricately crafted wedding gown hung at the center, spotlights highlighting its delicate embellishments and lacework.
Yun Li stared at it, her earlier resistance completely forgotten. To the attendant, she said, "I'd like to try this one."
The attendant smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, miss. This is a custom piece—it's not available for try-on."Yun Li's gaze drifted downward, spotting a small name card that read 'Mr. Fu & Ms. Yun'.
"......"
She looked at Fu Shize, who casually remarked, "The first time I went to your house, I mentioned I had a gift prepared for you."
The wedding dress had been custom-made for nearly half a year, and the finished product had only recently arrived. Several attendants helped Yun Li into the fitting room to change, and before she could react, they had already begun dressing her.
The curtain in front of her slowly drew back, revealing her reflection in the full-length mirror.
Yun Li stared blankly at herself in the mirror.
She turned her head slightly and saw Fu Shize watching her, his gaze unwavering.
For a long moment, she didn’t know how to react, simply meeting his eyes. She saw her own reflection in his pupils and asked nervously, "Does it look good?"
Fu Shize: "Mm."
After the initial shock faded, Yun Li’s heart swelled with joy. Wearing a wedding dress had been a childhood dream for many girls, and this one—custom-made by Fu Shize—was especially meaningful.
Yun Li studied herself in the mirror for a long time before stealing a glance at Fu Shize.
Feeling a bit awkward, she said slowly, "But this thing... if we don’t get married, it seems kind of useless."
Fu Shize sat on a white solid cube nearby, his legs slightly apart, his posture tall and straight. He didn’t answer immediately, pausing to think before lifting his eyes to meet hers. "Do you want to get married?"
"......"
Unnoticed, the fitting room had emptied, leaving just the two of them.
Yun Li realized then that he had changed into a tailored suit and leather shoes, sitting there effortlessly, his dark eyes reflecting the spotlight. She stood about a meter away from him, trying to steady her racing heartbeat.
Under the lights, Yun Li’s skin looked porcelain-fair, the strapless wedding dress revealing her smooth shoulders. The crystal-adorned skirt trailed two meters behind her, pooling on the floor—she was the singular, radiant center of it all.
A soft thud sounded.
Fu Shize was holding a small, pure-white box, spinning it lightly on the surface of the cube as if toying with it.
He leaned back casually, propping himself up with his right hand. Yun Li stared at him, dumbfounded, until he finally lifted his gaze to hers. She held her breath.
Somehow, she already knew what was coming.
The man before her had sharp, well-defined features, his jawline clean and his demeanor coolly distant. He watched her calmly, the box still spinning under his fingers.
Yun Li couldn’t hold back any longer and whispered, "Don’t drop it..."
Fu Shize chuckled, the frostiness in his expression melting away. The warmth in his eyes reminded her of the gentle smile from the boy in the videos.
With one hand, he flipped open the box, glanced inside, then looked back at her. "Let’s get married after graduation, okay?"
"......" Yun Li resisted the urge to nod and urged, "This isn’t formal enough."
After all, he was already in a suit.
She watched as he rose unhurriedly, taking one step, then another toward her, his tender gaze never leaving her face. When he stopped in front of her, she saw him slowly kneel on one knee, his posture still impeccably straight.
Willingly, completely, surrendering to her.
Now, they were both under the spotlight.
The world seemed to shrink into a tiny space, just large enough for the two of them.
Time felt suspended.
His expression relaxed, his eyes brimming with affection. "Lili, will you marry me?"
Yun Li’s vision blurred. Laughing, she wiped her tears with the back of her hand."If you don't speak, I'll take it as your agreement." He took her hand. "Once agreed, there's no going back."
...
After returning to West Fuling, Yun Li and Fu Shize picked out several satisfactory apartments. Initially, Yun Li wanted to choose the one midway between her company and West Science and Technology University, so Fu Shize wouldn’t have to wake up too early.
In the end, Fu Shize chose the one closest to her company—less than a ten-minute walk for her.
One afternoon, Fu Shize reminded her it was time to register their marriage. Yun Li snapped out of her thoughts and booked an appointment at the civil affairs office.
Yun Ye, their specially hired photographer, waited in the living room with Fu Shize for three hours.
When Yun Li emerged, Yun Ye was about to complain impatiently, but he paused when he saw her.
She wore a simple white dress, her curled hair pinned back with a white clip, looking gentle and serene.
Noticing her brother’s sullen expression, she eyed him. "Got a problem?"
Yun Ye was silent for a moment. "No."
Her gaze met Fu Shize’s, softening instantly.
Rain tapped against the window as Yun Li went to her room and fetched a long black umbrella, starkly out of place with her current style.
Yun Ye frowned. "Why are you using such a rugged umbrella?"
"..."
She had acquired this umbrella unintentionally while in England.
It was nearing Christmas, and she had been having a rough time. Due to language barriers, she hadn’t done well on several exams. After cutting her hand, she immediately came down with a bad cold. She couldn’t attend alumni gatherings, and her conversations with fans ended abruptly because she wasn’t in the right state of mind.
The entire city was brimming with Christmas cheer, but she buried her face in her scarf, feeling the bone-chilling cold of winter amidst the dissonance.
Everyone else in the lab had already gone home early for the holidays.
That day, she left the lab alone. On her way back to her apartment, she passed a vintage red bookstore.
Yun Li usually never lingered at shops along the way.
But that day, seeing the Christmas animal collage pasted on the door, she was reminded of the Christmas she had spent at the zoo with Fu Shize. Her nose stung, and she slowly stepped inside.
If they hadn’t broken up, it would have been exactly one year.
The bookstore’s layout was unconventional, with several large bookshelves neatly arranged. Yun Li flipped through the books half-heartedly—her English wasn’t good, and she wasn’t particularly interested.
The bell at the entrance chimed as a tall, slender man walked in, dressed in a black trench coat with a wide hood pulled low over his head.
The man went straight to the bookshelf opposite Yun Li. Through the gaps, she caught a glimpse of his pale wrist.
Suddenly, she remembered the night she first met Fu Shize in Nanwu—his sickly pale skin beneath his hood.
For over an hour, she spotted the black coat several times. The man kept a certain distance from her but never left.
Absentmindedly flipping through the books, she lost track of time. By the time she reached the door, the sky was pouring rain.
She waited for a while, but the rain showed no sign of stopping.
Alone in that city, she had no one to bring her an umbrella, and there were no other shops nearby.
Frowning, she stared blankly at the rain outside, then happened to catch the man’s reflection on the glass door adorned with Christmas stickers.
From start to finish, the man had kept his hood up, head bowed, yet he gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Yun Li then dismissed the thought as absurd—in a foreign land, in an unknown bookstore, whether by coincidence or design, it all felt like wishful thinking.Just because the longing had lasted too long, she started seeing traces of him in every stranger she met.
Perhaps to dismiss such thoughts, Yun Li hesitated for a long moment before tilting her head slightly and asking in English, "Hello, do we know each other?"
Before she could fully turn her head, she saw the man in the glass door step forward abruptly, closing the distance between them. Yun Li tensed up in fright, about to scream, but the man merely brushed against her arm as he shoved a black long-handled umbrella into her embrace.
The wind chime at the door tinkled softly. Stunned, she watched as the man strode away swiftly, his figure soon disappearing into the curtain of rain.
She stared blankly at the umbrella in her hands for a long while before smiling faintly, attributing it to a stranger's kindness.
On that damp, rain-soaked day, her nose was already stuffy. The pervasive chill left her shivering, yet for once, she felt a sliver of warmth.
Snapping out of her reverie, Yun Li answered casually, "A stranger gave it to me when life felt particularly hard."
"Carrying this umbrella on my good days, I hope that person can be as happy as I am..." Yun Li recalled the lonely figure of the man walking away, her gaze meeting Fu Shize's. She curved her eyes into crescents: "I hope he, too, can be cherished by someone for a lifetime."
Noticing Fu Shize's momentary pause, Yun Li remembered Yun Ye's earlier teasing and added sheepishly, "Is a black umbrella not appropriate? Should I switch to another one?"
Fu Shize snapped back to attention and murmured, "Just take this one." He accepted the umbrella, adding almost inaudibly, "What if it comes true?"
As soon as they stepped outside, Yun Li huddled close under the umbrella, their proximity sending her memories drifting back to that moment in the lounge—a man curled on the sofa opening his eyes to look at her.
Yun Li pinched his inner elbow lightly. "I have a long-handled umbrella now."
Fu Shize: "?"
Realizing her meaning, he tugged her closer.
The rain shielded them from prying eyes, yet Yun Li still felt too shy for public displays of affection. She tried to push him away gently, but his grip remained unyielding.
Fu Shize chuckled lowly, his voice hoarse. "Still not strong enough."
Yun Ye, with his camera hanging around his neck, squeezed into the backseat, carefully wiping off the water droplets.
In the brief walk from the door to the car, Fu Shize's suit had gotten half-soaked. Yun Ye complained, "Couldn’t you have picked a better day, sis? At least one without rain."
Yun Li glanced at Fu Shize and smiled. "Rainy days can be good days too."
The windshield wipers cleared his vision, revealing a world shifting from blurry to sharp. Reflected in the glass was Yun Li's smile. Slowly starting the car, he curved his lips.
From now on, his rainy days could also be sunny—because she was there.
...
Yun Li and Fu Shize eventually chose a ready-made new home, moving in by September.
While unpacking in their new place, Fu Shize noticed Yun Li had stored the drone separately in a box. He picked it up for a closer look.
Brushing a smudge off her cheek with his thumb, he asked, "Didn’t you give this to your brother?"
Yun Li absentmindedly touched the spot he’d wiped and replied, "Oh... wasn’t that Jiang Yuan’s? I got it back for you."
"You even fixed it?"
"..."Yun Li had no idea how he could tell. Logically speaking, she had only repaired a small damaged corner. Hesitantly, she replied, "Yun Ye said it got bumped, and I was afraid you'd be upset, so..."
Fu Shize chuckled, "That happened during our test flight."
"..."
Yun Li's face flushed with embarrassment. She had been so nervous back then, using all sorts of tools to make sure the drone looked flawless. But after a few seconds, she justified herself, "Well, now that we're officially married, it’s only natural for me to fix your things."
Fu Shize placed the drone back on the table. Seeing Yun Li bent over, taking things out of his box, her slender waist caught his eye. He moved closer and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"Lili," he murmured softly, "Every broken corner has been mended by you."
Understanding his meaning, Yun Li placed her hand over his. "Then from now on, your world will always be whole."
While arranging electronic devices on the shelf, Yun Li came across Fu Shize’s VR glasses, which he must have set aside for some time.
During the VR game competition she participated in with Fu Zhengchu, Yun Li had developed an extremely simple game.
The game allowed players to build their own scenes and characters, with the option to customize the characters' voices using imported audio.
Thanks to the competition’s platform, Yun Li gained access to numerous resources, enabling the game’s successful launch. Xu Qingsong, the sole judge who nominated them, helped secure the winning award for their project.
She named the game IT’S BEEN LONG TIME / Long Time No See .
Yun Li gave this game to Fu Shize as a birthday gift.
After gifting it to him, Yun Li hadn’t paid much attention to it. While writing her master’s thesis, she often noticed Fu Shize playing the game. It seemed natural to assume that he had created a world for Jiang Yuan within it, allowing Jiang Yuan to live on in another form.
Fu Shize looked up from the pile of boxes. "Want to play?"
It had been a while since she last played.
After a full day of packing, Yun Li was exhausted. Seizing the chance to relax, she eagerly agreed and asked Fu Shize to help her put on the VR glasses.
Standing behind her, he adjusted the glasses to fit her properly.
In an instant, Yun Li was transported to another world.
Fu Shize’s voice echoed in her ears. "Can you see clearly?"
Yun Li replied, "Mm."
Fu Shize added, "There aren’t many games."
Aside from IT’S BEEN LONG TIME, there were only two other small games on the desktop.
Fu Shize suggested, "You could open the one you made."
Yun Li hesitated. "No, I’d rather not see it."
Fu Shize didn’t insist. "Alright, feel free to look whenever you want."
Yun Li opened the other two games and played for a while, but her mind wandered.
Hearing the sound of washing from the kitchen, she swallowed hard and secretly opened IT’S BEEN LONG TIME.
The original purpose of designing this game was to allow Fu Shize to mend past regrets in virtual reality.
Upon opening the game, there was only one perspective to choose from.
After clicking to enter, darkness enveloped her vision for a few seconds, followed by the sensation of groggily opening her eyes. The first sight that greeted her was an endless blue sky, accompanied by the faint whisper of wind.Yun Li was crouched on the ground, head lowered, staring at the ugly, clumsy Robot on the red track and the remote control in her hand.
Her gaze shifted to the side, where a pair of white sneakers came into view.
She faintly guessed what was coming.
Her heartbeat quickened as she looked up. In the play of light and shadow, she saw the sixteen-year-old boy—his tousled hair fluttering slightly in the breeze, his loose team jersey adorned with a gleaming crescent-shaped badge on his chest.
She always wanted to make up for his regrets, yet she never knew that missing that red track with her was Fu Shize's greatest regret.
The young man crouched beside her, lightly tapping the Robot with his finger before raising his eyes to gaze at her quietly. Yun Li’s eyes reddened without her realizing it. She pinched the VR glasses and lifted them off, returning to the real world.
It was their home.
She turned around. Fu Shize stood in the light and shadows, as if hearing the wind from that red track, and lifted his gaze to meet hers.
(The End)
OpenNovel