Extra 10. Autumn 2018
On April 11, 2018, exactly the fifteenth year since they first met, Xu Cheng and Jiang Xi returned to Yucheng to register their marriage.
The sunlight that day was bright, the sky a clear blue. When they came out of the Civil Affairs Bureau, the two sat on the wide steps at the entrance, too preoccupied to speak to each other, each studying the little red booklet in their hands.
The boy and girl from those old photobooth pictures had become fine young adults in white shirts against a red background.
Jiang Xi traced the steel seal on the marriage certificate with her fingers, remembering how Xu Cheng had said that they were now “a relationship protected by law.” Turning her head, she saw that Xu Cheng was also touching that same embossed seal.
She leaned against his shoulder, pointed at the photo, and said happily, “Xu Cheng, you look so handsome.”
Xu Cheng lifted a brow lightly. “The more I think about it, the more I feel like you only care about looks. What happens when I get old? Are you going to start liking a little fresh meat?”
“When you’re old, you’ll still be a handsome old man.” She sounded completely confident.
Behind them, Jiang Tian stamped his foot. “Ten minutes. You’ve been sitting here for ten minutes.”
The two of them turned their heads at once. On such an important day, of course they had brought him along as family.
Xu Cheng, full of springtime pride, said, “Tiantian, from now on we’re on the same household registration now.” He patted the space beside him. “Come sit for a bit.”
Jiang Tian refused to sit. He had a cleanliness obsession. After a long moment of inner struggle, he squatted down instead, propping his chin on his hand.
Xu Cheng sighed softly. “With how much you love being clean, your sister really suffered all those years.”
“What does ‘same household registration’ mean?” Jiang Tian asked, curious.
“It means we’re one family.”
Jiang Tian did not understand. “Aren’t we already a family?”
Xu Cheng ruffled his hair. “Brother-in-law, I like hearing that.”
“What is a brother-in-law?”
That day, the three of them, two sitting and one squatting, looked at the marriage certificate outside the Civil Affairs Bureau, bathed in the spring breeze, seeing happiness in every passerby.
Xu Cheng wrapped his arms around Jiang Xi, lacing his fingers with her right hand, their rings on their ring fingers touching together.
He had originally wanted to buy a new pair of rings, but Jiang Xi refused. She insisted on the one he had bought in his youth. So Xu Cheng simply had his own ring resized and wore it again.
The day they registered their marriage was, in every way, ordinary, no different from any day before. Yet there was a small incident.
At noon, Jiang Xi wanted Jiangzhou-style cuisine, so they went to the restaurant they often visited.
They were happily eating and chatting when Xu Cheng’s expression suddenly changed. His brows knit coldly as he looked past Jiang Xi, toward somewhere behind her.
Jiang Xi turned around. The restaurant was full of people coming and going, nothing unusual.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.” Xu Cheng still stared past her, even placing a piece of fish belly into her bowl with his chopsticks.
But in the next second, he abruptly threw down his chopsticks, stood, and rushed past her. At the same time, a commotion broke out at a table diagonally behind them. A man dropped his bowl and chopsticks and ran toward the door, knocking a table askew.
In a few long strides, Xu Cheng stepped onto a stool, leapt forward, and intercepted him, kicking him to the ground. The man had no time to get up before Xu Cheng grabbed him, flipped him over, and pinned him face down, twisting both arms behind his back and pressing a knee firmly into his lower back.
The diners scattered in alarm.
The man shouted, “What are you doing?! Do I even know you?!”
Xu Cheng barked, “If you don’t know me, why are you running?”
“Help! Someone’s hitting me!”
The manager rushed over. “What’s going on?”
Xu Cheng looked up. “Police. Something’s off about him, probably a fugitive. Call the police.”
The manager froze. “Didn’t you just say you’re police?”
Xu Cheng was speechless. “I’m on leave for my wedding.”
After saying that, apparently unwilling to rely on him, he kept one hand and one leg firmly pinning the man down while pulling out his phone with the other to make a call.
Helpful onlookers gathered to assist. The manager and a few staff brought rope and tied the man’s hands. Only then did Xu Cheng shake out his arms and stand up.
Back at the table, Jiang Tian was still bent over his food, eating fish. Jiangzhou cuisine was his favorite, and he was thoroughly enjoying it.
Jiang Xi sat motionless, her expression a little dazed, her eyes following Xu Cheng wherever he moved.
Xu Cheng touched her face. “Scared?”
Her eyes sparkled like stars. “You’re so handsome…”
Xu Cheng paused, and unexpectedly, his face reddened. He smiled faintly, a shallow dimple appearing at his cheek.
He sat down. Jiang Xi still stared straight at him.
Meeting her gaze, Xu Cheng felt his heartbeat grow unsteady under that look. “What is it?”
Light shimmered in Jiang Xi’s eyes. “Let’s go home.”
Xu Cheng understood in an instant. He immediately paid the bill and left. Of course, the fish Jiang Tian loved was packed to go.
They sped all the way home, the two of them heading straight for the bedroom, locking the door tightly. Jiang Tian was left in the dining room, focused on eating his fish, a pair of over-ear headphones Xu Cheng had shoved onto him covering his ears. The symphony music was very loud.
Later, the news reported that the man was an A-level wanted criminal from a coastal metropolis. That day, Xu Cheng had sensed something off from the man’s evasive gaze, the instincts of a criminal police officer telling him he was no good. The man, guilty and having been in hiding for years, experienced enough to recognize danger, had seen from Xu Cheng’s eyes that he was police and tried to flee immediately. But Xu Cheng’s skill was too good. One move was all it took to subdue him.
The report did not reveal Xu Cheng’s name or position. It only mentioned that a criminal police officer, on wedding leave, had incidentally captured a major fugitive, with the ease of a hidden master drawing a blade, resolving danger, and then departing like drifting clouds.
When Jiang Xi returned to Dicheng to continue her studies, there was now a ring on her finger.
When classmates asked, she answered openly and with bright joy, “I’m married, to the person I like the most. I’ve liked him for fifteen years.”
Her classmates expressed their congratulations, and she accepted them happily. Of course, some asked whether she had a husband supporting her, since she lived off campus with her younger brother. Jiang Xi nodded repeatedly, her dark eyes sparkling with delight. “Mm, legally.”
At that time, she was fully devoted to her studies. She had quit part-time work and had no income. But that summer, a publisher visiting the school noticed a piece she had posted, and someone wanted to buy it as a book cover, offering twenty thousand.
Jiang Xi agreed.
After the book set was published, the books themselves received average reviews, but the covers became wildly popular. Several covers were emotionally uninhibited, others tranquil and serene. The color palettes were stunning, the concepts exquisite. The artist “Xijiang” broke into the spotlight.
Jiang Xi focused on her studies and did not take commissions for the time being, only selling finished works. Even so, buyers came in an endless stream.
On the path of art, talent cannot be hidden.
People in the industry could tell at a glance that Xijiang would grow into a major figure in the art world. The level she currently displayed was already a fault-line gap above most peers, a god-tier existence difficult to reach.
Not long after, someone planned to publish an art book for her. The planner had been recommended by an upperclasswoman. They chatted many times on WeChat; he was polite and measured, and his proposal had substance.
At the time, Jiang Xi had returned to Yucheng for her junior year. The planner flew in from Dicheng specifically, and Jiang Xi met him at the campus café.
When he saw her, he could not move his eyes away. His first sentence was, “I did not expect the painter to be beautiful, and the person even more so.”
Jiang Xi relied only on intuition in her dealings with people, and she disliked him a little immediately. Still, he was indeed professional, which she acknowledged, so she did not leave at once. But gradually, the topic shifted from painting to the ring on her ring finger.
The planner was surprised she had married so early. Jiang Xi said, “I am already in my thirties.”
“You look young, and you have just become famous.” He asked again, “What does your other half do?”
“Police.”
He raised his brows. “Miss Xijiang’s future income, even the spare change will—”
Jiang Xi interrupted him. “Can you steer a ship?”
He froze. “Steer a ship? What kind of ship?”
“A large cargo ship on the river.”
“No.”
Jiang Xi smiled. “My lover can.”
She wanted to say she admired him. He was very smart, could do anything. Everything became simple in his hands. In her eyes, he was the most capable.
When the air conditioner in the rental apartment broke, he set up a ladder, carried a screwdriver and pliers, and climbed up to fix it. When the faucet leaked, he went downstairs to buy a new one and replaced it in a few moves. When the showerhead’s water flow became unstable, even simpler, it took only seconds. After she used the toilet and it would not flush, flustered and embarrassed, he quickly changed a valve and everything returned to normal.
When the lights broke, he fixed them. When the wall paint cracked, he patched it himself. Her My Melody handheld fan stopped spinning; she could not bear to replace it, and he opened it up and fixed it in a few motions. He could repair cars and boats too.
Every problem in life, he could solve. He even solved the Jiang family and Qiu Sicheng, making those people and matters distant in her life.
Now the name “Jiang Xi” had been separated from the Jiang family. Like Cheng Xijiang, it belonged solely to herself, no longer carrying any trace of the past.
Where he was, that was her ship.
More importantly, he was kind, a very, very good person.
But she had no interest in telling any of this to that man. She ended the meeting hastily and returned home.
That night, when Xu Cheng came home, he found a plush orange tree on the table, covered in fuzzy golden oranges.
Xu Cheng smiled. “You like tree plushies now? It looks quite nice.”
“It is for you!”
“For me?”
“I suddenly realized the other day that you are an orange!” Jiang Xi said, as if discovering a new continent, eyebrows dancing. “Chengzi!”
Xu Cheng froze for a few seconds, then immediately understood. “Oh—”
“Since then, whenever I see oranges I like them so much!” Jiang Xi said excitedly. “You are an orange. The leaves smell nice, the peel smells nice. The tree looks nice, the fruit looks nice. Sometimes sour, but also sweet. Right?”
Xu Cheng was praised until he nearly felt shy. He picked up the orange tree and could not put it down.
From then on, whenever she saw oranges, she bought them. One day during work, Xu Cheng received a same-city delivery: a cute orange keychain.
A message from Jiang Xi arrived: 「Thought of you again, Cheng-zha~(@＞v＜@)」
At noon, when Xu Cheng went to Jiang Xi’s school to eat with her, the orange keychain hung from his backpack. Jiang Xi was delighted to see it and kept reaching out to touch it, saying it looked nice.
Xu Cheng smiled too and blurted out, “My wife loves me too much.”
After he said it, Jiang Xi had no reaction and remained standing there touching the orange.
Xu Cheng: “……”
After three seconds of silence, their eyes met. Jiang Xi was shocked. “You… were you calling me just now?”
Xu Cheng was even more shocked. “If not you, then who?”
He said, “Hey, we have been married for almost half a year. You did not forget, right?”
But he had never called her wife, and she had never called him husband.
Jiang Xi widened her eyes. “Then… call me again?”
“Not calling.” Xu Cheng suddenly felt embarrassed, his ears turning red.
Jiang Xi hooked his arm. “Call me…”
Xu Cheng absolutely refused.
They had countless chats on their phones. His ways of addressing her there were so varied she could barely keep up. Today he called her baobao, tomorrow Baby Xi, another day Little baby Xi. Xiao Jiang, Xiao Xi, Xiao Cheng, Xi-zai, eldest young lady, Baby Jiang, Fairy Xi, Genius Xi, “My Dearest Xi” adapted from the phrase “the one dearest to my heart”... every kind of nickname existed. Including “little wife.” Back when Du Yukang called Yang Su that, he had envied it so much. Now he could call her that too.
But no matter how bold he was in messages, in real life Xu Cheng usually addressed her simply as “Jiang Xi.”
Occasionally he called her “Cheng Xijiang” or “eldest young lady.” When flirting, at most he called her Xixi or Jiang Jiang. Beyond that, a single baobao. Anything more mushy could not come out of his mouth.
Calling her wife for the first time felt truly unfamiliar.
Jiang Xi understood his personality perfectly and became even more delighted, clinging to him and insisting he call her again.
Xu Cheng frowned. “Why keep calling? I have not even settled accounts with you. Why do you only call me Xu Cheng? Not even a nickname.”
The situation suddenly reversed.
“Ah?” Jiang Xi blinked, stunned. After thinking about it, it did seem true. Slightly ashamed, she said, “Oh…”
She said honestly, “Actually every time you call me a new nickname, I am very happy. But I seem to have always called you Xu Cheng. That is my fault.”
Xu Cheng pushed his luck and snorted.
She tried tentatively, “Xiao Xu? Da Xu?”
They fell silent for half a second, unsure whether to feel embarrassed or laugh. This was her specific nickname for a certain body part.
Xu Cheng cleared his throat lightly. “You are being a hooligan.”
She jumped up and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Xiao Cheng? Xu-ge? Cheng-ge? Chengzi? Suan Chengzi? Tian Chengzi?”
She suddenly blurted out so many pet names that Xu Cheng could not fend them off. He turned his head away and ignored her, yet could not stop the smile curving his eyes.
Like a little asteroid, Jiang Xi circled around him once, then suddenly, “Husband!”
After saying it, she felt unaccustomed, pressing her lips together. Her cheeks puffed slightly in restraint, eyes looking straight at him.
Xu Cheng froze too, somewhat awkward. They stared at each other for two seconds, then burst out laughing together.
He said, “Hey!”
*
That night, Jiang Xi could not sleep for no reason. She woke at one in the morning, lying naked on the bed watching Xu Cheng, touching his Adam’s apple.
He slept lightly and woke, wrapping an arm around her waist, voice hoarse. “Why are you awake?”
“I cannot sleep.”
“Why?” His half-closed eyes opened.
She snorted softly. “It is all your fault. Calling me wife disrupted my rhythm.”
Xu Cheng laughed, his chest trembling slightly. “You are being shameless.”
“It is you!”
“If you cannot sleep, do something else.” Xu Cheng lifted the blanket. Jiang Xi: “Ow—”
*
Afterward, he held her in his arms and kissed her sweat-damp face. “Still cannot sleep?”
“Even more excited now.”
They looked at each other and laughed.
So, as per old custom, they left Jiang Tian behind and secretly slipped out to eat barbecue.
Autumn had arrived, yet the banyan trees lining the street remained tall and lush. The seasoning shops and hardware stores along the road were closed, but the pharmacy, mahjong parlor, and toiletries shop were still open. Scattered lights, warm and cool in uneven colors, shone together with the streetlights onto the road.
Bright for a moment, dim for a moment.
On the way to the barbecue shop, Xu Cheng held Jiang Xi’s hand, fingers interlocked.
They passed a wine-brewing shop. Even closed, the fragrance of alcohol overflowed. From the chess and card room came the clacking sound of mahjong tiles.
Jiang Xi glanced over. Xu Cheng said, “Want to play mahjong?”
Jiang Xi tilted her head back and smiled. “I played mahjong when I was little. It was quite fun. I do not like gambling, but playing with family was quite fun.”
“During the New Year?”
“Mm. My brother, eldest brother, Brother Wu, and me. I was not very good, so Sister Wen sat beside me giving advice. She even peeked at my brother’s tiles to help me win. My brother actually knew, but pretended not to.”
Xu Cheng chuckled. “What was the wager? Sugar tangerines? Sunflower seeds?”
“Real money! My brother would give me money in advance.” Jiang Xi laughed. “But I always hoped Brother Wu would win. Because my brother and eldest brother were both very rich, so I wanted Brother Wu to win. If he lost money, I would deliberately lose to him. Anyway, the money was given by my brother.”
Xu Cheng laughed aloud, glancing sideways at her bright eyes in the night.
Ever since meeting Jiang Hao, he had been thinking about A-Wu. Jiang Xi did not say it, but he knew how nostalgic she was. When the time was right, he should let her see A-Wu.
Jiang Xi did not know and kept smiling as she spoke of the past. The autumn night was cool, the night breeze pleasantly gentle.
She lowered her head to look at their clasped hands, then at this ordinary, mundane street, and felt this was the most ordinary and the best life she loved.
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