Spring
Danhu and Xiao Wei’s wedding took place in spring.
When the two lovers, who had been separated for two years, reunited, they were nothing like other couples who needed time to sort through their feelings and fall in love all over again. The two of them moved as swiftly as if they had boarded a rocket. They met in winter and got married in spring, as though there would never be another tomorrow and they simply could not afford to wait for anything.
Danhu even sincerely said to Sizhao, “Thank you for not becoming paralyzed or dying. Otherwise, I don’t know how much longer I would have had to put things off for your sake.”
“You’re welcome,” Sizhao said coldly.
Zhuyu had assumed that the newlyweds were the Westernized sort, and perhaps would not hold a traditional wedding. Who could have known that they would instead throw a lively wedding banquet at a Cantonese restaurant in the city? The groom did not have many relatives, just his older brother and his family. The bride’s side, however, came in a huge crowd. Along with the newlyweds’ friends, there were more than twenty tables.
Once the fine food and wine had been eaten and drunk, the later after-party was the real highlight. A crescent moon hung in the sky, while little lights encircled the lawn. The young couple took off their wedding dress and suit and changed into a black floor-length dress and a printed shirt. Holding hands, the two began dancing the Argentine tango. The girl’s movements were graceful and unhurried. The man was very tall, yet not awkward in the slightest, carrying himself with effortless elegance. The guests sat below the stage, with self-service food and drinks arranged all around them, gathering in small groups of two or three. The night was cool and pleasant, stars scattered across the sky, the fragrance of flowers drifting through the air. Everyone was relaxed and happy.
When the song ended, the couple picked up the microphones for the first time and said a few words of thanks to their friends, thanking everyone for coming that night and telling them to eat and drink well. They did not mention a single thing about how the two had met or fallen in love, nor did they shed a single tear. Although they had held a traditional wedding banquet during the day, the two were downright stingy with their words. If something did not need to be said, they did not say it. Taking the principle that anyone who came was a guest and anyone who sat down should start eating, they quietly muddled their way through the wedding banquet.
The moment Danhu finished speaking, the young boys below began shouting, “Brother-in-law, how did you meet our sister?” They were Meng Wei’s younger brothers and cousins, all in their teens and at the most rambunctious age.
Then another voice suddenly rose from the side. This time, it came from a long-haired young man who looked about the same age as Danhu and Meng Wei. Mimicking the boys’ tone, he called out, “Brother-in-law, how did you meet our sister!” The moment he finished, he burst into helpless laughter. The tall woman beside him was laughing too. They were Meng Wei’s closest friends from her school days, Takahashi Wu and Cheng Jiayu.
“We met in the library. We were both extremely hardworking students. We studied together, wrote papers together, helped each other, and made progress together...” He had not even finished before the people below began booing him.
Hou Zicheng’s was the loudest of all. He stood on a chair and shouted to everyone around him, “Danhu spent more than ten years in school, and he never read a book in private. I can testify to that!”
Meng Wei took the microphone. “Mm, we really didn’t meet for the first time in the library. Actually, we met while doing work-study jobs.”
“Nope, either,” Hou Zicheng cut in. “The first time they met was at my house. At the time, Danhu was playing Texas Hold’em like crazy, winning huge amounts of money from other people, and even forcing those who lost to pay in cash. If they didn’t have cash, they had to go outside and find an ATM.”
Hou Zicheng recounted this rather proudly to the people beside him.
“That’s right, it was that day. That was also the first time I met Meng Wei. I went to ask her to ghostwrite my paper for me, and the two of us met at your house. Although she ultimately didn’t write it for me, I have to say, these two really are a perfect match. On the same day, in the same place, they both helped keep some illegal activities alive.”
Xing Wenqian turned her head and started chatting with Hou Zicheng.
Xing Wenqian and Meng Wei had only been ordinary acquaintances when they were in school. They had actually grown closer after graduation. Meng Wei worked at a theater in Britain, while Xing Wenqian used her family’s money to start a business and established a clothing brand in Britain. On weekends, the two would make plans to eat together and go shopping, and their relationship slowly changed from acquaintances with some old grudges between them into friendship.
Meng Wei had forgotten that she was still holding the microphone.
“Wasn’t it you who begged me?!”
Well, there it was. This confirmed that she really had been involved in illegal activities.
“Impressive. Who would’ve thought this couple were actually a pair of criminal lovers?” Zhuyu said to Sizhao beside her.
Sizhao shook his head and said knowingly that the two of them really were no good. He had dealt with them two years ago. At the time, he had wanted to take his younger brother back to China, but Meng Wei had actually come to him carrying an ultrasound report and told him she was pregnant. The child couldn’t be without a father. He couldn’t take her boyfriend away.
It had all been fake!
“Huh?!” Zhuyu’s eyes widened. That move had been seriously brilliant. She truly admired it.
Danhu and Meng Wei exchanged a glance, and the same thought rose in both their minds.
They should have known better and not said a single word. The moment they opened their mouths, these bastards would start exposing them.
But if the things they had done back in school had not been so “spectacular,” so unforgettable, nobody would still remember them now.
The DJ received the signal and promptly played the appropriate song, Do You Want to Dance? The young people present immediately perked up when they heard a song they liked. Energized by its lively rhythm, one after another they got to their feet and started moving. The newlyweds let out a breath.
They had finally escaped that ordeal.
“Big Brother, are you coming too?” Danhu waved lazily at Sizhao.
A hundred days to heal after an injury to the muscles and bones. Sizhao’s leg had not healed yet, and he was still sitting in a wheelchair. Whenever he had the chance to get on his big brother’s nerves, Danhu went all out. Such opportunities were not to be missed.
His new bride thumped him on the shoulder.
“Are you annoying or what?”
Meng Wei grabbed Danhu and pulled him into the crowd. Everyone put their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them and, following the music, formed a human train.
The seats below suddenly emptied out, leaving only two people.
“You go too,” Sizhao said to Zhuyu.
She shook her head.
Tonight, Zhuyu was wearing a rouge-colored dress. She had drunk some champagne, and her cheeks were flushed with tipsiness.
“Alright. Once you’re better, we’ll go together.”
They walked to a secluded spot in the garden where there were fewer people. The winter jasmine in the corner was flourishing, cascading down like a waterfall and covering the wall completely. With only the slightest bit of moonlight, it could shine brilliantly enough to dazzle the eyes.
Zhuyu sat down on the stone steps and rested her head on Sizhao’s lap. Sitting in his wheelchair, Sizhao gently stroked his lover’s long hair, smooth as silk.
Over the past six months, it seemed they had completed some of the most important things in their lives. Like people who had carried crosses on their backs for years, they had finally put those crosses down. Now they could finally breathe out a long, deep breath. This peaceful, worry-free moment even felt a little unfamiliar.
“Haha, alright. I’ll tell you, then. Great-Grandma Chen insisted that I ride a horse up the mountain. I was wandering around up there without any idea what I was doing. While I was wandering around, I thought I should’ve taken a photo beforehand, so that when you woke up, you could see my cosplay. It would definitely be hilarious. You’d definitely laugh.”
This was the question Sizhao had been hounding her about for a long time. He had asked her whether she had gone up the mountain in January, how she had gotten up there, and what she had gone there to do.
“And then?”
“Great-Grandma Chen also made me wear a vermilion mask. She told me that the mightiest generals in the world had to wear masks when they went into battle, so they could scare their enemies into shitting themselves. Wearing a mask was like a general putting on armor. It told your opponent that you were ready.”
“Huh?”
“And the plum blossoms. I picked them from the courtyard at your house. I thought that if I happened to meet the mountain god, I would give them to him. Heh, Great-Grandma Chen was just messing with me. I didn’t see anything at all, so in the end I just put the plum blossoms on the ground.”
“Oh…”
“Anything else you want to ask?”
“Mm... When you went up the mountain, did you cry? Did you say anything particularly heartfelt to me?”
“Not a single word! I’m warning you, don’t get too full of yourself.”
“Wouldn’t dare. Wouldn’t dare.”
Sizhao held back his laughter as he looked at the girl whose willow brows had drawn together in annoyance.
“It was me. I was deeply, madly in love with you. I was the one chasing after you the whole time. I thought that if you went back to Canada first, I wouldn’t be able to eat or sleep at night. I practically wanted to hide your return flight, tuck it away in a drawer in the attic, so you couldn’t fly away.”
He said these words, which were only suitable for an eighteen-year-old boy to say, in such a cool and composed tone that, unsurprisingly, Zhuyu thought he was being sarcastic. So she summoned all her strength, determined to come up with something even sharper to throw back at him.
“Oh, no, no, no. It was me, okay? It was me. I thought that if you never woke up, I’d never get married for the rest of my life. I’d just stay by your side and keep you company.”
At least half of that sentence was true, but she would absolutely never say it in a tender, lovestruck tone. It had to be delivered with this kind of sarcastic bite.
Sizhao slowly let his smile fade and said seriously, “You’re very important to me. That’s true.”
Back then, I made the right choice. Even now, the reason I try to become a better person is because you’re by my side.
I don’t care about other people’s evaluations or opinions. Strangely enough, I care very much about yours. And you happen to be the most demanding kind of person. You’re always doubting me, scrutinizing me. After all, we’ve known each other for a very long time. You’ve seen all of my words and actions without any embellishment, so there’s no way I can hide anything from you.
Now I finally don’t have to worry anymore. I’ve done some incredibly bold things. Yes, they were quite dangerous. But you won’t be able to give me negative marks for the rest of your life anymore. I’ve already proven myself.
Zhuyu turned her head to look at him. His words left her feeling deeply surprised. What was so extraordinary about her that he had thought about her this much?
“Everything I said just now was true. Not a single word was a lie. Your leaving would make me anxious and unsettled. You know what? You’re like an anchor. You make me feel at peace. Maybe saying it this way makes me sound a little timid and lowly. But I know that you’ll definitely stay by my side until the very end. Just knowing that, no matter what happens, makes me feel secure.”
“What kind of anchor?”
“The anchor that keeps a ship fixed in the sea. You’re resilient, and you care deeply about the people you love. At first, I even thought I wasn’t good enough for you. You definitely wouldn’t like someone like me. Luckily, things worked out very well for us.”
Zhuyu supported him as he slowly stood up, and the two of them strolled through the garden.
“I don’t know if I’m really that good. Maybe you just got me wrong...” she muttered. “Don’t love me too much. Maybe when you’re fifty, I’ll run off with all your money and go live abroad. That’s exactly the kind of crazy move my mom pulled.”
“Then let’s give it a try. Maybe you’ll live a very happy life and won’t want to pull a runner with all the money. The woman who originally planned to become a female thief spends her days and nights with me, and before she knows it, she’s already eighty years old. Alright, we can’t be bothered to make a fuss anymore. Might as well grow old with this man.”
“Hmph, you’re awfully confident! But fine, let’s give it a try.”
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