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The plan was perfect, but after the Mid-Autumn Festival had passed and the moon in the sky waned from full to crescent, Shi Ying still hadn’t seen Cheng Simin.
Her phone went unanswered, her messages remained unread, and on the secondhand trading website, Cheng Simin hadn’t been online for weeks. All his messages were marked “unread.”
Cheng Simin liked playing mobile games late at night, so Shi Ying reinstalled a game he’d long uninstalled. Every night at midnight, he logged in to wait for her. But no matter how long he waited, he always ended up falling asleep first. By morning, the chat window showed notifications that Cheng Simin had gone incognito in the lobby, recruiting strangers to carry her through ranked matches.
Every day, when Shi Ying finished work early and returned to Huangheyuan, parking his car outside the scrap collection station, he could see through his car window Cheng Simin sitting on a white marble slab under the big locust tree in the small square across the street. She sat cross-legged with a group of elderly women, laughing heartily as they chatted. She stayed there until it grew dark, refusing to go home.
She was clearly avoiding him to this extent.
He wasn’t a stalker, nor could he really camp out in the hallway just to corner Cheng Simin for an explanation.
If Cheng Simin didn’t want anything to do with him, there was nothing he could do about it.
Though his mood was terrible, life went on. Even though the pie was large, he had bet all his chips on it. Without future earnings from the winery, where would Shi Ying get the money to look good or redeem his family’s old villa from the court?
Without love, life still had to continue.
On the other hand, Cheng Simin, to avoid being shortlisted by some unworthy suitor, had spent the past few days working harder than Shi Ying did at his job.
Before Shi Ying left for work in the morning, she’d rise before six to take Beibei to play on the grass in the neighborhood. She kept a close eye on the time, and once Shi Ying left for work, she hurriedly returned home to eat breakfast and catch a quick nap.
At noon, she relaxed her guard slightly, cooking meals for herself and Beibei. By 5:30 PM, before Shi Ying finished work, Cheng Simin, having already eaten dinner, took Beibei out again to wander.
She watched people buy lottery tickets, high school students rushing into internet cafes after school, delivery stations sorting packages, and old men in the park playing chess and whipping tops.
In the late afternoon, she often met Grandma Qi from apartment 1202 under the big locust tree at the east gate of the community.
Jingang loved taking Beibei to watch other parents and children play ring-toss games. Cheng Simin handed over the leash, buying two grilled cornstarch sausages for them at the store every day while mingling with a group of elderly women.
After the square dancing ended and mosquitoes descended from the sky, she sneaked back home.
The experience of not being able to return home was unbearable—it felt like joining a special forces tour. Over the course of a few days, her daily step count averaged over ten thousand steps. Her body grew weary, her back ached, and her legs hurt. She couldn’t even solo queue in games anymore, resorting to finding random teams in the lobby to climb ranks.
On the fourth morning, even Beibei refused to go out with her. No matter how much she praised, bribed, or offered snacks, Beibei stubbornly stuck his butt to the ground, holding his head high with an expression of defiance.
With no other choice, Cheng Simin had to leave alone.
By late afternoon, when the sun hadn’t yet fully set, Jingang, who had been waiting under the big locust tree, noticed that Cheng Simin came to the square without Beibei. Heartbroken, he stopped eating his cornstarch sausage and began crying loudly, demanding his grandmother take him home.
Cheng Simin caused trouble and proposed compensation: giving him ten yuan to fish, play ring toss, or shoot guns—but he refused everything. In the end, Jingang cried like a fountain of tears, only stopping when Grandma Qi whacked him twice on the head with her cane.
The cane was made of stainless steel, producing loud “bang bang” sounds against Jingang’s skull. Cheng Simin couldn’t believe how hard someone’s head could be. Watching Jingang get hit, she herself shrank her shoulders in apprehension.
Jingang’s forehead swelled significantly, his already tanned skin turning a shocking purplish-red. His snot and tears flowed into his mouth.
Finally unable to bear it, Cheng Simin intervened, stopping Grandma Qi and repeatedly assuring Jingang that she would definitely bring Beibei to meet him tomorrow at the usual time. Only then did his crying subside.
Just as Cheng Simin bid farewell to the grandmother and grandson, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She was standing at the front of the square dance formation, energetically moving her limbs to the thunderous tune of The Horse-Taming Man .
Seeing Shi Ying’s name on the screen, Cheng Simin faltered, missing a beat. The aunties following behind her also began to flounder.
These days, Cheng Simin had quickly mastered the essence of square dancing thanks to her excellent musical understanding. Moreover, being young, her arms and legs were agile. Initially, she danced at the back, but within two days, everyone promoted her to the front row to lead the dance.
This was bad—like a domino effect. As the phone rang, the choreography of the entire back half of the formation collapsed.
Apologizing profusely, Cheng Simin cupped her hands in a gesture of respect, grabbed her phone, and stepped out of the senior citizens’ formation.
Hesitating briefly, the call went unanswered, and a text message squeezed its way onto her phone.
The message Shi Ying had sent her last week was still at the top of her inbox. Skipping past the meaningless four-word phrase “call me back if you have something,” Shi Ying’s new message seemed serious.
He wrote: “Cheng Simin, is your dog locked on the balcony? Won’t he get heatstroke?”
Overcome with concern, Cheng Simin panicked. After an autumn rain, the temperature in Banshan City had cooled down significantly. Tomorrow was the start of the National Day holiday, and mornings and evenings required wearing light jackets. Yet upon reading this message, Cheng Simin’s heart raced. She immediately ran toward Building 6.
When Cheng Simin rushed home, Shi Ying was standing near the edge of his balcony closest to her house, verbally soothing Beibei. Twenty minutes earlier, as soon as he entered his home with takeout, he heard whimpering sounds coming from the balcony.
At first, he didn’t pay attention, thinking it was just a young couple nearby acting out some romantic drama. He placed the takeout on the table, disliking such mushy sounds, and headed to the bathroom for a cold shower.
Who would’ve thought that by the time he dried his hair and came out, the whining outside had grown louder, interspersed with familiar barking.
As his fingers touched the takeout bag, Shi Ying paused to listen carefully. He immediately went to the balcony and leaned toward Cheng Simin’s direction.
From a distance of less than a meter, Shi Ying hesitantly called out softly, “Beibei?”
The next moment, Beibei, who had unfortunately locked himself on the balcony due to the draft, transformed his委屈 into anger. Standing on his hind legs, he placed his front paws on the waist-high railing and howled furiously at the sky.
It was dusk—the time when people rested after a busy day. The barking was loud, and soon someone opened their window, shouting angrily, “Whose dog is this?! Stop barking, disturbing my child doing homework!”
“How long has it been barking? Is it ever going to stop? I’m calling the police if it doesn’t!”
“Stupid animal doesn’t know any better; maybe the owner’s already dead! Damn it, don’t make me come upstairs and kill the dog.”
Banshan City had numerous banned dog breeds, including aggressive and large dogs, as well as Chinese rural dogs.
Disturbing the peace with a dog’s barking was a serious issue. Worried about conflict, Shi Ying was more anxious than Beibei. Remembering Cheng Simin’s comment about Beibei being greedy, he immediately returned to the living room, grabbed his takeout, opened the lid, and threw the char siu from the char siu rice onto Cheng Simin’s balcony.
“Good boy, come down.”
“No more barking.”
“I’ll let you out soon, okay?”
Smelling the meat, Beibei temporarily abandoned his cries for help. Twisting his coal-black body like a gas tank, he lowered his front paws and licked up a piece of marinated pork with his tongue.
Chewing it twice, it wasn’t enough to satisfy him. Beibei stood up again, looking toward Shi Ying’s direction, sniffing wildly in the air.
Like this, Shi Ying tossed over a dozen items onto the neighboring balcony: meat, eggs, vegetables. By the time only a bowl of plain rice soaked in black sauce remained in his takeout box, Cheng Simin’s head suddenly appeared at the edge of the balcony.
“How did you get in here? Are you rebelling?!”
The balcony had storage boxes where Cheng Simin kept canned goods and dried vegetables. Beibei wasn’t usually allowed there, but seeing his master return, he immediately scurried out from behind her.
Shi Ying’s house wasn’t lit, and he wore dark clothes, but illuminated by the rising moonlight, his face glowed pale. His straight nose, thick lashes, and especially his phoenix eyes sparkled like tiger eyes, shimmering with waves of light.
Their gazes met, and Cheng Simin, gripping the railing, fell silent.
Her gaze unconsciously shifted downward, only to be startled by the color of his lips.
Good grief—she hadn’t noticed before. Was Shi Ying lacking melanin? How could his lips be so pink and adorable? Not only were they beautifully colored, but they also looked soft, plump, and springy.
Perhaps it was close to her menstrual cycle because as her thoughts wandered, the image of their kiss from the surveillance footage immediately popped into Cheng Simin’s mind. To prove Shi Ying wrong, she had replayed the video several times. She had only kissed him for a minute.
And she hadn’t even opened her mouth! The exchange of saliva happened because he pinched her chin!
“Ah, um… you…”
Her heart raced, her tongue stumbled, and Cheng Simin uttered a few meaningless words. Not only that, but she nearly bit her cheek.
However, Shi Ying, on the other side, didn’t wait for her mime act. He had already turned around and walked back into the living room with his bowl of rice.
A sudden gust of autumn wind swept up from below, blowing loose strands of hair off Cheng Simin’s eyelashes. Her lips moved dryly, making her look like a primary school student punished on the balcony. It wasn’t until the light from Shi Ying’s living room illuminated her sleeve that she snapped out of it, rubbing her itchy eyelids and retreating silently into her own living room.
Closing the balcony door, Cheng Simin cursed herself for her distracted performance. Looking at Beibei, the culprit, she saw him happily wagging a dog toy and occasionally sneaking glances at her with his brown eyes.
“I specifically locked the balcony door when I left! Did you learn how to open doors now?”
“Such a clever dog! What am I supposed to do with you? Should I go to work tomorrow and let you stay home as a pet instead?”
“Why didn’t you come out with me? You just wanted to stay home and cause trouble, huh? What were you doing on the balcony?”
“Were you trying to steal seaweed again?”
Growing increasingly irritated, Cheng Simin crouched beside Beibei, staring him down and grabbing his ears folded back behind his head.
Beibei knew Cheng Simin’s threats were all bark and no bite. Playfully, he opened his mouth and licked her calf, leaving sesame seeds stuck to her sleeve.
Frowning, Cheng Simin wiped the sesame seeds away with a tissue. Thinking back to the takeout box Shi Ying had carried into the living room earlier, which contained half a box of soggy rice, she sighed deeply.
Was that gloppy mess supposed to be Shi Ying’s dinner?
What kind of nonsense was this—acting like Lin Daiyu burying flowers and starving herself? She almost felt sorry for him.
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