71. Extra Chapter 5: We Got Married

At some point, Jiang Yan stopped seeing Lin Xingzi in the corridors of the senior high school building.

The notes he asked Lin Sang to pass to her were returned untouched.

Sometimes, when he spotted her from afar on the playground, she would turn away with her friends before he could get close.

Jiang Yan realized he must have done something wrong.

But he didn’t know what.

Even Lin Ke was affected. It took him months to notice, but when he finally did, he couldn’t figure it out either. “A broken leg is a feud that can’t be forgiven—yet my sister didn’t even get mad at me for that. So why does she glare at me like I’m her enemy now? I haven’t done anything! Well, except for stealing the last popsicle from her fridge while she was napping the other day… But seriously, Jiang Yan, help me out here. What did I do?”

Jiang Yan stared at the teaching building across the playground and said nothing.

He knew she always stood at the back of the line during Monday flag-raising ceremonies because the freshman year director liked calling her out. He knew she came to school early every Wednesday to buy freshly steamed mushroom and chicken buns—the only filling she ever ate. He knew she hated English class the most and would secretly play games during it. He knew she always tied her ponytail with two hairbands and laced her shoes with perfect bows.

But he didn’t know why she had started to hate him.

“Women are just fickle. Doesn’t matter if they’re five or fifteen—yesterday they’re all ‘big brother is the best,’ and today they act like they don’t know you. I’ll never understand it,” Lin Ke sighed, shaking his head. He said he’d buy her a popsicle to make up for it after the college entrance exams.

Jiang Yan wondered if he should try to make it up to her too.

After the exams, he only went back to his hometown for two weeks. The apartment his mother rented near the school still had three months left on the lease, so he spent the entire summer working part-time jobs in Haishi. But he never saw her.

On the day he got his paycheck, he bought a bracelet. He walked fourteen laps around the school playground, the velvet box in his palm damp with sweat, before finally mustering the courage to ask Lin Sang for help.

“Xingzi went abroad. She probably won’t be back for a few years. As for the reason… something happened at home. It’s not really my place to say.”

She had gone somewhere 14,000 kilometers away from Haishi.

With no set date of return.

———

In his second year of college, Jiang Yan decided to enlist.

Before leaving, his roommates got together for a meal. Afterward, they bought a case of beer and went to the playground. The sunset that evening looked like it had been painted by a lonely hand—the sky was already dark, but the sun burned red like fire.

Jiang Yan took a photo with his phone.

A drunk roommate grinned and teased him, asking if he was thinking about a girl he liked.

The police academy had few female students, but the neighboring teachers’ college was full of beautiful girls. Jiang Yan had become somewhat famous in the university district after a candid photo of him went viral. Girls never stopped pursuing him, but he always kept them at a distance. His roommates had even questioned his orientation—what a waste, they said, to spend college without dating.

After graduation, Jiang Yan applied to the Haishi Public Security Bureau.

He failed the first year. Later, he found out the only spot had gone to the deputy director’s nephew.

So he tried again the next year.

During the interview, someone asked why he was so persistent—other regions weren’t bad either. Jiang Yan gave a straightforward, dutiful answer, but what he really thought was: Lin Xudong was promoted to bureau chief. He probably won’t be transferred anytime soon. And compared to the fiery-tempered Li Qing, she’s always been closer to Lin Xudong—he dotes on her more.

This was the place closest to her.

Lin Ke returned to Haishi every year. His stays were short, but no matter how busy he was, he always made time to drink and catch up with Jiang Yan—and take a stroll around their old high school.

The school had built a new campus, and the freshmen and sophomores had moved there. Only the seniors remained in the old building.

The dessert shop at the entrance was still open. The school looked the same as ever.

There were 107 steps from the gate to the teaching building. Jiang Yan looked up, as if he could see his younger self in the blue-and-white uniform, carrying a mischievous girl on his back.

“F*ck!” Lin Ke suddenly cursed. “That bastard Zhan Yan has some nerve.”

Jiang Yan snapped out of his thoughts, his gaze fixing on the photo in Lin Ke’s WeChat Moments.

The spiciness from the hotpot burned in his gut, aching deep in his organs.

“My sister’s great at everything except her taste in men. After all this time, she still ended up with that bastard Zhan Yan,” Lin Ke grumbled as he closed the app. “Our class reunion is next month—sometime near the end. You free?”

“Not sure yet.”

“Alright, I’ll let you know. Lin Sang’s coming back too. You haven’t seen her in years, right?”

Jiang Yan gave a noncommittal hum and pulled a cigarette from Lin Ke’s pack.

Lin Ke raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you smoke?”

“Recently. Helps with fatigue.”

Lin Ke left first after getting a call. Jiang Yan stayed on the playground and smoked the entire pack.

The spice lingered, and his stomach churned all night, leaving him restless.

The reunion was set for late October. That day, Jiang Yan was held up by a case and arrived half an hour late. Lin Ke texted him the room number. The elevator stopped on the third floor, and more people crowded in.

The figure in front of him was familiar yet foreign. It can’t be her, he thought, stepping back. But then she turned slightly to say something to the person beside her.

Jiang Yan’s breath caught.

He forgot about the reunion. He followed her out of the elevator, followed her down the hall—until someone stopped him outside a private room.

Lin Ke waited but never saw him arrive, so he slipped out under the pretense of avoiding more drinks. He found Jiang Yan smoking in the restroom but didn’t comment. He knew the job was stressful.

“Funny coincidence—today’s my sister’s birthday. She just got back, and she’s here too.”

Class reunions were always the same—some people cried, some laughed. Jiang Yan was the quietest, drinking one glass after another. Sensing something was off, Lin Ke took a key card from Lin Sang and told him to go upstairs and rest for a bit.

Lin Xingzi had cake smeared all over her face. Knowing Lin Sang’s class was having a reunion on the same floor, she needed to change. She didn’t have time to dwell on the odd smile Lin Sang gave her when handing over the key.

Not until she saw the naked man stepping out of the shower.

He was darker than before, more mature, his features sharper.

How long had it been?

Nearly eight years, she realized. Li Qing had mentioned he was working as a narcotics officer in Haishi. She’d known she might run into him after returning—just not like this.

“You—”

She meant to say, Put some clothes on.

But he closed the distance in a few strides, backing her against the door. In the dim light, his eyes were bloodshot. The scent of alcohol clung to them both, making it hard to tell whose it was.

“Stop—let go—mmph!”

It wasn’t even a kiss.

Just raw instinct—desperate, hungry, possessive.

Her back pressed against the door, she was forced to tilt her head up as he devoured her. Her tongue went numb. Half the cream on her face ended up on him.

“Jiang Jiang…”

His voice was rough, lost in ragged breaths, as if crossing eight years of time. Her hand, already raised to slap him, froze midair.

That brief hesitation was all he needed.

Clothes fell to the floor.

It hurt.

So much she wanted to cry.

She clawed his back in revenge, leaving red marks. He came inside her before even moving, but recovered quickly—only to make it hurt more.

“You always disappear when we get here,” he muttered against her neck, then thrust deeper. “This time, I caught you.”

Turns out, he thought this was just another dream—one where he could take advantage of being drunk.

But the slap, though delayed, was inevitable.

Before dawn, Jiang Yan was jolted awake by a stinging slap across the face—followed by a bank card thrown at him.

“Didn’t expect Officer Jiang to have a side hustle.”

“Money’s hard to come by these days, but this is all you’re worth. Your skills were terrible. I wasn’t satisfied.”

She slammed the door. The room still smelled of them.

His cheek throbbed. Under the sheets, he was still naked. Staring at the handprint in the mirror, Jiang Yan slowly pieced together that last night hadn’t been a dream.

Had he really caught her?

Lin Xingzi turned off her phone and vanished for a month—even Lin Sang couldn’t find her.

A month later, Jiang Yan found her crouched by a hospital flower bed, dry-heaving.

“It’s not yours.”

“Let’s get married.”

They spoke at the same time.

--End of Extra--