Xie Jiayi knew he would come here. Instead of going to the hospital for answers, he was eager to see if anything had changed. The dark corridor, the old green security door with peeling paint revealing patches of rust, and the lion’s mouth door knocker, yellowish with streaks of black. Before, just three knocks would prompt Lai Hui’s voice: “Say Jiayi is a puppy, and I’ll open the door.” How did you know it was me? Jiayi never understood how Lai Hui always knew it was him when he knocked. The wooden door inside opened, revealing Lai Hui’s face, her smile triumphant: “You always knock three times, the first two knocks are close together, and the third comes five seconds later.” Later, he only knocked twice, and Lai Hui’s voice still came from inside: “Say Jiayi is a puppy, and I’ll open the door.” How did you know again? “Dummy, I heard your footsteps!” Then he took off his shoes on the stairs, knocked just once, and the voice was still the same: “Say Jiayi is a puppy, and I’ll open the door.” No footsteps this time! He said, unconvinced. “I saw you from the balcony!” She made a funny face and continued, “Jiayi, give up, I’ll always know it’s you knocking.” His fingers hooked onto the copper ring, knowing that no matter how many times he knocked, her voice wouldn’t come from inside, nor would anyone open the door. But he still knocked three times, the first two knocks close together, the third five seconds later. Just as he was about to turn and leave, the wooden door opened—”Who are you looking for?” A thin, wrinkled face appeared. Xie Jiayi pressed his hand against his wildly beating heart, calming the surge of joy followed by disappointment. He recognized the man, Lai Hui’s father, whom he had only seen twice: once when he and Lai Hui were out shopping, and she simply called out “Dad” before moving on, and another time when he visited Lai Hui’s home, only to find that Lai Hui had gone out, leaving only Aunt Yun and her father at home. “Excuse me, is this Lai Hui’s house?” he asked politely.
I know little about the old man standing in front of me. The relationship between Lai Hui and her father was extremely distant; she rarely mentioned him. All I knew was that this old man had divorced Auntie Yun a long time ago and had started another family. The anti-theft door opened, and the old man invited me into his house to sit down. Xie Jiayi surveyed the entire living room; most of the furniture had been replaced, leaving only an old table. On this table, there used to be two photo frames: one was a photo of him with Lai Hui, and the other was of Auntie Yun with Lai Hui. Now, only one remained. Thinking that the photo of him and Lai Hui had long been thrown into the trash, he felt a pang of sadness. Lai Hui’s father, slightly hunched, handed him a cup of tea, sat down, and said, “Lai Hui’s mother is ill, and Lai Hui took her to a big city. I don’t even know where Lai Hui and her mother are!” Xie Jiayi thought he was deliberately hiding it from him, and said with some irritation, “I know they’re in City A!” The old man’s eyes lit up, and he became much more polite. “Ah, good, good. It’s good that someone knows where they are. I’ve always wanted to visit them, both mother and daughter. Can you tell me their specific address?” Xie Jiayi was taken aback, then silently cursed himself for being overly suspicious. The old man really didn’t know. He then thought that Lai Hui didn’t keep in touch with her father because she didn’t want to see him; if he told him the address, Lai Hui would surely blame him. However, seeing the hopeful look on the old man’s face, he felt pity. After pondering for a while, he wrote down Lai Hui’s mobile number for the old man, saying, “I don’t know the address, but here’s her mobile number. If you want to see her, just call her. Oh, and don’t tell her I’ve been here!” The old man joyfully accepted the phone number, chatting casually with Xie Jiayi while sizing him up. Noticing that although Xie was handsome, his clothes were shabby, the old man didn’t insist on him staying longer when he was about to leave.
Leaving the Lai’s home, Xie Jiayi sorted out his thoughts. From the old man, he learned that Auntie Yun had lent the house to her ex-husband’s family after she was hospitalized in City A, and it was during the time when he and Lai Hui were breaking up. Back at home, he lay motionless on his bed, feeling a mix of regret and self-loathing for being so impulsive during such a time, even slapping her. How could he not have taken a knife to himself then? Thinking of this, he wanted to pull his hair out in frustration, but he was so numb that he couldn’t even muster the strength to lift his arm. This season was truly hot; the midday sun was fierce, casting golden patterns on the windowpanes. Lying on the soft cotton, he was sweating all over, only then realizing he had forgotten to turn on the air conditioner. He adjusted the temperature to the lowest setting, and as the cool air blew against his face, he seemed to see all his pores opening, the cold sweat being forced back into his body, chilling him to the bone. He shivered, and his phone rang – it was his alarm, reminding him to head to the airport. He put away his phone, slapped his forehead several times, thinking, “What am I doing? How could I forget everything? I have an important meeting tomorrow, and I haven’t prepared the materials…” He murmured aloud, “What am I doing? What should I be doing?…”
Lai Hui and Zhou Yuqian were practically living like a married couple. Zhou Yuqian not only stayed at Nanling every night but also frequently had dinner “at home.” Lai Hui was at her wits’ end; every morning she had to get up before him to make breakfast and coffee. After work, Zhou Yuqian wouldn’t call to say whether he was coming home for dinner, so she had to prepare every afternoon, ready for his arrival or not. What frustrated Lai Hui even more was that Zhou Yuqian used to calculate her overtime pay, but for the past week, he hadn’t mentioned money at all. She couldn’t bring it up either, hoping he was just too busy to remember and would recall it in a few days.
Zhou Yuqian, of course, was deliberately not mentioning money. He was curious if Lai Hui would still cook for him if he stopped paying. The result was very satisfying; over the past week, Lai Hui had been like a housewife, cooking, cleaning, and keeping the place tidy, allowing him to come home and forget about work troubles, sit on the sofa to watch TV, or read in his study. During this time, Lai Hui would always make him coffee or brew tea. His sense of self-satisfaction quickly inflated, and he started to enjoy this lifestyle, declining unnecessary social engagements after work and heading straight “home” in Xiao Li’s car. Both had their own thoughts but managed to coexist harmoniously, at least without arguments. Zhou Yuqian began to think, perhaps this was what being at home felt like. Lai Hui began to wonder how long he intended to stay.
