The two of them stared at each other for several seconds.
Zhōng Yì took the cutlery: “Thank you. Of course, I’m not thanking him for the utensils.”
He knew she was tired; she wasn’t here just to eat the pan-fried bass.
She began cutting the fish while chatting, “Since I came back to the country, I’ve only eaten out for gatherings. Today’s the first time I’ve eaten alone.”
“Why didn’t you come out when you were tired before?”
Zhōng Yì didn’t hide anything: “If I went out to eat, I’d start thinking—you have similar tastes to me, so would you often come to the restaurants I go to?”
“I want to run into you, but I know the city’s too big; there’s no way to meet by chance. So I stopped going out.”
“Then you still separated from me?”
Knowing full well his lingering regrets, Zhōng Yì silently listened.
Zhōu Shíyì no longer cared whether she responded. He called the waiter over and ordered her an extra salad.
When she was tired, she didn’t like to talk, and he stopped pressing her.
After finishing the pan-fried fish, Zhōng Yì finally looked less exhausted.
Actually, it had nothing to do with the fish; it was because the person across from her was here.
“Do you still use the Alarm at 9:05?” she asked, looking at him.
Zhōu Shíyì glanced at her without answering, signaling her to eat the salad.
Zhōng Yì picked up a shrimp and put it in her mouth. September 5th was her birthday; after they got together, he set his reminders to 9:05. Judging by his reaction just now, he probably still used it.
But she wasn’t entirely sure.
Zhōu Shíyì sipped his wine alongside the meal: “Zhōng Yì, you can’t pick a fight with me every time you’re tired.”
“I’m not picking a fight,” she explained, “just asking casually.”
He put down the glass and picked up his phone.
He hadn’t wanted to reply but then opened the alarm settings and handed the phone to her.
“If I didn’t use it, you’d feel wronged again. If that’s not picking a fight, what is?”
Zhōng Yì glanced at the screen. Among the alarms he’d set in the past were ones for 9:05 a.m. and 9:05 p.m.
Zhōu Shíyì placed the phone back on the table. Many of her habits were cultivated by him; if she wanted to pick a fight, so be it—he wouldn’t say another word.
Zhōng Yì said, “I use that alarm too.”
Zhōu Shíyì refilled half a glass of water for her, and the topic ended there.
They’d been apart for three years, and the grievances between them couldn’t be explained in a few words.
The two quietly ate, neither mentioning the past nor the Kuncheng Motors project. The plans for Kuncheng were too important to be rushed in just a day or two.
***
After leaving the restaurant, Zhōu Shíyì’s car had already pulled up; her car was still in the parking lot.
Zhōng Yì raised her chin toward the parking lot: “I’ll drive my own car home.”
Zhōu Shíyì said, “Leave your car here. I’ll have someone send it over tomorrow.”
Staying even half an hour longer with him would surely lead to more thoughts, but both had urgent matters to attend to.
Zhōng Yì waved her hand, “No need.”
Zhōu Shíyì did have a lot of work to handle tonight and planned to call his father on the way home.
“Drive carefully.” After saying this, he was about to get in the car when he suddenly remembered something.
“Zhōng Yì.” He called out to her.
Zhōng Yì stopped and turned, “Yes?”
Zhōu Shíyì: “Are you going to call me tonight? If so, I’ll keep an eye on my phone.”
They had just seen each other today, so he wasn’t sure.
Zhōng Yì nodded.
Although they had met several times today and had little to say, she still wanted to call him.
Zhōu Shíyì got into the Maybach, which pulled over to the roadside, waiting for Zhōng Yì’s car to leave before the driver turned toward another direction.
Zhōu Shíyì took out his phone, about to call his father, when he saw a message from five minutes ago.
Zhōu Yúnlián: 【Didn’t you say you didn’t want me at your wedding?】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【The situation has changed. Now I do want you there.】
Though the words weren’t exactly pleasant, Zhōu Yúnlián felt a bit flattered.
In the past, his son would never have yielded.
Zhōu Yúnlián looked over his schedule for the next month: flying all over the world but never to Beicheng.
His son’s wedding wouldn’t have the parents on stage; Zhōng Zhuóhuá’s idea was that if she went up on stage, all the guests’ attention would be on her, stealing the spotlight from the two children.
They’d just witness the kids’ happiness from the audience.
So whether he attended the wedding or not didn’t matter much; but the parents-in-law had to meet.
Not wanting his son to get too arrogant, he took a roundabout approach: 【I’ll have my secretary try to free up a few days. If it’s impossible, well, you didn’t say earlier.】
Today, having been cornered first by his uncle and then his father, Zhōu Shíyì could only endure.
After all, he was still under their roof.
Zhōu Yúnlián: 【What has your mother been busy with these days? Is she in Beicheng?】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【Busy checking if you have any illegitimate children.】
Zhōu Yúnlián snorted lightly, finding Shí Fànyīn amusing.
To everyone, his marriage to her was a mere formality, but in reality, it was the opposite—just in name only.
All these years, except for married life, she never sought him out.
For the sake of their son, she even investigated him.
Zhōu Yúnlián: 【The spokesperson Kuncheng Motors picked is good, but you shouldn’t have given them the global spokesperson title right away!】
Zhōu Shíyì ignored it.
His father didn’t know Zhōng Yì’s relationship with the spokesperson, and he didn’t want to say more.
His father didn’t send any more messages or say when he’d return to Beicheng.
Back home, Zhōu Shíyì went straight to the study.
He didn’t turn on the computer but pulled out the pack of opened cigarettes from the drawer.
Still no lighter, so he called the butler to borrow one.
Butler: “Didn’t you quit?”
“After the wedding, I’ll stop smoking. When Zhōng Yì moves in, I’ll quit.”
The butler brought the lighter and asked, “Do you need to modify the third-floor room? There’s only one study at home. You’re both busy with work; you can’t squeeze into one study.”
Zhōu Shíyì held a cigarette in his mouth: “Leave it as is.”
He grabbed the lighter and his phone and headed to the terrace.
No matter who moved to the third floor, Zhōng Yì wouldn’t be satisfied.
In their Boston home, they shared a study, working late face-to-face without disturbing each other.
He smoked only half a cigarette, then stubbed out the rest in the ashtray.
Close to midnight, Zhōu Shíyì received a call from Zhōng Yì.
He had just finished work and stood up from his computer.
“So late calling me?”
Zhōng Yì had just finished too and closed her computer: “We only parted after nine. If I called you immediately upon getting home, it’d feel like checking off a task.”
“Isn’t it just that now?”
“No.”
Perhaps because she was tired, her voice was gentle, slightly hoarse.
“This weekend I’m going to pick a wedding dress. My mom will come with me, and I’ll invite Jì Fánxīng.”
Her taste often differed from his, so the wedding dress definitely had to be one she liked.
“You don’t need to come. I’ll have Jì Fánxīng take a couple of photos to show you.”
Zhōu Shíyì entered the bedroom and closed the door behind him: “If you can’t find the right dress, take mine.”
“…How do you have everything?”
“It’s not that I have everything. That one I bought for you before—I brought it back.”
The first wedding dress he chose for her.
Though it wasn’t tailor-made, it was a classic masterpiece by a world-renowned wedding dress designer.
***
After the wedding photoshoot on the island, the dress stayed at his place.
Later, when he went back to the island once more, accompanying his mother on vacation, he remembered the dress and brought it back to Beicheng.
The dress still hung in his wardrobe.
Zhōng Yì recalled, “I thought you’d thrown it away long ago.”
Zhōu Shíyì slowly unbuttoned his watch, the call falling silent for a few seconds before he finally spoke: “You wore it. How could I throw it away?”
He took off his watch, paused, then added, “I have thought about getting rid of it.”
Zhōng Yì didn’t need to ask to guess when—back when he had found a suitable marriage partner.
That was about a year ago.
At that time, he had considered getting rid of the dress.
But she had directly destroyed the wedding photos.
She knew how painful it was to see old mementos, never expecting he’d kept it for two years: “I thought after we broke up, you’d handle what needed handling.”
Zhōu Shíyì bent down to put down his watch and headed to the bathroom.
After some thought, he said, “There were two times I wanted to get rid of it. Once in the first year after we broke up.”
Zhōng Yì hadn’t expected two times. Besides the time a year ago when he met someone suitable, there was another time two years ago.
She couldn’t guess when that first time had been.
The second time was because he found the right person, which was understandable. Even if it hurt her to think about, she completely understood.
After so long apart, no one stayed in the same place forever—they had to start a new life.
Just as she never thought one day she would marry him.
She asked directly, “Why did you suddenly want to get rid of the dress two years ago?”
There had to be a special reason; otherwise, he wouldn’t have emphasized it.
Zhōu Shíyì said nothing more, only giving a date: “February 29th that year.”
Zhōng Yì was slightly stunned—he had remembered the exact day.
That date wasn’t any of their anniversaries.
Her mind quickly searched for anything important that happened that day but came up blank.
A day she had no memory of—most likely spent working late at the company.
The bathroom door closed during the call.
His magnetic voice came through: “Get some sleep early.”
“Good night.”
Zhōng Yì didn’t want to talk much. She was eager to find out what that day was.
After hanging up, she logged onto Weibo.
A day he remembered so clearly was most likely related to Lù Chéng.
She found Lù Chéng’s account and opened his profile.
His background picture was still the poster of the award-winning movie from two years ago, unchanged.
She scrolled through his posts. Thankfully, Lù Chéng didn’t post often, so she quickly found the post from two years ago.
On February 29th, Lù Chéng posted a nine-grid collage, celebrating the moment he won Best Actor.
Thanks to the reality-themed film he did with Zhōng Zhuóhuá, Lù Chéng won a double Best Actor award.
At the ceremony on the night of the 29th, his rarely lengthy acceptance speech was half dedicated to thanking Zhōng Zhuóhuá.
Zhōng Yì had long stopped following Lù Chéng’s news. Even when his name appeared on trending searches, she never clicked on the articles, and her mother certainly wouldn’t mention anything in front of her.
So she had no idea what exactly Lù Chéng said in his speech.
She found the video of Lù Chéng’s award acceptance, watched it, then exited Weibo and messaged Zhōu Shíyì: 【Are you asleep?】
Twenty minutes later, Zhōu Shíyì finished showering and checked his phone.
Mom?
He typed while drying his hair: 【Why aren’t you sleeping yet?】
Zhōng Yì: 【I had to figure it out. I just watched Lù Chéng’s acceptance speech from February 29th that year. You’ve known Zhōng Zhuóhuá is my mom for a long time.】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【Yeah. A few days before the ceremony.】
He understood why she kept it secret.
So after knowing, he didn’t get angry.
It was just that upon learning who her parents were, he realized that after four years together, she had never shared any information about her family.
It dawned on him that she had never thought about a future with him.
Since then, he no longer addressed Jiang Jingyuan as “Third Brother.”
Being with his daughter, it wasn’t appropriate to call him peer-to-peer, and even jokes became more measured.
When dining with Jiang Yanfeng and Min Ting, if someone mentioned Min Ting’s beautiful big-shot he’d flown abroad to bring back, at first Zhōu Shíyì would ask a couple of questions but later stopped paying attention.
Zhōng Yì clarified: 【I only asked my mom to help him when we first broke up. I never brought it up again.】
Zhōu Shíyì believed her.
To this day, he still remembered how he felt watching that acceptance speech.
Like a fishbone stuck in his throat.
For Zhōng Zhuóhuá to take a step down to a supporting role, few could carry such weight—only Zhōng Yì.
During Lù Chéng’s speech, the camera twice focused on Zhōng Zhuóhuá, who wore a faint smile, her pride unmistakable.
When the speech ended, her applause was the longest.
He hadn’t planned to ask whether she and Lù Chéng had gotten back together.
After sending the message, it showed a red exclamation mark.
He was no longer in her contacts.
Asking or not had become meaningless.
Later, whatever interactions Zhōng Zhuóhuá had with Lù Chéng’s studio or what projects Zhōng Yì took over, he no longer paid attention.
So when Jiang Jingyuan asked if he was willing to arrange a marriage alliance, his feelings were complicated, but he couldn’t bear to refuse.
Zhōu Shíyì handed the towel he had finished using back to the bathroom and urged her, 【That’s all sorted on my end. Go to sleep early.】
Zhōng Yì wasn’t sleepy.
During the days she hadn’t followed Lù Chéng, things might have happened that she didn’t know about but that bothered him: 【Is there anything else you want to ask me about Lù Chéng?】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【Nothing else.】
Zhōng Yì: 【He’s a star and now a top celebrity. Many admire him. But just because he’s in the spotlight, and even Jì Fánxīng, such a great beauty, likes him, doesn’t mean I can’t forget him.
When I liked him, he was just as dazzling in school, only the stage got bigger later. So for me, there’s no regret or remorse. I only have lingering feelings for you, and I’m still holding a grudge.】
What exactly she resented was hard to say.
No longer speaking of Lù Chéng, she explained why she hadn’t told him who her parents were.
【Maybe it’s because I’ve always been very guarded since I was a kid. It concerns my mom’s acting career; I wouldn’t reveal family secrets just because I was in love.】
Boyfriends can break up, but once secrets are out, they can’t be taken back.
【I had thought about introducing you to my dad as my future husband, but something went wrong along the way.】
Zhōu Shíyì: 【So when you said you wanted to introduce me to your parents, you weren’t just saying it casually?】
Zhōng Yì: 【No. Back then, I was already thinking about marrying you.】