On the plane bound for the island, Zhōng Yì, with nothing better to do, took out paper and pen from her canvas bag and lay on the bed, scribbling and calculating.
Zhōu Shíyì sat in the dining area eating a light meal and asked her twice if she wanted to try some.
After a moment, Zhōng Yì shook her head, “Not hungry.”
Seeing her fully absorbed, Zhōu Shíyì assumed she was busy with work and stopped interrupting.
When the flight attendant came to clear the tray, Zhōng Yì was still bent over writing, so she quietly asked the Boss, “Should I prepare anything for Mrs. Zhou?”
Zhōu Shíyì glanced at his watch. “Send some ice cream and cake in half an hour. Put extra nuts on the ice cream.”
“Understood.”
The flight attendant gently closed the door and left.
She was focused on working overtime, but Zhōu Shíyì had nothing to do.
Outside the window, clouds rolled endlessly. To him, it was a common sight. After a brief glance, he withdrew his gaze, took out his laptop, and placed it on the dining table.
His fingers hovered over the power button for a few seconds but didn’t press it. He had promised to spend the honeymoon with her and avoid work as much as possible. So, he closed the laptop.
He lifted his coffee cup and sank back into the sofa, watching Zhōng Yì quietly working.
Back when she worked overtime at home, he would make her sit on his lap once he was done. After a while, she got so busy she forgot she was even sitting there, thinking she was on a chair.
Zhōng Yì checked the calendar, calculating roughly when the baby’s due date would be if she got pregnant within the next few months before year-end.
So absorbed was she in the calculation that her black pen slipped with a “shhh” as it pierced the paper, the tip breaking through the white sheet.
She lifted the paper, only to see a black ink mark stabbed into Zhōu Shíyì’s pillow.
Reflexively, she tried wiping it off with her finger.
Of course, it was futile.
Almost instinctively, she suddenly looked up toward the window seat to see what Zhōu Shíyì was doing, hoping he hadn’t noticed the mark on the pillow.
Unexpectedly, their eyes met.
Zhōu Shíyì sipped his coffee leisurely, smiling at her.
“You were mischievous as a child, weren’t you? I bet you often scribbled on Dad’s pillows and clothes.”
Zhōng Yì laughed and buried her face in his arm.
“What are you writing? Can I see?”
Since it was related to the Kuncheng Project and didn’t involve business secrets, Zhōu Shíyì put down his coffee and walked over.
Before he could bend down, Zhōng Yì handed him the paper directly.
“The plan is laid out. Whether it works depends on you.”
He had thought she was adjusting parameters.
“Zhōng Yì, having a child isn’t like launching a project. You can’t just start it on a chosen day and expect it to happen.”
She put away the pen and teased him, “Aren’t you the one who prides himself on being great?”
Zhōu Shíyì smiled wryly, glanced at the paper again, folded it neatly, and put it by the bedside.
He propped himself on the pillows and leaned forward. “No matter how capable, even I can’t guarantee success once, let alone giving birth to dizygotic twins.”
Though he said that, he indulged her wish. “Which month do you want to give birth? I’ll try my best.”
Zhōng Yì’s calculation of the due date was just a way to pass the time. Rarely did they have such leisurely moments together.
“Any month is fine. As long as they come, that month will be the best month.” She curled her legs and pressed her toes into his muscular lower abdomen.
“Are you ready to be a father?”
Zhōu Shíyì said, “I’ve been ready for a long time.”
“Is your family pressuring you?”
“I don’t know, I’ve muted the family chat.”
He was no longer the restless man in his twenties. Now he had enough patience to raise a child.
Wanting a child had nothing to do with family pressure—it was simply a desire.
“I’ll raise the child myself.”
Saying that, he bent down and kissed her. “I’ll raise you along with them, all over again.”
“Let me practice painting properly?”
Zhōu Shíyì replied, “No painting lessons for you then. I’m giving up first.”
Zhōng Yì laughed.
Before her laughter faded, there was a knock at the door.
The flight attendant brought ice cream and cake, along with a glass of juice Zhōng Yì often drank.
“Eat something first.” Zhōu Shíyì helped her up from the bed.
Zhōng Yì saw the nuts and chocolate flakes on the ice cream — her favorite flavor. Before, she didn’t think much of it.
After their breakup, she tried many brands of ice cream, but none tasted like the ones the pastry chef made for her.
Zhōu Shíyì folded the paper from the bedside into his suit pocket and sat beside her.
Zhōng Yì pushed the nuts aside and scooped a spoonful of ice cream without nuts or chocolate flakes for him.
He didn’t like nuts, and this time, she hadn’t forgotten.
After the plane landed, they took a helicopter to the island.
At 5:30 in the afternoon, they arrived at the seaside French-style villa, just the most beautiful time of day by the sea.
The last time he accompanied her on vacation here, his father had ordered him to return for an arranged marriage. Worried she might dwell on it too much, he decided to shoot their wedding photos the next day.
They had fought so many times but never once argued over their mismatched social backgrounds.
Even when she overheard what his father said on the phone, she never questioned him or asked about it afterward.
Four years later, returning here, everything inside the house was just as it had been the last time she came.
“Have you been here often since?”
Zhōu Shíyì pushed his suitcase into the walk-in closet. “Only once.”
That time, he had brought her Wedding Dress back to Beicheng.
Zhōng Yì opened her suitcase and picked out a slip dress to wear.
“I’ve been here once too.”
Zhōu Shíyì was hanging clothes in the wardrobe but paused and tilted his head to look at her. “When did you come?”
Zhōng Yì said, “Before returning to the country. September that year. My dad said it would be hard to take a break once I started work, so he told me to relax before the Kuncheng Project began.”
Her father had asked her to pick a vacation spot. “Why not Windmill Village? You’ve always been longing for…”
She didn’t choose Windmill Village after all. Instead, she blurted out the place where they had taken their wedding photos.
Her father wondered why she didn’t go to Windmill Village.
She said she couldn’t paint windmills anyway, so she’d go when she had time.
But the island — she didn’t have the courage to go alone. With her father accompanying her, she didn’t have much time to overthink.
Yet when the helicopter landed on the helipad, memories came flooding back.
Zhōu Shíyì asked, “How many days did you stay on the island?”
“Two.”
Walking on the beach where they had once taken wedding photos, even breathing felt like a knife cutting through her.
“Let’s not talk about that.” Zhōng Yì changed into her slip dress and put on sunglasses.
She hadn’t brought anything else, only her phone.
Zhōu Shíyì held her hand as they walked toward the beach, telling her about how his father had strongly urged him to return for the arranged marriage. “I thought you were upset and didn’t want to speak.”
Between them, everything could change except the vast gap in family background.
Zhōng Yì said, “I was never upset. I knew you wouldn’t compromise. You wouldn’t leave her.”
“But after the argument, there was a time when I was unsure.”
At the stairs, she suddenly remembered something, broke free from Zhōu Shíyì’s hand, and went back to the door.
Zhōu Shíyì watched her back. “Did you forget something?”
“No.” Zhōng Yì took off her slippers and put them by the door.
Barefoot, she stepped onto the wooden steps, crossing two steps at once.
Zhōu Shíyì reminded her, “If you don’t wear shoes, you won’t be able to enter the restaurant if your feet get tired.”
“I’m not going to the restaurant. I’ll eat at home.”
“No one’s there to cook; the chef didn’t come along.”
“No problem. I’ll cook these days.”
Zhōu Shíyì laughed, “I guess I’m having Soy Sauce Noodles every meal.”
Zhōng Yì grabbed his hand and corrected, “That’s called Yangchun Noodles!”
He responded, “Okay, Yangchun Noodles.”
When they were dating, she had made him noodles a few times.
Once, she added too much soy sauce, so she poured half a bowl of water into the soup. It ended up a bit bland, so she added half a spoonful of salt.
He ate while she kept adding water and salt.
She was sloppy at painting but even sloppier at cooking.
The villa was about a hundred or two hundred meters from the beach. Worried she might hurt her feet, Zhōu Shíyì released her hand, “I’ll carry you.”
Zhōng Yì said, “It’s all grass.”
Zhōu Shíyì: “Just consider that I want to carry you.”
In truth, he wanted to carry her more times. Aside from carrying her up the stairs at their Boston home a few days ago, he hadn’t carried her in three years.
Zhōng Yì wrapped her arms around his neck. “I dreamed of you carrying me.”
“When I woke up, everything was empty.”
“For days I couldn’t get over it, almost called you to ask where you were.”
“If you had called, I would’ve come to see you no matter how busy I was.”
“But by then, I had already deleted you from WeChat.”
“I’d add you again after you deleted me.”
Mentioning adding each other back, Zhōng Yì said, “That day my dad told me to add you. I didn’t want to take the initiative.”
Zhōu Shíyì: “I know.”
“So he took the initiative.”
They chatted aimlessly as they walked from the sandy beach in front of the villa to another part of the shore.
Zhōng Yì was about to tell him to put her down and walk into the water barefoot when her eyes caught sight of two people ahead.
She quickly tapped Zhōu Shíyì’s shoulder. “Look, isn’t that Mom and Dad?”
Zhōu Shíyì looked in the direction she pointed. If not them, then who?
Zhōu Yunlian was walking with his wife, strolling from the hotel to the beach.
She kept taking photos without speaking much.
Finally, when she lowered the camera, he hesitated for a moment before taking her hand.
After so many years of marriage, the only intimacy they shared was in the bedroom. Outside of that, they were like strangers.
Not to mention holding hands, even linking arms was rare.
Shí Fānyīn paused her fingers but didn’t want to forgive so easily. She tried to shake his hand away to show her displeasure.
Before she could, he tightened his grip, preventing her from pulling away.
She had already swung her hand off, so she didn’t want to grab it back.
Zhōu Yunlian glanced around sheepishly. Luckily, no one was nearby.
His phone buzzed. A message from his son: [She let go. Aren’t you going to keep holding her hand?]
Zhōu Yunlian:
No one was around, and there was no sign of his son or daughter-in-law ahead. They must be watching from behind.
A few hours ago, he had sworn the island was so big they wouldn’t run into each other.
Zhōu Shíyì: [You better not look back. I’m carrying Zhōng Yì and have no intention of putting her down.]
Zhōu Yunlian: [How about dinner together tonight?]
Zhōu Shíyì: [Don’t think about dinner at a time like this.]
Zhōu Shíyì: [If you don’t hold Mom’s hand now, you probably won’t have the chance later.]
No matter if those two were still staring at them, Zhōu Yunlian locked his phone and hurried after his wife, grabbing her hand tightly.
The grip was so strong that she couldn’t pull away.
Shí Fānyīn eyed him. “Zhōu Yunlian, don’t say my first love was better than you, even Jiāng Jìngyuān was better than you!”
“You say your first love was better than me? Fine, I accept that. But how is Jiāng Jìngyuān better than me?”
The moment she said it, Zhōu Yunlian regretted arguing. Why argue about right or wrong with her all the time?
After a pause,
“Jiāng Jìngyuān really is better than me. I’m no good at raising kids like he is.”
Shí Fānyīn:
She chose the version that favored her image most.
Zhōu Yunlian never loosened his grip and held her hand as they returned to the hotel.
Zhōng Yì watched the two walk away. The scene of her mother-in-law shaking off her father-in-law suddenly stirred memories she was about to forget.
She had once shaken off Zhōu Shíyì like that.
At that time, their conflicts hadn’t deepened so much as to reach a cold war.
After their first hurtful words, they fell into complete silence.
That night, once calm, Zhōu Shíyì reached to hold her hand, only to be pushed away.
He regretted it immediately but couldn’t bring himself to reach for her hand again.
Because she was sad from the argument.
He didn’t hold her hand again but wrapped her into his arms.
At night, she found his hand and intertwined their fingers.
Neither wanted to let go, trying hard to keep the peace.
“What are you thinking? Why so quiet?”
Zhōu Shíyì set her down from his back.
Zhōng Yì: “Wondering if Mom and Dad have reconciled.”
Zhōu Shíyì: “Whether they reconcile depends on what my father does next, but this time it will definitely ease.”
Bathed in the afterglow of the sunset, Zhōng Yì knotted her long dress at the knees and waded into the seawater.
Zhōu Shíyì walked along the shore holding her hand, retracing their steps.
There were couples taking wedding photos on the beach now, but she no longer stared at them like before.
***
In the following days, they didn’t run into their parents again.
Whether they had left or were still on the island, no one knew.
After eating four straight days of Yangchun noodles, instant noodles, dry noodles, and fried eggs, their ten-day honeymoon finally came to an end.
On the return flight, Zhōu Shíyì asked the chef to prepare more dishes.
He had never imagined that one day, he would find airplane meals delicious.
Zhōng Yì noticed he only ordered a glass of water. “No wine to accompany the meal?”
Zhōu Shíyì: “No. Starting today, I’m quitting alcohol.”
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