One day Lin Luxiao had just returned from the station on leave, and barely a moment later, someone knocked hard at the door.
Nan Chu was on her way over with a bag of chips to answer it.
She pulled open the door to find a girl whose expression shifted briefly before she arranged it into a smile. Warmly, she asked: “Is Lin Luxiao home?”
Nan Chu popped a chip into her mouth and nodded. Then Lin Luxiao came out of the bathroom — still damp — and the girl’s expression changed again. Nan Chu had been perceptive from childhood, always sharp about small details. She immediately explained: “I’m his distant younger cousin. I’m staying here temporarily.”
She was still young at the time.
The girl decided Lin Luxiao probably wasn’t the type to sink that low — a high school girl would be too much even for him.
So the worry she’d been carrying settled back into her chest, though her gaze lingered on Nan Chu for a moment longer, not entirely without suspicion.
Dinner that evening was warm and pleasant all around.
When the girl was leaving, she was especially warm toward Nan Chu: “Next time, let your sister-in-law take you shopping.”
Nan Chu nodded sweetly.
That same night, Nan Chu received a call from Nan Yueru’s assistant, telling her that her mother would be back in the country the next day.
Nan Chu packed her things that very night and moved out of Lin Luxiao’s apartment. Lin Luxiao drove her to a hotel near the airport so she’d be close for her mother’s arrival the following morning.
Lin Luxiao drove in silence. He was never one for many words, and when he was in a bad mood it was obvious.
That evening, Lin Luxiao’s mood was perhaps truly not great.
But what made it even worse came right at the end. When she was about to get out, Nan Chu handed him a thick stack of banknotes she’d prepared in advance and said: “Like we agreed — this month’s rent.”
The car window was rolled down. Night wind rushed through.
Lin Luxiao sat with one arm on the door frame, smoking. He squinted, pulling drag after drag, the smoke dispersing slowly — but he didn’t reach for the money.
Then Nan Chu set the money on the passenger seat and got out of the car.
She stood by the window and waved. “Commander Lin, thank you for everything!”
She turned and walked away without looking back.
She left decisively. So decisively that Lin Luxiao sat in the car through two full cigarettes before he came back to himself. He picked up the money from the passenger seat, got out of the car — and dropped it in the trash can.
He took two steps back.
Stopped. Ran a hand through his hair. Then turned around, retrieved the money from the trash, threw it back in the car, got in, and drove away.
The mood that night had been thoroughly and completely ruined.
He didn’t think he had any kind of feeling for that girl.
Half-grown kid. Barely fledged. What kind of ridiculous thoughts could anyone have about a child like that?
---
The music filled the hall. Lin Qi played with his eyes closed, utterly absorbed.
Light shifted across the stage — bright, then dark.
Nan Chu looked at the person beside her and leaned close to his ear: “I went to the station to find you afterward.”
Lin Luxiao turned his head.
“The sentry said you’d been transferred to another county.”
He looked back to the front, and gave a quiet acknowledgment.
Nan Chu tilted her head. “Have you been transferred back now, or are you still on assignment here?”
“Wherever the organization sends me.”
“Oh.” Nan Chu nodded and pointed ahead. “Let’s watch the music then.”
After that, neither of them said another word.
Until the recital ended.
The audience trickled out. The vast music hall emptied until only Nan Chu and Lin Luxiao remained seated in the audience area.
Lin Qi finished discussing something with the crew about the instruments, then leaped down from the stage and came bounding over toward the seats.
Seeing them sitting together gave him a start. “How did you two end up sitting next to each other?”
Nan Chu said: “I came late and just grabbed the nearest seat.”
Lin Qi nodded — the boy was guileless and wonderfully simple-minded. He pointed to Lin Luxiao sitting there with his characteristic quiet composure, then said to him: “That’s my brother.” Then he pointed at Nan Chu and announced: “And this beautiful lady here is a model — Nan Chu.”
Nan Chu performed a look of great surprise, turning to Lin Luxiao as if seeing him for the first time. “I had no idea. My deepest apologies.”
Lin Luxiao didn’t take the bait. He gave a dismissive glance.
Lin Qi was indeed a guileless creature — he noticed nothing at all — and even rushed to smooth things over on his brother’s behalf: “My brother is just like this, terrible temper, don’t take it personally.”
Nan Chu smiled lightly. “How could I—”
“Let’s go, Wan-jie should be here by now.”
Lin Qi said it first and walked ahead.
All three headed downstairs. Lin Qi and Nan Chu walked in front, Lin Luxiao with both hands in his pockets, unhurried, trailing behind.