Wu Fu had not expected to find a male stranger in Cen Jin’s house. Not wanting to display his surprise too openly, he quickly composed himself and inquired about the young man’s identity. The youth looked somewhat familiar and recognized him, as evident from his gaze. However, even when he introduced himself as “Li Wu,” Wu Fu couldn’t contain his deeper, more complex astonishment. Had Cen Jin taken this child in?
At that moment, his wife felt like a stranger to him.
Various suspicions swirled in Wu Fu’s mind as he decided to ask, “How did you end up here?”
Though his manner was calm and refined, the young man’s eyes were unfriendly: “Ms. Cen helped me transfer to Yi Middle School.”
Wu Fu frowned slightly. “You’re living together now?”
“I stay in the school dormitory. What business do you have with her?”
The youth’s words were frank, but his attitude was already that of the house’s master. Wu Fu noticed his slippers, which carried the obvious air of a cuckoo in another bird’s nest. “Cen Jin left something at my place. I brought it over, but I couldn’t reach her. I was worried something might have happened, so I came directly.”
Wu Fu regretted his words immediately – he didn’t need to explain anything to this boy.
“Is she home?” he asked again.
“No,” Li Wu stood in the doorframe, his eyes sharp, his height naturally creating an imposing pressure of one guarding a pass. “She went out.”
Wu Fu had to reassess him: “Do you know where she went?”
“No.”
Wu Fu secretly let out a breath – their relationship didn’t seem as close as he had imagined. He handed over the plain white shopping bag: “Give this to her for me.”
Li Wu responded with an “okay” and took it.
“You seem to have grown quite a bit taller,” Wu Fu casually adjusted his collar, making final small talk. “Back then you weren’t as tall as Cen Jin.”
Li Wu stared at him for two seconds, his lips curving slightly: “Now I’m taller than you.”
His smile carried no warmth, yet was somehow unsettling. This kind of straightforward hostility and rejection could only be displayed so openly by boys his age – after reaching adulthood, they would gradually learn to wear masks of worldliness. Wu Fu also smiled faintly: “Are you resenting me for not helping you?”
Li Wu put one hand back in his hoodie pocket: “No.”
Those two words sounded like a sulk. Wu Fu made an impromptu decision to exchange a few more words with him.
“I want to say that we had no obligation,” he deliberately used “we” to create distance. “Cen Jin is a good person, she’s rather idealistic, but idealism needs prerequisites.”
Li Wu remained silent.
“She sees you as someone she must take responsibility for, but not everyone has to follow this kind of idealistic poverty relief. People’s subjective wishes and objective conditions can’t always align…”
Wu Fu stopped his lecture because he read unrestrained possessiveness and aggression in the boy’s eyes. This gaze made him feel like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat. It was too strange – he had only come to deliver something, yet had unwittingly stepped into a declaration of war that only males could comprehend.
The boy didn’t care how he was characterized or described, or what treatment he had endured.
His antipathy seemed to stem from only one source.
Wu Fu sensed this irregularity.
But precisely because the youth did not attempt to hide it, Wu Fu was even more reluctant to expose it openly.
He knew that the moment he spoke of it, he would be at a disadvantage in this battle.
Cen Jin’s matters were completely irrelevant to him now. He only wished to extract himself as soon as possible, avoiding any unnecessary entanglement.
But this didn’t prevent him from finding it absurd. He laughed shortly and asked, “How old are you?”
Li Wu said, “Seventeen.”
Just as he was about to ask a couple more questions, his phone suddenly rang in his pocket. Wu Fu took it out, glanced at the name, and answered: “Hello.”
He looked back into the youth’s eyes, expressionless: “Yes, I’m at your place. I gave the things to Li Wu. Where are you? Okay, I’ll be there shortly.”
Hanging up and putting the phone back in his pocket, Wu Fu asked, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell her?”
Li Wu asked, “Tell her what?”
Wu Fu said, “You know what.”
“I am afraid,” the youth replied without hesitation. “But I wanted you to know.”
Wu Fu gave a knowing smile – he clearly wouldn’t provide such a shortcut.
—
Around four o’clock, Cen Jin was waiting for Wu Fu at the Starbucks on Qingping Road.
The man wore a trench coat without glasses, looking somewhat younger, almost overlapping with his college-day self.
But he wasn’t the only one returning to old times – Cen Jin too had dressed up for the appointment, her crimson skirt flowing from the chair seat like large flower petals.
They didn’t look like a couple about to separate, more like lovers on their first date.
Their eyes met, Wu Fu slightly stunned, while Cen Jin just curved her lips in a smile: “I didn’t order anything for you.”
She then explained her unexpected absence: “I just submitted some materials at the new company, and left my phone in the car.”
“It’s fine,” Wu Fu sat down, pulling out two sets of documents from his briefcase, getting straight to the point: “Please check these again.”
Cen Jin took one set and began casually reviewing it.
The paper was cold, filled with emotionless words and numbers.
She read with particular attention. Wu Fu went to the counter to order, and upon returning, he took out a fountain pen from his bag, playing with it between his fingers, occasionally looking at the pen, then at her.
Soon after, Cen Jin laid the agreement flat on the table, pressing down the last page with her inner wrist: “I’ve finished reading, there are no issues.”