Summer days dawn early. Xia Tingchan maintained an exceptionally regular routine year-round—early to bed and early to rise, with only one alarm clock set. Once it rang, she would get up without fail.
It was Lu Henqin who had spent too long in the basement and then lingered too much in the living room flipping through her notebooks. Without realizing it, it was already six in the morning.
"What time does Aunt Qiu usually come?" Xia Tingchan headed toward the kitchen with familiar ease. "I haven’t had a chance to taste her cooking yet."
Lu Henqin replied, "She’s had some family matters recently and won’t be coming."
Xia Tingchan let out a soft "huh" and stopped in her tracks.
Lu Henqin walked past her expressionlessly, opened the refrigerator door, took out two slices of white bread and an egg, then unwrapped a pack of fresh asparagus and rinsed it in water.
Xia Tingchan stared at him intently, the silent air thick with astonishment.
Lu Henqin, who had never lifted a finger for household chores, actually had this side to him?
Perhaps her gaze was too intense, as Lu Henqin found himself unable to continue halfway through frying the asparagus.
He stiffly explained, "Isn’t it just as well that Aunt Qiu isn’t coming? Have you forgotten you’re currently on a ‘wanted list’? The fewer people who know of your existence, the better."
Xia Tingchan suddenly understood. Sometimes, being too blunt could come off as foolish. "Ah, so it’s not that Aunt Qiu has family matters, but that you made an excuse to give her time off, right?"
Before she finished speaking, Lu Henqin fumbled while cracking the egg, dropping two pieces of shell into the pan. He froze for a moment, then coldly fished them out with a spatula after several attempts.
Xia Tingchan stepped beside him and, in the two seconds it took him to discard the eggshell, deftly cracked another egg into the pan.
The oil sizzled loudly, filling the air with the aroma of frying eggs.
She shot him a reproachful look—she hadn’t had time to say it earlier, but how could he only make breakfast for one person? Was that even reasonable?
As Lu Henqin turned around, he saw two fried eggs side by side in the pan, round and plump like two suns pressed together.
He paused for a moment, then scowled and flipped the second egg.
This silent game of survival in the cracks had begun with unspoken understanding.
Xia Tingchan was stubborn and serious when it came to serious matters, but in private interactions, she was anything but quiet. Often, she displayed a kind of dark humor that stemmed from a lack of worldly experience and a self-righteous attitude.
Today was even more so.
After just one night, because he hadn’t driven her away, she had silently assumed he would “welcome” her.
An astonishing ability to rationalize.
Sitting across from him, Xia Tingchan tried to bridge the emotional distance with her ex-boyfriend, starting to make small talk with Lu Henqin:
She stirred the porridge, scooped a spoonful into her mouth, and said, “I thought you’d make plain congee.”
“Were the mung beans soaked long enough? The texture…” Her eyes widened slightly, not hesitating to offer praise, “It’s delicious. Where did you buy the mung beans? Or is it because of that clay pot of yours?”
Lu Henqin kept his eyes lowered, pretending not to hear.
Xia Tingchan felt no embarrassment, pressing on relentlessly: “Where did you buy them? I want to make mung bean cakes, mixed with milk and matcha. Don’t you want to try them?”
Lu Henqin took a sip of the soft porridge. The mung beans had cooked down to a sandy texture, and the glutinous rice she’d added made the porridge even softer and stickier. The cool mint leaves were the perfect finishing touch, leaving a refreshing sensation in his throat as he swallowed.
Summer was indeed the season for mung beans. After making mung bean cakes, she would always rush to chill them in the refrigerator. The steam that hadn’t yet cooled on the surface would condense into ice crystals, crunching softly between the teeth, as if chewing summer itself.
He had tasted it many times before.
Lu Henqin lowered his gaze to his spoon, taking a long moment before replying, “The supermarket.”
“Which supermarket?”
“EREWHON.”
“How do I get there?”
“By car.”
“You drive?”
“A driver.”
“Impressive,” she said without batting an eye. “Which driver? Male or female? Is their driving steady? How many years of driving experience? Do they usually brake suddenly? How much do you pay them per month—”
“Xia Tingchan.” Lu Henqin set down his spoon, the porcelain clinking crisply against the bowl’s edge. He stared at her. “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Xia Tingchan straightened up, serious: “I need to go to the supermarket to buy some daily necessities.”
“Didn’t you just say that?”
“But you didn’t give me a clear answer.”
Lu Henqin picked up his spoon again. This meal was the best appetite he’d had in a while. “After we finish eating.”
Xia Tingchan finally settled down.
After the meal, Lu Henqin placed the dishes in the dishwasher, washed his hands, and when he returned, the noisy chatter that had filled the morning was gone.
He called out twice, but no one answered. The motion of drying his hands gradually slowed.
“Xia Tingchan?”
The spacious house felt empty, the sense of space suddenly expanding infinitely.
Lu Henqin stood still for a few minutes. Perhaps he had drunk too much mung bean porridge in the morning, and his stomach felt bloated. Now, a hidden, throbbing pain began to spread.
He walked past the dining table, tossing the half-damp tissue onto it. As he withdrew his hand, he grabbed the medicine bottle, tilted his head back, unscrewed the cap, and poured a few pills into his mouth.
Without time to fetch water, he screwed the cap back on absentmindedly, leaving it crooked on the threads.
Lu Henqin’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he dry-swallowed the pills, the sensation coating his throat and chest as if with a thin layer of wax. Every breath came with an uncomfortable feeling of a foreign object.
Ignoring it, he focused on opening each door one by one, calling out tirelessly, “Xia Tingchan?”
After searching the entire house, there was still no trace of her presence.
Lu Henqin's face finally paled inch by inch, and he suddenly began to regret not taking her to buy daily necessities earlier. As a result, he couldn't determine whether she had left without saying goodbye or was temporarily hiding in some corner by checking if she had taken her belongings with her.
He searched once but refused to give up, conducting a second thorough, carpet-like sweep… He couldn't call the police, nor was it appropriate to involve a third party, but every door he opened deepened his despair.
After all these years, she was still as willful as ever, cutting off contact or leaving whenever she pleased.
Just like saving the best bite for last, Lu Henqin searched the entire house, leaving her room for last.
Before opening the door, he pressed his palm against the doorknob, closed his eyes, and stood silently still for a few seconds, as if in prayer.
His face was completely drained of color, his eyelashes trembling lightly, and his brow slightly furrowed, as if he had returned to the day he opened his eyes after recovering from a serious illness. He stubbornly stared at the intricate patterns on the bronze-brown doorknob and answered, one sentence at a time:
"The driver is male, forty-six years old, drives very steadily, with 25 years of driving experience…"
There was not a sound in the room. He answered slowly, looking utterly exhausted. Midway through, he frowned and grabbed the fabric of his shirt over his chest, as if struggling to breathe, taking a deep breath before continuing with difficulty:
"He doesn't brake suddenly. His driving habits are very good. If you ride in his car, you can sleep peacefully. I pay him weekly, one week is…"
Suddenly, the sound of flushing water came from the room. Lu Henqin's eyelids twitched violently several times. Before he could even catch his breath, he impatiently twisted the doorknob, pushed the door open, and strode inside.
Xia Tingchan had just changed back into her own clothes and emerged from the bathroom, her head lowered as she tried to fasten the cuff button.
Her hand was abruptly and forcefully grabbed, causing the cuff button to slip out again.
She looked up in surprise. Lu Henqin appeared fierce and imposing, his brows heavily shadowing his eyes as he snapped at her, "Why didn't you answer me when I called you?!"
"Huh…?"
His hand was trembling, but his grip tightened even more, as if afraid she would vanish in the blink of an eye. "I've been looking for you for nearly an hour!"
Xia Tingchan stared at him blankly, unsure what he was so upset about. "I was just changing clothes to go buy things."
"What's the rush?" He seemed even angrier, his jawline tense as he pulled her closer to him with a heaving chest. "Couldn't you have waited for me to go together?!"
"Oh, are you coming with me?"
Lu Henqin glared at her clueless expression for a moment before slowly calming his breathing and saying in a low voice, "Come with me."
Though he said this, as he walked forward, his left hand still tightly gripped her wrist. He glanced back at her repeatedly as they moved, as if confirming she was still there, pulling her all the way into his study.
It was Xia Tingchan's first time entering his study, and she looked around with mild curiosity.
Lu Henqin pulled open the bottom drawer of the desk and took out a brand-new phone.
Just as he retrieved it, he seemed to suddenly think of something and put it back, switching to another phone instead.
Xia Tingchan tilted her head to take a look. The packaging of this phone had already been opened, so it didn't appear brand new, but the model was the latest version released this spring.
Lu Henqin held down the power button to turn on the phone, which had less than 20% battery remaining. He tapped the screen a few times quickly, then his breathing softened, his gaze grew still, and his long fingers hovered over the screen for a long time without moving, as if he were weighing or hesitating about something.
Xia Tingchan grew impatient. She craned her neck to peek, wanting to see what he was so intently studying—
At first glance, she noticed the front camera flashing several times in rapid succession with red dots.
She froze for a moment, but just as she was about to take a closer look, Lu Henqin flipped his wrist, turning the phone screen face down.
It seemed he had made up his mind, as the earlier hesitation vanished completely. With a composed expression, he stepped aside and said, "I haven’t used it since I bought it. It’s been sitting around like this, and now it’s out of battery."
Xia Tingchan could no longer see anything. She leaned forward and followed him a few steps, listening to his meticulous arrangements:
"I’ve never seen you take out a phone. This one hasn’t been used. The SIM card is registered under my name, so you can use it without worry."
He truly noticed the smallest details.
Xia Tingchan turned her head to look at the newly charged phone. The red light on the front camera had stopped flashing, as if that earlier glimpse had been nothing but her imagination.
She picked it up and tested it. From every angle, it was indeed a brand-new phone. Aside from the inserted SIM card and a registered ID, no other software had been installed.
However, the SIM card he had inserted for her was likely a subsidiary card linked to a primary one—the kind parents often used to monitor their children.
As Xia Tingchan fiddled with the phone, Lu Henqin carefully observed every subtle change in her expression. He softened his voice, as if coaxing her: "You can’t get a phone number registered under your real name."
Xia Tingchan examined the phone thoroughly and found nothing amiss. Moreover, as her ex-boyfriend, Lu Henqin had already gone above and beyond in taking care of every detail—it was practically an act of charity. She immediately replied, "Mm, this is fine. Thank you."
Lu Henqin seemed to smile faintly before continuing to pull a black card from the drawer and handing it to her: "Don’t touch your own accounts. All expenses will go through me."
Xia Tingchan hesitated as she looked at the supplementary card. "I don’t need your money."
Then whose money do you need?
That faint trace of a smile vanished instantly from his face. Coldly, he added, "It’s nothing personal. It’s just that your accounts are likely under surveillance or frozen. If you get caught, I’ll be an accomplice for harboring you. What a hassle."
Xia Tingchan took the card back, feeling somewhat reluctant yet unable to refute his airtight reasoning. "I see…"
Seeing her accept it, the slight furrow in Lu Henqin’s brow relaxed.
His next words flowed even more smoothly, as if he had rehearsed them long ago: "From now on, whenever you need to go out, I’ll accompany you. I can cover for you. In the future…"
He took hold of her wrist again, his fingers tightening around it like a handcuff digging into her flesh, leaving faint, bloodless indentations on her skin.
As he spoke, his expression was so calm it felt like the dead silence of a blizzard night. He stared at her and said, "So, from now on, don’t leave this house without permission. It’s dangerous outside."
"If you need to go, you must tell me first. Understand?"