After setting the docunt, Ji Qin chatted with Tian Sangsang about other things. The conversation lasted until the sun was low in the sky, the outside awash in golden orange hues.
Ji Qin had to leave. Tian Sangsang glanced out the door and suddenly saw Jiang Jinghuai standing there. He was dressed in casual clothes, and his silhouette, elongated by the glow of the setting sun, seed a little forlorn.
Tian Sangsang froze in place. "Why are you out here?"
"I’m hungry." He pressed his thin lips together and said it with utmost seriousness.
"..."
As Ji Qin brushed past him, she happened to catch this reply. Such a simple statent—"I’m hungry"—sohow emanated warmth and... a hint of childishness? After walking a few steps, she couldn’t help but glance back. Wasn’t that Tian Sangsang’s husband? His tall and upright deanor stood out like a crane among chickens. His sharp, handso profile flickered under the sun, his black overcoat as deep as the color of his hair. For so reason, Ji Qin’s heart skipped a beat.
So, was he joking? It seed like he indeed got ho late today.
Jiang Jinghuai walked closer, his deep-set eyes sweeping over the place out of habit. He fished out a cigarette and lit it before asking, "You used to live here?"
Tian Sangsang couldn’t help but furrow her brows. She often saw Jiang Jinghuai smoking—while walking on the street, too. Didn’t he know that frequent smoking could be very dangerous?
She didn’t bother to respond directly, simply stating coolly, "Smoking harms your health. If you don’t want to end up with a tumor, it’s better to quit now."
"It could kill . So, quit smoking," he said, exhaling a plu of smoke, sounding as petulant as a child.
Evidently, he wasn’t inclined to listen.
Tian Sangsang sneered, "Not smoking, you die slowly; smoking, you die quickly. I don’t want Yanyan’s dad to end up dying early. Imagine—her father, a soldier, didn’t die on the battlefield but died of *Zhonghua* cigarettes. When people ask how you died, I’d feel ashad even saying it out loud!"
"Oh." Jiang Jinghuai dropped the cigarette, rubbed it out with the tip of his shoe, and then glanced at her lightly. "Then I’ll have to be more careful. Can’t risk you becoming a widow running around freely."
What the heck! Tian Sangsang cursed in her heart. "What’s wrong with you? Can’t you open your eyes and really take a good look? I’m such a virtuous and respectable woman right now!" Recently, her outings adhered to an understated and modest style, as pure as could be. And now he dared to doubt her? Clearly, he wasn’t here because he was hungry—he was here to catch her cheating, wasn’t he?
Jiang Jinghuai’s gaze lingered on her briefly before shifting away, without any comnt. He simply asked, "Does Kunling live here too?"
As his words fell, Guan Kunling stepped out. Seeing them, her lips curved into a faint smile. "...Brother Jiang."
Jiang Jinghuai nodded in greeting.
It was hard to imagine soone as mild and indifferent as Guan Kunling addressing him so gently as "Brother Jiang." Tian Sangsang was bewildered. "Did you two swear brotherhood?"
Guan Kunling gave a small shake of her head. "Brother Jiang helped out once."
Between them... their relationship always seed as light as a nodding acquaintance, but Tian Sangsang could sohow glimpse a sense of long-standing familiarity. A delusion?
Since Guan Kunling was there, Tian Sangsang held back from scolding Jiang Jinghuai about his smoking just now. "Well, Kunling hasn’t eaten yet, and Yanyan’s upstairs. Why don’t I cook tonight, and we all eat together?"
To her surprise, Jiang Jinghuai readily agreed. "Alright."
Guan Kunling acquiesced quietly as well.
"But do you have enough ti?" Tian Sangsang suddenly thought of the ti restrictions for soldiers leaving their units on Sundays.
"As long as you hurry it up a bit."
Fine. Tian Sangsang shrugged and went to the kitchen to get busy.
"Daddy!" ng Shuyan ran down the stairs, with Little Milk Tea bouncing along behind him.
"Are we going ho now?"
"Not yet." Jiang Jinghuai picked him up, a smile in his eyes. "Tonight, we’re eating at Aunt Guan’s ho."
Four people and one dog shared a warm and harmonious al.
When they headed ho, the sky had turned dark. Tian Sangsang and Jiang Jinghuai walked along the roadside.
ng Shuyan had fallen asleep in Tian Sangsang’s arms like a lazy little pig, his head rolling about precariously on her shoulder. Tian Sangsang had to constantly prop his head up with her hand.
The faint light of the streetlamps cast a slight chill, flickering off the scattered pedestrians. This mont in ti felt simple and serene, so unlike the gaudy, bustling world of the later years.
A soft, flowing night breeze swept by, and Tian Sangsang instinctively pulled herself tighter, carefully wrapping her hands for warmth. It was cold.
Hugging her son’s soft and warm little body to stay warm, she suddenly felt a warmth on her back. A jacket had been draped over her shoulders, carrying a faint whiff of cigarette smoke.
"Give the child." Jiang Jinghuai gently took ng Shuyan from her arms.
Tian Sangsang shivered slightly and instinctively clutched the jacket closer. It was long, reaching down to her legs. A current of warmth coursed through her heart, and her face, chilled by the wind monts ago, suddenly felt like it was heating up instead.
"Aren’t you cold?" The streetlamp softened his handso profile, and she couldn’t help but ask pretentiously.
"If I said I’m cold, would you give a kiss?" Jiang Jinghuai tilted his head, a flicker of anticipation glinting in his dark eyes.
Oh, god. Why does this feel like a script flip?
Tian Sangsang licked her wind-chapped lips and weakly shook her head. "No."
"Heartless." He uttered the word softly, dripping with playful reproach.
Indeed, that did make her seem rather heartless.
Tian Sangsang awkwardly changed the subject, her head spinning. "To be honest, quite a lot of people in your unit smoke." It was a completely out-of-place remark, spoken without much thought, just to fill the silence.
Jiang Jinghuai also seed unusually talkative tonight.
"Hmm." He gazed ahead, his voice calm but steady. "As you said back then, it’s not the cigarettes people are smoking—it’s loneliness."
"Are you lonely?"
"Am I not?" Jiang Jinghuai asked in a low voice. "Whose wife is as absent as yours?"
Well, tonight, he wasn’t just chatty—he carried a touch of brazen cheekiness, too. Feeling guilty, Tian Sangsang lowered her head and dared not look at him.
The next day, Jiang Jinghuai returned and handed Tian Sangsang a letter.
"From who?" Tian Sangsang took the letter, scanned it, and imdiately grew excited. "It’s from Chen Ying!" It had been ages since she last heard from Chen Ying.
She took the envelope to the sofa and started reading.
It turned out that after the earthquake, Chen Ying and her family had been resettled in Nan’an. Everyone had received compensation, but the amount was small and barely enough to get by. Those who were previously governnt employees continued their work, while other families received pieces of land. Since Nan’an was a tea-producing area, Chen Ying and her family had started growing tea.
The letter also ntioned Zhou Zheng. His actions in the army last ti had earned him another derit, making it impossible for him to return to teaching. Now, he spent his days idly, doing nothing in particular. As for Tian Tian, she had beco much quieter than before but still seed restless and often thought of Chen Ming.
Tian Sangsang promptly grabbed her pen and wrote back several enthusiastic pages. At the end, she asked if their area was suitable for growing various flowers and plants, expressing her willingness to collaborate with them.
Though she was already collaborating with Ji Qin, it didn’t hurt to have more partners. A new collaboration was another channel, after all. Plus, Chen Ying and her family were old acquaintances.
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