She felt like laughing, but at the same time, she was moved. The words caught in her throat, and finally, she responded with a gentle—
"This is a logical paradox. If I say I win, it means denying the things you’ve done that have touched me. But if I say you win, I won't be satisfied."
In the end, they finished that bottle of wine while sitting by the fireplace, watching TV, taking turns sipping it until it was all gone.
They were watching The Big Bang Theory with Portuguese subtitles. Without the Chinese translations, Cheng Liao didn't catch everything, but that didn’t matter—laughing was enough.
After leaving Portugal, the second country on their honeymoon was Norway.
Someone once said that everyone should see the Northern Lights at least once in their life. Cheng Liao had always scoffed at that idea—there are too many things one must do in life. Isn't there even a book called 100 Things to Do in Your Lifetime? But then she saw a photo of the Northern Lights on a travel forum, and it was like being struck by a meteorite. She slammed the table and declared, “I have to go. I must see this in my lifetime.”
After two layovers, they finally arrived in Tromsø, Norway.
As soon as they exited, Cheng Liao spotted a bearded Norwegian man holding a sign, carefully written with her and Sheng Jingchu's names.
When booking the trip, Cheng Liao had contacted the host of their Airbnb to ask about transportation options, since they would be arriving late. She hadn’t expected that the host would offer to pick them up personally.
The man, introducing himself as Aug, warmly shook their hands in English.
After driving a short distance, Aug suddenly pulled over and pointed out the window. “Look, the Northern Lights!”
Against the pitch-black sky, a streak of green light suddenly appeared, rapidly shifting and changing form. Cheng Liao, gripping Sheng Jingchu’s hand tightly, exclaimed, “The Northern Lights! We’re really seeing the Northern Lights!”
Sheng Jingchu, using his other hand to shield her head in case she bumped it, echoed, “Yes, the Northern Lights.”
The lights soon faded, leaving Cheng Liao wistfully gazing out the window. Aug reassured her, saying there would be more to see, no need to worry.
Being so close to the Arctic Circle, Tromsø’s daylight came late, with the first light appearing around ten in the morning. Sheng Jingchu had been awake for a while, sitting on the sofa, scrolling through his phone.
After brushing her teeth, Cheng Liao felt a mischievous urge upon seeing how obedient he looked. She pounced on him and gave him a peck on the lips.
Sheng Jingchu glanced up at her, just as Cheng Liao was hoping for a deep kiss to follow this warm moment. Instead, he tapped her on the lips with his finger.
“You’re like a little puppy.”
Cheng Liao was not pleased, pouting as she leaned over to look at his phone. “What are you doing?”
“Playing Dou Di Zhu.”
Zhao Yanxun had a serious addiction to the game and had dragged Sheng Jingchu into a room to play with him. They originally wanted to invite Cao Xihe as well, but Cao hadn’t responded, so someone else had joined to fill the spot.
For Sheng Jingchu, the game was optional. Seeing that Cheng Liao was awake, he exited the game.
Zhao Yanxun, who had been on a winning streak, was furious when he saw Sheng Jingchu leave. Lacking the Chinese vocabulary to fully express his disdain, he messaged Cao Xihe:
“How do you say ‘choosing women over friends’ in Chinese?”
Cao Xihe sucked in a breath, taking a moment to realize what Zhao meant by "choosing women over friends," but of course, he didn’t enlighten him. Instead, a mischievous idea popped into his head.
So, ten minutes later, Sheng Jingchu received a message from Zhao Yanxun:
“You’re fickle! I hate you!”
When Cheng Liao saw the message, her expression turned very amused. “Oh my, could it be that Zhao Yanxun has feelings for you...?”
She finally summed it up in four words: "Your circle is messy."
The two of them held hands as they strolled through the small town. Despite its high latitude, the warmth from the Gulf Stream softened the cold, so winter here wasn’t too harsh.
After taking a commemorative photo with burgers at the northernmost Burger King, they stepped outside just as snow began to fall. The day hadn’t fully brightened before it started to darken again. Cheng Liao huddled against Sheng Jingchu as they followed Google Maps toward the Arctic Cathedral.
The only sound was their shoes crunching on the snow. The world was utterly quiet, and even the rustling noise seemed to take on a different kind of melody.
Her hands, not staying still, started exploring his waist. He was wearing a cashmere sweater underneath, and she rolled up a tuft of the soft fabric in her fingers before quietly pulling it loose. Seeing that he didn’t notice, she continued to gather another tuft.
Sheng Jingchu sighed. “Are you planning on sending me back bare-chested?”
Caught in the act, Cheng Liao awkwardly retracted her hand, trying to justify herself without much confidence. “I only pulled out a tiny bit...”
She made a small gesture. “Really, just a tiny bit.”
When they returned to their lodging from the Arctic Cathedral, Sheng Jingchu caught a slight cold. Cheng Liao made him a strong ginger and scallion soup.
Sheng Jingchu wasn’t feeling great. He disliked anything with a strong odor, and the soup made him wrinkle his nose in distaste.
“Come on, get up and drink this.”
Sheng Jingchu closed his eyes, feigning sleep.
“Drink it first, then you can sleep.” Cheng Liao tried to help him sit up.
Reluctantly, Sheng Jingchu sat up, pointing to the nightstand. “I’ll drink it later.”
“It’ll get cold later,” Cheng Liao insisted, not giving up. “Come on, I’ll feed you.”
But Sheng Jingchu clamped his mouth shut, refusing to cooperate.
Out of options, Cheng Liao thought back to how her father used to care for her when she was sick. She decided to mimic his methods.
“Good baby, sweet baby, you’re the most obedient baby in the world.”
Sheng Jingchu remained unmoved.
“How about I tell you a story after you finish?”
Still no response.
“I’ll buy you candy if you drink it?”
Cheng Liao felt ridiculous, but she finally put the bowl down and left the room.
When she stopped pestering him, Sheng Jingchu grew curious. She returned soon after, her eyes red.
“What’s wrong?”
Tears welled up in Cheng Liao’s eyes as she started to sob. “Seeing you feeling so bad makes me feel bad too. I wish I could be sick instead of you.”
Panicked, Sheng Jingchu grabbed some tissues to wipe her tears, hurriedly finishing the ginger soup, which made him break out in a sweat.
Cheng Liao fluffed his pillow and pulled the blanket up to his chest.
She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Sleep well.”
The next morning, Sheng Jingchu felt much better. He ran into Aug in the kitchen, who warmly struck up a conversation. Before parting, Aug remarked, “Your customs are really interesting.”
He gestured as he spoke. “Putting ginger on the eyes—I saw your wife do it yesterday. She said it would improve eyesight.”
Sheng Jingchu was speechless.
They had booked a small tour to see the Northern Lights, just the two of them, the guide, and a French couple.
Perhaps it was because of their open personalities or because they were in the throes of romance, but the couple spent most of the tour kissing.
To avoid watching, Cheng Liao spent the entire journey with her neck craned to look out the window.
All she saw was darkness. She sighed to Sheng Jingchu, “I finally understand what it means to not be able to see your hand in front of your face.”
She waved her hand in the air. “When I was in sixth grade, our school organized a trip to an amusement park. One of the attractions was a boat ride through a cave with some man-made scenery inside. I don’t remember much about it, but the girl next to me asked, ‘Do you have a tissue?’ I stretched out my hand to show her my fingers, feeling a bit annoyed, and snapped back, ‘Of course, I have ten fingers!’
“Then I heard the person in front of me start laughing hysterically, and that’s when I realized she was asking if I had tissues.”
She muttered, "Why call it ‘hand tissue’? Just say ‘tissue.’" Then she turned to Sheng Jingchu, "Come on, tell me something embarrassing about you. I need to balance the scales."
Sheng Jingchu shook his head. "I don’t think I have any."
Cheng Liao sighed, "You live like you’re inside a glass case. Your fans say I’ve pulled you down from your pedestal. Sigh, I’ve really committed a grave sin by getting involved with you."
Although Sheng Jingchu didn’t have any personal embarrassing stories, he had plenty of material about others, and he quickly found one about Cao Xihe.
“When Xiao Cao was sixteen, he had an online relationship with a college girl. To impress her, he told her he was 1.85 meters tall and on the university basketball team.
“They chatted for two months, and then she asked to meet him. Xiao Cao hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet and was still under 1.7 meters. When he got her invitation, he panicked."
Cheng Liao guessed, "Did he ask you to go in his place?"
As she imagined it, she started to feel a bit jealous. "And then she fell in love with you at first sight?"
Sheng Jingchu shook his head. "Xiao Cao went in a wheelchair."
“He kept up the act for three months, pretending to be a determined and resilient person with a disability."
Cheng Liao laughed so hard she nearly cried.
The car stopped by a frozen lake, and when Cheng Liao got out, she was shocked to find the snow almost up to her knees.
In such deep snow, every step took immense effort. The group soon grew tired, and the guide set up a tent, offering everyone some salmon.
With the temperature below minus ten degrees, eating cold food could easily upset her stomach, so Sheng Jingchu wouldn’t let Cheng Liao eat any. She looked longingly at the salmon, trailing after him, begging.
“Just one piece?”
“A tiny corner?”
“A tiny corner of a tiny corner?”
“A tiny corner of a tiny corner of a tiny corner?”
When Sheng Jingchu didn’t respond, she sidled up to the guide and asked for some wasabi.
In a fit of revenge, she stuffed the wasabi into her mouth, tears streaming down her face, and then started kissing Sheng Jingchu all over his face.
The couple who had been kissing the whole way let out a whistle, and the woman even gave Cheng Liao a thumbs up.
Sheng Jingchu’s breath mingled with the cold air, fresh and crisp like the snow. His lips were cold, but his palms were warm as he held her face, gently prying her lips open to kiss her back.
She was still feeling the burn of the wasabi, so she sneakily watched his expression and saw him frown ever so slightly. She couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.
He murmured in displeasure, "Focus."
She tried to argue, but it soon turned into muffled "mm-hmms."
Above them, the sky was filled with countless stars, and the Northern Lights suddenly appeared, like a spectacular display of fireworks. In the distance, the old guide smiled kindly, and the French couple cheered in excitement.
The world is a circle; no matter how far you travel, you’ll eventually return to where you started.
And people, perhaps, are like arcs. When they meet the right one, they become whole.
In that moment, Cheng Liao felt her heart was both very empty and very full—empty enough to hold all the years to come, and full enough to hold no one else.
The final stop of their trip was Copenhagen, Denmark.
Cheng Liao had planned the visits to Portugal and Norway, but she insisted that Sheng Jingchu choose a country, and he picked Denmark.
Since it was their last stop, Cheng Liao started buying gifts for friends and family.
Their travel bag was already filled with fridge magnets and keychains, but whenever they passed a unique little shop, Cheng Liao couldn’t resist going in to shop some more.
However, after standing in line for a long time and discovering that her favorite notebook was labeled "Made in PRC (People’s Republic of China)," she abandoned her shopping spree.
They didn’t have a fixed itinerary and had been traveling abroad for a week, so both were exhausted. They decided to slow down in Copenhagen, hopping on any bus without caring about the destination and getting off wherever they felt like.
When they passed by Nyhavn, Cheng Liao pulled Sheng Jingchu off the bus.
The colorful buildings along the waterfront made the perfect backdrop for photos.
The wind was fierce, and just as Sheng Jingchu snapped the picture, it blew Cheng Liao’s hair straight up in the air.
From Nyhavn, they could take a boat to the city center. There was a small ticket booth at the port, and Cheng Liao noticed a sign in English:
"The boat is open-air, and it’s really, really cold."
Sure enough, the people on board were all huddled up, some rubbing their hands together for warmth.
Cheng Liao immediately decided against taking the boat.
After lunch, Sheng Jingchu mentioned wanting to see the Little Mermaid statue.
When they traveled together, Sheng Jingchu rarely made requests. Usually, Cheng Liao would decide where to go, and he’d go along with it. She’d choose what to eat, and he’d eat it without complaint.
So, hearing him make a suggestion for the first time, Cheng Liao was intrigued. “You like the Little Mermaid?”
Seeing that he didn’t answer, she teased him, “Oh my, our panda has a soft spot for fairy tales.”
The Little Mermaid statue wasn’t particularly special, but because Denmark is Hans Christian Andersen’s homeland, the statue had become a landmark. Despite the cold weather, many tourists were there, taking photos.
Cheng Liao tried to comfort him, "Let’s wait a bit. Once this crowd leaves, we can go over."
"When you were little, you used to cry every time you heard the story of the Little Mermaid," Sheng Jingchu suddenly said.
Cheng Liao rubbed her face, struggling to remember. "Really?"
Sheng Jingchu nodded. "You used to ask me to tell it again and again. I was afraid you’d cry, so I’d say the Little Mermaid married the prince in the end."
As he recalled, a gentle smile appeared on Sheng Jingchu’s face. "I was really afraid of making you cry back then…"
After a pause, he added, "I’m still afraid now."
"Back then, you asked me what happened after the Little Mermaid married the prince."
She had been so young then, too young to remember her own clingy behavior. Cheng Liao asked him, "So, what happened after?"
"After that, after many years, the prince grew old, and so did the Little Mermaid. They both died of old age."
Cheng Liao was speechless. Did he have to be so realistic?
"And then you cried again."
Many years ago, a young Sheng Jingchu had been helpless against a sobbing Cheng Liao, her nose bubbling with tears, all he could do was frown deeply.
He pulled her into his arms. "I’m sorry."
So after all these years, Sheng Jingchu had brought her to the Little Mermaid statue just to say sorry.
Cheng Liao wanted to laugh, but after a long moment, her eyes filled with tears.
She finally understood the question that had troubled her for so many years—
What comes after happiness? It’s just more happiness.
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